By Olivia Obijiaku
“Some of us think that prayer is magic.” …“They think that prayer means having everything they ask God to give them. If God is to always answer your prayers the way you want it, you will be disgusted with yourself but He answers according to His will for our lives”.
Vice Rector of St Joseph’s Minor Seminary, Zaria Rev Fr Matthias Adugba has called on the people of God to see pains as an essential part of their lives. He made this call in the school chapel on Saturday, 29th January when he hinged his homily on the day’s readings, first in which David paid for sleeping with Uriah’s wife and the Gospel in which the stormed scared the apostles, despite Jesus’ nearness to them.
“Some of us think that prayer is magic.” The rector said. “They think that prayer means having everything they ask God to give them. If God is to always answer your prayers the way you want it, you will be disgusted with yourself but He answers according to His will for our lives. Sometimes, death is an answer to prayer. Today, David wanted God to save his child but He didn’t. He kept praying but the child still dies and he did not scandalize God.
“In the Gospel, the apostles believed somehow that Jesus was a Powerful Man – but not completely. Jesus was present with them and they feared. They thought of their own safety, forgetting the safety of Jesus who was also in the boat with them. Some of us think that Jesus will always take away all storm when He is with us. No, He walks us through the storm but His Presence sustains us through the storm. No one will perish when Jesus is with them. He needs us to believe that He is there with us. He wants to be inside of us to overcome our challenges and struggles. His presence does not take away the pains but He goes through it with us.”
Explaining that pains are meant to make one stronger in faith, Fr Adugba led them to imagine growing up without any challenge – having everything and having no pains and assured that those who come to terms with their pains and challenges are bound to have a beautiful story at the end of it all – if they invite the Storm Calmer to walk them through the storms of their lives.