HOMILY BY REV MSGR. CLETUS TANIMU GOTAN AT THE FUNERAL MASS FOR THE LATE NDE THOMAS GOWOK GOMIR AT THE HOLY CROSS CATHEDRAL CHURCH, PANKSHIN ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18TH, 2017

Ecclesiastics 50:24-26; I Cor 1:3-9; Luke 1:39-55

We are together here for the funeral Mass of Nde Thomas Gowok Gomir, and I am certain that we all want to assure all the bereaved and sorrowing family and friends and especially his children Rev. Fr Gabriel Gokir Gowok, Mrs Mary  Okereke, Mr Emmanuel Dimka Gowok, Miss Jacinta Neshi Gowok, Eng. Jude Gowok, and  Mr Sebastian Nenbekechor Gowok of our prayerful condolences on the loss of their beloved and loving father.  We are not unaware of the poverty of our words at this time, but we hope that our presence and prayers, and the presence of the so many families and friends from near and far will sustain and comfort Fr Gabriel and the other children at this saddest of times. May God, the God of all things, the doer of great deeds everywhere, grant him a peaceful repose and cheer our heart.

During his tenure as senior minister of a Church, a Reverend gentleman lost his son Alex in a horrific automobile accident. Among the well-meaning people who tried to
be consoling were those who suggested to the Pastor that his son's death should be accepted as God's will. The Reverend couldn't take it. As well-intentioned as the words might have been, he retorted: "It's not my God's will that Alex was killed!" "The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, 'It is the will of God,'" the Reverend said. "Never do we know enough to say that.

Is it not true that we too sometimes say "It's God's will" or "that the dead is in a better place". This is because we want to assure one another, even if we ourselves are struggling to find a place for God in what is simply a terrible moment we can't understand. But we cannot allow ourselves to fall for easy answers or, as the Reverend objected, to the presumption that we know God's will and attribute tragedy to God.

We have come, all the same, to express our sympathy with and our support for the entire Gomir family in this grief and loss just as Jesus did when he went to Bethany and was deeply moved, and even wept, at the grave of his friend Lazarus. The family has been very generous to the Church in the Archdiocese of Jos, in the diocese of Pankshin and indeed the Universal Church for giving us Rev Fr Gabriel Gowok their dear son and one of our brothers as a priest. May the presence of Christ and of His Church bouy you up and give you comfort and peace and may the shadow of death be turned into the light of a new day and may God be merciful to us and grant us new life, new life here - and the new life Jesus spoke of in the heavenly places above.

Job is an ancient model for our human response to life's unfairness and loss. Job does not deny his pain: He bellows his laments. He's not afraid to complain that suffering is unfair or even that God seems unfair. We too must allow ourselves the full range of our human emotions as we find ourselves struggling to find God's light in the grey fog of loss. Yes, it is good and Christian thing to mourn the dead, but St. Paul tells us that we should not do so as others do who have no hope (1 Thess 4).  That does not mean that our hope can give us an escape from the sadness of death, even if we believe that behind the sorrow and pain we feel, lies the reality that nde Gowok is in the hands of God who is infinite in mercy and love.  Yes, faced with the death of Nde Thomas, we believe that though he dies, yet he lives because death does not destroy the life we share with Christ, but completes and fulfils it.  Our sadness, therefore, has an underlying current of peace.  May he continue to rest with the Lord.

It is at a time such as this that our faith becomes extremely personal. It is at a time such as this that only our faith in the unbounded love and infinite mercy of the Lord enables us to see through the dark glass of this hour. Our father's dedicated and simple life of faith, his service, generous dispositions and life of sacrifice for others, and in short the seriousness with which he faced his Christian religion should console us.  He was an ordinary and simple man who held no high public office yet his departure seems as if the sky above our community has collapsed and many of us feel somewhat diminished and even orphaned.  Although the psalmist says that our lives last seventy years or eighty if we are strong, Nde Gowok lived well over the "four score" that Moses spoke of in psalm 90. He lived for 82 solid and meritorious years. The immediate members of his family have every cause to thank God for blessing him with this age and giving them the opportunity to return to him part of the great love he demonstrated to them as a loving and sacrificing father by the privilege to bury such a father.  With his death your past has been closed but a legacy left. I remember his Ngas stock and his wife of the Berom stock whose legacy are the children they have left. They stayed together and cooperated with each other for the best part of their lives. Are we improving or disimproving in this legacy they have left in our days? For our generation the other tribes are enemies to be discriminated against and competed with.

