Since I started my vocational journey with the Missionaries of Africa, I have always been touched by the role community life and relationships play in all our places of insertion. This has always been a source of inspiration for me. Personal experience in the various communities where I lived has shown me that community life is an integral part of the identity of the Missionaries of Africa. In our shared goal of proclaiming the Gospel, we form a family bound by brotherhood despite our cultural differences and diverse origins. It is a spiritual and missionary heritage that our founder passed on to us. I will share my daily experience of this missionary heritage in this article. I will begin by highlighting the foundation values of community life as intended by our founder, and then describe how we live these values in my community, without forgetting the challenges of community life. I will conclude with some suggestions on strengthening fraternal bonds in our communities.
The core values of community life, according to our founder
‘My last recommendation, my dear Sons, is the most important: Remain united in heart and thought. Form truly one family, have a strong spirit of community in the Christian and apostolic sense of the word,’ Cardinal Lavigerie. ‘We celebrate and share the life manifested in the Incarnate Word when we form a family with deeply human and evangelical relationships among ourselves, helping each other to feel valued and affirmed, bearing one another’s burdens and weaknesses, and appreciating the rich diversity of our personalities, cultures and ages.’ (General Chapter of 1998)
From these two quotations, I identify some of the fundamental values of community life:
- Living under the same roof and making our communities places where we can live well as brothers. It is a life-giving community.
- Cultural diversity: since we come from different countries and cultures, each of us brings something unique and irreplaceable. We are an international and intercultural community.
- Prayer life: we structure our days around times of community prayers. Here, we are a community that prays.
- Community project: to have a community and pastoral project that considers each person’s abilities. A community of work.
- Sharing and discernment: organising fixed times to discuss community life and thus form a sharing and discerning community.
- Openness and welcome: fostering an attitude of openness to others and welcoming them warmly. A welcoming community.
How do these values come to life in my community?
I’m currently at Saint John XXIII Parish in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In our community, the rule of three (always three, rarely two, never one) is well respected, because we’re four confreres from different nationalities and cultures.
Our cultural differences are a source of human and spiritual enrichment. Whether generational or personality-related, they are an asset to our apostolic life. Speaking several languages and having had missionary experiences in different places and at various times enrich the faithful, who feel listened to and valued. We also seek to learn more about each other’s culture, country and missionary experiences through formal and informal exchanges. In this way, our community life reflects the richness of our diverse origins. The gifts we have received are not a source of pride that leads us to criticise others, but rather a source of joy and shared success.
For our mission to bear fruit, we develop a community and pastoral project that considers each person’s skills and abilities. We have weekly meetings where we share our personal and community experiences, plan and evaluate our activities. These moments are also an opportunity to share our joys and sorrows and to discern together for the good of the community.
We strive to make our community a place where it is good to live, where everyone feels listened to and welcomed. This is an ongoing task and a collective responsibility. Our community is also a place of celebration: we celebrate liturgical feasts, birthdays and other significant events together. We are open to welcoming visitors and regularly visit our faithful in their families.
The place of prayer in community and relational life
In addition to community prayers, personal prayers, and monthly recollections, help to strengthen our unity. We also remember Jesus and his great desire for unity, since the foundation of our fraternity is our attachment to him: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’
The challenges of community life: Individualism and new technologies
As human beings, we are not immune to this phenomenon of individualism that is eroding our society. Personal fulfilment often takes precedence over community fulfilment. To remedy this, our community rejects any personal project that escapes community discernment. We develop a sense of community in three ways during our weekly meetings: we share what we have (material goods, a book we are reading, etc.); we share what we do (work, hobbies, apostolate); and above all, we share who we are: our joys, sorrows, hopes, desires, etc.
If misused, new technologies can lead to people withdrawing into themselves, harming community life. We are conscious that with a phone, we can be close to those who are far away, but far from those who are near. We therefore learn to use them in moderation. We have set up a community platform to share news, especially when one of us is on a mission outside the community.
What can we do to strengthen fraternal bonds in our communities?
- Avoid prejudice: this requires getting to know ourselves, our character, limitations, qualities, and even behaviours that may irritate others. It helps us to understand better, appreciate and love others.
- Maintain a balance between the four dimensions of missionary life: prayer, work (apostolate), relationships and relaxation. This helps form a close-knit community, where collective needs precede personal desires.
If the whole world aspires to unity, we, the Missionaries of Africa, who God has chosen and consecrated by oath, must be the first to achieve it! Our mission is to show that unity is possible and that we can live together happily despite our different tribes, cultures, nationalities, ages, and personalities.
The root of all evil in a community is the lack of unity.
By: Innocent Habimana, M.Afr.