Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), 15/08/2022, Sr. Viviane Kiswensida COMPAORE.- On August 8th 2022 in the Vice-Province of Africa, in the parish of Our Lady of Fatima of Dassasgho, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, we had the grace to celebrate several happy events which mark on the one hand the growth in number of our Vice-Province but on the other hand and above all the blessings of the Lord towards us by choosing from among us persons for the proclamation of his Good News in the service of the Church in the exercise of charity.

It is about:

The first profession of three novices:

• Jeannette UWINGABIRE, from the Archdiocese of Kigali, Rwanda
• Colette MBOYO BOKOTSI, from the Archdiocese of Mbandaka Bikoro/ DRC
• Vanne Belgove BANZOUZI-NKOUSSOU, of the Archdiocese of Brazzaville/ Congo

Perpetual profession of the sisters :

• Delphine OUEDRAOGO of the Archdiocese of Ouagadougou
• Viviane Kiswensida COMPAORE, from the diocese of Manga

Silver jubilees (25 years) of religious life of the sisters:

• Blandine Ratoussama KIENDREBEOGO, of the Archdiocese of Ouagadougou
• Clémentine KABORE
• Noélie YAMEOGO
• Clarisse KABORE, all from the Archdiocese of Koupela

With the motto "The Lord did wonders for me, Holy is his name!” Lk 1:32, we have borrowed the words of Mary in the Magnificat to express to God our gratitude for his call, his benefits in each of our lives, the wonders he never ceases to achieve each day in the Vice-Province. It is indeed a great reason for thanksgiving because the congregation also welcomes the first sister of Rwandan nationality. We celebrate the Lord's fidelity in each of our lives, a fidelity that is renewed each morning and is manifested in these perpetual commitments and during these 25 years of religious life. It has been a day filled with the Lord's love for each of us. We ask the Lord to continue to assist each one in the project that he has for each one according to his supreme will. With him we will be able to go wherever he wants us to go to announce his mission of love for his greater glory and the salvation of souls.

This celebration of thanksgiving on August 8th, the day on which we celebrate St. Dominic, was preceded by many other joyful events, including the renewal of vows, temporary profession, and entry into the novitiate. In this sense, one of our sisters, Sister Angélique Tiendrebeogo, from the Archdiocese of Ouagadougou, pronounced her first vows according to the Constitutions, 7 sisters renewed their commitment to follow Christ, and 4 postulants made their official entry into the novitiate. We cannot cease to give thanks to the Lord who every year always shows his benevolence in favour of the Dominican presence of the presentation in Africa.

These different events were also prepared spiritually through a formation session and a retreat animated by one of our Dominican brothers. With him during the session and the retreat we had the chance to review but above all to deepen the meaning of each of the evangelical counsels especially in our Dominican tradition, the Dominican values left to us by our father Saint Dominic and Blessed Marie Poussepin. The evangelical counsels only have meaning if they are founded and lived in Love, just as Marie Poussepin invited us: "Charity must be the soul of the Community". [1]

We pray to the Master of the harvest to continue to send out workers for his harvest, to make us grow in number, but above all in holiness, and to make us authentic witnesses of love and charity, true witnesses of the Gospel in our world today, thirsty for justice, peace and truth. May the daily living out of the evangelical counsels be the means by which we attain Religious Virtue.

[1]Rules XIV and XL