Formation – Page 23 – 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).

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

Comboni Lay Missionaries in the Radio program Women of Religious Diversity and the Feminist Struggle

9 February, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

A small house, a large patio, a small living room and a blue booth were the spaces for the meeting between a lay woman who acted as host, an Anglican woman, two representatives of the Hare Krishna community, an agnostic online teacher, two CLM women, a Comboni priest and the State Coordinator of Religious Affairs. The topic? To discuss whether it was possible to talk about feminism from a religious point of view. Crisol de la Alegría, Radio y Televisión was the host thanks to the invitation of Father Mario Escalera, Coordinator of Interreligious Dialogue in Monterrey.

They talked about the history of feminism, the main representatives, the struggles that women of yesteryear had to fight in order to obtain achievements that today are a normality for those of us who live in this era.

Is it possible to speak of a feminism based on religious diversity? Throughout history there has been, yes, a patriarchy that oppresses, however, religious organizations have been opening the way to talk more and more about the rights and responsibilities that women have not only in the field of associations that promote different forms of faith, but also in the daily life that sees women increasingly as important pillars of the dynamics of societies.

Is there a Secretariat for Equality and Inclusion? Yes, there are efforts in the current government such as the creation of the Secretariat for Inclusion and the Women’s Secretariat in order to promote education in the respect of women’s rights and the promotion of their powers as creative citizens, agents of change and people responsible for productive life.

What can women do from their trenches to achieve nonviolence against women? Sorority is definitely an important response. This empathy and accompaniment in the pain of a woman who has in other women a support that will lead her to discover new ways to overcome the barriers that, because of gender inequalities, are still experienced today, will help us to overcome not only violence, but also the different forms of discrimination and disadvantage.

How can we educate children to see the father-mother God without religious patriarchalism? Begin to promote the image of a God who is not only father but also mother, that is, a God who, as he presents himself, just “is,” without distinction of gender or race.

As a Christian community, how can we join the feminist struggle? It is not absurd to think of women of faith fighting from their trenches for a change that benefits not only themselves, but society in general; that seeks the integration of feminine and masculine efforts for the construction of a peaceful, supportive, inclusive world that defends dignified life and cooperation to achieve technological, social, scientific, educational, economic, political advances and, of course, a growth in our religious institutions that share a liberating faith that promotes love.

Definitely, a feminism from the faith is possible, understanding our doctrines as a source of wisdom for living together in harmony and having as a premise that it is people and not genders who should matter, because in the eyes of God, the dignity of each and every one is the same.

By: Silvia Tapia Jiménez (CLM of Monterrey, N.L., Mexico)

On the rails of love and friendship our train travels through life (3/3).

2 February, 2023 by Alberto de la Portilla

And the train goes on. Up and down these tracks. We stop in front of the station below. From Piquiá de Baixo. Land of suffering people, forgotten and mistreated. Land of exploitation, of confusion and resurrection. The dragons described in the book of the apocalypse are there. There are five of them. One of them has 12 heads that spit fire and iron, forming a river of blood that begins in the north and flows into the southeast. Where death is present, fighting for life is not a choice, it is an obligation. The obligation is not to fight for your own life, but to put yourself in the fight for the life of the poorest, the most fragile, the smallest in our society.

We are surprised by another train that passes by our side and accompanies us for a few good moments. With its strong machine, its well-structured cars and wheels capable of crossing the country’s borders, this train has a name and a surname: Justice on Rails. Justice is one of those words that allow many meanings and significance. But it needs to be accompanied by struggle, dedication, and wisdom. This justice is not like many we come across around, this one has a strong purpose: the “us”. Not for there or here. It is “us. It is where it needs to be present. That’s where it really needs to be: rails. Where we can come and go. The right and safe way. But this last name is determinant, it goes where justice is acclaimed and is necessary. It is these tracks that guide, that direct, that lead, the dedicated work of all those who put themselves on the train of life.

There were many stations that helped us get to know more of that piece of land and dream. The ground of people who work, who do, and who insist. A dream dreamt by those who feel the burning of the missionary call, the dream of many and the call of all. We got to know the school that is family, that is rural, but that the asphalt of the city leads us to. A family with many fathers and mothers. Planting knowledge, watering with doubts and harvesting lives. Young students who have a thirst for knowledge, who disconnect from their families to live connected to learning. Educators who are not teachers. They are beyond. If we have a word that represents the one who teaches, who is dedicated, who overcomes limits, who puts body and soul into the art of teaching, who does not measure efforts and does not count resources. These are the missionaries of education, or educators in mission.

From afar we can already see the next station. Full of welcoming people. They are the ones who form the communities: of the Rosário and Santa Luzia. They are women, men and children. They are elderly, bedridden and barefoot. They are everyone who makes us learn about life and living. It’s a quick conversation, a broad smile, but always, a gesture of affection that always accompanies them.

It was at this station that we shared the food, drank juice, lots of juice, shared our anguishes and doubts. It was there, in that little piece of Brazil, that we met to learn, with each other, with those who welcomed us, and with everyone else who joined us on this trip, under the tracks of humility and unconditional love.

Tranqüillo Dias