Wrapping Up The Retreat

As I waved my farewell to Fr. Alphonce vanishing in his pickup driving down the hill on his way to Mwanza, I felt overwhelmed by the goodness of the Lord who gave us these past four days of intense preaching, prayer, Eucharist and detachment from daily worries. I am deeply grateful to God for sending Fr. Alphonce to us. He was instrumental in bringing the message from God to us and I am happy that many of our parishioners showed up and participated. I pray now for his safe return to Mwanza and God's reward for his sacrifice for our sake. And I pray for ourselves, for abundant fruit of our inner conversion, our living faith which express itself in good deeds and staying away from the Evil One and his kingdom on earth. I pray for all of you, my friends and readers. God bless, protect and lead us all!

Faith Awakening Retreat

Tomorrow afternoon we will begin our special days of prayer, meditation, reflection, spiritual conferences and songs which will last till Sunday. 'Awakening Faith Retreat' or in kiswahili - Mafungo ya Kuamsha Imani, a special kind of parochial retreat.

We planned this spiritual experience in Lent time not only because of the sacredness of this season, but also as a spiritual preparation for the whole parochial community before we commit ourselves to the Great Deeds of the Year of Faith - in particular Holy Week and Holy Triduum, Novena of Divine Mercy and the Solemnity of Divine Mercy, then the pilgrimage to the roots of our faith to Uganda Martyrs and finally - priestly ordination of our deacon Agostino Mapambano and his thanksgiving Mass at parental home in Kiabakari.

Apart from these upcoming spiritual events, the implementation of development projects funded by Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our own projects funded by fundraiser in Dar and Musoma later in April, will keep us extremely busy. We need to calm down first, we need to go to the Almighty God asking for strength, unity, serenity of mind and heart, focus on purpose and goals we set for ourselves this year. We cannot achieve anything without God's permission, blessing and power.

You are invited to join us starting tomorrow for this unusual spiritual meeting with Living God. Welcome all! Let us wake up in our faith and let our faith shine through great deeds of mercy!

The Road Map

Last evening we had a very constructive and fruitful meeting of the Parochial Executive Council. Planning the Year of the Faith and highlights of this time of grace. For us, in Kiabakari, this special period of the history of mankind means a lot as it coincides with a few events of heavy caliber which need careful and thorough planning and execution...

Such Faith

The Gospel of Saint Luke, chapter 7, verses 1 to 10, is read today. It is all about a simple yet powerful faith in Jesus and His tender merciful Heart, which is touched by the people's misery. It is all about Jesus' praise of such faith and His rebuke that He did not find such faith in the Children of the Chosen Nation:

Demonstrate Your Faith

Saint Jacob Apostle in his letter which is quoted in today's Second Reading of the Liturgy of the Word of the Twenty  Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time Cycle B, writes the following profound words:

"What good is it, my brothers and sisters,
if someone says he has faith but does not have works? 
Can that faith save him? 
If a brother or sister has nothing to wear
and has no food for the day,
and one of you says to them,
"Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well, "
but you do not give them the necessities of the body,
what good is it?
So also faith of itself,
if it does not have works, is dead.

Indeed someone might say,
"You have faith and I have works."
Demonstrate your faith to me without works,and I will demonstrate my faith to you from my works." (Jas 2:14-18)

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.

To The Mountains

Time to pack again and leave to the Tatra mountains, to the small rural parish where I will help pastorally during the Holy Triduum. I am very happy to be able to reconnect again with a friend of mine, the parish priest of that parish, who happened to work in my home parish years ago, when I was still a seminarian. Being able to visit him again and serve the local parochial community in this holy time is a really exciting prospect which I am looking forward to very much. As the parish is small in terms of statistics, but big in spirit and faith, I will immerse myself in this divine and human realm and draw from the fonts of loving waters in the liturgy and my private adoration, meditation and prayer. As always, I will take you all with me in my heart, continuing my prayer for all of you and all intentions dear to your hearts. God bless us all in this wonderful Holy time of Lord's Passion, Death and Resurrection.

