Comboni Family – Page 59 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

VI International Assembly of the Comboni Lay Missionaries in Rome

19 December, 2018 by Alberto de la Portilla

The VI International Assembly of the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM), held every six years, is underway in the General House of the Comboni Missionaries in Rome (11-17 December). The participants are 51. In addition to the representatives of the CLM and the Comboni Missionaries who follow them in their respective countries, coming from 20 African, European and American nations, Sr. Ida Colombo, of the General Council of the Comboni Missionaries Sisters, and Maria Pia Dal Zovo, of the central council of the Secular Comboni Missionaries, also participate.

The Assembly began with the words of welcome from Alberto de la Portilla, coordinator of the Central Committee of the CLM, and of Fr. Pietro Ciuciulla, on behalf of the Comboni General Council.

The morning of the first day, 11 December, was dedicated to prayer, reflection and sharing, under the guidance of Gonzalo Violero García and Maria Carmen Polanco Delgado, CLM from Spain. In the afternoon, the participants gathered by continents.

Yesterday, 12 December, the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, each continent presented a report of the activities carried out over the last six years and the main challenges for the future; the Central Committee’s report and the 2012-2018 economic report followed.

In the afternoon, reflection began on the first theme of the Assembly, which concerns the organization of the CLM (composition, structure, international community and economy).

Today and in the coming days, the CLM will discuss three other major themes: formation and spirituality, the mission of the laity, the fundamental documents of the CLM. There will be time to speak in a special way of the international communities, to share the life experiences of the CLM in the different continental contexts and to inform about the current relationship of the CLM with the Comboni Family.

In moments of prayer and Eucharistic celebrations, the assembly prays for all the CLM members, in particular for those who find themselves working in difficult contexts, such as, for example, in the Central African Republic.

May the light of the Holy Spirit enlighten the participants in this Assembly and the CLM in general, so that they may give continuity to the work and charism that St. Daniel Comboni started!

18th Congress of the Cenacles of Missionary Prayer (CPM)

14 November, 201814 November, 2018 by Alberto de la Portilla

The first Sunday of November is known as the meeting day of the Congress of the CPM. This year, the congress took place on November 4, 2018 at the Industrial Street 15/Limete-Kinshasa in the D.R. of Congo on the theme: “CPM, committed to the culture of justice and peace.” The social inequalities and injustices, the ecological dangers, the imperialism and the economic domination of the rich, wars and human migration are scourges that cannot leave anyone indifferent.

In his presentation, Fr. Boniface stressed that “the work of education to a culture of peace is extremely important, because education, the key to the sustainable development of a society, is the most powerful weapon against poverty. No country can eradicate poverty without education. To develop a culture of justice and peace is a commitment that all, at different levels, are called to embrace to make this world a better place. However, it requires sacrifice, as Jesus showed us by his example (1 Peter 2:21).”

On that same day, the new Choir called Afriquespoir was born.

The Congress started around 9:30 AM and ended around 3:00 PM with the celebration of the Eucharist and a common meal.

CLM Congo

Message of the MCCJ Intercapitular Assembly to the CLM

2 November, 2018 by Alberto de la Portilla

Message of the Intercapitular Assembly
of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus
to the Comboni Lay Missionaries

“Let us join hands together. Let the vow, the objective and the commitment of all who love Jesus Christ be one: to win unhappy Africa for him”
(Writings 2182)

Dear brothers and sisters Comboni Lay Missionaries,

We greet you with the peace of Christ.

At the end of the Intercapitular Assembly, we wish to send you this message of greeting, first of all to thank you for the journey we have done together during these last years spurred by the same love and the same passion of St. Daniel Comboni, and also to wish you a good preparation for and execution of the activities of your upcoming General Assembly to be held here in Rome on December 11-18, 2018.

During the Intercapitular Assembly, that had as its objective to evaluate the work done from our last General Chapter of 2015 up to now, we reflected upon and evaluated the #35 of the Chapter Acts that states how we, the MCCJ, “acknowledge the journey travelled by the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) and we intend to continue accompanying their processes of formation, structuring and self-reliance which help to consolidate their identity as a Lay Family, that is Missionary and Comboni, at the service of the Mission.” We affirm once more our commitment to walk with you and with all the other members of the Comboni Family, respecting our particular characters and autonomy, in order to achieve our common missionary ideal.

We are aware of your desire to move ahead in growing in unity among yourselves, looking at Jesus Christ and at Comboni, in order to be a cohesive movement, both at the local and at the international level. This unity will be the best way to prepare yourselves for the missionary service among the poorest and most abandoned in your own countries and beyond your borders.

We renew our wishes of all good things for the preparation and execution of your 6^th General Assembly and we assure you of our closeness, friendship and prayers.

The Intercapitular Assembly of the MCCJ

Rome, September 29, 2018

Missioning Mass for Pedro Nacimiento

19 October, 2018 by Alberto de la Portilla

After a great weekend, from the Community of Ervedal, Alentejo, the parish that saw the CLM Pedro Nascimento grow up and today sends him off, our CLM Rufina shares with us the emotions of this special occasion.

