From December 13 to 23, 2018, eight young sisters, Daughters of Jesus, gathered in Cameroon for a session in view of their final commitment in the Congregation. Two of them tell us of their experience of returning to the foundational source of their vocation.

« To live a spiritual experience that leads to a final commitment, to deepen the desire to give one’s life as disciples of Jesus in the Congregation of the Daughters of Jesus: ‘I will follow you Jesus; show me the way’ ». This was the general objective of our session.

In pursuit of this goal, the session helped me to further deepen my spiritual experience by inviting me to return to the foundational motivations that first triggered my encounter with Christ and set me on this path. This return has revitalized me and keeps me in an attitude of trust and total surrender to the Lord. “I will follow you Jesus; show me the way”. It also awakened in me an attitude of deep gratitude for His regard that rests upon me and for the depth of his great and faithful love for me.

This moment of deep sharing within the group revived my joy of belonging to this religious family and of being the bearer of this precious gift received from the Spirit: “To honor the Sacred Humanity of the Son of God”. This opportunity to return to the foundational source of my vocation also allows me to live in a contemplative attitude. It opens my heart and helps me to clearly re-situate the foundations of the apostolic religious life in our current context. All this in connection with my experience of living the vows and fraternal life in community within our apostolic mission as Daughters of Jesus.

Pauline Nkoy, fj

This session was for me a profound encounter, an occasion to re-read my journey, a time of discernment leading to a final commitment. It allowed me to make an in-depth re-reading of my spiritual experience from the beginning to the present day. This re-reading helped me to rediscover the biblical passages of Scripture that had an impact on me, the joyful and painful events, persons, ways and means that assisted me in discovering the signs of God’s presence in my life … all of which awakened in me the yearning for God as well as the desire to go forward and remain faithful to my commitment. The in-depth highlights of our meeting such as the vows, the sense of belonging to the Congregation, the spiritual battles of religious life, the theology of religious life, helped me to become aware of my responsibility for building a harmonious community as a basic local structure.

At the end of this profound re-reading of my spiritual experience… an experience of awareness and realizations … I have the great desire to give myself entirely to the Lord, to be a bearer of the spirituality of the Daughters of Jesus which is still relevant today and to “Africanize” it at the service of my brothers and sisters in the Church. This, in order to reflect the image of Jesus humble and servant. “I came not to be served but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many”. Mt 20, 28.

Clarisse Ilofo, fj