On the African continent, the mission is oriented towards the first proclamation of the Gospel, interreligious dialogue with Islam and with traditional religions. In the mission of first Evangelization, significant relationships of closeness to people are woven daily, which favor the opening of new paths, both with Islam and with traditional religions.
Where the Muslim presence is in the majority, the first proclamation is made with witness of life and charity, thus becoming fragrance of Christ among our Muslim brothers and sisters, but in every reality, God's love is witnessed through human promotion, especially in the area of education and health. In the local Church, the formation of missionary consciousness, proper to every disciple of Jesus, is promoted.
Looking at our reality as an Africa Region today, we are this living fire, a gentle, hidden fire – that is, small and humble women who live the Charism in fidelity and perseverance, in continuous self-giving in the Mission.
Since the nineties, the presence among the original or native peoples has been given priority. Experience and reflection have shown and increasingly confirmed that ad gentes in America finds its expression in this apostolic option.
The Consolata Missionaries have supported native groups in claiming their rights, denied by nation states and seized by local powers. Over time, the commitment to know the cultures and spiritualities of peoples has been combined with ever more deeply, in a simple, daily dialogue that requires prolonged time and meaningful relationships with the people.
The America Region has confirmed the following as priority:
With a presence characterized by closeness to the people, in deep union with all the communities of the Continent and of the Institute.
The arrival in Asia dates back to 2003, as a response to the new frontiers of the ad gentes.
In Asia, ad gentes is the unequivocal horizon of our missionary action. Practically everywhere in the vast territory of Asia, the Church represents a minority that recognises as a seed sown in the great field of Asian cultures, to bear fruit through a simple and as radical a witness as possible to the newness of the Gospel.
Our presence in Asia is in harmony with these choices of sobriety: the first proclamation of the Gospel; human promotion based on simple projects within the reach of the people, in the absence of imposing structures; interreligious dialogue; attention to the cultural and religious heritage of Asian peoples; strong spirituality lived as a way of evangelization.
The great spiritual traditions of the continent are an invitation to invest heavily in the prayerful and contemplative dimension, in a panorama of daily interreligious confrontation. It is a missionary journey made up of stripping of onself in order to concentrate on the essential, which is not necessarily calculated in numbers and results, but in intensity.
For our Institute, Italy is the cradle where we were born: "in Europe there are the places of our spirituality, the heart of the Charism, the Roots of the Institute". These are sacred places, a gift for all the sisters. We are called to keep them alive, to enhance their meaning, to welcome the Consolata Missionaries of any age and affiliation and to offer them times of charismatic deepening and formation.
The elderly and sick sisters live the moment of return, of self surrender, communicating more intimately with Jesus' own surrender. By combining our own with his sufferings, we are involved in the healing process of humanity.
In Europe, today we live the reality of inter gentes: this dimension challenges the Missionary Institutes to find new forms and new styles of being and carrying out mission today. Some of our Presences have become spaces of consolation and closeness for migrants, refugees, women who want to break the chains of abuses and women trafficking. Inserted into the local Church, the sisters animate the Christian communities in a missionary way.
Called by the Holy Spirit to share in the Charism, God’s gift to Father Founder, we offer our life to Christ forever, in the mission ad gentes,
that is, to non-Christians,
for the proclamation of salvation and consolation.
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