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MCCJ Mission Assembly in Europe

21 June, 202321 June, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

The Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus (MCCJ) from all over Europe celebrated last week the “Mission Assembly in Europe”. These were days of prayer, reflection, sharing of experiences and searching together for ways of a missionary journey in Europe.

Some members of the Comboni Family were invited for this occasion: Maria Luzia Ziliotto, Comboni Secular Missionary, Maria del Prado Fernandez Martin, Comboni Sisters and Alberto de la Portilla representing the Comboni Lay Missionaries.

Here is the final message of the assembly.

The European Mission Assembly brought together in Rome (June 6-10, 2023) some 30 confreres and representatives of the Comboni Family working in the mission sector. We recalled the previous meeting in Maia in March 2017. The reports of the various circumscriptions, and that of the European Mission Council, allowed us to review the work done during this time.

The meeting with missionary realities present in the diocese of Rome helped us to take suggestions and provocations from the work of others, especially lay people who are committed to the proclamation of the Gospel and human promotion.

The challenges that Europe poses to us today, both social and ecclesial, were explored thanks to the intervention of Serena Nocetti, theologian, Msgr. Roberto Repole, archbishop of Turin, and the reflections of some confreres. We are now more aware of the challenges and changes that the church and European society impose on all of us.

From the group work, and from the sharing of the participants, some instances and proposals emerged that we would like to share with you.

We feel that we need to personally and communally clarify the meaning of mission in Europe today. Reaching a shared vision would help us to transform our mentality, to work in tune with one another, and to stand before the ecclesial community and society with a specific identity. This path of retraining must be the result of ongoing formation aimed at making us better understand the languages and methodology of today’s society.

A particular path opening before us is the synodal one. It is a path that European churches are already embarking on that will enable us to change our readings and perceptions of mission and society. It is a process that requires research, to be done in the light of the Spirit and in communion with others. We are confident that by renewing our identity and rediscovering our mandate we will know how to better present the values of the Kingdom to the people we meet.

Mission in Europe today demands that we think of our action as collaboration. We are challenged to develop a qualified reflection/vision identified with a shared praxis.

We are also aware that, like any journey, ours needs continuous evaluation. We think that the European Mission Board also has as its task to help us carry out continuous feedback and always stimulate us to veer in the right direction.

We have made some proposals:

1. Mass Media Field.

We see the training of competent personnel as a priority for our field. This indicates the selection of personnel, the offering of professional or refresher courses that prepare the person for the service required of him or her. The editors of the various newspapers resume continental meetings, strengthen Southworld.net for continental service and with a view to a European media center.

2. Missionary Animation Area.

Organize a European course for mission animators to improve the competence and knowledge of animators (anthropology, critical political-economic analysis, etc.) to give them the necessary tools to competently present the instances of mission, in Europe and other continents.

3. Scope Parishes and Rectories

We would like to see the formation in each province of at least one community embedded in a pastoral context (parish/rectorate) that promotes qualified missionary ministry. It should be international, capable of cooperation and fraternal action; according to the values expressed in AC 2022, 16. Such a community could provide for welcoming young people who intend to know and live our charism. The staff should be qualified for missionary service in Europe. This would also make it possible to contribute to the missionary formation of diocesan clergy and laity, helping them to live synodality. Let there be a contact person of the parish sphere in the provincial mission secretariat.

4. Scope Collaboration as the Comboni Family.

We note that there are some experiences of collaboration. These should be encouraged and supported. We see it as important to continue the path begun with the FC Social Forum. We wish to form and/or strengthen the national commissions of the Comboni Family.

We favor the annual meeting, in each country, of the provincial councils and the CF coordinating team to organize missionary service and reflection in each circumscription. We also propose an annual meeting of all CF members present in each country to reflect, pray and celebrate, and think about common actions as CF.

