Tuesday, 13 September 2022. Formators meeting, day 6. 

The morning was a little gloomy as clouds hanging on the sky.  The participants of the formators meeting, however, seemed to be enthusiastic to begin the day. We gathered in the chapel and began our morning prayer at 07.30, sharp. Bro. Clovis Baaka from Ghana led the communal prayer service. The theme was “Care of Our Environment”.  The centre of our reflection was a reading taken from the book of Genesis 1:26-31. In his introduction, he explained the urgency of the theme and how we can contribute in this through our simple daily actions. He mentioned for example, when we take care our vehicles well so that it may not produce a lot of CO 2, we surely contribute in reducing the air pollution. 

After breakfast, we gathered in the meeting hall to listen to Bro. Johan Muijtjens’ presentation about “Care of Our Environment”.  He said at the beginning of his presentation that these sessions were meant as an invitation to create awareness in us, as well as in our co-workers and students, to take a concrete action to save the earth, our common home, from further destruction. Coincidentally, we are now on the midst of the annual season of creation which is held from 1^st September – 4^th October.  So, it’s right time to do it. 

Through his presentation, that were divided into two sessions, Bro. Johan stressed on the need of having an “ecological conversion” to save the earth and humankind who is facing worldwide ecological crisis now. This can be achieved first of all by adopting new approach towards our nature.   The old interpretation of Genesis 1:26-31 that was very anthropocentric, saying that human is the center of the world because had been given dominion over the rest of the creation should be revised. Bro. Johan explained that we should renew the way we read and understand Genesis 1:26-31. He said that the universe should be understood as a community of creation with its own task and function that interconnected one with the other. In this community, human and other living things (including non living things) are woven together by the common thread of having been lovingly and created by God. Humans are not the center. What make us different is that we receive a mandate from God to take care of the nature in gratitude and respect because the rest of creation also take care of us. We could not exist at all when nature would not carry, feed, and protect us.  

Embracing new understanding towards the nature, expectedly will also change our behavior. This second step will help the “ecological conversion” becomes a living experience.  Without real actions, “ecological conversion” will remain a nice idea without any real impact to the betterment of our world. We are called now to join the ecological prophets who have courageously taken concrete actions to save our planet.  As formators, we are called to engage the youth in a meaningful way and tap into their talents and creativity in the mission of caring for the earth. 

Turn to the afternoon, the day became brighter. The sun came up and the day became warmer. The afternoon sessions were not less interesting and inspirational. For the first afternoon session, Bro. Godwin Kuu-ireme was invited to give us a presentation on Social-Media. It was an actual topic because most of our candidates come from the generation that is very familiar with social media. As one of the participants stated that social media is like fire. It can be a good servant but it can also be a dangerous master. So, it is important for the formators to be equipped with the knowledge how to use social media to improve our productivity and as a means of evangelization. With this, we will be able to help our young generations to use social media to serve life. 

Social media can also be an effective means for vocation promotion. That was one of the important points came up during Bro. Theo’s presentation in the second afternoon session. His topic was “Vocation Promotion”. This topic is important as we are all facing the same challenge: dwindling numbers of candidates. The main question is what the vocation promotion can do to disseminate the seeds of vocation in the hearts of young generations? How can we help them to be able to listen to the voice of God who calls them gently and unceasingly? And finally, how can we attract them to join our community? Bro. Theo explained that prayer for vocations should be our priority. Vocation is the work of God who calls some body through the Holy Spirit. The second is our exemplary life. Our interactions with the youth during vocation promotion rely or during “come and see” event will give stronger impact if our daily life is in coherent with what we told them during those events. Honesty is essentially important aspect in our vocation promotion endeavors. The last but not the least is using all sort of media: printed media and social media such as radio, Facebook, You-tube, Twitter, or Whatsapp. The third, we should make vocation promotion activities become the responsibility of all the brothers in the province. It may not be easy because most of the brothers have been occupied with all kind of apostolic and community assignments. We, however, aware that working together may also give us better result, also in promoting our style of life to the younger generations. 

Reported by: Bro. Valentinus Daru S.