Word of new Superior

December 25, an important day for Christians all over the world! The Day when God himself took flesh, was born of a woman, Mary, and habited among us!
God chose to enter in our world at a time when the people of God was humiliated and jeered at and when common people did not fit in the structure of their religion. They did not know where to go and considered themselves as being far away from God.
And God came gently as a baby boy, born in a stable, laid in a crib, in order to give hope and new life to the men and women of that time. God’s message is clear: «you are not alone in this long journey towards more human dignity, in the making of a better world, more human, fraternal and just. You should not renounce at this great project, because myself, I have chosen to enter in this world and work with you, accepting the vicissitudes of human life and also its potentialities. I have chosen my weapons: compassion, pardon and reconciliation. I come to you as a little baby, a new-born, fragile, gentle, without malice, without violence, not to judge you, but to love you even giving my life for you. »

This Jesus, God-made-man, God-with-us, sharing our humanity, reminds us that to be a man, to be a woman, is something great, something sacred. Besides, during his public life Jesus will always keep the person at the center of his concerns. He will help people to stand on their feet; he will give back to many sick people and the poor their dignity. He will be the defender of all, especially of the marginalized.

It is now up to us to do as He did, to follow the same path, using the same weapons, improving life around us. Each time we promote the humanisation of our world in all its dimensions: human and spiritual, by our spoken and written words, our gestures and deeds, we let Jesus incarnate himself again in us in order to continue making the world grow towards more humanity. In this way we can give Christmas a deeper meaning for today, in a world where there is the tendency of reducing the person to the role of a consumer. We can and should live Christmas all the time by letting Jesus pass through us to touch others and by becoming somehow light for others.

During 150 years, we, the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers), have invested a lot in this great project of God (to humanise people in all their dimensions) especially in the African World, this world that no longer exists only on the African continent, but is present all over the world. Nowadays, more than ever before, by their presence and the one of other races in our milieu, we become aware that we are all migrants called to live as brothers and sisters as Jesus taught us: ‘Love one another as I have loved you.’ This is what we are called to do so that Christmas may retake its place in our world today.

Enjoy your mission!