Comboni Lay Missionaries

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Spirituality

A Retreat that Leads us to Savor Life

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El silencio es un don de Dios, un don capaz de dar mucho fruto a los que se atreven a "perder" tiempo para ganar calidad de vida, una vida plena que sólo Jesús puede darnos. Todavía estoy saboreando todo lo que escuché, medité y sentí en el retiro de Cuaresma organizado por los Laicos Misioneros Combonianos y orientado por el Padre Horácio Rossas, MCCJ. Como hemos mencionado anteriormente, este tiempo de Cuaresma y, en particular, el tiempo que estuvimos en el retiro, es un tiempo que Dios nos ha regalado para "perder" tiempo con Jesús. Pero en el fondo, quien quiso pasar tiempo con nosotros fue el mismo Jesús. Es increíble, ¿no? Jesús quiso pasar tiempo conmigo y con todo el que se atrevió a salir a su encuentro. Alguien tan importante como Jesús, alguien que es Dios, no sólo quieren saber de mí y quiere estar conmigo, ¡es él quien quiere pasar tiempo conmigo! Se nos invitó a reflexionar sobre varios pasajes bíblicos que nos propusieron. ¡Fue intenso! ¡Fue emocionante! Como ya he mencionado, ¡la vida espiritual necesita momentos de gran silencio exterior y gran trabajo interior! Y este retiro fue muy fértil en momentos de reflexión, en momentos de encuentro personal con Dios y en momentos donde sentir Su amor puro, de una manera tan grande, como aquel momento en que dejó nuestro corazón limpio, después de que el sacramento de la reconciliación. Nada es por casualidad y seguro de que no fue un accidente empezar escuchando al comienzo del retiro, las palabras del Salmo 63: "¡Oh Dios, tu eres mi Dios mío! ¡desde el amanecer ya te estoy buscando! Mi alma tiene sed de ti". Recuerdo como reflexionamos sobre nuestra insistencia en querer hacerlo todo por nosotros mismos. ¡Los discípulos echaron sus redes y no pescaron nada! Pero cuando Jesús aparece... Ah, cuando Jesús aparece, ¡todo cambia! Después de todo, ¡es Él que hace todo posible en nuestras vidas! Qué bueno es entender que todos mis miedos, mis inseguridades, todos los obstáculos pueden ser superados si confío en Dios, un Dios que es amor y que nos ama hasta la última gota de amor. Por otro lado, fuimos invitados a meditar en qué medida permitimos que Dios nos ame... El discípulo amado puedo ser yo, ¡puedes ser tú! ¡El discípulo amado es todo aquel que permite que Dios entre en su vida y se deja amar por Él! ¡El amor de Dios es un regalo gratis! ¡Él no nos ama porque seamos guapos o porque sólo hagamos el bien! ¡Él nos ama tal como somos! ¡Él nos ama con nuestras limitaciones! ¡Él nos ama con nuestros errores! Honestamente siento que Dios me ama a pesar de todas mis debilidades y todos mis errores, me da una alegría y una paz interior que sólo puede venir de Dios... ¡Nunca nos debemos resistir al amor de Dios! ¡Debemos dejarnos amar como somos! También nos invitaron a reflexionar sobre el Cristo resucitado porque quien no hace la experiencia de Cristo resucitado todavía no dio un saltó de fe. La fe en la resurrección nos da una nueva mirada a la realidad. ¡Llegamos a ver la vida de otra manera! ¡Creo, sinceramente que este retiro me ha ayudado mucho en el crecimiento de mi fe! Yo, en realidad, me encontré con Dios varias veces este fin de semana: en las diferentes explicaciones de la palabra de Dios; en las meditaciones personales; en misa; en la reconciliación; en la contemplación de la naturaleza... Terminamos el retiro con la celebración de la Eucaristía dominical. Como la mujer samaritana, todos pedimos a Jesús: "Señor, dame de esa agua". ¡Al final todo es por Él! ¡Gracias Jesús por invitarnos a pasar este hermoso retiro contigo! ¡Eres importante para mí, Eres importante para nosotros, Laicos Misioneros Combonianos! ¡Te queremos! También en la Eucaristía del domingo, la LMC Cristina Sousa, con la familia LMC, declaró su compromiso. También ella hace parte del plan que Comboni soñó, también ella es una de las mil vidas para la misión. LMC PortugalSilence is God’s gift, a gift capable of bearing much fruit for those who dare “waste” the time in order to gain quality of life, the full life that only Jesus can give us. I am still enjoying all that I have listened to, meditated upon and felt at the Lenten retreat organized by the Comboni Lay Missionaries and led by Fr. Horácio Rossas, mccj. As we already mentioned, this time of Lent and, in particular, the time we spent on retreat, is a time that God has given us to “waste” time with Jesus. However, in the end it was Jesus himself who chose to spend time with us. Incredible, no?! Jesus chose to spend time with me and with all those who dared to come to meet him. Someone as important as Jesus, someone who is God, not only wants to know about me and stay with me, but chooses to spend time with me!

