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In this issue:

Community living

Personal reflections and experiences

God’s mercy and Justice

Caring for our common home

Technological Gadgets: service or slavery to humanity?

Ordination as fruit of Formation

Light moments and poems

MAY 2016

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EDITORIAL

The scholastic year 2015/2016

has come to a close. As a for-

mation community we thank

our God the merciful Father for

His protection throughout the

year. It has been a year of hard

work in all aspects of formation.

The students

have had the

opportunity to

learn much

about living in

a home togeth-

er with broth-

ers from differ-

ent countries

and different

cultures. In the

larger commu-

n i t y t h e y

learned to re-

spect the time

table and to take on various

tasks with a sense of responsibil-

ity and accountability to ensure

the smooth running of the for-

mation program. A very large

portion of the time and energy

of the students has been dedicat-

ed to the academic formation at

Tangaza University College.

And now the time has come for

moving on. A number of stu-

dents will after a few months

holidays at home with their fam-

ilies proceed to the Mission Ex-

perience Program (MEP) for two

years, others will go to

different parishes or

institutions for a six

weeks pastoral expo-

sure. Before all this,

however, everyone

will take part in the

150 years’ Jubilee cele-

brations and the Per-

petual Oath celebra-

tion of four students in

Kisumu on 21st May.

The reality of separa-

tion causes sadness.

Depending on what

direction our journey takes us

some of us may not meet again in

this world. We wish each other

well and take with us the prom-

ise of our Lord : ‘I am with you

always.’

JAKOB KIRCHLER

15

SOME POINTS TO NOTE

.Did you know that that putting dry tea bags in gym bags or in smelly shoes will reduce the smell?

.Did you know that those who laugh often are healthier than those who don't laugh at all.

.Did you know that it takes just 17 muscles to smile and 72 to frown?

.Did you know that sleeping without pil-low reduces back pains and keep your spine stronger?

.Did you know that the youngest part of a man’s body is the tooth?

.Did you know that if a part of your body falls asleep you can almost always wake it up by shaking your head which has your brain?

.Did you know that a person’s height is determined by the fathers and the weight by the mother’s?

.Did you know that the most intelligent humans use only less than 10% of their intelligence while the dolphin uses up to 20% of theirs?

.Did you know according to Albert Ein-stein, if honey bees were to disappear from the face of the earth, humans will be death within four days?

.Did you know a man can survive for 5 days without water and food but a woman can do for 8 days?

.Did you know that learning a language is the most easy thing for a child?

. Did you know that it takes 144 yrs for a plastic bottle to undergo decay?

A PRIEST IS ALWAYS WRONG BE-CAUSE…..

The contemporary society has become too judgmental on priests, never the less some priests have also given reasons for this attitude to grow from time to time in the minds of the people, he is a priest yet he is human therefore liable to errors. But some times he his judged by the people without mercy such as

If he begins mass on time, they say his watch is advanced, but if he does a minute later they say he keeps people waiting. If he owns a car he is luxurious but if he doesn't have one he is said to be behind his present generation.

If he goes out to visit families, he is always out but if he stays in the office to do some work for the growth of the church, he has no time for the people. If he takes time in the confessional, he is too slow but if he does it too fast , he has no time for his peni-tents. If he is with the youth, he has no time for the old, if he is with the old he has no time for the youth.

If he is young, he has no experience, if he is old, he should retire. So long as the priest lives there is always someone better than him, but if a priest dies there is hardly someone to take his place. Lets love our priests and see Christ in them.

The criticisms however have helped priests to be aware of what people can be thinking of the them, therefore it sometimes acts as material for effective maturity. The work of the priest is to serve the people by bringing God to them through teaching of his pre-cepts, sanctifying them, celebrating the sacraments, blessing. He also takes their petitions to God during the celebration of the sacraments. In short the priest is hu-man phase of divine Compassion,

ALWAYS PRAY FOR THE PRIESTS

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tempt in our local environments to preserve nature, we should mind our ecosystem, we

should minimize the waste of resources by so doing we are taking care of the mother earth our

common home and making it a better place for all who live in it.

NKONGHO PAUL

POEM: DEATH!!!!!!

A. Oh Death! Who are you? Are you a friend? Are you an enemy? Are you a stranger?

Oh Death! Are you so irrational? Why take our friends and loved ones away?

