Missionaries of Africa

Annual retreat Nyegezi, Tanzania- 20-27 July 2010

By Emmanuel Tredou M.Afr.

This was the second annual retreat for Missionary of Africa confreres of the TAKENSUD Province (Tanzania-Kenya-Sudan). ( See the captions of the pictures: mouse on the pictures before to enlarge)

Theme: The Time of the Holy Spirit

The retreat was given by Fr. Paul Emile LEDUC, a Canadian confrere now in Dar Salaam in the Hospital Visiting Apostolate.

I must confess that I was a bit reluctant to attend this retreat. When you are in a busy parish and have a lot to do, the tendency is to postpone things and find reasons which cannot be justified.
This was the case for me before leaving Khartoum. However, going to Nyegezi was all the same a blessing for me. I was quite sick physically and tired in mind and needed a change, no matter how slight.

The colder weather of Tanzania and then Kenya cooled me down. It was a breath of fresh air.

Among those for the retreat, only two were under thirty-five years of age and I, in my early forties. The six other confreres were elderly. This questioned my reluctance in leaving Khartoum: why would these confreres, whose age in mission totals more than my present age, still pursue retreats and renewal programmes, while I was hesitant?

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Throughout the retreat, I slowly but surely discovered the answer to this question. The Lord was waiting for me, as he has been doing in different places and moments in all our lives, to cheer me up, to unload myself on him, to centre on the Lord Jesus.

These elderly confreres, after all these years of faithful service to the Lord Jesus, what were they still looking for? Were they not visible signs of the living Christ among their peoples, their communities?
Indeed, but they too long for this intimacy and identification with and to Christ just as I, as a younger seeker, should also pursue it - to build on the rock of Christ to receive life from him and give it to others.

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True, the retreat was of a great help: reviewing my life and unburdening my heavy load onto the Cross of Jesus in order to traverse this fragile, shaky bridge (life), instead of falling into deep water and sinking, my load shouldered by my own efforts.

In fact, these elderly confreres were an occasion of faithfulness and gratitude to God for this life, for the Society….in spite of age, which brings of a lot of limitations in movements. They can still be these living stones with which to build the future of the Society….

Thank you, Lord Jesus, God of Surprises. I went reluctantly and came out happy and free for a new step forward - 'to live the day of today', letting go of the failures of the past because the past is forgiven by Christ and letting go of the worries of the future because the future belongs to God.

In the 'Time of the Spirit' theme, Fr Leduc would lead us through fourteen themes, two per day, with enough time for meditation and personal sharing.

I was delighted by the way Fr Leduc led the retreat; not much theological explanation or spiritual discourse, but a life-giving experience guided by the Scriptures, where each experience of life, good or bad, could be an experience from God to teach and to build and from which to live.

God is waiting for us where we least expect him.

by Emmanuel Tredou M.Afr.

Nyegezi is in the north near Mwanza