Consecrated Day Brought Out A Side Of The Religious You Have Never Seen Before

Every year, the Women’s Cell, under the direction of Fr. Magi Murzello, organises a celebration on Consecrated Day - 02 February - for the religious sisters and lay consecrated women of the parish. Consecrated Day is in fact the feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The religious look forward to this day to get together, let their hair down and reconnect with the sisters of the various institutions within the parish.

This year, we were privileged to have Msgr. Alex Rebello from Wales (UK), who was on a home visit, to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and preach the homily. He made three very important points:

1. Every child is a gift from God and belongs to God.

2. On the 40^th day after Jesus’ birth, Mary presented herself with her child at the temple. Young parents today present their child to God by placing him/ her at the foot of the altar in total surrender to God.

3. Nothing belongs to us. All that we are, are a reflection of Jesus, the light of the world.

The choir of three - Sarita, Corette, and Anne-Marie as usual added notes of harmony and melody making the service more meaningful.

The invitation, a ‘whats APP’ card, was unique, amusing and pertinent to the theme. It is interesting to note that smartphones are not only the prized possession of the young and the restless, but our sisters are smartphone savvy too .

The games were based on apps too. App cards were distributed and each group had to explain the significance of the icon. The nuns went all out to do the same in song and dance, bursting with fun and revealing their hidden talents.

The last game was an App–titude Test, where they had to identify the App Icons without using their smartphones. Wow! You should have seen them at it. Thinking caps were firmly in place; brows furrowed with probable answers all set to get the maximum right answers.

The card itself set them thinking: Are we APP-RECIATED?  Are we (up) APP-SET? Are we (h) APP-(y)? Are we (h) APP-HAZARD? Guess, they spent time reflecting on those pertinent issues.

That was not all. The sisters were treated to delectable snacks and a sumptuous dinner by Valencia Caterers. The menu had interesting titles too; among them was, Twitter Pulao, Swiggy Piggy, Cool brella, etc. I am quite sure it all APP-EALED to their APP-ETITES. There was more. Each one had an APP-ROPRIATE take away. Finally, it was curtains down but not before the Women’s Cell and Fr. Magi were given a hearty round of  APP-LAUSE.