from tanzania

I strongly believe the axiom that ‘prayer is a powerful avenue for overcoming challenges’, and Father Patrick Peyton’s message “the family that prays together stays together” is very true. From the sharing of different families, we have visited as HCFM, prayer has proved to be the strongest shield that keeps families from the attacks of the Evil one. For example, we came across one lady who was separated for three years, from her husband because of misunderstandings and the lack of trust between them. They had involved parents, leaders of their community and other different people to reconcile them without success. Our approach of bringing them together with just a simple invitation ‘come and we pray’ yielded fruits. Praying the sorrowful mysteries with them softened their hardened hearts in a way that they found themselves accepting each other again with tears of joy and profound embrace.

~ Gratiana Kitime

Like her name, which means Hope, the 69 years old, ailing Tumaini, was full of hope amidst the severe pains she had as a result of long-term illness. The initiative of visiting and praying with her every week created in her a positive discipline of prayer and a strong bond between her and us. At the beginning, Tumaini, like most of the elderly and ailing people we visit, felt shy and ashamed to share with us the source of her illness. However, as we continued visiting her every week and encouraging her to pray without ceasing, we slowly began to see in her life, positive changes of growth in openness and trust. Although she lived alone, she internalized all the prayers we prayed with her and cherished the moments we spent with her to the extent that, boastfully she kept on reiterating that “The family that prays together stays together.”

~ Clement Malingo