To be born again in Comboni on the 182nd anniversary of his birth

“To be born again in Comboni” is the theme of the letter that Fr. José Luis Rodríguez López, provincial superior, sent to his confreres working in Mozambique. Fr. José Luis writes:

“Dearest confreres,
To celebrate his holiness is for us a commitment to continue in our consecration with fidelity and consistency, recognizing in the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience the path to holiness. As consecrated people we have taken up a new identity, to be part of God and of St. Daniel Comboni. To celebrate his history means to adopt the dreams and the ideals of St. Daniel in order to renew our missionary passion. It means to give continuity to the project of Comboni and, with courage and creativity, to open new horizons of mission. To celebrate his foundation means to feel that we are part of the Comboni Family, accepting a new style of being family, living the experience of brotherly living in common with the variety of our thoughts. We have left a family in order to acquire a new family identity, loving what we are, what we have what we need to do. In these days we have received from Fr. Manuel João the first subsidy of “Brotherhood: journeys of reconciliation” titled “To become brothers” in which he writes: “When we call ourselves ‘brothers’ or ‘confreres’ we mean a particular and privileged bond existing between us, due to the fact that we share the same life ideal. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, the more what we have in common is important, the deeper is our friendship.” This is the new family bond by which we give witness to Christ living as a “Comboni Family.”
Celebrating the birth of St. Daniel Comboni let us renew ourselves in all aspects of our missionary consecration. Best wishes to all on this day and may the intercession of our founder help us to be born again by renewing our being “Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus.”
“Today I turn 50. My God! One grows old fast, without doing anything about it. It is true that I find myself faced with the most laborious and difficult Vicariate in the world, which progresses fairly well, and which has reached a point, thanks to divine grace, that eight years ago I would never have thought of seeing, due to the enormous obstacles that I had foreseen, and to which progress by the will of God and with his help I have put a finger myself. But, after all, it is a grace if I did not place any obstacle, and may I only be able to proclaim with reason with the Apostle: servus inutilis sum.” St. Daniel Comboni (SS 6561)
Fr. José Luis Rodríguez López, mccj
Ribáuè, March 12, 2013