The fall of Adam and Eve: the course on eve and the plight of the third world women.

 

INTRODUCTION

The first man, Adam, was set into a state of happiness and was promised its continuity, to him and to his posterity, under the condition of his fidelity in perfect obedience to the statues and ordinances given to him by his creator. Thus he should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, in disregard to the commands of the Lord, Adam faltered and fell. In the garden, Adam and Eve lived in a state of perfection. They experienced total harmony with the Creator, with His creation, and with each other. This balance was destroyed when Adam and Even submitted to the will of the tempter rather than to the will of God. At that point in time, both the woman and man were cursed, inalterably changing the course of history and the outworking of the original created order.[1]

The initial creation was paradisiacal; death and mortality was not part of it. There was no mortal flesh upon the earth for any form of life; all things had been created in a state of paradisiacal immortality. The fall of Adam and Eve which is summed up as the concept of ‘the fall’ is used to describe the transitional deployment from the state of tranquility in the Garden of Eden to a state of hardship outside the garden. This is basically from the biblical interpretation of the book of Genesis. The fall is an apocryphal expression of the revolt of our first parents from God, and the consequent sin and misery in which they and all their posterity were involved.

THE FALL: WHAT HAPPENED?

From the beginning God placed Adam and eve in the primeval Garden of Eden to tend but, on the penalty of death, God commanded them not to eat the “tree of knowledge of good and evil.” Adam and Eve were persons of innocence, until they yielded to the temptations of the serpent. Consequently they were driven out of the garden, and they lost their paradisiacal immortality, and that was the beginning of a life of suffering for them. God proclaimed punishments on them for their disobedience: for the woman, her punishment was pain in childbirth and subordination to the man, and for the man, relegation to an accursed ground with which he must toil and sweat for his subsistence.[2] The fall brought shame, degradation and pollution to man (loss of innocence), and displeasure to God.

The blissful harmony of the Garden of Eden came to an abrupt end. Man and woman brought this tragedy upon themselves. The story of this tragedy has three moments: temptation, fall and judgment. The serpent tempted Eve, and Eve succumbed and involved his companion Adam, causing the both to sin against God. Their disobedience disrupted the friendly relationship between them and God and destroyed the simple harmony between themselves, thus they blamed each other. This act of disobedience bothers majorly on man’s desire to acquire knowledge, but eating the forbidden fruit only reveled to man, in a humiliating way, his utter creatureliness and thus they became shamefully conscious of their nakedness. They were cursed and sent out of the Garden of Eden, and doomed to die. These consequences extend beyond Adam and Eve to their descendants—the entire human race.

 

THE TEMPTING SERPENT

Being created in the image of God, Adam and Eve were moral beings with freewill. They had the capacity to decide for themselves. Some scholars are of the opinion that the serpent tempted the woman because she was weaker and inferior to the man. They were of the opinion that if the man was first tempted, mankind would not have fallen. However, some other scholars are of the opinion the serpent tempted the woman first because she was the final perfecting element in creation. Being the perfection of creation, with the fall of the woman, the man was already destined to fall.[3] However this second group of scholars holds that if man fell first, the woman being the perfection might not have disobeyed too. Another common explanation is that the tempter addressed the woman because she had not personally received the prohibition from God as Adam had.[4] A fourth possibility is that the serpent approached her because of a difference in woman’s personality which made her more vulnerable to attack. Some of these explanations appear plausible, but we may never conclusively grasp the serpent’s plan.[5]

THE FALL: THE CURSE ON EVE

God’s original idea for man was to stay in blessings not in a curse.  However, when man became disobedient to the commandments originally given to him by God, it brought a curse to all humanity and distorted the image of God in man.  The fall made humans sinful, and brought death into the world. Man and woman lost their confidence in the sight of God and sort to hide away from his face. The woman was tricked into disobedience in which he involved the man. The consequences of their disobedience were instant. The created order was violated and relationships were impaired. God cursed the man and his wife as the result of their disobedience. Eve first transgressed the limits of the Eden and initiated the conditions for mortality. The very act of disobedience that started with Eve cost man his initial happiness. As a consequence of the very act of disobedience God cursed Eve thus: “I will increase your suffering in child-bearing, and you will give birth to your children in pain, yet your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you”.[6] The primordial disobedience earn woman an inferior social position to man. The curse of the woman is categorized in three aspects: pain, desire and rule-ship of man over her life. The three are interrelated.

The curse is in two parts, each composed of two parallel clauses. The first part deals with childbearing and the second with marital relations. With two quick strokes God illustrates the bane of women throughout the ages. The curse on eve bothers basically on motherhood and wifehood. God pronounced on her pain of child bearing, and subordination to man. Before the transgression there is harmony and peace, Adam and Eve lived a blissful life. It can also be argued that prior to their disobedience; there is a kind equality between man and the woman, or the man is not over the woman. However God subjugating of woman under man is her chastisement. The fall brought rule-ship of man over the woman. The immediate two sentences pronounced punishment that concerns child birth. Women suffering down the centuries have multiplied through the different generations; there are cases where expectation period prolong beyond nine months. Irrespective of the sufferings and pangs of child birth, the woman is still subjected under the man.

The second part of the judgment God pronounced on the woman is just as significant as the first; yet it is always taken lightly, just a few are aware of its implications. “Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” Following the sentence structure of the original Hebrew text, it explains the role difficulty women experience to this day. The pattern established prior to the fall was a hierarchy of roles characterized by unity and oneness. However the judgment would work against, rather than contribute to, this original created order and unity. The second part of the judgment necessarily subjected woman under the man; thereby setting a patriarchal standard for the basis of their relationship.

THE PLIGHTS OF THE THIRD WORLD WOMEN

The entrance of sin into the world changed man and woman’s relationship to God and to creation. No longer do women and men walk in harmony with God. The unity and equality present in the first relationship has disintegrated. Role confusion, rebellion, and disharmony reign. Eve’s curse has resulted in the virtual subjugation of women ever since. Women had few rights.  In the past, fathers sold their daughters into slavery or wed them to the highest bidder. In some places wives existed to give the husband pleasure and sons and to keep the house. Many societies insisted that women be veiled in public, and some considered it a criminal act for a woman to walk out of her house without a chaperone. In short, a woman was chattel.

However, in the third world, the genesis pronouncement on the woman sowed the first seed of male chauvinism. Since the time of eve, women experience pain in childbirth. According to a research done by a pain specialist, the pang of birth is far greater than the pain of amputating a finger without Anastasia injection. The pain of childbirth is too severe that some women can’t bear it, many had given up trying to put to birth, and many more have resorted to cesarean section. Some of the cases of the increase in mortality rate during child birth may be as a result of inadequacy of standard facilities, but it also is as a result of the curse of the woman.

