“MASTER, IT IS WELL THAT WE ARE HERE” (Mark 9:5)

⏰Saturday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time 1 (23 February 2019 – Memorial of St. Polycarp)

📖Heb 11:1-7; Ps 145:2-3, 4-5, 10-11 (R.v.1b); Mark 9:2-13

“MASTER, IT IS WELL THAT WE ARE HERE” (Mark 9:5)

My dear, it is the long awaited day in Nigeria. Today, we are going to file out to take a decision, either to push this country further into backwardness or to help lift it up. Remember today that your vote is your voice. Will you choose to speak against our collective progress because of selfishness? It is our decision to make on where to be in the next four years. Let us defeat the devil now instead of blaming him later.

As we go on with the polls, we need to make great effort to see that we are in the presence of God. There is no better place to be than to be in the presence of God. In his presence, no evil can ever touch or harm us. To be in his presence however, we must be free of evil.

For some days now, we have been reflecting on the battle between the good and bad in us, and the outcome of our responses to either of them. Obviously, part of the reason we fail prey to evil is that we are not pragmatically in touch with the promises of God. In other words, we are faithless.

Do you know that it is possible for you to be a member of the Church and yet you do not have any faith in you? Or yes! The evangelist James said that our faith is defined by our actions (cf. Jam 2:14). Check out that by yourself and see that all those whose faith were used as an example in Heb 11:4ff were mentioned in relation to their righteous deeds. What shall you be known for?

If you work towards being and remaining a righteous believer, you will be a special friend of Jesus, a member of his inner caucus. In that position, he will number you among the ones up to the Mount of Transfiguration, which promises fulfilment, revelation and satisfaction (cf. Mark 9:2-7).

Can you go out today, shunning all monetary/material inducement and party affiliations and vote for the good of our nation? God has put this decision in your hands; don’t disappoint him.

May Christ the Good Shepherd assist and lead us in the right path so as to be able to bear good fruit with our faith and remain a positive influence to those who look up to us. Amen.

Peace be with you.