“Bring laughter back into our homes,” Kenyan Archbishop Urges Women to Restore Joy in Families

Nairobi, 03 December, 2025 / 4:51 PM

The Archbishop of Kenya’s Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri has underscored the vital role of joy in family life, urging women to take the lead in restoring laughter back into their homes.

In his homily on Wednesday, December 3, at the opening Mass of the Catholic Women Association (CWA) retreat in the Catholic Diocese of Kitale, Archbishop Anthony Muheria noted that a joyful woman radiates peace throughout the household.

“Where there is a joyful woman, the husband is at peace, the children say, ‘mother is happy,’ and that happiness fills the whole family,” Archbishop Muheria said at the commencement of the five-day retreat happening at St. Monica Girls High School, Kitale.

“God has given you that gift,” he told the Catholic women, and added, “A mother’s laughter is a blessing, a grace, it brings peace. But when a mother is angry, people in that home must be cautious. Let us follow the example of Mother Mary, let us be cheerful, let us be people of joy.”

“Women, take heart, be joyful in life, get used to laughter, do not forbid yourselves from laughing,” Archbishop Muheria told the CWA members attending the retreat that ends on December 6.

The Local Ordinary of Nyeri encouraged the women to ask God, during the spiritual exercise, to increase their love, patience, and courage.

“A mother without love, without courage, without the strength to stand firm and resist evil cannot keep her home or household in order,” he said, emphasizing the need to nurture stable and faith-filled families.

The Kenyan Archbishop urged the members of CWA to resist the temptation to keep anger in their hearts, saying, “Let us ask God to remove every bitterness within us, to increase in us peace and joy, so that when we leave here, it is visible, you smile, your face shines.”

He encouraged the women to let the five-day retreat  transform their lives “so that even here on earth” they may “rejoice, be strengthened, be healed in the Eucharist, and receive renewed strength” to grow their faith and prayer life.

Archbishop Muheria encouraged the women to reject feelings of inadequacy, emphasizing that personal status, wealth, or social influence do not determine a woman’s worth or spiritual impact.

“You think you have nothing because you compare yourself to other women. Status is not the point, money is not the point, strength is not the point. You have your God, and that is enough,” he stated.

He added, “You the power of prayer, the power of the Rosary, the power of giving good examples. But you must believe in yourself. Do not say, ‘My voice is small, my prayer is small, my home is unknown, I have no status, when I go to the market nobody notices me.’ Take heart, you have Jesus.”

“May our goal not be taken away or overshadowed by worldly distractions, making us forget that our true dwelling is the Lord’s home,” the Archbishop said.

He urged the CWA members to remove obstacles that could prevent them from remaining focused in “this journey of hope as we head toward our heavenly home with God.”

“This is the purpose of a retreat: we bring all our burdens to Jesus Christ and say, ‘transform them; turn them into strength, not fear,” Archbishop Muheria said, citing some  “personal struggles such as anger, lying, jealousy, and a poisonous tongue and vengeance."

He added, “Instead of using your mouth to give love, to build unity, to bring peace, we have become used, especially we CWA women, to divide, stir conflict, provoking and unsettling others.”

The Catholic Church leader, who has been at the helm of the Nyeri Archdiocese since April 2017 encouraged the women to let the retreat be a moment of transformation, saying, “All these troubles we are going through, God will transform them.”

“May our Mother, who is our hope, help you, our mothers,” the Kenyan Catholic Church leader implored in his December 3 homily.