Faces of The World

On going a spiritual tour

Last month, I was asked by one of my friends, an ex-would be catholic priest to accompany him to visit several villages in my regency during the Easter week or the Passion Week. My friend, who finally resigned from the Franciscan order, told me that our tour was somewhat spiritual because he was asked by the local parish father to help the parish as a deacon to lead a “mass” in several villages as scheduled by the parish.
The tour for me was a kind of new experience coz I had never had a chance to visit a village to do so. When we arrived at the first village, people greeted us warmly and told us they were waiting for us but they were not ready yet with the mass. They did not appoint the men for the reading, songs and etc. A friend of mine who knew better about catholic songs coz he was of course a not would be priest. He taught the women and the children to sing some songs and the reading as well.
Coming to the village was a struggle for us since the roads (if it can be called) are broken. If that night rained, we would cry to go home because of the road.
My friend on the previous day had asked me to prepare the topic for his sermon on the mass. He told me to find some inspiration on the theme “resurrection”
I finally found the inspirations on the theme and told my friend that the core message was how to get rid of our bad behaviors. Jesus’ resurrection must give us strength to revive and start improving our life.

In every village we visited, we saw the lack of catholic ministry in remote areas. Most villages don’t often hold Sunday Mass. My friend and I felt pity for such situation.