Spirituality – Page 59 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

The “body” of God

6 March, 2015 by Antonio Villarino

A comment on John 2, 13-25:

Third Sunday of Lent, March 8th 2015
This third Sunday of Lent, and the other two that follow we leave out Mark and take up the gospel of John, which separating itself from the Synoptics (Matthew, Mark and Luke) present Jesus in Jerusalem right from chapter two, that we are reading today. Meditating on this reading I share here points:

1) To purify religion
The Temple of Jerusalem –and the City itself- were among the most sacred things for Jesus, a devout Jew, and his disciples. The Temple and the City were somehow like a “sacrament” of the marvellous God’s presence in the life of Israel and its inhabitants. From childhood, Jesus visited and loved them from all his heart, because in those holy places he could see the “imprints” of God’s passing in his people’s history. In the Temple he could find his the two great loves: his Father and his People. So he can say truly with the psalmist: “Zeal for your house will consume me”. And it is precisely this zeal that is causing in him such a rebellion against the state of corruption that religious leaders and merchants had introduced into its rites. Jesus plans to purify the Temple, knowing that God cannot be “trapped” in any institution, even the most sacred one. In fact, later on in the same gospel of John, Jesus will tell the Samaritan woman: “The hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth”.
Religious people can be tempted to manipulate or treat superficially holy rites and places. Certainly, we need rites and holy places to pray and celebrate, but, be careful, but don’t try to put them at the service of your interests, individual or collective ones. The disciples of Jesus must always be careful not to follow into the trap of abusing the treasure we have received, rather we must try to purify continuously our religious practices.

2) The sign of the body
When Jews asked him what kind of signs he was doing to justify the deep purification he was proposing, Jesus answered that the sign was his own body, which was to become the true “temple”, the place where God and humanity met “in spirt and truth”. The disciples’ faith has its centre, not in in a geographical place, but in the body of Jesus, o body that went through an extreme suffering and, at the end, experienced the triumph of God.
If in communion with the body of Christ, also our body (concrete expression of our spirit) becomes a place for meeting God: a body able to work, to suffer and to love in a concrete and tangible manner; a body that can go on its knees to adore; a body that bends itself to wash the feet of our neighbour; a body that serves the Poor and the needy; a body that sees, listens and embraces the suffering bodies of many suffering children of God. As Pope Francis says, the sick and the poor are the body of Christ. To serve them is equal to adore God. To abuse them is a blasphemy.

3) A weak faith
John tells us that, when people saw the signs Jesus was doing, many believed, but Jesus did not trust them. In the gospels we can see how much opposition and betrayal Jesus has to cope with, to the point that He ended up practically lonely and abandoned by everyone. Certainly, in the life of Jesus there were moments of enthusiasm, when people were following Him, thinking that He could be a king or a chief useful for their economic, political or religious interests. But Jesus did not allowed himself to be deceived by this superficial enthusiasm that could lead him astray from the mission the Father has entrusted to him. Jesus remained always confident, with the feet on the ground, free, open and faithful to the death, in spite of the inconsistency of those around him.
The temptation of an easy and superficial enthusiasm can affect us also, as individuals or as groups. Each one of us, our own community or the Church as a whole, can be satisfied with a superficial religiosity or even try to try methodological tricks to attract followers, even if they are not very serious ones… This is not the Jesus’ way. He is not too much worried about those who abandon easily nor does he confuse the superficial applause with an authentic faith; he knows, however, how to recognize a sincere faith, “incarnated” in the body of people’s suffering; a faith that transforms a life given out in adoration and service to the “body of Christ”, present alike in the Eucharist and in the Poor.
We pray that the Spirit of Jesus opens us to this sincere, concrete and consistent faith, in spite of our doubts and weaknesses.
F. Antonio Villarino
Roma

