A moment, “sign of a new birth”

From 1 to 22 December 2022, the sisters of the Vice-Province of Burkina Faso had the joy of welcoming Sisters Abiola ADIGBOLUJA and Jeannine LEGERE, two General Councillors who had come for the so-called “canonical visit”.

This visit was prepared with a certain amount of anxiety given the insecurity situation.  The councillors came to live and share the daily life of each community in its own reality. It was a great opportunity to share with them what makes us happy as Daughters of the Holy Spirit, our struggles and also our “dreams”. For us, this visit was lived in a spirit of encouragement in the mission, a moment of “true encounter that disrupts, destabilises, transforms, converts the deepest part of the being, sign of a new birth”. (Cf. Sister Ann ALMODOVAR in her letter of 8 December 2022). The councillors never ceased to express their wish to see the seeds sown grow and bear fruit.

On Sunday 18, we were all gathered with them for a time of silence and contemplation.
“Let us open our hands and look at them…
Let us look at our left hand. It represents everything that is twisted, limited. It carries my sufferings, my limitations, my defects, my negative emotions, but also the sufferings of the world, the madness of the men and women of this time. I look at it and silently implore God’s mercy.
Let us now look at our right hand. I see my joys and all my reasons to give thanks. I am grateful for the gifts I have received and for all that makes my life worthwhile, grateful to see mutual help, solidarity, friendship, mutual love. I look at her and silently give thanks for the action of the Spirit at work in me, around me.
Let us now look at our two hands together, side by side… and unite them.
Together they are joy and sorrow, bitterness and sweetness, anger and kindness, war and peace. I realise that everything is connected. I am one person and I recognise that my life is like the chaff* that grows with the wheat. I ask for the grace to love myself as I am and to love this world as it is, with its fractures and its outbursts of solidarity, with its madness and its desire for reconciliation. I silently ask for the grace of a look that loves and hopes.” (Read by Sister Jeannine)

 “Linked to those whom God associates with us” as daughters of Marie Balavenne in Burkina Faso and elsewhere, the sisters of the Vice-Province express their gratitude to Sister Ann ALMODOVAR and her Council.