AMECEA: Be Open To God’s Spirit Working Through Formators, AMECEA Chairman Urges Bakanja College Seminarians
Most Rev. Ignatius Chama, AMECEA Chairman for Pastoral and Archbishop of Kasama, Zambia
The Chairman of AMECEA Rt. Rev. Charles Kasonde, accompanied by AMECEA Chairman for Pastoral Coordination Most Rev. Ignatius Chama, joined seminarians and staff at AMECEA Blessed Bakanja College, Nairobi, in a Eucharistic celebration of the World Mission Sunday on 20th October 2019, marking the climax of the Extraordinary Mission Month.
Preaching to the congregation which comprises of 48 seminarians from AMECEA region and beyond as well as formators and support staff, Bishop Kasonde emphasized the importance of prayer in the life of a priest, evangelizing by a life of witness and openness to formators in order to be formed into the Lord’s instruments for the mission.
“On this Special Mission Sunday, we remember the feet of the holy men and women who once treaded our continent to bring and share their faith in the Lord Jesus. We pray for them and for our fore parents who receive the Christian faith and passed it on from one generation to the next. We are all beneficiaries of their great work,” he said.
On the occasion, Bishop Kasonde urged the seminarians not to let the efforts of those great missionaries die with this generation but rather to accept God’s call to become the stepping stones of transmission of the Good News to future generations.
“Let what we have received from them find fertile soil to bear fruit that will be shared with the community today and in the future,” he continued.
Drawing from the first Scripture reading of the day which came from Ex. 17: 8-13, Bishop Kasonde highlighted the prayer, togetherness and openness as key to the formation processes.
“The Biblical story on about Moses, Aaron and Joshua defeating their enemies the Amalekites teach us that this was possible because they were men of prayer; they were committed to work together in order to defeat their enemies. When Moses went up the hill and prayed with his hands raised, as Aaron supported his tired hands, and Joshua mowed down the Amalekites,” he said.
He further added that in Bemba language in Zambia, a priest is called ‘bashimapepo’ which literary means ‘the one who prays’.
“If a priest does not pray, he becomes dry: but prayer replenishes us priests, watering our lives so that we may blossom through our outreach. Prayer life gives us that which the ancient philosopher Aristotle emphasized through the words, ‘Un-reflected life is not worth living’. It gives us the opportunity to sit down, look into the past and present in order to envision the future with hope. By so doing the priest wins the battles that are there against the Amalekites of this world today,” he continued.
Turning to the importance of openness during the formation period, he urged the seminarians to allow the people who are entrusted with the formation responsibility to shape them into instruments for the ministry of Jesus the Christ.
Celebrations at Bakanja College
“Here you have the rector and his deputy, the Spiritual Director and the lecturers who are coming into your lives as well as the Sisters who are inspiring you in many ways, and all the people of good will. Take this as an opportunity to be shaped into a person worth the calling of Jesus Christ, modelled on Christ himself.”
The AMECEA Chairman further recalled Pope Paul VI whose encyclical letter Evangelii Nuntiandi, emphasize the aspect of witness in the task of evangelizing the modern people and said, “Priesthood also implies leading by example for it is through a life well lived that he inspires others. Once ordained, do not become a curse but an instrument of God that will inspire others by your way of life. Be a mirror of the goodness that subsists in the Church,” Bishop Kasonde continued.”
Also, the chairman for AMECEA Pastoral Coordination, Most Rev. Ignatius Chama took his turn to emphasize the importance of openness to formators, relating it the Gospel reading of the day, Luke 18, 1-8, where Jesus gave the parable of the woman who importunately knocked at the door of the unjust judge seeking justice.
“All of you have small doors which are going to be knocked at by the rector and members of staff whose responsibility it is to form you. The Spirit works through them but it is up to you to open those small doors that you have so that they can enter in,” he said.
“In the Book of Revelation Jesus saying, ‘I am standing outside the door, knocking. If you open, I will come in.’ Jesus comes to you, knocking every day through the the team which is in charge of formation. I urge you to you open your doors, to be submissive and docile to the Spirit who is working through them so that you may get formed,” Most Rev. Chama went on.
The Chairman of AMECEA also commissioned new office bears who are taking over from the outgoing group various community responsibilities at Bakanja Seminary which include head prefect, sacristans and choir coordinators, and urged them to become student leaders guided by the light of Christ.
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By Fr. Andrew Kaufa, Coordinator AMECEA Social Communication Department
