The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Most Rev. Alfred Adewale Martins has urged Nigerian Christians to rededicate their lives to God by living in righteousness, shun sin, as well as embrace truth, as he assured that by so doing, the nation would regain her lost glory.
Giving this charge at a news conference to mark the centenary celebration of the Marian Year at the Holy Cross Cathedral, Lagos, Martin also noted that here is no doubt that the country is in need of healing, spiritually, socially, politically, and morally.
He said that quite a number of citizens and in deed, the nation as a whole have lost track of the path to truth and godliness and have been towing the path that leads to destruction.
“People are hungry in the midst of much meat and thirsty amidst spring of clean water. Innocent people are being killed everyday through ritual killings”, he lamented.
He listed the Boko haram bombings, Fulani herdsmen attack, armed robbery and road accident due to bad roads among other things as adverse factors affecting the country’s development.
The cleric noted that these things happen only when a nation has lost its sense of direction and many of its people are aligning themselves with forces of evil.
”I have good news for all my fellow countrymen, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The prayers of God’s children in this last one year will not be in vain
”God will surely restore the glory of this nation and bring to shame all those who have consistently worked to hold us in perpetual bondage”, he assured.
According to the Archbishop, a Marian Year is a year specially dedicated to the blessed virgin Mary .
“In the year 2016, our Holy Father, Pope Francis declared that the celebrations of the centenary of Fatima Apparitions should begin on November 27, 2016 to November 26, 2017.
He revealed that in recognition of the Pope’s declaration and the special place that Mary has as the Queen and patroness of Nigeria, the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria, CBCN declared 2017 a Marian Year in Nigeria.
