 The Miraculous Medal Association Begins at Holy Cross Parish, Thigio, Kenya
by Father Lennoxie Lusabe, C.M., Pastor
In June, 2005, Father Lennoxie Lusabe was one of the first four men from Kenya to be ordained as Vincentian priests. These men are pioneers. They are the beginning of the Vincentians in Kenya, and are examples of what missionary work is all about. Father Lusabe is now serving as the pastor of Holy Cross Parish in Thigio, Kenya.
Vincentian priests of the Midwest Province staff Holy Cross Parish in Thigio, Kenya. It is a rural parish with five outstations within the Archdiocese of Nairobi. The parish is at the edge of the Great Rift Valley.
When I became pastor of Holy Cross in June, 2006, I always had in mind the idea of starting a Miraculous Medal Association in the parish, but I did not know how or when I would do this.
Four months after I arrived in the parish, I started visiting the faithful in their homes and talking with them about our Catholic faith. They got the opportunity to raise their concerns, ask questions, and voice their likes and dislikes of their faith. They talked candidly about what they would like their parish to be.
A Deep Devotion to Our Lady
One striking thing in many of my conversations with them was that many of them expressed their deep devotion to our Mother Mary, but did not have an organized group in the parish for them to express their devotion.
As I listened to them, it kept ringing in my head that the Miraculous Medal Association would be ideal for these people who were genuinely looking to express their deep devotion to Mother Mary. But as I said earlier, I did not know how and when to implement my idea.
Providence works in its own way and time. The period immediately after the September 13 and 14, 2006, attack on our rectory and convent by unknown assailants was a period of intense prayer and discernment for peace in our parish community and conversion of those with evil intentions. It provided an opportunity for us to consider new ways of asking God to bring peace to our troubled village (our village experiences attacks quite often). And indeed, it did provide an opportunity for me to implement my idea of the Miraculous Medal Association that I had been having.
Turn to Our Lady for Help
After one of our morning Masses in early October, 2006, as we brainstormed about ways and means of enhancing peace and security in our area, I suggested to the parishioners that it would be a good idea to turn to our Mother Mary to help us. As Vincentians, the natural inclination is to turn to our Lady of the Miraculous Medal who brought love and healing to France in the time of Saint Catherine Labouré.
We decided that we would have a novena in honor of the Miraculous Medal combined with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We wanted Mary to lead us to her Son, Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. Then in mid-October 2006, we began our novena in honor of our Lady of the Miraculous Medal along with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
We celebrate our novena and adoration every Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. The weekly reflection on the salvation history during the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament forms the connecting link between the theology of the novena and the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Since October 2006, the number of Christians attending has been increasing steadily. Christians even come from neighboring parishes for the prayers. We have started gathering a few who are regulars at the Wednesday prayer service to form a consistent Association of the Miraculous Medal group. God willing, we will soon have an organized Association of the Miraculous Medal. Please pray for us to succeed in this project. God bless you.
A Call for You
In the past, the Association has helped American missionaries in Taiwan or Kenya and
other worldwide missions of the Vincentians. If you would like to make a donation to help
the foreign missions continue their good work, you can do so by contacting the Association.
It is an opportunity for you to answer Christ's call to "make disciples of all nations."
Jesus said to his disciples, "But when the Son of Man comes,
will he find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8) Vincentian missionaries bring the faith to the
remotest and poorest places of the earth. And you can help them.
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