From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2013
Pope Francis has demonstrated his humility in practice. He has chosen a modest papal ring in silver rather than gold, and one designed decades ago rather than one created specifically for him. It is here that I am touched.
“Ring”, which originally served as both a symbol of the papacy and a seal, is usually cast in gold for successors to St Peter’s chair. “The pope’s decision to renounce precious things and avoid materials such as gold is very much in keeping with his desire to emphasise the religious symbols themselves, not what they are made of.
Pope Francis is already distinguishing himself from his predecessors by shedding embellishments and calling for a “poor Church for the poor.”
It explains why Catholics and the curious flooded St. Peter’s Square to greet Pope Francis on the day of the ceremony to officially install him as pope Tuesday. It explains further why he was applauded as he issued an appeal for the protection of the weak, the poor and the world environment.
His homily touched a crowd of up to 200,000 gathered in front of the Vatican: “I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: Let us be protectors of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”
Pope Francis gave a new example of his preference for simplicity when the Vatican unveiled the symbols of his papacy on Monday. The pope decided to keep the coat of arms and the motto he chose when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires.
Besides this change, Francis chose to keep his old symbols, which allude to the Holy Family and to his membership in the Jesuit order: a sun inscribed with the letters “IHS,” a star to represent the Virgin Mary and a nard flower to represent St. Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father.
There was a ripple of applause through a packed St. Peter’s Square, and tears in the eyes of the some of the faithful, as Francis spoke of humility and the need for advocacy on behalf of the poor – themes he has already established as the hallmarks of his papacy.
“Let us never forget that authentic power is service,” he said. “Only those who serve with love are able to protect, defining his idea of protection as “respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.”
It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: Husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents.
It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!
Pope’s message is that “one should never confuse simplicity and humility with weakness.”
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
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Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002
From: Ouko joachim omolo
Date: Wed, Mar 20, 2013 at 1:15 AM
Subject: News Dispatch
DISPATCH NEWS READERS URGE PRIESTS AND BISHOPS TO BE HUMBLE LIKE POPE FRANCIS I
From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20, 2013
I received lots of good complements from our News Dispatch readers, Facebook pals and Twitter following my yesterday article on how I was touched by Pope Francis 1 humility with many readers expressing the same.
One particular reader from USA, N Kazungu wrote: “Beste this is a good story of the Pope’s inaugural homily. I too liked it. Keep on writing and don’t get tired.
I also liked his homily during Holy Mass at St Ann’s Parish at Vatican City.
During that Mass, Pope Francis picked a priest in the congregation and introduced him. “I don’t know how he got here, said Pope Francis, adding, this priest comes from Uruguay where he has been working with the poor and youths from the streets.
Most of those trained by the priest have jobs now, the Pope said. This is Pope Francis in his bid to embrace the poor and to want to show the world how poverty can be eradicated”.
Some readers even went as far as challenging us as priests and bishops that most of our homilies are not down to earth, they do not focus very much on socio-economic, political, poverty eradication and empowerments, with one particular reader saying he is tired with his priest who is always using his homily to abuse Christians and demand money from them.
These are constructive complementary and observations to a humble pope who is challenging us to serve by example. He chose the name of Saint Francis of Assisi, the 13th century Catholic friar and preacher who founded the beggar-monk movement through his Franciscan order.
He emphasized a life of asceticism and humility, and created a powerful voice for the poor the church couldn’t ignore. Against the background that Francis of Assisi has become one of the most respected saints in modern world with many followers.
Francis obtained what he needed to survive by begging among the faithful, and whatever he had left over he shared with the poor and the sick. He saw all of humanity as brothers and sisters, equals, and believed no person should be elevated above others. He preached peace and peacefulness, and even the animals listened to the words he spoke.
It explains why to this day, Christians of all denominations remain fascinated by the ideas and ideals Saint Francis preached in the early 13th century, as he sought to teach through the example of a life lived in almost complete self-abandonment.
In the audience during Pope Francis inauguration there were six foreign leaders — including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner (who famously knocked heads with the Archbishop of Buenos Aires over political policies), Canadian Governor-General David Johnson and, alas Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe, circumventing a travel ban imposed by European countries in protest against his human rights record – American vice-president Joe Biden, six sovereigns, princes and dukes, dignitaries from 132 official designations, and top-hierarchy representatives of every faith on Earth, transforming Francis’ “enthronement’’ into a truly ecumenical gathering.
As the Eucharist communion was prepared, prayers were recited in French, Russian and Swahili. Francis ended his homily with the words similar to those he uttered when he emerged from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday night.
Here is the translation of Pope Francis’ homily at the Inauguration of the Petrine Ministry Mass, held in St. Peter’s Square this morning Courtesy Zenit).
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude.
I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps.
In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1).
How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.
How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!
The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us.
It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about.
It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!
Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.
Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.
Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!
Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!
Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep.
Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!
In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God.
To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us!
I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002