No glory without the cross

27 February, 2015 by Antonio Villarino

A commentary on Mc 9, 2-8: Second Sunday of Lent, March 1st 2015

In this second Sunday of Lent, we continue reading Mark, but jumping from chapter one to chapter nine, in which Jesus appears nearing Jerusalem, where he is going to have a deadly conflict with the authorities. As always, this texts offers us many point of meditation. I take just three of them:
1) To assume the cross: How difficult it is!
A few verses before this text we read today, Jesus, whom Peter has recognized as “the Christ”, begins to tell the disciples that he is going “to suffer a lot”. The disciples refuse to enter into this perspective: It cannot be that the Messiah has to be killed, and furthermore they are not ready for that; rather, they are thinking of becoming the “chiefs” of the new kingdom Jesus is proclaiming.
Jesus’s reaction is straight: he calls Peter “Satan”, because he represents the temptation of disobedience to the Father, the same temptation Adam had, as well as Israel in the wilderness. Bearing that in mind, we can understand better the scene that Mark is narrating in today’s gospel: Jesus takes by hand his intimate ones and goes with them to the mountain.
I think that we, as the disciples, have great difficulty in accepting the way of the cross, the suffering that goes with our faith-vocation, de failure…That of Jesus, in first place, but specially our own. None of us wishes to suffer, even for a good cause. We think that suffering is “a punishment form God” and we react against it. But it is in those moments, when we do not understand what is happening to us and do not feel like going to church, that we most need to be taken by hand and pray that God reveals to us his nearness and the meaning of what we are experiencing.

2) The Mountain: Divine perspective
Jesus takes his intimate ones to the mountain, they alone. There the disciples have a very especial experience, in which I would like to underline these elements:
-The mountain: Place of God’s revelation in almost all religions. It implies going away from every day’s routine, to get in touch with a non-manipulated nature; a place that helps human beings to go beyond themselves and a self-controlled society; a place where it is possible to open oneself to new realities, including the divine mystery…
-Intimacy: Jesus tries to share with his disciples the most intimate side of his personality, his life and mission. On the mountain he goes beyond the topics and superficialities… Jesus gives out the deepest side of himself: “You are my friends… Whatever I hear from my Father, I tell you”.
-No publicity: Jesus does not want any publicity or communication outside the group. Even, later, he will command them not to tell anybody what they have experienced. There are experiences that one has to keep for himself or, at the most, for the very friends. Those experiences are not to be exposed on TV or even in churches. “Go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father who sees you in the secret of your heart”. Certainly: there are moments for witnessing and communicating, but there are also moments to be completely alone in the face of God “alone”.

3) “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him”
The evangelist narrates a marvellous scene, difficult to understand in its details from our today’s culture, but the global sense is quite clear:
-The disciples come to see Jesus in a new dimension, beyond their experience of him as a man from Nazareth and a wonderful preacher. It is the same experience that Sat Paul narrates in the letter to the Galatians: “The Father has revealed his Son in me”. It is the paschal experience that helped the disciples to understand the way of the cross and the real meaning of Jesus’ personality and mission. It is the experience we have when we “feel” Jesus alive and present in our lives.
-Moses and Elijah talk to Jesus: New and Old Testaments are part of the same story, the same salvation plan. To understand Jesus you have to read the Old Testament and to fully understand the Old Testament you have to listen to Jesus.
-“How good to remain here”: Once and again, the disciples of Jesus, of all ages, experience that the nearness of Jesus warms their hearts. This happened to the ones going to Emmaus, happened to Paul, to many saints and also to us in many occasions. To meet the Lord, on “the mountain”, produces in us a sense of fulfilment and direction, of having somebody always on our side.
-“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him”. The disciples understood that in his friend and Teacher, God was revealing himself in a clear and unique way. We all search for God and for meaning (for a definitive love) blindly and among doubts. Some search in the teaching of, let’s say, Buda; others in new theories (New Age); others still in pleasure, or pride, or success… The disciples had the experience that in Jesus they could see the face of the Father and the best guide for his own life. We are on the steps of those disciples and pray that the Spirit is renewing in us that experience, for our own sake and for the sake of others to whom we are called to be witnesses and missionaries.
Fr. Antonio Villarino
Rome

Way of the Cross

17 March, 201527 February, 2015 by Maggie and Mark Banga

A couple years back, we joined Fr. Sixtus Agostini, Comboni Missionary, to journey through the Good Friday “Way of the Cross” liturgy in the small rural mission parish of ‘Kege’ about an hour south drive of Awasa city. Good Friday is the commemoration of the death of Jesus Christ and the Way of the Cross is a retracing of Jesus’ Passion, the final events leading up to his crucifixion. What a precious blessing it was to “walk” this Way of the Cross as guests with our brothers and sisters of Kege.

The Kege area has a soupy, clay valley floor that delivers beautifully fertile soil to the farming community, and is flanked by rocky hills. We turned off the main asphalt highway and as we drove through the final 20 km to our destination we began passing more and more people walking with large crosses they had made of wood. We wondered if they would be joining in for the Way of the Cross procession and also wondered how far they had come from and whether they were going to make it?! We packed as many people as we could into the truck but we looked with astonishment out the window at small groups every few hundred meters diligently walking, crosses in hand.

