Blessings falling from heaven
When we least expect it, blessings fall from heaven. Today was one of those days when, without expecting anything special, we caught a glimpse of God’s grace. Today, at the Generalate, we had the joy of receiving Sister Gloria Cecilia Narvaez.
Sister Gloria’s photo appeared on many social networks the day her liberation was confirmed after four years and eight months of kidnapping.
The calvary began on the night of 7 February 2017 in Karangasso, southern Mali, when four armed men burst into her congregation. The men apparently wanted to take two other young Colombian sisters, but Sister Gloria gave herself up to the kidnappers, claiming to be “the superior”. They kidnapped her and fled in a Congregation vehicle.
With just enough time to share a meal and a visit to the crypt of Cardinal Lavigerie, one could perceive that Sister Gloria is a woman of a very special human quality in whom there is not the slightest resentment against those who deprived her of her freedom.
To meet people who, by their simple presence, naturally lead us to imitate Christ is surely a blessing from heaven and also a reminder that we are all called to be witnesses of Christ in the world.
Salvador Muñoz Ledo
“Our globalized world increasingly brings together people of many different cultures, though not always harmoniously. In recent decades, multinational companies have sought more efficient strategies for authentic intercultural collaboration. But in today’s multicultural world-church, faith communities too are faced with the challenge of intercultural living. The social sciences have developed some constructive approaches, but people of faith also need to build their endeavours on a sound biblical and theological foundation… 
Many thanks to Freddy for the first issue of the Petit Echo on Formation in the Society. Thanks also to Dave Sullivan for his fine summary presentation of the changes that have taken place over the years in this field. At the end of his article he asks for people to share comments, memories and experience of their own formation. So here goes. 
I thank the Society of Missionaries of Africa for having given a new breath of fresh air to specialised studies by sending confreres for further education especially up to the level of a Ph.D. This shows that it is reading the signs of the times. I, therefore, welcomed my appointment to do a Doctorate in Moral Theology. Knowing that, in our Society, very few confreres do further studies and taking into account my age, I consider this appointment as a grace not for my own personal satisfaction but to better serve the Society. 
After my ordination, I served at Mapeera Nabulagala Parish in Kampala for four years and eight months. During the first three years, I was the curate, and then I took over as Parish Priest. Seven months after taking that office, the Provincial informed me that I had been selected for specialized studies, and it wouldn’t be long before I started. The announcement was both a surprise and a shock. On the one hand, it was a surprise because the specialized studies proposed was in Business Administration, yet I used to think that if one day I were asked to 