Oh Death! Why? You even sweep our enemies too? Why? Even those who know you not?

Oh Death! I don’t want to think about you. Do I love you? Hate you? Think about you?

Don’t you fear God?

B. Oh Death! Aren’t you old enough to stop being so powerful? No one resists you successfully; why so?

Oh Death! Who are your parents? Do you have a family? Do you? Why? Who are you? Open up...

Oh Death! Kill your parents and family too, and friends; kill them; all of them. Do you have favourites?

Oh death! Do you have life? Do you know who loves you most? Who hates you most?

Why weren’t you aborted? The Maputo protocol should advocate for your abortion, not our unborn chil-dren. Who are you? What do you want? Don’t you fear God?

When will you be dead?

C. Oh Death! I want to be your lover; your comrade and companion. I have heard about you. Read about you for many years. I have never understood you.

Oh Death! What do you want? A lover? A friend? What virtues of a lover do you want? Who can love you? Who can shun you? Do you know this?

Oh Death! You make our lives appear worthless; we can’t stop thinking about you.

Oh Death! Who are you? Why do you do what you do? Always moving. Everywhere we see your foot prints; we are threatened by you presence but can certainly not point a finger at you. Don’t you fear God? Who is your Father?

D. Oh Death! Who are you? Answer me. Are you a friend? Are you an enemy? Answer me. Why? Who are you? You; your name, your identity? Is it love that brings you to us or detestation? I don’t know you, but I know you exist. Your paintings are far and wide.

From a surface look, everything ends in you. Who are you? A lover? A friend? An enemy?

NKINEN. U. NCHE

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EDITORIAL BOARD

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

FAMBO ATHANASUIS

EDITORS

NKONGHO PAUL

MARK OWOR

SHIKANDER SOPHAPOTI

LAY OUT

NKONGHO PAUL

MODERATOR

JACOB KIRCHLER

TANGAZA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

The Knowledge House

Tangaza University College is one of the

brightest Catholic theology institutions in

Kenya. Many professors and students step in.

The professors come here to share the

knowledge they have acquired and stored.

Every year a number of students come to gain

knowledge. At the same time every year a

number of students depart from here after

receiving knowledge. The professors and the

students play the primary role in this house:

professors as the providers of knowledge and

students as the receivers of knowledge.

Tangaza is a source and treasure

house of knowledge. It has the ability and

capacity to provide sufficient knowledge. It

keeps the receivers busy and active both men-

tally and physically. The receivers fully engage

themselves on their assignments, research

works, CAT (Continuous Assessment Test),

personal studies and exams. Through their

committed involvement they form themselves

into effective learners and seekers of

knowledge. Seeking knowledge becomes their

central task. Tangaza motivates her receivers

to spare no effort in order to broaden their

minds and enhance their knowledge. The

virtues of curiosity and studiousness make the

receivers to be knowledgeable. The two vir-

tues are found and exercised among the re-

ceivers in Tangaza.

Tangaza stands as the source and

treasure house of knowledge. A lot of

knowledge is stored in this particular house in

order to be cultivated and utilised by the re-

ceivers. The house encourages the receivers

to grow

intellectu-

ally. It is

extremely

rich in

knowledge

and the

knowledge

is safely

preserved

for the

receivers.

The house

is always

a v a i l a b l e

and ready

to provide more knowledge. The preservation

of the knowledge and the knowledge of the

house identify the house to be “the

Knowledge House”.

SIKANDAR SOBHAPOTI

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HEARTFELT HOMAGE TO DEPARTED

MILL HIM MISSIONARIES

All come and go. These are ordinary

people who did extraordinary things but nev-

er won medals or got their pictures in the

paper. They show quietly prods at what it

means to be a hero and what it means to be

part of the St. Joseph’s Missionary Society. As

Saint Therese of Lisieux said “little things

done with great love”, is what makes us re-

member you today. A big part of what makes

life bearable is people who come alongside us.

There is time for everything.

Today, the St. Joseph’s Missionary

Society celebrates its hundred and fifty years

of existence. It is very important to remem-

ber those great minds and carriers of the

Good News of Christ to different parts of the

world. I call them our Heroes, the brave am-

bassadors of Christ. They witnessed to

Christ’s love. These heroes ventured into

dangerous territories carrying Christ to differ-

ent people in different nations. There are so

many of our departed Mill Hill Missionaries

who have lightened the load and sometimes,

even with just the smallest act, have made life

brighter and reaffirmed to us that we are not

alone in this Christ’s mission. Again St.

