Category: Year I

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SURRENDER YOUR LIFE TO JESUS AND HE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU!

⏰THURSDAY OF THE FIRST WEEK 📖Heb 3:7-14; Ps 95: 6-7abc, 7d and 8-9, 10-11 (R.v.8a); Mark 1:40-45 🎤SURRENDER YOUR LIFE TO JESUS AND HE WILL TAKE CARE OF YOU! My dear, the word of God in 2 Chron 7:14 says, “If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” The leper in Mark 1:40-45 humbled himself and sought help from Jesus, and indeed, he got his desired healing. His statement, “If...

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“…YOUR REDEMPTION IS DRAWING NEAR” (Luke 21:28)

⏰Thursday of the Thirty-Fourth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (28 Nov 2019) 📖Dan 6:11-27; Ps 3:46, 49, 50, 47, 48, 51, 52 (R.v.46b); Luke 21:20-28 🎤”… YOUR REDEMPTION IS DRAWING NEAR” (Luke 21:28) Yes! In the spirit of the season, which places us in the mood of the end time and the parousia – the second coming of Christ – we can say that our redemption is near. Yet, in a way, we can safely say that our redemption is already here because Jesus is already and always with us (see Matt 28:20). He is Immanuel – God-with-us! If then...

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“MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER” (Luke 19:46)

⏰Friday of the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time 1 (22 November 2019 – Memorial of St. Cecilia) 📖1 Mac 4:36-37, 52-59; 1 Chron 29:10, 11abc, 11d-12a, 12bc (R.v.13b); Luke 19:45-48 🎤”MY HOUSE SHALL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER” (Luke 19:46) Is that your understanding of the house of God? Or are you among those who have converted the house of God into a phone charging point? Or turned the house of God into a house for exchanging pleasantries, thus engineering noise instead of prayer? Is the house of God now a place to buy and sell ‘miracles’ – where people...

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“…SHE BORE IT WITH GOOD COURAGE BECAUSE OF HER HOPE IN THE LORD” (2 Macc 7:20)

⏰Wednesday of the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time 1 (20 Nov. 2019) 📖2 Macc 7:1, 20-31; Ps 17:1, 5-6, 8 and 15 (R.v.15b); Luke 19:11-28 🎤”…SHE BORE IT WITH GOOD COURAGE BECAUSE OF HER HOPE IN THE LORD” (2 Macc 7:20) The prophet Isaiah encouraged the exilic Israelites, who were downcast and already being seduced into accepting the Babylonian religion saying that, “those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow tired” (Isa 40:31). Yesterday, from the Second Book...

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BE WEARY OF SCANDAL

⏰Tuesday of the Thirty-Third Week of Ordinary Time 1 (19 Nov. 2019) 📖2 Macc 6:18-31; Ps 3:2-3, 4-5, 6-7 (R.v.6b); Luke 19:1-10 🎤BE WEARY OF SCANDAL In his Motto for for his episcopate, my Bishop, Most Rev. Michael Odogwu Elue prayed, “O God, do not allow those who seek you to be brought to dishonour because of me.” That is a very important prayer which every leader must be saying at all times. See what Jesus said in Matt 18:6, “If anyone should cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble and fall into sin, it...

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“I WILL SING FOR EVER OF YOUR LOVE, O LORD!”

⏰Saturday of the Thirty-Second Week of Ordinary Time 1 (16 Nov. 2019) 📖Wis 18:14-16; 19:6-9; Ps 105:2-3, 36-37, 42-43 (R.v.5a); Luke 18:1-8 🎤”I WILL SING FOR EVER OF YOUR LOVE, O LORD!” God is the same today, as he was yesterday, and as he would be forever. The same God who created the earth with his Word, and protects with his mighty harm; that God is still working among us today. If you wait for him to help you, songs of victory shall equally be your lot (see Wis 18:14-16, 19:6-9). He knows all that you need, yet he wants...

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USE WHAT YOU HAVE TO WIN YOUR SALVATION

⏰Friday of the Thirty-First Week of Ordinary Time 1 (08 Nov 2019) 📖Rom 15:14-21; Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4 (R.v.2b); Luke 16:1-8 🎤USE WHAT YOU HAVE TO WIN YOUR SALVATION Yes! I mean that very thing you have as a gift from God – your wealth, wisdom, strength, speech, time, even your phone… Yes, I mean your phone. Great opportunities abound for us to work out our salvation from, but how many of us take notice. Let me talk about your phone, for instance. I believe that is what you are using to read this message; you use it to operate...

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WE HAVE BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR

⏰Thursday of the Thirty-First Week of Ordinary Time 1 (07 Nov 2019) 📖Rom 14:7-12; Ps 27:1, 4, 13-14 (R.v.13); Luke 15:1-10 🎤WE HAVE BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR My dear, out of his special love for us, Jesus paid the supreme price by dying so that we might have life. Having paid that price, we now belong to him. This is why he continues to draw all of us, without exception, closer to himself on a daily basis. St. Paul already noted that it was while we were still headlong in sin that he paid this price (cf. Rom 5:8)....

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“…WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US” (Rom 8:37)

⏰Thursday of the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (31 October 2019) 📖Rom 8:31b-39; Ps 109:21-22, 26-27, 30-31 (R.v.26b); Luke 13:31-35 🎤”… WE ARE MORE THAN CONQUERORS THROUGH HIM WHO LOVED US” (Rom 8:37) Do you remember what we discussed yesterday on the importance of putting our trust in God? Indeed, it pays to do so. Today, St. Paul gives us a beautiful message that assures us that it is not a mistake to do that. The message, as was begun yesterday, is that if you are in God, you will fear no evil, neither shall you ever be in...

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“GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM” (Rom 8:28)

⏰Wednesday of the Thirtieth Week of Ordinary Time 1 (30 October 2019) 📖Rom 8:26-30; Ps 13:4-5, 6-7 (R.v.6a); Luke 13:22-30 🎤”GOD WORKS FOR THE GOOD OF THOSE WHO LOVE HIM” (Rom 8:28) My dear, yesterday, we reflected on the importance of putting our trust in God in all things even in the face of difficulties in our world. Today, St. Paul continues to remind us of the benefit of taking such a stand. That benefit is in the fact that God himself takes primary charge of all that concerns us. According to St. Paul, even when it becomes difficult for...