5. JPIC and Migrant Scopes.

The choice to work in the area of JPIC and alongside migrants is a choice in line with our charism. There is a need to build skills for this work, getting help from trained personnel, not only Combonians, who already work in this field. The person in charge of this be full-time. In 2024, a European meeting of JPICs and migrants should be organized in Castel Volturno, and our provinces should become more engaged in the issues of justice, peace, and commit ourselves to the Laudato si’ platform.

6. Mission to Europe.

The European Mission Council, in collaboration with the continent’s ongoing formation, would provide pathways to prepare personnel destined for Europe for active service, giving them the tools to interact with a complex reality, new cultures, intergenerational dynamics, networking with the local church and civil society.

The participants

Comboni Family present at World Youth Day in Portugal

20 June, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

This summer Pope Francis has an appointment with the young Catholics of the world in Lisbon on the occasion of World Youth Day (WYD). Youth groups in every corner of the planet have been preparing for months in training sessions on the themes proposed for WYD around Mary: “Mary arose and left without delay” and also looking for the necessary funding to pay for the trip to the Portuguese capital.

The Comboni Family will be present at WYD through the World Youth Comboni Gathering (WYCG), an initiative that will bring together in Portugal young people who follow Jesus in the style of St. Daniel Comboni. 120 young people from Europe, Africa and America between 14 and 30 years of age have signed up and from July 26 to 31 they will be in the Portuguese city of Maia to listen to missionary testimonies and participate in activities and dynamics around interculturality and universal fraternity. In some activities they will join other young people from the dioceses of Porto and Braga.

On July 31, before arriving in Lisbon to participate in WYD, they will visit the Sanctuary of Fatima and on August 7 they will meet in the city of Santarém to evaluate the “strong” experience lived in Lisbon and to envision how to give it continuity throughout the year so that it does not remain “just another experience”, but will help them to a greater commitment.

Through the intercession of St. Daniel Comboni we pray for all the young people who are preparing to participate in the WYD in Lisbon, especially for the young Comboni Missionaries of the World Youth Comboni Gathering initiative, so that this international meeting may encourage them to follow Jesus in a missionary style.

[Hozana]

Solemnity of the Heart of Jesus

16 June, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

Introduction

We are sharing this pamphlet as a supplement to help us live more deeply the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (16 June), accepting the invitation extended to us by the XIX General Chapter: to deepen and assume our spirituality which is marked by some specific elements that make up our identity as Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus.

We ask the confreres of all communities to study it and discover the best way to prepare for the solemnity: we may opt for a day of retreat or a series of meetings for prayers and/or sharing…

The basic text that must guide our reflection is in No. 3of the Rule of Life:

The Founder discovered in the mystery of the Heart of Jesus the thrust of his missionary commitment. Comboni’s unconditional love for the peoples of Africa had its origins and model in the saving love of the Good Shepherd who offered his life on the Cross for humanity: «Trusting in that most Sacred Heart … I feel more inclined to suffer … and to die for Jesus Christ and for the salvation of the unhappy peoples of Central Africa » (Writings, 4290).

And these are the words of the XIX General Chapter in this regard:

12. We dream of a spirituality that enables us to continue to grow as a fraternal family of consecrated persons rooted in Jesus, in his Word and in his Heart, and to contemplate him in the faces of the poor and in the experience lived by St. Daniel Comboni to be the mission.

14.3 We wish to raise our awareness of the fundamental aspects of the charism (e.g., the Cross, the Heart of Jesus, the option for the poorest and most abandoned) through Comboni’s vision, spirit and sensitivity to go to the roots of his spirituality and reappropriate it.

We may see our missionary life as a “journey” that starts in the Heart of Jesus and reaches our hearts, eventually reaching the hearts of the persons with whom we share both history and destiny. To be – or rather to become – “Consecrated people rooted in Jesus, in his Heart” means becoming what we are, to realise, for example, the identity we receive from the Lord, thanks to St. Daniel Comboni. Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus is our name.

At the end of the booklet of our Rule of Life there is a Letter Concerning the Name of the Institute, specifying what inspired the new choice of 1979. It is useful to re-read and meditate on this text, as a first moment of study.

