Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Risk the Sacred Journey

Monday, July 27, 2009

Risk the Sacred Journey

Each of us stands at the gate of tomorrow, facing the future. At times, we have walked in wonder and awe; at other times, we have moved along in the flood of fear. Looking back, we may recognize that amid the joys and struggles of this journey, we have been companioned by a grace-full Presence that has held us together and led us on. This is not simply a journey through a string of days and years. Rather, This is a Sacred Journey, one that is held in and surrounded by Mystery. Although we long for someone to translate the risks of this journey into logical explanations, we often find ourselves in the foreign land of faith. We stand on the edge of our hopes and dreams and ask in trust to be led and supported by a Love and Energy much larger than we can imagine. We ask to walk here in courage and integrity, as we attempt to discern the voice of God amid the cacophony of our doubt and fear.
To risk the journey and face the future is simply to walk in faith, for there are no linear words that capture the massive Mystery of God. We stand clothed in grace and showered with blessing. At times we see the flecks of light; at other times we see only the shadow of the silhouette. But always, both in our knowing and in our unknowing, we are escorted into tomorrow by Love, who gives us everything we need. (Doris Klein CSA)

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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?”