GLT Accompaniment: Kenya

As part of my mission of accompanying our formation houses, I made a fraternal visit to the formation community in Nairobi, Kenya, for a period of ten days. The purpose of the visit was to meet both the formators and the students, to assess community life and the formation journey, and to encourage the educational and spiritual mission entrusted to this house.

During my stay, I had the opportunity to meet individually with all the students and later with the group. These encounters provided a valuable opportunity to listen to each one’s personal journey, joys, challenges, and aspirations. The students showed openness, respect, and commitment in their vocational journey. The community meeting also revealed a strong spirit of fraternity and a shared desire to grow together in vocation and mission.

I also met individually with the formators and later with them together in an atmosphere of fraternal dialogue and collaboration. One formator was absent during the visit, having travelled home following the death of his father, and afterwards remained with his family for a period of vacation. The community expressed its closeness and fraternal support to him during this time of mourning.

At the request of the formators, I had the joy of facilitating two sessions of reflection and formation, both closely connected to our missionary vocation and to the call to unite prayer and mission in daily life.

With the students, the theme was: “The MSC Vocation: Priest and Brother for the Same Mission.” The session highlighted the complementarity of vocations within the Congregation and the common call to live the spirituality of the Sacred Heart in service of the mission. Emphasis was placed on the fact that mission can bear lasting fruit only when it is deeply rooted in a life of prayer, communion with Christ, and attentive listening to His Heart. The discussions revealed the students’ genuine interest in MSC identity and in the richness of our charism lived through the diversity of vocations.

With the formators, the reflection focused on the theme: “The Mission of Formators Today: Accompanying with the Heart of Christ.” In the present context of formation, we reflected on how the mission of a formator is above all a ministry of accompaniment inspired by Christ the Good Shepherd Himself. An authentic ministry of formation requires formators to cultivate a strong interior life nourished by prayer, reflection on the Word of God, and closeness to the Lord. It is from this deep relationship with Christ that formators receive the wisdom, patience, and availability needed to accompany young people in their vocational discernment.

Overall, the visit revealed a positive and peaceful community atmosphere. Relationships between formators and students are healthy and marked by mutual respect. The students live together in a fraternal spirit, and the formators work harmoniously in their mission of accompaniment. This quality of relationships contributes greatly to creating an environment favorable to human, spiritual, intellectual, and community formation.

I also noted the commitment of the students to community life and their sincere desire to respond generously to the Lord’s call. The formators, for their part, carry out their mission with dedication and a strong sense of responsibility. Although the ordinary challenges of community life and formation are present, they are addressed with maturity and in a spirit of dialogue.

I give thanks to God for the witness of fraternity lived in this formation house. This visit was a meaningful occasion of mutual encouragement and communion with the entire community. I express my gratitude to the formators and students for their warm welcome, availability, and sincerity throughout the meetings.

We continue to keep this formation house in our prayers, asking the Lord to accompany each member on his vocational journey and to strengthen the mission of formation entrusted to this community.

Simon Lumpini, MSC. UAF