think they were all there. The church was as tight as an egg. I had sent word that I was going to them to celebrate the
Eucharist: it had been more than a year since the last time.
They’d agreed to meet at the crossing of the main road, as a surprise
to me, but I spoiled it for them. I
got there first, by bicycle, as Masongbo was only a few miles away.
They had cleaned the little church, put flowers, everywhere. These were expressions of their joy and of their faith.
And
how proud they were, “Father, we didn’t let a single Sunday go by without
our prayer service.”
“How did you do it – I asked – when the rebels were after you?”
“We ran toward the forest and sought refuge in other villages.
And there we held our prayer meeting.
And since we were able to stay there for more than three months we asked
the village chiefs if we could put up a small sticks-and-straw chapel for
ourselves. That’s how there arose three little chapels in three
different villages, sprung just like mushrooms which pop up after a storm.
We used to gather here for morning and night prayers, and on Sundays. Here we prayed and talked about our problems. Our little chapels were centers of prayer and of listening to one another. The people of the villages were impressed with our way of praying and of our efforts to help one another in those moments so difficult for us.
When it was time for us to leave, many villagers came to tell us that they too wanted to become Christians like us. They were so happy to have received the gift of a little chapel in their village. Now it’s their little chapel, and they are so proud of it. Morning and night and on Sundays they continue to get together for their prayer service.
We
have chosen three from our midst to be their catechists.
These go there every weekend, to teach them how to pray.
And then they talk about and face their daily problems in the village.”
In silence I was listening. This
was a live page taken right out of the Acts of the Apostles.
That’s how it had first happened in Jerusalem: “‘Persecuting
rebels’ had arrived in their midst, and the Christians had to run away and,
while they were being scattered, they went about sowing the Word of God…”
“in the meantime the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word…”
(Mark 16:20).
The Lord worked through the scattered people of Masongbo. The sign of the presence of the Lord in their midst is there, clear: it was and is their joy of spreading the Word of God… It is true, our faith is relished and is joyful when we spread it!
This is the case of Masongbo, but later I came to know that the same had happened elsewhere also, in Kamabai, in Makarie, in Petebana,… That’s how new Christian communities have been born, founded by our Christians-on-the-run. The Lord is indeed still at work, and has not tired of Sierra Leone. And, if the Lord is in our midst our happiness must be visible, notwithstanding that they have destroyed almost all the buildings of the mission. True, we have lost some structures, but we have gained more Christians… and so we go forward!
(From Xaverian Mission Newsletter)