Our Human Weakness Overcome In Christ

"As evening drew near, the Lord yielded up his soul upon the cross
in the certainty of receiving it back again. It was not wrested from
him against his will.
But we too were represented there. Christ had nothing to hang upon
the cross except the body he had received from us. And in doing so he
nailed our human weakness to the cross."
--St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 140, 5

Prayer: Rise up, Lord, help us, and redeem us because of your Name.
Redeem me out of your kindness and not for any merit of mine.
--St. Augustine--Commentary on Psalm 43, 26

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20 October – Blessed Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa, Martyrs, Catechists.

The martyrs Daudi Okelo and Jildo Irwa were two young catechists from
Uganda at the beginning of the 20th century. They belonged to the
Acholi tribe, a subdivision of the large Lwo group whose members even
today live mostly in the North of Uganda but they are also present in
Southern Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania and Congo. They lived and were
martyred in the years immediately following the foundation of the
mission of Kitgum by the Comboni Missionaries in 1915.

Daudi Okelo was born around 1902 in Ogom-Payira, a village on the road
Gulu-Kitgum. The son of pagan parents, Lodi and Amona, at 14-16 years
of age he attended the instruction to receive baptism. Baptised by Fr
Cesare Gambaretto on 1 June 1916, Daudi received his first holy
communion on the same day and was confirmed on 15 October 1916. After
completing his formation, Daudi accepted to be enrolled as a
catechist.

At the beginning of 1917, Antonio, the catechist in charge of Paimol,
died. Daudi went to Fr Cesare, then superior at the mission of Kitgum,
offering to take Antonio’s place. Daudi’s appointment came only
towards the end of that year, during one of the catechists’ monthly
meeting. The young Jildo Irwa was to go with him as his assistant.
Before setting off, the two of them went to Fr Cesare who informed
them of the difficulties of their work, like the long travelling
distance—the village was about 80 km from Kitgum—and, in particular,
the frequent in-fights of the local people, instigated also by gangs
of raiders and traders of slaves and gold, sporadically visiting the
area. To all this Daudi is alleged to have answered: “I am not afraid
to die. Jesus, too, died for us!”.

So around November-December 1917, with Fr Cesare’s blessing, Boniface,
the head-catechist of Kitgum, accompanied Daudi and Jildo to Paimol.
Here Daudi immediately began his work by gathering children willing to
take religious instruction.

At dawn he beat the drum to call his catechumens for morning prayers
and, for Jildo and himself, also for the Rosary. He taught them the
prayers and the catechism’s questions and answers, repeated often in a
sign-song like manner during the lesson, to facilitate the memorizing.
It was a matter of teaching the first elements of faith, the so-called
Lok-odiku (the words of the morning), namely the essential parts of
the catechism. To this activity Daudi added the visits to the nearby
small villages from where the catechumens were coming, busy during the
day in assisting their parents to look after the cattle or work in the
fields.

At sunset, Daudi gave the signal for common prayer and the Rosary,
always closing with a song to Our Lady. On Sunday, he held a longer
prayer service, often enlivened by the presence of catechumens and
catechists of the area.

Daudi of Payira is described as young man of peaceful and shy
character, diligent in his duties as a catechist and loved by all. He
never got involved in tribal or political disputes, fairly frequent at
that time, as submission to the British government was often followed
by ill-concealed intolerance. In fact, due to an unhappy decision
taken by the District Commissioner, there rose a serious tension.
Raiders, Muslim elements and witchdoctors took advantage of the
violent situation to get rid of the new religion brought by Daudi.

During the weekend of 18-20 October 1918, long before dawn, five
people headed for the hut where Daudi and Jildo were staying with the
clear intention of killing them. A village elder confronted the new
comers telling them they were not allowed to kill the catechists, as
they were his guests. Daudi appeared at the door of his hut and
entreated the elder not to get involved. Then the intruders entered
into Daudi’s hut and insisted with him that he gave up teaching
catechism. Realising that Daudi was not giving in to their threats,
they dragged him outside, pushed him to the ground and pierced him
with their spears. He was about 16-18 years old.

His body was then left unburied until a few days later some people,
tying a rope around the neck, dragged the body over a nearby empty
termite hill. The mortal remains, collected in February 1926, were
later placed in the mission church of Kitgum, at the foot of the altar
of the Sacred Heart.

Jildo Irwa was born around 1906 in the village of Bar-Kitoba,
North-West of Kitgum, from pagan parents: Ato, his mother, and Okeny,
his father who later became a Christian.

He was baptised by Cesare Gambaretto on 6 June 1916, at the age of
10-12 years; on the same day he received his first Holy Communion and
was confirmed on 15 October 1916.

Father Cesare wrote about him “Jildo was much younger than Daudi. Of
lively and gentle nature, like many Acholi youngsters, he was quite
intelligent and occasionally acted as secretary to the vice-chief Ogal
who had given hospitality in Paimol. He was of great help to Daudi in
gathering the children for the instruction with his gentle way and
infantile insistence. He knew also how to entertain them with innocent
village games and noisy and merry meetings. He had recently received
baptism, whose grace he preserved in his heart and let it transpire by
his charming behaviour”.

He had spontaneously and very willingly offered to go with Daudi to
teach God’s word in Paimol. Here he was loved by everyone because he
was always available and exemplary in his duties as
assistant-catechist.

On the morning of their martyrdom Jildo answered to Daudi who was
warning him about a possible cruel death, “Why should we be afraid? We
have done nothing wrong to anyone; we are here only because Fr Cesare
sent us to teach the word of God. Do not fear!”

He repeated the same words to those who were urging him to leave that
place and his duty as assistant-catechist. “We have done nothing
wrong”, he was saying in tears “For the same reason you killed Daudi
you must also kill me, because together we came here and together we
have been teaching God’s word”. Having said this, somebody grabbed
him, pushed him outside the hut and, placing him at a distance of two
steps, pierced him through with a spear. Then one of them struck
Jildo’s head with a knife. He was about 12-14 years old.

The martyrdom of these two young catechists from Uganda is very
meaningful for the current events the country is going through. It is
a matter, first of all, of two young lay catechists who together
carried out and remained faithful to their assignment to spread the
Gospel by words and deeds. Furthermore, by courageously accepting to
move to a place outside the influence of their own ethnic clan, they
have become in their environment a sign of the catholicity and unity
of the Church. Finally, having lived during a period of tribal fights,
colonial interests and still flourishing domestic slavery, they
represent the integrity of a Gospel that always protects and
safeguards personal dignity and promotes peace among peoples, ethnic
groups and cultures. For this, even today they are remembered in their
land as Christ’s true “witnesses by blood”.

https://martyrsofwipolo.com/2018/02/19/how-gildo-irwa-and-daudi-okello-came-to-become-martyrs/

https://anastpaul.com/2017/10/20/

Bible Quote:
For this is the declaration which you have heard from the beginning,
that you should love one another. Not as Cain, who was of the wicked
one and killed his brother. And wherefore did he kill him? Because his
own works were wicked: and his brother's just. [1 John 3:10-11] DRB

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To Prevent One Mortal Sin

IF EVERY DAY WE BEGGED MARY FOR GRACE TO HINDER ONE MORTAL SIN,
WHAT A YEAR'S SERVICE TO GOD AND SOULS!

O MARY, Immaculate Mother of Jesus, we beseech thee, offer to the
Eternal Father the Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, to prevent at least
one mortal sin from being committed somewhere in the world today. Amen.