America – Page 104 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Mission, Death and Resurrection

20 April, 2014 by Alberto de la Portilla

“The mission allows us to understand the resurrection as the miracle of a life that cannot be destroyed by selfishness and ambition without limits, but that asserts itself as a joy which rises from the heart of God that we carry in the frailty of our human being. For this reason there is no real mission that does not involve death in us, a death which is not synonymous with destruction, but which turns into an opportunity to be finally reborn to the true life that only the Lord can give us as a gift of the Father”.

These are the closing words of the Easter message sent by Fr. Enrique Sánchez González to all his Comboni confreres.

Below we publish the message.

Happy Easter to all.

MISSION, DEATH AND RESURRECTION

“The great Works of God are only born at the foot of Calvary”

(Writings 2325)

The celebration of Easter, mystery par excellence, which makes us enter into the death that marks our humanity and into the life without limits, a gift of God, that in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus makes us live in a time of hope and faith.

How to live this mystery so that it becomes a source of life in this time of contrasts, where the dryness of our fragility is compared with the invitation to live the joy of rediscovering the ever new presence of the Lord who, from the depths of the empty grave, reminds us that He is alive and present in our midst?

Life and death, past and future, pain and joy, darkness and light, war and peace, love and hate. How many other combinations, in addition to these, mark our existence, our human travelling on the divine paths that lead us to that eternity which we cannot define, much less say, with the poor words of our daily actions?

Immersed in the frantic rush of our work and our efforts to change the world, each one goes through the entire day with his vision, his interests, his ideas, and his plans. With the claim to possess the whole truth, to know and to manage everything even more than others.

We live with an arrogance that has become infectious, that makes no distinction between rich and poor, great and small. We all feel entitled to criticize, point out the limitations, faults and sins of others. The criteria of distrust, suspicion, advantage and competition are trying to impose themselves while trust, sharing, support of others, mercy and forgiveness sound like music that disturbs the ear and does not penetrate the heart.

Isn’t this the scenario in which we find ourselves as we live the mission as an ancient and ever new proposal that prevents us from getting lost in the tragic, pessimistic and depressing vision of the present day of our history? Isn’t, instead, the mission lived in silence, in a hidden way, in anonymity that makes us “hidden stones” that speak about a life which does not make noise and does not need to be advertised? Isn’t this the mission that makes us live intimately with the mystery of a death that becomes life?

A death that is not the last word

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Today, more than ever, we are confronted with situations that go beyond the imaginable, news stories that become yellow, red and of all colours.

Violence and war destroy entire populations and condemn millions of people to flee, and no one knows where, as refugees, displaced persons, migrants or just captives in their own countries. These images have become the choreography of TV shows that transform such human drama into telenovelas which are stories really taking place but presented to us as if they were the winner of an Oscar.

Fortunately, the mission allows us instead to tell these stories in another way: it becomes impossible to silence the testimony of those who have seen the destruction and death not through the screen but on the face and bodies of brothers and sisters with whom until shortly before we were working, celebrating the Eucharist, studying in their small schools with thatched roofs, celebrating the life and the joy of being in this world.

We no longer see Christ who lies dead on the wooden cross. As missionaries we have discovered, through the eyes and the deep pain of so many of our confreres, that today the Lord climbs upon the cross of the indifference of the powerful people of our time, of those who forget about the poor, of those who promote the exaltation of power and the idolatry of money.

The riots, protests and clashes gather the desperate cry of so many brothers and sisters who cannot manage any longer, do not know how to survive in a world that seems to deny those minimum conditions necessary to call life certain types of existence.

The great temptation is to fall into the trap of thinking that the shadow of death has taken hold of our time and has asserted itself as a criterion to govern our history.

And how many more deaths do we find closer to us? Is it not death the destruction of the missions in which we work in South Sudan, or the violence that does not end in Central Africa, where there are so many people still forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives?

Is it not death the decrease in the number of missionaries in our Institute? Or our having to give up a missionary presence where we can clearly see that such presence could do so much good? And is it not true that the closing of communities is experienced by us as an actual funeral, because we have no missionaries to spare?

