PENTECOST SUNDAY:PRIEST CALLS FOR ONENESS, UNDERSTANDING & LOVE AMONG CHRISTIANS
REPORTER: OBY ARINZE
As Christendom marks Pentecost Sunday, Christian faithful have been urged to show love, oneness and understanding in relating with people they encounter in daily dealings.
A Catholic priest at Stella Maris Church, GRA Onitsha, Anambra State, the Reverend Father Victor Adibe gave the advice in a sermon to mark the feast of Pentecost.
The Rev. Fr. Adibe, explains Pentecost is a Greek word which means fifty.
Like Easter, the Priest further explained Pentecost was tied to a Jewish feast, celebrated fifty days after Passover, stressing that the presence of the Holy Spirit made the occasion unique.
While speaking on gospel of the day taken from John 20: 19-23, the Rev. Fr. Adibe said Love is the only language that transcends all languages, beliefs, cultures and races.
The priest noted that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church had made it possible for the gospel to reach the ends of the world.
He called for oneness among Nigerians even as a people of different languages, cultures, races and colours.
“We are people of one Spirit of God. In as much as we may not be able to understand one another because of language barriers, we can still understand each other in love,” he preached.
The priest reiterated that when people’s actions speak about love, it would be visible to the blind and audible to the deaf as well as make the impossible in the world to become possible.
The priest enumarated fruits of the Holy Spirit: “Charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance, meekness, faith, modesty, abstinence and chastity” and urged Christians to cling to the Holy Spirit to attain such fruits.
Pentecost Sunday marks the end of Easter season and the beginning of ordinary time among most orthodox Christian Churches’ liturgical year.
