TRIBAL MARKS IN AFRICA: AN EXPIRED AESTHETIC EXPRESSION

IBIYEMI AKINWALE VICTOR

AN INDELIBLE IDENTIFICATION

I remember some years ago, my dad told me of a Nigerian who was arrested in the airport because of his tribal marks. The guy was detained for over a week, quizzed right and left. According to the info we heard, his tribal marks were so deep and serious that airport security thought this man was a cultist. My dad said he was even scared when he saw the depth of the marks[i].

It is common to hear people refer to an individual as colonel, only to discover that he is not a member of the armed forces, but the stripes on his cheeks are the same number as that of the stripes on the uniform of a colonel in the Army. Some are called Tiger, because of their stupendous striped cheeks or some are referred to as everlasting tears because of the perpetual and everlasting marks of tears that the bear. These marked individuals have been subjected to different reactions by others and they have received these reactions from different perspectives. Some have lamented bitterly on these marks that were bequeathed to them as generational inheritance while some others have gladly praised themselves as bearers of a patriotic insignia and they pledged their unalloyed allegiance as such.

In recent times, tribal marks have become very hard to find for reasons which can be attributed to the introduction of western culture and influence, which has brought an end to so many cultural and traditional practices. The art of tribal marking has suddenly declined especially in Nigeria. In many camps, it has been evocatively discussed for its continual in Nigeria, some other circles have not only condemned it but have replaced it quickly with the promotion of tattoos and other bodily markings. Before, we dismiss this supposed obsolete aesthetic expression, it is apt to understand its foundation, rationale, its compatibility and neo-meaning for the modern society.         

AFRICA AND HER EXPRESSIVE AESTHETIC VALOUR

Africa as we know is overly expressive. In everything, the Africans are always in the amplified state. That is even truer in our practice of religion, where Africa has been acknowledged as the most religious continent. Truest also in the practice of corruption- Africa has been alarmed also for its intense corruption. In the same vein, Africa possesses rich aesthetic patrimonies. Erroneously, many think, it is the West that taught Africa everything she knows, but the truth is that the West learnt most of its knowledge content from Africa- infantile as she may look. One of those aesthetic heritages is the art of Tribal marks and bodily designs. The African continent is vast in its reserve of aesthetics and more profound because these reservoirs of beauty are stored filled with values from their cultures. Though these facial imprints are carried out through the most excruciating pain, the aesthetic perseverance of the African supersedes the pain they may inflict.             

With a knife or some sharp objects, the local surgeon begins his traditional journey deep into your flesh. Almost immediately some red colour liquid substance ooze out to the depth and length of the surgeon’s design, then you have vertical and horizontal cuts as the case may be on each side of your cheeks, a little above the corners of your mouth. Now you can be identified wherever you go with that identity that would permanently be kept on both cheeks, rather than in your wallet.[ii]

A persnickety sojourn into the African annals brings to fore that facial marks have a long history on the African Continent. Archaeological findings reveal bronze heads fashioned in  Ile-Ife, Osun State-Nigeria, 700 years ago with facial lines that are thought by many to be ethnic markings. Ancient Nigerian Kingdom of Benin also had sculptural objects carrying facial markings. The Greek Historian- Herodotus wrote in the fifth Century B.C. about Carians living in Egypt who cut their foreheads with knives as a means of proving that they were foreigners and not Egyptians.[iii]

Hence, tribal marks are an age-long art common especially to the Western part of Nigeria that has many patterns of these markings. There are two different types of marks amongst the Yorubas for instance: ila (the well-known facial scars) and ona (also known as “local tattoos”). Both are created using a sharp instrument such as razor blades, knives or glass. Flesh is cut from the skin to create a gash, which later heals and leaves a permanent pattern on the body. Snails (known as Igbin in Yoruba), a popular delicacy in Nigeria, are very important to tribal mark artisans, as the liquid they secrete is used to soothe the pain caused by the instrument used to make the incisions. The unique colour of the ona comes from various pigments such as charcoal and cashew fluid. The question that seem apposite at this juncture is: what could be the palpable reason for marking one’s face?

THE NEED FOR TRIBAL MARKS IN ANCIENT AFRICA

There were pertinent reasons for facial tribal imprints, they were not just drawn because it must be given. In fact, as it concerns the givers of these marks, it was rational and sacrosanct that children receive these tribal emblems. The first major reason that can be adduced for this facial art is for identification purposes. 

Identification of Family, Tribe and Lineage 

Tribal mark is a way of identification passed down from family to family, members of the same village, identification of royal lineage and people from the same lineage. Different sets of people have similar tribal marks that differentiate them from people from a different lineage or village. Since tribal marks are used mainly to differentiate ethnic groups, they vary. There are marks are on the cheeks, forehead, on the temple, under the chin and so on. There are vertical lines, horizontal, both vertical and horizontal, slanted lines on both cheeks. These marks are in patterns based on the ethnic group of their bearer and have different meanings and different names.

Parents also used tribal marks to lend credence to the legitimacy of their children. Hence, a tribal mark on a child is a way of a father acknowledging that he or she is a legitimate child. Some marks run as parallel grooves from forehead, through the temple and cheek to the chin and are complemented with accessory marks from the medial canthus of the eyes downward.

More importantly, these marks were for identification during the tribal wars and slavery.[iv] Even during the civil war in Nigeria, as some people have testified that their tribal marks saved them at that time. Most Scholars and researchers of African History believed it was a necessary means in the days of tribal wars and the slave trade when children were frequently lost or got mixed up.

Religious and Spiritual Protection Purposes

There are other reasons for facial markings; some are associated with spiritual or religious practices. In some Yoruba settings, children born as still-birth or a reincarnated child which is called abiku, a child believed to have been born twice or thrice are given marks on their face and body for several reasons. It is believed that to take away the spiritual powers of the child, he has to be identified by the marks when he/she is given birth to again and to stop the death of the child at a tender age. It can also be used to wade away evil spirits ravaging around a certain group of people or family. In this case, the marks are not only on the face but other parts of the body as well.

In Ghana among most tribes reincarnated child mark known in Yoruba abiku are referred to as “Kosanma” and the marks on the face are known as “Kosanma” or “Donko”- marks. The belief for making these marks are the same as in Yoruba belief explained above.

Medical Purposes

Apart from spiritual and religious purposes, facial marks are given to certain people for the treatment of illness especially children. In this case, traditional healers do incisions on the children’s face or body to treat them for ailments like convulsion, pneumonia and measles. The medical marks can be made on any part of the body where the ailment afflicts that person. These marks are usually very small and some are very difficult to spot.

Aesthetic/Beautification Purposes

Also, in many parts of Nigerian especially the Northern and Eastern regions of the country, tribal marks and tribal paintings play the major role of beautification. Women most especially apply these paintings in bridal contests and engagements. With these black paintings, they mark and design their bodies drawing shapes, figures, pictures of animals and traditional symbols. With all these they adorn themselves in exquisiteness and gorgeousness.          