We join you to thank God for the kind of father you had. He reminds me of the story of one Tom Smith who, at the point of death, called his children and advised them to follow his footsteps so that they can have peace of mind in all that they do..  His daughter, Sara, said, "Daddy, its unfortunate you are dying without a penny in your bank.. Other fathers that you tag as being corrupt, thieves of public funds left houses and properties for their children; even this house we live in is a rented apartment.. Sorry, I can't emulate you, just go, let's chart our own course..  Few moments later, their father gave up the spirit..

Three years later, Sara went for an interview in a multinational company.. At interview the Chairman of the committee asked, "Which Smith are you...?"  Sara replied, "I am Sara Smith. My Dad Tom Smith is now late.."  Chairman cuts in, "O my God, you are Tom Smith's daughter..?"  He turned to the  other members and said, "This Smith man was the one that signed my membership form into the Institute of Administrators and his recommendation earned me where I am today. He did all these free. I didn't even know his address, he never knew me. He just did it for me.." He turned to Sara, "I have no questions for you, consider yourself as having gotten this job, come tomorrow, your letter will be waiting for you.."  Sara Smith became the Corporate Affairs Manager of the company with two Cars with Drivers, A duplex attached to the office, and a salary of £1,000,000 per month excluding allowances and other costs..

After two years of working in the company, the MD of the company came from America to announce his intention to resign and needed a replacement. A personality with high integrity was sought after, again the company's Consultant nominated Sara Smith..  In an interview, she was asked the secret of her success. With tears, she replied, "My Daddy paved these ways for me. It was after he died that I knew that he was financially poor but stinkingly rich in integrity, discipline and honesty".  She was asked again, why she is weeping since she is no longer a kid as to miss her dad still after a long time.  She replied, "At the point of death, I insulted my dad for being an honest man of integrity. I hope he will forgive me in his grave now. I didn't work for all these, he did it for me to just walk in".

So, finally she was asked, "Will you follow your father's foot steps as he requested?"  And her simple answer was, "l now adore the man, I have a big picture of him in my living room and at the entrance of my house. He deserves whatever I have after God".  My dear brothers and sisters, Are you like Tom Smith. It pays to build a name, the reward may not come quickly but it will come however long it may take and it lasts longer.  Integrity, discipline, self-control and fear of God makes a man wealthy, not the fat bank account.  Leave a good heritage for your children.

The gospel passage you chose for the occasion is singularly rich in weighty truths. The passage brings together Mary and Elizabeth, two cousins and two women of faith whose wombs were sanctuaries of faith and life, and were a place of safety and the miraculous growth of life for John and Jesus. They shared a common ministry in proclaiming the coming kingdom of God, and the baptism of repentance and the forgiveness of sins. In the passage, Elizabeth counted Mary as blessed - blessed because of the child she bore, and blessed because Mary believed that God's Word spoken to her would be fulfilled. Our natural reaction would be to think that the greater blessing lay in being the mother of Jesus, who was truly God in her womb.  Mary's greater honor, and the reason for her being chosen to bear the Christ-child was because of her faith and willingness to commit herself to the Lord's will and service. Being a disciple of her unborn Lord, being a disciple was the greater honor. And if God so greatly favored and blessed an ordinary, faithful believer like Mary, who was of low estate, how can we expect any less? Why do we doubt that the Lord can use us to great service in His kingdom if we're willing, and if we'll believe?

Our highest blessing, as priests and laity, is by being disciples and believing in the Lord's promise, and waiting for its fulfillment. To be blessed by the Lord, and to be open to His service doesn't have anything to do with our own power or status or privilege. He doesn't need our greatness to accomplish great things through us. The difference that you make in God's kingdom, as you make yourself available to His service may be something that changes the world - or it may be the immeasurable miracle of changing someone's life. Perhaps your great service will never be seen or recognized. Perhaps only God will see it - then all the better! For our Father, who sees what is done in secret will reward us (Matt. 6). We don't need trumpets to announce our good works in this kingdom - we don't need the credit or admiration of fellow humans. All the reward that's worth seeking comes from the quiet, humble, faithful, and often un-recognized service in the kingdom of God. A record of service that you don't even count or keep track of, but simply do out of the faith in God to keep His promises, and the love for what He has done for you.

