history of Asjm
Anointing Fire Sisters of Jesus and Mary (ASJM) (Abhishekagni Sisters of Jesus and Mary) Monastery took birth in the Eparchy of Palghat of the Syro Malabar Major Archiepiscopal Church in Kerala, India on September 8, 2014 to make our salvation, the salvation of souls and world evangelization possible by awakening the chosen ones through deep prayer founded on asceticism, and deliverance ministries and proclamation of the Word of God filled with the Holy Spirit. Divine Providence chose Rev. Fr. Xavier Khan Vattayil, Rev. Fr. Binoy Karimaruthinkal, and Rev. Mother Amy Emmanuel as the Founders of this monastery. Our three Founders, who had the spark of the same inner call to renew and empower the consecrated communities of priests and religious, and to ignite all the nations with the Holy Spirit, were brought together by Divine Providence at Sehion Retreat Center in the year 2007. They foresaw with their long vision the disastrous effects of the spirit of apostasy, which would make the people of God and the chosen ones deviate from their path, as prophesied by the Lord. The ASJM monastery is their faithful response to God’s call to empower the chosen ones through the preaching of the Gospel founded on asceticism, acts of penance, and deliverance ministries, and to build up the Church by seeking and finding the people of God scattered across the world and deepening them in faith before spiritual darkness covers the earth and the thick darkness of apostasy covers the peoples (cf. Is. 60:2).
The Lord chose the Eparchy of Palghat, which includes the Sehion Retreat Centre, as the birthplace of the ASJM monastery. The pastor He found for the fulfillment of this Divine plan was His Excellency Bishop Mar Jacob Manathodath, the then-Bishop of the Eparchy of Palghat. His Excellency erected this community as a pious union on September 8, 2014, the Feast of the Nativity of Our Lady. Within a few years, on December 14, 2017, the Feast of St. John of the Cross, ASJM was raised as a monastery sui iuris (Autonomous). Six senior sisters did their perpetual profession, and seven novices of the first batch Novitiate did their first profession on January 3, 2019, the Feast of St. Chavara Kuriakose Elias. In the following years, the Lord has been bringing along lots of vocations to live ‘for Christ and His Church’.
Today, there are around 50 members, including sisters and candidates undergoing formation in five houses of Anointing Fire Sisters in India and abroad.
This monastery, which relies solely on Divine Providence, has God and the people of God as its only wealth. By following the example of Jesus, who combined the love for God and the salvation of souls, the ASJM community also integrates monastic life with apostolic ministry. Two weeks in a month are spent for ministries, and two weeks are set aside for a life of contemplation and intercessory prayers. By opening doors to new ministries of the Holy Spirit and building up the body of Christ, and by accepting the motto “For Christ and His Church”, the ASJM monastery stands as the power source of the Church.
First Profession of first batch and Perpetual Profession of senior sisters held on January 3, 2019
Rev. Mother Amy Emmanuel along with Rev. Sr. Rose John Emmanuel