“In gratitude for the great love shown by Jesus Christ…,” the young men began the formula after Fr. Cellana’s sermon, “… and may I, by God’s grace and the loving intercession of Our Lady of Consolation…” they went on to the end. The assembly was so quiet that you could almost hear people breathing. The photographers almost suffocated the altar as each squeezed himself somewhere to take yet another shot of the profession novices.
As you might have rightly guessed, it was on 12th July 2008, and we were at Sagana again. This time the celebration was about the first religious profession of our novices. As if to break the tradition of having religious professions presided by bishops, this year’s event was presided by the Regional Superior, Rev. Fr. Franco Cellana, assisted by Fr. Albert Kathare, the Novice Master and his assistant Fr. Michael Wamunyu.
The ceremony, which started at 10am, was very well attended. The whole Parish of Sagana was literary there, and one could evidently tell that the Christians were eager to see their sons offer their live to the Lord. The weather was so beautiful that one could not fail to imagine the sacks of prayers that the novices must have had poured to heaven. As you would have expected, the compound was so well decorated that it could almost compete with the heavenly paradise. The celebration started with a procession, which had the Catholic Women Association (CWA) members, Catholic Men Association (CMA) members, the novices, and the large number of priests who had attended the function. The procession started at the Parish house and snaked through the compound to the Church, obviously with the CWA members busting with songs and dances. In the Church, while the CWAs and CMAs found their way to their respective seats, the Pontifical Missionary Children (PMCs) took over the leading of the procession to the altar, dancing and singing until the last novice and his parents got their seats.
After a warm welcome by the Novice Master, Fr. Franco Cellana began the Eucharistic sacrifice. In his short-and-to-the-point homilies, he challenged the assembly to take a step in offering itself to the lord following the admirable example of the young novices, who were now saying ‘YES’ to God like Mary in the annunciation. The Regional Superior emphasized that the Church is missionary nature, and therefore while the novices were becoming Consolata Missionaries to go to proclaim the glory of God to the nations, each and every person in the Church had the duty to proclaim the same glory of God among the people he / she lived. Fr. Cellana clarified that the vows were meant to free a person for a better service of God, and not to imprison. Quoting our Founder who had a number of times presented the vow of obedience as the fundamental one, Fr. Cellana insisted to all Consolata Missionaries that anyone who was obedient, would easily live the other vows rather comfortably. He therefore presented the vows as tools of ensuring a possibility of better service to God through humanity.
The Mass went on with the choir spicing up with songs every aspect of the event, certainly manifesting the hours of practice that had been put for the preparation. Just before the completion of the beautiful celebration, the Regional Superior announced officially to the Church the destinations of the novices, amid cheers and acclamations. Finally the Mass came to a conclusion, opening another chapter of the celebrations: the banquet. After an hour of downing delicious meals and drinks, we headed back to Nairobi, obviously happy that the Consolata family was growing stronger by the day, thanks to the intercession of Our Lady Consolata, and our Founder Bd. Joseph Allamano.
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