MISSION IS FUN
THE LICENCE’S PROMPTER
BY EFREM TRESOLDI MCCJ
HE HAD been working for more than thirty years in Uganda, in the northern part of the country. One day Fr Fulvio, that’s the name of the Italian Comboni Missionary, was travelling to visit one of the Christian communities of his parish, when armed men attacked him. The rebels opened fire on his car and wounded him gravely, with one bullet that went through his lung. He survived almost miraculously. After months of hospitalization and rehabilitation, Fr Fulvio was back on his feet full of zeal and ready to continue his ministry.
He gladly accepted the request by his superior to go to the United States for mission appeals. For two months he was expected to visit various parishes, preaching the word of God and making the Christian communities aware of the missionary work and needs of the Church in Uganda.
When he arrived in the USA, he was told that none of the driving licences he had, the Italian and the Ugandan, were recognized as valid there. There was no other way: he had to obtain the American licence. The places he had to go to were quite far apart and could only be reached by car, since the public transport was quite inadequate.
Therefore, he decided to take up the challenge and went to the designated venue to write the driving licence test. Lo and behold, he had to answer one hundred questions in two hours. For fifteen minutes he struggled to choose which one of the two answers to the first question was true or false.
He was discouraged as he thought that at his pace he would have completed the test not in two but in twenty hours! He was about to give up when he had an inspiration and turned to St Daniel Comboni. He said to him “if you want me to accomplish the missionary task I was given, you must help me now”. Confiding in his assistance, he began to answer the questions, quickly marking one or the other with the sign true or false. In less than two hours he had completed the test and handed it over to the examiner. It did not take long before the examiner called him to his office. “Sir—he said to him—congratulations for your excellent performance: you answered 99 questions correctly out of 100!”
Fr Fulvio was overwhelmed with astonishment and elation. He knew that the success was due to the intervention from above. The only wrong answer was his first one.
Thank you, St Daniel Comboni!