Charism &Lifestyle

The greatest of all gifts is the gift of God’s love. The pure and true love of God, the paternal love, unattainable to man of his own, was made available to him in Jesus Christ. It is his only begotten Son Who revealed God as merciful and loving Father. We visualize on the face of Christ the face of the heavenly Father as source of mercy and centre of consolation. God calls certain people to carry out his mission to build up the body of Church bearing testimony of one’s personal experience of the different aspects of the love of God in Christ. Fr.Varghese Payappilly the Founder of SD has received the special Charism to taste and reveal Christ who is the image of the heavenly Father rich in merciful love.

SD Charism

Venerable Fr Varghese Payappilly, the founder of the Congregation Sisters of The Destitute, was anointed by the Holy Spirit with a special charism, to carry on the mission of Christ by becoming a channel of compassionate love and by personalizing the inner attitudes of Christ who revealed the infinite compassion and love of the Father to poor who are destitute and oppressed

We, Sisters of Destitute are consecrated through the beatitudes, to live and manifest the Spirit of Christ the most Compassionate and the Destitute, who became obedient unto death.

Lifestyle

The life of our Founder who ordered his lifestyle with self-discipline befitting of an ascetic was enriched by God-experience and filled with other-oriented service. By living this call in depth this lifestyle became a source of inspiration to the pioneers of SD. They realized that they also have to be the Good News to the poor through their prayer and loving service.

Life as a Hymn

 From the very outset, the SD Sisters were called upon and trained to be vigilant in prayer as our divine Master exhorted us to stay awake and pray. Jesus himself remained united through prayer to heavenly Father even amidst of many activities; his brides also should be united in prayer. The day in the life of an SD Sister begins at rising with hymn of divine praises on her lips, surrendering her whole life at his feet, listening to his word, standing in his presence and responding to it. As a symbol of bringing together every destitute rejected all over the five continents, the elderly, the differently able, young and old are led to the altar and offer her sacrifice with and for the destitute

The remaining ours of the day may be said to be a journey to different avenues. Some of the sisters expend themselves in love for others in their chores like cooking, laundering, cleaning and tending vegetables. Some others go in search of the little ones like the marginalized, the old, the handicapped, the poor and terminally ill. While others engage themselves in family and slum welfare programmes by visiting them.  Some others engage themselves in education and health care imparting mercy and love of Jesus. The superiors stand by the members of the community, giving leadership; encouragement and recognition to the Sisters in their diverse apostolate. Directresses take the responsibility of molding the you8ng generation to conform them to Jesus, the compassionate. The ejaculations, ‘Jesus keep me in thy Sacred Heart”, “Jesus, all for thee’, ‘Thy Kingdom come’, ‘Thy will be done’, ‘Sacred Heart of Jesus, I trust in  your Love’, help them to remain in the presence of God and to maintain the purity of intention necessary in the apostolate. They will continue to deepen this awareness of the divine presence by their visits to the Blessed Sacrament. This rolling of the daily wheel towards God and through Him to man was at the same time an experience of love of God and of one another. Due importance is given for spiritual studies.

Time is set aside at noon and at night for the examination of conscience to thank God for the providential love and to seek his forgiveness for the failures. Liturgy of hours, Holy mass daily and confession within two weeks strongly bind with God and fellow human beings.

Life of Asceticism and work

The most vital factors for prayer and spiritual growth is the lifestyle of the SD as transmitted by our Founder, Valliarumpeth Valliachen and pioneers through their lives and teaching ,born of asceticism and selfless service. The members of the congregation ought to lead a life of prayer and work, inspired by the lifestyle of Holy Family and the examples of the apostles and holy men and women. Just as Jesus offered each and every work He did in His life as supreme worship to His Father, each SD Sister should offer every act as worship. This sacred vision prompts Sisters to come forward taking up laborious and lowly works in the spirit of sacrifice and love.

Jesus became a pattern for our imitation in order to save us by taking up works that are ordinary and lowly in the eyes of man, assuming the form of a slave. Considering this toilsome life as an ascent to Calvary and as sacrificial oblation with Jesus on the cross from the redemption of the World, we must bring this tremendous sacrifice completely burned by love on their altar of mortification. Since this spirit took hold of the Sisters they lived in the joy of resurrection undertaking hard work. They endured patiently every hardship in their daily life imitating Jesus of Nazerath.

