Ivory Coast: Cardinal Kutwa urges imitation of Mary’s fidelity

Françoise Niamien – Vatican City with Marcel Ariston Blé

Moments of prayer, praise, adoration and teaching, and mass punctuated this vigil. The traditional Marian vigil of the Assumption at the national Marian sanctuary of Abidjan Notre Dame Afrique, Mother of all graces, brought together on the night of Sunday August 14 to Monday August 15, 2022, more than 12 thousand faithful from all over the ecclesiastical province of ‘Abidjan.

This year, the event focused on the theme: “My soul exalts the Lord, exults in God my Savior”. “What we have come to celebrate on this Solemnity of the Assumption…is the fidelity that God rewardssaid Cardinal Jean Pierre Kutwa at the start of his homily during the mass he presided in the early morning of this Marian vigil. “The Feast of the Assumption of Mary is also an invitation to continue to make, every day, an act of faith like Mary”, he added.

Model of faith to imitate

The Archbishop of Abidjan called on the faithful to imitate Mary, model of faith, because in joy and fear, hope and feeling of unworthiness, she is

remained faithful to God. “Sharing the hopes of her people…as a woman, she already vaguely perceives the difficulty of her mission. And it is precisely here that Mary reveals herself to us as a model of faith… she invites us all, despite the vicissitudes of life, to a new profession of faith, because we are all concerned by her Fiat” explained Cardinal Kutwa. And to ask: “Today and in the current circumstances of our lives, are we, like Mary, on the lookout, on the lookout for God, ready to hear the most disturbing call?… Do we allow Mary to make her divine Son grow in us?».

To be bearers of Jesus Christ

Referring to Marie’s meeting with her cousin Elisabeth, the pastor of the diocese of Abidjan believes that this meeting “teaches us that nothing is impossible with our God“. Therefore, the Archbishop of Abidjan urged the thousands of faithful present, like Mary, not to be afraid to commit their lives to following the Lord, to meet others, by being bearers of Jesus Christ. “May our meetings henceforth be moments of profession of faith, joy and love. May they be filled with Jesus who can do everything for us», wished Cardinal Kutwa.

Synod

Recalling the stakes of the synod on synodality, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa invited the Ivorian faithful to now make their meetings a time of listening, dialogue and discernment. “Listening is the first step, but it requires having an open mind and heart, without prejudice! To meet is to become aware that the spirituality of “walking together” is called to become the educational principle of the human and Christian formation of the person, the formation of families and communities!he remarked.

The Archbishop of Abidjan urged the faithful “to be missionaries, to come out of our culture, of our little world fashioned to our liking, to take, in a resolute and decisive way, the path of faith, solidarity and love!». Because in his eyes, “sfollow and celebrate the Virgin Mary, commits us to this too“.