13 May 1917 Our Lady appeared for the first time to three little shepherds, Lucia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto at Cova da Iria valley in Fatima. Then She continued to appear to the children every thirteenth of the month till October when some seventy thousand people witnessed to a miracle accompanying her last apparition as She had promised.
A humble and unknown piece of land at Cova da Iria, a pasture for local residents, has turned throughout the years into a magnificent pilgrimage site, surely my favorite shrine among all shrines in the whole world. A shrine where silence prevails, interrupted only by prayer and liturgical services.
The Message of Fatima (including the Third Secret of Our Lady revealed by the Holy Father John Paul II on 13 May 2000 in Fatima) has spread throughout the world and changed lives of so many of us...including myself.
My life is closely connected to Our Lady. The time will come to write more about this. Today though, I would like to share with you just a few stories of Our Lady of Fatima in my missionary apostolate in Tanzania.
After a successful completion of the construction of parochial church in Kiabakari (1994-1997), which was an arduous and challenging task, full of frustration and trials for my trust in Divine Providence (that time deserves its own story...), and in which I depended heavily on Our Lady's help (that is why at the end of the Dedication Mass on July 3, 1997 - Archbishop Anthony Mayala dedicated the parish to maternal care of Our Lady of Fatima and crowned her small statue I was given in Poland by Pallotine Fathers who were sending those statues to Russia) - I felt the need to make my personal pilgrimage to Fatima to thank Our Lady for Her maternal care and intercession during that period..
I have never been to Fatima before. I traveled there by plane from Warsaw through London Heathrow to Lisbon on October 30, 1997. Upon landing in Lisbon, I had no idea how to get to Fatima, some 100+ kilometers north of Lisbon...Then I was approached by a couple of Belgian pilgrims who had just flown in from Brussels. They offered me, overhearing my hesitation and inquiries I was making among people, to take me in to the taxi with them and drive me up to Fatima. Our Lady at work, surely!
I had made already an arrangement at Pension of St. Paul, run by Polish Marians, at Fatima, so after the trip (in which we prayed rosary, and how beautifully and with what reverence and respect they were saying rosary, I was in full admiration!) they got me there and dropped at the entrance. I was so grateful to them...
We met several times again as the Cova da Iria is not such a big place after all, and the day before the departure they came to me and offered a small monstrance to take it to Kiabakari...This small monstrance is still in the tabernacle of house chapel, here in the rectory in Kiabakari and I remember and pray for that lovely couple from Brussels...
After participating in the conclusion of October - A Month of Mary - with all pilgrims, with the Holy Mass and the night candle procession on October 31, I made arrangements to say Holy Mass in private the following day at the Apparition Chapel, on All Saints Solemnity. The open slot was available at 5.30am. I was so happy to be able to stand there at the very spot where Our Lady appeared to Lucia, Jacinta and Francisco and to offer a Holy Sacrifice in Her honor with my heart full of praise and gratitude to Her...
I went through numerous shops in Fatima, and finally I managed to find the most beautiful statue of Our Lady of Fatima out of thousands of other statues I saw there. I bought it, told them at the shop that this statue goes very far, to Tanzania, so I asked them to make sure it is properly wrapped up and secured in the box. They did so.
My flight back to Warsaw was not a direct one, I had to stay overnight in London, in one of the airport hotels around Heathrow. My baggage was checked up to Warsaw, so I went to the hotel with just a hand luggage.
On my arrival to Warsaw, when I collected the luggage, I noticed that the ropes tightening the box with the statue were a bit loose and as if the statue was moving inside the box. I had no time to open it up as I had to rush to the railway station to catch my express train to Kraków, back home, so I decided to leave it till I come back home.
I thought I would get a heart attack when I saw this after opening the box....
The very first thought after I calmed down from initial shock, was that this is a devil's furious answer to my pilgrimage and intentions I placed at the feet of Our Lady there...Then, trying to reason, I came to conclusion that maybe security officers at Heathrow airport were suspicious that the box and the statue in it may be a way to carry some illegal merchandise like drugs or weapons...and they decided to check it out and in the process they destroyed the statue, beheading it and slicing it along into two pieces. But even so, they should call me and apologize and offer a due compensation or even more so, to summon me and make me open it myself and witness to the search...but they simply put all pieces back and wrapped the box again in ropes but not that tightly as it was done in Fatima.
I took pictures of the damaged statue and went to British Airways office in Kraków to claim compensation for the damage. To their praise, I must admit that they were very apologetic and sympathizing with me and offered the compensation of 460 USD - up to the allowed limit according to the regulations, which was better than nothing, but the statues itself cost 800 USD never mind my psychological and spiritual torments which could not be measured in money terms!
My Mum took the pieces of the damaged statue and put them together patiently and expertly,glued them and painted in such a way that only someone who knows the story of this statue would notice the damage...I decided then to place the statue in the chapel of the Little Servant Sisters of Mary Immaculate which is in the vicinity of our apartment block in Kraków and where I usually go to pray and celebrate a daily Mass when I'm home. This was my token of gratitude to Sisters for their love, prayers and support they extended to me and to Kiabakari throughout all these years...