Don’t we perhaps feel like dying when we are refused permission to enter a country or we are denied the opportunity to continue our service to the poor, to the local Church, simply due to the ideology of the politicians of the moment? Is it not death the mediocrity that threatens us every time we try to organize our lives according to our own interests, when we seek excuses to justify our unwillingness to leave for the mission, to obey, to accept the mission as a gift that should be received without preconditions?

It is indeed the mission that introduces and accompanies us into the mystery of death, because when it is lived in all honesty, we cannot say anything other than what the Lord himself shouted from the depths of his spirit, ‘Father, your will be done’.

St. Daniel Comboni says it with words that describe the scenario he contemplated in the heart of Africa: “Confronted by so many afflictions, among the mountains of crosses and sorrows… the Catholic missionary’s heart has been shaken, but this is no reason for him to despair; strength, courage and hope can never desert him.” (W 5646).

The mission introduces us to the mystery and beauty of the resurrection

There is an afterlife after death which for the mission is the foundation of everything, the guarantee of a future that is not built on the basis of our resources, ability or strength.

The mission makes us touch and contemplate with our own eyes the ever present project of God, who never rests, who tries to build a humanity in which we can all discover ourselves as brothers and sisters.

God is at work and, despite our walking through paths that do not lead to life, He does not give up his dream of seeing one day all his sons and daughters gathered in a family where there is no more need to stick labels of religions, ideologies, political preferences, races, cultures or colours.

The Risen Christ reminds us that for God the time has come, but that He is not in a hurry, that He will always be willing to wait for our arrival, hoping that in this time of waiting, there will not be a waste of lives sacrificed because of our inability to think less with the head and more with the heart.

The mission allows us to understand the resurrection as the miracle of a life that cannot be destroyed by selfishness and ambition without limits, but that asserts itself as a joy which rises from the heart of God that we carry in the frailty of our human being.

For this reason there is no real mission that does not involve death in us, a death which is not synonymous with destruction, but which turns into an opportunity to be finally reborn to the true life that only the Lord can give us as a gift of the Father.

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live to righteousness. In fact we have been healed by his wounds” (1Pt 2:24-25).

Happy Easter to all.

Fr. Enrique Sánchez G., mccj Superior General

The Plan of Comboni and the ministry

4 April, 2014 by Alberto de la Portilla

An up-to-date reading of the Plan of Comboni – based upon the missionary challenges of today – reveals two prophetic intuitions whose value, with the passing of time, has only grown:

1.“The regeneration of Africa with Africa” (Writings 2753).

Daniel Comboni, due to his experience and that of other great apostles, is convinced that to achieve this “regeneration” there is no other way but to involve the African people as authentic protagonist of their history and builder of their liberation.

2. “… It will find an approving echo, support, favour and help in the hearts of the Catholics of the entire world, clothed and filled as they are by the spirit of that superhuman charity which embraces the immense vastness of the universe and which our divine Saviour came to bring to the earth” (W 2790).

With even greater audacity, Daniel Comboni declares that the realisation of this Plan for the regeneration of Africa requires the unconditional collaboration of all the forces of the Church and civil society, conquering all boundaries, prejudices or mean-spirited arguments.

These pages will be concerned with the latter aspect, the urgency, that is, to unify the commitment of all “Catholics” in favour of a single mission. The term “ministry” (ministerium = diakonía = service) helps us to better render the thought and the praxis of Daniel Comboni. We are aware that, in the Plan, he never uses such a word and that it is a term which is not found in the baroque language nor in the Tridentine theology of his time. By “ministry” we mean the missionary responsibility of all the baptised, without exception, to cause to emerge the Kingdom of love and justice (universal brotherhood) inaugurated by the person and the event of Jesus Christ among us. Daniel Comboni did not simply propose an organisational strategy but a manner of being a mature Church.

Let us go directly to the text of the Plan so as to achieve an understanding of the breadth of its horizons (cf. The final edition dated Verona 1871, S E2741-2791):

A) What theological foundation does Comboni place as the basis for his Plan?

