Showing posts with label Benedict XVI. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Benedict XVI. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
World Youth Day 2011- Madrid
Just a quick post with link to the 26th World Youth Day celebrated in Madrid, Spain, with the Holy Father Benedict XVI. From Tanzania we have approx. 250 youth representing Tanzanian youth, led by two bishops. This is an official delegation, but there are several individual pilgrims who traveled to Madrid, some of them are my friends, who share their experience on Facebook and Twitter. Praying for all the youth of the world, may the grace of this special encounter with Living Christ through the presence of the Holy Father, His Vicar on earth, bring showers of special blessing on all the youth of the world. May they truly be “Planted and built up in Jesus Christ, firm in the faith” (cf. Col 2:7). The message of the Holy Father for the World Youth Day in Madrid can be read here. And the special page of the Vatican website dedicated to the World Youth Day 2011 is here. Let us all pray for the success of the World Youth Day in Madrid!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Auguri!
Our Hoy Father Benedict XVI celebrates today (and all of us with him) his 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him, immersing him and his Petrine service to the Universal Church and the world in the Divine Mercy Ocean... Tanti auguri, Santo Padre!
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Opportunity
As the famous saying goes - "Troubles are opportunities in disguise", I guess it's quite right. At least as far as my ay today is concerned. Grounded home with malaria, fever and recurring from high blood pressure, I found myself in dilemma what to do with a sudden gift of free time I would spend working and doing different things today. The health trouble became an opportunity in disguise to do something else. So I spent the most of the day reading the 'Light of the World' (the latest book-interview with the Holy Father Benedict XVI) and in the meantime working on crude ideas for my new book I am going to write and publish this year - Holy Rosary meditations based on the Rosary Garden paintings themes (the Rosary Garden was my last project before I was transferred from Musoma Cathedral back to Kiabakari in 2006) and anchored in our daily life which I intend to present at a certain angle which I will not disclose at this point of time. Thanks be to God then for this unexpected opportunity to set in motion various things I would not even think of due to the lack of time and pressure I feel racing against the time with the ongoing projects in my mission...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Last Weekend
Looking forward to my return to Poland and bit later - to Tanzania...This weekend, last weekend on North American soil, bears a unique meaning to me - it feels like the words of the Book of Genesis, when God after creating all these wonderful things, rested...
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Humanae Vitae
Today, apart from liturgical celebration of the Feast of St. James, the Apostle, and the commemoration of St. Christopher, we commemorate also 42nd anniversary of the promulgation of Paul VI encyclical letter 'Humanae Vitae' which has become a sign of contradiction in the modern world...
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Good bye, the Year for Priests!
Tomorrow is the official closing ceremony of the Year for Priests. How fitting the date! The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. And who, if not us, priests, are suppose to strive with all our strength, resolve, hope and love to ask Jesus, The Most High Priest of the New Covenant: "Jesus, meek and humble of Heart... make our hearts like unto Thine!"
Monday, May 31, 2010
Veritatis Splendor
The topic of this reflection is very dear to my heart. Noble simplicity and beauty of Liturgy in the Catholic Church.
Holy Father Benedict XVI writes in his exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis these profound words: 'Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor'. (n.35) This thought corresponds directly to the Word of God from the Book of Psalms: 'In his presence are splendour and majesty, in his sanctuary power and beauty'. (Ps 96:6). The Psalmist sings not only of the beauty of the Lord’s resplendent dwelling, he exclaims that: 'every work that He does is full of splendour and beauty' (Ps 111:3).
I like what Archbishop Piero Marini, Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations wrote in his document Liturgy and Beauty of 2002:
(quote)
2. The source of the liturgy’s beauty
Is there a boundary between aesthetic emotion and an authentic sense of the spiritual? Is a beautiful liturgy one which satisfies the tastes of consumers? The liturgy is not a consumer good; it is not the Church’s supermarket! We know it is first and foremost the work of God, adoration, reception, bestowal. Hence we must ask ourselves what are the fundamental criteria for the beauty of the liturgy, apart from trends and tastes. It would be a great error simply to apply secular standards of aesthetic taste to the liturgy.
