Abba Tesfaye's message on the occasion of Abba Mansueto Zorzato's death

“While we are alive, we are living for the Lord, and when we die,
we die for the Lord: and so, alive or dead, we belong to the Lord”
(Romans 14:8)

Dear and Rev. Fr. Sisto Agostini MCCJ, Provincial Superior and the Comboni confreres of the Community of Awassa and the Comboni Missionaries in Ethiopia and the Comboni Missionary Sisters,  

Dear Abbatcin Abba G. N. Juan Antonio MCCJ, Apostolic Administrator,

Dear Priests of the Apostolic Vicariate of Hawassa, Religious, Priests, Brothers, Sisters and the Christian Lay Faithful, in Awassa:

Fraternal greetings in the name of the Lord.
May God console us all, on the death of our dear Abba Mansueto Zorzato MCCJ, the Novice Master of many of us local Comboni Missionaries. May God console us all. May Abba Mansueto Rest in the Peace of the Lord, in Awassa where he lived, served God and the Church and the people in general for many decades.

We thank God for his person, a good comboni missionary and man of faith, who gave witness to our Lord Jesus Christ, through his life of Consecration and Priestly Missionary Vocation. We sing with him, using the words of our Mother Mary, “My soul glorifies the Lord my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.”

Dear Abba Mansueto, our Novice Master, greetings to you as you depart from us. I thank God for your person, your life of dedication and commitment and for the exemplary life of discipline and generous service to God and the people of God.

1. Thank you, for being a man of faith: One of the things we have learned living with you, was that you were a true man of God who used to spend hours in the chapel for prayer. This was because of your deep faith which made you calm, patient and full of hope even when things were difficult. For some of us you appeared to be too calm while people around you were disturbed. Well, this has been the fruit of the deep faith you have had in God’s presence and God’s loving intervention.
2. Thank you for your disciplined life: Dear Abba Mansueto our Novice Master, your life of discipline and serious commitment as consecrated comboni missionary Priest, has been exemplary, and inspiring many of us young comboni missionaries. You were focused very much on what you were called to be. You were quiet, reserved and calm. At time we had thought that you were distant, but we discovered that you were aware of things and showed concern and interest to look for solutions and liked to intercede and pray.
3. Thank you for your wise leadership: Dear Abba Mansueto, in your many years of service as Parish Priest, Local Superior, Novice Master, Provincial Superior, Spiritual Director, Confessor: it was seen that you were deeply a wise man. You have practiced and helped many to learn the sacred tradition of discernment. THANK YOU for your witness of deep spiritual wisdom.
4. Thank you for your love and zeal for Pastoral Work: Dear Abba Mansueto even if you were mainly busy in internal service of leadership, formation, and spiritual direction, you did a lot of pastoral work. Even if at times you were sick, you always volunteered to go and give a hand in pastoral work.
5. Thank you for your discreet charity. Dear Abba Mansueto, you helped many people and showed them the charity of God also by sharing the resources you used to have. But you did things as the Gospel reminds us, without making advertisement and avoiding publicity. You were discreet, humble and in no need of looking for people to clap for you. You wisely helped the poor without making them dependent and you did not like that the poor feel that they are helped by you.

Dear Abba Mansueto, pray for all those who are sick and dying with COVID-19, please continue to pray and intercede for our country Ethiopia and its people whom you have loved. Yes, Abba, pray for PEACE and RECONCILIATION, in the different parts of Ethiopia, where there is war and conflict.
Abba Tesfaye Tadesse MCCJ, on behalf of the General Council