Everywhere: May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be loved everywhere!

There is no consecration without concentration. Or There is no consecration without concentration. One cannot devote oneself to the Lord without concentration. Therefore, there is no consecration without concentration.
By the grace of God, on the twenty-third day of the eighth month of this same year, in the Union of Francophone Africa, ten novices, including ABANDA Benjamin (Cameroon), ABOUDI Igor (Cameroon), BOKUNGU Jean-Baptiste (DRC), Emmanuel EPANGA (DRC), EZEMBE Joël (Cameroon), LIPEMBA Willy (DRC), MAVALA Nathan (DRC), MEMONG Kevin (Cameroon), MPUTU Jean-Kelvin (DRC) and POODA Sylvestre (Burkina Faso), professed their first vows before Father Antoine KHUZI ABAMBE, superior of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Congo.

To do so, we had to concentrate canonically in Kinsoundi (Brazzaville) for a year to consecrate ourselves to the Lord in the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We can vehemently affirm that the grace we have received (consecration) is simply a consequence whose concentration is and remains the cause.

Everyone knows that all human action is always oriented towards some end. In this sense, every beginning presupposes a teleology. Thus, the terminus ad quo is intrinsically linked to the terminus ad quem. It follows from the above that the concentration in question was oriented not only towards the authentic living of the three evangelical counsels, but also and above all towards learning the MSC spirit and life in the Holy School of the Novitiate Ntima Wa Sinouku wa Yezu (Novitiate of the Sacred Heart of Jesus).

In a world where human beings actively defend, or rather praise, immutability, interculturality undoubtedly comes to the fore to help them turn the corner, contributing to cultural mixing. It is in this context that we are part of this movement, which is as commendable as it is enriching: from Kimwenza (Democratic Republic of Congo) to Kinsoundi (Brazzaville).

For a long time, the novitiate of the Union of Francophone Africa was based in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the class known as cor unum et anima una (One Heart and One Soul), alias Ten Commandments (2024-2025), made a major exception, on the initiative of the high hierarchy. We therefore took the leap of leaving Kimwenza to begin the canonical year for the first time in Brazzaville, where the house was named “Noviciat Ntima wa Sinouku wa Yezu”.

It was within the walls of this sacred house that we were canonically formed to become what we are today.

Emmanuel Epanga, msc