Formation – Page 59 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Passing through Bangui

13 December, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

We arrived in Bangui to meet Irene, a CLM coming from Kinshasa. She is from the Democratic Republic of Congo group and will stay with us for about a month. A very charming person. May God allow us to give her a good missionary experience and an unforgettable one for her.

We brought along one of the orphans to whom we feed maternal milk. Her name is Mervelle (Wonder) and she weighed around 4 pounds at birth. She is now five months old, is growing normally and weighs in at 11 pounds, but by December 2 she had lost over a pound and the grandmother said that she had diarrhea. We immediately sent her to the UNT and she was admitted. She was undernourished, and had a fever on a daily basis… Both the director of the hospital and Tenda, another medical colleague, thought that she may suffer from meningitis, so on Wednesday we decided to transfer her to Bangui.

We reached Emergency, an Italian NGO working in the pediatric division of the hospital in Bangui, on Friday around noon and left at four. She was checked from top to bottom and x-rays of her lungs were taken. In the end, Mervelle, our Wonder, was admitted to the ICU for pneumonia, and with symptoms of meningitis, anemia and malaria.

They immediately started to give her oxygen. It was difficult to get enough of her blood for analysis. May God help her to recover quickly, if it is his will! May he watch over her. Today is Sunday and, thanks be to God, a nurse told us that she is doing better.

On December 8 we celebrated the closing of the Year of Mercy with the participation of the entire parish. The Eucharist was very lengthy and lasted three hours, but everyone was happy. At 6:00 in the morning we said the rosary, accompanied by many songs, as we took the image of Mary in procession through the communities of Mongoumba. The faces of our people were glowing with joy and with devotion to our Heavenly Mother.

The Family Jubilee was a success. We held catechesis for both parents and their children. It was good to see the parents and their children take part in the Eucharist together, because they usually do it separately. After Mass, each couple went out looking for a couple that was not married in Church, taking upon themselves the responsibility to catechize them and prepare them to receive the sacrament.

We also want everyone to know that now we have a new car! We thank the Comboni Missionaries of six provinces who shared with us the donations of their benefactors. We are grateful to God who gave them the inspiration to help us, to show solidarity and love.

Do not forget to pray for us. We pray for you.

WE WISH YOU ALL A HOLY CHRISTMAS AND A GOOD 2017 FILLED PEACE, JOY AND MUCH LOVE.

Hugs and kisses from the CLM Anna and Maria Augusta

Mongoumba, CAR

“The worth of our mission is not in what we do but in the One who sends us”

29 November, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

“The worth of our mission is not in what we do but in the One who sends us”

Fr. Ivo, Comboni Missionary

The third formation meeting took place in Viseu, Portugal, on November 18-20. The topic was “Mission today: How? Why? To what end? The Church in action.” The CLM Susana Vilas Boas was in charge of the organization of this weekend.

Susana opened the first formation session questioning us with this quote by Fr. Ivo, which eventually served as the guideline for the entire meeting. It tells us that we are sent by the Father who is always with us and in whom we place all our trust.
To me in particular it gave the assurance that I am not walking alone, that he helps me and will stay with me come what may.

The CLM vocation, just like any other Christian vocation, is not limited to “me”, but always includes “us.” It is very good to discover and to feel it.

The meeting was divided into two sessions: The Acts of the Apostles and the CLM Directory.

I greatly enjoy rediscovering the Acts of the Apostles. With Susana, we lived through the book, some of the more important events, the historical background and, finally, in small groups we were able to delve more deeply into some of the events described by Luke.

On Saturday afternoon, after sharing the group work, we started on the second part. It was a good moment for clarifying some doubts and some crucial aspects in the CLM formation journey.

The evening was spent together with charades on the Acts of the Apostles, with some partying, good conversation and… jokes.

On Sunday morning, it was great to be able to listen to Marcia Costa, who told us about how and when she joined the CLM, her family’s reaction when she decided to leave for the Republic of Central Africa, how she lived and what she did. It was also good to listen to Susana and to understand a little better the realities they faced, and the challenges. We also had the beautiful witness of Ana and Arthur Valente, a couple who upon retirement gave their life to mission work.

Well… It is great to realize that there is not a set age, and that we have a lot of time to do good and make a difference.

By Sofia Coelho

God wants to visit THIS man? – Meeting of the CLM in Nuremberg

8 November, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

At the meeting of the CLM, beside sharing time together, we worked fundamentally on two topics: What are the main points for the group’s work plan for next year and what does Sunday’s Gospel of Zaccheus tell us today from a missionary perspective?

The starting point we used for planning our work was the document with its conclusions from the European Assembly of Viseu, which was held in August of this year, which was attended by four CLM and by Bro. Friedbert.

As a result, in 2017 the group wants to prepare itself forcefully for the MCCJ Symposium on “Mission in Europe” and wants to foster the networking with MaZ (missionaries part-time). We also want to improve communications within the group.

The result of the biblical work was presented at the homily during the Sunday Mass in the community of St. Cunegonde.

Beside working, praying and sharing, we also had a lot of fun during this weekend and we even had a taste of a Peruvian drink.

