Alberto de la Portilla – Page 190 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

First months in Ethiopia

7 April, 201523 March, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

In the beginning of January I came to Ethiopia, beginning my mission! I’ll work as a physiotherapist in Bushullo Health Center, near Awassa (in the south part of Ethiopia). Joining there Maggie & Mark with their children!

But now the first months I’m spending in Addis Abeba (in the community of MCCJ) on the language training – trying to learn Amharic. It is the second-most spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic. The graphs of the Amharic writing system are called fidel. Each character represents a consonant+vowel sequence and there are more than 230 of them! Now it’s such big joy for me to be able to read something (finally!). So wherever I go I try to decipher the texts around me – on the buses, on the buildings… 😉

After school usually I spend some time for voluntary service, using my physiotherapy skills and at the same time improving Amharic through communication with the patients 🙂 . People here are so friendly for me, helping a lot with everything, always smiling and greeting. I really enjoy it! And also they teach me their culture – like for example inviting for coffee ceremonies or for enjera. I also had the possibility to be here for Timkat – one of the biggest feasts of Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which celebrates Epiphany and Baptism of Jesus. For me it’s so interesting to experience the variety of churches here – catholic is only 1%, the biggest is Orthodox church, then protestants and Muslims. But the religion seems to be very important part of live, even in the language all the most common expression include God – like for example the answer for greeting is “I’m fine, thanks be to God”.

So slowly I’m getting to know this place, these people, this culture, this language. And day by day I’m more and more happy that God sent me here!

Madzia Plekan. CLM in Ethiopia

[Mozambique] Vocational meeting

20 March, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

With the 2015 school year kicked off our vocation meetings. We do it the second Sunday of each month in the catechetical center. We have already done two. It is good to mention that we have formed a team to organize these meetings. Form by Brother Luis (Italian), Sister Maria Pia (Italian), who gave us the news that she will be sent to the provincial community so she will continue to support with their prayers, CLM Beatriz (Mexican), Amanda (American volunteer) and the young Sabonete (Mozambican), who is making the year of discernment to start the stage of basic training in the CLM group of Mozambique.

Basically, they are three years in which vocational guidance is given to young people who have this concern to discover their way forward. We introduce specific vocations for them to choose the one to which they feel called by God. The Bible is our main tool, to know how different people were called and how they responded to the call received is to discover that God calls us all in different ways. We have the opportunity to present testimonies, we can talk about our personal experiences from when we were their age and thus, with games, dynamics, group work, plenary, we share the joy of proclaiming the Gospel in the vocation they choose and help to build the Kingdom of God.

Called to live and be community

19 March, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

During the weekend 21 and 22 of February, the Comboni Lay Missionaries gathered in Viseu for the sixth formation meeting on the theme: “Community: Challenges and Opportunities” oriented by the community-life of Oporto. The meeting was held at the Monastery of Santa Beatriz da Silva, who graciously welcomed us and we are very grateful for that.
During this meeting, we had the opportunity to reflect and understand in depth what is community life. The community appears at the beginning of the Bible, when God says, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2, 18). So, in fact, we are called throughout our life to live and be community. As Susana said: “The world is our structure. People are our home. Without this world we cannot have another, without people the human been does not live”. Thus, it must be with people and for people that the community exist.

“We have to be parts of one body”

IMAG0618 The community is everywhere, in every field of our life: school, work, family, friends, church, catechesis and mission. However, we can only speak fully of community if we accept Jesus Christ as a member of our community, as the brother who loves us so much to die on the cross with the weight of our sins. Jesus loves us and is part of our community and together with the Father and the Holy Spirit are the center, the heart of any community. Like them we must be one voice, be one soul, we must be parts of the same body. This is the real challenge of being community. This is because we are all different in our weaknesses and qualities. And God calls us individually by name. God calls different, sinners. God calls us. And we are, with all that characterizes us, who form community.

“We have to be parts of one body”

IMAG0617

And the question we ask many times is: Does the community work despite the differences between people? Yes, it is not easy but it is definitely possible. It works if we know our center, if we are honest with each other, if we use the gifts of each to serve in things where we’re good. It works if we have the humility to share tasks. But not to divide but to unite. Thus, the community goes through faith in the other. The community is a matter of love in which there is only one heart, one mind and one voice. Stop being “me” to be “us”. Where everything is put together.

