Missionaries of Africa, Jinja

U ganda is such a beautiful country with a beautiful history of the beginning of the Catholic Church. It is a country from which the natives easily embraced Christianity. They consecrated and dedicated their lives to discipleship; to following of the Christ. Easter Monday became a second opportunity for me to go and bend low in this Holy shrine, the root of the Catholic Church in my country and it was the first opportunity for some of my brothers.  Fr. Peter Reilly guiding the group We were being guided by Fr. Peter Reilly M.Afr. a man of wide experience in Uganda. Their story animates our own story as Christians walking the same way of faith and as disciples responding to God’s question; whom shall I send? What touched me from Peter’s sharing about the Uganda Martyrs was their way of life, it was a journey that made their Catholic faith a story of wonder in history; the way they lived is what matters, death was simply the consequence of tha

What do you intend to do in the next 5 years, 5 months, 5 days, 5 hours or 5 minutes be it a life career or vocation, a one day task of even some kind of leisure activity? It’s easy provided one has the intellectual, physical and skill capacity to achieve anything one desires. From life experience, it requires something a little more than that so as to finally reach a goal for your life’s fulfillment. It calls for the  Spirit of Intention  to achieve fulfillment which is beyond contentment. Many people today do things that help them achieve what they desire and live contentment than fulfillment. In fulfillment, one discovers constant growth both spiritual and intellectual which are often kept away by contentment. So ask yourelf, is what am doing today in the here and now bringing fulfillment or its easy for me to say, “Am not complaining therefore it’s okay”. The choice is yours. I would like to draw this in the line of my 3 years of formation with the Missionaries of Africa.

Pain is something anybody has never desired to have at any moment of life. Yes, even when we cause it for ourselves still we don’t want it our way. But then, pain is another thing that will always be part of life, it can never be completely out of the body. It can surely reduce or increase but not free from it. Pain is not tangible (physical) but also not emotional yet we can physically or emotionally express it. Some people express pain with a big concern of silence, some with bitterness and truly, others don’t give it room but inwardly respond to it. Pain once present must in one way or the other be responded /attended to because of the much or little by little discomfort it brings about. The beauty of pain is not the intense enormous care I get when my pain is a question of self­helplessness. No, not even the concern of the general public who come around with different messages that approach sympathy and consolation. In fact it’s the ugliness of pain when

As Stephen Covey says, “spiritual/existential intelligence is the central and most fundamental of all the intelligences, because it becomes the source of guidance for the others”. In this sense, I could say that the development of this intelligence is the main purpose of our formation program at Lavigerie House.  But now, in practical terms, how are we trying to actualize the spiritual/existential intelligence? First of all, in developing our capacity of self-awareness, we are invited to know what we believe and value in life. We are invited to express/articulate our motivations. What does move me/us to be here? Every semester we engage in personal and communal evaluations. We are also guided by a community project from the beginning of the year. Each student is accompanied by a spiritual director, a chaplain, and by his community-mates. Another very important element in the actualization of the spiritual/existential intelligence is the development of a quality of pres

Christ yesterday, today, beginning, and the end. His are the times and the ages alleluia. On the earth we live as part of the church militant. We cannot wage a war without weaponry or an objective. The weapon is Christ alive in the most perfect unity between us. The objective is, “So that we may all be one.” (Chiara Lubich)  I am so great full that the mother church has embraced us with the feast of Easter vigil mass. In accord with the ancient tradition, this night is one of vigil for the Lord, when he brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. So on this night all Israelites must keep the vigil for the lord through generations (Ex .12:42) “Blessed are those servants whose master find vigilant on his arrival. (Lk, 12:35). This is a reminder for the faithful to have their lumps burning ready, to be like men awaiting their master’s return so that when he alives he will find them wide awake and seat with them at his table. The night vigil is arranged in four parts whic