Brazil – Page 19 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

New Experience in Brazil

18 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

We arrived! On June 3 we set foot in Piquiá!

At the airport of Imperatriz we were received by CLM Xoán Carlos who took us by car to Açailândia.

After about a one hour journey we reached the house where we will stay, which had already been prepared for us with the help of the local community.

At 7:00 p.m. some community leaders, the Comboni Missionaries, Xoán Carlos and his wife Dida came over bringing something for a lovely supper we all shared together. We were given time to introduce ourselves individually, to chat and share in relaxed and vivacious atmosphere.

The next day we had lunch with the Comboni Missionaries and the team that gives social and legal support to the people of the community of Piquiá de Baixo, who are in the process of resettling.

So, a little at a time, we are getting closer to and getting to know the situation and the people, in order to integrate ourselves in this common journey in the establishing the Kingdom of God.

We count on the prayers of all of you!

Flávio and Liliana

Yearly Assembly of CLM in Brazil

6 July, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

On June 21-22 we held our Yearly Assembly of the CLM of Brazil at the Comboni Minor Seminary Bro. Alfredo Fiorini of Curitiba, PR.

The theme, “To celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the ACLM with daring and missionary commitment,” helped us to review our history and to have a privileged time of exchange, sharing, community living and celebration during this year when we complete 20 years since the creation of the Association of Comboni Lay Missionaries – ACLM.

In the context of the 150^th anniversary of the foundation of the Comboni Institute, we were graced by having with us the MCCJ provincial, Fr. Dario, who helped us reflect, by way of a comparative diagram, on some of the fundamental intuitions of Comboni and of Pope Francis. We also the enjoyed the presence Sr. Nilma de Jesús, provincial of the Comboni Missionary Sisters of Brazil, who shared some of the essential moments of the missionary journey. As a united Comboni Family, Mission takes shape in our being as relationship, nearness, reaching planned goals in the world of our peripheries, of the prisons, of those who have no land, of the indigenous people, of those who have no voice and no chances: all those who live at the margins. We lived through a great fraternal meeting because, due to the distances and the realities around us, we cannot meet as often as we would like. It was a privileged moment to nourish what is mystical, replenish the strength, reinforce the ties and reflect on our faith and on our missionary identity.

Each day the invitation is renewed to be open to others, to widen the horizons, to be on the move, to share faith and life, and be signs. Our missionary vocation impels us to move out of our reality, to break through borders, to go to meet God with the least, to celebrate hope and to become family with humankind.

We had the opportunity to talk about the present situation of the ACLM, its progress and difficulties. It is a journey that is taking shape, despite its frailties. Thus we recognize this treasure we carry with us and our responsibility to continue to promote mission in the Church and to awaken all to our common commitment as people who have been baptized.

The highlight of our meeting was the Thanksgiving Mass for the 20^th anniversary of the ACLM celebrated in the parish of Santa Amelia, which has been a great source of support in the CLM journey since the beginning in 1995. The welcoming of the CLM couple, Liliana and Flávio, who are traveling to Maranhão, in the region of Piquía, and their missionary sharing, touched all present in a special way and very fraternally we celebrated and shared our new projects in a mix of joy, as well as tears, dreams and desires.

We left with some stated objectives and the desire to work more united as Comboni Family, both in mission and in mission promotion, strengthening the groups of Comboni spirituality found in Curitiba and Balsas as well as other places where the Spirit blows. We also felt united to the journey of the International CLM and with our brothers and sisters spread over more than 20 countries across the globe with whom we will hold the International Assembly of the CLM in 2018.

With the grace of celebrating the 300^th anniversary of Our Mother Aparecida, inspired by St. Daniel Comboni in the following of Jesus and united to the missionary journey of the Church in Brazil and in the world, may we be ready to guard and to help flourish every day more the missionary call of the Comboni vocation. Let us stay in touch!

CLM of Brazil

Sharing life and knowledge

28 June, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

What is there in common between an over 70 Russian woman with a university education and an uneducated woman of about 50 from Guinea-Bissau? Perhaps the fact that both live in Portugal, in a low class neighborhood of the great city of Lisbon and that they both want to learn Portuguese.

And so it is that in the Quinta de Mós, in a space given by City Council for the use of the parish of Camarate, based on the concrete need of these two people, a literacy program for adults came into being. Based on the method of Paulo Freire, suited to this specific reality, we start classes in the afternoon. The learning levels and the individual needs vary greatly. But with this method, that fosters learning starting from the concrete reality, and allows the person to look critically at herself, interaction is possible and, even more, it creates solidarity between the people involved.

