Jan. 16, 2012 Monday: 2nd Week in Ordinary Time (B)

Father Rwagema’s one-room chapel were as mesmerized as I was by what we heard coming from the tape machine. First we heard the chanting of the large crowd—thousands of pleading voices—that had gathered in Kibeho to hear the visionaries communicate with heaven. The crowd cried out to Segatashya, addressing him by name and calling for him to summon a miracle … a miracle to give them faith in what they were witnessing and to help them truly believe in the apparitions. I didn’t know it at the time, but what I was hearing was the only apparition in which Jesus allowed the boy to both see and interact with the people who had come to see him. During every other vision, Segatashya was aware only of being in the Lord’s presence.

Above the din of the crowd, arose the soft tenor voice of the young visionary as he reverently addressed Jesus: “Yes, Lord, I have told them many times,” the voice said. “No, Lord, they don’t listen … they always tell me they want a miracle. They won’t believe that you’re talking to me, Jesus—not without seeing a miracle or a sign.” I remember how my heart swelled when listening to Segatashya speak that day and how touched I was by the sincerity and kindness that reverberated in his whisper-like voice as he patiently addressed the raucous crowd.

Suddenly a peal of thunder blasted through the tape recorder’s speakers, and the kids in the room jumped up in unison. We could hear frightened screams ripple through the hubbub of the surprised crowd. Then there were some cheers for the miracle that had just happened, followed by the calming voice of Segatashya as he urged everyone in the crowd not to worry about the thunder that had struck from out of the blue.

“Jesus says you shouldn’t be afraid; he would never do anything to harm his children,” the boy insisted. “No one here has been injured, pregnant women need not worry about their babies, and those with weak hearts will be well … yes, Lord, I’ll tell them as you say … Jesus is saying that he gave you thunder so you would listen to his messages and not ask for miracles that have no meaning … because your lives are miracles. A true miracle is a child in the womb; a mother’s love is a miracle; a forgiving heart is a miracle. Your lives are filled with miracles, but you are too distracted by material things to see them. “Jesus tells you to open your ears to hear his messages, and open your hearts to receive his love. Too many people have lost their way and walk the easy road that leads away from God. Jesus says to pray to his Mother, and the Blessed Virgin Mary will lead you to the God Almighty. The Lord has come to you with messages of love and the promise of eternal happiness, and yet … you ask for miracles instead. Stop looking to the sky for miracles. Open your heart to God; true miracles occur in the heart.” That was the first divine message I heard Segatashya deliver and, as I said, it changed my life. That message opened my heart to the essence of all the messages that would be delivered in Kibeho. The simple honesty in this boy’s voice instantly made him my favorite among all the visionaries.

Ilibagiza, Immaculee (2011-11-28). The Boy Who Met Jesus: Segatashya of Kibeho (pp. 31-32). Hay House.