Today, many people have put God on their reserve bench and live as though there is no tomorrow.  I looked through for some media reports and the scorecard is very uninspiring. It is tales of same sex unions, betrayals, divorces, dysfunctional children and trafficking and even ritual killings. Whether in business or in the practice of their professions, in politics or in the civil service, being religious often makes no difference to the pattern of behavior of many of us. Being religious means more than just our lives and the end of the world. It is not about carrying the Bible or other sacred books, all them signs showing that we are religious, but about delivering the goods. These things just don't take effect in the way we act and react and carry on with our daily lives. We live as if God is not around; as if He is non-existent. We practice what someone has referred to as practical atheism.

While Nigeria as a nation is lucky that an overwhelming majority of her population are adherents of either Christianity or Islam, two main religions, whose teaching highlight peace with God and righteousness, fairness and justice in our dealings with each other, the need for a proper management of the worldly good, sharing of such worldly goods with the less privileged, honesty in our dealings with each other, many of us are religious only in name.

A visitor to Nigeria will be astonished at the apparent religiosity of Nigerians. Going through the streets of many Nigeria towns, he will encounter signposts depicting the existence of different Christian Churches, and mosques of various sizes and shapes. Should he spend the night in any big city, he will be frightened by the shouts of alleluias and calls for prayers from Mosques warning from loud – speakers that rend the stillness of the early morning air and leading to the instantaneous conclusion that Nigerians are religiously addicted.  But how come we cannot stay in peace with our neighbors? How do we account for the sorts of destructive crimes, ranging from looting of public funds to inflation of contract fees, cheating in market places, receiving salaries for work not done, extortion of fellow brothers and sisters and all forms of other crimes that portray man's inhumanity to man? The name of religion in Nigeria has been turned into a legitimate weapon where lives have been lost, places of worship desecrated and razed and whole populations and towns sacked.

My dear friends, we must realize that the life of Nde Thomas and his likes are exemplary not because they did extraordinary things but because they did those simple things of life extraordinarily.  They trained their children for life and for God and simply played the role of parents. Such people are a blessing to the world they lived in and I wonder how many more we have around. Every funeral calls upon us to concentrate in life more on who we are than on what we have.  Yes we Nigerian may be well known for our religious fervor, but we are also better known for our crass but elusive quest for wealth, power, status and significance. Our presence at this funeral should be a wake up call, and the coffin before us here another divine teaching aid that one day all this years of corruption and abuse of office will end. As for the revival of our values and reorganization of priorities, our vocal denunciation must be accompanied by action because:

It is not enough to lament that our society is sick, that bribery and corruption are acquiring rights of citizenship, and that armed robbery and high scale dishonesty are becoming a threat to social life. It is necessary for the godly ones among us to take particular steps to change the situation... to jump into the arena of social life, take mature initiative and strive to infuse a godly spirit into the market, police, civil service, government, scholarship Board, court, school, hospital, customs office, etc.

As Christians we believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the messiah of the world, who is our sole Rabbi. If our belief is true, then we have to show concretely, in life suffused with his teaching that there is a difference between a life informed by his teaching and life unassociated with his teaching. The story of the suffering and death of Jesus on Good Friday, which we celebrated less than a week ago, is the story of the triumph of falsity over truth, of injustice over justice, of evil over goodness. Jesus was falsely charged of crimes he did not commit, and unjustly sentenced to a death he did not deserve. His good friend betrayed him, his trusted companions deserted him and his number one man denied him. The people he loved demanded his crucifixion and chose to have the bandit Barabbas released in his place. It is a story of betrayal and lies, dishonesty and meanness, unfaithfulness and wicked violence directed against an innocent and apparently helpless victim. All this comes to a head on Good Friday when we see Jesus scourged, mocked, led on the death march, nailed to the cross where he dies after a few hours and hastily buried in a tomb. If that were the end of the story that would be a bad story, a tragedy. But glory be to God it is not.

