What Does Consecration of Africa to the Divine Mercy Mean?

Another Article Published by Radio Vatican with guidance from my mentor and teacher Fr. Paul Samasumo.
Below is the link:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/09/14/what_does_consecration_of_africa_to_the_divine_mercy_mean/1258131

Article in full:

The Pan African Congress on Divine Mercy has closed Wednesday in the Rwandese town of Kabuga at the Shrine of Divine Mercy with a Mass presided over by the Special Envoy of Pope Francis to the Congress, Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya. The Triumph of the Cross Mass concluded with a solemn act of consecration of the African continent to the Divine Mercy. Radio Vatican’s Africa Service examines what this act of consecration means for Africa, its people and the world as a whole? Why did the organisers find it fitting to consecrate Africa in Rwanda?

Rwanda is evidently the country with fresh memories of human destruction through the genocide of 1994. Having a consecration in Rwanda, a country with the sad tale of genocide sends a clear message and is a call for the recruitment of the values of the mercy which the Church is celebrating during this Jubilee Year.

The Church differentiates consecration from a blessing. Consecration is more than a blessing. Consecration raises persons or things to a permanent state. So the consecration which took place Wednesday in Africa is more than a blessing of the continent.

Africa through this act of consecration is pledging not to be used as a ground for hate. There will be no more hate speech; there will be an end to conflict, violence and wars for which the continent has had more than its fair share. Africa wishes from this point forward to become the ground for forgiveness, respect and love. With this consecration, Africa seeks to become a home of the mercy of God. Africa has to proclaim the mercy of God forever. It has been chosen, separated, sanctified and now devoted to the Divine Mercy. In this way, the Church and indeed all the people of Africa are called to preach mercy to one another and to live mercy in their daily lives.

Post-colonial Africa continues to grapple with issues of conflict, forgiveness and reconciliation. Sometimes we look at the Rwandan genocide and think that what happened there can never happen again. The truth is that we still see countries in Africa struggling with tribal, regional and political conflict (yes, sometimes of low intensity but real nonetheless).  Unscrupulous African politicians, in particular, continue to divide God’s people on the basis of region and tribe. It is these kinds of divisions that become the seeds of terrible future atrocities.

The African Congress, through this act consecration of Africa to the Divine Mercy, is thus sending a pastoral message and testimony to the nations of Africa: The Church knows the horrors of Africa and this act speaks volumes about that knowledge. It is saying Africa belongs to God and therefore we consecrate it to God, and it must be regarded a land of mercy; a land where people can live together in peace and freedom.

Under the continental Apostolic Congress’ theme, “Divine Mercy source of hope for the new evangelisation in Africa,” the Church is at the forefront in encouraging forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. This is the same message that the Second African Synod tried to foster in 2009 when the African Church pledged to be at the service of reconciliation.

Africa has new direction now. Africa must help its people come to terms with the message of this Jubilee Year of Mercy declared by Pope Francis. As Father Stanislas Filipek, the coordinator said in Rwanda recently, ‘God can fix it all. He can transform evil into good.’ God can transform our continent and change our hearts of stone, but we must be willing and cooperate with Him. This is what the story of God’s coming into our wounded nature and history is all about:  It's all about God fixing what is broken; it is all about God transforming evil into good.  At the moment of profound hopelessness, when we the people of Africa are afflicted with tragedy, with tribulation after tribulation, in that situation and in this moment we see God revealing Himself as a merciful Father through Jesus.

Africa must see God in this consecration. He was and is still intervening when everything seems lost and ruined. Let us give Him chance, and that chance starts with everyone in Africa. It starts with you: In your parish, in your family, embrace people who are different from you. Those who are from a different tribe or region are your brother and your sister. 

By Fr. Brian Nonde, CMM – Vatican Radio correspondent

Mother Teresa’s Call to Mercy Coming to Africa

Also published on Vatican Radio Website:
SOURCE: http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2016/09/03/mother_teresa’s_call_to_mercy_coming_to_africa/1255572

A Call to Mercy is a book that has been published to coincide with Pope Francis’ Jubilee Year of Mercy and in particular with the canonization of Mother Teresa. It is compiled and edited by Father Brian Kolodiejchuk MC, the postulator of Mother Teresa’s cause for sainthood.

“A call to Mercy, hearts to love, hands to serve, is Mother Teresa living and speaking the fourteen works of mercy,” said Fr. Kolodiejchuk recently in an interview with Vatican Radio’s English Africa Service. Speaking from his base in Rome, Fr. Kolodiejchuk said the book features for the first time testimonies of eye witnesses of Mother Teresa.  

‘A Call to Mercy’ is written and tailored after the fourteen works of mercy. It discusses topics such as the need for us to clothe the naked and shelter the homeless; the need to counsel the doubtful; to instruct the ignorant of faith and admonish sinners; the need to visit the sick and imprisoned; the importance of honouring the dead; bearing each other’s wrongs with patience and the willingness to forgive. It also addresses the urgent need to feed the hungry, pray for the world and the importance of creating a world of love through service in the simple words of Mother Teresa herself. This excellent book containing the teachings of the saint whose ideas are valuable, relevant, and necessary for our time will be translated into many languages and also made available for an African readership said Fr. Kolodiejchuk. “Mother Teresa is not just a saint to admire but also to imitate,” he added, “as she would say, do small things with great love, ordinary things with extraordinary love.”
Moving examples of how Mother Teresa lived and indeed how a Catholic can live this Jubilee Year of Mercy are summarised in ‘A Call to Mercy.’ This is a book to read again and again. It is a legacy of what a small woman in physical stature did with the grace of God. Asked what an African can learn from Mother Teresa, Fr. Kolodiejchuk said, “the first thing is the vision of faith…” Mother Teresa lived her ordinary life by faith; we too must do the same, every day, not just on Sunday when we go to Mass but during the week he emphasised.  Second, “Relating everything to Jesus, give whatever he gives, take whatever he takes with a smile, doing those simple ordinary things with love.” And third, instead of looking at ourselves or one another as problems we should like Mother Teresa change and begin to look at ourselves as gifts: “Not a problem, not a difficulty but a gift,” Fr. Kolodiejchuk said in the interview.

Fr. Kolodiejchuk expressed sentiments of gratitude to God for the joy that he and all the Missionaries of Charity across the globe are sharing with millions of people from all walks of life for Mother Teresa’s canonization. (Fr. Brian Nonde CMM, Vatican Radio correspondent)

Memorable Radio Programs on Mother Teresa

INTENSE SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE: 2 Radio Programs.
This is a rare opportunity, and it will remain so.
Stories of love, discussions and interviews with different people in this Jubilee Year of Mercy have not been as moving as these moments with Mother Teresa .
Last week, I was in the box with a script of Mother Teresa in my hands, it was a rare opportunity of intense spiritual connection with the essence of who we are. This woman was ordinary and simple for what we want to comp...licate. She lived as natural as we are suppose to be. We long too much for the supernatural, the extraordinary, the unlimited and yet forget that we humans. Mother Teresa lived her humanity to the full. Her human life reminds us that we have feelings, we are not robots! WE HAVE FEELINGS, WE ARE NOT ROBOTS OR MACHINES! We know that suffering is bad and we should not wish it for others nor even avoid responding when we see it in others.
This week on Sunday, on the actual day of her canonization, will be blessed with the presence of Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk on Jubilee Year of Mercy. Fr. Kolodiejchuk is the postulator and editor of the book: "A Call to Mercy", which relates, with true testimonies, the fourteen works of mercy to Mother Teresa.