Cameroon
Spiritual Exercises
Bali,
Pascal,
Mirelle…
A Daily Miracle
February 13-14, 2004, in Yaoundé: fifty
of us got together. “The step we have to take now is to begin seeing ourselves
as fathers and mothers to each other”
by Ambrogio Amati
In Cameroon, too, CL is something unexpected, something that reaches
you from outside and provokes you; something you would never want to stop getting
to know better. In 2005, we will celebrate the 15th anniversary of our Presence
here.
The Movement has spread here most of all in the capital Yaoundé (the French-speaking
area), where Fr Maurizio Bezzi and Fr Marco Pagani, missionaries of the Milan
Missionary Institute (PIME) are working, and in Kumbo (in the English-speaking
area), where the Capuchin priests, Fr Giuseppe Panzeri and Fr Luca Piantanida,
are working.
From Friday the 13th to Sunday the 15th of February, the Annual Spiritual Exercises
of the Fraternity were held in Yaoundé. Fifty people from all over the
country gathered at the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites, near the Catholic
University of Central Africa, along with Fr Antonio Gamba, from the Studium Christi
Fraternity in Milan, and some Italian friends of his. The theme of the Retreat
was the re-proposal of the Spiritual Exercises held in Rimini in May 2003: “Event
of Freedom.”
Acknowledgment of Unity
The atmosphere as we began was one of bewilderment and tiredness (some of us
had been traveling since 3 am so as to reach the place at 8 pm), but this soon
gave way to joy and to the miracle of acknowledging our unity once more. The
nature of CL in Cameroon is the same as that lived and encountered in Italy and
in the rest of the world: the same need for fullness and for meaning that constitutes
every man and therefore demands to be met, acknowledged and embraced.
For Antonio, Maurizio, Giuseppe and Luca, these are days of simple sharing, of
intense fraternity, before each one goes back to his own duties (and Marco will
shortly return to join Maurizio after a period of absence). We are able to love
because we are loved.
It is a life made up of encounters and faces, like that of Bali Désiré,
whose story, reported in Traces in March 2003 and taken up by Fr Carrón
at the 2003 Retreat, is already well-known: a life on the street, in and out
of prison, in bleakest despair; then, a face, a friendly smile, an outstretched
hand that grasps his, which finally opens up and lets itself be loved. This is
an experience common to many at the Edimar Center at the Central Station of Yaoundé.
It’s a miracle that has become the norm, of full and possible happiness,
now. Now Bali works with ten other educators in the Center and welcomes other
enfants de la route (street children) as they arrive. “They come in droves,” says
Fr Maurizio, “but there’s a shower and a smile for them all; and
the chance to start again,” like for that boy from the north, who ran away
from his father who would chain him up to the bed to make him learn the Koran.
There is an intensity of affections and needs, the evidence that something powerful
and unexpected is at work there.
No discussions
Apart from the educators, there are volunteers working in the Center who teach
French to prepare the boys following school courses for their leaving certificate. “This
year, the first two will get their certificates. It’s been a success,” Mirelle
says–a joy. All this in the contradictory setting of this African country,
despite the fragile energies of these people who have given birth to this daily
miracle.
The testimonies at the Retreat are striking. The change is already at work. Mirelle
is there with her husband. The time she spent in Italy last year has changed
her. “The step we have to take now is to begin seeing ourselves as fathers
and mothers to each other.” Richard, who has joined the Fraternity of St
Joseph, is a farmer. His face radiates joy and decision in following the path
he has chosen. He is a rock. Bali has now found in the Movement the family he
has been seeking for too long. Pascal, a Spanish literature teacher, is revolutionizing
the school where he teaches. Living in search of a “patron” and for “protection,” at
times in exchange for sexual favors, is being replaced by the experience of gratuitousness.
Maurizio tells us, “All kinds of people from various religious movements
come to work with us as volunteers.” We don’t get involved in discussions.
In this regard, we note the reception given by the Italian Ambassador, Faustino
Troni on Sunday, February 15th for the Italian missionaries in Cameroon, with
some embassy personnel belonging to the Focolare Movement. Another example is
the friendship and esteem shown by the new Apostolic Nuncio in Cameroon, Archbishop
Antonio Eliseo Ariotti.
A particular testimony is given by an Italian couple belonging to the Neocatechumenal
Movement, Francesco and Francesca, who, in the spirit of their movement, left
everything to come to Yaoundé with their four children, even without a
job at first, to witness that it is possible to live the marriage vocation in
those conditions.
Fr Maurizio says, “The challenge now is to live the Movement in the difficult
environments of work and school.” One thing is clear to everyone: nothing
is as it was before.
From
Caravaggio to Yaoundé
From the homily of the Apostolic Nuncio in Cameroon, Archbishop Antonio Eliseo
Ariotti, Sunday, February 15th
I am grateful for this invitation, because I have met CL often in my life. It
is only one year since I was appointed by the Pope (July 17, 2003), but since
I began my work in 1985, I was able to witness the growth of the Movement in
Uganda, despite the grave political problems in the north of the country. Even
as long ago as the years 1960-65, I saw people from my town, Arzago (near Cremona,
Italy), committed in the Movement. Fr Giussani is a great light for everyone.
Then, many times, while visiting my family at home, I had the chance to join
in the Way of the Cross organized by CL at the nearby shrine of Caravaggio. After
my Episcopal ordination (in Cremona, October 6, 2003), I was on pilgrimage to
Caravaggio with my relatives, and I was told, “Fr Giussani is here!” So
I went to greet him.
I am struck by the bond between him and the Holy Father and by the intention
proposed for this Mass: the return to communion between the Church of the East
and that of the West and holiness. I would like to stress, too, that holiness
is at the root of the Movement’s life. In this line, the liturgy today
invites us to meditate on the meaning of the beatitudes. Even though the Lord
did not limit Himself to saying “blessed,” but used the word “cursed” in
denouncing some particular situations, today we fix our eyes on the beatitudes.
The whole spirituality of CL is founded on the encounter between time and the
eternal, on the Incarnation. The heart of the beatitudes is thus communion with
God, with God made man, because He is truly risen and we are truly free. And
it is love that unites time and the eternal and makes us share in the creation.
So I invite in particular those responsible for the community to learn at the
school of Nazareth, a sequela of prayer and silence.
Let us pray in particular, then, for the Founder. Let us ask the Lord to give
him the strength to inspire those who follow him to seek Him, just as he sought
Him, and to grant us to imitate him as he has imitated Him. Amen!