Amid Bereavement, Deprivation in Nigeria, Catholic Bishop Urges “audacity of hope, making mood of Easter reach all”

He highlights some of the challenges the people of God in Africa’s most populous nation are grappling with, posing, “Jesus is risen but how much joy can people have when they are under terrorist attacks, bombardment at war or even in the den of kidnappers?”

“What is the meaning of victory and justice for those who cannot afford a decent meal in a day or who though sick, have no means with which to care for themselves? How can prisoners, destitutes and the abandoned feel the power of the resurrection?” Bishop Badejo further poses.

Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Oyo Diocese in Nigeria during Vigil Mass on 30 March 2024. Credit: Catholic Diocese of Oyo/Nigeria

In his 2024 Easter Message titled, “Jesus Is Risen: Let Us All Witness to Hope”, the member of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication since his appointment in December 2021 urges Christians to take up seriously the invitation of Jesus to be witnesses of his victory over all human challenges, including death.

“Jesus needs all who feel the resurrection joy and life to witness to his power and victory. We must find a way of making the mood of Easter reach all the nooks and crannies of our world and environment,” he says.

Bishop Badejo adds, “St.  Paul tells us that all Christians by virtue of our baptism already share in the life of the risen Christ. Does this not mean that all of us Christians have a huge task to reenact the resurrection all around us?”

Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Oyo Diocese in Nigeria during Vigil Mass on 30 March 2024. Credit: Catholic Diocese of Oyo/Nigeria

The responsibility of the followers of Christ, the Nigerian Catholic Church leader says, “is to somehow make people feel the earth shaking event of Jesus rising from the dead, that after the great wickedness and injustice of Good Friday, God made Easter Sunday to occur.We need to make people see that the same is possible in their condition. This is the audacity of hope in Nigeria.”

“We must help people to realize that the suffering of a just man, far from being futile, is always fruitful because like it was with Jesus, it will bring succor and salvation to many. That is the same as saying that the cross Christians carry will always lead to a crown,” he says.

Reflecting on the challenges the people of God face in his native country face, he cautions against despair, saying that “Easter is evidence of this audacity of hope.”

Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Oyo Diocese in Nigeria during Vigil Mass on 30 March 2024. Credit: Catholic Diocese of Oyo/Nigeria

“Yes, no matter what, hope must grow rather than die. In every life there must be a good Friday and sometimes a tomb,” he further says, citing Jesus’ teaching in John 12:24 that “unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains a single grain, but if it dies, it will yield fruit in plenty”.

Turning his attention to Christians in Nigeria, the Local Ordinary of Oyo Diocese, who doubles as the President of the Pan African Episcopal Committee for Social Communications (CEPACS), an entity of the Symposium of Episcopal Conference of Africa and Madagascar (SECAM), emphasises the call to be “witnesses to the resurrection”. 

“I call on Nigerians, as witnesses to the resurrection to help one another to see that the tomb is already empty and that the death of Good Friday lost its sting and ended with Easter Sunday resurrection,” he says.

Bishop Emmanuel Adetoyese Badejo of Oyo Diocese in Nigeria during Vigil Mass on 30 March 2024. Credit: Catholic Diocese of Oyo/Nigeria

(Story continues below)

Bishop Badejo appeals to all to “make someone’s burden lighter. Reach out with the Easter mood and message to the less fortunate who may lack faith and hope and may not feel the goodness of Easter as well as you do.”

“Be a witness of goodness, reconciliation, brotherhood, love and faith as ingredients for a better society and future. That is what Jesus died for. That is how we can get eternal life with him,” he says.

Recalling a testimony by the President of the U.S., Joe Biden, on “how his father always said to him: ‘Joe, always keep the faith’. And how his grandmother always retorted: ‘Joe don’t just keep the faith, spread it,’” Bishop Badejo says, “Let us make that grandmother’s principle ours.”

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Oyo/Nigeria

“Like the women who went to the tomb. If you feel God’s love, joy, compassion or forgiveness, share it with somebody,” the 62-year-old Catholic Bishop, who started his Episcopal Ministry in October 2007 as Coadjutor Bishop of Oyo Diocese says.

He adds, “If you rejoice in Christ’s victory and power, help others to feel it too. Tell it all around you that Jesus is risen, alleluia is our song of joy.”

Credit: Catholic Diocese of Oyo/Nigeria

“Do your best to share God’s compassion with all you have and God will do the rest. Happy Easter for a better Nigeria and a better world!” Bishop Badejo says in his 2024 Easter Message shared with ACI Africa in the early hours of Easter Sunday, March 31.