Chad
Here in Chad, unfortunately, in the name of the god of money, citizens’ rights are trampled every day.
In Bongor, finding gasoline is easy; the problem is the price. The only gas station operates two hours a day, and 1 liter costs €1.10. At black-market vendors, open 24/7, it costs 50 cents more per liter. The gasoline is the same because, at night, the station reopens for the illegal sellers.
This morning, I got in line at 8 to be served at 10. In the meantime, the attendants (not the owners) invited me into the shade and offered me beef broth, complete with ox feet. We sat down to eat. At 10, I blessed the multitude of motorcycle-taxi drivers in line, and finally they served me.
For ‘ordinary people,’ gas is rationed (maximum 3 liters); I, as a priest, enjoyed the privilege of a full tank.
Living World Mission Sunday is learning the Gospel from the poor.
In prison, reading the Gospel, we asked ourselves: Where is the image of God?
Jesus states that he is found in the face of man, of every man. I ask the prisoners: “Do Christians bear the image of God within them?” “Yes.” “Muslims?” “Yes.” “Bandits?”. Silence. 5 hands go up for no, and the other 75 remain silent.
In Cameroon, street children are orphans aged 8 to 13 who scrape by, often steal, and use drugs to suppress their hunger.
One day, one of them died in front of the gate of the cathedral in the capital, Yaounde. His companions did everything they could to inform the police chief, the firefighters, the parish priest, and finally the bystanders, but no one was able to take care of the body for burial.
As in a liturgical rite, the poor man’s companions took the corpse, entering the cathedral courtyard and going inside the church; finally, they laid the body on the pristine altar. It was their way of rendering unto “God what belonged to Him.”
Living World Mission Day is living the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves.
This year, Providence has placed at our disposal a fund to enroll poor children, children of the blind, or other orphans from the city or villages.
Thanks to the help of several of the faithful and the presence of an elementary school and a high school in the parish, we managed to enroll about fifteen of them. The parishioners then raised funds to distribute notebooks and pens to those most in need.
Living World Mission Sunday is believing that God is life.
Ten days ago, I went to the hospital to perform an anointing for a critically ill patient.
In the same intensive care unit, there was a 6-year-old girl so badly injured that it was difficult to look at her face. She had been hit by a motorcycle and had broken her right leg in two places and her left knee. Her face was swollen from the impact on the asphalt. She was having convulsions as her body fought for life.
Two days later, I returned to visit her—in truth, I wanted to baptize her—but she was already doing better. Life had triumphed over death. I laid my hands on her and she opened her eyes; her family told her that I was there and that I had prayed for her.
Mission is love, school, sharing, and life.
This is the image of God that I have seen here in Chad, in the street children, in the prisoners, and in the little girl miraculously saved after a terrible accident, and that I wish to bear witness to.
Living World Mission Day is saying thank you to you who are reading this.
If I am here, it is thanks to you who believed in me, who read me, support me, pray for me, and encourage me. May the Lord keep us in unity so that everyone can best fulfill the mission entrusted to them, in Chad, in Italy, in France.
Photo by Father Carlo Salvadori
