Parish Letter 20th Sunday A 2008

Woman, you have great faith.

On one of my early hospital visits, I walked into a Parirenyatwa Hospital ward, where a parishioner was recovering. It was midmorning, between the visiting hours, so the place was very quiet with patients either sleeping or resting. I found the parishioner sitting up and spent some time with her. We talked for a while before we prayed together. She wanted me to sing a song with her and we did that. I anointed her and gave her Holy Communion. I sat by her bedside for a little while before saying goodbye, promising to pray for her and to come again.

As I was walking out of the ward, a man lying in the far corner said to me: “What about me? Do you not pray for me too? I am not a Catholic but I need some prayers.” I felt chastised and humbled. I walked over to him and said, “Of course I will pray for you. It does not matter that you are not a Catholic.” And I prayed with him. As I was about to go, I looked around and saw the look on the faces of the other patients, and I knew better to start praying with them before more chastisement.

I learnt something very important on that hospital visit. When I visit the hospital I am ready to pray for more than those on my list. I used to worry about being seen as imposing my faith, infringing individuals’ religious rights, proselytizing, and taking advantage of the infirm and other similar concerns of religious freedom. I take the precaution of waiting for those outside my pastoral jurisdiction to invite me first.

I have come to appreciate in a very sensitive way, the utter loneliness that people experience in hospital and the pressing need they have for human contact and social engagement. Faced with these needs, they surrender their ideological and creedal fortifications and become vulnerably open to the healing prayer available. It is a dangerous vulnerability, yet it is necessary.

In today’s gospel, the Canaanite woman makes herself dangerously vulnerable. Her position was diametrically opposed to that of Jesus on many levels; she was Canaanite – he was Jewish, she was a woman – he was a man. This position had serious social, political, racial, sexual, and religious connotations. Their dealing with each other would inevitably violate some sacrosanct code of behaviour in a reprehensible manner.

Jesus had ventured into this pagan territory to cool off the tension caused by his and his disciples’ non-conformity to social and religious propriety. Interacting with this foreigner and woman was going to dent Jesus’ reputation and confirm him as a deviant.

Jesus responded to this woman who was tormented by the torment of her daughter by testing her faith. She did not give up but pressed on, arguing that even if Jesus saw her as a dog, she deserved his consideration, since dogs are not denied the leftovers. Jesus saw her reasoning as evidence of her great faith and granted her wish.

Her persistence on behalf of her daughter, her desperation after trying only God knows how many remedies; her readiness to cross racial, social, sexual, political and religious barriers impressed Jesus. That was her great faith, for faith is more than a nice feeling of being loved by God, but faith takes up all our deepest pain of being human and longing for wholeness and healing. The Canaanite woman had it – she was a human being grappling with the pain of being human and needing wholeness for her tormented soul and that of her daughter.

I have learnt, in my pastoral care for the sick, that sickness is a time of religious significance for most people. There is a religious need that we experience when we are sick which goes beyond our denominational difference. In fact, it goes beyond most divisions that keep us apart. I see it more as openness to God than simply to an available minister.

At the behest of their religious mothers, I have been at the bedside of many a lapsed Catholic and have been amazed by the faith of the faithless. The sister of a man who had long abandoned church said to me as we watched him in a coma: “This is a special time for him. God has given him this time when he cannot talk to any of us for a purpose. This is the time for my brother to talk with God.” The next day the man died peacefully.

Those who take care of the sick and bear the burden of sickness vicariously, like the Canaanite woman who was tormented by the torment of her daughter, experience this profound need for God. I learnt this when a junior doctor at Parirenyatwa grabbed me by the arms on the corridor and begged me: “Father please pray, pray for the sick and pray for us too. There are things that we cannot do, but only God can do.” Here was another person tormented by the torment of others and longing for their wholeness and healing.

It is for faith as great as this that Jesus grants their wishes. Let us pray for the gift of faith. Let us pray that we too may be tormented by the torment of others and relentlessly bring their case before Jesus who will grant our wish. Amen.

