Celebrating the Easter

On the Ash Wednesday, we started a journey together. This was a journey of self-examination on our relationship with God and our relationship with one another. For the 2008 Lenten season, a need for reconciliation, forgiveness and justice for the weak and the vulnerable of our society was more pronounced. Our country was at the brink of civil war, level of animosity between neighbours, families and communities was at its worst. It is the moment when we are invited to “be reconciled with one another”. The Peace Accord that was signed between the leaders of the opposing sides of the conflict, that is, President Mwai Kibaki and Mr. Raila Odinga gave some hope to the country. This was achieved in the middle of our Lenten season. It is actually the beginning of a long journey that we have to follow with great diligence. We still have our brothers and sisters in the IDP camps all over the country, we have our brothers and sisters who have lost their means of livelihood, reduce to life of squalor, who have our brothers and sisters who have been orphaned, widowed, and those whose entire families have been wiped out, or displaced from the only place they called “home”. There are brothers and sisters who are refugees in their own country or those who have been made refugees, seeking solace in the neighboring countries. The peace accord will only take root when all the citizens feel at home in whatever part of the country they find themselves in. Let us pray that the peace of the risen Christ and the graces of Easter enrich this accord that Kenya becomes a place to feel at home in. In our Lenten Campaign, we promoted prayer for peace and encouraged every individual to be an instrument of peace.

The Lenten campaign team led by Fr. A.E. Orobator, S.J., the rector of the Jesuit community, deserves a word of appreciation and gratitude. May I thank the whole of the Hekima College for their generous response at the time of crisis in our country. Quest for peace is invariably connected to justice. They are firmly bonded in reconciliation.:This Lenten season, the words of John Paul II during the celebration of the world peace day in 2002, “No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness” became so real and so true.

It was a time when human culpability and vulnerability were both combined to reveal the fallibility of the human person. Caught in the middle of tension, the Jesuits of Eastern Africa in collaboration with Hekima College worked together through a task force that reached out to the vulnerable of our society in the Nairobi slums, in Eldoret, Kisumu and Nakuru. Here in Hekima College, we held several conversations as a way of examining what went wrong but with constant assurance that there is greater hope in what is to come after the tension. The speakers showed personal conviction in their quest for peace. Opportunities in the Theological Week, and Exploring Faith in Public Life presented themes that were quite relevant to our desire and quest for national reconciliation. Looking back at what has taken place, we can only thank the Lord for his goodness to us. We thank the Lord for the graces of the Lenten season. The risen Christ is our hope. Knowing that he conquered death and restored life, we can only stand firm with confidence that having recognized him at the breaking of the bread in our Eucharistic Celebrations, he will not abandon us. Let us continue to be a people of Easter and a people of Hope. May the Risen Lord fill you with abundant graces in the Easter season. He is Risen Alleluia! Happy Easter! Peace be with you.