I penned the below in November of 2019, before Covid - 19
A couple of months back I
suggested 10 propositions that I believe would positively impact the growth of
Catholicism in Yorubaland. A couple of minor divergences then, but there was a
consensus on many of the suggestions.
I was asked to prepare an expose
about my conviction that Mary is Black (Point 7). I hadn’t (Not from lack of
conviction but of lack of time and space to put my thoughts on paper).
Then, the Amazon Synod came and
the Pachamama debacle happened and my argument was brought to the fore.
I read that the Church’s
hierarchy struggled to explain the place of Pachamama at the Synod, and yet it
is this battle of the spirits that the 21st century man should gear itself to
fight more and more.
I can only thank Pope Francis for
opening a can of long hidden canker-worms that can only be experienced but
cannot easily be explained out.
I still haven’t got time to write
a full expose, but I can itemize the points I would like us to explore and
expose more.
1. In the first instance the Synod should not be about
Amazon, it should be about Africa. To win the Cosmos, your starting point
should be Africa. Africa is the Mother!
2. There are 3 forms of Motherhood: Your land of birth, your
Biological mother and your Point of Connection with the Divine. And the origin
of all this is the land. Don’t mess with the land. Even though we would all end
in Jerusalem, the starting point is Africa!
3. Science, Religion and History may look at ethics but
there is a grand Reason behind Amazon (South America) drifting from Mother
Africa (some said it was during the Flood, but I believe in the continental
drift theory) and why the land calls back her children with 400 years of Slave
trade. Let’s watch how history would unfolds. Seize not in thanking your star
you are Black!
4. In Revelation (Rev:12), we saw a woman clothed with the
sun, the moon was under her feet and she was adorned with a crown of 12 stars.
Sun, moon, stars: a depiction of the entire cosmos. But where is the earth in
this? Because, this woman herself is the Earth!
5. Why do we think the cult of Black Madonna is coming back
strong?
6. There is a spiritual woman at the heart of creation. Some
devotees of the earth find that solace as Pachamama, I have realized that
reality as Mary.
7. Authentic spirituality cannot just explain reality out,
it must journey through the darkness of the vague to arrive at clarity. Mother
nature is not an allegory, it is a reality.
8. It may not be Oya, Olokun, Osun or Pachamama, but excuse
me, you cannot just ignore this out. Pantheism is coming back with a venom
because we dismiss it rather than engage it.
9. This engagement will be an experiential journey to
reality, and many will be lost, die and condemned in the process, but it is the
path through which the Church can be purified and where Reality can be
discovered.
10. Ninu ikoko dudu ni eko funfun ti n jade! Ancient gates do
not rise with fun. We cannot just throw away the baby of truth away with the
water of superstition. The easier bit is to throw Pachamama into River Thebes.
The harder part is that she is coming with a venom until we engage. Haha!