Therese of Lisieux said “Without love, deeds,

even the most brilliant, count as nothing”.

They were not overcome by the hardships of

the road, food, people, culture and weather.

Animated by the society’s motto “to love and

to serve”, they focused on the word of God

and tried to help people re-elevate in offering

them chance to re-discover themselves and be

of help to their community. Some of them

fought for the freedom and human dignity.

Others invested in education and

formation of local leadership and many other

great things done. The spirit of service, Dedi-

cation and commitment animated them to go

beyond themselves…Yes! We remember you

today as we celebrate one hundred and fifty

years. This dedication and commitment

pushed them to the point of pouring out their

blood in the defense of the gospel and integri-

ty of the people they served. Let their poured

out blood bless our soil and their broken bod-

ies fertilize our lands. It will look so ungrate-

ful if we do not acknowledge the great works

and ser-

v i c e s

t h e y

rendered

to the

n a t i o n s

and most

of all

t h e i r

s p a r e d

lives for

J e s u s .

They will

r e m a i n

f o r e v e r

in our memories; though the Society has

changed throughout the years, one thing re-

mains: our unsung heroes are the backbone of

this our society. We love you!!

GYLAIN AGBASOA

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my flight was cancelled because they asked the

information desk and were told that the passen-

gers of that plane were transferred to another

plane. But when that plane arrived, they no-

ticed that there was no Albert among those

passengers who came out. They asked again the

information desk and they said that my flight

was cancelled. What an “OMG” Oh My God”.

But it is good that the two of them had the pa-

tience of waiting for me there at the airport for

more than 5 hours. Also it is good that the in-

formation desk officers didn’t tell them that the

plane that I rode was missing.

Regardless of all those happenings of my jour-

ney coming to Nairobi, I thank God for every-

thing that I arrived in Kenya safe and sound.

For more than a day of expedition and having

not enough sleep, now I am here still kicking

and breathing. And here I am now still adjusting

in all matters of life.

Albert Silos

TAKING CARE OF OUR COMMOM

HOME

The supreme pontiff Francis stressed

in his encyclical Laudato si, in our care for the

earth which is a common home by doing all our

possible best to preserve nature. This is a call

for concern to all who live in the world, its not

for just the environmentalist and the govern-

ment officials but for all. Today we face the

problem of drastic climatic change and global

warming because we have failed to identify with

nature, the advent of modernity in most parts

of the world has really cause a conscious loss of

values which help to maintain the nature for the

well being of all. The danger is that most often

we see the effect of these things at a large scale

and fail to identify the small things which we

can do to stand as a great contribution to this

problem of nature which is plaguing the con-

temporary society.

Just learning how to properly dispose

waste, making use of the natural resources like

water, solar energy and understanding the need

for us to plant a tree of flower around our

homes can be of great contribution to our socie-

ty.

The human being has become so self-

ish some times in his thoughts when he sees the

earth as a place for him especially as his care for

the other organism is geared towards only his

consumption and comfort. But this of course

has so much adverse effect in our being in this

very world. Thinking about the massive cutting

down of threes without replacement to con-

struct houses and other centers for the use of

the human species. Think of the way we treat

our wild animals either by consuming them or

using some products from them to produce

things that will help man without thinking that

we are affecting the ecosystem and making

some species of organism endangered, think of

the number of machines produced for man’s

interest and the result they have on the ozone

l aye r , … ju s t t o n am e a f ew.

We are the co-inhabitants of the

world with other organisms, we should make

a n

at-

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very heavy and almost could not carry those

painful encounters.

But there were people praying, encouraging

and inspiring me not to lose hope and surren-

der. Thanks to them! They are God’s blessing

and instruments in

t o my vocation. On the

day of my flight to

Kenya I met other

memorable chal-

lenges. My flight

from Manila to

Bangkok, Thailand

was delayed for two

hours. That is why

arriving there at Bangkok International Airport

I needed to hurry just to catch my next flight. I

needed to run from end to end of the airport in

order to get onto my flight. Reaching the

boarding counter, I was asked for my boarding

pass and I went to the waiting area in hurry.

