By Olivia Obijiaku
The Parish Priest of St Ann’s Catholic Church, Zango Tama, Catholic Diocese of Zaria, Rev Fr Patrick Andrew Atama celebrated the Mass of Thursday, 16th November, 2023 at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Ahmadu Bello University, (ABU), Zaria where he told the faithful to take cognizance of the leadership of God over their lives because His Kingdom is not restricted to a particular location.
Hinging his homily on the day’s Gospel Reading of Luke 17:20-25 in which the Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God was coming, the priest explained that it takes divine wisdom to discover that the Kingdom of God is already established as seen in the First Reading, Wis. 7:22-8:1.
“The Kingdom of God is not localized to a particular person or place” The celebrant taught. “When we accept Jesus; when we accept His commands; when we decide to do the will of God, the Kingdom of God will be within us and it is for us to realize the reign of God in our lives. Therefore, it has to affect you and transform you from inside out. It was because of earthly wisdom devoid of heavenly wisdom that the Scribes and the Pharisees in our Gospel reading today asked Jesus, ‘When will the Kingdom of God come?’ while the kingdom was already with them. Do not expect the Kingdom of God to come with a great proclamation. It will come in a silent and noiseless way.”
“Divine wisdom is a gift to those who search God. Once we are able to posses it, we overcome everything and we are able to see the face of God in everyone, we are able to see the hand of God in everything that happens around us. But once we do not have this divine wisdom, then brothers and sisters, our thoughts, our actions are confined within this earth and every other thing we enjoy in this world. It is not like the worldly kingdom that has physical structures. It all about recognizing the will of God in our lives; seeing God in one another. Once you allow Jesus to live in you, the Kingdom of God is already with you. Be the light of the world wherever you find yourself. Let people see the Kingdom of God in you, from the way you relate with them.”
Fr Atama cited St Martin De Porres, a soldier before he became converted and became a priest and a bishop as one who experience of discovering Jesus in a beggar paved way for his new life. “There is this story behind the conversion of St Martin of Tours. He decided to give out of his cloak, army coat to another person, to a beggar, not knowing that person was Jesus. He had a dream that actually the person he helped was Jesus. That was a turning moment in his life. He was able to see the Kingdom of God in that person and that was a transforming moment.”
