Why do we frequently say this expression “Never two without three”? Quite simply because when an event happens twice, it can happen a third time. This is the case regarding my trip to the red island in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar! I have been there twice, in 2010 and in 2012, and now I have been a third time for an eight-month sabbatical period. It has been about taking time to visit and discover the missions entrusted to my brother Oblates since their arrival in 1980.

In the beginning, the Oblate Delegation was composed mainly of Polish members; today, after more than four decades of presence and missionary ministry, the group is predominantly Malagasy. It This is the fruit of diligent evangelization, in four dioceses, serving more than 500 Christian communities and, doing so, among “the poor with many faces,” as the Oblate charism suggests.

After this sabbatical stay – most pleasant, I dare say – I am grateful to my colleagues who fraternally and warmly welcomed me among them. I am immensely fortunate to have been able to follow their pace and travel the roads – often in poor condition – by car or bush taxi, skilfully dodging the countless potholes or going around speed bumps. I also had the opportunity to embark on several river transports – pirogue, ferry, small boat, “taka-taka” – including, eight hours in a row-boat, following the waterways of the Pangalanes canal; and even to venture by motorcycle taxi, for several hours, on muddy, sometimes stony or sandy tracks to reach the mission in the more isolated villages.

Yes, I must admit, I have a great feeling of admiration towards my colleagues who are both bold and courageous, dedicated and intrepid in the face of the multiple difficulties to overcome – climatic, road, economic, political, social, ecclesial, including religious ones, in the broad sense of the term – to respond to the ever-present message of Jesus: “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Good News to all human beings.” (Mk 16:15). “Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8).

If elsewhere in the world we ask ourselves the question “Why are churches empty?”, here, we see the opposite. It is quite surprising, this sense of respect for the Sunday celebration – a true Lord's Day – lived with vitality and joy by a large crowd of faithful of all ages, during all the masses planned for the weekend, including at 6 a.m.... The songs so well animated by the choirs always bring a festive touch to the celebrations, involving the entire assembly who, surprisingly, know all the words by heart. The beauty of the celebrations – often lasting a long time – in an atmosphere that is both warm and spiritual, makes them so captivating that we do not notice the time.

Several dioceses are full of female and male religious congregations – some of foreign origin and others indigenous – offering a wide choice to young aspirants in vocational quest, thus ensuring the future succession of their respective charisms.

There is a sign of great wealth also among the Oblates in Madagascar, while elsewhere in the world we deplore a drop in vocations. Three distinct houses of formation offer a nursery of vocations: 12 young pre-novices in discernment in Tamatave, 9 young novices discovering spirituality and the Oblate charism in Ambinanindrano and 20 young religious-scholastics in philosophical and theological formation in Fianarantsoa.

It is an extremely important challenge to properly support and train young people during the long process of growth at all levels of their lives: human, relational, intellectual, Christian, religious, priestly in the service of the universal mission.

One of the priorities – from the start of their training – is that of openness to internationality and interculturality, in other words, learning how to live together, in the same space with our different customs and habits.

In the geographical and social domain, the enormous island in its entirety offers a dazzling natural setting, fabulous and heavenly, captivating and fascinating which paradoxically must confront the insecurity and instability, the poverty and precariousness that the population courageously tries to overcome on a daily basis to live and even to survive.

In the ecclesial and missionary area, there is much to do and, indeed, to invent with a view to true pastoral care of concrete proximity, more attentive to the suffering of others, to the real needs of our sisters and brothers in humanity.

Furthermore, I think that, apart from maintaining one’s faith - in order to last and hold up when you are on a mission - you must not only look good but above all be physically fit.

To conclude this sharing, I wonder if there is also the expression “Never three without four...! »

Fr. Alfonso Bartolotta omi