Days At D.C.A

🌺~57~🌺

Ifechi was surprised to find the church filled to the brim. Her mum led them to the front row where she liked to seat. Ifechi would have protested but today seemed different, she felt hopeful for the outcome of the retreat.

It began with mass as usual. For some reason, she found herself elated that the host was a priest from another parish, perhaps that was why the church was full.

"Somebody praiseeeeee the Lord!"

"Alleluia"

"Today we are going to discuss on the topic: Repentance equals reward"

It didn't take long for the pews to get silent.  Ifechi found the topic particularly interesting, who in the world would put those two words in the same sentence. Reward was a word everyone liked, while repentance well....made people uncomfortable.

She listened earnestly as the preacher spoke.

"You see some of us think that we are holier-than-thou..."

"...we can identify what's wrong with anybody and everybody but never with ourselves..."

She felt her throat dry up.

"God has called us today, not to be judges of others but evaluators of our own selves. Remember in the book of James chapter 4 verses 11, the Bible warns against judging a fellow Christian brother or sister. Also, in Mathew chapter 7 verses 1 to 6, the Bible says judge and ye shall be judged, for in the same way you judge others, you will be judged...my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, can you think of someone you've judged recently?"

Grace, Anita, Aliyah, Gabriel Joyce, even Damien... Ifechi felt uneasy on her seat as the Reverend father spoke. She shifted her weight to her legs.

"...Now this is not to say that we should excuse sin..."

'Good, because they're sinful' she thought smugly to herself.

"...but it means we should more conscious of our own sins that of the sins of others..."

Hmm

"...think about it, if seeing the faults in others make you so mad and angry, how do you think God sees your sins and how do you think others see your sins as well? Your bad attitudes and your flaws....if we channeled that energy we used in finding fault in other people to looking at our own faults and addressing them with the help of the Holy Spirit, then it would surprise us how much of a better world we would live in"

The crowd nodded in agreement.

"...so instead of complaining about one another, as the Bible has warned us against. We should rather pray for each other, especially for those we seem to hate...Yes! Pray for the very people you hate!"

The congregation went loud as murmurs filled the air. Ifechi found it weird, how could one pray for the people they hate, that was a very unnatural thing to do. As if the priest read her mind, he immediately added.

"...and I know that seems like a very unwise or unnatural thing to do. After all, if you hate someone and you know that they hate you, would you want them to succeed?"

"No!" The congregation shouted with full force.

Ifechi didn't know what made her "No" so loud but maybe it was because she'd been maltreated and broken down by these very people whom God through the priest was telling her to love. How could she love someone that trampled on her dignity and blackmailed her for close to a whole month, or someone who embarrassed her for a small mistake on her first week of school, or someone who toyed with her heart for weeks only to crush it and date one of her tormentors, or worse the friend who despite knowing it wasn't her fault chose to turn a blind eye and betrayed her, even slapping her on top.  And what about Gabriel and the school authorities, who had accused her beyond logic of a very horrible crime that could get one put in jail for a very long time, and her classmates who had used it as an excuse to bully and insult her.