El silencio es un don de Dios, un don capaz de dar mucho fruto a los que se atreven a "perder" tiempo para ganar calidad de vida, una vida plena que sólo Jesús puede darnos. Todavía estoy saboreando todo lo que escuché, medité y sentí en el retiro de Cuaresma organizado por los Laicos Misioneros Combonianos y orientado por el Padre Horácio Rossas, MCCJ. Como hemos mencionado anteriormente, este tiempo de Cuaresma y, en particular, el tiempo que estuvimos en el retiro, es un tiempo que Dios nos ha regalado para "perder" tiempo con Jesús. Pero en el fondo, quien quiso pasar tiempo con nosotros fue el mismo Jesús. Es increíble, ¿no? Jesús quiso pasar tiempo conmigo y con todo el que se atrevió a salir a su encuentro. Alguien tan importante como Jesús, alguien que es Dios, no sólo quieren saber de mí y quiere estar conmigo, ¡es él quien quiere pasar tiempo conmigo! Se nos invitó a reflexionar sobre varios pasajes bíblicos que nos propusieron. ¡Fue intenso! ¡Fue emocionante! Como ya he mencionado, ¡la vida espiritual necesita momentos de gran silencio exterior y gran trabajo interior! Y este retiro fue muy fértil en momentos de reflexión, en momentos de encuentro personal con Dios y en momentos donde sentir Su amor puro, de una manera tan grande, como aquel momento en que dejó nuestro corazón limpio, después de que el sacramento de la reconciliación. Nada es por casualidad y seguro de que no fue un accidente empezar escuchando al comienzo del retiro, las palabras del Salmo 63: "¡Oh Dios, tu eres mi Dios mío! ¡desde el amanecer ya te estoy buscando! Mi alma tiene sed de ti". Recuerdo como reflexionamos sobre nuestra insistencia en querer hacerlo todo por nosotros mismos. ¡Los discípulos echaron sus redes y no pescaron nada! Pero cuando Jesús aparece... Ah, cuando Jesús aparece, ¡todo cambia! Después de todo, ¡es Él que hace todo posible en nuestras vidas! Qué bueno es entender que todos mis miedos, mis inseguridades, todos los obstáculos pueden ser superados si confío en Dios, un Dios que es amor y que nos ama hasta la última gota de amor. Por otro lado, fuimos invitados a meditar en qué medida permitimos que Dios nos ame... El discípulo amado puedo ser yo, ¡puedes ser tú! ¡El discípulo amado es todo aquel que permite que Dios entre en su vida y se deja amar por Él! ¡El amor de Dios es un regalo gratis! ¡Él no nos ama porque seamos guapos o porque sólo hagamos el bien! ¡Él nos ama tal como somos! ¡Él nos ama con nuestras limitaciones! ¡Él nos ama con nuestros errores! Honestamente siento que Dios me ama a pesar de todas mis debilidades y todos mis errores, me da una alegría y una paz interior que sólo puede venir de Dios... ¡Nunca nos debemos resistir al amor de Dios! ¡Debemos dejarnos amar como somos! También nos invitaron a reflexionar sobre el Cristo resucitado porque quien no hace la experiencia de Cristo resucitado todavía no dio un saltó de fe. La fe en la resurrección nos da una nueva mirada a la realidad. ¡Llegamos a ver la vida de otra manera! ¡Creo, sinceramente que este retiro me ha ayudado mucho en el crecimiento de mi fe! Yo, en realidad, me encontré con Dios varias veces este fin de semana: en las diferentes explicaciones de la palabra de Dios; en las meditaciones personales; en misa; en la reconciliación; en la contemplación de la naturaleza... Terminamos el retiro con la celebración de la Eucaristía dominical. Como la mujer samaritana, todos pedimos a Jesús: "Señor, dame de esa agua". ¡Al final todo es por Él! ¡Gracias Jesús por invitarnos a pasar este hermoso retiro contigo! ¡Eres importante para mí, Eres importante para nosotros, Laicos Misioneros Combonianos! ¡Te queremos! También en la Eucaristía del domingo, la LMC Cristina Sousa, con la familia LMC, declaró su compromiso. También ella hace parte del plan que Comboni soñó, también ella es una de las mil vidas para la misión. LMC PortugalWe were invited to reflect over various Bible passages that were proposed. It was intense! It was moving! As I have already mentioned, spiritual life needs times of interior silence and a lot of internal work! This retreat was very fertile in moments of reflection, moments of personal encounters with God and in moments where we felt his pure love in such a deep way, such as the moment when he purified our hearts, after the sacrament of reconciliation.  Nothing happens by chance and for sure it was not a coincidence when we listened, at the beginning of the retreat, to the words of Psalm 63: “O God, you are my God. From the dawn of day I look for you. My soul thirsts for you.”