Our Rule of Life, No. 3 offers us the experience of Comboni: his missionary commitment and his unconditional love for the peoples of Central Africa had their origin and their model «in the saving love of the Good Shepherd» who lets his Heart be pierced. Comboni himself, re-reading his experience with ever greater awareness, speaks of himself as someone who

«Carried away under the impetus of that love set alight by the divine flame on Calvary Hill, when it came forth from the side of the Crucified One to embrace the whole human family, felt his heart beat faster and a divine power seemed to drive him towards those lands … to embrace and give the kiss of peace and love to those … brothers of his” (Writings, 2742).

The Heart of Jesus is the soul of the mission and its basic motivation.

It is undoubtedly good to seek and create programmes, strategies and structures for the mission, but let us not forget that we are called, above all, “to fan the gift into a flame.” (2 Tim 1, 6ff). The temptation could be one of tiredness (accidia) which dries up the soul and creates pessimism, fatalism, mistrust and lukewarmness, or the desire to become “protagonists” as if we were the be-all and end-all of the mission.

In this regard, we could take some texts from Evangelii Gaudium: 26; 259; 264; 266-267.

Contemplating and Assuming

To root ourselves in the sentiments of the Heart of Jesus, the Son of God, the path proposed by our Rule of Life, as the fruit of conscious experience, develops around two words: contemplating and assuming.

In other words, which we find in the Gospels, we may say: “Come to Jesus”, “See in him the Beloved One consecrated by the Spirit of the Father”, “Eat of him to increasingly assimilate his sentiments” …

This happens especially when we allow the Lord Jesus to penetrate into the depths of our hearts and bring to light those sentiments, thoughts, attitudes and desires that do not belong to those consecrated to the Lord.

Let us allow Jesus to heal us, renew us and transform us. Then we shall become people “won over by Christ” and animated by the desire to win others to him (cf. Ph 3, 2).

“Contemplating” and “assuming” do not become “voluntaristic” acts since, in truth, they are “graces” to which we respond with our awareness and availability.

We may describe “contemplating” as:

“keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus”;
“standing at the foot of the Cross”, as an important stage of a long journey during which we have seen the deeds and heard the words of Jesus, even without understanding them fully;
“standing at the feet of the Crucified One”, to receive the gifts that come to us from his Heart: his Spirit, the water and blood; Mary…;
“clothing ourselves with Christ”, making ours his “vesture”, his sentiments;
“allowing our hearts to be pierced”, so that the gifts of Our Lord may not remain on the surface of our hearts but penetrate them deeply.

“Assuming” suggests:

that we make our own the sentiments of Christ, in such a way that they really enter into us who are prepared to assimilate them gradually so that they determine our lines of action and conduct, touch our criteria when making choices, mould our desires and strengthen our purposes;
that by assuming the sentiments of Jesus we discover in ourselves – or close to us – obstacles, impediments, fragilities;
that this leads us to “contemplate” Jesus again and more deeply, allowing ourselves to be moved by the force of attraction he exerts, seeking his pardon, his strength and his grace;
that the difficulties we meet may not extinguish our spiritual life but strengthen it and cause it to grow;
“assuming the sentiments of Jesus” may become in us an interior need to “remain rooted in him”.

Some texts that may enlighten us

«But over the house of David and the citizens of Jerusalem I will pour out a spirit of kindness and prayer. They will look on the one whom they have pierced; they will mourn for him as for an only son and weep for him as people weep for a first-born child » (Zechariah 12,10).

«A further passage of Sacred Scripture: They will look upon the one whom they have pierced » (John 19,17).

See also: Apocalypse 1, 1-48; John 15.

From the Rules for the Institute for the Missions of Africa – 1871:

«The students of the Institute will develop in themselves this most essential disposition by keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, loving him tenderly and seeking always to understand more fully the meaning of a God who died on the |Cross for the salvation of souls » (Writings 2721).

