On Apostolicam Actuositatem and Ad Gentes

                            It is incredible how rich the Church's teachings and liturgical wealth are lived from one continent to another. Although we have seven sacraments worldwide, there are administered different as we venture ourselves through the Ritual Churches or from nation to nation. I could not help but reminisce over my last year before moving to Canada when covering Vatican II's document on the Apostolate for the Lay People - Apostolicam Actuositatem.

@ former classmate. Same promotion.

~ Different generations ~

Let me put things into context; It is an all Girls College run by religious women determined to maintain high educational standards. We are the first promotion, and it is my second year before our good Lord ships me to a new land; Canada.  Sacraments are still offered in the school context along with the regular curriculum. But in the midst of the seven sacraments, there is, in Benin, this step between the Sacrament of Confirmation and the last one (Holy Orders, religious Life or Marriage) called Engagement Solennelle (Solemn Engagement). It is quite taken seriously for it for you can  call that year where the challenge to think about your vocation begins, if you had not before. For others, it is to let the Holy Spirit dig your heart and reveal to you what your apostolate is to be. Looking back, you could call Our Entry in Society. Here, it is from faith perspective, but it would not be much different from what you witnessed during the period of the Renaissance in Europe. Matter of fact, were we not learning British English as a 2nd official language. I recall it being a strenuous exercise for me. By then, I did know my vocation, but my apostolate? My life had been so enriched spiritually by then that, I did not know what to choose. See we were told, you say only one thing! So as the days got closer, one thing became clearer that all complemented each other. And Lo behold, the day came where just like the many young ladies, I stood before the assembly and with palpitations in my heart, spoke loudly in the microphone handed to me and with conviction the words that would continuously remind me that I was to be Catholic bound. And indeed as mentioned in the decree on the Apostolate of Lay People, whatever He calls us too , he will give us the grace to live out that vocation.  So the Holy Trinity, by the power of the Holy Spirit has been granting me the grace to see my life in Christ refined, making me worthy in my unworthiness to grow as co-heir of a rich kingdom, meanwhile being led to others in this same kingdom who through their testimonies fortify my faith.

@ St Bernard Parish with foundress Marie-Josette Bonneval & local sisters.

Thus, it was that I was blessed one evening in my parish to meet the co-foundress of a religious order that found home in our diocese from Brazil that same year by Msgr Alberto Taveira, and among the parishes that welcomed them, our shepherd did open to them the doors;The Seeds of the Word  from the Portuguese Sementes do Verbo. Not only among the orders we had welcomed that year, I confess I had been intrigued by them, but my holy curiosity began to be fed when it was slowly taken to their roots. Yes, this lay woman by whose side I have the privilege to stand in this photo started this community in Europe. If someone would have ever told her so, she would not have believed it. Upon an ill caught by her husband, co-founder and now Deacon Georges Bonneval of the same community, she promised our Lord that if He was to heal him, she would consecrate her life to him. Lo behold, our sweet Lord Jesus loves such deals, so at the surprise of the doctors in the early stage of their married life, the miraculous healing came to pass.  Their apostolate went beyond the parish apostolates (often referred to as ministries as clarified in Apostolicam Actuositatem. As their community grew, she narrated to me how they were invited to start a community in Brazil by one of the Monsignor. Today, they've planted their seeds not just in Europe, in the Americas (Canada, Brazil), but the door has now opened for them in Africa through Cameroon. As reminded to us by Father John Trigilio in regards to Apostolicam Actuositatem, par 7 that "the whole goal of the laity is to sanctify the world", thus through this apostolate they have, and today the Seeds of the Word Community has religious women, priests, lay people. It offers lay people the opportunity to take a Sabbatical Year based on three pillars; a season of formation, a season to practice living out St Benedict Rule of Ora et Labora, and a season for vocation discernment. 
Through their apostolate, they've become a  light to the nations reflected for the greater glory of the Heavenly Father the decree on the Church's missionary activity (Ad Gentes). During that same visit, in our exchanges, I also learned that she was among those who laid hand on the deceased Jean Pliya, 

one of the pillars and leading faces of the Catholic Charismatic Movement in Benin. This was a man who was a professor, wrote on countless subjects, was on the point to retire when the Lord called him forth and busied him further. For a Catholic Layman, he was a zealous predicator of the Holy Spirit who took the Good News to all continents. He did start any order, but meanwhile wearing additional hats to those cited (husband, writer, father), he paved the way not just by living out that call of Vatican II in Ad Gentes to be missionary by offering Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, but He formed the next generation of Charismatic Leaders in Benin. Among them were my mother, now Dr. Kossou Leocadie, a biker working at the Ministry of Finances, who wanting nothing to do with the gifts of the Holy Spirit initially was swept away by His power and the patience of this Holy Man who saw much more in her than a government worker. Over the years, she was seen releasing the Chaplet of Love with the imprimatur (approval) of Msgr Blais in Quebec, Canada;  one that distributed to nations in these four continents so far (Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa).

 By then, I was witnessing how the Catholic Missionary world in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit  was getting smaller as I stood before foundress Bonneval, bringing not clergy, or religious but lay people from one continent to the other together. It was another experience of Christ's actions two thousand years ago going from town to town to pick disciples and apostles. Here, He was moving from nation to nation, continent to continent.

Fanny Magnificat, MZRB.    
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