{"id":6355,"date":"2026-08-07T21:11:06","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/?p=6355"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:14:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:14:36","slug":"the-invisible-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/the-invisible-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"The Invisible Mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Father Bob Mulegua at the Catrimani Mission, among the Yanomami people. Photo: Personal archive.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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The hidden humanity of the missionary in contexts of extreme isolation<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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When I arrived at the Catrimani Mission in 2019 among the Yanomami people in the State of Roraima, I believed that the mission mainly consisted of learning a new language, understanding the people’s culture, and announcing the Gospel through presence and co-existence. I knew I would encounter challenges, such as: the forest, the distances, the isolation, and the cultural differences.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

By Bob Mulega *<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the years went by, I discovered that the most demanding mission was not outside of me, but inside me. The mission transforms the missionary even before transforming any reality. This is a truth that is little written about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We talk a lot about the peoples, the projects, the difficulties, the achiements, and the pastoral challenges. However, we almost never talk about the humanity of the one who remains for years in extreme contexts. There is an invisible, silent mission that takes place in the heart of the one who has been sent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Father Bob Mulega with the Yanomami people at Catrimania.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of these seven years, I have learned that the missionary continues to be fully human. He continues to feel fear, nostalgia, fatigue, joy, and hope. He continues to need silence, prayer, rest, and people who will listen to him. Recognizing this does not diminish the vocation; it makes it more real. God’s grace does not eliminate human nature, but strengthens it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saint Joseph Allamano insisted that the missionary must seek holiness above all else. For him, doing a lot was not enough; it was necessary to be deeply united with God. Mission is born from the inner life. This spirituality has taught generations of missionaries that apostolic fruitfulness depends not only on efficiency, but on the quality of presence. Remaining beside the people likewise requires remaining united to Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living among the Yanomami people has evangelized me as well. I learned to respect the rhythm of the forest, to listen before speaking, and to understand that presence is worth more than haste. The forest teaches that everything has its time. No tree produces fruit continuously. The missionary also needs times of renewal to continue offering life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Yanomami community house in Catrimani. Photo: Jaime C. Patias<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Second Vatican Council, in the decree Ad Gentes<\/em>, reminds us that the Church is missionary by its very nature. This missionary nature, however, can never forget the dignity of the person sent. Pope Francis, in Evangelii Gaudium<\/em>, invites the Church to be a community of missionary disciples that walks with joy. This joy is not born from activism, but from an ongoing encounter with Christ. In Fratelli Tutti<\/em>, Pope Francis recalls that every authentic mission is born from closeness, care, and the ability to recognize the humanity of the other. Perhaps we should add: also from the ability to recognize the humanity of the missionary himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, I realized that there is another forest, invisible to the eyes: the forest of expectations. The missionary is expected to be always available, always strong, and always ready. Few ask how he is doing. However, taking care of one’s physical, emotional, and spiritual health does not mean fleeing from the mission. It means ensuring that it continues. An exhausted heart will hardly manage to remain a sign of God’s hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Catrimani River in the Yanomami Indigenous Territory. Photo: Jaime C. Patias<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I write these lines not to talk about myself, but to give voice to so many missionaries who live in similar realities. The mission needs men and women who are passionate about the Gospel, but also aware of their own limits. We must form missionaries capable of deeply loving the peoples to whom they are sent without losing their own humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After seven years in Catrimani, I remain convinced that God has called me to walk with the Yanomami people. I continue to believe that spending one’s life for the mission is worth it. But today I know that remaining a missionary also requires remaining human. Perhaps this is the invisible mission: letting God take care of the heart of the one He Himself has sent. When that happens, the missionary discovers that his greatest work is not what he accomplishes, but the person who, by the grace of God, he is becoming along the way. \u201cWanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking\u2026\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

* Father Bob Mulega, IMC, missionary at the Catrimani Mission in Roraima, Brazil.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The hidden humanity of the missionary in contexts of extreme isolation
\nWhen I arrived at the Catrimani Mission in 2019 among the Yanomami people in the State of Roraima, I believed that the mission mainly consisted of learning a new language, understanding the people’s culture, and announcing the Gospel through presence and co-existence. I knew I would encounter challenges, such as: the forest, the distances, the isolation, and the cultural differences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,153,6,150,20,16,24],"tags":[65,327,156,123],"class_list":["post-6355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-consolata-missionaries","category-featured","category-indigenous-pastoral","category-mission","category-spirituality","category-vocational","tag-ad-gentes","tag-catrimani-mission","tag-consolata-family","tag-mission"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6355"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6363,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6355\/revisions\/6363"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/consolataafrica.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}