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HUMAN RELATIONSHIP AMONG PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS
Seat Wisdom Seminary Umuahia
Wisdom Publication Series (Vol 1)
Insensitivity to the needs of other people
This simply means being less concerned about other peoples feelings. Some priests are so self-centered that they find it hard to consider the feelings or needs of other priests. Insensitivity can come from either the senior or the junior priests. When a priest plays his radio to the extent that it becomes a disturbance to the other priest, he is inconsiderate. When a parish priest fails to fuel the parish generator just because he has his own private small generator, which he uses alone, he is inconsiderate. When a priest brings a visitor into the rectory anyhow without minding whether the other priest is comfortable or not he is Inconsiderate. When a priest capitalizes on another's mistake and fails to tolerate another; and he is only concerned about what pleases him, he is inconsiderate.

We can now say that insensitivity occurs when a priest does whatever pleases him without minding how the fellow priest is affected by his action. When this is done, there will be the tendency for the fellow priest to react and in a bid to do this, conflict may arise. So insensitivity stands to be one of the factors why priests living together fail to get along well. If it is looked into, it will go a long way to maintain peace and harmony in the parish house.

Prejudice acquired in the seminary or during seminary days
When we talk of Seminary days, we refer to the time spent in the process of formation. Seminary days are not limited to experiences in the seminary only, but it encompasses other experiences like during apostolic work and holidays. It is worthy of note that prejudice acquired in the seminary can cause conflict in the parish. Take for instance, if a seminarian who later became a priest is posted to work under a priest who wished he was not ordained because of past prejudice, problems may arise. Likewise if a priest known for being disobedient during his seminary days is posted to work under a priest whom he disobeyed strongly when they were seminarians, the parish priest will be biased to welcome him and that will initiate the beginning of a fresh misunderstanding. In other words, what now causes this misunderstanding is what we can call “transferred prejudice” Tied to the above, Seminary days encompasses also habits one acquired during the Seminary days for instance a priest who as a seminarian failed to live in harmony with his fellow seminarians will most likely be unable to live well with fellow priests. Finally, priests should take the seminary experience as part of the formation and should not allow the prejudice acquired while in the seminary to creep into the ministry for there is a very big demarcation between “seminarian-hood and priesthood”. If this is done there will be lesser or no conflict among priests living together.

Non application of seminary formation and direction
The Seminary has been the formation house for the effective operation in the priestly ministry. It is where priests are trained the way they should behave in the ministry. In the Seminary, four pillars of formation are being stressed: Intellectual, Spiritual, Pastoral and human formation. The Seminary is very wise in emphasizing on these four pillars because when any one of them lacks there will be problem. Implicitly, the lack of some of these pillars/areas of formation has been another factor responsible for the conflict in the parish houses. It is quite unfortunate, that some priests after ordination relegate and drop some of the good habits acquired during the process of formation and they shape themselves on the imaginary image of an ideal as opposed to the real. Therefore, priests, through constant retreats and reunion with their Bishops should be made to understand fully the need to put the four Areas of formation into practice and when this is done there will be Peace among priests living together.

Inferiority complex
This arises when one feels that he is not good; important; intelligent like the other. This factor is another major cause of misunderstanding in parish houses. Lack of proper management of this feeling can result to conflict. Inferiority breeds envy which can result to unhealthy competition and in turn end in conflict. When a priest (be it parish priest or assistant priest) decides to the other priest simply because he feels that the parishioners love one, more than the other, this can cause conflict when noticed by the other priest. Evidence abound where a parish priest centers his homily on the imperfection of his assistant so as to denigrate him because the parishioners are cherishing him more than himself.

This factor can be very harmful, it can give rise to psychological tension, which will make one to be pastorally ineffective. At times, this feeling of inferiority finds its outlet in excessive aggression, annoyance, shouting, quarreling over little matters. These behaviors are maladaptive. Priests should know that no two persons are the same, so he should not look on himself as being less privileged or hated but rather should utilize the good qualities of the person he works with, instead of backbiting him because of that. If it is done, conflict among priests living together can be eradicated.

