Lent Retreat

The eight day long parochial retreat in Kiabakari is over. It has been a time of healing and spiritual renewal, in particular on family level. The retreat master - Rev. Fr. Baptist Mapunda from the Congregation of Missionaries of Africa and his pastoral team of lay preachers - have done a marvelous job. Those days flew in a blink of an eye. And now it is up to us to continue cooperation with Holy Spirit grace and light to make sure the renewal is genuine and lasting, the healing process is  complete and the fruit of the retreat is multiple and permanent. 

I am very grateful to Father Mapunda, Mama Anna Maria and Mr Luka for their total commitment to the task of leading us in the spiritual desert. They did not spare themselves. And I am very happy that the faithful took this opportunity and used it for their benefit, attending in their hundreds the retreat both in the parochial church and in the outstations.

Please, for the genuine conversion and total renewal of each and every one of us here in Kiabakari! Happy and blessed Lent to all!

3x4

It appears that this year will be divided in three distinctive periods of four months each. The first four months which are currently underway are fully packed with pastoral, spiritual and re-organizational work in Kiabakari. Frankly saying, I am a bit relieved we (Foundation Kiabakari) did not get funding for developing projects this year as it would put my plans for this year in jeopardy. Of course, I will always place the common good and interest ahead of my personal plans, yet, deep in my heart I was somehow happy when we did not secured the funds for our two projects for this year, no matter how important they were to my community in Kiabakari. I was personally worried that if we get the funding that I won't be able to travel this year and do some important things which need my attention. The lack of funding meant that my travel plans for this year, including very important Congress on Divine Mercy in Colombia, would go through. So, I cannot complain, but rather, enjoy this opportunity to have some holidays and do some other things.

There has been a lot going on at the moment in my life and in Kiabakari. That is why I chose to keep silent a bit and withdraw from the public domain to focus on issues here. The Year of Family demands new, fresh and original approach and full commitment to the pastoral work in Kiabakari. Rediscovering ourselves as God's and human family, so rich in talents and charisms. I enjoy renewed formation efforts with my altar servers, vocation groups, apostolic movements in the parish, Small Christian Communities, outstations, preparations of Sunday and daily homiletic reflections, interacting with my people on various levels, in particular in the parochial office. I look forward to the annual parochial lenten eight day retreat which starts this coming Sunday and will be led by Fr. Baptist Regina Mapunda, White Father and his retreat team. I look forward to this year Divine Mercy celebrations  focused on the canonization of Blessed John Paul II, the Apostle of Divine Mercy.

This grassroots level pastoral and spiritual commitment is interwoven with managerial duties I have here in Kiabakari, restructuring of the staff and work program in our health center, enjoying the new pre-school life in new reality and grateful to God for the successful registration of the pre-school and primary school. We have sat together as stakeholders of the education in Kiabakari to think about the best possible environment for our standard four students who will sit for the first time in the history of our parish for the standard four national exams later this year. We have devised lunch for them in school and extra activities - tuition - so all in the class can perform to the best of their ability and achieve good results, thus, bringing our school a due acclaim and recognition.

At the end of April I will travel to Poland and to Europe in general. Lot of things to do and lot of people to see. Things to finalize, to decide, to take new directions and accomplish. Among them - finding resources to push forward construction and completion of the primary school. I will have to build at least one classroom this year so our standard four students can have a place to study next year as we have completed and furnished four classrooms only so far. On the other hand - the completion and firing up of the new website of Foundation Kiabakari and the main website of Kiabakari (we are close to complete technical stuff and start filling the spaces with text and images).

This second period of four months away from Kiabakari will include also my participation in WACOM 2014 in Bogota Colombia in August. Looking forward to this experience and the opportunity of sharing with the world what we do here in Kiabakari and Tanzania to spread the message and spirituality of Divine Mercy.

Upon my return to Tanzania at the end of August, the third period of this year will be filled with the construction of the new classrooms in the primary school, competitions on artistic and sports level in the parish in preparation of the finale of the Year of Family (Feast of Holy Family on December 28). We will have competitions in choirs, drama, poems, drawing and painting, storytelling, dancing etc. We will have netball and soccer league starting in September. There are several couples who come to my office and state their intention to bless their marriages on that feast. Surely, the picture I get is very encouraging and I am positively sure those last four months will be the wonderful time of celebration of our unity and togetherness as God's and human family.

All the plans and hopes I immerse in the Ocean of Divine Mercy so the Lord's Will be done, not ours. Having said so, I ask all of you for your kind prayers. Let it happen! Stay blessed! Praying for all of you and all your intentions in this holy time of Lent.

The Year of Family plan sounds quite interesting!

Looking Forward To WACOM 2014

A very good morning indeed. I have just succeeded to register myself online for WACOM 2014 (World Apostolic Congress On Mercy) which will take place in Bogota, Colombia in August this year (check the news on Facebook and YouTube). I was blessed to attend the previous two Congresses - in Lateran Basilica in Rome and in Łagiewniki-Kraków. And I am very happy and grateful to Merciful Lord and people of good will who enabled me to get ready for the third Congress. I will participate in this important event as the national coordinator of WACOM in Tanzania.

I am deeply grateful to my friends who found a good connection and airfare at Swiss and those who helped me with partial payment for my air ticket to Europe and then to Colombia. I am deeply grateful to His Excellency Bishop Michael Msonganzila who supported the journey with remaining two thirds of the airfare and gave his blessing for the endeavor.

I am deeply grateful to Almighty and Merciful Lord for the chance to give testimony to the world about the Divine Mercy devotion and spirituality in this part of the universe. I am looking forward to reconnect with Divine Mercy Apostles from various countries whom I met in the previous two Congresses.

I commend the spiritual preparations for the Congress and the Congress itself to your kind and generous prayers, my dear readers. May Lord's Will be done in all of us and in everything we undertake in His name. God bless us all in this holy time of Lent!

Official website of WACOM Colombia - registration online

Successful registration

Sweet Little Curious Fellow

Yesterday's Sunday Gospel read:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life,
what you will eat or drink,
or about your body, what you will wear.
Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?
Look at the birds in the sky;
they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns,
yet your heavenly Father feeds them.
Are not you more important than they?
Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span?
Why are you anxious about clothes?
Learn from the way the wild flowers grow.
They do not work or spin.
But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor
was clothed like one of them.
If God so clothes the grass of the field,
which grows today and is thrown into the oven tomorrow,
will he not much more provide for you, O you of little faith?
So do not worry and say, ‘What are we to eat?’
or ‘What are we to drink?’or ‘What are we to wear?’
All these things the pagans seek.
Your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given you besides.
Do not worry about tomorrow; tomorrow will take care of itself.
Sufficient for a day is its own evil.” (Mt 6)

This passage brought a fond and fresh memory of a recent event. 

In the final couple of days of the visit of my friends from Poland last month (this also explains why I kept away from the blog for so long), one of them, Peter, ventured out around my house to try to get some decent macro shots, trying out my macro gear - Canon 100m f2.8 L lens on Canon Eos 5d mark II and Canon Macro Twin Lite MT-24EX. 

With his permission, I present one of the great shots he was lucky to take. This sweet little curious fellow on the rock actually is the size of the half of the fingernail! Yet his gorgeous presence makes me speechless at the masterpiece of God's creation.  The splendor of God's creation does not mean only birds or flowers. Little curious spiders are the part of this splendor also if you dare to have a closer look at their regal attire.