Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: There is nothing better than the smell of wet earth!!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

There is nothing better than the smell of wet earth!!

The signs of imminent rain were there for all to see ... the darkening skies, the howling wind blowing dust and the distant smell of wet earth. As the wind died down and the skies got darker the first drops of welcome rain fell on a parched land last evening. The rain continued throughout the night and well into today.

Not only did the rain bring much needed relief from the heat but it provided water for so many people. I am sure many people who would have walked and cycled in search of water will be spared the ardous journey today. Our own tanks are well near full with the harvested rain water.

There is a freshness in the air. Plants and roofs so long covered in red dust are now washed clean. The air thick with dust only a few days ago is now clean and clear.

There is something beautiful about the fact that following the rain all is still and the smell of wet earth still hangs in the air!

The pictures show our rain soaked compound!

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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?”