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Perpetual Vows
Celebration
St. Andrew Kagwa Parish, Lilanda, Lusaka

Sr. Florence Mulenga: Comboni Missionary Sister

F or e ver!!!

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St. Daniel Comboni

Daniele Comboni was born in Limone sul Garda on March 15,


1831 and was ordained priest in 1854. Three years later he
left for Africa.
Firmly believing that the Africans would themselves become
protagonists of their own regeneration, he gave birth to a
project whose purpose is the regeneration of Africa through
Africans themselves, the so called “Plan for the Regeneration
of Africa”, in 1864. As a prophetic voice, he announced to the
First Vatican Council that Africa's hour had come. For the
African peoples he spent all his energies and fought tirelessly
for the abolition of all forms of slavery.
He was consecrated bishop of the Vicariate of Central Africa
in 1877.
He died crushed by toil, hardship, and suffering on October
10, 1881 in Khartoum, Sudan, at the age of only 50.
Today many priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, lay
people from different countries on
the four continents continue to live
out his missionary passion for the
Gospel….

Comboni Missionary Sisters: Women


of the Gospel consecrated to God
for the mission ad gentes
We express the specificity of our
Charism by committing ourselves to:
-share and proclaim the good news of
God's universal love in Jesus Christ to

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peoples who do not yet know Him, especially the poorest and
most oppressed;
- foster the growth of the Kingdom’s values already present in
creation and in the history of peoples of all times;
- to be bridges between peoples, cultures and religions, between
the excluded and those who exclude;
- being women of dialogue, reconciliation, forgiveness;
- animating in a missionary way the local churches;
- sharing a passion for evangelization, a commitment to justice,
dignity, peace, and caring for Creation.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Homily by St. Daniel Comboni - Khartum, Sudan, 1877


The first love of my youth was for Africa, and leaving what was
dearest to me in the world I came 16 years ago, to offer the
contribution of my work. Then obedience brought me back to
Italy, my homeland, because of my health: I left in obedience but
among you I left my heart; my thoughts and my actions were
always for you.
And today, at last, I recover my heart returning among you.
Yes, I am already your father and you are my children and, as
such, I embrace you and I hold you to my heart. I return among
you never again to cease to be yours, (…). The day and the
night, the sun and the rain will always find me equally ready for
your spiritual needs. The rich and the poor, the healthy and the
sick, the young and the old, the master and the servant will
always have equal access to my heart...
Your good will be mine and your sorrows will be mine, too. I make
common cause with each of you; the happiest of my days will be
the one when I will be give my life for you...

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HOLY MASS

Mistress of Ceremony - Words of welcoming


Today, I have the privilege and the joy to welcome all of you here, those
who have come from Lusaka and even from various parts of the world,
to share in the happiness of Sr. Florence Mulenga, a Combonian
Missionary Sister who is celebrating, today, her Perpetual Vows:
- she is going to say “yes” to the Lord forever,
- to says “yes” to His proposal to collaborate with Him for His reign,
forever. Today, with her ‘Yes forever’, she declares that God is the
Lord of her life, and with Him and for Him she wants to live.
Today, we celebrate her ‘Yes forever’ but also something still greater: we
celebrate God's love for her: He chose her, looked at her in her littleness
and humility, loves her, trusts her and wants her to collaborate with Him.
Forever.
Let us gather around her: with her Perpetual profession, Sr. Florence
will definitely consecrate herself to God for the mission in the footsteps
of St. Daniel Comboni.
As a Comboni Missionary Sister, she is thus called to make her own
God's dream, a dream of full life for all humanity; to follow Christ who
gives life so that all may have it in abundance.
Let us ask the Lord to help us enter into an atmosphere of prayer to
celebrate the Eucharist together.
(moment of silence)

ENTRANCE HYMN
INTRODUCTORY RITE
Main Celebrant’s greetings…
Celebrant: In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit.
All: Amen.
Celebrant: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God,
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and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all.
All: And with your spirit

Penitential Rite
Celebrant: Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins,
and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

Song: Lord have mercy


Molengue ti gbya (2) Nzapa baba,
so mo yo gbanga(2) ti azo kwe,
mo ba vundu ti eh kwe e e.
Molengue ti gbya (2) Nzapa baba,
so mo yo gbanga,(2) ti azo kwe,
mo mu na eh siriri.

