On Sunday, the 23rd of April 2023, in the parish church of St. John XXIII, a parish of the Archdiocese of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso run by the Missionaries of Africa, Sister Badini Wéndpouiré Beatrice pronounced her perpetual vows. It was a great joy for us Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, as well as the Badini and Sawadogo families.
After 9 years of temporary vows, she pronounced her perpetual ‘YES’ to follow Christ according to the charism of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (MSOLA). Her vows were received by Sister Celina Natanek, of the North West Africa Entity Leadership Team (NOUA), during a mass presided over by Monsignor Justin Kientega, Bishop of Ouahigouya (the diocese of Beatrice). Concelebrating with him were 14 priests including Beatrice’s younger brother, Father Damien Badini.
Sister Beatrice made her postulancy in Ouagadougou in 2010 – 2012, then, she did her novitiate in Bobo-Dioulasso, also located in Burkina Faso. She made her first profession on April 26, 2014 and was sent on mission to Algeria, then to Kenya and today she is sent to Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is the second young woman whom the Diocese of Ouahigouya has given to our Congregation as she follows Sister Clémence Sawadogo who is now on mission in Ghana.
We could not go to Bourzanga, the home parish of Sr. Beatrice, because of security problems and terrorist attacks. The road to the commune of Bourzanga, located in the Centre-North region of Burkina Faso, is blocked by terrorists. Happily, we were welcomed, with open arms, in the parish of our Missionary Brothers of Africa. During the feast, the parish priest of Burtzanga, Father Bertrand Sawadogo, underlined in his speech that “the population of Bourzanga is suffering a lot” and he asked everyone to pray for them. As Father Dominique Appe, the parish priest of Saint John XXIII, said, we did not go there because we are MSOLA but because of this reality and, in addition, the parish of Saint John XXIII is welcoming.
Sister Beatrice received a great gift to be accompanied by her parents
Since the beginning of the preparations for the feast, we did not expect the father of Sister Beatrice to be present as there was no hope of finding a way to get him there. However, the Lord always works wonders. To our great surprise, two days before the feast, her father came to Ouagadougou and on the eve of the party we met him. We were all moved. There was also a delegation from the parish of Kongoussi, where Sister Beatrice grew up and where her grandparents live. Sister Beatrice told us that she deeply desired the presence of her father on the day of her profession and Divine Providence granted it to her … a great gift for her. It was also a great joy for us to see her accompanied by her father and mother during the feast-day Mass. As to the presence of her father, Sister Beatrice had told us to trust in God as He has His way of doing things but it is we who are sometimes impatient. Her father and the parish priest had arrived with a plane of the World Food Program (WFP) and with the help of the Catholic Organization for Development and Solidarity (OCADES) in Burkina Faso. We can imagine the happiness of her father, who after several months without seeing his children or his wife, who had left Bourzanga before the road was blocked, finally saw them this great day. It was wonderful! The gift of our sister’s wishes made the meeting of the whole family a joy.
Like the Disciples of Emmaus, the Lord walks with us
“The Lord walks with us, He has walked with Sister Beatrice since the day of her Baptism”. During the Eucharistic celebration, Monsignor Justin, inspired by this Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 24:13-35), emphasized the importance of the encountering Christ. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, He walks with us step by step, even if sometimes we do not realize that He is there, yet He accompanies us, and He tells us to open our eyes. Our commitment is to trust him, as those disciples on the road to Emmaus, trusted Jesus who seemed to be unknown to them. This encounter with the living Christ changes our lives, our understanding and makes us become his witnesses. He used the example of the Disciples of Emmaus who, because of this wonderful encounter, went back to share with the others the joy that burned in their hearts. In this way, Bishop Justin Kientega invited us to be witnesses of the Risen Christ. He said to Sister Beatrice: “You have met Christ and you have chosen to be his property”. In making the place for the three vows that she was going to profess in a few minutes, he exhorted us to grow in humility, a good disposition to let ourselves be molded and transformed by Christ – like clay in the hands of the potter … a motto of Beatrice. The Bishop did not forget to underline that professing perpetual vows is not the final goal of consecrated life, on the contrary, it is the proclamation of the Risen Christ through one’s life that is its final objective. He borrowed the words of Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Exhortation Vita Consecrata, as he invited us to witness to Christ by our lives.
In her intervention, Sister Celina also returned to the virtue of humility by giving a clay vessel Sister Beatrice. She said that it is in our weakness that the strength of God is manifested. In the name of the Congregation, she thanked everyone who had accompanied us in one way or another.
We were moved with joy and full of gratitude first of all to God. Then, to all the people who had come to support us and to share their happiness with us, starting with the Fathers of the parish of St. John XXIII and their collaborators who made themselves available and welcoming. With great generosity, they accepted that the celebration of the vows of our sister be in their parish and they journeyed with us in the preparations. I would add that the Lord walks with us and he wants us to walk together. Our brothers gave us a good testimony that shows us that on our journey we need each other.
Jesus always walks with us; may He accompany our sister Beatrice in her mission and accompany us all. May the Lord always give her the grace to be a witness of his love, as she herself spoke about it in her speech. Let us pray for her, for her mission and for the people of Bourzanga.
Good mission to dear Sr. Beatrice.
Sr. Xaverine Mukansinga