More to these major reasons for tribal marks, different patterns of tribal imprint meant different things for different peoples. The Hausas from Northern Nigeria have facial markings from the side of the head to the bridge of the nose. While the Igala people from Kogi state wear the marks on both sides of their cheeks with pride. The marks were viewed as a mark of bravery. They regarded those without them as coward who would not face the knife.  The ‘ichi’ mark was a facial scarification worn by mainly men of the Igbo people of South-east Nigeria. The scarification indicates that the wearer has passed through initial initiation into the highest society Nze na Ozo; thus marking the wearer as nobility. The scarification was found among men in the Awka-Nri areas and among a few women in Nkanu areas and Awgu in Enugu State, Nigeria.

Recently, things are however changing as facial marks have become irrelevant as the rampaging western culture and its education have made the culture of tribal marks a thing of the past if not a detestable traditional practice. Could it be that tribal marks have lost their aesthetic flavour?

THE “SINS” OF TRIBAL MARKS AND THE UN-FORGIVING RECIPIENTS

Tribal Marks and Child Rights: The first sin of the art of tribal markings is the abuse of children rights. Children have their rights and their rights should be protected. The infliction of tribal marks is an infringement and abuse of the rights of those who are marked. The Executive Secretary of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), Prof. Bem Angwe was determined to ensure that every Nigerian child enjoyed the right to live and to make choices, the adoption of the law in every state will help to protect children from abuses like tribal marks, tattoos, child labour, defilement, witchcraft accusation and other forms of abuses. Many of the grown adult have confessed that the most terrific debacle of their lives is the tribal mark. Some have become eunuch because of this stigma. For instance, Adejuwon Samuel was the only one in his class with facial marks. He recounted his experience: “In school I was made fun of a lot. My mates would call me ‘railway line’ and the boy with the railway line. They were always making jest of me and would raise three fingers to indicate the tribal lines on my cheeks. It made me feel inferior”.[v]

Disfiguration: Sequel to the above is the pain of disfiguration. These tribal marks have become emblems of disfiguration. And these disfigurations have hindered many situations of life. Simbia confessed that “personally, I know these marks are horrible. I can’t count the number of times I’ve been embarrassed by them. I would have loved to be a model, I really loved it, but as I grew up, I realised my face could pose as a threat to such career in the future, so I decided to study a course where my face wouldn’t be a criterion for employment.”

Low self-esteem: Relationships have shown in the society that, people with tribal marks are treated with scorn and ridicule. The reactions of people who interact with them on interpersonal basis somehow dampen their spirit or lower their self-esteem. They are reduced in most cases to laughing stocks in the communities and called several horrible names.   

The Contraction of Deadly Diseases: Long before the awareness programmes on AIDS, many innocent people, mostly children, who were subjected to tribal marks laceration, had inadvertently been infected with the deadly HIV virus, a development that compelled Osun and Ekiti state governments to recently outlaw the practice of tribal marks and female genital mutilation. Sharp instruments used by the locales to inscribe the tribal marks were not sterilised, thus exposing kids, even adults, to the risk of HIV/AIDS.

The burden, the Anguish: Finally, Tajudeen Gbolagade expressed regrets over his facial marks. In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, he said, “I hate it, and I curse the day it was inflicted on me. The marks really disfigure my face and make me feel terrible anytime I look into the mirror. What pains me most is that there is nothing I can do to erase it from my cheeks”.[vi]

THE TRIBAL-MARK REBUFF: THE TATTOO EVOLUTION 

With the jettisoning of tribal mark as an antique aesthetic expression, a contemporary aesthetic replacement was immediately done in the art of tattooing.[vii] The enthusiasm for tattoos has gone berserk. It is indisputable that the loss of tribal marks is likely to become the gain of tattoos, considering the current obsession for the latter all over the world. But just with many contemporary styles, the drive for tattoo has lost the rationale behind tribal marks and adornments. Oluwole Ige hits the urge for tattoos as he argues that “today, people choose to be tattooed for cosmetic, sentimental and sexual drive. Some individuals also inscribe tattoos on their skins for religious and magical considerations and to symbolise their belonging to or identification with particular groups, including criminal or streets gangs… The primary aim is to lure themselves into sexual activities…Towards this end, these tattoos are conspicuously engraved in sexually provocative regions of their bodies such as the breasts and buttocks.”[viii] Tattooing therefore is never a modern replacement, rather it is a grave failure and a gross loss of the sense of morality.

…AND WHAT IF YOU HAD TRIBAL MARKS?

Truth be told! The custom of tribal marks is no longer fashionable. Even the urge for tattoo which is on a rage amongst Nigerian youths is never a noble exercise, so why then do we need to kill ourselves over what is outdated and expired? This does not in any way undermine those who already bear the indelible mark of a patriotic loyalty and allegiance. These people I must say are very lucky to be identified to a noble and historic past that has been crested even unto their skins. Even if they are laughed at, they must recognise it is a noble thing to be identified with a meaningful symbol of integrity and legitimacy. On the other plane, those who wear shameful tattoos like filthy garments should mourn bitterly as they have sold their bodies to the paroxysm of passion. Worse still for those who mutilate themselves! More importantly, for us Africans and particularly Nigerians, what should replace tribal marks today is our behavioural pattern and mode of doing things. Perseverance, good character and patience are virtues that should take the place of tribal marks in our land.   

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[i] Story culled from “Between Tribal Marks and Child Rights” in My Pen and My Paper, www.mypenmypaper.wordpress.com 23, November, 2013.

[ii] Olawale Olaniran, “Tribal Mark- A Significant Mark of Identification among the Yoruba People of Nigeria” in Welcome to my World, BlogSpot, www.olawaleolaniran.blogspot.com 23, November, 2013

[iii] Olawale Olaniran, “Tribal Mark- A Significant Mark of Identification among the Yoruba People of Nigeria” in Welcome to my World, BlogSpot, www.olawaleolaniran.blogspot.com 23, November, 2013

[iv] Dele Bodunde, “The Dying Culture of Tribal Marks” in Edo World, www.edoworld.net/Dyingcultureoftribalmarks  23,November, 2013

[v] Oluwole Ige, “Tribal Marks? Now, it’s the Turn of Tattoos” in 9jabook, www.9jabook.com/m/blogpost.com 23, November, 2013

[vi] Oluwole Ige, “Tribal Marks? Now, it’s the Turn of Tattoos” in 9jabook, www.9jabook.com/m/blogpost.com 23, November, 2013

[vii] Tattooing is a marking made by inserting indelible ink into dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment for artistic, ritualistic or other reasons.

[viii] Oluwole ige, Tribal marks? “Now, it’s the Turn of Tattoos” in 9jabook, www.9jabook.com/m/blogpost.com 23, November, 2013

THE SEARCH FOR PEACE AND DEVELOPMENT: HUNDRED YEARS OF MARRIAGE OF THE NIGERIAN PEOPLE

IBIYEMI VICTOR ‘WALE

THE IMAGE PROBLEM

All over the world today, the image of Nigeria is that of a corrupt-ridden, disorganised, unstable, and shamelessly pretentious country.[i] It is a failed nation that swims in a massive ocean of corruption and seems drowning for she sinks daily in malevolent acts and grows spontaneously in despicable vices. Though acclaimed as the giant of Africa, what is visible in Nigeria is only a similitude of a pygmy and a dwarf nation that continues to struggle in the pangs of poisonous situations that have continually hindered its growth. This diminutive nation has inculcated in her citizens the very plague that hinders her development, hence, everybody whether consciously or not wears that diminishing garb. We therefore become microcosms of failure and abject blindness- the truth be told! This crucial pang of dwaftness has eaten deep into the nation’s fabrics so to affect everything she does and that again is vividly seen in recent times of the minimalistic culture that is transmitted as the ordo rationale in our beloved country.             

