…As Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, Clegg celebrates Harvest, Bazaar
Our Lady Queen of Nigeria Catholic Church, Clegg, Ojuelegba, Lagos and its entire surroundings came alive in thanksgiving to God while expressing their hapyness, last Sunday, October 30, 2022 when the parish celebrated its Harvest thanksgiving and Bazaar in style. The event with the theme, “Harvest of thanksgiving: We give you thanks o Lord”, which saw parishioners troop to the Church in their numbers, was also attended by friends, guests and well-wishers of the parish who came from far and near to partake in the day’s festivities. Speaking on the essence of the celebration, Rev. Fr. Simeon Irabor, Parish Priest, Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, said the COVID-19 pandemic that happened in the year 2019/2020, brought to standstill humanity’s activities so the people are taking the opportunity given them to appreciate and thank God for life. He added that that is the reason the theme for the harvest is “Harvest of thanksgiving, we give you thanks o Lord.”
“So our renewed gratitude takes us to the altitude; altitude in every ramification of our lives, in the area of health, in the area of education, in the area of relationship. And our prayer is that after this experience of thanksgiving, we will continue to have every cause to thank our God and Father and also that thanksgiving will never cease from our families”, he said. He charged his parishioners and all Nigerians in general to extend love to one another, as he stated that the only thing that can bring about a change in the society is love. He said: “As our Lord will say, loving should be part of our existence because He came so that we may have life and have it in abundance. And according to Mother Theresa of Calcutta, we must love until it hurts.” On the state of the nation, he said: “Looking at our political activities come next year, 2023, I think it has become expedient to preach love. The recent killings, maiming and tongue lashing among the candidates is unhealthy.
“We are all Nigerians and we need better leadership. After 62 years, we have nothing to write home about. We’re living in abject poverty in some areas. People cannot even have three square meals and the cases of suicide are becoming alarming to show that people have lost hope. And so the leaders that will come on board should be leaders who care about the citizenry. That’s my candid advice to the incoming leadership of our dear and beloved country Nigeria.” Delivering the homily at Mass, Rev. Fr. Kenneth Nwachukwu, Associate Priest, Our Lady Queen of Nigeria, urged the people to turn away from sin and obey God by doing the things which God the merciful father expects of them always. He urged them to persevere in their faith and live good Christian lives every day because they do not know when Christ will come. He added that they should not remain idle, but continue to live Christ-like lives. According to him, “As Christians, we must remain faithful and then continue to wait for our Lord in good faith and in doing good and living a good life.
