From Sr. Keneema Anosiata, Kinshasa Yolo, R. D. Congo
It is a great joy for us to share with you our experience of Missionary and Vocation Animation here in Kinshasa. Indeed, we give thanks to the Lord who continues to send us young people to discern their religious vocation through our congregation. We see that the Holy Spirit is at work, because youth is the future. During 2023, we welcomed and journeyed with several girls. Some of them have come to know our congregation through our apostolic collaborators, others through social networks such as Facebook and our website. On this point, we would like to say a special thank you to Sister Amani who has never ceased to put us in contact with girls who ask her questions on Facebook about their missionary vocational journey. Others have come to know us through the testimonies of some of our former candidates. From our experience, we have realized that Missionary Vocation Animation is a mission of strong collaboration. It involves collaboration firstly between us sisters in community, then between our community and the candidates, and finally between us mentors and those who refer them to us.
This year, we had hoped to present at least four aspirants, but in the end, we were only able to present two. Both showed themselves to be very eager and ready to begin the journey of their vocational discernment. In order to get to know them better, we invited the two girls to our house for a community and apostolic experience. They had this experience separately and we appreciated their commitment to the programme that was presented to them.
When we welcome young people into our community, we give them a few lessons about the history of our congregation, our charism and practical things in the community. We also send them out for some apostolate, often with street children or people living with disabilities. In addition, each sister in the community is involved in accompanying these young people in the different areas of our life. Similarly, when we have feasts or celebrations specific to the congregation, either among ourselves or with the M. Afr., we include our aspirants so that they too can share in our joy of belonging to Christ and to the Lavigerie family. Some of them have had the opportunity to take part in the missionary oaths and diaconal ordinations of our 15 Missionary Deacons of Africa.
At the invitation of COSUMA (Conference of Major Superiors), on Saturday 27/01/2024, all the consecrated men and women in the diocese of Kinshasa went out into the streets around their parishes for a clean-up day. As well as raising awareness of the need to care for our environment, this activity is also a vocational activity in itself.
Seeing that our charism and our spirituality continue to have an impact on young people and attract them to dedicate their lives to following Christ, we are happy and more determined than ever in our daily commitments in line with our charism and our spirituality.
The challenge we generally face is to welcome girls who have been in other congregations and who, in the end, no longer know what they really want. In order to ensure clear communication, we have created a WhatsApp group for aspirants.
In conclusion, it should be noted that each one of us came to know the congregation through the good testimony of another person. So may our actions, our words and our apostolate continue to be an inspiration to young girls today who are thirsty for religious life.