That minimalistic proclivity has thrown the nation into a state of identity crisis. The Nigerian has not an identity for herself. She is lost amidst the crowd. The Nigerian is joggled in the middle of cultures and cultures stand as markers of identity. She has nothing to show forth as truly her own in the presentation of cultural phenomena. So lost, that the question of her origin is mostly reviewed by the superior races to which she is loyal- indeed it is a drama of crises. Nigeria has become so, not because she does not truly have her own patrimony but because she has become an insatiable voracious consumer of others dungs- she has therefore lost everything that truly was hers. Nigeria evolves daily as a consumer nation. She not only borrows unstoppably from other cultures but she has become addicted to depend disproportionately and excessively on others for her existence.

Nigeria literally has become an official dumping ground for others. In the odour of this offensive pong, she lost her identity- Nigeria therefore can be described as a country of paradoxes, perplexities and complexities. A faceless association of people that lack the essentialities of a country- maybe there was never a country!   

The hesitant continuous pursuit for armistice, peace, development, growth in the country and the more explosive, volatile and irascible expressions of emotions in current times have questioned the matrimonial compatibility of the many ethnic groups under the canopy- Nigeria. To be explicit, On January 1, 2014, it will be 100 years since the colonial rubber baron, Lord Frederick John Dealtry Lugard (1858-1945), made the audacious decision to bring what was then the Northern part of the Niger (area) in unison with the Southern part, to create what we have today as Nigeria. With such august centenary celebration, there have emerged again, however this time, forceful reflections on the tenability of a secession as the solution to the cataclysmic Nigeria.      

NIGERIA…THAT OLD BABY, THAT TODDLING WOMAN[ii]

The lament is this: 53 years old and the woman is still crawling? Not even attempting to walk? Will she remain a toddler forever? When exactly will she be conscious of the fact that her hair is now greyed? Nigeria has become that old baby and that toddling woman. The joy of freedom suddenly collapses into a bank of sorrows when there is an agony of remembrance flashing to the stupendous enthusiasm in which Nigeria gained her independence. Indeed, Nigeria has now become a mole-rat digging burrows of abjectness with incomparable large and powerful incisors driving narrowing into the spines of her citizens. Though she may have been freed from the colonial figures and imperial masters that feasted on her like vultures on a dead carcass, she has now been fully plunged into the black dungeons of her own feudal lords who at best we could describe as hungry dogs who lack integral reputation.                 

Nigeria- a den of famished and peckish guzzlers have lived 53 years in debacle. All the sectors in this country must be possessed with abiku spirits- no matter how they are nurtured by the overly minimalistic governments- they are never in good shapes. What sector can you point out as functional in Nigeria? Is it PHCN that offers an uninterrupted power failure, or the educational sector that has been besieged with an intellectual debt that is difficult repaid? The whole nation stood still over the celebrated strike phenomenon. As I described somewhere, the strike palaver is a carbuncle and a rotten eyesore. More shameful that the government is not capable of any good- it is all together a failed state of events. How on earth could ASUU and the Government be over a single matter for many months? That was the height of shame! I must say! Anyway it is an exhibition or a characteristic of an abject and failed state!

The health saga has been captured by the popular anti-Nigerian health motto: If you wan die quick quick, make you go Nigerian hospital. Yielding to that true maxim, many have preferred to die peacefully in their houses than to visit Nigerian hospitals for horrible and agonizing deaths.     

Should I say something about security? Oh! I would describe the situation as a symphonic rhythms of violence and pestilence. It seems that we have been so much acclimated to horror and ferocity that violence, gunshots, bombings now constitute melodic and harmonious renditions in our ears or bombs now sound like simple knockouts. The surfeit butchery, bloodbath and massacre by brave acts of terrorism is a slap on the government and indeed all of us. What more can we say?

Our nation is adrift and we are all dancing in a season of blindness to our own dirges. To borrow the words of Niyi Osundare, “the current image of Nigeria is that of a big-for-nothing country where nothing works the right way, a country that is finding it increasingly difficult to govern itself.” When asked the cause of these calamities; with a sigh of relief many nationals have pointed to an antique concept in the Nigerian History… What therefore is that historic concept? 

THE AMALGAMATION… AND THERE WAS A COUNTRY!

Before the amalgamation in Nigeria, there as a continental onslaught on Africa. The Berlin conference held from 1884-1885 was the colonization of the African continent by European powers. That Berlin event was the awful of the many evils that besieged her. Africa’s head was shaved in her absence and divided into irregular fragments not considering language, culture or traditions. Indeed, Tayo Oke avows inter alia:

As a matter of fact, the whole of modern African states were created in exactly the same fashion at the Berlin Conference of European powers in 1885. They sat around a long, round table with the boundary-less map of  Africa in the middle, and started carving up the territories into choice names:  Cameroon (Land of shrimps), Gold Coast  (Land of gold), Ivory Coast (Land of ivories), Upper Volta, Kenya, Mali, among others. That is how modern African states acquired their identities. It is a painful part of African history.[iii]    

At the time of the conference, 80% of Africa remained under traditional and local control. What ultimately resulted was a hodgepodge of geometric boundaries that divided Africa into fifty irregular countries. This new map of the continent was superimposed over the one thousand indigenous cultures and regions of Africa. The new countries lacked rhyme or reason and divided coherent groups of people and merged together disparate groups who really did not get along. The conference lasted until February 26, 1885 - a three month period where colonial powers haggled over geometric boundaries in the interior of the continent, disregarding the cultural and linguistic boundaries already established by the indigenous African population. Following the conference, the give and take continued. By 1914, the conference participants had fully divided Africa among themselves into fifty countries.[iv]

In 1914, Lord Lugard combined or merged two protectorates- the southern and the northern as one country under one leadership- his governorship. According to reputable political scholars, the major reason proposed for this implausible mishmash was for business and purely for administrative convenience of the Niger-area that was later named Nigeria by his wife- Lady Flora Lugard.[v]           

In the bid to mention the irrationality of the amalgamation, it has been called many names in Nigerian history such as; a celebration of slavery, a historic fraud, a merging of opposites and so forth. Just as the Berlin Conference was Africa’s undoing in more ways than one, one of which even by the time independence returned to Africa in 1950, the realm had acquired a legacy of political fragmentation that could neither be eliminated nor made to operate satisfactorily, amalgamation too has not left the best tidings on the Nigerian socializations and politics.

The first pointer to the irrationality of the amalgamation is that fact that it was not even legal. It was done illegally even though it followed the spirit of the Berlin Fathers, it wasn’t legally done. Tayo Oke argues that “My search through the United Kingdom Parliamentary archives did not reveal any promulgation of an Act of Parliament on the subject as it should have…Lord Lugard had simply prevailed on the Secretary of State to rubber stamp his wish to rule over a vast swathe of land which he had christened Nigeria.”[vi] 

However, we cannot blame the amalgamation for all the current ills we are experiencing now as many claim. A brief retrospection into Nigerian annals proved that the amalgamation of the south and north was not the first merging and in fact after the merging things still went on well. For instance, the southern protectorate, which was the merging of Niger Coast and Lagos Colony was a clear merger of different cultures, politics and values, but because of the African spirit which is love and unity, it was easy for us to live and love harmoniously.    