Superiority complex
This occurs when one sees himself as being better, more skilful, more powerful, more privileged, and greater than the other. Superiority complex can arise in one hand, based on ones intellectual background, financial standard, and host of privileges. Superiority complex is another factor that can cause conflict in the parish houses. It can come from the parish priest or the assistant. Superiority complex makes one to see others as inferior, or becomes authority conscious and proud, and it gives rise to I am here, you are there mentality'. One who is inclined to this superiority complex will always find it hard to live with a fellow priest because he will like to make the last decision and see it implemented; he will like to be issuing orders no matter how favorable or not it will be to others, he will find it hard to hearken to the orders of the parish priest.

Superiority complex can be showcased in many ways by the parish priest or the assistant. For instance when a parish priest tells his assistant to go and consult the diocesan annual calendar to know where his name falls before he can talk to him, is a showcase of superiority complex. When an assistant parish priest tells his parish priest to stop correcting him, and that he got first class in his 'B. Phil and BA degree exams', he is exhibiting superiority complex. Superiority complex therefore occurs when one regards oneself as the best in anything and therefore should not be. Therefore, priests should know that no matter what they are, or have, they are all servants of God's work. Bearing this in mind, they should shun superiority complex and work in harmony with one another.

Why do religious disagree among themselves in the same Community?
Non-Conformity to religious life
This is one of the major causes of conflict among religious in the community. Most religious find it hard to conform to the religious life of communal sharing; common ownership of properties. Some religious see it as cheat on them either because they have more than others and in a bid of showcasing this egocentric mentality conflict ensures. Instances abound where a religious decides to cook alone, eat alone, maintain a particular car all alone because he/she feels that others are depending on his/her income but this is not a religious identity and can only end up causing conflict. Remember the religious commitment of total surrender. It is not when it is well but when it is hard too!! To be contd.

THE OSU CASTE SYSTEM, THE LAW AND THE CHURCH
By: BARRISTER LOVEDAY E. NJOKU
(08038902229)
The Osu Caste system is a worrisome phenomenon that was and remains an aspect of Igbo tradition and culture. There is no doubt that the continued existence of the system in the Igbo society has grave socio-cultural implications. Culture and tradition are essential features of a people's life. Culture, for instance, is the aggregate of the attitudes and values which inform a society. Tradition, on the other hand, is a collection of beliefs, practices, values, etc, peculiar to a particular unit say a family, community, people, race, etc. These (culture and tradition) are usually passed on from generation to generation and are most often preserved as the people's heritage. Culture is said to be dynamic. That is to say that culture is amenable to civilization and tradition which is just an aspect of culture, it not immune to changes. In order words, civilization influences the culture of a people, meaning that as a society gets more and more civilized, the negative aspects of its culture and tradition are done away with, while the positive aspects are improved upon in the overall interest of that society.

The notorious Osu caste system seems to have defied all measures, statutory and otherwise aimed at eradicating it. This is unfortunate. The reason for this unfortunate situation is not far-fetched. The system is deeply entrenched and strongly embedded in the culture of Ndigbo and most Igbo people, though they have embraced Christianity, still reserve some respect for their culture, including this negative and barbaric aspect called Osu caste system. We shall examine here, the Osu caste system, measures taken in the past to obliterate it, the role of the church as well as the position of the law with respect to this practice and such like practices.

