Prayers of SVD
May the darkness of sin
and the night of unbelief vanish before the light of the Word
and the Spirit of grace
and may the Heart of Jesus live
in the hearts of all people.
(Saint Arnold Janssen)
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Meeting with families
On Saturday from the seminary in Ledalero I went to say a mass for employees in Patiahu. There is a garden which belongs to the Society of Divine Word. It is managed by brother Aldo SVD. The Eucharist was celebrated at 6pm for a dozen people in a small chapel. The garden extends over many hectares near the sea coast on Flores. It is full of palm and coconut trees, as well as tropical fruits. In addition, employees deal with poultry and cattle for the seminary and commercial purposes.
In the evening with the religious brothers - Aldo and Mans we celebrated the Chinese New Year, so-called Imlek. Next day I travelled to the mission station in Wairita in order to say a Sunday mass for parishioners. The small church was filled with children, young people and parents. We celebrated the first Sunday of Divine Word together. On this occasion, altar boys solemnly brought the Holy Bible in procession at the beginning of the Eucharist. In my sermon, I emphasized the need to read and meditate on the Scriptures according to the teaching of Pope Francis. After mass, I blessed the children and we had a small meal with the representatives from the station.
Then, with brother Mans SVD, we went towards the village of Bola, which is located in a mountainous area. There, we admired the beautiful views and visited two families. The first family was a mother of Mans and his siblings. We were welcomed with great joy. The children sang religious songs in the local language (Bahasa Sikka). As usually we had tea with a cake and also dinner. There was fish from the sea, some vegetables and rice. After talking with them we visited the family of sister Josepha SSpS nearby. Again we were warmly welcomed by parents and siblings. Of course, we took some photos and ate together. There was time for conversation, jokes and stories from Poland.
Later we went to the coast where, according to tradition, the first missionaries from Portugal arrived. There is a cross there was erected because of their coming. We could drink coconut juice because there were some children and teenagers at the beach who helped to get the coconuts. The local fisherman opened two large coconuts for us and we enjoyed a refreshing drink. It was already late afternoon we decided to go back to the seminary in Ledalero. For now it is a rainy season so we expected the rain. We said goodbye to the family and went back to the monastery.