The ARTICLES

The Desire to Love and to be Loved.

One of the impossibilities in this world is trying to separate love from the young people-both are like the identical twins. Wherever the young people are, love is amongst them. This is a naturally ingrained biological and a psychological fact.
Truth be told, we all yearn for love either to love or to be loved regardless of our age or any other status we may have. Amazingly, with the young people, it is very unique because they tend to quickly get attracted to the person of the opposite sex within a very short span of time of interaction.
Although love comes naturally, it is very important to be always cautious in matters of love so that you may not confuse infatuation [lust] with love. Moreover, we must be vigilant not to fall into the traps of the people with impure intentions in our love life. Defend your sexuality with courage!
What then does the sacred scriptures tell us about love? The holy bible in its entirety is a love story; a story of love of God for we His children. Since God loved us so much, He couldn’t let us get lost due to sins but out of His unfathomable divine love and mercy took up our humanity. Thus, He became man and lived among us as truly God and truly man except in sins.
Accordingly, Jesus, out of obedience to His Father, loved us to the end; up to a point of death on a cross. In fact, your crucifix [a cross with a crucified Jesus] is a symbol of divine love for you. Jesus left to us a commandment of love; love for God and love for neighbour. Love one another as I have loved you; He told us so.
When you love, do you really love with pure intentions in your mind and heart or do you just love superficially with a selfish kind of ‘love’? True love is not selfish; it is kind, patient and pure. Above all, love and serve with a disinterested intention. When you genuinely love, you naturally and diligently serve others; a form of worshiping and praising God.
Going back to our catechism it clearly teaches us that among the three theological virtues (faith, hope, and love), only love is eternal. So, love is on earth as well as in heaven. It is worth noting that love does not end when your life here on earth has ended. Love transcends earthly life, love is eternal.
Therefore, when you feel romantically attracted to a fellow youth member of the opposite sex, it is neither a mistake nor a sin. That is a natural biological fact. However, you must have the right intention and then guard your thoughts so as not to fall into temptations of committing casual sexual sins.
Impure thoughts lead to impure actions. So, when you entertain sexually related thoughts you will definitely put yourself into a position of fornicating. Strive to live a chaste life, a life that is characterized with a pure body and soul-this pleases God so much. Jealously guard your purity!
In that case, always remember that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of Truth who indwells you since you were administered those initiation sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. And you get renewed, healed and strengthened by the sacraments of Confession and Eucharist. Do not give up on yourself whenever you find yourself sinning; seek God’s mercy and commit yourself to live a holy life; the saints made it, you will also make it.
Finally, I ask you to always love responsibly and with pure intentions. That way, you will be preparing yourself for either a holy marriage life or a holy religious life, whichever you shall choose. These two callings supplement each other, for the building up of the Church.
With this in mind, you will have a well formed and ordered conscience that wills and enables you to express your authentic love to your marriage partner or to those you will serve through your religious life respectively. Pure love edifies and heals the body and the soul. Love truly and responsibly.
St. Pope John Paul II, Our Patron Saint, Pray for us so that We may be made Worthy of the Promises of Our Lord of Jesus Christ, in Time and in Eternity. Amen!
Article by:
Ben Njuîrî
A Catholic Apologetic
11th of Sept., AD 2023.

Youth in Politics: You Are The Leader We Have Been Waiting For.

