REFLECTIONS OF A KENYAN PRIEST

NINANGARA (I SHINE!) The readings for this Sunday of Lent still haunt me. I couldn’t help it but sing Christina Shusho’s Ninangara (I shine!).   Christina Shusho, Artist of the song: Ninang'ara The song sung in Swahili, is available in YouTube on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymxj9SSvgr8 and its lyrics is as follows Refrain: Umenifanya ning’are, umenifanya ning’are (You make me shine) Umenifanya ning’are, Yesu (Jesus You make me shine)(Repeat) Wewe waitwa nuru, eti nuru ya watu (You are called the light of men) Ukiingia kwangu, mi nang’ara (I shine when you are in me) Ndani ya hiyo nuru, eti kuna uzima (There is life in that light) Ukiingia kwangu, nina uzima (I live when you are in me) Uso wake Yesu, sura yake Mungu (The face of Jesus, the face of God) Umeingia kwangu, mi nang’ara (I shine when You are in me) Nuru ya injili, utukufu wake Kristo (The light of the Gospel, the Glory of Jesus) Umeingia kwangu, mi nang’ara...

THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT: YEAR C, 2018 By Rev. Fr. Casmir Odundo WE ARE PREGNANT!!! Friends, it’s almost Christmas! Every year before Christmas, the Church gives us a period of around 5 weeks of preparation. This is the period of Advent which begins this Sunday and which also marks the beginning of the Liturgical year. The term Advent is from the Latin ‘Adventus’ which means coming. So it is the period with which we are expecting the coming of our Lord. That was to be the best day in the life of Doctor Ben. He had very good news for his two couple clients. The first couple he called in was that of Rahab and Enoch who had a happy but childless marriage for six years “Well, I have good news for you…” said Doctor Ben as he looked intently at the young couple. “Enoch, your wife is pregnant!” He added. And as soon as the couple heard this…they jumped up in jubilation. From that moment, the couple did not spare any effort in making the period of conception a success…they were a...

By Fr. Casmir Odundo, Kibet (St. Veronica Parish Keringet, Nakuru) St. Paul VI with Archbishop Okoth in the Vatican Before the days of Barrack Obama, the African American Community embraced Bill Clinton as the First Black President. “Bill Clinton is the First Black U.S President. White skin notwithstanding, this is our first black President. Blacker than any actual black person who could ever be elected in our children’s lifetime,”  c ommented Toni Morrison, in his 1998 article that appeared in the New York Times. Last Sunday’s canonization of Pope Paul VI and six other saints got me thinking a lot about Pope Paul VI and whether despite the fact that he was an European,   we could still ascribe to him the title of “ An African Pope”. Of course we know from Church History that there have been three African Popes already: Pope St. Victor I (189-199), Pope Militiades   (311-314) and Pope Gelasius I (492-496). However, as the dates of their Pontificates alre...

By Fr. Casmir Odundo, Kibet (St. Veronica Parish, Keringet, Nakuru) “ Domine ut Videam, Domina ut Sit !” A young seminarian, Josemaria Escriva, prayed. He was asking for   light to see. Just as the blind man Bartimaeus, in the Gospel of Mark had asked Our Lord. He continued with this aspiration (repeating it innumerable times) for over eleven years, till on that 2 nd October 1928 when he finally SAW. According to the Positio, document presented for the Beatification of Monsignior Josemaria Escriva: " On 2 nd October,1928, while the Servant of God was alone in his room, participating in a retreat in the residence of the Vincentian Fathers of Madrid, on Garcia de Paredes St., God deigned to illuminate him. He SAW Opus Dei, as the Lord wanted it and as it would be, down through the centuries.” He was only 3 years a priest when God granted him this vision.   As Beglar notes in his biography of the saint: “ On that 2 nd October 1928, Escriva's apprenticeship ...

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...