Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: To Kintampo Falls!

Friday, August 1, 2008

To Kintampo Falls!

Kintampo waterfalls was our destination for yesterday. We decided to take the day off and spend some leisure time at this beautiful place nestled in among the low hills. Having set out early we

reached the falls after a two and half hour drive. the advantage of getting there early was that we had the whole place to ourselves for well near two hours. The quiet and the serenity of of the place was both refreshing and exhilarating.

We wandered around the area for a while until we got to the main falls. Once there some of us ventured in to the waterfalls and braved the force of the water,

the rest were quite content to just sit on the rocks and take in the beauty and the awesome power from afar! For all the wonder of God's creation was evident.

In this place it was easy to join the psalmist in prayer ... "O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!

You have set your majesty above the heavens! When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place - What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them? Yet you have made them little less than a god, crowned them with

glory and honor. You have given them rule over the works of your hands, put all things at their feet: All sheep and oxen, even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and whatever swims the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!"

It was not difficult in that place to reflect and rejoice in the transforming power of water, the steadfastness of the rock, the majesty of the trees standing tall,

the whispering rush of the wind among the foliage, the plaintive chorus of insects and and birds, and

the wonderful interplay between them all creating a place reminiscent of an Earth at peace and in perfect harmony.

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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?”