Christians have been urged to serve God alone and shun syncretism. This call was made by Fr. Fidel Ndagijimana, the Pastoral Coordinator of Kabale Diocese while preaching on Sunday at the thanksgiving of Mr. Frank Besigye and his wife Amutuheire Agatha and baptism of their daughter Arinda Gabriella in Kyerero Catholic Church in St. Luke Muhanga Parish parish.
Quoting the first reading from the book of Joshua 24, Fr. Fidel urged people to make a bold decision like Joshua and assent to serving the Lord alone rather than looking for satisfaction from ungodly ventures. He condemned those who practice witchcraft in view of acquiring wealth to find refuge in the Lord because he is the source of all wealth.
We thank God for bringing us together from far and wide. We celebrate 21st Sunday in ordinary time. The 1st Reading reminds us that we should choose to serve God alone (I and my family, we shall serve the Lord, Joshua 24:15) – Fr. Fidel Ndagijimana.
Fr. Fidel also said that the Gospel of John chapter 6 shared the teaching of Christ about the Eucharist for the last five consecutive Sundays. Jesus taught the people that the bread is indeed his body and the wine is his blood and whoever eats of his flesh will have eternal life. However, the Jews became indignant and could not accept this teaching and they started going away one by one into other ventures. He then turned to his disciples and asked if they too would go away, but Peter boldly confessed that they would not go anywhere, because Jesus had eternal life.
Fr. Fidel urged people to profess their bold faith in the Lord like Peter and acknowledged God as the one who has and gives eternal life. He condemned those Christians who practice syncretism by mixing beliefs in God and also other gods. He condemned those who still carry out witchcraft, divination and other evil practices to stop them and have faith in God who does wonders for them.
St. Paul in the letter to the Ephesians 5: 21-32, likens the bond between husband and wife to that which exists between Jesus and the Church. The maximum love which Jesus showed the Church is exhibited on the cross. On this, he urged husbands to respect and love their wives, take care of their families and protect them from the evil practices that destabilize them. He also condemned those wives who have abandoned their families and children to indulge in alcoholism.
As a man you are the head of the family, but the heart of the family is the woman. Fr. Fidel thanks Mr. Frank and Agatha for their hard work and supporting the church and taking care of their family. Thank you for bringing you our child into the church, to Jesus theo has words of eternal life – Fr. Fidel Ndagijimana.
On behalf of Muhanga Parish, Fr. George Kigambiroha thanked Mr. Frank and family for being a hardworking couple and supporting the church projects.
Fr. Innocent Naturinda, the financial administrator for Kabale Diocese and Hospital administrator for Rushoroza Hospital, thanked the people of Kyerero Catholic Church and Muhanga Parish in general for supporting the Diocese in terms of Bishop’s Annual Appeal Fund (BAAF) and urged parents to take their children to St. Ignatius University Kabale, which they have built out of BAAF 2023. He thanked Agatha Amutuheire for being a hard working nurse at Our Lady of Good Health Rushoroza Hospital.
In his remarks on behalf of the family, Mr. Frank Besigye said they decided to give thanks to God for the gift of a family and children and the challenging times God has seen them through. He also thanked God for enabling him to survive a nasty accident which saw a tipper he was driving roll several times after swaying off the road. He thanked Fr. Fidel Ndagijimana for praying for him and giving him counsel in the hard times and merged victorious. He also extended appreciation to all the people of God who prayed for him and supported him when he had an accident and asked God to bless them abundantly.