According to the annual calendar of the seminary, there was a seminar on 26^th May. The topic of the seminar was, “the faithful house”, as a reply to the modern challenge of the lack of faithfulness among the people. The central theme of the seminar was, “as for me and my house will serve the Lord.” (Jos 24:15). This seminar was facilitated by Mr. Paschal Maziku and Mrs. Melania Paschal Maziku, a couple. It was meant for the ministers of the church to be able to address the challenges of our modern human communities.  There were three sessions of one hour each, which were separated by short periods of rest and personal reflection and sharing. Rev. Fr. Honest Lubuva, the seminary Academic Dean, gave an opening speech, welcoming the facilitators and all the participants of the seminar. He led an opening prayer and blessed the event.

Our first parents were the first family, and from them sprang uninterrupted genealogy of human families. Disappointingly, the great changes in the human world have affected man to the family level. Extending the concept of family to all social institutions and relations, Mr. and Mrs. Maziku hold that through mature families the individuals will keep discerning their vocations whose summit lies in the call to Holiness, and the share in the everlasting kingdom of God. Mr. and Mrs. Maziku pinpointed a reciprocal relationship between the human family and the human individual. The couple believes that through a well-grounded family an individual flourishes and well-formed individuals build up healthy families.

Taking as a point of departure the very idea of the family, the couple was able to contextualize the topic, to fit the life oriented to the priestly vocation. They used the expression, “as for me and my household will serve the Lord,” as the central point of the seminar. The couple believes that the stability and value of human life can only be attained when God is the center of human life. They use Genesis. 2:24, “that is why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one body,” to emphasize the need of commitment and fidelity to one’s vocation. After choosing a vocation one has to forget his old family members and consider himself as one body with the members of his new family. Thus, according to the couple, the vow of chastity binds all human persons in their vocations.

Nonetheless, the couple sees the danger of mistaking in discerning one’s vocation. We are always called by God, for the purpose willed by God himself. The couple urges all the people to always draw near to Christ and listen to him. They have always to dispose themselves in the posture that, ‘speak Lord for your servant is listening,’ (Sam.3:1-25). The couple upholds that the good family as well as a fruitful vocation come from listening to God, for God alone is the source and end of everything.

The couple uses an analogy of the house, to show the kind of the attitude human beings are required to build as they respond to their vocations. Any stable house is supported by a stable foundation and stable pillars. The couple offers five supporting pillars of the stable house which are: God Himself, true love, faithfulness, effective communication, and preservation of life. The couple shows the systematic development of human vocation fitting the whole structure of the house.

Finally, the couple taught that, every vocation is guided by a certain discipline. The seminar analysis was given by the seminarians after the seminar, before the closing speech and prayer led by Rev. Fr. Honest Lubuva, as follows: the message of the seminar was very relevant, practical and timely; the art of presentation was very attractive and tireless; the sources of the message of the seminar were very authentic; the facilitators are very competent and have mastered the topics treated in the seminar. Generally, the seminar was enjoyable, informative and formative.

(Prepared by Frt. Godfrey Fredrick Mkwe)