Consolata missionaries: rediscovering meditation in a ‘TikTok society’

By Edoardo Giribaldi

“We are the TikTok society”, where “things move faster”, but we must fight for “a society that meditates on things and really sees what is important”. Father James Bhola Lengarin, Superior General of the Consolata Missionaries, celebrated the wide range of values ​​that its founder, Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, practiced throughout his life, emphasizing how they appear current and relevant today .

“Meeting point” before the canonizations

The opportunity to frame the figure of Allamano was the “Meeting Point” organized at the Press Office of the Holy See in view of the canonizations that Pope Francis will celebrate on Sunday, October 20, in St. Peter’s Square. Alongside the Italian priest Manuel Ruiz López and seven companions, Marie-Léonie Paradis and Elena Guerra, will also become new saints.

The missionary’s vademecum

Father Lengarin, who spoke alongside other guests such as Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, Metropolitan Archbishop of Manaus (Brazil), and Mother Lucia Bortolomasi, Superior General of the Missionary Sisters of the Consolata since 2023, reflected on the “spirituality” of Blessed Allamano with Vatican Media. His fame has attracted cardinals from around the world, including one from southern Ethiopia. His testimony of suffering and lack of knowledge of the Word of God by his people was the element that triggered in Blessed Allamano “the idea of ​​becoming a missionary”. Even if his fragile state of health did not allow him to do so personally, he nevertheless developed a sort of vademecum on the subject, preaching and listening to people but also concretely building schools and medical centers.

Speakers at the meeting before the canonizations

Lover of the Word of God

Father Lengarin recalled decades of contact with the Yoruba people, originally from West Africa. At first, “we didn’t even want to baptize” there, he explains, because the method of work instilled by Blessed Allamano meant that the people themselves noticed “something different” in the missionaries and ended up by asking yourself “what’s different about you”. ? Why are you here with us? A question which was the start of numerous conversations which, however, did not neglect the material and spiritual needs of the inhabitants. Among the still current values ​​which characterize Blessed Allamano, the superiors general of the missionaries of the Consolata identified first and foremost that of “fidelity”. The missionary, says Father Lengarin, was above all “a good man” who “followed what he was asked to do”. This virtue was reflected above all in listening to the Word, with which he was “in love”, “to the letter”, committing himself to the “path” that it indicated to him.

Focus on education and training

To let ourselves be conquered by the Gospel is to rediscover these fundamental values, often sought “outside ourselves”, when in reality they “are within ourselves”. Father Lengarin recalled the importance that Blessed Allamano attached to education and formation. A trait that is more relevant than ever today, immersed in a society that “does not read” and that “does not get informed”. Finally, the superior general of the Missionaries of the Consolata recognized the wisdom and respect felt by Blessed Allamano towards his neighbor, “as he is”. “Sometimes I joke and say that God is blind because he does not know colors,” Father Lengarin concludes with a smile, “He can simply go and create us” as we are, so that “our hearts” are open and that each of us can help our neighbor.