Comboni Family – Page 14 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

” Stand up and welcome the Spirit”

4 March, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

Last weekend COMBOJOVEN held its monthly meeting. For this academic year 2022/2023, the group has chosen as a formative axis the preparatory catechesis for their participation in the WYD 2023 to be held in early August in Lisbon, Portugal.

COMBOJOVEN is a group of young people between 20 and 30 years of age who live their faith from the mission and the Comboni charism, and who are accompanied by the Comboni Family.

During this weekend, eight young people gathered together with their companions MCCJ, Comboni Sisters and two CLM. On this occasion Pauline (originally from Kenya) and Leo (Tenerife) were the CLM Spain who shared formation, reflection, prayer and experiences in the house of the Comboni Missionaries in Madrid.

The inspiring theme of the meeting was ” Stand up and welcome the Spirit”. The young people discovered, meditated and prayed, using the Word of God as a vehicle, the importance of the Holy Spirit in Christian and missionary life.

Recovering the words of Pope Francis “God puts us first” (Evangelii Gaudium), the group became aware of the action of the Holy Spirit in the life of every baptized person; how through his action we recognize Jesus as Messiah, accepting the promise of salvation that he brings us; and how through the Son, we come to the knowledge of the Father. In short, it is the Holy Spirit who makes us discover that God the Father is madly in love with each one of us.

Furthermore, we reflect on how this experience of love moves us, impels us, pushes us to give witness to our faith. It makes us witnesses and missionaries. It is the power of the Holy Spirit that takes us out of our comfort zone and gives us the courage to approach our brothers and announce the Good News: “God loves you, madly”.

The meeting also included the missionary testimony of Fr. David (MCCJ) and a visit to the Museum of Africa (“Mundo Negro”). On Saturday evening we had a strong moment of prayer in which we prayed for the gifts of the Holy Spirit to accompany these young people in a special way.

During the next months COMBOJOVEN will continue to prepare their trip to Lisbon, the MCCJ, the Comboni Sisters and the CLM, we will continue to accompany them.

Pauline and Leo (CLM Spain).

Prayer Intentions of the Comboni Family March 2023

1 March, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

That, through the intercession of Saint Joseph, the guardian of the Holy Family of Nazareth, our Institutes may always have what they need to live and continue with dignity the mission they share, and that they may be helped to administer well all that has been entrusted to them. Let us pray.

Janett, an active Comboni lay missionary

17 February, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

Janett Rocio Escobar Angulo, born in Tumaco Colombia in 1974, like many other people, arrived displaced to the city of Bogotá, only burdened with the hope of finding better opportunities that would give her and her family the security and stability that was taken away from them in their homeland.

The arrival to the city was not the most difficult thing, what really required temperance and resilience, was to learn and unlearn new trades that would allow her to earn enough income to be able to send it to her family in Tumaco; not to mention what she had always heard on television, but had never had to live … “DISCRIMINATION“; being treated in the most offensive, grotesque, demeaning and humiliating way in every daily situation, from taking public transportation to the offensive orders in each of her jobs. But “Defeat is only defeat if you don’t learn something from it”, today she thanks God for each of those moments, because those sad situations have opened the doors to live opportunities of joy and prosperity, besides finding people who helped her to be formed, to be today leading her beloved Afro processes.

The lack of opportunities for the Afro population and the issue of discrimination and violation of rights, made Janet, Carlina, Maria Angelica and Angela Preciado, in 2016, as part of the association Renacer Afrocolombiana, give life to the training program on rights, self-recognition and empowerment for Afro children, youth and adults. On their first opening Saturday, Janett and her three musketeers decided to occupy the Villa Gladys park with their first 10 children and begin the task that no one had wanted to take on; that of teaching the Afro community the voice, the mechanisms and the strength to shout, claim and assert their rights. With the passing of time and being part of the Afro pastoral, they found an ally in the process and the cause, the International Comboni Brothers Formation Center (CIFH), they began to support training in English and French since they had foreign brothers who were in the country, teaching their native language to children and young people who were part of the program.

In this way Janett and the Comboni Missionaries began to know each other and it was not long before they decided to strengthen this bond and become Comboni Lay Missionaries. Her knowledge, her personality and her dedication to the mission made her a valuable member of the lay team.

Currently the program is made up of more than 100 children, youth and adults in the Engativá district; the Comboni Lay Missionaries support the activities that are carried out with a monthly contribution to sustain the program; every Saturday they meet at the Antonio Villavicencio school from 10 am to 3 pm, where they receive training from different professionals; as part of the strategies taken to achieve its objectives, the trainings have been opened to mestizo children; this so that they can socialize the Afro traditions, their culture and their stories, generating empathy to reduce prejudice and discrimination from these early stages of life. This program also includes a snack and lunch.

After working in restaurants and family homes, Janett is now a member of the Afro pastoral, leader of the district and national programs on empowerment and promotion of the rights of Afro-descendant communities.

Janett and the Comboni Lay Comboni Missionaries of Colombia have an active mission process, thanks to the presence and the need to support a project that every day becomes more visible and benefits a more significant population of a sector of Bogota.

Prepared By Alexandra García

Towards a synodal Church going out to the peripheries

15 February, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

Last Saturday, February 11, the Comboni Lay Missionaries at the continental level in America organized a formation entitled “Towards a synodal Church going out to the peripheries“.

Rafael Gonzalez Ponce, mccj, presented in a clear way a series of clues that help us to understand what refers to synodality and how it is central to the concept of Church and our responsibility in it.

The conference is in Spanish

Walking as CLM Ecuador

13 February, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

To conclude the year 2022, the Comboni Missionaries convened a prayer meeting, in unity with all the lay groups that make up the Afro Cultural Center in Guayaquil. In order to thank God for what we have received in the year that is ending, and asking for blessings for the new year.

The year 2023 began with the great news of the ratification of Fr. Serafin Kakwata MCCJ as our reference in our city. We were able to share this news from Fr. Serafin himself when we met at the Comboni parish of Verbo Divino in the south of the city of Guayaquil. In that meeting we discussed the activities that Father Serafin will carry out this year with the participation of the CLM, as well as the formation process of the CLM Ecuador and their candidates.

We also want to share with all of you the two activities that we carried out at the end of January:

First, the Eucharist with the Comboni Family, a celebration presided by Fr. Antonio Jerez MCCJ, which is held on the last Tuesday of each month.

And secondly, at the invitation of the Congregation “Friends of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary”, the CLM of Ecuador, we moved to present our missionary witness to all the catechists and guides of the rural communities of Rocafuerte Canton in the Province of Manabi. This event initiates the process of formation of missionary groups in each one of the communities of that parish in charge of the mentioned religious congregation; and thus to impel the missionary animation in those communities; in this event the candidates to CLM in our country could also participate.

In Rocafuerte, we had the opportunity to talk about what the mission is for the catholic believer and its implications in the life of each one of us and of the people we accompany. Later we went to visit the rural communities in that region of the country, such as: Ojo de agua, San Eloy, Cerro Verde and other localities with whom we were able to share the afternoon; and in the evening we met in the chapel of each community to share the Word and comment on some passages of the gospel.

Greetings to all of you.

CLM Ecuador