{"id":11809,"date":"2021-02-26T16:16:53","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T16:16:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/?p=11809"},"modified":"2021-02-26T16:16:53","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T16:16:53","slug":"kenya-bishop-oballa-tells-benedictine-ordinands-to-be-apostles-of-peace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/2021\/02\/26\/kenya-bishop-oballa-tells-benedictine-ordinands-to-be-apostles-of-peace\/","title":{"rendered":"KENYA: Bishop Oballa Tells Benedictine Ordinands To Be Apostles of Peace"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA <\/em><\/p>\n

A Prelate of Kenya\u2019s Ngong Diocese reminded candidates for priestly and diaconate ordination from the Congregation of Missionary Benedictines of Saint Ottilien on Saturday, February 21, to fully embrace their call and be ministers who preach and live peace.<\/p>\n

In his homily during the Eucharistic celebration at Prince of Peace Benedictine Abbey, Tigoni, in the Archdiocese of Nairobi, Bishop John Oballa Owaa told the Benedictine Monks to feel privileged that the Lord has called them to be his instruments that bring forth peace\u201d especially these times that \u201cseems to be a history of death, despair, violence, culture of abortion, drugs, suicide and discouragement.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord makes you his apostles of peace, to preach peace and live peace,\u201d Bishop Oballa told the candidates shortly before their ordination adding that the Monks need to be people \u201cwho bring peace to every sphere of life and apostolate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Appreciating the five Monks who were to be ordained – three to priesthood and two to the ministry of diaconate- Bishop Oballa who serves as the Vice-Chairman of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) said, \u201cToday our hearts are full of joy and gratitude to God for the gift of our brothers here who have received adequate formation for their vocation of seeking God in solitude, silence, constant prayer, willing penance and contemplation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the candidates for diaconate, he reminded them to remain faithful to the Gospel which they will preach as they take the new step in the hierarchy of the Holy Orders in the Church.<\/p>\n

\u201cReceive the Gospel of Christ whose herald you are. Believe what you read, teach what you believe and practice what you teach,\u201d the Prelate said.<\/p>\n

He explained further, \u201cCommit yourself to living these words by preaching and witnessing to that same Gospel and knowing that preaching does not take place only in the pulpit but also in your lives and hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Focusing his homily on Jesus as the good Shepherd, the Local Ordinary of Ngong Diocese narrated that Jesus is the \u201cgenuine and real\u201d shepherd who is always willing to fight whoever and whatever threatens his flock at the cost of his own life and does everything to defend his flock.<\/p>\n

In this regard he told the candidates that they must show the same generosity as their Master, led by love and concern for others so that as one flock all may be under one shepherd.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dear sons who are about to be consecrated to God, the Lord calls you to draw even closer to him for the sake of his people. He calls you to share in the Holy priesthood of his son Jesus Christ and that you may have him alone before your eyes,\u201d the Bishop said.<\/p>\n

He continued, \u201cWe must progress from a maintenance Church that only takes care of those who are their own. By the Lord\u2019s own invitation, you are to reach out to those who are outside and be a missionary Church, a Church that goes out to look for everyone and bringing back to the one flock.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his part speaking after the ordination, the Benedictine Abbot Rt. Rev John Baptist Oese Imai\u00a0thanked the newly ordained priests and deacons urging them to be ministers of value in Christ\u2019s vineyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo our five brothers who have been ordained, we thank God who has enabled you reach this day. Know that what you have chosen is the right thing (and) we never go wrong with God,\u201d the Abbot underscored.<\/p>\n

Abbot John Baptist who hails from Kenya\u2019s Bungoma Diocese quoted to the newly ordained monks the words of St. Benedict reminding them of their identity saying, \u201cYou must not forget that you are a monk lest you start developing some wings unnecessarily.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI pray for you to serve God\u2019s people with all your heart and when you sincerely dedicate yourselves to serve, you will be a very happy man, a very happy priest in the vineyard of the Lord,\u201d the Kenyan Abbot said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sr. Jecinter Antoinette Okoth, FSSA A Prelate of Kenya\u2019s Ngong Diocese reminded candidates for priestly…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-amecea-news","category-kenya"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11809","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11809"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11809\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11810,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11809\/revisions\/11810"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11809"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11809"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communications.amecea.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11809"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}