Mission animation – Page 14 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Message of Pope Francis for World Mission Day 2017

1 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Mission at the heart of the Christian faith

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Once again this year, World Mission Day gathers us around the person of Jesus, “the very first and greatest evangelizer” (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 7), who continually sends us forth to proclaim the Gospel of the love of God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. This Day invites us to reflect anew on the mission at the heart of the Christian faith. The Church is missionary by nature; otherwise, she would no longer be the Church of Christ, but one group among many others that soon end up serving their purpose and passing away. So it is important to ask ourselves certain questions about our Christian identity and our responsibility as believers in a world marked by confusion, disappointment and frustration, and torn by numerous fratricidal wars that unjustly target the innocent. What is the basis of our mission? What is the heart of our mission? What are the essential approaches we need to take in carrying out our mission?

Mission and the transformative power of the Gospel of Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life

1. The Church’s mission, directed to all men and women of good will, is based on the transformative power of the Gospel. The Gospel is Good News filled with contagious joy, for it contains and offers new life: the life of the Risen Christ who, by bestowing his life-giving Spirit, becomes for us the Way, the Truth and the Life (cf. Jn 14:6). He is the Way who invites us to follow him with confidence and courage. In following Jesus as our Way, we experience Truth and receive his Life, which is fullness of communion with God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. That life sets us free from every kind of selfishness, and is a source of creativity in love.

2. God the Father desires this existential transformation of his sons and daughters, a transformation that finds expression in worship in spirit and truth (cf. Jn 4:23-24), through a life guided by the Holy Spirit in imitation of Jesus the Son to the glory of God the Father. “The glory of God is the living man” (Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses IV, 20, 7). The preaching of the Gospel thus becomes a vital and effective word that accomplishes what it proclaims (cf. Is 55:10-11): Jesus Christ, who constantly takes flesh in every human situation (cf. Jn 1:14).

Mission and the kairos of Christ

3. The Church’s mission, then, is not to spread a religious ideology, much less to propose a lofty ethical teaching. Many movements throughout the world inspire high ideals or ways to live a meaningful life. Through the mission of the Church, Jesus Christ himself continues to evangelize and act; her mission thus makes present in history the kairos, the favourable time of salvation. Through the proclamation of the Gospel, the risen Jesus becomes our contemporary, so that those who welcome him with faith and love can experience the transforming power of his Spirit, who makes humanity and creation fruitful, even as the rain does with the earth. “His resurrection is not an event of the past; it contains a vital power which has permeated this world. Where all seems to be dead, signs of the resurrection suddenly spring up. It is an irresistible force” (Evangelii Gaudium, 276).

4. Let us never forget that “being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a Person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction” (Benedict XVI, Deus Caritas Est, 1). The Gospel is a Person who continually offers himself and constantly invites those who receive him with humble and religious faith to share his life by an effective participation in the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection. Through Baptism, the Gospel becomes a source of new life, freed of the dominion of sin, enlightened and transformed by the Holy Spirit. Through Confirmation, it becomes a fortifying anointing that, through the same Spirit, points out new ways and strategies for witness and accompaniment. Through the Eucharist, it becomes food for new life, a “medicine of immortality” (Ignatius of Antioch, Ad Ephesios, 20, 2).

5. The world vitally needs the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Through the Church, Christ continues his mission as the Good Samaritan, caring for the bleeding wounds of humanity, and as Good Shepherd, constantly seeking out those who wander along winding paths that lead nowhere. Thank God, many significant experiences continue to testify to the transformative power of the Gospel. I think of the gesture of the Dinka student who, at the cost of his own life, protected a student from the enemy Nuer tribe who was about to be killed. I think of that Eucharistic celebration in Kitgum, in northern Uganda, where, after brutal massacres by a rebel group, a missionary made the people repeat the words of Jesus on the cross: “My God, My God, why have you abandoned me?” as an expression of the desperate cry of the brothers and sisters of the crucified Lord. For the people, that celebration was an immense source of consolation and courage. We can think too of countless testimonies to how the Gospel helps to overcome narrowness, conflict, racism, tribalism, and to promote everywhere, and among all, reconciliation, fraternity, and sharing.

Mission inspires a spirituality of constant exodus, pilgrimage, and exile

6. The Church’s mission is enlivened by a spirituality of constant exodus. We are challenged “to go forth from our own comfort zone in order to reach all the peripheries in need of the light of the Gospel” (Evangelii Gaudium, 20). The Church’s mission impels us to undertake a constant pilgrimage across the various deserts of life, through the different experiences of hunger and thirst for truth and justice. The Church’s mission inspires a sense of constant exile, to make us aware, in our thirst for the infinite, that we are exiles journeying towards our final home, poised between the “already” and “not yet” of the Kingdom of Heaven.

