Thursday 23 July 2015

Visiting the Families of our Candidates




Missionary Experience

It's about a lived experience in apostolate at the central prison in Goma called Munzenze during my basic formation in 2014. Our apostolate was going always on Sunday; it was in the prison that we participate even in the mass. Our apostolate group consisted of Joseph CIRHAHONGERWA who is currently in Kimbondo, Germain KAYARI and Valère MUTOO with whom I am currently at La Ruzizi. Our experience is therefore not very current; it is more or less a year. In fact, I class the present experiment among those that impressed and helped me to advance and understand what I want to get involved: an apostolic life, of closeness to the people.

Throughout our apostolate, the prisoners demonstrated the importance of our presence in their midst by their openness towards us: very often, they were asking us to pray for them and they shared their experiences in prison for they had put their confidence in us. It is by this fact that I became aware of the importance of intercessory prayer: this was so for me an inquiry, that of presenting to God the misery and misfortune of others.

During the mass, their attitude is not to leave unnoticed: they really look to pray; they keep absolute silence and coordinate very well the liturgy more than in our different parishes. In their intentions, they are not selfish: they pray for themselves but also for everyone. Here is the beginning of their famous intention: “Let’s pray for prisoners of body and heart ...”. This explains one of their experience that they have shared in which they told us that it was not only them who are prisoners, but there are others among those who think they are free; they said that it is their prison which is ordered, because it has standards that govern it, compared to other forms of prisons: they are aware of their situation.

The day that has marked me the most was the missionary Sunday, the day of profession of Christian faith. The priest asked the prisoners to attend them as evangelization starting “their society”: the prison. I can say that those prisoners really involved in evangelism, as ordered by the priest, because they have a group of catechists who help those who arrived in prison already Christian to deepen their faith and initiate those who need to become Christian to Christian life by giving them sacramental instructions. So during our apostolate there were twenty-four prisoners who have been baptized.

As in our country the Democratic Republic of Congo where it is free to belong to such or such other religious denomination, in prison there are Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and others. It is important to point out that it is with Catholics that we did our apostolate.


To do not say more about those prisoners, I end up giving my noticing about them. Catholic prisoners have a deep faith. I can explain the assertion above by the experience that the head of the Catholic prisoners shared us:  when nobody has helped those prisoners with food for example, a temptation arises on the part of non-Catholic prisoners who have money or food, to give sufficient food for one night only to those who lack on condition that they abandon their religious denomination to join one of theirs.  According to the head of the Catholic prisoners, quite a number of prisoners give in to this temptation, but there has been no Catholic who gave to this. Unlike the others, Catholics are so aware of what they believe, a free and very personal faith which should be rewarded by person other than God.

Maybe could one or the other such temptation mentioned above occur us also; that’s why we are asking the Lord to grant us a firm faith for overcoming such situations.


By Romain BULONZA 
Missionary of Africa candidate in La Ruzizi

Tuesday 21 July 2015

SEIGNEUR, VOILA MON PREMIER PAS

«Toi donc, mon enfant, fortifie-toi dans la grâce du Christ JĂ©sus. Ce que tu as appris de moi sur l’attestation de nombreux tĂ©moins, confie-le Ă  des hommes sĂ»rs, capables Ă  leur tour d’en instruire d’autres.» 2 Tim 2 :1-2

Pour approfondir ma foi dans notre Seigneur, je me suis engagĂ© Ă  le suivre en lui consacrant ma vie. La propĂ©deutique, au Foyer Ngongo, m’a beaucoup aidĂ© Ă  m’approcher du Christ au moyen de diffĂ©rentes rencontres avec les personnes souffrantes comme les malades et les prisonniers. Ainsi, après m’ĂŞtre rendu auprès de ces derniers Ă  l’hĂ´pital provincial de Goma, Ă  celui de Bukavu et Ă  la prison centrale MUNZENZE de Goma, j’ai senti la nĂ©cessitĂ© d’implorer l’aide du Seigneur pour parvenir Ă  accomplir les missions que l’on me donnera chez les Missionnaires d’Afriques. en disant :

SEIGNEUR, VOILA MON PREMIER PAS

Que ta volonté guide mon discernement
de Te suivre sous mes intimes sentiments
et que mon premier pas témoigne mon vœu
celui de Te suivre, Toi qui es dans les cieux.

