Newsletter South Africa No 46 – 25th December, 2014

My dear Friends, HAPPY CHRISTMAS! May the birth of the Son of God among us (Emmanuel) fill you with hope and joy!

On 28^th November, most of the M.Afr were in Merrivale to witness the missionary oath of one of our students from DR Congo, Serge Boroto. By taking his oath, Serge has become a full Missionary of Africa! The following day, Saturday morning at Henley Parish, he was ordained a deacon by our confrere Jan De Groef, Bishop of Bethlehem Diocese. Many of his relatives and friends came for the occasion and rejoiced with him and all of us for these happy events! Congratulations, Serge! We all pray for you to be a good and faithful servant of the Lord and of his Church in Africa!

On 2^nd and 22^nd December, I took part in two meetings to prepare the great vocation youth rally which will take place on 7^th February in Johannesburg, to celebrate the YEAR OF CONSECRATED LIFE. This special year proclaimed by Pope Francis on the 1^st Sunday of Advent (30^th November) has for theme Wake Up the World! Yes, all consecrated people – we all are, as per our baptism – , especially the religious priests, brothers and sisters, we ALL have to pray and work very hard in order to wake up our world to the reality of the presence of Jesus in our lives. This Year of Consecrated Life will last until 2nd February 2016. It is a golden occasion to pray more and reflect on our vocation…

From 11^thto 20^th December, I was in MariaTrost Pastoral Centre in Mpumalanga, giving a retreat to some Religious Sisters. I took the occasion to go to pray on the tomb of late Fr. Sebastian Ndrutsomi, M.Afr, who was killed in a car accident last January 5^th. Let us pray for his eternal rest and for some young people generous enough to pursue a vocation to replace him in his work in the vineyard of the Lord. (See his profile on this PDF file)

This month, I had a few contacts with some youth interested to join us. One who used to search his vocation with us, has abandoned the idea and is pursuing some other studies. Another one has gone to another religious congregation who are not missionaries. Two others have showed some interest, but are still unsure. Let us pray for them all.

And those of you who have just written Matrics, we wish you all some good results.

Wishing you all a very Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year. Above all, let us remember the real reason for Christmas!

“God so loved the world that He gave his only Son” (Jn. 3: 16)

God bless you all! Fr. Michael Meunier, M.Afr