Monday, May 6, 2013

New Bishop of Kokstad Diocese - Fr Zolile Mpambani






Congratulations and well-wishes to Father Zolile Mpambani SCJ,who has been appointed as the new Bishop of Kokstad Diocese.The bishop-elect was born in Umlamli, Eastern Cape, South Africa in 1957 and was ordained a priest in 1987. Since ordination the bishop-elect has served in several pastoral and institutional roles, most recently as provincial superior of the Congregation of the Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in South Africa and, alongside the vicar general, as pastor of Sterkspruit parish in the Diocese of Aliwal.

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Tzaneen Diocese:Easter 2013


Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ

 

The tomb of the Lord Jesus is empty:His love is unconquerable

The 50 days of Easter is a season in which the Catholic Church proclaims that the love of God revealed in the life and death of the Lord Jesus is unconquerable and lives on forever. The news that the Lord Jesus is risen from the dead is the most powerful challenge for every generation concerning what we value and what we hope for while we are living in this world. It points to the ultimate destiny which God had planned for all of us from the very beginning of creation. The Holy Scriptures emphasize that the Lord Jesus is really risen from the dead with a glorious body. The risen life of the Lord Jesus is not merely a spirit– life separated from his dead body but a complete and fully alive human in whom death has been transformed into eternal life by his divine love. The tomb is empty and creation has attained its eternal purpose at last in the glorious and loving humanity of the Lord Jesus!

 

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth

The Lord Jesus fulfils in himself the beatitude which says: “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” (Matthew 5, 5).The air Jesus breathed, the ground on which he walked, the water which he drank, the food which he ate, the sunshine he enjoyed in the day and the stars at night, the rain and the wind which worshiped his sacred face and body, the birds which sang and the fish which swam in the lake and everything that made up the creation of God attained at last their real purpose and hope in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. In his resurrection the Lord Jesus has inherited the earth. Easter makes everything sacred and holy. Everything in God’s creation can become like a sacramental, a means of communicating God’s grace, for the disciples of the risen Lord Jesus. It is the season of the Sacraments of Initiation when people are born again of water and the Holy Spirit and nourished in the Body and Blood of Christ and look forward in hope at being counted amongst those who are destined to inherit the earth.

 

Easter and the new life of the disciples in the joy of the Holy Spirit

Jesus - our Lord and our God - is risen from the dead. Easter is a period when we remember the appearances of the Risen Lord Jesus and the encounters with his disciples. It includes the Ascension of Jesus and the new experience of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. In fact the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles of the Liturgy of the Word during the Easter Season relates the stories of the disciples already filled with the Spirit of God. So in this way the Easter season keeps in mind the new life of the disciples in the Holy Spirit as well as the new risen life of the Lord Jesus after his martyrdom. The Easter Season is a joyous season for all who continually put their trust in the Lord Jesus because it affirms us in so many ways and reminds us that we are the most blessed of all people. Yes, the love of Jesus is unconquerable and lives on forever and only in complete union with Jesus can our joy become complete and everlasting. Thank God for the Easter Season, Alleluia!

 
God bless you all in this Year of Faith.

 
Bishop Joao Rodrigues