Raising Up Fishers Of Men Today

Raising Up ‘Fishers of Men’ Today

By Victor Chendekemen Yakubu

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Raising Up ‘Fishers of Men’ Today By Victor Chendekemen Yakubu

I grew up in Echondom-Danladi-Kent village of Kubau Local Government of Kaduna State. Echondom is 77 kilometres before Saminaka on the Kaduna-Zaria-Jos road axis of south eastern part of the state. Don’t bother looking at your map. You won’t find Echondom village. It’s like looking for Bethlehem on the map of Palestine at the time of Jesus. Echondom like Bethlehem is never reflected on maps of Kaduna State and I have to spare you the burden of suffering your index finger.

At 12 years of age, I graduated from LEA Primary School Danladi. I knew many mischievous youthful tricks including how to use the catapult to shoot birds and sometimes shoot bullies. On uncountable occasions bullies would attack and beat me up due largely to my frail physique; tall lanky frame, bulky stomach and fat head. It was my head that suffered most due to its size which received more knocks than any other part of my body.

I lacked ideas for revenge until I was introduced to the catapult by Kidankum my childhood friend. It was he who tutored me on this weapon of mass destruction against terrorizing bullies of my time. I found joy using the catapult both for flying objects and creepy humans who disturbed my youthful world. It worked quite well like magic. However, I must add with great pain that I learnt an additional sport associated with the catapult; how to run away from bullies after hitting my target.

The visit of a major seminarian Emma Sambo to Echondom enclave changed all that. He loved the way I gyrated my waist to the syncopation of

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2. Kurama drums at night in the village square and he would clap endlessly for me. He established a trust between himself and me. He sounded believable in whatever he said to me about priestly life which was not my kettle of fish. According to him, my dance was funnier compared to others and found it interesting to watch under the bright moonlight. I think he was right. The sound of the drums in Echondom village at night was like an advertisement to attend the premiere of Star Wars or Titanic. It was fun. I still love the local drums. By morning he would call me and ask me in plain English what I would like to be or do in the future. Since I lacked any premeditated answers and proper linguistic expressions, I would manage to laugh and smile generously as I answered. He understood these as tacit replies of not knowing what he was proposing for my future life.

For me, my future was to grow up in Echondom kingdom like every child, farm as many crops as possible, inherit my father’s livestock and eventually settle down with the daughter of whomever within the Echondom world.

This seminarian initiated the idea of sending me to a

minor seminary and began to sow the seed of a priestly life in my heart.

He did it in such a way that I was not coerced or forced nor

my parents dragged into accepting under pain of death my offer to serve in the vineyard of the Lord. He sowed the seed and allowed the Spirit of God take over from there. He succeeded in attracting me with kind words and the realization of my potential which was part of my life and little worldview.

My father consented too quickly and my mother too slowly. Instead she proposed some arguments to puncture the idea. She did not understand the language of a school without marriage associated with her first son. She knew outrightly that I did not understand the implications for myself. With my fat head hanging on my tall frame, I nodded in the affirmative when my opinion was sought about becoming a priest.

What I knew best then was my catapult and those eerie bullies laying ambush for me for my stubbornness. I even asked Fr. Sambo if the Greenlight Theology Series 2009

3. catapult was allowed in the minor seminary. He said it was allowed to pacify my yearning. This attracted me since I could be admitted with my catapult. Tacitly Fr. Sambo laughed but he knew that all that would change with time. At my back, my mother was persuaded and eventually she agreed to a minor seminary enrollment and not anything further. That was how I landed at St. Joseph’s Minor Seminary Zaria under the hardworking Fr. Martin Debaleh as Rector, and disciplinarian Michael Agbante, a Ghanaian as vice-Rector.

I enjoyed their guidance and graduated from their tutelage. I felt a call to the priestly life without any compulsion from Fr. Sambo or my parents. I guess Fr. Sambo had sowed the seed in me and I only needed the Spirit of God to water it. I continued to the Major Seminary and the rest is now history as they say. But I remember with nostalgic feelings the death of these two inspiring priests: Fr. Martin Debaleh in 2004 and Fr. Emma Sambo in 2006.

Because they and a handful of

others played such an influence in my priestly vocation, I cannot forget them in a hurry.

Recognizing the inspiration of older priests on one’s vocation, Pope Benedict XVI has declared June, 2009 – June, 2010 the ‘Year of Priests’ after the example of St. John Mary Vianney, the Cure of Ars. According to His Holiness, the year will commemorate the “150th anniversary of the death of the saintly 'Cure of Ars', a true example of a pastor at the service of Christ's flock." St. Vianney, a French priest from Dardilly, lived from May, 1786 – August, 1859 and is regarded as patron saint of parish priests for his commitment to the spiritual transformation and community development of his flock. Catholic historians remember him for his dedication to the sacraments especially the mass and confession to which he would sit hours on end listening and granting absolutions to penitents.

