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| A section of Bishops attending the Plenary |
His Eminence John Cardinal Njue, the Archbishop of Nairobi and AMECEA Patron has commended the work of the missionaries in the region who made the Christian Faith to grow and unite the people in the region.
In his homily at the opening Eucharistic celebrations of the 18th AMECEA Plenary Assembly held at Civo stadum in Lilongwe Malawi, on 17thJuly 2014 Cardinal Njue encouraged Christians who had thronged the stadium to take up the mantle of tendering the seed of faith which was planted by the missionaries.
“We are here today as a fruit of the powerful work that was done by the missionaries. They left everything in their own countries and came all the way to the various countries where we are,” he said.
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| HE John Cardinal Njue |
The Cardinal made similar remarks at Kamusu International Airport when he arrived in Lilongwe on 16th July, 2014 for the plenary assembly where he challenged the local church to be self reliant and take over the work that was started by the missionaries.
The Cardinal said that the missionaries found us in a dire state and brought us faith that has made is coheirs of the kingdom. “Sometimes I think that when they came we were even blacker than we are today,” he joked; “But they took us as we are and sacrificed themselves so that we might be able to become sharers of the new life that was given to us by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
He said that the missionaries came in response to the call; “go into the whole world and make disciples of all nations.”
Emphasizing on the fact that the missionaries did their work properly Cardinal Njue said that if one goes to any of our countries they will find cemeteries where these men and women are buried. “They could have gone back home but they chose to stay and make sure that the seed they had planted did not die prematurely.”
“My dear brothers and sisters, we are the fruits of that wonderful work done by our brothers. The seed was planted and now it is our responsibility to make sure that that seed is properly tendered, watered and weeded. Planting the seed of faith is not as difficult as weeding that seed and watering it and that is a challenge to all of us today.”
Cardinal Njue was the main celebrant at the opening Eucharistic celebrations of the AMECEA Plenary Assembly held at Civo stadium. Thousands of people turned up at the Civo stadium for the opening celebrations, which was graced by over 100 bishops from both AMECEA Countries and beyond.
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