With regards to male dominance, especially in the third world, women have sort to usurp male authority and dominance only for them to be crushed, suppressed and oppressed. The male counterparts have been so oppressive, domineering, unfair and uncaring. Women in the third world have wrongly and rudely pronounced inferior. The modern feminist movement has risen in the past few decades to combat male chauvinism and domination. However, the principle of men ruling over and women fighting back to overcome this rule cannot be broken by our own efforts. This is not something that has evolved historically and culturally. It is a principle deeply engraved into our sin nature. It is a direct result of the Fall and the judgment of God.[7]

Women go through different types of suffering and struggles all over in the third world. Its hard and a difficulty to be a woman in the third world; the women subordination in the third world is alarming. In the third world, women are taken to be slaves especially in the societies that uphold firmly the patriarchal system. These men have little or no interest about the sufferings of women. These women are subjected to men, used for sexual fulfillment, domestic duties etc. the women of the third world have be severely subjugated and humiliated. Of the 1.6 billion people who live in extreme poverty, the majority are women.[8] Every day, thousands of women and girls are victims of violence, including sexual abuse, trafficking and early and forced marriage. The health of women also remains a global challenge. In 2010, 287,000 women died during or shortly after childbirth. Developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia had the largest share of these deaths.[9] In many developing countries, there are far fewer girls than boys to be found in secondary schools and it is therefore harder for them to find good jobs.[10] The women of the third world are always victims.

OUTSTANDING PLIGHTS OF THE THIRD WORLD WOMEN

The status of women’s rights today varies dramatically in different countries and, in some cases, among groups within the same country, such as ethnic groups or economic classes. Many disparities persist between women’s legal rights and their economic status mostly in the third world countries. Women today constitute nearly 70 percent of the world’s poor, despite international efforts to compensate women and men equally. Women also remain at a distinct disadvantage in education as well. While primary school enrollment for girls now roughly equals that of boys, women constitute about two-thirds of the world’s one billion illiterate adults.

Women in the third world face all forms of discrimination on the basis of their sex. Deep-seated cultural beliefs allowed women only limited roles in the third world societies. Many people are of the belief and opinion that women’s natural roles were as mothers and wives, and they should be relegated and considered on that level. These people considered women to be better suited for childbearing and homemaking rather than for involvement in the public life of business or politics. Widespread belief that women were intellectually inferior to men led most of the third world societies to limit women’s education to the learning domestic skills. Most of the women of the third world societies lacked the educational and economic resources that would enable them to challenge the prevailing social order; they generally accepted their inferior status as their only option. This is because most of the organized effort by these women to achieve greater rights and recognition in the society are not achieving their purpose. Fragile in every sense of the word, they are obliged to look up to man for every comfort.

 

 

HUMILIATION AND SUBJUGATION: Too easy deductions must be avoided and yet the interest of men dominance and women subjugation is worthy of reflection. Women of the third world are humiliated on daily basis in many different ways. Women continuously encounter many challenges in their Third World societies and in the World in general, one of which is to secure social status for themselves in a mostly male-dominated society. Women are devalued and taken to be the weaker sex with little or no importance attached to them. The dogma of women’s complete historical subjugation to men must be rated as one of the most fantastic myths ever created by the human mind. For instance in some societies, when a woman loses the husband, some bans are placed on her, she is not expected to come out in the public for a given period of time, and her hair would be shaved off. While I the same society, when a man loses his wife, nothing happens to him. In some cultures too, it is said that when a king die, he is buried with his first wife, while in same cultures when the wife of the king dies, the king will rather take another wife unto himself. Majorly in the third world too, women are mostly given a passive and not active voice.

PATRIARCHISM: The biggest challenge facing the women of the third world is the patriarchy system. In the third world regardless of a woman’s experience, education and abilities, she is relegated to the background, below the least of the men. The women are taken to be less qualified and competent. Patriarchy convinces people to see a strong and intelligent woman as a problem; a disruption of the social order. Many still believe that women are less worthy of the same opportunities afforded to men. With this social order men behave the way they like and always against women.

MALTREATMENT AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE: this bothers majorly on sexual oppression. Women are taken as objects who exist to fulfill the pleasure of men. The third world women suffer verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuses, along with traumatic injuries, sexually transmitted diseases, chronic pain, eating and sleeping disorders etc. it has been estimated that one woman out of three in the third world has been beaten, forced into sex, or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Women are used for sexual fulfillment, for domestic duties, to tend to the children.

GENITAL MUTILATION: this plight of women of the third world is dehumanizing. It is worse in the societies where this dehumanizing act is carried out years after infancy. There is uncertainty regarding reasons for persistence of the practice of female genital mutilation. However, some hold that it is a measure of taming the sensual urge of the woman.

SLAVERY: this is one of the most dehumanizing things suffered by the women of the third world. The women of the third world are seen as less valuable. Women in some societies of the third world are used to pay off debts. Some fathers give out their under aged daughter to marriage and mostly against the daughter’s will to married because they are unable to pay up debts they owe. While in some other societies women are taking and relegated to mere domestic work force without education or empowerment plans for them.

 

CONCLUSION

The creation and Fall of mankind lay the foundation for New Testament role directives. Upon the third world women have be laid all the vices and follies of civilization and culture. Their senses are inflamed, and their understandings neglected, consequently they become the prey of their senses, delicately termed sensibility, and are blown about by every momentary gust of feeling. Most of the third world women are weakened by their culture and erroneous opinions in the favour of men as against women. The third world women’s condition is much below what it would be were they left in a state nearer to nature. The sentences passed on man and woman affected their relationship to God, nature, and each other. These judgments affected Adam and Eve after the Fall and have affected every human being since. In Genesis the battle between the sexes began. Hard labor, sin, corruption, and death are unmistakable realities that face us every day. The judgments passed on Adam and Eve influences every human who has ever walked the face of this earth. This harsh treatment of women, which is pretty much the general pattern of human history, was not the original design of God. Sin brought it in and it therefore corrupted the original relationship between man and woman. In a very specific way, women have a general category of suffering and primarily their suffering is related to two things. It’s related to their children and their husbands; the perennial bearing and caring of children and the perennial dealing with husbands. It is a hard and has been a hard and relentless and often sorrowful duty through most of the history of women and even till today.

 

---

[1] Mary A. Kassian, WOMEN, CREATION, AND THE FALL, CROSSWAY BOOKS  WESTCHESTER, ILLINOIS, 1990, P. 21

[2] "Adam and Eve." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite.  Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2014.

