“I cannot forget the amazing experience of my first arrival in Nyal, in South Sudan, a few months ago. My attention was immediately attracted by the songs and dances of so many people who were carrying nice flags: they were full of joy”. A Comboni Missionary Brother tells us his experience.
In all my life I have never received such a wonderful welcoming. So many people have been coming and offered me their time to learn the Nuer, the local language; so many persons that I met on the street did not let me go on my way without taking time to greet me and to give me their peace. It is very true that the people evangelise us, they teach us through their lives the Gospel of love, of faith, of hope.
How can people who have been ‘crucified’ and oppressed by war for so many years can still be able to smile, to love, to irradiate joy and not to lose their hope? How much I have to learn from them!
It was for me a very striking experience to come to realise a bit more in which situation I found myself here in this part of South Sudan. After the strong appeal on behalf of the people affected by hunger, famine and war in South Sudan recently made by Pope Francis, I felt my heart pierced; it was something that really woke me up.
The more I was coming to understand the reality in which I live, step by step even my way of living and of praying started to change; I have been praying for peace in South Sudan for several years, but, in a certain way, as a “foreigner” and as a person not directly touched by the people’s situation. Now, when I pray for peace for my people, I see coming in my mind the faces and the smiles of the so many that I have met, and the prayer becomes incarnated, it becomes a heartfelt cry to God asking him for the salvation of the South Sudanese people. Prayer becomes life, the only hope of life in the midst of violence.
A life in the middle of war, for most of the people of South Sudan, is not life; war, in fact, is the destruction of the dream of life that God yearns for all humanity – indeed, war is the anti-Kingdom, it is the kingdom of death. War is a blasphemy against the tenderness of God. War makes the people of God become a crucified people. The suffering and the fear of the people breaks my heart. Even if we have not been directly experiencing violence in these last few months, people continue to carry their painful wounds and many are afraid that the situation could suddenly change.
I feel my powerlessness and littleness. In being here with this people, touching this body of Christ that has been beaten, tortured and raped, I feel growing in me a thirst for peace as never before in my life. Indeed, Jesus’ words: “I leave you peace, my peace I give you”, become here a living fountain of hope. I firmly believe that it is in this crucified people that Jesus, the Lord of peace, continues to identify himself, to live, to struggle and to rise again.
Despite our littleness, the people are really happy about our simple being with them. Our presence gives people the certainty that the Abba has not abandoned them. It is incredible to realise how God acts through our simple being among the poorest and most abandoned. It’s marvellous to experience that the simple “sitting” with the suffering people generates life and new trust. I continue to believe in the living presence of Jesus among the South Sudanese people and especially in Nyal.
The condemnation of Jesus continues in the unjust suffering inflicted on an innocent people today. They are truly the Body of Christ. The God of the poor identifies journeys and re-exists in the people of South Sudan, the people for which even Daniel Comboni dedicated and offered his entire life. At the end of this lent of hunger and violence, stubbornly we continue to hope in an Easter of a true life. The Risen Jesus is our hope and the light which we follow. I offer myself, my life and my simple presence for the salvation, peace, and life of my beloved people in South Sudan.
– Brother Mario Pellegrino
