Ubi Amor Ibi Visio: Love as the Source of Missionary Vision

In the Words of St. Comboni about his missionaries, " They will develop in themselves this most essential disposition (the spirit of sacrifice) by keeping their eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, loving him tenderly and seeking always to understand more fully the meaning of a God who died on the cross for the salvation of souls." And St. Paul to the Corinthians, " During my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ (2Cor 2:2).  

Looking at our charism, we can discover our mystical dimension underling what is unified in a holistic spirituality: The Pierced Heart of the Good Shepherd, the Theology of the Cross and St. Comboni's radical love of the Mission and of Africa. St. Comboni was able to see what others could not, a Christ who makes room within himself also for the Africans. Where there is love there is a new capability to see (ubi amor ibi visio). Give me one who loves, St. Augustine would say, and he will understand what I am talking about. When we are on such a track, our thoughts become unified and we recover the passion for Mission.

The new is looking at the future with optimism... with our poverty and our wealth... it often demands the obligation to return to the purity of origins.