Camino online X
August 1, 2020
Camino online XII
August 15, 2020
TOGO
INCARNATION ABBEY
AGBANG-TOGO
It was founded on the 6th of August in 1985 by Brother Boniface TIGUILA. He was a monk of the Abbey of the Ascension in Dzogbégan. The monastery of Agbang was placed under the patronage of the Word Incarnate of God and this is the origin of its name.
God was made Man so that Man could be reconciled to God. Man could never start searching for God if God had not allowed Himself to be found. It was God who planted the seed in Man’s heart the desire to search for God and his personal destiny. The monastery of the Incarnation of Agbang wants to be a place of encounter between God and Man. This God that made himself flesh in order to go out to meet his brothers and sisters weighed down by sin on the roads of the world.
The Abbey of the Incarnation is found twenty kilometers south-west of Kara, in the northern part of Togo. It is nestled in a rural region in the village of Agbang. Here, the brothers live a simple monastic life, following the counsels of the Rule of St. Benedict.
Since its integration into the missionary Benedictine congregation of St. Ottilien in November of 1991, the Monastery of the Incarnation of Agbang has been consistently engaged in the mission of the congregation as well as its own local pastoral and mission work. With its personal development, spiritual growth and witness, they were able to construct the abbey on the 8th of August in 2016 with the election of Father Romain Botta as the first Father Abbot of this young abbey of our congregation.
As it is found in a rural area where basic infrastructures such as electricity, schools, health centres are rudimentary or non existent, the Abbey of the Incarnation has taken up the essential mission of teaching children, developing the social fabric and access to drinkable water by the setting up of blacksmith shops.
The Abbey of the Incarnation of Agabang has a school campus comprising a primary school, a middle school, and a secondary school. We prepare the children to become responsible citizens, devoted to the Church and the world. Our campus has nearly 500 students among the three schools. Our efforts are to help our people leave behind ignorance, intellectual poverty and offer them intellectual, spiritual, moral and material pursuits. God sent his son into the world for the betterment of all, so that life could be lived in abundance.
To answer to their needs and necessities, the brothers are engaged in various activities in agriculture, husbandry and professional crafts. Our Father Saint Benedict said: they are true monks if they live from the labour of their own hands. The Abbey of the Incarnation of Agbang seeks to be a family of brothers where each has the duty and obligation to contribute through their prayer and their work to help one another and to improve the region.
The Abbey of the Incarnation: a school for life so that God is everything and in everything.
REFLECTION
9 AUGUST
Reconciliation
Flops Lewis
My name is Flops Lewis. I am born and bred in Africa from English parents and have lived most of my life in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe. It is the most beautiful country of mountains, rivers, wide open spaces and wild animals, piercing blue skies and a fabulous climate! But we have a history that is both inspiring and yet extremely painful. Unfortunately, unlike South Africa, Zimbabwe did not have a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to acknowledge and resolve the negative aspects of colonialism before Independence in 1980 and the devastation of the tribal massacres after Independence. Taking responsibility and forgiveness are two of the most difficult things for us humans to do – to admit we are wrong, or to genuinely forgive. And yet, it is one of the most important aspects of healthy and wholistic mental, physical and spiritual life.
Forgiveness is not a popular or easy path as we saw in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa after the fall of apartheid. The process was convened by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who understood the essential need for both responsibility and forgiveness, which had been so exemplified by Nelson Mandela. One has to believe that the Courage and Humility, Vulnerability and Compassion that we witnessed during the Commission were enabled by the reality and presence of Grace: Proper public responsibility and acknowledgment of mistakes – not for punishment, but for healing and truth. In fact, the healing was in the baring -and bearing – of the truth publicly.
Grace re-creates all things. Nothing new happens without forgiveness given and received. God resists our evil and conquers it with good. He shocks and stuns us into love.
God does not love us IF we change – God loves us so THAT we can change. Only love, not duress, guilt, shame or social pressure – brings inner transformation.
“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us…” True forgiveness does not leave the offender feeling small and judged, but liberated and loved.
Without the power and grace of forgiveness, how else will we ever be free? In forgiveness, we live up to our true and deepest dignity. We operate out of a power of logic and love not of our own but grounded in Grace. Let us live out of the True Self – not the tiny self that is always offended or complaining.
Please pray for my beloved country, for courage and fortitude in the face of the threat of violence, deprivation and famine….that our leaders stop the devastation they are causing and our people can forgive them and rebuild the trust and the country.
Without forgiveness, nothing new can happen.
PRAYER
God sent his Son to reconcile the world with him and to make all his adopted children. You who do not judge according to our merits, look with love on those who you love as a Father. Your well loved Son taught us that your greatness resides in your mercy. Forgive us our faults and help us to forgive the faults of others. We pray for the strength of the Holy Spirit to encourage us to be for others what You are for us. Therefore, freed from the slavery of sin, we could celebrate sincerely with a free heart. Through Jesus, your Son, our Lord and our God, who reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, now and forevermore. Amen
Thank you for joining us “in Camino,” for being a part of our humble project, for your prayers, for your assistance and for your company.
With your support you will contribute with food bags, sanitary material, water supply, cleaning kits…
See you next week!