What is Osu caste system? It is a socio-cultural practice which divides the Igbo society into two classes The Diala / Nwaafor / freeborn and the Osu/Nwaanrusi classes and encourages discrimination against the Osu. The system regards the Diala as the superior class whereas the Osu is regarded as inferior class treated in some areas as if they are, in fact, infra-human.
The so-called Osu do not enjoy equal treatment with the Diala.
Who Was Osu?
This referred to one dedicated or offered as a living sacrifice to a divinity, deity or Arusi. When one voluntarily dedicated oneself to a deity, such a person also became an Osu by choice and from thenceforth his generations, born and unborn would remain Osu. Having been dedicated or having dedicated himself to the deity as servitor, such a person was regarded as property or even a child of the deity.
Some Osu lived in the shrines or grooves of the deities to which they were sacrificed, dedicated or they dedicated themselves, whereas some did not live in the grooves but separately from the so-called Diala. Presently, the so-called Osu no longer live in the grooves. Moreover, such grooves are no longer common. Some of the so called Osu also now live among the so-called Diala.
How did people become Osu?
It is apposite to understand how somebody could become Osu. The following were some of the ways:
1.One who committed a heinous crime might seek protection and security from a dirty which one believed had more power than human beings. By taking this step, the person was sure that he would live, being in the hands of the god which the people worshipped and feared. A person who took refuge in the hand of the deities was untouchable.
2. Hard times, dejection and inability to prosper could lead to one dedicating oneself to a deity. This would make it mandatory for the worshippers of the given deity to fend for him.
3. A person who discovered that he was to be sold off or killed because of his sins would run to the deity and beg it to protect him. Having done this, he became untouchable.
4. If a person was a war captive, he would either be sold off or offered as a living sacrifice to an oracle or deity or he would be dedicated to the oracle in thanks giving for success in war. He became an OSU.
5.A person could also be bought or kidnapped and dedicated to the oracle for atonement for crimes committed against the oracle.
Nowadays, however, goats or cows are used in place of human beings, giving rise to the emergence of such sacrificial animals as Eghuagbara, Ehi Ogwugwu, EHI Amadioha etc.
6.The offspring of an Osu became an Osu by bloodline.
7.Any Diala or free born who married an Osu became an Osu.
8. Any person who slept in a shrine till morning automatically became Osu.
9.Any child born in a shrine or by the side of a shrine became an Osu unless its father replaced it with another human being.
10. Any person who fetched water from the stream on a particular day reserved for the Osu became an Osu.
11. Any person who had sexual intercourse with an Osu became an Osu.
THE IDENTITY OF THE OSU IN THE PAST
The Osu were identified in the past by:
a Unkempt hair and overgrown finger nails. Perhaps, this was because they had no barbers. They appeared like mad people.
b. Offensive and repulsive body odour, perhaps as a result of poor hygiene or residence in a groove.
c. Some of them lived in the shrine.
d. In some communities, they were given marks.
FORMS OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE OSU IN THE PAST
1. Not buying from the same market as free-borns or Diala
2. Not sharing common seats in schools.
3. Not attending the same churches or sitting evenly in church,
4. The Osu were not given traditional titles such as Eze, Nze, Ozo, Iche, etc.
5. They had their own days to fetch water from the local streams.
6. Not visiting the same barbers,
7. Not enjoying inter-marriage with the Diala.
8. It was a taboo for a Diala to cry during the funeral of an Osu
In contemporary times, the so-called Osu do not suffer discrimination to the same degree as was the case before. Most of the discriminations have been relaxed or stopped outright. Those called Osu and Diala, now trade in the same market; they visit the same barbers, attend the same schools and churches, sharing common seats; they fetch water from the same local streams the same days and the so-called Osu now take traditional titles. However, on the issue of inter-marriage and giving of Ezeship and Nze titles the discrimination is still extant.

I commend the Bishop of one of the Pentecostal churches in Owerri who shunned the Osu caste system and gave his first daughter in marriage to a man considered to be so-called Osu. This demonstrated that he is a true man of God and against the objections raised by his kinsmen, he went ahead to give his daughter. Also deserving commendation is H.R.H Eze Bob S. Ezumah (PhD), Eze Igwe I of Okigwe who abolished the Osu Caste system in his community in the year 2006.
It is apparent from the foregoing that the Osu Caste system is wrong in law, socially reprehensible and is sinful in Christendom. There is therefore, no basis for its continued practice. To be contd.

