Ein Brief an Sr. Mary

Ein Brief an Sr. Mary

Dear Sr. Mary!

Thank you so much for your prayers on Tuesday. We really had a wonderful celebration and the three finally professed Sisters enjoyed their special day and as Sr. Veronica said, it was the happiest day in her life.

 

We started with the Procession to Church at 9:45am. It was the first Mass in the newly renovated church and they really did a great job of the renovation and also the decoration.

 

As you know, it was the first time that two Bishops attended a Final Profession (Our Bishop Edward Mapunda and Bishop Gervas Nyaisonga from Mpanda Diocese, who was the main Celebrant of the Holy Mass). Also 29 Priests, one Deacon and many Sisters from eight different Congregations joined us in our celebration.

 

As usual for such a big celebration, the Holy Scripture was presented by our Girls and they brought it in dancing with fire and spears. Following this, Sr. Lucy and Sr. Edinester sang the two readings very beautiful

 

The three Sisters chose the Gospel of the 72 disciples who were sent out by Jesus with various instructions they had to follow. Like bringing peace to every house they enter and not to take anything with them. In his Homily Bishop Gervas Nyaisonga compared the earthly marriage between two human beings with the spiritual marriage between one person and God. An earthly marriage will bear few children, but a spiritual relationship will bear hundreds of children. He also mentioned that the happiness of two human beings will only exist on earth, but the spiritual marriage and its graces will be everlasting, so that is why people should be happier when celebrating a heavenly marriage.

 

 

 

He also drew comparisons with the Gospel: Like the disciples the sisters were called by Jesus and had to follow different instructions. In the case of our Sisters, they have to follow the three vows Chastity, Poverty and Obedience and ‘’Our Way of Life’’. The challenges which face the Religious come through the vows they make. Many people do not like to be Sisters because they do not want to have the same style of clothing (habits).

Our Sisters have truly decided to be Sisters from their hearts. They have very useful talents and practical ones, but they have decided to give themselves to God.

He again compared the life of the Sisters to the work of salt. When the salt is badly mixed with unwanted things it loses its goodness and is no longer effective. The same way if the Sisters mix themselves with undesired practices, they will also lose their identity and therefore they should be very careful.

He also repeated the words of the Gospel, ‘’Their names are written in the books of Heaven’’.  

 

During his Homily, and also later during the Celebration in the Hall, he thanked the Sisters for accepting and following their Call, which is not always easy as also some of the disciples didn’t follow the heavenly Call but earthly things.
The Mass was really inspiring; some of the Sisters and our Girls were singing well together with choir and the Watoto wa Kipapa were dancing well.

The Mass ended at 1:30pm and at its end Bishop Mapunda thanked all the Sisters for their wonderful work they are doing in their various Apostolates. Especially he mentioned the Rehabilitation Centre and the words Cardinal Polycarp chose during his visit in 2008: the Centre is the Climax of the Diocesan Jubilee.

After Mass we went together to the school Hall and started immediately with lunch. Many people followed us there and not all of them fitted inside the Hall.
We had a really good program with various songs from different groups: Our Postulants from Malawi contributed two songs to which they were dancing together with a few other Girls. Also the new Form Fives and the Watoto wa Kipapa, as well as the choir members and the Sisters, were performing religious songs and dancing.

  

Of course different people got the chance to give a speech. Sr. Elizabeth spoke very well on behalf of the three finally professed. She thanked the Sisters for their support, especially their Formators, she thanked their parents and families and all the people who contributed to this special day in one way or another. Sr. Mariana gave thanks to the Bishops and all the visitors and helpers on behalf of the Community.
Sr. Veronica’s Father gave very nice words of thanks to the Sisters; he said that he is just very, very happy and you could really feel his happiness! Sr. Matilda’s parents gave a whole bucket of honey to the Sisters.

In the hall Bishop Nyaisonga continued to advise the Sisters to live their vows because they have already practised them since they have decided to become Sisters, even when they were still children and living in their families.He also thanked the Pallottine Sisters for inviting him for this celebration. He thanked the Re. Rt. Bishop Edward Mapunda for giving him the opportunity to be the main celebrant. For him it was a golden chance as he mentioned that in other Dioceses this kind of celebration does not often take place, as there are no vocations – for example in Zanzibar. So he was grateful about our event. He also said he knew the Sisters before. He got to know Sr. Veronica as a student when she was studying at SAUT, but also Sr. Elizabeth he knew earlier. His first appointment as a newly ordained Priest was in the Parish of Sr. Elizabeth and he used to see her in the outstation of this Parish.

The three Sisters were also given many presents, like four goats, one sheep and a chicken and of course a lot of Kanga and Vitenge.

It is really amazing that the whole day from morning until evening went extraordinary smoothly, we are sure that this was because of your Prayers!