English – Page 158 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Iron ore, journey with no return

17 June, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

“Iron ore, journey with no return: from the Brazilian Amazon to the German automakers” is the title of a film production sponsored by “Justice on Rails Network” and financed by Misereor, a German Catholic Bishops organization, which for over 50 years has been committed to eradicate poverty in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The production describes in 28 minutes the daily life of the communities affected by the Programa Grande Carajás (Great Carajás Programme), the world’s largest iron ore mining project in the Brazilian states of Maranhão and Pará.

Misereor supports projects developed by the Justice on Rails Network [Rede Justiça nos Trilhos], a coalition of communities affected by mining projects in northern Brazil, organizations, pastoral groups, social movements and academic research groups seeking environmental justice in the region.

The documentary reflects on the process of extraction and exportation of iron ore from the Serra de Carajas (Sierra de Carajás), State of Pará, to the harbour of Saint Luís, State of Maranhão. A hundred communities, approximately, suffer various impacts caused by this process, such as evictions of families from their land, pollution, accidents, etc.

Over 50% of Germany’s iron ore imports come from Brazil, but the auto companies are not seeking to verify if raw materials for their production carry with them a trail of human rights abuses, and environmental injustice.

This documentary raises questions and provokes joint action strategies in the steel product

Peoples appeal for an immediate invalidation of the “public hearing of prosavana’s master plan”

13 June, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

We, the peoples of Mozambique, Brazil and Japan, mobilized and engaged in the
Peoples articulation, have been monitoring and following closely the Triangular Cooperation Program for the Development of Agriculture in Mozambique’s Tropical Savannah, commonly known as ProSavana. An initiative which, given its design and potential impacts, raises a lot of concerns regarding peasant agriculture, environment and human rights. In the months of April and May 2015, we observed and participated in the “Public Hearing of ProSavana’s Master Plan Draft Zero”, convened by Mozambique’s Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and executed at district and provincial levels.

This document reflects and expresses the three Peoples profound indignation and discontent regarding this public hearing process, specially regarding the way these meetings were planned, convened and held. The undersigned are peasant, social and environmental movements and civil society and religious based organizations, which jointly, have been organizing advocacy and resistance building actions in different fronts for a common cause: to protect and defend the rights and the sovereignty of peasants, who are the majority of those living in the Nacala Corridor region, and therefore, those who will be affected the most by the plan and circumstances of the program.

Within this framework, the 1st and 2nd Peoples Conferences where organized by the three Peoples in 2013 and 2014, following the Open Letter to Stop and Think about ProSavana, which was addressed to the President of Mozambique, the President of Brazil and the Prime Minister of Japan in 2013. During this period, every time he was inquired about it, Mozambique’s former Minister of Agriculture and current Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, would inform us that ProSavana’s Master Plan was being elaborated and once it was done, it would supposedly be disclosed and timely discussed in meetings with organizations and stakeholders.

For everyone’s surprise, almost two years after, and without the promised meetings and any effort whatsoever to share information with the organizations of the three countries, the Government of Mozambique, through its Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security and in representation of Brazil and Japan’s governments, convened and held the so-‐called “Public Hearing Meetings Of ProSavana’s Master Plan”, from the 20th to the 29th of April 2015 in 19 district headquarters and in some administrative posts in the Provinces of Niassa, Nampula and Zambezia. In the capitals of these three provinces, the meetings took place on the 30th of April in the city of Quelimane, May the 8th in Lichinga and 13th of May in Nampula. Scheduled for the 12th of June, the national meeting, in Maputo, is the only one missing.

