“We ask the Good Shepherd to keep the fire of the mission alive within us, so that each of us”

Message from the General Council for the Feast of Saint Daniel Comboni

Dear Confrères,
On the Solemnity of St Daniel Comboni, we return to the source of our missionary vocation and allow ourselves once again to be challenged by the witness of our Founder.

In the Gospel chosen for the Eucharist celebrating the Solemnity of St. Daniel Comboni, Jesus tells us: “I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (Jn 10:11). In these words, we find the key to understanding Comboni’s life: a life wholly given to Christ and the mission, sustained by a passion that was not extinguished by illness, deprivation, misunderstanding or hardship.

Comboni saw Africa not simply as a continent to be evangelized, but as a land of men and women loved by God, real people to encounter and lives to serve. His heart, won over by Christ, opened itself to the sufferings and hopes of others, to the point that these became the very reason for his missionary commitment. This is the passion we are called to cherish and renew.

We do not ignore the challenges of the present: we are few, our communities are changing, vocations are becoming scarce and, at times, the future seems uncertain. We must neither hide our weaknesses nor pretend that everything is easy. But we must not forget that the mission is greater than our own strength. The mission is founded not primarily on our numbers, our abilities or our projects, but on the Heart of Christ, the Good Shepherd, who continues to seek, call and gather his flock.

Jesus reminds us: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold” (Jn 10:16). They are the people waiting for a word of hope; the poor and the excluded; those who live on the margins; those who have drifted away from the Church; and those who have not yet come to know the tenderness of God’s love. They are already in the Heart of Christ. Are we willing to let their stories touch us and to make room for their hopes and expectations?

Comboni’s life is not simply a glorious memory to be preserved, but a call to be embraced. He invites us not to give up, not to let fear overcome us, and to continue dreaming, taking risks and beginning anew. It does not matter how strong we are or how many we are; what matters is that we remain available to the Lord and to the mission he entrusts to us.

On this feast day, we ask St. Daniel Comboni to give us a heart as great as his own: a heart capable of seeing, listening and loving; a heart that does not close itself off in the face of difficulties and does not lose hope when the fruits are slow to appear. And we ask the Good Shepherd to keep the fire of the mission alive within us, so that each of us, whatever our age, circumstances or responsibilities, may renew our readiness to serve with simplicity and trust:

“Lord, my life is yours.
Take what I am
and continue, through me,
to make your love known.”

A blessed feast of St Daniel Comboni to you all!

May our Founder intercede for us and help us to live, with renewed passion, the grace and responsibility of our Combonian missionary vocation. Yours in Christ,
The general council

Rome, 10th October 2026 - Solemnity of Saint Daniel Comboni