Ecuador
Este año 2026, todos estamos reflexionando sobre la misión en base del capítulo General XIX, al nivel personal, comunitario y de congregación. En base a esta invitación, las tres comunidades (Esmeraldas, Borbón y San Lorenzo) provincia del Ecuador, dedicamos el día 23 de febrero de 2026, de reflexión sobre la misión. En este encuentro, Monseñor Eugenio Arrollano Fernández, Obispo Emérito de Vicariato de Esmeraldas, nos compartió su experiencia sobre la misión.
En el inicio de su exposición subrayó el tema de la formación permanente y decía que la formación es fuente de nuestra felicidad en nuestra misión, que nos ayuda a caminar juntos como hermanos en el viñedo de Cristo. La disponibilidad de trabajar juntos nace de tener profunda relación con el Sagrado Corazón de Cristo. Monseñor destacó que la formación permanente no es una adición a la misión sino la base de nuestra fidelidad a la misión. Es la esencia de estar juntos, que nos ayuda a renovarnos, a ser creativos y a mantener nuestro entusiasmo por la misión.
En su segunda intervención Monseñor subrayó, que la base del carisma comboniano es siempre a favor de los más vulnerables. Él nos preguntó: ¿cuál es hoy, nuestra relación con los pobres? Monseñor señaló que en los pobres está el rostro de Jesús encarnado. Hoy Jesús vive con ellos, son los signos de Dios presente en medio de la humanidad.
Un misionero debe cultivar un espíritu de escucha y dialogo con los pobres. Escuchar y dialogar con los necesitados es un acto de amor y respecto al prójimo. Aprendamos a amar a los pobres como Dios los ama a ellos. La misión de un misionero es escuchar, dialogar con los desfavorecidos y establecer una causa junto a ellos. No pensemos que nosotros somos dueño de la misión. El dueño es Dios Trino. Dios padre envió a su único hijo para salvarnos (cf, Jn 3, 17).
Nosotros fuimos enviados por Dios a los pobres, y tenemos una llamada divina a ser signos de amor, signos de alegría para ellos. La misión para nosotros es un lugar de sanación porque nos guía, nos ofrece diferentes oportunidades de ver a Cristo crucificado en la realidad. El mismo Dios no nos quita el sufrimiento, pero nos transforma por los sufrimientos. Nuestro fundador San Daniel Comboni decía que “¡Ah, ¡qué bueno es sufrir mucho por Jesús por las almas más abandonadas de la tierra, que nos han sido confiado por el Vicario de Cristo! El Corazón divino y adorable de Jesús nos ayuda grandemente fortaleciéndonos en la cruz” (ES. 5258)
Monseñor añadió que el carisma comboniano no es un libro escrito, tampoco cosa de pasado, es una memoria activa. No podemos discutir sobre el carisma porque ya lo tenemos, solo debemos vivirlo y saborearlo, esta en el corazón, es dinámico, supera todas las barreras. El que vive en el carisma, es libre y feliz.
A final, Monseñor concluyó su presentación y nos dijo: Sean fiel a la misión, pongan en primer lugar a la misión, sigan una metodología tan simple pero eficaz, una misión del pobre al pobre.
Por la tarde, los participantes tuvimos oportunidad de compartir nuestras alegrías y desafíos de la misión actual. La identidad comboniana está bien marcada en las misiones. La presencia combonia en Esmeraldas celebró los 70 años desde su llegada al Ecuador. Aun todavía estamos en la fase de la primera evangelización.
Algunos cohermanos señalaron en sus reflexiones que es fundamental y necesario cuidar la formación continua, así como trabajar y dar testimonio como comunidad.
Egypt
Third round of sharing
What missionary style, in live with the Comboni charism, is the Lord asking of us as a community today? What is the Spirit telling us as a group?
Zamalek community
- Listening attitude, welcoming attitude, to discern always what the Spirit is telling us.
- Keeping contact with the people, Mission Ad Gentes, having the realities of the people in the mission.
- To discern with the people, make the charism to become a reality.
Actions to be taken
- To be more available for people (welcoming community)
- Meeting and listening people should be an important point to be implement in our community of Zamalek
- To deal with people with compassion. We are open to everybody, above the religion with respect so that we can understand and journey with them.
Cordi Jesu community
Presence
Our presences where ever we are, is very important. People want us present and are happy to see us present in their midst. Our presence is a stepping stone to building a relationship with the people in the places we are.
Obedience
In places we are, we are not the best personnel for the people. Sometimes we may not be in the places we expected to be or we may be in places we never wanted to be. But the spirit of obedience helps us to overcome our personal feelings and prejudices in undertaking the mission we are sent to be.
Adaptation and Proximity
The realities of our mission are diverse. In some cases, they are completely distinguished from one another in climate and its nature. Hence it is important to be flexible to the realities of our mission so that we may easily get close to the people we serve.
Love for the Mission
When we love the specific mission in which we are sent to be, we can easily adapt and get close to the people. Hence it is important to love the mission and the people we are sent to serve.
Helwan community
- Choose the style of proximity in our mission, giving priority the human contact, relationship and listening, in the school not less than in the parish.
- Work to create communion and community, collaborating with others, like the teachers or the catechists, keeping in mind the Coptic environment of the Church we live in. Work for a style of running the parish more consultative.
- Focus on the way we as Comboni treat each other, putting attention on the person, keeping up the community spirit and renewing it with appointments and activities.
