The Associates of the Daughters of Jesus and our Sisters in the Ivory Coast gathered together in November for a celebration which saw them give thanks for our founders and look to them for inspiration in what they do today.
The 24th of November, the Sunday that marked the solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe saw the Sisters from the two communities of Daoukro and Brobo and the Associates of the Congregation meet together in Brobo. This gathering was also an occasion to celebrate and thank the Lord for the 190 years since the foundation of the Congregation, and to officially launch our activities for the 2024-2025 pastoral year.
On your paths of humanity
Men and women, Sisters and Associates of the Daughters of Jesus of Daoukro travelled together to celebrate this happy event with the members of the Brobo community. Having left at the crack of dawn to participate in the 9am Mass, the Daoukro community was welcomed to Brobo with a hearty breakfast before Mass in an atmosphere of exquisite conviviality and liveliness.
Eucharistic celebration
It was a beautiful celebration during which the parish priest of Saint Paul de Brobo prayed for the intentions of all the Daughters of Jesus and their Associates. He gave thanks to the Lord for all the marvels accomplished during the 190 years of the Congregation’s existence, and above all entrusted to the Lord our mission of humanisation in this world full of inequality and division. At the end of the Mass, we were abundantly blessed by the Father for the journey ahead of us, as we follow in the footsteps of our predecessors.
All at the genesis of the Foundation
After Mass, the entire community of Sisters and Associates retired for a time of sharing. This began with a word of welcome from the head of the Brobo Associates. In her speech, she invited us to joyfully celebrate this wonderful event of 190 years of foundation and to continue to ‘honour the Sacred Humanity of the Son of God’ (Rule of Life no 3) in our way.
Afterwards, Sisters Pauline Nkoy and Marie Thérèse Catusse projected the letter from the General Council on the occasion of the 190th anniversary, enriched with a slide show of images of the pilgrimage of the young professed sisters in 2018 to the foundation sites. This presentation was followed by a few minutes of personal prayer on the attitudes, characters and expressions that touched us in the letter, and in our rich and profound sharing.
Several people returned to the figure of Perrine Samson who became Mother Sainte Angèle, our first Superior general, and her virtues: sobriety, humility, silence, faith, and self-effacement. This time was concluded by a sharing of life experiences between Associates on their joys, their sorrows and their experience of the charism in their professional, family and pastoral environments. This rich exchange came to an end at around 1 p.m.
Physical rejuvenation
They say that a hungry belly has no ears. At the end of this enriching moment of sharing, we were treated to a full lunch served in a wonderful atmosphere. The meal was accompanied by dancing and entertainment. It was a magnificent, successful thanksgiving.
« Honour the Sacred Humanity of the Son of God »
We would like to express our gratitude to our predecessors and predecessors, and in particular to Perrine Samson who became our first Superior general, Mother Sainte Angèle :
« Thank you, Mother Sainte Angèle, you remain for us a model :
– of humility.
– of closeness.
– of availability.
– of a spirituality of action. »
You teach us to contemplate Jesus in his humanity so that through all our activities, we are marked by the concern to remain ‘close to the people’ and to be oriented in a particular way ‘towards the poorest’.
Madame Nina N’ZI , Associée Filles de Jésus,
Sr Pauline Nkoy fj, Daoukro en Côte d’Ivoire
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