“Your Life Must Be Centered Around God", Archbishop Muheria's Message to the Seminarians of St. John Paul II
“Your Life Must Be Centered Around God", Archbishop Muheria's Message to the Seminarians of St. John Paul II
On his visit to the Catholic Diocese of Tombura-Yambio from the 8th-13th, 2024, the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri, Kenya, his Grace Anthony Muheria upon meeting with Seminarians of St. John Paul II Minor Seminary, reminded the seminarians on the importance of discernment, personal responsibility, and spiritual depth in their formation as future priests.
The prelate emphasized to the Seminarians that a deep and personal relationship with God is at the core of priestly formation, the spirituality that goes beyond outward devotion, and their life must be centered around the relationship with God.
“Deep spirituality, you must expand your heart to relate with God, spirituality is not how much you sigh when you say the rosary, it is not how much you kneel to receive Holy Communion, these are all show, it is not how many medals you carry on your neck, spirituality is something inside, and you must have a solid and deep spirituality with God, relationship with God, God must become your buddy, your friend, not just one you relate with and ask things from. So, your life must be centered around the relationship with Jesus, and your devotion seeks to deepen that relationship with Jesus, with our mother Mary, relationship with your patron saint John Paul II, Saint Josephine Bhakita”.
The Kenyan Catholic Archbishop, who serves as the Chairman of the Commission for Social Communications of the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) stressing more on the importance of deep spirituality urged the Seminarians to let their knees lead them to the Altar and constantly communicate with Jesus in the Tabernacle.
“You must have a deep spiritual life, your knees must lead you to the altar, your prayer life, meaningful prayer life, see if you ask yourself what Jesus is asking of you, learn to constantly speak to Jesus in the Tabernacle wherever you are this compound, you can see the chapel, even if you are in the garden, you can see the chapel, so you have an orientation, that’s your norm when you are in this seminary, the tabernacle is you norm, keep thinking, that you are doing this for Jesus, the same way a man’s love a wife, and wife loves the husband, and they use nice names, and they try to remember, and they carry a photo to remember, so you must do with our Lord Jesus Christ in the Eucharist from a point of Jesus I love you, Jesus I trust in You”.
On the issue of pursuing high academic standards, the local Ordinary of Nyeri Diocese told the Seminarians that priesthood is not for the “weak” or “thick” since the word of God must be broken in a reasonable way to the people of God, therefore they must grow their intellectual capacity.
“Priesthood is not for the weak, but also priesthood is not for the thick, because the word of God must be broken, and broken in a reasonable way for the people of God to draw food from it. That’s why you must grow your mind, your intellectual capacity, and your knowledge in Philosophy and Theology but in doing so it means applying your mind, and you can only know do that if you put in dedication and effort, to be outstanding in academics”.
“There is no excuse for high academic standards, we demand of you because the world will demand of you because the Church will demand of you, you must be better priests than we are, you must preach better than we preach, you must explain the faith better than we are, you must let this church grow better to higher heights”.
“But if you don’t do proper preparation, you might end up worse than us. Your study time is sacred, as sacred as prayer time, the way you go to the chapel, and you are silent, and you pray, when you go study you must be silent because that is also prayer. The amount you dedicate to study is prayer, give it the silence it deserves, give it the effort and dedication it deserves, do not in any way distract your brothers because you are getting distracted yourself, and don’t tell jokes when people are supposed to be studying, don’t steal their dream to excel”.
He continued, addressing the formators “I challenge you formators let us not just pass these people just to pass, let them prove that they deserve to pass, let these young men in the junior seminary be able to be the best institution around, don’t say you don’t have very good classes, it doesn’t matter what classes you have”.
The Kenyan Catholic Archbishop called upon the seminarians to always remember that we are in a world where common sense is often overlooked and asked them to cultivate this trait. He went on and express that common sense involves recognizing one’s vulnerabilities, weaknesses, and need for growth.
“Be people of common sense, common sense is very uncommon, it is in the seminary that you get the most stupid excuses. Common sense means, accepting we are vulnerable, accepting we are broken, accepting we are weak, and accepting to be helped to mold your life. You must accept fault, you must come out and say, ok, you know, I did wrong, I’m sorry”.
He added, “Young men, it is important to know that God builds in what is natural, for you to grow in honesty, for you to grow in wisdom, you must have a foundation of common sense, so use your common sense often, seek what is the right thing to do first, don’t just do things moved like that by instinct”.
Using the analogy of a puppy overeating to illustrate the dangers of lacking balance and self-awareness, Archbishop Muheria encouraged the seminarians to be mindful and intentional in their actions, always seeking the right thing to do.
“A little dog, puppy, if you give a puppy meat, it will be very happy when it starts to eat meat, if you add more meat, it will want to eat more when you add it, and it's full, it will start to cry, but it will still eat if you give it more, it will still eat, but most probably it will suffocate because it does not know how to say no. it doesn’t have common sense. You could be one of those who doesn’t know how to measure the right balance in your life, I’m encouraging you to have common sense, we will form you, and we will help you, in the measure you have shown us”.
He further said, “We have come from the village, but we must no become villagers who are priests, we become men of God who live in the village, so we must remove the village in us, we must lift the standard of our people and let people aspire for higher humanly, we must be people who show what it means”.
