"You should put away the old self of your former way of life, be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self"
(Eph 4:22-24).

On Sunday, August 5, as nine young men awaited the moment that they would officially begin their novitiate at Evening Prayer by receiving the cross of the Congregation, Fr. Richard Lamoureux, A.A., their novice-master, called to mind the second reading from Sunday's Mass and encouraged them all to allow themselves to be molded into the new creatures to which God was calling them. Making further reference to the gospel passage chosen for Evening Prayer (Mk 3:13-14), he pointed out that a novitiate year is an opportunity to prepare oneself ultimately for mission but a mission that presupposes a deep friendship with Jesus. It is the forging of this friendship that the novitiate is all about. Just as Jesus took the chosen twelve aside to prepare them for mission, so, too, these young men will spend a year apart with the Lord to know themselves better, to know and love Him better, and so prepare themselves to be true apostles for the Kingdom, in the Assumption.

And it might be noted that these nine and their three formators ---yes, twelve in all, might give the original twelve a run for their money in terms of their diversity. All in all, they hail from eight different countries and present a wide variety of talents, personalities, and accents.

NOVICES

Bro. Carlos BRAVO CASTILLO (Mexico)

Bro. Ryan CARLSEN (USA)

Bro. Renju Paul CHAKKIATH (India)

Bro. Jomar ABATA (Philippines)

Bro. Floro DEL PILAR (Philippines)

Bro. Eddy GONZALEZ (USA/Guatemala)

Bro. German GONZALEZ ALVAREZ (Mexico)

Bro. Hoang NGUYEN (Vietnam/USA)

Bro. Cristian SANTANA VARGAS (Ecuador)

FORMATORS

Fr. Richard LAMOUREUX, novice-master (USA) Fr. Alex CASTRO, assistant novice-master (Philippines) Fr. Mulumba MATSONGANI, team member (Democratic Republic of the Congo).

Please keep these young men in your prayers during this year. May their example remind all of us, Christians, that we, too, are called to become new creatures in Christ.

Fr. JOHN FRANCK, A.A.