Formation – Page 23 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

From wild market and consumerism to a loving tender care for life

20 July, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

According to some prophetic calls, which have been announcing either a post-modern, or a post-religious, or better a post-capitalist era, we are now dropping into a post-hope one with a never-ending story of increasing domination of the capital owners, more disadvantages and social injustice for the hindmost in society, increasing pollution, a tremendous unconscionable abuse of water everywhere, and rivers and oceans full of plastic and chemistry. What is more, some groups of people show less commitment and more political disaffection. Nevertheless, we are meeting people who keep asking witty, remarkable, and important questions about how to manage: Is democracy still there? Is our planet earth still to be saved? What could we do?

We see these and similar questions already as a sign that humanity, that some reasonable and intelligent people still have resources in themselves and want to live according to their dignity and noble-mindedness. That is encouraging even for us. Despite many difficult situations, catastrophes and injustices, they and we do not resign, we do not give up, we do not remain passive. It is not enough to feel anger, to look for the guilty ones. Hate and violence are not in place. On the contrary.

Let us start again anew, let us come together to analyse situations in the light of the Gospel and of the Social Teaching of Pope Francis. Together we will find new ways to do better, first of all we ourselves, and then we will take courage to propose to others these new ways we find for the present and for the future. With loving tender care for LIFE!

We started thinking about writing this message to you while approaching the feast of our Lady of Mount Carmel. You have certainly heard about the Dolomite Mountains in Italy and about the fact, that the mountains have changed face. So, we were inspired to look at our Lady of Mount Carmel as the caring Mother of Jesus of Nazareth, and as a role model leading a genuine life in contact with nature, in simplicity of relationships and in a creative way of life. We love to contemplate her and her family, with Joseph being the carpenter of the village. We see her enhancing wood, trees, herbs, and flowers. We see her collecting water with reverence and doing the domestic work thriftily and economically, being unpretentious, making the most with little things. With love and care for LIFE.

We feel called upon to continue our profound transformation in ourselves, in our mental and practical doing, as well as our Transformation Campaign for a new lifestyle, for a simpler life, in a way that we do not add destruction and worsen the desperate condition of our Mother and Sister Earth. Let us all leave behind the usual wild market and consumerism mindset and become families and communities with an integral human and environmental development mentality.

Let us think anew of planting trees, of always treasuring and saving water, of looking at our fields with veneration and of cultivating in us and around us an attitude of maximum respect for the Sacrality of Creation, like our ancestors did. Let us think of eliminating plastic from our everyday life and invest our creativity on how to substitute it. This is actually an affirmation of our faith in your creativity!

Dear friends, let us create something new! Let our homes be centres of new LIFE, quality of LIFE, like we have always seen in our vision and mission as “Social Ministers”, “Social Entrepreneurs”, “Social Transformers”. Together we dare! Together we will succeed! With loving tender care for true LIFE!

“Praise be to you, my Lord”. In the words of this beautiful canticle, Saint Francis of Assisi reminds us that our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. “Praise be to you, my Lord, through our Sister, Mother Earth, who sustains and governs us, and who produces various fruit with coloured flowers and herbs.” (LS 1)

“I do not want to write this Encyclical without turning to that attractive and compelling figure, whose name I took as my guide and inspiration when I was elected Bishop of Rome. I believe that Saint Francis is the example par excellence of care for the vulnerable and of an integral ecology lived out joyfully and authentically. He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the field of ecology, and he is also much loved by non-Christians. He was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace.” (LS 10) “Humanity is called to recognize the need for changes of lifestyle, production and consumption, in order to combat this warming or at least the human causes which produce or aggravate it. It is true that there are other factors (such as volcanic activity, variations in the earth’s orbit and axis, the solar cycle), yet a number of scientific studies indicate that most global warming in recent decades is due to the great concentration of greenhouse gases.” (LS 23) Due to wild exploitation! “Let us mention, for example, those richly biodiverse lungs of our planet which are the Amazon and the Congo basins, or the great aquifers and glaciers.” (LS 38)

“In the Judaeo-Christian tradition, the word ‘creation’ has a broader meaning than ‘nature’, for it has to do with God’s loving plan in which every creature has its own value and significance. Creation can only be understood as a gift from the outstretched hand of the Father of all, and as a reality illuminated by the love which calls us together into universal communion.” (LS 76) “Yet God, who wishes to work with us and who counts on our cooperation, can also bring good out of the evil we have done. The Holy Spirit can be said to possess an infinite creativity, proper to the divine mind, which knows how to loosen the knots of human affairs, including the most complex and inscrutable.” (LS 80)

“A prayer for our earth”

“All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe, and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united, with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light. We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.” (LS 246)

All of you please feel embraced with our daily prayer and affection,

Fr. Francesco Pierli MCCJ / Sr. Teresita Cortes Aguirre CMS

Community Experience in Guatemala

23 May, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

St. Daniel Comboni had an IMMENSE LOVE FOR THE SOULS OF THE POOREST AND ABANDONED and this can only be lived from a MISSION EXPERIENCE.

