First Profession

24 June 2024 was a day filled with joy for our Province of Saint Bernard.

The Eucharistic celebration took place in the chapel of the Marie Médiatrice community, where two novices, Sister Pélagie NDUIME and Sister Suzanne KANDAWU made their first profession.

The celebration was presided over by Father Moise BAHONDA, Parish Priest of Sainte Marie Parish in Kimpese, delegated by the Bishop of Matadi, and concelebrated by other priests.

The preacher of the day, Father Adrien-Yves LUTETE, a Redemptorist priest, underlined three important and essential ideas:

• God has a wonderful plan for each of us and for all his creatures.
• In coming into the world, each of us has a mission to carry out in respect of God’s will and in humility.
• The strength or authority that enables us to carry out such a mission comes from God, for He alone is capable of enriching us with His blessings.

We have a moral obligation to support our young professed sisters and to help them on their vocational journey. Following Christ is very demanding, because you have to prefer Him above all else, be prepared to carry a cross with many faces every day and give up everything, in other words, put everything you are and everything you have at the service of your adventure with Christ.

In the Novitiate, novices are trained to become visible signs of God’s love and servants of the vulnerable, so that they can enhance the dignity of every human being through their apostolic action.

What characterises a Sister of Charity of Jesus and Mary? To be a Sister of Charity of Jesus and Mary is to:

• Have, like the Founder, a concern for the poor;
• Share the faith experience of the Founder;
• Help those who are marginalised or vulnerable in our society;
• Be at the service of those in need.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary shares, with other Congregations, the Vincentian spirituality, which is based on four key elements:

1. To love God, our Father, by the sweat of our brow and the strength of our arms;
2. To see Christ in the poor and the poor in Christ;
3. To share the "affective" and "liberating" love of Christ, the Evangeliser and Servant of the poor;
4. To be receptive to the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The essential virtues that every Vincentian should seek to embody in his or her daily life are:

1. Simplicity, which is synonymous with frankness, moral integrity and sincerity;
2. Humility, understood as the ability to accept the truth about one’s weaknesses and personal qualities;
3. Gentleness understood as constant friendliness and tireless benevolence;
4. Selflessness, which is synonymous with self-denial;
5. Zeal, understood as passion for the development of others.

At the end of the celebration, the rite of mission sending took place: our two new professed sisters have been assigned to the Central African Republic where they will work to educate young people.

We thank God for the gift of vocation of our two new members in our Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary.

Perpetual vows and jubilees

In Kimpese, on Saturday 6 July 2024, we celebrated:

• The centenary of Sister Vincentia MUAYI LUAVANGAMA ;
• The silver jubilee of Sister Annie MAKIESE SANGABO;
• The perpetual vows of Sister Marcelline TULANTSHIEDI VAN BOPE.

The Eucharist was presided over by Mgr André-Giraud Pindi, Bishop of the Diocese of Matadi, assisted by the Vicar General of the Diocese of Lausanne (Switzerland) and other priests.

In his homily, the Bishop pointed out that commitment to the consecrated life is not an easy thing, because it is a demanding life. When we receive God’s call to follow Him and consecrate ourselves to Him, and to enter into the divine logic, we should respond with a certain fear.

If committing oneself to the consecrated life is considered by some to be madness, then know, says St Paul (cf. 2 Cor 5, 14-17), that it is for Christ’s sake that you have lost your mind. And in that, you have no reason to regret God’s choice of you.
Taking perpetual vows is a definitive commitment. It is not the culmination of a journey. It is a testimony that it is possible to make a lifelong commitment to the Lord.

The jubilee in the Church is the celebration of witness, of your fidelity to the commitment, your fidelity to Christ, your fidelity to the mission. Fidelity must never cease, but it must be constantly renewed.

The celebration of a jubilee is a testimony of strong commitment in the midst of joys and in spite of trials. In a world where everything is temporary, transitory and ephemeral, making a long-term commitment to Christ is an eloquent choice of the Church and a witness that life in God is not fleeting.

In every circumstance, says St Paul, we must give thanks continually to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Eph 5:20).

Sister Angèle Benabiabo, Provincial Superior, encouraged and congratulated Sisters Vincentia, Annie and Marcelline with these words:

’Dear Sisters, laureates of the day,

With you, we give thanks to God for the surprising power at work in the history of our beloved Congregation.

We offer you our warm and sincere congratulations for your determination to continue to serve God in this religious life; thus disposing you “to listen to the cries of the wounded of our time and to broaden the horizons of your hearts to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable in the specific context of our world today”. Be agents of healing and architects of communion in faith, as recommended to us by our last General Chapter 2023, "Go and do likewise", and by Pope Francis in the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti; be other Christs to alleviate the suffering of those in need through your prayer and your action.

During all these years, you must have realised that it is not always easy to follow Christ, but you have put your trust in the Lord, knowing that, as St Paul says, "The one who calls you is faithful, and he will accomplish this" (1 Thess 5:24).

Dear Sisters, we urge you to remain faithful and persevering despite the difficulties you may encounter along the way. Always go out into the deep, fixing your gaze on the One who has chosen you, knowing that your commitment is not at all a glory but rather a service through universal love and "doing good to all without looking at whom we are doing it to", following the example of Father Pierre-Joseph TRIEST.

We are all full of joy and we give thanks to the Lord who calls whom He wills and when He wills.’

Sister Hélène Doteane