Superior General's message for 10 October 2021: "Happy Feast of St Daniel Comboni"

10 October 2021
Feast of St Daniel Comboni

“Therefore, since we have such a great cloud of witnesses around us,
we too should throw off everything that weighs us down and the sin that clings so closely,
and with perseverance keep running in the race which lies ahead of us,
keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
(Hebrews 12: 1- 2)

Dear confreres,
Greetings and prayers from Rome and Happy Feast Day of our Father and Founder Saint Daniel Comboni!

St Daniel wrote on 23/09/1867, “My Plan is approved by a large number of bishops …, and so I am trying in every way possible. If do not at all succeed, God will be satisfied with my good intention. I shall certainly spare neither efforts, nor journeys nor life in order to succeed in this undertaking: I shall die with Africa on my lips.” (Writings 1441). Saint Daniel died on 10 October 1881, 140 years ago, surrounded by his men and women missionaries from whom he asked fidelity to the mission, fixing their gaze on Jesus and repeating “My Jesus, mercy”.

A few days ago, I returned from Khartoum where Saint Daniel Comboni died and where his presence continues thanks to the life, witness and service of Comboni men and women missionaries and the Christian life of the entire local Church.  Saint Daniel Comboni has come down to us today since, before us, many confreres, sisters and lay people who have followed Jesus Christ in the manner of Saint Daniel Comboni, transmitted his charism to us; our hearts are full of joy for their fidelity and says to them: THANK YOU!

Today, we celebrate our Founder who in heaven lives and enjoys the Communion of Saints. We celebrate him also because with the gift of his charism, a gift of the Holy Spirit, he continues to act in the daily life of the members of the Comboni Family, our friends, collaborators and benefactors and to be present in our communities and our activities.

On this particular day of 2021, with great joy and renewed gratitude, various anniversaries are being celebrated. At Elwangen, there is the closure of the year dedicated to the centenary of our presence in Germany and our Venegono and Padua communities have completed 100 years of presence. On the same day in Brazil there is the opening of the year dedicated to reflection upon the 70 years of Comboni presence to be celebrated in 2022. Under the auspices of this day, with both the present and future in mind, a new community for student confreres is being opened in Nairobi.

Yes indeed! In celebrating Saint Daniel Comboni, we are all called to allow ourselves to be renewed by the Holy Spirit who continually forms us to be Comboni missionary disciples called to walk in the world today and to incarnate ourselves ever more deeply in the situations of our brothers and sisters.

Saint Daniel still reminds us today of our duty to announce and share Jesu Christ our hope whose heart forever beats for suffering humanity; he urges us to witness to Him in our daily life in a spirit of ministeriality in fraternity; he urges us to live in communion and in the spirit of synodality that makes us all participants in the same mission and teaches us to enrich ourselves mutually by our testimony and involvement in building up the Kingdom of God there where we are all called to be converted and to continue our journey towards holiness which make us ever more human.

“A Christian cannot think of his or her mission on earth without seeing it as a path of holiness, for “this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Th 4:3). Each saint is a mission, planned by the Father to reflect and embody, at a specific moment in history, a certain aspect of the Gospel”. (Pope Francis, GE 19).

We entrust our communities and our confreres to our Mother Mary and so that we may obtain the graces necessary to live well our journey towards and our celebration of our next General Chapter which we will celebrate in the month of June 2022.

Happy Feast of Saint Daniel Comboni!

Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie MCCJ,
on behalf of the General Council