“Understand your calling, live it to the full”: Catholic Bishop to Newly Ordained Kenyan-born Spiritan Priests

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In participating in the ministry of Jesus Christ with gladness, he went on to say in his homily, “you will rejoice and the people you are serving will also rejoice and rejoice again.”

“We pray to God to bless our Priesthood so that we may serve Him in joy even in the villages. Let's rejoice in our various vocations, and ask God to help us serve Him wholeheartedly,” Bishop Mbinda said.

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He urged the nine Priests-elect to “lead the people to God through your word and good example; prove to God and to the world that you were chosen to be His Priests.”

He described the Priestly Ordination event as “a day to pray to God, to renew our life in Christ, in our service according to our various vocations,” be it in Priestly and Religious life or family life in marriage.

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“May the Holy Spirit strengthen us where our weaknesses may have prevailed, so that today we may renew our faith,” Bishop Mbinda, the first-ever Kenyan Spiritan Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in June 2022 implored.

Alluding to the challenges the Priests-elect might have experienced during the years of their Religious and Priestly formation as well as the establishment of the Province of Kenya of the Spiritans, the Kenyan-born Catholic Bishops, who was the pioneer Provincial Superior of the Spiritans in Kenya and South Sudan called upon his nine confreres to draw inspiration from the spirit of resilience.

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“My dear brothers, you know how far we came from; you know the hurdles we had to jump to get to where we are today,” he said, and added, “All of us here have very high expectations from you.”

Referring to the Prophesy of Isaiah that Jesus read out in the Synagogue in Nazareth recorded in Luke 4:16ff, the member of Kenya’s oldest missionary Order went on to highlight the ministry of the nine Deacons after they are ordained Priests.

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“They will preach to the poor the good news; they will heal the broken-hearted; they will announce to the prisoners and slaves their freedom; they will comfort those who are in pain, and to those who cry, they will pour joyful oil instead of mourning,” he said.

Bishop Mbinda continued, “It is Jesus Christ who has called them to this ministry because he wants them to bring joy and restore faith and hope to His followers and believers.”

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He challenged the nine Priests-elect to prepare well their homilies ahead of Eucharistic celebrations, “taking the time to read, reread, and proofread to ensure that when you teach, your teaching is relevant to the life of Christians and your teachings contribute to the life and livelihood of the children of God.”

In living the Priestly ministry, the nine Kenyan Spiritans will need to be “conscious of your actions,” Bishop Mbinda said, adding that in being ordained Priests, “you are inviting Christ and sharing Him to all God’s people so that they may grow in their faith.”

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He cautioned against laxity, saying, “You must do your work wholeheartedly and in the proper manner.”

“Let us not sleep when Christians are waiting for Holy Mass; it is their right. Let us bring Christ to the people of God, for it is their right,” the Local Ordinary of Lodwar Diocese emphasized. 

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He urged Priests to orient and delegate duties to help new Priests “know the best ways to serve God’s people.”

Bishop Mbinda emphasized the need for Priests to delegate duties to their younger counterparts, citing Pope Francis who previously said that people need to prepare their successors as soon as they start a new ministry.

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“We must support these new Priests; they are going to be our first collaborators. Be willing and ready to train them; be willing and ready to mentor them; be willing to show them how you work, and the best ways of serving the Christians,” Bishop Mbinda said, addressing himself to Priests.

“May the good Lord bring to completion the good work he has begun in you,” Bishop Mbinda implored during the June 14 celebration that had the Apostolic Nuncio in Kenya, Archbishop Hubertus van Megen and Bishop Simon Peter Kamomoe, one of the three Auxiliary Bishops of ADN in attendance.

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In his message at the end of the Eucharistic celebration, Archbishop van Megen called upon the newly ordained Priests to let the Holy Spirit carry them on and guide their Priestly ministry.

“In many ways you have to get that feeling of the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit is not your enemy but your friend,” he said, and added, “Living with the Holy Spirit, you mature and you grow.”

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The Nairobi-based Vatican diplomat likened the life under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to swimming, where water carries the swimmer, and in case of troubled waters, he said, “go with the waves; go with the current of the Holy Spirit.”

“It might be rough; you might think I'm going to sink. But if you entrust yourself to the Holy Spirit, then in one way or another, it will work out in sometimes very surprising and miraculous ways,” Archbishop van Megen said.

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He went on to caution against giving into the temptation to resist the promptings of the Holy Spirit, saying, “If you go against the Holy Spirit, you come out very tired and at times very disappointed, if not even very bitter, because you want to have things for yourself, do them for yourself, against the will of the Holy Spirit.”

Attempting to go against the Holy Spirit, the Dutch-born Vatican diplomat emphasized, “you will never achieve it; you will never get there, because at the end of the day, your vocation is not completely realized; it doesn't come to its fullness.”

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“To be Religious is a beautiful thing; to be with God is the best that can happen to you,” he went on to say, and cautioned the newly ordained Kenyan-born Spiritan Priests against fears “for with the help of God, everything is possible.”

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The nine ordained Priests include Deacons Francis Juma Wasike, Geoffrey Mbindyo, Nicholas Omondi Otieno, David Mwanthi Munyao, Dominic Mutua David, James Kamau, Francis Joseph Odhiambo, Thomas Mutua Ngundi, and Kevin Makokha Anyembe.