Dear Rome,Declare Bishop Athanasius Usuh a ''Saint''. By Terungwa Hundu.

Christians within the Catholic fold obviously knows who is a saint & all the processes that eventually qualifies one to be admited into the sainthood. Rome is the seat & central authority of the Catholic Church, since the petrine ministry of the fisherman who is well know in the scriptures as St. Peter.


Sainthood in the Catholic Church is not a title of honor, but a meritorious reward acclaimed by men of the virtues lives of humans who were human but holy,believed to be endorsed as attested to,by God himself. Making someone a saint does not necessarily requires human approval only,because there are saints whose faith is known by God alone, but often times human attestation is needful.

Sometimes public proclamations too are a faster way of naming someone a saint. At the funeral of the late Johnpaul ll , the mourning crowd at St. Peter's square in Rome started calling him 'St. Johnpaul ll the great' & I believe that singular act was what triggered & fastened his sainthood in less than a decade.

Each & every one of us within the Catholic fold, who knows this saintly man of God, especially in Benue state-Nigeria must have had a positive testimony for Bishop Usuh. I believe Rome favours "Vox populi Vox Dei"

As a child growing up I stumbled over this write up:
"If the priest is a saint, his people will be holy.
If the priest is holy, his people will be good
If the priest is good, his people will be fair
If the priest is fair, his people will be mediocre
If the priest is mediocre, his people will be bad"

How then shall we see the life of Bishop Usuh? Bishop Usuh's saintly life covers all spheres: the moment he was ordained, he was no longer his own, or their own (parents), but at every moment of his existence acting in the person of Christ. Like an ambassador in a foreign country, whether at recreation or in council chambers,is always being judge as a representation of a country, so Bishop Usuh was so conscious of his ambassadorialship. A careful man who even laughing publicly was with a watchful care. Within the two decades I came to know him, I saw Bishop Usuh laugh laudably once, at an occasion where Mr Uchin Jande made him to laugh like a child. This is not to say he was a sadist, he was so humorous.

Though the ambassadorial aspect of a priest is only one side of the coin. The priest is still a man. No wonder; Fulton Sheen called them "TREASURE IN CLAY". He must have chosen this title to indicate the contrast between the nobility of the vocation to the priesthood & the frailty of the human nature which houses it. Priests have the awesome power to act in persona Christi, that is, to forgive sins, to transplant the cross of Calvary to the altar, to give divine birth to thousands of children at the baptismal font, & to usher souls on deathbeds to the kingdom of heaven. These bishop Usuh carried out faithfully till he became a victim of infirmity.

On the other hand, priests look like anyone else. They have the same weaknesses, as other men; some to the bottle, or women, or money, or a desire to be little higher in the hirachy of power. Bishop Usuh tried so much in this sphere, he was not after material acquisition. I had the privilege of attending the burial of his father in the year 2000, I was thinking the kind of edifice one will see at his village could be compared only to palacious estates of London. I was rudely shocked at what I saw there, I wonder if he owns any private estate anywhere on earth. Rumors had it that on several occasions, he refused the gifts of exotic cars presented to him by corrupt politicians.

He was careful & conscious that a fall from a priest of his magnitude can be greater than the fall of anyone else, because of the height from which he may have tumbled, so the dictum of "remember you are each moment a priest" was his guide.

I know Shakespeare's assertions: "the evil that men do lives after them, the good is often interred with their bodies" can't be applicable in Usuh's case.

Many of us are so intoxicated with power, this must have informed Shakespearean analogy of:
"Man, proud man
Dressed in a little brief authority
Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd
His glossy essence, like an angry ape
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep"
Bishop Usuh was not a victim of this dictum. He was not a Bishop for a section but a father for all.

The lord does not choose the best. Bishop Usuh was not given the mantle because God in his divine wisdom saw that he could be better than other men. He was so conscious of this, this must have informed the choice of his motto: "Non sum dignus" (lord I'm not worthy). God chooses weak instruments in order that his power might be manifested. It was from this backdrop that this saintly Bishop was able to sail triumphantly amidst challenges of shepherding the biggest diocese in Africa that was handed over to him as a young bishop.

Bishop Usuh's burial will be divinely enveloped: he died on the 14th of July, he is going to be buried on 29th, this means he is staying 15days in the mortuary; five days each dedicated to the blessed Trinity (God the Father, God the Son & God the Holy Spirit) in fulfilment of the cleansing of his earthly defilements.

Besides, July is a special month that celebrates special saints like the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saints Martha & Mary and others. They are ready to admit our Bishop in their company.

How God will judge Bishop Usuh I know not. God writes the final epitaph not on monuments but on hearts. I trust that he will judge him with Mercy & Compassion. After all, who told you this year is not the year of MERCY?

SAINT ATHANASIUS THE GREAT, PRAY FOR US.

      
By Terungwa Hundu