Kuwakaribisha Jangwani
First Sunday of Lent
One day, a mother camel and her baby were talking, and the baby camel asked, “Mom why have we got these huge three-toed feet?” The mother replied, “To enable us trek across the soft sand of the desert without sinking.” “And why have we got these long, heavy eyelashes?” “To keep the sand out of our eyes on the trips through the desert” replied the mother camel. “And Mom, why have we got these big humps on our backs?” The mother, now a little impatient with the boy replies, “They are there to help us store fat for our long treks across the desert, so we can go without water for long periods.” “OK, I get it!” says the baby camel, “We have huge feet to stop us sinking, long eyelashes to keep the sand from our eyes and humps to store water. Then, Mom, why the heck are we here in a zoo?”
Our busy lives, sometimes, make forget who we are. And like the camel, we need to go to the desert to remember who we are meant to be.
2000 years ago, after His baptism, Jesus was led into the desert. Noone could tell what really happened in the desert, but most scholars propose that the desert was the place where Jesus’ identity as the Son of God was affirmed. Today, there are many people were led into the desert in the search of their identity as God’s children and in the search of their promised land.
In this photo, which was taken earlier this year, my Franciscan brother, Friar Sam Nasada joined the efforts to leave some drinking waters in the desert somewhere in Arizona for the migrants who are fighting for their survival.
And this is what he wrote:
And 5 days ago, the friars were visited by Sister Molly, a Franciscan sister, who is serving in Kenya. She shared about her life in Kakuma, which is the site for the refugee camp in Kenya.
To give you a glimpse of the life in Kakuma, let us watch this video.
Sr MoIly shared, that these refugees came from the neighbouring countries that are still in war. Although the semi-desert refugee camp is not the best place to live, the refugee still prefers to live there because at least there is no war. Most of the refugees spend their time waiting every day. They are not allowed to work. Only some of them get the chance to go to school. But even with the training they receive in the schools, they have nowhere to get a job. They are waiting… and waiting… for the chance to go to another country.
I honestly do not understand the political situation regarding the migrants or the refugees, but as a migrant myself (I came from Indonesia), I share the same dreams with all migrants in the world who left home for the promised land.
We share the same hope… to have a better life…A life that is according to our dignity as human; A life that should be filled with the goodness of the Lord; A life that should reflect that we are created out of love……..
Brothers and sisters, in this season of Lent, all of us are invited to a new life in the Lord…And to live the new life, we have to go through the desert. We are invited to look around us and help one another to be who we really are as the children of God. We are invited to go on a journey in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who are struggling for their survival.
There are many ways we can go on this journey, and I would like to propose 3 ways that we can do together.
First, to survive the desert, it is important to keep hydrating, but at the same time, we have to ration the limited amount of water. When it comes to food, one should not eat until full, because when we are full, we will tend to be thirstier, so it is wise to keep ourselves hungry. Therefore, let us unite ourselves in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in the desert in our fasting.
Second,it is important to conserve as much energy as possible while in the desert. It is recommended to speak less to conserve our energy and keep the moisture in the mouth. Therefore, let us put our efforts to listen more than to speak in this season so that we can understand one another better every day.
Third,this journey will make us vulnerable. Our strength and weakness will be exposed as we are pushed to the limit. This is one of the biggest challenge to survive the desert: to keep calm and focus on our goal. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us put our efforts to be discipline in our prayers so that we will never lose our focus in the journey.
So brothers and sisters, let us begin our Lenten journey together; the journey to remember and return to who we really are as God’s children; the journey that makes us one with the whole humanity.
Dear brothers and sisters… Kuwakaribisha Jangwani! ( Swahili words which translates in English as - Welcome to the desert!)
