Europe – Page 24 – Comboni Lay Missionaries

Easter Message of the MCCJ General Council: “The Risen One who does not leave us alone”

13 April, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

“For millions of people, this Easter continues to be an Easter of suffering, conflict, war, displacement, hunger, death and destruction. Looking at this scenario from a human point of view gives us a sense of fear, anguish and loss: a dead-end road. On the other hand, for us missionary disciples, this is not the time to complain, but to see, through the gaze of our faith, the Risen One who does not leave us alone.” (General Council)

Easter Message

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now and there was no longer any sea … Then I heard a loud voice that called from the throne saying: “You see this city? Here God lives among men. He will make his home among them; they shall be his people and he will be their God. His name is God-with-them. He will wipe away all tears from their eyes and there will be no more death and no more mourning or sadness because the world of the past has gone”.
(Ap 21, 1-4)

Dear Confreres,
It is with great joy that we address you, to share the Good News that we have heard: He is Risen! “This is the house where God lives among men”. Alleluia!

A time of suffering

To speak of Easter, Resurrection, a New Heaven and a New Earth in times of pandemic and war seems a contradiction. Instead of seeing signs of life, we see destruction and death, because wars and disease are signs of Jesus’ passion and death that continue in the life of his people. For millions of people, this Easter continues to be an Easter of suffering, conflict, war, displacement, hunger, death and destruction. Looking at this scenario from a human point of view gives us a sense of fear, anguish and loss: a dead-end road. On the other hand, for us missionary disciples, this is not the time to complain, but to see, through the gaze of our faith, the Risen One who does not leave us alone: “He will dwell with them and they will be his people and he will be the God-with-them, their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes”. The Risen One is the Crucified One. On his glorious body, there are indelible wounds that have turned into windows of hope. As Pope Francis said: “… Indifference, self-centredness, division and forgetfulness are not words we want to hear at this time. We want to ban these words forever! They seem to prevail when fear and death overwhelm us, that is when we do not let the Lord Jesus triumph in our hearts and lives. May Christ, who has already defeated death and opened for us the way to eternal salvation, dispel the darkness of our suffering humanity and lead us into the light of his glorious day, a day that knows no end.” (Easter Urbi et Orbi Message – 12 April 2020).

A time for listening and discernment

The light of the paschal candle that lights our candles is the light of the Risen One that illuminates our actions and our deeds, the fruit of our listening. Listening to the cry of millions of human beings who still live in situations of death; listening to the confreres who walk with us in the footsteps of the mission; listening to the Word and the voice of the Holy Spirit who helps us, through sharing and prayer, to discern the signs of the times that we are experiencing as a society, as an Institute and as a Church. It is in intimacy with the Risen One that we re-make our being Comboni missionary disciples called to live the joy of the Gospel in today’s world. We are a mission and through our witness, our ministry, we announce the New Heaven and the New Earth, because “The former heaven and earth had in fact disappeared and the sea was no longer … the old things have passed away.”. The voice of hope resounds: Christ is risen! It is the victory of love over the root of evil, a victory that does not “bypass” suffering and death, but passes over them, opening a way in the midst of the abyss, transforming evil into good: the exclusive mark of God’s power.

A time to celebrate

“… and there will be no more death and no more mourning or sadness”. The certainty that the Risen One is alive among us fills us with joy and reconfirms our mission in building the Kingdom which is life in fullness for all, especially the poorest and most abandoned. That is why we have to celebrate. And we celebrate the victories great and small that occur daily in gestures of solidarity, sharing, reconciliation, fraternity, justice and peace in our religious and parish communities. We celebrate the victory over death that is won by the tenderness of love through the service of people who are like their guardian angel next door, in the midst of wars, pandemics, conflict, violence, etc. We celebrate the XIX General Chapter in this Easter context as an Easter Kairos, a Kairos of the Spirit: “And He who sat on the throne said: ‘Behold, I make all things new'” (Rev 21: 5). Happy Easter Everyone!
The General Council
Rome, April 17, 2022

Prayer Intentions of the Comboni Family April 2022

1 April, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

We pray that we may remember, even today, that the risen and glorious Christ is the deep source of our hope, certain we will never lack his help to bring to completion the mission entrusted to us. Lord hear us.

Castel Volturno: here too there is a MISSION!!!

31 March, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

Hi, I’m Simone and I’m a Comboni Lay Missionary (CLM). I returned on September 10, 2020, after 1300 days of missionary experience in Mongoumba in Central African Republic with the pygmy people, supported by “my” CLM territorial group of Venegono Superiore, in agreement with the national coordination of the LMC, the Comboni provincial council of Italy and the Comboni community present, on January 21, 2022 I arrived in Castel Volturno and… here too there is a MISSION!!!

The parish of the Comboni Missionaries in Castel Volturno has been stable for 25 years now, started back on January 1, 1997 with Fr. Giorgio Poletti, now there are Fr. Daniele Moschetti and Fr. Sergio Agustoni who are introducing me to the life of the mission with patience and calm, telling me the history of the community and introducing me to the people who work with them. It is a new experience the presence of an LMC in a community of Comboni Fathers, but even more, it is a new opportunity to be on a mission within the geographical boundaries of Italy, because, as Pope Francis often repeats, the mission is no longer to be understood in a geographical sense, but it is to go out into the existential peripheries of humanity so … here too there is a MISSION!!!

