In the monastery and parish church The Church of the Assumption in Jajce, on March 4th, a central mass celebration of traditional lent action of Croatian Caritas, Week of solidarity and Unity with the Church and people in BiH, was held.
This Eucharistic celebration is the crown of The Week of solidarity, a humanitarian lent action that Croatian Caritas organises on the third lent Sunday for 12 years already in cooperation with the Caritas of the Bishop’s conference in BiH. The goal of this action is to spiritually connect Croats and help the needy. This is why, from February 26th to March 4th, across the Republic of Croatia, under this year’s motto, The love of most will not grow cold (inspired from Matthew 24:12), the believers prayed and collected donations for the needy in BiH.
The importance of unity
The mass celebration was led by the bishop of Banja Luka and the president of Caritas of Banja Luka diocese, msgr. Franjo Komarica, and apposite sermon was said by msgr. Josip Mrzljak, the bishop of Varaždin and the president of Croatian Caritas. In the concelebration were present also: msgr. Tomo Knežević, the director of the Caritas in BiH; msgr. Miljenko Aničić, the director of Caritas of Banja Luka diocese; msgr. Fabijan Svalina, the director of Croatian Caritas; rev. Mirko Šimić, the director of Caritas of Vrhbosna archdiocese; OFM Ilija Alandžak, the parish priest of the parish of St. Anthony of Padua in Belgrade; OFM Anto Šimunović, the guardian of the Franciscan monastery and the parish priest in Jajce; and other priests, and in the assistance were the theologians of the Franciscan theology in Sarajevo.
The mass celebration in Jajce gathered also the employees of all Caritas’ in BiH, and in the name of the Caritas from the parishes from Herzegovina came associates led by sister Krunoslava Adžamić. The cooperants from Croatia also attended as well as believers from Jajce and neighbouring parishes and Croatia, and the broadcast of the mass could be watched directly on Croatian television.
At the beginning of the holy mass, the host OFM Anto Šimunović greeted and welcomed the present and expressed his content for the unity of the Croatians from the two countries.
„This mass celebration that is the centre of The Week of solidarity of the Church in Croatia with the Church and people in BiH, is situated in the space that represents the true image of our homeland Bosnia and Herzegovina and it’s people, and that is it’s famous and difficult past, turbulent present but with the faith and hope for a certain future. With the faith in God and intercession of our heavenly protectors, the greatest warranties of the safe future are friendship and solidarity of other people. That is why, along with the concrete help that comes from this action to the needy, what makes us also happy is the closeness and the unity of the whole church with the Croatian people“, said OFM Anto.
To follow the Word
Bishop Mrzljak in his sermon pointed out the importance and the weight of the God’s Word whose rules a person must follow and in them he will find all that is needed for life.
„It is the twelfth Week of Solidarity. We did not get tired, and I hope we will never, of organising this week of unity, the praying for one another, and hopefully the material giving and helping also. We are inspired for this by the living Word of God that we listen to every Sunday and we think about how to accomplish it in our daily lives. The lent, is special time that calls us on renunciation and to do good deeds. In the time of Lent we listen to the Word of God, which is always alive. It is old but, always new. Worthy for every man and all the times. It is also worth for this 21st century of ours that has made great progress. But, we always ask: ‘Has it progressed in goodness, love, honesty, truth and truthfulness, or maybe it lives in fear of total destruction?’ Therefore, with special devotion, we listen to the Word of God in the lent time”, said the Bishop who then inspirationally spoke of each of the 10 commandments of God.
At the end of the holy Mass, bishop Komarica sent the appropriate word, and after the worship, the banquet continued in the church’s crypt with lunch and the giving of appropriate presents to the bishops.
Let us note that charity that was collected during the third Sunday of Lent in all parishes in Croatia is intended for encouraging social and charitable projects of individuals and institutions, encouraging social entrepreneurship, scholarships and educational programs. By the decision of the dioceses of the Bishops’ Conferences of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2015, the believers of Bosnia and Herzegovina also joined, thus manifesting the communion in both our homelands, as well as the unity of all displaced Croat people around the world.
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Translated by: Ksenija Ninić