Let it be known that the publication of “ProSavana’s Master Plan Draft Zero”, which has been suffering delays for over two years, takes place one month after the governments of Mozambique and Brazil signed a controversial agreement for the facilitation and protection of brazilian investments in Mozambique, one of the conditions that were required by brazilian companies, promoted by ProSavana.
These so‐called public hearing sessions come as a response from the governments of Mozambique, Brazil and Japan to criticism and sovereign demands of Nacala Corridor communities, civil society organizations and peasant movements who say no to ProSavana and demand, since 2012, that the definition of agricultural development priorities in the country be made through the establishment of a democratic, transparent and inclusive dialogue. On the other hand, these public hearing meetings happen in a context where the three governments seek, by any means necessary, to legitimize ProSavana in order to justify the fact that they have already built in the Nacala Corridor the pillars for the development of large-‐scale agriculture, among which: soil and plant laboratories and test fields of new varieties of monocultures like soy in Nampula and Niassa. They have also arbitrariously created “local beneficiaries” through “pilot projects”. It is known that the soil and plants laboratory is due to be inaugurated on June the 8th 2015 by the President of Mozambique, Filipe Jacinto Nyusi.
The “Master Plan Draft Zero” public hearing process was tainted by many serious irregularities which, yet again, confirm the prevalence of incurable design and procedure vices in the ProSavana program, that should, therefore, be publicly and widely denounced by the Mozambican, Brazilian and Japanese civil societies, and others.
Mobilized and engaged, we, peasants, members of communities in the Nacala Corridor, civil society organizations and religious‐based organizations, despite the very serious barriers imposed on us by the organizers, took part and observed almost all meetings. We witnessed:

1. The omission of the juridical and legal basis of the “public hearing”. In all meetings, neither the representatives of ProSavana nor the Mozambican government knew for sure the juridical and legal framework that guides this process of public consultation of ProSavana Master Plan, ignoring the legal instruments that define the procedures that guide public consultations and ensure maximum disclosure, broad democratic participation, availability and the access to adequate information, representation, independence, functionality, negotiation and responsibility.

2. Violation of constitutional principles by demanding the prior registration of all participants
The need for prior registration as a requirement for participation in the public hearing sessions, announced by MASA and the newspapers, conditioned the wide and free participation of farmers under the socio‐ political and economic circumstances of the rural areas. When sessions took place, organizers allowed participants without registration to attend, but this hadn’t been announced, and in some places in the Province of Nampula, stakeholders without invitation and registration were sent away, against all public participation principles constitutionally established.

3. Obstruction to the participation of peasant and civil society organizations.
The public hearings were characterized by its serious delays, its limitation and selection of participants and its unannounced changes of date, time and even location, with particular incidence in the provinces of Niassa and Nampula. This also limited the participation of representatives of peasant and civil society organizations. There was an incident where, to obstruct their participation, a representative of the Economic Activities District Services (SDAE, in its original Portuguese abbreviation) informed the representatives of these peasant and civil society organizations of a fake location for one of the meetings.

4. Bigger participation of previously selected public servants and ruling party representatives, to prevent the intervention of participants with doubts about the program.
Despite being a public hearing, the customised distribution of invitations and the limited access granted to the general public, contrasting with the prioritized participation public servants (such as state administration workers, nurses, teachers, police officers, and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security employees), FRELIMO party representatives and their social organizations, namely: Mozambican Women Organization (OMM), Mozambican Youth Organization (OJM) and; local businessmen and community leaders. This resulted in an insignificant number of peasants in the hearings. There was also the case of peasants being selected and instructed to intervene, whereas other peasants, whose positions are against ProSavana were prevented from speaking.

5. Previous backstage meetings were held to mobilise and manipulate local participants to backup ProSavana.
The public hearing sessions were preceded by secret planning meetings, organized by local government and held behind closed doors. Their objective was to instruct and prepare previously selected participants to speak in favour of ProSavana. Attempts were also made to intimidate and force those peasants who raise doubts and pose objections to ProSavana.

6. Intimidation and oppression environment set by the presence of armed security forces. Threat and persecution of peasants who expressed doubts and concerns regarding ProSavana.
The presence of uniformed and armed security forces caused fear to participants and established an oppressive environment. Some sessions, such as the ones held in Mutuali, District Malema, were followed by the persecution, oppression and intimidation of representatives of local peasant organizations, who raised concerns regarding ProSavana. These peasants are being forced by district level government (who threatens to put in jail those who refuse to participate) to go door-‐to-‐door in communities to promote Prosavana.

