By Constaincia Uruakpa
Catholic’s and indeed Nigerians have been urged to have complete faith and surrender to God, in all that they do, and in every adverse situation, as well as build personal relationship with Christ, so as to face life challenges, and to succeed in everything that they do. The charge was given by Most Rev. (Dr.) Alfred Adewale Martins, Catholic Archbishop of Lagos during the opening Mass for National Conference and Fund Raising of Catholic Women Organisation, Nigeria (CWON, with the theme, ‘Let us think, and act the heart of Mary’, held October 15, 2021 at St Leo Catholic Chuch, Ikeja, Lagos. According to Archbishop Martins, the four-day gathering of the CWON delegates was divinely arranged, so that among other things, the opening Mass of the conference and fundraising fell on the memorial of St. Theresa of Avila, a woman of great faith.
He said: “St. Theresa of Avila is a model of what a Christian woman should be. She is a model of what a Christian woman should be because she herself has Blessed Virgin Mary as her own model. St Theresa of Avila is a Camelite nun that God used in order to inform her religious order. St. Theresa faced a lot of opposition, but her personal relationship with Christ, built upon a strong faith made her to succeed. “St. Theresa was a friend of God in an extraordinary way. She was such a friend of God that she had what we call mystical experiences; mystical experience that demonstrated how close she was to Jesus in her entire life. She faced many challenges, but she faced the challenges with a genuine sense of humour. Her challenges did not make her to become sad, moody or morose. She had her sense of humour, and with this genuine sense of humour, she was able to perform the role that God asked her to do.
The Archbishop urged the women to emulate St. Theresa, by aspiring to reach same level of relationship and friendship with God, of total and complete surrender to him (God), in all circumstances, with a sense of humour. Speaking on the readings of the day, he said: “The first reading that we read today shows the faith and complete surrender to God that Abraham exhibited. He was asked to make a sacrificial offering of his only son, and he was ready to do it simply because God asked him to do it. women of God’s care, if they have faith, as well as a close relationship with God. “My dear sisters, our mothers, CWO, God wishes to reiterate that with faith in him, we too can have a close relationship with God, like Abraham, like St. Theresa of Avila. He assures us in the gospel reading of today that he has our back, no matter what the matter may be; he has your back, he has my back.
He says to us in the gospel reading, ‘Don’t you know that two sparrows are sold for a penny?’ So cheap! But yet, in spite of that, God cares so much for each one of the sparrows that are sold two for a penny. He cares so much for them that none of them falls from the skies without him being aware. He noted that the situation in the country today, is such that many people feel that God is not interested in the country anymore. Archbishop Martins urged the women and indeed Nigerians, to be hopeful, in spite of their individual challenges and that of the country. The Archbishop urged the people to pray for the country, “The Lord charges us to pray for the country in general that the peace and security eluding us will be restored. “Let us pray for those ruling our country, that they may do that which is right, in order to bring about good governance, even if it means rediscovering the ideals of a true federation, upon which our country was built.
“We pray that God will open their eyes to see that this is right and the will to do it. Let us all pray for those who handle security of our country, that they will do so with integrity, with true desire and the action necessary to restore security of life and property, all over our country Nigeria. “ Archbishop Martins noted that the people’s prayers can do much more than they dare to think, as he added that their speaking out as associations on the situation of the country can go a long way to ensure that that which they desire is brought to pass. Speaking on the CWON conference, Archbishop Martins said, “First of all the purpose for the gathering of the women is to exchange thoughts and ideas about the state of faith, the state of the Church and of course, the state of the nation.
And then, to see what can be done by the women of Nigeria, in order to make solid contributions to the evolution of our country Nigeria. And so, one of the major thoughts that will be arising from this is that the women in Nigeria can make a world of difference to the situation of things., and therefore, as mothers, as women, they need to think through and find ways of making their own positive female impact on the way things are done in our country, Nigeria. ” On the zoning of the presidency in Nigeria, he said, “The president of this nation up till now, have come from North, the South-West, the South-South, and so in general, many of us believe that fairness requires the South-East, a part of our country should have a go at the presidency, at this point in time because Speaking on the essence of the conference, CWON National President, Dame Mary Asibi Gonsum said the programme is an avenue to raise funds, to enable the organization nurture its baby project, which is building a secondary boys’ boarding college, a place to groom boys.
“The school is in its third year now. And for those who are into school business, you will agree with me that it is really a long-term project, whereby you need to put in all you have for the school to stand. And after it stands, definitely, you will need to see how, before it starts taking care of itself. It’s like a baby. You nurture for nine months in the womb, then, it comes out. You teach the child how to crawl, after crawling, it starts walking, by one two years, it starts running own its own. And that is how it is. On banditry, insurgence and other vices perpetrated by boys, and the failure of mothers to train the boy child, she said: “I cannot really say mothers have failed because the truth is that we all have our shortcomings in one way or the other. It is a two-way answer. I can say yes, because somehow they did fail because they have refused to chastitse their children when they are young, and they allow them to grow to do whatever they feel is okay with them, most especially the boy child.
Like some would always say, ‘This is my only son’ , and they tend to nurture the girl very well, and train her that she will be in somebody’s house tomorrow, and leave the boy to grow on his own, and be a man. He needs to be nurtured. He needs to be taken care of. He needs to be guided. : “Looking at the generation today, it is not like the olden days generation, where children grew up in the fear of the Lord and the fear of their parents. In everything they do, if the parents say, ‘sit here’, they sit, ‘go there’, they go, unlike today. When you tell a child, ‘Please do this for me, he will boldly and gladly tell you, ‘Sorry, I can’t do that’, and the mother will say, ‘It’s okay, it’s fine, you can go. Go and do what you want to do’, which s very wrong. “The bible said you should train up a child in the way that he should grow, and when he grows, he will not depart from it.
But these days, it’s so unfortunate that we have relegated that responsibility to our house-help, to our brothers and sisters, siblings, our relations, to help us nurture these children, which is truly not right. I am not saying that our siblings cannot help us in bringing up our children. It’s okay, but you the mother who carried the child in your womb for good nine months, there is that bond, there is that love between the two of you. No matter what, the mother has a way and an edge over a child than the aunties or uncles. So, I want to advise mothers that they should take up the challenge and carry on their responsibilities, in which our mother Mary had taught us right from the beginning of this world. If Mary had not nurtured Jesus, her son, today, I don’t know the story we would have been saying. Although, he took up the divine responsibility which he has been given from heaven, but despite that, Mary also nurtured him. You will agree with me that when he went to the synagogue, she followed, and she cautioned him, ‘Child, why.’ She knew that this is a divine intervention, but yet, she still cautioned. So, it is our responsibility as mothers to follow in the footsteps of our Mother Mary, to see how we can nurture and bring up our children in the way of the Lord.
