Fr. Peter IBIMILUYI

 

​A day of profound joy and thanksgiving unfolded at St. Peter Catholic Church, Apata, on Saturday, September 13, 2025, as Sr. Valentina Ifeyinwa Adeyemo of the Our Lady of Apostles (OLA) Congregation celebrated her 25th Anniversary of Religious Profession.

 

​The celebration began with a special Mass presided over by the celebrant's brother, Fr. Jude Abiodun Adeyemo, who serves as the Parish Priest of St. Francis Catholic Church, Sanyo-Soka, and the Head Teacher at Sacred Heart Nursery and Primary School, Oke - Ado. The homily was delivered by Prof. Akinwale Anthony, O.P., the recently appointed Vice-Chancellor of Augustine University, Ilara - Epe, Lagos State.

The Church was filled with priests from both the Ibadan and Lagos Archdioceses, along with Sr. Valentina's OLA family, friends, and relatives who traveled from near and far to honor her.

 

​Overwhelmed with emotion, Sr. Valentina expressed her heartfelt gratitude to all who came to celebrate with her. She lovingly acknowledged the foundational training she received from her mother, Mama Adeyemo, and offered prayers for the eternal rest of her late father’s soul.

The homilist referred to the words of the parable of the sower as typifying the life of a religious.  “They take on a unique significance in the life of a religious, especially on her silver jubilee of religious profession. These words speak to Sr. Valentina Aderonke Adeyemo in an intensely personal way.”

“Today, we rejoice with Sister Valentina. Her religious profession is to be understood as a sign of her reception of the word of God. The Lord made her heart a rich soil to receive his word. She heard the word of the divine farmer who sows the word and cultivates it in the heart of those who receive it. Her divine spouse called her. She responded. And here she is today, twenty-five years later, to thank God for her religious vocation.”

To the celebrant, Fr Akinwale says: “Sister Valentina, you answered the call twenty-five years ago. Yet, every new day added to your span, indeed every new breath you breathe is a gift from God to be used to renew your response to this call. The religious is threatened by Satan. So the religious must watch and pray, not just watch, not just pray, but watch and pray. Satan is not interested in those who do not receive the word of God. They are already what he wants them to be. But he is interested in those who aspire to hear the word of God. He is interested in those who are striving to walk closer with the Lord. That is why he is interested in religious. The world, and the self, the noise of materialism, the attractions of pleasure, possessions, and power, these too threaten our vocation. That is why we pray, dear Sister Valentina: may the Lord who has called you grant you the grace to renew your positive response to his loving invitation.”

For those in attendance, the homilist admonished thus: “And to all of us here present, to all of us who have come to rejoice with Sister Valentina and pray with and for her, we too hear our call. To the call from God, the call from the Gospel we must respond like seed that fall on rich soil. All of us—priests, religious and lay faithful—must respond to the call of the Gospel, the call to bear witness to the Gospel wherever the Lord places us. We must cooperate with the grace of God so that the word may bear fruit in us. Then we shall bring the best out of each other by the good example we bear before each other. And, bringing the best out of each other, we shall be in a position to bring about the best in our country and in our world.”

 

The celebrant had a thanksgiving, supported by all and following the Mass, a reception was held in her honor on the Church grounds, providing a joyous conclusion to the day's festivities.