Anthony BAMITEKO

 

Very Rev. Fr. Julius Akinyode, the Cathedral Administrator opened his homily during the Unity Mass on Fourth Sunday of April, noting that Fourth Sunday of Easter is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. He said Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Lawyers, Pilots, Drivers and Chefs all have charge over people's life, thus, they can be called Shepherd, and that Priests and Religious are special Shepherds.

 

"John 10:14-15 says 'I am the good shepherd. As the Father knows me and I know the Father, in the same way I know my sheep and they know me. And I am willing to die for them.' “How many of you parents know the children God has entrusted to you? Are you dutifully responsible as parent? Are you setting good examples that will forever shape their lives or bad ones that will be their blueprint?” Fr. Akinyode asked the rhetorical questions.

 

The homilist then shared his encounter of how a Ph.D holder’s father beats his wife to stupor, to the extent that she was in blood while their children were presence, that even his son could not withstand it and had to slap him before running to the parish house to report everything, and followed him immediately and confirmed it by himself.

 

He admonished parents not to set bad precedents that children will inherit from them, and noted that it only takes the grace of God and heavenly intervention not to see at least a child that will exhibit such bad character displayed in their presence while growing up.

 

Fr. Akinyode condemned the acts of mothers collecting money from their undergraduate child(ren) in school, thinking they are reaping the fruit of their labour, that it's a future timed bomb that they should desist from. He as well cautioned fathers that derives pleasure in drinking to stupor without creating time for their family that they should amend before it's too late.

 

"Train your child very well by playing your role dutifully. If they choose other route for themselves, people will bear your witness that you played your path," the priest remarked.

 

The Administrator concluded his homily by giving stern warning to everyone not to say things they cannot defend in the court of law. "People's name is their integrity and it's their life. Don't destroy people's name. If they sue you for defamation, you will pay through your nose. Whatever you cannot say in the presence of someone, don't say it in the person's absence."