I
t served as a wonderful reunion
but fruitful get-together when all
the different Religious Congrega-
tions serving in the Archdiocese of
Lagos gathered at the Christ the King
Catholic Church, Ilasamaja, Lagos, on
Thursday 6th of February, to celebrate
the 2020 Day for Consecrated Life.
The celebration which was shifted
from the usual 2nd of February due
to Sunday’s activities in the various
parishes in Lagos Archdiocese was
presided over by the Catholic Arch-
bishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Dr Alfred
Adewale Martins in the presence of
the multitude Consecrated persons
working in the Archdiocese.
Even though the Archbishop cele-
brated the Mass of Thanksgiving for
the Religious, there was still the Rite of
Blessing of the Candles to commem-
orate the Feast of the Presentation of
the Child Jesus in the Temple. How-
ever, the readings of the Feast were
equally taken.
The Archbishop began his homily
by appreciating the Consecrated Per-
sons present at the occasion for the
noble vocation they have chosen. He
thanked the religious for their activi-
ties in the archdiocese. The Archbish-
op reflected on the homily the Holy
Father, Pope Francis gave in Rome at
the celebration of the 2020 Day for the
Consecrated Life.
He acknowledged the depth of what
the Holy Father said that day. That
there were lots of persons in the tem-
ple on the day of the Presentation of
the Child Jesus in the Temple but only
Simeon and Anna saw the child Jesus
as God and Redeemer. And in so do-
ing Simeon exclaimed that him the
servant of the Lord has to go in peace
according to the promise of the Lord
because Simeon was privileged to see
that which matters. However, the re-
ligious life is all about seeing only that
which matters.
Archbishop Martins also stated that
the religious sees everything as gifts
because our eyes have seen the salva-
tion of the Lord. He further said that,
Knowing how to see Christ is a special
grace that as religious. “we need to see
God in all things not seeing things as
the world would see them because that
will make us to be demanding our own
space and we would begin to lament
as if we are “Frs” or “Sr” Lamentation.”
Truly, We need to see things as Simeon
saw them in the Gospel according to
Luke. Simeon sees Jesus as one who is
humble as one who came to serve and
not to be served.”
The Archbishop challenged the Re-
ligious to learn how to see Jesus in
others especially in their various com-
munities, just as the eyes of Simeon
saw salvation, the light for the nation
which is the light of hope.
Archbishop Martins opined that
Simeon and Anna were elderly but
they did not lose hope, he said that
Anna was always in the temple hop-
ing and praying for the redemption of
Israel. He equally recognized the mis-
sion of the consecrated persons in our
society today as very important and
cannot be over emphasized.
Consecrated persons, he said, have
chosen the life of service in order to
bring others to the love of God. He
rounded up his homily by entrusting
all Consecrated persons to the care of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother
of the Church.
The high point of the celebration
was the renewal of commitment to the
consecrated life, which was led by the
Vicar for Religious in the Archdiocese
of Lagos.
Before the final blessing by the Arch-
bishop, the religious present at the cel-
ebration had a special thanksgiving to
God for the gift of the religious life.
The celebration was rounded up with
entertainment of guests after the Mass
whereby the religious had special mo-
ment of felicitation….
