Intercapitular Assembly of the Comboni Missionaries – September 9

The day opened with the Eucharistic celebration presided over by Father Gonzalo, according to the solemn liturgy of St. Peter Claver, patron of the Comboni Institute. This missionary saint was a great inspiration to St. Daniel Comboni and continues to be so for every Comboni missionary, since he dedicated his life to the cause of African slaves deported to Latin America, forced into harsh labor and treated inhumanely. His radical commitment earned him the title of ‘Apostle of the Blacks’, and Pope Leo XIII proclaimed him “patron of all Catholic missions among the Blacks.”

Every Comboni missionary is therefore called to carry forward this legacy, fighting not only against the forms of slavery suffered by Black peoples – following in the footsteps of St. Peter Claver and St. Daniel Comboni –, but also against modern forms of slavery, bringing to them the liberating light of the Gospel and the proclamation of the Resurrection. It is therefore essential to keep in one’s heart the words of Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue of Nazareth and heard during the liturgy (Lk 4:18-19):

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Father Gonzalo’s Conferences

Father Gonzalo led four sessions – two in the morning and two in the afternoon – on the general theme How can we rekindle the heart in mission, “inspired by the need for conversion and for returning to the mission as perceived at the Institute level,” as explained by Father David Domingues, Vicar General.

Father Gonzalo began with these words: “In every Institute burns, like a flame, the desire to evangelise, but this flame can be stifled by discouragement or by routine.” Hence the need to reflect on four factors developed in the four sessions of the day:

1. What is happening today in the world, in the Church, and in consecrated life.
2. How to interpret our reality.
3. The Emmaus paradigm as a therapeutic journey.
4. The dynamics that can help us rekindle the fire.

We offer here a schematic summary of what he said.

1. What is happening today in the world, in the Church, and in consecrated life

The current context is marked by:

• the growing influence of artificial intelligence;
• the rapid pace of change;
• globalisation and interculturality;
• the paradox of increasingly intense communication accompanied by widespread loneliness;
• the intensification of geopolitical conflicts;
• the spread of post-truth culture;
• lifestyles characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity, including with regard to psycho-sexual identity.

To face this reality, what is needed is a strong, steady message, capable of inspiring hope, dissipating anxiety, and offering clear and comprehensive visions of life.

The ecclesial context today is characterised by a strong desire for communion, participation, mission, and synodality: neither clericalism nor democratism, but a path that continues along the journey of the last 150 years, oriented toward an ecclesiology of communion and collegiality.

Within this framework, consecrated life is called to be a prophetic voice and a promoter of synodality, a laboratory of interculturality, and a community rooted in the local context. However, it encounters resistance: one cannot live synodality without a willingness to go beyond oneself; synodality implies the involvement of lay people and collaboration in a plurality of ministries. Its development unfolds at different rhythms depending on geographical and cultural contexts.

Final question for personal reflection and group sharing:

Which aspects of the current situation of the world, the Church, and consecrated life have the most direct impact on the Comboni mission in the place where you live?

2. How to interpret this reality

Consecrated life faces several challenges:

• aging membership, a crisis of social and ecclesial relevance, a credibility crisis linked to abuse, closures and reorganisations, vocational decline;
• the need to create intercultural communities, especially in Europe, where religious from other continents are arriving;
• the difficulty of adapting traditional charisms born in Europe to today’s Western contexts, while these same charisms are more easily applicable in Africa; many institutes of European origin have become multipolar, meaning they must integrate very different mentalities and criteria for living the same value (hospitality, economy, etc.);
• a credibility crisis linked to abuses of power, which has generated a collective sense of surprise, guilt, and paralysis;
• the loss of the perception of consecrated life as an alternative lifestyle, in contrast with a growing appreciation of the lay vocation.

Consecrated life today must face a threefold challenge:

1. 1. to remain anchored in the sense of mystery (especially in the East),
   2. to make the option for the poor (Latin America),
   3. and to find new ways of evangelization (the West).

The causes of the crisis can be identified in three dimensions:

• Moral: marked by worldliness and unfaithfulness to foundational values;
• Historical-cultural: due to the decline of old models and the slow emergence of new ones;
• Existential-spiritual: in which the perception of the relationship with God and with reality changes, with the risk of falling into ideologisation, unattainable perfectionism, egocentrism, self-referentiality, the pursuit of comfort, and social plausibility.

To respond, it is necessary to initiate a spiritual movement that places Christ and his life at the center. Some guidelines:

• reinterpreting the charism starting from the future, asking what God wants today;
• givng priority to lifestyle over works;
• opening up to the Kingdom and to the “inter” (interculturality, intercongregationality, intercommunion) rather than defending institutional interests;
• radiating the joy of the Gospel instead of retreating into defensive attitudes.

3. The Emmaus paradigm as a therapeutic journey

The journey of the disciples to Emmaus (Lk 24:13-35) becomes the image of a healing process and of rekindling Christ’s fire in the heart, transforming from ‘resigners’ (‘di-missionari’ in Italian) into missionaries. The stages are: speaking, listening, recognising, returning, and proclaiming. It is a journey made with Christ and with others.

4. The dynamics that can help us rekindle the fire

To rekindle the fire of mission it is necessary to:

• rediscover the Word heard, which heals the wounds of memory;
• rediscover the Word celebrated in the Eucharist;
• recover the importance of adoration, even in silence, as an antidote to modern idolatries;
• move from functionalism, which reduces mission to activities and programs, to the mystique of mission, as participation in God’s mission;
• rediscover fraternity as a remedy for individualism and protagonism;
• step out of one’s “comfort zone” in order to listen to reality.

The day concluded with a few minutes of silent personal reflection, followed by a brief sharing in assembly.