FINDING A HOME
This painting represents the reality of so many people in the world looking for a place to stay, especially as they flock into crowded modern cities, searching for jobs or fleeing from various situations of conflict. The need to create living spaces for them is acute. Like Joseph and Mary, who found no place at the inn, millions of people risk ending up unsheltered in the streets and deprived of a dignified dwelling which they can call home.
Painting by Fr Raul Tabaranza MCCJ
VOCATION PAGE
THE HOME OF A MISSIONARY
BY FR RAUL TABARANZA MCCJ
IT HAS been almost three years now that I have been doing Vocation Promotion here in South Africa. When I have one-on-one encounters with candidates, I always find two or three who question me about leaving their homes and leaving South Africa and about what would happen to them on a mission far from home. Others already feel grief just at the thought of leaving home and family and hardly getting to see them. It is very true that, despite the joy of dreaming of becoming a missionary, this elation is accompanied by an incredible sadness at the mere thought of rarely being home.
Parents may have different concerns, regarding their son or daughter entering religious life. They have hopes and dreams and various expectations. But witnessing their son or daughter’s strong desire for this life is already a big consolation for them, even though separation is always painful. But this is just the beginning. Leaving an incapacitated mother and old father was for me personally a heavy emotional burden on my formative journey. Initially it scared me a lot. Separation from one’s family causes suffering, but as I matured, I could eventually see it as a blessing. If you are truly called, God will equip you.
A missionary will always find a home in the mission and live as a family with fellow missionaries. It involves building together a Christ-centred home, where you feel you belong because you share similar ideas and attitudes. You learn to let go of your personal dreams and work together for the community; and above all, to settle into the place provided for you. Our diversity is of great value as observed by local believers. We exercise hospitality and people feel comfortable and welcome.
The mission is a home where one regains energy, and where discouragement and negativities are tackled together. It is a home where you act together as a team, in collaborative ministry and where you utilise your unique talents for the common good. There our hearts find rest, as we wrestle the demands of the mission together.
A perfect home cannot be found, but wherever a missionary goes, his home will always be an aid and not an obstacle to his mission.
A NEW DEACON FOR THE COMBONI MISSIONARIES
Emmanuel Likonye MCCJ, a Comboni missionary from Chiradzulu, Blantyre, Malawi, was ordained deacon by the Right Reverend Bishop of Witbank, Xolelo Kumalo on the 18th of August this year, on the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, feast day of the Parish served by the Comboni Missionaries at Acornhoek, Mpumalanga.