Community of Aswan
The community is an ultimate Central Point where the mission is firstly lived genuinely, interpreted and experienced. In this case, it calls high standard of the discipline and thorough personal training especially to what pertains social media. To boost oneness, and mutual understanding and sharing the gospel or sharing our community life at large, an invitation to abstain from answering to any call, browsing, and texting messages, Facebooking, whatsAppings etc. whatsoever the purpose will be of paramount importance.
- The mission been taken as a matter of love, that love has to warm the community first and later on, shared to the external community. The community will live the Comboni Charism by interpreting and understanding the mystery in the charism of the Comboni missionaries by taking notes on how it is supposed to be lived, shared to themselves as consecrated community and external community.
- There is a strong Invitation for all Comboni communities to give life to each other in order to avoid the impasses that come by the social media, so that the community life is not replaced by social-media life or neo-capitalism life.
- Nowadays we feel the spirit is inviting us to live the Comboni charism with the refugees by sharing our life and faith.
- To limit the negative influences of the social media in community programs, community prayers …
South Sudan
SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER PARISH – LEER, SOUTH SUDAN
SUMMARY ON MISSION
- INTRODUCTION
On Saturday, 21st February 2026, the community of Leer met to reflect on the Documents about Mission sent by the secretariate of mission. Were present to the meeting all the members of the community: Fr, Mario, Superior of the community, Fr. Antonio, Br. Marco, and Sc. Olivier. The meeting starte by the opening prayer led by Father Mario, the Superior of the Community.
- FOCAL POINT
What does the documents on mission mean to us as community of Leer?
From theological point of view
First of all, the community appreciates the message on the mission.
The following general observation was pointed out: The missionary work should not be reduced to the general universally guideline given by Popes Francis and Leo. Instead, we must safeguard the SPECIFIC WAY of being a missionary and of carrying out missionary work.
Thus, no longer continue to search for the definition of mission, rather consider the definition of mission of Vatican 2, from Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II. A frequent meeting should be organized between professional theorists and missiologists and experienced missionaries, this should be done both at the Church level and at the level of our congregation.
We are called into a family of God where, with God, we love one another as children of God and as brothers and sisters.
How to do it? Doing the mission in general, as community, we propose IDWD as a way of doing mission. That is: Integral development without dependence
For us Comboni, doing the mission in the spirit and faith of Comboni, who was moved by the inhumane conditions in which 19th century were held.
From spiritual point of view.
Mission is not fruit of strategies but fruit of God’s love. The missionary is not the one to bring God to the people, rather God is already with the people. The mission becomes a place of encounter with God. The missionary is not only the one who gives but he receives from people (for example the generosity of the Nuer people to the missionaries). Mission is not a personal project of the missionary, but he participates and discoverers together with the people the project of God. The work of the missionary is not much on doing but to become. That is being, especially to become a sign of God’s love among the people. For example, in the situation of war, when missionaries are with people, God is with the people.
About the technology, the truth can be relativized, sometimes we should ask: the news on social media is it true or not? Therefore, the true discernment should be taking into consideration because fake news is always present making confusion among people.
The artificial intelligence can have a sad effect among the people, especially in the true relationship with people. There is the risk of diminishing the time of being together. Sometimes, the risk is to be in communication with people who are far instead of being with the people near to us. For example, responding to the messages on WhatsApp, Facebook in time of meal is a great challenge for some religious communities. The technology can reduce the time of silence even of prayer much more reducing the time of contemplation.
A missionary community in the digital age: the challenge of techno-capitalism.
There is a strong link between neoliberalism and individualism. Since one of the pillars of capitalism is consumption, the individual becomes first and foremost a consumer. Another element fueling individualism is competitiveness: an excessive focus on personal success at the expense of collaborative dynamics. This leads to the belief that everyone gets what he or she deserves, and that success or failure are purely individual, ignoring the complexity of the factors at play.
One of the great victims of the internet is truth: everyone seems to construct his or her own truth, defending it with arguments taken from the web, even for the most bizarre opinions. For a Christian, truth exists, it is one and has a name (Jn 14:6). No one possesses it: we are called to walk towards it with humility, allowing ourselves to be questioned by the cry of reality.
Our community health is deteriorating. Although living under the same roof, the qualitative time we dedicate to each other is less and less, and this leads us to lose interest in one another. Therefore, the media takes time away from encounters with people, which are the heart of our consecration.
We remind ourselves that the community is a school of life. Each one brings his own fragility, but the community is not the sum of its members’ fragilities.
Anthropological, in community, each person arrives with unique talents—expressions of gifts received. Thus, No single cultural group can monopolize the Institute’s missionary visión. But let us remain humble: perhaps we will not succeed in changing the world; what is in our hands is to let ourselves be changed, to allow the Spirit to dwell in us to transform us into instruments of the Father’s mercy.
Conclusion
It is interesting that the mission is lived differently, the concerns are different though we are in the same mission. Thus, the question is: How to keep healthy our mission, our community? or how to live the mission in a healthy community? The invitation is to keep the mission in the healthier shape, it is trough the rules and regulations that the health of the community in mission is maintained. But we are called to be free and responsible. Therefore, the time of prayer, of work, of meal, … are really the leitmotiv of the heathy community where spontaneous talks show the love of the members and among themselves. By doing so, we are called to make others happy for the sake of Jesus.
The community concluded its meeting with the concluding prayer led by Fr. Mario, the Superior of the Community.
