Missionary Experiences – Page 53 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

(Re) Living a Dream

27 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

“We are moved by a dream,” wrote Sebastián da Gama. Many times, a dream rules the soul of a person. It can take us to places we deeply desire, but we not always manage to reach in reality. Since 2015, Carapira had been a dream to me. To return to a place where I had been so happy, to see once more well-known faces, people who had touched me deeply, was something I did not think that could happen again.

But, by God’s grace, the dream became reality and the joy of living the mission God had entrusted to me on Mozambique’s soil filled again my heart with deep gratitude to God and to all those who prayed and worked to turn the dream into reality and make me live it again.

Unlike 2015, my first time in Mozambique, this year the task God entrusted to me consisted in being responsible for seven young people of the group Faith and Mission: Ana, Felipe, Inés, Jorge, Monica, Ruben and Sophia. My main mission was to ensure that these young people would spend a month filled with rich and deep experiences of God, with the people God had us know, within themselves and with the missionaries who, by their example, would teach us about mission.

This year, my greatest joy was to experience the fullness of these young people’s hearts, to see them happily giving of themselves without reserve to all the people who crossed our paths and to all the tasks entrusted to us. Once more, I am grateful to God for the young people he sent to Carapira, for their generosity and goodness, for their cheerfulness and enthusiasm, for all that I learned with them and for all they gave in such a short time.

Despite te fact that we only reached Carapira on August 19, I believe that the long journey was very important, because it allowed us to create greater empathy among ourselves and reflect a bit on mission. So, during the trip we held a catechesis on volunteering and mission, the sacred ground that Mozambique was for us, the other as “sacred” and “a mystery,” and the joy of meeting.

Many thanks to all the missionaries who with open hearts welcomed and accepted us into their homes, who took precious time out in their mission to to stop and be with us, to share marvelous personal stories and took us to see marvelous places.

For me, the best places were the village of Carapira, the communities we visited and all the other places where we were able to be with people. It is for the sake of people that God invites to move. Mission is made of faces: First of all, the face of Christ, filled of love for all and, in a special way, for the most abandoned; then, the face of each person we met and shared of our own selves. At times we only shared our presence, our being there, as it was the case with the sick. Truthfully, this simple sharing brought some people to say to the young people that they had been a blessing from God for the sick. And the young folks allowed themselves to be moved by that. I had the grace to be with some who were attempting to describe what was going on in their soul, on the interior journey they were on, and I can tell you that at times my heart was full of what had been shared, with the marvelous deeds God was working in each one’s heart. Only a loving God can bring about the marvels that our God worked in these young people of “Faith and Mission.”

At the end I said my good-bye to Carapira. Parting was serene, because in my heart I felt the joy of one who does not really say “Good-bye,” but rather “until we meet again.” It could very well be “good-bye” to Carapira, but a “see you again” to mission well beyond our borders. May God make it so!

I end with a little personal Magnificat which I wrote between Carapira and the airport of Nampula:

My soul magnifies the Lord,

I praise and bless God for all the marvels I relived in Mozambique.

The little I had and gave, the Lord multiplied in graces and gifts

transformed in simple gestures of giving and sharing.

Praise be to God!

For our entire group of “Faith and Mission,” the Lord filled our hearts with wonders

translated into a simple “ehali,” into a smile or just a look.

Praise be to God!

Contemplating the natural beauty of this beautiful garden which is Mozambique,

I give glory to God for all of Creation,

for so much love!

Faced with the many signs of God’s presence that we experienced and contemplated

I can only say: God is great!

And God’s greatness shows in all and in everything,

Including myself and my frailty!

Praise be to God!

Pedro Nacimiento, Portugal

Mission on the other side of the Atlantic

26 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

To have faith is to sign a blank page and le God write on it what he wants (St. Augustine).

The same way, mission means to allow us to be guided by the Holy Spirit who accompanies us and waits for us. We came to this journey with all that we are and this way we left. We carried in our hearts all those we love and are part of us. They sent us here and they will accompany for the rest of our lives, for this is what love demands. We left at dawn and we reached Peru also at dawn. Aware of the length of our journey we found strength in the tight embraces we immediately received. We reached the land that, for the next several year we will call home.

