“What I love most in the decision I made twenty years ago is being able to work fully and totally for God and with God, and I can do this here in the Holy Land alongside the Franciscan friars.”
Letícia talks about her missionary vocation in the Holy Land using these words. We meet her in Nazareth, where she lives with her family, on the feast day of the Annunciation.
Letícia is a missionary of the Catholic community of Canção Nova and has lived and worked in the Holy Land for seven years, alongside the Custody of the Holy Land. Born and brought up in Brazil, Letícia, who has Italian roots, is married and together with her husband they are the parents of little Antonio.
“In 2018, my husband and I,” Letícia recounts, “were sent on a mission to the Holy Land, where our community was already present with religious and consecrated men and women. Our founder suggested we become the first family of Canção Nova in the Holy Land. We said yes, and we have been here for seven years.”
The community of Canção Nova has worked with the Franciscan friars for some time now. In particular, in the Holy Land it runs the Christian Media Center, one of the Custody’s tools of communication. After a few years in Jerusalem, Letícia and her family moved to Nazareth, where today she covers all the celebrations and festivities at the Basilica of the Annunciation for the media.
The bond between Letícia and the Custody passes through her daily work, but above all through sharing the mission with the Franciscan friars.
“Before coming here, I didn’t know the situation of the Franciscans very well,” Letícia says. “Since I started my mission here, I have been able to get to know the friars from closer up and now we have a wonderful relationship of friendship and sharing of our vocation.”
This relationship has grown up in the simplicity of daily life, in shared work and in moments of prayer. With the friars Letícia shares the custody of the Holy Places, each according to their vocation: the Franciscan one in the care and their physical presence in the shrines; that of Letícia, in communication and in her testimony to the world.
“They have been here for 800 years,” Letícia continues, “whereas my community is young, we were founded in 1978. By working and living in close contact with the friars, I realize that I am like a small seed in this huge work that the friars been doing with constancy and love for centuries.”
The bond between Letícia and the Franciscans is not limited only to work. Hers is a mission which involves every aspect of her life, including the family dimension.
“My son is growing up in the middle of the friars,” she says, smiling, “to the point that we affectionately call him ‘Marcellino pane e vino’. For us it is an immense joy to see him grow up in this environment, surrounded by people who love him.”
Letícia and her husband have made their family a real testimony of missionary work. “Without imposing anything, we can see faith germinating in pour son’s heart. It is an immense gift for us as parents, but also as missionaries.”
For Letícia, working for the Custody of the Holy Land is much more than a simple job: it is a vocation which has changed her life.
“For my family and I,” she says, ”it is an immense honour to work with those who for centuries have dedicated themselves top the Holy Land. I feel small in front of everything that the friars do, but also full of joy to be able to make my contribution.”
Living far from their country, learning a new language and getting to know a new culture has been a daily challenge for Letícia and her family. “It is not always easy,” Letícia admits, “but for us it has become a school of life, a school of holiness. Here we can live our call to holiness in a concrete way, day after day.”
Lucia Borgato
