Fr. Mauro is a Xaverian Missionary who, after his theology studies at the Catholic Theological Union of Chicago, was ordained a priest in 1999 and is now Vocation Minister in the Xaverian mission of Colombia. He puts us in contact with three Colombian young people who, each in his own way, seek to heed the Holy Father's words to youth in Toronto: "Listen to the voice of Jesus in the depths of your hearts! His words tell you who you are as Christians. They tell you what you must do to remain in his love.”
ear
friends of the missions: Greetings from Colombia, this beautiful Latin American country with incredible natural resources, yet a land martyred by a terrible internal war which for 50,years brings suffering to these welcoming people and which leaves everyone somewhat distrustful of the other.
We, Xaverian missionaries, have been with these people for more than 25 years walking side by side with them, sharing their crosses and sufferings, and telling them of Jesus Christ who alone is the source of hope.
In the last couple of years we have paid particular attention to the missionary animation and vocation promotion of the young because we believe that our Xaverian and missionary spirituality and charism can be proposed to the young people of Colombia...
The effort is already giving its first fruits. For instance, here is what Ivan writes, a young man from Cali, presently in Mexico, where, after a year of novitiate, he has taken his first vows as a Xaverian Missionary.
“I want to give of myself without any more delay. The Lord has called me, and now my greatest dream, which is also the dream of the parish community that nourished me, is to announce the Gospel to the world. I feel very strongly within me the desire of Jesus Christ ‘that we may all be one as the Father and I are one’ and to ‘make of the world one family,’ as Blessed Conforti taught us.”
If Ivan seems to know what he wants to do with his life and the importance of Jesus and of the Xaverian family for his dream to come true, other young people are on the way of discerning what God wants of them. Elmer, for one, a student of philosophy at the university of Bogota writes:
"I am terribly confused. At times I seem to be sure and clear about my vocation to be a missionary, and, at other times, all is difficult and I don't know which way to go. I have been so undecided for quite some time... Since he came into MY life, Christ has not left me in peace..."
Luis
Femando., a 20 year-old young man, from Cucuta, a Colombian town bordering on Venezuela, echoes Elmer when he writes:
"I have come to know the Xaverian Missionaries and I've been well moved by the ideal of their Founder 'To make of the world one family is truly a great project of life. I would like to know more about these missionaries and their
charism. I am a first-year University student of psychology, and in my parish I teach catechism and am youth leader All this is nice and gratifying, but it seems as if Someone is telling me that it’s not enough. Jesus Christ has come into my life to tell me that he wants me at his service full
time..."
So this is the other face of Colombia, a Colombia of which the media say little or nothing. For them, it would seem that the only exponents of this country are war, drug traffic and kidnaps...
Ivan, Elmer and Luis Fernando are only three in a world of young people who, the many difficulties and problems notwithstanding, are taking seriously the message of Jesus and Blessed Conforti's ideal, and are striving to follow their example.
Que Dios los Bendiga!
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)