“I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”
Sam 1, 27-28
I chose this quote from the Bible because my mother always asked God that I met Him and fall in love with His works before I went to college. She asked for it so much that it was given to her. It was given to her so I would not lose my way and I would always adhere to the values that she taught me.
Today I thank God for allowing me to be closer to Him. I thank for the family who have always supported me in my projects. I thank for those friends who have brought me closer to Christ and for all the people who have supported me on this path, especially with their prayers. I thank to Comboni Missionaries and the Combonian Lay Missionaries (CLM) who have become a real family to me and with whom I have had many beautiful experiences in this so far short period of my missionary journey, and…
“TODAY, BEFORE GOD I PRESENT THIS LETTER OF COMMITMENT IN WHICH I EXPRESS THE WILL TO CONTINUE THE FORMATION WITH THE CLM GROUP. ALTHOUGH I AM STILL CLARIFYING MY VOCATION, I FEEL DEEPLY ATTRACTED BY FOLLOWING CHRIST IN THE CHARISM OF ST. DANIEL COMBONI, SERVING THE POOREST AND MOST ABANDONDED.”
One of Comboni’s writings says: THE LORD HAS GIVEN HIM A LOT, BUT HE KNEW ALSO HOW TO USE WELL WHAT HE HAS GIVEN HIM.
I thought that God has also given me many qualities and talents that I can offer in the service to others and thus “BE HIS TOOL AND REFLECT HIM WITH MY WORK.”
This is the third time I have come to Portugal. But a pilgrimage to Fatima and a city break in
Porto was a completely different experience than the three months I have spent learning the language, volunteering and living with a local family.
I have been a Lay Comboni Missionary since last October. On September 12th I will be
officially sent on a two-year mission to Mozambique. One of the most important stages of preparation is a language course. From May 20, I lived in the village of Duas Igrejas (the name means literally “Two Churches”, although there is only one temple there) together with Gloria and António, a married couple cooperating with the Comboni Lay Missionary movement.
Initially, I compared the Portuguese reality to the Polish one. Portugal is a country with a standard of living similar to Poland, where in the past, due to poverty and joblessness, also many people decided to emigrate. A country where many people still practice their faith; they have a figure of Lord Jesus of Our Lady of Fatima in theirs gardens. Many catholic holidays are celebrated very solemnly there; among others non-working days are Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Fr. João Pedro Martins Ribeiro, local pastor of the three parishes (due to the small number of vocations, parishes are very often combined) presents a more pessimistic picture of religiosity in the country. He says that only a small fraction of the faithful goes to confession, is aware of what they believe and adheres to moral principles. Football is a religion for many Portuguese. Then the most important for them is to eat well and their favorite team to win the game. They go to church for the most important opportunities during holidays or at a funeral, when one of your friends dies – Padre João complains.
People in Portugal are very calm and conflict-free. I have witnessed many times like someone
forced right-of-way, cut the road or blocked the passage. It is never used on this occasion
horn or profanity. It just slows down or waits. Someone will make a mistake on the road, but
I can also forget myself or not notice someone. Why should I react nervously to the mistakes of others? Better to be calm and understanding about everything – says Augusto, the extraordinary minister of Holy Communion and the working driver in the house of the daily stay, when I was a volunteer. Only once did I hear someone speaking a raised voice, I did not notice anyone drunk, I did not encounter any manifestation malice or aggression. The Portuguese are very helpful too. Repeatedly they let me leave mine a backpack in a cafe or ticket office at the station, they bought a beer or dinner when they heard that I had arrived to learn a language. It happened that when I ran to a train station late, the driver heard mine calling and waited for me to jump on the train.
I also experienced a lot of care and love from Gloria and António, who hosted me for three
months at home. They took me to lessons and volunteering every day, cooked meals, took me to
trips and bought a couple of language study books and two pairs of pants (after I destroyed my own,
by unskillfully disinfecting the soles of shoes when entering the house). We joked that I was like them fourth, adopted, child.