Hence, the agonized blames on amalgamation and the vicious resolution thereafter which is majorly the insistent cry for secession and the hunger of division may not be the true solution to what I termed the NIGERIAN SICKNESS. I dare to say amalgamation may not be the problem which we should be vehemently addressing.  

Nigeria has a track record of tyranny, betrayals, ethnic and religious intolerance, civil war, marginalisation, e.t.c but the question is: if we keep using one injustice to justify another, when will our cycle of stupidity end? Great nations are built by people who allow the past to correct and improve the future, not those who eat up other’s livers in destructive wars of vengeance and recrimination. No country can ever progress when citizens engage in a perennial ritual of wound-licking and trading scars.[vii]

THE PARADOX OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: LESSON FOR NIGERIA

Let me quickly chip in a paradox- a paradox of the US. “The history of America mostly told is that of its independent and glory, but a careful look at the American history would place it side by side with Nigeria in term of amalgamation and merging done by Britain.”[viii][ix] We must know that Nigeria is not the only amalgamated nation by England. Sparing the story of US’ amalgamation, we must say that the US used the multiplicity of ethnicity and diversity to create what we have today as the greatest nation on earth, if they have divided in the blindness of incompatibility…the world power we have today would have been a mirage. Then, there must be a specific problem with Nigeria outside that amalgamation.      

WHY NIGERIA IS NOT WORKING: FACING THE GENUINE INIQUITY   

Why don’t we abandon our exercise in hypocrisy and face up to the fact that we live in a country that is rotten to its very core, a country whose near-fatal structural defects bring terrifying echoes of the year 1914 and Frederick Lugard’s imperial amalgamation? What the June 12 election did was to proffer a hope, or the hint of a hope, that out country could be one, that it is, indeed, possible for a candidate potentially great country, his/her ethnic, religious, social origin notwithstanding.[x]  

Corruption, a household name in Nigeria is the fountain of all our troubles. It is grossly unfortunate that Nigeria continued to grow daily in this crime and no hope of redemption- for much has been preached on this topic to effect a rapid metanoia.[xi] Corruption was there before colonization- for many ignorantly equate corruption to colonization- however, it heighted with the event colonisation and ever since it has continued to sporadically multiply destroying all facets of progress and success in Nigeria. The characteristics with corrupt countries are political instabilities, money laundering and theft, debauchery, hunger, strife, wars and others catastrophes.[xii]

Truly, most Nigerians are corrupt in one way or the other, most times accusing fingers are pointed to governments and statesmen because they who ought to selflessly serve citizens are now daily looting states’ funds with laudable ovations and commendable applause. What a shameless society!                 

ANY HOPE IN THIS PLAGUE OF STRIFE AND WAR?

There is always a silver lining. It is imperative that we must imitate the paradox of the USA. Our diversity, differences and disparities as a nation must be paradoxically employed to work for peace and development. Secession is not the solution to our numerous crises, amalgamation is not the cause anymore. Let us use the past as a stepping stone to actualize our dreams. There are times in a nation’s history when its abused past springs up like a monster and clings to its negligent dream like an inscrutable leech.[xiii] The solution is a return to rectitude and the true African Spirit chorused in Mbiti’s philosophy: “we are therefore I am and not I am therefore you are”- therefore putting the Other before Yourself especially in service. The true African Spirit orients to building and restoration not destroying and defragmenting. Let me end therefore with the lyrics of the famous Yoruba Musician- Sunny Ade: Nigeria yii ti gbogbo wa ni, ko ma gbodo baje, eja ka sowopo ka fímo sokan gbe kemi gbe![xiv] Peace and development will continue to evade Nigeria without the required unity in diversity.

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[i] Niyi Osundare “Nigeria’s Image Problem” in Dialogue with my Country (Ibadan: Bookcraft Publishers, 2011), p. 66

[ii] The feminine qualification for Nigeria is not to undermine the female folk but to maintain the traditional characterization.

[iii] Tayo Oke, “The 1914 amalgamation: Historic fraud or an act of God?” in Sahara Reporters,  published on February 17, 2013, www.saharareporter.com(assessed on 29^th of November, 2013)

[iv] Matt Rosenberg, “Berlin Conference of 1884-1885 to Divide Africa” in About.com Education, www.geography.about.com/berlinconference.htm (assessed on 29^th of November, 2013)

[v] In popular history, it is affirmed that the former British reporter- Flora Shaw who married Lord Lugard suggested that the country be named Nigeria, after the Niger River

[vi] Tayo Oke, The 1914 amalgamation: Historic fraud or an act of God?” in Sahara Reporters,  published on February 17, 2013, www.saharareporter.com (assessed on 29^th of November, 2013)

[vii] Niyi Osundare “Mad Times” in Dialogue with my Country (Ibadan: Bookcraft Publishers, 2011), p. 300

[viii] Abdulrazaq Oyebanji Hamzat, “The Historical Challenges Of Nigeria's Amalgamation/Religion And The Way To Peace (Part 2)” in The Nigerian Voice, www.nigerianvoice.com (assessed on 29^th of November, 2013)

[ix] Abdulrazaq says the merging of province or protectorate does not just begin in Nigeria; it has always been Britain’s pattern in most of their colonized areas… if we claim that the only solution to our present situation is separation, if we claim that we cannot forward with the beautiful union, this must be the greatest joke of the 21st century. It does not only portray us as intellectually lazy which of course I know we are not, but also portray us as untruthful and insincere with our self.

[x] Niyi Osundare “June 12 and After” in Dialogue with my Country (Ibadan: Bookcraft Publishers, 2011), p. 288

[xi] Metanoia- Greek word for total conversion

[xii] Forbes reveals this with the other corrupt countries like Somalia, Myanmar, Afghanistan, Iraq, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Sudan, Chad, Burundi, Equatorial Guinea…e.t.c

[xiii] Niyi Osundare “Parable from Koma” in Dialogue with my Country (Ibadan: Bookcraft Publishers, 2011), p. 4

[xiv] A literal rendition would be: “This Nigeria is for all of us, it must not be destroyed, let us unite our hands and unite our thoughts (minds, wisdom), carry it! (Nigeria) Let me carry it (Nigeria). The song actually rekindles the “WAZOBIA” spirit, that is a call to Unity in Diversity- that is the only remedy to the fragmented and selfish identity we already have after all, we are all human beings and we are blacks!     

STRIKE: THE MASSES’ VOICES OR GOVERNMENT PUNITIVE

                                                                                                                                  IBIYEMI VICTOR

The strike situation in Nigeria has become an Old Baby- people don’t even want to talk about it anymore. It has lasted more than we want to remember. We have all talked and talked but it seems nothing is actually moving, it is like a predetermined project but we know it won’t be endless- perhaps one day, they will come to their senses and education would be restored. Considering the two opposing sides to the debacle, it is certain that they have stretched the margin too far than there could be any tangible reconciliation. However, it further shows who Nigerians truly are- we often forget the core to go for the peripherals. Maybe we are all guilty of that nagging crime.

