Embrace Wisdom of Heart, Greatest of Virtues – Fr Obi

. . Condemns Girl-Child Abusers, Xenophobic attack

By Ifeoma Ezenyilimba

An Awka Diocesan Catholic priest, Rev Fr Melkizedek Obi, has stressed the need for people of all strata to embrace wisdom of heart as their lifestyle. Rev Fr Obi, who stated this in his homily of the Holy Mass to mark the Birthday Celebration of Holy Mother Mary, at St Joseph’s Catholic Parish, (UNIZIK Temporary Site), Awka, Anambra State, last Sunday, September 8, 2019, described wisdom of heart as the greatest of all virtues.

According to the priest, ‘One could be very smart, but if he lacked wisdom of the heart, he would not know the number of his days. It is pertinent that every individual that is desirous of graceful living to discover the wisdom of heart, which is the greatest of all virtues’.

The Catholic priest flayed men, who he said destroyed the lives of girls, abandoned them and married others, for their act of wickedness. Fr Obi also berated the married men known as ‘Sugar daddies’ for what he described as their indecent lifestyles of sexually abusing girls, who were young enough to be their daughters. According to him, such married women were not normal, and needed psychological attention.

Rev Fr Obi described as very condemnable, the Xenophobic attack in South Africa. He wondered why Africans (South Africans) would hate their fellow black brothers and sisters, thereby attacking and killing them in the name of xenophobic attack.

He equally condemned the recent looting of ShopRite in Lagos by some Nigerians, saying that the perpetrators, who got involved in the crime as a counter attack to the Xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in South Africa, lacked wisdom of the heart. Fr Obi maintained that stealing is stealing, no matter who was involved and the reason for the act.

The Catholic priest, who further based his reflections on the readings of the Sunday, noted that Jesus Christ demanded that Christians break up from the relationships that do not promote their relationships with God.

Addressing the people of God he said, ‘Unless you are radical in your relationship with others, you cannot make it with God ‘Break up from relationships and businesses that do not progress your lives. Break up from occasions where you spends your entire life serving others, without anything good to show for the service rendered’.

He described as unhealthy, the people that live in the social media, and post every slighted thing such as their private lives, in the social media.

Reflecting further on Romans 8:35-47, the priest noted that anyone who had the wisdom of heart and love of God in him won’t attack his fellow human beings. He added that like St Theresa of Avila said, ‘Only God is enough. Anyone that has wisdom of God in him, has everything’

He prayed God to endow His people with the grace that would enable them seek the wisdom of heart through Holy Mother Mary. Fr Obi observed that the same way Blessed Virgin Mary interceded when the couple ran short of wine at the wedding in Cana, was the same way she interceded for her children whenever they pray the rosary.