In the Most Holy Redeemer Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.

Parish Bulletin

Parish Letter I8th Sunday of the Year 2008
Come ... all you who are thirsty!

After hearing of the death of John the Baptist, the Gospel tells us, Jesus withdrew to a lonely place. He wanted to be alone to grieve over his friend and cousin, his precursor and herald. He needed time alone to ‘regroup,’ to process the loss of John, to put closure to their relationship. But no sooner than he got there, the crowds had already caught up with him. We see Jesus here facing the challenge to balance his personal need to take time out and mourn the Baptist; and the pressing needs of the people who sought him. When he saw the crowds, he took pity on them and healed their sick.

This Gospel reveals to us a very important truth about Jesus. He was true God and true human being, as we profess in the Creed. What shines out in this Gospel is his genuine humanity. As a human being he felt loss and all the emotions that we feel when someone we know and love dies. He felt the need to be alone, to refocus his life after the loss, to honour the beloved dead. He knew that he would not be much use to those who needed his help when he was feeling this low. This is an idea that many people today, as many others throughout history did, find difficult to understand and accept – that God can be a human being all the way! That God can feel loss and pain, get tired and need rest. That is the mystery of the Incarnation – God became a human being and lived among us.

Then he feeds the multitude miraculously.

It is easy here to emphasize that it was because of his divinity that Jesus performed this miracle. There is no doubt about that – only God can do something like that. Yet, it is important to acknowledge that it is because of his human ability to empathise, to feel with and for others, that Jesus worked the miracle. In his own neediness, he was able to see the need of others. Contemporary spirituality has often called Jesus “the wounded healer.” He knew and bore the wounds of our human condition; hence he understood the pain of the wounds of others. Because he had experienced need he felt for the needs of others. Only God-become-human can do that. So if we make his humanity shine in this miracle we are at the same time making his divinity shine!

Isaiah, the prophet in the first reading, talks about the everlasting covenant out of the favours promised to David. Through the words of Isaiah, God calls out to all who are thirsty, hungry, and have no money. He wants them to come so he can fill them with plenty. Jesus fulfils this promise in today’s Gospel – he fills with plenty the crowds who were thirsty, hungry and had no money. He filled the sick with healing. He felt pity for those who were abandoned. God became a human being so that his promises, given through the prophets, may come true.

St Paul, whom we commemorate this year, came to know Jesus and his life was transformed. It was his encounter with this God who became a human being that made Paul so utterly convinced of Jesus’ power to save. So he could not think of anything that could come between us and the love of Christ. Even death cannot separate us from the love of God made visible in Christ Jesus our Lord. It is this love of God, prophesied by Isaiah, proclaimed by Paul and made human by Jesus that beckons us in the Eucharist. Let us open our hearts and draw closer to God who calls us.

Yours in the Redeemer,

Fr. William Guri, C.Ss.R.

Fr Gerry's Letter

Fr Gerry Mulligan's Letter to St Gerard's Parish

While I was overseas in July, Gerry Mulligan, our Vice Provincial, was kind enough to come to Zimbabwe and help in our parishes. I was very happy that he came, especially at this time when our country is going through a very difficult phase. While telling our confreres in the UK the difficult situation here, I feared that Gerry might be scared and decide not to came. Knowing fully well what was happening here he decided to come. Gerry responded in the spirit of the true Redemptorist: "Always ready to undertake what is difficult." The letter that he wrote for our Parish Bulletin as he left speaks for itself:

ST GERARD'S PARISH LETTER 17th. Sunday of The Year 2008

One cold day last January in Scotland, Fr Ronnie McAinsh- our Redemptorist Provincial said to me “They were going to be a bit short-staffed in Zimbabwe during the month of July. They needed help with the weekend and daily Masses.” Listening to the rain and sleet battering on the window pane, I said “I’ll go.”

Five months later, on June 29th, standing in the queue for security checks at Glasgow airport I wondered if I had made the right decision. People looked at me strangely when I said I was going to Zimbabwe for a month. I must admit, I felt a bit apprehensive myself after all we had seen on TV during the lead up to the elections.

