This is how Chrescence was able to implement one of the orientations of our General Chapter: “Together, share the concern of making our charism known.”
Jesus said to Peter “Launch out into the deep and cast your net”. Besides teaching the youth who are behind in school, we are concerned with vocation awareness which is one of the missions of the Daughters of Jesus in Kinshasa in the Republic of Congo. This work is very passionate, rich in encounters and requires a lot of confidence in God, in oneself and in the other.
Vacation time is a good time to go to the interior of the country, towards the youth desiring to follow Christ in the religious life, in particular with the Daughters of Jesus: to get to know the families in order to create bonds, to feel that they are thinking of the religious life today, to touch the reality of their life.
To go towards them is not easy…
We take the road leading to Occidental Kasaï more precisely Mweka in the eastern part of the Republic of Congo, 897 km from Kinshasa, the capital of the country. We need to dare to go out from our houses, from our convents enclosed by high walls, to let ourselves be touched, questioned and shaken up by Christ himself through the persons encountered. In Africa many of our roads are unfit for motor vehicles. But this does not keep us away from God’s people. We need to use the same means of transportation that the people do, to do like them: travel by motorcycle, in trucks, on the waters by small boats or canoes or simply walk. Our predecessors did this, why not us today!
Warm Welcome
When we arrive in a village, the people are very happy and curious to know who we are! In order to approach them better, I quickly understood that we had to adapt to their way of doing. And immediately I remembered these words: “To be a good missionary, you need lots of faith and lots of guts”. I must trust in Jesus Christ who called and sent me and to eat like the persons who receive me.
The people especially the youth, are thirsting to know us and ask many questions about our charism. My visit reassured the families of the youth in formation. It was the first time they met a Daughter of Jesus.
«Dare to call” is an orientation dear to my heart, a great richness which affirms me more fully in my commitment to follow Christ, this Christ who went forth to meet people. This was a joy, the joy of the encounter”.
Sr Chrescence Beyala, d.j.
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