We are a community of four sisters, one Congolese and three Mozambican. We work full-time in pastoral ministry at the parish level and in diocesan pastoral commissions. The parish is extensive and consists of sixty-eight (68) basic communities.
We are responsible for organizing parish catechesis, training catechists and, in recent years, we have been preparing groups for Baptism and Confirmation.
We make an effort to engage in inter-religious dialogue with Islam, as we are situated in a region where Islam has gained space and significant influence.
At the parish level, we are responsible for animating and coordinating the Missionary Childhood, as well as training Missionary Childhood coordinators.
We are responsible at the parish level for the Family Commission, the Economy Commission and the Commission for the Role of Women in the Church. We are members of the Diocesan Inculturation Commission.
With the help of the diocese, we have a project for training young people in sewing and cooking in displaced villages. Ten young people participate as we only have ten sewing machines. They are committed and leave knowing how to do many things, sewing and mending their clothes.
We have taken on the direction of the DIOCESAN MULTIPURPOSE CENTER FOR PASTORAL FORMATION AND WELCOME. In this center, many members of basic communities, prayer groups, retreats and reflection groups come tobe nourished and to grow spiritually in their faith. We also host groups for vocational training. Many NGOs come here to train their staff.
We also welcome and provide training to personnel from certain government sectors such as health, agriculture, social action, gender and women. The center is in high demand.
Here, we foster communion, mutual understanding, good collaboration, and partnership with Non-Governmental Organizations in assisting those displaced by the war on terrorism, which has caused many deaths and migrations in this northern region of the country.
We collaborate with the diocesan Caritas, health, social action, Médecins Sans Frontières, IOM, the district government and the Leprosy Association. We offer our humanitarian service to eleven (11) centers for war-displaced people through home visits in the camps, providing trauma therapy, spiritual and material assistance.
Through the aid that comes to us, donations from the Institute and the NGOs we work with, companies, and other individual donations, we share according to the needs and number of households.
Our role is like that of Mary at the Wedding at Cana: interceding, asking aid for those who suffer, especially the most vulnerable.
To accomplish all this work at the Mission of Montepuez, we are truly strengthened by God. In our daily prayer and adoration, we find strength, courage in the face of dangers and the light of the Holy Spirit to discover the needs and appropriate solutions. In our contemplation, we are missionaries, and in the mission, we always strive to be contemplatives… We thank God and our Mother Mary of the Passion for the beauty of our charism, which we want to live fully! The Lord is a God of Providence, who surprises us every time. He watches over his friends.
Isabel da Costa Xavier, fmm
