Pumped Up on Easter Sunday

We see Shaq O’Neal and other players getting pumped up before an important basketball game when the adrenaline is really flowing and they feel that they can do anything. Well, I drove into the parking lot of the festively-decorated St. Peter’s Church in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on Easter Sunday to prepare to celebrate the 9:30 a.m. Mass. Suddenly I heard the joyful Swahili singing, drumming and clapping radiating from the church at the end of the previous mass. The joy and enthusiasm were “electric.” Immediately, spontaneously, I was pumped up, sky high, ready to go. As I walked from my car some colorfully dressed African school children came running over to wish me a “Happy Easter.” Then as I walked into church a Tanzanian woman wished me well and hoped the Holy Spirit would be with me in my homily. Wow! I was really pumped up. Isn’t this what the Spirit of the Risen Christ is supposed to do to us?

Rev. Joseph G. Healey, M.M.
Nairobi, Kenya
JGHealey@aol.com