Month of October 2017
Today, with the use of the Internet, the Youth are facing dilemma, being bombarded with information and exposed to a variety of world cultures. This on the one hand, has been a boon while, on the other it has proved to be a bane, as the innocent mind of a child is unable to decipher right from wrong. The role of the teacher is becoming more challenging with every passing year, especially in sowing the seed of Faith in young minds.
The students of the Convent of Jesus and Mary-Kharghar, are privileged in a way, to be Indian-and to live in a land of many Faiths. The great privilege they have now, is to witnessed the deep Faith of a great « Woman for all Times » -Claudine Thevenet.
At the onset of this Bicentenary year of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary, we have reflected on the Faith of St. Claudine. The students have discovered, through exposure to various activities conducted, how they can strengthen their own Faith. The first session conducted helped them to surrender everything to God who is our greatest help. Teachers prepared a PowerPoint presentation on Faith as a Virtue and the importance of being trustworthy. How a deep faith can work wonders, was explained to the students through tapping their personal experiences and also citing various incidents from the life of St. Claudine and other Sisters.
Various activities such as Poster making, Penning down a poem, Story writing revealing one’s faith, were conducted in addition to understanding Faith through various media eg. Reading from the Holy book, sharing personal experiences on Faith, to Debate on the topic: ‘ Is Faith important in today’s life’ and Meditation sessions were conducted. Children were able to introspect how much others could trust them and how can they be trustworthy to others. Through these sessions it was discovered that Faith was the cornerstone of many other Virtues within children. They were able to work on many values which they were essential for humanity to exist in the world.
Through the sessions, children of the Faith and the need to strengthen their Faith and God, in themselves and in others.
Month of November 2017
» Forgiveness is the attribute of God, if we possess it, we bring heaven on earth . » The words « Forgive Glady, as we forgive » which Claudine heard from her brother, always resonated in her life and strengthened her to continue with her call. When one forgives, one first overcomes his own hurt feelings and does not allow resentment to take control anymore. This empowers us and strengthens us to forgive others.
This powerful Virtue was widely promoted in our JM schools through various activities. Age appropriate activities were conducted for children in all sections. Action songs, hymns, stories based on Forgiveness were planned for students of the lower classes. Exchanging cards, on which the word » Sorry » was written, helped them to repair their relationships. Some helpful activities were the enactment of skits based on Forgiveness, discussions on the advantages and limitations of the Value of Forgiveness, Reflection sessions where students introspected and writing of Stories which promotes Forgiveness. All helped in living in communion with one another.
These sessions were not only beneficial for students but also for the teachers. However old we are, however mature we become, one experiences being hurt. Trying to easily overcoming our hurt feelings makes us stronger. Conquering our vices brings us closer to God and makes us dear to Him. This was the underlying message through these sessions on Forgiveness.
Month of December 2017
« Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. »
« We make a living by what we GET, but we make a life by what we GIVE ».
Communion is an act of sharing and caring.
Our teachers at CJM Kharghar have always focused on inculcating in our children a sense of responsibility, an attitude of cooperation, caring and helpfulness and cultivating good healthy friendships. We practice what we preach through our actions. We teachers follow Claudine’s as our role model in fostering in our children the Claudine lived and taught. St. Claudine Thevenet has inspired us through her values which we emphasize in our daily Value Education and Faith Formation classes..
Various activities were conducted to inculcate the specific Values of Sharing and Caring. Movie Day was organized where children were shown cartoon animated movies based on Moral Values.
The theme for the month of December was “Communion”. For this, the children were shown moral videos, performed skits, activities to render help to weaker students and Special Assemblies, were conducted to focus on the value – ‘Communion’.
Sandwich making session was organized to learn how to prepare and share among them. In an Outreach programme, the children voluntarily offered basic necessity items to the underprivileged. Children showed their love and compassion by contributing many items thus making this a big success.
OUTREACH PROGRAMME
To work as a teacher is very satisfying. It is doubly satisfying to see the result of the values taught been practiced by our students. Children of CJM, Kharghar have been practicing reaching out to the poor from the time they are in school. Collecting utility items and distributing it during the time of Christmas is a way to spread the love and teaching of Christ our Lord. May our children be a blessing to the world to make it a better place for dear mother St.Claudine.
