From “Baobab Echos N ° 8 of January 2018”
January 5, 2018, at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peace in Bamako
It seems a little anachronistic to bring together Confreres and Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, for an Advent retreat on January 5th! But the diaries of each other did not allow to find the opportunity to gather before Christmas.The theme being the one proposed by our two general councils: “We are all migrants”, could without problem be addressed, even outside Advent.Ha-Jo Lohre continues…
On January 5, 2018, the confreres of Bamako (community of the Guest House, community of Hamdallaye and community of the parish of the Holy Martyrs of Uganda) gathered together with our Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (Bamako/Kalabankura) for the “Advent” recollection.This recollection was proposed to us by our General Councils.”We are all migrants”…It is still topical and as we were all stuck by the Advent time, we decided to program it at the beginning of the year by choosing as a place “the Marian Hill”, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peace, on a hill in the center of the city , close to the parish church of the Martyrs of Uganda.After climbing the 177 steps, some discovered for the first time this beautiful place of recollection built by the previous Parish Priest Laurent Balas.After the morning prayer and a little introduction to the theme, everyone had time to find a place to meditate on the biblical texts and the proposed questions – either in the crypt before the Blessed Sacrament, in the Church of the Virgin (where we celebrated the mass around 11:00 a.m.) – or else outside on the forecourt or under the gallery.During mass, each one had the opportunity to share the fruit of their meditations, before a good meal offered by the guest house consolidated our fraternity.