‘Bless those who wrong you,’ Kenyan bishop urges Christians
Bishop Mark Kadima Wamukoya of Bungoma, Kenya, urged Christians to pray for and bless those who hurt or mistreat them. In a homily at the consecration of St. Mark’s Ojamii Catholic Parish church, he pointed to Jesus instituting the Eucharist amid betrayal as an example of blessing others despite suffering. He encouraged the faithful to worship and celebrate the sacraments even amid personal and family difficulties, leaving their differences behind. Kadima also called on Christians to honor commitments made before God, including promises at ordination and in marriage.
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Bishop Mark Kadima Wamukoya of Bungoma, Kenya, urged Christians to pray for people who hurt or mistreat them, follow through on promises made before God, and practice respect and obedience in daily life. He delivered the message during the Nov. 5 consecration of St. Mark’s Ojamii Catholic Parish church.
Kadima pointed to Jesus instituting the Eucharist amid betrayal as an example for Christians: even when wronged, they should bless others and pray for them. He said worshippers should set aside differences when they gather at church and ask God to bless everyone.
He also encouraged people to attend church despite difficulties in their family lives, saying that coming to pray does not mean that everything is going well. He described the church as a place for prayer and the celebration of the sacraments, particularly the Eucharist.
The bishop urged Christians to honor promises made before God, including commitments at priestly ordination and in marriage. Recalling his own ordination, he said that commitments require readiness to fulfill them, adding: “When we say yes at the altar, that yes must mean something.”
Kadima called on Catholics to respect laws and rules in the Church and in everyday settings. He linked that responsibility to service, good conduct, and respectful communication with others.
Christian forgiveness, Eucharistic worship, and fidelity amid suffering
Christian forgiveness, Eucharistic worship, and fidelity in suffering belong together: Christ’s self-giving love is encountered in the Eucharist, learned through forgiveness, and made visible when a person remains faithful to truth and charity under trial. This does not mean calling evil good or pretending wounds do not matter. It means refusing to let evil dictate the response.
In his teaching on Jesus’ final hours, Pope Leo XIV points to Christ’s response to betrayal: Jesus continues to offer love, even when that love is rejected. Forgiveness, in this sense, is not approval of wrongdoing. It is a choice not to answer evil with hatred, and a hope that the person who has done wrong may still turn toward the good. The Pope stresses that forgiveness may be offered even when the other person has not accepted it; its work is not necessarily to repair a relationship immediately, but to free the one who forgives from resentment and restore peace within the heart.
When the light of forgiveness succeeds in filtering through the deepest crevices of the heart, we understand that it is never futile. Even if the other does not accept it, even if it seems to be in vain, forgiveness frees those who give it: it dispels resentment, it restores peace, it returns us to ourselves.
This is not passivity before injustice. Pope John Paul II, reflecting on Blessed Alojzije Stepinac, joins forgiveness to fidelity to conscience: Stepinac would not bargain with truth, and accepted suffering rather than betray his commitment to Christ and the Church. The same reflection describes reconciliation as purifying memory of hatred and revenge, and overcoming evil with good. Christian forgiveness, then, can coexist with truthful judgment about what happened and with steadfast resistance to wrongdoing.
The Eucharist is not merely an idea about love; it is, in John Paul II’s words, the sign of Christ’s total and gratuitous love, and it gives people the strength to imitate him. At the Last Supper, Christ’s love is shown in service and self-offering, even in the presence of betrayal. Christian worship therefore draws the faithful into a way of life: receiving Christ’s gift should lead toward charity, service, and generous forgiveness.
A study of St John Chrysostom’s preaching makes this connection vivid: Christ’s mercy toward Judas and the Eucharistic table reveal a love that seeks the sinner’s conversion without endorsing the sin. The offered mercy leaves the betrayer responsible for what he chooses next. The point is not that betrayal ceases to be evil, but that Christ’s love does not become hatred in response.
Eucharistic worship thus challenges a merely private devotion. John Paul II describes the Eucharist as the memorial of Christ’s sacrifice and a model for personal life; the same address links love of Christ in the Eucharist with service to the poor and the practice of forgiveness. Adoration and participation in the Mass are meant to form people who carry Christ’s self-giving love into their homes, communities, and encounters with those who have harmed them.
Christian fidelity is not measured only in peaceful circumstances. John Paul II teaches that loving “to the end” may mean facing hardship, insult, or persecution in Christ’s name, and praying for those who persecute. The source presents this not as self-generated toughness, but as a gift made possible by Christ, who offered himself on the Cross.
Stepinac’s witness gives that teaching a concrete form: he held to truth and conscience despite imprisonment, mistreatment, and the threat of bloodshed. His example does not imply that suffering is good in itself or that injustice should be accepted as just. Rather, it shows that suffering need not force a person to abandon truth, hatred need not be repaid with hatred, and fidelity can remain joined to mercy.
This also guards against confusing forgiveness with denial. Pope Leo’s catechesis explicitly says that forgiveness does not pretend evil is unreal. One can name betrayal as betrayal, seek protection or justice where necessary, and still refuse revenge. The supplied texts support that distinction through Christ’s response to betrayal and Stepinac’s refusal to compromise truth. They do not give detailed practical guidance for every situation—such as the steps required for restoring trust after serious harm—so that must be discerned according to the circumstances.
Together, these themes describe a single pattern: receive Christ’s self-giving love in the Eucharist; ask for the grace to forgive; remain faithful to truth when that fidelity is costly. Forgiveness keeps suffering from turning into hatred. Eucharistic worship keeps forgiveness rooted in Christ rather than mere willpower. Fidelity keeps mercy from becoming a pretence that evil does not matter. The Christian response to suffering is therefore neither retaliation nor surrender of conscience, but love that resists evil and seeks the good.