Missionaries of Africa, Jinja

Have you ever sat down and think of the Mercy of God? It is the very question to ask oneself every now and then. In the monthly recollections as the Lavigerie family, we were blessed to be with Sr. Mourine, facilitator, who prompted us to reflect on the involvement of God in our lives. He always intervenes in order to bring us back on track whenever we go astray. This is the mercy of God. Being the Supreme perfect being, the Substance, He is caring and always wants His attributes, we the human beings, to be close to Him. However much we sin, He does not delight on being angry as the Prophet Micah 7:18 puts it, "but rather shows mercy." He neither counts the number of times we go against Him nor the number of times He manifest His mercy to us.   This is a challenge to the whole humanity, to be merciful in all aspects as He is to us. The act of being merciful and that of forgiveness are inseparable. As the Lord's Prayer ascribe, "and forgiv

Prison refers to the building in which people are held while serving sentence for crimes they have committed or while waiting for trial. This way of punishing originated from Greece Athens and it was known as a place for detention. Later the Romans adopted it as a form of punishment. This is the way people who have offended society were punished in those countries. In Africa such a person would face the elders and the society itself and answer the charges verbally and physically in front of everyone. In the northern Uganda we had the ‘Matoput’ which was meant for the criminal but administered by the elders of the society and the victims. In this way justice would be done. This kind of prison has been brought by the colonialists. The question now is, is prison helpful or not? Because it involves separation of the criminal instead of handling them communally. I do pastoral work in Kirinya prison where most of the inmates are waiting for trial. They have spent a lot of time there. Th