But the plane that I was to take also delayed; I

just whispered: What a journey! Then I needed

to wait. And I waited for almost 3hours,

WOW! Because the plane was from China and

I was on transit. Though I felt bad about what

happened I thanked God because I could rest

for a while just to give consolation to my tired

body.

When the airplane arrived, getting inside I

thought that only few passengers were there

because we were only few passengers waiting

in the waiting area. But I was wrong; it was

very crowded, lots of people. Then I tried to fit

myself in between two big people. Wow, it

looks like I am the ham of the two large size

burger sandwiches. As we took off, I noticed

that the airplane was quite hot. And I saw some

of the passengers using some of their things just

to make them cool. And the temperature be-

come high inside and I started sweating and I

didn’t understand why the air-conditioner of

the plane was not working. The people began

complaining to the flight attendant demanding

to know why it was hot inside the plane and

they didn’t seem to have answers.

After our takeoff from Bangkok airport, maybe

around 2 to 2 ½ hours of our flight, the plane

captain announced that the amount of fuel in

our plane was insufficient to reach Jomo Ken-

yatta International Airport. It made me feel

scared and nervous. I said to myself this is not a

good joke, how can a pilot announce a thing

like that. He should check everything first be-

fore taking off, while we were there at Bang-

kok, this is crazy, I said to myself.

Then the pilot decided that we will have a de-

tour or take another route and take emergency

stopover in Mumbai, India. No foods and

drinks were served at that time. We stayed

inside for more than 4 hours, just sitting or

sometime went to the washroom. That was the

only activity we could do inside while waiting

to fly again. But, I just diverted my mind not to

think negative about the situation; instead I said

this is an opportunity to see India, where one of

the Mill Hill Theology Houses is situated. After

long hours of waiting, everything was okay, air-

conditioner, fuel and engine were very okay.

After all I felt worried because I didn’t know if

there was someone who would meet me at the

airport when I arrived because I was delayed for

many hours.

Arriving in Kenya, Edson and Gerry, who

were to pick me from the airport, thought that

5

LIGHT MOMENT

My father is 6years old

A teacher asked a kindergarten kid

how old his father is, without any de-

lay the kid shouted “six years” and the

teacher took offence and asked again

“how is that possible ” then the kid

said he only became a father after I

was born and I am six years old, the

teacher smiled and gave his kid a lolli-

pop for thinking very fast, and the

whole class was filled waoooh

COMMUNITY LIVING

Throughout my years of formation, whenever

topics concerning community life have fea-

tured to be discussed, the common words

aired-out are flexibility, sensitivity, coopera-

tion, brotherhood to mention but a few. All

these words and other related phrases are

aimed at making a community where all

members living together feel at home.

Every year of my formation journey I have

experienced different individuals in communi-

ties where I have lived in. There is one com-

mon thing I have noticed which cuts across all

members of those communities: a desire to be

happy. My observations have been that when

new members meet to form a community

they are excited to be with each other. They

want to learn from each other and there is

always inevitable pleasing towards each other,

trying to show the kindest part of oneself to

the new persons. This is usually honey moon,

and it is necessary.

Once members know each other well in both

their strengths and weaknesses, each individu-

al strives to have his desired happiness uncon-

sciously fulfilled. Sometimes it does not mat-

ter how one seeks for this happiness. It hap-

pens that in this endeavor one interferes with

another’s happiness and freedom. It is from

here that many conflicts arise.

Living together in community in my discern-

ment journey has never been without conflicts

especially with my close colleagues. I have

come to believe that given that individuals

who make communities come from different

backgrounds, they have to behave and re-

spond differently to common situations. Con-

flicts in communities, when reflected upon

positively, become sources of strength to the

group and moments of learning. It is for this

reason that I feel privileged to live in a small

community which we call a home within a

bigger community. In these homes we receive

a counselor to journey with us in our house

challenges and joys. This has been and still is

an arena where I express my feelings and ex-

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periences on how I live with my home/

housemates. It is a moment I get to under-

stand what my housemates think and feel

about me. It is indeed a noble moment. The

counseling sessions have been of great help in

as far as my stay in Nairobi formation house is

concerned.

