The three sparks of the mission

The “hearts on fire and feet on the move” of missionaries in Ethiopia,
on the frontiers of the very first evangelization

On the occasion of World Mission Day, Pope Francis borrows these images from the gospel of the disciples of Emmaus (Lk 24) to describe two characteristics. He is thinking of us all of all the disciples of Jesus, no one excluded, and he intends to inconvenience the most habitual or the most bored one, even among missionaries.
 Luke wrote this page for those who became Christians after the apparitions of the Risen Jesus, that is, for those who have not seen Jesus in person, and among these us too. The message is clear: do not be green with envy, you too can meet him in the shared Word, in the broken Bread and in the community experience.
 It is the community experience between the Bread and the Word that makes hearts burn and “moves” the feet, orienting them towards others! Luke makes it clear: without hearts on fire, feet do not set out for the Gospel.


This is what we have been experiencing since 2019 here in Ethiopia. We operate in the Apostolic Prefecture of Robe, where more than 97% of the population professes Islam. With Father Serge and Teresa, we are a small fraternity and, together, we look for the Lord in the Word and in the Bread. But this is not enough! On the frontiers of the very first evangelization, the missionary mandate pushes us to be more outside than inside.
Well, outside the Christian community, where we spend most of our time, is it possible to meet the Lord so that the heart burns at a sufficient temperature and the feet walk to bring the Gospel of closeness and charity to non-Christians?


In these first years in Robe, in an unusual missionary context and having everything to learn, we really met the Lord in gestures and deeds among non-Christians. Those who may never adhere to faith in Jesus. St. Justin (2nd century AD) spoke of the “seeds of the Word” or the signs of the Presence of the Lord that the Spirit sowed in the most diverse cultures and in the hearts of all, even those who ignored Christ. Doesn’t finding the values of the Gospel in righteousness and sensitivity to the suffering of others make the heart burn? I would like to try to answer with three “sparks” that make our hearts “on fire” here in Robe.

The spark of the ministers of the Kingdom

With small Christian communities, it is not easy at all to find people who help you, especially with a certain continuity, in the commitment to be close to others’ poverty. However, we have experienced that God awakens the “children of peace” (they are the most receptive people that the apostles will find on the paths of mission in Lk 10). He inspires them for limited moments, and we call them “ministers of the Kingdom”. They are the volunteers of a moment that, regardless of their faith, God puts beside you to give you a helping hand in a momentum of charity during an impasse.
 We had been following a girl who lived on the street for a long time and had lost her mind and her speech, but we could not find a way to help her. Then, we discovered that Samira, a Muslim woman we have known for a long time, offered her breakfast every morning. Samira left her dress trade for a whole day and accompanied us to complete all the formalities to accommodate the girl at the Sisters of Mother Teresa facility.

The spark of conviviality

Reading Lk 24, I would dare to think that Jesus, explaining Moses and the Prophets, dragged it out. Could it be that he wanted to arrive at dinner time and force the two disciples to invite him to eat? The conviviality of the table, not only Eucharistic, but of the bread that is shared and creates familiarity is a very important experience here in Robe. The Lord himself spent a lot of time meeting the people who opened his house and the “breadbasket”.
One day visited Jarra’s wife, who two years ago was forced to enlist to fight the war in Tigray, leaving behind his wife and six friends. We visited her to encourage her and give her a small contribution to live and she welcomed us with an unusual kindness: offering us a blanket to protect us from the cold (her house is at 3,000 meters above sea level) and asked for an old television from the neighbor so that we could kill time while she prepared food for us.

The spark of “first aid”

Then there is the most incredible spark, the one that leaves your heart on fire and speechless: it happens when non-Christians explain to you, the Word of the Lord in their own way.
 Seven hours by car from Robe, in East Bale, there is a large area devoid of the presence of the Catholic Church and, for some years, affected by famine and drought. For more than one year, we have often gone to that area to understand how to be there to face such dramas. During the visit to a village, at the time of greeting us, a man took the floor saying: “Normally we are afraid of approaching people in difficulty. In these years of drought, we have seen many cars speeding along the main road, without anyone ever entering the village. It seemed that, seeing our village, they would just accelerate. Instead, you stopped to listen to us. Approaching is the first aid that can be offered to those in need”.

We were fascinated by the deep words that Muslim man spoke. In other words, he had returned the Christian parable of the Good Samaritan (also in Lk 10) to us, who, unlike two men who turn their faces the other way, at the sight of the unfortunate man on the road to Jericho, comes close and pours oil and wine on his wounds.

Here, in the challenging context of the Apostolic Prefecture of Robe and its surroundings, the experience of the heart on fire continually calls us into question and sets us on a journey.
Pope Francis writes in his message“A cold heart can never make other hearts burn!”. Fortunately, the Lord Jesus finds a thousand ways to approach you on the way and rekindle your passion for Him and the Gospel… as on the road to Emmaus.

father Emanuele Ciccia

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