A REFLECTION ON UCHECHI’S SELF-DONATION
Uchechi's Desire For The Possession Of The “Ultimate
Good” And Our Own Forms Of Desiring (3).
Having done justice to the first part of our question, let us in this issue, as a response to the second question posed in the last issue, probe human desires as they occur in the social context of love and friendship. Today, it is a curious fact that the theme of love and friendship is littered everywhere. It captures the story lines of the novels young people voraciously read, the plot of the film they ravishly watch and the titilating and exciting words they would always want to hear from the radio. It is the object of our gaze and wandering thought. Every now and then, we want to be reminded that we are loved; we also confess our love and faithful friendship to those who are our friends. In the streets and parks, in the eateries, and recreational centres, we see friends holding and embracing each other and sometimes these may even end in sights that are offensive to the public. More than half of the motives behind hotel reservation, phone calls, text messages, visits, and the new syndrome of 'taking someone out,' touch curiously on this issue, especially as they acquire a serious intense dimension on valentine day. To this effect to be sure, one can favourably say that nothing explains or defines the present form of celebrating the valentine day, other than the intensive quest for the realisation of the dividends of love and friendship. This has to be mentioned here given the fact of what most people are look up to in that season of friendship.

In some minds, these could provoke some probing questions: What motivates this new social awareness? Why are people desperate about love? What is it that they desire when they claim they love? What is the source of this unquenchable desire? What does it hope to achieve? Where does it hope to end? Why do people expend all their energies to this regard today?

Responding to all these questions would certainly exceed the dimension of the present work. But one attitude would be to legitimately defend that the concept and reality is one which truly expresses the ontology of man, in order words it expresses the true vocation of human existence. The human person is a dialogical being. This means that he seeks complementarity, and cannot exist without the other. He thrives in a network of communication and always desires to flee from isolation and the prison of the self. Thus the attraction man feels towards the other, the invitation to enter into a relationship, the desire to experience the world of the other in communion, to be engaged with him in the mutual exchange of interiority, to share and take part in his or her being. These define the human person, so that if one thinks he can exist outside the experience and reality of love, that person is already thinking of eliminating himself (Deus Caritas Est, n. 28). This may give an easy and fickle explanation that that which motivates the charged atmosphere of the very rampant theme of love and friendship today (like in this season of lovers) can very simply be taken for mutuality, dialogue, care, concern, and the advancement of true humanity. Thus it is because of the concern people feel towards others, the irresistible drive to confer benevolence on them, that motivate their desire; it is in order to fulfil a call to duty and responsibility of showing love and friendliness towards them, so sounds the logic.

But if these were to be the case, why would we observe a deep contradiction in a society where love is the greatest theme? Why should there rather be hatred, disappointments and constant betrayals? Why should the much sought-after love ever grow bitter and sour as the very rampant cases of divorce make believe? Why is it unable to bind people in an exclusive covenant of marriage where they are prepared to commit themselves to each other, and open to procreation? Why do we observe lovesticks who confessed love re-confess that their love has ended? Could there have been love in the first instance? The question can go on ad infinitum.
Another attitude would question these pretences of love; it remarks that love lacks definitivity and fidelity at all cost. In this way then it lacks in the content of the truth: God, that being who constituted the object of Uchechi's desires.

So rather than signifying the very well known formula of confession, 'I love you,' when confessed today evokes the betrayal of the eros or the reduction of love to pure function. In the first instance the ego is projected into the other not to love the other but to love the self by drawing pleasures from the other. Instead of loving the other, the ego loves itself and love degenerates into mutual exchange of egotisms, lacking in true affection. In this sense, love is reduced to a pure biological drive. In the second instance, one is rather loved because of the function he or she is ready to perform, because he/she serves to become the object that inebriates my senses. In both cases, one discovers the replica of the desire which wanted to turn Uchechi into an object of sensual pleasure and utility.

In all these, human desires and love, in their different expression above, lack the radical elements of giving unconditionally; it rather resembles what Erich Fromm call 'marketing orientation' where the individual sells himself making himself into an object, a commodity. There he becomes the centre of the universe, grabbing and accumulating aggressivesly without taking the good of the other into consideration. Everything must be evaluated from the perspective in which the self is favoured. Would this not be a degradation and emptying of that which motivated the martyred one to choose death instead of life, to die rather than to deny her love in sin, to desire God instead of the flesh?

