Europe – Page 110 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Italian National CLM Assembly. Verona 2015

11 October, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

From the 18^th to the 20^th of September took place in Verona, hosted by the Comboni sisters, the third national assembly of the Italian CLM.

We discussed mainly about the places and the times the CLM are called to witness their vocation to be missionaries according to the charisma of St. Daniel Comboni. The second important aim was to meet each other and to share the experiences, the problems and the joys that every group faces during its daily commitments in its own territory.

We were warmly welcome by the Comboni sisters. There were many different groups coming from all over the Country: Venegono Superiore, Milano, Padova, Verona, Bologna, Firenze, Palermo, Agrigento and Bari. There were also other “special guests”: the coordinator of the CLM international committee Alberto de la Portilla, the referent for the Italian MCCJ province Fr. Massimo Robol, the MCCJ in charge for the missionary animation of the Italian province Fr. Giorgio Padovan and others Comboni fathers and sisters.

The first positive aspect was the high number of people who attended the assembly. We were about 90 people and many of these were new faces and, moreover, they were young. This means that the charisma of Comboni still fascinates and appeals people of different ages, different places and with a very different background.

Friday afternoon was dedicated for welcoming the participants; after a short official welcome from the national secretary and the special guests, we met for a starting prayer. Thanks to some songs and symbols we entered in the theme of the meeting. After dinner, we had a special game so that we could know better each other. During Saturday, we developed the main theme of the assembly: after a short prayer, we met Maria Soave Buscemi who guided us explaining some verses from the Bible. These explanations helped us to read deeply and with a new point of view the scriptures. During the afternoon, we organized four workshops in order to deep four different aspects of our Charisma: missionary animation, immigration, new styles for living, Justice and Peace. We divided the big group in four smaller groups. Inside the group, the leader gave some good information about the theme and later there was the opportunity for sharing. Though it was not so easy, the workshop allowed us to share some good ideas that each and every group can apply to its own reality following some common criterion. In the evening, we could luckily see a show presented by a group of youth coming from Mali.

On Sunday, after the morning prayer, we met all together and the four different groups reported to the others what came out during the discussions of the previous day. After this, we celebrated together the Holy Mass. During the celebration, we have the opportunity for “sending” officially Barbara and call upon her the protection of the Holy Spirit. Barbara is a CLM who is preparing for leaving in August 2016 for three years in Mozambique. After the Celebration, Federico (Italian representative in the European committee) and Alberto de la Portilla presented the European meeting of August 2016 that will take place in Portugal.

It was very important during the assembly, to hear from the voice of many different MCCJ that they have the need and the will to cooperate more with the lay. We were asked to take part in some national committee and give our support to Nigrizia (the main national magazine of the Comboni family).

At the end of the assembly was very clear that it is not so easy to find the way and the time for living our missionary charisma but the only possibility we have to achieve this goal is to build a net in order to keep in contact and support each other.

CLM Italy

The mission is a plan of love for which we shouldn´t spare any effort

10 October, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

This is one of the many phrases that Comboni has left us as a proof of his donation and the conviction of his vocation.

Every day we hear, see and read in the news the world’s inequalities. Every day we find so many people who need hope.

A world, home of all, that is deeply interconnected, that need from us to wake up and unite all efforts to propose a new way of living, more just and dignified for all. It needs that we roll up our sleeves and get down proposing and carrying out a new humanity. Need people ready to be with those men and women who suffer most from exclusion and have no consideration from others. Needs people that carry the tenderness and love of God to every corner of the planet where necessary.

In a world where the money find facilities and people barriers, we need to recover and make present the love of God. Mercy that restore wounds and brotherhood and solidarity that allows us to share this land that is everybody’s home. We all have the right to enjoy it, no matter where we were born or the possibilities of the family that has welcomed us.

We need you to step forward and join us. The mission is a plan of love for which we shouldn´t spare any effort.

A happy time in Carapira – Mozambique

7 October, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

The going of Jesus, as told in the Gospel of Sunday XXIII Ordinary Time, to a territory outside the Jewish tradition tells us that God’s concern is with everyone, not leaving anyone out. A deaf is brought before Jesus, he knows nothing about Him because he did not hear and, of course, could not seek Him by his own initiative. Who does not know Jesus we do not have to censor, but rather lead to Him.

On the way we did for the trip to Mozambique we went to meet those forgotten by society, I talk about the homeless and the poor, because, however much people are supportive, we forget the real suffering of these our friends, loneliness. How many times have told us that we were different, we brought a smile, a hug, a kind word…? The feeling that I wanted to take with me to Carapira. I did not know what I was going to find, but I took an open heart, cheerful, full of love to give. We must learn from Jesus to feel the problems of others and get involved in their solution. It was that feeling and purpose that we try to achieve, and the Fe and Mission group conducted. We open ourselves, we listen, look, get involved and engaged with students of the Industrial School of Carapira, with the missionary family (fathers, brothers, sisters, laity) and with the community of Carapira. Where I loved the beautiful work of everyone, especially Lay Missionaries, who are close to people, communities and their everyday problems, as well as students of the Industrial School of Carapira.

Every day we went to meet the community of Carapira, after praying Lauds (06:00), after the “mata bicho” funny expression means having breakfast, from 1:30 to 2:00 I stay with the kids, playing with them, wearing a smile, I helped the moms to draw water… to be with people, give them a hug and a kind word for everyone we met. I learned that those who have nothing of material goods, are the happiest, they do not care for physical appearance of the other, about the dress or the way we are, but they appreciate the joy of life and the ability to share the little things We have to each other.