First impressions can be misleading. When I arrived, so much seemed to be going on as normal. Certainly, the welcome I received from everyone was overwhelming and people seemed to be genuinely pleased that I had come. It was only with time that I began to realize how very difficult and frightening things had been. I was amazed at people’s ability to cope, to survive from day to day and even to keep smiling– something I had remembered from previous visits. I felt in a strange way honoured to be here; humbled that people had allowed me to share these days with them. But, there was tiredness in people’s faces, not surprisingly, and a feeling of disappointment that was so real you could almost touch it.

I enjoyed meeting my Redemptorist confreres again at St Gerard’s and visiting the student community at Tafara. It is always good to meet up with your brother Redemptorists and enjoy catching up with all the news of people and having some good laughs along the way. Soon, I was getting familiar with the way from St Gerard’s to Nazareth House and St. Augustine’s Hatcliffe. I enjoyed so much the Masses and the singing.It is always a moving experience to share in Mass, in different places. We have so much in common as we gather at the altar. So many different faces, different lives, different experiences, yet all reaching out to receive the food God gives us, the food we must share with one another.

During the month, people kept saying to me “Thank you for coming to see us at this time.” But I felt that I was the fortunate one because I was learning so much about the goodness and courage of ordinary people, something which survives even in times of great adversity.
I think this must be the power and the presence of God.

One of my many memories is a recent visit to an orphanage.

Whenever I got close to any of the young children and babies, they started to howl and cry. I don’t know if it was my strange voice, or my white face, or my big nose! Something was frightening them. As I moved on to another room, I saw a little boy sitting on the floor. He was blind. He had lost an eye through cancer and the sight in the other was all but gone. I stretched down to take his hand and as soon as he felt my hand , as if he was on springs, he jumped up and threw his arms around my neck and would not let me go. And that was us for the rest of the afternoon. He was fairly heavy– I don’t know how you women carry children around with you for so long! But he wasn’t really heavy, he was my brother. Later on, I asked myself if that was what God was like with us. We reach out our hand to him; it is often all we can do. When he feels our touch he takes us in is arms and won’t ever let us go no matter how heavy we are. It made me walk tall for the rest of the day.

A precious message taught to me by one of God’s little ones.

So as I return to Scotland I want to say thank you for these last four weeks. I wouldn’t have missed them for the world. I will take your good wishes to all those you have been asking me about; Fr. McAinsh, Fr. Webster and Fr. Maguire and let them know of the love and regard you have for them. Thanks also to my own Redemptorist confreres whose hospitality was so warm and generous. Being here has made me proud to be a Redemptorist.

I promise to pay for you and our country at this time. I trust that the seeds of hope that seem to have appeared this past week will grow and grow until you have the life and the country you desire and deserve. During these days as I prepare to return home, some words written a long time ago by Hilaire Belloc have been in my mind;-From quiet homes and first beginnings Out to undiscovered ends. There’s nothing worth the wear of winning But laughter and the love of friends. Dear friends, thank you for your love and your laughter.

Let us pray for one another,

Fr. Gerry Mulligan C.Ss.R

Back from Overseas

I returned yesterday from a week in Scotland UK, and a week in Maryland USA. I presented at the Formation Workshop for Redemptorist Formators at our monastery in Kinnoul Perth. The Redemptorist workshop was a wonderful opportunity to meet with confreres from the Northern Hemisphere just as the one in Bangkok was my first encoutner with the East and with our confreres of Asia, Oceania and the Pacific. Its always good to be with a bunch of our guys - the Reds are great. We had confreres from the USA, Canada, the UK, Austria, Slovakia, Poland, Ireland, South Africa, and Zimbabwe at the Scotland workshop. I felt sad at the end of the week of my presentation, when I had just about come to know the guys, to have to move on.

