(video below)
Like every year, the communities of the Vicariate of Ingwavuma gathered at Ingwavuma to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows.
This time we were blessed by the presence of Bishop Xolelo Kumalo, bishop of the neighbouring diocese of Eshowe. He was the main celebrant and preacher. He took us on a journey through different biblical texts helping us to know and love Our Lady more and more and to follow her example in our daily lives.
Our gathering starts at about 9.00 in the morning with the celebration of the sacrament of reconciliation. This year, it was Fr Phoseka's turn to help us with a short reflection before all the priests and bishop make themselves available to celebrate the sacrament.
By midday we started the celebration of the Mass which finished four hours' later. The "intercesions" are a very special moment. People bring to the altar their needs and thanksgiving and put them in a box on which we all pray.
People pray to get a job which is probably the basic need today in a country where many people never got a job and where many might never get it. They pray for health, for unity in their families. Children pray for their parents and grandparents (many lost their parents to HIV), to pass in their exams (especially those finishing high school and writing the matric exams soon). Likewise grandparents and parents pray for their children, for a better future for them and for those who do not listen, do not go to Church, struggling with drugs and alcohol... Some, young and old, pray for wisdom in life. Others for a child, to get married, to find the right loving person with whom to build a family. Some pray for the children who left home years' ago and never came back... It is the daily life which is presented to the Lord in prayer. Some prayers are short, just a couple of lines. Others a full page, a letter to God. It is the cry of those who know that God is father of the orphans and widows... (Ps 68,6)
Then, for the first time this year, we had a "special collection". We would like to make our pilgrimage place special, building a new altar, a place for the image of our Lady, for the Holy Water (which is never enough at our gatherings)...
The Mission of Hlabisa (see video) brought a cheque for R40.000 and the rest of the people present contributed with another R25.000. It is a great beginning and a beautiful sign of our commitment to build together.