A little bit at a time, people are joining the group and we open a new class in the morning, because some of the women work in the afternoon. The flow is constant. There are desertions due to work, health, domestic problems.

The two classes are made up of women. A group ends and three continue. The two original women are still there and another girl, much younger who only has a second grade education.

Classes involve more than alphabet and words. They consist in conversations, in sharing of difficulties, of support, help in filling out documents, finding apartments for rental, translating conversations, clearing doubts from day to day, improving pronunciation… One has to leave her home, but another has a house to rent; One wants to learn sewing, and another knows how and is willing to teach; One finds food and shares it with another who draws no salary… And so we move on, sharing life and knowledge, promoting learning and the appreciation of the person, the sharing and the solidarity! “Saving Africa with Africa!”

CLM Flávio Schmidt

“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for the catch” – Missioning of The CLM Liliana Ferreira and Flávio Schmidt

4 September, 201716 June, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

“Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for the catch” (Lk 5:4)

On Sunday, June 4, we celebrated with joy the missioning of our CLM Liliana Ferreira and Flávio Schmidt in the parish of Lamas, Miranda do Corvo to which Liliana herself belongs. United in faith and in the love of Christ they are leaving for the mission of Piquiá, Maranhão, in Brazil, having accepted the Lord’s invitation to leave, give of themselves and to be a thousand lives for mission.

And we go with them. We follow them in prayer, in thought and in the wish (belief) that God will give them light in their vocation of and for love, and in their path of dedication to share their brothers journey.

We are grateful for these two lives who generate so much life around themselves and for the gift of life they will multiply in the lands assigned to them by God.

United in Mission

Carolina Fiúza

20th Anniversary of the CLM in Brazil

5 June, 2017 by Alberto de la Portilla

It is with great joy that we, the CLM of Brazil, celebrate this year the 20 years of the CLM – the Association of the Comboni Lay Missionaries, a juridical not for profit organization founded on May 31, 1997.

In 1995, a group of people from all over Brazil began to dream of the project of the CLM in São José dos Campos, SP. Those were the days of the great event that took place in Brazil, the COMLA 5, that pushed the Church much beyond its borders. After that, other meetings took place and finally 1997 saw the beginning of the first missionary community of CLM involved in formation and in the sharing of missionary life in the city of Contagem, MG.

After 20 years of existence the Association of Comboni Lay Missionaries has reasons to celebrate, in the light of a history of challenges, a lot of dedication, daring and perseverance, its existence as lay missionaries in the style of St. Daniel Comboni.

We continue in the call to follow Jesus Christ and we are inserted in challenging missionary areas at the side of the poorest and most abandoned of our society, both here and much beyond our borders.

In June we will hold the Yearly Assembly of the ACLM in Curitiba, PR. It will be a privileged time of communion and of sharing our vocation. On the 22^nd, we will celebrate a Thanksgiving Mass for the 20 years of the ACLM in the parish of Santa Amelia. We wish to meet, reflect, evaluate, pray, make new plans and continue the “dream-challenge” of the Brazilian Church, totally missionary and open to the world.

Recently we have been living through some beautiful moments in our journey as CLM in Brazil, such as: the formation of groups of Comboni Spirituality and discernment in Curitiba and more recently in Balsas; our participation in the team of Coordination of the Comboni Family, with the various activities planned in common in missionary and vocation promotion; the strengthening in a short time of the CLM in Acailândia-Piquiá together with the Justice project of Raíles; the weddings and births that took place in this CLM Family; the special witness of some members at difficult times for the loss of dear ones and in the struggle to regain their health. In total, it is the commitment of each one on different fronts, persevering in the pro-life option.

There are also challenges and questions over how we must answer our vocation in these new times. What are the specific aspects of our identity? What do we need to change? How can we be more efficient in mission promotion and in promoting new vocations? Keeping in mind that mission is renewed by new missionaries, men and women willing to enter into the dynamics of a Church on the move.

We count on everyone’s prayers and wish to remain united to the great Comboni family spread around the world.

In the light of our reality, in the grace of the celebration of the 300^th anniversary of the Aparecida, inspired by St. Daniel Comboni in the sequel of Jesus and united in our missionary journey to the Church in Brazil and in the world, we are ready to protect and foster each day the missionary call of the Comboni vocation.

With every best wish and friendship,

The CLM of Brazil