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08.01.2016 18:13:10 8207x read.
MALAWI
GOD CALLS AND PURIFIES.

GOD CALLS AND PURIFIES.

About thirty six years ago in 1979 on 30th October I was born to the family of Cecilia and Adriano Finye and they called me Stanslao. I am the third born and the first in a family of four. Little did my parents know that one day I was going to become a religious in the congregation of the BrothersFIC. However, being staunch Catholics themselves, my parents trained us in a strict Christian way. My Father came from a family where his uncle (his father’s elder brother) was a priest called Alfred Finye. Fr. Alfred was one of the first three Malawian priests, and among my father’s siblings two of them joined religious life:  the Marist Brothers  and Poor Clares.

My parents taught me to be active in the church already at a youthful age. When I got confirmed in the Catholic Church I became a mass server at the age of seven for a number of years before I was selected to go to secondary school. At school I continued to be active in church activities. I joined the Young Christian Students (YCS) and the Catholic Students Organisation (CSO). It was at the secondary school that my desire to be a religious was stimulated. I finished my secondary education at Dedza Government School, popularly known as Box 48 in 1999 but I got a weak Malawi School Certificate and the morale to become a religious faded. Thereafter I went to a technical college where I was trained as a motor vehicle mechanic. It was at this college that I heard about the Brothers FIC from a friend called Peter Mateketa, whose school fees were paid by the brothers, and he mentioned Br. Mark Adamah in particular. When I left college, the desire to join a religious congregation resurfaced and the congregation that immediately came to my mind was FIC which I heard about before. I did not hesitate but to write an application, whose reply came in my favour within a short period. I never met any FIC Brother before and I never had any contact session (come and see) before, but with my very first letter I was asked to send the photocopies of my certificate, recommendation letters and also my photograph because the brothers themselves had not seen me before. When I sent these the next letter that came invited me to start formation on 5th January 2003. With this I recalled the story of Jonah who, when the Lord sent him, tried to run away but he still ended up doing what the Lord wanted him to do. I first wanted to become a religious and along the way my morale faded but after some time I ended up becoming an FIC Brother. We can run away but we cannot hide from God and when He says yes, nobody can say no.

It is only when I started my formation journey that I really came to know the FIC Brothers and their way of life better. I was inspired by the brothers and their work with the poor and underprivileged. This encouraged me to stay on so that I could also work with these people in the way all brothers do. When I was a second year novice, Bro. Martin Dario who was my novice-master asked me what I wanted to do after my profession. I told him that I just wanted to go back to college and finish my Grade One in Motor Vehicle Mechanics. After a long discussion he managed to convince me to go back to secondary school after profession and repeat form four so that I could go to university and become a teacher. This worked and I am now a qualified secondary school teacher. This training has helped me to be closer to the spirit of our founders, thus "In the spirit of our founders we, as a congregation, find our apostolic task in particular to be in the field of education, formation and teaching (Const. art. 16).  I am also very happy that I am now a trained formation master. I was trained at the Institute for Continuing Formation in Ghana from September 2014 to June 2015. Currently I am working in the formation house with four postulants. This really makes me happy as Pope Francis said when talking to the formators last year, “It is a privilege to participate in the work of the Father who forms the heart of the Son in those whom the Holy Spirit has called.” It is my prayer that Mother Mary, Patroness of our congregation will inspire many young people to consider religious life for, ‘the Harvest is rich but the labourers are few’(Luke 10:2).

Bro. Stanslao Adriano Finye

Director of Postulancy, Mzedi Formation House

                       








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