"Through Mary to Jesus". This is a motto of the Sisters of the Congregation of Little Servants of Mary Immaculate (In Polish - Służebniczki Starowiejskie) which I am so familiar since the beginning of my priestly formation in Major Seminary in Kraków. The vicinity of our family apartment to the provincial house of the Sisters in Kraków-Grzegórzki made me a frequent visitor in their chapel.
Today, on the Solemnity of Holy Mary, Mother of God, I felt it was crucial to make my personal pilgrimage together with my Little Servants from Kiabakari to Cloistered Carmelite Sisters Monastery in Bunda to say Mass in honor of Our Lady at the beginning of the New Year in the initial stages of the Jubilee Year of Mercy and to commit myself to her maternal guidance and intercession in the School of Love of Jesus where She is a Head Teacher. May She lead us, may She lead me to Jesus, the King of Mercy and teach me how to listen to Him, how to follow Him, how to love Him, how to become a vessel and a tool of His Mercy.
I felt I need to empty myself completely on the Holy Mountain of Carmel in the presence of God to be filled anew with only this what is needed to become a true Missionary of Mercy in this Jubilee Year and beyond.
I came back home with my Sisters and finalize the pilgrimage passing through the Door of Mercy in Kiabakari Shrine.
"Through Mary to Jesus". This is the only proper and shortest way to learn and love Jesus and to acquire a comprehensive grasp of what really matters in our lives.
Full of Divine Mercy New Year, all my friends!
Showing posts with label New Year. Show all posts
Showing posts with label New Year. Show all posts
Friday, January 1, 2016
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
New Year 2015
The last day of the 'old year', December 31, has been always to me a special and opportune time to recapitulate the proceedings of the past twelve months in the eyes of faith and in a quadruple ambiance of prevailing feelings of:
1. Adoration and praise of God,
2. Gratitude to God and people I was blessed to meet, work and interact with,
3. Repentance for what was lacking in me and my service and asking for pardon from God and people I offended, even if not purposefully,
4. Hope and consecration to God's Mercy and Providence for the year to come.
It is no different today. This is exactly how I feel, meditate upon, think about, recollect and pray.
I will not dare to attempt to commit to this post what has happened in the past twelve months of this year. Instead, I will celebrate a special Thanksgiving Mass this evening immersing in Divine Mercy Ocean this year, all people I met, everything that has happened, all that we and I were able to achieve, everyone and everything, with all my hopes, dreams, passions, plans for the next year.
Thank you, Lord! Thank you, all my loved ones, friends, benefactors, readers of my blog and all I met this year! At the same time I ask God and all of you for pardon and absolution for my mistakes, failures and shortcomings.
I wish us all a wonderful New 2015 Year full of God's Love, Light, Power, Joy and Peace. A year full of personal accomplishments and genuine satisfaction.
1. Adoration and praise of God,
2. Gratitude to God and people I was blessed to meet, work and interact with,
3. Repentance for what was lacking in me and my service and asking for pardon from God and people I offended, even if not purposefully,
4. Hope and consecration to God's Mercy and Providence for the year to come.
It is no different today. This is exactly how I feel, meditate upon, think about, recollect and pray.
I will not dare to attempt to commit to this post what has happened in the past twelve months of this year. Instead, I will celebrate a special Thanksgiving Mass this evening immersing in Divine Mercy Ocean this year, all people I met, everything that has happened, all that we and I were able to achieve, everyone and everything, with all my hopes, dreams, passions, plans for the next year.
Thank you, Lord! Thank you, all my loved ones, friends, benefactors, readers of my blog and all I met this year! At the same time I ask God and all of you for pardon and absolution for my mistakes, failures and shortcomings.
I wish us all a wonderful New 2015 Year full of God's Love, Light, Power, Joy and Peace. A year full of personal accomplishments and genuine satisfaction.
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
What's Cooking?
The New Year has arrived. It feels so good to enter a new year with prevailing conviction that I did what I humanely could to live it to the fullest and do whatever I could. Overwhelming gratitude do Merciful God who made it happen.
And now as I enter the New Year with all plans, dreams, resolutions, decisions and hopes, I can only repeat what I always do - In Te, Domine, speravi; non confundar in aeternum! Jesus, I trust in You!
