EGYPT/SUDAN: closing of 150-year celebration of the founding of the Institutes of Cairo

This Friday, June 8, 2018 at the Cordi Jesu Church in Cairo, the closing Mass was presided over by the Vicar General of the MCCJ, Father Jeremias Dos Santos. All MCCJ from Cairo were present as well as the Comboni Missionary Sisters. Surrounded by a huge crowd of Christians (laypeople, priests and religious) who came to celebrate the solemnity of the Sacred Heart, the MCCJ renewed their consecration to the Lord. The Eucharistic celebration was made more colourful by the Sudanese choir of the Sacred Heart Church of Sakakini and dancers of the parish.

In his homily, after recalling the missionary journey of Comboni, Father Jeremias recalled how Saint Daniel Comboni was inspired by the circumstances and signs of the time to found the Comboni Institute on June the 1st, 1867 (Istituto per le Missioni dell'Africa). Father Jeremias also recalled Egypt's historic place in the missionary formation of the first Comboni Missionaries for their mission in the Vicariate of Central Africa, a continent that Comboni loved with and considered his “first love”.

The Gospel of the pierced Heart of Christ on the cross gave the Vicar General of the MCCJ the opportunity to speak about the centrality of the Heart of Jesus and the Cross in the Comboni spirituality. This helps to understand what the MCCJ call difficult mission. According to the Vicar General of the MCCJ, "when we speak of the ‘difficult mission’ in the Institute (and especially in the context of Egypt and Sudan), we also refer to the mission in the Islamic world, with its challenges and difficulties: language, political and social context, culture, openness to interreligious dialogue, being a ‘little flock’”.

The 150th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries and the Institutes of Cairo were an opportunity to raise awareness of the Comboni charism in our context. Referring to the founding inspiration of Comboni at St. Peter’s Square, the Heart of Jesus invites us to be attentive to the signs of the time and to discover, transported from the heart of Jesus, the new Areopagi of evangelization in our countries of mission. Father Jeremias then conclude: "We are all called to let ourselves be attracted by 'that heart which so loved men and is not loved by them', according to the revelations made to Marguerite Marie Alacoque. We are called to rediscover this essential element of our charism and our spirituality (...) As Comboni felt moved to the mission by the Heart of Christ, so each Comboni missionary can feel the love for his own vocation and for the mission to the extent that he will return to the Heart of Christ and make this heart the focal point of his life ".

Closing Celebrations of this event have been held in our parishes at different times, before the June 8, 2018. While St. Joseph Church of Zamalek chose the solemnity of her Patron Saint, the Holy Family Church of Helwān opted for Saturday, June 2, 2018, taking advantage of the presence of the MCCJ meeting on the revision of the Rule of Life. On the other hand, the Sacred Heart Church of Sakakini preferred to celebrate a week later (June 15, 2018) on the occasion of the solemnity of the Sacred Heart following the Coptic calendar as a way of making common cause with the Local Church. In Khartoum instead, the confreres and the Comboni sisters gathered at the Provincial House of Khartoum North on June 7th in a beautiful celebration presided over by Fr. Peppino Puttinato.