We have at least identified the object which lovers seek in love and friendship: the perceived 'good' or 'beauty' which could take different fronts and roles eros, function as tools. Is this search, for the object of love and friendship authentic? Are these perceived goods genuine? Because the objects he longs to possess to serve his appetite which is supposed to be the perceived good or the beauty is turned into a tool of function for a purely erotic, egoistic end, and that this beauty imprisons and enslaves him, it can be rightly argued that the seeker goes after beauty or a 'good' that is illusory, which after all does not deserve the name. Genuine beauty, the object of true desire would draw man out of himself, wrench him away from being content with humdrum and temporary tastes; it would reawaken him, opening afresh the eyes of his heart and mind, giving him wings, carrying him aloft. This beauty reminds us of our final destiny. But this object of the so much craze for love, beauty, the good or beauty which lovers seek cannot be designated as authentic. This object of their desire hardly qualifies as genuine since it is hypocritical and seductive; far from awakening the spirit and drawing it to a higher norm, rather than surpassing the individual, it returns man to his native passions, rekindling those primitive desires every now and then, renewing the will to power, the orientation to possess others and turn them into a toy, dominating them. Far from returning us to our proper supernatural destiny and opening us to the abyss of the Infinite, the Ultimate Mystery as it did in the case of the martyred one, Uchechi, illusory beauty which we long for achieves the very opposite: it becomes provocative, indecency. In this case man can hardly rise beyond his primitive passions and sensuality. Uchechi's object of desire (the beauty she wanted to possess her, as would be demonstrated), was neither confused and satisfied with temporal tastes, nor did she dissipate her passions searching after the perishable things of the earth that only rekindly hunger. In her quest, she yearned to reach the Beyond, the absolute Mystery. As a reward, she was released into the higher horizons, into the abyss of the Infinite, and she sought not the beauties which only the eyes could enjoy as a famous poet captured it, 'thank God for dappled things!' Unlike Augustine she has neither misplaced this beauty nor got caged by it, refusing to climb higher because she was seduced by it, and her senses led astray: 'late did I love you, O beauty so ancient and yet so new, how late! You were within me and I outside, misshapen, seeking you by bumping into these beautiful things you have made...And things that would not have existed without you kept me away from you.( De Confesionis, Bk. X. n. 27)

From our discussion above, the selfish quest for sensuality corresponds to the quest for illusory beauty. Furthermore, both, that is, sensual pleasure that egoistically yearns for gratification and the sense for illusory beauty qualify as a sign of poverty because they are closed to themselves and have nothing to offer or show for themself. While sensuality seeks the sole good of the self indulgent in the content of orgies, sexual vice, impurities, false friendship and love, illusory beauty dazes its seeker and never allows him/her to see clearly the really real, the truly beautiful. In a way, the seeker becomes blind to the true Beauty. In this way, the compulsive attitude towards the celebration of love and friendship characterized by selfish sensuality and the quest for the beautiful object of desire lays bare its abject poverty For it is unable to pass through the active experience of being, of confering oneself to others, or of giving of himself the most precious gift of life, availability, joy, humor, knowledge and all the signs of life in him without seeking in return. Seeking something for oneself is a sign of poverty; accumulation in all its expressions underlines a conscious or unconscious psychological attempt to flee from lacks and wants, perhaps because of lack or some greed, but hardly out of necessity. It expresses mankind at the very lowest base of living, locking himself up in himself, and unable to rise beyond his banal sensualities and those illusory beauties that make him similar to the caged being, l'être en soi (Jean Paul Sartre)

In diametric opposition to this is Uchechi's gasping for that beauty which, unlike Augustine who found him very lately, opened up to the entire world, by causing her to break away her selfish inclination to the flesh and seeking by all means after Him, infinite Beauty. In this very act of surpassing her natural incapacitations as a result of the flesh and its orgies, and the constant temptation to be dazzled and seduced by the illusory light of beauty, Uchechi has become the richer; her desires having being purified, are now open to all as a model; she exercises a universal radius of motherhood, of inspiring, caring for souls, a greater co-operation with God in the spiritual influence of the faithful. This is the manifestation of her riches. Instead of being burnt in the fiery furnance which destroys and corrupts every self-indulgence of the flesh and its orgies, and which in turn impoverishes her,( 'If his sowing is in the field of self-indulgence, then his harvest from it will be corruption' Gal. 5:25), her desires as will be later elaborated have become a flowing fountain from which others could drink and be saved. She is thus the richer for now she surpasses all of us in our forms of desiring as a result of its God content by which she offers her desires to God and donates to mankind a pattern of desire which burns for God.