7. Impossible consensus regarding the contents of the “Master Plan Draft Zero” due to the text’s lack of availability, time and inappropriate and distorted explanation.
“Master Plan Draft Zero” – the document discussed in the public hearing meetings – was made available through the internet and was reportedly made available to district and province level governments. However, for the vast majority of those affected, the access to a copy of the document is at a great distance and the document itself is bulky (204 pages) and technical, requiring plenty of time for careful analysis, what makes of it an inaccessible and inadequate piece of information for the vast majority of the target audience of these alleged public hearing meetings. In this sense, the information shared at these meetings was biased and insufficient for an informed discution, and inappropriate and distorted from the Master Plan’s content to manipulate the participants.

Bare in mind that the observations made to this document by organizations and academics of the three countries, have already been set out in various other press releases1 shortly after the completion of the meetings. In these documents, it is concluded that MASA grossly violated articles 6, 7 and 8 regarding the principle of maximum disclosure, the principle of transparency and the principle of democratic participation established by the Information Act, by failing to publish and dissiminate the “Press Release” dated March 31st 2015, “about the public hearing of ProSavana’s Master Plan Draft Zero”. It also violated the seven basic principles of public participation processes, as established by the “General Directive for the process of Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment Processes” through Ministerial Diploma Nr 130/2006 of July 19th. The Directive establishes: a) The principle of availability and accessibility to adequate information and the possibility of learning during the process, including technical support; b) The principle of wide participation; c) The principle of representation; d) The principle of independence; e) The principle of functionality; f) The principle of negotiation; and g) The principle of responsability2.

The principle of representation states that “in the hearing or consultation processes, all specific segments of civil society and other stakeholders, particularly those directly affected, must be represented. It is mandatory to ensure the participation of, at least 20% of the universe of people affected from the areainfluenced by the activity. In case meetings are held away from the geographical insertion area, the participation of at least 50% of institutions/organizations directly concerned or interested in the matter, must also be guaranteed.” The principle of negotiation establishes that it should “be understood as an approaching mechanism to divergent interests and a way to establish the foundation of trust between affected and interested parts, which should contribute to the dissemination of information about the consequences of the activity and the ways of minimizing them, as well as the repercussions of the activities implementation. It should also help to manage and reduce conflicts of interest between different social groups.” The principle of responsibility states that “the process of public hearing and consultation should represent in a loyal and responsible manner, the concerns of all stakeholders in the process.” Under a technical and methodological point of view, “ProSavana’s Master Plan Draft Zero” presents incurable vices. A preliminary analysis shows only some specific problematic aspects:

1. Agriculture of local peasants as the main culprit for all problems

The document reveals that its proponents are unaware and profoundly ignorant of the context, barriers and priorities for the development of agriculture in Mozambique. “ProSavana’s Master Plan Draft Zero” assumes agricultural productivity as the main goal, however, when sizing the causes of low productivity points to fallow agriculture as the main factor. Such a conclusion is misleading, manipulative and sits in a very biased and erroneous scientific basis, for fallow agriculture is the main factor in the conservation of soil fertility and through it we increased productivity, as several studies have found through the gains obtained in the last two decades in corn, beans and peanut crops.

2. Negative consequences based on the perspective of “cash crops” such as soybeans.
The document is based on the perspective of cash crops, such as soybeans and cotton, contract farming, massive and intensive use of agro-‐chemicals and fertilizers; systems that have caused serious violations of human rights, the environment and ecosystems, land rights, security and food and nutrition sovereignty and exploitation of peasants by the business chain in Brazil, where a similar program is being implemented.