It is a Christological foundation and a martyrial response:

The Catholic looks at Africa “not through the pitiable lens of human interest, but in the pure light of faith,” and there he discovers “an infinite multitude of brothers and sisters who belong to the same family as himself, having one common Father in Heaven…” Then “carried away under the impetus of that love set alight by the divine flame on Calvary hill, which came forth from the side of the Crucified One to embrace the whole human family …” he feels his heart beat faster and “a divine power seems to drive him towards those unknown lands to enclose in his arms and in an embrace of peace and love those unfortunate brothers and sisters of his…” (W 2742).
It is precisely due to the power of this charity welling up from the side of Christ that Daniel Comboni is prepared to “pour out the last drop of our blood” (W 2753) for his poorest and most abandoned brothers and sisters. We may, therefore, say that the motivation behind the entire life of Comboni is the response of a sound faith in the redemption which the Paschal mystery of Christ merited for us and which constitutes the principle of all missionary action. In other words, the “ministry” (missionary service) that Comboni asks for in his Plan is connected to Jesus Christ, the servant par excellence of the Father to carry out his plan of salvation, and to the Church, which is sent to serve humanity so as to continue the merciful mission of her Lord.

B) What vision has Daniel Comboni of the Church that enables him to require such a great commitment from all Catholics without distinction?

It is a challenge which, then as now, seemed almost impossible, especially if one takes into account the discouragement and frustration embedded in many ecclesiastical leaders.

The love which Comboni has for Nigrizia leads him to ask, concretely, for:

The help and cooperation of the Vicariates, Prefectures and Dioceses already established around Africa (W 2763);
The creation of Institutes for African boys and girls in strategic locations around the whole of Africa (S 2764-65);
The religious Orders and the male and female Catholic institutions, approved by the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, to run these Institutes (W 2767);
The establishment in Europe of small colleges for the African missions to open the way to the apostolate of Africa to all secular (diocesan) clergy of Catholic countries who might be called by God to such a sublime and important mission (W 2769);
The possibility of establishing European women’s religious Institutes in the less unhealthy countries in the interior of Africa, seeing that European women showed greater resistance than missionary men, due to their ability to adapt physically, their temperament and their family and social way of life (W 2780);
To set up for the coordination of this whole project a society composed of intelligent, generous and very active persons, capable of dealing with all the Associations that may provide economic and material means (W 2785) and unite all the forces of Catholicism in favour of Africa (W 2784-88).

The goal which Daniel Comboni wants to reach is that of giving dignity to the entire African population:

Not only to the inhabitants of the African interior, but also to those people who live along the coast and in all the other parts of the great Continent… to the whole African race (W 2755-56);
The young men will be trained as Catechists, Teachers and Artisans – virtuous and capable farmers, doctors, phlebotomists, nurses, pharmacists, carpenters, tailors, bricklayers, cobblers, etc. (W 2773);
The young African women, in turn, will be educated as instructresses, teachers and housewives who must promote the education of women … (W 2774);
From among the catechists, will be chosen a group of individuals distinguished for their holiness and knowledge and who are found to be predisposed to enter the clerical state (local clergy), and these will be directed towards the priesthood (W 2776);
From among the young African women not inclined to the married state, a group will be formed of Virgins of Charity made up of those distinguished for their holiness and the practical knowledge of the catechism, languages and feminine skills (W 2777);
In order to develop the gifts of the most able members of the indigenous clergy and to train them as able and enlightened leaders of the Missions and Christian communities of the interior of Africa, small theological and scientific universities may be established at the most important points around the periphery of the great African Continent (Algeria, Cairo, St. Denis on the island of Reunion, and facing the Atlantic Ocean). With the passing of time, small higher-level training workshops may be founded for the more capable artisans. (W 2782-83).

To sum up, we find in this proposal of Daniel Comboni an ecclesiological vision that is extremely open and inclusive, which comprehends all the ministries (from that of the Pope to that of the most humble catechist or artisan) while seeking to carry on the mission in favour of the most needy. And this is not derived from mere philanthropy or a romantic sense of ingenuous heroism but from the sound motivation that flows from the baptismal event which existentially reveals to us the love of God and makes us brothers and sisters in the same vocation to sanctity and ability. This practical way of creating ministry will find a response only a century later in the post-conciliar theology of the Second Vatican Council.

