By Evance Chisiano

Blantyre, March 29, Mana: Christians, mostly women in the Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi, on Saturday congregated at Soche Parish Christ the King Church hall in Blantyre where they celebrated life of Mary, the virgin, as source of inspiration for her obedience and life of self-giving to God.

The ‘Maria Day Celebrations’ event, which was held under the theme: Let it be to me according to your word, saw women from as far as Nsanje, Phalombe, Mulanje and Mwanza coming together to reflect on Mary’s obedience, prayerfulness and service to the church.

Guest of honour at the celebrations, Margret Marobe, said the gathering provided a moment to reflect on the life of Maria in its totality, saying there was need for the church to emulate what the mother of Jesus Christ lived for.

“Let Mary’s obedience and self-giving be a firm foundation for our Christian faith. Let us serve the church, community and our families based on Mary’s life,” she said.

Marobe further said women should be very instrumental in building a strong foundation of the church by preaching the word that should bring unity other than division.

“Let’s not be divided or compete for dominance. Divisions and competition compromise fellowship,” she added, as she appealed to women to be innovative, entrepreneurial and progressive for the good of the Anglican Diocese of Southern Malawi.

During the celebrations, several speakers made their presentations on topics like mental health, mindset change, spiritual family life, and entrepreneurship, with each presenter calling for the congregants and the entire Anglican church to think deeply on the topics for the good of the diocese.

In his remarks, Anglican Dioceses of Southern Malawi Bishop, Rt. Rev. Alinafe Kalemba, thanked the Maria Day Celebrations organizing committee members for holding the event which he said had called for total dedication and a lot of resources.

He reminded the congregants to emulate the life of Mary and asked them to be prayerful for the sake of their families and the church.

“A prayerful person builds a strong foundation of a good family and a good fellowship in a church comes from as family with good Christian values,” he added.

During intercession, the congregation prayed for peaceful general elections, good economy, favourable climate and good family life.

On this note, Bishop Kalemba called on Anglican faithfuls to desist exploitation, observing that most young people are used to cause political violence during elections thereby compromising free elections.

Margret Tchaile, who came all the way from Mathambi in Mulanje, said Maria Day Celebrations provided her a great opportunity to reflect on the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, adding that her obedience and prayerfulness is worth emulating.

“Maria Day Celebrations was another refresher. Mary was the centre of the celebrations here at Soche; she set a precedent that needs to be admired,” she added.                

The 2025 Maria Day Celebrations theme was taken from the Gospel of St Luke Chapter 1 verse 38.