KENYA: “Be Like a Sower who Never Gives Up,” Apostolic Nuncio to Newly Ordained Bishop of Lodwar
Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA
The Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya has encouraged the new bishop ordained for the Catholic Diocese of Lodwar, Kenya, to be determined and persistent in his ministry as a Shepherd and never to give up.
The Archbishop Hubertus van Megen who is the Pope’s representative in Kenya was addressing Bishop-elect John Mbinda in his homily Saturday, June 4, just before ordaining him as the Local Ordinary of Lodwar Diocese which fell vacant in 2019 when Bishop Dominic Kimengich was transferred to Eldoret Diocese.
“Jesus sends you out there to be like the sower who sows the seed and never gives up until they (seeds) grow,” the Nuncio who doubles as the representative of Pope in South Sudan told Msgr. Mbinda and continued, “The harvest is bountiful but the laborers are few.”
Speaking on the eve of Pentecost when the Church commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and other followers of Jesus Christ while they were in Jerusalem, Archbishop van Megen said, “People have come from all over the world, like that time in Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Pentecost which is about the gifts of the Law of Moses.”
“If you read in between the lines in the Acts of the Apostles, you understand that the law had become oppressive, deadly, devoid of God’s presence and while the Jews were hungry for the Spirit of God, they could not find it in the teachings of Moses,” The Dutch-born Prelate narrated.
He continued posing a question of concern about the Church, “What happened in Jerusalem is happening over and over again. How many times do we as a Church not cling desperately to commandments, to traditions, to expressions like it has always been like that? As soon as that happens, the teachings, however well intentioned, becomes a stone on a tomb. The yolk becomes heavy and unbearable.”
Calling on Msgr. Mbinda, a Member of the Holy Ghost Fathers in Kenya, (Spiritans) to present the faith Christians are yearning for in new ways and make it accessible to them, the Nuncio cautioned, “Never fall for the temptation of blindly following traditions or merciless application of the law. The Spirit of the Lord moves and He knows the depths of the human spirit and the human heart and reveals always the different ways to make the word enter into the depths of our souls however gloomy and dark it may be.”
Addressing the Bishop-elect, Archbishop van Megen reminded him to emulate the two founders of the Spiritan congregation: Claude Poullart des Places and Venerable Francis Liberman to have an insight into the Spiritan way of pastoral and religious life.
“The French name “des Places” has the meaning of “from the places”, which can be interpreted as being about openness to the Spirit. Such openness signifies “giving room and attention to people, freedom to their hearts in order for them to grow in that Spirit,” The Nuncio and went on to explain, Venerable Libermann, on his part, “is a friendly man who is considerate, who understands and is open, who understands and who embraces.”
“Des Places and Libermann are like a program for the Congregation he said to Bishop-elect adding that, “The two founders of the Spiritans, can also be your program for your pastoral work in this Diocese.”
He therefore urged Msgr. Mbinda to be “a good and friendly man who gives people to breathe,” following the words of the one of the founder Liberman who wrote: “All you have to do is keep yourself docile and pliable in the hands of the Spirit of life, whom our Lord has placed in your soul to be your all. He must be the principle and unique source of all your affections, of all your desires and movements of your soul. He must be the thriving power of your mind, and the guide of your soul through the movements He implants there.”
“Dear John, if you are able to follow up on those words, if the Holy Spirit is really able to govern heart, then you will be like Christ who once said to His disciples, ‘my yoke is easy, my burden is light,’” the Nuncio concludes asking the Christians to pray for the new Bishop.