[3] P. 22

[4] V. Geehardus, Biblical Theology(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1971), 45

[5] P. 22

[6] Genesis 3: 16

[7] P. 30

[8] World Development Report 2012 – Gender Equality and Development.

[9] http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/news/2012/20120516_unfpa_report/en/index.html

[10] http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTWDR2012/Resources/7778105-1299699968583/77862101315936222006/Complete-Report.pdf

SUMMARY OF JOHN PAUL II, APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION FamiliarisConsortio (22 November, 1981) PART FOUR

 

 

SUMMARY OF JOHN PAUL II, APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION FamiliarisConsortio (22 November, 1981)

PART FOUR

PASTORAL CARE OF THE FAMILY: STAGES, STRUCTURES, AGENTS AND SITUATIONSnn. 65-86

 

GBORU ANDREW OYINKEPREYE

SSPP/THEO/18/0728

 

 

COURSE: THEOLOGY OF MARRIAGE

COURSE CODE: SS/BTH/307

LECTURER: FR DANIEL KOUMAH

JUNE, 2020

 

I - STAGES OF PASTORAL CARE OF THE FAMILY

The Church Accompanies the Christian Family on Its Journey Through Life

65. The family too is called upon to develop and grow. In this growth process, the church occupies a great role in this. The Church Accompanies the family in this growth process. In the light of faith and by virtue of hope, the Christian family too shares, in communion with the Church, in the experience of the earthly pilgrimage towards the full revelation and manifestation of the Kingdom of God. The need for the church to do this is to ascertain in the certainty that future evangelization depends largely on the domestic Church."The church helps the family to harmonize the Heart of Christ and will show itself to be even more lively for families in general and for those families in particular which are in difficult or irregular situations. For all of them the Church will have a word of truth, goodness, understanding, hope and deep sympathy with their sometimes-tragic difficulties. To all of them she will offer her disinterested help so that they can come closer to that model of a family which the Creator intended from "the beginning" and which Christ has renewed with His redeeming grace.

Preparation for Marriage

66. For the sacrament of matrimony, in some countries it is still the families themselves that, according to ancient customs, ensure the passing on to young people of the values concerning married and family life, and they do this through a gradual process of education or initiation. However, changes that have taken place within almost all modern societies demand that not only the family but also society and the Church should be involved in the effort of properly preparing young people for their future responsibilities. This is even more applicable to Christian marriage, which influences the holiness of large numbers of men and women. The Church must therefore promote better and more intensive programs of marriage preparation, in order to eliminate as far as possible, the difficulties that many married couples find themselves in, and even more in order to favor positively the establishing and maturing of successful marriages.

Marriage preparation has to be seen and put into practice as a gradual and continuous process. It includes three main stages: remote, proximate and immediate preparation.

The Christian family and the whole of the ecclesial community should feel involved in the different phases of the preparation for marriage, which have been described only in their broad outlines. It is to be hoped that the Episcopal Conferences, just as they are concerned with appropriate initiatives to help engaged couples to be more aware of the seriousness of their choice and also to help pastors of souls to make sure of the couples' proper dispositions, so they will also take steps to see that there is issued a Directory for the Pastoral Care of the Family

The Celebration

67. A liturgical celebration is essential for marriage such sacramental action of sanctification, the celebration of marriage-inserted into the liturgy, which is the summit of the Church's action and the source of her sanctifying power must be per se valid, worthy and fruitful. This opens a wide field for pastoral solicitude, in order that the needs deriving from the nature of the conjugal convent, elevated into a sacrament, may be fully met, and also in order that the Church's discipline regarding free consent, impediments, the canonical form and the actual rite of the celebration may be faithfully observed. The celebration should be simple and dignified, according to the norms of the competent authorities of the Church.

Celebration of Marriage and Evangelization of Non-believing Baptized Persons

68. A careful attention must be devoted to the moral and spiritual dispositions of those being married, in particular to their faith, we must here deal with a not infrequent difficulty in which the pastors of the Church can find themselves in the context of our secularized society. The faith of the person asking the Church for marriage can exist in different degrees, and it is the primary duty of pastors to bring about a rediscovery of this faith and to nourish it and bring it to maturity. But pastors must also understand the reasons that lead the Church also to admit to the celebration of marriage those who are imperfectly disposed.

Pastoral Care After Marriage

69. The pastoral care for young families, which, finding themselves in a context of new values and responsibilities, are more vulnerable, especially in the first years of marriage, to possible difficulties, such as those created by adaptation to life together or by the birth of children. Young married couples should learn to accept willingly, and make good use of, the discreet, tactful and generous help offered by other couples that already have more experience of married and family life. Thus, within the ecclesial community-the great family made up of Christian families-there will take place a mutual exchange of presence and help among all the families, each one putting at the service of others its own experience of life, as well as the gifts of faith and grace. Animated by a true apostolic spirit, this assistance from family to family will constitute one of the simplest, most effective and most accessible means for transmitting from one to another those Christian values which are both the starting point and goal of all pastoral care.

II - STRUCTURES OF FAMILY PASTORAL CARE

The Ecclesial Community and in Particular the Parish

70. Communion with the universal Church does not hinder but rather guarantees and promotes the substance and originality of the various particular Churches. These latter remain the more immediate and more effective subjects of operation for putting the pastoral care of the family into practice. In this sense every local Church and, in more particular terms, every parochial community, must become more vividly aware of the grace and responsibility that it receives from the Lord in order that it may promote the pastoral care of the family. No plan for organized pastoral work, at any level, must ever fail to take into consideration the pastoral care of the family. Formation courses are periodically held at Higher Institutes of theological and pastoral studies. Such initiatives should be encouraged, sustained, increased in number, and of course are also open to lay people who intend to use their professional skills (medical, legal, psychological, social or educational) to help the family.

The Family

71. In this activity, married couples act in communion and collaboration with the other members of the Church, who also work for the family, contributing their own gifts and ministries. This apostolate will be exercised in the first place within the families of those concerned, through the witness of a life lived in conformity with the divine law in all its aspects, through the Christian formation of the children, through helping them to mature in faith, through education to chastity, through preparation for life, through vigilance in protecting them from the ideological and moral dangers with which they are often threatened, through their gradual and responsible inclusion in the ecclesial community and the civil community, through help and advice in choosing a vocation, through mutual help among family members for human and Christian growth together, and so on.

