Sisters of the Cross of Chavanod
RECOLLECTION PRAYER
In preparation for Mother Foundress’s Day – 04.08.2013
Dear friends gathered in the presence
of the Lord, to thank and praise Him for the marvellous gift of Mother Claudine
Echernier, the foundress of our Congregation, we begin this Holy Hour by
invoking the Triune God: In the name of
the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
God’s enlivening presence is within us,
around us and amidst us. Let us become aware of His omnipresence and experience
Him in the core of our being. Our breath is the tangible sign of God’s
indwelling presence. Let us become aware of our breathing, the indwelling
presence of God and we say as we breath in ‘Jesus’. And say ‘Jesus’ as we breath out.
Bhajan: Oh my Jesus you are my life, come to me come to my
heart
Caught up in the great plan of the
Father for the world “to unite all things in Christ, the one head, our Mother
Claudine responded to His call to enter into a covenant of love with Christ and
induced by the Holy spirit founded the Congregation “Sisters of the Cross of
Chavanod” in the year 1838 for a special mission to make the Good God known and
loved. Fulfilling the mission entrusted to her she breathed her last on the 10th
of August 1868.
Thanking God for the amazing gift of
our Mother Claudine whose heart and soul were to proclaim the glory of God and
being blessed to be her daughters today let us recall the manifold blessings we
cherish and relish in our lives through our Congregation. We do thank God for
the gratuitous gift of vocation to each one of us to our congregation to the
sisters of the Cross of Chavanod , we sing……Hymn: C.81 / C. 74
In our contemporary evolving world,
consumerism and permissiveness influence our choices, decisions and life style.
Our religious life is affected by these present realities and there is a lack
of clarity with regard to the focus of our religious commitment. The world that
is evolving poses a series of challenges to our consecrated apostolic life
because it does not see the value of a life permanently committed to God and
the welfare of the people. What is our response to this query?
As we are pushed and pulled between the
good and evil, Mother Claudine our dynamic model stands amidst us and tells us “gaze
at the crucified Lord and be strengthened. Be attentive to his whisperings that
would offer real and lasting joy of emptying yourself and having passion for
Him and passion for His humanity”. Our mother beckons us to the Divine Source,
to drink deeply as she herself had been directed by the Holy Spirit.
Unless we know where we are, we may not
be able to enjoy the spiritual drink which is flowing every moment to be drunk. Let us examine ourselves what are the various
factors influence us to be drifted away from our focus of living the paschal
joy and making the good God known and loved.
Penitential Hymn: Karunai Iraiva saram
“Mother Claudine had in all her actions
and in all her undertakings only the glory of God in view. She lived only for
Him. She sought Him alone.” The virtue that was dominant in our Mother
Foundress was her love of God , the virtue that included all the others. She
sought Him alone, all the rest was nothing for her. Mother Claudine sought God
in everything, in every person and in every situation and responded in generous
love. These experiences led her to make a prophetic move.
Her deep love for God and neighbours,
identification with Christ crucified in His poverty and humility, desire to do
the will of God and her total trust in God adorned her personality. No
deprivation, trials and suffering of any kind prevented her from forging ahead
with confidence, courage and hope, for she united herself constantly with the
crucified Lord. Joining our mother let us express our deep desire that He alone
is enough for us by singing... Hymn:
D-132
Mother Claudine is our treasure. She is
a valiant woman whose communion with triune was so great that even she forgets
the time passed in the presence of the Lord. This intimate relationship with
her beloved evoked her to be like Him. Hence, she applied herself constantly to
reproduce the life, the works and the virtues of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Like Him and for Him, she loved
poverty, work, suffering, privations, and hidden life. Her thoughts, her intentions, her words and
her works, all were animated by the spirit of our Lord. She was like the
Ciborium enclosing the holy species. She carried Jesus within herself and
manifested Jesus at all moments through her very life.
Taking delight in the person of our
mother Foundress, whose life was prayer and who lived prayer, let us ask
ourselves what does the prayer mean to us? We pause for a while and allow our
communion with the triune transform us to be God seekers and God givers in the
milieu where we are.
Bhajan: Unnodu nann ennodu nee
The simplicity of Mother Claudine went
hand in hand with her total obedience to the will and good pleasure of God. Her
preoccupation was only to do the will of God and edified many by her mere
presence. All who have encountered her could see Jesus in her. For, her deep
conviction and commitment to be with the Lord and give Lord, the Word of God
has taken a special place in her life. The foundational text, our mother
cherished and pondered could have been Jn 15: 1-17. Let us listen to the same reading
and make this our own. Reading: Jn 15:
1-17
It is being in the union of God that
our mother Claudine could observe the miseries of the world and could respond
to God, world and others in an effective and fruitful way. Yes, it is the
rootedness with Christ helps to seek and find God’s will and bring us closer to
the realities of our daily life. This demands that we move from mere recitation
of prayers to an apostolic prayer which leads us to see God in all things and
all things in God for His greater glory.
Hymn: S-15
Now let us pray for each one of us that
we may be imbued with the spirit of our Mother Foundress and sing the antiphon of
A.90.
Entrusting our Congregation, the
Church, the world at the foot of the Lord to be filled with His love and grace,
we say, Our Father
We ask the same grace through the
intercession of Mary our Lady of compassion, to whom the Congregation is
specially consecrated. May her faithful attachment to Christ in participating
in His mission of salvation be also ours. Hail
Mary
May the Lord Bless us and give us the
grace to live in union with Him forever and ever. Amen.
