Laws and Customs are part of our daily lived experience. They are ways of regulating our relationship with God and others. Laws and customs also give us our identity as a people and as a Kingdom. They control and give directions to keep us and our society safe.

In the Church which is the body of Christ, we have our own Laws and Customs. The ten commandment and the laws of the Church help us to strengthen and regulate our relationship with God and fellow human beings. Laws and Customs are not traps to condition or punish us but they are guides to lead us to deeper and better relationship with God and with God’s creatures.

Laws and Customs show us how to live and relate, if we must be part of the society. The law is a testimony of God’s love, and obedience to it is an expression of grateful love. Laws and Customs help us to uphold and respect human dignity, thus keeping the laws make us fit to dwell with and in God. Keeping God’s laws, help us in practical ways to have great respect not only for God but also for humanity, most especially those who are the margin of the society; the poor, the orphans, the widows, the sick the prisoners and the migrants.

We must take care in keeping and applying the laws and customs, not to be legalists. It is very easy for us obey or apply the laws exactly while forgetting the purpose of the Laws and customs.

Laws and customs are to guide us to better our relationship with God, with others and with our society. 

 May I use this opportunity to thank you all for your love, prayers and support as we mark today one year of our service to God and to you. Do continue to pray for us and be sure of our love and prayers. God bless you all.

Fr Jerome Otitoyomi Dukiya. CSSp.