Maduako Igbokwe l Saturday, April 03, 2021
ONITSHA, Anambra – Catholic Bishop of Awka Diocese, Most Rev. Paulinus Ezeokafor has called on Nigerians to love one another much as Jesus Christ did to humanity when he died on the cross.
Ezeokafor stated this in his 2021 pre- Easter message in Awka, Ananmbra state capital. He said that the purpose of Easter was to demonstrate the love of God mankind and he urged all Christians and none-Christians to show love to their neighbours .
According to him, Easter is the greatest celebration in Christendom as it was when God demonstrated his love for mankind by given up his son for salvation of the world. He said without the resurrection of Christ, there would be no hope for mankind .
According to him, Easter presents an opportunity for the faithful to thank God for the opportunity of being part and parcel of it, as well as a time for telling themselves the truths.
He said that too much emphasis on material wealth and worldly positions is responsible for the level of insecurity in Nigeria, noting that men must relate well with one another to earn a place in eternity.
He also described corruption and immorality as acts hated by God, capable of leading God’s people to hell fire, despite the supreme price that Christ paid for mankind on the Cross of Calvary.
He however disagreed with religious leaders who preach that a Christian does not need to suffer, noting that such teaching is misleading. According to him, Christians as followers of Christ, should see suffering and difficulties as part of the journey to eternity.
He stated that Christ suffered and won victory for mankind and that in the same way, people face difficulties in life, with the hope of coming out victoriously and happy at the end.
‘My message is that there is still hope because we know that, according to St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians: 18:14, the fact that Christ is alive should give us hope, otherwise our lives would have been in vain,’ he said.
The bishop said that despite the stressful times, people should trust in God by emulating Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane who, despite his travails, did not give up.
“There are difficulties, but it is only the living that would come up to tell the story. So, let us stop living as if we are hopeless. There is hope and Christ showed that hope in the father and so he went through suffering. You can see that at the end of the day, his resurrection brought us life.
‘Christ took up that challenge, so, I challenge all of us to take up whatever challenges that life brings. Suffering is already part and parcel of our lives and nobody can be immune to it” he said. Speaking further on human suffering , Bishop said though COVID-19 ravaged the entire world, God spared Nigerians and Africa out of His love.
He called on Nigerians to embrace COVID-19 vaccination ,saying that hesitancy to take the vaccine was due to lose of confidence in government at all level .
“It is for the grace of God that we were not wiped out by COVID-19 because considering the death toll in Europe and America, it was expected that when it comes here, we will all be dead. Thank God for sparing us, now they are talking about vaccine, I encourage everyone to take the vaccine because they are good antidotes to health issues. Government can help to address vaccine hesitancy by being more sincere with the people so that can be trusted the more,” he said.
Ezeokafor decried security challenges and deaths in Nigeria which has made human life so cheap and worthless. The Bishop called for urgent decentralization of the police to enable states and regions to have greater influence on the protection of life and property of the people, arguing that the current structure has failed.
He condemned attacks on communities by suspected herdsmen and attacks on security agencies by unknown gunmen, saying it was time government deal decisively with the situation.
