YEARN FOR THAT ZEST OF IDENTIFYING WITH CHRIST

‘Don’t praise yourself let others praise you’

 

            Fr. Joseph Maina, the Provincial Superior of Kenya dedicated 22nd – 28^th of April 2016 to visit St. Daniel Comboni Scholasticate Pietermaritzburg. The visit marked by a sharing of his life experiences with confreres  from Kenya , the whole Scholasticate community and Eucharist celebration. We leant a lot from him and at the same time we felt challenged. It was beautiful hosting him. He became a blessing to us, encouraging and inspiring for these days we spent together. In short it was awesome. His brotherly visit and perspective of our community concerning  prayer life, brought to light this expression  ‘don’t praise yourself let others praise you,’ motivating us and at the same time challenging us to yearn for that  zest of identifying ourselves  with Christ each day of our life.

His experiences in Costa Rica and Guatemala were revitalizing; more especially the one of using a donkey covering kilometers, taking about 12 hours to reach out to people in the missions. His experiences reflected his words to us; ‘you are the first formators, forming yourselves to be responsible in the forthcoming missions, you become the people you have formed yourselves to be,’ and his invitation was that we may nurture this aspect. His sharing about Comboni missionaries in Kenya province, gave a picture of committed missionaries in serving God’s people. In addition, he said that, Comboni missionaries serve in four Zones namely; Marsabit, Pokot, Turkana and Nairobi. Further, he termed Kenya as a blessed country with vocations, vivid as many young men and women enter different religious formations. He mentioned that the visit of Pope Francis was a source of encouragement and hope for a better Kenya. Pope Francis’ crucial message to  Kenyans was so clear, promote peace, love, unity and  avoid corruption. On the other hand he said Al Shabaab militants are major threats to the country’s progress.

During Eucharistic celebration the Provincial emphasized that, for a good missionary these aspects  “contemplation and action” must be integrated citing Comboni as spiritual guide. Further, he invited us according to the readings of the day {Wednesday 27^th, April 2016, John 15:1-8} to be branches that are always attached to the vine. He encouraged us to go beyond the NGO mentality where we  missions are only based on physical development and improving lives of people without considering spiritual aspect.

On the other hand, the Provincial stressed challenges that the Congregation and many Provinces face, inviting us to work and learn from them, these were; lack of leadership personnels, apathy in learning the language which is key for evangelization, confreres longing for comfortable zones/places with network and  individualism. These challenges were a wakeup call for us. The messages garnered from his visit can only bear fruits when put into reflection on personal level. Consequently, each individual becomes realistic, greatful and optimistic now and in the future.

By Obwaya Oseko Justus MCCJ.