Year of Mercy: Harare parish visits prison inmates

On Sunday, Feast of Divine Mercy, parishioners of Our Lady of the Wayside, Mount Pleasant in Harare, visited and celebrated Mass with inmates at Harare Central Prison as part of their Year of Mercy programme of activities.

Before the liturgical celebration, the prison’s 22 Catholic members choir praised the Lord with inspiring sacred hymns that they sang for the parishioners and other inmates. Among some of the songs were ‘Mwari ngoni’ and ‘Mwari huyai.’

In his homily, Fr. Shepherd Muhamba, SJ, expressed his joy in seeing the faith of the inmates in spite of their situation and circumstances. He encouraged them to continue praying and seeking the face of the Merciful Father.

“We should not only seek God when we are in trouble. We must reach out to him always even in good times. So, I expect you to continue preaching the goodness of the Lord now and when you leave this place,” Fr. Muhamba said.

He encouraged the inmates to keep on preaching to each other not only by word of mouth but also by living the faith in doing good works.

Superintendent Brighton Matombo of the Zimbabwe Prison Services expressed his gratitude to the parish for the visit and thanked parishioners for the essential commodities that they donated for the inmates.

Superintendent Matombo said the inmates need to feel loved. He prayed that society would emulate the example demonstrated by parishioners of Our Lady of the Wayside in making prisoners feel loved.

Mr. Tashinga Tsvetu, a Year of Mercy-Liturgy committee member at the parish, encouraged other Church members to visit prisoners as a way of caring and said the congregation was now looking forward to visiting the female prison units.

Some members of St John’s Emerald Hill and Christon Bank centres joined Our Lady of the Wayside parishioners for the visit.

 (By Pylaia Chembe, Jesuit Communications Zimbabwe –Mozambique)