KENYA – Reflections

Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time - November 3, 2024 It’s a normal and positive thing for everyone to live a good standard of life: to be comfortable and enjoy material things.  Each generation tries, and often succeeds in improving.  But how?  Because our parents make many...

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 14, 2024 Given the current political and social issues happening in Kenya right now, young people protesting against injustice and corruption, the readings of today are encouraging. But first, what is the Catholic social teaching called solidarity?  Everyone has an...

Pentecost Sunday - May 19, 2024 It is concerning that religion is fuelling a lot of international disputes around the world: Hindu nationalism in India, Islam-Judaism conflict in the middle-east, Islam-Christian fighting in Nigeria and other countries in the world; Russian-Ukrainian Orthodox Churches, to name but...

The Existential Vacuum: Victor Frankl defines the existential vacuum as a twentieth-century phenomenon in which many people feel that life is meaningless…  An existential vacuum manifests itself primarily through boredom, which then leads to distress.  Frankl notes, … that many people become distressed on Sundays...

We humans are often funny creatures. No wonder God is exasperated in the Bible several times. We generally keep looking for my happiness or my pleasure.  Listening to the war in Ukraine, I was wondering what I would say to the soldiers if I was...

I was recently advised of a Fordham University (USA) report on world poverty, discrimination against women, religious persecution and their link to poverty (thank you, JPIC office Canada). https://catholicnews.com/fordham-report-finds-poverty-growing-globally-reversing-recent-gains/ It is short and factual: but it is sobering; featuring a picture of Kenyan children looking for...

As I prepare the homily, I’m conscious of a terrible fire in Mathare slums that happened yesterday.  A workman who just finished tiling our “storehouse”, lost all his belongings and the tin shack he was renting.  Thankfully, his wife and children are back in the...

Do we really know what we NEED, or are we busy looking for what we WANT? Are we chasing MEANINGFULNESS or HAPPINESS? An interesting scientific study was done by Berkeley Univ in America which studied the difference between meaningfulness and happiness.  https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/happy_life_different_from_meaningful_life The major key difference between...

“Our waiting is always shaped by alertness to the Word.  It is waiting in the knowledge that someone wants to address us.  The question is, are we home?  Are we at our address, ready to respond to the doorbell?” (https://www.thespiritlife.net/facets/exchanged/75-process/process-reflection/5000-november-29th-henri-nouwen-waiting-with-the-word-first-sunday-of-advent) Our Gospel today reminds us of...

Over the last 12 months, I’ve become more aware of the struggles that parents are experiencing with their children and the rapidly changing social environment.  The disagreements and, sometimes, anger/ rejection that develops between children and parents can be very distressing. The Christmas message and Advent...

We are aware that family life, in general, is under attack from many social influences, and increasing interference by Governments.  As society increasingly moves from “communal values” to “individual values”, the challenge for family life will only increase. I’m aware several of our youth group are...

As we continue to make our way through the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been “harshly” reminded of the importance and NEED for healthy PHYSICAL relationships. Depression, suicide, self-harm, drugs and/or alcohol consumption have all increased, especially for the younger people.  The lockdowns – isolated stays at...

Sitting here in Kenya and absorbing the changing Patriarchal Culture [dominator hierarchy], and very much aware of the conflicts and dictatorships around Africa, Europe, South America & Asia, I’m feel very grateful for our Catholic Doctrine and teaching about the Holy Trinity. Every year I wonder...

Now and then, we all forget that people might misinterpret our actions. We can put these misunderstandings down to “getting to know someone”. However, there are some signs which cannot be misunderstood, actions which definitely say something, positive or negative, based on our culture.  Palm Sunday...

Fr Richard Rohr OFM says that throughout the Bible, God is simply looking for images to communicate God’s love for people, and how they can be co-creators (empowered).  Our Sacraments, however, are more than just images, for they draw us close enough to touch God...

Inspired by Oblate Fr Ron Rolheiser’s book (The Shattered Lantern), I want to reflect on the issue of feeling bored by life.  I think we can all remember days when we get out of bed and say something like this: Accountant: “not another dumb day working...

Today’s celebration may raise a few questions in the minds of some people. Why do we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus?  Perhaps because, for many, Baptism is reduced to one point only:  taking away original sin…  and Jesus didn’t have original sin! However, Baptism is much more....

Happy New Year! And let us still greet each other with Happy Christmas… joy has come into the world!  Today, that JOY is revealed publicly. EPIPHANY means to reveal or to make something visible. In another sense it means: WE suddenly see something clearly for the first time. In...

Happy Christmas! Talking about how families are supposed to behave is bound to create argument as everyone has their own theory.  So, I intend to try and reveal what God says… The First Reading is not normal behaviour for a parent. To set the scene, we...