Our dear laywomen, Mercedes and Carolina, spent from September 13 to October 11 in a small experience of community life in a community of the Little Vincentian Sisters of Charity, who welcomed them with much love and generosity.
On their return they attended the feast of St. Daniel Comboni, which we celebrated as a Comboni family at Casa Comboni. It was a very joyful afternoon, full of enthusiasm and many surprises, we all had lunch together and shared with the people who study in the school of evangelization run by the MCCJ. We also played BINGO, an activity with many prizes that turned out to be a great success.
During the mass Mercedes and Carolina introduced themselves, they told a little of who they are and where they are going, many were admired for their decision and collaborated with joy for the cause.
On Sunday 20 we were ready to celebrate as a community the DOMUND, with a special event.
At 7:00 p.m., the sending out mass for Mercedes and Carolina was held at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Rosary, patroness of Guatemala. The mass was presided by Monsignor Tulio Lopez, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Guatemala, who, with much admiration, dedicated part of his homily to the missions and the courageous decision to say Yes to Christ through the mission of the agents, he told them that his heart is young, full of ardor for service and that Guatemala sends them together with the prayers of this people. Fr. Juan Diego Calderón, provincial of Central America, presided together with Monsignor Tulio the celebration and together they did the blessing and sending.
As a community we feel very happy, joyful and encouraged, because Christ has chosen these lay women to continue with His mission, that of building the Kingdom, and we are participating in sending them, working together with them, opening our hearts to this fire that burns for Christ and does not go out.
We trust in Providence, that the road is being smoothed by God and that all the obstacles are being overcome little by little, we believe that St. Daniel Comboni intercedes for this small community and accompanies us with hope, so that we can continue with this work of giving “a thousand lives for the mission”.
We continue to work and pray that our dear Mercedes and Carolina will soon be in Peru, so that they can tell with their testimony, the wonders that God works in their lives.
Wishing you abundant blessings in your missionary life, we greet you Mercedes and Carolina, Comboni Lay Missionaries of Guatemala.
We would like to share with you a little of our personal history.
My name is Mercedes, I am a widow and I am 80 years old, mother of 3 children, 6 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren.
Before becoming a missionary, I worked in pastoral communities in the preparation of readers, acolytes, missionary children, and I was instituted as a minister of the Eucharist, also forming open cenacles at home; despite all this work done for the Lord, I had the desire to know the mission and I began to mission with the Comboni Lay Missionaries of Guatemala traveling to San Luis Peten, once a year, for four years. One of the activities we did was to visit marginalized villages deep in the mountains, without access to electricity and water. I would go on mission listening to the needs of the people, sharing and living with them.
I have been on the road of mission and the Comboni charism for fourteen years now, in various situations and projects, such as in Santa Cruz Chinautla, a municipality with a high indigenous population, evangelizing children and women of scarce resources, working in the program of evangelization, formation and nutrition of children in Santa Catarina Pinula in some peripheral villages and doing some community life experiences, both in El Salvador in a peripheral neighborhood and in Santo Domingo Xenacoj, in marginalized indigenous villages. My desire to go on mission outside of Guatemala has been growing.
My name is Carolina, I am single and 68 years old, mother of 2 children and 3 grandchildren. Before being in the mission, I worked for many years in a Catholic Christ-centered group, in open and closed retreats of first evangelization, also giving talks of personal growth to adults who joined the group from the retreats, at the same time to the children who met on Fridays in the group assembly meeting.
For four years Mercedes shared with me about the mission and her experience in it, until one day I agreed to go to the Comboni Lay Missionaries and I stayed, I have eight years of being in the mission and in the way of the Comboni charism. I was in formation for two years, then I went to visit a village called La Salvadora in Santa Catarina Pinula and I have worked with the local people, I have seen their needs and I have felt that strong call to go on mission outside Guatemala.
Like Mercedes, I was with her in Santa Cruz Chinautla and in the experience of community life in El Salvador.
