GIVE YOUR MONEY to the Church and it will use the money for something profitable to humanity, said Bishop John Oyejola of Osogbo during the adult harvest thanksgiving at St Benedict Cathedral, Osogbo, Osun State, recently.

 Bishop Oyejola then reminded the Congregation that the priests love the faithful dearly and "that is why they give their lives entirely to your service."

Whenever you give money to the Church, the parish priest would make judicious use of it and he would readily give account of it, he said.

According to the priest, the Church has many programmes - physical and spiritual - that would always bring peace and joy to the family.

He explained that the annual celebration of harvest thanksgiving is to reflect on what God has done in one's life and family. It is not through our cleverness or smartness that we have achieved what we have been able to achieve so far but by God's grace, he said. "We need to thank God and praise him as we owe him everything. We cannot afford to pay him back because the greatest thing that he has given us is life.”

The bishop cautioned on wealth, saying we do not need riches to get to heaven, but the relationship with our fellow human beings and God. "Anytime you spend your money to assist the Church or render a help to a person, especially whom you feel could not pay back, you are building a place for yourself in heaven," he said.

 In attendance were Oba Adeyemi Adediran (Owamiranof Esa Oke); Oba BukolaAlli (Alowa of  Ilowa); Olori Agnes Oyeyemi (Olori Oloba Ile of Oba Ile); Hon. Oluwole Oke, Dame Kolawole.

 The harvest committee members led by the chairman, Prince Sunday Iwa-Oyefade, and the secretary, Mrs Catherine, later appreciated all for gracing the occasion.

-FRANCIS 'JIDE MAKINWA