Spirituality
CLM Easter Celebration in Spain 2017
“Renew us Lord, that the World needs us”
Under this motto, last week the CLM from Spain meet in Community to celebrate Easter Triduum.
During these days we have the chance to meet, we had the opportunity to reflect and celebrate together the great Mystery of Love of God for Humanity and to renew our missionary commitment in family..
May our faith in the Risen One make us sowers of Life every day.
CLM Spain
Joy and Sorrow
Mbi bala ala…
(A greeting in Sango)…
During this time of Lent we have received the grace to experience moments of joy…
…On Sunday, March 19, two sons of Central Africa, Dreyfus and Romain were ordained to the priesthood as Comboni Missionaries by Card. Dieudonné Nzapalainga, archbishop of Bangui. The Comboni parish of Our Lady of Fatima was decorated for the occasion and throughout the morning it filled up with people wanting to share in the joy of the moment, something that does not happen every year, especially with a double ordination… a sign that even in the midst of difficulties the Church of Central Africa and the Comboni family are slowly growing…
…The next moment of joy took place the following Sunday, March 26, in the cathedral of Bangui with the episcopal ordination of the new bishop of the diocese of Bambari, a new shepherd for this remote area which is still living through troublesome days of instability and insecurity…
… these were moments of joy lived through dances, singing, showy dresses, palm branches, drums and choirs…
…but the people felt fully involved, including in the sorrowful moments typical of Lent, confessions, the Way of the Cross and the Easter Triduum, in a special way the women and the mothers kneeling during the entire celebration at the cathedral or on the red clay of the entrance to Fatima parish. The Comboni missionary shows us that the sorrow and the suffering in the history of Central Africa, not only in the past but in its daily form, brings people to identify with the history of this “man beaten, tortured, killed and crucified…
…however, after moments of pain, joy returns in the Easter Vigil, and again in the morning Mass with dances, fires, lights, the blessing with water, the choir singing Alleluia… because Life wins over death, Joy trumps Sorrow…
…Happy Easter to all and forever from Bangui: The spiritual capital of the world!
Greetings, hugs, kisses, prayers and THANKS…
Simone, CLM in Central Africa
Easter among the Gumuz people
This year our community spent Holy Week and Easter at the Comboni missions among the Gumuz tribe. Madzia and I stayed in Gublak most of the time; Adela and Tobiasz stayed in GilgelBelez. However, we all visited both places. I would like to share with you something of this impressive experience.
The journey from Addis Abeba to GilgelBelez was very tiring. We spent 13 hours on a bus packed with people. At times, only the beautiful landscape gave us some relief. We arrived in the evening and, while we were having supper together, the fathers told us a lot of stories about the local people. Many of them sounded incredible. We were very happy to have the opportunity to meet those people and the missionaries during their daily activities.
We spent the next day in GilgelBelez, a town where many different tribes, including the Gumuz, live. The Gumuz face discrimination in their daily life because of the dark colour of their skin. They were even discriminated by the churches until the Catholic Church came. Today the parish community is made up entirely of Gumuz people. In the days before Easter we could observe them working together preparing for the feast. They all worked hard for the good of the community. We also visited a certain boy and his family, whom Madzia helped two years ago. She showed him and his parents some exercises and found crutches for him. Now he is able to walk on his own. It was nice to see the good results of Madzia’s work. We also visited the town and the kindergarten belonging to the parish.
After our short visit to GilgelBelez we moved on to visit Gublak, a mission founded five years ago. Before the Triduum we saw the daily work of the missionaries. They celebrate Mass in the morning and then each one goes about his work. The main job is visiting villages to teach the people about Christ and our faith. We went to some villages together with them. The first thing they do when they arrive in a village is to greet people. Only after the greetings can the meeting begin. The people pray and sing and, then the fathers, the sisters or the catechists give them some instruction. Some of the people are already baptized while others are still catechumens. The catechists act as translators from Amharic into the Gumuz language. There are very few texts in this language and the missionaries speak only Amharic. During a meeting with the women, Adela and Tobiasz gave them testimony about family life. They had prepared it for some days with their Amharic teacher and it was their first speech in Amharic (after a three-month course!). Congratulations to them!
