It is exactly like the title says: An experience of the unconditional love that unites us, that allows us to get close, to share in prayer and in community.
A new weekend, a new gathering and a new meeting again. On this weekend a new year of formation came to an end, a year filled with smiles, tears, discoveries, love, joy, friendship and a deep discovery of our own selves and of our relation with God. It was a year filled by God and by his merciful love for all of us.
In those eternal beginnings there was space for meditating, space to reflect over the different moments, the different instants that built up each of the weekends we experienced. We had time to share with those who during the whole year gave of their best for us and with us, such as the coordinator, and what it means to have our own individual experience of God, lived in the bosom of the Comboni Family.
They were two days for sharing the best of ourselves, the best of what God gives us freely as a gift – life.
During this weekend, as a family, we prayed, shared, were ourselves and allowed others to be, we laughed often, wished for peace, we were loving and living witnesses of the joy of the Gospel.
Between the laughter of the children and the wrinkles of experience, we gave thanks to God for each and every one who was present, for those who were absent, even though present in our hearts, for we were more than just those present, we were the Comboni family, spread across the four corners of the globe.
It was an extraordinary experience to witness the love of Christ present in each of the members of the family as they arrived, the gaze of a father and a mother bringing us closer. A family gathered to celebrate one of God’s greatest gifts, family. And so it was as a family that we allowed space and time for God to talk to each one of us by way of all those who shared in his joy.
Through the testimony of Márcia Costa we came close to the missionaries spread across the world, who proclaim with their lives the Gospel of Jesus. With the announcement of the departure of Marisa Almeida we were all touched by the blessing that her life among us has meant for us, and by her abandonment in the arms of God and in the motherly gaze of Our Lady, mother of mission.
To be a Comboni Lay Missionary is in itself to be family, a family that welcomes, helps, protects, that sows God-given seeds, that sees them grow and see the light, and bears fruit. It is a family that prays and shares, that grows and helps to grow, that nurtures and gives life. It is like a gaze that does not forget, a flower losing its petals, it is simply us.
To be a Comboni Lay Missionary means being nearer to God’s love and give living witness with our own lives.
It is good to be family with all of you.
Neuza Francisco (Portugal)
