Beautiful Bartica

My plans to go to Bartica became a reality because you relieved me from the normal parish happenings on the last weekend. I would like to thank you for that, especially the Eucharistic Ministers who celebrated the service in the parish. Our parish is blessed doubly because of the prayers and good wishes from the small community at Bartica. This truly is an experience of universality of the Catholic Church.

I enjoyed my weekend for two reasons, namely, nature is beautiful and faith of the community is commendable.

Guyana is truly blessed with water and specifically water in the mighty Essequibo River. This is my third time on the waters of Essequibo and every time is a new experience, as saying goes, ‘you cannot step into the same river twice.’ As the speedboat cruises into the mighty river, I cast my eye into the beautiful line of the water that makes me praise God for the nature. God created the universe and it looked gorgeous for the Lord. Guyana is blessed with eye soothing nature, which proclaims the greatness of the Lord. Let us enjoy this beauty and grandeur of our beautiful Guyana. Let us pray for our nature without which we will not be able to live on earth. As we pray, we also make effort to preserve the nature and protect its creatures.

One of the most important aspects that strengthen my faith is, universality of the Church. It seems that whole world is one and this has been possible through the Church. I truly believe in that One Apostolic Church. St. Antony’s Church in Bartica has been without a priest for few months. This reality has not stopped the parishioners to carry on the work of the Church. They try to organise a priest once a month so that they have enough communion for the rest of the month. This month was my turn to celebrate Mass with the people of Bartica. The hospitality that they showed during my stay at their parish has been magnificent. I truly relished my stay at the parish even though I might not be as cosy as Georgetown parish house. Their celebration of the faith through the Sacred Liturgy is truly inspirational. They began their Sunday with the rosary and the Holy Mass. Everyone was present for the rosary and this was followed by the mass. The celebration of the Mass was very participatory. It was really a celebration of the community. One of the most important aspects that gripped my attention is, every week they emphasis on some persons in the community. It is generally; the persons who organise the liturgy are the focus of the Sunday. The last Sunday was for men. The men prepared the liturgy, namely, reading, singing, offertory and so on. This way their celebration of the Eucharist made more meaningful by praying for the men in the community. All the men in the congregation had to come in the offertory procession to accompany the gifts to be offered to the Lord. This became visible expression of the men offering themselves to the Lord to be transformed. After the Mass, people stayed back to wish each other, and their warmth and love became a reality when they exchanged the laughter and joy.

My visit to Bartica has been so pleasant and the people of Bartica offered me their warmth and love. I thank you for praying for me during that weekend. Continue to pray for the communities where there is no parish priest. They need our support as we have the honour of having our own parish priest. I also petition to you, that we get involved in that One Apostolic Church in whatever way possible. I am also grateful to one of the parishioners, who donated a small sum for the Church in Bartica and for my travels to Bartica. This shows that we care for each other and we support each other. God bless our One Apostolic Church.