On Wednesday 05 June Archbishop Buti Tlhagale was welcomed by the Congregation of Sisters of Merciful Jesus in Kibler Park for the blessing of their new chapel. Blessing their very small chapel, where the immeasurable presence of God will dwell, the Archbishop of Johannesburg said he wanted to mention just two things. First he said there’s something he noticed in some churches in Europe, even though they are not many. He elaborated by saying one sometimes finds that in a church like this, the one he was about to bless, there would be a room on the side with a window where in some churches it became common to make a sick bay, and those who are sick would stay there. The Archbishop said he guesses that the believe was that the closer they are to the Eucharist, the better the chances they have of healing. For the Archbishop Tlhagale all what this says to people is that “people had a deep faith about the presence of God in the house of God.”
He went on to say that people believe that if you want healing, forgiveness, peace, you should go to the house of the Lord. “So some slept in that room everyday, some would stand at the church. That is their place of meeting God,” added the Archbishop. He said he mentioned that just show that some people are so religious, they don’t necessarily want to see God to believe. But the Archbishop noted that all of us at one stage or another want to have a glimpse of God. “It’s only a desire because we know will never see God with our eyes. But somehow we wish we could just have a glimpse, not because we are in doubt about His existence, or doubt about our faith, but simply because we were made to see God,” said Archbishop Tlhagale. The Archbishop’s observation is that people want to see God now, but they don’t necessarily want to die, “We don’t want to die in order to see God, we want to live life to the full and when that time to die comes then we will see Him. But strange enough, in every human heart, to have a glimpse of God is a great thing.”
According to Archbishop Tlhagale the closest glimpse one can have of God is by going into God’s house even though one does not see God there but can sense Him. “You can sense the presence of God in His house. And so that is why churches are a special place, because that’s where God lives.” In anticipation of the objection that God is everywhere the Archbishop said, “God is everywhere, what we are experiencing is a poverty of language. We say God is everywhere, but God is especially found in His own house here on earth,” adding that this is the expression of human beings of every age who believed in God’s presence. Quoting the words of Jesus, “Where two or three are gathered in my name I am there also,” he wanted to emphasise the presence of God everywhere but especially in His house, “He is permanently there.” He concluded the first point he wanted to make by saying churches and chapels are special places of peace in the minds of human beings.
The second point he wanted to speak about was the content of the prayer to be used for the blessing of the chapel. He noted that the prayer describes what the Church is when it says the Church is faithful, holy, favoured, exalted, and the Church is where baptism takes place, where we meet Christ in the Eucharist. He noted also the description that says each time the faithful receive the Eucharist they anticipate the heavenly banquet, and the Church is the house of justice, the house of peace.“So, this is how the church is described in this blessing. And so we are invited to be attentive to the prayers of the day which describe this house as the house of God,” concluded the Archbishop.
The Congregation of Sisters of Merciful Jesus has been in South Africa for twelve years, and you will be welcomed at the house by the smiles of the two sisters, Sr. Damiana Dzyakonu and Sr. Jakuba Wasilewska. Present to concelebrate at the mass of the blessing of the chapel were Fr. Arun D’Mello, SVD; Fr. Louis Matthew, SVD; and Fr. Marian Kulig, SDB.
