Interview with missionaries ad gentes

Rome (Italy). On 31 May 2023 in Rome, in the General House of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, concluded the Ongoing Formation Course for Missionaries ad gentes on the theme “With Mary, being a ‘presence’ that generates life” (Acts GC XXIV), in which 13 missionaries from all over the world took part, with stops in Mornese, Nizza, Turin. The group of new missionaries, who are completing the year of preparation and formation for the mission ad gentes, interviewed them.

1- What are the most beautiful experiences of your missionary life?

(Sr. Maria Remedos ECU) “Late one Saturday evening, I was going to a village of the Shuar ethnic group for catechism. It was raining heavily and a man was missing who lived far from the place where we had gathered. So, I decided to go to look for him, but I had to cross a river that was rising. In any case, I wanted to go and look for this man and I set off, leaving the village. A little girl stood in front of me, preventing me from proceeding and I went back. When I arrived at the meeting place, everyone was crying because they believed I was dead and they had already alerted the men to look for me by the river. Our Lady really saved me!”

(Sr. Angela ANT) “I was in the South of the Dominican Republic in the years 1980-1990, and at that time the population was totally abandoned by the government and the Church due to the lack of priests. We FMA with the Salesians tried to help the people, both from a material point of view and from a spiritual animation point of view (in various circumstances, I have also blessed funerals). Those years were years of great material precariousness, even for us Sisters and the people shared what they had with us. I was very moved by the gratitude of a former student who lived in the United States who, when she learned of this situation, came and brought food for 24 families for the duration of 1 month. People were very grateful to this lady.”

2- What is the secret to integrate well into the mission?

(Sr. Pilar ANT) “In the South of the Dominican Republic, where I was in the years 1990-2000, the people were very poor. The people must always be loved and in certain situations the Sisters must do everything. Hope for the promotion and education of the girls was placed in us FMA. It is necessary to be Daughters of Mary Help of Christians where the Lord asks you to be and feel at home”.

(Sr. Norma MDG) “The secret lies in ‘divesting oneself’ of one’s own culture to make room for and welcome the new culture into which one is inserted with love. We must love the culture with its own traditions and rites; enter on tiptoe with great respect for the dignity of each person, of all people, of the people, despite the difficulties in learning the language.”

3- How did you deal with the difficulties you encountered in your mission?

(Suor Maria Fe TIN) “When we arrived in East Timor, there were difficulties within the country; we entered by learning the language. It was very difficult, because people don’t speak English very well. We brought a notebook with us to write down the words. The first step to enter people’s hearts is to learn the language and walk with them, sharing moments of suffering, persecution, and violence. We stayed with the people and with them we had the experience of being under the Cross. On many occasions, we experienced the powerful help of the Virgin Help of Christians.”

(Sr. Teresita GIA) “I encountered the difficulties above all before leaving for the mission, because I had not made a missionary request, but the Provincial asked me for this obedience. I was afraid because of my fragile health, because of my language, of not fitting in. Then I said to myself, ‘despite all this resistance, I am going to do God’s will’. When I arrived in the mission, I had no illnesses; the language is very difficult, but thanks to faith, I overcame the difficulties. On December 3, on the feast of St. Francis Xavier – patron saint of missions – I made the missionary request. I am a happy FMA missionary!”

4- What do you expect from new missionaries who arrive on a mission?

(almost all the missionaries) “The new missionaries who arrive at a mission must not think that they are going to save the world; they have to give the best of themselves and accept reality as it is. They are not going to revolutionize anything. The important thing is to be available like Don Bosco’s handkerchief to be sent where God sends them through the Superiors. We want them to be mature women, ready for all the work, and to find Jesus in every person. They must not forget that the mission belongs to God and Jesus and Mary precede us. LET’S GO FORWARD with courage and serenity. God is at work and we, together with the Sisters of the Community in which we are inserted, continue in the footsteps traced by so many missionaries who gave everything for the mission”.

The new missionaries expressed their gratitude to the Sisters as follows:

Thank you, dear Sisters, for your testimony of life totally given freely to the people, to the many young people met on the path of your mission. Thank you for the testimony of faith that you have given us, for your profound gaze and the ability to ‘decipher’ life in your perennial pilgrimage alongside every person. Thank you for your humanity which has taken on everything: joy, tears, worries, plans, and hopes and for your life, which is a song of joy and praise to the God of Life!