KENYA: “The Kenya We Desire Must Be Rooted in God’s Law”, Says Archbishop Muhatia at Launch of 2025 Lenten Campaign
Sr. Henriette Anne, FSSA
At the official launching campaign of Lenten season 2025 in Kisumu Archdiocese on 21st February 2025, Archbishop Muhatia Makumba reflecting on the Book of Genesis and the foundational themes of human existence, sin, and obedience to God called upon the Christians to align their lives with God’s statutes and work towards building “The Kenya We Desire”, a theme set by the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) for this year’s Lenten season.
As the Lenten season begins, Archbishop Muhatia urged Christians to reflect on the kind of Kenya they desire. He stressed that a nation built on justice, integrity, and love must have its foundation in God’s law.
“The Kenya we desire cannot be achieved without this important basic foundation of our faith. If we desire a Kenya as Christians, we must desire a Kenya that is the City of God,” he said.
In his homily, the prelate narrating on the account of Adam and Eve’s disobedience and God’s searching question “Adam where are you”, is a call to a deeper reflection on humanity’s displacement from God’s grace and stressed that sin results from an attempt to detach from God’s order, leading to spiritual nakedness.
Drawing from St. Augustine of Hippo writing on the “City of God”, Archbishop Muhatia compared two ways of living; one that adheres to God’s commandments, “The City of God”, and another that seeks to function without divine guidance, “The City of Man”.
He linked the story of the “City of Man” with the story of Babel where human being attempted to build a city and reach heaven without God, showing a sin of pride and self-reliance.
He continued, “Why is there pride in the world, why is there negative ambition in the world, why do people attempt to live in this world as if God did not exist. It continues up to today, there are so many towers of Babel around us, there are so many towers of Babel in some of our parishes, there are so many towers of Babel in our markets, there are so many towers of Babel in our countries”, he lamented.
Archbishop Muheria warned against modern-day “tower of Babel” including in politics, economics, and even within the Church.
“There are so many towers of Babel in this country Kenya, so as we reflect on the “Kenya we desire”, let us be aware of the mushrooming towers of Babel all around us. There could be towers of Babel in our homes, there could be towers of Babel in our country, they will come down probably, because towers of Babel are always built on sand, and whatever is built on sand has no future”.
He also cautioned against the tendency of blame game when it comes to corruption saying “when talking about corruption, we normally point figures at the other person, it is the other person who is corrupt. Let us reverse this and ask, could I be corrupt, would it be that I am the one who is actually corrupt, would it be that I am the one promoting it in my country?”
He called upon all Christians to during the period of lent, reflect on their relationship with God.
“Let us pray during this period of lent, the whole season for about 6 weeks, let us reflect deeply on our relationship with God. There is no way you can construct a city of God, if this city of God, the temple of the holy spirit is not in order. We ask God to help us to put temple of the holy spirit in relationship with God for us to construct the city of God on earth”
