Dear Everyone,
April 24, 2014
Well, Easter is over, come and gone and it has been, for
me, a busy time but also a time or deeper reflection especially watching the
so-called “faithful” who were attending the services, knowing that each one had
his or her own personal problems and challenges in his or her own life and were
looking for strength and help in order to deal with them in a good way, as it
were, in God’s eyes.
On Holy
Thursday I washed the feet of a Zulu man who was in a wheelchair and another
Zulu patient who was mobile but hospitalized. I knew that they were thinking of
their families and would have longed to be anywhere but here in the hospital,
but…. I am sure that they never could have dreamt that they would see the
priest up close and personal like this, an umlungu (white man) on top of it,
washing their feet. Holy Moses, what is the world coming to. Then there was an
off duty nurse (also Zulu) and two sisters, one Zulu and one German, both
nurses at St. Mary’s hospital. It has been my custom for many years now to wash
the feet of 3 men and 3 boys (males), and three women and three girls
(females), so it was nice to know that the Pope and I are on the same page in
that respect. I don’t know if the patients were catholic or not but I am sure
that God was not in the mood for making fine distinctions that evening. It was
a good reminder of what the world needs, more than the symbolic washing of each
other’s feet, but really taking time to help one another in our various needs
according to our abilities.
Then, Good
Friday, we made the stations of the Cross, e.g. the imaginary way that Christ
walked on his way to his cricufixion at Calvary. There are 14 stations, the
first one being that Jesus is condemned to death by pilate. Each station has a
short reflection and a prayer. This particular way of the cross, as it is also
called, was trying to look at this way of the cross through Mary’s eyes, Jesus
mother. How would a mother feel if her son, whom she raised as a child, and who
had always been a good kid and a good grown man as well, going out of his way
to help and heal people. How could they do this to my son, you could imagine
her saying. An how many mothers are doing exactly the same thing today in so
many countries where there is so much violence and where the youngsters are
caught up in it, often just because they happen to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time. I won’t go through all the other stations but they end with Jesus
being taken down from the cross and being put in her arms. You can imagine her
grief and sorrow. And, once again, how many mothers who have been given the
bodies of their children who have been shot dead by the police or eliminated by
some gang because he was out of his territory or whatever. Jesus suffers and
weeps with those mothers because he surely loves those kids as much as or more
than the mothers. Gives lots of things to think about how Jesus still suffers
and is crucified in so many situations of violence and injustice in our own
time.
Then, as
usual, we had the normal service for Good Friday, which mainly focuses on the
passion, which is usually read by several people who are then given time to
reflect on what this willingness to die on Jesus’ part meant for us. How can
one miss the point that “there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life
for a friend.”
There is more to it but that is the main part.
Then comes
Holy Saturday sliding into Easter Sunday (He is risen). I took the car to a
friend who helped to clean up the headlights which were clouded over by some
junk and then it was easier to see when the headlights had been cleaned up. I
still don’t like driving at night because the lights from the oncoming cars
really blind me, but if I don’t have to go too far and the street is more or
less lighted up, I will chance it.
In the evening
I was told we would start at 9pm with Imvuselelo, (wake). I was there at 8:40
and looked around to see if the wood for the Easter fire was there and ready,
but nothing. So I just waited till about 9:30 and then asked again and was told
that, actually, the service would start at 12 midnight. OK. So I went back home
for a bit and came back and then we had a lovelly, happy, joyful celebration of
Easter. Hope. Joy. Everyone has his or her problem that s/he is battling with
and it is just a reassurance that no matter how impossible the situation may
seem, like after Jesus death on the cross, all hopes crushed, there is still
and always will be hope. By the time we finished and I got home and into
bed it was 3:30am.
Sunday was
spent visiting friends and EATING all kinds of foods and goodies, and
discussing life and the world situation, etc. etc. etc Just nice socializing.
On Tuesday I
caught a bus and went to Mthatha. I rode with another friend, Theresa,
Chisanga, the head of the English Dept. at the University in Mthatha.
(WUS—Walter Sisulu University)/ She was up in Durban to assist her daughter
wiho had just given birth to her first child. We chatted and dozed. (You see
what a normal like I live!!!) I re-connected with my own community there and it
was nice. Between the time I arrived on Tuesday afternoon and left on Friday
morning, I had given two haircuts (not much hair for us old timers any more), I
visited Bedford and checked out things. Made contact with several people to
wish them happy Easter and to reassure them that they are not forgotten and
abandoned. But the main thing was a meeting with the trouble shooter from Eskom
(Electricity suppliers). We have been trying to solve our problem with them for
at least three years now and always there it a hitch. Well, I think that we
finally succeeded in moving in a forward direction. We also had a long and
fruitful discussion about the situation of Fr. Guy and our unhappiness with the
response or non-response of the church and the authorities of Mariannhill for
resolving his problem. There will be forward movement there too but it will not
be so nice.
The ride home
(back to Mariannhill from Mthatha—just over 300 miles) was uneventful. Fr.
Malinga, a friend, came along and I dropped him off at his place, went to fill
up the vehicle I brought back for the use of the Superior General when he
comes, with petrol and got home just in time to try to get on the internet by
4pm only to find that I couldn’t get a signal no matter what I tried. Very
Frustrating. I finally managed by changing to another sim card but it was also
unsatisfactory. Here I am this morning and I have now given up getting a signal
and am finishing this blog which I started yesterday, the 25th. I
will try again later in the day when I go to town where I know that I can get a
signal. I have a mass this afternoon for a young lady who is graduating. So
that is about it for now. Never a dull moment. You can go back to sleep now
after reading this long and boring epistle. Cas