GLORY

Celebrant - Let us pray: Heavenly Father, accept the praise of this


Religious Congregation whom you have called to follow Christ in your
church; accept the gift of life of Sr. Florence, today consecrated to you
forever; may she be a witness of Your Life and Love. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen

LITURGY OF THE WORD

- First Reading: Romans 13:1-13


- Responsorial Psalm: How can I repay the Lord for His goodness
to me?
- Second Reading: Isaiah: 61:1-9
- Alleluia
- Gospel: St. John15:1-15

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RELIGIOUS PROFESSION
Mistress of Ceremony
We now enter the ritual of religious profession.
The Celebrant will shortly call our Sister by name and she will stand up
and respond.
This reminds us that the call/the vocation is an initiative of God's love to
which the person responds in full freedom and with willingness to the
action of the Spirit.

• CALLING
Celebrant: Sr. Florence Mulenga
Sr. Florence: Here I am!
Cel.: Sister, what do you ask to God and to the Holy Church?
Sr. Florence: I ask that I may follow and serve Christ Jesus,
remaining faithful to him until death, in the Family of the
Comboni Missionary Sisters.

• HOMILY

• EXAMINATION
Mistress of Ceremony
Before the community here present, representing the whole church of
God, Sr. Florence will now express her desire and her will to belong even
more deeply to Hm through the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience
that she will make forever.
I invite Sr. Florence to stand, while everybody else may remain seated.
Celebrant: Dear Sister, you have been with this missionary family now
for some years as a missionary Sister dedicated to the proclamation of
the Gospel; are you now resolved to consecrate yourself more
intimately to the one who called you by the new and special bond of
perpetual profession?
YES, I DO
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Do you want, with God's help, embrace forever the evangelical life of
chastity, obedience and poverty chosen by Christ the Lord and His
Virgin Mother?
• YES, I DO
Do you want to make a constant commitment to follow the Gospel and
observe the Rule of Life of the Comboni Missionary Sisters to come
to perfect charity toward God and toward our brothers and sisters?
• YES, I DO
Do you want, with the Grace of the Holy Spirit, generously devote your
whole life to the service of God and His people?
• YES, I DO
Do you want to consecrate your whole life to the mission ad gentes in
the Congregation of the Comboni Missionary Sisters that the Lord
raised up in His Church through the charism of St. Daniel Comboni?
• YES, I DO
May God who began this good work in you bring it to completion until
the day of Christ the Lord.

Assembly: AMEN

Mistress of Ceremony
Sr. Florence will now prostrate herself at the foot of the altar.
Prostrating herself expresses her desire to surrender herself into the
hands and love of God, to adhere to Him and to His will.
We accompany her gesture by singing the ‘Litany of The Saints’. We will
invoke so many men and women whom the Church has recognized as
examples of goodness, righteousness, fidelity and proclaimed therefore
saints and holy.
All of them pray with us today.
(We all kneel)

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Celebrant: Dear brothers and sisters,
let us humbly pray to God the almighty Father,
the giver of every gift,
that he may bless and strengthen the holy purpose
which he himself has inspired in this his daughter.

LITANIA LA OYERA ONSE


Ambuye muticitire cisoni Muticitire cisoni
Kristu muticitire cisoni Muticitire cisoni
Ambuye muticitire cisoni Muticitire cisoni
Mulungu atate a kumwamba Muticitire cisoni
Mulungu mwana mpulumutsi wa anthu Muticitire cisoni
Mulungu mzimu oyera Muticitire cisoni
Atate oyera ndinu Mlungu mmodzi yekha Muticitire cisoni

Maria oyera Mutipempherere ife


Amayi oyera a Mulungu Mutipempherere ife
Virgo oyera oposa avirgo onse Mutipempherere ife
Amayi wothandiza mpingo Mutipempherere ife
Mikaele woyera Mutipempherere ife
Gabriele woyera Mutipempherere ife
Rafaele woyera Mutipempherere ife
Anjelo ndi Arkanjelo oyera Mutipempherere ife
Yosefe woyera Mutipempherere ife
Amartiri a ku Uganda woyera Mutipempherere ife
Petro woyera Mutipempherere ife
Paulo woyera Mutipempherere ife
Lusia woyera Mutipempherere ife
Perpetua ndi Felisite woyera Mutipempherere ife
Agnesi woyera Mutipempherere ife
Sesilia woyera Mutipempherere ife
Katalina woyera Mutipempherere ife
Anastazia woyera Mutipempherere ife
Terezia woyera Mutipempherere ife
Daniel Comboni woyera Mutipempherere ife
Akazi oyera onse Mutipempherere ife
Anthu oyera onse a Mulungu, amuna ndi akazi
Mutipempherere ife
Mutifatsire Mutikhululukire Ambuye
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Mutifatsire Mutibvomereze Ambuye
Kwa zoipa zonse Mutipulumutse Ambuye

