God speaks in many languages

By Dr Sharon Syriac

“Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God and listen attentively to the divine voice that calls to us each day: Today, if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts” –Psalm 94[95]:8

(Rule of Saint Benedict, Prologue)

Swahili. French. English. The multilingual Brothers Samuel Muhindo Katembo and Yannick-Celestin Kabi Mudishinda listened attentively to the divine voice that called them from the Democratic Republic of Congo (Central Africa) to the Abbey Our Lady of Exile, Mt St Benedict.

During morning Mass on Sunday, June 7, before a congregation that spilled beyond the pews, a mixture of languages and rituals, culture and colours, marked their Solemn Profession—their public and permanent commitment to the monastic life, according to the Rule of St Benedict.

The call

These two young men with their multilingual skills, listened. They listened attentively through their family’s faith experience. They listened through a childhood marked by trials, a youth deepened by questions, a young adulthood in search of a Religious congregation that shared their values, and a 2021 Facebook encounter with a former monk from Lesotho who introduced the idea of monastic life in Trinidad.

These men listened to God’s voice through the COVID-19 pandemic, closed borders, visa complications, travel restrictions and in 2022, through nearly three days stranded at São Paulo’s Airport, waiting.

These men did not harden their hearts. Instead, they left their homeland and arrived in Trinidad and Tobago. Recently, with the clergy gathered around them, Brothers Samuel Muhindo and Yannick-Celestin Kabi Mudishinda stood cloaked in white before Abbot John Pereira and the Benedictine community and made a public lifelong commitment to the Benedictine Order through the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.

This was not an ordination. In fact, Solemn Profession is distinct from Ordination, which is the Sacrament of Holy Orders that confers a divine, spiritual power to administer sacraments.

A sacred moment

In a spirit of joy, confidence and self-giving, they also made vows of stability (remaining in one’s monastic community) and conversatio morum (translated as ‘conversion of life’ or ‘fidelity to the monastic life’), committing to the active, daily process of transformation through prayer, manual labour, humility and charity as they dedicated themselves to finding God in ordinary, everyday tasks.

In a ritual that followed the Solemn Blessing, each was clothed in a white cowl, a long full gown with large flowing sleeves. This marked their new status as solemnly professed monks and they were welcomed into the Benedictine community by the Abbot and the Monks.

In a liturgy that reflected the intercultural fusion that brought those men to these shores, Brother Samuel’s lulled the congregation into pensive thought as he sung some Communion songs in Swahili, one of the national languages of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), while both the Magnificat and Brother Yannick-Celestin’s vote of thanks were delivered in French, the official language of that country.

Communication in motion

Liturgy is structured divine-human dialogue. It is communication in motion. God speaks to us through the Scripture and homilies while we, united as one body, respond through songs, symbols, gestures and intercessions.

That liturgy demonstrated that language is no barrier to God’s call. Ours is a God who speaks in numerous languages, in various ways, several times throughout history. Didn’t He speak through the apostles in the Upper Room who uttered different languages when the Holy Spirit descended upon them?

Our God is a keen communicator. He communicates to connect. We communicate to build relationships. Indeed, the God who connected with these young monks who discerned His call is no different to the God who whispers, shouts or hounds us with His words, pursues us with His love.

At the end of that joyful Eucharistic celebration, the entire congregation, witnesses to that sacred moment, received snack boxes of cheese sandwiches, jelly buns and tuna pastries.

Later, some were treated to lunch in the monastery’s refectory, where the cuisine reflected the diversity of the people assembled in thanksgiving: cassava leaves, jollof rice, egusi soup, fufu, chapati, plantain, pigeon peas, herbed ham, sauteed ochro and tomatoes that triggered memories of my father’s favourite mantra, “Better belly buss, than good food waste.”

In this beautiful nation of Trinidad and Tobago where a remarkable diversity of races, cultures and religions form one nation—what do these two young Congolese monks bring to monastic life at Mt St Benedict? More diversity in cultural richness. Meaningful multilingual skill. And a multi-layered formation that can bring many blessings to many people, in this ‘callaloo nation’.