Peter ESANMAH

Rev. Fr. Stephen Udechukwu has said Catholic Church needs the Rock of Peter’s in order to move forward. He said this during the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul on Sunday, 29th June, 2025 at Holy Trinity, Abapanu.

According to the priest, these two saints are celebrated on the same day because Jesus founded his Church on Saint Peter and Saint Paul who were the greatest evangelists in the history of the Church.

The priest stated that the Church reminds us that – even though as individuals and as local parishes of the same faith communion, some will prefer the style of Peter and others that of Paul; we should not let that divide us since we are, first and foremost, followers of the one Lord Jesus Christ and children of one Father, God.

The priest said each of the two Apostles had a different mission, but together they built up the Church that Jesus Christ founded.  The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles so clearly shows the awesome power of God, in a seemingly hopeless situation.  Peter was chained up in prison with two times the normal restraints given to other prisoners, and twice the guards as well.

The priest said the Church recognizes the truth in Saint Paul’s words, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” And he certainly did. Saint Paul tirelessly gave his life for Christ right up until the last moments of his life. That is all that any of us can ever really hope for as well.

Hopefully, we too will make it to the “finish line” with our faith still intact and look back at our life with little regrets.

Lastly, the priest asked: “Do we even wonder if we are putting our life to good use for the Lord and for those we love and the people in our community too?  We still have time to make some adjustments to our goals in life, if we need to.”

Similarly, the Church unveiled her banner for Harvest of Abundance Mercy and each society was ably represented during the unveiling of the banner after which a photograph was taken.