(Homily
for October 1, 2017).
Our opening prayer at mass this
morning summarizes our reflection today. In it, we prayed: “O God, who give us
the joy of honouring Our Lady, Queen of Nigeria, as mother of divine hope and
communion, grant that, with the help of her intercession, we may always work
for peace and reconciliation…”
In this prayer, we recognized Mary as
the Mother of Divine Hope. What is hope? What does it mean to hope in a country
like ours? Dear friends, on this day of our independence, hope means telling
ourselves the truth – that no matter how gloomy things may be right now, God is
still on our side and God who turned water into wine can still turn our
fortunes around in this country.
In Nigeria, October First is our
independence day; a day that marked our freedom from British Colonial Rule, a
day the whole world recognised us and gave us that respect as a country capable
of governing ourselves and determining our future. That was fifty seven years
ago.
Today ought to be mini-Christmas of
some sorts; we should all be wearing our best dresses and be going about
distributing rice and stew to people around, I mean, our streets, our social
centres, parks and so on ought to be bubbling with funfair but then, look
around and it doesn’t seem as if we are even aware that today is our
independence day. Indeed, many question if Nigeria ever got any independence at
all in the first place or whether Nigerians cherish the fact that they are
actually a country.
In the midst of all the challenges we
face as a nation today, we can only hang on to HOPE for a better country and as
Christians, knowing that we have the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God as our
principal patron, our hope is not a vain hope. If truly she is our Mother and
she so helped the couple at the wedding feast at Cana when they ran out of
wine, we know that she would help us because in Nigeria today, we have not only
ran out wine, we have ran out of water while the seven jars have been declared
missing by EFCC!
This is why on the 12th to 14th of
this month, all the Bishops in Nigeria will gather in Benin City to
re-consecrate Nigeria as a whole to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This is an
act of faith. We believe in the power of prayers and we have a strong hope that
with God on our side through Mary’s persuasion, things would begin to change
for Nigeria. This is our hope.
It is in the light of this hope that
our first reading today is taken from a portion of Isaiah that speaks of a time
when things would be well. It says: “On that day, there shall come forth a
shoot from the stump of Jesse…” Re-reading this passage in Nigerian terms, it
would appear like this: “On that day, there shall come forth by Divine
Appointment, a leader, a president, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon
him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, a
spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord… He shall not steal our money… he
shall not take sides on issues… he shall decide with equity for the meek… he
shall not tell us lies… righteousness shall be the belt of his waist…”
In fact, when this God appointed
leader comes, the Psalmist sings: “In his days, shall justice flourish and
great peace for ever.” He shall save the needy when they cry, the poor, and
those who are helpless, he will not send Military men after innocent citizens,
he will not go on months of medical tourism while our hospitals have become
dignified mortuaries, he will not send his children to school abroad while our
universities lie in shambles.
This is our hope, this is why we call
on our Mother Mary to beg God to give us such a leader. A leader who will bring
peace like Jesus Christ who as our second reading says, destroyed the hostility
among men through the Cross. We need a leader who will not encourage division
through one-sided political appointments whereby key offices are given to
persons not because of what they are capable of doing but simply because of
where they come from.
We are so assured that things will be
well for this country Nigeria as we ask Mary’s intercession. Apart from the
fact that she quickly intervened at the wedding feast at Cana, Mary is a woman
who understands the meaning of hardship. Our Gospel passage today tells us how
Joseph had to wake Mary up in the middle of the night just few days after she
delivered the baby Jesus to run to Egypt. Mind you, Mary was already stressed
up from the journey they embarked upon to take a census, they had nowhere to
stay other than a manger where animals were kept and she gave birth without the
help of midwives or professional medical care.
Like Mary, thousands of women in
Nigeria today are forced to deliver their babies at home without even the
slightest medical care and those who manage to go the hospital are faced with
the constant nightmare of doctors going on strike every now and then. I believe
Mary can perfectly sympathize with our situation. I believe we do not call her
in vain. I believe Nigeria would be great again with her help.
Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may your
mother intercede for us. Amen.
*Happy Sunday. Be Happy. Live
Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Feast of Our Lady
Queen of Nigeria. October 1st. Bible Study: Isaiah 11:1-10, Ephesians 2:13-22
and Matthew 2:13-15.19-23).*
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