From the 18th to the 20th of September took place in Verona, hosted by the Comboni sisters, the third national assembly of the Italian CLM.
We discussed mainly about the places and the times the CLM are called to witness their vocation to be missionaries according to the charisma of St. Daniel Comboni. The second important aim was to meet each other and to share the experiences, the problems and the joys that every group faces during its daily commitments in its own territory.
We were warmly welcome by the Comboni sisters. There were many different groups coming from all over the Country: Venegono Superiore, Milano, Padova, Verona, Bologna, Firenze, Palermo, Agrigento and Bari. There were also other “special guests”: the coordinator of the CLM international committee Alberto de la Portilla, the referent for the Italian MCCJ province Fr. Massimo Robol, the MCCJ in charge for the missionary animation of the Italian province Fr. Giorgio Padovan and others Comboni fathers and sisters.
The first positive aspect was the high number of people who attended the assembly. We were about 90 people and many of these were new faces and, moreover, they were young. This means that the charisma of Comboni still fascinates and appeals people of different ages, different places and with a very different background.
Friday afternoon was dedicated for welcoming the participants; after a short official welcome from the national secretary and the special guests, we met for a starting prayer. Thanks to some songs and symbols we entered in the theme of the meeting. After dinner, we had a special game so that we could know better each other. During Saturday, we developed the main theme of the assembly: after a short prayer, we met Maria Soave Buscemi who guided us explaining some verses from the Bible. These explanations helped us to read deeply and with a new point of view the scriptures. During the afternoon, we organized four workshops in order to deep four different aspects of our Charisma: missionary animation, immigration, new styles for living, Justice and Peace. We divided the big group in four smaller groups. Inside the group, the leader gave some good information about the theme and later there was the opportunity for sharing. Though it was not so easy, the workshop allowed us to share some good ideas that each and every group can apply to its own reality following some common criterion. In the evening, we could luckily see a show presented by a group of youth coming from Mali.
On Sunday, after the morning prayer, we met all together and the four different groups reported to the others what came out during the discussions of the previous day. After this, we celebrated together the Holy Mass. During the celebration, we have the opportunity for “sending” officially Barbara and call upon her the protection of the Holy Spirit. Barbara is a CLM who is preparing for leaving in August 2016 for three years in Mozambique. After the Celebration, Federico (Italian representative in the European committee) and Alberto de la Portilla presented the European meeting of August 2016 that will take place in Portugal.
It was very important during the assembly, to hear from the voice of many different MCCJ that they have the need and the will to cooperate more with the lay. We were asked to take part in some national committee and give our support to Nigrizia (the main national magazine of the Comboni family).
At the end of the assembly was very clear that it is not so easy to find the way and the time for living our missionary charisma but the only possibility we have to achieve this goal is to build a net in order to keep in contact and support each other.
CLM Italy
