One of the primary focuses from the beginning at the Lake House of Prayer is to give the poor access to the contemplative life of the church. I am very thankful that the poor have responded so well to our invitation to enter into this rich tradition of silence, reflection and action.

This past Saturday we had 26 of our neighbors come to join us for a day’s of silent meditation(we actually had to turn some people away because of the limited physical space we have). The day was mixture of silent sitting, contemplation of nature, taking naps after a big lunch of rice and beans, short teachings on contemplation with a Eucharist at the end.

When preparing to start Mass we discovered that our Bishop Yudea Thadea had just arrived. I asked him to speak with the retreatants for a few minutes, which he gladly did. He encouraged them to take advantage of the ‘faragha’ (solitude) of our place and encouraged them to live a life of prayer and reflection.

In the beatitudes Jesus speaks of, “Blessed are the poor in Spirit”; the biblical word he uses is ‘anuwin’ which are economically very poor people excluded from participating in society but because of their deep poverty know they can and must depend on God, for everything.

As Judy and I sat in silence with these modern day ‘anuwins’ we were inspirited and humbled by their silence, faith and humility. Their silence was profound, their faith palpable, their humility deep, deep as the African soil.

Yesterday evening we hosted our first get together for meditation and conversation. Our guests were six Maryknoll Missioners living in Mwanza. We spent the first hour in the ‘Cave’ in silent meditation afterward we went up to the ‘Rock House’ (our new house) for snacks and conversation.

We used a short email article from Richard Rohr on Contemplation to spark discussion on Contemplation and how it touches us as missioners in a ‘strange’ land.

One of the biggest challenges we have as missioners in Tanzania is to receive, as much as possible, the Reality of Life here, as it is, and not as our ingrained ‘mental filters interpret’. Putting aside culturally conditioned ways of encountering Reality is a challenge and a gift of being a Missioner. The Gift being living into God’s Reality here in Africa as IT IS. The Challenge being letting go of our ‘mental filters’ that keep us ‘comfortable’ and yet separated from the REAL.

My last post was almost two weeks ago, not my usual pattern so let me try to catch up on the goings and comings.

8 Day Directed Retreat: As I posted last we had three women with us from another part of Tanzania. It was our first opportunity to have a full house in the Yellow House (the women’s house that Judy lives in). We are blessed we their presence and were thankful their time with us was beneficial.

English Meditation Retreat: We had five people with us a mixture of Tanzanians and Expatriates, a few of them experiencing Christian Contemplative Meditation for the first time. Judy and I shared in the guiding of the day. Again we felt the blessing of people of faith sitting together in the silence.

Group Retreat with Lay Leaders of Mwanza Diocese: We played host to 25 leaders from various parishes of the Diocese we represented different pastoral groups. I gave three talks on the contemplative life as we spent the rest of the day in silence. The leaders were open to this, to them, new teaching on the inner life of faith.

Overnight private retreats, a day Meditation retreat and a group retreat, much to learn from and be thankful  for.

We have three women who are into their last days of an 8 Day Directed Retreat. They are staying in the ‘Yellow House’ for women (the other house is the ‘Rock House’). One sees by their openness to the Silence and Solitude how healing and wholeness takes place. It doesn’t take much. Isn’t that the point?

Yesterday we hosted five women from a Religious Sisters Congregation (Canossians). Of the five four are just beginning their life as vowed women in the church. The other was a professed sister from Hong Kong. They were quite a mixture of groups from Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania and China.

They expressed their delight at leaving the noise and busy-ness of the city to come and rest a short while at the House of Prayer. This is our hope to provide the space for people to rest, physically, mentally and spiritually.

At a large meeting of all the pastoral workers in our diocese the Bishop led a discussion on our current drought and the implications for our work as church people. The bishop suggested that the drought is being caused by our destruction of the environment. This set off a lively discussion.

It was mentioned the custom of paying ‘rainmakers’ money to make it rain which is a strong custom in the local tribe who are mainly farmers. Others suggested that the church should have a special mass to pray for rain. One member said that would be the same as the ‘rainmakers’. Another said even if it rained after our praying for rain mass it would still take two months at least to harvest any food which will not help people who are already dying and will continue to die as we wait for the harvest.

