Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: October 2008

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Near restful waters you lead me!!

Recently we added a new feature to our property ... a little water pond with a fountain!! It is work in progress at the moment. We hope that when it is completed it will be the centre of a quiet and peaceful prayer garden. It is wonderful to see the rabbits, the birds and all kinds of insects sharing this space with us. The beauty of this project is that it keeps evolving. I am sure there will be more landscaping done as the year progresses. We need to see how it will stand up to the dry season and the dust of the harmattan!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Retreat Voices

This what the novices had to say about their retreat....

"It was a nourishing experience where i was able to get in touch with my daily experience of God and it allowed me to revisit God's call of me."

"The retreat was a special time to spend time with God in prayer and listen to god's voice in the quiet and the sharings. It allowed me to enter into my inner being and explore my secret stories and brokenness. it put me on the road to greater discovering of myself."

"The retreat was a prayerful and peaceful experience that put me face to face with myself and my God. It made me grow in awareness of the responsibilities placed on my shoulders."

"The retreat helped me to reflect on my two year novitiate experience. I cherish the experience of meeting God in the silence."

"The retreat was a time of attentive listening, quiet reflection and meditation. This enabled me to go back into life stories and see how God has been working in me throughout my life. It was a time to reflect on how my image of God has changed."

"The retreat energised me. It was a time to listen to God, to discover the mystery of God and to reflect on God's working in my life. It was time to appreciate the beauty of my fragility."

"The retreat was life giving. It me in touch with the divine in me. It was an affirming time."

"The retreat was a joyful experience of listening and making decisions."

"The retreat was a moment of grace to attentively listen to God. It was spiritually awakening."

"The retreat was a time for me to go back and reflect about my life since I joined the Brothers. It was a nourishing experience in which I was able to realise God's love for me. My response to this is to trust that he is always with me to cast away all my fears."

"This experience of prayer and reflection was a time to listen to myself and to what God is saying to me. It was an opportunity to look back into my life and see what God has done for me. It was a time for me to discern and prepare to respond to the call of God."

"This enriching experience helped me to falshback and see how God has been walking with me on my discernment journey."

We would like to thank all the staff at the Centre at Kumasi for their care and hospitality. We thank especially our three retreat directors - Sr. Mary Anne, Sr. Teresa and Fr. Michael.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Novices on Retreat

"Come, follow me to the edge, into the deeper and wider dimensions of LIving that you may discover the God who awaits you. I will walk with you in places of the heart beyond your wildest imaginings. Dare be my disciples. In you I am doing something new!"

Today we travel down to Kumasi for our 6 day retreat. Kumasi, known as the Garden city of Ghana is an ideal place to spend some time by ourselves before we make the decision to profess our first vows.

We will be making our retreat at the Centre for Christian Renewal. We ask you to remember us in our prayers. You can be sure that we will remember you in ours.

We are driving down this morning. It is a five and half hour drive on fairly good roads. We will be back in Tamale on the 12th evening.

What do we want this novitiate to be?

There is a saying that goes something like this: “If we don’t do what we believe in, then we’ll end up believing in what we do”. Without a vision that is authentic and alive to guide our actions, then we can settle for rationalizing the status quo or what is convenient and comfortable.
One of the first things the new team in Tamale did was to spend time beginning to articulate its vision of a novitiate beyond the basics laid down in our Constitutions. Here are some elements of what we came up with:
Novitiate is a journey, a process that involves KNOWING, EXPERIENCING and CHOOSING.
It is an INITIATION into Christian Brother religious life, so a “rite of passage” into a new identity, a time of learning and testing.
Novitiate confronts the novices with the Brother’s vocation as a call to brotherly solidarity and community, not to privilege, status and security.
It involves exploration of the basic values of faith and vocation, and the challenge to embrace these out of personal conviction and free choice.
Novitiate means understanding that a religious vocation makes a claim on the whole of the person and his life, including his inner life, his relationships and his professional activity (ministry). Furthermore, it challenges the novice to see the dynamic inter-relationship of these areas and to learn what their integration means.
Novitiate is a time of DISCERNMENT. The novice learns more deeply who he is, and what this Christian Brother life is. There is a constant back-and-forth movement between these two poles as an answer is sought to the question, “Is this where I am meant to be? Is this the life that will enable me to find my true self in God?”