Religious life is a deeper consecration of Christian life begun in baptism and a special expression of it. This life based on the following of the evangelical counsels is a divine gift received by the Church from her Lord. The religious follow the very life style of Christ. God calls those whom he desires to this state of life (Mk 3:13-16). This call is a special gift given to an individual in view of the people of God. Becoming committed to Christ alone by accepting freely the gift of the Holy Spirit, and consecrated to facilitate the saving mission of Christ; be a noble witness and model of Christ’s holiness and endeavor for the spreading of God’s Kingdom.
The charism of the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity is to identify with the crucified Christ and share his compassionate love with the poor and the needy for their integral liberation.
The Venerable Rev. Fr. Augustine John Ukken founded the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity on 21st November 1944. Our Founder’s heart was ablaze to reciprocate the compassionate love of God that he experienced in an ongoing identification with the crucified Christ through the heroic and life-giving acts of charity. God bestowed upon him a unique grace to share the love and compassion to everyone, especially the poor and the downtrodden and to uplift them, so that Christ the redeemer might be reborn in the lives of all. CSC sisters have the responsibility to continue and perpetuate this charism.
We have received from our Founder the humble spirit of compassionate love that we experience in our daily communion with Jesus Christ, the crucified, in our personal as well as community life, which we share with the poor and the needy through various life-giving acts of charity. After her experiential witness, “I will be love in the heart of the Church,” St. Therese of Lisieux dedicated herself fully as an oblation of love. It was the amazing and childlike trust in God, the Father, and her intense and passionate love for Jesus that made the Little Flower a saint and a model for our community. Our Founder, after having personally lived in the path of self-emptying sacrificial love, bequeathed the same to his daughters in the CSC.
Religious life by its nature is to love God. It is by being urged by the love of Christ that we have to move out to the Children of God (2 Cor 5:14). We have to accept personally and collectively programmes that would make available our service to the poor. Daily we make our own, the ardent and intense prayer of our Founder: “Teach me, O Lord, to integrate prayer and action in my life.” The most suitable fields of apostolate to proclaim the good news of the Kingdom of God among the poor and the downtrodden have to be discerned after having understood the signs of times and by taking into account the unique needs of the people of each locality. We shall reach out to the needy by offering services in such fields as healthcare, value education, evangelization, uplifting differently abled, family welfare projects, vocational training centres, caring for the old and destitute, marginalized and prisoners and their families.
In accordance with the advice of the Founder: “Go with discernment where God calls,” we may undertake any field of service of the poor that the Church asks for and in keeping with the charism of our congregation.Our Founder’s insight in one of his diary entries is truly inspiring: “Let us strive to minimize and eliminate the pain and humiliation of all those who are socially ostracized and meted out with injustice so that a better social order could be established.” Let this missionary zeal of our Founder motivate us in all works of service to the people.
Our motto is Love, Service, and Sacrifice.
Our ideal is a lifestyle of simplicity and humble service inspired by the merciful love of Jesus.
The aim of CSC is to identify with the crucified Christ and to be the witness of His merciful love through humble service.
St. Therese of Lisieux is our Patron. She is the person who consumed by the passionate love for God, intensely desired the salvation of all souls spanning from the beginning of creation till the end of the world.
Each sister has a personal responsibility to put intense effort to grow in the charism of the CSC from her entrance into religious life till her last breath. Our lifestyle and activities from the very beginning of religious formation should be infused by the merciful love of Jesus and reflect its uniqueness.
Our Founder’s filial devotion towards the Holy Eucharist, Christ the crucified, Sacred Heart of Jesus, Holy Mother Mary, St. Joseph, and the Guardian Angels are accepted as special devotions of the CSC community.
May St. John Chrysostom of Antioch, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and Oriental Fathers of the Church in whom we encounter the ancient oriental religious patrimony and rich spiritual wisdom, inspire us in our spirituallife. Being inspired by the biblical studies of St. John Chrysostom, our Founder was carefully attentive to study deeply and to meditate ardently upon the Word of God. Like St. Cyril who fought against the Nestorian heresy, our Founder was alert enough to arrest the spread of the 'Melus Schism' in Thrissur diocese by establishing the people of God in the devotion to the Holy Mother of God. The age - old Indian culture should enrich our lifestyle. Our life designed around the disciplines of Ishwara Pranidhana (Total surrender to God), empathy for the deprived and downtrodden, service to the poor, etc., should be capable of orienting the people of India towards Jesus Christ.