The strike palaver is a carbuncle and a rotten eyesore. More shameful that the government is not capable of any good- it is all together a failed state of events. To borrow the words of Niyi Osundare, “the current image of Nigeria is that of a big-for-nothing country where nothing works the right way, a country that is finding it increasingly difficult to govern itself.” How on earth could ASUU and the Government be over a single matter for many months and still no headway? That is the height of shame! I must say! Anyway it is an exhibition or a characteristic of an abject and failed state!

The more important reality is left behind in the shadows of pseudo-conferences and meetings. The Students are the CORE of this whole catastrophe, they have been churned out for quite some time now and many have actually gone their ways… some have heightened their zeal for prostitution, others have amplified their repressed saturnalias for theft and robbery and many other evils. While some have quietly, though without choice, have taken in for petit-bourgeois self-reliant jobs and the remaining have remained idle- in preparation as devil’s workshops. 

The resultant effects of this fiasco is more abysmal, for many of them have forgotten their names let alone their matric numbers! When they eventually resume, it would be a colossal failure and that failure will be ceremoniously commissioned…and the cycle of failure continues. The educational sector must have a turnaround… it must!!!                 

Living the Faith Beyond the Year of Faith: Nigerian Federation of Catholic Students in Focus

IBIYEMI AKINWALE VICTOR

THE CHRISTIAN FAITH AND THE ALLEGORY OF TEN BRIDESMAID (MATT. 25:1-13)

To enter through that door is to set out on a journey that lasts a lifetime. It begins with baptism (cf. Rom 6:4), through which we can address God as Father, and it ends with the passage through death to eternal life, fruit of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, whose will it was, by the gift of the Holy Spirit, to draw those who believe in him into his own glory (cf. John 17:22).[1]

The Christian life is a life-long journey. A journey that begins at baptism and ends temporary with death but transited into eternal life, its final destiny and ultimate end. This journey is a pilgrimage that is lubricated by faith, it is accompanied in Charity and thrives in hope. Thus, the three theological virtues are very central to any progress in the Christian life.[2] The proclamation of the concluded Year of Faith is not meant to be an event but an interjection in a whole process of the Christian journey. It was a year that was inspired by the Holy Spirit and very much needed in the Church at this time when there is need for spiritual re-awakening and resurgence. The Christian life just like a biological life needs all the nourishments and growth that are required. For an existence, it must be fed, well-catered for and well-formed. It is such prerogative therefore that necessitated the promulgation of this august Year of Faith which obviously have concluded on the 24^th of November, 2011. So, the question we want to ask ourselves at this gathering is what should be our situation in relationship with faith even after the Year of Faith.

In the allegory of the Ten Bridesmaids, the Christian life is concretely pictured. The ten virgins represent us- the Disciples of Christ (expectant believers- 2 Cor. 11:2) who are waiting for his coming. In our journey of faith, we must always be prepared. The lamps signify their faith which must be continually burning so bright, while the oil signifies the good works through which they fuel their lamps from dying out. Faith, Hope and Love are like the fire that fades out when there is nothing else to burn. Hence, the Lord demands astute faithfulness on the Christian journey, it is better that one does not embark on it, than to embark and to apostate. For the cry: “I do not know you” will be such a great disappointment. How then do we keep our flames continually burning as we await the Lord?   

THE YEAR OF FAITH: AN OVERVIEW AND APPRAISAL

Ever since the start of my ministry as Successor of Peter, I have spoken of the need to rediscover the journey of faith so as to shed ever clearer light on the joy and renewed enthusiasm of the encounter with Christ.[3]

The Year of Faith was an introspection into the faith content of the universal Church. It was a moment to examine how much faith we possess and how much of that faith we put into practicality in our daily lives. It was an awareness, a reminder and a calling-to-mind what we should be in order to further grow in our Christian lives and to supply strength for the journey which we have embraced. It was a moment of balancing and checking how much we have gone in the universal mandate to evangelise the world. Above all, it was a moment of conversion, encounter that should produce evangelization.    

To understand more deeply the goals, objectives of the Year of Faith, it is good to briskly review the document for the indiction of the Year- Porta Fidei. It is apt to state that all the events of this Year of Faith point to one reality which is summarize in the name of the apostolic letter- Porta Fidei- Opening of the door of faith. The Year of faith calls for the opening of the Door of Faith; the Second Vatican Council which we celebrated its golden jubilee also called for an opening of the Door of the Church to the modern world while the last reality we celebrated- the Catechism stands as that door through which we decipher and comprehend the faith contents of the Church.[4] 

More to that, one can identify four purposes of the Year of Faith from the document Porta Fidei. These are: 1) to enable Catholics re-enliven their faith, rediscover its splendour, its power and its beauty; 2) inspire Catholics show commitment to the New Evangelization;[5] 3) Renew the faith of Catholics; 4) Foster an encounter with Christ through authentic witnessing to the Faith.[6]   

Hence, the objectives of the Year of Faith could be spelt out thus:

1.      Encounter Christ anew

2.      Rediscover faith

3.      More conscious and vigorous adherence to the Bible

4.      Arouse aspiration and readiness to profess the faith

5.      Intensify the celebration of the faith in the Liturgy

6.      Deeper devotion to the Eucharist

7.      Learn more from the Blessed Mother Mary, the model of Christian faith

8.      Celebrate the heroic virtues of the Saints.  

In order to achieve the vision above, Porta Fidei has recommended four actions. These are: 1) the need to study the Documents of Vatican II and the Catechism of the Catholic Church. 2) The document also urges that materials for apologetics be made available to the faithful. This underscores the need to equip the faithful with answers to numerous questions that concern the faith. E.g Infant Baptism, Mary and so on. 3) The issue of priestly formation was not left out 4) the formation and training of the laity in general.     

BACKGROUND TO THE YEAR OF FAITH: THE CRISIS OF FAITH 

I must let you know that this is not the first time the Church has called for the Year of Faith. In 1927, the Queen of heaven told the three children in Fatima that Russia will spread her errors all over the world; little did we know then how far reaching those errors will be. Fifty years after, the effect of that warning was already very palpable; the Church was facing a true crisis of faith and Pope Paul VI was greatly alarmed by it. So in response to the ugly development, on February 22, 1967, the Pontiff called for a Year of Faith, which also celebrated the 1900 years of the martyrdoms of Saints Peter and Paul. The Pope saw that the Church was being destroyed by modern atheism and also by her children.[7] 

In our own case, in this twenty-first (second) century, the devil has been enthroned as the lord and emperor of contemporary epoch. The crisis of Faith has heightened and many have paid dearly with their souls sold to the devil basking in the pride of civility and modernism. Indeed, the deterioration and decline of faith in Europe and American forms a background to the emergent convocation of the Year of Faith. We can sum the challenges of Faith in our dispensation as the crises of the modern world- a world that hates God and detest religion. Pope Benedict XVI calls this age “the turbulent times”. And these turbulent storms are the dictatorship of relativism, the decline in faith in Europe, the reign of secularism, an epoch of intellectual atheism, an era of sexual scandals, the promotion of sexual aberrations (homosexuality, transvestism, beastialism), political instability, religious quagmires, uncontrollable terrorism in Africa, injustice, the culture of death, and a faceless humanity. In the faces of these forces against the Church- there is absolute need to re-enkindle the faith. 