Leadership is simply defined as being in front of others in the process of reaching a particular destination, goal or a vision. Leadership is in the mind, not the ranks, someone said so. We can all agree that servant political leadership is a gap that must filled in our country Kenya. If not you, who will.
You may not be elected, through voting, to lead others but there are very many instances that indicates that you are a leader. For example, whenever people insist that you should be the one to organize a certain activity, represent them in a forthcoming meeting, head the sheering squad, make the opening prayers or even you will be the one to begin crossing the river where others are afraid, etc., all these cases means that your fellow youth are recognizing your ability and capacity to lead them.
Our Catholic Church in its wisdom has kept it as its tradition of informing and forming the young people in becoming servant leaders in whatever calling of life they may choose to answer and follow in their lives. The Church prepares you to be a good shepherd of God’s people in both spiritual and secular aspects of life. Jesus Christ is our Good Shepherd, He will accompany you.
My dear friend, for far too long we have been looking for a political leader who is ethical, courageous, selfless and wise enough to lead the transformation process of our political units and the country at large. That Ward, Constituency, County, Country and beyond deserve a good leader like you. Dare to dream big, expand your leadership vision from just being a Youth leader to national leader.
Think about the long journey of our third president of our country, the late president Mwai Kibaki. He came from a normal family just like most of you in the Youth Group, he dared to get himself into politics until he reached at the national level of the political leadership. Note, he carried his Catholic Faith to the end. He remains a role model to many aspiring political leaders.
Actually, it is by trying to run for one of these political offices that will make you be known, tested and voted in. Perpetual complaining about how some political leaders are bad won’t help you or us. Challenge the incumbents by contesting for the position they occupy. Start with a position of the Member of County Assembly (MCA) or that of the Member of Parliament (MP), and then climb the political ladder progressively.
Just imagine this. If all the Archdiocese of Nyeri (ADN) leaders, who have been well formed by the Church, participate in the general elections, in the eye of probability mathematics, we would get a good number of young MCAs, MPs, or even a Women Representative, a Senator or a Governor. With God, nothing is impossible! But this is only for those who are confident enough to go for these positions. Those who believe in themselves; those who walk by faith and not by sight.
Let me give you a good example from one of your fellow youth members. Clement Murage is his name. This is a young man who hails from St. Stephen Kagochi Catholic Church; Our Lady of Consolata Giakaibii Catholic parish. Then he was the Youth Group chairperson at his local church and the Organizing Secretary (OS) at the parish level.
As the politics of the general election started to take shape and become ‘hot’ across the country, Clement felt inside himself the desire to take his leadership to the next level. He challenged himself by getting out of his comfort zone. Thereafter, he put his plans together, mobilized his relatives and friends to support his campaigns. He run for Magutu Ward position; Mathira constituency, with a slogan ‘Kaba Kamwana’. Literally meaning, better a young man.
At the end of it all, he immerged number three out of seven. And among those he defeated, there were some who had deep pockets. Lesson, money won’t win you a ‘seat’. The power belongs to the people. Convince them why you are a better candidate for that position and you will win their trust; and they will elect you as their favourite political leader. Is it possible? Yes, it is my dear brother and sister; go for it.
I confidently submit to you that either you are nominated or elected leader in the Church, or neither, and you are a young person reading this; just take this moment of you being in the Youth Group as an opportunity to develop and enhance leadership skills. You will need them in the near future. The Church wants you to be developed holistically, not just spiritually.
As I conclude, just know that you hold leadership in you and what need to do is to present yourself to the people/the voters and debate your case out in an intelligent manner. You never know what God has kept for you, you will find out that you may be the next servant political leader the country has been yearning for.
St. Pope John Paul II, Our Patron Saint, Pray for us so that We may be made Worthy of the Promises of Our Lord of Jesus Christ, in Time and in Eternity. Amen!
Article by:
Ben Njuîrî
A Catholic Apologetic.
17th of October, AD 2023.

RENEWAL ON OUR COMMITMENTS TO GOD.

Luke 2:43-49,
This gospel draws a picture of how the child Jesus got lost in the house of the lord. As a young person, Jesus had many choices of places to be but he chooses to be in the house of the lord.
In this scenario we see that there are three major scenarios that are portrayed;
1. Jesus parents took him to church
2. Jesus himself upholds this role and chooses to be in the house of the lord.
3. Jesus being accepted in the house of the lord by the teachers of the law and he becomes one of the teachers.
In the first scenario, parents are taught to be the role models in bringing the young people to God. How do we bring these young people to Christ?
1. Being the first teachers and examples.
2. Praying to God for the grace to open the heart of the young person to accept the chance to be in the house of the lord.
3. Taking action and standing in the rightful position as a parent and A God.
4. Journeying with the young person by Supporting the young person both physically, mentally and emotionally. Be there for him and he will not disappoint you.
5. Keeping on reminding the young person on the daily proceedings.
The role of the parent is intertwined to the young person by a verse in the bible that says, "Train a child on the correct ways and when he will be old. He will not depart from the good ways"
In the second scenario, Jesus upholds the decision of his parents and makes a good decision to be in the house of the lord. As a young person, after all has been said and done. What impact do you take from all those sacrifices of a parent?
Do you depart from the ways that you have been taught and choose a different path?
As the young person you have the duty and obligation to the following,
1. Reciprocate all that has been done for you.
2. Make a decision to be in the right place.
3. Ask support where you need it.
4. Show your friends the way to Christ.
5. More so Pray to God to keep you in the right track for we are in a rotten world.
The third scenario portrays the fruits of the work of the parents and the young person after taking the devotions and the sacrifice. Jesus becomes part of the house of the lord and even dwells in it this making him acceptable to the teachers of law and becoming one of them. The priests fall in the category of the teachers of law. Once the young person comes to the house of lord, there is a big role to keep the young person there. The priests are always ready to do it through the commitment they see
If we need support then we need to show our commitment. We need to let the Goodness of God drive us. We need to "kujituma" in our commitment to Christ.