7. Mission reminds the Church that she is not an end unto herself, but a humble instrument and mediation of the Kingdom. A self-referential Church, one content with earthly success, is not the Church of Christ, his crucified and glorious Body. That is why we should prefer “a Church which is bruised, hurting and dirty because it has been out on the streets, rather than a Church which is unhealthy from being confined and from clinging to its own security” (ibid., 49).

Young people, the hope of mission

8. Young people are the hope of mission. The person of Jesus Christ and the Good News he proclaimed continue to attract many young people. They seek ways to put themselves with courage and enthusiasm at the service of humanity. “There are many young people who offer their solidarity in the face of the evils of the world and engage in various forms of militancy and volunteering… How beautiful it is to see that young people are ‘street preachers’, joyfully bringing Jesus to every street, every town square and every corner of the earth!” (ibid., 106). The next Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held in 2018 on the theme Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment, represents a providential opportunity to involve young people in the shared missionary responsibility that needs their rich imagination and creativity.

The service of the Pontifical Mission Societies

9. The Pontifical Mission Societies are a precious means of awakening in every Christian community a desire to reach beyond its own confines and security in order to proclaim the Gospel to all. In them, thanks to a profound missionary spirituality, nurtured daily, and a constant commitment to raising missionary awareness and enthusiasm, young people, adults, families, priests, bishops and men and women religious work to develop a missionary heart in everyone. World Mission Day, promoted by the Society of the Propagation of the Faith, is a good opportunity for enabling the missionary heart of Christian communities to join in prayer, testimony of life and communion of goods, in responding to the vast and pressing needs of evangelization.

Carrying out our mission with Mary, Mother of Evangelization

10. Dear brothers and sisters, in carrying out our mission, let us draw inspiration from Mary, Mother of Evangelization. Moved by the Spirit, she welcomed the Word of life in the depths of her humble faith. May the Virgin Mother help us to say our own “yes”, conscious of the urgent need to make the Good News of Jesus resound in our time. May she obtain for us renewed zeal in bringing to everyone the Good News of the life that is victorious over death. May she intercede for us so that we can acquire the holy audacity needed to discover new ways to bring the gift of salvation to every man and woman.

From the Vatican, 4 June 2017
Solemnity of Pentecost

FRANCIS

I go, I follow Him, but I am not going alone!

5 August, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

On July 16 in the community of Viseu, in the parish of Rio de Loba, together with her family and friends we celebrated the missioning of our CLM Neuza Francisco. She will soon leave for our mission of Arequipa, Peru. We share with you her feelings, following this great day of celebration.

I talk about a Yes which has nothing easy about it, but means availability, a Yes which is full of commitment and love. It is a “Yes” given from the humble condition I am in, and from what I have within me. It is a Yes full of perseverance, in the certainty that “God does not choose the most able, but enables those he chooses.” (Msgr. António Couto).

This Yes that I am telling you about involves leaving everything, family, friends, and the comforts of a life that for me it had no meaning. It is an attitude of detachment, because only through it we get to experience a personal relationship with Christ, without the dependency and the securities created in the course of a lifetime. I trust in the call that he gives me to be happy here of wherever he will lead me by the hand. It is the certainty of journeying more and more within my very self, to know myself, to be able to touch others, in a relationship which is only possible with the conviction that, walk wherever you walk, God leads me by the hand.

Today I have this deep trust that Comboni walks with me in God’s dream for us and that I, too, am also one of the thousand lives for mission.

Today, He calls me once more to leave my boat at the shore and with him look for other seas. I go, I follow, but I am not going alone. I take along the prayers of all those whose paths I crossed and sowed in me small seeds of a deep love that germinated, and continues to do so, here within my heart. I go, but I do not go alone. I take with me all the hearts I met on my journey and taught me how to love more and more. I take with me all those whose life’s history intertwined with mine and helped me to get to know a merciful and compassionate God.

I hold in me the hugs given along a fruitful and fertile journey, I hold the outstretched hands that, despite the many falls, always helped me get up. I go, but I do not go alone. And, like my grandmother often used to say, I “go with God.”

At this time I am called to Peru. I feel that once more He invites me to love, to share, to be, to offer myself, to trust, so that together with the people to which I am called, we may be one. He calls me to go to the poorest and most abandoned in the outskirts of Arequipa. He calls me to be me and to let the treasure I carry within me bear fruit with others. I embrace the mission of Arequipa, like someone embraces a dream, experienced since forever. It is a dream to which I have given myself, and continue to give myself every day. I am not talking of utopia or of something unreal, but rather of the dream of being totally connected to the reality I have embraced.

