Togo-Ghana-Benin – Page 4 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Closing and opening

31 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Today we put the conclusions of our meeting into solid concrete steps on the way forward as Comboni Lay Missionaries working on this beautiful continent of Africa. We all have different realities within our communities. Some have found it easy to collaborate within our communities, some have found challenges. There are communities that communicate well and understand the expectations of our family and the greater Comboni community, others have just understood how it all fits together.

This meeting has closed now, but through the Holy Spirit it has opened the eyes and hearts of all of us. We are all stronger together, as one Comboni family. Our time in Anchilo has brought a continent of people all working to help expand the kingdom of God closer together. It has shown us our strengths and our weaknesses. We have put forth resolutions to make our paths more clear for all of us. These resolutions will help us all to understand deeper our vocation, our responsibilities, and the way forward in the spirit of St. Daniel Comboni.

African CLM

Fruits

30 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Our meeting has brought forth the realities of our missionary vocation to the group.

We have discussed topics like communication, vocation, economics, formation and much more. Through these discussions we have found where we have met our goals, areas that we need to improve and the challenges we face in doing so.

Much like St. Daniel Comboni we have all found some difficulties in expanding the Kingdom of God. With the charism of our founder and intercessor, we find the strength to carry on in our mission and find the path to do so.

Like the palm tree bearing the coconuts fruit, it is not easy to share the sweet taste of salvation but we find the strength to climb, through our faith and our community.

African CLM

Unity

27 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Our theme for the day was unity.

As the Lord has brought us all from different lands, languages and different cultures, we come together in the Holy Spirit.

We ourselves, our work and our communities are like a puzzle. One piece alone has little meaning, but together we can create something beautiful.

African CLM

III African Meeting Anchilo 2017

26 July, 201725 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Greetings from Mozambique.

The 24th of July we have started the 3rd African Continental Meeting of CLM in Anchilo, Mozambique.

We have come from all over the continent to meet as one Comboni Family to discuss and collaborate on our missionary vocation, our experiences, and our struggles following in the footsteps of our founder St. Daniel Comboni.

We ask for your prayers to the Holy Spirit to guide us through this time of community and reflection.

African CLM

Vocation promotion in Ghana

31 July, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

The Institution In My Father’s House built by a Comboni Missionary is having its aim to show the love of God to the poor and marginalized. For this, almost every year new entrances are carried on while others have to leave for further studies either to continue the Senior High School or to move to a Tertiary Institution. The clm aspirants living within the premises of the Institution see it good to widen the horizon of all those who are under formation within the premises of the Institution. It is for that matter, we are planning to start a Vocation Group to tackle the issue. But before this, we met to reflect upon our role as “clm.” Apart from our various services, we thought of doing something special to identify ourselves as clm. We are very much involved in the activities of the house but we want now to be more focused on our identity as clm and following the charism of St Daniel Comboni. We continue the reflection to select a special service at IMFH in addition to the Promotion of Vocation.

In this sense, we invited a Scholastic to present a topic upon Vocation this 17^th July.

In his presentation, he explained the word vocation and demonstrated the kind of vocation we have in the Bible. The amazing part was his own experience up to the end of his third year of Theology. He concluded on the need of faith and prayer to journey with the Lord. Justin Nougnui, the coordinator of the clm group helped the Scholastic for the translation. In addition to what the Scholastic said, he drew the attention of the children and all those who were at the presentation on seriousness and academic performance. It is so important to be serious and concentrated before you reach a target, and also we cannot do away academic performance if we want to say yes to God’s calling. He then motivated the children to focus on their study if they want to do great things in life.

Justin Nougnui