Of the mass he said,

“The reason why a priest is lax is that he does not pay attention to the Mass! My God, how we ought to pity a priest who celebrates as if he were engaged in something routine!”

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4. One area of similarity with my life is that at the age of 20 Vianney was granted permission by his father to leave the farm and start studying for the priesthood at the nearby village of Ecully. In my case, I began at the age of 12 and transferred from the farm house of Echondom to Zaria and “have not ceased to be in the temple of God.” The spirit of Vianney is very much alive in raising up fishers of men for the vineyard of the Lord. Collectively we shall celebrate with joy the marvels of the Lord to end the ‘Year of Priests’ on the Feast of Sacred Heart, the 19th of June, 2010 at St. Peter’s Square with representative priests from all over the globe in attendance.

I hope to grace this occasion and share priestly solidarity with different priests and religious from many nationalities under the sun. Like myself, every priest has his story to tell about how Jesus recruited him to become a priest of “the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church.” Already my mind is telling me that such an event will be a grandiose celebration of brotherhood, solidarity and communion under the banner of the pontiff, a visible reminder of the establishment of Unity of the Church with Jesus as guide. The Church can assist in leading souls to heaven through the power vested in the priesthood though unworthy of such a call to the vineyard of the Lord. The sense of this celebration is better experienced than imagined.

Vocation to priestly or religious life is a divine call. Looking back at my near fifteen years of service as a priest, I attribute my call to those priests whose love for me attracted me to their kind of life. I praise these priests wholeheartedly because were it not for their inspiration, I wouldn’t have been offered this opportunity to share in the evangelizing mission of the church. I would have been in the jungles of Echondom tending my father’s numerous farmlands, livestock and doing those things villagers love to do. Today I am proud of my priestly calling. I have served in several positions of church life with gratitude to my superiors. I enjoy service to the teeming faithful people of God whose love, compassion and support serve as fuel for my priestly life in a world that is fast loosing value when Greenlight Theology Series 2009

5. it comes to discussing priestly ministry. There can be no priestly ministry if the people of God do not support whatever good work the priest is doing.

This declaration by Pope Benedict XVI is coming in the nick of time for two reasons: recognizing the contributions of priests and creating awareness of priestly vocations.

First and foremost, priests need a

constant reminder that their call is fashioned after the event by the Lake of Galilee. In Mark 1: 16 - 20 Jesus sighted a set of two brothers; the first being Simon and his brother Andrew catching fish. The second set is that of the sons of Zebedee; James and John getting ready to cast their nets with their old father Zebedee in the boat. Jesus offered them an invitation, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Instantly, they left everything behind and went with him for a higher duty.

This is a reminder to every priest that our call is a call to a higher duty under the leadership of Jesus. There is nothing more joyful than realizing that priests are not alone, because they act in persona Christi. They are constantly in solidarity with the leadership of the Church which serves as a guiding light in transforming the lives of numerous peoples on the face of the earth. A further worthy point associated with this is from the life of Jesus is the event by the Sea of Tiberias as found in John 21: 1- 17. Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the two sons of Zebedee and two other disciples went fishing in the Tiberias after the resurrection of Jesus. All night long they caught nothing. When it was clear that nothing could be done for a catch, Jesus Christ manifested himself amongst them. He said to them, “Throw your net out in the deep, and you will make a catch.” When they did, they made such a large haul of fish that their nets were breaking.

These two examples signify that Jesus is the master of the catch. While the sons of Zebedee, James and John and the two brothers; Simon and Andrew were enjoying their trade.

They never imagined that Greenlight Theology Series 2009

6. fishermen could be useful for anything other than hauling fish. Under this condition, Jesus knew that they could do better in a higher challenge and invited them for his mission. In my own case, Fr. Sambo might have thought in his mind, “Since Victor loves to use the catapult, maybe he could use it to catapult people into the spiritual realm.”

When he saw me handling my catapult and dancing those Kurama

dances, he must have thought, “I will make you into a catapulter of men.”

Were it not for the fact that he accepted I could use the catapult in the seminary, I probably would have avoided him like a bad toothache. But instead he affirmed my use of the catapult in the minor seminary. I carried it along with me inside my iron box into the sanctity of the minor seminary. I never thought of using the catapult until I met my Mathematics teacher Mr. Idoko. Though I never used it, this teacher made me hate the subject with his assignments and out-of-this world theorems like the Pythagoras theorem that I cannot fathom its meaning even today.

Anyway, Jesus calls us from our single location within our abilities taking all our sinfulness and incapabilities and transforming these for a positive purpose. Imagine Peter and the rest of the disciples leaving their fishing trade only to be fishers of men. Imagine my dropping my catapult and sweet Kurama dance, to serve as priest. It’s just incredible! It feels just good with content in the heart. It is like being enrobed in a princely garb when you are just a pauper deserving something less. Yet, in this condition Christ takes the glory and He lives in our work as the chief shepherd of our lives.

