Our chapter in the light of the Scriptures
The Acts of the Apostles recorded a conflict which will be solved at the “Council of Jerusalem”, under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Starting from the “Council of the Apostles in Jerusalem” as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles, Sr. Celina Natanek offers us a biblical reflection that she hopes can inspire the process of our next General Chapter. The experience of the transforming love of Christ transformed the small community of disciples, frightened and locked in the cenacle, into courageous witnesses, open to others, filled with the Spirit who sends them to the ends of the world. This is what the Evangelist Luke presents to us in the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 1). This book can inspire us in our chapter context, in particular the account of the meeting, called the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15, 1-29) between Paul, Barnabas and their companions sent…
Happy Easter!
So let us always be willing to let ourselves be accompanied by the Risen Lord as he explains to us the meaning of the Scriptures. May he make our hearts burn within us; may he enlighten and transform us, so that we can proclaim his mystery of salvation to the world with the power and wisdom that come from his Spirit. Pope Francis, Message for The World Mission Day 2023 Easter Day is the day of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, but also symbolically, it is a day of light, of hope for a better world. May you and your families receive God’s blessing on this joyous Easter day! Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa
Preparation for the 26th General Chapter 2023
From left to right: Fr. Yago Abeledo, Sisters Franceline Hien, Juliana Karomba, Selina Wavinya, Maria Carmen Ocón, Maamalifar Poreku, Carmen Sammut, Mapendo Masirika and Jocelyne Morin From January 23 to 27, 2023, the Preparatory Commission for the General Chapter met in Rome with the objective of discerning important topics or points that concern the life and mission of the whole congregation. The chapter theme: “The transforming love of the risen Christ calls us to walk together without fear, to deepen our charism in collaboration with others and to widen our tents to give birth to a new creation.” The commission included Sisters Maamalifar Poreku, Jocelyne Morin, Franceline Hien, the General Council and the co-facilitators, Father Yago Abeledo, M.Afr. and Sister Selina Wavinya of the Sisters of Mercy from Kenya. For the first three days we worked to identify the subjects to be treated from the reports of the pre-capitular…
Decoration
On January 31, 2023, Sister Vickness N. Muleya, in charge of the Delwendé Center in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, was decorated for her commitment and dedication in the apostolate with vulnerable women. The Burkinabé State thus wanted to express its gratitude to the Church for its participation in the development of the country and the Burkinabé people. Sr Vickness was made a ‘Knight of the Order of the Stallion’. The ceremony took place at the Grand Chancellery in the presence of His Eminence Cardinal Philippe Ouedraogo, Metropolitan Archbishop of Ouagadougou. The decoration was presented by the Chancellor. The Cardinal thanked the State and all its collaborators for having recognized the effort of the Church throughout the history of the country. He is grateful to the daughters and sons of Lavigerie for their role in the evangelization of the Burkinabe people: he recalled that it is thanks to them that the Church…
A time of Grace – Juniorate 2022 – 2023
Picture taken at the end of the closing Eucharist: the juniors with Sr. Carmen Sammut, Superior General and the animators of that formation period. From left to right: Srs Mapendo Masirika (animatrice), Carmen, Béatrice Badini, Redempta Kabahweza, Aurélie Dushime, Maamalifar Poreku (animatrice). At the end of the juniorate which was held in Rome from September 2022 to February 2023, we, the juniors Aurélie, Béatrice and Redempta, want to express our gratitude and appreciation for this time of grace that the congregation has given us. We are grateful to God the Father for all the graces received. We borrow the words of the psalmist “How shall I render to the Lord all the good he has done me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Ps 116:12-13). The facilitators of the sessions spared no effort to accompany us. The sessions have…
You are precious in my eyes and I love you
The MSOLA as experienced by a young woman in a silent retreat in Lublin Poland. The White Sisters in Lublin, Poland, started December quite busily! On Friday evening 2nd December, we 3 young women made ourselves at home in their house, beginning a 3-day retreat in silence. The theme of the recollection was taken from the 43rd chapter of Isaiah, in which the Lord explicitly says – “You are precious in my eyes and I love you!” Shortly after our arrival, in order to better prepare ourselves for the upcoming meditations, we familiarised ourselves with the retreat schedule and, later that evening, we were invited to enter into silence. Of course, the norm in this situation is to completely disconnect from all electronic devices and other appealing things such as books or the on-going World Cup. We greeted Saturday morning with a breakfast in silence, after which we…
Accompanying Refugees
The community of Missionaries of Africa and MSOLA sisters at Lavigerie’s house in Karlsruhe, is formed by a Nigerian, a Rwandese and a German Missionaries of Africa and two MSOLA. Our Mission is to live and promote interreligious and intercultural Dialogue, and to accompany the refugees who are our sisters and brothers. We contact families, single persons, and some victims of human trafficking: accompany them to offices, to doctors and hospitals and help them to fill out their many papers and even to participate in social activities. Every Thursday and twice on Saturdays we have a cooking program with refugees from the camps. They are very happy to cook their own food! One of us helps in the Caritas fabric shop selling cheap clothes or even giving them free of charge. During the interculturality week we opened wide our doors and invited refugees for a culinary feast. Refugees from…
Preparation for confirmation
Our parish of Badalabougou organised a formation program for the young people who are preparing for confirmation this year 2023. This meeting took place at Sacred Heart School in Bamako Jikoloni from 28 to 31 December 2022, with the participation of 126 children and 41 accompanists. I had the joy of accompanying the children of our Christian community in Kalabankura. The talks were on different themes: Baptism; the Commandments; Sin; the Bread of Life; Confirmation; the gifts of the Spirit. The children were attentive and interested in following the different teachings. After each talk the young people met in groups. Each group had two or three accompanists who helped them to deepen the theme and the questions asked. I appreciated the spirit of collaboration, sharing and attention during the different activities and also during the meal. There was a recreational evening where questions were asked and those who managed…
I have been very blessed in my life
Sister Françoise Dillies, currently in the Ehpad St Jean in Lille, has spent most of her life in Kabylia. When an opportunity arose, she spontaneously accepted to be photographed dressed as a “Kabyle woman” and with great simplicity, she let her heart speak and told us how happy she is to have lived with the women of this country. I have been very blessed in my life because I have only served in Kabylia where I learned the Kabyle language which is not easy; this was with Sister Madeleine Alain, the great linguist. We were a small group and so it was like private lessons well adapted to each one. I began my journey by teaching at the elementary school in Beni-Yeni, for a couple of years. Then I was asked to come to France for a while. After that, I had the chance to return to Beni-Yeni. Because…
Towards Integral Ecology
In December 2022 many sisters and communities from the 2 African entities participated together in the webinar on the Journey to Integral Ecology (JIE). Sr. Begoña presented the point we have reached on this Journey, inviting us to go further. She proposed elements of Ignatian spirituality and of African tradition that can help us to include the ecological aspect in our apostolic Ignatian spirituality. We continued with the new ecological vision, the sacredness of all created beings and our human responsibility to care for the Earth, our common home. The process of ecological conversion demands of us to transform all our relationships and our lifestyle, doing without what is superfluous, “living simply so that others can simply live”. The ecological spirituality makes us aware of our communion with nature and the spiritual connection between humans and all beings of the Earth. It opens us to contemplate nature and to…