English – Page 58 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Meeting of the General Councils of the Comboni Family June 2021

7 June, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

Last Saturday we held the regular meeting of the General Councils of the Comboni Family (Comboni Missionary Sisters, Secular Comboni Missionaries, Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus and Comboni Lay Missionaries).

As it is usual at in this time of pandemic, we had to do it online. Hopefully we will soon be able to return to face-to-face meetings that allow us to share and talk, and at the same time to be able to extend them and address more topics. The online meetings have helped us to stay in touch in these pandemic times, but we all looked forward to being able to meet face-to-face.

We started the meeting with a simple welcome and a common prayer that put us in situation.

We were able to dedicate a first moment to share the concerns that we are currently experiencing in the different branches of the Family and thus update each other.

The first topic to work on was the result of the work of the ministeriality commission. In particular, the members of this commission presented the results of the data collection that has been carried out at the international level and that were presented in the last webinar of March 5 and 6. We were able to deepen in some of the data that are being extracted about the projects and missionary presences in the different continents. We were also able to learn about the work proposal for the next webinar to be held on June 25 and 26. This third meeting will close the first cycle of work and we hope that new proposals for collaboration and joint deepening as Comboni Family in our missionary service will emerge.

We are very satisfied and grateful for the great work of the commission on ministeriality and the welcoming and participation of the members of the Comboni Family in these meetings.

We will try to hold a meeting to study these results in greater depth once the third meeting is over and we have the proposals for the future drawn by all.

After a break we evaluated the work of collaboration that we have been doing as a Comboni family in recent years following the proposals launched in the joint letter of 2017 “Beyond collaboration: under Comboni’s gaze“.

We use an online tool to evaluate by cards the positive aspects, the difficulties encountered and the proposals for future work.

We see that the family feeling that permeates our council meetings is very good and the accompaniment that we maintain of the progress of the different branches. We understand that this is not only due to the people who are currently there, but that it is something that happens and must continue to happen regardless of possible changes in the teams.

In the coming months the general assembly of the Secular Comboni Missionaries and later the chapter of the MCCJ will be held. We wish them all the best and accompany these commitments with prayer and a willingness to collaborate as a family. How to further deepen this collaboration is something we will continue to work on in future meetings.

Greetings to everyone.

Alberto de la Portilla, CLM Central Committee

African Memory Project: Antonio Guirao

2 June, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

We continue this series with Fr. Antonio Guirao Casanova, Comboni priest and missionary, who has been twenty-three years in Kenya. On this occasion, he tells us about his approach and coexistence with the semi-nomadic tribe of the Pokots. During that time, he has carried out essential work in the field of education in both rural and urban areas in the capital, Nairobi. (Interview in Spanish)

Prayer Intentions of the Comboni Family June 2021

2 June, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

That the Holy Spirit may help us to discern the will of God for our pastoral ministry and to be always witness of cooperation and communion. Lord hear us.

The Anniversary of the Founding of the Comboni Institute: June 1

1 June, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

«One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear
and immediately blood and water flowed out»
(Jn 19, 34)

Dear Confreres,
Fraternal greetings in the Heart of Jesus.

This year, the celebration of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus finds us fully engrossed in preparing the next General Chapter, a synodal event that gives us the opportunity to grow in fidelity to the chrism and so to incarnate it in the particular mission of this historic moment. This time is marked by the pandemic caused by the COVID which has been a shock at all levels, by conflicts and wars in different parts of the world and by tensions in some local Churches.

Our Rule of Life reminds us: «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 origin and model in the saving love of the Good Shepherd who offered his life on the Cross for humanity » (RL 3).

The Heart of Jesus is for us the anchor that keeps us joined to the source of life and the mission; it is the sap that gives life to our Institute; it is, without doubt, a fundamental element of the charism which helps us to re-qualify and renew our commitment. The Comboni mission, 154 years after the foundation of the Institute, continues in time and space, enriching us with shades of meaning that find concrete expression in new ways of being and living the mission. One of these expressions is, without doubt, integral ecology to which we are called to respond with the courage and creativity typical of our Founder.

In this feast, we renew our desire to follow Jesus in his total giving of himself for the salvation of the world and, in all humility, to place our gifts at the service of the Kingdom. We are invited to find in the contemplation of the mystery of the Heart of Jesus the audacity and the energy to set out where the Spirit leads us. Our missionary commitment will bear fruit only if it emanates from an experience of encounter with Jesus and is a living expression of that love which shines from the Cross towards all men and women, especially the most needy.

To celebrate the Heart of Jesus in a pandemic context that has forced us to seek new paths and adapt to the imperatives imposed by a situation that leaves us helpless and has made us suffer and weep for its victims among the Comboni Family, our own families and the people among whom we work, reminds us that we all belong to one interdependent family. To the loss of human lives we must also add the tremendous increase in the loss of employment throughout the world that inevitably leads to poverty. May the extraordinary gestures of solidarity we have witnessed be also signs of hope helping us to build up our humanity so needful of finding new coordinates that will enable all of us to have life in abundance. The blood and water that flow from the side of Christ are the sign that our fragility has as its final horizon the resurrection, and this lights up our work of proclaiming the Gospel of the infinite compassion of God for humanity. As Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, let us make this suffering ours and let us renew our commitment in the mission Jesus has given us.

The renewal of our consecration on this Feast Day is an act of trust and an invitation to continue to grow in the vocation the Lord has given us as a gift for all humanity.

We beg the intercession of Holy Mary Our Mother who accompanied her Son at the foot of the cross and that of Saint Daniel Comboni.

We wish you a Happy Feast Day.

Rome, 1 June 2021
The Anniversary of the Founding of the Institute

The General Council

The story of Tarekegn – a boy who lived on the street

31 May, 2021 by Alberto de la Portilla

I would like to tell you the story of Tarekegn who used to be a street child. Tarekegn comes from a family that is not well-off. He has both parents and as many as seven siblings. Tarekegn used to go with his father to the district called Zero Amist. His father used to give catechesis in one of the Protestant churches. The boy, however, began to fall into bad company. In the local area, he met street children who encouraged him to use stimulants, to go out with them and to beg.

Tarekegn got so screwed that one time he ran away by himself and stayed on the street. He began to spend days and nights there. He took on some very bad habits. His family knew this and had sporadic contact with him as his home is just outside Awassa and his father works in the city itself. Tarekegn, however, was not listening to anyone.

One day he ended up at the center. He began attending open classes. He was one of the first boys to be admitted to the center shortly after the pandemic started. The boy was glad that he could live with us, but I must admit that it was not easy with him. During his rehabilitation, we had various problems with him, which were relatively more than with other children. Tarekegn has changed a lot over time. There was a year with us. In the end, it all turned out well and he went home. He lives with his family and continues school. I believe it will stay that way and he will never come back to the street.

Magdalena Soboka, CLM Ethiopia