One blessing of living in Fiji is our being in a time zone many hours apart from the U.S. - which means celebrating a holiday a day ahead of our religious brothers and sisters, and friends and family, and then again when you are celebrating. We get a double- so abundant is God’s love and grace.
Deepening our charism of hospitality: We Picpus are known for our welcome and celebrations. Friday night we had a kind of pre-St. Damien dinner with the new dean, Jesuit Fr. Don, Sr. Carmel, RSJ, and Br. Warren, MSC, all lecturers at Pacific Regional Seminary. The teachers were happy to get their grades in and relax. Likewise, we seminarians were grateful that we could complete the term, especially under lockdown. Our teachers had a chance to tell many stories, which gave us the privilege of getting to know them better.
Sunday, we celebrated the Eucharist with two guests, Chris, long-time friend of Fr. Johnathan, and Adi (Lady) Litia, daughter of the paramount chief of Lau and former prime minister and president of Fiji. It was an honor and blessing to share the mass and about the life of St. Damien with them. We remembered St. Damien’s great love for and service to the people with Hansen’s disease at Molokai, and those selflessly serving others in this CoViD pandemic.
Monday, we hosted the Samoan seminarians celebrating the feast of St. Damien and also remembering our beloved philosophy teacher and dean, Fr. Falani Terry, SM on the one month anniversary of his passing. Fr. Marisi, chosen to take the place of Fr. Falani as moderator (mentor) to the Samoan seminarians, planned this event.
Dcn. Penetito Talafaaoti, Jr. preached with enthusiasm and humor. He quoted from Whispers and Vanities, a book on Samoan religion and culture, saying “When we look at you, we see your father”- which Dcn. Penetito related to the gospel of John. We are responsible to live generously the gifts given to us by family and community. Dcn. Penetito also told us there is not an “I” in Samoan culture – only a “we”. A good lesson for us in the West with all our troubles associated with the celebration of the individual and self.
Back at our Picpus House, the Samoan brothers jumped right into preparing food for the cookout. It was a pleasure to relax with them and talanoa (converse and share). They were grateful for some time away from the seminary where they have been in lockdown for the last six weeks.
We are grateful to God for this opportunity to celebrate this extended St. Damien Day with our honored guests.
God bless you all! St. Damien of Molokai, pray for us!
05/16/2020