For the CLM of Guatemala, having accompanied Maximina and Mercedes in their process of Community Experience, is today a school of learning full of LOVE AND MISSIONARY HOPE; why, many may ask, because each member of the community has participation; Everyone in prayer, in the economy, in the personal accompaniment, in the formation in so many activities that a missionary experience needs and no one said no, we are all in the same boat where GOD the FATHER guides us under the intercession of SAN DANIEL COMBONI, Our Mother the Virgin Mary and SANTO DOMINGO DE GUZMAN Patron of the Community of Xenacoj who opened the doors of his house and his heart, so that they could carry out this experience during 6 months.

In these 6 months there were doors so wide that they were easily passed, but also so narrow that they required for them and the community to be full of prayer, wisdom, understanding, tolerance, tiredness and full of FAITH to be able to pass them.

Thank you Merceditas and Maxi for your availability and abandoning yourselves to the poorest and neediest whom we are sure you carry in your heart and were for them your first school of FRATERNAL LOVE and COMMUNITY UNION.

Miriam Herrador

CLM Guatemala

Letter to the Comboni Family

12 May, 202210 May, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

“Let us all toil with no other aim than to gain more souls for Christ: let us join hands together. Let the vow, the objective and the commitment of all who love Jesus Christ be one.”

(Writings 2182)

Dear Comboni Missionary Women and Men,

We, the members of the General Councils and the Coordinator of the CLM, having gathered together from 22 to 24 of last April, at the native home of Saint Daniel Comboni in Limone, and moved by the desire to make you participants, at least in part, of what we lived and shared, write this letter to you desiring that the communion we experienced may reach all of you, there where Providence has placed you, to serve and give your lives for the sake of the proclamation of our Crucified and Risen Lord.

It was the first meeting that could be held in person, after the time of isolation caused by the pandemic with all that it entailed, with the high price paid, even with their lives, by so many brothers and sisters. Such was the pandemic that it forced the postponement of the General Assembly of the CMS and also the General Chapter of the MCCJ which will be celebrated in June of this year during which the CMS are celebrating the 150th anniversary of their foundation and will have their General Chapter in October. All these reasons have given meaning to this meeting, not least the synodality to which the universal Church invites us, and the very fact of our being a Comboni Family is, in itself, an expression of a synodal Church. Walking as a Comboni Family is not optional, it is not even the meeting of the leaders, but it is life in the communities, in the concrete missions where one lives and works with shared objectives.

Our “coming together” as a family came about quietly but, in fact, it has evolved due, not so much to the result of programming as to the perceived desire and the awareness of belonging to a common root. Coming together is always an opportunity to grow in the awareness of being part of the same charismatic family because this is how St. Daniel Comboni thought of us, and an occasion to strengthen the commitment to continue to feel part of it; the fruits that have grown over time confirm that this it is the right path.

Our proclamation and witness, beyond the ministries and services we are called to give, is, first of all, to live as brothers and sisters, members of the same Family: without this witness, even the most beautiful activities lose their value. All those who have experienced collaboration and working together as a Comboni Family know that it is not easy and, for some, this implies a commitment to be able to appreciate the value of collaboration. However, we sincerely believe in it and invite you to keep this horizon as a desirable goal.

We wanted to have this meeting also to evaluate the progress made so far, taking as a basis the letter on collaboration written in 2017 and the work on ministeriality that involved a large number of members of the CF, thanks to the commitment and dedication of the appointed Commission and to other trained and qualified collaborators. We thank the Lord who surprised us with what we were able to achieve and above all for those who participated and enjoyed this journey.

Bro. Antonio Soffientini, sharing the reflection on this theme made by the Italian province of the MCCJ, invited us not to attach an adjective, a “label” limiting ministeriality, because ministeriality has many expressions and is not only towards “the external, ad extra “, but also” inward, ad intra “and the latter often escapes any mapping. All the services that the life of the CF requires are ministerial: training, authority, administration, coordination and accompaniment in every phase of the life of the members, from the beginning of the journey to old age.

A lasting sign

The General Moderators of the four expressions of the Comboni Family wished to express their unity and the desire to see the growth of the seed which the recognition of the Charism of St. Daniel Comboni has generated in them in recent years and which these two days of encounter have revived, entrusting it to an olive tree planted by all of us together, in the soil of the birthplace of Saint Daniele Comboni. Thus, next to the centuries-old olive trees dedicated to various relatives of San Daniele Comboni, one dedicated to the Comboni Family will grow.

Now there remains the challenge of continuing the journey and for this reason, we wish to “pass the baton” to the new General Councils of the MCCJs and CMS who will be elected in the upcoming General Chapters, asking the CMS and CLM to act as a “bridge” and link for the future journey together.

May the Good Shepherd of the Pierced Heart show us the way and, as he promised, walk with us until the end of time.

