Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: Br. Philip Pinto Visit

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Br. Philip Pinto Visit

“Now master, you can let your servant go in peace, according to your word …” (Luke 2:29ff) this was the verse which I immediately recognized when I saw Br. Philip Pinto the congregation leader. Over the last two years as a postulant and a novice, I have heard quite a lot about him. I have read his reflections on the congregation document chapters and magazines. I have seen his images in various photographs however, I hadn’t met him physically and when I saw him, my joy could only be compared to the joy of Simeon experienced when the child Jesus was presented to him.

I was delighted to listen to him as he spoke to us. At first I couldn’t believe myself sitting and listening to him and worse still asking him questions. His own experience of God is quite unique and how it changed his ways of looking at things. It reminded me of being alert on what is going on within me and around me and that I shouldn’t take any small experience in my life for granted.

The biggest challenge to me was when he asked us whether we had had any experience of God that we hadn’t read anywhere or heard from anybody? To me it wasn’t easy but it was an invitation to go back and reflect how life is worth living.

Anyway it was a good experience to have Br. Philip around for he made me think bigger.

May God bless him.
(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?”