Good afternoon, Friends, It is Sunday, the 18th of September. I hope you are well and feeling blessed. Even if you don't feel such, I am sure you are blessed in special ways. Last Thursday morning we finished with all of our retreatants (till next Tuesday evening when a new group of 45-50 comes in for 8 days; I will get five of them to guide). I had five to guide, two for the eight days, and three were finishing up the 30-day retreat. Wow, how each of them was immensely blessed. I am so privileged to listen to their descriptions of what God had given them, inspired in them, moved them to aspire to, so much more in Him. I pinch myself at times with the awareness that I am allowed to see up close these intimate, profound moments between God and these remarkable people. The blessings that are offered to people who develop the habit of daily meditation or contemplation and take 8 days each year to be exclusively with Him, in the silence and with specific bible passages that open up their souls, is so rich for them and for me who gets to listen to them and guide them. Each of the three nuns who made the 30-day retreat came into the last week focused on the resurrection stories from the Gospel and spoke with much excitement about how they felt the same sense of what Mary Magdalene felt when by the risen Jesus she was missioned on Easter Sunday to go back into her daily life and proclaim that she had seen the risen Lord and was to announce that He is alive and in our midst. So too these three; in their daily lives and in action and in word they were to proclaim that He is alive and in our midst, alive and acting now in all who have faith and will look for Him in their daily experience--not just a marvelous memory from 2000 years ago but an amazing reality in the NOW. None of them had consulted or talked with the others; Each came to this on their own from their experience of Him in their prayer. This truly moved me. They spoke with such conviction and joy. Thank you to any and all of you who prayed for them and for me. Then I had a 51 year old Irish priest for 8 days. His work is in South Sudan, a hellhole if there ever was one! That new nation is being torn apart by tribal warfare, so vicious you would be horrified by the stories of hatred and actions of revenge coming from there. He was filled with a joy in the new freedom he was experiencing; a freedom from and a freedom for in his life. Toward the end of his retreat he experienced, as he said, how real God is. "This is the really real! He is so present, so amazing, so utterly real," he said. Yesterday we had a funeral here for a 90 year old Jesuit who had spent the last 24 years in Tanzania, the nation to our south. Ted Walters was his name, an American who had taught and administered at U of D, John Carroll in Cleveland, and at St.John's Jesuit High School in Toledo. At the age of 65 he came to East Africa and did his best, most productive work here; being very instrumental in getting St. Augustine's in Mwanza established as what is now the largest Catholic university in East Africa. He also authored a number of short books to help the faithful understand their Catholic faith much better and to appreciate that they have a vocation, that there is a direction of God going on in their souls, and that each of us is called to personal holiness of life and service of God with our life. He died on September 9, 25 years to the day and almost to the hour when his mother died in 1991. Three days before he died he said, "I am going home on Saturday. I am going to a church where there are many people waiting to celebrate with me." And lo and behold, Ted died 5 minutes before midnight, on Friday, the 9th. What a connection he enjoyed with God to be able to say what he said and to have it come true!" About 100 participated in the funeral yesterday. Many of Ted's former students came a long way to be at this funeral and express their deep gratitude to him. During the late evening of the day before, under the full moon, six of our workers dug by hand his grave. It went down 10-12 feet. After the mass we all processed slowly out to the cemetery. After the usual prayers many of us threw a fistful of loose dirt onto the coffin. Then a number of the younger men used shovels to fill in the grave site. This took some 20 minutes while songs were be sung, some in English, some in Kiswahili. When they finished numerous wreathes of roses were laid upon the mound of dirt. And many of us who were carrying a single long stem rose placed these on the mound of dirt. This morning, after leading the Sunday mass for 20 people in our small chapel and having my breakfast, I began my usual 45 minutes of meditation. I simply sit in silence for it, not reading anything, Bible or otherwise, not focusing on any image or thought but just being present to God in my depths. Something like the Irish priest I told you about up above, I experienced God as so, so real, so close, so immediately present. Just amazing! No images, no words, just an awareness, a very sweet awareness, like two friends simply enjoying being together while looking at and nodding to each other in quiet simplicity. I was just so taken by the fact that I really know Him, truly, truly know Him as so available, so, so present, so humble. But what also happened at the same time was a very strong longing or ache welling up in me to be in complete communion with this friend of all friends. I could not get over it (who would want something like this to end!). Yes, this is the really real. This is the