Portugal – Page 15 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

“His Eyes Gazed on my Lowliness…”

16 November, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

The time has come to share what is in my heart after one month into my mission experience in Carapira. I have some difficulty in organizing my ideas and in getting started, because I have many emotions in my heart. I will try to describe a bit how I have grown throw this experience.

First, I will tell you about the daily routine. We had moments of prayer every day. We always started and ended the day with prayer, both with the pastoral community and in our community.

At the very beginning we were made aware several activities where our cooperation was needed and we built our daily routine around these activities both at the Technical Industrial Institute and at the boarding run by the sisters. We accompanied the missionaries in their visits to people and communities. We took part in the celebrations that were taking place at the time to remember the 70 years of Comboni presence in Mozambique, the 150^th anniversary of the MCCJ Institute and the 25^th of Bro. Alfredo Fiorini’s killing.

We also kept faithful to special moments in our community of Faith and Mission.

Two things filled my heart: the first was the feeling of being small; the second, was a great but joyful serenity. I felt small, light, happy and at peace.

I felt small because I was seeing the best and the worst in me. I learned a lot about myself, I knew myself better. I perceived my limitations and my gifts with more clarity. I found limitations I did not know and qualities I was not aware of. As I grew, I felt small. This was because I was discovering that the work we were doing, even though it was important and done with our full dedication, did not change the world as we would have liked. Because the difference consists in small gestures of friendship and of love that grow and bear fruit. I felt small, above all, because what I received than what I gave. This includes the apostolic community that welcomed generously, the community of Carapira, the communities we visited, the people we met, the children and young people with whom we spent a lot of time, at the Institute and at the sisters’ boarding, and the persons with whom we made community, the other members of Faith and Mission.

At the same time I felt at peace, because my heart was full. It was full of love and of joy. God filled it. With each passing day, I was realizing all the more that I was there because God had wanted to talk to me there. I felt him very near, in concrete moments, in prayer, while working, in the people who were touching my heart. And I realized that He was guiding me and helping me to know myself better. This helped me to be more aware, more genuine. More myself. The one God already knew but I did not – my true self…

I look at this journey. How I was at the beginning and how I am now at the end. How I have changed: how God stayed in my smallness, and how he took hold of this smallness and went on to build something beautiful.

How I was touched by Him. I am happy in seeing and knowing that I lived intensely. For knowing that I lived that time with a passion for Christ and for people. I want to continue this way, with a full heart, thankful for all the marvels that God has done, for all that I received from the people who crossed my path, the many witnesses of faith and love that touched me and made me grow.

Filipe Oliveira (Faith and Mission)

On the way to Meet You

5 November, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

On August 17, my seven companions of the group Faith and Mission and I left Lisbon for a long journey to the airport of Nampula, Mozambique. It was not a vacation, but the beginning of a month-long missionary experience in the Comboni community of Carapira. Now that I am on my way back to Portugal, I can only say that it was an unforgettable month that has placed Mozambique in my heart forever.

The main focus of our mission was the Technical Industrial Institute of Carapira (ITIC), where we took part in many activities, each according to his or her own gift. In my case, being a Math student, I had the chance to help in the revision of the accounts, in teaching and in clarifying students’ doubts during the night sessions. Our mission, however, was not limited to the ITIC, because we were asked also to do some teaching to the girls at the Comboni Sisters’ boarding school and we were also able to take part in various pastoral activities, such as visits to the communities, to the sick and others. Despite the large number of activities, what made this month so significant was not the little I gave, but how much I received and learned in Carapira.

Welcoming and sharing are two words holding much of the magic of this mission month. It is incredible how the missionary community of Carapira – fathers, brothers, sisters, and lay people – opened its doors to receive us, to offer us a cup of coffee or to help whenever it was needed.

In my contacts with the people I perceived that such availability and willingness to share is what better describes the Makua with a rich culture very much at odds with ours… While in Europe life is full of stress and people get upset at the slightest delay, for example, waiting for a bus that is late, in Carapira I met people who do not live in a hurry, who know how to be and contemplate. The truth is that during my first weeks in Carapira I found it rather difficult to adapt to the culture and to its rhythm. But it was well worthwhile, because this slowing down brought me to rethink my style of life and to find this interior silence that helps us to listen to the will of God.

To be part of this community was another great challenge I had to face. During the month we were eight young people 100% joined in community. We ate together, we prayed together, we worked together… It was a routine far different to the one I am used to, because I left home when I entered the university and got used to a rather independent and solitary life… Adaptation was not easy, because in community living there are always situations leading to make mistakes – it is enough to be a little too tired and say the wrong word that will cause resentment. These situations are unavoidable and they did come up occasionally, but we were always able to get over them thanks to the power of prayer, which helped us to be more in tune with God, “to die daily in order to go against our will,” as a song we like a lot says, and to be able to forgive.