We arrived around 9:00 am at the local chapel. To our surprise there were about 200 people already gathered praying in silence in the simple chapel. No one peeped a word when we entered. The chapel was constructed using the local method of mud (chika) and chopped straw (chid) packed and smoothed onto a wooden skeleton. Your nostrils filled with an intense earthy aroma upon entering. Maggie and I took a seat on a plank of wood at the back.

Soon we were leaving the chapel on procession. Realizing that we were the only ones without a cross, Maggie picked two small branches from the ground and a piece of grass which she tried to use to fasten the two pieces together. The children understood what was happening. Instantly, numerous teenagers came to the rescue with dried palm leaves and they tied Maggie’s cross tightly together. She shook the mud off the sticks and raised it into the ready position. This spontaneous fabrication triggered giggles and huge smiles around us.

Teenage boys carried a massive cross at the front, along with backpacks carrying a megaphone, receiver, and batteries. The megaphone crackled and Fr. Sixtus began the Way of the Cross procession with the first ‘station’ or moment of the Passion. The Gospel passage was read, followed by a reflection and prayers. The tone was solemn and penitential with the people singing responses to the prayers. As Fr. Sixtus began to read the blessing to conclude the first station, to my surprise, everyone knelt down right where they were standing – be it, the mud (it had rained hard the night before), cow dung or onto rocks, depending on one’s chance. People had dressed up to attend the service, but without hesitation plunged their knees into the mud in humbleness of heart to the whole purpose and penitential spirit of the day, Good Friday.

Everyone stood up and we began walking. The congregation scattered loosely behind the central wooden cross continued in procession with somber song. We repeated the above prayer service 13 more times through all the stations of the Way of the Cross. The procession journeyed maybe 5 km weaving through the town of Kege and surrounding farms. Along the way, Maggie and I were quite a novelty and many young children scrunched in close to walk with us. As we walked and prayed, all the people that we had seen on our drive joined group by group. By the end the congregation grew from 200 to 750. Maggie and I could only feel very touched at how passionate people were about being present on this holiest of days. People had walked hours in order to walk some more. They desired to be present to Jesus and walk with Him.

During the final stations, the procession turned up the valley wall, symbolically mirroring the ascent of Calvary. The pitch was astoundingly steep, demanding your hands to push up on rocks and pull on small trees. This was the way to celebrate the Way of the cross! It was quite the sight to see this large group slowly scurry up the rocky slope, suddenly stopping along the way to pray a station. Maggie and I climbed too. Everyone around seemed very concerned that we were not going to make it. Tiny children and old women would extend their hands at tricky boulder locations to us! At one moment, I made the tinniest of slips on some loose gravel and 100 people all gasped in unison.

We arrived all together at the top of the slope and everyone sat down amongst the brush and rocks. The procession now flowed into the celebration of the Good Friday service which Fr. Sixtus started over the megaphone. A few minutes later, the sky flipped from sunny to stormy and it poured. It poured hard. Everyone huddled under the few umbrellas that people had brought. Maggie and I soon had 7 children piled in tightly under our umbrella. The liturgy continued and everyone did their best to listen to the megaphone above the sound of the rain.

After communion had been distributed under umbrellas, the rain and the liturgy both ended together. There were smiles all around – both from the happiness of having completed the 3 hour procession and from a humorous knowledge of having endured together the sun, mud, steep pitch and thunderstorm. Roasted dry peas were passed around in celebration.

This story is not original or unique. It is the recounting of a scene which is played out in countless unknown places in the developing world – a scene where people who live in extreme material poverty gather together and turn their hearts to God. The people did not come to hear a theological lecture on Jesus’ Passion or to participate in the Easter journey out of obligation. They came simply to walk because they love Jesus and want to express their gratitude for the love He has shown them.

In front of this kind of faith, I could only but feel humbled.

– Mark & Maggie Banga

Comboni Lay Missionaries serving in Awassa, Ethiopia

Aspirants CLM meeting in Ghana

25 February, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

We held our meeting this 14th Feb. We first have a talk on Comboni Spirituality which was presented by our Spiritual Director Fr Godwin Kornu. First of all, he showed us the books that can help us in our journey: The Writings of Comboni, The passion of a life of Don Lozano, We the Heirs of Francesco Pierli. He then explained the word Spirituality by the way a person experiences God, him or herself and the world he/she is part of. The spirituality must be shaped by Christ but it is influenced by the time and our environment. And talking about the spirituality of a person demands to pass through the life, the history of the person, the way he experiences God. And this experience of an individual is unique. Father led us to discover that the “loving heart is a suffering heart” and “what is good is not relative” which means what is good cannot be determined by a tradition or a culture. What is good is good by itself. The relativism is one of the points that the Pope Emeritus Benedict condemned lots. (The theme is very broad so for now it is just an introduction).

