UI INAUGURAL MASS
27 October 2008

"Come, Holy Spirit, enlighten the minds of your faithful, and enkindle in them the fire of your love." As we begin this session, the University's 61th year of operation, many difficult moments await us, hills and mountains to cross if we are to achieve the prize of excellence in knowledge, science and wisdom. For this enterprise, we need God's help, and we call on the Holy Spirit to touch our minds and hearts.

Yesterday Fr. Owoeye asked me to preach for this occasion. Much of what I will say is repeated from last year, because it is important, but there are adjustments and additions. Come, Holy Spirit, enlighten our minds.

God has blessed us with intelligence and given us the ability to read the book of nature, to discover its secrets, classify its data, and assemble the scientific engines that make our life possible.

He has given us the means of recording our knowledge and communicating it, so that our search for knowledge is not the groping of an individual, but an enterprise where we build on the past and work together with one another to build a better future.

Furthermore, he has sent us his only Son and eternal Word, the perfect Teacher. "Blessed are your eyes and ears, because you see and hear what prophets and kings desired to see and hear and did not see or hear" (Lk 10:24). Jesus came to put all that we learn, all that we strive after, in a divine perspective. He instructs us about our eternal destiny, and how to love God and one another. These are the keys of true peace and prosperity. Without them, our secular learning could easily turn into a destructive monster, a crushing oppressor.

Divine revelation does not replace study and research, but turning our minds to God when we are perplexed does help indirectly. So many times while I was writing and came across a puzzling problem that frustrated me, I took a break and went to pray. I could well be accused of having very distracted prayer, because it was then that my study puzzles would dissolve and the answers fall in place. Picking out a topic and formulating a title for a long essay or dissertation is never an easy task. The same holds for gathering your data and putting your findings in shape for the defence. Survey your options, consult others, put your mind to it, but also take some moments to pray. It will help a great deal.

Let me offer a little advice about your study and research. The first step is to master the material. That means grasping what is covered in class and in becoming acquainted with what experts in your field have written or said about the topic. The second step is to demonstrate your mastery of the course, either in an exam or a presentation or a thesis—in other words, the ability to communicate what you know. To do this you must have a good command of English and a good style in writing or speaking. Look at the Guardian editorials and guest columns to see examples of effective communication.

But you need more than mastery of words. You need to organize your points in a logical way—In other words, you need a good skeleton. Some people can go on and on talking with beautiful words, but they either lack substance, or the points they try to make are hopelessly confused. I used to tell my students that I want the bones, not the flesh. But I must qualify that. Most lecturers and readers want some flesh—good illustrations and examples, to make your presentation come alive. But keep it lean. The fatter you get by useless repetitions, the lower your score will be. If you are given 10 arrows to shoot at a target, and you hit the center of the target on the first shot, you get a high score. If it takes you nine throws before you hit the center, your score will be low.

Come, Holy Spirit, enkindle in us the fire of your love. No matter how brilliant you are, there are moral challenges which can bring you down if you do not make the right choice.

The first of these is to acquire genuine competency in your field of study. Nigerian degrees have lost much of their international credibility largely because of fraud. Cheating in exams has become more rampant. In packed classrooms, if the invigilator looks right there is long-necking on the left, if he looks left it is going on to his right, to say nothing of ever newer high-tech methods of cheating. You can deceive the University and get your First Class, but in the real world, your bad performance will eliminate you from the competition. And if you manage to get hired without your incompetency being discovered, you will be guilty of multiple malpractice. If your employer is the government, you may have a good chance of escaping disgrace in this world, but you will eventually have to account to your Maker.

The second moral challenge is romantic involvements. The University is a good place to discover your life partner, but to take him or her on credit and invite children by your actions into a home that does not yet exist is a crime not only against these children, which most students abort out of this world, but also against one another. Such trial relationships, based on pleasure without commitment, arouse emotions and raise expectations. When these infatuations crash, as most of them do, they leave the person, especially the lady, in a state of depression and bitterness that incapacitates her from study. Another moral challenge is discouragement. Not only may your studies be difficult, but you may have financial problems, family problems, and problems from people who seem to be blocking your way.

In this University outright hostility can sometimes be found, but it is rare, and usually some way can be found around it. The major human frustration in this University is delay, delay because officials may be tired, overwhelmed or distracted by other things. You who are academic and administrative staff, please see it as your duty that you are not the cause of any logjam or go-slow. That may mean a lot of running back and forth to Establishment, the Postgraduate School, Bursary etc. You who are students may run into such jams. You do not have to face them alone. There are many good people in this University who can help you, both Catholics and non-Catholics.

The academic year is already running. Work hard, don't get caught behind. Lead a balanced life of assiduous study with proper, eating, sleeping, exercise and relaxation. Let your prayer be fervent, but not so prolonged as to compete with your studies. When the pressure is on, curtail attending society meetings. If Sunday morning Mass is too long, try the short 6:00 P.M. Mass. But if you can make it to weekday morning or evening Mass, you will find strength there to carry the burden of the day. Holy Spirit, enlighten our minds, and enkindle in us the fire of your love.

