“She is known as Sister Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist because the Eucharist became the center of her life, and being buried here, pilgrims have been coming here to pray and to experience the power of the Eucharistic Jesus through adoration,” Fr. Kimaiyo said, and added, “There is a new understanding of the Eucharist and people are becoming more committed to adore Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
The Kenyan Catholic Priest described the messages in Sr. Anna Ali’s Divine Appeals as “very real at this moment.”
“The Divine Appeals talk about Eucharistic abuses and the issue of atonement and reparation for our sins. Jesus continues to experience pain to the point of shedding blood because of the sins committed by people who do not want to change,” he told ACI Africa.
Resting place of Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist at the Eucharistic Center Burnt Forest in Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. Credit ACI Africa
Fr. Kimaiyo added, “Through prayers and Masses of atonement and reparation, people are becoming aware of the urgent need to repent and change their ways.”
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Attesting to the conversion that happens at Sr. Anna Ali’s Eucharistic Centre, Fr. Kimaiyo said, “I have seen God drawing people to Himself. I have seen people being healed, and those tormented by evil spirits have been set free. Many families have experienced unity and healing.”
Ciku Muiruri, a Kenyan digital evangelizer, who is known for encouraging devotion to the Holy Eucharist organized the pilgrimage from the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN) hoping to create more awareness of Sr. Anne Ali.
Announcing the pilgrimage on Facebook, Ciku who has nearly half a million followers on the platform acknowledged the importance of Sr. Anna Ali’s messages, noting that many Catholics do not take adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament seriously.
“Very many church goers hear announcements that there is Adoration on Sunday evening but they never go. Many hear that there is Adoration during the week in their respective churches but only a handful show up. And that's because they honestly have no idea what goes on there. It's not that they are being neglectful, they just have no idea. And that's why the work of Sister Anna Ali is so important,” the veteran radio host said.
Expressing optimism in Sr. Anna Ali becoming a saint, she added, “We are living history and one day, they will be speaking about her (Sr. Anna Ali) like they do Saint Faustina of Divine Mercy or Saint Mary Margaret of Sacred Heart Devotions. They will speak of Sister Anna Ali of the Holy Eucharist in years to come after her beautification and they will do pilgrimages from all over the world to come and see where she is buried.”
Ciku told ACI Africa that what inspired her to organize for the pilgrimage to the Eucharistic Centre Burnt Forest was “The Eucharist Christ who is wonderful, and who needs to be known and adored all over the world.”
“There are very many reasons why I would go to Burnt Forest but the biggest is to pray for the Church of Jesus Christ as He asked,” Ciku said, adding that the December 5-6 trip was not the first she had organized through her social media initiatives.
“I have been taking people to Burnt Forest, but this is the first time we have gone on a Thursday. I wanted us to go today so as to have an opportunity to do the Gethsemane Hours and to be there for the First Friday of the month,” she said.
Susan Macharia, a pilgrim who identified herself as “a Consoler of Jesus” in an interview with ACI Africa at the shrine said that she had been planning for a trip to Burnt Forest for five years.
“I have been wanting to come to this place since 2019. I am here with my husband and our four children,” the member of the Apostolate of the Precious Blood, a devotional group that was started in Nigeria when Jesus Christ appeared to young Nwoye, told ACI Africa.
She added, “Sister Anna Ali always said that the Eucharist was everything to her. We console Jesus Christ because the Eucharist is being extremely abused, and people do not even know the real presence of Jesus Christ in it. I came to see what happens here, and I have been spiritually uplifted.”
“I love the Eucharistic Lord so much,” Susan went on to say, adding that in the past, she would go to adore Christ in the Blessed Sacrament without understanding what was really happening in the adoration chapel.
“I didn’t have proper education as a child, having attended protestant schools,” she told ACI Africa, adding that as an adult, she suffered a terrible injury on her knee and could not walk for many years.
“One day, I saw a procession around town with people carrying the image of Divine Mercy. On reading the words ‘Jesus I trust in You’, I prayed for healing. Suddenly, I could walk, and I joined the procession around town without experiencing any pain in my knee. That was the last time I experienced knee pain. Since then, I started adoring Jesus deeply and developed the thirst to know more about him,” Susan recounted during the December 6 interview.
Susan further narrated that she got married to a non-Catholic and with the help of the Eucharistic Jesus, her husband experienced a conversion and got Baptized in the Catholic faith.
