A CALL TO WAKEFULNESS, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND JUSTICE

1ST SUNDAY OF ADVENT, AT THE INAUGURAL MASS FOR THE LEGAL YEAR FOR CATHOLIC LAWYERS, ABUJA ARCHDIOCESE, AT CHURCH OF ASSUMPTION, ASOKORO.

HOMILY BY ARCHBISHOP I.A. KAIGAMA, 30.11.25

READINGS: ISAIAH 2:1-5; ROMANS 13:11-14; MATTHEW 24:37-44

THEME: ADVENT – A CALL TO WAKEFULNESS, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE AND JUSTICE

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ. How time flies! It seems like it was just a few months ago when we gathered for Advent and then Christmas. Another Christmas is knocking as we today begin a new liturgical year with the First Sunday of Advent – a season of hope and spiritual vigilance. It calls us also especially in Nigeria, to be security vigilant too. We pray that this Christmas will be without any casualties, especially from the attacks targeted at those assembled to worship Christ the Lord, either before, during, or after Christmas.

Divine Providence has arranged that on the day we begin Advent, our beloved Catholic lawyers in Abuja Archdiocese are also celebrating their 2025/2026 Legal Year thanksgiving and the executive committee led by Bunmi Aina-Craig Esq will be handing over after four years of meritorious service to the newly elected executive committee [thank you Ms. Bunmi for obtaining the renewal of the Certificate of Incorporation for the Archdiocese of Abuja].

The lawyers have asked me to come to pray with them for “safety, success, and progress of all Catholic Lawyers in the new legal year.”
This Mass is both a show of gratitude to God and a call to you lawyers to another cycle of service, justice delivery, and the pursuit of the common good. Both the Advent season, which we begin, and the legal year, which you Catholic lawyers begin by entrusting it to God almighty, invite us to begin again – with renewed purpose, integrity, and vision. Life is a series of beginnings.

Advent calls us to look forward not only to the first and final coming of Christ, but also on how we can make this world, this FCT, Abuja, and this Nigeria much better places. The news about us in Nigeria have been largely negative. Even though we have the capacity to turn things around for every Nigerian, yet greed, corruption, lack of political will, parochial rather than patriotic interests seem to dominate our decisions, plans, interpersonal relationships, with the result being needless poverty, suffering, and the monster of insecurity growing progressively destructive by the day.
Advent is a special time of prayer and spiritual self-examination to dispose us to approach God to seek forgiveness for our failings, both at the individual and national levels. God forgave the King of Nineveh and his people when they repented (cf. Jonah 3:5-10); the rebellious and unrepentant attitude of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah led to their destruction (cf. Gen 19:24-25). So were those in the days of Noah, before the Flood, when the people refused to repent and were eating, drinking, taking wives and husbands until the day they were washed away in the Flood (cf. Gen 6:11-20).

To avoid being destroyed at both our physical and spiritual levels, we are called to throw away our deeds of darkness, to put on the armour of faith, hope, and charity (Rom 13:12), and work for peace and justice in our country. In international conflicts, tanks, missiles, and bombs are deployed; in ethnic fights, guns are fired; in community disputes, knives and spears are wielded, and in public life, cruel actions and unjust deeds degrade others or deny them their rights, either based on religion or ethnicity.

Let us be aware that the Advent season reminds us of the two comings of Christ in a special way, that Jesus will come again in glory to judge us on what we have done and what we have failed to do in His absence, while at His first coming, Jesus came to us as our Saviour, but at His second coming, He will come to us as our Judge. Our fate then will depend on what we do in the period between his first and second coming, which is now. Lest we forget, He comes also to us each time we receive the Holy Communion and each time we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the prisoners, the orphans, and provide for the poor, the sick, and the needy.

In the Gospel today (Matthew 24:37-44), Jesus tells us repeatedly: “Stay awake… be prepared.” Advent is not a season of passive waiting but one of active readiness. It is not just a time to get ready for a very lavish celebration of Christmas.

So, wake up if you are asleep. If you are awake, stay awake. If you have not taken your spiritual life seriously and you are casual, indifferent, anonymous about it, Paul in the second reading says you should wake up and respond to God’s saving moment. Jesus in the gospel is saying to us, “Stay awake once roused from sleep,” in other words, be vigilant, perform your duties conscientiously. Advent is the Church’s great wake-up call. It is not meant to frighten us, but to rouse us, to shake us free from spiritual drowsiness.

Just as the Catholic legal practitioners begin a new year with renewed commitment to due diligence, Jesus invites every Christian to begin this Advent with renewed spiritual diligence; to examine our lives, to reorder our priorities, to awaken from moral complacency.