You may ask what is cooking in the back of my mind, what lies in stake in this new year, what agenda I have. Well, it will become known and clear as we progress. For now, apart from the pastoral plan for the Year of the Family, reports of the finished development projects, hopes for the new ones, final stages of the registration of our schools, I work on final touches of the new website of Kiabakari. Hopefully, before I begin my long awaited holidays in May this year, the website will be completed and I will be able to publish it. Looking very much forward to it as it will combine and put together all assets in Kiabakari and will link in one place all things Kiabakari.
Wishing all of you happy and prosperous New Year both in your personal and professional lives, I pray for each and everyone of you. God bless us all!
And now as I enter the New Year with all plans, dreams, resolutions, decisions and hopes, I can only repeat what I always do - In Te, Domine, speravi; non confundar in aeternum! Jesus, I trust in You!
You may ask what is cooking in the back of my mind, what lies in stake in this new year, what agenda I have. Well, it will become known and clear as we progress. For now, apart from the pastoral plan for the Year of the Family, reports of the finished development projects, hopes for the new ones, final stages of the registration of our schools, I work on final touches of the new website of Kiabakari. Hopefully, before I begin my long awaited holidays in May this year, the website will be completed and I will be able to publish it. Looking very much forward to it as it will combine and put together all assets in Kiabakari and will link in one place all things Kiabakari.
Wishing all of you happy and prosperous New Year both in your personal and professional lives, I pray for each and everyone of you. God bless us all!
Monday, January 6, 2014
2014 Resolution
The Year of Faith showed me very clearly how difficult is the situation with our families in Kiabakari, both - the couples and extended families. You would assume before the Year of Faith started that it would be a time of reconciliation, healing, acts of faith including the sacrament of marriage and so forth. To the contrary. The Year of Faith painfully displayed all the problems couples and families face in the modern world. I was able only to bless a few marriages in 2013, the lowest number in all my years in Kiabakari.
Holy Father puts it precisely, pinpointing these problems:
"The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all communities and social bonds. In the case of the family, the weakening of these bonds is particularly serious because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children. Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensible contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple. As the French bishops have taught, it is not born “of loving sentiment, ephemeral by definition, but from the depth of the obligation assumed by the spouses who accept to enter a total communion of life”.
The individualism of our postmodern and globalized era favours a lifestyle which weakens the development and stability of personal relationships and distorts family bonds. Pastoral activity needs to bring out more clearly the fact that our relationship with the Father demands and encourages a communion which heals, promotes and reinforces interpersonal bonds. In our world, especially in some countries, different forms of war and conflict are re-emerging, yet we Christians remain steadfast in our intention to respect others, to heal wounds, to build bridges, to strengthen relationships and to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). Today too, various associations for the defence of rights and the pursuit of noble goals are being founded. This is a sign of the desire of many people to contribute to social and cultural progress." (Evangelii Gaudium, 66-67)
It is obvious that we as a parochial community must react and respond to this challenge.
The Holy Father explains:
"The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if the parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be “the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters”. This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and the lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few. The parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration. In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers. It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented.
Other Church institutions, basic communities and small communities, movements, and forms of association are a source of enrichment for the Church, raised up by the Spirit for evangelizing different areas and sectors. Frequently they bring a new evangelizing fervour and a new capacity for dialogue with the world whereby the Church is renewed. But it will prove beneficial for them not to lose contact with the rich reality of the local parish and to participate readily in the overall pastoral activity of the particular Church. This kind of integration will prevent them from concentrating only on part of the Gospel or the Church, or becoming nomads without roots." (Evangelii Gaudium, 28-29)
That is why this year is going to be a Year of the Family in Kiabakari. The comprehensive pastoral program which will include special seminars and retreats, Small Christian Communities revival and communal reflection on the issues bothering our society and families.
I entrust this year to the guidance, light and power of the Holy Spirit and to the intercession of the Holy Family. I ask also all of you, my esteemed readers, to pray for us, pray for the couples and the families, pray for our parochial family.
May this year be happy, fulfilling and successful in all aspects to all of us. God bless us all!
