It was a dreary, drizzly day, but many enthusiastic and warmhearted people gathered to celebrate the patron saint’s feast of Sint Kwinten on Sunday 25 October 2020.
In his homily, Father Juan Carlos Tinjacá made a very timely comparison between the slogan that, since the start of the corona pandemic, we have been able to read on signs all over Leuven: “Draag zorg voor jezelf en de ander. Take care of yourself and the other” and the Gospel reading: “Jesus said: ‘You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments’” (Matthew 22,34-40). All of the many different corona rules (keep social distance, wear a facemask, wash your hands…) depend on these two rules: care for yourself and for the other, and do this with great trust in God. Father Juan Carlos offered a few helpful suggestions: run errands for others who are at greater risk than yourself, phone or Skype with them to break through their isolation and loneliness…
At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, Marc Eneman thanked two parishioners for their many years of dedicated service to the Sint-Kwinten community:
“At this feast of Sint Kwinten, we would like to thank Dominique Michaux and Sister Mimi Vanparijs, both of whom have dedicated themselves to our community for many years with great love and commitment. Dear Dominique, dear Sister Mimi, we are deeply grateful to you and would like to offer you a small gift as a token of our great gratitude and appreciation.”
“We also offer a small gift to Father Juan Carlos in thanks for his dedicated ministry this past year as moderator of the Pastoral zone Leuven aan de Dijle. Thank you, Father Juan Carlos!”
