That, in our pastoral activity, we may know how to integrate care for our common home and the protection of the environment as an expression of our recognition of ourselves as God’s creatures, recognising the provident hand of God in creation. Let us pray.
Jesús Ruíz, Bishop of Mbaïki (Central African Republic) tells us how his communities of the Aka (Pygmies) people celebrated Laudato Si’ Week. Jesus, who inspired the CLM movement in Spain, is visiting Spain these days and we had the joy of sharing an afternoon with him, in which his love for his communities shines through.
The Congo Basin is the second lung of the planet, and sadly the scene of similar environmental crimes to those we usually hear about in the Amazon. Only fewer voices tell us about this scenario of massive destruction of the equatorial rainforest. Jesús Ruíz promotes the integral evangelization of the peoples, in which the Easter of the Lord translates into the Aka people standing up against centuries of discrimination not only from the colonizers but also from the rest of the majority peoples of Central Africa.
The Aka are used to taking blows and bowing their heads. That is why leading a march with the slogan We are the guardians of the forest is of great value. It is a clear sign of the Comboni charisma. Like the rest of the native peoples in America, Asia, Oceania… the Aka are aware that they have guarded the Common House for centuries, in invisibility, and now their testimony shines because their environment is at serious risk of disappearing. We are indebted to all these communities.
Comboni Sisters Lucia Font (Spanish) and Lucia Premoli (Brazilian) are currently working with Bishop Ruiz and the Aka peoples, the latter as the Episcopal leader of the Laudato Si’ Commission. The experience in Amazonia has prompted the latter to concretize in Africa all the work that has been developed in Latin America. In nearby Mongoumba, the CLM community has been accompanying this people for more than 20 years. Our CLM Tere Monzón, who participated in this mission for 10 years, returns to Spain on the 9th.
The momentum of the encyclical Laudato Si’ is mobilizing around the world for a change of system, because the current development model respects neither people nor the rest of Creation. “We need organizations to help us document everything that is happening in our territory, so that it becomes known.” The level of mercury pollution in the rivers, the loss of native species, the savage enrichment of a few minorities thanks to the national resources of this “poor country”. This is the direct request that Monsignor Ruiz makes to us.
Hello Everyone 🙂
I write to You because I wanna share with You something special. On 18th of April in my parish in Cracow I was sent to Kenya by our bishop 🙂
Surrounded by family and friends I received a missionary cross. It was a very special and touching moment for me. At the beginnig of the May I will join Linda and Pius in Kitelakapel. I can’t wait!
Two days earlier a mission animation took place, also in my parish. Fr Adam and fr Rene said a lot about our Comboni Family and their mission experience.
I got a lot of support from everyone. From my family, friends, community, parish.
I send You a greetings. Please, pray for me and my family.
God bless You All
Marzena
That the celebration of the Day of Prayer for Vocations may stir up in the hearts of young men and women the awareness that the mission needs them to respond freely to the call of Jesus to go out into all the world and bear witness to him. Let us pray.
We continue this series of testimonies with Sister María Luz Sánchez Aragón.
Sister Maria Luz Sanchez Aragon is a Comboni missionary sister who has been working in Congo for more than 20 years.
She talks about all her years of missionary presence, especially her missionary vocation, her years of presence in Congo and her evolution facing the difficult reality that the country and the world continue to go through.
(video in Spanish)
