Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Reflecting on Workers day

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Reflecting on Workers day

Looking at the situation of workers nowadays, I see most people working to meet their economic demands. It is, however, unfortunate that the majority who struggle using their physical energy in odd jobs are the less income earners, while those in executive posts use less energy in earning their superfluous income.

Most of these poor underpaid or low earners are in the third world countries while the rich well-off individuals are in the first world countries. Though even in some developing countries the discrepancy between the rich and the poor, the employed and the unemployed is growing.

It is my prayer and hope that the well-to-do who have will share with the underprivileged and those in power will strive to distribute resources equally bearing in mind those who need them most.
(Peter M. Ndivo)

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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?”