It is good news to know that truth is immortal.we can suppress truth, accuse it of being a lie and condemn it. Truth will rise again. Remember this and do not give up on truth even when every body seems to give up on it; do not give up on justice on doing what is right. True will always be true just will always be just right will always be right even when the world around us would have it otherwise. We must learn to believe in the sun even when it is not shining, knowing that by and by it will shine again. It is the end of the story that counts. That is why the church asks us at Easter to rejoice and be glad. Even when we are going through difficult times: through betrayal, unjust discrimination, lies, misrepresentations; even when the enemy seems to be winning the battle in our lives, Christ has won.

Today, Jesus is still carrying an old rugged cross in those who can't pay their hospital bills and be discharged, those who can't afford three square meals, those who are suffering unjustly, those who are victims of intimidation and have nobody to speak for them, those in need of education but can't afford one, etc. Jesus wants us to help him in carrying these crosses and do not forget that whatever you do for them, you did for Christ. What sacrifice can you make today to better their situations?

Permit me, your Lordships spiritual and temporal, Very Rev and Rev Fathers, Revs sisters, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, to congratulate the entire Ngas nation on another successful hosting of our annual cultural festival, Pusdung. It was a golden opportunity given us to showcase our rich cultural and religious heritage and uniqueness to the world as it serves also as a unity cornerstone for our people to foster the spirit of unity, love, brotherhood and togetherness among us and with our neighbours.

The hosting of this event on Holy Saturday, the eve of Easter, which is also called a black Saturday remains worrisome and warrants a revisiting of the matter no matter the wisdom of those who conceived it. On Holy Saturday, the whole world commemorates the day that Jesus Christ lay in the tomb after his death according to the Christian Bible as we read in Mt 27:62-66. Holy Saturday is not just a day between Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, it should also be a day of somber reflection, a day of grief and shock as we reflect on the wickedness and darkness of the circumstances that led to the murder of Christ and to contemplate on our so many actions from which Jesus continues to suffer today in those He calls the least of His brothers and sisters.

Pusdung, is supposed to show case our culture and uniqueness as a people to the world and yet some of these cultural traditions are being murdered and eroded by our collective actions and inactions. I looked at our traditional stool here in Ngasland where we have been without Ngolong Ngas since 2014. What is the problem? Greed and selfishness. The stools for Ngolong are being contested and litigated in courts of law and lobbied in government offices over the rightful occupants of the stools. Here in Panskshin, for example, 4 out of the 8 stools are being contested and I am sure that if the occupants of the other four stools are dead they will also be contested and not without violence and loss of precious lives! We turn round and complain that we are without a leader when according to the constitution there will be no Ngolong Ngas when all the twelve stools in Pankshin and Kanke are not filled. I beg Government to revisit the obnoxious 1979 gazette which I understand is the culprit and at the roots of all the problems it is supposed to have solved but it has compounded and made more wicked. Revisit the areas of contention and listen to what the different traditions do to perpetuate their traditional heritage instead of imposing what some people put together to create a loophole for them to be relevant also in these chieftaincy affairs. Listen to the people. Where are our youths? What are all these problems and problems over the election of your leaders? You accuse the elders of being disorganized and for misleading you and you are certainly getting yourselves more fractionalized than they. Where is the love when you line up yourselves being one candidate or the other and write unprintable things about each other as if some are not Ngas and others more Ngas than the other. My brothers and sisters, we cannot get it right when our spiritual and cultural heritage are broken. When we allow these to be broken then our backbone, our self esteem, our native culture are broken. Once the religious realm is wrong all other things will be wrong. Let us return to the drawing table from where we got it wrong.

Yes, our father Nde Thomas Gowok Gomir has been freed from the limitations of the human body. He has moved into a beautiful mansion, not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. We must realize that Nde Thomas has simply gone ahead of us waiting for us, his family and friends on the other side. The greatest concern we must have now is to make sure we are in the right relationship with God's Son, Jesus, so that we will go to heaven too. When death comes for us will we be prepared?