How Grateful They Are
by Father Robert Wood, C. M.,
Father Wood, C.M., is a Vincentian missionary from the
Midwest Province. He is evangelizing the people of Kenya in
Africa by training native clergy for the people. This is
one of his numerous stories about his experiences in Kenya
and expands on an incident mentioned in last February's
issue. There was a seminarian who was in the Minor Seminary when
I started teaching in Kenya. Here is his story.
He was an altar boy before he came to the seminary. He
was about 12 years old at the time when he was traveling
with one of the Consolata Fathers from the main mission to
one of the outstations in the Rief Valley. They were just
getting started establishing that outstation. One day the
priest and altar servers were traveling down there for Mass
when a bunch of bandits attacked them. They killed the
priest, killed two of the servers, and they started to kill
the young altar server. But one of the raiders recognized
him as his distant relative, so they let the boy live.
Right then and there that boy decided that he would become a
priest to replace the foreign missionary who gave his life
to bring the faith to the people.
The boy had made that vow to God at such a young age.
When it was time for him to graduate from the Minor Seminary,
the priests on the faculty spoke to him about the situation.
They told him 'you really are not held to the vow that you
made to God when you are that young.' The young seminarian
whose life had been spared went on to join the Consolata
Fathers. He stayed with them for a little while, but he did
not continue.
The reason he did not go on was that the Consolata
Fathers were taking candidates who had finished "form 6" in
school, which is two years more than "form 4." "Form 6"
students would be equivalent to high school seniors in the
United States.
This young man, who had just put in four years at a Minor
Seminary, was put into this group who had finished six years
of schooling. I think it was just too much for him to keep
up with them. There was too much difference in their
education.
But, what is touching is the whole idea that this boy was
willing to become a priest to take the place of the one that
was killed.
What a sacrifice and desire! We don't have that here in
the States. We don't see among the young a desire to
replace someone.
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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