CAMEROON NEEDS A PERPETUAL SUNDAY
Sunday is the first day of the week which originated from the word Sabbath. Though the Sabbath in reality is supposed to be observed on Saturday, the fact that Jesus Christ resurrected from the death on Sunday coupled with some other innovations in the Christian church have made the Sabbath Feast to be observed on Sunday. This day is the day on which God rested after His creation work of six days. It is thus a high holy day kept aside for rest, deep personal reflections, meditations, self-examination, contemplation and congregational worship. It is a day set aside just like God had set aside the Jewish family in the days of the Old Testament. It is a day which necessitates more intimacy with God depending on who observes it and how he/she observes it.
But unfortunately, what takes me aback so much about Sunday in Cameroon is that over the years and most especially now in the decaying days of Cameroon it is the only day on which a few Cameroonians pretend to be holy. The rest of this essay is out to present how Cameroonians spend the other days of the week and carry the left-overs of their sinful attitudes into the blessed day of Sunday thereby spoiling the special day which God has set aside for His true sons and daughters.
When on a Sunday morning the gates of God’s holy sanctuary-the church are flung open, Cameroonian church-goers gallop into it like horses on a PMUC race in Paris . Some people almost trample on the others and the whole scenario becomes something only comparable to the European Scramble for Africa in the early 19th century. The paradox of all this mess is that these so-called Christians first of all carry into God’s House their bodies which are already contaminated temples of the Holy Spirit. Some of them come in with full pockets filled with money and gifts that look like pregnant women they have received in their office over the week so as to ruin the destinies of some unfortunate, poor, and intelligent Cameroonian youths. They use such ill-gotten money to dirty the pure gifts that the few upright ones have brought to honour God with. Indeed, some sit in church and are quite far away from the scriptures and sermons as they keep on meditating on how the next day they shall bribe their son’s, daughter’s… way into ENS, ENAM, ENSET, IRIC, EMIA, and what have you? Some others think about how the following day they will erase the name of a poor, unfortunate, innocent and intelligent Cameroonian youth from an examination list in their office and put in that of a son, daughter, sister, brother, uncle, aunt, cousin, niece, friend, boyfriend, and the list continues to flow like the Egyptian Nile. With all such behaviour, do we now see that the way we spend the days surrounding Sunday does not in any way warrant our observance of Sunday? Do we now see that since we only pretend to be holy on Sundays it would appear that we need a perpetual Sunday in Cameroon?
If on a Sunday morning a census of Cameroon ’s church-goers, not Christians, is conducted, it will reveal that more than 80 per cent of the country’s population is at least people who visit the church. These very people, however, are the ones who stand up against the wellbeing and progress of their fellow bothers and sisters. It is quite unimaginable that Cameroonians neglect their sick and underprivileged citizens to be taken care of by foreigners who go about trying to rub balm where they did not inflict any wound. How comes it that the Marist Fathers will want to help a student from CCAST Bambili (suffering from cancer) who is unable to pay for the cost of her medical operation just find some organs of the Cameroonian government like the Immigration Police posing as stumbling blocks on their way? That after having convinced the Italian government to help this poor girl, the Marist Fathers like Fr. Constant A. of the Our Lady of Fatima Parish Bambili still spent sleepless nights shuttling between offices before a passport could be issued for her! That in the end, the Marist Fathers had to contact the Presidency of the Republic before success came their way remains food for thought! And that in the end the girl was allowed to fly is commendable. But that her flight as well as that of the Marist journalist who was to accompany her to Italy was all delayed remains something unheard of. Are all these things not done by the so-called Cameroonian Christians? Do these very individuals not pretend to be holy on Sundays? Therefore, we really need a perpetual Sunday in Cameroon so that Cameroonians can abandon corrupt practices at least for some time and even pretend to be holy or upright.
The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II has been to Cameroon twice: in 1985 and in 1995. In 2009, Benedict XVI in the very capacity visited Cameroon and launched the book INSTRUMENTUM LABORIS in Yaounde . The Holy Father has come and gone back. But, where is the notorious corruption of Cameroon ? Certainly, corruption is still loaming in the horizon. When he came, may be the rate of corruption was lowered and, as soon as he left, even when the dust of his visit has not yet begun to settle down, corruption has resurfaced and this time around on a very deadly gear. He, like his predecessor, condemned the use of condoms and before he arrived back in Rome , some of us had begun spreading information against his doctrine. What then have we learned from his visit to Cameroon ? Or, did we want him to remain in Cameroon saying high holy masses like the one of 20th March 2009 at the Ahmadu Ahidjo Stadium to a congregation which forgot the message of his homily even before they came out of the stadium? This only serves to confirm that we need a perpetual Sunday in Cameroon .
During holy baptism, we are always very happy to promise God that we have rejected Satan and all his works and ways. Every Sunday before the sacrament of Holy Eucharist, we usually pretend to renew these promises, but all we are doing amounts to sacrilege as we are the very promoters of corruption, bribery, embezzlement, nepotism and other social ills in Cameroon . So, on Sundays, there is a considerable degree of abstinence from these ills which resurface before it is Monday morning. We, Cameroonians, are just telling the world that evil in our country can only come to a stop if every day is declared a Sunday. We therefore really need a perpetual Sunday in Cameroon .
As for the students, youths and even some unscrupulous aged people, the rest of the week is always dedicated to fornication, drunkenness, adultery, jealousy, gossiping, and all what not? But, when Sunday comes, we get up from this seeming slumber, put up flashy dresses and hurry into the church like little saints on the Feast of all Saints. In fact, we rush in to occupy seats in the church and deprive our elders of such seats. Each time that there is only one holy mass to be said in the Bambili Parish, I always witness horrible happenings. A young person who can stand for long prefers to sit down on a comfortable seat in the church while an old mother or father who is so weak and almost on their way to the grave stands seat less and breathing like a victim of slaughter. The youths don’t just care who is standing and who is sitting. At times, I am tempted to think that the day is not a Sunday, but merely one of the normal days of the week during which Cameroonians lose their consciences. As a matter of fact, such behaviour only pushes me to believe that Cameroon is calling for the declaration of Sunday perpetual.
Many more of such sad events can be recounted which can fill the whole world. So, while I have time, space, material and God’s inspiration, I will continue to keep you abreast of them. Indeed, our problem is that we forget to know that every day for us is already a Sunday. This is only true if we realize that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and strive to keep them as pure as we pretend to do on Sundays. As Christians, we only need to make Cameroon and the rest of the world know that Sunday is already perpetual and that we have only been failing to respect it to the full. Or, have we forgotten that as Christians we are the light and salt of the world? Cameroonians and of course dear Christians, let us end corruption and make the continual observance of Sunday in our lives and save Cameroon from this scourge of seemingly requesting for the declaration of Sunday perpetual. To emphasize and conclude, let’s know that Sunday is perpetual and we just need to observe it fully and by so doing, we shall create a paradise in Cameroon and on earth. Let us also remember that Jesus Christ may not come back on a Sunday to meet us in church pretending to be holy. Let us respect the mobile churches in us and wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.
THE END!!!
Sunday April 26th 2009
Nsah Kenneth Toah
(Nsah Mala)
Voice of the voiceless!!!!
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Tel: +237 74 29 17 46
E-mail: nsahmala@yahoo.com
WOW, how i wish this piece of work sounds repeatedly in our ears sir!
ReplyDeleteSuch a great work!