The second day (14 January 2023) of the XIX Provincial Chapter began with morning prayers led by Fr Saju George. It was followed by the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, presided over by Fr Joby Mathew, the Provincial Superior of the India-Great Britain-Ireland Province. Before the mass, he requested all Chapter members to extend their right hand and bless and pray for him. He then exhorted the members to begin with an open mind and willing heart to start afresh and infuse new life into the province. 
In his homily Fr Joby compared the lives of St Devasahayam (whose memorial is on this day) and St Matthew and shared two lessons from their life to inspire all members of the Province to live the Pauline Vocation more powerfully. The two lessons are: their ability to give up their comfort zones and go out; their ability to rise above all distinctions and promote mutual respect. He concluded his homily saying, “when we imbibe these two lessons, our life becomes a source of attraction for others, not to follow us but to follow the Jesus whom we witness.
The morning session began at 8:45 am with the lighting of the lamp, invoking the light of Christ to enlighten all participants of the Chapter. Fr Superior General, Fr Johnson Vattakunnel, Fr Joby Mathew, Fr Joseph TC (senior most member in the Chapter), Fr Francis Xavier (youngest member in the Chapter), Br Richard V (representing the Brothers) and Fr Varghese Alengaden (resource person) were invited to light the lamp.
Thereafter, Fr Joby Mathew welcomed all the Chapter members and presented them with the Chapter kits, as each of them presented their proof of election as delegate to the Chapter.
Then, asked the assembly to suggest two names for actuaries, two names for scrutineers and one name for communication in-charge for the Chapter. Fr Jose Mathew and Fr Joshy Joseph were appointed as actuaries and Fr Francis Xavier and Fr Aneesh Peediyekal were appointed as the scrutineers and Br Thomas EJ was appointed as the Communication in-charge of the XIX Provincial Chapter.
The next item of the day was the inaugural address by Fr Provincial. In his 25 minutes long address, Fr Joby Mathew acknowledged and thanked Rev Fr Domenico Soliman, Superior General of the Society of St Paul, and Fr Johnson Vattakunnel, General Councillor, for their support and guidance. Fr Joby Mathew also acknowledged the contributions of former Provincial Fr Varghese Gnalian and his team. Fr Joby exhorted all members to think big and ambitiously in order to plan a programme for the coming four years of his mandate and for the future. He also invited everyone to leave behind the setbacks and failures, look ahead with confidence, and work as one team as he shared his dream of creating a:
• Culture of deep inter-personal relationships
• Culture of prayer
• Culture of mutual apostolic collaboration
• Culture of communication and sharing of information
• Culture of hospitality
Fr Joby Mathew further added that "in this Chapter, we shall focus our attention, reflections and deliberations on the following three dimensions of our lives as Paulines:
a) The Pauline and his charismatic roots, wherein we shall discuss the quality of our personal witness and community life.
b) The Pauline on the mission and integral formation ‘in’ mission wherein we shall examine our formative and apostolic endeavours for making our life and mission relevant and in tune with the new and upcoming digital generation, and
c) A synodal Province, wherein we shall explore the possibilities of walking together and working together first within the Province, then with the members of the Pauline Family, next with the lay collaborators in our mission, and finally with the Church in the dioceses where we have our presence.
We shall use the method of discernment—recognising, interpreting and choosing—to find the reasons and the roots of what we are experiencing, and then propose meaningful and relevant ways to move forward with hope."
As a concluding remark Fr Joby invited everyone to be CRAZY about our life and mission. "Hence, I invite you dear members of the Province to be CRAZY (C = Courageous, R = Risk-taking, A= Adaptable, Z = Zealous, Y= Young (at heart) in your Pauline vocation to become artisans of communion to prophetically announce the joy of the Gospel in the culture of communication."
The inaugural address was followed by recollection and reflection on "New Wine in New Wine Skins" led by Fr Varghese Alengaden. He reminded the members to rise to become a Karmyogi and not just remain in Bhakti marg and Karm Marg. This, he said, requires contemplation and growth in spirituality. In the second session, he reminded the participants about Consecrated persons' call, mission and vision. Finally, the afternoon session was conducted by screening the move Dhan Dhanadhan Goal and sharing insights/learnings from different scenes and characters in the movie.
The session ended at 7.35 pm.
Today being the birthday of Fr Blaise Kandathil, the Chapter members wished him God’s special graces and good health, as they sang happy birthday and cut cake at dinner. Earlier during the morning mass, Fr Joby wished and prayed for the intentions of Fr Blaise.
