My first step
The year I turned 22, a medical student in Liège, Belgium, I found myself alone. I chose these studies, but I remain uncertain about my professional future. In Cameroon, where I grew up until my baccalaureate, we lived our faith to the fullest and prayed every evening as a family. Then, in Poitiers (Vienna) with one or other of my sisters for the start of my studies, we continued our practice. From now on, I pray alone every day, methodically: thanksgiving, asking for forgiveness, intercession. Sunday: mass. But something weighs on me. My prayer is mechanical.
Exempt from certain subjects already validated in Poitiers, I can take a student job as a saleswoman. “You are Catholic, do you often go to Banneux? » asks me one day Alizée, a colleague at the store. She is not a believer, but advises me to visit this sanctuary 25 km from Liège. It commemorates the apparitions of the Virgin to an 11-year-old child, Mariette, in 1933: “It’s our Lourdes. You should appreciate it. » One Sunday, I set off. The sanctuary appears as an open space dotted with several chapels. As soon as I crossed the fence, something happened inside me. The noises fade away. Mostly I hear my heartbeat. I did well to come. With the leaflet informing visitors in hand, I begin my tour with the spring where the Virgin had led Mariette, who had to break the ice to “push her hands” there as the apparition asked her. I feel good. After a time of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, I come and sit in front of the statue of Saint Joseph and the Child, without thinking carefully. I don't see the time passing. “Worker”, “Holy Family”: these words echo in me, uncertain about my journey. This was not planned, but I ask the Lord to enlighten me. In fact, I open my heart to him. And this is all new to me.
I saw in this pilgrimage – the first of a long series – the beginning of my new Christian life. A personal, “customized” life! Prayer can now come at any time in the form of a word, a sentence; I became involved in the concrete life of the Church; my studies were successful; I am married and a mother. Amazed by God who gives himself without restraint.
