Life of the Congregation (continuation)

Two young Betharramite religious of the Ivory Coast Vicariate share in the following lines their joy in being ordained priests. Giving thanks to the Lord who has called them, their formators who guided them and their brothers who enrich them by their witness, they tell us of their joy in being sent by the Congregation to put their lives in the service of their brethren in the Church.

Father Vincent de Paul WOROU Dimon, SCJ

"The Son of Man came, not to be served but to serve and to give his life for the multitude” (Mk 10.45)

On 18 July 2015 in the parish church of St Teresa at Godomey in Cotonou (Benin), I received from the hands of the Papal Nuncio in Benin, Mgr Brian Udaigwe, the mission to announce the Gospel and care for the Church. This priestly ministry has made me a priest of Jesus Christ forever. I adopt the words of our Founder, St Michael Garicoits: God, our Father, it is you who calls us; and you call us with all that you are. Totally faithful to you, my God, and with all the power of my life I say: Here I am with all that I have and am for love of you”. May the Lord make me a priest according to his Sacred Heart. May it be a long route in the presence of the Lord, a route full of expressions of faith, trials but also of joy, happiness and gratitude. In the light of this great mystery may I never tire of expressing my unworthiness and the great mercy of God as I progress in my life. My vocation to religious life in the Betharramite family is a mystery for me the reality of which I meet every day. In fact , day by day, I discover the constant wish to consecrate myself to the promotion of all men and the whole man. I have always wanted to be the Lord’s instrument so as to strengthen the hope of life’s desperate and to set man up. My project is to open up to God’s grace , to the action of the Holy Spirit and of my superiors as fully as possible. Forward march!

Father Vincent de Paul WOROU Dimon, SCJ
I was born on 27 September 1977 at Save in the Benin. I began my journey towards Religious Life in community in November 2004. Two years later I entered community for the two years of philosophy at the Major Seminary of St Paul at Abajin Koute. Two years of novitiate, first the canonical year in Bethlehem and the second year in our community in Dabakala prepared me for first Religious profession on 28 July 2010. On the 27 July 2014 I made my final vows in the Congregation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Betharram.

Father Jean-Paul KISSI Ayo, SCJ

I was born on 30 July 1979 in Dabou, a town situated at 40 km to the south of the capital of Ivory Coast. It was thanks to a friend I had known in school that I got to know the Betharram congregation in Adiapodoume. In our chats I told him about my wish to become a priest-religious. He therefore suggested that I should make my way with the Betharramite Congregation. Then I shared my wish with the Fathers in the parish. One of them who had been helped by the Congregation, namely Father Duvernet put me in contact with the leaders of the Betharram community in Adipodoume. I went to see them and there I found some very happy people. That’s how I began to journey with the Betharramite religious so that, I too should experience the joy and happiness which was enjoyed by young religious full of life.
I therefore took my first steps in the Betharram community in 2006 as an aspirant. This helped me to discover little by little the spirituality of St Michael. I was particularly impressed by “Here I am” of the Son to his Father as is pointed out by St Michael in his commitment and in his writings. I found out that for him Christ’s disciple must be an offering for his brothers and sisters. He must offer himself without counting and above all for love of them. Consequently the words “Here I am, without delay, without reserve for love’s sake” are forever engraved in my heart. I saw Fathers and Brothers who offered themselves, who have given their lives, who were close to the men and women to help them discover the face of Jesus who became incarnate in our midst.
I was also marked by my years of novitiate in the Holy Land. There I discovered another treasure of Betharram – a treasure left behind by the Fathers and Brothers who dedicated their whole lives and remained faithful. I am not forgetting to mention the session in preparation for final vows in Betharram. In the course of this session I came close to the greatest treasure of Betharram. We had the grace of meeting our senior Fathers who gave us a lesson and encouraged us by their deep experience of Religious Life. Here was something which filled me with the desire to offer myself constantly in fidelity but above all in love for others. Consequently the two years spent in Jordan where I was ordained deacon have made a lasting impression on me. They helped me to discover another culture, another race, another language and the need for the Betharram mission.
During my formation with the help of the Fathers and Brothers who accompanied me –allow me to mention a few: Frs Theophile and Sylvain during the postulancy, Father Herve during the novitiate and Fr Laurent during my years in the scholasticat – and of course those who helped me by their presence and their advice. I thank God for them and for the path of love and sacrifice in the footsteps of St Michael, our Father. With them I offered myself to Christ and just like St Michael to say to God “Here I am, Lord”; Here I am to be yours, to show forth the love of the Incarnate Word. In other words, here I am to be witness to God who became poor, humble and one with us, for the whole of mankind, without distinction of class, tongue or culture.

“It is not you who chose me, but I who have chosen you.”
(John 15,16).

For me to be a Betharramite means offering myself with Christ in the unending “Here I am” with all that we are, to establish his presence wherever he wants us to be, where we wants us to be a witness to his Gospel. It means to be witness to his love at the heart of the world by being rooted in his Sacred Heart. It means getting for others the joy he has given us himself.

My dream as a young priest is to make better known the spirituality of St Michael and to strive for many religious vocations for Betharram in the Holy Land.