10/29/2017

THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME: CHRISTIAN LOVE IS A COMMANDMENT

Readings: Exod 22:20-26; 1 Thess 1:5c-10;  Matt 22: 34-40

Throughout Matthew’s Gospel 22 Jesus engages in a series of debates with the local leaders, the Pharisees and the Sadducees, regarding many practical, legal and faith issues. Last few Sundays the issues were that of preparedness for the kingdom of God and civil responsibility. Last Sunday it was about taxes to Caesar with the script sponsored by the Pharisees and the Herodians. This Sunday it is all about the greatest commandment sponsored by a lawyer. The learned gentleman came with one question: “which is the greatest of the commandment in the law?” We know that God gave

TWENTY NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME & MISSION SUNDAY

Is 45:1, 4-6; 1Thess 1:1-5b; Matt 22:15-21 

Today is World Mission Sunday. On World Mission Sunday, Catholics gather to celebrate the Eucharist and to contribute to a collection for the work of evangelization around the world. This annual celebration gives us a chance to reflect on the importance of mission work for the life of the Church and on our part in the missionary role of the Church. It reminds us that we are one with the Church around the world and that we are all committed to carrying on the mission of Christ, however different our situations may be.
We can all do a great deal of missionary work by the way we live our faith. We are surrounded by good people who do not know Christ, or who know Him only superficially. When we let the

10/14/2017

TWENTY EIGHT SUNDAY OF YEAR A

                                         

(Is 25.6-10; Phil 4.12-14,19-20; Mt 22.1-10)

We may not be so used to royal weddings, but I still remember when Prince Charles of England married Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. Thousands of invitations were sent out. Crowned heads and international political figures, heads of state, aristocrats and newly rich, all those who were somebody in "high society" vied with one another as to who would have the honour of being invited to the festivities. Of course not every body was so favoured, for the number of available seats was limited. And so for those who were lucky enough to receive the much coveted invitation, a refusal was unthinkable. One does not turn down an invitation coming from Buckingham Palace.

In ancient times, kings announced the approximate time for a wedding banquet weeks in advance. The exact day of the banquet was given at a later date. To say "yes" to the advance invitation and no at the later date was an insult. It was this kind of situation that Jesus had in mind in today's parable.

The audience for whom Jesus intended his parable was the Jews of his time. Ages before, they had accepted God's invitation to be his chosen people - his special guests at the banquet

10/07/2017

Twenty-Seventh Sunday Year A

Readings: Isaiah 5:1-7; Phil 4:6-9 and Matt 21:33-43

Today, we have an interesting story (parable) in the Gospel Reading (Matt.21:33-43) concerning a landlord (or householder) and his tenants. A landlord planted a vineyard, fenced it, dug a winepress, and built a tower on the vineyard. It is interesting to note that the landlord did all the needful in the vineyard and that the tenants he brought to stay in the vineyard would have just very minimal tasks to do. Furthermore the machinery for production was in place with a facility for maximum security represented by the watch tower. The tenants had only the duty of caretaking and harvest. Significantly also, the landlord left the place after leasing it to the tenants and travelled to another country.

There is always a time of harvest. When that time came, the landlord sent his servants to get the fruits of the vineyard but the servants got an aggressive response from the tenants. They had one beaten, killed another and yet another was stoned. This latter may have

10/02/2017

SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY QUEEN AND PATRONESS OF NIGERIA

Isaiah 11:1-10 
Ephesians 2:13-22 
Matthew 2:13-15.19-23 

Today, the twenty-sixth Sunday of the year (A), we celebrate the solemnity of Our Lady Queen and Patroness of Nigeria. By this celebration we commemorate the consecration of Nigeria to the Blessed Virgin Mary soon after the Independence in 1960. The very first consecration of our country, as some of you may recall, was in 1954 during the International Marian Year. At the heart of the consecration to the Immaculate Heart is the quest for peace which was a feature of the message of Fatima, a hundred years ago.  During his historic visit to Nigeria in 1982, on 14th February 1982, in Kaduna, to be precise, Pope Saint John Paul II led the Church in Nigeria in another consecration to Mary. While leading in the consecration, the Holy Father prayed in part as follows:

O Mother of all individuals and peoples...I desire to consecrate and entrust to you, Mother of the Church, in a special way, the Church in the land of Nigeria.....  

Today we also celebrate the 57th anniversary of our national independence and the Church in Nigeria calls all of us to pray with our Mother Mary and through her for the country.  This year’s celebration of the feast is unique in the sense that it is being celebrated during the Marian Year declared by our

10/01/2017

Twenty sixth Sunday of Year A

Eze 18:25-28; Phil 2:1-11 and Matt 21:28-32

This Sunday the Church draws our attention in a most special way to the importance of realizing what God wants from us and obediently carrying them out.  In our first reading, God through his prophet Ezekiel, confronts and responds to Israel's accusation of his being unjust by allowing them suffer in the hands of their captors and enemies. He condemns their blame-shifting attitude and pointed out to them that they are the ones at fault and to blame for their predicaments. The simple reason being: "When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin because of this he dies of the evil that he himself committed." In order words, God simply means that renouncing of the part of integrity is "capital disobedience" (a grave sin), the effect or consequence of which is death. 

However, it is not over for the sinner. If we return to the part of integrity in obedience to the will of God, we have life once again. This was Israel's case throughout their biblical history. Owing to their disobedience, they suffered slavery and deportation to Egypt, Persia, and Babylon. However, when they realized themselves and