Brother Luis Humberto Gonzales is a 49-year-old Combonian of Peruvian origin. A nurse by profession, he shares with us his experience serving the elderly and sick missionaries.
The community hosts 65 missionaries, mostly Italian, who can no longer stay in their places of assignment and who have been sent to this health residence to be assisted and accompanied.
Many of them have held important and significant positions for the Institute and for the Church in all the continents. They have been formators and superiors, and there is also a Superior General. There are also bishops, teachers and great connoisseurs of the culture of the countries to which they have been sent. Among them are some great connoisseurs of local cultures and experts in languages. Some of them have lived through war, others have been expelled from the country where they worked. Everything is different for them now, because their strength is very limited.
I am in charge of the economy and administration of this residence and, as a nurse, I am responsible for ensuring that the service provided by external health personnel meets the service that our elderly confreres deserve. I share their daily life and their serene acceptance of their situation.
I am also with them in their experience of pain, suffering and limitation that degenerative and terminal diseases bring. These moments have become a significant experience of charity and compassion for me. Alongside their relatives, friends and acquaintances, we occupy a central place in their lives. Some of them express their satisfaction in knowing that a Combonian like themselves is present at that moment.
Sometimes we can just be there physically, giving them a sense of closeness and making them feel loved when they need a look, a kind word or just the quiet touch of a friendly hand. Other times we help them read a letter, communicate by phone or video call, and take the opportunity to share their health journey with family and friends.
I feel privileged to accompany people who have given their lives for the most needy in remote and sometimes dangerous places. Whatever good I can do for these brothers is small compared to what they have done for so many people. These missionaries are part of the history of the Institute and are faithful witnesses of the charism of St Daniel Comboni.
To do this work, it is enough to know the history of the missions they opened, the expulsions they endured, and the commitments and challenges they accepted throughout their lives. I can only hope that my younger Comboni Companions and I will be able to live up to those who have gone before us. We are the ones who replace these older evangelisers and continue the missionary spirit and the charism of St. Daniel Comboni in the Church. (Sitting, first on the left, is Brother Luis Humberto with some of the older missionaries).
