Quiet Reflections Over Sunday Morning Coffee

Waking up to the last day in the homeland before starting my long journey back to Kiabakari which will lead me initially to South America for the third World Apostolic Congress on Mercy. I will attend the Congress in the capacity of the national coordinator of Divine Mercy in Tanzania. I feel deeply honored and privileged as this will be my third time to participate in such a global event (the first was the Congress in Lateran Basilica in Rome, the second in the Divine Mercy Shrine in Kraków-Łagiewniki). 

But - first things first. 

Today is the last full day in Poland. The Mission Awareness Sunday in one of the Kraków's parishes. As I pray silently to gather my inner strength and resolve targeting them towards today's goals, the morning coffee brews across the room. In a few minutes I will be ready to cross the city from Grzegórzki to Biały Prądnik to begin my service to the Word of God. 

The so familiar scent of a freshly brewed coffee reminds me so many meeting and quiet chats over a cup of coffee with so many good friends throughout the past three months in Europe. So much to be grateful for to God and to His people. So many recollections, so many good experiences, so many challenges faced off boldly, so many things that happened shaping in a way the months to come.

I ask humbly for your kind prayers that the Word of God I will sow today with the power of the Holy Spirit yields abundant fruit in the Holy Church. I wish you all a blessed Lord's Day! 

Time to go.

Mission Awareness Sunday in Chochołów

It was a great Sunday in Chochołów parish. Wonderful location, beautiful church painstakingly being restored by my classmate and parish priest of Chochołów, Fr. Stanisław Syc. Three Holy Masses and three homilies, wonderful hospitality of highlanders. Could not ask for more blessings! Special thanks to Tomek Woźniak, who drove me there and picked me up again yesterday evening to drive me back to Kraków.

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.

Slave In Master's House?

The Gospel reading of today's Sunday posed a valid question to ponder on in my personal reflection upon my own life and attitude. When I come for Sunday Mass to the church, do I enter it as a slave in the Master's house? Or do I enter it as a beloved son of God in the Loving and Merciful Father's House?

We have asked this question ourselves today in the Holy Mass when we reflected upon this Gospel's passage in the homily. And it appeared to many of us that we feel and act as slaves in the Master's House, trying to fulfill our duties and obligations, God's and Church commandments out of fear of God, fear of sin or pure sense of responsibility. Perhaps we have stopped in developing our living relationship with God at the point where this kind of cold, accountant-like, business-like relationship is the ultimate what we can think of.

Where is the space for love in this kind of relationship with God?

What is our treasure to which our hearts are powerfully drawn? Is it Loving and Merciful God? Or someone or something else?

What is my genuine motivation to be and live as Christian, the Child of God and the living member of His family - the Holy Church?

Is my keeping God's commandments, Church commandments and fulfilling my duties in the community based on sense of responsibility and duty rather than genuine love of God?

Food for thought.

Forgotten Sons

Today's Sunday Gospel brings to our attention the true commandos of the Lord, thirty six SEAL teams in the service of the Lord, carrying His Gospel to the people as the groundbreaking mission in preparation of the coming of the Lord and His Apostles:

Teaspoons Not Allowed!

Ninth Sunday of the Ordinary Time is the opportune time for our parochial community at St. Kazimierz in Kraków's Grzegórzki to give thanks to the Lord for the wonderful spiritual journey of our parochial week-long retreat which ended last evening. In front of us three special days of preparations for the visitation of the Sacred Image of Divine Mercy accompanied by the holy relics of the greatest Apostles of Divine Mercy - Saint Sister Faustina and Blessed John Paul II. I spoke about the importance of these three days in my today's homily, asking people to open up completely in trust to Divine Mercy. Divine Mercy is not a syrup which we drink in teaspoons. Nope. If you want to please the Lord, come to Him with trust the size of largest bucket you can afford to carry. The text of the homily in Polish below. Use Google translator on top of the right sidebar to read in your language, please. Have a blessed Sunday!

Divine Mercy Sunday

I woke up this morning at 5.30am. Surprised to say the least. It was 4pm yesterday when I went to bed to - as I told the housekeeper - to rest for a couple of hours after three days of celebrations. The all night vigil full of spiritual talks, liturgical services and few hours of confessions (five priests involved) was a great success and I managed to stay on my feet and fulfill my duties, but when everybody went home after the High Mass of the Solemnity, adrenaline dropped down - along with me.

I question myself today how the celebrations went and if we did what we were supposed to do and did we fulfill our duties and if what we did God was pleased with... I humbly reckon that we tried our best. We ask the Lord for forgiveness if what we did was not enough.

Today I feel totally tired but quietly happy in my heart. God was great to us and blessed us with a wonderful spiritual experience of the past three days. I continue to pray that His Will continues to to be done and fulfilled by all of us. He knows the way, the tempo, the outcome. Fiat voluntas Tua, Domine!

Divine Mercy Sunday Preparations

Less than three weeks left till the annual pilgrimage to the Diocesan Shrine of Divine Mercy in Kiabakari. From Friday, April 5th, till Sunday, April 7th, the pilgrims from near and far together with the faithful from Kiabakari will celebrate their living faith and hope in Divine Mercy, praying, meditating, reflecting, experiencing God's Infinite Mercy and Love and learning how to live it and share with their neighbors.

