We had plenty of good things to celebrate over the last week. February 14th is Valentine’s Day, and we had two birthdays and a name’s day to celebrate on this day. Then, we had another celebration on February 17th which is the Founders’ Day of the Congregation of the Resurrection. Of course, that means that we had ice cream on two different nights at dinner!
The birthdays were celebrated by Emmanuel Ntula, C.R., who is in his 4th year of Theology studies and Brayan Gigo, C.R., who is in his 3rd year of Theology studies. Valentino Chatanda, C.R., who is in his 1st year of Theology studies celebrated his name’s day: St. Valentine.
Here, Brayan, Emmanuel, and Valentino are waiting for people to congratulate them. The papers that are tucked into their habits are the handmade cards that were given to them with a small monetary gift of 20,000 TSH (about $8).
Valentino does not look quite as happy as Brayan and Emmanuel because he just finished writing a 7-page exegetical paper on The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth from the Gospel of Luke. Some unnamed Resurrectionist, who is also the rector, is the teacher in this class! Truthfully, both Valentino and Livinus—who wrote on the Call of Simon in Luke’s Gospel—did terrific work and are budding Scripture scholars!
After they received their cards, everyone greeted them with congratulations and blessings! This is done with a background of songs in Polish, English, and Swahili.
And, of course, for dessert we had ice cream: strawberry ripple and chocolate ripple. Thirty people can eat those two containers very easily, but we always save some for our night watchman, Ibrahim, who greatly appreciates ice cream!
These are great moments of celebration for our men. It gives us a chance to take a moment and to appreciate the gift that each person is in our community. It also gives the person a chance to speak to the community members in thanksgiving.
One noticeable thing is that whenever Petro, our prefect, begins with words of congratulations, he always starts by thanking God and for thanking the parents of the men we are celebrating, asking God’s blessing upon them. The family unit is very strong here, filled with multiple generations and usually many children. I note the respect and care that they have for family members—even extended family members that are difficult for me to understand—in many conversations.
February 17th marked the anniversary of the first time that our Founders gathered to live together in Paris, France in 1836. This is a busy time in our house right now because the semester just ended, and we began a study-week before examinations begin the following two weeks.
However, we made time to mark this important day in our community history. Although we usually follow two different schedules, we all gathered for prayer and Mass together—that is, all the aspirants and the seminarians. Fr. Daniel presided at the Eucharist, and I preached about our charism: its description, how to discern its presence, and its importance in our religious life as Resurrectionists.
After breakfast, the aspirants had a free day, but seminarians were studying and entering into discussion groups. Usually there are no books available for classes. The seminarians take notes, and they study by meeting and discussing in groups what they have learned. They are still a largely oral culture in Tanzania.
After evening prayers, we gathered in the seminarians’ lounge for some refreshments before dinner.
More to come on www.resurrectionists.ca
Share This Post
More To Explore
Dinner & Discernment – March 29
Dinner & Discernment is an invitation to share a meal within our religious community at St. Mary’s in Kitchener.
Vocation News – Come & See!
A thought-provoking Come & See weekend and a new website, we have Vocation News!
3rd Sunday of Lent – March 23, 2025
Calling on the grace of God, we too, like the fig tree, will be given a reprieve; an opportunity to live in love, to bear fruit.