UI INAUGURAL MASS
29 January 2010

It happened to Isaiah. It happened to Jeremiah, to Ezekiel, to Daniel, to Peter, to Paul. The Holy Spirit descended one day, snatched their spirit, and carried them to a divine world. There God's secrets dazzled their minds, his love overpowered their hearts.

Most Christians, some time or another, have had a similar experience. Go up to heaven, go up Mount Tabor, and you never want to come down. "It is good for us to be here," said Peter.

For some, then, prayer is everything—no time for the world again. "Give me vigils, or let me enter a monastery." Others have no time, or minimal time, for God. Put such a one in Mary's position. The angel Gabriel enters. "Hail, Mary, full of grace." "Hold on, Gabriel," she cuts in, "my phone is ringing. It may be important."

For many, or most, the Spirit and the world are enemies. You love one and hate the other. As Paul says, "the flesh craves what the Spirit hates; the Spirit craves what the flesh hates. The two are opposed" (Gal 5:17).

But there is another world. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). Whether you like it or not, Jesus observes, you are in the world. He even sends you into the world. Only you do not belong to the world (Jn 17).

So there is a world we reject: the world of sin, lies, corruption, hatred. And there is a world we embrace: the world God created, and saw that it was good. The Spirit hovered over the waters (Gn 1:20, and there came order, life, animals, and lastly man.

God made man manager of the world, and manager of his own life. To manage the world, you need the sciences. To manage your life, you need the arts. Both are necessary. Rather than NUC's 60/40 ratio, I propose 50/50. If you are in science, you need some arts subsidiaries, to round off your life. If you are in arts, you need some science subsidiaries, to help you survive.

Any management, whether of the world, or of your life, requires a purpose, an aim, a goal. You measure your performance by how you meet that goal. The world was created for man, and man for God. God is your ultimate goal. Focus on him, and all will fall in order. Your management will be successful. Good order requires balance. Thomas Aquinas, Patron of education, whose feast we celebrated yesterday, stresses this. Pray well, study well, eat well, exercise well, rest well. If you exaggerate one and cut corners on another, you will run into trouble.

Right now, posters are everywhere. Join this society, this club, this fellowship. Some may harm you, others may help you. But remember your primary task here: academic success. NFCS runs study programmes; these can help you. If social life stands in the way, drop it. If Legion, Choir or church devotions stand in the way, drop them. Just keep to Sunday Mass, a prayer in the morning and evening, and daily Mass if you can, to keep in touch with God. That will echo through your academics, through everything you do.

You will have assignments to write. Sometimes you mind will stop, no ideas come in, none go out. It is time to take a break. Often when you are at prayer, ideas start flowing. The Holy Spirit is at work.

How should you study, or do research? Step one: master the material. Grasp what the lecturer presents. Get acquainted with the literature. Step two: demonstrate your mastery of the course, by exam or by presentation or by thesis—in other words, communicate what you know. This requires good English, and good writing or speaking style.

Beyond the right words, organize your points in a logical way. State what you are proving, or defending. Then give your reasons. Some people talk with beautiful words, but lack substance, or are just confused. Provide good illustrations and examples, to make your presentation come alive. But keep it lean. The fatter you get by useless repetition, the lower your score will be. In a shooting competition, you take aim at a target. If you hit the centre in one shot, you get a high score. If it takes you ten shots to hit the centre your score will be low.

No matter how brilliant you are, there are moral challenges which can bring you down if you do not make the right choice.

The first challenge: Acquire competency in your field of study. Nigerian degrees have low international credibility, largely because of fraud. Cheating in exams is rampant. In packed classrooms, if the invigilator looks right, there is long-necking on the left; if he looks left, it is happening on his right; never mind invisible high-tech cheating. You can deceive the University and get your First Class, but in the real world, in the competition, bad performance will eliminate you. Before that happens, you will commit multiple malpractice. Some escape disgrace in this world, but some day soon, to their Maker, they will give account.

The second challenge: Be careful about romantic involvements. The University is a good place to discover your life partner. But to take him or her on credit, that is to invite children, with no home to welcome them. That is child-abuse. But most students descend further, to child-elimination. Trial relationships, based on pleasure without commitment, also harm the partners. They arouse emotions and raise expectations. When these infatuations crash, as most of them do, they leave the person, especially the lady, in a state of depression and bitterness, that incapacitates her from study.

If some boys are exploitive, some girls are desperate or naive. The guy insists on pre-marital sex. She complies. They eventually marry. Then she discovers that, instead of a husband, she married a master. In the courtship, the game was not about sex, but power.

Another moral challenge is discouragement. You may find studies hard, you may have financial problems, family problems, and some people, it appears, are blocking your way.

In this University, outright hostility is rare, and usually there are ways around it. The major frustration you meet is delay, delay because officials are tired, overwhelmed, or distracted by other things. You who have files on your table, please let no logjam or go-slow develop.

Students and staff, when you run into problems, don't face them alone. There are many good people in this University who can help you, both Catholics and non-Catholics.

University life, with the best intentions, is a struggle. It is not for sissies, for weaklings. But there is help, human help, backed by divine help. God's Holy Spirit is there, to enlighten you, to encourage you, to strengthen you, to carry on, to succeed in your academics, to put it to good use later on, and receive your reward in the end.

In the meantime, in this world, while your feet touch the ground, let your head touch heaven.