Cathedraticum is a yearly event constituted by the church to celebrate with the Bishop.
Bishop Kukah in his Homily said the Eucharist is the principal thing of the priesthood of which we are called. Without the priesthood of Christ we will not be more than idol worshippers bowing before gods and draining the blood of animals the kind of gods Psalms 115vs6 speaks about. Most of the key themes in our lives as Catholics are enacted here. We are celebrating on a Tuesday largely because of the distances that priests have to travel. Otherwise, this is the Mass of Holy Thursday, the day when Jesus Christ instituted the priesthood and the holy Eucharist, the centre of our lives.
First, this celebration is so important that no priest is allowed to celebrate the holy Mass alone today. All private Masses without people are forbidden. The lesson here is that we priests are only as important as the people we represent and this day is the day we acknowledge and reenact these realities.
The Priests across the Diocese coming together with the Bishop and what it means. This is the point of our priesthood and, surrounded by the people of God, everything about who we are and what we represent comes to its summit today. This celebration therefore is the highest representation of our priesthood and the Church of God on earth.
We mark the ordination conferred by Jesus on that night when at table, after giving thanks He said: Take this and eat, for this is my body. Do this in memory of me. He did the same with the wine and from then till date, this is what we have continued to celebrate. This singular act laid the foundation for the ordination of the Priesthood of Christ and this is what binds us with the priesthood of Jesus Christ. This is what we, ordinary mortals, taken from among you and made high priests are called upon to do every time we stand on the altar (Heb. 5:1) Thus, the altar around which we gather today, represents that sacred table around which Jesus gathered with His Apostles. Every priest is taking among men to offer sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins and Jesus is the center of this sacrifice and no one takes to honour to himself. We did not become priest because we are most prayerful, holy, hardworking etc. but because it is a gift and no one can claim that he deserves this gift.
The key reason catholic priest embrace Celibacy is not because they object the sense of marriage, is not because the priest does not experience loneliness, rather the key reason for celibacy is simply because the church in his wisdom decided that the priest most place himself to a position that his family situation do not way him down.
All Priests will renew their Priestly promises today, those promises they made on the day they were ordained to the priesthood, thus making this date superior to the ordinary days we all mark as our anniversaries of priestly ordination. On this anniversary of the day when Jesus our Lord conferred the priesthood on His Apostles and us.
The priests will renew their commitment towards seeking unity and conformity with the mind of Christ in serving the people entrusted to their care, they will remind themselves that they are merely stewards of the Eucharist and that they undertake to teach the people of God.
Speaking during the Homily Bishop Kukah said, priest must be ready to listen to people.
"I want everybody to know me as a Priest of the Catholic Church. If I wanted to make money, I would not have joined priesthood. Hence, I don't become a Priest to make money but to pastor people to know and serve God in sincerity.
Speaking further, Bishop Kukah said, Nigerians have no consideration for her constitution hence allowing many things to go wrong.
According to him, freedom of worship is enshrined in the constitution. However, some are in the habit of compelling people to convert to their own religion or face death.
While insisting that, the act of using compulsion by any individual, group(s) or society to either convert somebody from Christianity to Islam or Islam to Christianity remained condemnable, Bishop Kukah said, Leah, the only unfreed abducted girl of Dapchi village was able to prove to her abductors that, she is a Christian and will forever be even with the threat to her life.
He said, denying her freedom by Boko Haram for refusing to denounce her faith was simply but a manifestation of the fact that the constitution is not supreme in the eyes of some.
Said Kukah, "Leah's courage and faith has not only done her parents proud for demonstrating such sound upbringing, but also made all Christians proud that, no amount of travail could deter them from their faith.
"How many Christians can boost of saying even if we are not alive, our children can live to profess the Christian faith despite persecution?
"Our responsibility as Christians goes beyond being a member of a Church, associations and bodies, rather we have to start engaging in pastoral life. Everything we do in the Church is of no value unless we engage in holiness directed at making heaven.
"Thousands of Nigerian Christians sufferers the same fate as Leah, because they are denied promotions, appointments, employments, unjust dismissal amongst numerous other forms of injustices".
Kukah who urged all Nigerians, Christians and Muslims alike to continue praying for Leah, said he is optimistic that her incarceration was simply a matter of time, hence God would intervene in His miraculous way soon.
Finally, the Bishop alongside the priest blesses the Oil of the Sick, Catechumens and Chrism Oil.
The Homily was delivered at the Holy Family Cathedral Catholic Church, Bello Way Sokoto. By His Lordship Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah
