When I was a young missionary priest in one of the parishes in Zambia in l991 I
had an unforgettable experience.  We had about 36 outstations to serve
especially on Sunday. As usual one Sunday I went to one of them for mass in the
morning.  But as time went on I was getting late for my football match at the
parish at 4 o’clock.  So I began speeding with my 110 Honda Motorbike going 90
kilometers per hour.  Roads in the rural areas in Zambia were never clear.  With
my speed I came to a corner with the high grass and I could see a goat tied
across the road.  As I crossed the rope I hammered the goat.  I fell down with
some injuries.  My motorbike was still working but somehow damaged.  At that
point my morale was very low, but somehow I carried on to the parish.

            When my
parish priest heard about my adventure with the goat, he started shouting at me,
"You see young man, you are going to die soon, you don’t know how to drive the
bike, and you don’t know how to look after these properties."  It was one
condemnation after another.  I remained quiet.  But after two days, the same
parish priest had a terrible accident with his car One day I asked him, “What
happened to you then?”  He said, “I am sorry for what I said to you.  Now I
understand I made a big mistake to condemn you.”

            Where
am I today?  I am trying to learn the message: Let us be compassionate to people
especially when they do something wrong.  Let us not judge them ruthlessly, let
us be  understanding, consoling and human. This is the call of Jesus: "Be
compassionate as your heavenly father is compassionate."