Kenyan Pauline Sisters Celebrating Silver Jubilee of Religious Life Share Experience of Saying “Yes” to the Lord Daily

The EAMZZ Provincial Superior of FSP added, “I knew that the ‘Yes’ I said to my Lord had its joys. There was also the cross, but I have always had to embrace it. Sometimes it is challenging but the Lord who is always present in the Tabernacle is always there to embrace me.”

Sr. Mary, a member of the EAMZZ Provincial Council, who has served outside her native country for 24 years said her journey as a woman Religious and Daughter of St. Paul has been one of fidelity to Christ.

Credit: ACI Africa

“My journey with Christ has been constant and I pray that my relationship with Him grows deeper and wider. My Pauline charism constantly reminds me of the purpose for which I am called,” Sr. Mary whose previous missions have included running the Paulines Catholic Bookshop in Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, said in her speech during the Silver Jubilee celebration on June 14. 

She added, “For the past 24 years, I have been a missionary outside my country Kenya. During these years, I encountered numerous people along the way who shared God’s merciful love and led me to this altar to complete my 25 years of fruitful service in the vineyard of the Lord.”

Credit: ACI Africa

“I treasured all these people who have touched my life with their faith and love and allied me to do the same,” Sr. Mary went on to say, adding that her life as a Daughter of St. Paul has been “a journey of faith, discovery and wonder.”

“It has been a journey of discovering God’s merciful love and His fidelity,” she explained. 

In her speech, Sr. Rosemary said that her journey as a Daughter of St. Paul started when she was in high school. She came across a pamphlet inviting new girls to the Society that Italian-born Blessed James Alberione founded in his native country in 1916.

Credit: ACI Africa

Moved to become a Catholic Nun, Sr. Rosemary made eight applications to different female Religious Orders and was accepted by all of them.

“What attracted me to the Daughters of St. Paul, out of all the congregations that had accepted me, was the prayer of the Venerable Thecla Merlo, the co-founder of the Daughters of St. Paul,” she narrated, adding that reciting the prayer helped her to realize that she belonged with the Pauline Sisters.

Sr. Mary Kioko (left) and Sr. Rosemary Mwaiwa who celebrated their Silver Jubilee on Friday, June 14 pose for a photo with Msgr Peter Makau, Bishop-elect of Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Isiolo, Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Wote and Bishop Rodrigo Mejía Saldarriaga, Vicar Apostolic Emeritus of Soddo, Ethiopia. Credit: ACI Africa

Young Rosemary loved to sing, and she knew that singing was part of the evangelization mission of the Daughters of St. Paul. “I knew that I would continue discovering my mission with them,” she said about FSP member whose charism is “living Christ and communicating Him to the world in the field of social communication in the spirit of St. Paul and in the atmosphere of Mary, Queen of Apostles.”

“When I joined the Congregation, I found that the mission of evangelization of the Daughters of St. Paul was complex. I found myself in many apostolates apart from singing,” the Provincial Superior of the Pauline Sisters in Kenya, Malawi, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe said during the Silver Jubilee celebration on June 14.

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She continued, “In the different places I went, I felt that the Lord loved me, the Lord challenged me and asked for more of my years. And I found that in responding to my ‘yes’, the Lord spoke loudly. There are moments that the Lord whispers, but to me, He spoke loudly.”

Bishop Rodrigo Mejía Saldarriaga, Vicar Apostolic Emeritus of Soddo, Ethiopia presents Pope Francis' message to Sr. Mary Kioko on her Silver Jubilee celebration in Nairobi, Kenya. Credit: ACI Africa

Sr. Rosemary shared that her 25-year journey as a Daughter of St. Paul has been marked by profound moments of spiritual growth “along with its share of challenges and countless blessings.”

In his homily during the Silver Jubilee celebration, Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru of the Catholic Diocese of Wote in Kenya has urged FSP members to foster mutuality among themselves, and make their respective Religious communities places where everyone feels loved and accepted.

Bishop Paul Kariuki Njiru of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Wote presents Pope Francis' message to Sr. Rosemary Mwaiwa on her Siulver Jubilee celebration in Niarobi, Kenya. Credit: ACI Africa

“Let it be a community of love,” Bishop Kariuki said, and called upon Sr. Rosemary and Sr. Mary to always emulate St. Francis Assisi who prayed to “not so much seek to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.”