Even if the aspects which we have indicated deserve more thorough study, available space allows us just to present, in the form of a Decalogue, a series of teachings we may draw from the Plan of Comboni:

1) Daniel Comboni recognises the importance of the ministry of the Pope (with whom he dialogued on various occasions) and of Propaganda Fide. To them he addresses his Plan, showing ecclesial communion.

2) The audacity of his “dreams” derives from his facing up to the situation of suffering and oppression in which his brothers and sisters live. His Plan is the fruit of solidarity within a missionary method of incarnation.

3) Supporting his position there is his capacity to interact with all sorts of people with human and spiritual maturity. Ministry in the Plan presupposes people who are integrated and capable of authentic relationships.

4) We find in the Plan a sort of anthropology that goes beyond its epoch and recognises the full dignity of people.

5) In the Plan there emerges a model of a Church in communion and participation, born of baptismal consecration and of the common vocation to full life in God.

6) In it the laypeople find their full ministerial expression. Not in a pyramid-shaped visualisation but as co-responsible people of God.

7) Women find the space where they can be valued for what they are and as consecrated people. Comboni is a true pioneer in this.

8) The work of evangelisation envisioned by the Plan is inclusive; no human dimension is excluded as all the human dimensions find space in God’s project.

9) The strategic plan of insertion that is proposed in order to render the work possible, without further tragedies, presupposes a praiseworthy concern for planning and evaluation.

10) All of this is included in the mystery of the Cross, aware that it is a matter of knowingly giving one’s life but, above all, of trusting that the works of God are born and grow at the foot of Calvary. And that it is the Holy Spirit who – today, as in the past – guides the mission.

Fr. Rafael González Ponce, mccj

Do not get close to your own flesh

24 March, 2014 by Alberto de la Portilla

DO NOT GET CLOSE TO YOUR OWN FLESH

On February 6, 15 people died in the “El Tarajal” Beach in Ceuta. Some media said they were undocumented, Sub Saharan, immigrants … but basically they were 15 people, with 15 stories, with their 15 families. Each of them with their dignity, their rights and especially with their life. Following what happened that day, there was a great stir, especially at the political level where they blame the political adversary and try to take advantage of the event.

The Archbishop of Tangier, Monsignor Santiago Agrelo published a letter that has no waste and we collect below.

And the Lord said: Share your bread and your light shall rise

No one needs to interpret, because it is said to understand it even for children. “Share your bread with the hungry, houses the poor homeless, dress who goes nude” And after this command accessible to all, if it were necessary, the reason that sustains is added: “Do not close your own flesh”. The starving, the oppressed and the homeless, the naked, are “our own flesh”!

“Do not get close to your own flesh”: This unique knowledge should be enough to have changed the politics about the borders, another the logical of our reasoning, another the purpose of our demonstrations, another the matrix of our concerns, our aspirations, our complaints, our options.

“Do not get close to your own flesh”: If you walk on the path of this wisdom, “your light will break like the dawn,” ahead of you shall go the justice and behind shall go the glory of the Lord, your light will shine in the darkness, your darkness will become noon. ”

“Do not get close to your own flesh” and the bread that you share with the hungry, make you light for the homeless, as it is light to you the One that with his life in the hands like a loaf, said: “This is my body which is given for you“.

“Do not close your own flesh”: Seat the poor to the table of your life, and you shall be to them the light with which God enlightens.

And for the many that again and again remind me that the Church is not an NGO, again and again I will remind them that the poor are “our own fles”, and that our bread is their own bread, and that the Church is their own home.

