By Fr. James Spillane, SJ
Happy Easter greetings from Tawangmangu. We have enjoyed delightfully pleasant weather since Palm Sunday last week. We have had sunny mornings and afternoons. The heavy rains have come in the evenings. The whole area is quite lush and green. Hope you are enjoying nice weather.
This year the parish priest has rotated us among several sub-parishes. A cast of hundreds was involved in preparing the celebrations. On Palm Sunday I was assigned to the area with the best durian fruit in Indonesia. Eating it after Mass was a special bonus.
Since I stayed in Tawangmangu since Palm Sunday, it was necessary to teach my courses on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday via Zoom. The Easter vacation began on Thursday. Fortunately, there is a reasonably good Internet connection in the priests’ residence so all went well. On March 19, 2023, there was a ceremony for five young Jesuits who pronounced their final vows in the Society of Jesus. Two of them are stationed at our university. It was a good chance to meet many Jesuits in the Yogyakarta metropolitan area as well as relatives and friends of the five Jesuits. One of them lives in our Paingan Community. I had a long and interesting talk with his parents. His father taught in the Central Javanese town of Wonosobo for 41 years. He had an impressive career. He and his wife are now retired and living near our Jesuit residence. The majority of Indonesian Jesuits are children of teachers, including our present Provincial.
We were delighted that my younger brother Rick’s Gala Dinner at his Xaverian High School in Westwood, Mass went well. There were some 800 guests gathering in the basketball gym. It was a wonderful gathering of the extended family. What a blessing!
Be assured of my thoughts and prayers on this Easter Sunday. Despite all our troubles and fears, we should still be grateful for a lot of things. Have a joy filled Easter during these troubled times.
