July 29, 2018

Daughters joined parishioners for the Closing Mass on Sunday. Although the church was good sized, everyone would not fit, so the Daughters arranged to have tents set up on the school’s football field (think soccer, not American football). Daughters’ fabric covered the tent sheltering the altar, priests and server, and from the processional through the recessional, Daughters played an integral role in the Mass. Daughters served as lectors, leader for prayers of the people, and choirs for the post-communion hymns. A Daughter also preached the sermon, focusing on the theme “Salvation Is Today,” emphasizing that salvation occurs in an instant. The newly elected Office Bearers were also installed at this Closing Mass. Rather than the familiar gavel, the outgoing President presented the plaque of the Daughters of the King in Malawi (a gift presented to Alice Mtenje by Grace Sears in 2012) to the incoming Office Bearers.    

In honor of the Daughters’ presence for Triennial, welcome greetings and speeches were made.  Many gifts were presented, including gifts to the incoming Office Bearers, to Malosa Secondary School, and to the parish. The gifts were of a practical nature: wafers and wine for communion, fabric for vestments and altar linens, buckets and brooms for cleaning, etc.

With departures scheduled immediately following lunch, cellphones snapped photos at “one more photo” opportunities after Mass ended. With joy shining from faces, hugs and goodbyes were exchanged as we returned to our homes renewed in the Spirit.