America – Page 93 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

“Do not forget me”

6 June, 2015 by Antonio Villarino

A commentary on Mk 14, 12-16,22-26: Corpus Christi solemnity, June 7th
The Corpus Christi solemnity -celebrated on Thursday in some places and on Sunday in others- is an excellent occasion to reflect and become aware of this great Christian reality. After having read the piece of Mark’s Gospel that the liturgy offers us today, I share with you three points of meditation:

1) To remember a loved person
As we grow in age, we tend to keep a set of “things” that remind us of people we love specially. We gather a set of memories that usually “materialize” (take “flesh”) in pictures or other objects that acquire for us a meaning and a value that go far beyond its physical value. It happens to me, for example, with my father’s cap; after his death I kept it as a very special and meaningful object. I look at it, I handle it on my hands, I cover my head with it… and all this makes me feel in communion with my father.
It occurs to me that something similar happened to the disciples after that last supper, when Jesus, before confronting his death, ate with them the Passover meal, broke the bread (real image of his broken body), passed the cup of wine (image of his split blood) and said words that sounded more or less like these: “Do not forget me, remain united, love each other, go on with the work of the Kingdom. I am with you to the end of the ages”. The disciple took seriously those gestures and words, as a testament of love, and kept them alive, generation after generation, up to our days. Now we are part of that sacred faithfulness to the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
The Eucharistic celebration is not a “heavy duty”, a clerical affair, a magic rite or any other similar false appreciation. To celebrate the Eucharist is to be in communion with our Friend, Brother and Master Jesus and, in Him, enter in communion with the Father, enjoy His presence and renew the certainty of His love that nourishes us and pushes us to love and serve others, specially the most abandoned.

2) The best part is still to come
Jesus’ last supper is part of the Israel’s secular tradition. For Jews it was quite clear that God has acted in their history: liberating them from slavery, supporting them in the difficult crossing of the dessert, helping them to overcome the exile… All this was celebrated –and continuous to be celebrated– every year with the Pascal meal, as a feast of memory and hope. If God was with them in the past, his help will be there also in the future.
For us the Eucharistic celebration moves on the same lines: celebrating the memory of Jesus we renew our hope (in spite of our sins and failures) and our engagement for the future: Jesus was with us in the past, but He is with us now and He will always be in the future. In a sense, as we celebrate the Eucharist, we are sure that the best of our live is still to come; that, every day that passes by, we are approaching the Kingdom of God more and more.

3) The room in the upper floor
To celebrate the Passover, Jesus needed a room in the upper floor… These words make me remember when Joseph was looking for a room in Bethlehem where Mary could give birth to his Divine Son… It seems that God cannot be born in our humanity, cannot be transformed into “bread and wine” without a place ready to welcome Him. As a matter of fact, it is quite difficult for a community to gather without a place for it (under a three, in a family’s living room, in a rural church or a cathedral), but , more than a physical place, God needs a human heart, a person, an open community, a family, a people… ready to welcome Him and accept Him. Only in that way, the miracle of His presence can happen. Am I this open person, where God can come and renew His Alliance with me and humanity?

Fr. Antonio Villarino
Roma

Churches and mining in Latin America

2 June, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

A video of outcry and hope: open-pit mega mines, deforestation, eviction of families and whole communities. Indigenous peoples and traditional communities threatened by those interested in mining their territories. Pollution of the water, the land, and the air. Mining transportation channels impact hundreds of communities living along the pipelines or railways that export the vast majority of our minerals. Conflicts and protests, illegal surveillance and criminalization of leaders. Death and persecution of people, families, and entire communities.

Despite all of this, mining in Latin America continues to increase. National governments tied to the interests of big business have proven themselves to be allied with the multinational mining corporations—putting the country’s intelligence systems and security forces at their service and relaxing legislation to facilitate the expansion of these projects.

A number of affected communities are supported, advised, and defended by the churches, which have taken courageous positions in a variety of contexts. Recently they have been able to denounce these violations in a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Christian leaders in Latin America are coming together to search for alternatives to the aggressions of mining.

“Churches and Mining” is a clamor of survival, resistance, and hope; the clamor of the communities, the clamor of life that will not let itself be uprooted.

http://youtu.be/uEKLw3x41qY

Churches and Mining is an ecumenical group of lay and religious women and men, committed to defending communities affected by mining in the different countries of the continent. Since 2013 the group has brought affected communities together amongst themselves, with the hierarchy of the churches that want and are able to support them, and with international human rights institutions.
[iglesiasymineria@gmail.com]

The mountain and the name of God

29 May, 2015 by Antonio Villarino

A commentary on Matth 28, 16-20: Holy Trinity Sunday, May 31, 2105

This Sunday dedicated to the Holy Trinity is, somehow, the highest point in our liturgical year. The disciple missionary, who tries to identify himself with Jesus Christ, receives today, in adoration and contemplation, a proposal to approach the mystery of God, a reality that is close to his most intimate identity (S. Agustin), but at the same time overrides every frontier and every human dimension. The Church offers today a reading of the last verses of Mathew’s gospel, where mention is made of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
Let us reflect a bit on a few concepts that we can find in these last verses of Matthew:

