Witness and dialogue in the most challenging contexts
There are places in the world where speaking Jesus’ name could cost you your life. Others where the simple word “God” brings compassionate smiles, as if you were telling children’s fairy tales. Yet it is precisely in these extreme contexts that we Comboni Missionary Sisters experience the transforming power of the Gospel.
Where Silence Speaks Loudest
In the Middle East, where severe laws against proselytism make direct proclamation risky, we have learned a precious lesson: “Dialogue or services are the way to show Christ’s love,” reminds Sr. Mary Kevin Avaru in her study on global missionary contexts.
Proclamation becomes “relational and humble,” often “through personal relationships” born in daily life. A smile, an outstretched hand, caring for a sick child: the Gospel is proclaimed through life before words. As Paul VI said in Ecclesiam Suam: “No physical pressure was exercised on anyone to accept the dialogue of salvation; it was an appeal of love.”
Europe That Has Forgotten
Paradoxically, Western Europe presents us with no less complex challenges. Here secularization has created a void often filled with indifference. “Religious faith is often seen as private, outdated, or irrelevant,” observes Sr. Avaru.
Yet in this apparent spiritual desolation, we discover fertile ground for the “new evangelization.” Art, music, pilgrimages become universal languages. And above all, the silent witness of lives transformed by Christ speaks louder than a thousand sermons.
Africa: Land of Contrasts
On the African continent we live a daily paradox. While “Christianity is growing rapidly,” in some areas like Nigeria “missionaries must face persecution and death” due to Boko Haram terrorism.
It is here that we experience the “apostolic patience” of our Comboni charism: alongside “freedom to proclaim the Gospel” coexist dramatic situations of violence. But it is precisely in the deepest darkness that Christ’s light shines most intensely.
Asia of Dialogue
In Southeast Asia, religious diversity teaches us the art of mutual respect. “Interfaith relations are fundamental due to religious diversity,” emphasizes Sr. Avaru. In China, the “growing underground Christian movement” coexists with severe “restrictions on religious gatherings.”
Here we have learned that “evangelization means proclamation especially through dialogue, which is itself an authentic form of evangelization.” A dialogue that must be “respectful and inculturated rather than confrontational.”
Beyond Every Border
Global phenomena – migration, climate crisis, digital interconnection – create new missionary opportunities. The 281 million international migrants become “bridges for intercultural mission.” The environmental crisis opens us to eco-theology: “Framing creation care as discipleship.”
We integrate Laudato Si’ into our daily mission, recognizing that “care for the environment is inseparable from care for life and human dignity.”
Where God Is Already at Work
In all these diverse contexts, our call remains the same: to discern “where God is already at work” rather than impose pre-packaged programs. “Missio Dei does not depend on social trends, but invites the Church to discern ‘what the Father is doing’ in each context.”
This is the beauty of polycentric mission: we are all partners in God’s one mission, called to be “signs of hope in the most difficult peripheries of the planet.”
As Saint Daniel Comboni reminded us: “Courage for the present, but especially for the future.” Prophetic words that today sustain us in every corner of the world, where Christ’s love continues to transform hearts, often in silence, always in hope.
Source: Hub Mission 2025 – Cg.Missione – SMC