The Pontifical Yearbook for 2009 reveals that the number of Catholics has increased by 1.4% worldwide from 1.131 billion to 1.147billion in one year. Catholics form 17.3% of the world population, a percentage that has remained stable from year to year. The document states that the number of priests has increased from 407,262 in 2006 to 408,024 at the end of 2008. Greenlight Theology Series 2009

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The greater majority of this number is coming from Africa, Asia and Oceania.

The total number of seminarians stands at 115,919 worldwide.

This is encouraging considering that we had two decades of inertia due to the rise in liberal theories from the ‘70s.

The seminaries in

Nigeria have highest numbers of seminarians in Africa and this has nothing to do with the economic stress experienced all over the world. Nigerians love the Church and are contributing their sons and daughters to the service of the Universal Church.

Pope Benedict XVI himself said, “Whoever wants to be a friend of Jesus and become his authentic disciple – be it seminarian, priest, religious or lay person – must cultivate an intimate friendship with him in meditation and prayers.” Nigerians love the Church and I cannot pretend about their conviction for worship, their dance and their music in matters of God. The high numbers of seminarians is Nigeria’s contribution to the growth of the Body of Christ despite its precarious economic woes necessitated by bad leadership and greed.

While many countries of the world are facing dwindling vocations to the priesthood and religious life due to the increasing secularization of modern society, Nigeria is enjoying an increase in enrollment numbers. The priesthood is facing challenges from the modern age. Although we are grateful to God that in Nigeria, many young people are rushing to be enrolled, the story is not all rosy as rising costs of training seminarians keep some dioceses from accepting more candidates for training. However, the boom Nigeria is witnessing in vocations to the priestly and religious life should be maximized. This calls for a vocations’ drive to raise more seminarians into the vineyard of the Lord with ardent support from the laity who can volunteer to sponsor candidates to the priesthood and religious life.

The call to the priestly life entails prayer, meditation and commitment to service as commanded by Christ, “Go to the whole world, proclaim the good news.” As priests, we engage daily in these forms of Greenlight Theology Series 2009

8. commitment with the divine through the celebration of the Eucharist to refresh ourselves in the mission of Him who is the Word Incarnate. St. John Mary Vianney realized the importance of the Eucharist and encouraged his parishioners to come for daily communion and frequent confession. “Come to communion, my brothers and sisters, come to Jesus. Come to live from him in order to live with him. Of course you are not worthy of him, but you need him!” he would preach to his listeners. His life attracted so many that he was always giving to the poor and denying himself any form of luxury. This is what I experienced in Frs. Emma Sambo, Martin Debaleh and a host of others who denied themselves certain forms of joy for my sake.

When I look back today, I realize that my call to the priesthood was an opportunity offered to me to be counted as someone privileged to “hold the Body of Christ” each day at mass.

No amount of explanation

can relate what this experience entails other than to keep on praying for a world that is losing respect for that which is sacred.

Like

Peter and Paul, I daily realize my limitations and it is only through meditation and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, that I realize that this call is not a profession but a vocation freely given to me by Christ. If through my life other young people are influenced to offer themselves to the priesthood, then it becomes a circle of gratitude. What Fr. Emma Sambo inspired can be replicated in other aspiring youths.

Without blowing my own trumpet, I thank God for the lives of those seminarians who are studying to the priesthood through my encouragement, and those priests already ordained, a word of gratitude to God for allowing me to play a role in their vocation. As an African, I feel indebted to my people who are deeply spiritual and committed to the cause of God. Our critics say that poverty is the motivation for vocation boom in Africa. My response to this is that when hunger was decimating the Irish population in the late 19th century; many young people still offered themselves to the priesthood and became missionaries to Europe itself, India and Africa. So in our Greenlight Theology Series 2009

9. case, if economic stress has led to an increase in vocations, what can we say other than to praise the Lord of the harvest! This must be the work of God. Pope Benedict XVI desires an expansion of the good news to all the ends of the earth and Africans are contributing their human resources towards its success in this age.

In the case of evangelism, God can raise up stones to offer Him praise. Yet, since we are more than stones, let’s do the right thing now and raise up a formidable church with vocations through the priesthood and religious life. As Henry Venn said, we need a Church that is self-governing, self-propagating and self-supporting.

When young men come from places like Echondom into the priesthood, it shows the unbiased nature of the Church in embracing all the cultures of the world as Christ showed his generosity when he said, “You too go into my vineyard” Matt. 20: 4. At the end of the ‘Year of Priests’, let us hope that more young people will be inspired by Jesus to offer themselves for “many are called, but few are chosen.”

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V.C.O Yakubu, former Director Media Service Centre Kaduna, is priest of the Catholic Diocese of Zaria working in the Diocese of Phoenix, Arizona USA.

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