FROM THE BISHOP’S DESK To all the Christians of Kitui through the parish priests “Gloria in Excelsis Deo” “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will…” My dear Christians, We are coming towards the celebration of the birth of our savior in Christmas, and also to the end of our Golden Jubilee year. We look back at the wonderful celebrations we have had, the amazing blessings and graces we have received and the projects we have both started and opened, and we are filled with joy and gratitude. Even before the angels sing to the new born king in Bethleem, we already give praised to God with their voices “Glory to God in the highest”! May his name be praised and exalted above all things. I wish to thanks you all for your participation in our celebrations and particular for the tremendous effort we all have made to grow in faith and to improve in our sacramental life. This year we have broken records in the number of baptisms, confirmations and more especially marriages. We have also given many sanatios of marriages, to people wishing you come back to the sacraments. It has truly been a year of grace. This is really a sign of maturity, and growth of our diocese. Now we must maintain the momentum of faith that we have lived in this jubilee year. As we prepare for the birth of Christ, the liturgy of the church invites us to prepare ourselves “A voice cries, “Prepare in the wilderness a way for the Lord. Make straight highway for our God across the desert. Let every valley be filled in, every mountain and hill be laid low. Let every cliff become a plain…” (Is 40:3-4) We have made efforts in this year to get closer to our Lord Jesus and to remove the obstacles that are there, between us and our God. But in this time of preparation of Christmas, and looking ahead to the time after our jubilee, we must now put even more efforts, so as to be now the ones who will carry the “good news”, the faith in Jesus Christ, the witness of Christian life to those who come after us. My dear daughters and sons, our Lord invites us to put aside ways, actions and attitudes that block the door of our heart to Christ. We must reject actions and ideas that do not agree with the faith of Jesus Christ, the faith of His Church that we repeat each Sunday, in the Creed. Christ is to be born in a manger in a dark cave, but he is is the light of the world. “ the Word was the real light that gives light to everyone; he was coming into the workd.” (John 1,9) He wants to be born in our hearts and in our society in order to give light to the darkness of our lives, to redeem us. Let us then prepare our hearts by leveling the mountains of our sins, and filling the valleys of our fears, so that we can now carry him forward to the coming years. By confessing our sins, we get strength to continue with his help. By trusting, “do not be afraid” he tells us, we can go confidently without fearing anyone or anything. “If God is with us, who can be against us”. In this invitation to “make straight the way of the Lord”, I wish to address an issue that unfortunately has started disturbing the faith of our Christians within our diocese, it can easily slow us down in our journey forward to Christ. We have learnt that some of our Christians are being cheated by people, Catholics who preach a different gospel, just like the times of St. Paul. A Gospel of power over evil, that is different from the sacraments. These people claim that suffering is a punishment of evil or the presence of the devil. Even in our country we have seen similar preachers being exposed. Remember Christ suffered and died on the cross even though God his father loved him without measure. Yes, we pray for the healing of those who are sick, and accompany them, praying for them, giving them the help of the sacrament of penance and the anointing of the sick. And in fact, God sometimes heals them. So praying for the sick and with the sick is a very good thing. But their sickness is not a punishment, or because they are evil, or bigger sinners. No, sometimes sickness or calamities, or pains of death or other ills, are there so that we can grow in holiness, like the martyrs, with Jesus Christ. We must learn to carry our cross, and at a times that cross can be heavier that we expected. But Jesus helps us to carry it. See how he is born in poverty and cold in Bethleem, and later how he will suffer in his passion. These people come claiming special powers or special revelations and they want us to believe in them and their miraculous powers, provided we pay them. I know that even some of them are priests who have at times celebrated some “rituals” which are not permitted by neither the Bishop nor the church, aimed at influencing “spirits” or sometimes asked some Christians to do things that are unchristian. They seem to see the devil in every corner. The devil in fact tempts is constantly, but he has been defeated by the Christ. Let us recall our faith, the faith of the saints, the faith passed in to us by the missionaries, and the faith proclaimed by the church through the Pope and the bishops. I am therefore now directing to all Christians, just like St. Paul did, “if anyone who preaches to you a gospel other than the one you were first given is to be under God’s curse.” (Gal 1,9). That means we cannot associate at all with such activities, as they are superstitious and sinful. I am therefore taking serious measures to all associated with such practices. Before allowing any ritual, ask the persons whether they have written permission of the bishop. I have also discouraged visits to the places of prayer that promotes these practices until they conform with the correct approach. In cases where you suspect demonic possession, please inform the priests who can assess and in necessary the appropriate persons will be assigned by the bishop for the exorcism. This is a very serious issue, which we as Christians must refuse, if we are to witness as we are, to our Catholic faith. The church treats these matters very seriously, as this means going back to darkness, when Christ the “True Light” has overcome darkness and evil, and made us all overcome all these powers of darkness through baptism. In this jubilee year we must decide to root out any form of superstition within our faithful and priests. We cannot Give satan a chance to put fear in our people, Christ is victorious!! Christ defend us ! do not be afraid!! During our Golden jubilee we have chosen as our major project, the construction of the shrine of our lady of protection in Museve. I am asking you all to again make all efforts to participate in the coming years in this project. We need to be generous with our contributions of chicken and other items or donations. This must be our project to leave for the next generation. We chose it because it will help those who are faced with difficulties of all types to come and ask our Mary mother for cures. The sick will come and ask for healing, the broken hearted for conform, the mourning and bereaved for consolation, the poor and miserable for solutions, the families in difficult for love and solutions, the unemployed for work, we will plead for rain, peace, harmony and in a special way for God’s pardon, our Lady’s protections and an increase for faith. Museve shrine is coming to be our solution for all these problems and answer to many who seek false prophets to assist them in need. As we wait for the birth of Jesus, Let us decide to remove these obstacles, like we remove stones from our shamba when preparing to plant. Let us ask Mary to show us to Trust God, and to prepare well to welcome and carry Christ who is about to be born to the paths of the earth. We learn from the wise men: “…going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of hold and frankincense and myrrh.” Let us adore truly our God and now offer him our lives, our homes and our plans for the future of our diocese. He waits for us. I wish you all a very Holy and joyful Christmas. Please, do not forget to share with those who do not have, and those in prisons and in hospital the joy of Christ’s birth, sharing also some of our food and gifts. I impart on all of you my blessings and ask for our prayers. Yours loving shepherd Bishop Anthony Muheria
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 10:12:10 +0000
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