AT THIS MOMENT we are living our experience of community life and specific preparation, to be able to leave in a few days to Villa Ecológica in Arequipa, Peru.
We are living this experience in a Home for the Elderly located in Quetzaltenango, five hours from Guatemala City, which is where we live. We have left our home, families, loved ones and all our usual work to prepare ourselves for the mission Ad Gentes.
This experience has allowed us to live together and get to know each other better. Alberto de la Portilla has given us formation, which has been very enriching to discern our vocation, we have prayed together and we have asked ourselves if we really want to leave Guatemala because of all the problems that come with arriving in a place with a different culture and customs, but the answer has always been YES, trusting in divine providence that goes ahead of us. It has not been easy to adapt to the climate, because here it is very cold and it has rained a lot, otherwise, we have been welcomed with much affection by the Sisters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, from whom we have learned a lot about the organization of the Asylum, the way in which they harvest their own food and take care of the 32 elderly women in their care. The missionary should always learn everything he can to be able to serve in the missionary journey.
Receive a cordial greeting, Mercedes and Carolina.
With much enthusiasm we prepared ourselves to celebrate the major week, being obedient to the call of God we set out to San Luis, Petén, Guatemala, Adrián Chacón Aspirant to CLM, Jorge Zamora Candidate to CLM and this servant José David Rojas Quesada Comboni Lay Missionary.
On Saturday March 23 we left Guatemala City together with Father Juan Diego Calderon, Provincial of the MCCJ for the Province of Central America to San Luis, carrying many expectations of not knowing what would be the task that God would have, but with much enthusiasm and love to make of this small experience a tool to make love grow among us children of God and also to be that living testimony of bringing God to all parts of the world, with the same confidence with which Jesus speaks to his disciples and tells them;
…and teach them to fulfill all that I have commanded you. I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Matthew 28, 20…
When we arrived in San Luis we were welcomed by Father Aubert, Comboni Priest, coming from CAR, he invited us to have lunch and then he told us that two of us would go to a village called Cansis and another one would go to another one called Cain, the coordinators of each village were waiting for us, we said goodbye to Jorge since he was going to Cain, Adrian and myself went with Don Eliseo to the community of Cansis.
It is admirable for me to see the dedication and disposition with which the Coordinator of Lectors, Coordinator of Acolytes and Catechists met at the time of the Convocation. A very great joy was the reception with which the children who were in Formative Catechesis for their Consecration as Acolytes received us, that same Saturday we met until almost 9.30 pm, where we talked openly and extensively about a somewhat complicated situation that the population was going through, we also planned the whole Holy Week, trying to respect the way in which they do their celebrations, and with the consent of the community add some elements. In this meeting we understood why the assignment that Father Aubert (Alberto) gave us when we left the parish house, I can not deny that at some point I felt like my partner, unable to successfully accomplish that task, however with the commitment of the Catechists and Coordinators and the confidence that God would be with us, we assumed with fear but with joy that task, where we had to go to visit house to house, talk and fight for that community did not give up the service and surrender to the almighty.
Cansís is a community that in that area of the Petén is called mixed, since they speak both Spanish or Castilian as they say and Quetchi, for us it was very striking to hear them speak in their dialect.
On Palm Sunday Consecrated Lectors held the Celebration and in it they introduced us to the whole community explaining a little of the agreements we had made the day before, after the celebration we greeted everyone, and on Monday we began to visit Lectors who were not exercising their ministry, on Tuesday we did it with the children acolytes, Wednesday with catechists and other faithful who were not congregating.
The purpose of the visit was to motivate them, encourage them and invite them to resume their dedication, their consecration, their service, and like everything in the ways of the Lord, children who said YES I want to continue YES I want to consecrate myself as others said they were sure they did not want to continue, however, they were encouraged and if they definitely did not want to continue they were invited to participate in the celebration of the Word that Monday and Holy Wednesday were held, and since Monday we began to see those people who said they did not want to serve coming to the celebrations, That day we had the Eucharistic Celebration, Father Juan Diego and for the infinite grace of God 3 of the Consecrated Acolytes, including the girl from the last house arrived, it was very gratifying to see that all the fatigue, walking, sunshine had its reward and hope in the Lord of the harvest, that this motivation would continue.
