Farewell and Welcome at MSJ Novitiate

 “It is not the years in your life but the life in your years that counts.”

                                                                                   -Adlai E. Stevenson

We the Novitiate Community bid farewell to 13 Jesuit novices and Fr. Josephvaz S.J. the outgoing Socius and welcomed the new Socius, Fr.Anthony Pais S.J. to the Novitiate on 11th of June, 2019.

On this occasion, 1st year novices bid adieu to 13 would-be Scholastics and Fr. Josephvaz, S.J. through their mellifluous singing and a show-stopping dance performance. 

Nov. Shaun D’Silva shared his joys and sorrows of novitiate life. Fr. Josephvaz S.J. the outgoing Socius shared his memorable days as the Socius. With his typical style scrutinising each person in a truly Ignatian way by giving positives and suggestions to each of them. At the end, Fr. Master delivered his message that sprung from the very depths of his heart. The volleyball match marked the valediction of the farewell ceremony. (MG)

Vows Day 2019

June 21st is the special day for the Mount St Joseph community. Our novices after two years of their novitiate training took simple vows of chastity, poverty and obedience.  In this 60th jubilee year of Mount St Joseph, the Karnataka Jesuit Province had a privilege of having 13 novices who pronounced their vows and became part of the members of the Society of Jesus. 

We wish them all the very best as 9 of them go to Vidyaniketan, Trivendrum and 4 of them to Vinayalaya, Mumbai for their next stage of formation, i.e. Juniorate. We thank God for these vibrant young men to the Society of Jesus.

Fr Jerome Stanislaus D'Souza, the provincial of Karnataka Jesuit Province thanked Fr Jossie Rodrigues, the Novice Director and the Assistant Novice Director, Fr Josephvaz Monteiro, for preparing them after the heart and mind of our founder St Ignatius of Loyola.

 The presence of the neighbouring religious communities gathered in large numbers added joy to the celebration.

The 42 issue of the Novitiate Journal "Navataranga" was released on this occasion. (MG)

Mary Visits Joseph

09th June, 2019, on the parish feast of our parish in Kalena Agrahara, the well decorated chariot with the statue of Our Lady visited Mount St. Joseph.  Chariot along with the devout parishners of the parish and the parish priest Fr Arun Kumar made their way right in front of the statue of St. Joseph which is at the entrance of the house.  

All the Jesuits of the house, Fathers and Novices greeted Our Lady and the parishners as well as the parish priest with smiling faces. But also singing hymns to the Mother of Our Lord.  Rector of the house, Fr Anthony Joseph said the prayers, paid homage to God's Mother and wished the people a very happy feast.  It's a tradition that has long been preserved because of the foundation of the parish  and Jesuits involvement which is interconnected. [OV]

Dhyanashrama Retreat Schedule June 2019 to June 2020

Inter Novitiate Day

‘How good it is when brothers and sisters gather together to do the will of God.’

It was really splendid, spiritual and a Holy day for us. We were blessed to have the sisters Novices from Holy Spirit, Alverna and FSI. We ruminated on the theme “call to holiness”. Fr Anthony Joseph SJ gave a small introductory note, later, Sr. Vijaya (Holy Cross) the resource person helped us cudgel our brains with her musings. The Holy Eucharist was a time where we could praise the Lord our God in one chorus. Fr. Olvin Veigas, SJ was the main celebrant of the day, and Frs. Joseph Vaz, Joseph Ignatius Rodrigues were the con-celebrants. Their reflections helped us to practically become aware of the days’ theme. We called it a day by playing some fun-filled funny games, Quiz and at last by the ‘sadri’Dance. It was indeed a great time to relate with each other.  

MISSION EXPERIMENTS

‘Mission Experiment  is a particle of  Month Retreat .’  A year before we had immensely encountered Christ in our Month Retreat. This year 13 of the second year Novices were sent to different Mission stations to encounter this same Christ in the verities of ‘Real Life’ - in the poor, marginalized, afflicted, abandoned, neglected etc., written below is just a smidgen of these experiences.

