Together to proclaim the Gospel to the ends of the earth
We are very different in age, background and personality. We come from different countries, each one with his/her own culture, language, traditions, experience… It is exactly because of this plurality which characterizes us that we accept the challenges of becoming a family. Considering each person as a gift to the others, with mutual acceptance, our spiritual, intellectual and psychological differences are kept together in unity and become a treasure for all.
We believe that such an intense life of community is a way to witness and proclaim God’s love in a world which is always thirsting for authentic and supportive relationships.
For this reason, in whatever country we serve, our first commitment is to live and promote a spirituality of communion. Building relationships of fraternity with the peoples we are sent to becomes our first proclamation of a God who is Father and who takes care of his children.
At the beginning of our community… a call
At the origins of our history there is a group of young people experiencing an intense friendship based on the Word of God meditated, lived and shared.
“We were willing to offer our lives to witness and reveal to everyone the face of the Living God we had discovered and that was transforming our young lives“, tells Nina Cadeddu. “It was not a human project, but a call from God, worthy to leave everything else for”.
Since then, this call has continued to attract young people, adults and families who, at different latitudes, remain fascinated by the same discovery: the life of the Trinity is not hidden in the heavens, but can be translated and experienced in everyday life, through relationships of reciprocity and fraternal communion.
My life Is meant to be given
“My parents were small traders, but due to an economic failure they found themselves working the land to support the family. Often, at home, the necessary means to live were missing, but difficulties have never succeeded in stealing the joy of a life based on a strong trust in God and communal prayer. At the age of fourteen, I first heard God’s call, but the need to look for a job to help my family choked that little seed. So I dropped out of school and started working as a bricklayer.
Three years later I left for the Ivory Coast where, after a few months, I met the Missionary Community of Villaregia. Walking in front of the church, I saw some missionaries who were working and I decided to help them. One of them later proposed to me to join the missionary group and so I began my journey with them. What struck me from the first moment was their joy and the way these missionaries welcomed me.
During a night of prayer, I realized that my life was meant to be given, that I could not just think about my parents’ problems, while millions of brothers and sisters were still waiting to know God’s love. My family reacted with surprise: they happily accepted my choice of consecration, although my work was an important support for them.
I have been a missionary and priest for 15 years: I have carried out my service in Italy, Peru and Ivory Coast. Today I’m in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.”
Fr. Martin Ouedraogo – missionary
One for the world to believe
A fragment of the Gospel guides our journey: “As you, Father, are in me and I in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.” (Jn 17:21)
The life of the Trinity, the communion that processes among the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, can be lived and embodied in the fragility of human relationships. It is not a spectacular reality, but a daily reality made up of welcoming, sharing and small gestures, and enriched by a mixture of talents, forgiveness and mutual exhortation.
The Community thus becomes a vital and open family where everyone can feel at home, experience the joy of loving and being loved, and encounter the presence of God who lives and works among men.
God first
“From the very beginning of our experience we were inspired by the way of being a community that had characterized the first Christians. We realized that to love each other in simplicity and joy of heart, united in the name of the Lord, is possible if each one puts God first.
By working together in everyday life, facing the small and big inconveniences of an experience started from scratch, and striving to overcome the inevitable difficulties that arise from diversity, we have actually understood how to be brothers and sisters beyond any blood tie“.
Marilena Desougus – missionary
Guarding His presence
“During one of the first meetings in which we participated in the community, we were told that God makes himself present wherever people love each other. That was a new truth for us, which immediately intrigued and fascinated us. We were experiencing a difficult moment in our married life: the dialogue between us was almost extinguished, we used to speak to each other only to blame the other for his/her shortcomings.
We decided, however, to offer ourselves a new opportunity, starting with very simple things: saying thank you, apologizing, and listening to each other. From that moment on, everything took a different turn. A new joy and peace entered our home and the first ones to notice it were our children. We understood that we could make God present in our relationship simply by choosing to love one another. Our efforts and difficulties had not ceased, but the way of facing them had definitely changed. Our mutual effort was to remain in love in order to guard that sacred presence.
That special meeting prompted us, then, to look to the people in greater need. Today, with our seven children, we are a missionary family which wants to witness and announce to humanity the beauty of a life lived in the presence of God.”
Renza and Luciano – missionary spouses
An International Community
The Community reveals the face of an international family. The coexistence of brothers and sisters of various nationalities allows us to experience a universal fraternity, a training ground for those who, willing to break down the borders of their kinship and land of origin, are committed every day to expand their hearts to the whole world.
