 |
|
A faith community gathering in Beira |
THE LOVE OF CHRIST URGES US ON
The love of Christ moved us to a new mission: Mozambique. The Xaverian Missionaries were dreaming. The church in Mozambique challenged us and God made it happen.
On March 2, 1998, we – the Xaverian Missionaries – started our latest missionary service in this land… a hallowed ground, on which St. Francis Xavier too walked and preached and evangelized.
It’s a land marked by much suffering and crying, much exploitation and slavery, much uncertainty and uprising (1594 – 1975), a land of much death and much… too much blood poured out unjustly in its times of forced migration and civil war (1975 – 1992).
This beautiful Sub-Saharan African country on the Indian Ocean is still facing much pain due to “absolute hunger” – as the local Government defines it –, by poverty, illnesses, illiteracy and by a lack of any basic infrastructure. It is a land with the scares of civil war, leftover mine fields and the destruction of human values and the lack of hope for a better future.
By the same token, it’s a place where a true seed for peace has been thrown and is now slowly growing; it’s a people that’s hope-filled and open to the Gospel message of love and justice.
Now is the time to re-build.
Now is the time to dream again.
Now is the time to sow the seed of hope.
GO TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN
On the other side of the sea, before starting any type of missionary work, it’s necessary to just settle down and ponder, to think and learn… about the new reality we are going to face, about the local people, their language and traditions, their past and present, their faith and experience of church. This is to have an overall view of the service we are called to offer.
I compare this to the eagle’s tale… The eagle is the most lasting bird, being able to live up to seventy years or more! However, in order to do this, when an eagle reaches about the age of thirty, it retrieves up the highest mountains and, there, spends up to one-hundred-fifty days or so… During this “retreat time,” the eagle does three important things: first, it pulls out its old beak, rubbing it against some stones, so that a new one may grow. Then, once a new beak has grown back, the eagle pulls off its own old fingernails and feathers, so that new ones may grow back. During all this time of “re-birth,” it’s the task of the other eagles around to provide for the necessary food.
Somehow, the same thing happens to us, missionaries, in a brand new mission environment. We too need to free ourselves from our own way of thinking and talking, from our own cultural roots and traditions… from anything that may hinder our own “re-birth” and our service or that may prevent us from seeing the good and the new that’s present in other people.
Like that eagle that transforms itself in order to renew its own life and that is fed by the caring presence of other eagles around her, we too need to “eat and drink” from the local culture and from the daily life of the people we are called to serve.
We call this going through an “inculturation process” that, like any other is slow, hard and at times painful too but, nonetheless, necessary for a true evangelization – which is not of our own doing but of God’s making!
“GO AND PREACH TO ALL NATIONS”
Nowadays, there are twelve Xaverians in central Mozambique (Dioceses of Beira and Tete, Province of Sofala). We live in four communities, each of which is a parish: Dondo, Chemba, Sena and Charre. It’s a rather vast territory (350 miles in length) but where the catholic population reaches only 10%.
Many are the needs of our people, especially in the field of education, health, rebuilding of basic infrastructure. In all of them, we give our contribution and help. Our more specific work, however, is Evangelization, sharing the Good News we ourselves have been gifted with first.
Our three main priorities are:
1. First Announcement: We are giving our life in a land where not that many people want to get involved in. The whole setup is made of non-Christians and poverty… Mozambique is among the eight poorest nations in the world. As missionaries, however, we are glad to be here and, from the response of the people, we can say that our service is bearing its fruits: literally thousands of people, among them adolescents, youth and young adults, are joining the Catholic faith through the four-year long catecumenate program which prepares them for baptism. And this is just one of the signs of God’s doing among this people!
2. Founding of New Christian Communities: It is our goal to follow our communities that have indeed survived years first of foreign power and then of civil war… Their faith, their hope and happiness, their commitment saw them through! We now have the birth of several other new communities… Some of them – it may be hard to believe – without any baptized. We haven’t reached lots of places in our parishes due to great distances, coupled with a lack of means of communication and transportation.
