The Assistant Parish Priest of St. Francis Catholic Church, Ekehuan Road, Benin City, Rev. Fr. Alexander Ejiofor, has called on Christians to shun pride and humble themselves before God.
Speaking in a sermon on Sunday, July 9, 2023, based on the day’s readings from the book of Zechariah 9:9-10, Romans 8:9,11-13, and Matthew 11:25-30, Fr. Ejiofor harped on the need “to be humble in heart in order for us to achieve that which God has designed for us”.
The priest, who started the sermon with a song of praise titled “Count your blessings”, praise and thanked God for His blessings and everything He has done while the congregation sang along.
Dwelling on the first reading, Fr. Ejiofor explained how the book of Prophet Zachariah guaranteed the assurance of hope for the post-exilic people of God – the promise of hope for the children of God after exile.
He narrated the story on how the children of Israel were taken to captivity by the Babylonians long after settling in the land which God had promised them, and how God used his servant Jeremiah to give the children assurance of hope.
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Sing and shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey,” he read.
On the gospel reading taken from Matthew 11:25-30, the Catholic priest explained how Christians have misinterpreted the concept of the scripture, “Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.
Referencing to how Christians go to church once a week to ask for blessings and after that never show up in weekdays masses till the need for blessings arises the next Sunday, Fr. Ejiofor clarified that the scripture actually talks about making oneself available for God.
