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She was in love. Her parents did not approve. She ran away from home  in the middle of the night to be with the one she had chosen.

When Love required that she leave her country, Italy, there was no looking back. She remained in her adopted country, and never went back. She never saw her family again. With her beloved she lived happily ever after, as in the fairy tales.

Sounds like the stuff romantic novels are made of, right? It is a love story—with this twist: Our ‘heroine’ was real, the one she was in love with was Jesus and when she left her home it was to become a religious Sister.

I first met Sr. Flamenia when I joined our congregation in Canada. She had what we would call a “humble job.” She was in charge of the hospital’s laundry department. She also took care of one of our Sisters who had remained partially paralyzed after a surgery.  She looked quiet and plain, but when I came to know how she had become a sister I was intrigued.

She wouldn’t speak much but I soon noticed two things about her: the constant quiet joy on her face and the patience with which she looked after the Sister entrusted to her care.

Some thirty years ago, when clothes were washed in common, I would see her pick up soiled clothes or linen without making a fuss or showing disgust. The way she worked gave dignity to whatever she did. She held herself with such serenity and grace that I could not think her work as demeaning or ‘low.’

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Sr Marie Gabrielle Riopel SCSM

Everything in the universe, being a system, works in a systematic way.  Each system has its own uniqueness and peculiarities.  Hence, when I am placed within a system, the rules of that system will apply to me and influence me. Even my survival may depend on that system.  Hence, I must have a fairly good knowledge of the system – how it operates and applies to me.  Similarly, knowing the Indian Legal System  is of immense help in our day-to-today living.

Components of the Indian Legal System’ (ILS)

One is able to get things done easily and efficiently when one knows how a system operates and the inter-connectedness of its components.  In the same way, ILS and its components have their own way of functioning in the justice delivery system.  The practice of the court is the law of the court (Cursus Curiae est Lex Curiae).  If you are compelled and dragged to the court in an inevitable litigation, you must know the rules of the game, lest you be an odd player.  On the play-ground, a player cannot say that he does not know the rules of the game.  In the courts, one is called upon to show that there is not only violation of law but also miscarriage of justice, whether it is in the civil, criminal, labour, revenue or administrative matters.  I shall enumerate six major components of ILS around which any litigation will revolve.

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Fr Ravi Sagar SJ

Youth are the NOW of God!

A warm, personal letter to the young—and to everyone else

This Papal Exhortation differs from other Vatican documents in contents and style. It is not only addressed to the young. Its contents and language will make the young want to read it. The heroes and chosen ones it mentions are young people—from the Old Testament right down to our days. It is a long document—in 299 articles, followed by 164 footnotes. This summary cannot really do justice to its rich contents.

The document starts on a note of enthusiasm: “Christ is alive!…He brings youth to our world…He wants you to be alive!”

The Pope then adds more words of hope: “He is in you, he is with you and he never abandons you. However far you may wander, he is always there, the Risen One. He calls you and he waits for you to return to him and start over again. When you feel you are growing old out of sorrow, resentment or fear, doubt or failure, he will always be there to restore your strength and your hope.”

He addresses this “Apostolic Exhortation” to all young people “with great affection.”

To show the young their call to holiness, Pope Francis mentions the young people God called in the Old and New Testaments, adding that Jesus himself was a young man.

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

CRYSTAL

Reflecting on Scripture every morning has become a regular part of my prayer life, and there are those occasional moments when the words seem to jump off the page with God shouting… “Pay attention to this!”

This happened recently as I read the letter of St. Paul to the Philippians. Paul is describing his continued attempts to throw off any worldly goals and attain perfect holiness in a life possessed by Jesus Christ.  Paul counsels: “Just one thing: forgetting what lies behind but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:14)

At first glance, this might not seem to be an overly momentous verse, but just a few moments earlier I had been reflecting on God’s love and forgiveness and this verse summarized and confirmed where my thoughts had led me. As a little background, Kevin and I had recently gone to the theater and watched the movie “Unplanned” about a woman who had worked for Planned Parenthood and had (indirectly) been involved in over 22,000 abortions.

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Crystal and Kevin Sullivan

The author reflects on her experience of giving retreats to members of her own congregation first, and then to sisters of about one hundred other religious orders. Retreats can have a deep impact, provided we let the Word of God touch us and transform us.

In women’s circles these days, and especially among women religious, the focus of our discussions is often about gender justice, gender equality, gender sensitivity, empowerment of women, etc. When I was the Leader of my Congregation, I used to reflect about who would empower us. One of the ways to make my religious sisters to experience gender equality, as the Spirit inspired me, was to empower them to preach retreats to our own members. I consider this ministry as participating in the preaching mission of Jesus: Mt: 4: 23. When we evaluated this mission, it was very positive and encouraging.  As the leader of my Congregation, I had the opportunity to preach many retreats to my own sisters. After I completed my term as the Leader, my experience motivated me to take up this ministry. The more retreats I preached, the more positive feedback I received from various groups. I have had the privilege of preaching retreats to nearly one hundred religious congregations – religious women, religious brothers, priests and the laity – both in India and abroad.

