Easter!!

After a trip back to the United States for my brother Nick's wedding, I am finally settled back in here in South Sudan.  The trip was a blast and it was such a humbling experience to be reminded of how blessed I am to have such a large and absolutely amazing group of family and friends.  I thank you all for taking the time to make it such a great memory.  You all rock.

Oh yea, HAPPY EASTER!  The past three days has been the most unique and amazing Easter Triddium experience for me to date.  It is definitely #1 out of 25!  Here's the daily breakdown:

Friday afternoon into evening we had a reenactment of the Way of the Cross that went all throughout the village.  The pre-novices and parishoners did an out of this world job and we had around 500 people (we started with around 30-40) that joined us as we processed throughout Gumbo.  We ended at the church and had a service after that.  What really stood out to me and made it special was that the stations really came to life for me.  After visiting the Holy Land in December and doing the Stations of the Cross there, I was able to visualize and combine the two and really feel like we turned the clock back 2000 years.  As we walked on dirt and not paved roads, as we walked up hills, as people knelt down with their arms and hearts open as we passed by, as the soldiers continued to yell and beat Jesus, as Jesus continued to suffer and pain filled his face, it all felt so real and was really powerful.

Saturday morning we started the day with a penance service.  I was one of the first ones to go and left the church and returned to my room shortly afterwards.  With 6 priests hearing confessions, the service was still almost 3 hours long!  The priests commented that a good number of the parishioners were going to reconciliation for the first time in many years.  What a wonderful sign and reminder of God's love and mercy at work!  At night, we started the outdoor Easter Vigil mass.  We began with a bonfire on the soccer field and had a very short candlelit procession from the field to the front of the church.  I loved that the people were surrounded by darkness, yet were being guided by a small flicker of light in front of them.  The four hour Vigil mass was attended by roughly 1500 people (kinda tough to estimate, but let's just say there was a lot).  We used every light, speaker, and watt of power we had to make it work and it was incredible to see everything come together and all work so well.  We also had 120 children baptized that night in what I called a "drive-thru baptism".  They were in a semi-circle around the church and the priest would say the prayer, and the 6 priests would disperse throughout and perform the correct ritual with water or oil (which, side note, was transported and stored in an empty water bottle from the Chrism mass and administered by putting it on a small cloth...so South Sudan) as the parents would tell the priest the name of the baptized.  120 new members of the Catholic Church in about 45 minutes....not too shabby!  It is inspiring and energizing to see the Church continue to grow!  I hope to have some video soon, but it will take some time.  

Then there was Easter Sunday!  After a needed early morning monsoon, the first of 2 masses finally began, although it was a bit tardy.  I opted to go to the English mass instead of Bari, and Fr. John, an American Maryknoll priest did a fantastic job.  The place was packed and rockin with the Spirit like it only can and always is in Africa as we celebrated the Risen Lord.

It is amazing how God continues to challenge me and help me grow in a number of ways, especially during this Easter time, a time to be made anew.  May He continue to bless you all.