after Bozoum, news from Bangassou: Passage to India Part 1

Sunday, February 10, 2019

Passage to India Part 1

Mumbai airport

Passage to India Part 1

A few days ago I arrived in India and I’m planning to stay a few more days because of two commitments: this week there will be a meeting of the Superiors of our Carmelite Order, in Goa; next week we will visit our sisters CMC (Congregation of the Mother of Carmel), with whom we collaborate in Central Africa and in Arenzano, Italy.

I left Bozoum on Thursday afternoon, with Paolo and Giuseppe and we met our Czech friends (Ludmila, Veronika and Jiri) in Baoro, where we spent the (short) night. Early Friday morning we left towards Bangui. In the afternoon I left Paolo and Giuseppe who returned to Italy after 3 weeks of generous work. I left Saturday afternoon from Bangui. After a stop in Entebbe, I arrived about 5 hours later in Nairobi. I left Bangui on Sunday morning landing in the early afternoon in the beautiful Mumbai airport, and at 11 pm my flight landed in Goa, which is on the west-south coast of India.

Goa was the capital of the Portuguese Indies: many names and last names have remained in the Portuguese language, and many people also speak it. The Portuguese also left beautiful testimonies of faith, with very interesting baroque churches.

I am here for an extraordinary meeting of the Superiors of various Provinces and Districts of the Discalced Carmelites. At this large convention are present 65 fathers, representing almost 90 countries, from Europe to Africa, from North and South America to the Middle East, from India to all of Asia. It is a mosaic of beautiful languages and people, expressing in a concrete way the richness, beauty, unity and diversity of the Church and of our Order (which in these days, here in Goa, celebrates 400 years since the arrival of the first Fathers). It is a moment of prayer, reflection and discussion that leads us to work on the future of the Order and to listen to what the Spirit suggests.
The schedule is very intense, but there are moments of fraternity and joy.

Yesterday morning, Friday, we celebrated on the site of the first Carmelite church. Around the ruins and what remains (due to the climate, but also the various suppressions of religious Orders that had also touched these lands, in 1800) we find ourselves with many Fathers of the 7 Indian provinces, and 150 young religious (the Indian continent alone has almost 900 Carmelite priests!). The rest of the day is instead a break from the meetings we have been having. In the morning we visited a Hindu temple (in Mangeshi), and walked barefoot: it is impressive how you breathe an intense spirituality in the whole country! We then went to visit a convent, and then had lunch by the seaside. With the Indian Ocean so close you feel invited to take a dip and swim, which I did!
In the afternoon we visited the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Chicalim, who opened the doors of their Monastery to us. A very warm welcome (I even found the sign "Nzoni Gango" -Welcome- in Sango, the language of Central Africa). In the evening we arrived in our convent of Margao, where after the celebration of Vespers, we had dinner (accompanied by wonderful dances)