Our Rule of Life, No. 3.2, lists three interior attitudes of Christ which the Comboni missionary is called to contemplate and assume, in virtue of that same vocation of Jesus and Comboni:

his unconditional self-giving to the Father;
the universality of his love for the world;
his involvement in the pain and poverty of humankind.[1]

The unconditional self-giving of Jesus to the Father

We might pray with these texts from John:

«I am the good shepherd. The Good Shepherd is one who lays down his life for his sheep. The hired man, since he is not the shepherd and the sheep do not belong to him, abandons the sheep and runs away as soon as he sees the wolf coming, and then the wolf attacks and scatters the sheep; this is because he is only a hired man and has no concern for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd; I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. And there are other sheep I have that are not of this fold, and these I have to lead as well. They too will listen to my voice, and there will be only one fold and one shepherd. The Father loves me because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me: I lay it down of my own free will, and as it is in my power to lay it down, so it is in my power to take it up again; and this is the command I have been given by my Father » (Jn 10,11-18).

«The world must know that I love the Father and that I am doing exactly what the Father told me » (Jn 14,31).

«What I have spoken does not come from myself; no, what I was to say, what I had to speak, was commanded by the Father who sent me, and I know that his commands mean eternal life. And therefore, what the Father has told me is what I speak » (Jn 12,49-50).

We contemplate Jesus as the Son who lives and works according to the plan of the Father which he has seen and heard (Jn 5) and assumed with the freedom of the love of the Beloved Son. Jesus may say that the Father works in him:

«I am in the Father and the Father is in me. The words I say to you I do not speak of myself; it is the Father living in me who is doing this work » (Jn 14,10).

His life is a response of love to the love of the Father (cf. Jn 13,1-4).

The universality of the love of Christ for the world

«God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life » (Jn 3,16)

«The love of Christ overwhelms us when we reflect that if one man has died for all, then all should be dead; and the reason he died for all was so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for them » (2 Cor 5,14-15).

We think of the testimony rendered by the Gospel of Jesus the pilgrim who goes around to city and village. Wherever men and women live, there he makes himself present:

«He said to them: “Let us go elsewhere to the neighbouring country towns so that I can preach there too, because that is why I came!”» (Mk 1,38).

Jesus meets people everywhere: in the synagogues and in the houses, in the squares and in the streets, on the mountain and by the lakeshore… He encounters men and women, adults and children, Jews and proselytes, Syro-Phoenicians and Greeks. He does not visit Palestine alone but goes beyond the borders of the Promised Land. We find him in Jerusalem and in the Decapolis.

He talks and discusses with Pharisees, Sadducees, Publicans and sinners … He does everything with great love – a love he gives to all without exception. He also has a clear preference for the least and the excluded.

The involvement of Jesus in the pain and poverty of men and women

Here are some more texts that may inspire us in our prayers:

«That evening they brought him many who were possessed by devils. He cast out the spirits with a word and cured all who were sick. This was to fulfil the prophecy of Isaiah:

He took our sicknesses away

and carried our diseases for us» (Mt 8,16-17).[2]

The biblical texts show how Jesus was involved in the sufferings of people. It is important to comprehend “the movement of Jesus” who takes on himself the sufferings of others, without judging or condemning them. Jesus becomes so involved that he is hurt by these wounds. The “wounds of Jesus” are our salvation since they are our wounds assumed by the Risen One.

Comboni’s involvement …

«Though physically exhausted, by the grace of the Heart of Jesus my spirit is sound and thriving; I am resolved … to suffer all and give my life a thousand times for the Redemption of Central Africa and the Africans» (Writings 5523).

«I am ready to sacrifice my life a thousand times for the one hundred million and more Africans who live in these scorched regions » (Writings 2409).

In his programmatic homily preached in Khartoum on 11^th May 1873, his words are prophetic:

«The first love of my youth was for unhappy Africa and, leaving behind all that was dearest to me in the world, I came, sixteen years ago, to these lands to offer my work for the relief of their age-old sufferings. Subsequently, I had to return home due to ill health … but my thoughts and actions were always for you.

