Formation – Page 55 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

New comers course in Ethiopia

25 May, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

In the first week of May all our community participated in the new comers’ course. It was organized by Comboni Family but participants were from different congregations. All together we were over 30 people.

First day we had lecture about Christianity in Ethiopia. Ethiopia is one of the first Christian countries in the world, starting from IV century. Also in the Acts of Apostles we can read about converting the Ethiopian.

Second day we focused on the Catholic Church history, which was also very interesting, as e.g. how it happened that Ethiopia has two different rites – Ethiopian Ge’ez one (based very much on the orthodox tradition) and Latin.

Then the next day was about the liturgy, mostly about the one of the orthodox church, which also has a lot in common with the catholic one.

And then following day was about culture and some every-day life issues. These four days were common for all of us. But the last day was only for the Comboni family, we got a lot of information about history of the MCCJ’s missions in Ethiopia (starting from the time of Comboni himself) and CMS, and also some present issues of the Comboni Family’s presence.

It was very enriching time. We got many information, but also many new questions appeared, so we are motivate to continue discovering Ethiopia with its history & culture, to serve better here. Also it was beautiful time to be together and getting to know each other.

CLM Ethiopia

“And you, Mary, what do you tell us about mission?”

24 May, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

On April 29-30, 2017 we were very kindly welcomed in the house of the Secular Comboni Missionaries in Oporto, Portugal, where we held the 8^th formation session of the CLM with the theme, “And you, Mary, what do you tell us about mission?” The CLM Pedro Moreira moderated the session.

The meeting started on Friday evening with the arrival of the participants. For me in a special way it was a time of reconnection that filled my heart with joy, for being once again with people who are a family on a journey. Each one of us is a true gift of God and proof that “there is no distance or separation.”

The theme that was discussed during the entire day on Saturday and on Sunday morning was: “Do you want to offer yourselves to God?” This is the same question that Our Lady asked the three little shepherds of Fatima. It was also our initial question in order to know where we were headed and as a constant point of reference.

With the help of the “Treatise on the True Devotion to the Most Holy Virgin” of St. Luis Maria Grignion de Montfort and the Encyclical “Redemptoris Mater” of St. John Paul II, Pedro Moreira guided us and giving us his witness of simplicity, the beauty of his intimacy, devotion and love in and for Mary, our Mother.

“The more we delve deeply into Mary, the more we are missionaries.” This is one of the statements that resonate with me and that stirred me during the meeting.

Through our group work we meditated on the word of God looking for the missionary virtues of Mary. It was an opportunity to rediscover how missionary Mary was, from the moment of her “Yes up to Jesus Crucified who, from the cross, gave her to us as Our Mother, making her renew her “Yes” win obedience, fidelity and confidence in God’s will. All for the greater glory of God.

We had times of personal reflection that allowed us to deepen our relation with Our Lady and helped us to be missionaries like Mary.

“She was perplexed by these words.” (Lk 1:29)

And I? How do I react to the voice of God resounding in my soul? Especially when I know what the correct path is, but lack the courage to follow it…”

“To be missionaries demands that we be aware of our smallness and frailty, because that is where God manifests himself.”

“It is from the inside that Mary works at our own conversion. The proclamation of Jesus is deeply intimate, because in it the love of God for us and our eternal destiny are revealed.”

“Blessed is she who believed that what was said by the Lord would come to pass.”

I pass on to you these quotes that touched me, stirred me, as I realized how much I need to grow in my relation to Mary. Mary is the path of love towards Jesus. Who knows the son better than his own Mother? And if we follow those we love, and only love those we know, this is the path we are called to walk as missionaries.

As a community we prayed the rosary, offering our intentions and entrusting ourselves to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of hope and of peace. We remembered the Consecration of Africa made by St. Daniel Comboni to the Virgin of La Salette: “O Mary, show yourself to be the queen also of the poor Africans. At this moment, I, their father and missionary, place them at your feet, that you may place them all in your heart. Show that you are the Mother!” (SC 1639-1644)

On Saturday evening we watched the movie, “Mary, daughter of your Son,” that shows the fundamental role of Mary in the work of her son Jesus, which she accepted without understanding it, trusted and hoped faithfully, uniting her life to the mission and the divine reality of her son.

On Sunday we had further occasions to reflect on the dimension of “Us and (in) Mary,” as children of Mary, through a meditation on the biblical story of Rebecca and Jacob.

We concluded our meeting by attending the Eucharist in the parish of Our Lady of Areosa, where we had the opportunity at communion to put into practice the devotion suggested by St. Luis Maria Montfort, because the more we let Mary act through communion, the more will Jesus be glorified.

I am very grateful for this time and for the participation of all!

“Those who do not have Mary as a Mother, will never have God as a Father,” said St. Luis Maria Montfort.

