My Shocking Encounter with Father Darmin Mbula

By Joan D. Udu Sunday, February 2, 2020 0 Edit 0

Komkat-kwi.org

I never get tired of telling the story of my experience of visiting the Franciscans in the community of St. Joseph Copethino, Galur-Tanah Tinggi, central Jakarta, six years ago (2014). This experience is one of the interesting experiences of my life.

At that time, I had just completed the formation period at the novitiate in Depok, West Java. I still remember, after attending the Eucharist on Christmas Day 2014, I and a brother went to visit the friars in the St Yosep Coperthino community.

There, there is a brother named Darmin Mbula (a franciscan priest) who has a habit of playing trick on people, especially those who just met him. It may be said that playing trick on people is one of his hobbies. So, you can imagine, we would risk being played trick on. In fact, it happens.

When going to lunch, after enjoying talking about many things, father Darmin took us to the dining room. And you know, he took the rice, then put in a glass, including vegetables and side dishes.

Seeing the act, I was shocked because I had never heard any information about this brother before. I never imagined that there was any such friar. But, he himself seemed relaxed doing that, and eating from it.

Then, after having lunch, he made another weirdness, where he picked up a couple of bottles of beer and poured them into a sail place, then invited us to drink together from it. Again, I was shocked and reluctant to drink beer on the grounds I was not used to drinking beer.

Father Darmin said, "You should try drinking beer so I think of you as a true fransiscan". He said it seriously, and really embarrassed me, and was finally willing to drink beer with him. She seemed to enjoy drinking that beer, but I was tormented doing it.

Saw me drinking beer, he then said, "You are a true Franciscan". I just smiled and it was hard to imagine that there was a fransiscan like that. But maybe that's the variety of life as fransiscan, and I'm grateful for that. (Joan Udu)