Christmas at Kandisi

Christ our Lord and Saviour is Born! Hosanna, Alleluia!

Yesterday Tuesday, December 24th, the communities of Nairobi and Kandisi came together to mark the eve of the Nativity of our Lord Jesus.

The occasion was ideal for a beautiful celebration of brotherhood and above all a conviviality in the strict family privacy.

The joy of Christmas could be read on the face of each and even in the gestures and reactions. To each and every one we wish a joyful Christmas season and a good journey to the end of the year 2013.

Christmas at OCTC Kaburugi

Yesterday Friday, December 20th, the Don Orione Centre of Kaburugi, staff and friends celebrated the Christmas.

A beautiful family ceremony which gathered around the same table the fathers Alejandro Ruiz, James Waituika, Joachim Ake, Stan Achi, Deacon Morris Mawira, the students and staff of the Centre.

To each and every one we wish a Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year 2014.

India, Adoration in commemoration of the first Orionine Missionary journey

Yesterday at the Philosophy House, Bangalore, a service of adoration of Jesus in the Eucharist was help to thank God for the hundred years since the first Orionine missionaries were sent by Don Orione from Italy to Brazil.  The dream that the young Luigi had of Our Lady with the blue cloak is gradually being fulfilled and we are especially aware of it in our Delegation which is composed of seven nations which exist in the Orionine Family because of the Orionine Missionaries who came to bring the charism of our Founder.

December in Holidays’ colors!

On Wednesday 11th December we celebrated in anticipation, the birthday of Deacon Morris Mawira Gichia. This same celebration was also an opportunity of an advance Christmas celebration with our students in philosophy whom on the following day December 12 have all taken the road for a two weeks family vacation.

Therefore, our community is kept to a staff of four members, the Superior Father Paul Mboche, Fathers Joachim and Stan and Deacon Morris.

To each and every one we wish a good journey towards the end of year festivities and the birth of our Lord at Christmas.

Merry Christmas 2013 and Happy and Holy New Year 2014.

Message of the delegate and wishes for Christmas and the New Year

The Word of the Father, who came into this world through Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, continues to speak to each and every one of us. Are we listening and responding to the Word who speaks to us through Scripture, liturgy, people and events every day? Our personal or community daily “lectio divina” can help us to do this.

A simple method of lectio divina by yourself or with others is:

1.     Read the passage of Scripture (preferably from the Gospels) two or three times

2.     Ask yourself which word or phrase strikes you

3.     Ask the Lord to help you to understand what He is saying to you through that word or phrase: how does He want you to apply it to your life? Ask Him to help you to put it into practice, like Mary.

Don Orione says to us, “My Sons let us pray! It is not enough to meditate and keep silent, we must pay great attention to the Word of God, apply it to ourselves; reflect well, and then pray, pray, pray to the Most Holy Virgin”

This is a painting of St Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Church, who said, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”. He spent the last 34 years of his long life at Bethlehem, where Christ was born, translating the Bible and meditating on it. His life was a continuous process of conversion to the Word of God.

A Happy Christmas and a Blessed New Year to you all!

DELEGATE’S NEWS, October - November Newsletter

OLM General Assembly Uruguay

Fr Mariano Zapico, co-ordinator in India and Ms Karen Chia from the UK, on behalf of our Delegation, attended the Orionine Lay Movement General Assembly in Montevideo, Uruguay, together with representatives from all over the Orionine world from 7^th to 11^th October 2013.  There were elections of the officers of the “movement” and the General Co-ordinator, Javier Rodriguez, from Spain was re-elected. They also wrote the practical rules of the movement which have yet to be translated into English. 

General Assembly Brazil

The General Assembly of Verification of the Sons of Divine Providence was help at Aparecida, Brazil, from 14^th to 19^th October. Fr Malcolm Dyer and Fr Mariano Zapico represented the Delegation. The aim was to see how the congregation is putting into practice the lines of action and decisions of the 13^th General Chapter of 2010. The representatives looked at some of the principal lines of action and decisions and one the one hand judged what was being implemented and on the other hand made suggestions for better implementation.  There is a document with all the findings which has not yet been translated into English.

Entrance to the Postulancy

On Saturday November 30th, three of our young aspirants have made their official entrance to postulate. Augustus Omumani Denis Aoka and Thomas Gwaro are now postulants. This ceremony was held in the strictest community privacy during the Saturday morning Mass, at 7am. Relying on the Gospel passage of the day, the feast of Saint Andrew the Apostle of the Lord, Father Paul Mboche has not failed to explain the depth and the specificity of this first step. This is a first "yes" that will determine and guide all the other "yes" they will be called to give to the invitation of Christ who constantly speaks to them, saying, "Follow me". This first "Yes" in the Little Work of Divine Providence is for our three young students of third year of Philosophy the opening of a period of immediate preparation for the novitiate. By the official entrance to the Postulancy, Augustus, Denis and Thomas made ​​their the call that Christ addresses to his Apostles. While thanking God with them for this first step they have made in the religious family of Don Orione, let us pray for them that the Lord who calls and wants to associate them to his work of love and mercy strengthens and make them, after the example of St. Andrew, true "fishers of souls" for their own joy, the joy of the congregation and for the greater glory of God.