“I know that whenever the Blessed Sacrament is exposed, Jesus is truly present there. The Angels are there guarding Him, and the Saints are there, prostrating and worshipping Him,” she narrated.
Many who have heard the story of Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Sacrament have expressed their optimism that because of her life, and how she continues to inspire devotion to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, the Nun who was born in Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Kericho will one day be declared a Saint.
Fr. Kimaiyo told ACI Africa that a group that identifies itself as “Friends of Sister Anna Ali” meets frequently at the Eucharistic Centre Burnt Forest to pray for the course of the Catholic Nun’s canonization.
And in an interview with Sister Anna Ali TV four months ago, Bishop Dominic Kimengich of Eldoret Diocese explained the validity of Sr. Anna Ali’s canonization process, which is already on course.
“This is a process which normally starts when people see some signs of holiness in a person, may be in a very extraordinary way as in the case of Sister Anna Ali or even in an ordinary life. When people see that this person lived a heroic life, the Church always permits that the process of canonization be started,” Bishop Kimengich said in the July interview.
He acknowledged that people are already seeking Sr. Anna Ali’s intercession, and that many have already given testimonies of divine assistance they received through her prayers.
Bishop Kimengich described the situation as “popular piety”, noting that those seeking Sr. Anna Ali’s intersession firmly believe that owing to the life she lived, the Nun is already in heaven interceding for them. He however clarified that official recognition of Sr. Anna Ali as a saint would only be granted by the Church after a careful canonization process.
“In the case of Anna Ali, there are many people who have testified that through her intersession, they have been helped, they have been healed,” the Kenyan Catholic Bishop said.
The small chapel at the Eucharistic Center Burnt Forest in Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. Credit ACI Africa. Credit: ACI Africa
He added, “On her grave, there are crutches of someone who was crippled but she came here, and through her intersession she became well and she gave a testimony.”
“We are not saying Sister Anna Ali is a saint. But we are saying that there is something that attracts the people in the way she lived her life. And people believe that she is with God, and through her intersession, they achieved what they asked for,” Bishop Kimengich said.
The Local Ordinary of Eldoret Diocese since February 2020 noted that messages of Sister Anna Ali as documented in the book ‘On the Eucharist: A Divine Appeal’ are very important to his Episcopal See.
“That is why this place has become a place of pilgrimage. People don’t go to a place where there is nothing. People know the things that have happened here,” he said.
The Kenyan Catholic Bishop described the messages in Sister Anna Ali’s Divine Appeals as “universal”, adding, “These are the messages we preach every day. That people should be close to Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament. That people should go to communion, go to adoration. This is a very Catholic message. There is nothing out of place there.”
In his update on Sr. Anna Ali’s stage of canonization, Bishop Kimengich said, “We are at the stage where people are bringing testimonies. We cannot start the canonization process without documentation and people giving testimonies to the graces they have received through the prayers of Sister Anna Ali.”
Pilgrims pose for a photo at the resting place of Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist in Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. Credit ACI Africa
He said the Diocese had already initiated a committee that is looking into all available documents of the life and work of Sr. Anna Ali and collecting other evidence that he said would support the course of her canonization.
“Once we receive the documents, we shall peruse them and establish whether the available information will be sufficient to begin the process of her canonization,” the Catholic Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in May 2010 as Auxiliary Bishop of Kenya’s Catholic Diocese of Lodwar said.
“We are also in touch with experts who will guide us through the process so that we do things in the right way,” Bishop Kimengich said.
Agnes Aineah is a Kenyan journalist with a background in digital and newspaper reporting. She holds a Master of Arts in Digital Journalism from the Aga Khan University, Graduate School of Media and Communications and a Bachelor's Degree in Linguistics, Media and Communications from Kenya's Moi University. Agnes currently serves as a journalist for ACI Africa.
Children gather around the statue of Sr. Anna Ali of the Most Holy Eucharist at the Eucharistic Center in the Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. Credit: ACI Africa
The statue of the late Bishop Cornelius arap Korir at the Eucharistic Center Burnt Forest in Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. Credit ACI Africa
Fr. Philip Kimaiyo poses for a photo with a pilgrim at the Eucharistic Center Burnt Forest in Kenya's Catholic Diocese of Eldoret. Credit ACI Africa
