This issue on Ongoing Formation puts us in contact with those who have followed, those who facilitate and those who provide courses. They all agree that Ongoing Formation has a future, because it is an occasion for renewal and to develop certain aspects of what constitutes our missionary life ranging from our physical health to our spiritual health. In fact it is something which is not linked to age; younger confreres in the first or second term of mission wait with impatience for the meetings organised on their behalf so that they can take stock and revive their missionary spirit. The witness of older confreres demonstrates that “the ear goes to school every day.” (Bambara Proverb): Some have always had the desire to keep up to date and to communicate their knowledge to others.
To keep the missionary flame alive, we need to slow down from time to time for some “essential maintenance.” In order to manage our strength rationally, we ought to make sure that each confrere finds the time to regenerate his physical and spiritual energy in order to keep going and continue happily in mission: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while” (Mk 6, 31).
Freddy Kyombo, M.Afr.
Petit Echo Editor