Happy Sunday

Other Letters published by Bishop Agrelo these days about immigration:

Letter to Immigrants (in Spanish)

Option for God option for the poor (in Spanish)

More information on the website of the Diocese of Tangier:

And you can follow Monsignor Santiago Agrelo through Facebook

To walk in the footsteps of our Founder

15 March, 2014 by Alberto de la Portilla

St. Daniel Comboni was born on March 15, 1831, in Limone sul Garda, Italy. At the school of the priest don Nicholas Mazza, in Verona, he discovered his basic qualities: sanctity, search for truth and missionary zeal. He founded the Institutes of the Comboni Missionaries and of the Comboni Missionary Sisters who are now spread around the world announcing the Gospel among the poorest and most abandoned people. Ten years ago, Comboni was proclaimed a saint. We publish a celebration outline for the Comboni Family to help us walk in the footsteps of our Founder.

COMBONI PRAYER

March 15, 2014

We celebrate the birthday anniversary of Comboni during Lent, when everything in the Word of God calls us to conversion, to awaken from sleep, to dedicate ourselves to the works of light. Comboni, a man of faith, certainly knew how to be awaken and enlightened by Christ, and how to arouse the world around him with his tireless and passionate mission promotion.

Today, in the context of the tenth anniversary of his canonization, we join in prayer with the Comboni Family, so we invoke the God of light on each of us and on all the people living in the “shadow of death” on account of war, injustice, poverty and oppression. With Comboni, we ask to awaken from sleep.

Song

From St. Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians (5, 8-14)

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth. Try to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness; rather expose them, for it is shameful even to mention the things done by them in secret; but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says: “Awake you who sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

This is the Word of God.

From Comboni’s Letter

I am with you, I experience the thirst for living water and the desire to regenerate. I pray with you.

“Awake, you who sleep, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”

Yes, it’s time to wake up, to allow ourselves to be awaken by the Risen Lord, who always walks ahead of us even in our days and shows us the dawn of new horizons. Let us wake up, open the doors of our lives and let in the life of God through the life of humanity.

Awake from your sleep, put our feet into the footprints that our people are leaving in the groove of life to harvest the hope of Eastern season and which, with wisdom and in a thousand ways, continue to show, witness and share with us. Awake to the song of hope that they always have the courage to sing even in the darkest of nights.

Awake from the slumber of mediocrity to let resound in the history of the world the echo the joyous good news of Isaiah, a prelude to the Gospel: “Don’t remember the former things, and don’t consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing. It springs out now. Don’t you know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43: 18-19).

Awake to the cry of the impoverished, oppressed, excluded, forgotten, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, those who have not yet met with the Hope announced by Jesus Christ.

Awake to the breeze of the wind to open your ears and understand the echo of the wisdom of your people who sustain you in your daily life, the echo of your local Churches which vibrates with a new life, the echo of the faithful and suffering witness of many sisters and brothers of yesterday and of today. Be alive, like the seed that dies under the ground and which has in itself the power to generate life.

Remain awake and attentive like the women of Easter morning, the only ones who went to the tomb, moved by the courage of a faith that is able to see beyond the stone that blocks life.

St. Daniel Comboni

Writing n. 162 – Comboni to his father: “Now there is not an hour or an instant that are you absent from my mind’s eye, that I do not think of you. … O dearest one, for allowing me to follow my vocation!”.

Song

Question for reflection:

From which lethargies do you feel that Comboni asks you to awake from so that you may carry on his work with passion, joy and enthusiasm?

Brief silence

Sharing time

Consecration to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Father…

Thank you, Daniel (Prayer said together)

Thank you Daniel, because you believed in your dream.

You teach us that it is possible to see Africa through the eyes of God.

Thank you because you saw and you remained fascinated

by the African people, seeing them through the pure ray of faith,

with the attitude of a brother and not of an imperialist or a slave trader.

You believed in the human capacity of the Africans,

and you already saw Africa as the protagonist of its process of liberation.

Your dream was the dream of God. You believed in it

and thought us to believe as well.

Your life tells us about two important encounters:

The first with God and the second with the Africans.

You were a courageous witness of the exploitation

going on in Africa and you did not remain indifferent,

did not take refuge into a desperate conformism

but felt inside the flame of liberation

and wanted to do history with the Africans,

so much so that their cause became your cause.

