1. GRATITUDE
                       One word is on our lips this morning: Gratitude.
         Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. (Eph. 1,3)
         We are praising and thanking God because of His abundant blessings on our elder brother and father in faith, Cardinal Francis Arinze. It was St Augustine who, while stressing the need for thanksgiving to God, said that when we praise a person for any good he or she has done, it is God, the gift giver, that we praise. For it is by His grace that we are able to accomplish any good work. But, as we pray in the Common Preface IV, God has no need of our praise, yet our thanksgiving is itself his gift since our praises add nothing to his greatness but profit us for salvation through Christ our Lord.
         To guide our thoughts for today’s celebration, let me say a few things about Cardinal Arinze that will help us to articulate our reasons to express gratitude to God for His abundant blessing on him.
 
2. PRIESTLY ORDINATION
         It was on a cold morning in winter, precisely 23 November 1958, that the event we are now commemorating took place. Time 5.30 am. Two Nigerian seminarians, Anthony Gbuji and Francis Arinze were ordained Catholic priests in the chapel of Urban College, Rome. No relatives present. Father Arinze’s first Mass was in the chapel of contemplative nuns in Rome. The ordination photo reveals a tender man, just completed 26 years of age. Tu es sacerdos in aeternum secundum ordinem Melchizedek. Whenever, as priests, we hear this song, it must remind us that we are priests just by God’s choice of us, by His grace. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
 
3. ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE
         Father Francis Arinze’s completion of his studies in Rome was in grand style. He obtained PhD in theology, scoring summa cum laude. However, his return home was not spectacular. The aeroplane was not common then. He took a train from Rome to Marseilles in France from where he boarded a ship to Lagos. The ship sailed for about two weeks on the Atlantic Ocean to reach the shores of Nigeria. When he reached Lagos, he took a lorry, gwongwolo, from Lagos to Onitsha. He paid for the first-class seat – that meant simply staying in the front cabin of the lorry beside the driver.
          He first taught in Bigard Memorial Seminary, Enugu. Soon he got an additional job. The new Bishop of Enugu, Bishop John Cross Anyogu, invited him to join the presbyterium of his diocese and to work as Education Secretary. As Fr Arinze had no professional training in the field of education, Bishop Anyogu sent him to England for further studies. At the end of his studies in 1964, his lecturer and tutor at the University of London Institute of Education, Prof. P.C. Evans wrote these words in the testimonial: “I am sure that a man of Father Arinze’s quality must be marked out for great things and I am also sure he will find plenty of opportunity for the use of his undoubted gifts in the future. He has my best wishes for a happy and successful career.”. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
 
4. EPISCOPAL ORDINATION
         Father Francis Arinze hardly settled down after his training as an educationist when he was called to take up a more challenging task of a bishop. He was surprised. For when the Apostolic Nuncio told him about his nomination, he reverently said to the Pope’s representative that he had made a mistake because he (Fr Arinze) was thinking of another person he considered, by age and experience then, more prepared than himself for the office of a bishop. But the Holy Spirit had spoken, not the way Father Francis Arinze had thought. On 29 August 1965, at the age of 32, Fr Francis Arinze was consecrated auxiliary Bishop to Archbishop Charles Heerey. Ecce sacerdos magnus qui in diebus suis placuit Deo. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
 
5. SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL FATHER
         Fr Francis Arinze was made Bishop just in time to join the last session of the Second Vatican Council. Thus, he became one of the Second Vatican Council Fathers. A few days ago, I was going through the records of the proceedings of the Council. Bishop Francis Arinze appended his signature to ten out of sixteen documents of the Council:

1. Christus Dominus (Pastoral Office of Bishops in the Church)
2. Optatam totius (Priestly Training)
3. Gravissimum educationis (Christian Education)
4. Nostra Aetate (Interreligious Relations)
5. Dei Verbum (Divine revelation)
6. Apostolicam actuositatem (Laity)
7. Dignitatis Humanae (Religious freedom)
8. Ad gentes (Missionary activity)
9. Presbyterorum ordinis (Priestly life)
10. Gaudium et spes (Church in the modern world)

