The Congo region joyfully welcomes the general direction (the vice Superior General, Father MichelAngelo Piovano, and two counselors Fr. Matthew Odhiambo and Fr. Ernesto Mgalama) for the 9th conference of Consolata missionaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which began on April 8th and will conclude on April 15th, 2024. It’s worth recalling that Consolata missionaries have been present in the country since 1972.
By Nhessy Nkulu Iland, Nestor *
Twenty-nine priests and three Consolata missionary brothers operating in this country. Congolese Consolata missionaries number fifty-nine, including forty-five priests, three brothers, five deacons, four professional students, and two novices. Together, we are united around the Risen Christ, the gravitational center around which our life and mission revolve daily.
We have just commenced the regional conference with an opening Mass of the Holy Spirit, presided over by Father Erasto Mgalama, Counselor of our Continent. He urged us to be permeated by the Holy Spirit, to place Christ at the center of our lives, following the example of the early Christian community that held everything in common for the good of all. Our meeting unfolds in two phases: we begin today with a retreat guided by Father Michelangelo Piovano, Vice Superior General, under the theme proposed by the conference: “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is now far spent,” which unfolds under the subtitle of ‘Starting afresh from Christ and avoiding self-referentiality’. Father Gianfranco Testa, accompanying him, will aid us with practical reflections on forgiveness and reconciliation. Subsequently, starting from April 12th, we will continue with the actual conference, taking into account all your contributions.
Dear brothers, it is important to remember that the mission we undertake is not ours but God’s, revealed through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, whose redemptive sacrifice is still celebrated during this Easter season. Therefore, it’s not about becoming ourselves the reference point or the center around which our life and mission must revolve, but rather it is Christ who must be at the center, the point of gravity of this rotation; and He alone is the reference!
It is the second day today!
The morning Mass was presided over by Father Michelangelo, Vice General Superior, accompanied by Father Dido Ambinikosi, Parish Priest of the Parish of St. Hilary. Father Gianfranco TESTA celebrates his birthday… 82 years! But he stands as upright as an immovable solid pole! And above all, a true mind, a ‘TRUE HEAD’, still functioning perfectly at 82 years! This wise old man has led us into the depths of the inner journey of our liberation from anger, resentment, to open ourselves to forgiveness and reconciliation, moving from darkness to light.
We have the right to feel anger or resentment, but we cannot continue to live with it for the rest of our lives. We are not responsible for the anger we feel but for the anger we hold onto. Forgiveness is healing the wound with oneself; reconciliation is healing the wound with others. Forgiveness neither erases nor changes the past, but it liberates me for the future. I have the choice to remain in the pain and burden of the past or to peacefully open myself to the freedom of the future!
Opened with a prayer by Father Dido, the retreat continued with the second point addressed by Father Michelangelo: “Our communities from the Eucharist”. May our multicultural community, which celebrates the Eucharist daily, be a testimony of fraternity, sharing, and hope for the world. Living in community stems from Jesus, who invites his disciples to remain with him to share his life and train them for the mission. May the Eucharist we celebrate not remain sterile but become a concrete life of our fraternity in its diversity. The Eucharist makes the Church and the Church makes the Eucharist.
Our Founder highlights the Eucharist and the spirit of family that go hand in hand in our multicultural context; we are called to live fraternity ad vitam for the mission: “For us, being Eucharistic missionaries means making the Eucharist the source and summit of evangelization, the center towards which all the spiritual life of the individual and the community tends and, consequently, the profound reason to live in continuous thanksgiving.”
* Fr. Nhessy Nkulu Iland, Nestor, IMC, Regional secretary.
