Never give up on the virtues of patience, perseverance, hope, trust in God-Kaigama to Christians
The Metropolitan Archbishop of Abuja Catholic Archdiocese, Ignatius Kaigama, on Sunday urged Christians never to give up on the virtues of patience, perseverance, hope and trust in God.
Kaigama made the call in Abuja while celebrating the Easter mass at the Holy Trinity Church, Maitama.
Easter: Churches in Nasarawa comply with govt’s restriction order
“The Resurrection of Christ teaches us that Jesus is alive” forever.“The victory of evil and the cruel plans of men could only be temporary.
”The message of Easteris that God does not forget or forsake us, and that the darkest hour is just before the dawn. But soon, it will be daylight again,” he said.
According to the Archbishop, Jesus is saying: “I am here. I have risen. I have power over sickness and death”.
”In Acts 10:40 Peter testifies that “God raised Him to life on the third day, and let Him manifest himsel”.
”St. John in the Gospel tells us about the experience of Mary Magdalene and the disciples about the empty tomb. Jesus is indeed risen from the dead! This is ourbreaking news today”
”No doubt, during the forty days of Lent many of us have been praying, fasting,giving alms and making effort at repentance and conversion. But we may ask,”why is the calamity of a pandemic spreading? Is God asleep? No. Did he travel? No. Has he forgotten us? No. Is he angry? I don’t know.
”Even if God is angry because of our misconduct and stubborn resistance to his will and the pride about our scientific and technological knowledge and skills, he still loves us,” he said.
Kaigama further said that on Easter morning, the stone of sorrow, captivity and death was rolled away.”Are our hearts like a tomb, full of frightening thoughts and depressing secrets awaiting anew life? Is there anything holding us back from genuine conversion and a renewalof spirit?”Is there a dark cloud hanging around our nation and our world?In the past few weeks, on top of all our peculiar challenges – insurgency,kidnapping, militant herdsmen attacks and general insecurity,”A dwindling economyand its harsh consequences, the COVID-19 crisis has introduced a crippling climate of fear, taking away almost every aspect of life we hold dear.”We cannot shakehands and embrace anymore, neither can we visit family, relations and friendswithout doubts or preoccupations.
More seriously, we cannot even go to the house of God to pour out our troubles and find succour in the embrace of a believingcommunity.”Everything seems gloomy, dark and frightening like an extended Good Fridaynight.”But we must never give up even as we are afraid of kidnappers, militantherdsmen, loss of jobs or money or material resources, illness, etc.
Easter tells us that Jesus has overcome the night; you don’t need to be afraid anymore, Christ is alive,” he added.The Archbishop commended the Federal Government for theprompt response to the Coronavirus in pandemic.He also hailed the government for making the difficult decisions that had to be made about the hard hit states ofLagos, Ogun and the FCT.”The active role of the State governments, especially of states where cases have been reported is equally deserving of praise. The generosityof the private sector, well meaning citizens and philanthropists, through acts ofcompassion, solidarity and self sacrifice at this time can only rekindle hope in theresilience of the Nigerian spirit,” he said.
(NAN)
