By Valentine Obienyem :
I wish you could listen to Bishop Godfrey Onah before reading this piece, which his homily provoked: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1XaMJViKo7hWYSHj/?mibextid=Le6z7H.
Why are Bishop Onah’s homilies widely circulated, even by non-Christians? Why is it that even the deprived children of today, who have little respect for the sacred, cherish and share his preachings?
I believe it is for the same reasons that led me to circulate his homilies. Like the early Fathers of the Church, he is deeply committed to the teachings of the Church, in light of the Bible. Have you seen him speak? He is a bishop in the finest tradition of the Church, nurturing and educating the people of God. His homilies enlighten and educate.
The attached homily uses St Augustine’s explanation of Prophet Ezekiel as a starting point. St Augustine was a profound early Christian theologian and philosopher, whose works, such as Confessions and The City of God, deeply influenced Western Christianity and philosophy, particularly on issues of grace, sin, and the nature of the Church.
St Augustine is an example of true conversion. As Bishop Onah said, during his time, the Catholic Church was the only Church that existed – we had not yet witnessed the fragmentation of Christianity into sects, many of which are hardly Christian in belief or practice. However, even in his time, many heresies troubled the Church.
Augustine had hardly taken his seat as bishop (what is called canonical possession) when he began a lifelong war against the Donatists. He also fought against Pelagius, the monk who, with reckless audacity, claimed there was no such thing as original sin or the fall of man – only the individual who commits a sin is punished for it, and it does not transmit guilt to future generations.
Augustine was a Manichean before his conversion and afterwards fought the group with all the physical, spiritual, and intellectual energy he could muster. Augustine’s critique of Manichaeism can be found in his writings, especially in works like Confessions and Against the Manicheans (Contra Faustum), where he refutes their beliefs and explains why he abandoned the sect, attacking it from the standpoint of one who understood it deeply.
In his dealings with the Vandals, who promoted Arian theology, Augustine, the venerable lion of the faith, is said to have stood unwavering at his post when the Vandals came. Until the very end, he battled in the theological arena, confronting fresh heresies, silencing critics, addressing objections, and dispelling doubts.
When Augustine was not engaged in theological debate, he retreated to the realm of the mind, labouring principally with his pen. From his prolific writings emerged works such as De Trinitate, De Libero Arbitrio (On Free Will), The Confessions, Civitas Dei (The City of God), and countless letters whose influence remains active in theology. His sermons alone fill volumes and were delivered in a simple style adapted to his unlettered congregation.
Like our Lord Bishop, priests are encouraged to read the sermons of Augustine. I know a priest friend who enjoys my writings, I guess he would jokingly insist that only prelates like Bishop Onah should read such book – one bishop reading the work of another bishop.
As if addressing the heretics of modern times – what Bishop Onah described as practical heretics, as opposed to the intellectual heretics of Augustine’s time- Augustine wrote to a friend: “Do not dispute with heated arguments,” the sort we see in Dr Damina, “about things you do not yet comprehend, or those which in Scripture seem… incongruous or contradictory; patiently wait for the day of your understanding.”
Faith must come before understanding: “Do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe in order to understand”—crede ut intelligas. The authority of Scripture surpasses all human intellectual efforts. However, the Bible should not always be interpreted literally; it was written to be accessible to simple minds, using physical language to convey spiritual truths. When interpretations differ, we must trust the decisions of Church councils, relying on the collective wisdom of the Church’s most enlightened thinkers—the Magisterium of today!
Philosophers may be surprised to learn that even Descartes’ “Cogito, ergo sum” can trace its origins back to St Augustine.
As we listen to Bishop Onah’s homily, as attached https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1XaMJViKo7hWYSHj/?mibextid=Le6z7H, let us pray that the Church continues to raise men into the priesthood who are driven by a burning desire and love for the Church’s sacred mission, not by material gains that have, over the years, led us to where we are today.
We need a Church that will re-examine her mission and confront head-on the resurgence of paganism we are witnessing. This task belongs to all of us, but we are confident that, as Christ promised, the gates of hell will not prevail against His Church.
Let us take solace in the words of St Ambrose: “Amid the agitations of the world,” he said, “the Church remains unmoved; the waves cannot shake her. While everything around her descends into chaos, she offers a tranquil port to all the shipwrecked, where they will find safety.” And so it remains.
