Gilbert: My Son in the Faith

God's Providential Care in Times of Sadness

A month or so ago, I held a Vocations Retreat at my house in Mahajanga in the hope that I would begin to raise up a new generation of young men who might be called to serve in Holy Orders as Priests of the Church. Amongst the young men who came, was Gilbert, a twenty-five-year-old from Maintirano. He had travelled to Mahajanga from his very remote and isolated city by boat. A small wooden, sail driven, cargo vessel. He had a seat, but no bed, for four days. He took his simple meals with the crew and the other few passengers. Because his scheduled time of arrival was determined by the boats schedule (which was determined by the wind and the seas) he arrived three days before the Retreat.

I went to meet him at the Eveche (the old bishops house) to welcome him to Mahajanga. It was obvious to me that he was very intimidated as he couldn’t even look me in the face. He genuflected and kissed my ring, as is the custom here, but he seemed to do so more from fear than respect. When I asked the Diocesan Administrator about this, he said that Gilbert was alone, in a big city for the first time, and meeting the Bishop can be intimidating. So I set my sights on making sure that I did everything possible so that Gilbert would feel less anxious, and hopefully would feel that, in fact he was not alone, he was in the company of friends, Christians friends, and more so, family, Christian family.

Over the next few days, he began to be more comfortable, and I watched as his humble, quiet, servants’ heart was being revealed. He was often the first to do anything which needed to be done – without being asked. He even got to the place where he could preach his homily, in front of the other participants with grace and strength. The retreat ended, and the aspirants all left my house, I said farewell to them all and told Gilbert that I looked forward to seeing him when I visited his home parish.

Three days later I heard that Gilbert was still in Mahajanga because the tides were stopping the boat from making the trip from Maintirano. Gilbert was staying with some cousins on the campus of the university where he was sleeping on the floor. I called for him to come and stay in the guest house until the boat could leave for his home…which it did do – some three weeks later! A three-day retreat took almost a month for Gilbert – but in God’s goodness, that gave me time to get to know him and to begin to recognize his giftedness.

Why, do you ask, am I writing this? Because a week ago, just three days before I visited his parish, Gilberts’ father was murdered on his way home from the field. Maintirano is troubled with rival gangs who have little to no regard for human life. Nothing was stolen from Gilbert’s father. There seems no reason for his murder. He was a simple hard-working man on his way home from work. Perhaps it was a test of some sort – to see if a gang member had the guts to do it. His throat was cut and his body dismembered. When I received the news, I was stomach sick and broken-hearted for Gilbert, and furiously mad.

Gilbert is the oldest in his family and is now, more than ever, feeling responsible for taking care of his siblings. Please pray that everything will fall in place for him, and his family, so that he will be able to attend Theological College in the fall. He is, understandably, struggling with discerning what is best for him and his family. I told him I would pray about this - that the Lord would be gracious in leading him.

There is always grace, if we can look for it, even in such a horrific situation. The grace in this situation is that I am here in Maintirano. I have been able to spend time with Gilbert and his family. I could remind him that even though he has lost his father, he has a ‘father in God’ and as such I will do what I can to help and support him and his family. We have seen each other a lot while I’ve been in here, we’ve shared meals together, and he served as my chaplain at the liturgies. This is, I believe, an example of how God goes before us and provides for us. In this case, I believe that God has timed my visit, in great part, for Gilbert’s sake. This is His was of comforting Gilbert.

I often pray that the Lord will provide for me some ‘divine appointments’. This is a phrase I learned as a child, it refers to asking that the Lord will put me in the right place, at the right time, for Him to use me. I really believe that this visit is a ‘divine appointment’ for Gilbert…at least that is my prayer for him!