Anthonia Duru
The Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, last Thursday, ordained 11 priests into its fold.
The ordination, which had in attendance Catholic priests, religious, Lay faithful, family and friends of the newly ordained was presided by the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Lagos, Most (Rev.) Dr. Alfred Martins.
Charging the newly ordained during the homily, administrator of St. Gregory College, Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Ayeni reminded them that the sacred priesthood in the Roman Catholic church is not a career but a calling from God which is a response to an invitation from God.
“The Catholic priesthood has its origin and meaning in the priesthood of Jesus Christ.
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The priesthood is not a career but a calling from God, it is a response to an invitation by God.
The priest is to see himself as a servant imitating Christ. The power of a priest is in his praying. “Attachment to God in prayer will help you at the period of temptation. You will be tempted on all sides to break your vow to God, the choice to remain standing or falling is yours but if you ever fall please don’t stay on the ground. Hold back Notting from the people of God,” Ayeni charged the newly ordained.
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The newly-ordained priests included Rev. Frs. Anthony Eze, Augustine Ododo, Martins Igbadumhe, Benjamin Oddi, Raphael Onah, Christopher Ngbede, Kizito Emenalo , Benedict Anike and others.
Answering questions from journalists after the holy mass, Martins noted that the life of the Catholic priests is one that has to deal with many issues.
“There are distractions, there are all manners of activities that could jeopardise the dignity of the priesthood that they bear. And so, we can only ask them first of all to recognise that God is the anchor that can hold them on when the surges of the temptations and trials come; so they must hold onto God, talking to God to guide them. Secondly, they must recognise that they are human and therefore, they should not make themselves available when any act of temptation or any act that could lead them astray. In other words, every one of us needs to avoid situations that can lead us astray from our purpose in life. That is basically what I will say to them; they have been training for nine years – so they have all the tools; so we can only ask them not to forget all they have learnt over the years,” the Archbishop explained.