{"id":12719,"date":"2017-08-10T16:42:17","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T14:42:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/?p=12719"},"modified":"2017-08-10T16:42:17","modified_gmt":"2017-08-10T14:42:17","slug":"twenty-five-years-of-missionary-priesthood-of-malachy-oleru-m-afr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/2017\/08\/10\/twenty-five-years-of-missionary-priesthood-of-malachy-oleru-m-afr\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty- Five Years of Missionary Priesthood of Malachy Oleru, M.Afr"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Malachy<\/a>By Malachy Oleru<\/strong>, M.Afr<\/p>\n

My final journey to Beira was safe, except for my luggage that arrived 48 hours late and a somewhat clumsy and inconsiderate air ticket booking from Raptim<\/em>. Cheap things are not always cheap! The services of Kenya Airways leave much to be desired too, but that is a topic for another day. The presence at the airport, of the Missionaries of Africa led by Boris, was gratifying. For me, a new mission has started in Mozambique after a 25 year spell elsewhere.<\/p>\n

I started my language learning about a week ago and still wonder why at my age, I have to be saddled, beside English and French, with the learning in Africa, of another colonial language \u2013 Portuguese! But Missionary life is \u201cFor better, for worse\u201d, right? So nothing will becloud the hopes of this nascent divine mission to the \u201cAfrican world\u201d.<\/p>\n

Homily under a car park.<\/strong><\/p>\n

My ordination anniversary date, August 8, came up within two weeks of my arrival. The Delegation insists on a celebration, at least to water the seeds of my new mission. 25 years is not a joke, they said. It is akin to what a diocesan priest at home called \u201cPriesthood with hard labour\u201d. Hear! Hear!! And before I could say \u2018Obrigado\u2019, Boris Yabre, with M.Afr students at home was up and doing. Rafael Gasimba \u2018sailed\u2019 from Dombe land with the stagiaire. Frank Mbala Kalala and Florent Sibiri Sawadogo with another C.A.T. \u2018flew\u2019 in from Sussundenga. Fidel Salazar del Muro and \u2018senior apostle\u2019 stagiaire Olivier, \u2018astral-travelled\u2019 from Centro de Nazar\u00e9, just less than five minutes\u2019 drive away! Friends, brothers and sisters from the other mothers, made the day at the Delegation House as Julian Kasiya and Pierre Kabwe Lukusa from Tete Mission, could only participate \u2013 electronically.<\/p>\n

Anointed, (literally and metaphorically) to preside over the Eucharistic celebration, the car park of the house was the best temporary house of God. The students did a good job of cleaning. Being the memorial feast of the great preacher of the Word, St Dominic, the readings were taken from the references for the day. My reflection was on Luke 9:57-62.<\/p>\n

Three calls, three men, one mission: \u201cfollow me\u201d,<\/strong><\/p>\n

The rule of three does not always elicit a Trinitarian response. \u201cI will follow you wherever<\/strong> you go\u201d, appears generous, spontaneous, and immediate but also simplistic, if not frivolous. It sounds like playing to the gallery, not counting the cost, bordering on presumption. Jesus, the \u2018Novice Master\u2019 \u2018remembers\u2019 St Ignatius of Loyola\u2019s discernment of the Spirit (Go on, argue for anachronism!): \u201cFoxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere<\/strong> to lay his head\u201d. Jesus brings the dreamer to the reality of the mission. It is not for the feeble-minded, not for dreamers (even if sometimes we dream at the General Chapters!). You must count the cost. You must become aware of the challenges. You must evaluate what you are leaving behind. You must be ready for sacrifices. There is no guarantee for easy life and assurance for security: \u201cCertified for martyrdom, do you agree?\u201d<\/p>\n

Even when the initiative comes from the Master (it always does), \u201cFollow Me\u201d, the response is hesitant, like coming from one who is not ready, who is more worried about family duties than concerned for the mission. A natural realist, his response is to first go and do his natural duty: \u201cLord, let me first go and bury my father\u201d. Yes, there is a duty to perform and the best way to avoid responsibility is to say \u201cI have responsibilities\u201d! And Jesus\u2019 response is simple: \u201cLeave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God\u201d. You are not the saviour, not even of your family, for it is not your duty that saves. You have your path to follow. Be detached from the accidentals of life to re-focus on the essentials. Remain resolute and vigilant.<\/p>\n

The third encounter and dialogue in vocation discernment is like the first. The attachment is not as serious as the first. He only needs to \u201c\u2026first say farewell to those at home\u201d.\u00a0 \u201cNo one who puts his hands to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God\u201d, was again Jesus\u2019 response. Mission is about being resolute and \u2018staying fit\u2019 for the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

Conclusion: indefectible, not infallible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Grace is mine to say that in more than 25 years, I have journeyed with Jesus through these three stages of call-response paradigms. I delayed for five years, my missionary vocation to attend to family and personal needs. Then, when I thought I was ready, I also thought that I could shift those family responsibilities to my brother in USA. Well, he got murdered a year before my Missionary oath, and I said \u2018zut alors!\u2019 – whatever that meant. Then I understood that I must follow Jesus \u2018naked\u2019; re-engineer my assurances and security packages to fit into his plan so that \u201cno one takes this honour on himself…\u201d\u00a0 Ever since I did, passing through thick and thin of the mission, I have been sustained by this word of the Master in response to Peter\u2019s prevarications: \u201cAnyone who left father, mother, sister, brother\u2026 on account of my word, shall receive a hundred fold\u2026and in addition, eternal life\u201d. I have, believe me; for God lives in an eternal now, and I am satisfied. And I know that if I have not stayed infallible, I have remained graciously indefectible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Malachy Oleru, M.Afr My final journey to Beira was safe, except for my luggage that arrived 48 hours late and a somewhat clumsy and inconsiderate air ticket booking from Raptim. Cheap things are not always cheap! The services of Kenya Airways leave much to be desired too, but that is a topic for another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[904],"class_list":["post-12719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-malachy-oleru"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12719\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mafrsaprovince.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}