3. Neglect of essence of the Land Law and FAO’s FGGT to allow the usurpation of land for investment.
The document targets fallow agriculture by attributing individual titles of land to peasants who set and limit their fields. The individual land titles and “the use of Agricultural Responsible Investment Principles (IAR)” are designated as the only solutions “preventing land grabbing”. But the Land Law, which is considered the most “pro-‐peasant in the world” today, establishes and protects the peasants rights to use the land, without individual securitization, and reinforces the importance of this law. But the document does not mention, nor care about this. Also, this version of ProSavana’s Master Plan, completely ignores the “Voluntary Guidelines for a Responsible Governance of Land Tenure, Fisheries and Forests” (FGGT), developed by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) with various organizations of peasants and Civil society in the world, tormented by IAR problems. These facts were intentionally excluded from the materials used in the hearing process and left unexplained, but representatives of ProSavana and local governments emphasized that ProSavana and its Master Plan are the only solution to avoid the usurpation of land. But a careful analysis of the Draft Zero shows clearly that the Master Plan has the ultimate aim to find land to promote investment, ie, is a land grabbing mechanism that is intended to be legitimized by public policy.

Faced with all these facts, we, the Peoples of Mozambique, Brazil and Japan, subscribers of this appeal, express our deep concern and indignation and reject the intentional disorganization, politicization, exclusion, lack of transparency, intimidation and manipulation of the public hearing meetings of “ProSavana’s Master Plan Draft Zero”, led by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security (MASA) and district level governments involved, and the apparent responsibility withdraw attempts by the Japanese and Brazilian governments and their agencies of international cooperation: the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the Brazilian Cooperation Agency (ABC) in this critical moment, despite so many promises of honouring that responsibility.

Thus, we come forward to report the whole process of disclosure and the public hearings of ProSavana’s Master Plan Draft Zero, including the violation of participants human rights and;

We demand from the Governments of Mozambique, Japan and Brazil the immediate restitution of the human rights of the participants of the hearings;
We demand the immediate invalidation of the public consultations or hearings held between the 20th and the 29th of April in the provinces of Nampula, Niassa and Zambezia, including the provincial level ones which took place on the 30th of April and on the 8th and 13th of May 2015.
We also demand that the three Governments take responsibility with the mandates delegated to them by the three Peoples, ensuring strict compliance with the law.

Finally, we reiterate our readiness and our invitation and call on all movements of peasants, environmental and social, civil society organizations, rural communities and all citizens in general for a wide mobilization, engagement and organization of a common front of resistance against ProSavana. While united Peoples, we will continue engaged in the fight against inequality, environmental, social, economic and political injustices, and in the defense of human rights and interests pertaining to access and control of land, water, forests, air, property and cultural and historical heritage.

Maputo, June 4, 2015

Signatory Civil Society Organizations and Social and Environmental Movements:

1. Associação de Apoio e Assistência Jurídica às Comunidades (AAAJC) – Mozambique
2. Acção Académica para o Desenvolvimento das Comunidades Rurais (ADECRU) – Mozambique
3. Africa Japan Forum (AJF) – Japan
4. Advocacy and Monitoring Network on Sustainable Development (AMnet) – Japan
5. Alternative People’s Linkage in Asia – Japan
6. Amigos da Terra – Brazil
7. Amigos de la Tierra (COECOCEIBA) – Costa Rica
8. Articulação Internacional dos Atingidos pela Vale – Brazil
9. As Filhas da Caridade de S. Vicente de Paulo – Brazil
10. Associação Moçambicana de Amor à Justiça, Paz e Solidariedade (AMAJPS) – Mozambique
11. Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions for the Aid of Citizens (ATTAC) – Japan
12. Associação Ambiente, Conservação e Educação de Moçambique (ACEM) – Mozambique
13. Blue Planet Project – South Africa
14. Centar za životnu sredinu/FoE Bosnia and Herzegovina – Bosnia and Herzegovina
15. Comissão Episcopal para Migrantes, Refugiados e Deslocados (CEMIRD) – Mozambique
16. Comissão Justiça e Paz Arquidiocese de Nampula – Mozambique
17. Comissão de Justiça e Paz da Diocese de Nacala – Mozambique
18. Concerned Citizens Group with the Development of Mozambique – Japan
19. Confederação Nacional dos Trabalhadores na Agricultura (CONTAG) – Brazil
20. Council of Canadians – Canada
21. CSO Network – Japan
22. Earthlife Africa – South Africa
23. Eat Locally, Live Locally Akita – Japan
24. Federação de Orgãos para Assistência Social e Educacional (FASE) – Brazil
25. Federação Nacional dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadoras na Agricultura Familiar /CUT – Brazil
26. Federation of Farmer’s Unions of Japan – Japan
27. Friends of the Earth Japan – Japan
28. Fórum Mulher – Mozambique
29. Globalization Watch Hiroshima – Japan
30. GRAIN – Canada
31. GroundWORK – South Africa
32. HUTAN Group
33. Instituto Brasileiro de Análises Sociais e Econômicas (IBASE) – Brazil
34. Instituto de Estudos Socioeconômicos (INESC) – Brazil
35. Instituto Equit – Brazil
36. Instituto Políticas Alternativas para o Cone Sul (PACS) – Brazil
37. Japan Center for a Sustainable Environment and Society (JACSES) – Japan
38. Japan Family Farmers Movement “NOUMINREN” – Japan
39. Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC) – Japan
40. Justiça Ambiental (JA) – Mozambique
41. Justiça Nos Trilhos – Brazil
42. Justiça Global – Brazil
43.“Justiça, Paz e Integridade da Criação” do Instituto dos Missionários Combonianos – Italy
44. Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos (LDH) – Mozambique
45. Livaningo – Mozambique
46. Marcha Mundial das Mulheres – Mozambique
47. Mekong Watch – Japan
48. Movimento de Atingidos por Barragens/Via Campesina (MAB) – Brazil
49. Movimento de Mulheres Camponesas/Via Campesina (MMC) – Brazil
50. Movimento de Pequenos Agricultores/Via Campesina (MPA) – Brazil
51. Movimento de Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra/Via Campesina (MST) – Brazil
52. Mura-‐Machi Net – Japan
53. No! to Landgrab – Japan
54. NPO WE21 – Japan
55. NPO WE21 Hiratsuka – Japan
56. NPO WE21 Kanagawa – Japan
57. ODA Reform Network – Japan
58. People’s Dialogue – South Africa
59. Plataforma Provincial das Organizações da Sociedade Civil de Nampula – Mozambique
60. Rainforest Rescue – Germany
61. Rede Brasileira pela Integração dos Povos (REBRIP) – Brazil
62. Rede de Mulheres Negras para Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional – Brazil
63. Robin Wood– Germany
64. Rural Women’s Assembly (RWA) – South Africa
65. South Durban Community Environmental Alliance – South Africa
66. The Timberwatch Coalition – South Africa
67. União Nacional de Camponeses (UNAC) – Mozambique
68. WE21 Zama – Japan
69. Womin on Mining – South Africa

1 http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24909-‐processo-‐de-‐auscultacao-‐publica-‐do-‐plano-‐director-‐versao-‐zero-‐ doprosavana;http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24893-‐exigimos-‐a-‐suspensao-‐e-‐invalidacao-‐imediata-‐da-‐auscultacao-‐publica-‐ do-‐plano-‐ director-‐do-‐prosavana; http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24805-‐pronunciamento-‐urgente-‐protesto-‐e-‐pedidos-‐ sobre-‐o-‐processo-‐da-‐ divulgacao-‐e-‐do-‐dialogo-‐da-‐versao-‐inicial-‐do-‐plano-‐director-‐do-‐programa-‐prosavana; http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/24926-‐emergency-‐request-‐for-‐re-‐constituting-‐public-‐consultation-‐process-‐about-‐the-‐ formulation-‐of-‐the-‐ master-‐plan-‐of-‐the-‐prosavana-‐program

2 https://adecru.wordpress.com/2015/05/11/exigimos-‐a-‐suspensao-‐e-‐invalidacao-‐imediata-‐da-‐auscultacao-‐publica-‐do-‐plano-‐ director-‐do-‐ prosavana/#more-‐343

Seed grows of itself

13 June, 2015 by Antonio Villarino

A commentary on Mark 4, 26-34, Eleventh Sunday, Ordinary Time, June 14th

We have already left behind the Paschal Liturgical time (Lent, Passover, and Pentecost) and the solemnities of the Holy Trinity and the Body of Christ. We are now again in the Ordinary time reassuming the reading of Mark. This Eleventh Sunday we read a few verses from Mark’s chapter four. As a matter of fact, I invite you to read the whole chapter so that you can have a better idea of Jesus’ message for today. From that reading, I share with you two reflections:

1) A crowd near the lake of Galilee
As you know, Jesus stablished his operational centre at Capharnaum, a small town by the side of Lake Galilee. His presence in that town and surroundings caused a great impact and people rushed in hundreds to get near him and listen to him, because his words were so especially clear, simple, and relevant that their hearts were “burning”. Jesus, farmer among farmers, fisher among fishers, worker among workers, felt quite at easy with that simple people, exposed to the sufferings and hardships of life, hungry for truth and sense, who found no answers in rigid and sclerotic traditions little related to real life. On the contrary, from an affective nearness to their worries an everyday fights and from his contemplative experience in the desert, Jesus was able to express himself in touching parabolic narrations, explaining the mystery of God and his kingdom in a language related to every day’s life in the fields, de fishing ports and the ordinary life.
The gospel of Jesus is made to be understood and preached from the every one’s ordinary life. Or spiritual life must be measured, not so much by the fine words we can say, but by or concrete life and actions.
And all those of us who have a responsibility in passing on to others the Gospel of Jesus (parents, teachers, catechists, priests…) have to look at this Teacher who is able to explain the presence of God in a language related to the concrete life of people.

2) Seed does not need to be pulled up
Forgive me this obvious reflection, but I think that it can help us to grasp Jesus’ message in today’s gospel:
Discúlpenme esta obviedad, pero me parece que sirve para entender bien lo que nos dice Jesús en el evangelio de hoy: “seed would sprout and grow…. On its accord the land will yield fruit”. Jesus tells us that the Kingdom of God is like a seed that God sows in our heart, our community, our family… and it grows of itself, as far as it’s welcomed in a well-kept land. For the wheat to produce fruit it does not help that somebody goes and pulls it up; it’s of not use to try hard and pull it up. No. Wheat must grow by itself, from its inner energy that God has planted in it.
Don’t you think that quite often some parents look like they try to force their children to grow from outside and impose on them fruits that God has not meant for them? Don’t you think that sometimes in our communities or families we try to force people to be what they are not? Do no happen to ourselves that we try to force ourselves to appear before others as powerful and immaculate, with the result that we become bitter, hypercritical, and negative?
I think that Jesus, with this parable of the seed that grows of itself is inviting us, not to be lazy or passive, but serene and trustful; He wants his disciple to trust the Truth and Love, the kingdom that the Father has sown on all o sous, in our communities and families. What we have to do is to cultivate our piece of land, freeing it from stones and rubbish. All the rest will be done in us by the Spirit.
Fr. Antonio Villarino
Rome

Message of Fr. Enrique for the feast of the Sacred Heart

12 June, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

“We ask for the grace to become joyful and happy consecrated people because we carry in our heart the treasure of the love that flows from the pierced Heart of the Lord, which St. Daniel Comboni discovered as the foundation on which to build his mission and to which he committed himself without setting any limit. May the trust in the Heart of Jesus become also for us a source of an eternal love that will help us to live our consecration as the most beautiful gift that we have been given. Happy Feast day of the Sacred Heart.” Fr. Enrique Sánchez G., mccj, Superior General.

Consecrated in the Heart of Jesus

The words consecration and consecrated, with all their synonyms, can be enhanced and integrated in our lives, especially during this year earmarked for the religious and consecrated life, to the extent that we allow ourselves a moment for reflection and, perhaps even more, for gratitude for this gift.

At the same time, these words are likely to be emptied of their meaning and the richness they evoke, if we do not compare them with the experiences of our life; if we do not give, through our life, an authentic meaning to what we assert in words.

We are consecrated. Very little is needed to make this proclamation which, however, is not so obvious when we ask our life-witness to express the content of what has been the choice of our life.

Although it must be said that there are extraordinary examples, very close to us, of people who have treasured their consecration and whose life has been transformed into a light that can penetrate the darkest shadows, now we need to stop and ask how much our consecration to God defines and characterizes our identity and our acting.