Associations of Families for Families

72. Various groupings of members of the faithful in which the mystery of Christ's Church is in some measure manifested and lived. One should therefore recognize and make good use of-each one in relationship to its own characteristics, purposes effectiveness and methods-the different ecclesial communities, the various groups and the numerous movements engaged in various ways, for different reasons and at different levels, in the pastoral care of the family, the Synod expressly recognized the useful contribution made by such associations of spirituality, formation and apostolate. It will be their task to foster among the faithful a lively sense of solidarity, to favor a manner of living inspired by the Gospel and by the faith of the Church, to form consciences according to Christian values and not according to the standards of public opinion; to stimulate people to perform works of charity for one another and for others with a spirit of openness which will make Christian families into a true source of light and a wholesome leaven for other families.

III - AGENTS OF THE PASTORAL CARE OF THE FAMILY

Bishops and Priests

It is important to note that the responsibility extends beyond liturgical matters.

73. The person principally responsible in the diocese for the pastoral care of the family is the Bishop. As father and pastor, he must exercise particular solicitude in this clearly priority sector of pastoral care. He must devote to it personal interest, care, time, personnel and resources, but above all personal support for the families and for all those who, in the various diocesan structures, assist him in the pastoral care of the family. The Bishops avail themselves especially of the priests, whose task-as the Synod expressly emphasized-constitutes an essential part of the Church's ministry regarding marriage and the family. The same is true of deacons to whose care this sector of pastoral work may be entrusted.

Men and Women Religious

74. Men and women religious, and members of Secular Institutes and other institutes of perfection, either individually or in groups, to develop their service to families, with particular solicitude for children, especially if they are abandoned, unwanted, orphaned, poor or handicapped. They can also visit families and look after the sick; they can foster relationships of respect and charity towards one-parent families or families that are in difficulties or are separated; they can offer their own work of teaching and counseling in the preparation of young people for marriage, and in helping couples towards truly responsible parenthood; they can open their own houses for simple and cordial hospitality, so that families can find there the sense of God's presence and gain a taste for prayer and recollection, and see the practical examples of lives lived in charity and fraternal joy as members of the larger family of God.

Lay Specialists

75. Considerable help can be given to families by lay specialists (doctors, lawyers, psychologists, social workers, consultants, etc.) who either as individuals or as members of various associations and undertakings offer their contribution of enlightenment, advice, orientation and support.

Recipients and Agents of Social Communications

76. This very important category in modern life deserves a word of its own. It is well known that the means of social communication "affect, and often profoundly, the minds of those who use them, under the affective and intellectual aspect and also under the moral and religious aspect," especially in the case of young people.social communication, like the school and the environment, often have a notable influence on the formation of children, parents as recipients must actively ensure the moderate, critical, watchful and prudent use of the media, by discovering what effect they have on their children and by controlling the use of the media in such a way as to "train the conscience of their children to express calm and objective judgments, which will then guide them in the choice or rejection of programs available .

IV - PASTORAL CARE OF THE FAMILY IN DIFFICULT CASES

Particular Circumstances

77.A difficult problem is that of the family which is ideologically divided. In these cases particular pastoral care is needed. In the first place it is necessary to maintain tactful personal contact with such families. The believing members must be strengthened in their faith and supported in their Christian lives. Although the party faithful to Catholicism cannot give way, dialogue with the other party must always be kept alive. Love and respect must be freely shown, in the firm hope that unity will be maintained. Much also depends on the relationship between parents and children. Moreover, ideologies which are alien to the faith can stimulate the believing members of the family to grow in faith and in the witness of love.

Mixed Marriages

78. The growing number of mixed marriages between Catholics and other baptized persons also calls for special pastoral attention in the light of the directives and norms contained in the most recent documents of the Holy See and in those drawn up by the Episcopal Conferences, in order to permit their practical application to the various situations.

In the first place, attention must be paid to the obligations that faith imposes on the Catholic party with regard to the free exercise of the faith and the consequent obligation to ensure, as far as is possible, the Baptism and upbringing of the children in the Catholic faith.With regard to the liturgical and canonical form of marriage, Ordinaries can make wide use of their faculties to meet various necessities.

Situations

79. In its solicitude to protect the family in all its dimensions, not only the religious one, the Synod of Bishops did not fail to take into careful consideration certain situations which are irregular in a religious sense and often in the civil sense too. Such situations, as a result of today's rapid cultural changes, are unfortunately becoming widespread also among Catholics with no little damage to the very institution of the family and to society, of which the family constitutes the basic cell.

a) Trial Marriages

80. A first example of an irregular situation is provided by what are called "trial marriages," which many people today would like to justify by attributing a certain value to them. But human reason leads one to see that they are unacceptable, by showing the unconvincing nature of carrying out an "experiment" with human beings, whose dignity demands that they should be always and solely the term of a self-giving love without limitations of time or of any other circumstance.

81.Some people consider themselves almost forced into a free union by difficult economic, cultural or religious situations, on the grounds that, if they contracted a regular marriage, they would be exposed to some form of harm, would lose economic advantages, would be discriminated against, etc. In other cases, however, one encounters people who scorn, rebel against or reject society, the institution of the family and the social and political order, or who are solely seeking pleasure.

c) Catholics in Civil Marriages

82. There are increasing cases of Catholics who for ideological or practical reasons, prefer to contract a merely civil marriage, and who reject or at least defer religious marriage. Their situation cannot of course be likened to that of people simply living together without any bond at all, because in the present case there is at least a certain commitment to a properly-defined and probably stable state of life, even though the possibility of a future divorce is often present in the minds of those entering a civil marriage. By seeking public recognition of their bond on the part of the State, such couples show that they are ready to accept not only its advantages but also its obligations. Nevertheless, not even this situation is acceptable to the Church.

d) Separated or Divorced Persons Who Have Not Remarried

83. The case of Loneliness and other difficulties are often the lot of separated spouses, especially when they are the innocent parties. The ecclesial community must support such people more than ever. It must give them much respect, solidarity, understanding and practical help, so that they can preserve their fidelity even in their difficult situation; and it must help them to cultivate the need to forgive which is inherent in Christian love, and to be ready perhaps to return to their former married life.The situation is similar for people who have undergone divorce, but, being well aware that the valid marriage bond is indissoluble, refrain from becoming involved in a new union and devote themselves solely to carrying out their family duties and the responsibilities of Christian life. In such cases their example of fidelity and Christian consistency takes on particular value as a witness before the world and the Church. Here it is even more necessary for the Church to offer continual love and assistance, without there being any obstacle to admission to the sacraments.

e) Divorced Persons Who Have Remarried

84. Reconciliation in the sacrament of Penance which would open the way to the Eucharist, can only be granted to those who, repenting of having broken the sign of the Covenant and of fidelity to Christ, are sincerely ready to undertake a way of life that is no longer in contradiction to the indissolubility of marriage. This means, in practice, that when, for serious reasons, such as for example the children’s upbringing, a man and a woman cannot satisfy the obligation to separate, they “take on themselves the duty to live in complete continence, that is, by abstinence from the acts proper to married couples.”

