MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2024
Go and invite everyone to the banquet (cf. Mt 22:9) MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS FOR WORLD MISSION DAY 2024 20 October 2024 Dear brothers and sisters! The theme I have chosen for this year’s World Mission Day is taken from the Gospel parable of the wedding banquet (cf. Mt 22:1-14). After the guests refused his invitation, the king, the main character in the story, tells his servants: “Go therefore to the thoroughfares, and invite to the marriage feast as many as you find” (v. 9). Reflecting on this key passage in the context of the parable and of Jesus’ own life, we can discern several important aspects of evangelization. These appear particularly timely for all of us, as missionary disciples of Christ, during this final stage of the synodal journey that, in the words of its motto, “Communion, Participation, Mission”, seeks to refocus the Church on her primary task, which is…
A Vocation weekend in Poland
This weekend we will speak Polish! THEME: “TO BE A MISSIONARY SISTER OF OUR LADY OF AFRICA… WHY NOT ME?” A vocation weekend for women between the ages of 18 and 35 wishing to discern their vocation and get to know our congregation a little better. DATES: From 16 to 18 February 2024 in Lublin. For those who are willing, there is the possibility to arrive earlier or to extend the stay. PROGRAMME: – Meetings with other young people who are discerning their vocation; – Meetings with the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa from the Lublin community; – Presentation of the charism of the Congregation and learning about the missionary work of the Sisters; – Time for personal and community prayer with the Word of God; All this in an international and intercultural atmosphere. USEFUL INFORMATION: This is a proposal for women who want to get to…
February 8, 2024 – St. Bakhita Day
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF PRAYER AND AWARENESS AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING INTERFAITH PRAYER VIGIL FEBRUARY 8, 2024 – ST. BAKHITA DAY THEME FOR THE YEAR 2024: JOURNEYING IN DIGNITY: LISTEN, DREAM, ACT This interfaith prayer of this year’s International Day of Prayer and Awareness Against Human Trafficking is an invitation to integrate the journeying for dignity centered on the four elements of nature. We can offer prayers, reflections, and rituals that honor and connect with the elements of earth, air, fire, water, and metal in listening, dreaming, and taking action in combating human trafficking. For this year’s Vigil of Prayer, we are invited to listen, dream, and act to journey with each person with dignity. We know everything is interrelated and exploitation of people cannot be tackled without a respectful relationship with all creation. Hence, we invite you to reflect on the realities of human trafficking and the five elements of…
Talitha Kum International launched the “Walking in Dignity” application
Sr. Abby Avelino, MM, International Coordinator of Talitha Kum On January 30th, 2024, in the presence of about 300 people, including ambassadors, people from institutions, religious and young people, Talitha Kum International launched the “Walking in Dignity” application. DOWNLOAD THE APP Sr. Abby Avelino, MM, International Coordinator of Talitha Kum, opened the online and onsite event by presenting the goal and features of the app, a project that Talitha Kum members, embassies to the Holy See, and many volunteers have been working on for over a year and a half. The idea is to walk together, especially for and with young people, and engage against human trafficking by feeling involved in prevention, care of persons and empowerment of survivors. The Irish Ambassador to the Holy See, H.E. Frances Collins, emphasized the importance of synergy between the networks and different organizations: Working through networking, with different departments and states, is crucial because this…
Inter-Congregational Ongoing Formation Program (ICOF)
From Sr. Hélène Mbuyamba, Arusha Community, Tanzania A brief history In 2014, five congregations came together to set up an inter-congregational ongoing formation program (ICOF). This initiative came from the collaboration of the General Councils of the following 5 congregations: Spiritan Fathers, Missionaries of Africa, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, the Comboni Missionaries and the Society of African Missions (SMA). The Comboni Missionaries subsequently withdrew and the OLA (Our Lady of Apostles) joined the group. Today, these five congregations are considered the founding members. The vision and mission the founding members had for the ICOF program are: Vision: Integrated priests and religious in Africa who joyfully bear witness to the Gospel in their personal, spiritual and pastoral lives. Mission: To provide Catholic priests and religious in Africa with the opportunity, space and time for personal renewal to better serve the Gospel in the concrete…
E bora e kaso, e nana e kaso
“YOU LEFT YOUR HOME AND YOU ARRIVE AT YOUR HOME” “E bora e kaso, e nana e kaso” Bambara Proverb from Mali On October 30 and 31, 2023, the community of Sceaux had the great joy of welcoming 7 delegates from 6 sister congregations that we had helped with formation from their origin. Responding to the call of the bishops of France, they live the mission in 19 communities. We let them speak. “Our presence here, today, at your home and with you, is a very important moment. We want to show our gratitude to you for everything you have done, and continue to do, for our different congregations. Allow me now to introduce our “Fraternity of Our Lady of Africa”. It has just been born. It was April 27, 2023. Its objective is to create a space for fraternal and spiritual meetings of our different…
Rich harvest… few labourers
“The harvest is rich but the laborers are few, so ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers to do his harvesting” (Luke 10: 2). Aware of this call from Jesus, we ask the Master of the harvest to send us workers for His mission in the Church and especially in our Congregation. For that to happen, we believe that MVA is part of our mission and we are only intermediaries. Therefore, we visit churches, schools and families to make our Congregation and it’s mission known and to share our charism through our presence and our words. We also collaborate with our sisters in Goma to follow up and do MVA in Aru, for Adjumani is nearer to that part of D R Congo than Goma. We network with the Missionaries of Africa, the friends and relatives of the Missionaries of Africa (FROMA) of West-Nile and other people…
An apostolic tour looking to the future!
Sunday September 17, 2023, Spéciosa, Celina and Cécile left early in the morning for a 195 km drive. This little one-day trip was born first of all from the desire to share with Celina what our community experiences with Muslim women in the city of Kef. Also, we felt certain about something, without really knowing why and what awaited us: the certainty was that it was God who called us to take this path. Driven by this inner conviction shared as a community, we hit the road. We entrusted it to Mary through hymns and prayers, then we listened to this text: “Transformation involves listening to our deepest longings and greatest aspirations to create a new vision for the future. It requires letting go of what is no longer true, real or life-giving and listening to God’s call to new life. It is an organic, emergent, and continually itinerant…
My efforts for MVA
Sr. Francine Maas, Winooski, United States Missionary and Vocational Animation continues through all of our lives to be an essential aspect of our Missionary Call. However, according to me, it takes on a different appearance in the living out of our lives. Now, in my senior years, more than ever I sense the call to be mission in all that I am and do. I pray that at least some of the elderly individuals with whom I live and the members of our staff will be touched by Jesus through me. This is Mission!!! As far as vocational animation goes, to tell you the truth, as the youngest American MSOLA, at 77 years of age, I will not do vocational animation in the hopes that young American women might join the congregation. However, if one would “knock upon our door”, I would welcome her, listen to her and explain…
Audience with Pope Francis
January 3, 2024…a long-awaited date because we had been invited in a privileged way to Pope Francis’ general audience. At 7 a.m., we were enthusiastically marching towards the Vatican…. Wow!! A huge crowd of people were lining up…. They were way ahead of us!!! Courageous, we were the last in line, but before long we were no longer the last, and the queue was moving along at a good pace. Our yellow card put us in a special place called “baisemains”. We were in row 4… a great row to see Pope Francis up close! In these words, Pope Francis reminded us that in the Christian life, spiritual warfare is for all people who want to commit themselves to following Jesus, who himself had to live and manage his own life. Here is what he told us: Last week, we introduced the theme of vices and virtues. It’s…