“Model your lives towards sacrifice and selflessness”,Archbishop Okeke charges newly ordained priests

By Ononye VC
The Metropolitan Archbishop of Onitsha,Most Rev Valerian Okeke has charged 20 newly ordained priests of Archdiocese of Onitsha to model their lives towards sacrifice and selflessness as they are lifted to the exalted office of priesthood having ceased to be ordinary humans as they are ordained.
The Archbishop gave this charge during his homily titled,”The spirit of Christ the good Shepherd”.
The Archbishop expressed gratitude to God for the gift and privilege of the new priests who he mentioned their names in appreciation to God.He offered special prayers for all who gathered for the ordination.
The Archbishop reflected on the spirit of Christ,what He can do and how the faithful can identify Him.He also reflected on the meaning of priestly consecration,what a priest is expected to do and how the faithful can share from his blessings.
The Archbishop buttressed his homily by giving instances of how the spirit of God was with the Biblical Sampson which enabled him to tear a lion apart,David who killed Goliath and was able to win many wars as well as other prophets who worked with the spirit of God.
According to him,when Jesus went into the Synagogue,the spirit of God came into Him before He started preaching,adding that Jesus did everything according to the Will of His father such that the father was in Him and Him in His father.
Thesame the Archbishop maintained,is attributable to the early missionaries like Fr Lutz,Bishop Shanahan and others who the spirit of of God invigorated to achieve their missionary objectives in Southern Nigeria inspite of various challenges and eventual paying of the supreme price.
The Archbishop listed the duties of a priest to include obedience,chastity,poverty,discipline and detachment.
Obedience,the Archbishop pointed out,is one of the the core vows a priest takes to their superiors and successors.He urged them to ” believe in and practice what they preach and model their lives as a sacrifice and cease to be ordinary humans.
“You have to ensure that the spirit is always with you through prayers,a clean spirit and you’ll now live the life of Christ”,the Archbishop charged.
To the faithful,the Archbishop beseeched them not to constitute an obstacle to the duty of the priests but assist them always and never to steal to impress them.
Priests,family members,relatives, representatives of the various towns from where the priests originated besieged the Basilica Square,Onitsha to witness the ordination and receive their candidates.