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The JPICS RA International Session will be held in Pune, India, from November 26 to December 7, 2023
The theme chosen is: TO DEEPEN THE ROOTS OF THE JPICS MISSION IN OUR CHARISM AND THUS COLLABORATE IN THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR SOCIETY
Twelve delegates from the Provinces/Region,the members of the International Commission and some sisters from India will participate in the Session. We thank Sister Smitha and the sisters of the Province of India who have supported us and welcome us with great generosity, as well as the translators and the Communication Team who have collaborated in the preparation from near and far.
We count on your prayers as we also carry in our hearts the reality of pain but also of hope that our world is going through. We will share with you the fruits of our meeting.
he JPICS RA International Commission
Do you know what? Tomorrow the international session of JPICS in Pune, India will get underway! All the participants are already here and have experienced the Arati Indian gesture of welcome. The preparations have been made and the session is now in the hands of Christ the King, whose Mass we celebrated this evening. May the Lord accompany us on our journey of JPICS !
A beautiful Opening Liturgy with the Mayan symbol of the four Cardinal points which was an introduction for our work. After a word of welcome from Sr. Smitha, Provincial of India, and a presentation by Continents, we welcomed Sr. Rekha, our Superior General’s opening words. A moment of interiorization allowed us to reflect on this before looking at the road we need to travel together during this session. We then listened to the various Continental summaries of our contexts, realities and challenges. Based on this work, Father Cedric, a Jesuit, helped us to see the bigger picture and proposed possible solutions. At the end of the day, we celebrated the Opening Mass of the session with Mgr. D'Silva and our Communities in the surroundings of Pune, a beautiful Indian-style liturgy. This first day ended with a fraternal meal followed by a moment of sharing. The memory of Sr. DEEPTI is very much alive here.
This 2nd day of the session was rich and very intense. It was marked by the contribution of Sr Rekha who plunged us into the scriptural roots of JPICS from Genesis to Revelation with this vision of new heavens and a new Earth, this Jerusalem that he wants to create here and now. The JPICS project is God's project that we have been given the mission to accomplish.
We experienced the high point of the Eucharist celebrated in memory of Sr Deepty, where we received the testimonies of Sr Shanti on behalf of her community, of Sr Sandra on behalf of the International JPICS Team, in which she was totally involved in the preparation of this session almost to the end, and the moving testimony of Sr Rekha.
In the afternoon, we listened to the Bishop Allwyn D’Silva on the evolution of the Church towards JPICS. His words were marked by his experience as a priest in a Bombay slum and were based on the latest encyclicals of Pope Francis.
For a few days, we immersed ourselves in the different realities of India to discover them from the inside. In small groups, we went to different communities in different states of India: the community of Patna in the state of Bihar, the communities of Piriaponch and Pandripani in the state of Jharkhand, the communities of Rajodi and Vitalwadi in the state of Maharashtra and the community of Calicut in the state of Kerala. The sisters, friends and local people gave us a very warm welcome in all these places, in keeping with the tradition of hospitality so dear to this country. We were able to discover the missions of the communities working for social transformation through education. In the midst of extreme poverty, clear-cut action through social centres is the means chosen by the communities to lift people up, give them back their dignity and enable them to take responsibility for their own lives.
Filled with these diverse and varied experiences in our hearts, we took time to review the day: personal and group time has enabled us to share our observations, analyze situations, present to the other groups our encounters, the living conditions of the people we met and the situations which touched us. Immersions do not leave us untouched: we remember the faces, the actions which inspired us to respond in turn in new ways in our lives. We are infinitely grateful to the Province of India for allowing us to share a little of their life.
At the end of the day we explored how what we had seen and heard could be a source of inspiration in our Continents: we were able to formulate our proposals and share them in groups.
We began our day with a guided Shibashi Meditation by sr Gertrude, wich helped us to be connected with with the nature; Then it was followed by eucharistic celebration. At 8:30 am we started the session with the Spirit of contemplation and reflection. A summary of session from the first day to the last day helped us to re-read what we have learned. Then, we met into a small groups for reflecting on the guided questions which helped us to deepen the calls and fruits received from the session. In the afternoon, we listen to each group as we shared our dreams. The day was marked by reflections questions and clarifications on different themes such as the spirituality of JPICS, the lifestyle, the dimension of social transformation of JPICS and also the dimension of education of JPICS.
We opened the day with a song to the Holy Spirit, who disposed our hearts to God's will. Then we looked at the summary of yesterday's work, our convictions, the calls and suggestions. After the reactions of the assembly, we had group work to exchange on the future transmissions of this session in our respective provinces. Sandra gave us some information about JPICS and encouraged us to draw up a project, action plan and budget for better animation in our provinces.
Sandra's closing words were followed by the JPICS team sending us off with the seeds and water of Lourdes, under the watchful eye of the Virgin Mary. Then we had the closing Mass with Bishop John of Pune.
In the afternoon, we had a farewell party, where put our cultural skills to good use with a fun-filled evening of entertainment. And we said goodbye to each other.