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My dear
Dear friends of Franciscan missions! I’d like to tell you about my impressions of the journey to Mauritius, especially of one special day.
The Mauritius Island is usually associated with leaves, holidays, vacations and leisure. This is true, because you can meet there many tourists and holidaymakers. The holiday conditions are wonderful. However, this costs a lot and not everybody can afford it. For the residents of Mauritius, living at this island paradise is something normal. They aren’t on holidays. Just like everywhere else, they have to work hard to make a living. They are happy when they see the tourists coming to their island because it gives them work.
My trip to Mauritius had an official character. I went there to visit my fellow-brothers who are a little bit isolated from the rest of the province. I went there on 13th October. The flight from Nairobi to Mauritius lasted 4 hours and 15 minutes. We finally landed safely on the island, despite dense clouds. Mauritius is a very small island and the pilot had to pay attention to not to overlook it. Fr. Rene, an almost 80-year-old Frenchman, was waiting for me at the airport. After a half an hour ride we got to the second side of the island where one of our two houses on Mauritius is situated. Our another fellow-brother, Brother Krisnah, a native, had already been waiting for us.
Sunday, 14th October was the special day I had mentioned before. The three of us went to St. Francis parish, to a small town named Pomplemousses. On this day the Secular Franciscan Order (The Third Order Franciscan) from the whole Mauritius Island celebrated its patron feast, St. Francis’ celebrations. I was curious how it would all look like because two of our fellow-brothers (and the island is small, as I have already mentioned) Fr. Rene and Brother Krisnah were involved in the work on the Third Order. Fr. Rene has been working on it for 27 years, since he has come to Mauritius. Brother Krisnah has been helping him for several years. I felt here as if I were at home from the very moment we arrived. Everybody greeted me like an old friend, although we met for the first time. According to the custom, men shake hands while greeting but women should be kissed on both cheeks. I like this custom. I’ve never kissed so many beautiful women and girls.
The number of young people who belong to the Third Order surprised me. There were also many children. Fr. Rene and Brother Krisnah counted on working with whole families. They wanted the whole families to belong to SFO. And they managed to do it and their work bore fruits. The opinion about the Third Order is here different than in other countries of our province, where it is thought that only older people belong to it. On Mauritius it is different and it is very encouraging.
A solemn Mass started at 10 o’clock. Fr. Rene presided at the Mass and I concelebrated it. The Liturgy was prepared very well by the members of the Third Order. The priest only had to celebrate the Holy Mass and preach. A choir consisting of whole families performed beautiful, melodious songs and a teenage band played along. The Holy Mass lasted one and a half hour what is an exception on Mauritius. Here an ordinary Mass doesn’t take longer than an hour. It’s very different in Africa where a solemn Mass should take at least 3 hours.
After the Mass I met two other fellow-brothers from our second house, which is situated on the south side of the island. Fr. Albin, a Pole, and Brother Jules from Madagascar couldn’t join us until they celebrated a Mass in their parish. We were invited for dinner. We ate this meal together with the members of one out of 16 SFO communities which exist on Mauritius. Everything took place on the lawn in front of the church. People had brought everything with them – impressive organization. I’ve forgotten to mention that Sisters from the congregation of Franciscan Missionaries of Mary were also present at this event. Apart from them, there are no other Franciscan congregations on the island.
After the short break for dinner we all went to a nearby botanical garden, one of the biggest and most beautiful gardens in the world. Our guide, Mr Francis talked in a vivid way about the history of this garden and about the different kinds of trees and plants gathered there. He spoke in French, but he said something in English form time to time, so that I also could understand something. Fr. Albin translated the rest for me. We couldn’t see the whole garden because it is very big. As a matter of fact, after an hour of walking everybody was tired, even our guide.
The last part of the programme started at about 15.30. It took place in the parochial room. A huge, three-level cake was carried in. It was a gift for Fr. Rene for his long service for the SFO’s sake. The cake was so huge that everybody could taste it. Later the history and culture of Mauritius was presented by means of traditional dances. This performance was prepared by Franciscan teenagers from different communities. Waltz was the first dance. It showed the arrival of the Europeans. Then we could see a Hindu dance, later a Chinese one and at the end a Black one. In such an order the groups arrived at the island. Black people came here as slaves, cheap labour force at sugar cane plantations. After a scene which described the regaining of independence, a modern dance was performed. At the end we could admire a dance called Sega. It’s the most popular dance in Mauritius because it originates from this island.
After a short prayer everybody started their journey back home. Buses were rented in order to help the people. Only a few leaders stayed there. They made sure that the area around the church and the parochial room was left in perfect order. I have to admit that I was surprised at the excellent organization of this event. Everybody had their part to play and tried to fulfil their duties the best they could. And everything was accompanied by real, Franciscan joy. And shall the joy accompany us all every day, not only during celebrations. God bless!
Sebastian.
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