Today, at last taking back my heart by returning among you, I open it up in your presence with the sublime and religious sentiment of spiritual paternity … Yes, I am now your father and you are my children and as such, for the first time, I embrace you and press you to my heart …

Rest assured that my soul responds to this with unlimited love forever and for each one of you. I return among you never to cease being yours, and all consecrated for your greater good in eternity. Come day, come night, come sun come rain, I shall always be equally ready to serve your spiritual needs: the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick, the young and the old, the masters and the servants will always have equal access to my heart. Your good will be mine and your sorrows will also be mine …

I make common cause with each one of you and the happiest day of my life will be the one on which I will be able to give my life for you».

(Writings 3156-3159).

… and ours

By means of these attitudes contemplated and assumed, the Spirit of Jesus consecrates us in the depths of our hearts.

It is possible to re-interpret the three vows in these attitudes:

obedience, as unconditional self-giving to the Father;
chastity, in the universality of love;
poverty, in making common cause with the poorest and most abandoned.

On the Solemnity itself, we may renew our missionary consecration with greater awareness!

These three attitudes cannot be separated and neither can they be placed in distinct compartments. Each one refers to the others; each vow requires the others. Growth in one vow means growth in all of them.

Nevertheless, we may ask which of the three vows challenges most our personal growth and response.

We wish you all a very happy celebration of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus!

On behalf of the General Secretariat for Formation,
Fr. Fermo Bernasconi, mccj
Fr. Alberto de Oliveira Silva, mccj
Fr. David Kinnear Glenday, mccj

Original: https://www.comboni.org/en/contenuti/115443

[1] No. 3.3 of the Rule of Life adds: «The contemplation of the Pierced Heart of Christ …

is a challenge to missionary action as a commitment to total human liberation
and to that fraternal charity which must be a distinctive sign of the Comboni Missionary community».

However, we wish to leave these two points for another time.

[2] This summary includes a series of cures performed by Christ; Matthew interprets them in the light of Is 53,4. The fourth Song of the Servant of Yahweh in Isiah 52,13-53,12 is also meaningful.

A world unknown to many

14 June, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation.

On May 23, 2023, the Community of the CLM in Guatemala, shared with Sister Lidia, a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul; who with a masterful talk exposes us her experiences lived in Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation. Her experiences in a marginal area of the Garbage Dump of Zone 3 in Guatemala City and her words so full of the Love of God makes us reflect that as CLM we are immersed in this journey and that we are part of this society so disadvantaged and that day by day there are more and few who are called to this service.

She invites us: “not to see anyone as a stranger, but as a true child of God; to see trafficking in persons where, as CLM, I can contribute from my context, to change our vocabulary, since it is not the same “A woman prostitute” to “A woman in prostitution”, to think that “They are families in transit” and that we must welcome them for what they are, always thinking that they bring many burdens and that for organized crime, it is easier to sell a person than a weapon and that the money from the weapon is over, but the person can be sold several times“.

This meeting marks the commitment that we as CLM Guatemala have and we can be a grain of sand in the change that we want to see the world from our realities.

Miriam Herrador de Orrego

CLM Guatemala

Meeting of the Councils of the Comboni Family in Rome 2023

5 June, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

Consejos Generales de la Familia Comboniana

As every year, the General Councils of the Comboni Family have met to continue to grow as a family. This year we were welcomed by the Comboni Missionary Sisters in Rome, where we felt at home. Thank you for your attention and that of the whole community.

During this year there have been many changes in the teams because the Comboni religious have celebrated their chapters and elected a new general council. Therefore, the first part of the meeting was dedicated to a time of personal presentation.

The rest of the afternoon we had the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the homily of Comboni in Khartoum. Starting from how it resonates in our hearts and at the same time how it challenges us as a missionary family. A nice moment to recognize how the charism continues to unite and encourage us together.

After dinner and some conversation we retired to rest to regain strength after the morning’s journey.

