Flame On

We held a candlelight procession from the local primary school to the parish last night for the Pentecost vigil. None of the pictures came out clear, but I attempted a ‘snap’ of one of the sisters in the procession and I like the way it turned out.

Since this parish is named in honor of the Holy Spirit, they went all out for their feast day. While the vigil Mass was pretty simple, this morning’s celebration clocked in at 2.5 hours. While the Mass structure is identical to ours in the States (and the world), they really amp up the music here in Africa. The ‘Gloria’ and the ‘Our Father’ are both sung for close to 10 minutes; the offertory—where each section of pews physically gets up and proceeds to the front of the altar to make a donation—can be from 10-15 minutes, accompanied by the liveliest songs and drum beats. You’re an oddball if you’re not swaying or dancing. The announcements at the end of Mass (which dare not exceed 5 minutes lest I lose all patience) can add on another 20-30 minutes. One last detail: you must be prepared to break out into spontaneous song at the command of the homilist.

The people here truly come to worship God and all the blessings He pours out on them. Sometimes the teens come up to me and ask about all our technology and gadgets readily available in America, but whereas they may only see their lack of appliances, I perceive a great richness of Spirit in this country. While our comforts and scientific advances are good and certainly commendable, we risk spiritual asphyxia living in a world of constant clutter and deafening news flooding in every second of every day. These Sierra Leoneans have a balance in their exteriority and interiority, an equilibrium of the work that must be done and the attention that must be paid to our souls. As St. Augustine cautioned, we often go “outside” to find that which will satisfy our souls—we must “go back inside yourself, for Truth dwells in the inner man.”

May we all move back to our real centers, that Spirit that moves our spirits. May well all find that inner truth that is only met in the person of Jesus Christ.

-Bob
written 06/12/11