Begun on 10 July 2018 in Congo Brazzaville, more specifically in the community of the weir, the programme of preparation for perpetual profession (P4) ended on 30 September 2018 with the Eucharistic celebration in the parish of St Peter Claver presided over by Father Brel Daouda Malela, the Regional Superior of the Cardinal Emile Biayenda Region and President of the African Conference (AC).

As Father Brel said, the P4 has been an important occasion that will have enabled “verifying the integration of the values and experiences lived in the Congregation since the novitiate (…). A time for intensifying a sense of community life in various tasks of the house, sharing the Eucharistic Spirituality, and rediscovering and evaluating the Eucharistic talents and gifts of each one for the mission.”

The closing of the P4, coinciding with the sixtieth anniversary of Father Aimé Porret’s religious life, the Eucharist Celebration took on an additional feature insofar as it beautifully united one event being embedded in another.

In his homily Father Brel exhorted the assembly in the following words: “avoid what could lead away from God, because Christ expects of everyone a real conversion of heart, an outstretched hand and reaching for the good, feet walking in pursuit of an ideal, eyes looking for and seeing the qualities of others even if they do not share the same faith as us.” The aspects of this exhortation, he said, in substance describe the ministry of Father Aimé, who even at his age of 84 continues to be close to the sick by visiting them in hospitals and at home, bringing them what is uniquely needed: the word of God and the Body of Christ. His is a life that has known the sufferings and joys of the world, all sustained by listened and moments of encountering his God.

After the Mass, a meal was shared in the friendly atmosphere of the community with members of the Aggregation, members of the scholastics’ families and some Christians.

Brother Ephrème Mabika, sss