Hence, still talking about the cacophony between the world and the Christian faith (message) today, Pope Benedict says: “Anyone who tries to talk about the question of Christian faith in the presence of people who are not thoroughly at home with ecclesiastical language and thought (by vocation or by convention) soon comes to sense the alien and alienating nature of such enterprise.[8] In short, people are not ready to listen to any message that is tied to the divine or to religion.

Africa and particularly Nigeria is not free from such onslaught of faithlessness. When I checked the list of the most religious country, what I found out was elating, Nigeria ranks the second most religious country in the world with Ghana as first. Nigeria 93% of the population actively involved in religion, Ghana has 96%. But again, I checked the most corrupt countries in the world, this time the result was not elating but alarming, Nigerian ranks 8^th position- what a paradox of religion and corruption! It is very interesting and contradictory says Rev. Fr. Dr. Banjo that among the 10 most religious countries, Nigeria was there and among the 10 most corrupt countries, again, our beloved Nigeria was there. The question that is plausible is: how can we, as a people, be very religious and at the same time, highly corrupt? This is nothing but an indication of a crisis of faith, identity and mission. It shows that our faith is not genuine and has not taken root such that it is expressible in our daily lives.[9]           

THE YOUTHS IN THE SCOPE OF THE YEAR OF FAITH

The youths will forever be the focus of any revival of faith. Personally, the Pope addressed the youths on many occasions throughout the year of faith. The clear reason he has put forward that attitude of personally affecting and addressing the youths is the reality that the Youths are the leaders of tomorrow.[10] Without the youths, there is no future for the Church, just as for a nation that does not carter for her youths, such nation will soon go into extinction.

THE CATHOLIC FAITH: A SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION

To profess faith in the Trinity – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – is to believe in one God who is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8): the Father, who in the fullness of time sent his Son for our salvation; Jesus Christ, who in the mystery of his death and resurrection redeemed the world; the Holy Spirit, who leads the Church across the centuries as we await the Lord’s glorious return.[11]

I want to summarize the entirety of the Catholic Faith into the second question in our Penny Catechism if you can still remember what it says.[12] God made me to know Him, to Love Him, serve Him in this world, in order to be happy with Him forever in the next. The whole Catholic Faith rests on these three principles and from these principles all other articles and doctrines emanate. Concretely, in that answer to the purpose of our creation- we see the interplay of the three theological virtues that we must possess in order to be saved- the harmony and symphony of Faith, Hope and Love.

To know Him: we are made to know God- this theologically is called FAITH. The desire to know God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God and God never ceases to draw man to himself.[13] Our hearts are restless until the rest in God.[14] Thus, no matter how we choose to deny the reality of God, it always rings in our heart that God exists and He is very close to us. God has revealed himself to be known through the light of reason and through creation. (Ps. 8).  And we get to know him in a number of ways; the scriptures, through the Church, and through other means of Divine Revelation. The adequate response to that self-revelation of God is what is called Faith.[15]

By faith therefore, man submits his intellect, his will to God. With his whole being man gives his assent to God the revealer. Sacred Scripture calls this “human response to God, the author of revelation- “the obedience of faith”.[16]

To Love Him: Our relationship to God is nothing but to LOVE him because he is the author of our being. We cannot love what we do not know! Hence, our response to the knowledge of God is love. And that is what the Catholic faith is all about- loving God. This love will not only indicate our relationship with God but will be permeated to humanity- that is the confirmation of a true love for God.

To Be Happy with Him in the Next: here comes our HOPE! The Catholic Faith is not just a lame faith that has no future, rather it is a faith that is entrenched in the glorious future of the kingdom of God. And this is what separates us from others who do not hold such doctrine of an eternal life. That beatific vision is real, if not, Jesus would not have laboured to talk about it persistently and the apostles would never have died for anything if they didn’t see a reward that is both overwhelming and gigantic. One of the greatest deceits of modern times is the assurance that, life is just temporal and nothing more after this world. This heresy has influenced many directly or indirectly and it is beginning to shape the mentality and attitudes of our people.

With the summary of the Catholic Faith into the second question of Penny Catechism. Let us broader look at the community of faith that give birth to all of us.                

THE CHURCH AS A COMMUNITY OF FAITH

The anonymous author of the Letter to the Hebrews in his catalogue of warnings says: “Let us consider how we may spur one another to love and good works. Do not abandon the assemblies as some of you do, but encourage one another, and all the more since the Day is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25).

Many persons believe that faith is an individual thing and remains at that individual level, after all, God will judge us individually. Some even practice a home-based Christianity. This is another deception of modern atheism that has primed individualism as one of its virtues. Even though faith is a personal adherence of the whole man to God who reveals himself through his words and deeds,[17] the same Catechism says “believing” is an ecclesial act. The Church’s faith precedes, engenders, supports and nourishes individual’s faith. The Church is the mother of all believers… no one can have God has a Father who does not have the Church as a Mother.[18]     

The Church exemplifies her faith in varied means:

The Bible: Through the word of God, the Church sets forth her faith, claims and teachings. She occupies the pride place of being mater et magister of the Words of her groom- Jesus Christ, she has the sole interpretation of what is therein and she possesses the mandate to bind both in heaven as on earth.[19]

Sacraments: Jesus Christ having instituted the sacraments himself left them in the care of her Bride- the Church as a dispenser of the mysteries of God. St Thomas Aquinas calls the sacraments- “the signs of faith”[20] and the Church herself is a sacrament of salvation in the world. Sacrosanctum Concillium says the sacraments not only presuppose faith, but by the words and objects they also nourish, strengthen and express it; that is why they are called “sacraments of faith”.[21]  

Liturgy: The Liturgy is the Epiphany of the Church. The Liturgy is the manifestation of the Church’s faith. Faith and worship go hand in hand. It is in worship that everything about faith is expressed. The ancient dictum: “lex orandi and lex credendi” explains it better, it is rendered: we pray the way we believe and we believe the way we pray. The Liturgy is the culmen et fons, the source of all Christianity Spirituality.  

Doctrines and Dogmas: In Doctrines and Dogmas of the Church, the only thing that is brought forth is faith. It is the appreciation and formulation of Divine Revelation which is received by Faith that is called Dogma and Doctrines. Dogmas are light along the paths of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure.[22]   

Popular Devotions: Also in acclaimed devotions and popular pieties, the Faith of the Church is being exemplified. For instance, popular devotion such as the Rosary, Eucharistic adorations, the Divine- Mercy adoration and others. In all these, the faith of the Church is lived and practiced.  

SOURCES OF THE CATHOLIC FAITH[23]

The two chief sources of the Catholic Faith are Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition, the two form one Sacred Deposit (depositum fidei) entrusted to the Church by the apostles. By adhering to this heritage the entire holy people, united to its pastors, remains always faithful to the teaching of the apostles, to the brotherhood, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers.[24] The Magisterium of the Church interprets the Divine Revelation entrusted to the Church. The magisterium teaches only the deposit of faith and is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ with the help of the Holy Spirit as the revealer.[25]

THE CREED[26]: SYMBOLUM FIDEI- THE SUMMARY OF OUR FAITH

The Apostles creed is a summary of the basic beliefs of the Catholic Church. It was written in the earliest period of Christianity and it contains three main paragraphs each for the Persons of the Blessed Trinity and 12 articles of faith.