CLM Germany

«Mind the gap»

2 November, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

It’s my lasts days in London, where I arrived a month and a half before. This moment, while I am writing, seems a scene almost worthy of movie: I am sitting in the underground station, waiting for the tube that will take me home, ‘looking for yesterday’, ‘for everything and ‘for nothing’. At the same time as I am mentally anticipating the journey to Poland, increasingly close, I cannot avoid remember the days “around here”.

In all of this, almost without realizing it, the warning expression recorded on the ground, “mind the gap”, called my attention. Gap between… Save space … How much space is enough for us to be safe? From when and until when should we keep this space? And waiting for what? The “right time”? To go where?

Pope Francis frequently reminds us that we are invited to come out of our comfort zone and have the courage to reach all the peripheries. We should feel impelled to go further, closer, higher, deeper. To pilgrimage more.

These weeks have been, and continue to be, essential in this time of preparation for the mission. Not only because the opportunities to be in places that never had, to meet new people, the language training and learning, … But also for what I am learning about life in community and «space». I have learned that this time we live in, whatever it is, is the time of learning.

We are trainees and heirs of the great love, the love of Christ. Even if some moments seem hard to face and we think that there’s no way out; even if our «appreciation» converges to impatience, I am maturing the idea that loving God means to accept with patience and attention the meetings with others as messages of full sense, even we not feel able to understand them immediately and properly.

I remember that on my first day of classes, in one of the guides that have been given to me after the inscription, was written with great emphasis “the present is now and the future starts right now”. In fact, if we don’t give up on life, our present, we are always starting and building the future. Every day that the Lord gives us is a blessing and a sign of faith in us.

In this community I have learned about the importance of building a life that is not a closed and intransigent life; I am learning about the importance of not get hide or behind the line where everything seemed safe or guarantee. Though, I am learning that the waiting and the patience will always be essentials requests and parts of our lives that need to be mature.

I entrust that my trip did not begin here, and it is not even to finish so somewhat here. In the true travels, in the great travel, I do not think that questions about what we do have considerable interest. We came, we are and we go. And then it makes sense to feel and realize in our lives the expression of the words of the Holy Books: in this world, we have not a stable address/ residence. The scenery of the world is passing, everything has a provisional dimension.

Heidegger once compared the journey of life to a person walking in a huge forest where i tis pitch dark, where it is raining and thundering, and one has a completely lost the way. There is a bolt of lightning and for an instant the way is clear. Then it is dark again. All one can and must do is keep going in the direction one saw illuminated by the lightening flash. This is our challenge and our opportunity: to keep going, to trust that God is faithful, to remember the way in the light of those key moments through which God intervenes in our lives.

Marisa Santos. CLM Portugal

Assembly of the Comboni Lay Missionaries (CLM) in Portugal

24 October, 2016 by Alberto de la Portilla

During the weekend of October 15-16, 2016 the CLM of Portugal gathered in Viseu for their National Assembly and for their second formation meeting on the topic of, “The Word as (with) Vocation,” moderated by the CLM Paula Clara.

During the Assembly, we as CLM had the opportunity to reflect over what was accomplished this year and see the many marvels the Lord has worked in us. We remembered the return of Marcia from Mozambique, and of Élia from the Central African Republic. We remembered the departure of María Augusta for the Central African Republic and of Marisa, who is studying the language in England. Many milestones were reached along the way right here. Above all we concentrated in organizing the European Assembly of the CLM to which we were all committed and for which we felt responsible, and in which we all worked a lot without leaving any detail to chance. We also spent time evaluating and then electing the various ministries of those who, as CLM, are responsible for the organization, such as the coordinating team, the formation team, the finances and many other things that are necessary for the future life of the CLM.

All this reflects what Pope Paul VI wrote in the dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium (#7): “As all the members of the human body, though they are many, form one body, so also are the faithful in Christ. Also, in the building up of Christ’s Body various members and functions have their part to play. There is only one Spirit who, according to His own richness and the needs of the ministries, gives His different gifts for the welfare of the Church.” We are different people with different ministries and responsibilities. We journey together here at home and beyond our borders, praying and committing ourselves in the name of God according to the charism of Comboni.

The meeting on formation could not have been more connected with the Assembly. While some were reflecting on vocation, others were reflecting on what their vocation had produced. In such a journey there are moments when walking together is not enough, but we felt the need to abandon ourselves to divine providence through our commitment. For this reason, on Sunday, relatives and friends joined the CLM family to witness the promise of Neuza, Rufina and Paula.

The journey takes place by walking as a community whose nucleus is Christ. After a day of formation and discernment we wanted to pray with our lives what we daily pray in the Our Father, “May your will be done.” We choose to follow a path of happiness, knowing fully well in advance that we will suffer, laugh, cry, love, fall, get up, get lost and be found. Here we feel at home, the hugs get longer, the laughter echoes in the hall, and often we pray with tears and in silence, because words are not enough to express the love of God. Here we learn that there are no distances that can stand in the way of staying united. Here, like St. Augustine, we turn Love into a greater prayer. Together, we are the thousand lives for mission that St. Daniel Comboni dreamed of. We are the dream of Comboni and we dare to follow in his footsteps making it possible to have much more than a thousand lives for the mission.

Paula Sousa, CLM Portugal