Alexandria, Egypt, April 1, 2017
To our Province:
Thanks be to God we have a new Novitiate in the region! The San Francisco Javier Novitiate of Tanzania!
And we have a new missionary: Father Orazio Cangialosi, Very welcome!
God continues to bless us with abundant vocations in the two Provinces of the Region. Just like the rest of our little Religious Family around the world.
We give thanks to the Lord and at the same time, we renew the effort to discover, propose and accompany vocations.They are a gift from Heaven! But the Lord often wants this gift to come through other people.
As beautifully expressed in our Directory of Vocations, nº 83: “Vocations exist, but we have to look for them. “God calls whom he wills by free initiative of his love. But he wants to call through our people … There should be no fear to propose directly to a young, or not so young person, the Lord’s call “[1]. “The Lord is always the one who calls, but it is necessary to favor the listening of his call and to encourage the generosity of the answer” [2].
Currently the IVE (Institute of the Incarnate Word) in the Middle East has 4 minor Seminarians (Egypt); 31 postulants (Tanzania, Tunisia, Egypt and Syria); 4 novices (Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia and Rome); 4 senior seminarians and deacons (Egypt and Rome).
We know that every vocation is a fruit of God’s love, absolutely undeserved. None of ever deserved, neither the first call of the Master nor the constant call to persevere. It is a free gift from God!
Let us give thanks to God for these blessings and work hard to spread the Kingdom of Christ over the whole earth: “As long as there is a corner of the world without praising the one who came to save us, the Earth has no end!” (The Divine Impatient).
Let us celebrate these gifts of the Lord and try to continue living, albeit costly, in “righteousness, joy and peace” in the Holy Spirit.
As John Paul the Great, Father of our religious family said, “Every call of Christ is a unique and unrepeatable love story” (World Day for vocations 1984).
In Domino
P. Gabriel Romanelli, IVE
Provincial Superior in the Middle East