By Chizoba Ogbeche
In thanksgiving to God for his goodness and mercies in 2017, members of St Donald Catholic Church, Karu, Abuja, Sunday, held its harvest thanksgiving and bazaar with the theme: “Harvest of Praise”.
In his message during the harvest, the Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Boniface Ngene, said: “The theme was adapted from the ‘magnificat’, a Latin expression of Mary’s prayer of praise in Luke 1:46.”
He said: “We have come to praise the Lord for all his blessings on us as a parish. We recognise that our lives, families and friends, faith, graces, talents and achievements are all his gifts.
“Let us praise him for the air we breathe, the sunlight, the rains, the trees and all other gifts of nature which we tend to take for granted and often abuse.
“As we celebrate God’s blessings we acknowledge that the years has also been challenging for a number of families. As individuals we may have sometimes found life burdensome and struggle to carry our crosses.
“The Blessed Virgin Mary invites us to never lose her joy when there was no room for them in the inn (Lk 2:7), nor did she lose it at the prophecy of Simone (Lk 2:34-35). She did not lose her joy during the flight to Egypt (Mt 2:21-15). Even at the foot of the cross, he did not lose her joy (Jn 19:25-27).”
Delivering the homily during the mass, the chief celebrant, Rev. Fr. Cyprian Imandeh, encouraged parishioners to remember that we are “mere stewards” of God-given resources.
He urged the Catholic faithful to remain thankful in all situations, pointing out that: “It’s only when things are not going well for us that we look up to God.”
Chairman of the harvest planning committee, Barr. Cyprian Ogwumike, in his message, thanked the parishioners and committee members for making the harvest a success. “There can be no better way to celebrate life than to return some of our treasures to Him who kept us alive to witness yet another harvest ceremony after the 2016 event,” he said.
