Message From The Provincial Superior

 ‘Mber Months and their Symbolic Values.

The months of September to December, the last quarter of the calendar year, are popularly regarded as the 'mber months  (due to the common suffix in their names),  much like the way the ages of thirteen to nineteen, with 'teen in common, make for teenage, a  distinctive period of life.  Just as the teenage period has a special significance in the stages of human growth, the 'mber months have their own significance in the community activities in the Nigerian society.  They should be seen also to have potentials for value growth in Spiritan spirituality along the lines of practical union advocated by Venerable Father Libermann C.S.Sp, one of the Spiritan Founders.

1.  It is a period of the moving around of personnel. In the 'mber months, schools re-open for a new academic year with a fresh intake of students which make the older ones move a step higher in their grade scales.  With the priestly ordinations that have been conducted during the schools long holiday period in many Church communities, the 'mber months become essentially the period of the placements of fresh personnel, movements, adjustments of older ones and transfers in our communities.

In his booklet: The saving Power of Transfers, late Fr Godwin Ikeobi strongly noted that despite the anguish that seem to be often associated with them, transfers of personnel have a very saving grace in human society both for the people going on transfer, and for the communities which they live behind or the new ones they join by their appointment. The hand of Providence should be evident in such personnel transfers.

For the ones going away after several years of what may have been indispensable devoted ministries, the reality of God’s overall control of creation should begin to be brought home according to the Psalm of David:
The earth is the LORD's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein; for he has founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers   (Ps 24).
It should also be a lesson in the passing nature of human existence, where no one will remain permanently on earth as humankind and creation are on the march and on the road to redemption. This is celebrated by William Shakespeare in Macbeth:
Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more.  
(Macbeth, Act 5, Sc. 5)

For the communities affected, transfers may often be the refreshing opportunity for renewal that may have been long overdue or been long awaited where the community may have previously been managing or struggling to survive through a sheer non-violent posture in resistance. In line with the reflections of Lord Alfred Tennyson the English poet:   
The old order changeth, yielding place to new
And God fulfils Himself in many ways,
Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
(In Morte d’Arthur )
Change has in fact been seen by an ancient philosopher as the constant and stable factor in life.  One has to strive to see the hand of God in the changing events of social life, particularly in those that may not be of one’s deliberate choice.

2.  For the Northern tropical agricultural societies such as Nigeria, the 'mber months coincide with the period of the harvests of staple agricultural crops on which the life of the many communities much depends: the yams and coco-yams, the cassava and the drying and storing process for the grains – the maize, beans, sorghum, guinea corn - as well as such crops as the groundnuts and the melon. Towns and village hamlets almost run amok with harvest festivals, emphasizing the gift of God in the fertility of their soil, resulting also from the hard work of human hands. Parish communities then wake up to harvest thanksgiving celebrations to promote parish community development projects through the devoted voluntary contributions from devout families. These give the opportunity for various necessary values and principles of human life to be brought home.
a) Those who sow in tears, reap with joy:
May those who sow in tears reap with shouts of joy!
He that goes forth weeping, bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. (Ps  126)

b) What one sows is what he/she stands to reap because God is never mocked:
Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. ( Gal 6 : 7)

c) The call for all to practice generosity because God loves the cheerful giver:
The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9, 6).

The 'mber months quietly lead up to and end with the celebration of Christmas, God among us. With a diligent practice of practical union as a spiritual outlook, these months remain a period of great potentialities for spiritual growth and renewal to bring one closer to the Christ, the Word made flesh and came to dwell among us.

 

Augustine Onyeneke
Provncial Superior                                           September 2008