“Every person is unique but is part of the whole.”
* Anonymous
|
Posts Tagged ‘Add new tag’School of the CrossFriday, March 5th, 2010
At the age of 37, St. Comboni was already feeing exhausted, his labors draining his physical energy but he was maturing in spirit: “I can already see and understand that the Cross is such a friend to me, and is always so close to me, I have chosen her for some time now as my inseparable and eternal Spouse.” In the cross, St. Comboni discovered how to read his life. Also the ills of his time, the difficulties in his missionary work… the depth of suffering he experienced in Africa with it’s slavery, famine conditions, sicknesses and sin. The instrument of death of Jesus has become the means and the sign of Redemption. Union with this spouse became concrete in acceptance of crosses, he even asked for them, giving thanks when he received them. St. Comboni educates us all in the school of the Cross, what he called the only true knowledge, “basis of a solid foundation for freedom and liberation in Africa.” Personal & Ongoing Contact with the Source of LifeMonday, January 11th, 2010
When people came in contact with Jesus, they were surprised and asked themselves where his words, his gestures, his freedom were coming from. It was springing from the loving experience of his union and intimacy with his Abba. By this relationship Jesus shows us who his Father is and identifies himself with Him. What about us? Where do all our life and experiences spring from? From the Rule of Life of the Comboni Missionaries, “The personal encounter with Christ is the decisive moment of the missionary’s vocation. Only after the discovery that he has been loved by Christ and conquered by him, is he able to leave everything and to stay with him. The missionary is enabled to follow Christ by continually reliving this encounter and by deepening his communion with the Lord” (#21) Women’s Voices Heard at SynodFriday, October 9th, 2009
Two women, Myriam Garcia Abriquesta, president of “Manos Unidas” (United Hands) and Sister Elisa Kidane, general counselor for the Comboni Missionary Sisters, express their enthusiasm at bringing a feminine element and voice to the Synod of African Bishops. |
For the next few days I will reflect on the Comboni Missionary spirituality, that which sustains and challenges us, the personal and ongoing contact with the Lord, source of our life. Looking at the life of Jesus, the deep and close experience of God as his Abba was the source of his life, wisdom and mission. Without that, it is impossible to understand why he acted and did the things he did.
