Mission Sunday at Holy Spirit

In my 51 years as a priest, excluding Christmas and Easter Masses, I have never experienced a liturgy in which at 6:00 am on each and every school day 1,000 high school girls in full Catholic school uniform sing the opening hymn with enthusiastic voices accompanied only by one high school girl in the choir loft striking a well-worn drum.  I tell you looking out from the altar at these Tanzanian girls was a mystical moment of prayerfulness and joy.

We were indeed on holy ground.  Father Damian Milliken, a Benedictine priest from Elmira, New York, was presiding at the Mass.  Father Damian is a priest in his 80’s and has ministered in the last 50 years of his priesthood serving the poorest of the poor in Tanzania, East Africa.  The genuine love and respect that Father Damian enjoys with these young Tanzanians and their families and all who live in the area around Mazinde Ju is so Christ-like and uplifting. 

Equally impressive is a religious community of consecrated women who are such an important part of the teaching faculty.  These are the religious sisters of Usambara.  Dressed in their full habit, these sisters number 500 in Tanzania.  These sisters know in their DNA the joy of the Lord.

Last October six parishioners from St. Joseph’s parish made this pilgrimage to Tanzania arriving in the Mount Kilimanjaro International Airport warmly greeted by Father Damian.  As a side bar, we didn’t have time to hike up Mt Kilimanjaro but that mountain sure is impressive.   We visited and became part of the community of St. Mary’s School in Mazinde Ju located on the side of a mountain in one of the poorest regions of Tanzania.  This was such a precious God moment for the six of us.  We were privileged to enter the world of Father Damian and the sisters of Usambara and these high school girls who are so very, very grateful for this educational experience that gives them the opportunity to go on to a university and have job opportunities which otherwise these students simply would not have.   For these students come from very poor families.
 
In a culture that is so different from what I am used to, to be immediately accepted and embraced and loved truly is an experience of a lifetime.

To describe St Mary’s School is a bit of a challenge.  It is a residential school where these students live during the academic year and are able to get three healthy meals each day.  The dormitories these students live in are filled with bunk beds.  Each girl has a tiny cubicle which houses all her worldly possessions including all her clothing.  I have a beautiful niece for whom to put all her clothes in this tiny cubicle would simply be impossible. 

These beloved daughters of God have no sense of entitlement by which they expect people to take care of them.  They are so grateful for every opportunity in life that is given to them.  They are not saddened by the effects of the poverty of the country; they are joy-filled in the opportunity that is given to them as students in this quality academic setting that is filled with so much love and so much spirituality.

Why do I tell you all this?  This weekend is our parish’s annual Propagation of the Faith Mission Appeal in which we are asked to spiritually and financially a mission component of the world-wide Catholic Church.   In previous years in this annual Propagation of the Faith Mission appeal, Father Damian has spoken in parishes in our diocese; last year Sister Evetha, a religious sister of Usambara and the principal/head mistress of the school preached the mission homily.  This year, Father Damian asked me to preach in order to save the money that would have cost for him to make the trip.

For the last three years, I have personally contributed $1,000 which provides a scholarship for a student for a whole year.   I gladly make this $1,000 contribution each year.  I had the profound privilege of spending some time with this young Tanzanian girl I have sponsoring for the last three years.  I tell you I had to tell myself: “Be still my heart.” when I realized the opportunity I was giving this daughter of God in my prayer and in my tithing commitment.  In all truth, l cannot think of a better use of this money.  The second collection today goes in support of this Tanzanian ministry.  I have talked about St. Mary’s School, our contributions also go to support another nearby high school for schools founded by Father Damian and headed by Sister Christa, another Sister of Usambara. 
 
Father Damian has also founded St Benedict’s parish with an elementary school connected to it. 

If you wish to take another step beyond the second collection, I or any of the parishioners of St. Joe’s who are with us today, would gladly talk to you about the possibility of you making this pilgrimage to Tanzania and/or providing scholarship money for a student.
Lest you think that I have forgotten about the feast that we celebrate today, I think our support of this Tanzanian ministry has everything to do with the beautiful feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, the feast of Corpus Christi.

In reflecting on this Eucharistic Feast, we are celebrating the central prayer of our faith tradition.  We are a part of a tradition that is nearly 2,000 years old.  At the Table of the Lord, we feed and nourish the deepest hungers of the human heart.

As a Eucharistic community, we gather with an attitude of gratitude.  We gather to give thanks to the Lord our God.  As we are fed and nourished at the Eucharistic altar, we seek the grace to live as Jesus lives, to love as Jesus loves, to forgive as Jesus forgives us.
We continue our Eucharistic prayer with our parish’s strong commitment to Eucharistic adoration.  Our prayer is the silent journey of the heart to be in the presence of our God.
While the Mass is our greatest prayer, it is what we do outside the Mass that also determines the genuineness of the offering we make at the altar each Sunday.  By our mutual love for one another, by our concern for those in need, we will be recognized as the followers of Jesus.

Thus our missionary support of the educational and spiritual needs of these young Tanzanians goes to the heart of our Eucharistic prayer.  Again, I urge your generosity in today’s second collection.