Nine brothers profess perpetual vows in Nairobi
On Saturday 12 March 2022, the 82nd anniversary of the Dies Natalis of our holy Founder St. Luigi Orione, nine brothers made their perpetual profession of vows in Nairobi. Eight belonged to the Delegation Mother of the Church — one Kenyan, two Filipinos and five Indians — and one to Notre Dame d’Afrique, from Ivory Coast.
The colourful celebration took place in the Formation House in Nairobi, where the aspirants, the postulants of philosophy and the religious students of theology live and are formed. They study philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of the Consolata Missionaries and theology both at Tangaza University and at Don Bosco Utume Theological College.
The celebration was presided over by the Regional Superior of the Region of Kenya, Fr. Anthony Njenga, who received the vows in the name of the Superior General, Fr. Tarcisio Vieira, while many confreres and priests concelebrated. Many religious men and women took part, together with lay people from our various parishes in Kenya. The same day was also the Orionine day of the missions.
A religious must never give up prophecy
Commenting on the readings, Fr. Anthony said that through baptism we are called to be prophets. If prophecy is a gift of our Baptism, then it is all the more a gift of religious consecration, since that consecration flows from our Baptism and allows us to stand on the threshold of eternity as witnesses to the light of Christ.
He encouraged the clerics making their vows to be prophets, to wake the world through their religious consecration, and to bear witness with their lives, following Christ in the footsteps of St. Luigi Orione. Quoting Pope Francis, he recalled that a religious must never renounce prophecy: prophecy makes noise, and some call it a racket, but the charism of religious is like leaven — prophecy announces the spirit of the Gospel.
“A religious who acknowledges himself weak and a sinner does not deny the witness he is called to give — he strengthens it.”
Pope Francis, quoted in the homilyLife, the Pope’s words continue, is rarely clear, precise and neatly outlined. It is complicated, made of grace and of sin. We all make mistakes and we must recognise our weakness. What is expected of you, therefore, is to give witness.
Indian cloth on Kenyan shoulders
One detail of the day is worth recording: the brothers from India inspired their Kenyan foster parents to wear traditional Indian dress for the occasion, bringing out the blend of cultures that the Orionine presence has established here in Kenya, in the Formation House.
Fr. Anthony concluded his reflection with the word and example of Don Orione: a great spirit of family must distinguish us, a spirit of hospitable simplicity and holy joy, so that we may spread goodness and peace wherever we go and in the heart of everyone we meet.
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