May the charism and the faith of St. Daniel Comboni continue to be our example in this journey as a Comboni Family, so as to be humble missionaries. I leave you with this quote from Comboni’s act of consecration of Central Africa to Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, made on December 8, 1875. Let us pray together:

“And you, O Mary, O Virgin of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, protect us, your poor children, keep us safe as your inheritance and property.

Be our guide as we travel, our teacher in our doubts, our light in darkness. Be our health in sickness, our advocate, our mother near the Heart of your blessed Son Jesus throughout our life.”

By Vanessa Sofia Pedro

CLM Portugal

With Mary, Pilgrims of Love

22 May, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Just like those who start a journey and leave the comforts of home, we, too, our bags on our shoulders and with hearts full of certainties and doubts, started on our journey… Pilgrims, on a road without beginning or end, through ways and byways and more that had never been tried. We advanced on open grounds, through places full of history, on roads paved with love, we walked with Him, full of Mary.

Within the soul the certainty that we are eternal pilgrims, we are in the fashion of Jesus, simple refugees in search of God, in search of fullness and freedom…

We started off and were born as community in the month of Mary, the month of the 100^th anniversary of the apparitions of Fatima. We feel sent by Mary. We are inspired by her, missionaries of yes. We try to follow her steps. To be missionaries means to feel like Mary, pregnant with Jesus, to be the living tabernacles of Jesus, to carry Jesus.

We are far, but we feel like pilgrims of Love and we feel on a journey with all those who gather in Fatima to celebrate the grace and the compassion of the apparitions of Our Lady together with the Pope. We feel that today, and many other days, Mary appears in our hearts and fills them with Grace, Love and Mercy. We are all called to follow her. We are all called to be missionaries, just like her.

Do not be afraid. For you have found grace before God – so said the angel to Mary. By creating us in his image, God looks at us constantly with boundless tenderness, and finds in each one of us a place where to stay. He calls us. Constantly, he sends angels to us to tell us not to be afraid, that God has found grace in us and calls us to be missionaries of love. And often we answer with, “me? But… Me, Lord?” We look left and right thinking he made a mistake. We, often entrapped by our internal wounds, by our anxieties and in our old ways, prisoners of our wounds and imperfections. We who often doubt about God’s call. Thus we make it impossible to receive the call. Let us have trust! Let us be like Mary, answering Yes, carrying it within us, wherever he wants us to go.

The mission needs us. The mission calls us. The mission is difficult, but if we walk together, hand in hand, we are with God, converted in instruments of God, allowing Him to love us and work through us.

Let us say with Mary: “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Community of “Lisanga”

Aitana, David, Neuza and Paula

New formation community in Granada, Spain (CLM of Portugal and Spain)

Comboni Friends’ meeting in Awassa.

21 April, 201718 April, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

The Comboni Lay Missionary of Ethiopia is collaborating with the Comboni´s friends group.

Part of this collaboration is on organization and formation of this group of lay people.

We have celebrated a meeting in Awassa where we talked about Social Teaching of the Church, but also about how St. Daniel Comboni cared for slaves and the most abandoned people.

There was also time for meditation of Bible fragments on which STC is based and some sharing.

It was really good meeting.

Madzia Plekan. CLM Ethiopia

Missionary Exhibit and Meeting in Guatemala

9 April, 20176 April, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

“Saints and able, making common cause with the poor and the needy” (St. Daniel Comboni)

We, the CLM of the PCA in Guatemala want to let you know that on the Saturday, April 1, organized a mission exhibit and a meeting at Casa Comboni, Guatemala. We joined with the missionaries of the parish of St. Catherine of Alexandria, with whom, since February 2016, we are cooperating in their missionary formation.

The parish is St. Catherine of Alexandria is in Santa Catarina Pinula, a municipality of the department of Guatemala City, located about 10 miles from the capital.

In some areas, this population is subjected to extreme poverty and crime because of the gangs, It is one of the “red Zones” of the city.

The objective of our activity was to invite the Comboni Missionaries living in Guatemala city so that their two communities, the CLM and the “missionaries of Catherine (as we call them with affection)would share with words and through visual aids, some of the experiences of 2016 and the missionary projects we have in store for 2017.

We enjoyed the presence of the Comboni Missionaries Fr. Pasquale Miniero, Fr. Carlos Rodríguez, Fr. Antonio Maria Bruyel, Fr. Vicente Clemente and, of course, our moderator Bro. Humberto Rua. The one who thought up this event was also present: Fr. Walter Santizo, a Guatemalan diocesan priest and the pastor of St. Catherine of Alexandria.

At the end we shared a delicious lunch.

The basic idea by which the CLM of the PCA in Guatemala started this year is” “Saints and able united in a common cause to help the poorest and most needed.” This is how St. Daniel Comboni wants his missionaries to be.

We trust in Providence and entrust ourselves to the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, just as St. Daniel Comboni taught us to do. God always walks ahead of us, shedding light on the path leading to the most needy.

CLM Guatemala