From our reflection so far, we come to a final reality which somehow sums up the general pattern of the critique of human desires and the impoverishment which they tend to suffer: lack of the truth. Because our forms of desiring are always at the risk of lacking in its content of truth, they eventually, like the love they claim to pursue and defend, turn to merely empty wishes, without meaning and without any capacity and power. This is the root of the degeneration of what is normally referred to as 'love' and 'friendship' in the social fabric which every now and then wants to be filled arbitrarily. At the same time, as has been much hinted by Pope Benedict XVI, this is fatal risk facing love, friendship today; it is the cause of its devaluations, degradations and distortions in which today it has come 'to mean the' very 'opposite' (Caritas in Veritate, n. 3). To this effect, it has become obvious that the general pattern of the critique of human desires today, which is simultaneously a critique of love and friendship, is the realisation that when all is said and done, human desires are always at the risk of deceiving the other instead of desiring his good and proactively securing it; they are not committed to the paradigms of the common good; they are caught in the illusory search for inauthentic beauty and are constantly seeking for inauthentic beauty and are constantly seeking their own. All this bring out more clearly this basic critique of desire as a lack in the truth that is fidelity and sincere commitment. And as we know, God is the truth ( 'I am the way, the truth and the life' Jn.14:6 ) Any human desire that lacks this very important content of God, then lacks everything. Here Uchechi's desire distances itself from the rest those of the vandals and their likes, ours and our likes.

At this juncture dearest reader, let us draw the curtain in order then to explore uchechi's novelty and critical difference from our own patterns of desiring, which will appear in the next issue.

NDICES OF A FRUITFUL LENT.
On Wednesday, February 17, Christians from various parts of the world were ushered into the 2010 Lenten season. Lent is a forty day period of intense prayer, fasting, penitence and other acts of self-denial traditionally observed by Christians in preparation for Easter. It begins on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ--(Every Sunday is a miniature Easter). The date of Lent varies yearly in accordance with the date of Easter. Accordingly, it may commence as early as February 4, or as late as March 10. In the Latin Church, Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent and the seventh Wednesday before Easter Sunday. It is also known in some circle as the 'Day of Ashes'. Ash Wednesday is a somber day of reflection on what needs to change in our lives if we are to be fully Christian. It is so called because on that day, the faithful have their foreheads marked with ashes in the shape of a cross. As the Minister performs this ritual, he recites:” Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return”.

Though the exact origin of the day is not clear, the custom of marking the forehead with ashes on this day is said to have originated during the papacy of Pope Gregory the Great (590-604). This custom has been universal since the synod of Benevento (1091). The liturgical use of ashes originated in the Old Testament times. Ashes symbolized mourning, mortality and penance. In the Book of Esther, Mordecai put on sackcloth and ashes when he heard of the decree of King Ahasuerus to kill all of the Jewish people in the Persian Empire (Esther 4:1). Job repented in sackcloth and ashes (Job 42:6). Prophesying the Babylonian captivity of Jerusalem, Daniel wrote, "I turned to the Lord God, pleading in earnest prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes" (Daniel 9:3). Jesus made reference to ashes, "If the miracles worked in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have reformed in sackcloth and ashes long ago" (Matthew 11:21).