To reflect on our consecration can become an extraordinary occasion to better understand what we mean when we identify ourselves as persons consecrated to God for the mission.

Our missionary consecration

To help us in our reflection, especially on the Feast of the Sacred Heart, I would like to share with you some brief thoughts that might be provocations for asking us to what extent and how much we are living our religious consecration and mission.

Pope Francis invited us to do a memory exercise, to recognize in the past the gift of our vocation, of our charism, letting flow from within our heart the gratitude and thankfulness for this gift. He recommended us to contemplate the present of our consecration to live it with passion, without making calculations, with the generosity and enthusiasm of the first moment, when in the silence and complicity of God we heard our name pronounced and dreamed of a mission without frontiers.

The Pope asked us to look to the future with hope, which means confidence in God, in his proximity, in the certainty that He continues to cherish in his heart a plan for humanity that no one can frustrate, because it will always be a project of love and love does not halt in the face of obstacles.

To live our missionary consecration in this way leads us to rediscover, to experience again the joy of the first moment of our call, and to say in simplicity: Lord, how great you have been in setting your eyes on me. You could not have bestowed on me a more extraordinary gift.

Being a missionary was the best choice that you have done for me; thank you, because you have remained faithful and because what has happened to me so many years ago continues to maintain its freshness.

Thanks for this missionary present that is a challenge to us. Your call is sometimes in danger of being overshadowed by so many obstacles that we find in our path. We lack your passion, your enthusiasm, your courage in not letting ourselves be overcome by the indifference of our time, the consumerism that surrounds us, the superficial hedonism that assails us with its traps that increase our selfishness and superficiality.

We need missionary passion, first of all to believe in you with all our heart, to find you in the brother who suffers, in the sister who is abused, in the young man condemned to live without the possibility to dream of an appropriate future, to come out of our shelter and comfort.

Lord, it is good to recognize with humility and simplicity that we lack the passion which is not afraid of sacrifice, renunciation, abandonment, the passion that allows us to leave everything to make of you and your mission the most important thing of our life.

You gave us a vocation that makes us privileged people, because for us you have chosen, as a place to meet you, the poorest, those farthest away, those who do not count in the eyes of our contemporaries.

“The hope of which we speak – says the Pope – is not based on numbers or enterprises, but on the One in whom we have placed our trust” (2 Tim 1:12).

We want to live, and we cannot but do so, in the hope of when we have been witnesses of your fidelity, your trust, your kindness toward us. We are not scared of tomorrow because we know that you have preceded us and prepared for us the morrow that will be completely different from what we could have established with our own efforts and our resources.

We are not afraid to decrease, to die, because we are convinced that, wherever you are, life cannot but win and that it will always be you the one to write the beautiful history of the mission, which will also become ours.

A consecration lived through small and large details

When we speak of consecration, I intend to say that we are referring to an experience, to a life that makes us live through the small and large details of our existence and of our daily work, as we fulfil the dream that we carry in our heart as the ideal that drives us to go farther and farther.

I intend to say that being consecrated is nothing but accepting with joy that our life is in the hands of the One who gave us our existence. It is to accept that we are the Lord’s possession, that we are or we are becoming God’s gift to humanity.

How many times we have heard that the consecrated persons are people who have freely agreed to give up everything to allow God fulfil his dream of love for humanity.

It’s nice to think so, because it helps us understand that the consecration is not a work that comes from our own will or ability, but an experience of great freedom, generosity and above all of deep docility.

What does it mean to be consecrated to God?

To be consecrated to God is to educate our heart to be always open and willing to what He wants to do of us. In this sense, consecration is synonymous with abandonment, obedience and courage, because with the Lord we know where the adventure begins, but we do not know how far He will take us.

To speak of consecration means entering a world in which our parameters are no longer applicable, because we enter the world of the mystery of God, which breaks all our logic and our calculations and turns everything upside down, as He becomes the protagonist of our history and the master of our existence.

And here we can think of many sayings in the Gospel: “You did not choose me, no, I chose you” (Jn 15:16); “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt 3:17).

