During CANA Indian Ocean Week, we met Francisco and Claire, a Malagasy couple who joined the community three years ago and have just celebrated their 23rd wedding anniversary. They share their experience at CANA and how they came to know Jesus.
The discovery of CANA
“We completed the CANA program in 2010. It was a gift we gave ourselves for our seventh wedding anniversary. It’s where we encountered the Lord. We both grew up in Catholic families, but our relationship with God was limited to Sunday Mass. It was at CANA that we were converted and began to place the Lord more firmly at the heart of our marriage. At CANA, we learned to pray as a couple and as a family. We also experienced moments of forgiveness, which continue to nourish us every day. For us, CANA is a place of rebirth—whether on a personal level, as a couple, or as a family. It is the rebirth of a full life. It was at Cana, during a wedding, that Jesus performed his first miracle. That is where he began to transform lives. CANA is a place where couples rediscover love and unity. Jesus is the One who brings people together: couples, families, nations, and the world.”
Community Life
“We’ve been working for a Reunion Island-based organization in Madagascar for 24 years. It’s a residential center where we care for orphans and abandoned children. But after 15 years of work, we took a sabbatical year, during which we completed training at Hautecombe, before returning to service. We had been feeling this call to community life and to continue bearing witness to spread the Gospel for some time.”
The inter-island meeting
“The CANA Indian Ocean Week was a wonderful experience. We had the opportunity to share our culture and realized that our realities aren’t so different from one another. This allowed the islands—Mauritius, the Seychelles, Réunion, and Madagascar—to come together as a larger community. There was a genuine sense of brotherhood, which can serve as an example to the world. It gave us hope that we can move forward together, with Christ. It was also a chance for us to take some time for ourselves as a couple. We’re both leaving feeling renewed and strengthened.”
Francisco and Claire Rabenarivo, from Madagascar