Every new beginning carries with it fresh hopes. For us, the MSSP community in the Philippines and in Malta and Gozo, that hope became tangible on the 29th of June, when we welcomed the start of another novitiate. This time, our new novice is Br. Charlon Xuereb from Ta’ Kerċem, Gozo.
After completing a university degree in Nursing and working for a time at Mater Dei Hospital, Charlon encountered our Society at the Oratory in Birkirkara. It was there that he began discerning a call to the religious missionary life. He later joined a missionary experience in the Philippines together with a group of young people from the Oratory, and upon returning, expressed his desire to enter formation.
For Br. Charlon, the novitiate year will be a time of deeper prayer and reflection. He will also attend courses in Manila offered to novices from various congregations, all aimed at helping them explore and understand their vocation. Through this journey, Br. Charlon will have the opportunity to discern whether this is indeed the path the Lord is calling him to follow.
While the Church does not have a universal rite for the beginning of the novitiate, within our Society we mark this important moment with a simple ceremony. In it, the new novice commits himself to a period of dedicated prayer and study, immersing himself more deeply in the life of the congregation and in the charism of our Founder, Giuseppe De Piro.
I invite you to keep Br. Charlon in your prayers, that the Lord may guide him to clearly recognise his calling. I also wish to express my heartfelt thanks to our benefactors, whose constant generosity enables our young people to take steps forward in their vocation.