1) To go up the mountain
Jesus meets his disciples on a mountain, in Galilee. It may seem an irrelevant geographical note, but I do not think so. In a sense, all of us are marked by geography. At least, on my side, I must say that some mountains have left a definitive mark in my personal life. I remember, for example, the Sinai majestic pics: there I could understand quite easily how Moses and Elia could feel the extraordinary presence of God (Cfr Ex 19, 20; 1 Kings 19, 8); I remember also the fantastic Machu Pichu in Peru, where I had de impression of being at the centre of our Planet and to enter into communion with the ancient Peruvians… In fact, for many religions and cultures mountains are a place of God’s revelation (theophany). And that can be easily understood: mountains help us to come out of ourselves, to overcome routine and superficiality, looking for the highest level of our personal conscience. And it’s precisely there, in the highest level of our conscience, that appears as a presence that cannot be expressed in words, but it’s clearly perceived as very real and authentic.
Jesus, on his side, used to go quite often to the mountain, alone or with the disciples, reaching, as the son of Mary, the highest level of conscience and communion with the Infinite Love; such an experience has become an extraordinary gift also for us, his disciples and brethren. Following his steps, we need also to climb continuously the mountain of our conscience, with the help of a place which invites us to overcome routine, noise and superficiality.

2) Adoration and doubt
Confronted with Jesus, identified “on the mountain” as the Son of God, the disciples experience a double movement of adoration and doubt. On one side, they feel the need to prostrate themselves and acknowledge the Divine presence in the Master and Friend, because only in adoration we can approach the mystery of God; word do not help and even sometimes they may sound almost like a “blasphemy”, in the sense that no words can contain that reality that one can just glimpse from our deepest conscience. That’s why, together with a sense of joy and adoration, the disciples experience also uneasiness and doubt: they are quite aware that they cannot reach to God and that all or words and concepts are limited and , in a sense, not completely truthful. All our concepts about God are inadequate and must be continuously corrected, with the help of the doubt, which lead us not to “sit” over what we have understood and to be ever open to new insights. God is awaiting us always in front of us on the way of history.

3) The name of God
Different people, cultures and religions, “grope about” for the mystery of God, giving Him different names according their own cultural experience. Israel, on his side, decided rather not to pronounce God’s name, because really no human being can “name” God. When somebody gives a name to something or somebody, somehow, he takes possession and manipulates the “named” object. But God cannot be possessed or manipulated. Nor even Jesus gives a name to God; what he does is to reveal his relationship with God as his Father and his Spirit. And He commands his disciple to go to the world and baptize “in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit”. When we are baptized, following this mandate, we do not name God, but we are consecrated to become members of that divine “family”. We –and the whole humanity- are called and consecrated to be in communion with this divine mystery of relationships and love.

4) God-communion
The most important religions have reached the idea of a unique God and this is an important step in the history of mankind. But Jesus, from the “mountain” of his human conscience, teaches us that God is unique, but not “single”; not “lonely”, but communitarian. In the same way, we, human beings, created on God’s image, are made to live in communion. None of us is complete; we need to be completed by others before reaching the image of God: Father-Son-Spirit. When somebody denies a member of the community is denying God. To adore God means to welcome Him/Her in the sanctuary of the conscience and, at the same time, in the concrete reality of every human being, in its marvellous singularity and diversity.

Fr. Antonio Villarino
Roma

Come, Holy Spirit

22 May, 201522 May, 2015 by Antonio Villarino

A Prayer to the Holy Spirit: John 15, 26-27.12, 12.15 (24th May, Pentecost Sunday)

In this Sunday of Pentecost, we read two of the five promises that Jesus made, according to the Gospel of John.
Where is the difference between a professor in religion and a prophet, a cult organizer and a witness, an expert in Justice and a brother, a theologian and a believer? What is the difference between a well-structured group of people and a community of believers, a Church and an NGO?
The difference lies in the presence of the Spirit, the same that was present at the beginning of Creation, accompanied Jesus from the Incarnation to the Passover, gives life to the Church and blows wherever She wants, in the world and in human History.
On this matter, more than a commentary, I wish to share with you a prayer to the Holy Spirit, a prayer that each one may correct, complete, reduce, according to his/her own experience in live.

Come, Holy Spirit
Break the barriers of my routine;
make my prayer truthful and deep;
make me live fully every moment,
every action,
every thought.
Give me the willingness to do good,
to be always ready,
to enjoy live with simplicity, good humour and love.
Overflow into my spirt and my body,
my mind and my feelings.

Come, Holy Spirit
Give me confidence.
Help me to overcome the fear
of myself,
of what others might say,
of failure…
Give me the trust a baby has in his own father.

Come, Holy Spirit
Be my inner teacher,
relate my heart to the heart of the Father,
so that I may know from the inside,
love truthfully,
avoid any falsity.
Come, Holy Spirit
Make me open and ready.
Lead me to act as a true brother,
overcoming any sense of indifference.
Help me to be ready to serve,
and to offer my time and energies
for the good of any one that might need them.

