THEME: I AM PRESENT
Congratulations dear brothers, today reminds me of some many years ago. On a day like this, I lost appetite for food, when the only song in my mind was Oh my home Oh my home— when shall I see my home.
Seeing you sitting here, waiting to put on this new habit, the new life in Christ, the church and the congregation reminds me too of how I was asking myself how possible it will be to do this. It is still reminding me right now of how I have been keeping the vows and so it should to every one of us here.
Today, you will answer, yes, I am present, I am here, I am ready as a religious after 5years of postulancy-probation and an intensed Novitiate experience. As a religious who is deeply convinced of the divine destiny, as one who is determined to arrive at the foot of Christ by your vocation, profession and mission, who will be charged with the task of shepherding the entire people of God towards the same ultimate divine end.
In 1 Samuel 3:10, the Yes lord I am present of Samuel was after three consecutive uncertain call. I hope you are convinced enough. Jeremiah was not convinced, so he cried out, asking God how possible he can do this and the lord answered him, thus he acclaimed, Lord, you have seduced me, you have used me and I have allowed myself to be seduced. I hope you are voluntarily ready to be used with perseverance according to our fourth vow.
Isaiah 6:8. Here I am lord, send me. In Luke 5:8-11, Peter and the other apostles left their boats with fishes to follow Christ. Brothers, your Yes is a call to leaving all behind. I hope you are ready. I hope you will not go back to catching fish like Peter instead of catching men for Christ.
Your yes as a religious is one which you will answer by a healthy rational human choice for your individual salvation and the salvation of all around you.
You have answered a “Yes” that goes with a new responsibility and expectation as a religious; responsibilities that you do not grudgingly accept, a yes without cohesion, compulsion or any confusion at all but that you seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character than giving our all to a different task.
By this Yes, may I remind you that in reaffirming the greatness of our congregation, you must understand that greatness is never given, it must be earned. Surely, you can testify that there are no shortcuts to been a professed member and no settling for less. It has never been and will never be a path for the faint-hearted. It is going to be sour for you if you are a leisure seeker over work, or pleasure seeker over sacrifice. Rather, your Yes is that of self-denial and discipline, not just body denial which are essential virtues for anyone who wishes to be a teacher of moral probity.
Your “I am present” will be tested with more responsibilities, your poverty will be judged by your conscience, your charity will be judged by how greedy you accumulate or how freely you give, how contented you are with the little you are been provided, your obedience will surely play out with time and you will have to answer it yourself. (The Religious of today have been exposed to an even more complex and complicated society where materialism and licentiousness living are fast challenging the spirit of poverty and chaste living. Without self-denial and discipline, you can never be satisfied. Let self-control be the button of your habit, seen and unseen, in order to equal to the task of being in the world and not of the world.
SOCIETAL CLASSIFICATION
The echoing of your “Yes I am present”, is by all means divine, holy and special. By implication of your call, it is sacred. The society aware of your call knows you have been called from among them, that you have become a sacred cow of the divine. Therefore, let this sacredness be preserved, protected, respected and not tampered with. Your concern should be matters of the soul, channel all your existential occupation and preoccupations towards the attainment of everlasting bliss. Your happiness should be dependent on the fact that you have freely answered this yes in order to be whole and entire to Christ. Your happiness should be community oriented, religiously fetched divinely achievable else, you may see yourself returning back to the society, seeking for relevance, unnecessary acceptance unbecoming of your calling. Don’t not allow your morning to start experiencing decay by driving towards the trends of time, tiktalking, content creation, uncensored use of the internet, visitation of prayer houses and living all sorts of fake and pretentious lives…these are syndromes of identity crises and misplaced priorities
The society looks up to you to live what you preach and represent them. Do not disappoint your family and friends who believe in you, don’t shame them, the church and the congregation now believe you are mature, as religious men not boys. Don’t prove them otherwise. Therefore, your new habit should be your habit, the witness should reflect in all you do as stipulated in the constitution.
To all of us listening from every part of the world, we have all answered this call in one way or the other, I hope you are still faithful to him who called you, I hope the things you left behind are not ahead of you. I hope you are still present to your yes, to you wife, husband, to your God, dedicated to your duty and so on. Dear people of God, let us encourage these our brothers and any other person at our reach that have answered this call to live it to the fullest.
Do not be the cause of their failure, don’t pressurize them, pray for them, admonish them, fraternally correct them, don’t push them out to the streets by demanding Litany of living and non-living things from them in the name of help , assistance or charity. Don’t tempt them by testing them through unnecessary everyday call of how are you today, this morning, afternoon and night, have you eaten, what did you eat……..
Let us all continue to pray and remember the different ways in which we have presented ourselves to God and maintain the expected.
CONCLUSION 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 says, what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor heart of man imagined is the glory which God has prepared for those who love him. May your yes today continually fetch you this undiluted blessings of God.
Rev. Fr. Simon Chimuanya Ogwo, m.ss.cc.