They were waiting for us at the entrance to the airport and received us with joy. We shared our names and our charism.

Outside, we were received by a fine and penetrating rain, and in this whirlwind of sensations we stepped on Peruvian soil for the first time.

It was a time of primary knowledge, stripped of our own selves, we took the first steps with these people who welcomed so lovingly. It’s us, from the other side of the Atlantic, living the mission in the style of St. Daniel Comboni.

To know the CLM meant to get to know our Peruvian CLM family. Each one of them shared with us a little about themselves, their witness of life and of faith. While talking, eating, drinking and laughing we received part of themselves and shared part of ourselves, joyfully, certain that all these lives converge in God.

With the certainty of what has been and that God is calling us to this mission. Let us walk together sure that we will reach where they are waiting for us.

Neuza and Paula, CLM Peru

The Spanish Comboni Family in Almería

24 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

Last week the commission of the Comboni Family met in Granada, Spain, to continue to elaborate the new project we, as a Comboni Family, want to start in Almería, specifically in St. Isidro of Níjar.

The situation of the migrants who have settled there, mostly Africans, challenges us and calls us to give an answer from our Comboni charism of “Saving Africa with Africa.”

Many thanks to the commission for your commitment and work and for sharing the dream of a new type missionary presence as Family.

We share with you a short video of one of our visits to the various settlements of migrants during the last course, which shows the situation we found there.

CLM Spain

Ayllu CLM Community in Arequipa Peru

9 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

To arrive at the mission is to arrive home. Not the one that saw us being born, but another that now welcomes us, where we now sleep, grow and love. To arrive at the mission is to reach the people. Not the one that saw us being born, but another who receives us with open arms as if we were its daughters coming home. To arrive at the mission is to embrace another people. Not the one who saw us being born, but the one who receives us with open arms and prepares to grow with us. Each person is a world and has a world to share with us. In each person we meet God and it is this God and this world that today we want to show to you. It is in this panorama where each day we awake with hope and fall asleep blessed. This mission is not ours, it belongs to all and we hope that you will walk through each day and each story with us.

Paula y Neuza. CLM in Peru

Piquiá

8 October, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

I went to see an open cut mine, the largest iron ore mine in the world which is located in the mountains of Carajás. When I got there, I was overwhelmed by its size, I took a technical look at that exploitation and thought: at one time I would have given anything to work in a place like this… Then I looked at the reality of this place and felt great sorrow remembering all those who are affected by the impact it has for hundreds of miles. It was not by chance that we had to travel an entire night to visit this mine, since between the mountains of Carajás and São Luís stands Piquiá.

And in Piquiá, where our mission is located, we are well aware of the social and environmental impact of the mine. The ore extracted from there is taken to Piquiá by train to be treated in the various local iron plants, then still by train it is taken to the harbor of Sâo Luís from where it is shipped all over the world.

Piquiá is a neighborhood on the outskirts of Acailândia, MA and is divided into High Piquiá, where we live, and Lower Piquiá, where the iron plants are located in people’s backyard.

The inhabitants of Lower Piquiá suffer daily from the contamination coming from the factories. With the coming of summer, the contamination increases and, on a daily basis, one sees black clouds spewing from the smokestacks without any emission control and without any type of government control. The amount of iron dust found in the air, and the damage caused to our health and wellbeing are staggering. While visiting the families in Lower Piquiá, I could not remain indifferent to the stories of life and sufferings encountered by this community due to the contamination and the destructive environmental impact caused in this area that used to be a little paradise.

Over the years, there have been many struggles, the people united to fight for their rights, for an healthy and clean place where to live and, little by little, they have had some success against these giants in order to give dignity to their lives. Currently, they already have a piece of land and a project for the construction of a new neighborhood, “Piquiá de la Conquista,” removed from the source of contamination. Bureaucracy is still the main obstacle, but hope still lives on…

Lower Piquiá, already resettling!

Liliana and Flávio CLM Brazil