Anthony BAMITEKO

The Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time A, took a different dimension on First Sunday of September as the Catholic Church in Nigeria chose the day for the Eucharistic Celebration for the Care of Creation as outlined by the Universal Church.

Rev. Fr. Anthony Fasakin was the homilist of the day at St. Mary Cathedral, Oke Padi, Ibadan, during the 9:30am Mass and he explained that some other parts of the world have celebrated theirs ahead of us.

During the homily, Fr Anthony, the Assistant Cathedral Administrator, said though we have people that honour things created by God in our society till today, things like water, mountain, but forgetting that the creatures can never be greater than the Creator. That everyone should rather see all things created by God as a means to God.

"The Church is celebrating something unique today, and as well telling us what we need to do, our service to the society. God has given us wisdom, knowledge and understanding to take care of everything created by God that we see around us."

 

The Assistant Administrator said all the day’s readings are directing us back to God, and he also enjoined the congregation to key into the gospel message of the day, compelling us not to worry about tomorrow that tomorrow will take care of itself.

Using the theme of the day "Living Water", from Ezekiel 47:9, that wherever the water flows, everything there will live. He explained that water is life. That the Holy Papal also said something similar by calling all of us to see water as something important and not something we should pollute with refuse because even sea creatures also get contaminated with the things we drop in water channels. That more reasons some fishes have gone into extinction and as well cause price inflation in others.

He explained further that if we remember our tradition in the Church, that water is important, "We use it for baptism. Water is important for body and spirit. Some of our rivers you see is the source of drinking water for some other communities, and that is why we are to treat all these things in a good manner and not pollute them. If we don't stop this bad habits of water pollution and unnecessary deforestation, we will be contributing to the global warming and climate change consequences awaiting us all, because there is consequence for everything. Don't let us use our hand to spoil things created by God. It's for our own good."

 

Fr. Fasakin also talks about consumerism, meaning endless desire for things. He implored the congregation to buy things that they need because desire to own many things and every new things lead to wastage, and as such sinning against God and humanity. He as well noted that the war we see around us today is because of desire to own everything.

"Go to market with your own bags and reduce polythene bags you have at home because all these compound your waste. In some countries, they've made polythene bags exorbitant in order to discourage people from using it. They use paper bags because that can decay easily.”

The Assistant Administrator concluded his homily with a recap saying, "When we take care of our environment, it’s like we are taking care of our fellow human being and glorifying God. We should as well reduce our desire for material things because it leads to sinning against other people. That is why you see some people destroying others to own everything."

Just before the final blessing, the Chief Celebrant of the Eucharistic Celebration, Very Rev. Fr. Julius Akinyode said in commemoration for the special celebration of the day, there will be tree planting immediately after the Mass.