Diversity is beauty. It is through living togeth-

er as people from different backgrounds that I

have come to know myself and how different I

am. Community life is a mirror for I could

not know who I am if not in relation to oth-

ers. All in all sensitivity, flexibility, coopera-

tion, brotherhood and understanding among

others, still remain spotlights in promoting a

community which should be a home. In spite

of challenges which lead to conflicts, there are

moments of joy together as a community. In

the case of our formation house in Nairobi,

Friday social evenings stand tall as an example

of those joyful moments in the formation

house community. It is through community

living that we become the happy ‘we’.

COSMAS ONDARI

I BECOME WHAT I SEEK

In my mind I do. I see. I love some-

thing. I love someone. I fear to become what I

seek. Just like we become what we eat, so too

I fret becoming what I seek. I am certain that I

will become what I seek because to it I send

out my heart. I seek just what I love and when

I fall in love with what I seek, I become one

with it. I become what I love.

We find identification with the

things we love. Once we identify with the

things we love, we put our hearts towards

them. For them we crave with a longing so

deep. Our families and backgrounds may be

responsible for who we are, (my family is

responsible for my being Ultan Nche), but we

are responsible for what we become (not

becoming a sloth) so if one becomes a thief in

life, the family is not responsible because the

heart was constantly sent towards stealing.

Even situations should not be blamed because

to solve a frustrating situation in life is not to

aggravate it by becoming something worse.

The Scriptures tell us that we

should seek, and we shall find, knock and the

door will be opened to you, for all who seek

will find and all who knock will have the door

opened to them (Mtt. 7:7). Even in all these,

we should be careful with the things we seek;

with the things

we send our

hearts to. There

is a reason to

this.

L o v -

ing things is

dangerous. It

changes us. It

changes even

the look we give

to everything

that relates to

the thing or person loved. Loving changes our

lives. This is neither mere allusion nor fanta-

sy. The more we grow in love with palm

wine, the more palm wine we become. So I

am even more certain now that the more we

love Christ, the more Christ-like we become.

11

Ngong diocese was evangelized by Mill Hill

missionaries but currently there is not even

one Mill Hill missionary left working there as

Philip Adede, the society representative, not-

ed in his speech. At the same time the local

church is growing, producing and sending out

missionaries. Lawrence is the first Mill Hill

Missionary from Ngong diocese. We pray and

hope that he has opened the door for many.

This surely was a fruit of education and for-

mation after many years of toiling. The joy

was evident in the smiling faces of the newly

ordained and the many intervals of ululations

throughout the celebration. As usual last on

the agenda was a sumptuous meal and enter-

tainment at the diocesan pastoral centre.

As a tree’s roots continue growing even as it

produces fruits, the roots that we have devel-

oped during formation too continue to grow

in order to nourish mission. Mission is not

without challenges. Even in mission we have

to remain rooted and as the roots grow we

may feel pain in the process. How deep our

roots are will

d e t e r m i n e

how stable we

will be in life

and in mis-

s i o n . W e

should remain

focused on the

goal. In this

case the goal

of mission

which is serv-

ing God and serving neighbor and rooted in

nothing other than the love of God. We pray

for all our ten newly ordained priests that

they may be rooted in Christ to overcome the

challenges and bear fruits that will bring joy to

themselves and those they will minister to.

MARK OWOR

UNEASY JOURNEY

To follow the footsteps of Christ is not always

like a bed of roses in which you may always

feel that you are in the seven stars hotel hav-

ing your whole life vacations. But it is a bed of

thorns in which you may encounter a lot of

painful moments along the way. I had this

kind of experience through my journey going

to the formation house in Nairobi. First, I was

stopped by the immigration officers in the

Philippines to fly to Kenya. This was between

July 31 and August 8, 2015. This not only

happened once but twice. Imagine my strug-

gles, trauma and the feeling of hopelessness at

that time. I almost surrendered and said it is

not my luck to go to Kenya and maybe this is

not the way of life Jesus wants for me. I felt

#

come all who are present and find out how

their day’s activities were. It was so touching

that those whom society and very often me

too directly or indirectly reject are blessed

with what we spend lots and lots of money

and time to acquire-Silence. We are misled by

the many deceiving voices such that we pass

ourselves by. I wonder what I have been doing

because the formation program would not

always provide time for personal prayer, for

silence with God. It is my responsibility to

make an appointment to meet with my God

just like I would do when I miss a friend.