The Great Jubilee Year had come and passed. I felt a strong urge to go back to Fatima and to commit myself again to Our Lady at the threshold of the New Millennium. I made the second pilgrimage not alone; this time it was Fr. Piotr Pawlus, my fellow missionary in Diocese of Musoma, with whom I traveled to Fatima.
It was wonderful time we spent there at the feet of Our Lady; time for silence and intense prayer, Eucharist and Rosary. It was so good to be back home!
Since that devil's attack on the statue of Our Lady I wanted ever more passionately to invite again Our Lady to come to Kiabakari in the sign of Her statue. So, I bought another statue then, equally beautiful as the first one and this time I was able to bring it safely to Tanzania. Now, the statue still awaits its proper place on the western slope of Divine Mercy Hill in Kiabakari, being placed temporarily near the tabernacle in Divine Mercy Shrine.
I didn't know that this feeling of 'need', that 'urge' to go back again to Fatima came from Our Lady herself, as just a few months later, on January 15,2002, His Excellency, Bishop of Musoma, Rt. Rev. Justin Samba asked me to move from Kiabakari to Musoma Cathedral, to help him - as he put this - 'to restore the splendor of the cathedral and to relive the parochial community', to organize Golden Jubilee of Musoma Cathedral parish and to design and supervise the realization of the comprehensive pastoral vision of the parish.
My very first thought on that day, when we sat with the bishop at his sitting room at Nyamiongo residence, is that Our Lady wanted me to come to Her church and do 'something' for Her, for Her church and for Her people in Musoma - as a token of my gratitude and a way to repay the debt of gratitude to Her for all those years She was watching over me, protecting and helping in so many different ways. And - last but not least - to thank Her for the gift of life, baptism, priestly and missionary vocation, which came through Her intervention in my life.
Obedience and humility are the virtues of Our Lady, so trying to imitate Her life and virtues, one must show these virtues too. I obeyed bishop's request and after the period of handover of Kiabakari Parish which lasted six months, I arrived to Musoma Cathedral on July 15, 2002. The very first Mass I celebrated in the cathedral, dedicated to Holy Mary, Mother of God, was on July 16, the liturgical feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. A visible sign that Our Lady was with me, and that I should be confident that She will help me along the way...
One of the major points on my agenda there in Musoma Parish was to rekindle love of the community to the Patroness of the parish. Both - in spiritual and liturgical life, and in visible signs of our devotion and dedecation to Our Lady. Main points in visible (building) efforts were: building an altar in the presbyterium of the cathedral in honor of Theotokos - Holy Mary, Mother of God, rebuilding the pillar on which a statue of Our Lady stood in front of the cathedral and - a Rosary Garden with all twenty mysteries of the rosary surrounding an open chapel of Our Lady of Fatima in which I intended to place an original statue of Our Lady of Fatima which I found in the corner of the cathedral placed on small shelf close to the baptismal font.
And this is what we were able to achieve in those four years I served in Musoma Cathedral Parish.The statue of Our Lady in front of the cathedral in 2002 when I came to serve in Musoma parish.
And this is how it looks like now...
During the major renovation of the cathedral church, I redesigned completely the presbyterium and its all main elements. The tabernacle came to the center, bishop's cathedra was changed and made simple but dignified, new ambo and baptismal font, new altar and also new side altar for Theotokos, Holy Mary Mother of God. Before the renovation the presbyterium looked like this:
Then after renovation of the cathedral in 2003, presbyterium appearance changed dramatically. Please, notice the altar of Theotokos, Holy Mary Mother of God, Patroness of the Cathedral and the Diocese of Musoma at the left hand side of the tabernacle...
When the House of the Lord and His Mother was finally renovated, we turned our attention to the idea of creating a Rosary Garden. This idea was boosted immensely by the apostolic letter of the Holy Father John Paul II 'Rosarium Virginis Mariae' of October 16, 2002, announcing new luminous mysteries of the Rosary.
This idea was eventually put into action in 2006 when I was able to secure some funds from my fellow priests in Poland and from other benefactors inside and outside of Musoma Cathedral Parish.
My thoughts and my heart is with the Holy Father today in Fatima, so far away from Kiabakari, but so close to me...I kneel at the feet of Our Lady at Cova da Iria and place there all intentions of my prayer, my dreams and plans, challenges, problems and joys. May She take all of them along with my community, loved ones, friends and foes and tell Jesus, Her Son - 'They have no wine'. And may Jesus fills us with Himself and fulfill our worthy intentions and petitions...
I hope, God willing, that in 2013, when I will be celebrating jubilee of 25 years of my priesthood, I will do it personally, when I return to Fatima for the third time to say to my Heavenly Mum - 'Mama...asante sana!'
Till then though, let us grab our rosaries and pray to Our Lady and with Her to Jesus, Her Son...
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