The Charism and the Spirit of our founder

Msgr. Joseph Panjikaran was the Director of the propagation of faith in the Vicariate of Ernakulam, took keen interest in his life to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to the poor. He contemplated Christ, reflect on God’s love and mercy in the deep silence of his heart and received with humility the merciful love of God the Father in his pure heart. Love of God is the supreme gift of all other gifts and it is a personal divine experience. He desired intensely to share this merciful love with the least last and the lost of the brethren. In the course of time he realized that the healing ministry is the best means of sharing the compassionate love of Christ. To translate his vision into a reality, he drew spiritual power and strength from the words of Jesus, “As long as you did it to the least of my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt. 25:40).

His spirituality, which was made mature through asceticism and self - denial because more luminous with purity of heart, sincerity and humility. He always experienced the presence of God within him. This enabled him to see Christ in every person he met, especially the poor, the sick and the suffering. He taught us to see Christ in the sick and minister to them as we minister to Christ. Our first members imbibed the spiritual treasures of our founder and handed it over to the next generations...

An inner call, which was totally evangelical and divinely inspired, compelled him to serve the suffering humanity, with the merciful love of Christ. The glorious gift of bringing the poor & the sick to salvation and an experience of the Kingdom of God through healing ministry is the Charism that we received from the founder.

It was the zeal of our founder for the salvation of souls that inspired him to choose healing ministry as the apostolic mission of the congregation. The word of Jesus on the cross, “I thirst”, aroused in him a thirst for souls. He went down to the sick with the maxim, “through the body to the soul”. The words ‘this is a matter of souls’ always rested upon his lips. Because of his zeal for souls that he insisted/taught the first members that while nursing the sick they should also take care their souls. Perfect surrendering to the will of God, respect and obedience towards authorities and humility were shining virtues that we could find in him. The motto of his life was ‘Thy will be done’. He surrendered himself to the will of God till the last breath of his life.

He spent sufficiently long hours before the Blessed Sacrament and filled his heart with the merciful love of Christ, the divine healer. He had a strong faith in the providence of God, which strengthened him to be firm in the face of difficulties. His devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the ocean of love filled his heart with compassionate love and he learned the meekness and the humility of the Heart of Jesus. He had a filial devotion to Mary our Blessed Mother. He accepted her as his counsellor in times of difficulties. The love and piety he showed towards St. Joseph, his heavenly patron, generated a deep faith in the intercessory power of St. Joseph, which enabled him to say even at the last moment of his life, that “St. Joseph will take care you”...

As a zealous Missionary Msgr. Panjikaran had directly seen the pain, hardships and loneliness of the sick and the poor. It was one of his deep convictions that the Church had the responsibility to provide medical aid to the needy. As a result of his earnest prayer and hard work he opened a hospital at Kothamangalam, Kerala named “Dharmagiri Hopital” (Charity Mount) in 1934. He was strongly convinced that only consecrated persons can see Jesus in the sick and lead them to salvation by their compassionate service.

On 31st October 1944 the then Metropolitan of Ernakulam Archdiocese, Mar Augustine Kandathil, granted official permission and with the Profession of seven sisters on 3rd July 1946, the Religious Congregation, under the title of “Medical Sisters of St Joseph” (MSJ) was canonically erected in the Church. On 4th November 1949 the founder father left the Congregation in the hands of St. Joseph and passed away for his eternal reward. From 4th May 1950 to 31st January 1969 Msgr. George Menachery guided the congregation as a Director. After his death the congregation was successfully led by different Mother Generals of MSJ whose term is six years. We had a steady growth and now the congregation is spread out all over India and abroad.

On 19th February 1990 the congregation was raised to the status of a Pontifical Congregation and on 5th August 1994 the congregation was divided into four Provinces (St. Joseph’s Province, Nirmala Province, Little Flower Province and St. Thomas Province) for effective administration.

Nirmala Province is dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of Mother Mary has rooted in the Church on 5th August 1994. Nirmala Provincial House was shifted from Kakkanad to Chunangamvely, Aluva on 6th February 2000. It is situated at Keezhumad Panchayath, Aluva, Ernakulum district under Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese.

Our Motto: "Love serves"

The three Maxims of MSJ:

• " Thy will be done "
• " As long as you did it to the least of my people, you did it to me "
• " Through the body to the soul "

Qualities of MSJ (FI)

• Motherly patience
• Meekness of disposition
• Affability of character
• Indefatigable toil
• Ceaseless watching over the patient who is Christ to them
• Cheerfulness

Our Mission in the Church

Care for the sick that flows from the merciful love of Jesus is our mission in the Church. Our founder has advised us to include all types of hospitals, dispensaries, public health centres, mobile clinics, and centres for the care for the deaf and the dumb, the blind, the physically handicapped, mentally and intellectually challenged children, Children with Autism, old people who are sick and orphans and social welfare activities in the sphere of our apostolate. Our founder was fully convinced that through caring the ailing body one could reach out to the soul. In order to make his mind clear he took the principle, ‘through the body to the soul’ as the motto of the healing ministry.

MSJ Charism

In union with Jesus the compassionate love, who emptied himself on the cross, contemplate His face in all especially the less privileged, poor and sick brethren and become compassionate love to lead all to the living experience of the Kingdom of God through our humble service.

We are called to live an authentic Christian life and called “to share the compassionate love of Jesus to the suffering humanity. “By our works they shall know our master” (FI) is an inspiring quote received from our beloved Founder Father Servant of God Joseph Panjikaran. A liminal consecrated person cannot distance herself from serving the deprived and marginalized. For building up an integrated humanity we create communion with all human beings especially with the least, the last and the lost ones. Let our physical presence communicate compassion and consolation to the needy brethren. Let us become the Change Agents by transforming from within and influence others and thereby the world at large!