WORK FOR THINGS THAT ENDURE FOREVER
⏰FEAST OF BLESSED CYPRIAN MICHAEL IWENE TANSI (20 January 2017)
????Phil 2:1-11; Isa 12:2-3, 4bcde, 5-6 (R.v.1de); Matt 13:44-46
????WORK FOR THINGS THAT ENDURE FOREVER
Peace and unity are the two priceless treasures that we need in our country at this time. There is therefore no better time to remind ourselves of that than on this day we celebrate one of our own, Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. He is a sign of unity for Nigeria.
During the homily at the Mass for his beatification at Oba in 1998, St Pope John Paul II said, “When we see others as brothers and sisters, it is then possible to begin the process of healing the divisions within society and ethnic groups…Having been reconciled with God, we must be instruments of reconciliation, treating all men and women as brothers and sisters, called to membership in the one family of God.”
Nigeria, as it is now, has some striking similarities with the Philippian Church as at the time St Paul wrote to them. The Church in Philippi was experiencing great division owing to quarrels among members and the negative influence of false teachers.
St Paul tells us as he told the Philippians, to be united in convictions, love, common purpose and common mind (Phil 2:2). One way of achieving that is by thinking of the good of others before our own (Phil 2:4).
Don’t let your mind race too far in thinking of a way of achieving this peace; don’t even bother yourself about the unity of APC and PDP. Let the unity begin with you.
????Have you been able to treat everybody around you as equal and as your brothers and sisters even when they do not come from your tribe?
????Are you a proponent of the ‘son of the soil’ syndrome?
May God help us to imitate the simple, holy and peace-loving life of Blessed Tansi, and through that let peace and unity dwell greatly in our nation through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Kindly pray for the Nigerian priests, that through the intercession of our patron saint, Blessed Tansi, we may channel our prophetic voices towards the peace and unity of the country.
I wish you a peaceful day ahead. It is well with you.
