Johannesburg (South Africa). From 13 to 15 December 2024, the Laura Vicuña Community of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in Ennerdale, Johannesburg, of the O. L. of Peace Province (AFM), hosted a Vocation Camp attended by 23 young people also from neighboring parishes.
The young women were able to experience a space of prayer, reflection, sharing of the Word, and knowledge/deepening of the contents of Salesian Spirituality. There was no lack of knowledge dynamics, moments of recreation, and even a debate on the choice of religious life or marriage. On 15 December Sunday, they attended Holy Mass in the parish of All Saints in Enneradale, where they animated the songs.
In the family spirit and to witness together the beauty of the Salesian Vocation, together with the Community of Ennerdale, two young FMA from the provincial House of Boksburg, South Africa, also collaborated in the event.
The aspect of the testimony recalls what Mother Yvonne Reungoat had written in Circular no. 960, “Vocational communities are not, first of all, places where activities of vocational animation are organized, which are also necessary, but spaces in which one lives and witnesses one’s vocation and expresses it with joyful fidelity in the fabric of daily relationships and mission.”
A concept was also taken up by Mother Chiara Cazzuola in Circular no. 1043, entitled “The responsibility to be vocational communities”:
“It is not easy for young women and men to discern the path to follow in their lives, such as the call of God. Offering them the opportunity to see the testimony of those who live their vocation with awareness, responsibility, authenticity, and joy can make this search less difficult and more exciting. (…) In this sense, the environment in which they are welcomed plays an important role. It is there that they can discover models, values, create beautiful friendships, and, above all, find answers to their thirst for God.”
The Vocational Camp is an annual event to give young women the opportunity to get to know Salesian life in a climate of listening and discernment, followed by a personalized accompaniment that promotes greater knowledge of the girls, toghether with their families.
Throughout the year, the FMA of the Community of Ennerdale visit the parishes in the suburbs of the Diocese of Johannesburg to make known the charism and invite young women to live vocational experiences.
Again in Circular no. 1043, recalling the words of Mother Mazzarello – “it is the hand of God that works in you” (L 66.2) – Mother Chiara recalls the importance of prayer, “assiduous and united”, so that “the Lord may make our communities fruitful according to His will. They will thus be authentic vocational communities.”
