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In The Steps Of The Founder |
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 NOTES OF MISSIONARY SPIRITUALITY All Founders have a particular experience of the Mystery of Christ, which is then seen in their lives. It is through this specific grace (which is called “charism” in theology) that they read the times and events they live in, their own calling and their personal life-story. In this sense all about them becomes “prophecy” and proclamation of the Gospel. Daniel Comboni was one of the most convinced and foremost actors in the missionary movement in the Church during the 19th century. He was an eager follower of all the leading figures of his day, and became a leader with a genius of his own. His missionary passion for the evangelisation of the peoples of Africa, his struggle against the slave trade, his projects for “the re-birth of Africa through Africa herself” and his tireless to-ing and fro-ing around Europe to get support for his mission were sustained by a strong and specific spirituality. Only a very powerful passion could generate the kind of effective and active life that Comboni lived. The secret of his passion revealed through his enormous correspondence, of which a great part is printed in a volume of over 2200 pages; and through the testimony of people who knew him or who followed him. But his spirituality can be read above all in the style of his life and his actions, in particular as a founder. The Pierced Heart of Christ, the Good Shepherd There are three linked key-points in Comboni’s life. His missionary vocation appears clear and certain from the age of almost 18, when he made an oath, in the presence of his spiritual father don Nicola Mazza, to consecrate his whole life to the mission to the peoples of Africa. When he was a priest, his spiritual director, Fr Giovanni Marani, confirmed him in his decision and vocation, shortly before he left for Africa, sacrificing his dearest family ties. And his vocation receives a new and very powerful thrust on 15th September 1864, when the missionary priest, while praying at the tomb of Peter in the Vatican Basilica, is overwhelmed by another inspiration from Christ. As he says himself, its there that the “Plan for the Regeneration of Africa” came into being, in contemplation of the Pierced Heart of Christ on the Cross, the Good Shepherd who gives his life for his abandoned sheep. Comboni sees the tragic situation of the peoples of Africa through this Mystery. So his perspective is far different from that of philanthropists, explorers and politicians of the time, as he himself underlines pointedly. This is the first aspect of the Comboni charism; it is the starting point of his spirituality. Love, as a total and free gift of oneself, springing from the pierced Heart of Christ, sends Comboni to gather all the men and women of Africa into his embrace, as brothers and sisters. And it makes him interpret his missionary vocation also as a call to reveal to all the rest of the earth their tragic spiritual situation and to labour to make their “regeneration”, as he calls it - and which Christ has already won for them on the Cross - become effective for each one of them. The mystery of the Cross, an event of love and salvation, is the source of his apostolic energy, of his love for those people whom both history and other people have worked against. Comboni regards the African people with indescribable tenderness (he even talks of a “nuptial link” with them), and is ready to face even martyrdom for their sake, should circumstances so demand. The Hour of Africa The second component of Comboni’s charism is the insistent proclamation that “the Hour of Africa (“Nigrizia”) has come”, from every point of view. Comboni is working at a time when Africa has aroused the conflicting interests of European powers, yet is still subject to the shameful scourge of the Slave Trade. In the Church, few take an interest in the situation. A German historian, writing about Comboni at the first Vatican Council, states that his call in favour of the peoples of Africa, who had no voice, was like the voice in the desert, but that this fact did not make him fall silent. For Comboni, the only way to bring the people of Africa to achieve their true dignity was the evangelisation of “Nigrizia” and its entry, with all its human riches, into the Church of Christ. The Church needed “Nigrizia” to make its “Catholic” character more complete and effective. It is impressive to see how Comboni conceived a vast evangelisation project right from the start, including all the forces of Church and society. And Africans were not to be simply the object of the effort; they themselves would begin to evangelise very early on. “Regenerate Africa through Africa” was his constant refrain. He strives to form a missionary conscience in the Church but, at the same time, seeks to make the African people agents of Church activity. Some of his missionary actions are very significant; for instance, the consecration of Africa to the Heart of Jesus (1873) and to the Virgin Mary, “Sultana” of Africa (1875), as also the foundation of early missions right in the centre of the slave trade in Sudan (at El Obeid), and sending rescued slaves to Rome to study for the priesthood. Love for the Church and the Missions We can see, from all the above, what a fully “ecclesial” passion burned in Comboni’s soul. What Christ achieved in Golgotha now has to be proclaimed and manifested by the Church in this concrete case of people who are still left out, in Africa. That is why Comboni wants to involve the whole Church in this mission. So he contacts numerous persons, groups and movements in the Church all over Europe, trying to interest them all in his mission. He becomes a friend of many Saints and important Churchmen of his time. His sincerity and his burning love for the Church make him speak with prophetic frankness to Church and political leaders; and at the same time he has a deep sense of communion with and obedience towards the See of Peter. It can be said that his passion for the wide communion of the Church (by bringing in Africa) only increased his combination of obedience and Christian liberty, which is a characteristic of holiness. This is the third aspect of his charism. Charism as life-long unifying force The charismatic grace becomes, in Daniel Comboni, a powerful force that drives him, that involves his mind, penetrates his heart and his body, makes him act. It turns him into a tireless traveller, as a “salesman of Africa” along the roads of Europe through the deserts of Africa. It determines his way of writing, of inter-personal relationships, of using his time, forming friendships, praying, controlling his emotions, how and what he reads, in a word, it permeates his whole being. Comboni was deeply convinced that mission is born when the Church is full of the splendour of the Lord, who is the One who really draws in and wins over nations and individuals. If this splendour is veiled, then mission falls into lethargy, as can be seen from history. This was the “prophecy” of the Catholic Daniel Comboni for the Church and the people of his time. It is valid even today, because the saints who enter the glory of Christ continue to influence the arduous journey of the pilgrim Church through their intercession. Comboni himself reflects this in one of his letters, written shortly before his death, saying, in effect: “When we reach Heaven, we will not cease our energetic insistence with Jesus and Mary to work numerous miracles and raise up apostles like Paul and Francis Xavier…” |