REFLECTIONS OF A KENYAN PRIEST

Reflection for 26 TH Sunday, Ordinary Time By Fr. Casmir Odundo (St. Veronica Parish, Keringet) Imagine this: You have just been transferred to this village deep in the countryside where to your amazement no one has ever thought of starting butchery. Sensing the need, you apply for a bank loan and immediately quit your job and embark on this butchery business. For a few months it strives…but after a while some natives who have been leaving there all along realize that you are ‘making a kill’ and another butchery is opened just next to yours. What would be your reaction? This is exactly the scenario presented by the readings this Sunday. In our First Reading (Num. 11: 25-29) we are told that as a result of Moses’ feeling that he had not the strength to carry on the duties alone; He appealed to God.   He was asked by God to select 70 men with whom God was to share his spirit with them. The men were to congregate at the Tent of meeting which housed the tabernacle. T...

25 th Sunday Year B BEING CHILD-LIKE, BEING CHRIST-LIKE, BEING GOD-LIKE By Fr. Casmir Odundo, Kibet (St. Veronica, Keringet Parish) Three years ago, I boarded a bus…Easy Coach, to be precise, from Kisumu to Nakuru. I was among the very first people to assume their seats in the bus. There were not so many passengers. A cute couple with a young daughter (around 3 years old) suddenly came into the bus. Naturally, the mother secured a seat for her daughter next to her and the father sat just behind them. “ Mummy I want to seat next to Daddy ,” shouted the young lad with an American Accent. This got the attention of all the passengers in the bus. The parents ignored her. “ Hey, I want to seat next to Daddy ,” the young angel insisted. “ Great English from a three year old ,” I thought.     Her parents conversed briefly in Luo. “ OK then ,” the mother said and they changed places with the father. “ Oedipus Complex ,” I whispered to the passenger who had sat next to ...

SERVANT OF GOD MAURICE MICHEAL CARDINAL OTUNGA By Fr. Casmir Odundo, Kibet Today the 6 th of September, is the 15 th Anniversary since the demise of Servant of God, Maurice Michael Cardinal Otunga (M.M.C.O).   The Late Cardinal was a man known first and foremost for his humility. He had many things to brag about: He was the son of a Paramount Chief and he had studied in the prestigious Mang’u High School and the Prestigious Urban University while living in Collegio Urbano (the dream of many seminarians). He was the first Kenyan Bishop, First Kenyan Archbishop, First Kenyan Cardinal, A synod father in the Vatican II council.   The bishop who blessed Kenyans at independence in 1963. The cardinal whom the Pope appointed to represent him in consecrating the world to the Immaculate heart after Pope John Paul II’s attempted assassination. He participated in two conclaves that elected two popes:   Pope Paul John Paul I and St. John Paul II. Yet instead of bra...