The first reading (Isaiah 2:1–5) gives us that powerful vision: “In days to come… all nations shall stream to the mountain of the Lord.” It is an image of peace flowing from authentic justice– where disputes are settled not by swords but by dialogue and truth. Isaiah’s prophecy speaks strongly to lawyers, judges, and all of us, especially in this material time in our nation.

We urgently need peace flowing from justice in Nigeria. Our people yearn for justice – justice that is not slow, expensive, or selective. People are losing faith that the government will actually act to protect them or take drastic measures against violent crimes that lead to lives being taken so cheaply. The right to life, guaranteed under Section 33 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution, is meaningless unless the state acts decisively to punish those who violate it. The ongoing culture of impunity will only result in more bloodshed and continue to erode public trust in the rule of law.

Catholic lawyers are called to be instruments of light. In your chambers, let your counsel be truthful; In the courtroom, let your advocacy be ethical; In public life, let your character be above reproach.

St. Paul, in the second reading (Romans 13:11–14), challenges us: “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.” He urges believers to cast off the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light. Darkness can take many forms: corruption, bribery, intimidation, the manipulation of justice, deceitful practices, or the temptation to serve power rather than truth.

My dear lawyers, [I cannot call you my learned colleagues because I am not one of you, by virtue of profession], your job is not merely a profession; it is a vocation – a calling to be guardians of order, defenders of rights, protectors of the weak, and advocates for the voiceless. You should be the conscience of society. In a nation where many feel abandoned or unheard, Catholic lawyers are called to practice law in a way that reflects Christ’s justice – firm, fair, compassionate, and liberating. Be lawyers who are always guided by the truth, who do not serve only the powerful, who do not use the law as a weapon against the weak. Instead, be lawyers whose integrity becomes a sermon; whose character becomes a testimony; whose legal work becomes a ministry.

Do not be discouraged by the challenges of the system. Do good without being tired. Do not compromise your values. Beware of the devil, who is described in 1 Peter 5:8 as going around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Jesus was assaulted by the devil in the desert, but the devil failed, and we are told he (the devil) left Jesus alone after that (cf. Mt 4:11). So, we too must not give the devil his opportunity.

I experienced this type of assault on social media last week. From nowhere, I was pronounced guilty by some users of the social media as one who does not care or condemn the fact that Christian’s are being killed in Nigeria. My offense was that I visited President Tinubu. They never asked me what we discussed, but just concluded and, without any evidence, pronounced me guilty of backing the government and not defending the Christians. The God I serve knows where I stand when it comes to defending human rights and the promotion of the sacredness of life and the dignity of the poor. I have preached consistently that no one has the right to take another person’s life for whatever reason. Only God has that right.

In the past two years or so, anytime I felt there was a matter that needed my personal intervention as the Archbishop of Abuja, I have on three occasions now had the honour and possibility of requesting an audience with Mr. President, not as representing the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria but to share with him my perspectives on some issues that affect my people in the FCT and others. Our conversation has been very private, and my suggestions to him are also private, and God knows it is for the good of the country.

For 44 years as a priest, standing and working with and for the poor; condemning injustice and the taking of human life; calling to task the civil authorities on behalf of the jobless youths, now alleged on social media of not caring or condemning what is happening to Christians! Let it be known that I was elected twice as the President of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria and twice as President of the Catholic Bishops of West Africa. I know what I did in defence of life. At a forum in the United Nations, I spoke on “Religious freedom: a new era for advocacy in response to a new age of challenges and threats” on 1st March, 2019, focusing on Nigeria and the violence perpetrated by religious fundamentalists that resulted in needless killings. My work for almost twenty years in Jos in defence of the sacredness of life does not matter to the myopic social media critics in question. I thank God, however, who sees and judges not as we humans see and judge.

Since Advent is also a time for forgiveness, I forgive those who, without knowing much about me and my work, have hastily categorized and condemned me in insulting words on social media. I only ask them not to use the internet in an irresponsible manner. Those of you who believe that social media has given you the authority or immunity to insult others without good cause, just because you read a grabbing headline and you don’t care to do any in-depth research, be careful. You will get into trouble someday when the law of defamation of character is pursued by those injured by your uncharitable and unedifying comments. Don’t just write anything that comes to your mind or fabricate stories to garner “likes” or to gain cheap popularity. You will suffer for it someday. I forgive you all, including those priests who forgot the philosophy and logic they studied in the seminary and are easily swayed by emotional headlines to assassinate other people’s character. Your use of social media should be ethical and rational.

I call on all to note that the greatest weapon of the devil is discouragement. He tells you to give up. Or he does something to distract you from your good path. The defence of life is my life. LIFE IS SACRED. NO ONE SHOULD KILL OR DEGRADE LIFE FOR WHATSOEVER REASON.

I wish us all a most memorable and fruitful Advent Season.