 
The Council sessions were happily concluded by Saint Pope Paul VI on 7 December 1965. The participants returned to their homes and places of work. Little did Bishop Arinze know that in less than twenty years he would be invited to Rome to implement the Council’s recommendations in one of the documents Nostra Aetate. In 1984, Saint Pope John Paul II appointed him to head the dicastery for Interreligious relations.
         We have added reason to thank God today. Two days ago, I was going through the list of all those who participated in that Great Council. 2,860 Bishops. I counted them one by one. As of today, only 20 of them are still alive, and our own Cardinal Francis Arinze is one of them. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
 
6. THE HOUR OF THE LAITY
         At home after the Council sessions, Archbishop Heerey was anxious to have his flock introduced to the teaching of the Second Vatican Council. He asked Bishop Arinze to go to towns and villages, meeting places of priests, religious and lay faithful to explain to them the contents of the documents of the Council. Bishop Arinze’s first area of interest was the formation of the Laity to make them play their role in the Church’s mission. From membership, the laity form 99.9% of the Church. Bishop Arinze made the people aware that the Second Vatican Council gave the Laity significant autonomy to participate in the missionary activities and life of the Church. His first pastoral letter soon after the Council was entitled The Hour of the Laity. For many years he expatiated on this. His penultimate publication is entitled The Layperson’s Distinctive Role.
 
7. BEHOLD OUR PASTOR
         When Archbishop Heerey died on 7 February 1967, Bishop Arinze was appointed the Archbishop, and he took possession of the See of Onitsha on 26 June 1967, few days before the Nigerian civil war. He was Archbishop of Onitsha from 1967 to 1984. His jurisdiction covered the whole of Anambra State and a part of Enugu State: today’s Onitsha Archdiocese, Awka and Nnewi dioceses. His Metropolitan See included the following archdioceses/dioceses: Onitsha, Owerri Calabar, Aba, Abakaliki, Ahiara, Awgu, Awka, Enugu, Nnewi, Nsukka, Ogoja, Okigwe, Owerri, Port Harcourt, Umuahia.
          During the civil war in Nigeria, Archbishop Arinze did not compromise his role as a pastor: he neither preached one Nigeria nor separation of Biafra. He stuck to the Gospel value of love. The young and energetic pastor reached out to help the suffering people under his care. He attracted the attention of foreign organisations that helped to feed his materially deprived and under-nourished people. When the war ended, not in favour of his people, those that helped him, the foreign missionaries, were singled out and deported. Archbishop Arinze took his life in his hand to go and plead on their behalf. He travelled to Dodan Barracks in Lagos to meet General Yakubu Gowon, at the risk of being manhandled on the way. The government of the day had their way, but Archbishop Arinze returned with dignity to his people and helped them to recover from the devastations of the war.
          In this arena, four years ago, at Cardinal Arinze’s Episcopal Golden jubilee, he met face to face with General Gowon. On that occasion, Cardinal Arinze, with great joy, told the former military leader that after the trauma of the war “the Church is still standing” in this part of the world. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU
 
8. SMALL SIGNIFICANT THINGS
          Let me mention small significant things our jubilarian did that might easily escape our attention.
For historical records, one great achievement of Archbishop Arinze during the Nigerian civil war was his ability to take along with him and preserve intact ALL the Church documents of Onitsha Archdiocese. All the records of the Church, from the beginning of documentation by the missionaries to Archbishop Arinze’s time, were preserved during the civil war. He was moving them from one safe place to another. He understood the importance of such archival materials. For example, one practical use of the documents: after the war, most teachers lost their certificates and letters of appointment. It was from Archbishop Arinze’s Secretariat that they found official papers to reinstate them in the school system. Only God knows how many thousands of such teachers that would have died of heart attack and high blood pressure if they had not been helped to recover their jobs after three years of severe hardship of the war. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU
          In the early sixties even ahead of the emphasis by the Second Vatican Council, the visionary Archbishop Charles Heerey had started working on how to form the Laity. He singled out Victoria Okoye and sent her for formation on how to organise the affairs of women. That single act led to the excellent management of the organisation of women for several decades. When Archbishop Arinze took over the mantle of leadership, he further created structures to accommodate all the faithful. He created Catholic Women Organization (CWO), Catholic Girls Organization (CGO), Catholic Men Organization (CMO), and Catholic Boys Organization (CBO). Every layperson would easily fit into one of these. He carefully selected mature and selfless priests as spiritual directors, not to control and manipulate the groups — such control and manipulation would amount to clericalism which is always an unwelcome interference in the affairs of lay organisations in the Church. The groups were to exercise their role in society in freedom, as laypeople. This statutory structure of CWO, CGO, CMO, and CBO is today found in all the arch/dioceses in Nigeria. But it was an ecclesiastical administrative tool created and first used by Archbishop Francis Arinze. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
 
