PENTECOST 2026

Dear Sisters and Associates,

 

Greetings in the Peace and Joy of the Risen Lord!

 

During my visit to Nairobi, amongst our brothers, the Société des Missions Étrangères (SMÉ) well known as the Quebec Missionaries in Kenya, Fr. Ergete Tesfaye made me visit the “Resurrection Garden.” This wonderful shrine was founded in 1994 by Cardinal Maurice Michael Otunga and Fr. Ottavio Santoro.

 

At the entrance of the gate was written “Enter to pray”. Indeed, I was immediately struck by the silence of the place. The garden paths led us through the Stations of the Cross. There were also many people praying individually or in small groups. The Way of the Cross features biblical mosaics from both the Old and the New Testaments.  

 

The Way of the Cross connects to what I would describe as “The Way of the Our Father!” The Lord’s Prayer is written in both local and international languages of over 150 languages. It is this part of the garden that touched me the most. It was so inspiring that I felt like the pouring of the Holy Spirit once again on me as I prayed the Our Father in Chichewa, a national language of my country, Malawi. 

 

Much more, this was a day after the visit of Pope Leo XIV to the African Continent which was still vibrant and everyone was talking about how the visit of the Holy Father united the continent and the world at the same time. This was remarkable because the Holy Father was able to speak fluently four languages namely French, English, Portuguese and Spanish. The Pope also greeted the people in Kimbundu. Hence, the Pope was able to connect with the faithful across Algeria, Cameroon, Angola, and Equatorial Guinea. The visit was a gem of its kind highlighting the diverse, multilingual nature of the African church.

​

The diversity of this multilingual context is what I experienced as I walked through the path of the prayer of the Our Father. For me, this was another opportunity to taste the Pentecost Experience of the disciples in the upper room. “Utterly amazed, they asked; Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? …we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Acts 2, 7-8;12.

 

As I went out of the garden, my eyes caught an inscription on the gate that said; “Go out to serve!” Indeed, the encounter with the Holy Spirit gives us the strength to go out to the whole world and serve with joy and with grateful hearts. 

 

With Mary of the Cenacle, and Mother Mary of the Holy Spirit-Délia Tétreault our Venerable Foundress, I invite each one of us to honour God the Father by reciting the Lord’s prayer in our mother tongue. In that way, we commune with one another and with all the peoples of the world as we receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to the grace given to us for the common good. (1 Corinthians 12:4-11).  Only then can we dare go to proclaim the wonders of God in the world of today so much in need of witnesses of the Gospel.