Que je sois ton témoin dans cette Afrique
Ă  l’aide des Missionnaires d’Afrique,
pour que  l’Afrique entière forme une famille
qui proclamera sans fin tes merveilles.

Tu m’as ouvert le cĹ“ur par les formateurs,
pour vivre la prière comme un moteur,
qui m’aidera vivement Ă  Te chercher,
dans le fond de mon cĹ“ur oĂą Tu t’es cachĂ©.

Tu m’as proposĂ© la vie apostolique,
un charisme des Missionnaires d’Afrique,
pour être près des malades et des prisonniers
et protĂ©ger l’espoir du souffle dernier.
Tiens-moi la main Seigneur, car je ne suis rien sans toi !





Valère MUTOO NDONGA, candidat Missionnaire d’Afrique.

Thursday 16 July 2015

PIQUE-NIQUE DES ETUDIANTS DE LA RUZIZI ORGANISE PAR LAVIGERIE HOUSE




Ce pique-nique s’est rĂ©alisĂ© en date du 14 juillet 2015, une date très marquante, très importante pour nous Ă©tudiants de la Ruzizi. Nous avons Ă©tĂ© accompagnĂ©s de quelques formateurs de Lavigerie house et de quelques autres membres de cette maison de formation.

En effet, nous sommes allĂ©s Ă  ITANDA pour nous divertir et visiter le fleuve Nil passant Ă  ITANDA, en Ouganda. Cette visite a Ă©tĂ© importante pour nous car nous avons, non seulement dĂ©couvert ITANDA et le fleuve Nil, mais aussi  eu beaucoup de temps, toute une journĂ©e de contemplation de la belle nature D'ITANDA et de son fleuve, le Nil et cette contemplation nous a procurĂ© une très grande joie: nous nous sommes sentis renouvelĂ©s par cette contemplation; nous nous sommes rendu compte encore une fois des grandeur et beautĂ© de Dieu Ă  travers les grandeur et beautĂ© de sa crĂ©ature qu’est le Nil.


Ce faisant, nous ne saurons jamais regretter  le moment que nous avons passĂ© au fleuve Nil au cours de notre pique-nique. Nous ne cessons de remercier la communautĂ© de Lavigerie house grâce Ă  laquelle l’accomplissement de ce pique-nique s’est avĂ©rĂ© possible.
                                                                            

Romain BULONZA SHAMAVU

Wednesday 8 July 2015

Welcoming our candidates from "La Ruzizi" (Bukavu, Congo DR)

Nous, les Ă©tudiants missionnaires d'Afrique de Centre de Formation Notre Dame d'Afrique de la Ruzizi, nous sommes très heureux d'ĂŞtre acceuillis et pour notre sĂ©jour ici Ă  Laverie House pour l'apprentissage de la langue anglaise.

En effet, nous avions considerĂ© le mardi, le 6 Juillet 2015 pour une journĂ©e un peu spĂ©ciale dont les raisons sont Ă©videmment Ă©normes. Il eut une rencontre sportive qui a opposĂ© le groupe d'Ă©tudiants venant de la Ruzizi Ă  celui de Lavigerie House; dans la mĂŞme joie, il s'en est suivi une soirĂ©e d'ensemble.






Etant donnĂ© que notre famille des Missionnaires d'Afrique est internationale, plusieurs manifestations culturelles l'ont prouvĂ©. Il s'agit de: comment jouer le tambour Ă  la manière burundaise, la roumba congolaise pour les Congolais; la dance kenyane, tanzanienne, ougandaise et plusieurs autres series d'animation ont Ă©tĂ© faites. Et finalement la soirĂ©e fut clĂ´turĂ©e par une prière de bĂ©nĂ©diction de la part de Père Arsène. Nos remerciements au staff et aux Ă©tudiant pour ce chaleureux et inoubliable accueil.

Jean-Paul Jakwong'a