Christ reigns
On October 14, 2020, in the context of the missionary month and the close celebration of the Domund, the Andalusia - Valencia Zone Council (Spain) organized a virtual meeting with the community of Daughters of Christ the King in the mission of Gjirokastër (Albania ) to share his testimony and celebrate the 25 years of the Institute's presence in this country on the Adriatic.
The meeting began with a few words of welcome and welcome from Maica Caballero, National Advisor of the Movement in Spain, who insisted on the importance of being an outgoing church, being missionaries in the small where we are. After putting the meeting in the presence of the Lord with a simple prayer in which we share the Word with the reading of the prophet Isaiah "Here I am, send me" and to pray the Domund 2020 prayer in Italian and Spanish, the Andalusian - Valencia Zone Delegate, Alberto de Castro, carried out a geographical and historical contextualization of Albania in general and of Gjirokastër in particular to better understand the situation of the Institute in the Balkan country .
Sister Matilde Biscu, who currently belongs to the community in Éboli (Italy), told us how the beginnings of the mission were in 1995, at which time democracy was incipient in the country, the vicissitudes of the early stages and how they overcome fear during the rebellion of 97 thanks to faith and trust in God. After his speech it was exciting to know and listen to the testimony of First Hand of Irida, from a family of Muslim tradition, who decided to baptize after meeting Jesus through the daughters of Christ the King. His testimony of the mission shared with the daughters of Christ the King through his educational work was of great wealth for all of us who tried to embody “love teaches to teach” to the one encouraged by Father Gras.
Then Lorenza, Eva and Cecilia intervened, community in the Mission of Gjirokaster today. They shared the current reality in the Educational Pastoral and the Social Pastoral that they carry out and made us participate in the achievements, challenges and opportunities for evangelization of the city of Southern Albania.
In the meeting, different people related to the history of the mission also intervened that valued the role of the daughters of Christ the King in the reception of refugees during the war in neighboring Kosovo, in 1998 and the importance of the presence of the charism of José Gras in the city of Gjirokastër being the only Catholic representation in many kilometers to the round. Religious who are part of the 25 years of history in Albania as Mª Victoria Abuín, currently in the community of Santiago de Compostela, and Dina La Caria, which is now in the community of Rome - San Paolo, opened their hearts to all sharing memories and life experiences.
We were also lucky to have the presence of the Hon. and Rvdmo. Mr. Giovanni Peragine, apostolic administrator of southern Albania who made a conclusive reflection on the meeting in which he valued the work of the missionaries and the Daughters of Christ the King in Albania and gave us the blessing at the end of the meeting inviting us to reign Christ from one to the other border.
