The beauty
and the scaring
Sunday, September 3rd
(this is the scaring part) a group
of Seleka rebels were present in Ndim area, a village 160 km from Bozoum. The
region has been under tension for months, and rebel groups go, come and stay,
controlling the border with Cameroon and Chad. They carry on their everyday life
trough theft, looting, violence, and "taxing" the few merchants taking
courage to go to supply cities and country sides with basic essentials. On
Sunday they came to Ndim, and they took the mayor, a very smart woman, and the
parish priest, the polish capuchin Father Robert. The Father was insulted
because he defended people and denounced what is going on in that area. He was
also beaten and brutally tortured. The people took courage managing to obtain
his freedom.
It is very worrying what happened,
because they were clearly intent on scaring and silencing the few people who
denounce criminals. They scare not only them, but also everyone who, by
incompetence and lack of real good will, keep silent, such as the Government
and the UN Peace Keepers.
The beauty part ... is the
last work done in church: the two pillars supporting the Tabernacle and the
statue of Saint Michael, the Church's Saint Patron, needed to be restored. I
had planned to make a wooden sculpture, but the artist, after receiving a down payment,
disappeared! So we changed the idea switching into a painting instead. The
artist is the same who last year painted the Apostles and all the decorations. The
artistic work is just finished: are very simple decorations, but looking
brilliant because of the bright colors. And above all, they draw attention to
the Tabernacle, where there is the Eucharistic Presence of Jesus. And St.
Michael too catches the attention: four angels look like flying around
cheerfully.
It is important, especially when the scary moments seem to prevail, bring
and create Beauty, which, by the
way, is one of God's names.
P.S.: Last Sunday's chicken, the one
that travelled 50km, is fine. As for now!
No comments:
Post a Comment