Religious promises by Càrol Garcia Murillo
Càrol joined our Congregation in 2001. For health reasons, she was unable to continue her formation. On 18 February 2012, however, she made her missionary commitment as an associate member and received our cross, the symbol that unites us wherever we are. On 24 September 2021, she made her definitive religious promises before Sr Carmen Sammut, Superior General, and received the covenant. She was sent to Almacelles, her home village, where she continues her pastoral work to the best of her ability. Her reference community is Madrid Cabanillas. Càrol has made her definitive MSOLA religious promises and received the ring Dear Sisters, What a pleasure it is to be able to share my joy with each one of you! There were two essential reasons why I chose you, when I felt the Lord calling me to give myself to Him at the end of the 1990s, to…
Our best wishes to the Junioristes of 2021-2022!
PREPARATION FOR FINAL VOWS: THE JUNIORATE The juniorate stage is primarily a time to go more deeply into the spiritual life, a time to allow each sister to receive from God the grace:
Mother Marie-Salomé and Breton Spirituality
Over the centuries, Breton Spirituality has venerated Breton personalities known for their exemplary life from a Christian point of view. Few of them have been recognized as saints by the Church’s canonization procedure, but they have been honoured by the people, their very existence not always being historically attested. From 2021 another statuette has been added to this demonstration of ancient popular spirituality, that of our Venerable Mother Marie Salomé, who was carried on the pilgrimage by Danielle Burthier and 3 lay people from the Lavigerie family. An article by Danielle will follow on Sharing Trenta Aprile with details of this experience. According to a late literary and hagiographic construction forged from the eleventh century, the seven founding saints are traditionally reputed to have founded the seven bishoprics that existed in the late Middle Ages. Because of their precedence to any canonical procedure, these saints have not been officially recognized by…
An extraordinary year!
What an extraordinary year! In 2021, 8 sisters will make their final committement
He has filled the hungry with good things
On July 3, 2021, in Gogo, diocese of Manga, Burkina Faso, our sister Julienne BOUDA vowed to follow Christ in obedience, chastity and poverty, according to the charism of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa. The sisters on mission in Burkina, Faustina from Ghana, the novices and the postulants came to be with our sister at this important moment in her spiritual journey. There were family members of our Burkinabé sisters, friends of the community, the family of Sr Julienne and many parishioners. Two Sisters from Gogo came to support their compatriot in her commitment as well as several other sisters. The Lord, who was the first to be involved in Julienne’s life, got ahead of us in all the preparations. The sky blessed us with a calm rain the day before, but on this day the weather was fine and even the temperature went down a little.…
The benefits of plants
As part of the love for creation and for the benefits of nature’s gifts, many of our sisters encourage the use of two particularly beneficial trees: Artemisia and Moringa. Artemisia Annua from the large Asteraceae family which also includes tarragon and wormwood, is a plant widely distributed in China. They are plants used for more than 2000 years in traditional Chinese medicine to fight against fevers and viruses. In 2015, Chinese researcher Tu Youou won the Nobel Prize for her research into the effectiveness of Artemisia Annua extracts against malaria. Moringa Oleifera, native to India, thrives in particularly dry and arid soils. In the Nile Valley, Moringa is also known as “Shagara al Rauwaq,” literally “tree that purifies.” Used for centuries in Ayurvedic medicine, it gives the power to fight more than 300 diseases, including colds, diabetes, and high blood pressure or to stimulate the immune system. Moringa leaves contain…
The joy of moving towards…
By early 2020, following lockdowns imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of ZOOM increased sharply and thousands of businesses and educational institutions had switched to online courses using ZOOM. As the company offered its services free of charge to schools from kindergarten to high school in many countries, the number of users per day increased from 10 million in December 2019 to 200 million in March 2020, with many new participants working online for the first time. ZOOM has also become a social platform and its users have organized family reunions, sports classes, concerts, weddings, etc. Our congregation quickly adopted this new medium of communication. At first with some difficulty but very quickly, and with a lot of practice on the spot, several sisters became very skilled in the use, and ZOOM became the means of bonding between individuals and communities. What a pleasure to connect between Europe, America and Africa to…
Solidarity with refugees
From our sister Kordula in the Karlsruhe community at Haus Lavigerie, Germany I met Nora, a Sudanese woman (not her real name and nationality) three years ago during Advent while baking cookies. She had fled with her family, her husband and her three children. Her fourth child, disabled, was born in Germany. Being able to communicate in Arabic made it easier to get in touch and to be there for the family. In August 2020, Nora came to tell me that the employment center was no longer paying them benefits: accommodation, food, medical care, and a contribution for personal needs. These services are guarantees by a legal residency permit that just expired! As Nora is not fluent in German, it was difficult for her to navigate the bureaucracy. The permit expired because she did not immediately respond to the Immigration Office and did not explain the obstacles, which prevented her…
The joy of “moving towards” … in Uganda
At the end of January, I set off on a new mission among the refugees in the northern part of Uganda, where there is one of the biggest refugee concentrations in the world. Refugees are prone to be trafficked and exploited because of their precarious situation and their vulnerability, especially children and young women. An effective fight against human trafficking requires some preparation, some knowledge about the realities of human trafficking and skills that can be useful in prevention and advocacy. To be better prepared for this task and to be actively involved in fighting human trafficking among those to whom I am sent, I followed a one-year online course that equipped me with necessary skills. The course was directed to the leaders of Talitha Kum Network, to enable us to be actively involved and better collaborate with others in the fight against human trafficking. We…
The joy of “moving towards”…in Burkina Faso
Hello dear sisters! I come to share with you in a few lines, our joy of “moving towards”…Manga, on Sunday December 6 when we visited our aspirants. We, Julienne Bouda and Hélène Kavula, left for the Diocese of Manga, to meet our three aspirants. As they came from different villages located more or less at a distance of 8 km from the parish, we asked them to meet us in Basgana. A catechist there was also celebrating the Word of God. When we arrived, the celebration had already started so we went to the chapel to pray with the Christians. I participated in this prayer because everything was in the Moré language. At the end of the prayer, the catechist invited us to introduce ourselves. Each of us stepped forward and said which mission she was in. Then, we took the opportunity to present the Congregation and invite the…