Catechist Michael OLAGOKE & Jonatan MAKINDE

Rev. Fr. Arnauld Aniou, CSJ of Josephite Community in Ogbere has reiterated the need to always thank God for everything He has done in our lives in spite of many things that have happened around us, though we might not experience it and share same peace of Christ with others. The priest said this in his homily at St. Anne Catholic Church, Ogbere, Ibadan, on Sunday, 6th July, 2025.

In his homily, he emphasized that the day Gospel reading focused on mission and peace. ‘Jesus Christ sent out his 72 disciples on a mission to preach peace to the people from every town in Judea and Jerusalem. He stressed that we must be a people of peace. We must spread peace everywhere will go as a child of God, whether  priests, religious or lay faithful, we are all sent, this can found in Genesis Chapter 10.’

He said that mission do come with three questions; How, who and what? Who is sent on a mission? Jesus Christ sent 72 disciples today to preach but these 72 represent all of us as Baptized Catholics.

On how is the people sent? Fr. Arnauld said people are sent based on the preparedness and instructions. ‘Any one on a mission must be focused and never be distracted otherwise, the person will derail from the instructions given.’

As to what is the message? The priest stated: “The message is to preach peace to all people.” He emphasized that people on a mission must be prayerful and have personal encounter with Jesus. The message must centre on Jesus not ours and all praises must return to God. We should therefore go out on a way to spread the peace of Christ to our fellow men.

While talking about hindrances to the mission, the priest said that Christ gave the disciples instruction on what to avoid when carrying out our mission such as avoidance of any form of distractions. The homilist shared his experience while he was at European country, how he discovered that, there, they have no time to waste, just greet and go not like African culture that gives room for unnecessary discussions. This, he added taught us the lesson of not wasting time on unnecessary matters so as to achieve Christ’s mission. We should salute people by simply saying ‘peace be with you.’

The priest also talked of the need for peace in carrying out Christ’s mission. Here, we are enjoying, we can sleep and wake up without any problem while the case is different in other places. “To achieve the mission of Christ we need peace, we should be agent of Christ’s peace, though we may not share physically but we can share spiritually even by one hail Mary and this will go a long way to restore peace to our world.

Another hindrance to our mission are challenges, and to solve these challenges, we must pray to overcome challenges that may hinder our mission.  He noted that to fulfill Christ’s mission, not until  we perform a greater things but that with little things  we can achieve our mission and our names will written in heaven, just like Christ said to the disciples to rejoice not only on what they have achieved but because their names will be written in heaven. Therefore, to achieve the mission of Christ, peace is the keynote.

He concluded by saying ‘if we are yet to encounter Christ, we should strive to experience Christ in every area of our lives.’  He then prayed that the peace of Christ abides with us always through Christ our Lord.

The Parishioners, family members and friends also at the day’s Mass rejoiced with birthday celebrants, Mr Anthony Ademola and Baba Raphael Faforiji as both danced forward in thanksgiving to God for witnessing another year in life.

The Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Stephen Balogun thanked the Chief Celebrant and the Homilist, Rev. Frs: Vitalis Ikechukwu, CSJ and Arnauld Aniou, CSJ respectively for celebrating the day’s Mass in the parish. Fr. Balogun also acknowledged  the Alamuye of Amuye in Osun State, Oba (Dr) Adebayo Faforiji, Oteniara III and Olori Adesola Faforiji, who came to rejoice with Baba Faforiji on the occasion of Baba’s birthday thanksgiving.