On Holy Thursday being Eucharistic day and of great importance for us Catholic Christians since as we know we celebrate the institution of the Holy Eucharist, we proceeded to visit all the elderly and sick people who can not gather because of their health condition, walking through dusty trails now that it is summer, but reflecting on the work that the Ministers of Communion should do when the winter comes. Each house that we visited with Jesus Eucharist was a great joy, when we were leaving the temple the men collaborated with the construction of the provisional tabernacle to make the transfer of Our Lord, finished that task we returned to the Church at about 2 pm and to our surprise the men had already finished their work and only the women were left to make the floral arrangements and other details, then we set out to prepare the Celebration of this day, The men first washed the feet of the women and then the women washed the feet of the men, as a sign of humility, respect, fraternity and community. Once the celebration was over, we had a time of community prayer and then we moved the Blessed Sacrament to where it had been previously placed to pass and pray as a family, I must mention that they kept vigil from that moment until Holy Saturday before communion, the commitment is beautiful.
For Friday, we were called at 8:30 AM to make the Holy Way of the Cross, in each assigned house they decorated their station, one in Castilla and another in Quetchi, with great faith meditating on what we were doing we went station by station, half way through the owner of a store gave us a glass of cool to all participants and reduce the heat a little, we kept walking meditating performing songs for the occasion, after walking another little while some brothers invited us to another cool …. Then we went on until we reached the church, where we prepared ourselves for the Celebration of the Word and the Veneration of the Holy Cross, entering into a meditative silence of that reading of the Passion in Quetchi.
On Saturday, maintaining an atmosphere of meditation, we met with the children of the community, the meeting was very beautiful to hear them talk, but above all to see the desire with which they want to serve the Lord, we took the opportunity to tell them in the form of a story about the call of Samuel, so that they understand that each of us has a special calling, and that this call is the same God who makes it to us. In the afternoon we finished fine tuning details for the celebration of the Easter Vigil, the Solemnity of Solemnities, we began at 7 pm, with the blessing of the fire, the Easter Candle, we took the opportunity to burn some papers that in the previous Catechesis we made where in a symbolic way the participants placed those things that weigh on the heart of each one, We entered the place prepared to proclaim the Easter Proclamation, each child and each adult with great faith having in their hearts that light that reminded us that everything was paid and that through God’s mercy we can come out of the darkness of sin, Already in the Temple we presented the Paschal Candle as the Light of Christ, saving light, purifying light, the readings and psalms were made both in Castilian and Quetchi, at the end of the readings of the Old Testament we sang the Gloria with great joy, the lights of the temple were turned on, We continued with great joy the reading and psalm of the New Testament as the Gospel, Truly He is Risen Alleluia Alleluia. With our hearts more disposed, the Communion Ministers entered into the Eucharistic Jesus where we received Him again in His Temple where He is present in Flesh and Blood and as I expressed to those present, He will be waiting for them with open arms and full of love and mercy. The celebration lasted four and a half hours, at the end we shared the food brought by the attendees, so we all celebrated in community the beautiful night we shared.
On Sunday from 8 AM the choir was singing praises that gladdened our hearts, at 9 am we began the Liturgy of the Word and also our farewell to the Community of Cansis, sharing a community lunch.
Truly the word THANK YOU, is small and encloses all the feeling that this community gave us, every house visited, every breakfast, lunch, shared dinner, every animation expressed, make the fatigue, effort and sun have a meaning and it is the Faith, a Faith that for some situations the enemy wanted to take advantage and destroy, however the Love for God and commitment, makes them continue to stand up for the fight, every sign of affection that they gave us, every shared laughter, and very special for that YES that each one delivers in their service… BANTIOX (thank you in Quetchi).