I go, not because I want to save the world, but because I, too, want to be part of the open wounds of the world, wounds made of flesh and bone people who in a faraway world carry within themselves fragments of God. I want to be with them, I want to see the face of God in humanity looking for a meaning, with my feet on the ground and my hands filled with nothing. I want to see God in the spontaneous smiles of those who do not know love, but live daily to give praise.

I walk in the confidence, commitment and joy of knowing that I am following Christ, I bring Christ and will always meet Christ. I walk and every step I take, I take it freely in the knowledge that I will always be in his merciful arms where I will take shelter at sundown, and He will be my hope who will make me get up at each new sunrise.

I leave in the name of a community, in the name of the Church, in the name of Jesus Christ, to announce the Gospel of Love. And in this deep growth in myself, in God and in others I ask you: Pray for me.

With love and gratitude,

Neuza Francisco

Fruits

30 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Our meeting has brought forth the realities of our missionary vocation to the group.

We have discussed topics like communication, vocation, economics, formation and much more. Through these discussions we have found where we have met our goals, areas that we need to improve and the challenges we face in doing so.

Much like St. Daniel Comboni we have all found some difficulties in expanding the Kingdom of God. With the charism of our founder and intercessor, we find the strength to carry on in our mission and find the path to do so.

Like the palm tree bearing the coconuts fruit, it is not easy to share the sweet taste of salvation but we find the strength to climb, through our faith and our community.

African CLM

Unity

27 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Our theme for the day was unity.

As the Lord has brought us all from different lands, languages and different cultures, we come together in the Holy Spirit.

We ourselves, our work and our communities are like a puzzle. One piece alone has little meaning, but together we can create something beautiful.

African CLM

25th Anniversary of the CLM in Mexico – 2017

26 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Today, 25 years from the beginning of the CLM in Mexico, we gathered in Sahuayo, Michoacán to start our 19^th National Assembly with great joy, faith and enthusiasm that spur us to continue in this vocation, because, as St. Daniel Comboni said, “This work will not die.”

On June 30 we reflected on our commitment to the lay vocation. In this journey, the call is the compass guiding our steps and pointing to the right way, since our vocation is to do what lines up with our passion that, in one way or another, contributes to the building of a better world: to give help and light, to generate wellbeing, to be guides and spread harmony. We all need to find our vocation, because it brings us to enjoy life more. The advice on this matter was: “If you are doing what you have a passion for, keep on doing it even better.” To follow one’s vocation involves getting to know one another and develop our talents. What am I good for? It means to feel called by God, as special people over whom God placed his sight.

Later, on July 1, we reflected on what must set apart a CLM, and we agreed that the CLM must show a fraternal spirit, act in solidarity and empathy in order to free and walk with the poorest and most abandoned. As for his personality he is a brother who gives confidence, makes you feel part of the family and shares with you sorrows and joys. Even more, he must be loving, generous, and feel the freedom and the joy of serving. In this vocation, not everything is easy, so that even we may not like to stay in it, God wants it and he keeps us going in difficult moments.

Along these same lines, we began to develop a work plan based on the lay missionary experience of the group. In order to progress with this plan it is necessary to observe, to be realistic, to listen and learn from simple things in order to finally to be able to act with patience. Not always can the missionary solve problems, but a process may be started so that there will be change. So, from the work experience among the indigenous communities of Guerrero, we identified these areas of activity: education, employment, nutrition, women’s promotion and inclusion of the disabled.

At the same time, we had the joy of sharing this festive occasion with a group of friends who accompanied us and worked during these days on a life project and reflected on the lay vocation, seeing whether it could be with the CLM. Besides listening to the witness of missionaries, they also took active part in the moments of prayer and celebration.

Finally, the big day arrived, July 2, when we had the opportunity to listen to the missionary testimony of the Mexican CLM who pioneered this work. It was a blessing to enjoy the presence of the Cornejo Castillo family, Olivia Ayala, Martha Navarro and Manuelita Valladares who, by their witness and commitment, left footprints to be followed in this journey.

The Thanksgiving Mass was presided over by Fr. Enrique Sánchez, the MCCJ provincial. Without any doubt, it was a very emotional time to say THANKS to all those who have written parts of this history and to those who are still writing it.

We are also grateful for the presence of Bro. Joel Cruz, mccj and Fr. Gustavo Covarrubias, mccj currently moderator of the CLM in Mexico, and all those who joined our festivities in prayer and from the heart.

Life is made up of moments. It was in July 1992 that the first formation meeting of the CLM took place, followed by July 1996 when our first CLM Silvia, Pablo, Oli and Ana Luz were assigned to Guatemala. In this same month we have given thanks especially for those who have accepted the missionary call to go to the mission ad gentes.

LMC Mexico