Diocese of Manzini News Archives - Catholic Diocese of Manzini

Journeying together during the coronavirus

Posted on March 30, 2020 by Bishop Jose Luis

By Fr Francis Onyango IMC

For many of us church has been like our second home, a place where we visit for solace when times are hard, a place where we feel free and comfortable to spend time and interact with fellow Christians and sometimes even after service we enjoy to hang around bonding with each other as we nurture our family spirit.

Sunday for many years has been our day of obligation, a day set apart for the worship of God and we naturally wake up geared for church. Then Corona virus came along and our church services were suspended; government placed restriction on gatherings and travels and God’s people were left unsure of what to do. Breaking a long held tradition isn’t always easy and this was one such tradition; waking up on a Sunday morning without a clue of what to do or where to go or how to spend the day was the most boring thing to happen on a Sunday.

Continue reading “Journeying together during the coronavirus” →

“We have realized that we are on the same boat”

Posted on March 29, 2020March 29, 2020 by Bishop Jose Luis

Pope Francis meditated on the calming of the storm from the Gospel of Mark during the prayer service over which he presided on the steps of St Peter’s Basilica on Friday evening. Here is the full text. (www.vaticannews.va)

“When evening had come” (Mk 4:35). The Gospel passage we have just heard begins like this. For weeks now it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over our squares, our streets and our cities; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void, that stops everything as it passes by; we feel it in the air, we notice in people’s gestures, their glances give them away. We find ourselves afraid and lost. Like the disciples in the Gospel we were caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm. We have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other. On this boat… are all of us. Just like those disciples, who spoke anxiously with one voice, saying “We are perishing” (v. 38), so we too have realized that we cannot go on thinking of ourselves, but only together can we do this. Continue reading ““We have realized that we are on the same boat”” →

A call to prudence not a sign of faithlessness

Posted on March 23, 2020March 23, 2020 by Neliswa Mdluli

by Fr Ncamiso Vilakati

In my past three years here in Rome, never have I seen a quiet, serene eternal city before. Staying right at the heart of the city, habitually until 4am, there is movement of people. When all of a sudden there is unobtrusive and withdrawn noise that itself seems so foreign to me. The Covid-19 pandemic (coronavirus), has brought to a standstill the once glorious Rome. How sad it is when we see from television how subdued Rome has become not withstanding my other beloved city Milan. Continue reading “A call to prudence not a sign of faithlessness” →

Holy Mass on our social media

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Diocese of Manzini

As we go through the coronavirus pandemic, the diocese of Manzini will be offering different digital services in order to help everyone spiritually.

One of them is the Sunday celebration of Mass. On this fourth Sunday of Lent, Bishop José Luis IMC presided Mass at Little Flower chapel. Members of the sodality of St Cecilia joined him and led the hymns.

The Mass was pre-recorded due to the uncertainly of having a proper internet connection for a live streaming. Continue reading “Holy Mass on our social media” →