It Wasn't Right

In Tanzania we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of Our Lady on Sunday preceding or following the August 15 (unless it is Sunday of August 15 itself). That is why we celebrated the Solemnity today in my parish as elsewhere in Tanzania. In my homily I focused on Divine Logic and God's meticulousness  in guiding life of Our Lady...

Courage

The Liturgy of the Word of today's Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time speaks to me about the courage. Though there is not a single word about the courage itself. But what is genuine humility spoken about in the Holy Scripture, the humility understood and defined by God Himself, if not our courage to trust God and go beyond our fear and need to stay in the comfort of the known world to us?

Don Quixote

I feel today like Don Quixote setting off for his quest to attack windmills... Going through bills of quantities and various requirements for the projects under way, it has become painfully clear and obvious to me that I may look like Don Quixote trying to accomplish something so complex with very little at my disposal... It is going to be very interesting to see actually how these tasks will be completed... At the end of the day... the candles are burning, prayers are being raised to Heaven and I keep faith, hope and steel resolve to make it happen. Still, your kind prayers appreciated!

We Walk By Faith, Not By Sight

2 Corinthians 5:7. Very challenging text. As if walking with our eyes closed, believing what we are being told and accepting it at face value. Walking by faith, not by sight. As if landing in a thick fog, guided only by ILS, knowing that the instrument landing system will guide me correctly at a right glide slope path to the center of the runway. As if walking along the edge of a cliff, guided by a voice of someone else, trusting that person completely. As if looking at the valley covered in thick mist, seeing nothing and being told that there is a beautiful valley with picturesque village on the curvy river meandering through the valley towards the horizon...

Sisters of the Resurrection

Heard so many good stories about this place, but what I've seen here, at the Sisters of the Resurrection compound in northern Chicago, is beyond my ability to describe properly. This place is a silent witness to the power of the faith of these women of a few many generations, who believed that to God nothing is impossible and that Risen Christ is able to do whatever He wants, that is why with the prayer on their lips and the faith and unshakable hope the Sisters created this remarkable place, which has so many faces...

Common Ground

When I left Poland, first heading to Ireland for three months to improve on my English, then to Tanzania to work as a missionary, I felt as if the solid ground I was walking upon since my childhood was removed underneath my feet... This solid ground was my Polish world, customs, tradition, culture, language, everything that constituted the 'aquarium' I was accustomed to and grew up in...

Prayer Room

Just came out of the prayer room, after saying the Divine Mercy chaplet and praying a bit for various intentions, located near dayrooms, where I checked in after wandering aimlessly, tired and unfresh after all night flight from Dar es Salaam and trouble at the airport here in Zurich, having missed my connecting flight to Warsaw and being forced to stay the whole day and night till tomorrow morning when I will hopefully conclude my air travel to Poland...

Instant Prayer

Having my morning instant coffee with milk, thinking about the kind of innocent, pure prayer, full of trust in Lord's Mercy and Kindness...The prayer that brings instant results. Instant Prayer... This is precisely what happened this morning...

Swiss

Sitting in the Julius Nyerere International Airport lounge, right after check-in, which went surprisingly efficiently and quickly... Still an hour plus before boarding time. I decided to take out my laptop and do some reading and writing. Then, suddenly, I reminisced a funny episode, when I flew last time from Warsaw to Dar es Salaam via Zurich... This made me chuckle to myself which caused a few raised eyebrows around me...

1 + 1 + 1 = 1

Triune God gave us today a simple lesson of arithmetic. Well, not that simple, because no one in the whole history of the Holy Church can claim he or she knows exactly what he or she is talking about, in regards to this mystery of faith. Thousands of volumes have been published throughout the ages on this topic trying to solve this mystery and explain it to us, minnows, in human terms, pictures and ideas. So at least we have a vague idea Who is He - our God whom we are supposed to Love, Adore, Praise and life for...


