God’s Gift
“I am from God,” said six year old
Happiness, when I asked her: “Where are you
from”?
It happened at Mercy House, on Easter Sunday, where I
went to share lunch with the refugees. Here they find a place of welcome and
warmth to soothe their daily suffering from being in a foreign country
without any back-up, except this tiny space whose motto is: Love changes
everything”. It was originally a dumping site and it is now a place of
love.
The tiny girl showed me what Easter means: “We are
from God”. It was a happy conclusion to the Easter
celebration that I had shared with many people, especially during the
Paschal Triduum. Easter is to acknowledge that whatever happens in life, the
end is always a victorious one, because God is our origin and our end!
In the first weeks of his pontificate, Pope Francis
has shown us the way to a more human life. He indicates the path to become a
church that is closer to people. We do not need to make big gestures of
solidarity and love to the downtrodden. We only need to be attentive to the
small signs of the Risen Christ which are happening around us and get
involved in the transformation of the Body of Christ. Easter is not an
isolated, one-off event. It is like a “stream that runs
underground,” that accompanies us throughout life. We are Easter
People. The presence of the Risen Lord is always at hand. In order to make
our life meaningful, we need to open our eyes and ears in order to say
like Mary Magdalene: “I have seen the Lord”.
Let us join hands so that
the Paschal message may reach as many as possible
I wish all viewers an Easter that lasts,
until the day we are called to see the Risen Lord face to face.
Fr. Jeremias
Comboni Provincial
EASTER JOY AT MERCY HOUSE
Easter Sunday was celebrated with much joy at Mercy
House. Having given the Lord His due
worship in our services, we gathered to celebrate with a lunch, the
distribution of Easter eggs and the presence of a very large Easter bunny. Never before has there been so much joy at
our Easter celebration.
The highlight of the afternoon was certainly the
arrival of the bunny. All the children
wanted to be picked up by him and one little girl, seen in the photo, even
decided to share her Easter egg with him.
He led them in dance which was great fun for all. Our Comboni Fathers community came to share
the joy with us.
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| Father John and Brother Eric are seen in the photo at the lunch |
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| Provincial Father Jeremias chatting to Marc |
Father Melese was persuaded to climb onto the roof to
facilitate the Easter egg rain from heaven and the children had great fun
catching them.
THE MARRIAGE OF OLIVIER AND LINDA
The happy event took place on Saturday 6 April:
Olivier and Linda have planned it for so long.
It was a beautiful occasion, and especially meaningful to us at Mercy
House, because we have cared for and known Olivier and his sister for 16 years,
since they fled from the genocide to South Africa.
The first photo shows
Olivier leaving for his first day at school in South Africa, in January 1998,
with his sister, Denise on the right.
That is
how long we have had the privilege of knowing Olivier and he has never let us
down yet... only a good track record!
Congratulations Olivier and Linda: we wish you everything of the best for your future life together. May you always treasure this day, and renew it, gratefully.
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| a whole 15 years later |
Congratulations Olivier and Linda: we wish you everything of the best for your future life together. May you always treasure this day, and renew it, gratefully.