The Church adapted the use of ashes to mark the beginning of the penitential season of Lent, when we remember our mortality and mourn for our sins. In our present liturgy for Ash Wednesday, we use ashes made from the burned palm branches distributed on the Palm Sunday of the previous year. We must remember the significance of the ashes we have received: We mourn and do penance for our sins. We again turn our hearts to the Lord, who suffered, died, and rose, for our salvation. A horde of literature has always harped on the special significance of the number forty (Lent is a forty day period) Forty was always considered to be a sacred number. The deluge lasted for forty days and forty nights (Gen. 7: 17).The Hebrew people, in punishment for their ingratitude, wandered forty years in the desert, before they were permitted to enter the Promised Land (Num. 14: 33). God commanded the Prophet Ezekiel to lie forty days on his right side, as a figure of the siege which was to bring destruction on Jerusalem (Ezekiel 4:6). Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights (Exodus 24:18). Elijah was on this way to Mount Horeb for forty days and forty nights (1 Kgs. 19:8). Moses stayed on the Mountain of God forty days (Exodus 24:18 and 34:28). The spies were in the land for forty days (Numbers 13:25), Elijah traveled forty days before he reached the cave where he had his vision (1 Kings 19:8). Nineveh was given forty days to repent (Jonah 3:4), and most importantly, prior to undertaking his ministry, Jesus spent forty days in wilderness praying and fasting (Matthew 4:2, Mk 1: 12; Lk 4: 2).

Since Lent is a period of prayer and fasting, it is fitting for Christians to imitate their Lord Jesus Christ with a forty day period. Christ used a forty day period of prayer and fasting to prepare for his ministry, which culminated in his death and resurrection. Hence it is fitting for Christians to imitate Christ with a forty day period of prayer and fasting to prepare for the celebration of the climax of his ministry. In this vein, the Church states: "'For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning' [Heb 4:15]. By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert." (Catechism of the Catholic Church. No. 540).

In the bible, forty is not so much a chronological concept as a symbolical one. It stands for a period of passage, of conversion, of penance, and of purification. It is a traditional number of discipline, devotion, and preparation in the Bible In every Lenten season, the Church sets before us three penitential practices, notably- prayer, fasting and Almsgiving. The Church has made it a time of recollection and penance, in preparation for the greatest of all her feasts. The rituals and practices associated with the season are designed to bring the practitioner closer to God and to an awareness of one's self in relation to God.

Through prayer, fasting and almsgiving that give up self, Christians seek to open themselves up before God, and to hear anew the call "Come unto me!” They seek to recognize and respond afresh to God's presence in their lives and in the world. They seek to place their needs, fears, failures, hopes, and indeed their very lives in God's hands, again. Christians seek by deep prayer, and by abandoning themselves in Jesus' death, to recognize again who God is, to allow His transforming grace to work in them once more and to come to worship Him on Easter Sunday with a fresh victory and hope.

Christians are to use this time of Lent to set aside all that distracts the spirit and embrace whatever nourishes the soul, moving it to the love of God and neighbour. The situation in the present day Nigerian society, demands more than ever, a living out of the message of Lentpenance. In Nigerian today, a lot of undue emphasis is placed on the material over the spiritual. The primary message of Lent seems to have lost something of its spiritual meaning, and has taken on, in a culture characterized by the search for material well- being, a therapeutic value for the care of one's body. We barely see leaders who are at the service of the people they govern. Many of our leaders are more often bad stewards, who first of all serve their selfish interests. Inordinate quest for personal enrichment is often the driving force for engaging in politics. The zeal to sacrifice one's time and energy for the common good is gradually joining the dinosaurs. Selfless service has given way to greed and avarice. One of the fallouts of this despicable trend is seen in accelerated craze for material possession nowadays.

In this season of Lent, we are all called to rediscover the value and supremacy of the spiritual over the material. All should see lent as a “springtime”, a time for rebirth and renewal. A time for drifters and wanderers to come back home. As that Prophetic voice resounds once more: “Come back to me with all your heart, fasting, weeping, mourning” (Joel 2); let us listen. It is a call from God's throne of mercy, inviting us to turn around, get back on the track and do penance, and get into the rhythm of Lent. As we all heed this call, may our Prayer, Fasting and Almsgiving be a sign to a culture drifting away to prayerlessness; enticed by consumerism and bedeviled by egocentrism.