“You cannot give what you don’t have”

As a young girl growing up in a Comboni Parish in the Rift Valley i.e. Naivasha –Nakuru Diocese I always admired the Sisters and Priests who seemed to work tirelessly to ensure we were never neglected in matters of faith and morals. Every holiday I looked forward to the holiday programmes that were geared to integral human formation as I understand it today. We had inputs from the parish pastoral agents as well as visiting speakers who included parents, nuns and clergy. We would have sports, pilgrimages, watch educative movies, learn about our faith in many dimensions and lots of things about growing up as faithful Christians.

From that youth group three of us became Religious while four joined priesthood and the rest married in the church and have remained committed catholic parents to date.

Since I joined the Sisters of Mercy I have always wished to share and give an opportunity to the youth in the church to thrive as I was privileged through the Comboni missionaries. This led me to study Pastoral Ministry with a specialisation in Youth Ministry at Tangaza College.

Sr. Rose Macharia with the youth group

Being in Nairobi now has allowed me to have ample time with the Youth who are in many ways similar to what I was at their age and in many other ways different as well due to different circumstances facing them in the world of today. For example the secularism that is sweeping across Africa where the communal aspect of “we are therefore I am” is being replaced by more individualistic tendencies which border along an egocentricity that has no room for selflessness or the value for common good. This has been emphasised by a culture of materialism where what matters is what profits an individual directly and not what one can contribute for the betterment of the community.

Thus, the challenges of modern day are peculiar and it calls for one to try to understand the youth world view that is also bombarded by media with all its confusing messages, not forgetting that they are also the digital youth who are more informed than their mentors most of the time.

Consequently, with such challenges, any pastoral agent working with them has no choice but to keep abreast of their reality in the best way possible. Providentially, the fact that in-spite of all, there are still many young people whose thirst for God transcends all the obstacles they face. Working with these young people, who are in great need for support and guidance, helps them to channel their energies in the right ways and to find God in the chaos of life. In addition, being young, they are key to influence their peers who are prone to the seduction of the world.

As a result working with youth is challenging and invigorating though it also calls for lots of patience and understanding.

Since 2009 my passion for the youth has therefore seen me follow the Apostleship of Prayer network whose branch for the youth is called “Eucharistic Youth Movement”.

The Apostleship of Prayer is a world wide prayer network formed by those who make themselves available to collaborate in Christ’s mission through the daily offering of their lives, wherever they may be. The call to the mission is the fire that makes us apostles sent from the heart of the Father to the heart of the world. United with the Holy Father, this network of prayer joins in with him in his two monthly intentions:

One is called a Universal intention and the other an Evangelization intention.  Universal intentions are for sure concerns of the universal Church, but they go beyond its boundaries. Basically they are concerned with our desire for peace and justice in the world and the commitment of the Church with the situations described.

The Evangelization intentions, on the other hand, are concerned with challenges for the life of the Church, showing the desire to make of her a better instrument for evangelization.

For the Kenyan context the Bishops have added a third prayer intention that is part of the Apostleship of Prayer (AP).

At a recent Pan-African conference that I attended in Cameroon, the AP sought to recreate itself following a year-long process of reviewing and renewing its Spirit. Subsequently, in a spirit of “creative fidelity” to its original charism, the recreated AP now proposes some old and new practices to help form people’s hearts for apostolic readiness.

In a nutshell these are the three (prayer) moments of the day:
• With Jesus in the morning: following the traditional morning offering ask the Holy Spirit to open my heart to the needs and challenges that confront humanity and the mission of the Church, and I pray for them following the Pope’s intentions for this month.

• With Jesus during the day: In different moments along the day, I make myself aware of being in the presence of the Lord and I renew my availability to “to labour with him in the day and watch in the night”

• With Jesus at night: before sleeping to do an examine of conscience with the guidance of the Holy Spirit whom I ask to show me in which ways I have remained close to Jesus or far from him during this day, and I thank him. Jesus gives me his blessing.

As well as the prayer, one lives and is sustained by the faith-practices basic to all Christians:

• The Eucharist, which leads to inner experience of the Heart of Jesus. It teaches us to live with Jesus and as Jesus, to the service of the mission. In each Eucharist we make present Jesus’ life laid down for humanity, the ultimate model of offering and availability.

• Love and devotion to Mary, model of apostolic readiness, whose heart was full of Jesus and his projects.

• Participation in a life-group, joining others who follow the AP, when that is possible.

Individually and in the group, in line with the prayer intentions of the month both universal and local, the members commit themselves to an activity;

Some of the activities include reaching out to the youth who have given up in life and those engaging in negative behaviour like drug & alcohol abuse and other human or environmental degrading practices. This at times is done through visits, group skits and songs meant to pass positive values or contribute practically to a just course in the society like cleaning their locality etc.

Working with these young people is very enriching and there are many issues to tackle like faith formation, human development and even poverty eradication through micro projects in light of gross unemployment that has seen many youth sink into hopelessness, making them susceptible to all sorts of ill practices for survival.

Being a Jesuit Parish, I get support from the clergy and a young Loreto Sister who teaches at a local primary school. Sunday liturgies are full of life, celebrated with song and dance the African way through and through.

For July let us join with Pope Francis to pray:

Universal: That sports may always be occasions of human fraternity and growth.
For the Evangelisation: That the Holy Spirit may support the work of the laity who proclaim the Gospel in the poorest countries.
Local: That more Catholics in Kenya may volunteer to be lay Missionaries.

Rose Macharia rsm
Kenyan Province