In addition to the mission of proclaiming and bringing the joy of the Gospel to all peoples, Jesus sent his disciples to live in unity, “so that the world may believe” in the love of the Father who was manifested in Him. Therefore, we are committed to making fraternity and community life the first proclamation we bring to the countries where we are sent.
Our days are full of commitments on several fronts: evangelization activities, accompaniment of Christian communities, human promotion projects, welcoming people, and workshops for training in prisons. “Whoever sees charity sees the Trinity,” wrote Saint Augustine, and this love of “first quality,” which we try to make visible in every gesture and in every encounter, we first try to embody it in the life of relationship among us.
Many texts on consecrated life emphasize that the sign of fraternity is of great importance and bears fruit in the mission of the Church: “All the fruitfulness of religious life depends on the quality of fraternal life in common,” summarizes one of the most important documents on this subject. We live it personally and try to grow the fraternal dimension in our lives.
Here in Maputo, we are not able to be all together for the lunch meal; at nightfall and at the end of our commitments, we are happy to spend a moment together: a moment of fraternity that becomes a rest for everyone. We tell each other certain things that happened during the day, some friendly events we experienced; we share information that we could not communicate during the day and sometimes we return to certain subjects interrupted during other conversations.
It’s a space of fraternity that male and female missionaries live in their respective homes, where they meet in the small circle of their group. These are simple moments that nurture fraternity and relationships.
Our community is international, made up of people from different continents and cultures; there are young people in training and older missionaries. Moments of fraternity facilitate integration, knowledge, and the joy of being one family in the service of the world. Laughing, joking, and having fun together gives us renewed energy and restores us.
Pope Francis writes in the apostolic exhortation Gaudete et Exsultate that “fraternal love multiplies our capacity for joy, since it enables us to rejoice in the good of others.” This is the kind of multiplication we need to be witnesses of Jesus among our Mozambican brothers and sisters.
