As human beings, we all need to grow. One way of growth is through renewal, a time to reconnect yourself with your purpose in life, a time to restore to freshness, to rediscover to regenerate, to recharge. It’s an opportunity to have more meaning when we find ourselves stuck or uninspired in our set goals and plans. A time to break the patterns that we are used to so that we may not dry up or become irrelevant.
Self-renewal in an individual does not happen once, but it is an event that can occur over and over as long as the individual or organization concerned continues to exist. Self-renewal is very vital for individual persons, communities, families and organizations. Challenges, crisis, difficulties and failures are stressful moments and are like crossroads, where a decision has to be made. A moment of turning point, an important change has to take place, a solution is needed.
It’s a moment when there is need to energize, revitalize so as to face and tackle the challenges in our world in all fields of education, economics, spiritual, social, arts, business, administration, health and many others.
Saint Marie Eugenie, the Foundress of the Religious of the Assumption, spoke many times of renewal, at different moments of her life since it is a continuous desire as we never finish to discover.
As a Province of East Africa, we experienced this renewal as a gift of the New Year 2024, when Sr. Veronique Thiebaut, the Congregation archivist and educator, visited us from 5th January-4th February 2024. She had encounters with the sisters, our school students, teachers, Assumption Together, our archives, novices, candidates and also visited three foundation places, in Tanzania Mandaka (1957), Maili Sita (1961) and Kereita in Kenya (1971).
The short stay and sharing with Sr. Veronique is an experience worth remembering, the novices and candidates remarked. They were taken back to the days of Saint Marie Eugenie’s religious formation at the novitiate of the Visitation Sisters. Deep life of prayer, silence, passion for God’s Kingdom, rootedness in Jesus Christ, openness to the Holy Spirit, patience and taking initiative are vital ingredients for religious formation in forming them into witnesses of the Gospel of Christ. They discovered that they had to be sustained by a deep experience of faith in their desire to belong totally to Jesus Christ.
As the teachers discussed, shared and listened to Sr. Veronique as an educator, they rediscovered and got interested in the characteristics of the Assumption pedagogy which is based on wisdom, desire, proximity, project, interior formation and transformation. In addition, they realized that they need to give time to the students to show what they have and know and then help the students develop creativity and talents. Accountability, responsibility and respecting the uniqueness of each person were necessary in the realization of the dreams of the students’ future life. Like Saint Marie Eugenie, they learnt that ongoing formation for the teachers as formators is very important in their teaching career.
The Assumption Together in the three Dioceses of our Province, Nairobi, Singida and Moshi, expressed their different experiences and encounter with God since they joined the group. This shared life project of the Assumption spirituality, has shaped their lives to better and more responsible parents and active members of their local Church. The opportunity to meet with the Assumption Sisters in their different activities in the Province has empowered and encouraged them to take leading positions in their local Churches. Meeting and sharing with Sr. Veronique whom they describe as simple, joyful, understanding, full of life and love for St. Marie Eugenie, they learnt that the family is the first community of charitable works and parents are the first educators of their children just like St. Marie Eugenie and her parents. Boniphace Sande described St. Marie Eugenie as a “synod woman” and continues to say that each person has to be who he or she is and has a special gift to the community. Search for this gift. “As I reflect on St. Marie Eugenie I learn that God allows us to go through difficulties to prepare and teach us to preserve for a mission ahead of us”, said William Mafwere.
To the sisters, it was a great moment of Saint Marie Eugenie to speak to us through Sr. Veronique. We had a deeper understanding on transformation which is part of the Assumption Spirit. It is a lifelong process and each one is fully responsible. As an archivist, full of love of St. Marie Eugenie, she shared with us that Marie Eugenie always wanted to be renewed. Even at the end of her life, she would say, “I feel the need to have a complete renewal of what remains of my life. “As educators we realized that renewal is a continuous desire as we never finish to discover.
The following were some of the compliments and tribute to Sr. Veronique: A New Year blessing to our Province, a time of going to the source, Sr. Veronique’s simplicity, capacity to adapt and love for Marie Eugenie, we are now called to new life, transformed, strengthened and affirmation as Religious of the Assumption, call to give new life at the beginning of the year, Sr. Veronique came at the right time when there is need of transformation.
At the end of one of her sessions, the sisters were asked to bring a symbol that spoke of what they had received. Some examples were; a plant which was dry and alive with roots which implied new life coming up, a match box for responsibility, transformation and culture of caring, a flower for renewal, community life and beauty of each one, soil-receives and gives, a needle with thread that symbolized the need of going back to the roots even with new technology, ants and an anthill for hard working despite differences, a phone that needs recharging for better functioning, a pomegranate fruit with hard outer bark with small fruits sweet and sour- a call to be strong.
Sr. Veronique visited three closed foundation places in our Province and where the Assumption values are still alive and marked in these institutions like family spirit, honesty, love and fear of God, active faith and education for transformation.
As a Province, we are most grateful to Sr. Rekha Chennattu, our Superior General and her Council for sending Sr. Veronique to us for this renewal experience that we now desire to nurture.
Much gratitude to Sr. Veronique for this experience and opening our eyes to realities.
You are God’s greatest gift to our Province this New Year!!