Just as the previous years, Lectors of SS Peter & Paul Pro-Cathedral, Lagere, Ile-Ife, Osun State – gathered again to celebrate their Patron Saint Day “The Conversion of St Paul the Apostle;” a feast fixed for January 25 every year.

Preceding the feast day were eleven days prayer requests to cater for their various intentions without leaving out deceased parish Lectors. They gathered for a day with the Lord on 24th January, 2025 where there were - exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, evening vesper, talk, prayer session, burning of written intentions and benediction.

At the event, the Associate Priest, Rev. Fr. Philip Olagunju urged the lectors to see themselves as Ministers and discharge their duties with all seriousness within and outside the Church. They were encouraged to be active ministers, learning from the effort of Saint Paul before and after his conversion.  They were discouraged from displaying lackadaisical action towards their responsibility as Ministers - recalling that Paul was never tired even when faced with challenges.

Rather, Philip encouraged them to see castigation and difficulties that may arise from their duties in the ministry as an avenue to learn. He considers Paul as a figure of faith. Apart from being called to proclaim the good news, he reminded them that the way they live their lives is one of the effective ways of preaching the Gospel if lived according to the principles of God.

Saturday 25th January was not only a day for St Paul’s banquet, it was a day to retrospect and to proffer way forward for better performance. While there was room to speak about the good, bad and the ugly in 2024, how to develop their shortcomings was among the subject at the event.

The funniest and laughable moments were items 4 and 5; the opportunity for each member to speak about what led them into the Ministry and the greatest and shameful mistakes recorded during their performances. The President, Mr Sam commended all for their dedication. According to him, the ground is to educate all members no matter how vast one has been educated, or how fluent and outspoken an individual could be, ‘even-if-a-teacher’; a lector who has performed for several years would have made at least one obvious mistake earlier before becoming a better proclaimer, though proclaimers are very few but readers.

In other words, those who may consider quitting the Ministry because of few mistakes recorded during performances should only learn from their mistakes in order to avoid repetition. They should rather forge ahead because whoever is truly called will be granted the strength needed to move on. He also warned against reading to impress the listener but rather be spiritually disposed.

The President however, agreed that it is never an easy task to project in front of less crowd, let alone that of the parish; however, the responsibility can be made easy with constant practice and dedication.

Furthermore, He educated that the secret of a proclaimer that touches the heart of the listener is allowing God to be the speaker while the lector only perform the physical gestures. The Deanery President, Mr Peter Famoriyo encouraged members to be more active at the deanery meetings while appreciating all who contributed to the success of the programme.

At the event, Master Dominic Famoriyo was gifted a price of God’s Word 2025 as the most frequent young lector of the year, having attended weekly meetings, training and practices for 37 times in 2024.  All other young members were gifted a cash token in appreciation of their dedication. They concluded their activities on Sunday, 26th January, 2025 with thanksgiving.