A Day of Sadness and Joy

Friday. Today was a very long, sad and joyful day. As I write this it is 1:30 in the morning. Our day started with a beautiful memorial Mass for S. Demetria. It was held at the chapel at the hospital where she died. There were 9 priests at the altar, mostly Salvatorians.

Then they put the casket on the bus and some of her family and friends, the Sisters, and a priest accompanied S. Demetria on her journey home. There will be a funeral Mass for her tomorrow and she will be buried at Lukeladi, a Salvatorian Parish near here. The bus ride took 12 hours. It took a while to even get on the road from the hospital through Dar es Salaam traffic. The ride was filled with prayers and beautiful hymns with wonderful harmonies as they prayed and sang their way to Masasi. Even though it was close to 1:00 when we arrived, all the Sisters and priests and some townspeople were waiting as we drove in. They were ringing the church bell. A fitting welcome.

The day was sad because of saying goodbye to S. Demetria, and joyful. As Fr. Patrick said, she lived a blessed life and was ministering to the very end.

She is at peace.

This picture was in the front of the bus as we traveled to Masasi

The bus they rented to take S. Demetria to Masasi