In Maryland I was happy to be reunited with the Redemptorist Community that hosted me when I studied at Loyola. Two of the confreres have just been moved; John Hamrogue to Brooklyn NY and John Lavin to Boston MA. I was fortunate to be there in time for their farewell Mass and party in the Caroll Gardens! I was able to spend some time with each of the members of the Annapolis community and to catch up with each of them. I went out for dinner with Jack Kingsbury, Andy Costello and Pat Flynn on both the Sundays that I was there. It was so nice to go through memory lane and to have uproarious laughter about the memorable lighter moments of my stay in the States.

I did get a chance to meet a good number of the faithful of St Mary's Parish Annapolis. Many people seemed as they were when I left last year, and some seemed to have changed much. Many of the young people have become young adults in the space on one year! It was just like madness when i walked into the St Mary's offices on the Saturday morning and there were all those screams and shouts for joy. I felt like a hero returning home! Harry the musician stood up to the occassion and played Pachabel canon for me at one of the Masses! I was tremendously impressed by the interest in and concern for Zimbabwe that the people of St Mary's showed. Because they know me they have followed events here very closely as they unfolded and asked for my safety all the time. It was very reassuring to know that there is that prayerful support for our cause and plight. It is very encouraging to know that we are not alone.

I visited Loyola College in Maryland, my Alma mater. I met some staff and faculty. I had called earlier and scheduled a meeting with the Admissions Officer David Newton and my Clinical Supervisor Dr Danielle LaSure-Bryant. We had a very good time together and they listened to my Zimbabwe stories with much interest. Just being at Loyola brought back many good memories of my stay in the States. I did catch up through the phone with classmates Laura and Hope and Karlyin actually made it to dinner with me.

I visited my friend Booby in the "Hood" of Annapolis (a black neighbourhood). Unfortunately, I was not able to see Booby, but his grandmother and his mother were there. They were both very happy to see "Mr Williams, the fine gentleman from Africa" as they call me. I regret not having had the time to allow them to teach me to eat crabs again. I went to the barbershop where I used to have my hair cut in the Hood, just to check out on the brothers and to "cut-back" (free speech as practised in the barbershops) just a little bit, if you you know what I am saying. Ah, I could have had my hair cut everyday of the week just for the "cutting-back" with brothers.

I also visited my other clinical placement site at the Calvert County Hospital's Crisis Intervention Center. I just walked in announced, like anyone in crisis coming for counselling. Now didn't I make the receptionist, Brenda, nearly faint! She just couldn't believe that it was I who she was seeing before her. It was so good seeing the wonderful counsellors who taught me the ropes of crisis counselling, which is ever so helpful on the Zimbabwean pastoral scene. Cindy who I did children's group with and Christine who trained me to do the intakes and to take the hot line calls, Janet my site supervisor, Paul the specialist for children and Allison one of the senior therapists were all there. Timothy from Kenya who interned at the same time with me and who stayed on was also there. It was a wonderful afternoon with much glorious laughter.

I caught up with some of the Zimbabweans in the Diaspora who were part of my extended community in USA. I drove up to PA to see Moira, Taka and Memory and we had some sadza! I was again just in time before Moira moves on to Canada to join her mother and Taka to Texas next month. I was able to find half a dozen Fanta's to take to Brenda and Thandi's house, as I always did when I visited them. Shingai came to Annapolis and spent the good part of Saturday with me. We went to Rumshead Tavern and had a good happy hour savouring one of Maryland's finest brews, the Copperhead Ale on tap!

The rest of the Zimbos, I was not able to see - you could only fit so much into a week. I did call Reuben and his family in Texas. Noel in North Carolina called everyday and chided me for coming for only a short time. Kuda called me from Connecticut and I was able to talk to him and his parents who are visiting from Zimbabwe.Fungisai called from Virginia and Girley from California, Chiyedza called from PA and Lillian from Texas as word began spreading among the Zimbos that I was in the States. It was nice talking again to these friends from Zimbabwe and to catch up with their life stories. Each of them spoke of the pain of watching their beloved motherland go though such an enormous struggle about which they can only do precious little to help. We shared our helplessness and encouraged each other to hope for a better Zimbabwe.

