He goes on to caution against following the value system of “the world today”. He says, “The world today in the name of modernity or progressive thinking is presenting to us different situations of sin, such as corruption; drunkenness; and social aggrandizement; among other vices that are apparently eye-catching to us.”
“Like at the time of Noah, these worldly pleasures are (blinding) us from seeing and responding to the real love of God that shall give us eternal satisfaction,” Bishop Phiri says, and continues, “Suffering or walking with the suffering Jesus entails abandoning our wicked ways in order to offer ourselves totally to the service of God and His Church.”
The Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal Ministry in January 2011 as Auxiliary Bishop of Zambia’s Chipata Diocese underscores the need to resist temptations in the example of Jesus, who, in the Gospel of the First Sunday of Lent, was driven into the desert by the Holy Spirit and was tempted by Satan.
The Lenten Season, Bishop Phiri says, “is a moment when we have to emulate Jesus in resisting different temptations of our time.”
“The Book of Genesis (9:8-25), reminds us of the fact that we are a covenantal people, who are destined to bask in the love of God. This love puts us into the bosom of the providential care of God,” the Zambian Catholic Bishop says in his 2024 Lenten Message.
He adds, “This is the more reason why we need to rise to the occasion of this season of purification that God has granted us, to rid ourselves of all sinful earthly entanglements.”
Magdalene Kahiu is a Kenyan journalist with passion in Church communication. She holds a Degree in Social Communications from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA). Currently, she works as a journalist for ACI Africa.