After the presentation, we moved on for some discussions. The minutes of the last meeting was read and few corrections made. From the matters arisen, we agreed to levy ourselves with an amount which can be paid from now up to the next second meeting. At last, we decided to have a recollection on the 14^th March to redo ourselves in the Lenten Season. The meeting was then moved to closure with prayer and benediction. After this, we had an agape.

Justin Nougnui, coordinator.

Wilderness, an opportunity to make a change

20 February, 2015 by Antonio Villarino

A commentary on Mc 1, 12-15: Firs Sunday of Lent, February 22nd 2015

The continuous reading of Mark’s first chapter, that we have been doing during the last four Sundays, has now been interrupted due to the beginning of Lent time, which in the Roman liturgy is a special time with its own readings’ system. Anyhow, in this first Sunday of Lent we remain still with this same first chapter of Mark, reading four verses of a great intensity. For my part, I Just recall here three brief reflections:

1) Wilderness: “talking is not the same as actually doing”
After being baptized by John and receiving the Father’s great declaration – “This is my beloved son”– Jesus goes to the wilderness “driven” by the Spirit. Why? Because between the word (vocation/declaration) “you are my beloved Son” and the fact (real, concrete life), there is a way to follow with faith and perseverance, discipline and work, clearness of mind and strength of will; a hard battle against the spirit of evil that surrounds us everywhere, pacifying the “wild beasts”, overcoming difficulties, doubts and temptations. Wilderness, as we know, represents in Jew history a place where to learn how to leave behind slavery times and attitudes, how to purify from infidelity, how to grow up as a people free and faithful.
Surely, we have also our own wilderness experiences. Which are the difficulties and tests we are going through in this time in our life? Which are our temptations? It is quite probable that we, as Israel and Jesus himself, see that our dream of living a truly Son’s life is still far away from reality; we are far from living a live that corresponds to the teachings of Jesus and our deep desire to live in truth and love, justice and generosity, peace and service. All of us have the experience that between our “word” (meaning good wishes) and our “facts” (good works) there’s still so much way to follow. Lent time is a good opportunity to re-affirm ourselves in this fight to make facts correspond to desires, to renew our hope and our decision to go own in the way of discipleship, that is proposed to us by Jesus.

2) Take the opportunity
Jesus comes out of the wilderness as a winner, confirmed in his vocation as a Son and sure that He is living a special moment in history, for himself and for the world. Jesus has experienced the loving nearness of the Father, not only in times of happiness and blessing, but also in times of difficulty, testing, temptation and spiritual fight. With that experience he comes out to mingle with people and convey a clear message: “The kingdom of God is near”, take the opportunity.
When we say that the Kingdom of God, what do we understand? Where’s the kingdom of God? Is it in the temple, in the working place, in the street, where? Certainly, It’s not a geographical place. The Kingdom of God –that is, his loving presence- is in us and around us, in the temple, in the family, in hospital, in the playing ground… Everywhere. Have you seen it? Look well. If y you have not seen it, it means that you have to wash your eyes, to clean your ears, to open your heart… Alas in this the Len time can help: a time for reading the Bible, to put order in our lives, to be generous in helping other… a time to open our spiritual eyes and see what maybe we are not seeing at this moment, due to the dust of fatigue, routine, repeated failures, wounded pride…

3) To change direction
Jesus invites the people of Palestine to believe in the presence of God among them and, as consequence, to change life, to abandon their condition of “slaves”, to assume their being children of the Father and to live up to that reality.
As a matter of fact, what is preventing us from seeing-hearing-touching the Kingdom of God in us and among us is our the attitude of Eve and Adam, when, having fallen in the trap of Satan, they dreamt that they could be “equals to God”, hiding behind “the fig leave” themselves and their naked arrogance, instead of acknowledging their error, to ask for forgiveness and to renew their friendship with the Creator. To believe is to come out of oneself and open our reality to the Other, the source of our life.
Len time is a good time, an opportunity to change our way, to leave behind our stupid wounded pride, that keeps us apart from our neighbour and the best part of our inner selves; an occasion to renew our faith that the Father’s Love is greater than our sins and errors and that in that Love we can renew ourselves, start again our journey toward the goal of a more serene and pacified life, transparent, generous, humble but confident… a life of God’s children on the way to a goal that is awaiting us besides the wilderness.
This is what we celebrate in the Eucharist, remembering the One that came out of the wilderness as winner and announcing that God wins also in each one of us and in our world, if only we believe and change our life to live accordingly.
Fr. Antonio Villarino
Rome