REFLECTION

LONGING FOR HUMILITY

After I had read the book Loving Mercy by Brother Wim Verschuren, I reflected on what he says about mercy, being more than just an activity. Mercy is an attitude, a way of being. I would honestly say that before I joined the Congregation, I knew that mercy of course was more than actions. Now being a member of the Congregation, I realize that there is a lot more to learn about the way of mercy. To start with, humility is one of the greatest virtues that I should have. How will that be possible in this current world? It is by emptying myself. And how do I empty myself? The only way is by having the desire for humility. Trying to weigh the answer was like, ‘Am I serious about what I am saying?’ Because it seems one of the impossible things in my life. But when I came to think of it, Jesus Christ came to the world because of the loving mercy He had for us. He came to show us the way to the Father, that is to have eternal life, and Jesus is the only way.

From the example of Jesus Christ, the way to have the desire for humility is by doing what is least expected of me in a positive way (Philippians 2:6). Jesus, being Lord, humbled himself and took the form of a slave. And that was the least of what was expected of him. For me as a Christian I try to follow the way of mercy. Having learned that this is possible by living a humble life in this world today, I was surprised that what came to my mind was the famous quote from the Bible, Matthew 25:40: “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”

By doing the least of what is expected of me in a positive way to everybody, I will empty myself so that God can take possession of me, and that is the way humility is earned.

Brother Bonface Ogari Monyancha CMM, second-year novice, Kenya

EVANGELIZATION THROUGH GOD-GIVEN TALENTS

Worldwide the Congregation is being confronted with all sorts of material and spiritual needs. The brothers, together with others, are trying to alleviate these. In the twentieth edition of this feature, we look at some of the pastoral activities of the brothers in a parish in Kenya. Brother Geoffrey Sinanga is active in youth ministry.

Staff visiting youths in the Mosocho parish, with bottom left (in white shirt) Brother Geoffrey.

The Mosocho Parish Youth Group is an organized group of young people who are focused on ensuring active participation of the youth in church activities as a way of following Christ’s teachings and as way of life. The parish consists of 12 outstations, where these youth come from. Through their participation in various youth programs, every year many young people are drawn to the church. The activities include not only pastoral programs, but also seminars, theatre and music festivals and social welfare programs.

Learning from each other

The key objectives of these programs are to make them strong and responsible Christians in the Catholic Church, and people who follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. They equally interact with and learn from each other, share about school life, contemporary issues affecting society, as well as their experiences in the various outstations. There is of course also entertainment.

The month of December has been the most conducive for conducting these activities owing to the fact that many of the youths are at home on holidays. Every year the program is different and under the guidance of the brothers a thorough preparation is done by the youth leaders.

Talent show

On the 31st of December 2021 some 400 young people gathered at St. Vincent de Paul Boys’ Primary School in Mosocho. The theme of the event was Evangelization through God-given talents, with on the agenda a number of performing arts. Experts in various fields

Participants of the youth seminar. Comforting one of the youngsters who lost a parent.

were invited to speak on a number of issues affecting their lives as young people. For many of them it was a moment of self-discovery, and they attested to a positive personal change.

There is also time in the program to reflect on a variety of spiritual matters by reading and sharing the Word of God. Besides they perform traditional dances, songs, and modern music/dances. The most outstanding performers are awarded a small token as a motivation. Since the foundation of this group, there has been a great improvement of their self-esteem and interpersonal relationships. Going out into the streets

As part of this wholesome program, the youths also visits fellow youths who have lapsed from the Christian faith, or those who have doubts because they have to face sickness or death of someone close. This has in a number of cases reduced drug abuse and other irresponsible behaviours. On every last Saturday of the month gatherings are held under the supervision of the religious brothers and sisters.

Brother Geoffrey Sinange CMM, Kenya

Talent show at the youth seminar.

LOST VOICES RESOUND

In the spring of 2019, I had the privilege of spending weeks in the attic of the Generalate. That attic houses a motley collection of items from the history of the Congregation including many hundreds of paintings, watercolours and etchings by brothers. I selected and photographed these in preparation for the exhibition ‘Kunstbroeders’ (Brothers in Art). While I was doing that, an old Edison phonograph caught my eye, along with twenty-eight rolls of wax.

That phonograph must have once stood in the brothers’ house and been used. The thing intrigued me. Would it still work? Would it be possible to hear the sounds on those wax rolls again? Would there be something interesting to hear on it? So, I asked the General Board for permission to examine that device more closely.

The Edison phonograph was the predecessor of the gramophone. Between 1893 and about 1915, almost a million were made. After that, 78 rpm records came into vogue. But it also differed from the gramophone. First, it did not work with flat records but with wax cylinders. Secondly, unlike the gramophone, you could also use it to make your own recordings; a gramophone could only play prefabricated records, but a phonograph also had a recording head with which you could record your own voice on the wax roll. By far most of the wax rolls contained such recordings. So did those of the brothers.

Judging by the patent data and the serial number on it, this phonograph must have been made around 1898. It eventually ended up in the store of Carl J. Golichowski, a piano dealer in Den Bosch. Brothers from the Ruwenberg probably bought the device soon after. This is evidenced by notes that were found on the boxes of wax rolls which contain dates: the oldest recording is from 1899 and a roll from 1901 states: ‘The brothers and students of Tilburg compliment the Ruwenbergers on the warm reception’.

New wax rolls were no longer available after 1915, and I suspect that the recording and playback heads were worn out some twenty years after purchase. They contained a lot of natural rubber that deteriorated quite quickly. That means that the device was virtually non-functional after, say, 1920. That’s a century ago. It must have been a useless curiosity in St.Michielsgestel and then in storage in the attic of the Generalate all that time.

That century had left its mark. The grease with which the spring engine had once been abundantly lubricated had hardened over a hundred years to a kind of pitch-black tar: all the gears were jammed. There was nothing left to do but to dismantle the entire instrument down to the last screw and to clean it. That worked. Now it runs smoothly again: fifteen turns of the crank and the drum spins evenly for two minutes... the playing time of a wax roll.

René Munnik in the attic of the Generalate. Photos: Mascha van Kleef.

The Edison phonograph.

This brings into view the possibility of getting those wax rolls to work, as most of them are undamaged and the grooves still look spotless. But even if it were possible to restore the original playback head, I will not play those rolls with it. Already in Edison's time, wax rolls were completely worn out after twenty spins... and these more than a hundred-year-old rolls are extra vulnerable. The sound on them would be erased forever after a few times. I am looking therefore for a safer way to play these wax rolls. Preferably an optical one that doesn’t create any mechanical stress. That’s going to take some time, but it will work. I hope.

In the meantime, those wax rolls have been waiting for a century to make a sound again. Together they contain about three quarters of an hour of audible signs of life from the Ruwenberg of about one hundred and twenty years ago. If you can believe the labels on the boxes, we will soon be able to listen to the Serenade by Franz Schubert, to the Panis Angelicus and to songs like The hat of charity... performed by largely anonymous brothers (Brother Am, Brother Jan, Brother Eunachus?) from a time when even the oldest living brother today was not even born yet.

But I am most curious about the brothers and students from the Teachers Training College from Tilburg who in 1901 paid their compliments to the Ruwenbergers. Imagine that you can listen to them again and that you then hear (but I am making that up) that Brother Andreas van den Boer - who could very well have been there - is thanked once more for the hospitality... and that a modest but unmistakably audible voice then answers: ‘You’re welcome’ or something religious like ‘Deo gratias’. That would be fantastic, wouldn’t it!... Such an acoustic relic of two words with their own timbre. We shall see. You will hear about it. To be continued.

René Munnik, The Netherlands