Finally, I was inspired by the re-

sponse given to me by one of the workers for

a question I asked her. I asked her what her

feeling is like whenever she is with these peo-

ple because it takes a lot of courage and hu-

mility I must say to deal with some of the

members of the L’arche Community. Some of

them cannot feed themselves. Before they eat,

they spread the food all over their body which

is very uncomfortable to look at. But it meant

nothing to those who were working and living

with them. And so when I asked my question,

she replied, “there are moments when I feel

like giving up, asking myself: ‘what am I do-

ing here?’ but there are moments when I feel

in a way that I cannot explain but it makes me

want to do more” With this response I imme-

diately referred to Mtt.25:31-46 (Matt 25:45

‘whatever you did not do for one of the least

of these, you did not do for me.') When I

came back to the formation house, I felt very

happy saying to myself, this was a midterm

well spent.

NGI MALVIN NKEBENYA

ORDINATION : A FRUIT OF FOR-

MATION

“The roots of education are bitter but the

fruits are sweet” is a phrase that was inscribed

on the walls of almost every building and class

room in my primary school. However the

first part of the saying seemed more true to

me since that was where I belonged. This was

because of my experience of being punished

for reaching school late, making noise in class,

failing a sum in mathematics etc. Looking

back now I wonder what kept me going. This

is analogous to formation. Prof Majawa de-

scribes formation as information, formation

and transformation.

The process of formation is not without diffi-

culties. Sometimes the difficulties may even

blind one from focusing on the goal. One of

the immediate goals of formation for Mill Hill

missionaries is Mission. We are prepared to

become missionaries to bring the Good News

of Christ to the poor. Therefore every step

one makes towards this goal is a success. The

climax of the formation process is perpetual

oath, diaconate, priesthood and finally mis-

sion. These moments are always characterized

with joyful celebrations. In the past few

months we have had 10 ordinations of our

brothers who completed their formation pro-

gram recently to the priesthood. We as a

formation community had the privilege to

attend and participate in the ordination of

Lawrence Otieno also known as “Mill Hill

Man”. This took place in Ngong cathedral in

Ngong diocese. Lawrence was ordained

alongside three diocesan priests and one dea-

con. This was a symbolic event because

7

He loved us first. In my mind, I don’t like to

verbalize ‘thanks’, especially to Jesus Christ.

The best way to thank Christ for loving us is

to send our hearts towards him. To love Him

back, even if we don’t know how well to love

Him back, we struggle to send our hearts

towards Him, and when we identify with

Him, we will become one with Him.

Loving without reason can become

addictive and senseless. Therefore we should

regulate the sending of our hearts towards

things. Too much of a thing can become a

disease. Addictive persons can become a dan-

ger to the society because they become un-

controllable, senseless and wasteful, what do

you think about being addicted to the person

of Christ who prior to today, was not known

to us, but today we know Him because He has

shown Himself to us in the person of Jesus

Christ.

ULTAN NCHE

TECHNOLOGICAL GADGETS: SERVICE

OR SLAVERY TO HUMANITY?

Today improvement in technology has made

life easier than ever before. Communication

has been made easier and the world has been

transformed into a global village. The phones,

internet, television among others have helped

in connecting people all over the world. One

needs only to be in the comfort of his or her

room to access something going on several

kilometers away. Family members can still

communicate with each other even if they are

far from each other. There is no doubt there-

fore that technology has been of great service

in enhancing the lives of humans especially

with the use of gadgets.

However this technology which has made life

easier has another side that is very prominent

today. This lies in the type of gadgets we seek.

Many people today wish to get sophisticated

phones, laptops and televisions among other

things. The prices of these gadgets are some-

times alarming especially for a middle class

citizen talk less of the poor people. The ad-

vertizing of these products makes us think we

need them when in actual fact we might not.

The features that many of these gadgets con-

tain, which makes them expensive, are hardly

ever used by those who get these gadgets. We

become excited to sacrifice a lot to get an

expensive gadget and soon after getting it we

find that the excitement fades away and we

want to get another one. Then we seek for

another and the process continues. Further-

more, concentration on apps such as face

book and whatsApp on smart phones especial-

ly has led many people to ignore those around

t h e m .

Sometimes

p e o p l e

h a r d l y

c o n n e c t

with those

a r o u n d

them but

are always

connecting

on their

p h o n e s .