Then we started the Triduum. I went with Father Isayas to bring the catechumens to our compound on Thursday. Starting from the furthest village we brought some of them on the pick-up car. The catechumens who live close to the mission came on foot to the church in the evening. On Holy Thursday evening, I went with Fr. Isayas to a chapel where we celebrated the Last Supper Mass. There were around 50 people (most of them children or teenagers). During his homily the father described what happened at the Last Supper and explained, about the institution of the Eucharist. Then he washed feet of twelve chosen young people. After the Mass, we had a time of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. I must say that the youth behaved properly.
After that we took some of them to our compound where they joined the 130 young people already there. From Thursday till Sunday the youth stayed in the compound. They had prayer, teaching, and group work and participated in the main program: the Stations of the Cross, the Friday Liturgy, the Passover Liturgy and, the Sunday Easter Mass. I was very impressed by the people. They participated very actively. The catechists who are also young boys served all this time, from the morning until night. They did it with joy, without complaining. They translated, they organized the prayers, the services, the meals and, they kept order and discipline. During the Passover Liturgy 102 catechumens were baptized, on Sunday there was a group of 24 adults who also received baptism. Even if the Mass lasted so long, it was great to see the people who became Christians. It was something very meaningful in their lives. Some of them were really moved.
Most of the new Christians are very young, children or teenagers. Most of the adults who received the baptism were the mothers of the children who were baptized in past years. It is amazing how the Catholic Church is growing where there were no Christians at all just a few years ago. Many of those people don’t know how to read or write and do not know Amharic. Nevertheless, they listened to the missionaries and believed. Of course they still need Christian formation and that’s why the missionaries’ work is so important. Saint Daniel Comboni must be very happy to see the fruits of their work.
CLM Ethiopia
The miracle of Blessing
In the Mother Teresa Home where I work, most patients stay for only a few weeks – months, just for treatment. However, there is also a small group of people for whom the center is home. They are mainly people with intellectual disabilities who do not have any relatives, who were found by the sisters on the street. Among them is Bereket (which means Blessing) – man with Down syndrome. He has been living here for many years, so since I came to Awassa I have been meeting him almost every day – either at the center or somewhere in the street when he comes back from school or in a church where he serves the Mass… Every time he greets me, usually with a wide smile and great joy, he likes to talk about various things, such a cool moment for me was when once he came and said he’d like to show me something… He led me into the room, opened the cabinet and proudly presented a collection of stickers with football players 🙂 Such a small thing, but for me it was very touching that he wanted to share something important to him, such a sign of friendship.
But recently, Bereket has started to get seriously ill. One day when I saw himself alone in the room and feeling a little better, I came with the Picture Bible and together we started to read and tell biblical stories, it was so beautiful! His faith in God, so simple and so strong! And it seemed to me that he was in quite good health, that he was getting back to strength … But when I returned to the center the next day, he was unconscious, with a face full of bruises, with people gathered around him in prayer. It turned out that he had epilepsy all night (for the first time in his life), fell out of bed and got some wounds and bruises. For following few days, his condition worsened, epileptic attacks were repeated, he did not want to eat or drink anything, the sisters tried their best to help him, but the drugs did not work … The priest came and gave him the sacrament of the anointing of the sick. It seemed like he was going to die soon… It was very difficult time, filled with prayer and hope. And I was so surprised when, after coming back from Addis, where I was staying over the weekend, Bereket greeted me at the gate! Except the bruises on his face, he was looking totally healthy! Miracle! And when we started talking, the first thing he showed in the image of Merciful Jesus and said – “thanks to him I’m healthy! After the priest came with Holy Communion, I felt much better.” Such strong testimony of God’s power and power of prayer. And then when we continued the conversation he asked when there will be the Way of the Cross from Awassa to Gethsemane (a retreat center located about 7 km outside the city), because he is already looking forward to go there. Hearing it from a man who was barely alive a few days earlier … Amazing … Glory to the Lord that works such miracles! And I’m so thankful for the testimony of Bereket’s faith, which is also very strengthening for my own faith.
Madzia Plekan. CLM Awassa (Ethiopia)