I have begun preparations for this important event in the life of the Shrine long time ago. Today I ironed out the program for the three day long celebrations. Working on spiritual talks, services, liturgy and so forth. Logistics and catering comes in as well, as we continue with meetings to make sure everything is ready for the influx of hundreds of pilgrims, some of them coming from Kenya, Uganda, some from distant destinations in Tanzania.

I have created also an event on Facebook for those of you who are no strangers to this social network. Find the details of the event, relevant pictures and videos here.

But I will be more happy if you could come in person to Kiabakari to join us in the celebration of God's Goodness, Love and Mercy embracing us and transforming in a very special and powerful manner during those three holy days on top of Divine Mercy Hill in Kiabakari. Welcome!

Two Small Coins

“Jesus sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood."” (Mk 12:41-44)

A couple of weeks ago a letter came for the youth of Musoma Cathedral who asked me for a retreat here in Kiabakari, in the diocesan shrine of Divine Mercy. Some of those youth I worked with back in 2002-2006 when I was a pastor there. The letter brought back memories of that period and one particular moment of it, when the youth group of Musoma Cathedral asked me for a retreat day for them. I complied and we had a recollection day in the cathedral...

Weekend? You bet!

Whenever I come across people excited by TGIF (Thanks God It's Friday) frenzy, I question myself if I am abnormal. To me, Friday is the beginning of the busiest time of the week. This 'weekend' is no exception to this rule...

Misfire

Tomorrow's reading of the Twenty Third Sunday of the Ordinary Time, cycle B, highlights the issue of God's priorities in our lives. When we read all readings, in particular the Apostle Jacob's letter and Mark Evangelist Gospel, in the light of agendas and priorities of our own prayer, we will have to admit in honesty that God's priorities and ours differ quite significantly. Simply, we misfire badly in prayer. Most of us focus on earthly goods and possessions, instant solution for our needs and problems. But the Liturgy of the Word of tomorrow's Sunday tells us loud and clear that on the top of the list of God's priorities is faith which is the ultimate treasure we should go after.

So Sad

Read carefully the Gospel of tomorrow's Eighteenth Sunday of the Year B. The follow up of last Sunday's Gospel. But this time we do not ask ourselves if we follow real Jesus or prefer to create a fake Jesus according to our expectations or convenience. This time we ask - what are we looking for in our life of faith? Do we look for Jesus and the truth He revealed to us? Or we follow Him because He gives us something - food, money, things we desire... "Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled."

Real Or Fake?

The question I raised in today’s homily was - whom actually am I following as a Christian? Do I follow Jesus of Nazareth, a real one from the Gospel, Son of God; true Jesus as He presents himself to us? Or do I follow Jesus created by my expectations, shaped by the father of the lie, nature of this world and people’s criteria which tell me what kind of leader, messiah, savior our acceptable Jesus should be? Let me explain...

 

It All Comes To This

Yet another sentence from today's Gospel of St Mark, chapter 6, caught my attention and came to me with unique force as I continue to struggle with this flu and was forced to stay home and celebrate the Holy Mass in private in the house chapel this morning: 'The apostles gathered together with Jesus and reported all they had done and taught'...

Rest A While

Tomorrow's Gospel, taken from Mark 6:30-34:


"The apostles gathered together with Jesusand reported all they had done and taught.
He said to them,
"Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while."
People were coming and going in great numbers,
and they had no opportunity even to eat.
So they went off in the boat by themselves to a deserted place.
People saw them leaving and many came to know about it.
They hastened there on foot from all the towns
and arrived at the place before them.

When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them,
for they were like sheep without a shepherd;
and he began to teach them many things."

Rest a while...

Dunes

I had no time to reflect upon the last Sunday's Gospel. As it touched me deeply, I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on this. Since I am homebound and sick with flu, this is an opportune time to fulfill my desire...

It Was A Wonderful Sunday

It was a wonderful Sunday yesterday. Reconnecting with my very first parish after my priestly ordination where I spent one and a half years 1988-1990. Great community, great memories, great reunions. It makes such a huge difference when the parish priest is a former missionary in Africa himself. He understands the situation of diocesan priests in the missions. He went through the same experience. He did the same rough road, left alone in the battle for too many times. I am happy that I met Fr. Edward there. He is such a fine man, gentle, understanding and caring in his unique subtle ways. Another factor - my friends in Sułkowice, in particular the family of Wojtek Bargieł. They have been such a great help to me for a few years now. I cannot thank them enough. With people like them, the life of a missionary has its sunny side. Thank you, Lord!

Naaman's Skin

"But his (Naaman's) servants came up and reasoned with him.
"My father," they said,
"if the prophet had told you to do something extraordinary,
would you not have done it?
All the more now, since he said to you,
'Wash and be clean,' should you do as he said."
So Naaman went down and plunged into the Jordan seven times
at the word of the man of God.
His flesh became again like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean". (2 Kgs 5:13-14)...

Sacred Time And Space

Today's Liturgy of Third Sunday of Lent brings forth yet another message from God to us who follow His Son in the wilderness of spiritual desert of Lent and lenten spiritual, mental and corporal exercises...

Three Crosses

Just a quick post. My homily for today's Sunday. In kiswahili language, so, please, use Google translator provided at the right sidebar of this blog to read in your native language...