Those Without a Family

85In the world today, there are countless people who unfortunately cannot in any sense claim membership of what could be called in the proper sense a family. Large sections of humanity live in conditions of extreme poverty, in which promiscuity, lack of housing, the irregular nature and instability of relationships and the extreme lack of education make it impossible in practice to speak of a true family. There are others who, for various reasons, have been left alone in the world. And yet for all of these people there exists a "good news of the family.’ For those who have no natural family the doors of the great family which is the Church-the Church which finds concrete expression in the diocesan and the parish family, in ecclesial basic communities and in movements of the apostolate-must be opened even wider.

THE MMONWU ANCESTRAL CULT

 

INTRODUCTION

Mmonwu is an ancestral cult of the Igbo tribe of Nigeria which gives a profound sense of priority to the dead over the living. This particular system affirms the belief of the Igbo people in Life after death. It posits death not in the light of total annihilation but a bridge to a different kind of life. This system is closely related and necessarily tied to the Igbo belief in ancestral communion. The afterlife in Igbo tradition is the realm of the spiritual beings; however there are two categories of spiritual being in Igbo ontological understanding: those created as such or those that emanated and those who were once human. The ancestral cult belongs to the second category.[1]

THE MMONWU ANCESTRAL CULT

The mmonwu cult is an ontological association in communion with the ancestors. The Igbos man believe the ancestors have the power to make better or worse the life of their relations on earth; they can bring fortune or misfortune depending on how the living relations regard them.[2] lma mmonwu is the initiation of young boys into the masquerade cult. Among the lgbos, the mmonwu is the representative of the ancestors, and in this patrilineal society, it is predominantly a male cult. All initiated men are sworn to secrecy during this ritual, and from a very early age, young boys learn the secrets and mysteries that transform them into mature and fully integrated Igbo men. Thus “ima mmonwu” which is a ritual entrance into the mmonwu ancestral cult is regarded as the beginning of the manhood journey of an individual in the Igbo culture. It is the first ticket to the process of becoming an ancestor, because anyone who is not initiated into the ancestral cult in his life here on earth cannot be an ancestor or associate with the ancestors in the life after. It is therefore a mandatory ritual because it is the gateway to the advancement to the other stages of life. For instance, after this ritual, the fathers give their sons the first yam seedlings to start establishing themselves.

The ima mmonwu ritual involves a series of overnight activities. It starts with the gathering of the young men to be initiated at the village square where the introductory rituals are done by the eldest member of the mmonwu ancestral cult, and then they proceed to the mmonwu ancestral forest. It is forbidden for women to come out at the village square on this night, or to tread the mmonwu ancestral forest. This is because the mmonwu ancestral cult is highly gender sensitive. The second part of the ritual can be conducted by any member of the cult, while other members, as much as possible, are to be present while the ritual takes place. Basically on the second part of the ritual, the skills and ability to persevere under strain and stress, of the young men being initiated, are put to the test, and most especially their courage to conquer fear is tested. In most cases, the young men are confronted by the most dangerous of the ancestral representatives, usually in a masquerade form. Finally the young men are taken through a concluding ritual rite and are sworn to secrecy.

THE MMONWU ANCESTRAL CULT, ANCESTORS AND LIFE AFTER DEATH

The ranking in the Mmonwu ancestral cult is based on who got initiated first and not based on age. A Seventeen years old young man who is initiated first will rank higher that a twenty years old man. The mmonwu does not beat a person who is initiated to the mmonwu cult because by virtue of his initiation, he has identified with the ancestors, if in any case the mmonwu beats a person initiated to the cult; it is regarded as a greeting. This is similar to the ranking of the ancestors; they are ranked not by who died first, but who was given a proper burial first. Thus, when libations are poured to the ancestors, they are called to partake according to who was properly buried first, and in that sequence. However, Eke, Orie, Afor, and Nkwo are regarded as the greatest ancestors of the Igbo, and that’s why when the ancestors of the Igbos are to be mentioned, Eke, Orie, Afor and Nkwo are first called. This system accounts for why some elders instruct their children to bury them immediately after their death and not to put them in mortuary.

Death, although a dreaded event, is perceived as the beginning of a person’s deeper relationship with all of creation, the complementing of life and the beginning of the communication between the visible and the invisible worlds. The goal of life is thus to become an ancestor after death. This is why it is necessary for every dead individual to be given a proper and traditional burial, so that the spirit may rest in peace and have a right in the land of the living dead in the afterlife, else the person’s may be a wandering spirit, and thus won’t have the benefits of being an ancestor. Proper burial is also for the purpose of securing a safe passage for the dead to the afterlife.

The ancestral cult and belief in life after death are instrumental components of the Igbo culture, this influences the community in a high degree. The relationship between the ancestral cult and life after death, throws light on the phenomenon of death and its role in life. These systems of belief are all rooted in the existence of ancestors. This basically promotes a traditional belief that death does not presuppose a complete annihilation, thus, death is not an end in itself. These sets of beliefs are materialized and practiced in the mmonwu ancestral cult. Thus mmonwu is said to be a representation of the ancestors, playing an intermediary role between the living and the dead.

CONCLUSION

The ancestral cult has the ontological monopoly over the traditional knowledge with regards to the meaning of life and death. They watch over the community, and pass judgment to the evil ones. The mmonwu comes out at special times like festive period, thereby making the ancestors partake in the celebrations of the living. With the ancestral cults, the Igbos believe that man does not die but rather transcends to a higher realm of life. The mmonwu is a symbol and an embodiment of customs and traditions that is vital to the norms and conventions of religious or social life of a community, guiding the society in a cyclical belief through the ancestral spirits.[3]

 

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Mbiti J.S. African religion and philosophy, double day company, Inc,  New York 1969.

 

Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences  Vol.7, No. 8, pp.17-23, September 2019

Chinelo Eze, west African ancestral cults shows the belief in life after death, 18/10/2020 https://t.guardian.ng/life/west-african-ancestral-cults-shows-the-belief-in-life-after-death/

 

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[1] Mbiti J.S. African religion and philosophy, double day company, Inc,  New York 1969, 97.

