Father Francisco Machado: A Challenge, Countless Opportunities

After a somewhat prolonged visit to the enormous school of Ola parish, in Ghana, before noon even, I received a phone call from Father Elias Sindjalim, General Councillor. “Francisco, we urgently need a master for our novices in Mozambique. I wanted to ask you whether you would be available to accept this challenge.”

A simple phone call, which I had never imagined and which proposed my transfer from one of our missions in Ghana to the novitiate in Nampula, Mozambique, was enough to create a certain unease in me and provoke a certain fear. I think it was simply a clear manifestation of a certain fear of the change that seemed to be approaching and which I did not desire.

“What a surprise and what a nuisance,” I thought immediately. I neither expected nor wished to leave Ghana so unexpectedly. Ghana, without any doubt, was my true first love!

In truth, I felt very well integrated in the province of Togo/Ghana/Benin, where I had been working since 1994 and where I was living a true and beautiful mission experience. I confess that, after receiving that phone call, I tried to dodge it. It was not that I felt afraid of the challenge. However, I was overwhelmed by a profound surprise and incomprehension at the proposal.

Honestly, I did not want to believe what I had heard. I had not expected the Institute to ask me for a service of such high demand and, above all, one that required me to leave Ghana. Yes, I was well aware of the importance of the novitiate in the formation of future Comboni missionaries. Our Rule of Life is clear: “The Novitiate constitutes the first profound experience of the way of life of the Comboni Missionaries and has as its purpose to prepare the candidate for consecration to God for missionary service.”

Although without great conviction, the answer I gave to Father Sindjalim was very brief and concise: “Truly, I was not expecting this and I would not wish to abandon my missionary activity in Ghana. However, if it is so necessary that I leave the people I am serving at this moment, I am available.”

In truth, I soon saw that my answer had been too automatic and little or nothing thought through. I did not expect what I felt in the following days. I had never imagined it would be so difficult for me to leave Ghana. I loved my mission. I loved the people to whom I had been sent in 1994. It had been my first mission ad gentes.

Nevertheless, the need to participate in this challenge of direct involvement in the formation of new Comboni missionaries presented itself as a fascinating project full of opportunities.

After various difficulties and setbacks related to leaving Ghana, my farewell was quite painful. However, I felt a great peace and, above all, trust in Jesus and also in the service that He was now asking of me through my missionary family. I knew that the Lord would help me leave the people He Himself had entrusted to me and to detach myself from such strong friendships.

I left with great confidence and enthusiasm. My arrival in Nampula, Mozambique, on March 18, 2026, was very pleasant and serene. Yes, I felt at home immediately. I was very happy to find Father José Joaquim Luis Pedro, Provincial Superior, and Brother Agostinho Jamal, my new community companion, along with the 13 novices who had already been waiting for me for over a week to begin their novitiate experience.

I felt sufficiently well, free and serene to be able to begin this new missionary service of mine, as novice master. For this too will be a very important phase full of opportunities for me.

I am truly grateful to the Lord for the precious gift of my vocation and of the vocations of the young people who now walk with me. I look to the future with confidence and optimism. In the light of my missionary experience, I wish to walk a path attentive to the reality of today's youth world, seeking to understand the young people whom the Institute also places in my care and who are called to missionary life. With God's grace and the help of the members of my community, I will seek to accompany these young people and discern together with them God's will for their lives.

Father Francisco Machado, MCCJ