“The community is love”

IMAG0615

The community is undoubtedly love. The love that comes from God, born of Him who loves us first in an overwhelming way. It is this love that moves the world we are called to be for our brothers. And as S John Paul II said: “Love is an act of will.”

So depend on us to forgive, excuse, want to love the others, choose to love despite all its faults and errors, which I also have, and love with our differences and our weaknesses.
By: Paula Sousa

Dear community members of the CML of Mongoumba and Carapira,

4 March, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

Your call to the entire world CLM for the future of the presence of CLM in Mongoumba mission (Central African Republic) and in Carapira (Mozambique) is an urgent call to mission ad gentes, particularly for African CLM.

The African Committee meeting last Thursday 8 January 2015 was with you in prayer to impact your distress call. We ask the Lord of the harvest to give, in collaboration with the MCCJ and Comboni Sisters, the first African CLM, capable and available to go to mission according to the Comboni’s Plan for the Regeneration of Africa, expressed in the slogan “save Africa with Africa”.

We want the presence of the CLM in those nice missions of Mongoumba and Carapira along with Comboni missionaries (fathers and sisters). We launch a pathetic appeal to the Africans CLM to follow footsteps the Europeans and Americans CLM. We hope to see them get out of their country voluntarily, and respond to the call of the Lord who sends us to Africa to “make common cause” with the poor and the most abandoned in the Central African Republic and Mozambique.

We should not allowed, the closing of those two missions that give us enthusiasm to go further. Meanwhile, we ask the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Daniel Comboni so that, the Lord of the harvest provide us people who ensure over, we inviting you to be calm.

Given that there are groups of CLM(s) who have prepared laity in the domains of health, education, help, pastoral, Justice and Peace …, we invited those groups to prioritize the discernment of vocation for the mission ad gentes. This responsibility concerns the provincial coordinators and chaplains and must be done within the conditions and the requirements.

Finally, we would like to remind all CLM from Africa that their ” first priority and contribution of to the missionary activity of the Church, is an own self donation, to be sent to the mission” (Mt 28: 16-20).

Fraternal Greetings

The African Committee of the LMC

Dido Likambo Kwadje (LMC Congo)
Innocent Mweteise Kabareme (LMC Ouganda)
Marcia Costa (LMC Mozambique)
Mumbere Musanga Joseph (Superieur de la Province du Congo)
José Luis Rodríguez López (Superieur de la Province de Mozambique)

Gathering in Trujillo 2015 (CLM-Peru national meeting)

2 March, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

On 20, 21 and 22 in the city of Trujillo (northern Peru) was conducted the national 2105 CLM meeting. This meeting is held once a year and is nationwide.

It is a time where all CLM in Peru, including foreigners, share experiences on our missionary work: ad-gentes, mission fields, pastoral and missionary animation.

Thanks to the host’s MCCJ Community in Trujillo, the CLM could happily share part of our lives with our CLM brothers of Trujillo and his advisor Fr. José Chinguel. We have no lack of opportunities for prayer, reflection, discussion and sharing on the daily work of the missionary lay life.

On this occasion, we work under the framework of “the conclusions of Guatemala” from which we could make our proposals integrating them within our priorities for this year and the next one. We went to the meeting CLM from Lay Lima 8 and 7 from Trujillo. Unfortunately, some brothers could not attend due to various circumstances. We also have the presence of Anna, a young German missionary who serves in Arequipa. At this meeting we reach specific conclusions for this year aimed to achieve our objectives and goals together as one community of Comboni Lay Missionaries of Peru.

Why this gathering?

It is my third national meeting as CLM and once again reaffirms my missionary vocation. It is a joy to know I am not alone but with me there are others who feel the same call to serve in the periphery. Each testimony has been for me a conviction that we are on track. And the best is that the Lord was present, inspiring and directing our work.

This experience, in which we have gathered to share our life, our joys and why not also our difficulties, is the experience with the Brother, hear and be pleasant host, but with Jesus who calls us to share as a community that has one heart.

This space where everyone comes as he (she) is, with dreams, encouragement, but also weak and with fears, have made us been able to see ourselves reflected in the other. It was an appropriate time to deepen and reflect our missionary being.

Rocio Gamarra CLM – Lima