By Olivia Obijiaku
A visiting priest to Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Rev Fr Gabriel Ojonugwa Agbo has charged the faithful to affiliate their challenges with the agony of Christ so that they may be victorious like Him in the end.
He gave this charge at the Mass of Palm Sunday, 24th March leading participants to reflect on the gains of the pains and death of the Saviour.Identifying with the needs of the people, the celebrant observed that there are times when one’s appearance masks their predicament like Jesus who went triumphantly to His crucifixion and death.“There is a lot that a good number of us may be going through.” The priest opined. “And sometimes, this suffering of ours is shrouded by our appearance.
Jesus was triumphantly going into Jerusalem to go and suffer. Jesus triumphantly came into Jerusalem, disguised the fact that He is on His way to die.
When you see the way most of us were dancing and singing and rejoicing into the chapel, you will not know that behind some of these shouts and some of this singing and some of this rejoicing is a suffering man or a suffering woman.
If God gives any of us the ability to see the suffering or what is going on in our hearts, we may not want to come to Church. But sometimes we go through all this yet we underestimate the effect of the suffering and come into the Church to worship Him who is the King, who suffered all for you and I.What the Church wants us to see is Jesus triumphantly coming into Jerusalem to endure His Passion.
The question is, ‘Why will Jesus triumphantly go into His Passion? What is the gain of pain and suffering? What is the gain of dying? The gain of the death of Christ will be experienced only at His Resurrection.
As we go into the Holy Week, continue to think on what can be the gain of whatever you are going through because at the end of every suffering will it be a victorious life that Jesus already exemplified.
Let us remember that if we learn to suffer like He did; to suffer with Him and lay our suffering garments, lay ourselves before His Cross then I tell you, you will go through a lot but you will rejoice at the end.”Fr Agbo noted that those who jeered at Him and others who put all the suffering on Him thought it was His end but at the Resurrection, they were busy looking for ways to cover up the fact that He has risen from the dead. “So there will be joy in heaven.
There will be joy on earth also over what you are going through only if you learn to suffer with Christ.” He conditioned.