2.1. The liturgy, an act of Christ and the Church
To understand the beauty of the liturgy we must begin with our understanding of the Church. The Church «in Christ is a kind of sacrament, that is a sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of all mankind » (LG 1). As a “sign” the Church is therefore able in some degree to render perceptible Christ, the sacrament of salvation. It is precisely from this sacramental nature that the sacraments in the strict sense are articulated. The sacrament, as an act of the Church, is also the act of Christ, since the Church is simply doing what Christ taught and commanded her to do: «Do this in memory of me» (Lk 22: 19). The Sacraments are channels through which Christ communicates to us his salvation: «When a man baptises it is really Christ himself who baptises» (SC 7). As Saint Leo the Great states: «That which was visible in Christ passed to the sacraments of the Church».[2] The liturgy is an act of Christ and his Church. It depends not so much on the intellectual sphere as on the principle of the Incarnation, and therefore evidently implies an aesthetic dimension. Our gestures during the liturgy are important because they are gestures of Jesus. In her liturgical celebration and the concrete gestures it requires, the Church is simply prolonging and actualising the Lord’s own gestures. Therefore, since liturgical gestures are gestures of Christ they have a beauty and aesthetic value of their own, apart from any additional or secondary beauty which we might strive to give them.
2.2. The noble simplicity of love
The Gospels describe the human and concrete gestures of Jesus: he walks, he blesses, he touches, he heals, he mixes saliva and mud, he raises his eyes to heaven, he breaks the bread, he takes the cup. These are the gestures repeated in the celebration of the sacraments. But it was above all on the night of his passion that Jesus taught us the gestures that we too must perform. He is our master of liturgical education. His art consists in setting forth the essential in a few simple things. The meaning of the liturgy is revealed only through simplicity and sobriety. «He always loved those who were his own in the world. When the time came for him to be glorified by you his heavenly Father; he showed the depth of his love. While they were at supper he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his disciples saying […]. In the same way, he took the cup, filled with wine. He gave you thanks, and giving the cup to his disciples, said […] ».[3] What is it that made this act of the Lord so beautiful? The way the room was arranged? The way the table was prepared? Fine table linen? Certainly these things bring out its beauty, like a frame which enhances the beauty of a picture. Yet the real beauty lies in Jesus’ act of redeeming love: «he showed the depth of his love… he took bread». Here lies the beauty of his gesture. Repeating this action of Christ, and recognising in it her Lord’s love, the Church finds it beautiful. The liturgy’s aesthetic value, its beauty, depends primarily therefore not on art, but on the paschal mystery of love. If art is to collaborate with the liturgy it needs to be evangelised by love. The beauty of a Eucharistic celebration essentially depends not on the beauty of architecture, icons, decoration, songs, vestments, choreography and colours, but above all on the ability to reveal the gesture of love performed by Jesus. Through the gestures, words and prayers of the liturgy we strive to repeat and render visible the gestures, prayers and words of the Lord Jesus. This is what the Lord commanded: «Do this in memory of me».
The style of our liturgy should be simple and austere, as was the style of Jesus. In our celebrations, according to the Council Fathers, we must master of the art of «noble simplicity» (SC 34). (end of quote)
Richard Feynman (a Nobel laureate in physics) can say: "You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity". It follows, that God himself is quite simply Beauty.
Urs von Balthasar said: "We can be sure that whoever sneers at [Beauty] as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past - whether he admits it or not - can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love" (GL 1, 18).
Cardinal George Pell, of Sydney, Australia, was keynote speaker at a conference on the liturgy held July 12-13, 2009 on Fota Island, Cork, Ireland. “Benedict XVI on Church Art and Architecture” was the topic of the conference. I reckon the findings of that conference (read here) very important and timely, also for me and for us in the Catholic Church in Tanzania.
Landing back in own courtyard I find this Swahili saying in Tanzania beautiful, profound and pinpoint correct: 'Anayetaka kusali vizuri, asali pazuri' (whoever wants to pray beautifully, should pray in a beautiful place).
I have always upheld this convinction in my priestly life and wherever I went, I tried my best to manifest the Beauty of God through architecture, art, music and beauty of liturgy.
