The laity and the charism of Betharram

The three groups of Betharramite lay people of the Ivory Coast founded their associations on an essential value, that of fraternity. oh, how pleasant it is, how sweet it is for brothers (and sisters) to live together! … to meet up together regularly, to support each other, to move forward together! The “Né mè” fraternity of adiapodoume gives witness to that in this article. and the charism of Betharram? Is it in the kindness of exchanges? In the spiritual food offered and digested? In a handshake and a shared joy?

On the 24th October 2015, the “Né Mè” (“Here I am”) Fraternity of Lay People, associated to the Community of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Adiopodoumé, started up their new Community year with a meeting. During the meeting, the theme and the programme for the year were presented. The theme was “To Rediscover and Live The Mercy of God through the Spiritual Doctrine of St Michael Garicoïts. Some sub-themes were left with groups to discuss during our various meetings.

Before these groups dealt with their themes, the Fraternity called upon Father Sylvain, the Superior of the Community, to present the year’s general theme clearly to us, focussing on MERCY. This presentation allowed us to make progress in our understanding of the theme and guided us in the sub-themes.
We live out different forms of solidarity: For example at our last meeting, we made donations in kind to Alix Kouakou and Félicien N’Guettia on the occasion of the birth of the baby. We visited Léontine Koffi, an infirm member of the Community who can no longer attend meetings, on 29 October 2015, to tell her we are more than a Community – we are a family in the proper sense of the word. We also set up a prayer chain when Christian, Félicien’s other son, was admitted to intensive care. By the Grace of God, the child is feeling well today.

The second meeting took place on 28 November 2015; it was Brother Marie-Paulin Yarkaï who presented the theme to us – “What is Mercy?: a rereading of Pope Francis’ Bull on the aspect of Mercy”. The development of this theme allowed us to further improve our understanding of the terms of mercy, charity, forgiveness and justice; before coming to a conclusion about the vertical nature of God’s infinite love for humanity and the horizontal nature of love between the children of God themselves.

One of the fruits of mercy is forgiveness. We scheduled the Advent Retreat for 19 December 2015, on the theme “Be Merciful as Your Father in Heaven is Merciful”. Then on 30 January 2016, “The Face of the God of Mercy according to St Michael Garicoïts” theme will be developed by a group of lay people, and on 23 April 2016 “Sacrament of Reconciliation as a Sacrament of the Mercy of God”, who better than a priest can deal with this theme which invites us to a healing, as much for the benefit of the soul as of the body, and finally on 18 June 2016 “The Family: A Place to Test Mercy” presented by a group of lay people.

In the course of all our meetings, lay people can, if they so wish, receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation. On a personal level, the virtues of the Sacred Heart according to St Michael Garicoïts, love, obedience, kindness, availability and charity, help us to discover and to live the Love of God in our family life, in our professional circles, in our daily life wherever we are invited to practise these virtues despite difficulties, lack of understanding and often a moral harshness. With the teachings that we receive during our various meetings, we are walking in the footsteps of St Michael, often with tiny gestures, a smile in the face of conflict.