REVISITING OUR BEGINNING - A CHARISMATIC JOURNEY The 26th & 27th afternoons of April saw, about 25 - 30 Sisters gathered at St Joseph's Home and Hospice for a charismatic journey - revisiting our beginnings for two afternoons. Notwithstanding the Kia-SARS syndrome, which hit many Singaporeans, including the Canossians who prefer Coke to Sar-si, Sisters' temperatures were taken, making sure that all were fit for this arduous journey. Yes, all were certified fever-free. The charismatic session was facilitated by Sr Geraldine Tan and Sr Elizabeth Tham, who with their unique charismatic appeal drew forth from us, the participants, our gifts to be displayed alongside with that of St Magdalene. What do I mean? Well on the first afternoon, we shared our personal Scriptural text and the context in which we first heard our call to follow Jesus. "Come follow me", " Sell everything you have, give it to the poor and follow me", "Morning by morning, he makes my ear alert to listen like a disciple" were some of the Scriptural texts Sisters shared. In threes, we shared the context of our religious calling - deepening our first calling and strengthening each other as we moved ahead in this faith journey and mission. It was a rekindling of our initial, first love relationship with the Beloved, and this was meaningfully shared. Before we concluded the first day, we were told to bring for the next day, something that symbolized our individual gifts. The next day began with the display of our gifts… personal charisms ranged from cooking, very concretely symbolized by a cooking ladle, to non tangible kinetic gifts like compassion for the sick and elderly symbolized by a packet of tissue amongst others. Sr Elizabeth and Sr Geraldine then spoke of our Canossian charism which is to be discovered in depth in a treasure hunt process known as cooperative learning.  I was amazed and inspired by the wealth that was generated in this process. There was a fair mix of Sisters from the Tealite, Jade, Pinkies, Yellow and Blue bird age groups in the assembly. The wisdom of the elderly Sisters who went to the core of the Canossian Charism was complimented by the articulate younger Sisters who were concerned with the use of terminology and rightly so, because language highlights the different nuances of meaning.  All in all, everybody had an invigorating experience of being a Canossian community and what it means to journey together in faith. This was gratifyingly clear when unanimously all were desirous for another session to complete the process and text that we had begun here.  So we will meet again at the end of May… till then Thank you Sisters for your charismatic animation… it says much and feels good to know that we want to meet again so soon. By: Sr Margaret Goh
	Note: Kia: a Chinese word meaning afraid.  Si: a Chinese word meaning die.
	Editor's Note:  A similar session was held on the 1st of May for all other Sisters. The response was also positive and these too groups will meet again on the 25th of May for a follow-up Session.
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