The first- I believe in God the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth

The second- And in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord

The third- Jesus Christ was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary

The fourth- Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried

The fifth- Jesus Christ descended into Hell, on the third day He rose again from the dead

The sixth- Jesus Christ ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty

The seventh- from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead

The eight- I believe in the Holy Spirit

The ninth- I believe in the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints

The tenth- I believe in the forgiveness of sins

The eleventh- I believe in the resurrection of the Body

The twelfth- I believe in Life everlasting

 

AFTER THE YEAR OF FAITH: WHAT NEXT? ANALOGY OF THE MASS

Many of us are Celebrative-Catholics, we are active and committed only during a celebration. And that also happens at mass. The analogy of the Mass will be appropriate here. In the mass, we become saints and we do everything with devotion and in worship! But once, the dismissal is sounded with the formula: Go Forth... the mass is ended, we suddenly become demons and we wear our old way of life- indeed many greet their neighbours with a curse after mass every morning. We forget everything there at the mass! We are like someone who looks at a mirror and sees himself but when he got outside he forgot entirely what he looks like. That is living a double life and that again is an indication of a crises of faith and crises of identity. We must take the mass to wherever men are! And that is why it is called Mass[27]… the go forth, is not an injunction to forget our identity as carriers of Jesus but to go forth announcing the gospel in our lives and if possible by our lives. The same attitude is needed for the celebration of the Year of Faith. Our faith must not begin to dwindle at the end of the Year of Faith, rather it should begin to shine forth for all too see. Hence, let us ask ourselves two big questions as regards the aftermath of the Year of Faith. 

What am I To Do? Acts 2:37

Authentic Conversion: The Year of Faith, is a summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the one Saviour of the world.[28] Conversion is an ongoing reality, it is a perpetual response to the call of Jesus Christ. We must continually say yes to that invitation to share in the life of Christ. Our response is our Faith.[29]

Evangelisation: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI says “Evangelization always begins with an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who come to Jesus and have experienced his love, immediately want to share the beauty of the meeting and the joy born of his friendship”.[30] Anyone who has come across something true, beautiful and good hastens to share it everywhere,[31] so says Benedict XVI. Our faith is indeed true, beautiful and good since it is rooted in Jesus Christ the saviour of the world and we cannot but let the ends of the earth experience it. But this is the juncture where many of us have problems. We cannot be apostles for many reasons[32] (shyness, Big-boy, persecution, no time) all the excuses we give are very inauthentic and unreasonable. The basic reality is that we are shy of Jesus Christ! We are ashamed of the Gospel, but we must not be ashamed of the gospel.[33] In fact, Jesus has said it all, if you deny me in the world, I will deny you before the angels and my Father.[34] St. Francis of Assisi says: “preaching, spreading the good news, sharing the gospel can be done in different ways. Preach the gospel everywhere you go and when necessary use words. There are plethora of means you can preach both in deeds and words. We must repeat after St. Paul “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel”.[35]

Internet: New Spaces for Evangelization and the New Aeropagus

The quality of time youths spend on the internet is really enormous. Many of us have become aficionados and addicts. That is even the more reason why the internet is a fertile ground for evangelization. Benedict XVI therefore says, the internet must become the New Areopagus where wisdom as Christ, the Son of God is taught. 

How do I foster my faith?

1.       The Three Documents of Faith (Bible, Catechism and Vatican II)

The Bible: We are often challenged as Catholics that we do not read the Bible, it is either true or false depending on the way the question is asked. If the negligence of the Bible is associated to the Church and the liturgy, then it is false but if it is on individual bases, it may be true for many of us don’t even know how to open the bible. We have four blocks of Spirituality via Eucharistic, Marian, Charismatic and Scriptural. NFSC… you must ground yourself in the word of God.

The Catechism: The Catechism is the compendium of our catholic faith. It comes in easy simplified and handy texts for us all to know everything about our faith. How many of us have tried reading them or purchasing one? I mean the Big Catechism.

Vatican II Documents: These are very essential also because in them can someone find the conclusions of the Church on matters of modern dispensations.  

2.      Sacraments

Many of us run away from the sacraments even when it is free. A non-sacramental life is a palace for the devil. To foster our faith, we must live in the sacraments.

3.      Doing the will of God and obeying the voice of the Church

Doing the will of God and obeying the Church are dual factors to keeping our faith alive and active. You cannot do the will of God when you don’t obey Church’s commandments.   

SOME MORE PRACTICAL TIPS TO SUSTAIN OUR FAITH

·         Study your bible daily

·         Attend Mass more regularly

·         Read Christian Catholic books

·         Visit the Blessed Sacrament more regularly

·         Seek to know more about the Church

·         What about your Catechism?

·         Commit yourself to Christ fully- no syncretism!

·         Be alive in the spirit

·         Be charitable and practice hospitality 

THE PRACTICALITY OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH: THE LIVING FAITH

Many times too, we exercise our faith on theoretical levels. We profess only on Sundays or sing the creed as the case may be but we don’t put our faith into practicality.   

Charity[36] (faith and works): Through faith, this new life shapes the whole of human existence according to the radical new reality of the resurrection. To the extent that he freely cooperates, man’s thoughts and affections, mentality and conduct are slowly purified and transformed, on a journey that is never completely finished in this life. “Faith working through love” (Gal 5:6) becomes a new criterion of understanding and action that changes the whole of man’s life (cf. Rom 12:2; Col 3:9-10; Eph 4:20-29; 2 Cor 5:17).[37]

“BE READY AT ALL TIMES”: ON BEING APOLOGETICS FOR THE FAITH

More importantly, we must be prepared at all times to defend the faith that we hold and believe. St. Peter exhorts us in his first Letter that “Always be prepared to make a defence to any-one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (I Peter 3:15). How many here can recite the creed offhand? How many can pray the rosary correctly without aid? How many of us can stand before a Jehovah witness of 10 years old in serious apologetics about the Catholic Faith? I bet you, we will all fall. But why?  Because we have not cared to deepen our knowledge about the faith. We have only relied on Father’s homily which cannot be exhaustive in a day. We haven’t strove to even learn something about the faith on our own. We see the faith as unexplainable and hence, we quickly call everything Mystery. Who told you that mysteries are not explained rationally?    

Again, we have to take a compulsory leap from an inherited faith to a convinced faith. Many of us are still been fed like babies in our faith journey. No personal commitment and readiness- everything is taken for granted. We inherited the faith and never made any effort to be convinced about it- that is our problem! We are Catholics because we are born into Catholicism and that’s all.

You cannot be an apologetic (the art of explaining and defending the faith) if you are not convinced yourself or you are not grounded in the faith. Just like those ancient Church Fathers who are called apologists, we live in a culture that is baffled by Christianity and sceptical of the Church’s claim to divine revelation, a culture that often caricatures faith as being nothing more than credulity, bigotry and superstition.[38] We must stand up and make a difference by being ready to give reasoned defence of faith- even if it meant death- for the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christianity.  In short, the Catechism and Bible must be your companions always. 

