The Consolata Feast 2018

Icon of Our Lady Consolata

by Nokuphila Mlangeni

MARIA CONSOLATA PRAY FOR US.

Saints Peter and Paul Parish on Sunday of 24th June 2018 celebrated the Consolata Feast. This parish was commissioned in January 2017 by His Lordship the Rt. Rev Bishop Jose Luis Ponce de Leon I.M.C and entrusted to the Consolata Missionaries hence the celebration of the feast.

Consolata Missionaries were founded on the 29th of January 1901 by Blessed Joseph Allamano, a diocesan priest, teacher and devotee to Our Lady Consolata, Mother of Jesus and of His Church. Through our Mother Mary we receive Jesus, the true consolation of humanity. That is what the Consolata Feast is all about, celebrating Mary Consolata and it was indeed a day to remember. The Consolata Missionaries are present in four continents; Europe, Asia, Americas and Africa.

Front of the church with flags representing the different counties where Consolata Missionaries are present.

 

From the music to the preaching and sketches, everything was spectacular. Before I get all excited, let me tell you how my 24th of June was spent. It all began with a procession around Mbuleni which was led by the Salesian Band. As we hopped from one point to another excitement and joy was all that surrounded us. We had four stations along the way, although our system had technical difficulties here and there, there were beautiful poems accompanied by a short prayer before the band took us to the next station.


Scenes during the procession around Kwaluseni community.

After our last station, it was now time for Mass. The choir led us into the spirit of Mass with a beautiful song as the entrance procession began. The Sunday school did the procession of the word. This was no ordinary Mass. Although all the readings were done the ordinary way, the gospel was acted out by the youth instead of being read. This brought emotion and visualisation of the story as it played out in front of us. With the inspiring preaching by Rev. Fr. Francis Onyango, I could see the spiritual upliftment in the eyes of the congregation. We later had the Sunday school collect offertory and lead the procession.

Before Mass ended, we had our youth act out a play about Jesus commissioning His disciples to go out and spread His word. In this play we saw Blessed Joseph Allamano sending the first group of missionaries to Kenya. The play portrayed the life of a young boy who wanted to join the missionaries, but his family refused. It gave us a glimpse of the reality that not every family happily gives away their sons and daughters to the religious vocation. It also taught us that the work is a lot, yet the servants are few. Although we pray to God for more servants, when it is time to let go of earthly things we hesitate or even refuse to heed to God’s call. We then had a collection for the Consolata Missionaries led by the Parish secretary.

Mass ended so it was time to have our refreshments. Although it was a long day, it was worth the smiles and memory from both the parishioners and our guests from other parishes.

We would like to thank all those who made the celebration a success. Ranging from those who took their time to clean and decorate the church, making it look beautiful for the day, those who were involved in the preparations of the liturgy and those who made sure that food was there for everyone.