For anyone coming from a country like Portugal, it is sad to see how the majority of the population of Mozambique lives in a situation of great poverty. And it is even worse to realize that, for the most part, the mentality of the rich countries is responsible for this poverty. For instance, walking through the barrios I was often surprised to hear, “mucunha [white person], I need money.” In time, however, I realized that many “mucunha” help by giving money only to relieve their conscience, without trying to create the means people need to come out of poverty and stop begging. But I was happy to see right there the great and constant flow of charity and love for neighbor done by the Comboni family, faithful to Comboni’s slogan, “to save Africa with Africa.”

I could say a lot more about this “landing” in Carapira. I could speak of the fantastic beauty I found on our visits to the beaches of the Island of Mozambique, or of the great feast for our departure, or of many other good things. But what is most important is what I keep in my heart, and it cannot be put into words…

I thank God for having had the opportunity to experience all this.

Mozambique, let us keep united in friendship and in prayer.

Rúben Sousa (Portugal)

(Re) Living a Dream

27 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

“We are moved by a dream,” wrote Sebastián da Gama. Many times, a dream rules the soul of a person. It can take us to places we deeply desire, but we not always manage to reach in reality. Since 2015, Carapira had been a dream to me. To return to a place where I had been so happy, to see once more well-known faces, people who had touched me deeply, was something I did not think that could happen again.

But, by God’s grace, the dream became reality and the joy of living the mission God had entrusted to me on Mozambique’s soil filled again my heart with deep gratitude to God and to all those who prayed and worked to turn the dream into reality and make me live it again.

Unlike 2015, my first time in Mozambique, this year the task God entrusted to me consisted in being responsible for seven young people of the group Faith and Mission: Ana, Felipe, Inés, Jorge, Monica, Ruben and Sophia. My main mission was to ensure that these young people would spend a month filled with rich and deep experiences of God, with the people God had us know, within themselves and with the missionaries who, by their example, would teach us about mission.

This year, my greatest joy was to experience the fullness of these young people’s hearts, to see them happily giving of themselves without reserve to all the people who crossed our paths and to all the tasks entrusted to us. Once more, I am grateful to God for the young people he sent to Carapira, for their generosity and goodness, for their cheerfulness and enthusiasm, for all that I learned with them and for all they gave in such a short time.

Despite te fact that we only reached Carapira on August 19, I believe that the long journey was very important, because it allowed us to create greater empathy among ourselves and reflect a bit on mission. So, during the trip we held a catechesis on volunteering and mission, the sacred ground that Mozambique was for us, the other as “sacred” and “a mystery,” and the joy of meeting.

Many thanks to all the missionaries who with open hearts welcomed and accepted us into their homes, who took precious time out in their mission to to stop and be with us, to share marvelous personal stories and took us to see marvelous places.

For me, the best places were the village of Carapira, the communities we visited and all the other places where we were able to be with people. It is for the sake of people that God invites to move. Mission is made of faces: First of all, the face of Christ, filled of love for all and, in a special way, for the most abandoned; then, the face of each person we met and shared of our own selves. At times we only shared our presence, our being there, as it was the case with the sick. Truthfully, this simple sharing brought some people to say to the young people that they had been a blessing from God for the sick. And the young folks allowed themselves to be moved by that. I had the grace to be with some who were attempting to describe what was going on in their soul, on the interior journey they were on, and I can tell you that at times my heart was full of what had been shared, with the marvelous deeds God was working in each one’s heart. Only a loving God can bring about the marvels that our God worked in these young people of “Faith and Mission.”

At the end I said my good-bye to Carapira. Parting was serene, because in my heart I felt the joy of one who does not really say “Good-bye,” but rather “until we meet again.” It could very well be “good-bye” to Carapira, but a “see you again” to mission well beyond our borders. May God make it so!

I end with a little personal Magnificat which I wrote between Carapira and the airport of Nampula:

My soul magnifies the Lord,

I praise and bless God for all the marvels I relived in Mozambique.

The little I had and gave, the Lord multiplied in graces and gifts

transformed in simple gestures of giving and sharing.

Praise be to God!

For our entire group of “Faith and Mission,” the Lord filled our hearts with wonders

translated into a simple “ehali,” into a smile or just a look.

Praise be to God!

Contemplating the natural beauty of this beautiful garden which is Mozambique,

I give glory to God for all of Creation,

for so much love!

Faced with the many signs of God’s presence that we experienced and contemplated

I can only say: God is great!

And God’s greatness shows in all and in everything,

Including myself and my frailty!

Praise be to God!

