Confirmations 2022
With Easter comes the beginning (along with the rainy season) of the Sacraments: Baptisms, First Communions, some weddings and Confirmations.
We begin with Confirmation, the sacrament of Christian maturity, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
On Saturday, May 7th the bishop of Bouar arrived here in Baoro. On Sunday he administered Confirmations to about fifty boys and girls, and some adults, and in the following days he will do it in two villages.
On Sunday morning I left Baoro before 7, to go to the most distant villages. Fr Cyriaque, a young Central African priest, came with me. Around 9.30 we were in Igwe, 60 km away. Here I celebrated Mass, where some children and a couple of young people received the two signs of the stages of the catechumenate, in preparation for Baptism: salt and oil.
It is the smallest village, but thanks to the generosity of some friends, we hope to soon be able to build a well for water.
We finished around 1:00pm, and we set off on the road (more like a path). A couple of kilometers from Igwe there is a beautiful place, where rock overhangs off a cliff and where the panorama opens up and you are able to see what seems like 10 kilometers. Around 2 pm we arrived in Bayanga Didi, where we stopped to meet the numerous candidates for Confirmations. Finally, around 6 pm we arrived in Yoro, where the following day there was a Mass with Confirmations.
We spent the night there, and on Monday morning we started early with confessions and the preparation of the liturgy.
At around 8.30 the bishop arrived, together with Father Stefano, parish priest of Baoro, and at around 10.30 we began the very lively celebration!
After the Mass the party began, with dancing and singing. We ate a bite and left for Baoro, where we arrived in the evening.
Tuesday was Bawi's turn, 35km on the Bangui Road. We left a little earlier, for the final preparations and confessions. There were 19 confirmandi (from the villages of Mbormo, Bawi, Barka Bongo and Zoungbe), and the celebration took place outdoors, under the acacias ("the cathedral of acacias", as the bishop calls it!).
Here too much celebration and much joy occured, and we accompanied these new "witnesses of Christ" with prayer.
With Easter comes the beginning (along with the rainy season) of the Sacraments: Baptisms, First Communions, some weddings and Confirmations.
We begin with Confirmation, the sacrament of Christian maturity, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
On Saturday, May 7th the bishop of Bouar arrived here in Baoro. On Sunday he administered Confirmations to about fifty boys and girls, and some adults, and in the following days he will do it in two villages.
On Sunday morning I left Baoro before 7, to go to the most distant villages. Fr Cyriaque, a young Central African priest, came with me. Around 9.30 we were in Igwe, 60 km away. Here I celebrated Mass, where some children and a couple of young people received the two signs of the stages of the catechumenate, in preparation for Baptism: salt and oil.
It is the smallest village, but thanks to the generosity of some friends, we hope to soon be able to build a well for water.
We finished around 1:00pm, and we set off on the road (more like a path). A couple of kilometers from Igwe there is a beautiful place, where rock overhangs off a cliff and where the panorama opens up and you are able to see what seems like 10 kilometers. Around 2 pm we arrived in Bayanga Didi, where we stopped to meet the numerous candidates for Confirmations. Finally, around 6 pm we arrived in Yoro, where the following day there was a Mass with Confirmations.
We spent the night there, and on Monday morning we started early with confessions and the preparation of the liturgy.
At around 8.30 the bishop arrived, together with Father Stefano, parish priest of Baoro, and at around 10.30 we began the very lively celebration!
After the Mass the party began, with dancing and singing. We ate a bite and left for Baoro, where we arrived in the evening.
Tuesday was Bawi's turn, 35km on the Bangui Road. We left a little earlier, for the final preparations and confessions. There were 19 confirmandi (from the villages of Mbormo, Bawi, Barka Bongo and Zoungbe), and the celebration took place outdoors, under the acacias ("the cathedral of acacias", as the bishop calls it!).
Here too much celebration and much joy occured, and we accompanied these new "witnesses of Christ" with prayer.
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| Igwe |
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| Yoro |
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| Bawi |
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