Because of the short amount of time that has passed, I cannot say much, but the reality of Castel Volturno is complex and presents dynamics that are typical of Africa, due to the strong presence in the area of men and women from that continent, as well as Afro-descendant boys and girls, born in Italy, not recognized by the law, who go to local schools and speak Italian, albeit with a typical Neapolitan cadence, to which are added all the difficulties of an area wounded by the illegality of the Camorra, by social and environmental degradation. The morning begins with Mass in the parish at 7:00 am with the 3 Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart: Sr. Liberty, Sr. Nelly and Sr. Joselyn who come from the Philippines and carry out their service in the Migrantes Center with the guests welcomed. If the morning sometimes has a bland pace, the afternoon, as they say, flies by!!! Every day, I spend it at the Black & White Center in Destra Volturno with the 50 or so children who come for after-school tutoring from 3-7pm. We don’t just do homework, because on Tuesdays we are supposed to start theater, on Wednesdays we already do sports, on Thursdays art with Dory and on Fridays we see a movie. In just a few weeks, I have already met many people who gravitate around the Comboni community of Castel Volturno: the Black & White educators, the team of the Diocesan Missionary Center of Capua, the director of the Migrantes Center and the hosted kids, the youth and teenagers of the Santa Maria dell’Aiuto parish, the SUAM group of Campania, the boys and girls of the INFORMARE magazine editorial staff, the Ukrainian community that celebrates Sunday Mass with their rite, the priests of the Forania of Lower Volturno, the scholastics Daniel and Jerry who come from Casavatore on weekends, the volunteers of the parish of the Food Bank, the young people of the Civil Service… all this myriad of people gives you an idea of the great ferment in Castel Volturno, because . … here too is MISSION!!!

I thought of telling this missionary experience in Castel Volturno with some short films called VOLT CAST, the name reminds us of the famous podcasts to listen to that are gaining ground in the world of communication, but VOLT CAST are to be seen, watched and looked at, the intent is to show the faces of this reality, because behind a face there is a story, there is the person, there is the whole life, with all its joys and difficulties, to tell and show this reality of existential periphery of humanity, because … here too is MISSION!!!

Simone, CLM Italy

“The Way of the Cross in the Writings of St. Daniel Comboni.”

29 March, 202228 March, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

The cross is “foolishness” for those who do not understand it… said St. Paul (1 Cor 1:18). Here we publish a Way of the Cross with 14 phrases by Saint Daniele Comboni on Jesus’ journey to the cross. Comboni deeply understood the “scandal” involved in seeing Jesus on the cross: he saw it as a necessary means for evangelization and as a reality that his missionaries had to embrace in order to continue God’s saving work in the world. What Comboni says is very strong and even scandalous in our day, but in these words of his we can find light and wisdom for our missionary life. [comboni.org].

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Father Pedro Pablo Hernández

A family that dreams

21 March, 2022 by Alberto de la Portilla

Last weekend we celebrated the VII Meeting of the Comboni Family in Spain. We have experienced the joy of reuniting and we have verified that the missionary dream of following our vocation as a family (religious, men and women religious, lay and secular Comboni Missionaries) is renewed.

The house of the Comboni Missionaries in Madrid welcomed this group of 30 people belonging to the various communities of CMS, MCCJ and CLM in Spain. The Comboni Seculars could not be present on this occasion. Pietro Ciuciulla, of the MCCJ General Council, as well as the leaders of the 3 branches present and Alberto de la Portilla, Coordinator of the CLM Central Committee.

The focus of the meeting was to accompany, through reflection and prayer, the 150th anniversary of the foundation of our Comboni Missionary Sisters. Prado Fernandez led the presentation of the history of the first Comboni Sisters who accompanied St. Daniel on his first journeys, marked by the Cross as victims of the Mahdia, the revolt that devastated the first Comboni works in Sudan and marked from the beginning the vocation of the CMS.

From his first intuition, Comboni dreamed of a family, for his first journey counted on lay missionaries and on these courageous and forward-looking women as mission companions. In the course of its history, the witness of the sisters consolidates the liberating impulse of women in all latitudes. Rereading those early sufferings launches us into the challenges of the present moment. And we renew our awareness that today the Comboni charism is actualized through the Comboni Family. Fr. Pietro insisted on this when commenting on the inspiring document of the General Councils of the Comboni Family of 2017: “The charism grows and is renewed when it is shared with others who recreate it in the peculiarity of each style of Christian life”.

In this spirit, the Map of the Ministeriality of the Comboni Family, was presented, which gathers more than 200 missionary presences in the world, with tremendous vitality in the most diverse contexts, educational, health, social, pastoral, transforming impact… The mission is understood today from the ministeriality, from the service to the people in these various areas. This integral mission of the Church must integrate service, accompaniment, reflection, sensitization and social transformation in the process.

The mission process

Taken from Fr. Alvarez SJ

In the final part of the meeting, the leaders of the 3 branches present shared the current situation of their organizations, with various challenges and hopes. This 2022 coincides for the first time the General Chapter of CMS and MCCJ. It is a moment of special density, to remain faithful to the vocation that is carried out in new ways, with new means. A moment in which we renew the intuition to continue dreaming together how to develop the Comboni mission in the world.

Gonzalo Violero, CLM Spain