Elysée Masala-Nzau rscj, province of Democratic Republic of Congo

My name is Elisabeth Masala-Nzau. My father wanted to call me Philippine, but I’m called Elysée. I’m 44. I’ve been a religious of the Sacred Heart for 20 years. I come from the province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and have been on a mission to Chad since September 2007. I had already been to Chad in September 1997, for my international experience in Bongor. Today I live at Atrone, a community near the Sacred Heart Secondary School in N’Djamena, where I help with school management as Deputy Principal.

I come from a Protestant family. My father, who had no specific religion, was converted by my mother to Protestantism, and became until his death a convinced and convincing Christian. It was in my Protestant family that I learned the importance of prayer. I became a Catholic at 18 while I was preparing to enter religious life. So you can easily understand that my godmother was a religious of the Sacred Heart.

I felt God’s call when I was about 14; at that time I hadn’t understood it very clearly. But in the depths of my heart, I was unconsciously living out my call. It was when I saw the religious, or during ceremonies of First Vows, that I felt my heart burning with the desire to consecrate myself to God. One fine day, I said aloud that I wanted to become a religious; I wasn’t very clear about what that meant. My father’s categorical reaction was not long in coming. He said curtly: “Out of the question.” I knew very well what that meant. So I couldn’t speak about it again. God kept on working within me, but at the same time I didn’t want people to know. I wanted to live my life just like any other girl.

End of the week of Christian Unity

We were not allowed to make decisions about our lives until we were 18, because before that age, Papa thought we were not mature enough. So we were all Protestants like him. The day after I turned 18, when I was preparing for the baccalauréat, I decided to speak to my father about my decision to consecrate myself to the Lord. I’ll never forget that moment of my life. I had to wait ten minutes. As Papa did not react, I thought he hadn’t understood. I was just getting ready to repeat my question when his reaction came. He was displeased, but at the same time he didn’t want to make a decision for me, fearing that, after he died, I might regret any choice he had made against my will. This consoled me, and after my exam results came out, I waited some months before contacting a congregation.

Final year students show new students round the school. Opposite, a visually impaired student who is being shown round the school.

I began by contacting a diocesan congregation, but I soon realised that I wanted to give myself to the Lord in a much wider context. Staying permanently in my own country seemed very narrow. That’s why I chose an international congregation. My aunt, who was a religious, told me about the Society of the Sacred Heart; she had known an RSCJ novice who had stayed with her congregation. I had no hesitation about contacting the Society. Without my knowledge, they made enquiries about me locally, and then agreed to let me work with the sisters for a year, so that we could get to know each other.

The following year, I began my life with the religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. After a year of work, a year as a postulant, and three years of noviceship, I pronounced my First Vows on 20^th August 1989. A long period of formation, with some roses and plenty of thorns, prepared me for my Final Vows. And on 10^th January 1999, I was professed in Rome. Yes, God writes straight with crooked lines!

My international experience did not leave me indifferent to the needs of Chad, even though I felt no particular urge to return there one day. One of these needs was the running of the Secondary School, which was already presenting a problem during my international experience, and it was this same need that made me return to Chad. Chad is a country with a Moslem majority. The work of the Catholic Church consists of Islamic-Christian reconciliation. In the Secondary School, we made that our battle-field: fighting for mutual acceptance. Educating the students to consider themselves first of all as brothers and sisters. And this is a daily struggle.

End of the week of Christian Unity. The Elysée is in the background on the right.

I sometimes tell myself that the region of Chad is a kind of summary of the Society of the Sacred Heart, or the Society in miniature. Living here means tasting the richness of internationality and facing up to its challenges. The diversity of our origins sometimes makes itself felt at our meetings when we reflect on certain topics. In the area of formation, the challenge to the Society is inculturation, in view of the scarcity of vocations in Chad.

As a Congolese RSCJ living in Chad, I see myself as African first and foremost, and I sometimes feel I am welcoming RSCJ from other continents to my own home. But I often become disillusioned about this impression, when I encounter people who speak a different language and have different ways of acting.

God keeps on writing straight with crooked lines...

Elisabeth Masala-Nzau rscj
Province of Democratic Republic of Congo

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