We continue with our series of missionary testimonies. In this one, Sister Lucía, a Comboni missionary in the Central African Republic, talks about some important moments in her vocation and missionary life.
We invite you to watch it (video in Spanish).
From October 15th to 21st, our CLM members experienced a truly special silent retreat at Napenda Kuishi in Nairobi. It was a week filled with deep spiritual experiences, inner reflection, and encounters with God, with ourselves, and with the community. The retreat was led by Father Daniel Villaverde, who guided us through this time of prayer, reflection, and discovery of the spirituality of Saint Daniel Comboni.
Each day of the retreat followed a gentle rhythm: morning prayer, the Eucharist, inputs from fr. Daniel on human aspect, catechesis and Comboni’s spirituality, and personal time for meditation and adoration. The silence that accompanied us throughout the week became a sacred space where we could hear God’s voice more clearly and look more deeply into our own lives.
During the retreat, we had the opportunity to delve in the missionary spirituality of Saint Daniel Comboni – a man who dedicated his entire life to proclaiming the Gospel and serving others. His example teaches us that true mission stems from a personal encounter with Christ and from love for our brothers and sisters.
In silence and prayer, each of us experienced profound inner spiritual moments – times of emotion, discovery, gratitude, and peace. It was a period when we could allow God to speak to us without hurry and without distraction.
At the end of the retreat, we shared our personal experiences with one another. Although silence had accompanied us most of the week, it was precisely during these moments of sharing that we came to know one another more deeply and truthfully – through heartfelt testimonies that touched our hearts.
We return from this retreat with renewed strength, peace in our hearts, and a desire to live more consciously – in a spirit of trust, simplicity, and missionary commitment. We thank Father Daniel for his spiritual guidance and all the participants for their openness and companionship on this journey of silence and prayer.
“In silence, God speaks the loudest.”
Iza Tobiasiewicz, CLM Kenya
This was the theme with which we began our national assembly of the CLM in Portugal, which took place last weekend, October 25-26, at the MCCJ house in Maia. In her reflection, Sr. Graça, a Comboni Missionary and our advisor, inspired us to recognize God’s gaze on our CLM vocation and to realize how our vocation permeates our daily lives, like “yeast in dough.” She also invited us to recognize that it was God who called and chose us! She invited us to contemplate the beauty of mission and vocation, and to seek to recognize the presence of perennial joy, of mission as relationship, as a dynamic of communion, from which we radiate God’s Love.
Next, the Activity Plan and the annual budget for 2026 were presented and approved. Each local community also had space to share its plans for the coming year.
The following day, the Letters of the Ministries that make up the CLM Association were approved, which were drawn up since the last assembly, which took place in March this year.
At the end of Sunday morning, we celebrated Holy Mass, presided over by Fr. José Vieira, a Comboni missionary working in Ethiopia, where all the CLM members present, including those participating online, renewed their CLM commitment.
The weekend was a favorable time of encounter, reflection, and fellowship, with the participation of 15 CLM members, 3 of whom participated online. We thank God for calling each one of us and for always accompanying us on this missionary journey!
Saint Daniel Comboni, pray for us!
CLM Portugal Communication
It is very rewarding to produce with dedication, striving for quality in nutritious, healthy, and unique food. But selling it and getting a fair price, hearing the praise of those who take it to their table, is even better.
This is what our third-year students at the Rural Family House in Açailândia experienced on Friday, thanks to a partnership between social movements, the Municipal Department of Agriculture of Açailândia, and the PAGES project of SAF/State of Maranhão. An Agroecological Fair for Family Farming.
This is the second year that the Rural Family House of Açailândia, in a project involving the subjects of Rural Economics, Introduction to Agroindustry, and others, has provided microcredit so that our students can have their first experience of entrepreneurship in the solidarity economy. We lend amounts of R$ 500 so that groups of 4 to 5 young people can produce a product based on ingredients from family farming and have a marketing experience. Thus, they produced geladim, truffles, cake in a jar, pé de moça… very tasty and sold them at school events and fairs.
Everyone repaid the microcredit and still made significant profits, in addition to learning how to organize production, marketing, working cooperatively, managing production costs, setting prices, and sharing profits. A win-win situation!
In addition, they also sold the routine production of all CFR students: fish, vegetables, fava beans, puba…
And they even helped other market vendors with their sales.
Cooperation is the way forward for family farming and overcoming capitalism!
REKINDLING THE FIRE OF MISSIONARY PASSION
Dear confrères,
We greet you with the peace and joy of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we extend our warmest wishes to you on the solemnity of Saint Daniel Comboni, our Founder. This day is a special occasion for all of us, and for everyone whose life has been touched and inspired by his example and mission.
Two weeks ago, we concluded our Inter-capitular Assembly, which had begun with a day of formation on the theme Reviving the Fire for Mission. A clear message emerged: the urgent need to strengthen our unity and to build communities capable of responding to the challenges of our times, making careful use of the human and material resources entrusted to us. At the same time, we must recognise that our Comboni identity must be preserved and strengthened: some confrères leave the Institute, others retire, and we wonder where the courage to go where others dare not go has gone
From the very beginning, we have been an international and multicultural family. This diversity is not a mere detail: it is a sign of the Kingdom and a testimony that communion among peoples and cultures is possible in Christ. It is a message of hope for a world often divided. Preserving this gift is more essential than ever, if we want to counteract nationalism and tribalism, which risk creeping into our communities too.
To face these challenges, we must rekindle the fire of our missionary passion. Fire is a symbol of zeal, courage, and conviction; it drives us to mission and sustains us in difficult times. Jesus Christ, the first ‘Missionary of the Father’, said: “I have come to set the earth on fire, and how I wish it were already blazing!” (Lk 12:49). Comboni also often spoke of a “heart burning with genuine love of God”: “When the Missionary in Africa has a heart burning with the pure love of God, when he keeps his eyes fixed on the contemplation of the great goodness and sublimeness of the work for which he spends himself, then all the privations, the continuous hardships, the greatest trials become a paradise on earth for his heart” (Writings, 2705).
When this fire burns in us, crosses and difficulties cannot stop us. A heart on fire remains focused on the goal and is not distracted by obstacles or setbacks.
We are convinced that a mission such as ours — whose fruits we may not fully see, where years of work may seem fruitless, and which sometimes challenges logic and hope — can only be carried forward if we are truly inflamed with passion.
Today more than ever, we feel called to rekindle this fire. Many of us feel weary or fragile, and this fatigue can affect our communities as well. To nourish the flame, we must remove the ashes and add fresh wood. The best way to do this is to return to the original fire that burned within us when we first responded to the Comboni missionary call — those moments when Comboni’s life and the mission of the Comboni Missionaries touched our hearts deeply.
Each of us remembers the moment when Comboni’s life set our hearts ablaze: perhaps it was his selflessness in responding to God’s call as an only son; or his courage to leave the Mazza Institute to pursue what he considered essential; or his perseverance in the face of opposition, even within the Church; or his steadfast faith in times of loss; or his conviction of the dignity of the African people, his tireless commitment to integral human development, his openness to diverse cultures, and his prophetic vision of mission.
Whatever the spark that first inspired us, it still burns and can rekindle our missionary fire. When we let it burn again, we overcome fatigue, indifference, and complacency; our love for mission is renewed, giving us strength to face every challenge.
And what better time than the feast of our Founder to rekindle this flame, remembering that he has given us a unique identity in the Church and in the world as Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus?
Wishing you a joyful feast day!
Rome, 10th October 2025
Solemnity of Saint Daniel Comboni
The MCCJ general council
