Photographs in God’s album, East Africa

December 11, 2015

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. The photographs of Pope Francis’ visit to Kenya and Uganda are more than we can ever put in this short article. The day was a rainy one and a day that was more like a pilgrimage. The first photograph was like a sea of umbrellas as we celebrated Eucharist in the open field. It didn’t dampen our spirits at all. We were happy and filled with joy even though wet and walking in the mud was quite a challenge. At Rubagga Cathedral in Uganda and at Namagongo the spirit of joy and anticipation was alive in song and dance in the hearts of all.

The gathering of all religious men and women held almost the same message in both countries. Pope Francis put his prepared notes aside and really came alive and spoke to us from his heart: “keep the Lord as the centre of your lives, resist the sin of indifference and luke–warmness. There is no place for ambition or richness or to be a really important person in the world. When a consecrated person stops praying, their soul becomes shriveled and dry like those dried figs.”

For all of us SNDs we will never forget the Pope’s visit to our countries, to our people, to us. His spirit of deep humility, openness, honesty was so evident in his Christ-like presence. His presence to our brothers and sisters in the Central African Republic touched all of us, especially as he opened the Year of Mercy for our people. The “Photographs in God’s album” far outweigh any that we have captured here and will be seen by all of us in eternity.