What Happened In Church Today 3
You’ll probably not want to keep following these episodes after this one.
But I won’t blame you, I mean if I didn’t have to go to church every Sunday with Mom, I’d have probably sought out another catholic church instead of having to deal with a choir that murders the joy of listening to the responsorial psalm being sung every Sunday.
Nevertheless, that will not be our focus in this episode, as something else other than that happened in church today.
I love it when a visiting priest is the celebrant of the Mass, it gives a different tone to the homily, remember in the first episode I said it’s one of my favorite parts of the Mass. https://link.medium.com/3zjM4WTviBb
However, with this priest, it was different.
Have you ever met someone for the very first time and resolved within that you’re not going to like them, and you later see or hear something about them, then you go “So this is why I never liked you from the start”?
Right!
Same was my feeling towards Father Maxwell today.
His skin was ebony dark, and so was the colour of his moderately sized afro. When he passed by me to the altar, or even when he finished celebrating the Mass, I could tell that he wasn’t the man with the longest legs on the planet, even though his shoulders were a few inches above mine and I wore heels.
Anyway, I can’t recall much of what he preached, as I felt a bit drowsy, and may have slipped between the real world and dreamland during the homily, but I remember hearing him talk about the need to be humble…in fact, I think he based his homily on humility, which made me question;
“what have the readings of today got to do with humility?”
I searched my brain to recall the readings, but I only recollected the first which was from Zacharia, where he was announcing Christ’s coming on a donkey to the Israelites. I decided not to stress it and wait to check out the readings later.
Not gonna lie, the few times I was awake enough to listen to him, he didn’t do a bad job at the homily, he gave analogies from movie scenes, mentioning popular actor Nkem Owoh ‘Osofia’, and told a kinda funny story, so nah, the homily wasn’t the problem.
Although I admit that in my dislike of him, in certain instances he gave during the homily, I countered them with snide comments. Like when he said;
“Everybody needs someone. If you’re rich you need a driver or a househelp to do your domestic work”
To that, I commented;
“uhh, or you could do it yourself, or better still, there’s AI now”
I had written a piece sometime last week regarding man's need for other people, so you understand why I said what I said.
Nevertheless, Mass went smoothly, consecration was done, the holy communion was received, and then, the moment before the final blessing.
You probably left the church around this time. I don’t blame you, I would have if I didn’t have to answer to Mom. You see, I go to church in her car and return in her car so…
I don’t know why you left, but here’s why I would have left.
Recall the non-Nigerian priest I spoke of in the last episode, with no Chasuble or Mass box so the church has been charged to donate for the purchase of all these that would cost roughly 600k? https://link.medium.com/1qTpAaQviBb
Yeah, the donation happened today and with the tactic Father Maxwell employed, the money was definitely raised, hell, even more.
He started by asking twenty people who can give 10k to come out, about twenty-one persons came out, they were blessed, their names were written and they went back to their seats.
The next set of people asked to come out were those who could give 5k, can’t recall the number, but more than ten persons came out, then the next set were those that could afford 2k and 3k, fifteen for each was the expected population, but more came out. The donation was concluded with a general collection, any amount, so you see, the money was raised, and soon after, the mass came to an end.
Now you’re wondering,
“what moment made you say ‘So here’s why I don’t like you’?”
And I will answer.
Not to bore you with my anguish about priests always receiving from the congregation and hardly ever giving back, but here’s the thing, there are two Masses celebrated on Sundays, and the events of the Mass I have just related to you, are for the first Mass, THE MONEY WAS RAISED!
I didn’t want to jump to conclusions, and since mom had an assignment in church, so had to attend the second Mass (she read either the first or second reading in Hausa), I decided to wait until she returned to confirm my suspicions.
You’re right if you’re thinking it, another donation was made in the second Mass, still led by Father Maxwell, so you can’t say “Oh maybe he didn’t know”.
I know I didn’t give and probably shouldn’t complain, and neither should I judge an unjust act, but… it’s not right!
I’m going to end here to avoid saying more than I probably should.
That was what happened in church today. HAPPY SUNDAY!