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Sr Inigo Joaquim SSA

What is required for a good retreat? What issues come up during retreats? What is the main fruit of a retreat?

Retreats are of various kinds—silent, charismatic, praise and worship, directed, preached, etc. People attend retreats for various reasons and often describe their experience differently. Retreatants come in groups or can be directed individually. I have given several retreats—to priests, seminarians, sisters, and laity; to groups, as well as individually. Some retreatants come for retreats to find comfort in difficult times, others come to deepen their faith, some because it’s mandatory, some come out of curiosity, some for healing and some because of the preacher-director. A beautiful verse from scripture that highlights the desire for God, the desire to hear what God wants of us is taken from Matthew 4:4b, where we hear: “One does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” Then, having heard and responded, we can say that we have and keep God on call. In a retreat context, this hearing and responding are done in a more intense way.

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Fr Konrad Noronha SJ

The author explains the meaning of the journey to the Centre, which retreats aim at. Experience has shown him, too, what is the best help for reaching there.

Ever since the beginning of creation, and more than ever today, we find the human quest for meaning and fulfilment in life. The search for this fulfilment in most of us, priests and religious included, is in the creation rather than the Creator.

Initial Harmony and Its Loss

God created humanity in His image and likeness (Gen 1:26). He breathed His very breath (Presence, Spirit) in the human person (Gen. 2:7). Hence we have the very presence of God within us. At the beginning of creation, our first parents were in deep communion with this presence of God within them. They were living in constant awareness of this presence, experiencing the glorious freedom of the sons and daughters of God (Rom. 8:21). They were in communion with God and in harmony with the whole of creation. Jesus uses the word ‘Kingdom of God’ to express this experience of the love of God. Hence our first parents were enjoying the kingdom of God within them (Lk. 17:21).

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Fr Alvito Fernandes OCD

Touching experiences of personal transformation abound in retreats. What are your own experiences of deep personal change? How can we make a good retreat?

“Going for a retreat meant taking time in the middle of a very hectic life as wife, mother and lecturer. I asked God for two things: That I may meet a good priest for confession, and get a  good counsellor. Both my prayers were answered.

“I was assigned for counselling to a laywoman of my age (mid-forties). Her very first words shook me. After praying for me, she said: “Jesus says: ‘In the recent weeks, I have not been seeing you for daily Mass, as I used to earlier.” I was shocked. Being extra busy, I had not been going to church on week days. How did this counsellor read my soul? She is telling me that Jesus missed me!” (Rekha, 47 years)

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Fr Joe Mannath SDB

Percival Holt, President of the Indian Catholic Youth Movement (ICYM), speaks to MAGNET about his experience of the Synod of Youth held in Rome last year, as well as the preparatory work done before that. Percival holds a Master’s in Biotechnology. He was interviewed by Sr Celine Vas BS, our associate editor.

MAGNET: You attended Pre-Synod Meeting at Rome in March 2018. How was your experience?

Percival Holt: It was my first encounter with so many bishops, priests and youth representatives. The best thing about this synod is we had three hundred youth representatives from all over the world.
At the outset Pope asked the bishops and young people to shed our prejudices about each other. He thanked the youth for answering the questionnaire (sent to 150, 000 youth all over the world). He thanked us for our honest feedback.

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In this article, Kevin Sullivan, an experienced lawyer, and involved in ministry to couples for years, speaks of the wonderful difference retreats have made in his personal and family life, and how spiritual retreats differ in impact from the corporate “retreats” given by experts. What we do AFTER the retreat makes a huge difference.

RETREATS MORE POWERFUL THAN PARISH MISSIONS

As you read this, the Lenten season is well underway. In our parish and throughout the United States, Lent brings with it the possibilities of parish missions and retreats. Many of our fellow parishioners will attend and the mission will be the talk of the parish for at least the next three or four days. I am somewhat reluctant to confess that I am not a big fan of parish missions. Don’t get me wrong: The few missions I have attended over the years have always been wonderfully preached and informative, encouraging and even inspirational.  The problem is that, while I find them satisfying, engaging and even at times entertaining, they have never had the life-changing impact of the powerful full retreats I have been blessed to participate in over the years. Well! You might ask, whose fault is that? That’s a good question to which I am inclined to answer “Mine, of course. ” Why is it I get so much more from a good retreat than I do from a great parish mission?

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Crystal and Kevin Sullivan