Come, Holy Spirit
Give me freedom and courage,
to be myself,
to be led by your inspirations,
to not confuse freedom with whims,
courage with pride and stubbornness.
Be the light that illuminates my walk,
the wind that pushes me on the way of generosity.

Come, Holy Spirit
Make me a missionary, here and now,
in the concrete circumstances of my life.
Give me the spirit of dialogue,
show me how to listen.
Help me to be open to new ideas,
and proposals;
to be ever ready to learn.
Help me to see always the best side of those around me
and of what they say and do.

Come, Holy Spirit
Fill me with your joy,
give me happiness and good humour.
Let me not confuse fidelity and harshness.
Do not allow the problems become a source of bitterness in my life:
Let me be a monument of praise and gratitude
to the Father of all Creation and to You, Holy Spirit.

Come, Holy Spirit
Make me resilient in front of failures,
big and small.
Help me not loose courage
before the incoherence of my brothers and sisters,
the sins of the Church,
the corruption in society,
my own shortcomings.
Give me your humble truth and your free love.
Now and for ever. Amen.

Fr Antonio Villarino
Rome

Mgr. Romero, a life and mission model for the Comboni Missionaries of America

20 May, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

The delegates from America and Asia to the XVIII General Chapter, meeting in a continental assembly in Mexico City from 11 to 15 May, share their approach and reflection through an open letter addressed to those responsible for the Comboni Family on the occasion of the beatification of Mgr. Oscar Arnulfo Romero, to be celebrated on Saturday, 23 May, in El Salvador. Below is the letter of the missionaries.

Open Letter
from the Comboni Missionaries of America/Asia
on the Occasion of the Beatification of Bishop Romero

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
As the delegates from America and Asia to the XVIII General Chapter we greet you fraternally. We wish to express our closeness to you and to share with you our reflections on the Beatification of Bishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero (Saturday, May 23, 2015). Without doubt this is an historic event of great importance for our Church. For this reason we would like to share our reflections on some aspects of this event:

The solemn beatification by the universal Church confirms what our people already believe and celebrate: Romero is a martyr. In this beatification we also celebrate the gift of their lives offered by so many other martyrs whose struggles we have perhaps never known about. We admire the courage and fidelity of those who will be beatified in Peru this coming December: Fr. Zbigniew Strzalkowski, Fr. Michael Tomaszeck and Fr. Alexander Dordi, victims of terrorism, as well as of hundreds of committed lay persons, catechists, men and women who obstinately defended human rights; they were adults, the elderly, youth and innocent children, religious and priests martyred for the love of Christ, the Church and the people in societies that regard themselves as Christians. The Reign of God is proposed to all to become the commitment of all. Like them Bishop Romero was a victim of the forces of evil embodied in the alliance of the economic, political and military powers that hold on to their illegitimate privileges against the struggle of the oppressed for freedom.
In a time of rapid and great changes in which we are called to rediscover the prophetic dimension of our faith and consecration, we wish to reaffirm that Bishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero is a model prophet for our time. The suffering of our defenseless brothers and sisters, violence in all forms that is increasing everywhere, and criminalizing human rights defenders are challenges to our prophetic commitment today.
To be a martyr cannot be improvised. With this affirmation we mean to highlight the profound mystic quality of Bishop Romero that was forged in the daily prayer by which he lived out his being a Christian, priest and pastor. His priestly spirituality is manifested in his Episcopal motto: “Sentire cum Ecclesia”. However since all spirituality is a journey of growth and docility to the Spirit, the martyrdom of Fr. Rutilio Grande, SJ and the violence carried out by the military against the people, mark his process of conversion: from indifference/comfort to solidarity with the poorest and oppressed.
In Bishop Romero we discover the image of the Good Shepherd who fully identifies with his people and who suffers in his own flesh the abuses against the dignity of persons, who raises his voice to condemn injustice and preach peace, who prays for his brothers and sisters and loves them so much that he willingly gives up his life in the firm hope that his death will be a source of life for the Salvadoran people.
What meaning does this ecclesial event have for us today? The beatification of Bishop Romero presents him as a model of life and mission:

Interpreting reality in the light of faith should bring us to a personal and community conversion;
Evangelization includes commitment to the integral liberation of persons and peoples;
The evangelizer identifies in a radical way with the situation of the people in their sufferings and hopes;
The values of the Reign of God are always the utopia that enlightens the path of our missionary service;
Giving one’s life for the sheep gives tangible form to our vocation to follow the pierced Heart of the Good Shepherd who gave his life for his sheep.

Finding security as we trust in the words of the Gospel: “If the grain of wheat does not fall into the ground and die, it remains alone; but if it dies it produces much fruit” (John 1224), we want to invite you to create a new path of renewal and hope for ourselves and our peoples. In communion with all of you, in memory of Bishop Romero and of all the martyrs of America, and in particular Fr. Ezekiel Ramin, we firmly believe that the XVIII General Chapter that is now approaching offers us all an opportunity to renew ourselves in faithfulness to the charism of St. Daniel Comboni and in imitation of the martyrs of our church in America.
Mexico City, May 15, 2015