A summer in Malawi: when mission becomes encounter
REDONA, Italy - I recently received the assignment of missions procurator. A title that sounds a bit old-fashioned, I know. But I prefer to think of it differently: not as someone who "procures" something, but as someone who walks together, who builds bonds, who opens paths of hope.
Last year, with a group of young people, we asked ourselves a simple yet profound question: what does it mean to be missionaries today? From words we moved to action. And so, in August 2025 we left for Malawi, in Africa: eleven young people – Davide, Matilde, Sara, Francesca, Emma, Letizia, Lucrezia, Sirya, Laura, and Enrico – and two friends, Stefania and Marcella, who joined us there.
It wasn't a trip organized down to the smallest detail. It was a journey of trust. A blank sheet of paper that God would fill day after day.
And so it was. We met children who smile at you even if they have nothing, communities that share everything, prayers that arise spontaneously at sunset. We visited missions, schools, villages. We listened, learned, laughed, prayed, served. And in every face we discovered that the mission is not a place, but a way of life.
We didn't return with statistics or great results, but with different eyes. Because this is the mission: allowing ourselves to be changed by what we encounter.
And understanding that the Gospel is alive right there, where it intersects with the fragilities and hopes of every day.
A special thanks to Father Gamba, who welcomed us into his mission with a big heart, to Father Cucchi, a careful and passionate guide, to Lella, a precious presence, and above all to these children and their families who believed in the journey. Together we traced signs and colors on that blank sheet of paper we call mission.
In the coming months, it will be the young people themselves who will share their experiences: with their words, their emotions, their gazes. Because the mission is made of different voices, of hearts that beat as one.
Fr. Antonio BETTONI, SMM
0
reviews