Alberto de la Portilla – Page 161 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

What are Acoli people waiting for?

7 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

Last Sunday we’ve started a very important time in catholic Church- Holy Week. Today is Holy Saturday and the great waiting .

We’re very excited and very happy that we can spend this beautiful time among Acoli people.

Here the way of celebration any Feast is incredible. Making a start on Palm Sunday. The church was full of people, each of them (from the youngest to the oldest) is keeping a sprig of palm and waving it. It was amazing, because you felt like during the entry of Jesus to Jerusalem. Incredible!

On Palm Sunday the priest asked all of us: what are you waiting for? What are expecting from this Holy Week? What are Acoli people waiting for? People here know how important the Resurrection is. They’re waiting for Him, who has risen from the death. They’re waiting for Him, who suffered to conquered our sins and give us a new lives. They’re waiting for Jesus, who brings joy and hope.

And we wish you all this things. We wish you to meet Jesus who is risen from the death, we wish you stop and think of this big Mistery, think of a great God’s love who gave His Son to die for us and our sins. Let Jesus give you strength on your mission ways, strength to follow Him every day, fill your hearts joy, peace and hope.

Happy Easter!!!

CLM from Gulu

We thank God for the life of Joan Forns (CLM of Spain)

6 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

“Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad”
(Ps. 104)

(1955-2015)

Amidst the joy that is celebrate Easter of the Lord; we received this Sunday with surprise and sadness the news of the death of Joan Forns, CLM of Spain.

From an early age, he felt the missionary call. He live it intensely in his parish and in various social commitments. With a strong experience of God, throughout his life he was able to combine his work as a photographer with another set of commitments to the neediest what led him to join the CLM Movement in Spain since 2008.

The dream of his life was to serve the mission beyond our borders, but due to health problems he could not make it possible. However, he accepted his reality with great faith, continuing with total dedication to his missionary work.

As CLM family we joined in prayer and thank God for his life and his service.

Rest in peace.

CLM Spanish Coordinating Team

We cannot bury our missionary spirit!

5 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

On March 15, we met in the city of Curitiba to continue the meetings with people interested in the Comboni missionary lay vocation of this region. At this second meeting, continuing with the theme of vocation and mission, we had the opportunity and commitment to pray together on the birthday of St. Daniel Comboni. United with all the Comboni Family we dedicated to pray and reflect on his life and our commitment to the mission for humanity.

It is inspiring to see that Comboni did not measure efforts to meet Christ in the face of African brothers, traveled great distances, helped encourage the Church and make visible where life was threatened. His testimony managed to attract many, he was to meet the people, he put himself on the way, used all the resources available at the time and was not afraid of difficulties.

To reflect on the importance of the missionary call, we also saw the documentary “Mission and ecclesial communion” of the Missionary Campaign of 2010.

The Mission also nowadays requires an urgent and courageous response. Mission beyond our borders and Missionary Animation, two essential points of the vocation of all baptized. These moments are important to rekindle our missionary call and help to create missionary awareness in the Church, with the hope that more people awaken to this vocation

We also share how the organization of the CLM in Brazil was born, a brief overview of these almost 20 years of existence. It always good to remember what the Pope Francis recommended in the message of the missionary month “remains of the great urgency of the mission ad gentes, which are called all members of the Church, because this is, by nature missionary: the Church was born in “exit”.

Let us continue walking, being a small sign, sharing life and in the defense and promotion of Life for everyone.

CLM Brazil

Children of St. Jude

4 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

Our Lay Community has lived in St. Jude for few months. We work here, but we also live with mothers and children. In our orphanage live more than 130 children of different ages. Over 40 children are disabled to varying degrees, including deaf and blind children, children with cerebral palsy, children suffering from paraplegia and two young that have had various accidents. Also children with HIV and tuberculosis live here in St. Jude. Other children, although healthy in physically sense, they are sick in the spiritual sense- after the experience of rejection from family and experience of the war.

Despite all these diseases and difficult experiences our children are full of life, joy and smile. Every morning we hear their play, laughter and singing. Our children are simply made for inventing new games, especially for making toys out of nothing. They can find a piece of cardboard, a circle and a stick and a new “modern” racing car is rushing through our compound. The old tires are the best toys for them- turning them into racing gives them an extraordinary joy. However, girls really like to play in the imitation of mothers. They find a teddy bear, they quickly wear him on their back and pretend to have a child. It’s better when they find a piece of material to attach the bear to the back and keep their hands free, then it’s called “byelo”.

