Arvaikheer
(AsiaNews) - Mission "is in great need of prayer, because in prayer we
discover the dimension of supplication and intercession. We ask the Lord to
open everyone's hearts, beginning with our own, and convert us to Him", Fr
. Giorgio
Marengo tells AsiaNews. The Consolata missionary has lived in
Mongolia since 2003 and since 2006 in Arvaikheer: the area is 400 kilometers
from the capital, Ulaanbaatar, and in fact is an outpost of Catholic mission in
Mongolia.
Founded
just over 20 years ago, even the small Catholic community of Mongolia - just a
thousand faithful in total - will join the "24 hours for the Lord" convoked
by Pope Francis in his
Message for Lent 2015. This initiative entrusted
to the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, which seeks to unite all
the dioceses of the world in a day of Eucharistic adoration and penance through
the sacrament of reconciliation. This
year's theme is "God is rich in mercy."
In
compliance with a difficult but equally exciting mission, Fr. Giorgio's
church is a ger, a traditional nomadic tent of Mongolia. Hence
his "little flock" will meet, in communion with the universal Church,
to respond to the Pope's call and show how prayer is "the Christian's weapon
against the evils of the world."
In Mongolia, continues Fr. Giorgio,
"prayer is essential. In our case we will pray especially for mission, given
that we still cannot rely on a local Church [the
first Mongol deacon, Enkh-Baatar, was ordained in South Korea last December 10,
2014]. But we are confident, because mission comes from God: it is He
who touches hearts, and so we need to remain united to the Lord, to worship and
supplicate Him".