Three novices make their first profession at Gaitu
The Orionine family in Kenya welcomed three new religious on the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The novices Maxwell, Luke and Thaddeus made their first religious profession in St. Luigi Orione Parish, Gaitu, in Meru.
The Christians of the parish turned out in numbers to witness an occasion that was new to them, since it had never happened before in this young Orionine parish. It was also a moment of vocational animation: the Orionine religious present spoke and mixed with the young people, who were themselves there in great numbers.
One of the greatest graces God can give a soul
In the homily Fr. Anthony Njenga, Regional Superior of Kenya, urged the newly professed to imitate Mary in her readiness to place herself at the service of those who need her help. Religious life, he added, consists in responding to the love of God, who loved us freely and first, by loving him in return and placing ourselves at the service of our brothers and sisters.
It is not by our own merit that we are called to religious life, he repeated; as Don Orione says, one of the greatest graces God can give a soul is religious life. God himself chooses to make us this undeserved gift, without counting our frailties, for the greater glory of his name. With the help of God’s grace we are called to live an exemplary and prophetic life in society, said the celebrant, inviting the new religious to take care of this gift of vocation given them by God.
Many Orionine confreres and seminarians, the Little Missionary Sisters of Charity and the faithful of Gaitu parish took part in the celebration, to welcome the new religious into the Orionine family and to pray with them and for them on the solemnity of the Assumption.
On the same day five Kenyan postulants began their novitiate year in the Philippines, and thirty-two young aspirants were in formation in Nairobi, studying philosophy and preparing for the novitiate. Kenya is green, and there is more vocational hope in the Orionine family. God bless Kenya.
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