Older children help mothers in their homes. The girls learn how to take care of the house, cook typical Acoli dishes like “malakwan” or “boo”. The boys help in the store where we keep food- corn, rice and different varieties of beans. That’s all during the holiday. When the school stars most of them attend classes from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m.

The life of children with disabilities is more monotonous. We try to enliven it. During the day we take them for a short walk in the yard, they have rehabilitation, we play with them in a special room with toys to awake their imagination and change scenery. And despite that some of them have a high degree of disability they have learnt to recognise us. We also recognise their interest, for example Gerard likes tractor coming back from the farm. Then he touches the tires, watches how the cabin looks like. While Geoffrey likes when you stroke him on the cheeks. Bridget smiles when you tell her “good morning my beautiful Bridget”. Our children are full of joy and show it through smile, some even scream and in their eyes we can see friendship and trust which put in us.

Our life here is focused on the children, the time passes very quickly, but sometimes it happens something what “freezes” us for some time. More than one month ago, Isaac died. Isaac was a little boy with disability. He loved when you carried him to exhibit his face to the wind to feel the brush. He had an unusual smile. When he was carried he clung and when you put it back to the wheelchair he clenched his small lips-like a warrior-so as not to cry. Today he is gone from us but this experience has stuck in our hearts.

Every new day begins the same way, full of energy we face new challenges. In the evening we thank God in our small house chapel for the strength and love that we received. Tired but happy, we look forward to a new day.

CLM in Gulu-Uganda

Voice from the mission

2 April, 20151 April, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

We received with joy, a testimony from the mission of Palmira Pinheiro the Comboni missionary secular who is currently in the Central African Republic together with the CLM Elia Gomes. Here we leave the testimony of the joys and hardships of this mission in the heart of Africa.

VOICE FROM THE MISSION

Although today is not Samedi (Saturday), Samedi arrived! As always out of time, when I’ve closed the door of the clinic and look forward to some rest because fatigue gets you. However, while I get to grumble with his mother, because she is not in hours, his smile, his bright eyes like two stars, his arms outstretched towards me, make me put aside my mood completely. All are my “dears” but Samedi has a special place in my heart. He was one of my earliest success stories! He was a child destined to die, but Life won!

In the second week of my arrival, some day when I had to close the door of the clinic, a woman appears, for more signs pygmy. She gave me the impression of having some mental retardation, and holding in her arms a small child than as explained by someone who accompanied would be premature, newborn and the mother had no milk to feed him. I weighed the baby, he hardly reach 2 kilograms because the pygmies are small, but he already had a “time”. What really matters is that he was hungry, since the mother, who seemed depressed, but with huge breasts, was not motivated to breastfeed, so the mammary glands need to be stimulated by the baby’s sucking to produce the “juice of life”.

We leave them to remain in the Rehabilitation Center about a month and a half trying to feed the mother and encouraging her to breastfeed the child. This was difficult because we could not always be present and, when we went we found her lying on the veranda of the Center asleep with his huge chest extended, the child also lying next, but, of course, without the ability to take the breast and suck. We used as a strategy, another mother also pygmy, who was accompanying her malnourished tiny, Jean Pierre, another favorite of mine, whom we trust to teach and encourage her to breastfeed the child. And in this way it was overcoming the most critical phase, in which, to make matters worse appeared some diseases (malaria, pneumonia, diarrhea, etc.) to which we responded with proper medication. Until one day the mother decided to leave without saying anything, then we lost hope, and thought he would die, he will not have a chance! But to our surprise, she appeared two weeks later with the child very sick with pneumonia, tremendously weakened and we doubt we have the chance to save him. But he stayed here a few days, and began treatment, feeding the mother so that she in turn feed the child, but when everything started to go well she stop treatment and return to the “Camp”. And so she continued to appear when the child was in his last and we just kept saying, This time he will not get it! But “LIFE” is stronger than death and Samedi won! Now he is 9 months all and remains small (like all pygmy), but he weighs 8 kilograms. It is great! When I approached him, jumps of joy, smiling and opening his arms to come into my lap.

I pressed him against my chest as a beloved son in whom I feel I’ve helped to live. He plays, laughs and has fun. It’s a happy boy! Occasionally taking his crisis of malaria, diarrhea, bronchitis, etc., but at least the mother is aware of bringing him when it is bad, because in addition to medication, always carry a bag full of food for two.

I think for me and for God: “Although I have not done anything, it was worthy to come to Mongoumba to see this child smile after being destined to die”

A hug to everyone.

Palmira Pinheiro (MSC)