Today Alentejo, and more concretely Ervedal, has celebrated.

It was already expected that it would be a success, but for sure it went well beyond all expectations, especially when you take into account such a beautiful church, so well decorated, where they are already the Extraordinary Mission Year, and whose pastor succeeds, certainly as a result of the work carried out over the years, to gather all the parishes under his care to take part responsibly and joyously in the missioning of Pedro Nacimiento to Ethiopia.

Without a doubt, the most important moment was the Eucharist presided over by Archbishop Francisco Senra Coelho with the participation of other invited priests, especially Fr. Francisco Medeiros, a Comboni Missionary from the diocese of Viseu.

The ceremony included also two deacons, relatives, friends and many CLM who, together with Pedro are part of the “Thousand Lives for Mission.”

A reception followed for everyone where lunch in the good local style was served, which we enjoyed a lot.

Pedro, as a CLM and being as well from Alentejo, I cannot forget to thank God for your missioning on this Extraordinary Mission Year, certain that it will be a time of growth and enrichment that will allow you, together with your Ethiopian people, to carry out a mission abounding in love, filled with the Comboni charism and enlightened by the smile the Lord lovingly placed on your face sweetening this soul of Alentejo that is so typically yours, in difficult moments.

As Pope Francis says, “Mission is to go meet the other.”

And how it has been mentioned in the Pastoral Note of the Episcopal Conference of Portugal on both the Extraordinary Mission Year and Mission Month, “Everyone, everything and always in mission.”

Therefore, go, my friend, go.

Let us keep in touch! Happy Mission!

A kiss

Rufina (October 14, 2018)Thank you, Rufina, Thank you, Pedro. Thank you for your commitment

Celebrating the memory of the birth of St. Daniel Comboni

9 October, 2018 by Alberto de la Portilla

TO GIVE LIFE SO THAT ALL MAY HAVE LIFE

Solemnity of St. Daniel Comboni

10 October 2018

“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 flock and one shepherd.”

(Jn 10:14-16)

Dear Confreres
Celebrating the memory of the birth of St. Daniel Comboni introduces us into the great mystery of the life of the Good Shepherd with a pierced heart who gave his life so that all may have life and life in abundance, especially those who do not yet belong to the table of Christ’s body, the poorest and most abandoned, so that all may become one flock under one shepherd.

We Comboni Missionaries, faithful to this tradition, to the charism and pastoral practice of our Founder, are invited to renew ourselves in this missionary commitment every day to be “at the margins of society as witnesses and prophets of fraternal relationships, based on forgiveness, mercy and the joy of the Gospel” (CA ’15 No. 1).

The mission at the margins of society required from Comboni the ability to remain firm in difficult times and fidelity to the price of life itself, because he had his gaze fixed on the pierced heart of the Crucified One, a vision of faith of the events and the embrace of Africa with a heart marked by divine love. An incarnate holiness that runs through the paths of poverty and human marginalisation, welcoming the other, the different, the poor, in an embrace of communion and dialogue; a holiness that is the divine passion present in a human heart.

This is what we have tried to express in the reflection and prayer of the Intercapitular that we have just concluded. We have been constantly attentive to the voice of the victims, the marginalised, and the great multitudes of human beings whose life is threatened by a heartless system that causes the predictable and violent death of the weakest.

This reality continues to prophetically question our presence and the quality of our missionary service, as it has questioned Comboni in his time. To respond, however, to these challenges, we need to approach each day, to the mystery of God’s love, revealed in Jesus Christ, with the spirit, gaze and heart of Comboni, with an open heart overflowing with love and the mercy of the Pierced One and, like Him, let us also be pierced by so many situations of poverty and neglect.

For St. Daniel Comboni it was clear that the contemplation of the mystery of God, crucified for love, had as its purpose to lead his missionaries to a definite way of doing mission: to witness a life lived in ‘spirit and truth’, fruit of a vivid and convincing prayer, to practice humility and obedience, as signs of a deeply Comboni spirituality. That is, to irradiate with one’s life the mystery of God Crucified in order to bring to Christ, the source of Life, all those who are hungry and thirsty for justice.

It is with these feelings that we wish to celebrate this solemnity of St. Daniel Comboni as a Comboni Family. Enter into this mystery of the Good Shepherd with a pierced heart and drink the lifeblood that renews us, that makes us look at reality through the eyes of faith, hope and charity, that heals and humanises us, that makes us become mission, “cenacle of apostles”, gift for others. “I make common cause with each of you, and the happiest day in my life will be the one on which I will be able to give my life for you” (W 3159).

May St. Daniel Comboni intercede with the Father for each one of us, for the whole Comboni Family and for the missions that are presently going through difficult situations: Eritrea, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Central African Republic.

Happy Feast day to all.
Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie; Fr. Jeremias dos Santos Martins; Fr. Pietro Ciuciulla; Fr. Alcides Costa; Bro. Alberto Lamana.