This morning, I came across a disturbing post of a young Catholic priest (just four years into his priesthood), Rev. Fr. Alois Cheruiyot Bett, who was brutally murdered in a rural part of Kenya where he served as a missionary. The news broke my heart.

As a missionary, this priest left the comfort of home to serve the Gospel in a place many would avoid. He chose the poor. He embraced the forgotten. He gave his life to Christ and his people. And what did he get in return? A violent death. What do you really gain by killing a priest?

This tragedy is not isolated. In Nigeria, my own country, priests have become endangered species and are being hunted down like threats. In recent years, some have been burnt to death, many shot to death, and others abducted and tortured to death. The blood of priests has become familiar with our soil.

But here is the thing many do not understand: a priest is already a victim. Every priest, at ordination, is configured to Christ the High Priest who “offered Himself once for all” (Hebrews 7:27). To be a priest therefore is to live in constant self-offering – an immolation at the altar of service.

As such, when you kill a priest, you are not ending a life; you are completing a sacrifice. You may have spilled his blood, but he already gave it. You may have pierced his body, but he had long placed it on the altar of sacrifice. A priest dies before he is killed – by the love that makes him a victim for others.

When you kill a priest, you do not kill a man with silver and gold. You kill a man who buried himself in broken villages, who fed children, who raised altars where hope was scarce. You murder a man whose weapon is the Word and whose power is prayer. What, then, do you gain?

The priest is a bridge (Hebrews 5:1), a voice for the voiceless, a father to the orphaned, a confessor to the guilty, and a servant to the suffering. To kill a priest is to wage war on mercy, to tear down the very hand reaching out to lift the wounded. To kill a priest is to declare war against grace. But grace always rises again. Like Christ.

To those who raise their hands against priests, keep this in mind: You can kill the priest, but not the priesthood. The blood you spill nourishes the Church. The silence you cause will echo louder than your bullets/weapons. From every martyr, God raises more. And the altar will never be empty. You kill flesh, but the spirit of their sacrifice lives forever. They may fall, but their mission outlives your bullets.

May the soul of that young priest in Kenya, and all the slain priests across Africa, rest in the peace of Christ. And may their deaths stir and awaken us – Church and society – to defend those who defend our hope and to stop this blood because you gain absolutely nothing by killing a priest.

Fr. Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch

Chimamanda

@Ode_Luwa

Thank You Jesus,

Salvation Prayers

If you don’t Know Jesus as your personal Lord and Saviour and would like to accept him into your life as your personal Lord and Saviour, Please say this prayer:

Father, I know that I have broken your laws and my sins have separated me from You. I am truly sorry, and now I want to turn away from my past sinful life toward You. Please forgive me, and help me avoid sinning again. I believe that Your son, Jesus Christ died for my sins, was resurrected from the dead, is alive, and hears my prayer. I invite Jesus to become the Lord of my life, to rule and reign in my heart from this day forward. Please send Your Holy Spirit to help me obey You, and to do Your Will for the rest of my life. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

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