St John Bosco Parish Suva, Fiji, 6 April 2021 -- Holy Week celebrates the great event of our salvation beginning with Palm Sunday. The weather forecast for the week was rain…heavy rain! This did not dampen the enthusiasm of the people to take part in the Easter Triduum celebrations.

Under the direction of Fr. Mika Leilua (parish priest), the people from every sector of the parish were involved in the singing, leading the liturgy, the decorating and preparing the place for the services of Holy Week.

The venue for the Easter Triduum celebrations was the nearly completed Don Bosco Youth and Recreational Centre. People donated cardboard boxes that were flattened for the people to sit. On every Holy Week celebration, the youth centre was packed with more than seven hundred people. People from the two main Mass-centres of Muanikoso and Makoi, and many guests from the villages and parts of Fiji came with family and friends in buses, truck, taxi, but most walked from their homes to the youth centre.

Fr. Mika was the principal celebrant at all the Holy Week celebrations with Fr. James Kyaw-Hoe concelebrating. To serve at the Holy Week services is something the altar servers look forward to. And for many, it is also a challenge. One altar server said, “It is good to part of these special celebrations. I am happy to be here and to serve as Fr. Mika instructed us.”

In his homily on Good Friday, Fr. Mika spoke about putting our faith into practice. It must be a lively faith that help us to journey with Jesus.

In the homily at the Vigil Mass, Fr. James highlighted the significance of the Easter Candle. When all was dark, it was the little flame from the Easter Candle that give us new hope. And when all the candles were lit, darkness was no more. And this is what happens when each of us follows Jesus with a lively faith. We become “light to the world.”

At the end of the Easter Vigil, Fr. Mika gave a word of thanks to everyone who was involved in and helped in any way in the beautiful celebrations of the Easter Triduum.

From all of us in Suva (Fiji), have a blessed and happy Easter!