Easter After Easter

As it has been a custom and tradition in Diocese of Musoma for many many years, Easter Tuesday is a special day where priests and religious in the diocese celebrate Easter together in their respective deaneries. Holy Week, Sacred Triduum and Easter is a hectic and busy time for us, serving people. So, after Easter we organize our own deanery Easter parties, kind of get-togethers, to meet, interact, rest and share a food we prepare for ourselves with our personal donations. Today it is a turn of Sisters of the Ressurection from Buturu to host the party and welcome us to their home. Our deanery is very small - only four parishes - Zanaki, Makutano, Butiama and Kiabakari, with four priests only, three women religious convents, that's it. So, it will be a small gathering, nevertheless - very nice and joyful. Happy Easter to all!

Wells Of Life Wisdom

Home visiting of sick and elderly in Kiabakari has been a pastoral experience I look forward to always. This morning I visited our seniors and sick parishioners in four out of six districts of Kiabakari township. Meeting those people i nothing less that drinking their living wisdom, shaped up and matured by life, suffering and experience. Came back overjoyed though sad that there are sick people in the parish. This is mystery of the Cross which teaches me humility and respect for life along with appreciation of whatever health I still enjoy. God bless our seniors and sick members of our parochial community! Happy Easter! Many of you we will see on Easter Sunday! Some pictures from today's visitation (random order).

Good Start to Demanding Week

As much as I love Holy Week, Paschal Triduum, Easter, with the Divine Mercy Novena and Divine Mercy Sunday itself, this blessed period still poses a huge challenge to any pastor who wishes to do everything in his powers to make sure that the celebrations are well prepared and rehearsed, parishioners prepared spiritually throughout the Lent spiritual and corporal exercises, in particular - parochial lenten retreat, meditations of the Stations of the way of the Cross and Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Palm Sunday we celebrated yesterday gave me solid reason to look forward to this year Holy Week and Easter celebrations. Father Godfried (from Makoko Seminary in Musoma) and myself were able to celebrate three Holy Masses each, with very good participation of the faithful. The weather was clement, though bit on a hot side, but no rain. Our vehicles did not break down, we came back in the afternoon to Kiabakari.

Today is Musoma safari day as always. Later this evening we will have a short meeting of chairpersons of districts in Kiabakari to finalize itinerary to visit the sick and elderly tomorrow and prepare them spiritually for Easter. On Holy Saturday they along with poor, sick and elderly who are not Catholics, will be presented with Easter gifts from our parochial community - money, clothes, shoes, food etc - donated by the parish and the faithful.

More news in coming posts. Have a blessed Holy Week!

Gratitude

Back home with my Dad. So overwhelmed and grateful to Fr. Antoni, the parish priest and the whole fantastic parochial community in Rokiciny Podhalańskie for the Holy Triduum I was blessed to participate together with them. Arguably the best Easter ever since many many years... I had ample time for my private prayer, meditation, thinking, adoration, planning... I feel at peace now with my inner spiritual batteries fully charged. Thank you, Lord!

Hello!

Sadly, the English translation does not have the same translation as swahili one of Easter Vigil Gospel. It's a pity as in swahili the whole story of Risen Lord meeting women on the road and greeting them sounds quite different as Jesus greets the women using a common phrase used in daily life conversations...

Personal Easter

The home visiting of the sick in my parish, usually done before major feasts like Christmas or Easter, parochial Patron Saint Day etc, is a day anticipated by the sick and elderly, homebound parishioners. Tough service, to be honest, trying to reach them through bad roads and paths, tiresome for people assisting me and myself, but very rewarding, holy and satisfying...

Fools' Day

It may be an April 1st, the Fools' Day, as the opener of a new month in 2011 calendar, but there is nothing to fool around in this month, to be honest. Rather, a very serious stuff on the way, and what I want to share with you today is no prank or joke whatsoever...

Easter Island

Whenever I watch a World Cup 2010 game, I pay close attention to the pre-game presentation of teams and playing and singing of national anthems. It gets on my nerves big time, when I see those overpaid young men lined up for the presentation, standing there with - in most cases - lifeless faces, indifferent to what is going on around, oblivious of the importance of their national teams being played and choosing not to sing (maybe they simply don't know the words of their national anthems?), while at the same time, team fans on the stands give their all singing their lungs out and doing whatever they can come up with in their ingenuity to emphasize their national pride and love of their country.