So this Great Adventure continues….

 

On Friday Benjamin, myself and 5 other boys from the mission (Anthony, Edwin, Moses, Paye, and Eleazir) took off for a retreat…

 

We left the mission and headed to Redlight where we met up with close to 200 of the youth that attend the St. Kizito Catholic Church.  They were not from the mission. They were not from the school, in fact many of them don’t go to school.  Most of them spend their days working in the market or farming…

(the Virginia retreat grounds)

So Sister Marita (honestly one of the most enthusiastic persons i have ever met) called roll and all 150+ of us squeezed onto a single school bus for the trek to Virginia…

Do you remember when you used to ride the school bus? Do you remember when the bus was really, really crowded? You know, like 3 persons to every seat?...We fit 6 to a seat ..and the overflow left seatless (including myself) stood and jammed the isles packed.  But this is Africa haha - and no one complained.  In fact, the whole way there all we did was sing songs of praise …every one was so excited to go on the retreat – almost all of them had never gone on an over night trip.

(some of the kids on the bus)

Now if any of you have every experienced a retreat i’m sure that you are thinking of the tranquility and quiet reflection and peace you felt. This was not that retreat. It was loud - and crazy - full of dancing, singing, and playing.  Well, i guess this is also not like a lot things but oh well the story continues…

On the ride i didn’t know what to expect – All i knew is that they told me we were going to the Virginia retreat house, where the pilgramage (almost all of the Catholics in the greater Monrovia area travel to this place to have a special service and worship in celebration of Jesus’ Mother, Mary, every December 8th …thousands upon thousands of Liberians) takes place and i had that Train song, “Meet Virginia” stuck in my head...

Once we got there and ALL piled off the bus i finally regained the feeling in my legs since the pressure between the isle packed of Liberians and the side of the bus seat cut off the circulation from my hips down…haha you know that tingly - needle feeling? i regained my feeling just in time to notice the ants covering my legs… haha… T.I.A.

So Benjamin, the other boys, and i put our stuff down and walked around the land – It, like the rest of this country, was absolutely beautiful.  The kids were so excited about being there – especially Benjamin.  i honestly thought he was acting like a 16-yr-old who walked out to the driveway to find a car on their birthday.  He was so excited about this chance to be on a retreat with other people and learn about his faith.  i think he was also just excited to go somewhere outside the mission for a change…

 

Anyway the retreat went on…The retreat master led talks and exercises (including one where i had to act like the son of mother worried about my wanting to go out to a club- - all the kids thought the idea of me, a “bana” (white), being the seed of a black woman was hysterical) and we learned about spiritual and societal blindness, the miscommunications and misunderstandings between different people (age- the worried mother skit, race, creed), and how to be followers of a Jesus that came to show us how to love and serve others… the talks were exactly what i was wanting to learn about - and the trip itself was a perfect opportunity to try and learn how to live it…

 

We slept in a corridor that held around 90 boys on approximately 30 beds…the boys from the mission and i decided we would sleep on the floor.  This is the type of experience i was looking forward to – meeting other Liberians, meeting those who weren’t blessed to be on the mission -Meeting those who lived in the market or the huts, and getting the chance to get a look into their lives, personalities, and their lives. It was an experience.  At first i think most of them didn’t know what to think of this “bana”, a lot of them gave me strange looks…its awkward being the minority…so i just tried to be real and myself - attempting to make a funny or deformed face…haha… and that usually did the trick or it at least led to a smile or good laugh…

Many of them didn’t know if i was going to eat Liberian food or eat my own, or if i was going to take a bath with them and like they do – out in the open tossing water from a bucket on your body, or if the white American was really going to sleep on the floor.  i would say most of them were skeptical at best at the beginning… but through the weekend… through the laughs… the awkwardness…the late night dancing in the corridor… the strange looks turned to smiles, handshakes, jokes and hugs.

 

Why is God so good?  Why is He showing me His graces?  Why is He blessing me with His people – Showing me how good it is to be mutually real and vulnerable with someone… how we are all one body…not superior nor inferior, but equal.  We just have to meet each other in the middle. 

 

 

So the retreat was awesome.  Benjamin and the boys were so grateful, and so happy they got the experience – and i have to say i am too. 

 

I left for the retreat just being the crazy “bana” from the mission tagging along with some of the mission kids…I left with a bus packed full of friends, a beautiful experience, and tons of promised shout outs next time i’m in Redlight…

redlight

“…But if a (child) of God would only get to know and taste the love that is divine – that of the uncreated, incarnate, and suffering God, who is the supreme Good – he would give himself totally to him, and take leave not only of himself but of other creatures as well. He would love this loving God so totally that he would transform himself completely into this God-man, the supreme Good, and beloved one. This is why, if a soul wishes to attain this perfection of love – in which it gives itself completely and serves God without the thought of a reward in this world, or even in the next, but gives itself to God and serves him for himself alone, as the one who is totally good and the total good, and worthy to be loved for himself alone – such a soul must enter through the straight path and walk along it with a love that is pure, upright, fervent and ordered.”

-       Blessed Angela of Foligno

 

To (those) whom I love in truth – and not only I but also all who know the truth – because of the truth that dwells in us and will be with us forever. Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ in the Father’s Son in truth and love.

-       2 John 1-3

 

“Only Love can bring the rain, the way the beach is kissed by the sea….

Love Reign O’er Me

Only love can bring the rain that makes to yearn to the sky

Only love can bring the rain that falls like peace from on high

Love Reign O’er Me”

                                    - “Love Reign O’er me” -The Who…i love the Pearl Jam version though

 

For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

                                    - John 3:16

 

For you know the gracious act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that for your sake He became poor although He was rich, so that by His poverty you might become rich.

                                    - 2 Corinthians 8:9

 

“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must renounce himself, take up his cross, and follow me,” says the Lord.

                                    - Matthew 16:24

 

“Following Jesus is simple, but not easy. Love until it hurts, and then Love more.”

                                    - Mother Teresa

 

“Joy is the immediate consequence of a certain fullness of life. For the individual this fullness consists above all in knowledge and Love.”

                                    - St. Thomas

 

i hope everyone Is doing well!  i pray that God can free us from the things that blind us, and liberate us from the deafness of spirit – that we can learn that it is Love that He desires and not empty sacrifices. Pray for love, patience, joy, peace, understanding, compassion and mercy – for us all.

 

Life, Love and Peace

 

Uncle matthew