This magnificent 2-ton, 16-foot statue of Divine Mercy has an interesting story all its own, so I will start here before sharing the rest of the plaza. In the year 2000, a priest in Chicago wanted to build a perpetual adoration chapel dedicated to Divine Mercy. A parishioner commissioned a Mexican sculptor to create the statue. Before coming to America, it was blessed by a Vatican delegate on St. John Paul II’s birthday in the city of his first foreign visit.
The Chicago parish was right next to Kennedy Expressway. The parishioner wanted thousands to see the statue every day and be reminded of Divine Mercy. Apparently he got his wish. As I understand it, the department of roads ultimately asked the statue to be removed because it was causing too many distracted drivers!
Through God’s providence and some neat connections, it was proposed that the statue be installed on Nyarushishi hill near Kibeho. On December 8, 2004, the statue was officially enthroned!
One evening I was praying at the statue when a couple of large buses pulled into the plaza. That in and of itself is not unusual. What really moved me on this particular day was the way this group approached the statue, many removing shoes and, as you can see, all lying prostrate in front of the statue. One lady without saying a word handed me her infant child so she could lie down in prayer. I guess I looked like a safe mzungu!
Pilgrims who come to Kibeho to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Kibeho often make an extra trip to pray before this statue. While the statue is the centerpiece of the plaza, it offers so much more! As I wrote in yesterday’s post, Fr. Leszek is part of an order that is really focused on religious instruction. He never misses an opportunity to teach!
The plaza was designed to accommodate up to 2,000 visitors, and is the site of Masses, recitations of the Divine Mercy Chaplet, preaching (I took this picture while listening to an English speaking youth minister), informal visits by groups big and small, concerts and occasionally Eucharistic Adoration.
Forgive my laziness, but right now I don’t want to go out and count. Let’s just say there are roughly six of these confessionals along the perimeter of the plaza.
In addition to the large Divine Mercy statue, there are statues of St. Padre Pio and St. John Paul the Great as well as the above image of St. Faustina.
These two are pictures looking up a the altar area, and then looking back toward the plaza from the altar area. In the first picture, my room is just behind the wall to the left of the dove depicting the Holy Spirit, which is why I hear so much in my room.
Along the back wall of the plaza (behind the statue) are images to portray the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of the rosary.
A ramp leads down to a room below that has at one end a large scene of John the Baptist, a replica of the Shroud of Turin, an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and a projection screen at one end for giving lectures to small groups. Each religious artifact has information about it in English, French and Kinyarwandan.
It is truly an impressive area. Fr. Leszek seems to think of everything, and as I said above, he never misses an opportunity to teach! When I visited in January he was explaining how he tries to design spaces and displays that give messages with as few words as possible. He knows that not every visitor to the area is able to read, but that shouldn’t keep them from getting a basic understanding of the truth of God’s great love for them.
In other brief news, today was the second day with nursery students. My P2 kids might not show up until Thursday now. The director of the local public school claims they are too busy to choose the 36 kids who will be attending the Children’s Academy. It feels to me like a five minute endeavor to choose, but I admit I don’t know what all they are dealing with. I would think they would be motivated to get these kids some extra help. Tomorrow I will be helping with the second year nursery students. Today I had two kids fall asleep on me (literally) and one sat on my lap for most of the morning…it wasn’t until he finally got up that I realized he had wet himself and, therefore, wet me too:)
Praise God for His great mercy! God bless these kids. God bless us all.