The heavenly hosts, angels and the celestials’ bodies all connived with God Almighty to let open the flood gates of heaven unabated unto the earth on the morning of Sunday 28th August. It rained so hard at a point I begun to have this nostalgic feeling of the time of Noah and his giant ark.
The rains kept a lot of our parishioners wrapped under their bed sheets – some trapped in their homes due to the flood on their streets – while some, brave enough, defiled their current dilemma and came armed with umbrellas and raincoats just to join the people of God in praising and worshiping Him for an awesome week.
The mass started a little bit behind schedule as it was planned to start at 8.00 am. Within the hour, the church was filled with people beautifully dressed in their St. Augustine Polo shirts. It was a sight to behold!
The priest, Rev. Fr. Gilbert Opara during his homily reminded the parishioners that the rains too came to worship God and begged the parishioners not to feel dismayed but to take it as an act of God’s blessings and approval of this day and not the opposite.
As humble as the rain was, it didn’t have to do too much to announce its presence; all it did was to exist, just the way God has predestined it to. Today’s homily centered around we too been humble at all times, taking advantage of the impeccable teachings our role model, our Lord Jesus Christ left for us.
“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” [Philippians 2:8].
Our younger generation is fast been deceived by the audacious life style of the rich and elite of our society. Caution is thrown in the wind as no one wants to be humble anymore to attain that which is rightfully his/hers. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to attain the wealth of this world forgetting the stern warnings of Jesus.
“When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not rush to take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited” [Luke 14:8]
Today the harvest thanksgivings continued with four (4) families coming forward for their family harvest thanksgiving.
To mark the feast day proper, various thanksgiving processions were anchored by the illustrious St. Augustine Feast Day planning committee chairman, Mr. Joseph Ogundare.
We had thanksgivings done by the children; accompanied by the teachers in the children ministry, the members of CYON; the youths, members of YCW; young married couples, also members of CWO; our mothers in the church, the CMO; our fathers, the elderly in our congregation, members of the planning committee and lastly, the clergy headed by the chaplain Rev. Fr. Wisdom Chikezie, the priest in residence, Rev. Fr. Bertrand Ujunwa and the invited priest, Fr. Gilbert.
It was fun all the way as the choir sand beautifully energizing the worshipers to dish out latest dance steps while coming forward to the altar.
The day ended with the reception proper. There were lots to eat and drink. The children performed gracefully to the admiration of the teeming crowd. We even went as far as inviting a young lady, Ms. Anyanwu Amarachi, who took us through the corridors of poetry with her ‘spoken words’.
The choir also performed, some invited artistes and the social group of CYON too had a thing or two to display to the audience. We all had fun and went our separate ways after the event feeling blessed!
St. Augustine Catholic Chaplaincy, Family United in Love.