By Olivia Obijiaku
Followers of the Risen Lord have been urged to listen to the voice of the Advocate who guides them through means such as the scriptures and their consciences. The Catholic Bishop of Zaria, Most Rev. Dr. Habila Tyiankonaboi Daboh gave the task on at Christ the King Catholic Cathedral (CKCC), Sabo Gari, Zaria, Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2026.
The local ordinary observed that some people are often frightened as they suspect evil and demonic attack, while they hardly notice the quiet ways that the Holy Spirit has been protecting, guiding and blessing them every day. He taught that some problems and difficulties are not spiritual attacks, clarifying that, sometimes, God teaches patience, maturity, trust or wisdom through ordinary life experiences,
His words, “Dear brothers and sisters, we must learn again how to recognize and listen to the Holy Spirit. The Spirit often speaks through conscience, through Scripture, through prayer, through wise counsel, through inner peace, and sometimes through a persistent feeling that urges us to do good or avoid evil. There are moments you suddenly feel moved to call someone, forgive someone, visit someone, pray quietly, help the poor, or avoid a sinful situation — very often, that is the Holy Spirit gently speaking to your heart.”
“The Holy Spirit still speaks, but we are too busy to listen
The Holy Spirit still guides, but we are too distracted to follow
The Holy Spirit still sends us, but we are too occupied to go. The Holy Spirit still gives us wisdom, but we think we are wiser than the Holy Spirit. The greatest danger today is not that the Holy Spirit has stopped working, but many hearts are closed to Him. If we pray more, remain silent before God more often, read Scripture more deeply, and live with sincere hearts, we shall begin to notice that the Holy Spirit has been walking with us all along.
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“One of the great spiritual problems of our time is that many Christians speak more about the devil than about the Holy Spirit. Some people see evil spirits in almost everything: a bad dream, a headache, a delayed journey, a failed examination, or even burnt rice in the kitchen! Yet Jesus promised us not fear, but the Holy Spirit. Sadly, many believers can easily recognize fear, darkness, and evil, but struggle to recognize peace, wisdom, courage, patience, forgiveness, and love as signs of the Holy Spirit working within them. The Holy Spirit does not shout to compete with noise; He whispers because He desires a relationship.”
Presenting the Comforter as the strength of tired priests, the wisdom of the Church, the courage of martyrs, the comfort of the suffering, the fire of missionaries, and the hope of believers, Bishop Daboh invited them to pray with humility, even as he prayed that Mary, Mother of the Church, who journeyed spiritually with the Apostles at Pentecost, may continue to intercede for them all.
