Leaders should lead by example, says Archbishop Adewale Martins

By Cyriacus Nnaji

Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, on the 28^th of March, 2024 held its Chrism Mass at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos Island, Lagos, under the anointed shepherd, His Grace , Most Reverend Alfred Adewale Martins, the Archbishop of Lagos.

According to Rev. Fr. Paul Ariole, the Chrism Mass, along with the blessings of sacred oils is the celebration of the institution of the priesthood. The mass takes its name from the blessing of the sacred oils, which are to be used by priests in the administration of the sacraments throughout the year. The holy oils are Oil of Catechumens for the celebration of baptism, oil of the Sick for the celebration of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick, and the Sacred Chrism for the celebration of Holy Orders, baptism, confirmation; it is also for the dedication of churches.

Unlike the oils of the sick and Catechumen which are blessed, the Sacred Chrism is consecrated.  Usually mixed with balsam (an aromatic resin), the sacred Chrism is breathed into by the Bishop, signalling the calling down of the Holy Spirit for its consecration. 

So it is not only the blessing of the holy oils, the Chrism Mass was also for the renewal of vows by the priests in the Archdiocese.

According to Archbishop Martins, “Today we gather to celebrate the sacred priesthood, a Divine gift and the highest privilege that God has ever bestowed on men. This moment calls for us to renew our commitment to unity as brothers in Christ. At the heart of our priestly vocation is unity with Christ and fellow priests, reflecting Christ’s priesthood and his communion with the church. Our relationship with the Bishop and each other should mirror the relationship between Jesus and his disciples and the disciples among themselves.”

He continued “The prophet Amos challenges us as he asks a fundamental question: “Can two walk together unless they have agreed” (Amos 3:3) Our unity has its ultimate root in the unity of the Trinity and in the bond of love that lead to working and walking together united in heart and mind. St Paul also challenges us in Ephesians 4:2-6… “I urged you to live a life worthy of the calling you received. Be completely humble and gentle: be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

Archbishop Martins congratulated the Priests saying “First of all is to congratulate the priests, and to commend them for the good work they are doing all over the Archdiocese, and also to remind them that the work must continue and must continue with new vigor, remembering that until the end the work must continue, and they must strive to be faithful to the call, to Christ and to the commitment they have made and to the oath they took at the ordination.”

He urged his members to correct the priests if need be through appropriate channels and not through social media. “And also for the lay faithful, I would only ask them to pray for their priests, because they are subject to the same situation that all of us are, and all human beings are. And if there is need for correction they should be corrected in love, and in a way that is capable of bringing a positive response, never in social media, it never works when you correct people by social media.”

On his Easter message Archbishop Martins said, “Easter is a day for which we have been preparing for the past 40 days of lent or so, we have been preparing for it and we have been looking forward to it, because it is the fulcrum of all our activities as Christians. If there was no resurrection, there would be no Christianity, it is that important, therefore if Christ has died and has risen for us, we must pay back to him, whatever that pay back is, we must by ensuring that we do our best to overcome our shortcomings which we identified during lent, and then turn a new leaf, start a new life, just as at resurrection a new life was begun for Jesus.

“And so at this Easter time, we can only ask our leaders those who rule the land, those who ask for the mandate to rule us, to really do everything within their power to ensure they make life better for the nation, for the people. Yes we have been told that it would take time for things to get back to normal, we have been told that we need to make sacrifices, and indeed we know it won’t take a night for things to get better, we know we need to make sacrifices, but it is important that those who lead us should be seen to be leading in making the sacrifices; when the sacrifices are one sided towards the people, then they do not take what the leader says seriously.”.

Archbishop Martins, apart from calling on the leaders to lead from the front also asked them to review their emoluments as part of their sacrifices. “I was glad recently to hear when the president said if anybody wants go for overseas engagement, he has to get clearance directly, I think that is in tandem with what the people would like to see, that there is an effort to make sacrifices, let it also get down to the whole process of emoluments that they also receive, let it also be seen in the sacrifices, in that direction.”

Very Reverend Father Anthony Godonu, Director, Directorate of Social Communication, Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, speaking to his fellow priests said, “ A day like this we always feel grateful for the gift of priesthood and thanking God for counting us worthy to be his representative on earth, to be his co-mediators like his son, Jesus Christ between him and humanity. We can only ask for more and more prayers, because this is not an easy vocation of letting go everything, what the world termed as very stupid and crazy, to say you have given up everything in order to follow Jesus Christ, not to marry, not to have children, and to dedicate oneself to the service of mankind the way that we do, we need back up prayer every time.”

He prayed for the priests. “So my message to my fellow priests is to continue to strive for excellence in the name of Jesus Christ to be truly his ambassadors, to be truly men of God, who have the compassion, who have the desire to help others from their heart.”

Speaking on the state of the nation he said “The country is not smiling, the people are hungry and angry, yet with the victory of Jesus over death and sin and evil, we are assured that we will surely conquer. I will say to my fellow Christians never to give up, no matter the situation they are going through right now, that the lord Jesus Christ is the means to joy and happiness, he is the one that gives meaning to life, even if you don’t have much to eat and drink, if you have Jesus you have joy at heart because you know you have somebody who cares.”

Godonu used the opportunity to advise well-meaning members of the body of Christ to be their brothers’ keeper at this critical time. “And I want to use this opportunity to call on Christians as well to be their brothers’ keeper during this moment of hardship within the country, just look around, I am not asking you to go far, just look around, there must be somebody who is hungry, somebody who is thirsty, somebody who is naked, somebody that is in dire pains, do the little you can to alleviate the sufferings of your brothers and sisters.”