From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013

Next Sunday November 24, 2013 is the Feast of Christ the King, established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 as an antidote to secularism, a way of life which leaves God out of man’s thinking and living and organizes his life as if God did not exist.

The feast demonstrates the fact that Jesus came to serve all humankind. His kingship spells out a kingdom of justice and judgment balanced with radical love, mercy, peace, and forgiveness.

Though he died, like other kings, he died willingly to save his people, and his death was not a result of a battle lost or a plan gone awry, but of a glorious victory. He rode into Jerusalem, announcing his kingship on a borrowed donkey. He had no palace or statehouse, much less a place to lay his head, and lacked a transportation service.

Although the day was established as an antidote to secularism, today in Kenya there are some people who still believe that there is no God, that science and the scientific process have made God obsolete. They believe on things you can touch, feel, prove, or study.

One of their major beliefs is based on wealth. That man is an evolving creature who will become capable of planning the perfect economy. Man, who must “save himself,” must be in absolute control of all aspects of his universe, and that government must be granted authority over man’s economic affairs. Read Pope Pius XI’s encyclical Quas primas (On the Feast of Christ the King) which shows that secularism is the direct denial of Christ’s Kingship.

Another challenge is of post-election violence victims who are still traumatized. As Pope Francis says, we must continue in our efforts to bring healing to the wounded and be more merciful them.

We must admit that as a church in Kenya we have not done a lot to show balance and “heal wounds” of the victims. We have not found a new balance because most often, especially as pastors we think that only few of the suspects of post-election violence need our prayers and healing.

Pope Francis says if we think this is how the church should operate, then even the moral edifice of the church is likely to fall like a house of cards, losing the freshness and fragrance of the Gospel.

There are those who lost their income, job, or displacement due to the event, still housed by relatives or friends. They are not only homeless, they are landless and jobless. Ethnic communities in Kenya have not been healed and reconciled. People of different ethnic communities are still bitter and wonder justice would prevail one day.

Children have been adversely affected economically, socially, physically and psychologically. They saw their mothers and sisters being gang raped, their fathers stripped naked and forcefully circumcised. These children have never healed from this trauma.

Physically some children have dropped out of school, some were also raped as their parents watched and some were injured. Psychologically children are still traumatized from the orgies they witnessed. They have nightmares and no one is thinking about them.

The Waki commission mandated to recommend legal, political and administrative measures to prevent violence in future and to ensure that those involved in the violence are brought to justice as individuals. To date the victims are still crying for that justice.

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