Soon, as a child who still has a lot to learn, I will go to my new home in Mozambique.
I will get to know a new culture, have a new job and build new relationships. Just like in Portugal and before in Uganda, I will leave a piece of my heart there and come back gifted with pieces of hearts people that I will met there.
We continue this series with Fr. Jaime Calvera, a Comboni Missionary who arrived in South Africa for the first time in 1985, a country to which he dedicated his work until he was recalled to Spain. In this interview he tells us with special enthusiasm about his experiences in projects such as the Mamelodi choir, which came to fruition despite the harsh social context of the country, and also introduces us to the Ubuntu philosophy.
As has been our norm as the CLM in Kenya, we had our monthly formation meeting this June. This time around we were hosted by the MCCJ in their provincial house, organized by our director, Fr. Maciek MCCJ. The main lesson was the Catholic Social Teaching. During this weekend-long meeting, we had a chance to participate in the World Refugee Day celebrations organized by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Kenya in Nairobi. It was an amazing experience, being able to meet our brothers and sisters refugees from various countries who showcased their talents and capabilities.
One of the highlights of our formation was the chance to not only meet but learn from the Bishop-elect of Rumbek Diocese in South Sudan, Fr. Christian Carlassare MCCJ. Having been aware of his recent attack, we as CLM-Kenya were really glad to see him recovered and even accompany us to the celebrations of World Refugee Day. He shared with us more on the Catholic social teaching and also examples of challenges faced during mission work. His sharing was very helpful to us all especially it being that we are soon having some of the members finalize on their formation by the end of the year. We also got a chance to learn from the Provincial Superior of the MCCJ in Kenya, Fr. Austin Radull MCCJ. They both shared their vocational journeys with us and various challenges encountered in the process.
It is said that growth is the only sign of life, and we as CLM-Kenya are proud to say that we are improving in terms of membership and formation. Other than there being some of us who are almost done with formation, we have been blessed with new membership over time regardless of the COVID 19 pandemic. Our financial projects are still progressing well, and we are hoping to establish a new mission for the lay in West Pokot County. God willing, we will be in a position to host our fellow CLM members from other countries for mission work in the near future.
This past weekend we held the third and last webinar on the ministeriality of the Comboni Family.
During the first two we were receiving as participants many proposals and challenges. The commission presented us the great work of the information gather on all the projects that the Comboni Family is carrying out throughout the world in different countries and continents.
There is a great wealth of service being carried out.
In this last meeting we had plenty of time for conversation.
On Friday, in addition to update the progress we have made, we were able to share in small groups the concrete work that each one of us is doing and to deepen our understanding of it. It was a very nice moment to know firsthand the direct service of the participants of the group and the importance of it. It is true that it is only a sample of all that is done as a Comboni family, but we were able to discover the passion with which it is done and the interrelationship between a service and another.
On Saturday we continued in this line analyzing the impact that these services are having in the different communities and even tried to broaden the vision of our work, the need to network with the rest of the Comboni family as well as with other groups inside and outside the church and to be aware of how the macro structural aspects influence the concrete communities and make this networking more and more necessary.
We ended by sharing ideas on how to continue the collaboration as Comboni family as it has been done during these meetings.
We are thankful to the commission on ministeriality of the Comboni Family that has made these meetings possible and to the great work of systematizing all that has been shared during these years, which offers us a lot of material for analysis to improve our missionary service.
The idea of continuing to collaborate by sectors was very much repeated, so that those of us who share the same type of services can collaborate and exchange experiences.
On the other hand, we talked about the importance of being able to meet regularly as a family. From the meeting we get to know each other deeply and new ideas for collaboration can emerge. Perhaps having an annual meeting in each country would be an idea to consider. A place where we can get to know each other in greater depth, share the services we are performing and respond as a family to the challenges of the mission from the place where we are. From there will emerge initiatives that can also be carried out both at the continental and international level.
May the charism of Comboni inspire us in this collaboration for a better missionary service.
Alberto de la Portilla. CLM Central Committee
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