Highlighting some important moments of my stay. I visited on a Friday with Father Firmino the community of Caserna, it was the day of baptism. I loved to participate in this beautiful celebration and a special culture, while Fr. Firmino confessed youth they were to be baptized, I went for a walk around the community, and in one of the houses, was a young man of 12 years, David, lying at the entrance, moaning in pain. After having asked what was going on and not getting response appeared young David’s mother, who informed me that he was bitten by an animal. David’s hand was very swollen, so I got scared and tried to warn the mother to go to the doctor, but she said they could not, they live far from the health center, and had no money to go by public transport, the only transportation that could take. I could not escape this situation, however, I took from the backpack drinking water to clean the hand of the young and offered him a piece of cake, which I have to eat if I was hungry, David loved to eat something sweet and so good.

When I got to the school of Carapira, I went to the house of the Lay Comboni Missionaries, and asked for help to Marcia, a laity working in this mission, Portuguese and from the District of Aveiro, who immediately offered to help David.

The next week I was with a group of five young of Carapira talking on the street, when suddenly I see a man carrying on his back a woman who was ill with malaria, and could not walk far. I asked the young people for help, to assist the man, but the response was negative, as was normal, the lady was with malaria… but I could not bear to see this situation without doing anything, so I helped him, the man took the woman in the back and it was leaning on my shoulders… that will not be very helpful, but I think it was useful. These are small gestures that can change the world.

What I liked least to live and see in Mozambique was the lack of conditions in relation to health, education and equal rights for women, which are considered inferior to men. But the joy, friendship, simplicity of these people are able to overcome any existing negativity, I want to emphasize “people’s education”, they are highly educated (they like greeting people), even without the right to education that many other peoples have.

We all had various responsibilities, some more heavies, other lighters, but all very important and meaningful for the mission. We live and work as a community. I thank all the people who greeted us, welcomed us, who trusted us… but above all the youth of the Industrial School of Carapira, the 3rd B, of which I felt closer and every day I remember them, I pray that they study, strive for a better future and do not forget that they can be what they want, they are not inferior to anyone.

I have lived a dream I will never forget. I can say “I smelled the Mission,” which helped me grow as a man and as a Christian. I want to come back!!

For this and for that, I ask the Lord to heal us of deafness and blindness, and put us in sincere communion with His love and with the world around us.

See you son Carapira – Mozambique!

Germano Ferreira

Last day of the XVIII General Chapter in Rome

5 October, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

“Now it’s time to bring the Chapter in the life of the Institute”, with these words the outgoing superior general Fr. Enrique Sánchez González, who presided at the concluding Mass of the XVIII General Chapter, called on the delegates to send to all the confreres the spirit and message of these weeks they had together. On this last day of the Chapter, in the morning session Fr. Enrique Sanchez read in the Assembly hall the formal decree of the Chapter’s closer that had been approved by the Chapter delegates.

At 11.30, the concluding Mass began. During the homily, Fr. Enrique focused on three words: courage, joy and hope. He invited everyone to renew the experience of the love of God, the source of our missionary commitment, to bring even with greater joy the proclamation of the Gospel to the poor and the outskirts of suffering. On the novelty of the Chapter is that “the Lord – said Fr. Enrique – has not tired of us, he is still with us … and the best is still to come”.

At the end of the Mass, the newly elected superior general, Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse, thanked Fr. Enrique and the outgoing Council for their commitment and enthusiasm in guiding the Institute in these past six years. Also the Superior General of the Comboni Sisters, Luzia Premoli, who participated in the Eucharist with some of her sisters, expressed gratitude for the cooperation experienced in the past five years, for her, with the General Direction of the Comboni Missionaries.

The celebration took place in the main Chapel of the house and wad then continued with the convivial and lunch.

www.comboni.org

Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse elected as Superior General

1 October, 2015 by Alberto de la Portilla

Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie was elected as Superior General of the Comboni Missionaries by almost all of the Chapter delegates. He is 46 years of age, Assistant General in charge of Basic Formation and the provinces/delegations of English-speaking Africa (except Eritrea) and Mozambique. Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse G. was born on September 22, 1969, in Harar (Ethiopia). He is the first African to hold the post of Superior General.

Immediately after the vote, the outgoing Superior General, Fr. Enrique Sánchez González, asked Fr. Tesfaye if he accepted the election.

Fr. Tesfaye replied: “My dear confreres, I would like to say a few words.

Thanks. Thank you for the trust and mercy that you have shown me. Both in the vote as well as in personal dialogues with some, you have shown confidence, solidarity and support. Thanks for it. I would like to say thanks to the confreres who have expressed their reservations, their hesitation. I agree with you and thank you, because I myself am afraid, I too have my reservations and my hesitations. So thanks for your realism.
Smallness. Our Institute, beginning with St. Daniel Comboni, is a great one, it is a beautiful family of disciples and martyrs for the mission, for Africa and for being at the side of the poor. Our Institute, too, has its problems. Faced by all this, I feel small, a little confrere who has had the experience of the great forgiveness of God and confreres. I feel small before the greatness of our Institute.
Respect. The General Chapter among its activities must also give the Institute a General Council, as it has just elected the coordinator of this General Council. I respect your dialogue, your discernment and your vote. Out of respect for those who voted for me and for what these votes represent, after having prayed about it, I contacted my spiritual director and others, and especially after the encouragement of Fr. Enrique and the General councillors to accept, I, for the glory of God and trusting in God’s help, in the General Council, the General Direction here in Rome and in you, circumscription superiors, and humbly asking for mercy, I accept to serve as Superior General.”

After the acceptance by Fr. Tesfaye, Fr. Enrique Sánchez G., following the procedure of the elections as stated by the Statute approved on September 8, 2015, said: “Having the Rev. Father Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie received enough votes on behalf of the Chapter, I, Enrique Sánchez González, declare the Rev. Father Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie the elected Superior General of the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”