From left to right: Sisters Nodjitelsembe Solange from Tchad, Cyarisima Divine from Rwanda, Nitunga Jovanie from Burundi and Mbaihamdene Valérie from Tchad.
Four Sisters pronounced their first vows in Bobo-Dioulasso, on December 8, 2024. : Sisters Nodjitelsembe Solange from Tchad, Cyarisima Divine from Rwanda, Nitunga Jovanie from Burundi and Mbaihamdene Valérie from Tchad share the experience of the day.
Yes, God’s love is wonderful. These words remind us of how God walked with us until the day of our commitment, not by our merit but by His unconditional Love towards us.
It is with great joy that we share with you the experience we lived on the day of our first profession. On December 8, 2024, we publicly pronounced our “Yes” to follow Christ, which as our dream since we felt His call. We feel happy to belong to our dear Congregation: The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa. We were filled with joy and peace but at the same time we realized that it is a serious commitment to serve the Lord through our brothers and sisters.
There were also other feelings in us: notably fear, which each of us experienced differently. We realized that pronouncing this formula of commitment was really something special.
It was very touching to hear each one say:
“responding freely to God’s call, I commit myself to collaborate in everything in the work of God”.
It is a commitment of our whole being.
For some of us, this aroused a questioning: will I remain faithful? But looking at the journey already taken, we found confidence in Jesus who has walked with us and will remain with us. There was also a feeling of sadness for those of us who had lost their parents. We would have liked to see them around us on that day so that they could witness our commitment and also rejoice in their contribution to the education and initiation to the Christian life that we received from them. God loved them more than we do: it was encouraging, and moving to hear their names mentioned during the Eucharistic prayer. As for the parents still alive, we felt their communion with us.
In this jubilee year of the Bicentenary of the birth of our founder and in line with the orientations of the General Chapter of 2023, we were touched by the collaboration with our brothers the Missionaries of Africa, in particular in rehearsing the hymns and animating theEucharistic celebration.
This collaboration was also experienced with the inter-novitiate through the various services rendered. Our founder asked us to be “all to all”. This was manifested by the presence of the priests, the neighbors and many other families whom we visited as well as representatives of our different places of apostolate. This shows that every gesture we make is important. We understood that wherever we are sent, Christ gives us other families and friends.
On this feast of the Immaculate Conception, Father Raphael Lubala, formator at the Novitiate of the Missionaries of Africa, was the main celebrant. In his homily he mentioned the qualities shared by Jesus and the Virgin Mary: thinking of others and serving them. We recognized these qualities in our sisters from Ouagadougou, who came to help us in the services and also to share our joy. We were also aware of the communion and spiritual support of the entire Congregation.
Father Raphael also reminded us of this phrase from our founder:
“The Christian who does not pray is a monster.”
This really challenged us, especially for the time we are going to spend in our family. At the same time, we rely on these words of the angel to Mary: “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God.” It is this grace that we ask of the Lord: to seek His will and to remain faithful to Him, especially in our prayer.
To the Congregation, we say a big thank you for the welcome from the first day when we knocked on the door, for the formation received, for the spiritual and human means for our growth and for everything made available to us. We are proud to belong to our beautiful MSOLA family.
Thank you for helping us discover the person of Christ who has become our wealth. Thank you, our sisters, for your patience, your listening, encouragement and trust. Because formation is a long process, we would like to continue to trust in letting ourselves be guided and helped by you and by the One who calls us towards a balanced life.
By committing ourselves, we expressed our desire
“to collaborate in everything for the Kingdom of God”.
May the Lord help us to fulfill this commitment, wherever He sends us, to become Women Apostles as our founder Cardinal Lavigerie desired. We always count on your prayers to better live this commitment in the mission entrusted to us.
May Mary Our Lady of Africa come to our aid through the intercession of our Founder Cardinal Lavigerie, Mother Marie Salomé and all our sisters who preceded us.
The newly professed Sisters expressed well their joy to follow Christ and to “collaborate totally in God’s work and the coming of God’s Kingdom in Africa”.
Let us wish them a fruitful Mission!
Valérie in Lilongwe, Malawi
Solange in Butare, Rwanda
Divine in Dar es-Salaam, Tanzanie
Jovanie in Hydra, Algérie