Pedro Nacimiento, Portugal

Mission on the other side of the Atlantic

26 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

To have faith is to sign a blank page and le God write on it what he wants (St. Augustine).

The same way, mission means to allow us to be guided by the Holy Spirit who accompanies us and waits for us. We came to this journey with all that we are and this way we left. We carried in our hearts all those we love and are part of us. They sent us here and they will accompany for the rest of our lives, for this is what love demands. We left at dawn and we reached Peru also at dawn. Aware of the length of our journey we found strength in the tight embraces we immediately received. We reached the land that, for the next several year we will call home.

They were waiting for us at the entrance to the airport and received us with joy. We shared our names and our charism.

Outside, we were received by a fine and penetrating rain, and in this whirlwind of sensations we stepped on Peruvian soil for the first time.

It was a time of primary knowledge, stripped of our own selves, we took the first steps with these people who welcomed so lovingly. It’s us, from the other side of the Atlantic, living the mission in the style of St. Daniel Comboni.

To know the CLM meant to get to know our Peruvian CLM family. Each one of them shared with us a little about themselves, their witness of life and of faith. While talking, eating, drinking and laughing we received part of themselves and shared part of ourselves, joyfully, certain that all these lives converge in God.

With the certainty of what has been and that God is calling us to this mission. Let us walk together sure that we will reach where they are waiting for us.

Neuza and Paula, CLM Peru

Missiology Course – a gift from God

23 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

It was a gift from God that allowed us to expand and improve our view of the work of God from the point of you of grace! This missiology course which I was able to attend in Fatima on August 21-26 was a gift of God to me. It was an initiative of the people in charge of the Missionary Institutes ad Gentes (IMAG) with the support of the Pontifical Missionary Societies (PMS). During this time of formation I could see the oceans meat and unite in one single point: from the chair on which I was sitting I could enrich myself and deepen my love for this belonging to Christ. The participants numbered about 60, from four continents – Portugal, Italy, the Philippines, Colombia, Brazil, Guinea-Bissau, East Timor, Angola, Mozambique, and Congo, plus other countries. It was a week where color mixed and blended as we learned and shared this “Being Missionaries” today. Mario Breda, Ana Raposo, María José Martins and Luis made community with me. It was a rich experience of community as well as of sharing with the other participants.

The course was rich in contents. We started on Monday, August 21, by tackling Mission in Matthew’s Gospel, with the help of Bishop Antonio Couto of Lamego. Bishop Couto presented the first book of the New Testament through and its connections to the Old Testament. It shows a Gospel of Forgiveness where Matthew, a tax collector, is converted to Christ thanks to the forgiveness he offers to all. Throughout the Gospel of Matthew, five discoursed stand out (an analogy with the Pentateuch of the OT): The Sermon on the Mount, the Mission, the Parables, the Church, and Eschatology.

I want to highlight the Missionary theme (Mt 10:6-10): “What you have freely received, give it freely” (Mt 10:8). It is grace – the biblical maternal example, the maternal gaze we can share with one another. Bishop Antonio stressed that, as missionaries, we must keep this “pause and wellbeing in the music of our life in order to let the Holy Spirit speak.” He underlined the importance of being missionaries who “are always open to be surprised and sensitive.”

Christians have a vital mission. Yes, we are called to serve today’s humankind trusting fully in Jesus and allowing ourselves to be enlightened by his word: “You did not choose me, but I chose you to go and bear fruit and that your fruit will remain.” How much time have we wasted! How much useless work have we done because we did not understand this point! Everything is defined as based on Christ, as it concerns the origin and usefulness of mission: we always receive our mission from Christ (…) (from a homily by Benedict XVI, Oporto, May 14, 2010)

On the 22 we cruised through the History of Christianity across the centuries with Dr. José Eduardo Franco as our guide – Christianity and Globalization: the State, the Church and Mission in the modern age and today. We came to understand that history is not in the past, but in the present. It creates the present. And in this journey we understood the role of the Portuguese through their discoveries across seas never crossed before for the Mission and the Evangelization of the Christian Church. And even more, how this mission was, in the course of time, the basis of the globalization which is now reaching its peak. In the course of this journey we looked at the images of God and of the Church starting from the 1^st century – the territorial God of Isaac and Jacob, where the person acts individually through God’s will – following through the spreading of Christianity by its disciples and by the missionaries who went along on the journeys of discovery and reaching, finally, the reality of today. We actually came to understand that the Gospel requires a mission which is inculturated: becoming Greek with the Greeks, Roman with the Romans (St. Paul), enriching Christianity with the best each culture has to offer. The Gospel must lead to humanization and, in this way, the missionary is the builder of a new humanity that reaches all not by imposition, but by its credibility.

