English 
Sunday, November 3, 2024, parish of St. Francis Xavier in Foiljana, Pabna, Bangladesh. The whole community is in feast together with the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate, for the Missionary Mandate of Sr. Komola Rita Corraya from the Bangladesh Province to the Hong Kong – China Delegation. The event has all the characteristics to be defined as extraordinary: Sr. Komola’s family composed of father, mother and seven children, including a diocesan priest and two Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate, an uncle who is a priest and recently became a bishop, Sr. Komola the first Bangladeshi MSI to be assigned to Hong Kong – China.
Many Missionary sisters of the Immaculate and all their families, as well as several priests and two bishops: Gervas Rozario, bishop of the diocese of Rajshahi and Emmanuel Kanon Rozario, bishop of the Diocese of Barishal, who presided over the celebration were present at the celebration. Among the sisters, representatives of all the communities of the Bangladesh Province, above all a Chinese sister, Sr. Rose Chow, a missionary in Bangladesh for several years and who during the celebration through various gestures and words welcomed Sr. Komola Rita to her new mission.
Simple but significant gestures, for the charm and fear of a vocation that asks so much, asks to leave, but also asks to welcome, welcome the different, the new, the unknown, the unexpected, in an unknown land and language, which little by little will become for Sr. Komola her second home!
It was beautiful to find all these elements in the reflections of the two bishops present, like a communion of thought and feeling that united us all on that day. In the words of Bishop Emmanuel Kanon Rozario during the homily, the underlining of three attitudes that he advised Sr. Komola as fundamental to be missionaries:
- TO LISTEN, in the sense of welcoming, giving space, learning from the new context and new companions of the journey;
- TO LOVE, as the first characteristic attitude of the Christian and of the missionary, as the first identity and presentation, love, care for others;
- TO WORK, that is, to insert oneself fully into the needs of the Church and the destination of the society, participating and giving one’s best to improve the situation, offering one’s gifts and one’s time, with a view to service.
We found a direct exhortation to all those present in the words of Bishop Gervas Rozario, a person very dear to the family of Sr. Komola, who spoke at the end of the Mass. His Excellency invited everyone to feel fully challenged by the mandate of Sr. Komola, because we are all called to be missionaries by our baptism. So how we can be missionaries again together with Sr. Komola?
- BY PRAYING for her, supporting her spiritually in solidarity and closeness and asking the Lord to grant her all the graces she needs;
- BY BEING FAITHFUL AND WORTHY MESSENGERS OF THE GOOD NEWS in one’s own reality, because Sr. Komola is one of us, belonging to our community, and if we are not faithful messengers, her testimony in the mission lands loses strength and credibility;
- BY SENDING THE FRUITS OF OUR SACRIFICES TO SUPPORT HER CONCRETELY, because in the mission everything is needed and to conduct any activity, financial support is necessary;
- BY INSPIRING AND MOTIVATING THE NEW GENERATIONS so that they can choose missionary life, they too can leave everything for Jesus’ sake and be faithful witnesses of him in distant lands.
In short, it is a beautiful program for everyone. The beauty of this celebration is the feeling of unity in the missionary ideal, which becomes flesh in baptism, materializes differently according to each ones style and choice of life, but never abandons anyone. An ideal that needs our full adhesion and all our gifts and talents, to be able to bear abundant fruit!
Thank you Sr. Komola, for having awakened this enthusiasm in all of us and rekindled this fire… and best wishes to everyone for a good missionary life!
Sr. Lorenza Radini, Province of Bangladesh