Holy Father puts it precisely, pinpointing these problems:
"The family is experiencing a profound cultural crisis, as are all communities and social bonds. In the case of the family, the weakening of these bonds is particularly serious because the family is the fundamental cell of society, where we learn to live with others despite our differences and to belong to one another; it is also the place where parents pass on the faith to their children. Marriage now tends to be viewed as a form of mere emotional satisfaction that can be constructed in any way or modified at will. But the indispensible contribution of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the couple. As the French bishops have taught, it is not born “of loving sentiment, ephemeral by definition, but from the depth of the obligation assumed by the spouses who accept to enter a total communion of life”.
The individualism of our postmodern and globalized era favours a lifestyle which weakens the development and stability of personal relationships and distorts family bonds. Pastoral activity needs to bring out more clearly the fact that our relationship with the Father demands and encourages a communion which heals, promotes and reinforces interpersonal bonds. In our world, especially in some countries, different forms of war and conflict are re-emerging, yet we Christians remain steadfast in our intention to respect others, to heal wounds, to build bridges, to strengthen relationships and to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal 6:2). Today too, various associations for the defence of rights and the pursuit of noble goals are being founded. This is a sign of the desire of many people to contribute to social and cultural progress." (Evangelii Gaudium, 66-67)
It is obvious that we as a parochial community must react and respond to this challenge.
The Holy Father explains:
"The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary creativity of the pastor and the community. While certainly not the only institution which evangelizes, if the parish proves capable of self-renewal and constant adaptivity, it continues to be “the Church living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters”. This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and the lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few. The parish is the presence of the Church in a given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in the Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration. In all its activities the parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelizers. It is a community of communities, a sanctuary where the thirsty come to drink in the midst of their journey, and a centre of constant missionary outreach. We must admit, though, that the call to review and renew our parishes has not yet sufficed to bring them nearer to people, to make them environments of living communion and participation, and to make them completely mission-oriented.
Other Church institutions, basic communities and small communities, movements, and forms of association are a source of enrichment for the Church, raised up by the Spirit for evangelizing different areas and sectors. Frequently they bring a new evangelizing fervour and a new capacity for dialogue with the world whereby the Church is renewed. But it will prove beneficial for them not to lose contact with the rich reality of the local parish and to participate readily in the overall pastoral activity of the particular Church. This kind of integration will prevent them from concentrating only on part of the Gospel or the Church, or becoming nomads without roots." (Evangelii Gaudium, 28-29)
That is why this year is going to be a Year of the Family in Kiabakari. The comprehensive pastoral program which will include special seminars and retreats, Small Christian Communities revival and communal reflection on the issues bothering our society and families.
I entrust this year to the guidance, light and power of the Holy Spirit and to the intercession of the Holy Family. I ask also all of you, my esteemed readers, to pray for us, pray for the couples and the families, pray for our parochial family.
May this year be happy, fulfilling and successful in all aspects to all of us. God bless us all!
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
Sub Tuum Praesidium
On January 1 each year the Holy Church celebrates the Solemnity of Holy Mary, Mother of God. In the Universal Church this is a day of Prayer for Peace led by the Holy Father himself. In our Diocese of Musoma this is a day of the feast day of the Patroness of the Musoma Cathedral and the Diocese of Musoma. The Solemnity of Theotokos. The Solemnity of the Patroness of the Kiabakari parish as well, as on the day of the dedication of the parochial church on July 3, 1997, the Archbishop of Mwanza consecrated the parish and the families in the parish to Our Lady...
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Mission Accomplished
Typing these words at the Julius Nyerere International Airport in Dar es Salaam. I am on my way back to Kiabakari. God willing, I will land in Mwanza midday, then will proceed to Buzuruga bus terminal to catch a bus to Kiabakari. Should be back home in Kia in the evening...
Monday, January 2, 2012
Sub Tuum Praesidium!
These are the words I spoke while kneeling yesterday in front of the main altar of Divine Mercy Shrine in Kiabakari. When I was getting ready for the New Year Masses in my mission, on the first day of the New Year 2012, on the Solemnity of Holy Mary, Mother of God, I felt a very strong urge to consecrate my mission anew to Our Lady...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)