Much remains to be done! Nonetheless, nothing is impossible! For example, each community has the so-called “Nyakokota” or “mission ministry.” Its goal is to bring God’s Word to all… going door by door, talking with the people one by one… There is then the experience of entire little communities that reach out and, slowly, found and support new communities.
We believe that the faith so many Christians showed through those years of suffering and war is now bearing its fruit in new Christians and new Christian communities… The Spirit of the Lord has left here: He has sustained them through rough times. He is working through them even now… And we are privileged to be its witnesses!
3. Formation of Community Leaders: In Mozambique, the Church is organized in small, basic Christian communities (some of them having their own even smaller groups). The ministry our lay ministers, leaders and catechists are doing is simply fantastic and encouraging… a real blessing from God! The challenge we face is to be able to offer formation to so many leaders, especially among the young. In just one of our Parish – the one of Saint Ana in Dondo – has over two hundred catechists and, believe it or not, thousands of youth and adults preparing for baptism… Just to gather them is a real challenge. Imagine following them and their own catechists… And yet, we know this is a clear sign of the presence of the Spirit, one more reason for us to rejoice: God’s Spirit is indeed at work here!
OUR LOCAL CHURCH
The Church in Mozambique is still rather poor. Economically, it is not self-sufficient yet. Thus, for its reconstruction (after the war) and the upkeep of its structures and the running of its activities, it relies heavily on the generosity and support from abroad.
Our local church always showed itself – even during those terrible days of conflict and war – to be working for the people, “walking with the people,” especially the poor. It also played a crucial role to reach the peace agreement that was signed in Rome in 1992. It may, then, be poor in its means but it is a church that lives out its mission to be “the voice of the voiceless,” and engaged in defending and promoting the life of “the forgotten.” Through the years, its acts of solidarity towards those who suffer have been countless… Working for peace in long years of fighting, giving assistance to the people hit by natural disasters (like during the flooding of a few years back and this year’s drought) or trying to overcome the plight of hunger, lack of education and medical assistance,… our church has proven to be faithful to its call to serve.
Our local church always showed itself – even during those terrible days of conflict and war – to be working for the people, “walking with the people,” especially the poor. It also played a crucial role to reach the peace agreement that was signed in Rome in 1992.
It is also a church that is full of life, full of hope. It is a church that – moved by its faith – celebrates its rich tradition and dreams with great expectation and optimism.
Very much involved in the field of education, especially for the youth and young adults, it sees now an awakening of vocations to all kinds of church ministries, priesthood and religious life in particular. We too offer our contribution in the formation of local priests and religious, while vocations to our Xaverian Charism may be thought of in the future.
In our Archidiocese of Beira, there are more than thirty ethnic groups and many more religions. Just in the Parish of Saint Ana in Dondo where I work, there are – believe it or not – 122 different religions!
Finally, it is a church that is beginning to open up to its missionary vocation. As the African Synod stated: “The Church in Africa is called to witness to Jesus Christ just on its continent. The Risen Christ speaks and challenges her with the same words, ‘You will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8 – Synod 125).”
A NEED FOR RENEWAL
We Xaverians have been here in Mozambique for just seven years. At this stage, we feel the need for a fresh, new start… It’s the challenge to renew ourselves, to ‘re-create’ and deepen our missionary service.
It is a process that will entail:
“A Renewed Solidarity”: mission requires that we be compassionate, outreaching to the poorest and a living sign of hope and life.
“A Renewed Spirituality”: mission requires that we be contemplative… “in touch with God” in our daily life, in the suffering of God’s people… and able to share with them about God’s love for all.
“A Renewed Dialogue”: mission requires that we be able to live in communion with and mutual respect of other peoples with their own traditions, cultures and religions… witnessing to them the Good News and Peace of the Risen Christ.
“A Renewed Courage”: mission requires that, though surrounded by poverty and suffering and exploitation, we be bold and daring… like prophets to share our dream of “new heavens and a new earth”… because “for God nothing is impossible.”
“A Renewed Passion”: mission requires that we be “in love with” Christ and his message… like the disciples of Emmaus who felt “their heart burning inside” (Lk. 42) and decided to return to their community and give their own life for the One they had recognized “at the breaking of the bread.”
We trust God is with us in this missionary journey.
(From Xaverian News)