How ought the Lake House of Prayer respond to this crisis that is growing in seriousness by the week? Should we  have a week of prayer for rain? After all we are a House of Prayer and isn’t that what a House of Prayer does, pray for different needs?

Of course we pray for the needs of our community and world. We also open our hearts and minds in the Silence to receive God’s Transformative Love. It is this Love we believe that can change destructive ways of living on this planet. A Silent Reverent attitude toward ourselves, God and our planet can gift us with the patience to persevere through drought and the creative energy to form a new way of living that restores our earth to its original function, a wondrous home for human beings.

It is always striking to me at New Year’s with the people here how New Years is not so much a time to party and make resolutions (although that is done) as much as it is a moment to thank God that I’m still here alive and kicking.

Many relatives and friends have died, many before their time during this past year (the average life expectancy in Tanzania is 49yrs.). Many have had struggles with their health supported by a poor health care system. Many now a days eat just one meal a day, some miss even that. Many are living on the edge of life and death.

So  people after Mass come up to greet you with deep heartfelt thanks that they’ve entered another New Year. No small task when you are poor and living on the edge of society with no safety net.

In the original Vision for the Lake House of Prayer is the desire, the hope to share the Contemplative Life of the Church with the poor, with ordinary people who normally do not have access to this kind of teaching.

I’m pleased to say this desire, this hope is being realized in our Christian Meditation sessions in the early morning (6:30am) and evening gatherings. The response has been very positive in which we have now a regular morning Meditation group of 10 to 15 with the same amount coming in the evening. We are also hosting small groups of 30 for half-day Silent retreats of which the response has been very good.

How is this coming about? Many people don’t see the poor as contemplatives, their lives are full of brutish noise and violence. How is it possible for them to sit in Silence for 30 minutes?! They can’t, many say. Well, we are discovering a depth of primal Silence that compares with any Contemplative Tradition in the world.

We are discovering that these village people who are being urbanized  in the frenzy of our large metropolis of Mwanza bring with them a deep and abiding primal Stillness-Silence that comes to the surface when invited in a respectful manner. They are the sons and daughters of our collective neglected humanity. They are of the Old, Old, Old, Humans who were patient, still and silent. They have something very important to teach us, how to be Silent in front of and within the SILENT ONE.

I continue to celebrate Eucharist with the local community, usually every Sunday and major feast days like Christmas. This relationship has helped the House of Prayer establish a “praying community” that is an important part of our life of prayer at our House.

We usually have the mid-night mass at 7:30pm to give people a chance to walk back home in the dark while it is still relatively safe. Last night we started around 45 minutes late because we couldn’t get the lights to work. Finally, after much running around we were able to get one light to work, no micro-phone, no organ for the choir, no flashing lights at the Crib (thank God!). The people take it all in stride, nobody is upset and after 31 years in Tanzania, I am strangely calm.

So we  make adjustments, I bring a flashlight to the altar to recite the prayers, the choir sings with drums instead of the organ, I move to where most of the people are sitting for the homily, the dancing children are careful not to step on anyone.

The celebration was wonderful. We really did not need the flashing lights, microphone, organ and all the rest. The Spirit of the Christ Child flowing through the Christians’ faith was all we needed to Light up the place.

Yesterday we had a group of 30 Christians from various parishes in the city come visit us. They were a nice mixture of men and women of all ages. They were with us from 10am to 3pm during which we had two talks, Eucharist, and lunch. The entire time was in silence except for the talks which I gave and Mass.

It was very striking to me how the group immediately settled into the silence. I discovered that in our very noisy and busy city of Mwanza there is a deep hunger for tranquility and silence.

Our vision for the Lake House of Prayer to be a place of Silence, Simplicity and Solitude is meeting the reality of the people’s deep need for what we are offering here. It is only the beginning but as the Chinese proverb says, “The journey of a thousand miles starts with one step.” The first steps our of House of Prayer after our opening have the Spirit confirming that the vision is in line with our reality.