Entrance to the Novitiate in Kinshasa
[FR]
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo - Three postulants: Brother Désiré BAYIZERE (Burundian), Brother Fiston NSENGIYUMVA (Burundian) and Brother Jean-Louis LOKONDO (Congolese) began their journey at the Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Novitiate, on August 15, 2024, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary.
Initially planned during the celebration of Vespers, the Rite to ask God for the grace that the novitiate achieves its goal, was performed during Lauds, presided over by Father David GIAPUNDA Smm, Master of novices in the name of the prevented Superior Delegate. This, in the presence of Father Robert NATUTWANE SMM, Socius, Brother Théophile MOLEPELIA, SMM, member of the training team and the two novices Guillaume NDAYIKEZA and Olivier CIZA. In fact, Father Robert must have been absent at Vespers because afterward he went to our Community near the airport to prepare for his trip to Kisangani where the annual retreat and the Delegation Assembly were being held. At the time of listening to the Word of God, the Father Master chose to read the First Letter of Saint Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians (1Co 1,22-31), as suggested in the Ritual of the religious profession of the Missionaries of the Company of Mary.
In his commentary, the Father said: “The text that we have just listened to highlights one of the fundamental themes that run through the doctrine of Father de Montfort, our Founder, namely, the cross with Jesus Crucified. This text is not a distant text. Even today, many need striking “signs” to believe; the others, “wisdom”, as rational and argumentative research. But we Christians, on the contrary, are called to make present one Crucified, one condemned to death according to the capital punishment reserved for evildoers of the time.” This is the evangelical provocation. The way God chose to do it, to save the world, that is to say the cross, scandalizes the logic of human thought which governs our world in search of everything except God. We cannot become disciples of Jesus Christ without taking the path that He, the Lord of lords, has chosen; without changing not only our way of doing things but also our way of thinking. Christ Jesus deliberately chose the scandal of the cross so that his love could reach even the smallest. And to add, Father de Montfort says that the cross is Wisdom, it is Christ. The cross is not abstract, but concrete.
Through our crosses God will save us. Through our crosses we can purify ourselves, we can know that we are fragile, limited. The crosses bring us to Christ, to Wisdom. The daily crosses imply mortification which is the basis of Montfortian training (cf. Ratio I, 138). After this brief comment, the Father Master then gave to each novice:
v The Complete Works of Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, with these words: “Here are the teachings of Saint Louis-Marie, to accompany your steps during this precious time”, thus inviting everyone to deepen intellectually and spiritually life and all aspects of our Founding Father’s message;
v The Bible: calling on everyone to make it the source of their life and the light of their journey;
v The rosary, to make it the source of inspiration for Mary's habits and attitudes, our example to follow and,
v The small cross -Totus Tuus - which reproduces the cross of Montfort de Poitiers, to imitate the ways of Jesus Christ, Wisdom incarnate. Before the Blessing, the Formators greeted the novices by wishing them a favorable journey. And we ended with a song of praise to Mary.
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