It is true that when we are young we
don’t pay much attention to youthfulness and when we see young people it
doesn’t seem to matter. That was true for me until I met Bishop Joe in 2008. He
was then the provincial of Malta. What was striking is his youthfulness. At
first I asked Fr. Joe how come they have such a young provincial and Joe
shouted facing the Bishop, “Hii ni Mzee hata ni mzee yangu, ako na nywele
muzuri”.
As usual, the bishop kept his smile lingering as he watched fr. Joe
make fun of his youthful appearance. Well, I could hardly understand how it was
possible for him to take so much chaffing until I stayed with him and realized
how easy going he is. With so much ease, every evening he walked to my room
before retiring to his and said, “usiku mwema”. Isn’t it that I am the youthful
one here who should have walked to his room instead?
