Sr. Celina Natanek shares her faith with us
Jesus came into the world so that we might have life and have it in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10).
These words are my missionary programme, but also our religious programme. For we serve so that those to whom we are sent may have life and have it in abundance.
Before joining the congregation, I led a life similar to many other young people: studies, household chores, discos, working abroad. However, there were still questions in my heart: Who is God? What is the meaning of life? What is heaven? Even as a child I felt God’s presence, especially in nature, in the silence of the church and during adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In my imaginings, God was powerful but also austere, which did not always match the experience of His nearness.
My grandfather taught me to see beauty in the birth of animals, in a sprouting bean, and even in rejected people – the drunkard of our village or someone difficult to like. This sensitivity of his shaped my heart.
This great desire for God led me to the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, or the White Sisters. I wanted to share God’s love with people who live beyond the horizon I knew. At the same time, I had specific requests to God, – that the congregation be missionary and under the invocation of Our Lady.
For Our Lady has always been a guide for me.
From childhood I prayed before the image of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and later Our Lady of Czestochowa. When I went to Jasna Góra to ask for the light of discernment, I met the White Sisters. God, in such an ordinary and yet miraculous way, showed me the way forward. For some time, I matured this decision, I struggled with myself, but He always put people on my path who supported me.
An adventure with God
Religious life is a constant adventure with God and with people. I never thought I would meet so many people from different cultures, religions and nations. I have worked in Tanzania, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, and I have been to several other countries. I have worked with street people who have taught me gratitude and generosity. The people of the Tanzanian village of Mwanga were an example to me of faith in God and living God in everyday life.
I was also sent to Mauritania, a Muslim country in the desert, although I had no desire or even interest in North African countries before.
And it was one of the most beautiful gifts from God.
The desert and the people living in it helped me to understand more the word of God, the Gospel. Their commitment to prayer and questions about my faith motivated me to have a deeper relationship with Jesus. ‘Abiding in Him’ made the impossible become a reality. For example, I planted trees in the desert with the young people. I left and they are still planting. We developed a project to teach children from poor and migrant families, and today many of them have graduated and left the streets. God, in calling and sending into his harvest, gives the right tools and people to work with.
Christ, ‘though he was a Son, learned obedience by what he suffered’, says the author of the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb 5:8). God puts people in my path to remind me of the importance of obedience to His Spirit.
This was the case with Paulette, a simple woman with no education but tremendous faith. She once came to me to help her grandson get to school in Senegal. I didn’t believe it was possible, but I finally made the call and the result exceeded my expectations. As a result, several boys got the chance to get an education and our day care centre started working with the school and boarding school there.
Giving and receiving
Missions is not only about giving, but also about receiving. I learned to receive food, customs, music, gifts, but also rejection. After years in Africa, I feel I have a family on this continent – people who are like brothers, sisters and friends to me. Once an elderly couple wanted to give me a chicken for Christmas. I refused. Then the man asked why I didn’t want their gift. He said they were happy to accept what I was offering them, which was my faith, and I didn’t want to accept the best from them. He added:
“If you want to be a missionary, you must learn to accept what these people offer, even the poorest”.
There is not a person in the world who has nothing to offer, because everyone has a heart, as a beggar friend once told me in Arusha, Tanzania.
Experiences of hardship, such as war, have taught me the importance of abiding in God (see Jn 15:17), who is Love, to abide in love with people who reject me. At first, I reacted to such behaviour with anger and rebellion, explaining that after all, I did not choose where I was born. However, prayer and conversations with Jesus enabled me to look at their suffering and, with compassion, work for their good, overcoming the evil that hurts them.
The missions teach me that every suffering of my fellow human being affects me too. Difficulties are not there to break us, but to help us grow – in faith, love and trust in God, in our journey towards heaven, towards eternal life in God.
Every day reminds me that I am an instrument in God’s hands, that heaven is here and now when I abide in Him. Even the smallest actions can have a huge impact if they are inspired by His love.
And this is what makes religious life not boring and not only challenging, but also full of the joy that comes from being close to God in His word, in others and in the prayer of the Church.
