By Robert Bigabwarugaba,
Seminarian, St Mukasa Seminary – PSY
Summary:
- ‘To acquire money requires valor, to keep money requires prudence, and to spend money well is an art.’ Fr. Tomaino.
- In the footsteps of Tomaino, we can rest be assured that Selflessness is a pathway to true beauty.
“Gone yet not forgotten, although we are apart, your spirit lives within us, forever in our hearts.” “Death leaves a heartache no one can heal; love leaves a memory no one can steal.”
What did Paulino bring to Uganda? What did he take to Italy? What has he taken with himself after death? Who has gained after his death? What does life mean to us? _Serving in a human way is the way to go!
Just as Jesus sacrificed his life to save us from sin, Comboni committed himself to freeing the people by giving his life. Fr. Tomaino has been and will be a Comboni himself in Mbarara Archdiocese. The Spirit who raised in Comboni a love for the people of Africa, towards the poor is the same spirit that has been guiding Fr. Tomaino.
As a young Christian of the Archdiocese of Mbarara, I have a lacking eulogy to Fr. Paulino Tomaino, but I am immensely conversant with the great philosophy he left to the third millennium church of Mbarara Archdiocese and Uganda at large.
In 2021, I dramatically had my first and last encounter with the famous Fr. Tomaino. Seeing him gave my sight a dead dream to have seen a different person that I had been hearing about. His eloquence in Runyankore was more spiced than mine regardless of his inborn Italian accent. Perched in the seats of Kagamba Parish seating room could tell the kindness of the being that I was attending to. My love to know much about Comboni drew his appetite to gift me a booklet summarizing the life of St Comboni, the founder of their congregation. “I still have the very copy on my shelf”
“How have you managed to make all these things people talk about you?” This had been in my mind to ask the man of God and yet his answer was very philosophical, ‘To acquire money requires valor, to keep money requires prudence, and to spend money well is an art.’ His ultimate intrinsic sense of humanity was selfless love. I could not imagine someone omitting the beautiful sceneries of Europe and dare lay his life in the jungles of Kyamuhunga and the tall hills of Kabale. Not me for that case!!
The purpose of life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others. Only a life lived in the service to others is worth living for we can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone because mall acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love!
“Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave–just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” Matthew 20:26—28
Fr. Paulino’s intention to set up Bishop Comboni College Kambuga, Comboni Hospital in Kyamuhunga, St Mary’s Vocational School Kyamuhunga, Kyamuhunga People’s SACCO (KYAPS), Sedes Sapientia Girls’ school in Kiruhura and developing many parishes and institutions like St Mary’s Primary School where Hon. Raphael Magyezi is an old student is something to be grasped at, that love for humanity is a key to promote the generations to come.
In the footsteps of Tomaino, we can rest be assured that Selflessness is a pathway to true beauty. Selflessness is a concept that holds immense power, yet often goes unnoticed in our fast-paced and self-centered world. It is the act of putting others before ourselves, without expecting anything in return. In a society that often promotes individualism and self-interest, exploring the power of selflessness can be a transformative experience. By embracing selflessness, we not only cultivate compassion and empathy but also contribute to the well-being of others, fostering a sense of interconnectedness and creating a ripple effect of kindness.
Jesus’ uniqueness was completely unselfconscious. He didn’t need to draw attention to it. It was a fact so obvious to him that it didn’t need emphasizing. It was implied rather than asserted. Everyone else was a lost sheep; he had come as the Good Shepherd to seek and to save them. Everyone else was sick with the disease of sin; he was the doctor who had come to heal them. Everyone else was trapped in the house die for the forgiveness of their sins.
This utter disregard of self in the service of God and man is what the Bible calls love. There is no self-interest in love.
The essence of love is self-sacrifice. Even the worst of us is adorned by an occasional flash of such nobility, but the life of Jesus radiated it with a never-fading incandescent glow. Jesus was sinless because he was selfless. Such selflessness is love. And God is love.
Like Tomaino, when we serve selflessly, we do so without expecting any reward or recognition for ourselves. We help out of an innate desire to make someone’s life better, not for the recognition it brings. If we seek name and fame in exchange for our service, then we are not serving selflessly.
Selfless service presents to us a paradox. To truly perform selfless service, one must act without any desire for a reward or recognition. It is motivated by an innate desire to help another.
A heart of gold stopped beating, working hands at rest, God broke our hearts to prove to us, He only takes the best, Leaves and flowers may wither, the golden sun may set, But the hearts that loved you dearly, Are the ones that won’t forget. RIP PADRE PAULINO TOMAINO.