[2] Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences  Vol.7, No. 8, pp.17-23, September 2019

[3]  Chinelo Eze, west African ancestral cults shows the belief in life after death, 18/10/2020 https://t.guardian.ng/life/west-african-ancestral-cults-shows-the-belief-in-life-after-death/

THE IMPACT OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS IN NIGERIA

 

THE IMPACT OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS IN NIGERIA

The impact of women religious in the church is a very visible one, because of the roles of men and women in the church are more clearly stipulated than in the Secular World. This is because the church seems to have more ideas than in the secular life where women are sometimes taken for granted. The role of the women religious in the church cannot be ignored. To this effect, the saintly Pope John Paul II in his post synodal apostolic exhortation Vita Consacrata says “the church fully reveals her varied spiritual richness when she overcomes all discrimination and welcomes as a true blessing the gifts lavished by God upon both men and women, considering them in their equal dignity.[1]

The church is the home of communion. Each individual within the church is linked to the other, because its Gods will to make the faithful into one people according to Jesus’ prayer: ‘that they maybe one’. To this effect both the hierarchy of the church are co-responsible in building up the church and furthering her mission. However, the impacts of the women religious to the church cannot be undermined, even though they lack the clerical competence, there impact to the church is massive and unique. Women have been prominent in the church and the church in Nigeria is not an exception. The impact of the women religious can be considered in the light of their specific apostolate.

The women religious have impacted so much in Nigeria generally by being signs of God’s tender love towards the humanity and they have borne special witness to the mystery of the church. The impacts of the women religious in the different sectors of the society and the church in particular cannot be denied. The self-awareness of the women religious have impacted on the men by triggering them to reconsider their way of looking at things.

The women religious have worked so hard in impacting the basic human values to the system of Nigeria. These human values bother majorly on human dignity and the dignity of labour. In the areas of human dignity, they have been able to bring to the consciousness of the people, especially the ignorant one, that each individual person deserve and ought to be treated with dignity. The women religious have worked out this goal in a tangible way that goes sometimes unnoticed; some of the women religious congregations raise and manage motherless baby’s homes and a special care for the destitute, feeding and caring for them. Some of these religious women engage in prison apostolate too.

One of the greatest impacts of the women religious in Nigeria is in the field of education. Majority of the women religious in Nigeria had taken upon themselves the responsibility of improving the education standards from the grass roots. Many of the women religious groups in Nigeria instituted schools, ranging from primary to secondary school, and many more are managing already instituted schools. These women religious who institute or manage schools ensure that the standard and quality of education imparted on the pupils or students are the best. Some of these women religious also lecture in different tertiary institutions there by contributing to the improvement of the standard and quality of education in the country.

The women religious in Nigeria have impacted so much in the areas of health.  Many women religious run the apostolate of health caring, making health facilities available, especially to the remote places, where there is little or no hope of proper medical attention. The religious sisters provide standard hospitals for health maintenance, and they go to the extent of giving free medical care and check-ups to the ones that can’t afford it. Health is wealth, and the women religious in the country have made serious impacts on this area. Some of the women religious seriously working towards the improvement of health includes the daughters of divine love, handmaid sisters, ola etc when facilities for good and basic health care is provided and afforded to the people, mortality rate reduces.

The impact of the women religious to liturgy cannot be underestimated. Many of them many of them actively participate and help out in the liturgy. A good number of the religious in Nigeria have their little ways of making their contributions to the liturgy of the church. Some do some by their production of liturgical materials, like vestments for mass and production of host for while many others help out in different ways in the church; impacting the faith by way of teaching the children catechism and so many other ways.

With the establishment of their different apostolic centers, the women religious have massively provided job opportunity in the country. The apostolic centers established by some of the women religious include hospitals, schools, host making units, production of clerical wears etc. The sectors in these apostolic centers have individual working in them and earning their living there.

As a crown of their impact, the women religious have gone a long way in fostering ecumenism in the church in Nigerian with their individual and communal efforts in the apostolic and mission field. They impact morality and sensitivity within the youths, this is with special reference to the apostolate of the university sisters of assumption, who counsel the youths and guides them; helping them out with some difficulties of their daily lives.

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[1] JOHN PAUL II,  Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrate  (25 march 1996), 96-97

presentation text for teen age

 

·        Write in first person

·        Make it personal

·        Make examples

1***In human development, there are two stages each on its own extreme. These stages are childhood and adulthood. Childhood comes with almost no worries and less responsibilities that is mostly limited to house chores and school home works, but we won’t remain a child, we have to grow up. Adult stage comes with responsibilities and worries to be taken care of. However, there is no direct transition from childhood to adulthood. 2***There is an in-between. This is the teen age.

 

3***SHAPE YOUR TEEN WORLD

The teen age is the world between childhood comforts and adulthood responsibilities. 4***The most important stage of transition with regards to growth, between childhood and adulthood. 5***A mid-way between two extremely different worlds. This stage of life is a moderation between no or less worry and extreme responsibility, but it is an entirely new world.

6***YOUR TEEN WORLD

What could be more wonderful than the feeling of being accepted?

That feeling of belongingness

After all, a person can put up with a lot of things if he knows that the people who count with him approve the way he or she is handling his life.

On the other hand, perhaps the cruelest torture a person can experience is to have been rejected by those he or she want to be with. 7***It really hurts to be scorned by those you admire.

Somehow the lowest feeling you can have is the feeling that you are not in tune with everybody else. The sting of rejection by the group hurts far more deeply than a bawling out by a parent.

8***There is nothing wrong with the need to belong. We have to belong in our own world. It is natural. Its god’s way of leading us naturally into the world of adult sharing, giving and loving.

The problem is that some persons go too far in seeking the approval of others. They never act on their own. They are always guided by what others will think, or do or say.

Many go to excessive length to make sure they won’t be considered out of tune.

Some girls for instance will wear almost anything to get approval of the group; in our modern term we call them slay queens. Some boys will do or say anything to get applause or admiration from their own gang or a group they would want to be a part of or a girl they admire.

Just look at the way some boys and girls dress and act. They want attention and they seek it by how they dress, how they act and by what they say, rather than by who they are.

*Some girls are like mobile pornography, sexy is not a compliment, it simply means sex related, whatever it is provokes and promotes sex activity

Its important that we dress and act so that we get approval from others. But you can go too far. If your clothes rather than you are the attention-getters, then there is a problem. It’s the same with language and actions. If we do or say something to get approval, then its our language and actions that gets attention not ourselves as persons.

The need to belong is especially strong in the teen world.

9***Teenagers have a sphere of their own from which children are excluded and adults are not expected to enter, otherwise it would account as a carryover. Teens have a language, a dress code, habits and actions which belong to them. This is as it should be because they are no longer children, so they should not act as children. But neither are they adults. Because they often feel uncomfortable and insecure among adults, so they build for themselves a world where they can fill secure among those who like them, want and need to belong.

