Last Saturday, 21 June, we gathered online for the first international economy meeting since our international assembly last December.
The assembly requested that a global meeting be held around the middle of each year to jointly assess the progress of economic issues in each country and in each of our international communities.
Representatives from 13 countries and 2 international communities were present, including treasurers, coordinators, and members of the coordination team. Due to the language challenge, we were able to count on the support of two volunteer translators, Ana Cris, CLM from Guatemala, and her son Esteban.
It was an important moment of information and clarification, where proposals for joint next steps were presented. One of these was to hold two more online meetings this year, in three smaller groups, according to language, so that we can facilitate greater interaction between participants and the development of practical tools to aid our quest for economic autonomy.
We appreciate everyone’s commitment and participation!
This time, the focus was on designing the Comboni family’s joint stand at the Church Mile of the Catholic Day in Würzburg. Together with Father Günther, Father Michael, and Brother Hans, we gathered ideas on the theme “Have courage – stand up!” in a constructive brainstorming session and were able to assign the first tasks. Nine missionaries will represent the Comboni Family in Nuremberg.
We also discussed feedback on our peace exhibition in Mellatz, arrangements for Brigitte Kreiter’s participation in the provincial assembly, and plans for the planned visit to the Comboni Missionaries’ community in Graz. We were very moved by Hans Eigner’s report on the situation in the diocese of Bentiu in South Sudan, where he will be involved in development work starting this fall.
We held a small barbecue to thank him for his involvement in our group over the past years and to “bid farewell” to him and Father Günther as they embark on their next missionary assignments.
We are grateful for the wonderful meeting we had together as CLM members, we had an amazing and fruitful weekend together.
We interacted, bonded and shared responsibilities together creating one community
Our formation sessions were based on the topic of communication.
Communication is a vital component of our living as missionaries for in this we are able to reach those we are called to serve
We learn from our Lord Jesus how He communicated the message of the Kingdom of God.
With his messages he spoke to the hearts of people bringing them close to God, He spoke the truth without fear even of death, John 5:18-47
Christ knew and understood his audience he used different strategies to pass on his messages to people and separately to his disciples
He used parables, stories silence etc. to pass on information.
Many instances he gave people chance to express their perspective, Mark 10:51
As we read the letters, articles and magazine written by saint Daniel Comboni we understand his passion for the mission.
This encourages us to use the tool of communication appropriately in our missionary lives to spread the gospel to far ends and to coming generations
With effective communication we bridge the human connection creating healthy relationships and building our communities and also the local communities that we serve.
In mid-2021, together with Fr. Joseph Ng’ang’a from Kenya, who was our Comboni chaplain, we invited people known within the mission and others who shared our charism to continue their formation and become part of our lay community.
Thus, after completing the formation and accompaniment, our aspirant Carlos Enrique Zamora Medina was accepted as a Comboni Lay Missionary on Sunday, June 1, 2025.
During the days leading up to the ceremony, there was an atmosphere of nervousness and tension due to the organization and development of the program to be carried out, which fortunately received the support and collaboration of several people who did their part to ensure that everything went according to plan.
The Mass was held at 10:00 a.m., together with the community of the Parish of “Our Lady of Fatima” in El Empalme, Province of Guayas. In addition to Carlos Zamora’s family and guests, those present at this celebration were attentive to every moment of the Mass celebrated by Fr. Seraphin Kakwata, our current Comboni advisor, who kept everyone very attentive at the moment of signing the commitment as a Comboni Lay Missionary. It was a very special moment, which was also shared with the lay missionaries who collaborate in the Pastoral Integration that is taking place at the Divine Word Missionaries in Guayaquil.
Later, in a sharing meeting, Carlos Zamora said that he had faced many obstacles in his life due to health reasons, which he had been able to overcome through the efforts and prayers of his mother. Despite this situation, he always showed a desire to be a missionary and do something for the Church and for God. He made the phrase “Life is giving time” his guiding light to discover God’s timing, resuming his sacramental formation and his high school, university, and pastoral studies, which he had put on hold.
Despite everything, he said that he was still not sure what the future held for him, but that this process had been a blessing from God for him and, above all, a good decision to follow Jesus’ call to his pastoral and lay life, and that together with his community he had been able to consolidate this desire for the Comboni mission.
With this important moment for our lay missionary community, we feel very happy and encouraged to follow the charism of our Founder, supported by one of his phrases, “Providence guided my mind and my heart,” and to continue trusting that these moments are from God and that he will help us to consolidate our community. (PHOTOS 6,7)
Throughout this Easter season, we have been discovering the presence of the Risen Jesus in our lives. As missionary disciples, we want to follow in his footsteps, to be bearers of the Good News, confident that he always accompanies us in our task of evangelization.
We are going through difficult times in the world. The new political leaders in many countries are taking their rhetoric to extremes for their own benefit. They seem to be striving to accuse others, to divide positions, to create two sides seeking the benefit of one at the expense of the other, and if there is a change, they seek revenge.
Violence, and in extreme cases war, seems to be the only solution proposed to solve our differences. We must prepare for war because we are doomed to find our ultimate solution in it.
We refuse to give up: Another world is possible!
We in the CLM also have our great concerns about how to support our companions who left everything to give their lives to the mission; in particular, the difficulties we encounter in getting new people (young and not so young) to join this missionary service. Finding new people to complete our communities in mission and continue to share our lives with the peoples whom the Lord has called us to serve…
But when we find ourselves surrounded by many difficulties, God appears and reminds us of his covenant with us. As a Church, we live a long Lent asking to be converted and to overcome our weaknesses. And thank God we encounter him in the celebration of the Easter Triduum. During those days, we accompany Jesus at the Last Supper where he teaches us the importance of service. We were with Him on the night of Gethsemane to understand the harshness of those moments, which sometimes remind us of some of our own, and we are grateful for Jesus’ determination to confirm his YES to the Father.
From there, we accompany Jesus in the hardest moments, the consequence of his life. There are many who could not bear his words and deeds; they had to put an end to him. We see Jesus taking up the Cross, the cross that is repeated in so many women, so many men, boys, and girls in our world who continue to suffer injustice, so many harsh realities from which the Lord does not flee, but rather takes a step forward. We understand that God has decided to go all the way with us, that he does not abandon us at any moment.
And with joy and gladness we celebrate Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Death, evil, does not have the last word. God raises Jesus from the dead and tells us that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Now we walk a little like the disciples of Emmaus, not quite believing it, not quite recognizing it…
But we see how light prevails over darkness, we see that this is the way forward. Once again we fall at the feet of the Risen Jesus, we ask for forgiveness and we give THANKS.
And suddenly all our difficulties begin to change color. It is not us, it is Him. Each one of us has to do our part, but what we need to do is understand God’s plan and give the answer that Jesus gave with his life.
The answer we can give as human beings is fragile and fears immediately arise, but when we understand in whose hands we are, everything changes.
We know that we are fragile and the enthusiasm of Easter tends to be stifled by day-to-day concerns, but Easter helps us to see life with perspective. And the community helps us to remain faithful.
Individually and as CLM, we recognize once again that the mission is God’s. How naive to think that it depends on our strength. We are only here to serve it. He takes care of it, we just have to trust. Trust with HOPE. With a hope that is nothing more than expectation based on what we have experienced and are celebrating these days. Our Hope is founded on the Resurrection of Jesus. No matter how uphill the road may sometimes be, we know that He accompanies us and is with us.
And we trust fully in the last words of Matthew’s Gospel:
Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And know that I am with you always, until the end of the age.
Mt 28, 19-20
Alberto de la Portilla, CLM
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