The challenging call of a deacon

Posted on by Vusizwe Motsa

By: Bp José Luis IMC (Bishop of Manzini)

Homily notes at the ordination to the diaconate of K. Dlamini
(St Ignatius of Loyola, Siphofanen)

Livi laba yinyama!

  1. A call

Most of the times, if not every time, the one being ordained chooses as the first reading the one of the prophet Jeremiah or a similar one. It places today’s celebration in the right context: “the one being ordained is answering God’s call”. There is nothing like: “I would like to be a deacon, I would like to be a priest…” During these 8 – 9 years, the Church has journeyed with Khonzumenzi discerning if God had called him.

Khonzumenzi shared with me that the reading is an expression of his confidence in the One who called him. The future is unknown and he naturally wonders: “will I be able to live as per demands of my vocation? Will I execute it according to His will?”The reading assures him protection among challenges, difficulties, pains…

 2. In the body of the Church

As I said, the Church has been discerning if he has been called by God because this is a call in the Church.

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Blessing of solar panels

Posted on by Vusizwe Motsa

By: Bp José Luis IMC (Bishop of Manzini)

At the beginning of the Season of Creation  we gathered at St Theresa’s Clinic thanking God for the gift of the recently installed solar panels
Below is my address and the prayer we shared

Click HERE for photos of the event

“In 2015 Pope Francis wrote an encyclical letter called “Laudato Si” about the care for creation, our common home.

He writes:  

Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last two hundred years. Yet we are called to be instruments of God our Father, so that our planet might be what he desired when he created it and correspond with his plan for peace, beauty and fullness. The problem is that we still lack the culture needed to confront this crisis. We lack leadership capable of striking out on new paths and meeting the needs of the present with concern for all and without prejudice towards coming generations. (53)

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Pope Francis’ donation to Good Shepherd Catholic Hospital

Posted on by Vusizwe Motsa

By: Bp José Luis IMC (Bishop of Manzini)

On 11 August 2021 we gathered at Good Shepherd Catholic Hospital (Siteki) I presented a donation from Pope Francis of COVID19 response equipment

Click HERE for photos of the event 

Good Shepherd Catholic Mission Hospital – board chairperson
Lubombo Regional Health Officer
Good Shepherd Catholic Mission Hospital – CEO
Management team
Priests and deacon
Members of the media

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

We are gathered here today to present and thank Pope Francis’ donation to Good Shepherd Catholic Hospital.

From the very beginning of this pandemic affecting the whole world, Pope Francis took an active role and leadership:

  •  As soon as the first lock-downs were announced in Italy, he suspended all the public prayers and weekly audiences that were being held at St Peter’s square;
  • He called the world to prayer and prayed for the whole world. I still recall a very intense and moving prayer held last year on March 27. Intense and moving because Pope Francis chose to do it at St Peter’s square, like many other times. The difference, though, is that he was there all alone. It was the image of a world experiencing lockdowns but at the same time the image of a shepherd that remains close to the sheep;

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Lone Swaziland bishop says country can’t take painkillers without understanding the pain

Posted on by Vusizwe Motsa

By: Inés San Martín (ROME BUREAU CHIEF)

ROME – As violence continues to grip the small southern Africa nation of Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland and the continent’s last remaining monarchy, the country’s lone Catholic bishop says the challenge isn’t just to stop the bloodshed, but to understand why it’s happening.

“We need to understand how we reached to this point,” Bishop José Luis Gerardo Ponce de León told Crux. “It won’t be possible to move forward without it. It would be like going to the doctor because we are in pain and accepting to live on painkillers, without really knowing where the pain comes from.”

The current round of violence began in late May with the murder of a young law student, speaking protests from thousands of people which, in turn, triggered a harsh government crackdown.

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