Some peo-

ple even

#

walk on the highway and chat risking their

lives and one wonders is all this necessary?

We can sometimes be enslaved by these gadg-

ets.

We see therefore that technology especially

the gadgets can be of service as well as be

enslaving to humans. We have to continually

examine our attitude towards these gadgets to

see whether they enslave us or they serve us.

It is in this way that we will have been able to

use technology for the proclamation of God’s

word and for the enhancement of human life.

FAMBO ATHANASIUS

MERCY AND COMPASSION TRI-

UMPHS OVER JUSTICE AND REASON

Normally, we have the idea of jus-

tice being established for any act which is

wrong and by so doing we fail to take into

consideration many of the situations which

caused the person to perform the act. When

we go this direction then we are seeking for

justice in the light of reason. Reasoning is

good because it comes from God and we need

to use justice to organize our society for

peaceful co-existence.

Mercy and compassion are even

better and stronger to help us live peacefully.

It is for this reason that Christ expressed how

compassionate and merciful the heavenly Fa-

ther is to us who go against His commands

many times. This mercy and compassion give

another chance for us to repair our relation-

ship with the Father and with our fellow hu-

man beings.

From Dec. 8th 2015 the Roman

pontiff Pope Francis, declared the year of

mercy; we all are called to participate in this

celebration of mercy, not only to show it to

someone but also to show it to ourselves.

Mercy and compassion heal and give us the

operating ability to move on with life, check

the case of

Zacchaeus,

upon all

what he had

done as a tax

c o l l e c t o r

when the

mercy of

C h r i s t

t o u c h e d

him, he was

never the

same person

again and he

moved on with his life to another level.

As loving people of God we repre-

sent the visible face of the Father’s love. We

ought to show mercy and compassion to our-

selves and to others no matter what they have

done to us. Lent gives us the time to forgive

and show mercy and compassion but it should

not only end at that it should be part of us.

The psalmist says If God should keep a record

of our sins, who will survive; we need to do

same like God to continuously show mercy

and compassion in and out of the season of

lent.

NKONGHO PAUL

9

LIGHT MOMENT

PRISCA DISCOVERED AMERICA

During a geography class in a certain pri-

mary school, the teacher asked one of his

pupils to go to the map and point at the

continent America. Prisca went to the

map on the board and pointed at America

and the teacher asked the rest of the class

to give a hand of applauds to Prisca. In

the next history lesson the teacher asked

the class who discovered America and the

whole class shouted “PRISCA” the teacher

became furious and when he tried to find

out they reminded him when Prisca

showed them America on the

map….imagine

MID TERM BREAK IN NYAHURURU

I visited Nyahururu for my first

time during the midterm break. I was invited

by a friend who works with the L’arche com-

munity in Kenya. You may need to be enlight-

ened on what L’arche is all about; It is an

International Organization that takes care of

people who are mentally and physically chal-

lenged. They get them from either the streets

or from their homes (for those who have) and

bring them together, forming a community.

In Nyahururu, I was in one of such communi-

ties known as Effatha Home. I was greatly

touched in my spirit by the experience I had

while in this place and there were many strik-

ing things but I wish to talk about just three

things.

In the first place, I was touched by

the catching words on the door post, written

in Kiswahili: Karibuni Effatha (Welcome to Ef-

fatha). This was shown in practice by a very

warm and formal greeting from the house

members. Tears ran down my cheeks when

they all tried to welcome me, even those who

could not speak showed a sign that they were

glad I visited them. I felt just as Henri J. M.

Nouwen would say in his book The Return of

the Prodigal Son, “I was home after being so far

from it.” The smiles on their faces left me

thinking. Like the younger son in the story of

the prodigal son, I have been busy with other

affairs that seemingly appeared to be more

important, but that was not true. Yet I am in a

formation house which is a community. This

brings me to the second striking point.

Their activities like meals together,

clean up together and most especially praying

together struck me. I discovered that they all

had a day to lead community prayer which

usually takes place in their beautiful chapel

with the Blessed Sacrament. They pray ac-

cording to how the Spirit leads them as I can

say but they know they are not wasting time.

T h o s e w h o

c a n n o t

s p e a k

s i m p l y pray

in si-

l e n c e ,

which is s t i l l

a very spe -

c i a l form

of pray- e r .

S o m e b e -

f o r e they

p r a y , wel-