Cyriacus Nnaji
His Grace, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins, the Archbishop of Lagos has urged Nigerians to stop ethnic profiling, insisting that everybody is the same before God.
Archbishop Martins took the position at the 2023 Chrism Mass celebration which took place at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos Island, Lagos State on Thursday, April 6, 2023.
The highly revered Archbishop condemned all forms of ethnic rancor, divisive comments either online or offline, divisive behavior, particularly of ethnic kind, stressing that such negative conducts are not conducive for good neighborliness and peaceful coexistence. He called on Lagosians not to allow politics and politicians to disrupt their lives and means of livelihood.
He said “I want to use this opportunity to call on every one of us to pay attention to the fact that in these last few months or thereabout, there has been all sorts of ethnic profiling and all kinds of tension that has arisen because of elections and politics, and politicians and the rest of them. I want to use this opportunity to call everyone to put a stop to the spread of ethnic profiling of all forms, put a stop to all forms of ethnic rancor, divisive comments either online or offline, divisive behavior, particularly of ethnic kind, it is not conducive to good neighborliness or peaceful coexistence. We the people of God and indeed all of us in Lagos must not allow politics or politicians to disrupt our lives and our means of livelihood.”
He maintained that every Nigerian is a child of God and are equal in dignity before God “Let us remind ourselves that we are all children of God, we are equal in dignity before God, wherever we may come from. The only man made distinction is between the poor and the rich, the privileged and the under-privileged, and this must not be allowed to do anything to the way we have been, intermarriage have been there for all time, living together, interaction of all kinds; we must not allow this to come to an end, rather let us emphasize all that is good for unity, for friendship, and for the good and growth of our land, and our nation.”
Speaking on Chrism Mass and how it can impact growth and development of the country, Archbishop Martins said “We are celebrating the gift of the priesthood to the church and we can only ask that the people will continue to pray for their priests and support them, and encourage ourselves as priests to be faithful to the calling that we have been given, and to constantly be aware who we are under Christ, so that we can make that message of Christ to be alive through the way we behave at the pulpit.
“The day is part and parcel of what we called the Thursday when Jesus Christ instituted the sacrament of the priesthood as well as the Eucharist, both are demonstrations of God’s love for humanity, and whereby God also calls us to serve one another in an unselfish manner, and that says a lot as a nation and as individuals within the nation. We see so much selfishness in our world, in our country, people looking towards their own and the goodness of the people who are related to them, so this is an opportunity to call on those who have the possibility of leadership, those who are given the opportunity to lead to really show that love, you show that love only when you are serving people without counting the cost and without ordering anything towards oneself rather for the common good,” he stated.
The Archbishop called on those given the mandate to serve to do so selflessly “And so as elections have happened, our leaders need to continue to remind themselves that people have elected them in order to serve them, not for the people to serve the politicians and those who have opportunity to rule, rather in a selfless way give your best for the service of the nation. Our nation is in a very difficult time with regard to insecurity, with regards to terrible state of the economy which has been impacting on people’s lives, and so we expect that those that have been elected will use the opportunity to make life better for Nigerians.”
He asked the leaders to appoint those with capacity and knowledge to be part of decision-making bodies, saying such appointments should be above political considerations “Bring those who have knowledge, capacity to take decisions, decisions that will help the economy to grow, let it not be a political thing, but rather going out for the best wherever they can be found in order that the lives of people can become better as I said in terms of insecurity, in terms of hardship people are facing at this time.”
According to Reverend Fr. Paul Ariole, who explained the significance of Chrism Mass said “The Chrism Mass is one of the most solemn and important celebrations of the liturgical year. Ordinarily, its celebration ushers the church into the Tridium. The Chrism Mass ‘should be, as it were, a manifestation of the priests’ communion with their bishop or Archbishop. The renewal of priestly commitments and the blessing and consecration of sacred oils are the hallmarks of the celebration. At the Chrism Mass, along with the blessings of sacred oils is the celebration of the institution of the priesthood.
The Bishop used the opportunity of Chrism Mass to bless the oils to be used in one year throughout the diocese from today till April in 2024. The oils are the oil of catechumens which is for the celebration of Baptism, Oil of the Sick, and the Sacred Chrism which is for the celebration of Holy Orders, baptism, and confirmation.