The Solemnity of Most Holy Trinity we celebrate today gives us a simple equation as a challenge for our reason and our faith. Yes, faith, as reason, to be honest, has little, if not nothing at all, to do here and everything else we were taught in schools. How comes that One plus One plus One equals One? That's what the whole mystery of One God in Three Persons is all about and it is simplest presentation of this article of faith; one, if not the most, of the difficult articles of faith we have in the Catholic Church. 1 + 1 + 1 = 1. Period. Surely, with this Divine Equation you won't go far in our schooling systems, probably not futher that a couple of weeks in nursery class for babies.

Various people tried to explain this phenomenon in more comprehensible and acceptable terms. Three states of water - ice, water and steam. Then three leaves of shamrock (St. Patrick's alleged method of teaching this article of faith). And other efforts trying to bring us closer to the mystery of One God in Three Persons. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. And still One God...

I am a simple guy and like simple solutions. So, I do not try even to reason and ask myself - how comes? I simply say - God, I believe You... If you say so that this is Who You are, then this is Who You are in fact. And my human mind will never comprehend this mystery. I do not even try... Because, the moment I will claim that I understood it, You will cease to be True God and will become a golden bull at the feet of the Holy Mountain. You will no longer be God, but I will have created my god to my liking and my ability to comprehend things and mysteries in this world. And this is exactly what most people would do in their dealings with difficult articles of faith. They would twist them to their liking and ability of thinking and comprehending. Others will reject them altogether, and other, but few I suspect, will go ahead in blind faith.

I abhor gods of my making. I have a lot of them already who try to take Your place since early years of my life. I will not reason and argue and doubt, because You are the Truth and Life and Light, You are my Everything. You revealed to us that You are One God in Three Persons and I accept it without a shadow of doubt, because You are God and I am Your creation, and I can only understand as much as my human brain can accept in its limitations. Only so much...Like a helpless bottle facing the vast stretch of Lake Victoria which I can see from the top Divine Mercy Hill here in Kiabakari, especially in evening hours, glittering on the horizon like a New Jerusalem, inviting me to its premises...Helpless, cause it knows that it cannot contain the whole water of the Lake...Only so much as it can hold, just a few drops...And this is me, trying to comprehend the mystery of Triune God and the Divine Equation: 1 + 1 + 1 = 1.

I have been baptized in Your Name, my Triune God. I have just finished this morning the Holy Mass with baptisms of 65 school kids who I baptized in Your Triune Name. They, as myself, have just entered the mysterious world of faith. In this world our human senses, reason and comprehension are of little use. We, as 2 Corinthians 5:7 teaches us - "Walk By Faith, Not By Sight"...The day of our Baptism we entered a world of faith, in which thick fog of mystery covers everything. We believe You are there, in this fog, just as You were in the cloud on top of Tabor mountain when Jesus transfigured in the presence of His three disciples, and they were encompassed by the cloud in which You spoke to them...

We find ourselves in the same cloud, in the same fog on the day of our Baptism. We must abandon our reasoning, we must embrace Your logic and arithmetic of grace and salvation. We must forget about 1 + 1 + 1 + = 3 and accept than in fact the result is 1. We must abandon our greed and accept Your divine economics that by giving we are in fact receiving, by showing mercy in fact we are even more so touched by mercy.

We must abandon our selfishness and individualism, and embrace the community, cause trying to walk alone in our Catholic faith we will get lost in this fog.

In this fog of faith, the only way to get through safely and not get lost in it, is to hold Jesus' hand. But He usually extends His hand through others. So, if I want to get through my Christian life safely and live a worthy life, I need to find a guide who knows the way. This is my Holy Mother Church and in Her - holy, wise, prudent and experienced fellow Christians whom God puts on our path of life, no doubt about it. I need to get hold of them, I need to hold their hands and ask them to lead me and guide me. Be it a bishop, priest, nun, my parent, sibling, neighbor, friend... I will know who exactly that person or these persons are, if I ask You to show me them in sincere prayer...

For sure each one of us, if only we look with open eyes, will notice those God-sent sentinels and guides who are here to lead us through safely...

And finally, when my life comes to its end, the fog will be lifted in front of my eyes...

I will see and experience what St. Paul described, simply out of lack of proper words in human language and in human limits of comprehension: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him" (1 Cor 2:9)

And then, in a split second burst of divine light, everything will become so simple and obvious...