Yesterday, when I was celebrating Baptism Mass on Sunday of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, meditating on the mystery of Triune God, I was encompassed by thoughts of the Beauty of God and how important it is to translate this Beauty into the beauty of church architecture, music, liturgy, vestments, decorations and orderly manner of celebrating holy mysteries.
My senses were acutely aware how noble, simple and beautiful our yesterday liturgy was, how beautiful (relatively to what we experience around us here) is our church, its art, orderly manner of celebrating the holy mysteries. How we should be taken by the Holy Spirit to raise our hearts to the Beauty itself, who is God Almighty, One in Three Persons, in love, praise, adoration and joy...
Thank You, Who are the Beauty itself, for Your blessings which allowed us to build this holy shrine for you and celebrate You, Our God, in noble simplicity and beauty of the Liturgy of Your Holy Church...
Holy Father Benedict XVI writes in his exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis these profound words: 'Like the rest of Christian Revelation, the liturgy is inherently linked to beauty: it is veritatis splendor'. (n.35) This thought corresponds directly to the Word of God from the Book of Psalms: 'In his presence are splendour and majesty, in his sanctuary power and beauty'. (Ps 96:6). The Psalmist sings not only of the beauty of the Lord’s resplendent dwelling, he exclaims that: 'every work that He does is full of splendour and beauty' (Ps 111:3).
I like what Archbishop Piero Marini, Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations wrote in his document Liturgy and Beauty of 2002:
(quote)
2. The source of the liturgy’s beauty
Is there a boundary between aesthetic emotion and an authentic sense of the spiritual? Is a beautiful liturgy one which satisfies the tastes of consumers? The liturgy is not a consumer good; it is not the Church’s supermarket! We know it is first and foremost the work of God, adoration, reception, bestowal. Hence we must ask ourselves what are the fundamental criteria for the beauty of the liturgy, apart from trends and tastes. It would be a great error simply to apply secular standards of aesthetic taste to the liturgy.
2.1. The liturgy, an act of Christ and the Church
To understand the beauty of the liturgy we must begin with our understanding of the Church. The Church «in Christ is a kind of sacrament, that is a sign and instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of all mankind » (LG 1). As a “sign” the Church is therefore able in some degree to render perceptible Christ, the sacrament of salvation. It is precisely from this sacramental nature that the sacraments in the strict sense are articulated. The sacrament, as an act of the Church, is also the act of Christ, since the Church is simply doing what Christ taught and commanded her to do: «Do this in memory of me» (Lk 22: 19). The Sacraments are channels through which Christ communicates to us his salvation: «When a man baptises it is really Christ himself who baptises» (SC 7). As Saint Leo the Great states: «That which was visible in Christ passed to the sacraments of the Church».[2] The liturgy is an act of Christ and his Church. It depends not so much on the intellectual sphere as on the principle of the Incarnation, and therefore evidently implies an aesthetic dimension. Our gestures during the liturgy are important because they are gestures of Jesus. In her liturgical celebration and the concrete gestures it requires, the Church is simply prolonging and actualising the Lord’s own gestures. Therefore, since liturgical gestures are gestures of Christ they have a beauty and aesthetic value of their own, apart from any additional or secondary beauty which we might strive to give them.
2.2. The noble simplicity of love
The Gospels describe the human and concrete gestures of Jesus: he walks, he blesses, he touches, he heals, he mixes saliva and mud, he raises his eyes to heaven, he breaks the bread, he takes the cup. These are the gestures repeated in the celebration of the sacraments. But it was above all on the night of his passion that Jesus taught us the gestures that we too must perform. He is our master of liturgical education. His art consists in setting forth the essential in a few simple things. The meaning of the liturgy is revealed only through simplicity and sobriety. «He always loved those who were his own in the world. When the time came for him to be glorified by you his heavenly Father; he showed the depth of his love. While they were at supper he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his disciples saying […]. In the same way, he took the cup, filled with wine. He gave you thanks, and giving the cup to his disciples, said […] ».[3] What is it that made this act of the Lord so beautiful? The way the room was arranged? The way the table was prepared? Fine table linen? Certainly these things bring out its beauty, like a frame which enhances the beauty of a picture. Yet the real beauty lies in Jesus’ act of redeeming love: «he showed the depth of his love… he took bread». Here lies the beauty of his gesture. Repeating this action of Christ, and recognising in it her Lord’s love, the Church finds it beautiful. The liturgy’s aesthetic value, its beauty, depends primarily therefore not on art, but on the paschal mystery of love. If art is to collaborate with the liturgy it needs to be evangelised by love. The beauty of a Eucharistic celebration essentially depends not on the beauty of architecture, icons, decoration, songs, vestments, choreography and colours, but above all on the ability to reveal the gesture of love performed by Jesus. Through the gestures, words and prayers of the liturgy we strive to repeat and render visible the gestures, prayers and words of the Lord Jesus. This is what the Lord commanded: «Do this in memory of me».