The Spirit whispered to you a wise Plan:

The regeneration of Africa by Africa itself,

and it was spring time, it was strength,

it was passion, it was total liberation.

Thank you because your dream enlightens us today

against the neo-imperialist projects

which continue to widen the gap between North and South.

Your dream is guiding us and makes us take up a stand

when confronted by money that is considered to be a god,

when confronted by an idol which dehumanizes people.

Today we are immersed in a lost and weak humanity,

and you invite us to believe again in this humanity,

to proclaim Jesus Christ with passion and credibility.

It is not easy to live in an alienated and often divided world

But you showed us that love conquers all.

We ask that you keep us united to You and united among ourselves,

We, your sons and daughters, to remain faithful to God’s dream.

May our differences become a source of wealth and creativity.

Thanks, Daniel, for having believed in your dream.

Visit to the CLM community of Rondos (Peru)

14 March, 2014 by Alberto de la Portilla

Small chronicle of a great history

In February, I had the opportunity to visit the brothers CLM, Daniel (Peruvian) and Lety (Mexican) in the central highlands of Peru, in the District of Rondos, Lauricocha Province, Huanuco Department. It is a purely agricultural region where mainly potatoes, beans, corn are produced and cattle raised. It is famous for the production of cheese too.

There are already a few years that a community of CLM is present, since September of last year are Lety and Daniel and in late February 2014 Scharliman (a Brazilian sister) will join the team. So the international community will be completed.

We are at 3600 meters, the vegetation is sparse (eucalyptus and quinuales), and a few hundred meters above disappears completely. It is rainy season in the mountains; there is water everywhere, all green and mud galore. The road… a disaster…. and moving is an adventure. It is an area of frequent huaycos (landslides).

The height is serious stuff, oxygen is rarer, and many things are complicated: digestion, physical exertion, rest. I spent 4 nights up there and not many hours I could sleep well … over and over in the bed, one feels like it is choking and no matter how many sheep you count … that night becomes long. I already knew because I am a veteran of the mountain, but willingly endured because I wanted to visit the brothers. My respect and admiration for the brothers who go over there a few years of their life, for God’s sake, for the sake of that portion of God’s people, for love of the missionary vocation that has led them there.

A village street of Rondos

The gazebo, a stunning beauty

I noticed immediately how people greeted the brothers, know their name, they appreciate their simple and fraternal presence. And the kids, here as elsewhere, also are the most joyous and participatory … every time you hear someone shouting: brother, sister… that pretty.

The Comboni parish of Baños, covers a province, with 7 districts. They are 2 priests and a brother. To Rondos usually goes Fr Eliseo (Togo) for the celebration of the Eucharist. With him they are an Italian elderly father (Fr Lino) and one Spanish religious brother (Amancio)… internationalism everywhere… It happens to be 6 people from 6 different countries, the miracle of the Gospel and the Comboni charism.

Fr Sergio (with the mustache), Daniel (CLM P), Ermelinda, catechist from Rondos and right arm of the CLM community and Lety (CLM Mx).

There is plenty of work: evangelism (celebrations of the word, visiting the sick, visiting schoolhouses to leave a message of faith and hope to the children, catechesis, etc. …and human promotion: library, remedial education, useful holiday, cooking workshops and crafts, games for the kids, etc. … everything go together, following the example of St. Daniel Comboni.

Daniel with some kids, look at his cheeks…. is the cold of the height.

In Rondos is being written a page from the gospel, without trumpeting. Being there, I remembered many words of the Holy Scripture made raw flesh: is more blessed to give than to receive… or a glass of water given in my name to someone who is thirsty will not be forgotten… thank you Father for hiding these things from the wise and powerful and revealed them to the little… let the children come to me… whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel will save it…

Scharliman, CLM from Brazil, the last on the right.

It is definitely a small big love story, there are so many … in one of the many existential peripheries of this world. A story that makes this world a more fraternal, more caring, more beautiful place for those who have been forgotten by the great of this world but they are very close to the heart of God, the Father of all good.

Fr Sergio Agustoni (MCCJ advisory of CLM in Peru).