Pray for the Pope and the Church

The Father had a pretty intense schedule these last eight days. He spent most of his time with his children, their families and their friends who receive means of formation in centres of Opus Dei.

24/12/2019

The Lumala family were among those at Entebbe airport seeing off the Father

On the last day of his pastoral visit to East Africa, the Father preached and celebrated Holy Mass for the ladies in the early morning, took part in a large get-together with ladies mid-morning, met with a large group of families in the late morning, took part in a small get-together with ladies after lunch, hosted the Archbishop of Kampala in the late afternoon, before a final get-together with a large group of men in the early evening.

In this last get-together, he repeated once again his plea that we pray a lot for the Holy Father and for the Church. He also had a chance to answer a number of questions on social media, on family planning, on corruption, on apostolate with priests and so on. A common thread in many of his answers were the words and advice of St. Josemaria himself: prayer as our first means, and the apostolate of friendship and confidence.

Maurice asks for pointers on how to fulfill the acts of piety better

To the medical doctor - Andrew - who queried on how to convince his friends about Natural Family Planning, he suggested beginning by communicating to others the greatness of transmitting human life and of human life itself. That a child is more important than a car or a house... To be generous, to be open to life... and our Lord rewards this with joy in the family.

To Martin, the father of five and a businessman, querying on how to make more time for his family, the Father pointed out that people are more important than things. Therefore, we need to dedicate to our work the time that is necessary and no more. Sometimes we may feel tempted to work for longer for other motives (for pride or vanity) or just because we like our work, and this is something normal. But we cannot dedicate time only to things that we like in such a way as to make our family suffer. It could also happen that dedicating the right time to our family demands taking up an occupation that is less brilliant but that allows us more time with our family.

To Augustine, a retired civil servant, who asked for tips on apostolate with parish priests, the Father reminded him that our first apostolate is with our work colleagues and our family..., and afterwards, when one gets to know the priests of the parish where they go, or other priests, we have to do apostolate with them as with everyone else. But the apostolate with priests will also depend on who the priest is, what kind of relation we have with him... A very concrete thing that will help the priest is to let him to know the writings of St. Josemaria, also getting to know how they are faring.

After the get-together, the Father had a chance to plant a commemorative tree in lawns.

At the airport, there again were quite a number of families to receive him and wish him a safe journey back to Rome.

Thank you Father! For visiting and for all you shared with us!