“Consider this: whoever sows widely will also reap widely, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each must do as already determined, without sadness or compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9: 6-7).

We find in these words of St. Paul a strong invitation to give with generosity and joy. The reward of the Lord will be the measure and quality of our gift. Here it is a question of almsgiving, but we can also consider how to live our response to the missionary vocation and see if it is always generous and joyful.

“Can we say that we have always accomplished the positive part of the precept, always been totally occupied with the work of our Father? […]. We are not free, we who are missionaries must be continually at the work of God. […]. It is necessary that we be in the work of God, that we be completely in that work, immersed in it identified with it, engulfed in its accomplishment; it is essential that this work be our life, our raison d’etre” (de Brésillac, Retreat to missionaries, p. 38-39).

“These words of the apostle of the Gentles send me thinking  about  the situation we have been going through this week, the comunity of Bomoanga in Niger and the one of Nocetta in Rome. In fact, Fr. Pier Luigi Maccalli, sma parish priest of the Holy Spirit Parish in  Bomoanga, urgently sent a child called Dawa Yembuaro Myriam Djouali from Niger to an international paediatric hospital « Bambin Gesù » in Rome, to be operated on the heart. She arrived on 10th november 2017 accompanied by Davide Camorani who was coming from a pastoral year in that parish. Despite the determination of the Staff and all the workers of the hospital and the mobilization of all people of good wills, the child, born on Monday 1st January 2004, passed away in the presence of all us. We all stood helplessly. She was buried on 15th December 2017 in the Flaminio cemetery in Rome.

Although this experience obviously ended with unforgettable tears and grief, it has established in anthropological, sociological and theological views, a very wide and genuine opening to the dynamism of the Gospel and the apostolic fulfilment of the divine project of Salvation. Then, that experience has imprinted indelible memories, unto the souls and minds of this child’s parents, as well as of Fr. Pier Luigi, of Davide Camorani ; that of the couple Daniele and Clementina; all members of the Bomoanga comunity and of all of us who were always with her in the hospital. Nevertheless, it has also revealed itself at the same time, as a favourable moment and fruit of a large seed which bears again seeds for an abundant harvest in the perspective of our Hope and Faith in Jesus Christ which is died, rose and is alive for ever. In another words, the missionary courage of Fr. Pier Luigi, which dared him to take that risk according to his faith and his apostolic zeal, is a lively, rousing and prophetic call for all of us to explore. It also calls for a fearless renewal in the way in which we announce the Good News in various societies faced with the challenges of today. It requires to go and cast our nets into deep (Lc 5, 4-5).

QUESTION: Now, which new adventure shall I initiate to awaken Faith and Hope today?”.

Dieudonné  Dissou, sma.
Benin. Rome. Studies.