Most people who I talked to in the States, and in the UK, were worried about my going back to a Zimbabwe whose many dangers I had told. Some were courageous enough to tell me that they thought I was a fool to go back. I did not take offense. I know it is utterly foolish to come back to Zimbabwe having had a chance to go out. Many people in Zimbabwe would pay an arm and a leg to get out of this country now. I really enjoyed my time in the "free world" for those two weeks. I could not possibly abandon Zimbabwe at this time. It would be hard for me to have an appetite and to find sleep if I jumped of this ship now. So I came back. I came back because I believe very strongly that Zimbabwe is where God is calling me to be. This is where I can do the will of God and fulfill my life's mission at this time. I am very grateful that I have the opportunity to leave because that helps me to see things differentlly and with new clarity each time. My short time away has re-energized me and re-enkindled in me the fire that I need to keep burning for Zimbabwe. It was a well deserved break and I am ready to pick up the struggle where I left and continue to share hope with those who live daily in helpless hopelessness.

Presidential Runoff

Today the Presidential Runoff is taking place. Leading up to it has been a very difficult time, especially for the poor and most vulnerable people of Zimbabwe. People in the Rural areas and those in the townships have suffered much under state sponsored terror. In Hatcliffe the Zanu PF militia have been ruling supreme for the past month. All trade and commerce is being controlled by the militia. Buses are having to offload people about a kilometre outside the township in order to avoid the "toll" that they are being charged for entering the occupied territories. Street vendors have to pay a fee in order to continue trading and they have to wear Zanu PF campaign regalia in order to be spared harrassment. Most motorists have been cowed into displaying campaign regalia on their cars to be granted passage in some of Harare's occupied territories. Pedestrians have no option but to carry at least some item that identifies them with the ruling party in order to move with some modicum of freedom through Harare. At the shops, ruling party functionaries are controlling access to bread and other basic commodities. They buy all the stock out of the shop for $800 million a loaf and and resell it to the desperate public on the very presincts of the shop for anything between 3 and 5 billion dollars a loaf. There is no maize-meal for making sadza entering Hatcliffe, supplies from Domboshawa are being either blocked or confisticated. Supplies from NGOs and churches were stopped almost a month ago now. People are famishing as I write. Yet the ruling party militia are going door to door demanding food from the people for them to eat at the infamous base that they have set up in the township. In Hatcliffe Extension, where the people are poorest and most defenseless, the militia are demanding a bucket of maize-meal per family and amounts of money varying between 5 and 10 billion for their upkeep. The people of Hatcliffe have no option, no recourse, and have to simlpy surrender their hard earned supplies. An operation to bar the people from watching international news via satelite was carried out last week in Hatcliffe, as in other parts of Harare and the country. In some places the satelite dishes and decorders were confisticated. Those who were fortunate were able to dismantle the equipment themselves and hide it. The sheer injustice of this whole campaign is in its target on the poor and defenceless. In the neighbouring well-to-do surbub of Borrowdale, there is none of this molestation. In Hatcliffe they can do absolutely what they want to the people and they get away with it, in broad daylight. But in Borrowdale and its neighbouring well-to-do areas, they would not even dare. The police are always present when the people are being harrassed and all they can do is watch. Apparently the militia are led by members of the national army in civilian clothes and the so called Border Gezi youth. I have been told by police officers, their frustation and indigantion, having been given orders from above not to interfere with the ruling party militia. Those officers who have defied these instructions have either been moved to other posts or simply dismissed. I had to get a police escort on Sunday as I accompanied children of the parish from theirn St Alois celebration. The policeman was more afraid of the militia than I was. A greater threat of violence looms over the people after the runoff election. People have been told who to vote for and the consequences for not doing so. If they go to vote today it is simply because they are afraid and they want to avoid the repression that is sure to follow.