 The ubiquitous warped path, the vandalized selves, social and political upheavals which has upended the lives of these people usually makes anyone vamoose from the situation. But in this we found ‘The Risen Lord still carrying his cross’. In this shambolic tragedy, we encountered the Christ still yearning to be Risen! We were amazed by the valor of these simpletons to face these hardcore challenges of their lives head-on. We returned to our abode with the hope that Jesus will rise up someday in their lives! 

Month Retreat And Cassock Day

Needless to say it was a month of grace and transformation at its peak. The 12 first years were deeply rooted in God's experience and truly each one had a peculiar and ineffable experience of Manresa. Receiving profound clarity and confirmation of the vocation, each one has boldly continued the journey towards to ones purpose. 

After accepting the standard of Christ the 1st year brothers were blessed to receive the cassocks in the Novitiate itself. This long awaited day gladdened their souls. On the 12th of February donned in the holy white robe the first years appeared resplendent. The creative liturgy, meaningful celebration of the solemn Eucharist by Fr. Provincial and not mention sumptuous dinner were the highlights of the day. We called it a day by having the common recreation here we shared our experiences of the experiments and this intern doubled our joy.

JUBILEE CELEBRATION

We the Jesuit Novices were elated to celebrate the 450th birth anniversary of St. Aloysius Gonzaga the patron of youths and lepers and the 400th death anniversary of St. Alphonsus Rodriguez. We had a cluster of programmes beginning from the prayer service. Jesuit novices hosted a play which depicted the life of St. Aloysius, in response to it the neighbouring religious and benefactors gave a standing ovation. 

To embellish the joy our senior Fathers played an important role by performing a vocal orchestral music. The day turned to be inspiring to all by the eloquent and regaling talk of Fr.Fredrick  D’silva on the life of the above Saints we called it a day after having tea and sumptuous snack.

St Francis Xavier Feast

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Our revelry knew no bounds as our hearts were raring to celebrate this popular feast. Guided meditation as well as the shared prayer on the life of St. Francis Xavier enlivened us with the zestful spirit and ardor. The neck and neck football match in the evening was indeed breathtaking. All of us could wind down ourselves and thereby we attributed our victory to St. Francis Xavier. The solemn mass presided over by Fr. Almeida was a source of spiritual nourishment. Truly all became blissful owing to the inspiring homily of Fr. Olvin Veigas and not to mention the seraphic choir by the Novices. Eventually, we savored the culinary delights during dinner as one family, reminiscing about the idyllic experiences of the day.

INTER NOVITIATE COURSE

We were privileged to attend this INTER NOVITIATE COURSE from 5th- 9th of November 2018 animated by the Maestro of Ignatian Spirituality Fr. Freddie D’Silva SJ on the theme Discernment. With the Jesuit NOVICES the Sisters from FSI, ALVERNA and HOLY SPIRIT benefitted from this course. Father’s esoteric session never being mundane and his palpable examples were ineluctable. 

My ethos towards Discernment began to bolster to a higher level. His delectable jokes which always had a deep moral value embedded in it where undeniably helping us to keep our chin up! To make the session more lively we had group discussions and this made us to learn from each other’s experience.

Volley Ball Match

The month of September was refulgent with sportive extravaganzas.  A sense of enhancement brought to us neck and neck competitions with the LOYOLA ITI students, the youth of IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY church, the brothers of TRINITY,  JEEVALAYA and MCBS. Each point famished the players to flaunt their skills to keep up their spirits.  

The Religious and the spectators kept on wringing their hands and cheered the players with gusto.  At the end of each match we were petered out, to regain our strength we came together keeping aside our victories and losses and had a good healthy snack.  This helped us to grow in our relationship with our neighbors.  Above all these matches and practices made us to integrate our spiritual life to the reality by positively accepting the situations as they came in the forms of winning and losing.  We grew in sensitivity towards our fellow companions and others by being available and by giving equal chances to all.