Philippine-Australia-Saipan Province

Celebrating a new beginning

“Today, 29 December 2007 at 5.00 pm we in the Philippine-Saipan Province join the Australian Delegation in prayer of praise and thanksgiving to Jesus our Good Shepherd who has brought us to our new identity as Philippine-Australia-Saipan Province.  A beautiful prayer which served as the culmination of the first day of our end of Year Assembly that led us to an awareness of a deep joy and gratitude to God for this wonderful gift to our Province. The Lord continuously puts his trust in us and challenging us to spread our wings and embrace the wider reality where His Word and love are hungered for.

With joyful hearts we said “Yes” to the Good Shepherd’s call and with open hearts we prepare ourselves to the unfolding of God’s plan for us”.

With these words, our Sisters in the Philippines made themselves present to us in Australia as we let go our being a Delegation, and expressed our openness to continue our ministry of pastoral care as one Philippine-Australia-Saipan Province.

ñ Philippines ò

ñ Australia ò

Commitment

The theme of the paraliturgy was an expression of the sentiments with which we embrace this new deed that God has been creating: “Life to me is Christ: yesterday, today and tomorrow”. (Phil 1:21 & Heb 13:8).

As the new Philippine-Australia-Saipan Province we are called to continue to “always look to Jesus the Good Shepherd and live as he did” for “the more united we are to Christ the more our life will be holy, the more it will be full of wonder…This is effected for us through our participation in Christ’s apostolate: from the crib to Calvary” (Blessed James Alberione). The Scripture readings from Philippians 2:5-11 and Mark 6:30-34 read during the paraliturgy were a seal to the exhortation from our Founder.

To visibly express our commitment we used Fr. Alberione’s prayer the Secret of Success followed by each Sister making a written statement that gave voice to our gratitude for all that has been and our Amen, our Yes, our Fiat to all that will be as Pastorelle Sisters of the Pi-Au-Sa Province.

The last part of the paraliturgy included spontaneous petitions and the prayer for holiness that marks the beginning of the celebration of the 70^th anniversary of foundation of our Congregation on 7 October 2008.

                                                                       Sr. Mary La Bruna