ARGENTINA, Eduardo and Cristina Colombo. Ita Pater, Ita Mater means “Yes Father, yes Mother” and this was the ideal of life to which Sister Marie Emilie (a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary) aspired. It is an invitation to be true children of God, it is a daily struggle to accomplish holiness, placing one hand in that of the Father, and the other one in the hand of Mary. The Schoenstatt Youth, both the Boys’ and the Girls’ Youth, wanted to do something to offer to the nation, especially during this the Bicentennial year, because we are convinced that it is everyone’s task to re-found a new nation, where everyone feels like brothers and sisters, that it be a Nation for everyone.
This was the reason we began to dream this crazy dream called the UNIVERSITY MISSION, and for this we needed a handful of mad people who were willing to dream the same dream.
Mission in the rural areas of Salto de la Vieja and El Cacique
Eduardo and Cristina Colombo, the couple who accompanied the training of the youth in Chaco, contacted Father Jaime Mora, a diocesan priest and the pastor for years in Colonia Elisa, a town in the interior of Chaco, located 100 kilometers from Resistencia. He suggested that this mission be carried out in the rural areas of Salto de la Vieja and El Cacique; this mission will continue for three years.
The mission was held on the weekend of July 16th -19th. The bus, which transported the missionaries departed from the MTA Wayside of Resistencia, where they prayed asking the Blessed Mother to use them as instruments to reach many families.
The decision
This missionary community is composed of thirty youth, five adults and three diocesan priests: Father Jaime, Father Néstor, and Father Armando. A stop was made at the crossroads, where the two areas meet before crossing the wooden bridge that crosses the Rio Negro (Black River), the cold night was illuminated by torches. A young man from the organizational team invited us to reflect about the decision to begin a new stage: that of going on mission or to return to our comfort zone.
This fledgling mission is a small contribution to build a new bridge between Resistencia and these forgotten communities.
Our shoes left footprints on the roads
When we arrived at Salto, we were blindfolded, and we were told to trust the companion in front of us to enter the school, where the organizational team welcomed us with a video and fireworks, which surprised the residents and made them happy.
Every journey we experienced was intense and tiring, since the activities began early with prayer in the chapel, which was in the hall furnished with rugs and large cushions; therefore, we had to enter barefooted; the diocesan Auxiliary MTA and the Auxiliary of the Blind, which accompanied us throughout the mission, were close to the Blessed Sacrament.
After the sending forth, the pairs of missionaries departed for the homes by traveling the dirt roads that were slippery and hard to walk on because it had rained. Our shoes left footprints on the roads; this is how we began to build the bridge and to establish new bonds.
Carrying the Blessed Mother and her Son on bicycles
One group of missionaries stayed in Salto and the other one went to El Cacique, where the houses are further apart so they went on bicycles, carrying the Blessed Mother and her Son.
During naptime, workshops were held with the people who met at the school; they participated in talks, games, and a snack.
Some of the experiences were very touching, for example, when a pair of missionaries entered a precarious farmhouse, where they a found an elderly man lived alone. They were struck by his need for company.
Another pair found a family of fourteen people living in a very small house, where it was obvious that they did not eat regularly. Other youth visited a family who were mourning the father, who had died recently, they accompanied them in their sorrow and they prayed together.
Saturday afternoon Father Jaime celebrated Mass in the Chapel of Salto that was a very special moment because of celebrating two Baptisms along with the entire community.
A special 18th
Sunday was a very special day for the Schoenstatt Family, because we began very early by renewing the Covenant of Love and placing the last day of the mission in the hands of the Blessed Mother and Father.
The day we went on mission was an act of heroism, because it was cold and rainy, but this did not stop the zeal that burned within our hearts. We were impelled to walk knowing that we carried a very big treasure in our hands: the three graces that the Blessed Mother wants to distribute among her children.
At the end of the day, we had the very profound experience of offering a heroic night of prayer and adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. We united as brothers and sisters to pray, sing, and cry together.
This mission made us value many of the things that we have every day and that we take for granted
This mission made us value many of the things that we have every day and that we take for granted. For example, we have drinking water, which we use by simply turning the faucet, and not only cold water but also hot water. In the area we were in, water is a serious problem and rainwater is used, and it is used carefully without wasting it. A plate of hot food, a coat when it is cold, a comfortable bed, an electric light, a bathroom, a book to read, a family with whom to share. These are great gifts that we enjoy, and we do not appreciate enough.
All these experiences and what the experience of going on this mission meant for each person, who with an open heart had a moment of grace, of unity and of healing of our personal histories. Jesus listened quietly to the testimonies of each person from the humble Tabernacle.
We were the first to be sent
In the things of God, we always experience the same thing, we, who were going to mission others, were the first to be sent. He touched our hearts through the hands of the Queen, who had been crowned that day by the youth from Cacique as Queen of the Mission.
The closing began with a Mass at the Parish of Saint Rosa de Lima in Colonia Elisa, the Auxiliaries and a Pilgrim MTA, which symbolized all the ones that visit the homes, were placed at the foot of the altar. By God’s providence this Pilgrim MTA was the one that had been on Father’s tomb last year, during this special year in which we commemorate the 100th Anniversary of his priestly ordination.
Everyone’s heart overflowed while sharing a barbeque and looking at the video with images of the many moments that had been experienced this weekend.
We have already begun to dream about the UNIVERSITY MISSIONS ITA PATER, ITA BLESSED MOTHER 2011…
Translation: Celina Garza, Melissa Janknegt, USA
