Fr. Tanko tasks the faithful on ambition, sees Beatitudes as template, guide to right ambition

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By Olivia Obijiaku
Parishioners of Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria have been tasked to pursue ambitions that would lead them to heaven. The Dean of Samaru Deanery of the Catholic Diocese of Zaria, Very Rev Fr. Prof Peter Bauna Tanko gave this charge while leaning on the Gospel of the day, Sunday, 22nd September, 2024, on Mk. 9:30-37, if anyone will be first, he must be the servant of all in explaining that it is the end result of every ambition that makes it a positive or negative one. He referenced the Beatitudes as a true template and guide to the right ambition, thereby listing ambitions that are worth pursuing.

“Everyone has an ambition.” The priest asserted. “The apostles of Jesus were ambitious. So, Jesus did not actually condemn ambition. He redefined it. For the ambition to rule others, Jesus substituted with the ambition to serve others. For the ambition to have others serving you – that you are the master of them all, Jesus substituted it with the ambition to do things for others. Jesus only condemned false ambition – an ambition that will not at the end necessarily take you to heaven. Ambition in itself is okay. But the question is, ‘To what end is my ambition?’”

“From a biblical point of view, the right ambition includes the ambition to serve others; the ambition to glorify and worship our God; the ambition to pursue a life of justice and peace; the ambition to pursue a life of holiness; and the ambitions are mostly captured in the Bible in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus taught the Beatitudes. Those are the things you should be primarily ambitious about. The ambition to be a true witness of the Gospel, that your life reflects the Gospel. Set your eyes thus on the things that are above … (Col3:2).”

Fr. Tanko itemized wrong ambitions as self-interest, materialism, selfishness, self-centeredness deviance about God’s commandment, among others. He then charged them to purse the ambition to serve others as Jesus did.

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