The Divine Mercy Shrine on top of of the Divine Mercy Hill in Kiabakari was dedicated by Archbishop of Mwanza, His Grace Anthony Mayala, accompanied by Bishop of Musoma, Rt. Rev. Justin Samba and three other bishops on July 3, 1997, in the presence of representatives of the Holy Father, Archbishop of Kraków and a relative of blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. It was dedicated as the parochial church of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and St. Gemma Galgani for Kiabakari Parish. The Bishop of Musoma appointed me on that day as its first parish priest and announced also by a special decree that the day of 3rd o July every year would be a day of obligation for all the faithful in the boundaries of the parish.
So, we have been celebrating faithfully the anniversary of the dedication of the church, every year trying to enhance the celebrations with some additional festive motives or liturgical actions like imparting the sacrament of Confirmation, blessing marriages etc.
This year is bit different though. It will resemble Divine Mercy Sunday celebrations. We are celebrating 13th anniversary of the dedication of our church for three days. Today, is the day dedicated to the secondary Patroness of the chuch - St. Gemma Galgani. we were unable to celebrate her feast day on April 11 this year it fell on Divine Mercy Sunday exactly. Still, I do not want to neglect the importance of her place in the salvific history of our parish. That is why I decided to dedicate the first day of the annual celebrations of the Parish Feast precisely to her.
Today is the recollection day as usual on all Fridays of the year. But I have invited all parishioners to put other things aside for today and come to rest in the shrine, in silence and prayer, following our schedule for the day with focused hearts and minds, led by St. Gemma example and intercession, learning from her and commending our intentions, dreams and hopes in a special way. The main intention of the first day of our celebrations is to ask Merciful God, through the intercession of St. Gemma Galgani to grant us the generous donors who would help us to build St. Gemma Galgani convent (I promised St. Gemma long time ago that I would do so - to dedicate the sisters' convent once it is built, to her honor) for our sisters who have no place of their own to live. And the present unfinished convent, built in the time I was in Musoma Cathedral, was built in the wrong place and the quality of what has been done so far is substandard, to speak in the most sympathetic manner. This unfinished convent I want to turn into a future base, a compound for lay volunteers from in and outside of the country who would come to help or work in our health and educational facilities or for field research, environmental projects and so forth, especially in connection withe activities of my foundation established precisely for this purpose - Foundation 'Kiabakari' which has just recently been registered in Poland. My dream is to prepare a solid base, well equipped headquarters for the foundation and other volunteers. While, for the sake of our sisters, our current decision is to find resources to construct their convent, according to original plans and in original location.
So, we will come today, together as a family, together with our sisters, to Saint Gemma Galgani, to ask her for her intercession and miracle of finding for us people with sensitive, open and generous hearts to help us to make this dream come true. I am a dreamer but a believer also, and have no doubt that Saint Gemma will not let us down.
Tomorrow is the very day of the anniversary of the dedication of our church. Memories, ah, memories! What a wonderful day it was. Never mind I contracted a nasty infection that day caused by staphylococcus aureus (as I got cold and running nose and shook at the same time hundreds if not thousands hands during the celebrations, then touching my nose all the time with those hands, even with the use of handkerchief, trying to stop it nose running) and suffered for a few years before I got it under control. Never mind! what a wonderful and memorable day it was! Such a reward after three long years of Don Kichote struggle to build this House of God, against all odds, left alone at the end by everyone, even close sponsors, discouraged by the never-ending problems surrounding its construction. And yet, God never abandoned me and on July 3, after a long drive the day before to Nairobi and back - picking guests from the airport and driving them to Kiabakari, then sleepless night (when suddenly storm passed over Kiabakari, and it is winter in July, so things like this should not happen, and I with a few seminarian had to rescue the whole open altar setup, drying things with iron, saving what we could), my heart was filled to the bream with joy, gratitude and satisfaction...This is a feeling no money can buy in this world!
I know tomorrow it is going to be very emotional day to me, as it always is. we will have only one Mass, people from all over the place will come to join me in thanksgiving, commemoration Mass.
Then on Sunday, July 4, 2010, we will not exactly celebrate Independence Day with Americans all over the world, not exactly. This is a liturgical feast of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, the second day of obligation for us. Our Saint Patron Feast Day.
We will celebrate one Mass, it will be Mass of thanksgiving and Mass of blessing new lay leaders in the parish just elected by the faithful. And also, it will be a day of thanksgiving for the fruit of the land and fruit of work of our hands - for the faithful of Kiabakari center. Then on the consecutive Sunday of July we will have similar Masses in other centers constituting our Kiabakari parish.
So, in a short time I will go to the shrine to commence the celebrations. I will not forget you in my prayers, as I always carry you with me in my heart. God bless us all through the intercession of our Saint Patrons!
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