We pray to God the Father, that our little work done during the past Holy Week, will bring its fruits and hope to the Community of Cansis…
Surely you will ask yourself why the title: Fallen Angels from Heaven… that is how we were called, as angels we do not have much and we lack a lot to have such honor, what is certain is that everything, word, gesture that we gave Adrian and this servant was with the heart being obedient to the voice of God.
Throughout 2023 we encountered many emotions and realities, full of joy, sadness, comfort, longing and cross…
The CLM of Guatemala began a year full of hope in the nutrition program Chispuditos, which grew incredibly to the point that we managed, along with professionals, to make medical and dental days, since the supplement, training and food were not helping children to get out of anemia and their illnesses. We have made great efforts to innovate and train ourselves, but it has not been enough because when the pediatrician, the nutritionist and the dentist arrived, they observed a high degree of malnutrition, psychomotor problems, useless dentures, genetic diseases, speech and growth deficiencies, often caused by the same malnutrition of the mothers and poor nutritional education. They are 6 years of an arduous road, working the mind, the heart and the stomach, without a doubt it fills us with joy to see the 6 year old children that leave the program without anemia and with an average size and weight, it is to give glory to God!
At the same time we went into JPIC knowing that St. Daniel Comboni had a special interest in justice for the marginalized and forgotten; we immersed ourselves in the formation to learn about migration in Guatemala and this led us to human trafficking, a terrible and very latent situation in our country. We discovered that Comboni fought hard against human trafficking, preventing them from taking so many blacks as slaves. We understood through talks, personal encounters and several Cineforums about human trafficking, we knew the reality and rawness of the life of women in prostitution. Our hearts bowed before such a situation and we started an awareness campaign. Guatemala suffers from human trafficking, women, children and arises from migration, which is one of the biggest problems of the country, from there these social problems arise, culminating in poor nutrition of children, dismembered families, single women and children practically orphaned.
We believe that it has been a year marked by a deep awakening to the way of Comboni. We had enriching formations, we formed new CLM candidates, we met several times with a small group of lay people in San Luis Petén who are doing their CLM formation, we broadened our vision towards new projects and we grew in the Comboni charism.
A 2024 awaits us with new and great challenges, at the community, mission ad gentes and economic levels, but we trust in the holy intercession of St. Daniel Comboni, we embrace the hearts of Jesus and Mary and we ask St. Joseph to help this small group to be light and salt wherever we go.
Happy beginning of the year 2024, may it be filled with many blessings and new paths for each CLM.
On Sunday, November 26, the first formation meeting was held at the Comboni Postulancy of the Martyrs of Uganda in San José, Costa Rica, as part of the discernment stage of the current group of candidates for Comboni Lay Missionaries.
Jesús Pérez – MCCJ, originally from Spain and currently living in the country, accompanied the formative meeting under the theme: “My personal history as a history of salvation”. The objective is to accompany the candidates in the discovery of their vocation within a process of identification with the Comboni mission and charism, trying that each candidate can reread his own life, learning to know and value himself as a person in all its dimensions.
Before starting the formation meeting, we had the virtual visit of Alberto de la Portilla (coordinator of the Central Committee) and Beatriz Maldonado (coordinator of the American committee) of the Comboni Lay Missionaries, as a way of welcoming the new group of candidates to CLM – Costa Rica and encourage them to continue to persevere in this beautiful journey of formation, prayer and missionary service to the ends of the world to make common cause with other peoples where many brothers and sisters are waiting for holy and capable missionaries.
The formation meeting was undoubtedly a space of great importance and reflection on a personal level for each one of the candidates, not only on a human level, but also on a spiritual level.
We encourage the new candidates of Costa Rica to continue persevering in the call of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the style and charism of St. Daniel Comboni.
Alex Menjívar, CLM Candidate
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