Introduction

By sr sheela nicholas

A blessed good morning and a pleasant welcome to one and all . this well decorated chapel and the joy present on every face present here is telling aloud that we are celebrating the golden birthday of sr celine our provincial superior. Dear sr celine we celebrate and thank the Lord because you are

Uniquely unique, you are Uniquely unique in God's kingdom. There is no one like you.

No one has the talents, skills, and abilities that you have. No one has the experience that you have. No one can do the things that you can do. No one can achieve the destiny that God has for your life - except you. And no one can replace you in God's heart. No one could ever be so special to God that God wouldn't still yearn for your company. You are incredibly important to God. You are adorable and treasured in God's sight. God loves you just the way you are. God thinks you are awesome and we too think so. Yesterday when sr celine found us busy she said why are you all so busy after all at the end what you wanted to say is that you love me in nut sell that is true .we were looking means and ways to say it millions of different ways because you are uniquely unique. And on this 50th birthday on this golden birthday we would like to affirm it.

We celebrate all the joys that have been birthed in these 50 years. Fifty is a beautiful milestone in life. Armed with all of life’s wisdom, you can still enjoy life to the fullest for many more years to come.

Agatha Christie said "I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming.. suddenly you find at the age of 50, - that a whole new life has opened before you".

As you celebrate the second blooming we would like to thank the lord along with you for the 50 golden years. Pope Francis in his most recent encyclical Laudato si invite us to consider the whole environment as our home and be faithful stewards of it. When environment is our home all plants and trees are our mother, father ,brother and sister and we have imbibed great virtues from them so for todays celebration we would like to take the symbolism of the trees. Trees are in the background and in the foreground of the Bible.  From the beginning to end.  They are a critical part of the action.  The Tree of Life is mentioned early in the Genesis and also in the last chapter of Revelation, for example.  There are over thirty kinds of them mentioned in the Bible, like olive tree, fig tree, cykamore tree etc. Each tree brings its own blessing to us.  Not only do trees provide food, medicine, shade, shelter, and other useful items for our lives but many useful images and metaphors to learn from.  Hence the admonition for us to be a tree that bears good fruit.  Or to be rooted.  Or that if we'll be righteous we'll "grow like a Cedar of Lebanon" (Ps 92:12).  There are of course many other Biblical examples of this there are so many qualities of different trees present in sr celine one thing that standout to me is she is an epitome of care and sensitivity to the needs of others.eg sr diana

The Community of Care - connecting the individual treesTo what degree we are able to genuinely care about each other, is to the degree that our communities will flourish and the individual members will be blessed with an incredible amount of spiritual strength, enthusiasm and the feeling of being secure.

To illustrate just how important it is for us to genuinely connect with and support each other, I would like to give you an amazing example from the Redwood forest which I once heard from HH Radhanatha Swami. The Secret of the Redwood TreesIn California you can find the largest trees in the world, namely the redwood trees. Some of them are so huge that it takes forty adults hand-in-hand to form a full circle around one single tree! They grow over a period of thousands of years and some of them may even be 5000 years old or more.When you enter a redwood forest you are surrounded by a very quiet ancient atmosphere. The rays of the sun are almost blocked out by the thick foliage. The trees grow so close together that they seem to share a secret. In order to be strong, most trees need to grow their roots very deeply. Otherwise they would fall. We can take the example of the palm tree: its roots grow as deep into the ground as it is tall. However, the redwood trees - the tallest trees in the world - have very shallow roots. Yet, they remain standing for thousands of years facing hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes, and nowadays acid rainfall as well - undisturbed. So what is their secret?If you ask a forest ranger, he will explain to you that they grow their roots outwards. In other words, their roots do not go down but go sideways where they can reach out and then wrap themselves around the roots of their neighbouring redwood trees almost like holding hands. In this way - directly or indirectly - each tree is connected to and supported by every other tree in the forest. This gives them so much strength that they can continue to grow for thousands of years in the face of all types of conditions.This interconnection is also the secret of a community of care. By caring for each other the weak become strong, the strong get even stronger and all that strength is shared. It is like the aforesaid redwood forest. The small and frail redwood trees receive strength from the old ones and grow up to become thousands of years old. The old ones are in turn connected and strengthened by the young ones even more. We are reminded by that saying "United we stand, divided we fall!" sr celine as provincial superior is trying out this trying to reach out to each and every sister of the province spreading her hands of love and care to keep the province connected. So perhaps to the province you are like redwood tree. From her parents brother and sister she has learned to be generous like a coconut tree giving, her time talent energy for the betterment of humanity. May be if you ask jesus what stands out in her as religious he might say she is like a plantern tree submitting totally to his service bowing her head in front of him. If you ask her formators they might say she is like a bamboo tree allowing herslf to be shaped in the way they wanted her to be . as a teacher and formator she was like mustard tree spreading the word of god in the young hearts. as part of the provincial team and administration she is like the noble and magnanimous apple tree giving herself for the sake of others keeping nothing for herself. For her friends she is like the sandalwood tree you can go deep into her to get the fragrance. For all those who visit the provincialate or have an acquaintance of her she is like all season mango you can enjoy her fruits in all seasons. I know I have many more trees to take as metopers but at this moment as we are gathered before the Lord to thank the Lord for the gift sr celeena and fifty golden years we would like the metaphor of the golden apple tree who gave totally to others so now as sr celine offer the fruits of the tree and lighted candles representing each decade of her life we pray that she be blessed and be fruitful for the coming years to complete a century. Now in gratitude to all the gifts and blessings we have received through her we offer these gifts of the qualities of sr celine on the golden apple tree and silently thank the lord. Kindly come forward to place gifts on the apple tree. We are indeed

happy to welcome the main celebrant rev fr. Lourdu francics and the co celebrants for this celebration. Our joy is doubled with the presence of all the sisters from different communities. Once again a pleasant t welcome to this Eucharistic celebration let us join all the trees and the universe in celebrating this golden birthday.