Presidential Runoff

Today the Presidential Runoff is taking place. Leading up to it has been a very difficult time, especially for the poor and most vulnerable people of Zimbabwe. People in the Rural areas and those in the townships have suffered much under state sponsored terror. In Hatcliffe the Zanu PF militia have been ruling supreme for the past month. All trade and commerce is being controlled by the militia. Buses are having to offload people about a kilometre outside the township in order to avoid the "toll" that they are being charged for entering the occupied territories. Street vendors have to pay a fee in order to continue trading and they have to wear Zanu PF campaign regalia in order to be spared harrassment. Most motorists have been cowed into displaying campaign regalia on their cars to be granted passage in some of Harare's occupied territories. Pedestrians have no option but to carry at least some item that identifies them with the ruling party in order to more with some modicum of freedom

Year of St Paul

Parish Letter Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul 2008
The Year of St Paul
This year, Saints Peter and Paul’s Day mark the beginning of the Year of St Paul, which will end on the same feast day next year. Pope Benedict’s intention for this special year is for the Church to celebrate St Paul’s life and to dedicate itself to reflecting, praying and cherishing the outstanding contribution of this great apostle, teacher, preacher, Christian, martyr and saint. St Paul was born Saul at Tarsus in Cilicia between 7 and 10 AD, hence the year-long celebration of the 2000th anniversary of his birth. He came from a Jewish family of the tribe of Benjamin and was a Roman citizen. He was educated in Jerusalem by Gamaliel in the tradition of the Pharisees. As a young man he became a bitter persecutor of the early Christian Church, being actively present at the martyrdom of St Stephen. While on a tour of duty, arresting Christians, he had an encounter with the risen Jesus, at Damascus, which changed his life completely.
The risen Lord opened his mind to the truth of the Christian faith and chose him to be the apostle of the pagans. From then on Saul, who changed his name to Paul, dedicated his life to serving Christ. Fourteen years after his conversion, Paul went to Jerusalem to participate in a council with the other apostles. At this council, partly through the influence of Paul, it was agreed that the Jewish Law was not binding on non-Jewish Christians. He encountered much opposition in this ministry from Jews and Christians with Jewish sympathies. In AD 58 Paul was arrested in Jerusalem and imprisoned at Caesarea Palistinae until AD 60. He was sent to Rome where, after two years, his case was dismissed for want of evidence and he was set free. A subsequent arrest in Rome ended in his martyrdom, probably in AD 67.
What we know about St Paul comes mainly from the Acts of the Apostles and from the Letters associated with him. There are thirteen letters in the New Testament associated with St Paul. Seven of these are considered the genuine writings of the apostle, namely; 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans, and Philemon. Three others were probably written by a disciple of his, and these are; 2 Thessalonians, Colossians, and Ephesians. There are three letters attributed to St Paul, as was common in those days, obviously to make use of his fame, 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. These categories were reached after careful study of the original texts and their message.
Celebrating the Year of St Paul reminds us of his importance as a teacher. In the Letter to the Romans, St Paul tells us what he dedicated his whole life to teach: “The depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counsellor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” (11:33-36).So we begin this Pauline Year with an eager desire to learn the mystery of God at the feet of his great apostle.
On the 25th of January we celebrate the feast of the Conversion of St Paul. The Mass for that day teaches us the importance of St Paul and his ministry in the opening prayer: “God our Father, you taught the Gospel to all the world through the preaching of Paul...” and after Communion, “You filled Paul the Apostle with love for all the churches...” St Paul was committed to giving witness to the love of God. He preached Jesus Christ who demonstrated God’s love. His deep conviction in the love of God is what he offers to us today: “For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 8:38-39).
As a parish community, let us join the universal Catholic Church in honouring St Paul and celebrating his memory during this Pauline Year. Our Archdiocesan Pastoral Plan focuses on the Word of God in this first year of its inception. May the prayer of St Paul to the Church at Philippi be a prayer also for our Church. He continues to pray for us as we celebrate his bi-millennial anniversary: “It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruits of righteousness which come through Jesus Christ, the Glory and praise of God.” (Philippians 1:9-11).Yours in the Most Holy Redeemer