The Daughters of the Holy Sacrament in Burkina Faso joyfully celebrated the perpetual profession of Sister Amélie Zougmore on Saturday 14 December 2024 in the parish of Saint Joseph Moukassa in Koudougou.
The Eucharistic celebration was presided over by the local Bishop, Monsignor Joachim Ouédraogo, in the presence of priests, religious, friends and members of Sister Amélie’s human and spiritual family. We were all witnesses to the commitment she had made before God. Sister Amélie’s commitment was based on a dialogue between her and our vice provincial, Sister Silvie Roamba, delegated by the Superior General, Sister Ann Almodovar, who acknowledged God’s love for her: Thus she commits herself to live in fraternal community by living the charism of Marie Balavenne (recalling the foundation of the Congregation in 1706) by living the evangelical counsels of poverty, obedience and chastity, by loving and serving her sisters, the poor, children…
In his exhortation, Monsignor Joachim borrowed the words of Pope Francis to the consecrated persons on the occasion of the Year of Consecrated Life (2015) to invite us to wake up the world, to bear witness to a different way of acting, living and serving. Amélie goes by several first names, including ‘Sindykielgba’, which means ‘Shut up and listen’ in Mooré, her mother tongue. The Monsignor used them to invite her to make this a life project: to know how to keep quiet in order to listen to the Holy Spirit, to learn how to keep quiet in order to listen to her superiors, to know how to keep quiet in order to listen to the poor, and to know how to listen to and love her sisters to whom God is sending her on mission in community.
At the end of the Mass, in her words of thanks, Sister Amélie expressed her gratitude to God, to her family, and to our congregation of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit, which welcomes her definitively into its midst and whose support she humbly counts on for her human and spiritual growth. Afterwards, those present at the Mass came to our community to share a festive meal with Sister Amélie, in a spirit of conviviality and dance.
May God, the Master of the harvest, continue to call and strengthen the steps of those who offer themselves to Him for the service of their brothers and sisters.
Sister Oho Lydie – Burkina Faso. Published on 17 December 2024
