We ask for the grace to be touched by the merciful love of Jesus to renew us in spirit.

 

 

NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN OT  B  2021

Propagation of the Faith

 

In my 53 years as a priest,  I have never experienced a liturgy in which at 6:00 am on each and every school day 1,000 high school girls in full Catholic school uniform sing the opening hymn with enthusiastic voices accompanied only by one of their own beating her heart out in striking a well-worn drum.  I tell you looking out from the altar at these Tanzanian girls was a mystical moment of prayerfulness and joy.

 

We were indeed on holy ground.  Father Damian Milliken, a Benedictine priest from Elmira, New York, was presiding at the Mass.  Father Damian is a priest in his 80’s and has ministered in the last 50 years of his priesthood serving the poorest of the poor in Tanzania, East Africa.  The genuine love and respect that Father Damian enjoys with these young Tanzanians and their families and all who live in the area around Mazinde Ju is so Christ-like and uplifting. 

 

Equally impressive is a religious community of consecrated women who are such an important part of the teaching faculty.  These are the religious sisters of Usambara.  Dressed in their full habit, these sisters number 500 consecrated women in Tanzania.  These sisters know in their DNA the joy of the Lord.

 

To describe St Mary’s School in Mazinde Ju in Tanzania is a bit of a challenge.  It is a residential school where these students live during the academic year and are able to get three healthy meals each day.  The dormitories these students live in are filled with bunk beds.  Each girl has a tiny cubicle which houses all her worldly possessions including all her clothing.  I have a beautiful grandniece for whom to put all her clothes in this tiny cubicle would simply be impossible.

 These high school students, these beloved daughters of God have no sense of entitlement by which they expect people to take care of them.  They are so grateful for every opportunity in life that is given to them.  They are not saddened by the effects of the poverty of the country; they are joy-filled in the opportunity that is given to them as students in this quality academic setting that is filled with so much love and so much spirituality.

 

I tell you this first hand from having the privilege of sending time with these students in Mazinde Ju in Tanzania to be inspired by their faith, their desire to learn, the way they care for one another, and the opportunity St Mary’s School gives these students to continue their education.  Under the inspired leadership of this Benedictine priest Fr Damien Milliken and the religious sisters of the Usambara, these students are formed and fashioned after the mind and heart of Jesus.

 

The second collection today is the annual Propagation of the Faith collection.  Every cent of this collection goes to support the educational opportunity for these high school girls.  This school provides so much more than our excellent high schools.  These girls and their families live in such poverty that is hard for us to imagine as it is so far removed from our way of life.  This school is a residential school that provides such a healthy way of life for these students.  It is the promised land for these students.

 

Some of us make an annual $1,000 contribution to provide a scholarship for one on these deserving students.    Personally, I gladly make this $1,000 contribution each year.  I had the profound privilege of spending some time with this young Tanzanian girl I have sponsoring for the last three years.  I tell you I had to tell myself: “Be still my heart” when I realized the opportunity I was giving this daughter of God in my prayer and in my tithing commitment.  In all truth, l cannot think of a better use of this money. 

 

As I reflect on the enthusiasm, the joy and the gratitude of these Tanzanian girls, we reflect on today’s Scriptures.  In all three readings today, people are tired, exhausted, depressed, and full of complaints.  In the first Scripture reading, the prophet Elijah was having a pity party for himself; he was broken in spirit; and just slept under a broom tree waiting to die.  In the second Scripture reading, Paul was demanding the Ephesians stop all bitterness, fury, anger, shouting and reviling.  Then in the Gospel, the Jews were murmuring about Jesus because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

 

 Does this sound like God’s chosen people?  Perhaps these folks need to read and enjoy Pope Francis’s letter on THE JOY OF THE GOSPEL.  Perhaps they need to sing the beautiful hymn to the God of all hopefulness, the God of all joy.

 

I tell you these girls living in the poverty of their family life in Tanzania have plenty of reason to be tired and depressed.  And yet, they are filled with joy and gratitude.  How can this be?  They are touched by the mystery of God’s unending love for them.  They feel the love and support of each other; they are much loved by Father Damien and the Sisters of Usambara; and they know the support of our generous tithing support.

 

In a word, these girls have experienced in the mystery of the Church people who love and support them, and they have encountered Jesus as their friend and as their Savior and Lord.  Wow!  Our parish mantra is that we are the Church.  These high schools have experienced the Church not as a building but as the people of God who care for each other and who trust in Jesus.

 

 

 

 Back to the Scriptures, the conversion experience for the Prophet Elijah, for the Ephesians in which apostle Paul preached to; and the followers of Jesus happened when they encountered God’s merciful love.  Then their negativity was transformed into trusting in Jesus.  They were renewed in spirit and discovered the blessings and the joy of knowing the Lord.

 

And so, we need to do an inventory of our faith journey when we are overwhelmed by tiredness, by stress, by our own negativity.  We ask for the grace to be touched by the merciful love of Jesus to renew us in spirit.

 

In our financial tithing in the second collection today, we are privileged to share from the blessings we enjoy with these beautiful young women.  In so doing, we are living as Jesus lived and we are doing what Jesus did in serving the needs of all of God’s people.

 

May God give you peace and generosity of spirit.