FR. GERALD MUSA HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY QUEEN AND PATRONESS OF NIGERIA (NIGERIA INDEPENDENCE DAY).
THEME: NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE DAY.
BY: FR GERALD M MUSA.
HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OCTOBER 1 2022.
We celebrate Nigeria’s Independence Day on 1st October. On this day we reflect as a nation on where we are coming from, where we are now, and where we plan to be in the coming years. We celebrate God’s providence in our natural and human resources; we celebrate God’s presence in the history of Nigeria. We celebrate distinguished Nigerians whose works, achievements, and sacrifices made Nigeria proud. After 62 years of independence, there are successes and failures. We seek God’s mercy for the many times we drifted away from his plans. We need to cooperate with God to get out of the quagmire of insecurity, corruption, ethnoreligious bigotry, lawlessness, and injustice. We are in search of leaders who have the spirit of Christ – wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and the fear of the Lord, and whose delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. We need a moral, economic, social, educational, and political rebirth. Chinua Achebe, a world acclaimed Nigerian novelist rightly says, “Nigeria is what it is because its leaders are not what they should be.” We entrust our country Nigeria to the maternal intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary who is the Queen and Patroness of Nigeria and Queen of Peace. If we seek peace and harmony, should we not work for justice and fairness?
ISAIAH 11:1-10; EPHESIANS 2:13-22; MATTHEW 2:13-15, 19-23
Our Lady Queen and Patroness of Nigeria; Nigeria Independence Day.