Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Christmas Carols Night

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Carols Night

On the 23rd night we had a wonderful celebration of the Christmas story through song and scripture. Jordaan and a few of the novices put together a wondeful experience for us which brought out the diversity and richness of our a various languages. The musical talent amongst us was on full display too in the singing, the playing of the organ and guitar,

the beating of drums and the playing of the tin whistles.

It brought to a fitting a conclusion our Advent preparation for this Christmas. This year with the help of the Jesse Tree we journeyed along the path which began way back and followed it from the beginning of creation, through the Exodus, the prophets and patriachs, right to that night in a stable in Bethlehem.

The Jesse Tree and the Advent wreathe helped us keep the story alive and to reflect on it prayerfully.

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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?”