core, the source of everything good, true and beautiful. And it is all gift there for the receiving. No one deserves this but it is offered to everyone until we can receive such. I have never experienced love for someone as I did in such a moment. I later recognized it as the same kind of experience I had when 5 years ago I was unforgettably moved when watching the movie, "Of Gods and Men," which is about 9 French Trappist monks in Algeria in 1996 who chose to stay rather than leave their monastery when threatened with death by some jihadists. All during that movie I was powerfully moved, wept through much of it, and in minutes after the movie experienced the call to leave the USA and come to East Africa. Yes, God is for real, very real, and much closer to each of us than we probably realize. I am left wanting to explore ways in which I can be more proactive, more responsive in making the most of these blessings from God. It is time for me to move on. God bless all you who read this. Thanks for your interest. Bernie Owens

Dear Friends, Here it is Thursday eve, the 8th, our first day of sun and clear sky in over a week, maybe 10 days. It felt so good today finally to feel the sun's warmth. We have been wearing sweaters and coats, hats sometimes too, to fend off the severe cold that has been on us for so long. the constant overcast wears down people's enthusiasm. What a factor to change people's attitude, to put smiles back on people's faces. We are experiencing, hopefully, the end of winter and the first approaches of spring time. I am aware that it isn't till September 21 that spring officially sets in for this part of the world, but it felt like spring today, easily in the mid 70s. The nights have been downright cold, temps in the 40s. With no heat in our rooms you want an extra wool blanket on the bed and a hat on your head throughout the night. Bare tile floors push you to wear socks too. My mornings have been spent listening to retreatants, each talking with me for 30-45 minutes. What moving things they share! There are 22 people here making that retreat; Three of these I am guiding. (I am guiding two others for just 8 days in length.) The 30-day retreatants began their retreat on August 15 and will finish on September 15. In the last few days they have been praying on the passion of Christ, from the last Supper till His death and burial. Today they were praying just on the execution and burial of Jesus. Tomorrow on the experience of Mary, the mother of Jesus, while witnessing the execution of her son and then overseeing his burial. Can you imagine what she went through!!! (This is what I spoke about during the homily of the mass I led for all of them this afternoon, 60 in all. It was the feast day of her birth. What were the spiritual strengths that were hers that enabled her to survive such a test and still trust God??!!)They spend four hours a day, an hour per period, on some aspect of this story . It so humbles them, astounds them at times, even scares some. I myself am very moved by what they say when they debrief. They inspire me, in turn, about things I consider bringing to my book now in the first stages of writing. Last Sunday afternoon it was my turn to lead the mass for the retreatants. It was also the day Mother Teresa of Calcutta was canonized a saint by Pope Francis in Rome. I did not see the TV coverage, even though we had it here, but was with retreatants during the mass going on in Rome. We are one hour ahead of Rome during their summer, two hours ahead when they go off Daylight Savings time. We never change our clocks. I took the three readings of Sunday and showed how Mother Teresa lived out the spirit of each one. Three of the 30-day retreatants are Missionaries of Charity sisters, and they did the readings and organized the music for the mass. I congratulated them and their religious community in public at the end of my homily on this very happy occasion and personally for their own vocations to such a remarkable religious order. I have hurt my lower back and went to a chiropractor last Friday to have it straightened. It did help for a few days. Today it has felt like I have hurt something again in that area. For the life of me, I cannot recall a particular moment when I did hurt myself in that area. Maybe poor posture while sitting in a chair listening to retreatants?? It is really bothersome. I plan to go back to the doctor late tomorrow afternoon. So often there is some reminder that this life is not our final life, this earth is not heaven! I have been reading a short book on the saint (St. Teresa Margaret Redi of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, died 1770) whose preserved body in Florence, Italy I visited last November. Her story continues to stir me deeply and make me long for something of her spirit and focus in relating to God. My prayer these last days has been so blessed! Something really good is going on! Too early to say much more than that. I look forward to November 29 when I can begin my own annual 8 day retreat, finishing on December 8. I need to move on, friends. I wish the best to each and all of you. Overall I am quite fine and really blessed with the work I have the opportunity to do. The book writing moves along in spurts or reading and then writing. 15 years come this Sunday since 9/11. Pray for our country in this coming election. I do not feel encouraged. I so pray we can stay out of any kind of war. There is still so much of it in parts of the Middle East and in spots of Africa. God bless. Bernie Owens