Wagholi Noviciate Sneha Jyoti
Sneha Jyoti’ Community, Wagholi (2011 – )
Wagholi is a village in Haveli Tehsil, Pune district in Maharashtra. It is about eighteen kilometers away from the Provincial house at Shastrinagar in Nagar Road, Pune. The village is surrounded by agricultural land and the people are mainly farmers. Those who own the land are giving up cultivation due to scarcity of water and unpredictable rain. Thus, the land is used for building purposes. The Assumption novitiate house, ‘Sneha Jyoti’ is situated in the heart of the Awalwadi-Wagholi village.
The foundation stone for the novitiate house was laid on 25th January 2011 and His Lordship Thomas Dabre, the Bishop of Pune Diocese blessed the novitiate house on 31st March 2012.
Though the formation house is being in a non-Christian milieu the community is blessed with religious institutions of men and women who are totally committed to the marginalized, ‘Snehalaya’ is a center run by the MSFS fathers for the differently-abled children while ‘Valsalaydam-Maher’ is another center for the destitute which was started by Sisters of the Cross. The sisters attempt in various ways to get involved in the lives of the people around them. Above all, one of the relevant activities the sisters have organized is the opening of a library on Sundays for the children of the neighborhood. It encourages reading habits among children instead of wasting their time on the internet and mobile.
The Province has a well-organized inter-novitiate program with very good classes on varied subjects. The second-year novices are sent to their mission experience to different places. At present, there are two novices and 6 candidates in the formation community.
The formation community is ever lighted with the compassionate love of God and service to the farmers as well as to those poor people in the neighborhood. The formation team is hard-working to form the former in love with Jesus, Mother Mary, St. Marie Eugenie, and the Congregation. Pope Francis in his apostolic exhortation Christus Vivit’ wrote to young people, “the life that Jesus gives us is a love story, a life history that wants to blend with ours and sink roots in the soil of our own lives. The salvation that God offers us is an invitation to be part of a love story interwoven with our personal stories; it is alive and wants to be born in our midst so that we can bear fruit just as we are, wherever we are and with everyone all around us. The Lord comes there to sow and to be sown” (Para 252). The formation team in ‘Sneha Jyoti’ tries to live this reality in their life. Their service to the young Assumption is a challenge and they are sustained by the personal encounter leading to a deep relationship with Jesus and the closeness to St. Marie Eugenie
