Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: A day of recollection

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A day of recollection

An unreflected life is not worth living. September 22nd was set aside to allow novices to sit back and see how life has been for us in the novitiate as far as Peace is concerned. Peace is only a five lettered word yet its complexity is beyond measure.
As I reflected on the theme of the day which was peace and reconciliation, I discovered quite a number of things. First and foremost, the experience of St Therese of Lisieux became alive in me.
Like any other person, this admirable saint once had a problem with one of the nuns, to solve the problem; she always smiled whenever she came across the nun who was making life unbearable for her. The trouble shooter therefore one day gathered courage and asked her what good trait Therese had discovered in her. Her answer was “always I see Jesus fully present in you.”

To me this is a perfect way of nurturing peace in community. Reaching this level is also not easy unless I give out my life to others. Jesus also fulfilled the scriptures by denouncing retaliation. So for peace to prevail, the love of Christ should come first for enhancement of rapport amongst the community members.
It also came into my realization that I should be peaceful first especially in mind for that is where everything starts.
The Lord Buddha once said that we are what we think and what we are is the result of our thoughts.
It’s an invitation for every person to be clear about his thoughts and if possible mention them out. It doesn’t just stop in the mind but it should be transmitted to the heart and then to the entire cosmos. This is a long journey and that is why it calls for patience.

My prayer now is that God should make me an instrument of peace so as to preach it even if it be only in smaller dimensions. Above all there is need to be prayerful and the need for self reconciliation; otherwise peace will remain a word without meaning.
(Otieno)

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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?”