Vigils Reading – Blessed Cyprian Tansi

A reading from the homily of Pope St John Paul II

at the Beatification of Blessed Cyprian Tansi

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The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in the

Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God; his long hours

before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous

love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met

him was touched by his personal goodness.

He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and

was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to

prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of

chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. In a special

way, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent

by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to

pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life

back to Africa, he did not forget his own people. He did not fail to offer prayers

and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification.

Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every

human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate

themselves from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish

existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the

illusion which had fascinated them, and that they eventually find in the depths

of their heart the road leading back to the Father’s house.

He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God’s forgiveness

in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as

God forgives us, and hand on the gift of the reconciliation, making it a reality at

every level of Nigerian life. Father Tansi tried to imitate the father in the

parable: he was always available for those searching for reconciliation. He

spread the joy of restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome

the peace of Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the

word of God and with Holy Communion…

Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness

which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was

first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the

missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly

African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are

called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are

now ready for the harvest… Father Tansi’s witness to the Gospel and to

Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the

Universal Church…

We must be convinced that each of us, according to our particular state in

life, is called to do no less than what Father Tansi did. Having been reconciled

with God, we must be instruments of reconciliation, treating all men and

women as brothers and sisters, called to membership in the one family of God…