What great strength resounds in Paul’s message when he remembers how he was chosen and how, in his ministry as an apostle, he has realised that “We know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those who love him, with all those that he has called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

So, the question that arises is very simple: who is, after all, the one who is consecrated?

How many times have we to recognize that in our lives we have advanced because the Lord has not pulled back? How many times have we to realise that were not our qualities, our merits and our virtues that made us worthy of the gift of the choice that the Lord made us?

We have a great responsibility in preserving and developing the grace received from the day we said yes to the Lord. Will we always remember that God calls and does not change his opinion over time? To which loyalty does He challenge us?

St. Daniel Comboni’s witness

“Since I have an extreme need of the help of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Sovereign of Central Africa, the very joy, hope, fortune and the all of her poor Missionaries, I write to you, my friend, the apostle and faithful servant of the divine Heart which is so full of love for the most unfortunate and abandoned souls on earth.

How glad I am to spend half an hour with you, to commend and entrust to the Sacred Heart the most precious interests of my trying and difficult Mission, to which I have vowed my whole soul, my body, my blood and my life!” (Writings 5255-56).

The consecration of the Comboni missionary, to be a real source of happiness, will always have to try to respond to this clear conviction of Comboni, a consecration that will be born of the experience of love that flows from the Heart of Jesus. The Heart of God who has loved so much humanity and who had no hesitation in handing over for love his Son, his only Son.

It is from this love that our consecration originates and finds support. It is and will always be from this open Heart that we can receive the light and strength to live only for God and for his work. It is from the Heart of Jesus that we will have to learn how to become God’s people who find their joy in serving the mission with an undivided heart.

It will always be the Heart of Jesus to help us look to the future without falling into discouragement, sadness and disappointment, because from the Heart of God new things are always born for the good of all those who open themselves to love.

Like Comboni, we must learn not to be scared by the difficulties of the mission that we are called to live. It will always be a difficult and laborious work, but we must not forget that it is the mission of God, not ours. It is the mission of the Lord in which we are called to become mere collaborators and facilitators of his love.

As our holy founder, we too are invited and called to live fully the gift of the missionary vocation, willing to devote all our heart and soul, becoming men of deep faith, accepting with joy to witness through our poverty, our chastity and our obedience, and always trying to create environments of intense fraternity.

Even for us, the great challenge of the consecration will be the willingness to sacrifice everything for others, for those we meet in the mission. This also means acceptance of martyrdom, which will ask us to impregnate the heart of our brothers and sisters with our lives offered up in our daily existence, in humble and hidden service, in joyful acceptance of the surrender of ourselves to allow God to manifest his love.

Only if educated in this school of love, which is the Heart of Jesus, we will be able to experience in total freedom the choice for the poorest, and to give a face to the love of God, through the construction of a more just, more caring, more respectful world, capable of generating the happiness that we all carry in our heart as the only true yearning of our lives.

We ask for the grace to become joyful and happy consecrated people because we carry in our heart the treasure of the love that flows from the pierced Heart of the Lord, which St. Daniel Comboni discovered as the foundation on which to build his mission and to which he committed himself without setting any limit.

May the trust in the Heart of Jesus become also for us a source of an eternal love that will help us to live our consecration as the most beautiful gift that we have been given.

Happy Feast day of the Sacred Heart.
Fr. Enrique Sánchez G., mccj
Superior General

In the footsteps of Jesus – spiritual retreat in the streets of Berlin

11 June, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

On May 13, three women of the small group of German CLM went to Berlin, to make a spiritual retreat in the streets. We were anxious, how will that be? Full of gratitude we can say that it was worth it! The Jesuit Christian Herwartz and the Comboni sister Margit Forster affectionately accompanied us. Each of us made her personal and profound experience, going to places that made possible an encounter with God in a special way: the jail, a drug sales point, a meeting place for the homeless, tourist places in the center… Like Moses, we take off our sandals (fears, prejudices, judgments) and in the holy places we find God in a new way. Unfortunately, we had to return home on May 17. It was a brief but very rich experience, especially together. THANK YOU!

Barbara Ludewig CLM Germany