The next day we spent catching up on where we are in each of the branches of the family. A calm presentation with time for questions that helps us to get to know each other better and to enter into the current affairs of each one of us. Without a doubt, it was an important moment, especially for the new teams, and it helped us all to get to know and understand the realities that we are living.

The secular missionaries began by sharing with us the illusion of their first vows in Africa, of the road they have traveled until reaching them and of the illusion that these new vocations mean for all of us, even knowing that they are in a first stage. They also shared the evolution of their commitments after their assembly two years ago and how they are working in the different countries where they are present. Special mention should be made of the reflection they are having on missionary animation, the rethinking of it according to the new times is something that challenges us all as Comboni Family and that challenged us a lot.

Then it was the turn of the Comboni Lay Missionaries. During this time we focused on what the continental meetings of America in Lima-Peru and Africa in Cotonou-Benin have meant, the work done during those weeks and the progress of the different groups and missionary communities in the continents. It has been a time of strengthening, after the hardest years of the pandemic, to be able to meet again. It was very important for the new groups, which allowed them to contrast their way with that of the others, but also for the older ones, who continued to be enriched by the experiences that we developed in other countries, trying to give some clues of work within our own continent.

There was also time to present the objectives of the future European assembly in October, which will be held in Poland and to share the priorities that we as Central Committee have for next year before turning to the preparation of the future international CLM assembly at the end of 2024.

In the afternoon we listened to the Comboni Missionaries who shared with us about their chapter. Starting from a new methodology that they have followed in it, which encourages them to dream about where is their place and priorities for 2028. Also to define several main lines of work and on them to work on operational plans that allow them to develop them. This is a work that will have to be developed at all levels, starting from each mccj, passing through each of the communities and reaching the provincial level. All of this will confirm the six-year plan that will allow them to carry out the dreams set forth in the chapter.

The religious vows of 50 new Comboni Missionaries this year was also an important moment that encourages the Institute in its missionary journey.

Lastly, the Comboni Missionary Sisters shared with us their past chapter and what these months of setting everything in motion have entailed. It is worth mentioning the courage in their restructuration that will make them go from 19 to 7 circumscriptions; as well as the reconfiguration of the general direction with the support of four coordinations that will help to develop the chapter proposals.

All these changes are a great challenge and a courageous bet on their part to adapt the organization to the reality of the Institute and the needs of the mission, which continues to change and needs new answers.

Already on Sunday we entered into the making of certain decisions and began to think about the future. On the one hand, Brother Alberto Lamana helped us to compile the path taken by the ministerial commission, the proposals for future work and so on, and on our part we corroborated what had been said in previous meetings. The importance of the work done in these years and the example of collaboration that this work of ministeriality as a Comboni family implies makes us very happy.

We also reflected on the work done as a team of Comboni Family Councils and reinforced the idea that this is not because those present are more aware of it but it is something that we bet on from the different branches, so we set ourselves the task of developing a small directory to help us work better in these meetings. And it is something we will be working on in the coming year.

We also had some time to reflect on the journey as a family that shares the charism, sharing the experience of the meetings that are being held in Rome by different families, where religious men and women, secular institutes and lay movements that share the charism are beginning to meet and exchange experiences. We believe that listening to these experiences and sharing our own can help us to continue to grow. We also share the idea of identifying the different groups of lay people who are close to the Comboni family or to one of its branches. The importance of accompanying these lay people who want to share the charism in different ways, helping them to grow in this vocation, helping that these vocation proposals do not overlap with each other, so that in the future we can continue to help so many people who see in Comboni an inspiration for their lives.

We ended our meeting with the celebration of the Eucharist with the whole community of sisters. Undoubtedly the moments of prayer and this final Eucharist have helped us a lot during this meeting. They were significant moments of witnessing of Comboni lives and of searching for what the Lord is asking of us as Comboni Family.

We will meet again next June in Verona, but in the meantime and throughout the year we will keep in touch and work on the challenges we have set ourselves.

Greetings to all of you

Alberto de la Portilla, CLM Central Committee Coordinator.