Life in Common

The bliss and serenity that the SD Sisters enjoyed interiority is radiated through loving service to others. What highlight in the lives of pioneers and those gone for their eternal reward is their love, joy, hard work, humility and sensitivity to the needs of others. The tradition of holding everything in common to share them generously made them capable of living other oriented life. Whenever any problem cropped up in the community it was resolved by transferring it to the Lord in the spirit of prayer and reconciling with one another by confessing to each other. The leadership of the superior in this matter was very helpful. The tradition of rushing to the aid of others, after completing the task entrusted to oneself, fostered unity in the community. The common work in the evening such as gathering firewood weeding the garden, cultivation of the vegetables was helpful to grow in love, joy and relaxation of the community. The practice of giving positive strokes and correcting the faults in love enabled them to build up communion.

Poverty

The Lord himself was the wealth and prestige of the proto members who lived unmindful of personal likes and dislikes, eating what was necessary for health, retaining only sufficient clothes and living without any cravings for anything in the world. Poverty in spirit is to experience joy and fulfillment in God alone finding all security in Him with a detached heart. The little Sisters of the Poor began from a condition of nothingness. The convent was started in the guard house at Kurukkankunnu, Chunangamvely.The community earned its livelihood by dehuskin the paddy for St Mary’s Boarding Aluva with hard labor.

The spirit of destituteness and evangelical poverty of the SD is a participation in the kenotic experience of Jesus whereby they become the servants and ministers of God and his people. We have to become really poor and free so as to be able to impart the love of Christ to our poor brethren. The members of the Congregation renounce the right to procure, use and administer material goods.

Obedience

“I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (Jn.5:30)

By our profession of obedience we offer the full dedication of our own will as an expression of the sacrifice of ourselves to God. By our submission to the will of God we participate in the salvificial mission of Christ who was obedient unto death on the cross; and thus in a special way commit ourselves to share compassionate love with our brothren.

The example and the inspiration of the Founder in paying due respect to his Bishop and other authorities and in obeying their directives as the will of God, deepened the obedience of the pioneers Their reverential respect manifested towards their legitimate authorities and their submissive mentality to their directives is the lifestyle we have received as our patrimony.

Life radiating Love

The Sisters experiences genuine love without any artificiality in their dealings and mentality with another. The members of the congregation expressed mutual affection by enquiring about the well-being of the Sisters and by assisting them in their need in anticipation. The ardent love for the Superiors and other fellow Sisters, the attitude of belongingness and their prayer for them was the expression s of this natural love. Punctuality, orderliness and cleanliness, the signs of interiority and perfection, are the good features they inherited from the Founder. The grace to love magnanimously, stood out in them as befitting the humans dynamic, universal and personal. The flame of love that enkindled from the divine love always shone on their faces.

Our life shall be a sign that radiates the redemptive power of God’s love to those with whom we come into contact. Chastity is most securely sustained where there is unity in the community attained by sharing with others the selfless love that we experience in Christ.(cf,PC.12)

Lowliness

The characteristics of the SD Sisters are the lowliness and simplicity in lifestyle, befitting of the Disciples of Christ who offered themselves to God. The humility and holiness made them own up their mistakes and seek forgiveness. The evangelic disposition of being little and unimportant was the trademark of the Sisters. Our Sisters who lived a life unknown to anyone, doing the lowliest works identified their life with the hidden life in Nazerath and they took spiritual delight in it.

Being Good News to the Poor

The love that filled the sisters flowed generously into the poor and the working class. By bringing in consolation to the hearts of the poor and elderly and by rendering them the service of love, the Sisters make them heroes and contented people. Despite her expertise in the service of the destitute, the SD Sister under the impetus of the inner dynamism rendered the Destitute loving service with most appropriate manner. By ignoring one’s own illness and discomfort as participation in the cross-experience of Jesus, with a face radiant with smile and contented, the Sisters engage themselves in the service of the poor.

Use of wealth

The SD congregation from its origin had a lifestyle of holding and sharing everything in common like the early Christian community. Therefore, not even any convent did expend the surplus on itself. Each convent surrendered the balance after meeting its legitimate needs. The surplus amount sent to the centre was spent for the dependent convent, the service of the poor and the common good. The centre came out with whatever assistance the dependant houses required. This mutual giving and receiving helped to maintain mutual relationship with the branches and the centre.

The SD takes care to share her wealth with the poor rather than spending on herself. Many of the homes for the destitute attached to branch convents are managed from the resources of the congregation. The congregation encourages the Sisters to assist the poor by the money earned by their hard labor.