Certain Catholic Bishops in Africa have, on the occasion of the solemnity of the most Holy Trinity, urged the people of God they are shepherding to emulate the unity that exists in the Holy Trinity and shun the hatred that divides them. Some of these bishops who spoke peace to the world were outside our media reach but our Correspondent in Africa were able to lay hands on two from two major countries in Africa. One of the Bishops was the immediate past President of RECOWA-CERAO from Nigeria while the other is from Kenya.
The Correspondent of RECOWACERAO NEWS AGENCY, RECONA located in Abuja, the political capital of Nigeria informed our media crew in Abidjan that Bishop Simon Peter Kamomoe, the Auxiliary Bishop of Kenya’s Nairobi Archdiocese, and Archbishop Ignatius Ayau Kaigama of Nigeria’s Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja separately underlined the power of the Holy Spirit in uniting humanity right from the family level.
In his Sunday, May 26 homily Archbishop Kaigama urged the people of God under his care and in the entire nation to embrace the unity of the Holy Trinity and shun “dehumanizing religious, tribal, racial, and cultural discriminations”.
“As we celebrate the unity of the three persons in one God we must do away with the dehumanizing religious, tribal, racial, and cultural discriminations, to appreciate and promote our oneness in God, despite our differences,” he said in his on May 26 at Church of The Annunciation, Kpaduma.
The Nigerian Archbishop added, “We must do away with the spirit of division, hatred, and all forms of segregation and realize that we are one people with one God, living and working together for our salvation and the salvation of the world.”
“As we celebrate the Most Holy Trinity, may we be united in love for God and one another,” he said, adding, “Let the spirit of hatred give way to love, let the spirit of corruption give way to sincerity and progress.”
The feast of the Most Holy Trinity, Archbishop Kaigama said, “reminds us further, that there is One God who is also the Father of all, whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Traditionalist, rich, poor, white, black, boy or girl, man or woman, etc., we are all sons and daughters of the same One God.”
The Local Ordinary of Abuja Archdiocese since November 2019 said the fact that the existence of humanity can be traced to “a Being who is infinite and immutable” shows a commonality among the people of God.
The 65-year-old Catholic Church leader, who started his Episcopal Ministry in April 1995 as Bishop of Nigeria’s Jalingo Diocese said, due to the “shared origin”, it is “therefore needless for Christians and Muslims to see each other as rivals.”
“We must not allow mere external and accidental differences manufactured by disordered desires to truncate the genuine plan and design of God,” Archbishop Kaigama said.
He added, “We may pray differently, communicate differently, and dress differently, but it does not take away the fact of our common humanity; we must express mutual trust and cordial acceptance of one another despite our seeming differences.”
“The Church reminds us that the three Divine Persons are distinct but not divided or separated. Instead, they work together in perfect unity. They have the same mission, which is, the salvation of the world,” Archbishop Kaigama said.
In his Sunday, May 26 homily at the Holy Trinity Buruburu Parish of Nairobi Archdiocese, Bishop Kamomoe said, “We are called to emulate the perfection of unity exemplified in the Holy Trinity.”
“Each of the three persons in the Triune God has His unique role. God the Father created the earth and all that is there; God the Son redeemed the world and God the Holy Spirit sanctified the world,” the recently Consecrated Auxiliary Bishop of the Kenyan Archdiocese said
Bishop Kamomoe cautioned the people of God against vices such as corruption that he said threaten unity and harmony, thereby creating discord.
“Let’s pray that God drives away the spirit of corruption from us because corruption destroys our unity, it has destroyed the unity of all Kenyans and it will continue causing the destruction,” he said.
He added, “We are supposed to promote unity by living according to God’s will. Besides having this unity in the Church, let’s also promote it in our homes for the wellbeing of the marriage institution.”
Bishop Kamomoe asked the couples whose marriages were solemnized on the same day to emulate the unity in the Holy Trinity to cement their families.
“If a marriage lacks unity, then it is bound to problems. In marriage, let’s pray a lot to get an insight on how to perfect our relationships as couples and family members,” the Bishop said.
He continued, “Every day is a day of perfection and that is why you need to pray together and also be together every day for a family that prays together remains together.”
“Let’s pray and thank God so that He can give us the blessing of the Holy Spirit to foster unity in us as a parish, Church, the Christian unity in the whole world and to also have that unity in our families to share in the Holy Trinity,” Bishop Kamomoe said.
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