Cifukwa ca misteri yoti munadzipangidwa munthu


Mutipulumutse Ambuye
Cifukwa coti munatibadwira Mutipulumutse Ambuye
Cifukwa ca imfa yanu ndi kuikidwa kwanu Mutipulumutse Ambuye
Cifukwa ca kuuka kwanu koyera Mutipulumutse Ambuye
Cifukwa ca kukwera kwanu kozizwitsa kumwamba
Mutipulumutse Ambuye
Cifukwa ca kudza kwa Mzimu wosangalatsa
Mutipulumutse Ambuye
Mubwezenso osocera mu Eklesia wanu ndi kucita
Zoti Evangelio aunikire akunja onse
Tikupemphani mutimvere
Mulimbitse Asister athu ndi nchito zao kuti
Moyo wa Eklezia wanu ubereke mphatso
Tikupemphani mutimvere
Mulimbitse ife tomwe, kuti tisaleke kukutumirani
Tikupemphani mutimvere
Mupatse kuti banja la Comboni onse
Akhale mwa chikondi ca Khristu ndi
Mwa mzimu wa Daniel Comboni
Tikupemphani mutimvere
Mudalitse makolo a Asister awa
Cifukwa copereka cao kwa Mulungu
Tikupemphani mutimvere
Mupatse atumiki wanu caulere ca kudzipereka
kwatunthu ku nchito zanu Tikupemphani mutimvere

Mudalitse Asister wathu,


Muwayeretse ndipo
muwasandutse kuti akhale wanu nokha Tikupemphani mutimvere

Inu Kankhosa ka Mulungu


amene muchotsa macimo a anthu Mutikhululukire Ambuye

Inu Kankhosa ka Mulungu


amene muchotsa macimo a anthu Mutimvere Ambuye

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Inu Kankhosa ka Mulungu
amene muchotsa macimo a anthu Muticitire cisoni

(Everybody stands)

The main Celebrant stands and prays:


Receive, o Lord, the invocations of your people and by your grace
prepare this daughter of yours so that the fire of the Holy Spirit may
purge her from sin and inflame her with the ardour of Charity.
Through Christ our Lord.
AMEN

PERPETUAL PROFESSION
Mistress of Ceremony - Sr. Florence now reads the formula of Religious
Consecration in front of Sr. Guadalupe Alejandrina Mancilla Nu, Provincial
Superior, who will receive her vows forever in front of the entire Community
here present.
Sr. Florence reads her formula of Perpetual Vows

PROVINCIAL SUPERIOR - And I, with the authority granted to me,


in the name of the Church, receive the Vows made by you in our
Family of the Combonian Missionary Sisters "Pious Mothers of Africa"
and I entrust you to God and to the intercession of St. Daniel Comboni,
our Founder, that you may perfect your offering associated with the
Eucharistic sacrifice. Through Christ our Lord
AMEN

While Sr. Florence and the Provincial Superior sign the formula,
the choir sings a song.

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SOLEMNS BENEDICTION OF CONSECRATION
(Sr. Florence kneels; the main Celebrant, with extended arms, blesses her)
Lord God, creator of the world and father of all,
we praise you and give you thanks for the bond of love
you have maintained with us,
undeterred by sin, and by the work of your hands.

In Abraham, the father of believers,


you called a multitude of peoples
to walk in the shadow of your faithfulness.
In your servant Moses, sent to the oppressed,
you opened up a path of hope
in the land of exile and of tears.
In the prophets of Israel
you spoke to the heart of a people in darkness,
setting alight their desire for a Saviour.

In the fullness of time


you sent your Son into the world,
firstborn of the new creation
reconciled in love,
calling people of every tongue and nation
to the inexhaustible source of life
sprung from his pierced heart.
And so, by the gift of his Spirit,
you formed the Church, his mystical body,
consecrating her to the same mission
of carrying the joy of the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Now, Father, look with favour on this daughter of yours


whom you called to be with Christ for ever
in the practice of the evangelical counsels;
pour into her heart your Holy Spirit,
that she may hold all things to be a loss
compared to the sublime knowledge of your Son:
may she share intensely in his merciful love,
making the cause of the poorest and most abandoned their own.