10***THE TEEN WORLD IS BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

Even though you are not a child any longer, you don’t feel like a full-fledged adult, either. Far from it! More than likely, you feel suspended somewhere in between two worlds: the world of childhood at home and the world of adulthood outside.

You want to break the apron strings a bit, but you aren’t ready yet to have your own family or hold down a full-time job. The step from childhood to adulthood is too big to take all at once. So in stepping out of one world, you want to be sure there is one you can step into. There is your teen world. 11***Here we find ourselves getting more interested in people of our own age, wanting to be with them more often, to do more things with them. They become your home away from home. We gradually try out new activities here which can help us towards adulthood at our own speed.

Here we are able to find independence and belongingness. The independence comes in choosing your interests. The belongingness comes with being with the people who have the same interests you do.

12***WHAT ARE YOUR TEEN YEARS FOR

For some the teen years offer the chance to grow and develop. They enable teenagers to learn, to acquire new skills, to add to the store of knowledge they already have. Teen age give us the chance to move towards the goal we have in mind and develop our interests. For others , teen age offer the chance to start anew, to make up for lost time, and catch up with opportunities that slipped by. For a few, unfortunately, they may become lost years, wasted years, years of frustration.

But for all, there are new opportunities, new challenges, and new directions. With those new opportunities and challenges, there are choices to be made. You have to decide how to relate to adults, you have to decide how hard you are going to work, you need to decide whom you will choose for your friends and how to start shaping your destiny, most importantly you have to decide what you will do with your growing freedom and your leisure time. All of these will determine what kind of teen world you will live in.

13***YOU CAN’T WALK DOWN EVERY PATH AND TRAVEL WITH EVERY CROWD.

You have to choose your priorities; what is more important to you. The friends you choose and the things you do are going to shape you into a certain kind of person. Look at your models and see what their success story is like.

14***ITS IMPORTANT TO REALIZE THAT ALMOST WITHOUT EXCEPTION THE PATH YOU START WALKING NOW IS LEADING TO WHERE YOU WILL WIND UP.

Do you know what this means? You are helping God create you, by the choices you make. You and God are working together on you. Good provides the raw material, it is up to you to put them in shape. Here, you consciously choose the direction of your life.

15***THE TEEN YEARS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GROW

As we begin to decide the direction of our lives; who and what we will be, we see people with different talents, opportunities, drives and motivations. We are gifted in different ways, however some people seems to have lots of luck, some seem to make their own luck, and some work hard for what they want to achieve. Some have a hard time, while some seem to get by without too much effort. We should find out which group we belong to, so that we don’t make mistakes.

Some are healthy, a few have troubles with their health, and some have physical impairments which prevents their being able to do all they do like. And because of circumstances, some cannot make use of the talents they have or the opportunities afforded them.

16***In other words every person has his or her own talents, opportunities, ambitions and motivations. So the law of nature requiring you to be yourself, does not mean that you are allowed to be selfish, egotistic, self centered, domineering, or do whatever comes to your own mind. It means becoming what your talents, your capabilities, your opportunities, and your limitations enable you to be.

Your teen years are your opportunity for you to grow into the kind of person you were created to be. The question is, will you use that opportunity to become that kind of person or will you squander it and fail to be the person God created you to be?

But, to become the kind of person you were created to become, you have to reflect on who you are and why you are.

17***THERE ARE TWO WAYS TO REALLY LEARN ABOUT YOURSELF. ONE IS TO JUST SIT AND THINK AND THE OTHER IS TO GO OUT OF YOURSELF AND TRY TO FIND OUT WHY YOU FAIL AND WHY YOU SUCCEED AND WHAT YOU SHOULD DO TO BE A BETTER PERSON.

When we realize the persons we are meant to be, we will find it more interesting to live. Strange as it may seem, many people don’t reflect on their own reality. They just exist from day to day. So they are never becoming what their talents, opportunities and purposes in live could have helped them to become.

This doesn’t mean that most people don’t accomplish anything in life; rather it means that many people do not accomplish what they are capable of accomplishing. They work at half speed, using half their talents and letting their opportunities slip away. They accomplish only part of what they could because they do not reflect on who they are or why they are. Most of the time they just exist. They don’t really live!

18***WHO ARE YOU IN YOUR TEEN WORLD?

To really be ourselves, we need to know who we are and why we are. Only you can answer the question. At this point, we are young human beings who happen to be Christians.

19***THE TENAGE WORLD AND ITS CHALLENGES

The challenges of the teen world are like hurdles in a race. If you negotiate them successfully you reach your goal. If you don’t, you stumble and possibly ruin your chances to success. If we seek growth in our teen world, we need to face the challenges that it present.

SOME OF THE CHALLENGES ARE

·        PEER PRESSURE

·        FALSE POPULARITY

·        REBELLION AGAINST SOCIETY’S LAW

·        EXCESSIVE WITHDRAWAL

·        IRRELIGION

·        LACK OF SENSITIVITY

 

However these are called challenges because we face a choice of how we respond to them. Our desires can so cloud our vision that we may actually see the challenges as opportunities; we may see them as means to attain status, to be somebody in the eye of certain persons.

 

The pressure we face from our own group and the influence on our thinking of Tv, radio, movies, magazines, records and some adults, may sometimes cause us to make decisions based on values that are not worthy of us as persons.  We need to see things for what they are, evaluate their influence on our lives, and determine how we will face them. How we respond in general determines how we shape our world.

 

20***PEER PRESSURE

This is the strong influence that a particular age group or social group exert on persons of that age group or social group to  conform to its standard, codes and methods of behavior. Peer pressure is at once social, emotional and psychological. It demands conformity. Or you will not be regarded as a real nigga.

 

All age groups and social groups exert pressure to conform on those who belong to them. Middle aged groups have their ways of acting, young adults have their way of acting, and teens have their way of acting. All conform more or less to social demands.

 

Conformity is not a bad thing in itself. In the right sense, it leads to harmony and unity of purpose. It make people feel comfortable among themselves. But when conformity means doing what everybody else does if to the point of betraying one’s ideals or principle or conscience, then its bad. This kind of conformity is finding out what everybody wants (the ones we want to most be accepted by) thinks and likes, and then telling ourselves that we think and like it too, just to avoid being labeled as odd. We should bear in mind that right is right, even when nobody is right, and wrong is wrong even when everybody is wrong.

This kind of conformity has smothered many growing personalities. Persons who could have developed a talent or given a new idea to the world or helped someone, have become empty shells. They did not dare to stand out and take criticism for what they knew was right.