The General Council of the Comboni Missionary Sisters

The General Council of the Secular Comboni Missionaries

The General Council of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus

The Coordinator of the Central Commission of the Comboni Lay Missionaries

“This Institute, then, becomes like a little Cenacle of Apostles for Africa, a centre of light sending to the centre of Africa as many rays as the Missionaries who go out from it. These rays of light, bringing warmth as well as illumination, cannot but reveal the nature of the Centre from which the spread out” (Writings 2648)

Easter Message of the MCCJ General Council: “The Risen One who does not leave us alone”

13 April, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

“For millions of people, this Easter continues to be an Easter of suffering, conflict, war, displacement, hunger, death and destruction. Looking at this scenario from a human point of view gives us a sense of fear, anguish and loss: a dead-end road. On the other hand, for us missionary disciples, this is not the time to complain, but to see, through the gaze of our faith, the Risen One who does not leave us alone.” (General Council)

Easter Message

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now and there was no longer any sea … Then I heard a loud voice that called from the throne saying: “You see this city? Here God lives among men. He will make his home among them; they shall be his people and he will be their God. His name is God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes and there will be no more death and no more mourning or sadness because the world of the past has gone”.
(Ap 21, 1-4)

Dear Confreres,
It is with great joy that we address you, to share the Good News that we have heard: He is Risen! “This is the house where God lives among men”. Alleluia!

A time of suffering

To speak of Easter, Resurrection, a New Heaven and a New Earth in times of pandemic and war seems a contradiction. Instead of seeing signs of life, we see destruction and death, because wars and disease are signs of Jesus’ passion and death that continue in the life of his people. For millions of people, this Easter continues to be an Easter of suffering, conflict, war, displacement, hunger, death and destruction. Looking at this scenario from a human point of view gives us a sense of fear, anguish and loss: a dead-end road. On the other hand, for us missionary disciples, this is not the time to complain, but to see, through the gaze of our faith, the Risen One who does not leave us alone: “He will dwell with them and they will be his people and he will be the God-with-them, their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. The Risen One is the Crucified One. On his glorious body, there are indelible wounds that have turned into windows of hope. As Pope Francis said: “… Indifference, self-centredness, division and forgetfulness are not words we want to hear at this time. We want to ban these words forever! They seem to prevail when fear and death overwhelm us, that is when we do not let the Lord Jesus triumph in our hearts and lives. May Christ, who has already defeated death and opened for us the way to eternal salvation, dispel the darkness of our suffering humanity and lead us into the light of his glorious day, a day that knows no end.” (Easter Urbi et Orbi Message – 12 April 2020).

A time for listening and discernment

The light of the paschal candle that lights our candles is the light of the Risen One that illuminates our actions and our deeds, the fruit of our listening. Listening to the cry of millions of human beings who still live in situations of death; listening to the confreres who walk with us in the footsteps of the mission; listening to the Word and the voice of the Holy Spirit who helps us, through sharing and prayer, to discern the signs of the times that we are experiencing as a society, as an Institute and as a Church. It is in intimacy with the Risen One that we re-make our being Comboni missionary disciples called to live the joy of the Gospel in today’s world. We are a mission and through our witness, our ministry, we announce the New Heaven and the New Earth, because “The former heaven and earth had in fact disappeared and the sea was no longer … the old things have passed away.”. The voice of hope resounds: Christ is risen! It is the victory of love over the root of evil, a victory that does not “bypass” suffering and death, but passes over them, opening a way in the midst of the abyss, transforming evil into good: the exclusive mark of God’s power.

A time to celebrate

“… and there will be no more death and no more mourning or sadness”. The certainty that the Risen One is alive among us fills us with joy and reconfirms our mission in building the Kingdom which is life in fullness for all, especially the poorest and most abandoned. That is why we have to celebrate. And we celebrate the victories great and small that occur daily in gestures of solidarity, sharing, reconciliation, fraternity, justice and peace in our religious and parish communities. We celebrate the victory over death that is won by the tenderness of love through the service of people who are like their guardian angel next door, in the midst of wars, pandemics, conflict, violence, etc. We celebrate the XIX General Chapter in this Easter context as an Easter Kairos, a Kairos of the Spirit: “And He who sat on the throne said: ‘Behold, I make all things new'” (Rev 21: 5). Happy Easter Everyone!
The General Council
Rome, April 17, 2022

“The Way of the Cross in the Writings of St. Daniel Comboni.”

29 March, 202228 March, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

The cross is “foolishness” for those who do not understand it… said St. Paul (1 Cor 1:18). Here we publish a Way of the Cross with 14 phrases by Saint Daniele Comboni on Jesus’ journey to the cross. Comboni deeply understood the “scandal” involved in seeing Jesus on the cross: he saw it as a necessary means for evangelization and as a reality that his missionaries had to embrace in order to continue God’s saving work in the world. What Comboni says is very strong and even scandalous in our day, but in these words of his we can find light and wisdom for our missionary life. [comboni.org].