The style of our liturgy should be simple and austere, as was the style of Jesus. In our celebrations, according to the Council Fathers, we must master of the art of «noble simplicity» (SC 34). (end of quote)
Richard Feynman (a Nobel laureate in physics) can say: "You can recognize truth by its beauty and simplicity". It follows, that God himself is quite simply Beauty.
Urs von Balthasar said: "We can be sure that whoever sneers at [Beauty] as if she were the ornament of a bourgeois past - whether he admits it or not - can no longer pray and soon will no longer be able to love" (GL 1, 18).
Cardinal George Pell, of Sydney, Australia, was keynote speaker at a conference on the liturgy held July 12-13, 2009 on Fota Island, Cork, Ireland. “Benedict XVI on Church Art and Architecture” was the topic of the conference. I reckon the findings of that conference (read here) very important and timely, also for me and for us in the Catholic Church in Tanzania.
Landing back in own courtyard I find this Swahili saying in Tanzania beautiful, profound and pinpoint correct: 'Anayetaka kusali vizuri, asali pazuri' (whoever wants to pray beautifully, should pray in a beautiful place).
I have always upheld this convinction in my priestly life and wherever I went, I tried my best to manifest the Beauty of God through architecture, art, music and beauty of liturgy.
Yesterday, when I was celebrating Baptism Mass on Sunday of the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, meditating on the mystery of Triune God, I was encompassed by thoughts of the Beauty of God and how important it is to translate this Beauty into the beauty of church architecture, music, liturgy, vestments, decorations and orderly manner of celebrating holy mysteries.
My senses were acutely aware how noble, simple and beautiful our yesterday liturgy was, how beautiful (relatively to what we experience around us here) is our church, its art, orderly manner of celebrating the holy mysteries. How we should be taken by the Holy Spirit to raise our hearts to the Beauty itself, who is God Almighty, One in Three Persons, in love, praise, adoration and joy...
Thank You, Who are the Beauty itself, for Your blessings which allowed us to build this holy shrine for you and celebrate You, Our God, in noble simplicity and beauty of the Liturgy of Your Holy Church...
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Fatima in My Heart
How I wish I was in Fatima with Holy Father Benedict XVI today...
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...
Then, I joined bishops and other priests celebrating a High Mass of the Solemnity of All Saints at the main altar in front of the Basilica at 11am. On Monday morning, the same early hours of the day, I celebrated the Holy Mass again in the Apparition Chapel, surrendering myself to Our Lady and to Her maternal protection and intercession, then went with one of the Marian Father to purchase a statue of Our Lady to carry it back to Kiabakari for the intended Chapel of Our Lady of Fatima on the western slope of Divine Mercy Hill at Kiabakari (this project is still not completed till now though, and I think there was a hidden purpose of Our Lady in this; She knew I would be going to Musoma soon, and now, upon my return to Kiabakari, maybe She waits for an opportune moment to allow us to complete this task).
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.
The former banana grove owned by Tupendane Cottage Industry was in the vicinity of the cathedral. This was an ideal place for rosary garden. I asked Maryknoll Sisters Mary Reese and Rosalie Lacorte, supervising Tupendane, to repossess this patch of land. They agreed magnanimously and this is what we were able to do with it (the following pictures I took recently, happy that the Musoma Parish community under their hard working parish priest Rev. Fr. Robert Luvakubandi, is taking care so well of this sacred place where we can meet Our Lady in a beautiful environment)...
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...
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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