Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Remembering our Sister, Martha Awino (19.12.1982-21.11.2009)

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Remembering our Sister, Martha Awino (19.12.1982-21.11.2009)

The community was saddened by the news this weekend of the death of Nicholas' sister, Martha Awino.
Martha was the fifth born of Mr. Minandi’s family. Awino was born 19th December 1982 in Kisumu District, Nyanza province-Kenya. She was once married but when things things did not work out she returned to her family. She is survived by one child.
As a community we join Nicholas and the family in this hour of deep grief and sorrow. We gathered this evening to pray for the soul of Martha and that the family would find comfort in these difficult times.
We asked Why? But this question never really has an answer. But we are assured by the fact that God would really ever call someone back to union only if the person had lived ones life to its fullest.
Death is always a shock; even more so when it’s the death of young person, known to us for either a short or a long time. We have many words and few words: many words to say to each other what’s unimportant and few words to say the real, caring things we’d like to say to each other.
We came together this evening to remember a young person, a child, a sister, and a mother, to give thanks, even in our grief, for her life, to offer each other and especially those who will most miss her, the consolation of our love and concern; and to offer also the promise of eternal life.

Our consolations will be the joyful memories we have; our sadness is that a young person has gone from us, at an age we did not expect. Our sure hope is that our God will welcome her home, and that one day we will be united together in the life to come. In the depth of our loss and hope we now pray in solidarity and give thanks to God-source of life and all being.
We remember prayerfully the Minandi family, especially Nicholas, and may Martha’s soul rest in perfect peace in the gentle embrace of her ever loving God! Amen
(Otieno+Sydney)

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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?”