9. LIFESTYLE
         In building physical structures, Archbishop Arinze had limited resources. During his period as Archbishop, in order to save money, if he would take an aeroplane, he would fly the cheapest economy class. In Europe, he would take the cheapest train that would take several hours to reach its destination instead of flying by air that would be faster, comfortable but more expensive. Every kobo at his disposal was put into the work of evangelisation. He was not going around the rich, licking their boots, to get money from them. Zeal for the Gospel is the phrase. Providence is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
          Just behind us here is Shanahan hall. Archbishop Arinze started building it with the kobo-kobo every person was encouraged to pay. My own five kobo I donated when I was in the junior seminary was put there too. Just to show the type of person he was and is, he named the hall after one of his predecessors. Characteristic of him, there is nothing to show that he was part of the construction. No monument of him is erected anywhere in the archdiocese. He is self-effacing. His Episcopal motto is Regnum Christi floreat (That the Kingdom of Christ may flourish).
         No person who has the opportunity to come close to Archbishop (now Cardinal) Arinze will fail to notice that he is a man of prayer. The People of God addressing him in 1983 remarked: “your life is a life of prayer.” Every day of his life for over two decades I have known him at a very close range, he begins his day in the chapel. At about 4.00 pm he is predictably in the chapel for Bible reading and Rosary, before Vespers. He ends his day in the chapel with Compline and other prayers. So organised he is that he knows the number of Masses he has so far celebrated since his priestly ordination. There is no day in his life (except when Masses are not celebrated in the year – Good Friday, Holy Saturday) that he did not celebrate Mass.
          Travelling with him is interesting. He says the Rosary almost all the time. Piety is the word. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
          Cardinal Arinze lives “poor”. Nothing is extra in his room. In 1983, the People of God in Onitsha archdiocese wrote: “When your mother died…your family home at Eziowelle was a sort of place of pilgrimage for many Christians – there were still mud walls in your father’s compound, and no one would believe that an Archbishop comes from such simple surroundings and for so many years has not gone to improve the physical structures.” I know personally that many wealthy people have made attempts “to take him out of poverty”. He has always resisted. He never took advantage of his position to gain affluence. Any money that came his way, as a personal gift, was quietly put into the account of Regnum Christi Foundation and it is now being used to help the destitute – those at the margins of the society. Priestly poverty is the expression. LORD, WE THANK YOU.
          What marked Cardinal Arinze out as a great administrator everywhere he worked with others was his ability to take his colleagues and subordinates along in decision making. In Onitsha archdiocese, he worked with the Board of consultors even in matters involving administration of parishes, transfer of priests, discussion about pastoral challenges in parts of the archdiocese. He listened to the opinion of the Consultors and made use of their recommendations. Even now, with a lot of experiences, when he receives good advice from any person, high or low, he gives due credit to the person. He is a good listener. He does not play “Mr know it all”. He is respected and not feared. He is a leader, not a boss.
 
10. THANKS BE TO LORD
          For these and many more reasons we have gathered here to thank the Lord. I am inclined to wish him good health of mind and body to celebrate his 70th anniversary of the priesthood. But I remember the exchange which Pope Leo XIII had with his well-wishers. When the Pope was celebrating his 93rd birthday, someone shouted: “May you live to be 100”.  He replied, “Why set limits to God’s providence?”  I now ask myself the same question: Why do I set the limits for Cardinal Arinze? Let me say: May you live many more years to celebrate several anniversaries.
And with St Paul, I pray: “May the God of hope bring you such joy in your faith that the power of the Holy Spirit will remove all bounds to hope”. (Rom. 15,13).
         Your Eminence, your most recent book is entitled “God is Providence.” May God always provide for you.  
 
               H A P P Y    6 0 T H     A N N I V E R S A R Y    O F    Y O U R   P R I E S T L Y   O R D I N A T I O N.