As heir of Saint Daniel Comboni


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in the Institute he wanted to be a cenacle of apostles,
may this Sister,
under the guidance of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
throw all her energies into the proclamation of the Gospel.

Lord, may she sow abundantly on earth


the hope that never fails,
and grant her at the end of her life
to be received into your heavenly Jerusalem
in the company of a multitude of brothers and sisters.
through Christ Our Lord.

All: Amen.

PRAYER OF THE FAITHFUL


We pray for Pope Francis - Lord, we thank you for giving us such a
humble and prayerful Pastor to guide us and the entire Church. We
ask you to bless Him with Your Grace and Love, with Your Light and
Courage so that in His ministry and service, He may do in Your name
what is right for humanity. In a special way, while the Synod is
celebrated, we ask you to assist Him with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Lord, hear us:

We pray for all the the people of the world, people of different cultures
and mentality. Lord, we entrust to you care especially those who,
today, still suffer because of violence, injustice, corruption, violation of
human rights….war, hatred… We pray for Peace and Justice all over
the world.
We entrust to you, in a special way Zambia, Sr. Florence’s own Nation,
and Central Africa, her mission country. Bless them Lord and protect
them always. Lord, hear us:

We pray for Sr. Florence, who today consecrates herself to the Lord
for ever. We give You thanks, Lord, for all the Care and Love shown
to her since she was born. Thank you, for the vocation to the Religious

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Missionary Life, for trusting her and inviting her to collaborate with You
in bringing Your Word and Love “till the ends of the earth”.
Deepen in her, more and more… the DESIRE for you. May You
always be the only and one richness of her life. Lord, hear us:

We pray for her parents - Bless mum Fridah for the care and love,
guidance and example she has been for Florence and her siblings,
bringing her family very close to You, Lord.
We recommend to you also the soul of Florence’s dad: Dad John, who
in a different way, continues to be close to his family. Keep Him in
Your Loving embrace and presence. Lord, hear us:

We pray for the Youth of this Parish, and of the entire Church at large:
May they have the courage to give space and time to You, to know
You, to listen to your voice in order to understand and live to the full
the dream you have for them. Lord, hear us:

We pray for the Comboni Missionary Sisters and for the service they
render in the four Continents, wherever You send them. May they be
women of God, women of prayer and service. Bless the Congregation
with more vocations. Lord, hear us:

We pray for all of us who have come here for this moment of joyful
celebration of missionary commitment for ever. Be with us on our
journey, Lord, and help us to live our being missionary because of our
Baptism, according to our vocation. Lord, hear us:

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LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

OFFERTORY PROCESSION AND SONG


Refrain:
Ye so e wara na sesse so o o
Ayeke Nzapa si a mu na e
E mu na lo kota singila
E ya na lo sandaga ti e.

1. E ya na lo Mapa ti e E ya na lo samba ti e ....


A ye so kwe e ya na lo na ta nzoni be ti e aita a a.

2. E ya na lo passi ti e,E ya na lo toto ti e***

3. Ta ngia ti be ti e kwe e ya na lo,


E ya na lo mosoro ti e***

4. E ya na lo sewa ti e,E ya na lo Eglise ti e***

-Holy, holy, holy…

-The Lord’s Prayer


-Sign of Peace
-Lamb of God
-Communion Song

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CONCLUDING RITE

WORD OF THANKS (Parish Priest Fr. Daniel Chisha, the Provincial


Superior of the CMS and Sr. Florence)

Final Blessing
Celebrant: The Lord be with you.
-And with your spirit.

Celebrant: May God, who is the source of all good intentions,


enlighten your mind and strengthen your heart.
May he help you to fulfil with steadfast faith
all you have promised.
All: Amen.

Celebrant: May the Lord enable you to travel in the joy of Christ
as you follow along his way,
and may your way of life bring glory to God’s name
and salvation to all people.
All: Amen.

Celebrant: May the love of God unite you


and make you a Cenacle of Apostles,
praising his name
and showing forth Christ’s love.

All: Amen.

Celebrant: And may the blessing of almighty God,


the Father, and the Son,  and the Holy Spirit,
come down on you and remain for ever with you
who have taken part in these sacred celebrations.
All: Amen.

Final Song

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Thank
for your prayer
Thanks
for sharing my joy!!!!

MAY GOD BLESS


YOU ALL.

LUSAKA, 14.10.2023  Sr. Florence’s Perpetual Vows 

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