On the 23^rd we continued with the theme of Missionary Spirituality with the help of Dr. Teresas Messias. But what is this Spirituality? It not limited to Christian living, but it is a dynamic of the entire being. We all have it inasmuch as we all are moved by a desire to be auto-transcendent, to be fulfilled, to be happy. We spoke of this Christian Spirituality as having to be always missionary. It is a spirituality that sets me free and has an eschatological dimension, namely, that never ends. We came to see the Trinity as the source of mission, in the relation of Myself-Christ-Others.

Mission does not consist only in doing things, but in being a person, in the possibility of being life and of giving life to others cross humankind. It means to empty oneself, the kenosis mentioned by St. Paul. (Dr. Teresa Messias)

We saw this Missionary God, who also empties himself when he gives us the Son, a Parental God, who is not only Father, but also Mother, and only thus becomes fruitful. A God who not only gives, but also accepts the Son, and receives. This is translated in my being a missionary: those who only know how to give, do not know how to love. The ability to receive is necessary.

Thus, Missionary Spirituality requires stepping down, emptying oneself, “being rich he became poor for you, that you may be enriched by his poverty” (2Cor8:9). It is trust in divine providence that can only be obtained through prayer, listening, and reading of the signs of God, “aspiring to things from on high and the rest will be given to you besides.” (Col 3:1-4). It is Inculturation, namely, to immerse ourselves in each culture in order to meet the novelty of Christ.

We reflected on the Christian Mission, its potentials and difficulties. We discovered the need for a constant exodus, a decentralization of the Church from itself – the Church does not preach itself, does not serve itself, is not fixated on itself, but is oriented on Christ. Mission is not an end in itself, and a Church which is self-absorbed is not the Church of Christ. We ended the day reflecting over our own mission, in its personal, unique, charismatic dimension of the following of Jesus. The answer is a progressive journey requiring prayer and a listening attitude as the only way to find out what God wants of me each day.

On the 24^th we received the gift of the wisdom and serenity of Fr. Adelino Ascenso with an artistic focus on literature and theology: the writings of Shūsaku Endó. I could listen to this for days – wise words, the result of an unimaginable experience in Japan, of the contact with the people and the deep silence of Tibet, where the only sound was the chattering of his own teeth, such was the cold he experienced. He started by introducing Japanese literature and traditions, a culture of hiding places, of silence and harmony, of the triple insensitivity towards death, for example. We moved through an historical perspective of the arrival of Christianity in Japan. This is where Shūsaku Endó entered the picture with his novels, “Silence” among them. Endó struggled through his entire life over questions related to his faith, especially on being both Japanese and Christian. This struggle is very evident in his works with themes that could contribute to elaborate a new image of Christ and of Christianity in Japan. In this fashion, in the course of the day, Fr. Adelino established a bridge between the state of Christianity in Japan and the novel “Silence” (a film we saw at the end of the day), speaking of apostasy, of the silence of God in various life situations, and of the salvation of the fallen (and of all human beings, independently of what they believe). Being gifted with a very artistic knack for expressing himself, Fr. Adelino concluded with some words that ended up in my diary:

“The Church does not possess Christ. His presence is not limited to the Church, even though it is in it that we learn of his presence outside of it.”

“We can only know God through his wounds” (a quote from the works of Thomas Halik, My God is a Wounded God)

“Silence is not the absence of words, but rather a murmur of God well beyond silence.”

Almost at the end of the course, on the 26^th, we had with us Friar José Nunes who introduced us to Interreligious Dialogue. We studied the evolution of communications between religions over time. We saw how, today, the Church proposes a fruitful dialogue with other religions, based on appreciation and respect. We saw also how religions are “ways of salvation,” not because of their creed, but because they give each human being a meaning for life. Religions have a lot in common.

“[The religious traditions of humankind] deserve the attention and respect of all Christians, and their spiritual patrimony is an effective invitation to dialogue, not only on what we agree upon, but especially on where we differ.” (Cocument on Dialogue and Mission)

Together with these times of reflection, the historical vision of Christianity, the revision of on being Christian Missionaries, we also had time for group sharing on the various themes. They were enriching times of sharing each culture, of personal growth and Christian togetherness.

It was also a week sprinkled with the beauty of multicultural celebrations of the Eucharist, where the skin tones mixed to paint the picture of the Feast of the Lord, with music in various languages and dances crowded the altar.

These various days of inspiration, of great attachment to the missionary vocation, touched me and filled my heart seeing the journey that humankind has traveled as a pilgrim in this divine Work, the World, the Universe. Proudly missionary with all the participants, I felt sent with this flame that only God can kindle. God sends us. Quoting Fr. Adelino Ascenso in his final address: More than “go and teach,” God tells this missionary Church, “Go and listen!”

CLM Carolina Fiúza