Inexplicable Mystery

Yesterday our local community lost one of its prominent figures, in the field of education in our area. He was my parishioner. But I never ever administered any of Church's sacraments to this man. He simply refused to bless his marriage. He had no apparent reasons to do so. He had no impediments that anyone was aware of. He was just promising that one day, someday... Too late.


As many Tanzanians have been doing these days, going to see Babu (the Grandfather) in Loliondo area to get cured by drinking a miraculous herbal mixture boiled by this retired Lutheran pastor, the man in question took of to see Babu last week, along with others from Kiabakari, and to get cured of his ailments, especially the aftermath of his last year's stroke which almost killed him...

I told him then, when he recovered, that this was a clear sign and high time that he should think about tidying up his spiritual life, sorting out his marriage and life of sacraments. He smiled and promised that he would do so.

On last Friday I got message that on his way to Loliondo he suffered another massive stroke and lost conscience. His sojourners brought him back on Saturday afternoon to our health center. I went to administer the plenary indulgence in the hour of death along with the Sacrament of the Sick. He was unconscious...

We knew that we could not help him in Kiabakari. He needed to be transported to Bugando Medical Center in Mwanza, our refferal hospital for the Lake Zone area of Tanzania. As he was a government employee, his coworkers found an ambulance in Butiama and transported him to Mwanza on Saturday evening. Our volunteers, Zosia and Darek, ventured to assist him on the way, so he gets there alive.

Yesterday I got a message from one of the parishioners that the sick man died in BMC...

Tomorrow we will bid farewell to him in our parochial church. There will be no Mass, only a short prayer service and then his body will be transported to his native village near the Victoria Lake.

People are shocked by the news. And more so, by the fact that he died without sorting out his spiritual life. He was always promising to bless his marriage, but the time for promises ran out yesterday afternoon. God said it was time for him...

Yet I think, God had a soft spot in His heart for this man. That I was able to prepare him for his imminent death, at the eleventh hour or - better - five minutes to midnight! I believe somehow God's Mercy will be greater than this man's stubbornness and false promises. I think it would be so because of his pious family - great wife, totally dedicated to our parish, always ready to serve while suffering that her husband is so insensitive to her cry for Eucharist; great children - who were my altar servers, and one is in the seminary now. I think God gave them relief and reward, knowing that their husband and father did not die as complete pagan, but I was able to see him shortly before his death and cleanse his soul through plenary indulgence and the Sacrament of the Sick...

Still, the inexplicable mystery of the unrepentant human heart and God's weakness in the face of man's refusal to reconcile himself with God, is something that shook all of us deeply and made us all think hard about our own situation...

This is Lent. God spoke to us through this sad event, telling us something very important. Now, it is up to us to translate it into our own lives and life situations and take steps to save our souls when there is still time.