Wed.12 Oct. 2018
4:32am
I hurried swiftly with brushing my teeth singing to "Adele's Hello" as i tried to make it on time for my appointment with Fr Rowland. Today would be the fifth time I'm to meet with him since that fateful night. He is a gentleman and quite chivalrous in nature, but i know he has lots of pains bottled away deep in his heart.
On the three occasions we had met, we only talked about myself, about Christ himself and the catholic church at large. Yeah, i can say he has helped a lot in setting my christain life back to order. I'm not a Catholic and i ain't much of a church goer but since my sessions with him, i have nurtured the thought of being baptized in the catholic church.
Our fourth session was on a Sunday when i worshipped at his parish, we only talked for a while after the mass because he had a meeting to attend. Fr Rowland is a strong believer of the gospel, a man who loves God with all his heart, a man who is ready to serve God for the rest of his life no matter what, a man who derives joy in helping people without asking for anything in return. I remember him telling me one day that seeing people happy gives him unimaginable joy within. Even though he believes that helping the less privileged is one of his pastoral duties as a priest i know that he does it out of the kind nature in him even though he is a man who lacks peace inside of him despite how he tries to hide it.
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5:33am
Thirty minutes later, I'm at our meeting place, a place of serenity and quiet, the "St Gregory's Cemetery". I had always wondered why he always choose to meet here.
" I see you are early". I jumped at the sound of that husky voice that had penetrated into my thoughts.
"Good morning Fr". I said tiredly
"Buenos dias Tonia",he greeted
"You are late Fr"
"Yes i know, sorry about that. You know,i had to sneak out today". He asked me smiling, looking mischievous like a kid who was caught with his hands inside a box of chocolates.
"And why would you sneak out Fr?....I mean it's kinda childish".
" Life is not always what it seems my dear,and so most times we act like children".
We fell silent and i wondered what he must be thinking. I kept wondering why a successful priest like him seems to be caged with something,i wondered what it was that he must have bottled up inside and lastly i wondered if he was propelled into this spiritual vocation.
" Can i ask you a question Fr?. I asked, finally breaking the silence,he only nodded distantly. He seemed totally cold and distance today and i was worried.
"Why did you choose this vocation?"
"You mean why i chose to leave the pleasures and luxuries of life?"
" Hmmmm, yeah, that too"
He chuckled
" It was my mother's precious desire"
"And not your's?.
"Not at first....I am the only child of my mother. My father married three wives after my mother couldn't give him any child. They all gave his sons and daughters, something my mother wasn't able to do".
" But she had you"
" Yes,at her period of departing this world."
" My mother could be identified with the biblical Hannah."
" Oohhh, popular story...She went to pray to God?" I askd him.
" Si... To the catholic church,at the time the missionaries came newly to Nigeria....She went there to pray,not with Faith though but to challenge the God that the white man claimed was greater than her gods and that of her fore-fathers"
" Your family were pagens?"
" Everyone were pagans at that time...My father remained a pagan until his death,but my mom was different. She wanted a child at all cost...And at that time she was dying, nobody knew but i think she did,hence she was ready to do anything and everything just to get a child of her own"
He was quiet for a while,i guess reminiscing about the past brought bad memories. But still being a strong one,he continued.
"So when Fr Rowland;i was named after him, saw her praying fervently and earnestly at the little alter,he consoled her with words from the scriptures and asked her if she was ready to submit to God who will grant her heart desire,she never hesitated"
