The Tri–monthly Renewal Course was organized for the Young sisters of Shillong Province on 9 – 12 October 2016 at FMA Outreach Shillong. The theme of the course was “Sharing in the mystery of Christ, chaste, poor and obedient”. 56 young sisters of different communities took part in the programme with great enthusiasm. Sr Marvella Shangpliang, the Vice- Provincial cum Vocation co-coordinator led the young sisters in this experience.

The Renewal Course was preceded with a half day Prayer and Reflection. During which, Fr. V.T. Jose SDB, Rector of Sacred Heart Theological Shillong made us reflect on “Consecrated life” highlighting the two precious gifts that God has given us, namely, ‘Time and Freedom of choice’. Above all, we encountered the Lord of Mercy through the Sacrament of Reconciliation and thanked God for the gift of our Salesian vocation through the Eucharistic Adoration.

We began the day with the well-animated Morning Prayer next followed by the Holy Eucharist celebrated by Fr. Poonthuruthil James SDB, Rector of Mathias Institute. At 9:00 am we had a session with Sr. Rosina Susngi, Animator of St. Mary Mazzarello Convent Jowai, on the ‘Constitutions’. She began her session by saying that “the constitution is a mirror of our charismatic identity”. She reminded us that while adapting with the signs of the time we should not forget or go away from the Spirit of the Origin.

The next resource person of the day was Sr Euginia Laloo, the Social Communication coordinator of the Province based on the topic “the impact of media on Religious Life”. Through this session we were made aware of both the positive and negative impacts of media on our life as Religious. The group in profession wise had a discussion on some questions pertaining to media and also made action plans for the respective groups, for which each group presented creative and meaningful responses.

October 12^th brought along greater enthusiasm. The Holy Eucharist was celebrated by Rev Fr. Lyngkot Paul SDB, the Vice- Provincial of Shillong Province. He exhorted us to give ourselves totally to the Lord and the mission inspite of the challenges and the demands of the reality of life. The day then was handed over to Sr Nongkynrih Entilia, where she dealt with the aspects of the Spiritual Profile of the FMA. This session was indeed practical which gave us impetus to live our religious life with creative fidelity and with greater commitment and to fix our gaze on Jesus who is the source of our call.

The programme concluded at 2.00 pm with the evaluation of the three-day sessions. It was a beneficial coming together, enriching each other and planning together. We are grateful to Sr. Isabella Suja, Provincial and the formation team for arranging this programme for us and for their keen interest in seeing us grow. We extend our special thanks to Sr Marvella Shangpliang for her presence with us throughout our meeting. Our special thanks to Sr. Gemima Pohrmen and the sisters of FMA Outreach community for their hospitality and the sacrifices they have put in for the success of the programme.