I remember how we reflected on our insistence to do it all by ourselves. The disciples cast their nets and caught nothing! But after Jesus appeared… Ah, when Jesus appears, everything changes! After all, he is the one who makes everything possible in our lives! How good it is to understand that all my fears, my insecurities, my obstacles can be conquered if I trust in God, a God who is love and who loves us to the last drop.

Retiro LMC PortugalOn the other hand, we were invited to meditate in what measure we allow God to love us… The disciple who is loved could be me, or you! The disciple who is loved is anyone who allows God to enter his/her life and consents to be loved by him! The love of God is a free gift! He does not love us because we are good looking or only do good things! He loves us as we are! Loves us without limits! Loves us with our mistakes! Honestly, I feel that God loves me in spite of my weaknesses and mistakes and gives me a joy and the interior peace that can only come from God… We must never put up a resistance to the love of God! We must allow ourselves to be loved as we are!

We were also invited to reflect over the risen Christ, because those who have not yet experienced it have not yet experienced the leap of faith. Faith in the resurrection gives us a new view of reality. We come to see life in a different manner!

I sincerely believe that this retreat has helped me a lot in increasing my faith! I, in fact, met God many times during this weekend: in the various explanations of the word of God; in my personal reflections; at Mass; during reconciliation; in contemplating nature…

We ended the retreat with Sunday Mass. Together with the Samaritan woman, we asked Jesus: “Lord, give us of this water.” In the end qall is for him! Thank you, Jesus, for this invitation to spend this retreat with you! You were important to me, to us, CLM! We love you!

During our Sunday Eucharist the CLM Cristina Sousa, with the entire CLM family, made her commitment. She too is part of the plan Comboni dreamed of, she is one of the thousand lives for mission.

Retiro LMC Portugal

CLM Portugal

“Christmas Eve” Polish CLM meeting

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LMC Polonia

On 16-18th December we had our last formation meeting in 2016.

It was very extraordinary time. The main topic for this weekend was “Community”.

On Friday, after the supper, we had some introduction, and we talked a little bit about the components of CLM community. We looked closer at this issue on Saturday during some workshops conducted by Alberto de Portilla – our CLM International Coordinator from Spain.

LMC PoloniaDuring our Bible lesson with Sister Joanna, we were analysing Haggai Book. Israel as “exclusive People” needed to cooperate, live as a community and trust God in order to rebuild their Temple.

In the evening, there was a time for the Christmas Eve dinner. After reading story about Jesus’ birth from the Holy Bible, we shared  a special wafer when exchanging Christmas greetings. After that, we started to eat delicious Christmas food: croquettes with beetroot soup, dumplings with dried plums, a lot of gingerbreads and some traditional food from Silesia (administrative part of Poland) – “moczka”. It was also a time for the Christmas presents, it was a lot of fun and joy for all of us.

Late evening we started vigil in the Chapel, praying for all the continent in many different languages, having a special prayer for all the missionaries spread all over the World, and at midnight we participated in traditional Mass called “Pasterka”.

On Sunday, during the Comboni lesson we explored St. Daniel Comboni’s attitude regarding community and participation of everyone in the missions through the study of his Plan for the regeneration of Africa.
LMC PoloniaJesus is born every day, we just need to be courageous enough to notice it and accept Him in our hearts!

Merry Christmas to all of you!

CLM Poland

«Mind the gap»

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LMC PortugalIt’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

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LMC PortugalDuring 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.

LMC PortugalAll 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.

LMC PortugalThe 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.

LMC PortugalPaula Sousa, CLM Portugal