 

The worst form of conformity is giving in to the misuse of drugs, alcohol, or sex because everybody pushes them to you. Then we give excuses to justify our abuses and excesses, like, everyone is doing it, my boyfriend introduced me to it, I wanted to see what it feels like to be high, what’s wrong with it? Adults do it why can’t I?, it won’t hurt me, I can stop any time I want to (ok its like you have not heard of addiction) Etc. we will see ourselves making such excuses if we are not able to control the overpowering pressure of conformity. Excessive conformity is the fear of being different. But I challenge you, dare to be different, don’t violate your own self.

 

How can we be ourselves if we are always allowing other people make us into themselves? It will take us away from who we are meant to be.

 

BE YOUR OWN PERSON

Don’t be fooled by those who try to pressure you into these, or other, anti social or anti-personal actions. Be your own person. How? By being bold enough to say NO when we need to say NO.

 

21***FALSE POPULARITY

Another major challenge facing young teens is seeking popularity.

Like conformity, there is nothing wrong with being popular. The difficulty and problem lies in seeking to be popular at any cost. This is seeking false popularity. Some of us can do anything to gain praise and notice.

 

This particular challenge leads us to confusing friendship with popularity. Some teens try to buy friends with a constant display of easy money and what it can buy. It may take a long time before the empty feelings dawns on them that their friends are more interested in what they have than in what they are personally.

More pitiful are those who don’t have money or privileges to buy friends. Rather than develop and share their true self with solid friends, they spoil their own lives by moping over what they don’t have rather than develop what they are. This is the case with us guys,

 

For the case of girls, many of you succumb to judging your personal worth by your sex appeal (attractiveness to the opposite sex). So they try to impress boys more in the body they have than in the person they are only to be deeply hurt later when they find out that the boys were actually just using them.

Young girls who let boys use their bodies are not only risking pregnancy and disease. They are also setting themselves up for the psychological and emotional shock that will follow when they discover that they are popular only because their bodies are available. Pepper them gang, take note.

 

22***REBELLION AGAINST SOCIETY’S LAWS

A third major challenge that teenagers face as they grow into maturity is observing the laws they don’t like or think are not fair, or they think are not for them. Laws are necessary for the good of the society. This is the challenge of observing the rules and laws that we think interfere with our fun.

 

Don’t allow anyone deceive you with words like, who is going to know? or we won’t get caught or what’s the matter with it,  or the popular ‘you too dey fear’. Some people do the things they know is wrong just for the hell of it. This may be fun for a while. It gives a sense of freedom, power or the impression of not being under anybody’s thumb, but it leads to trouble.

 

What we don’t realize with this challenge is that the society creates laws to protect people’s rights, not to interfere with their basic freedom. In breaking some rules we may think to ourselves that nobody gets hurt so what’s the big deal.

Senseless rebelling against society is directly opposed to the basic law of nature which requires us to build society if we are to be what we were created to be.

 

23***EXCESSIVE WITHDRAWAL

 This fourth challenge affects very few teens, but it can affect anyone. This particular challenge makes for a very miserable life. We all need to be alone at times, we are all unique and its natural that we have some interests that other persons don’t share. Also a certain amount of aloneness is good for us because it helps us to discover our real self. On top of that, some people are naturally quieter than others, and some like to be alone from time to time just to enjoy their own thought and do their own things.

 

There are others who withdraw excessively from social contact and pretend that they don’t really care. They exaggerate their uniqueness and pretend that they are against conformity, but in reality they are afraid of the normal struggle to adjust to others. They expect everyone to come to them, to accept them immediately, and to make them the center of attention. If this doesn’t happen they are deeply hurt. Meanwhile, if they continue to withdraw, they become loners. They go on their own way and pretend not to care because they cannot stand not having their own way or being accepted on their own terms.

 

This type of persons can get into serious trouble with themselves, by excessive withdrawal, by freezing out everybody, by being hard to get along with, by refusing to cooperate or even be civil, by not even responding to the most generous offers of friendship, the loner retreats more and more into himself and becomes his own worst enemy. Instead of being his best self, his social self in which he shares and have fun with others, he craws into a shell and dos not let himself develop into what he can be.

 

He may resort to drugs or alcohol to relieve his loneliness.

 

24***IRRELIGION

 This fifth challenge poses a question of what to do with our religious life. There comes a time in almost all our lives when we ask, is there a God? Each answers this question in his own way. Some just kind of ignore God, treating him as a nice thought, but not really of much consequence. Some retain their childhood ideas of God and regard religion as a Sunday thing. Some give up the search entirely and act as if God didn’t really exist.

 

Some teen are afraid to show any interest in developing a healthy religious life because  they are afraid others will make fun of them. So that they don’t call them sister mary, or holy nweje or santa nwege. This particular challenge make the teens not to flex their religious muscles. Such irreligious teens drift away from a basic truth of life. There is a God whether we belive in him or not. God is always at home, its we who have gone astray.

 

LACK OF SENSITIVITY

Young people can be terribly cruel towards others less fortunate than themselves. Many people suffer for years because of the way they were treated as young teens.

 

The five challenges I have discussed deals with pressures affecting people to a greater or less degree depending on the circumstances of their lives. However lack of sensitivity to other people’s feelings and need is exhibited by the small sins of being uncharitable to others in seemingly small ways. Little acts of uncharitable character can have terrible serious consequences, yet most people don’t give them a second thought.

 

People have been socially crippled because they were made fun of. Those people who were objects of laughter or were excluded from some things over which they have no control like their size, their appearance, their voice, their mental ability, their lack of coordination, their colour or religion.

 

Reputations have been destroyed by lies, half truths, innuendoes, hints, suggestions, or even truths that a person has no right to tell. People as socially excluded because of their poverty, on daily basis we make people the butt of cruel jokes, we taunt people because of their differences,. These are all acts of uncharity.

 

But actually, making fun of someone else is a form of cowardice. Because you hide in the crowd and points out someone else to be laughed at. We often feel we achieve a sense of power by making another person feel inferior. This goes directly against the golden rule. Do unto others what you will like them to do to you. For example, some people would come and slap you in the name of joke and the day you will do the same to them they will roar like a tiger.

 

Its not enough that we avoid deliberate acts of uncharity. We need to be on the lookout for occasions to be a real friend. Let go out of our ways and make people feel at home.

Look around there are lot of people who need what you have to offer. Some are obviously shy, while others cover up their insecurity by obvious bragging

 

CONCLUSION

Somewhere in the challenges facing us as young people are the keys to your becoming the person we are created to be. Think about them and resolve how we will handle each as it comes along.