Fr. Victor Bongiovanni
It has been asserted many times that “The Church is essentially missionary”. The Second Vatican Council stated clearly that “The Church on earth is by its very nature missionary”. (Ad Gentes 2) The Church is not the “sender of missionaries” but one “that has been sent” by God.
These ideas have been the foundation of all our “youth catechesis”. And I must admit that some youths have made these principles part of their life, of their plans and decisions.
This, for example, is the life-story of a disabled man: MAGBA MANSARAY. He is a young man of 18 – 20 years old. He comes from a very remote village: Farendugu (Kabala Parish). You will never see a person coming from that village that is walking without carrying a cutlass, or an ax or another weapon always ready for personal defense. They say that leopards are moving around in that area. Magba was forced to leave his village. The whole population was against him: ‘he was declared ‘witch’, a person possessed by an evil spirit. Children were throwing stones at him and even his relatives were cursing him. Why was he forced to leave his village?...
Because he had a terrible wound at his right ankle…
And Magba ended his ‘escape’ in Kabala. The members of the Saint Vincent De Paul Society took care of him. After two years some doctors came from abroad and amputated his foot. Magba was wandering why people loved him so much. He was told “because God loves you so much!”. This discovery made him decide to become a Christian and he took the name of Joseph. I accompanied him back to his village. When people saw that the terrible wound was not there any longer they removed the accusation that he was a “witch” and accepted him with joy. Now (and here it’s the great surprise!) Joseph Magba moves about every day, with the help of a pair of crutches, visiting people who are not well.
In our youth Catechesis we tried to find a definition for missionary vocation and the youths have come up with this suggestion:
A Missionary Vocation is :
- a) A dialogue of love with God
- b) In order to discover a mission of service to needy people.
This is what Joseph Magba has understood.
What a lesson from a disabled youth!
In simple words: “If we want to be happy, ‘Happiness is the only thing that we are sure of possessing, when we give it away!”
Our youths need activities of service: not just talk, talk no more!
They appreciate and enjoy their faith when they try to spread it. But these activities, in order to be full of joy and generosity, need to be the result of a personal and community dialogue of love with the Lord. Missionary Catechesis needs a catechesis based on a personal encounter with Jesus, this young Nazarene who made his life a role style of success for many youths.
Magba decided to become a Christian after he understood that he is loved by the Lord, that he is “important” to the Lord. When we have become aware that we are important (no matter if we are healthy or disabled, man or woman, educated or not…) then our life enters into a missionary dimension of service, a service performed with joy.
It is a lesson that I myself learned from that young man. Ciao.
It has been asserted many times that “The Church is essentially missionary”. The Second Vatican Council stated clearly that “The Church on earth is by its very nature missionary”. (Ad Gentes 2) The Church is not the “sender of missionaries” but one “that has been sent” by God.
These ideas have been the foundation of all our “youth catechesis”. And I must admit that some youths have made these principles part of their life, of their plans and decisions.
This, for example, is the life-story of a disabled man: MAGBA MANSARAY. He is a young man of 18 – 20 years old. He comes from a very remote village: Farendugu (Kabala Parish). You will never see a person coming from that village that is walking without carrying a cutlass, or an ax or another weapon always ready for personal defense. They say that leopards are moving around in that area. Magba was forced to leave his village. The whole population was against him: ‘he was declared ‘witch’, a person possessed by an evil spirit. Children were throwing stones at him and even his relatives were cursing him. Why was he forced to leave his village?...
Because he had a terrible wound at his right ankle…
And Magba ended his ‘escape’ in Kabala. The members of the Saint Vincent De Paul Society took care of him. After two years some doctors came from abroad and amputated his foot. Magba was wandering why people loved him so much. He was told “because God loves you so much!”. This discovery made him decide to become a Christian and he took the name of Joseph. I accompanied him back to his village. When people saw that the terrible wound was not there any longer they removed the accusation that he was a “witch” and accepted him with joy. Now (and here it’s the great surprise!) Joseph Magba moves about every day, with the help of a pair of crutches, visiting people who are not well.
In our youth Catechesis we tried to find a definition for missionary vocation and the youths have come up with this suggestion:
A Missionary Vocation is :
- a) A dialogue of love with God
- b) In order to discover a mission of service to needy people.
This is what Joseph Magba has understood.
What a lesson from a disabled youth!
In simple words: “If we want to be happy, ‘Happiness is the only thing that we are sure of possessing, when we give it away!”
Our youths need activities of service: not just talk, talk no more!
They appreciate and enjoy their faith when they try to spread it. But these activities, in order to be full of joy and generosity, need to be the result of a personal and community dialogue of love with the Lord. Missionary Catechesis needs a catechesis based on a personal encounter with Jesus, this young Nazarene who made his life a role style of success for many youths.
Magba decided to become a Christian after he understood that he is loved by the Lord, that he is “important” to the Lord. When we have become aware that we are important (no matter if we are healthy or disabled, man or woman, educated or not…) then our life enters into a missionary dimension of service, a service performed with joy.
It is a lesson that I myself learned from that young man. Ciao.