CONCLUSION: NFCS…BLENDING SECULARISM WITH SPIRITUALITY

Having reached the end of his life, Saint Paul asks his disciple Timothy to “aim at faith” (2 Tim 2:22) with the same constancy as when he was a boy (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). We hear this invitation directed to each of us, that none of us grow lazy in the faith. It is the lifelong companion that makes it possible to perceive, ever anew, the marvels that God works for us. Intent on gathering the signs of the times in the presence of history, faith commits every one of us to become a living sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in the world. What the world is in particular need of today is the credible witness of people enlightened in mind and heart by the word of the Lord, and capable of opening the hearts and minds of many to the desire for God and for true life, life without end.[39]

Nobody is saying you shouldn’t go to clubs or parties again, or you shouldn’t watch films again or you should use Blackberry phones. Nobody is asking you to leave Facebook, Twitter, Badoo and other initiatives of this modern age, even as you strive daily to avoid all occasions that may slacken your faith or quench permanently your light of faith, you must use the civilization of the present age to Christianise the present society.    

Let me conclude with the story by Bishop Emmanuel Badejo: The title is “Rabbit”[40]

I was a month short of 15 when I finished secondary education at St. Kizito Minor Seminary, Ede. Being too young to go on to Major Seminary, I went to teach in a primary school in Ifon Osun, Osun State. The headmaster, laughed at my small frame and age and put me in charge of sports, as he said, “to be playing ball with the children”. I was determined to accomplish something respectable. I set my sights on winning something important at the next inter schools sports to which we had been invited. We had never won anything before, so I targeted the relay race, definitely the most prestigious of all.

Mine was not an empty dream. I had a daredevil runner among the Children, whom I had named “rabbit” because of his talents. Perhaps “windy” would have been a more appropriate name. Rabbit could outrun anyone I had ever known. I know not how he does it, but he would simply crouch and take off and you could never catch him. So we trained and prayed, prayed and trained. I knew that for the relay race, no matter how many yards we would lag behind, rabbit would catch up and win it for us. I made friends with him and he promised not to fail.

The great day came and a huge crowd of all the teachers, parents and students around gathered. My school won nothing all afternoon. Quite familiar! Finally, came my joker, the 4X400 invitational relay. We lagged behind on the first 3 legs. In the cloud of dust I could see rabbit trembling for the pack to arrive. Then he took off. Within 50 yards, he had caught up with the pack and the dust thickened. At 150 yards he had overtaken them all. Then I joined the loud cheering and singing. No controversy, rabbit arrived first and even continued into the bush for good effect, to thunderous applause. I proudly received everyone’s congratulations and ran to greet my prize winner.

To my utter surprise, the second place runner was announced the winner. No! No! I shouted in protest. Many supported me too. Everyone saw that rabbit came first. I was hysterical and so was rabbit. The officials tried hard to calm me down and then explained. Rabbit indeed came first but he came with no baton. What! Then I saw our third runner still holding that glorious piece of wood. Rabbit broke down in tears. But the race was lost and gone. In heaven, faith will be like a baton. Do you really have it?

Know you faith! Live your faith! Spread your faith! Appreciate your faith! Deepen your relationship with God! Do charity!

Bible References: Luke 18:8, Matthew 8:1-2, Hebrews 11, I Timothy 6:12, Romans 12.

LORD INCREASE OUR FAITH!

       

We must walk no longer by sight but by faith. The YEAR OF FAITH must be a blessing of all time, a kindle that glows our commitment to Christ and the Church, an eraser of all doubts and sinful inclination, an invitation to daily encounter Christ in his word and sacraments, an appreciation of the Church and the sacraments, a disgust for sinful thoughts and acts, a longing to always want to rest in Jesus Christ. When all these have been accomplished, truly- we can say the Year as been a fruitful one.   

---

[1] Porta Fidei, no. 1

[2] Francis L. B. Cunningham (ED) The Christian Life (Dubuque: The Priory Press, 1959), pp.137-138

[3] Porta Fidei, no 2

[4] In the light of all this, I have decided to announce a Year of Faith. It will begin on 11 October 2012, the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council, and it will end on the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, Universal King, on 24 November 2013. The starting date of 11 October 2012 also marks the twentieth anniversary of the publication of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, a text promulgated by my Predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, with a view to illustrating for all the faithful the power and beauty of the faith. This document, an authentic fruit of the Second Vatican Council, was requested by the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops in 1985 as an instrument at the service of catechesis. See Porta Fidei, no 4

[5] The Church as a whole and all her Pastors, like Christ, must set out to lead people out of the desert, towards the place of life, towards friendship with the Son of God, towards the One who gives us life, and life in abundance.”

[6] Padre Mike Umoh, The Year of Faith: The Way Forward (Lagos Provincial year of Faith pilgrimage), p. 4

[7] Padre Mike Umoh, The Year of Faith: The Way Forward, p. 2

[8] Pope Benedict XVI, Introduction to Christianity,  p. 39

[9] Padre Mike Umoh, The Year of Faith: The Way Forward, p. 20

[10] Anyway, only in Nigeria have we seen that the case is different, the youths are not being prepared for the future at all. Particularly, they are estranged from leadership and left to scramble for life themselves. 

[11] Porta Fidei, no 1

[12] Why did God make you?

[13] Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 27

[14] St. Augustine, The Confessions 

[15] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 142

[16] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 143

[17] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 176

[18] Catechism of the Catholic Church 181

[19] Matt 16:18

[20] Sacrosanctum Concillium 59

[21] Sacrosanctum Concillium 59

[22] Catechism of the Catholic Church 89

[23] 2 Thess. 2:15

[24] Catechism of the Catholic Church, 84

[25] Dei Verbum 10, Catechism of the Catholic Church, 85; 888

[26] The Niceno- Constantinople or Nicene Creed draws authority from the fact that it stems from the first two ecumenical Councils (in 325 and 381). It remains common to all the great Churches of both East and West to this day (CCC 195).

[27] Mass in Latin means missa which means dismissal, not just to go but a dismissal with a mission

[28] Porta Fidei, no, 6

[29] Catechism of the Catholic Church,  142

[30] Pope Benedict, WYD, 2013, no 6

[31] John 4- the story of the Samaritan Woman 

[32] We Catholic Youths are stupendously lazy in this area but that is the way the Church is titling now and we have no option but to get involved

[33] Romans 1:16

[34] Matthew 25

[35] 1 Corinthians 9:16

[36] The Year of Faith will also be a good opportunity to intensify the witness of charity. As Saint Paul reminds us: “So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). With even stronger words – which have always placed Christians under obligation – Saint James said: “What does it profit, my brethren, if a man says he has faith but has not works? Can his faith save him? If a brother or sister is ill-clad and in lack of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled’, without giving them the things needed for the body, what does it profit? So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith and I have works.’ Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (Jas 2:14-18). Porta, 14

[37] Porta, 6

[38] Scott Hahn, Reasons to Believe, p. 11

[39] Porta Fidei, no 15

[40] The story was told by Bishop Emmanuel Ade Badejo, the Catholic Bishop of Oyo Diocese