S'up? (Page 47)

Isaiah 7:10-14; Romans 1:1-7; Matthew 1:18-24 Mary’s FIAT: The Power of Obedience and the Fruit of Co-operation with God Well, on this fourth Sunday of Advent, God shows himself a God who answers his people with promptitude. When the Assyrian army rose against Israel, which is the context of our first reading, God took the initiative to go and discuss with the king, Ahaz, and to give him a guarantee that the battle was the Lord’s to fight not his. This is Isaiah’s understanding of salvation – God rises to the occasion, when his children are threatened, a ready-to-go God. The invisible God, who wasRead More →

Isaiah 35:1-6a, 10; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11 “Gaudete”: Happiness Sunday I sometimes ask myself why my name is Ayodele, a name which means “happiness has come to our home.” Is this “happiness” for me or for my parents? Are my parents still very happy that they have me as a son, given the fact that they are not Roman Catholic and they did not approve of my choice of the priesthood in the Catholic Church. What I am today, was that what they wanted or dreamt of when I was born? You can imagine how many possible questions to be asked about the reality ofRead More →

Isaiah 11:1-10; Romans 15:4-9; Matthew 3:1-12 When the Past Becomes Present: Testimonies of Jesus Christ as Reliving Christmas Reading the message of Isaiah today and hearing about the role of John the Baptist in the lead up to the coming of Jesus as a human being, the many ways that you and I can relive the experiences of 2000 years ago began to flood my mind. First of all, I remember the story of a young girl who, in the preparation for Christmas, was asked to take part in a sketch or drama a nun/Sister at her parish church was preparing, where the nun/sister gatheredRead More →

Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Mt 24:37-44 Active or Practical Hope: The Christian Attitude to Waiting/Advent “Coming” and “waiting” are two dominant verbs to take seriously during the season of Advent. Notice that both verbs are in the progressive form or present continuous tense, as we often say. In themselves, theses verbs are suggestive of what is expected of a Christian during the period of Advent, the liturgical season when we await the arrival of God as human being – Christmas or Incarnation – and we receive encouragement to assume the position or attitude of expectant parents at the news of an imminent arrival of aRead More →

2 Samuel 5:1-3; Colossians 1:12-20; Luke 23:35-43 From a Kingdom to a Life Style: Your Life is What Matters, It Shows Who Your King Is! “WHO is your model”? is a more important question than “WHAT is your model”? “Who” asks the question of personality, and “what” asks the question about rules and regulations, human contrivance. “Who” worries and centers itself on LIFE, while “what” sets one’s gaze on things. A concrete example is found in Israel. Israel moved away from a theocracy (God’s leadership) which teaches them about WHO they are, to a monarchy (human leadership) copying from human rules because Israel wanted toRead More →

Malachi 3:19-20a; 2 Thessalonians 3:7-12; Luke 21:5-19 We celebrate Salvation Day and NOT Doom’s Day: Heaven or Hell depends on you! Nigerians are very daring and creative people. Not only on earth, but in Heaven above and in Hell below. Listen to this story about Nigerian bravery. I’ve been laughing since I got this joke…..but are we really this bad? ANGELS: Father! We are tired of these Nigerians in heaven. GOD: What have they done this time? ANGEL: Everything!They don’t listen to instructions. They don’t obey traffic rules. They don’t wait for their turn in anything. They are completely reckless! GOD: Then we better sendRead More →

2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14; 2 Thessalonians 2:16-3:5; Lk 20:27-38 What are you doing or Ready to Do for the Salvation of your Soul? “An unexamined life is not worth living,” says Socrates. Roman Catholic liturgical circle takes seriously this saying of Socrates, so she devotes time to the examination or thinking about human life, not just terrestrial life, which is the subject of examination by Socrates, the Catholic Church explores what will happen to human life after its departure from this mundane world; she does this to prepare for life beyond this material world. De novissimis – the last things – instead of a literalRead More →

Wisdom 11:22-12:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-2:2; Luke 19:1-10 Salvific Curiosity: Finding Yourself on the Tree of Life With Zacchaeus There was a beggar, who heard that a king was passing by his village. Early that morning, he got out of bed and readied himself and went out to sit by the roadside, waiting to beg for alms from the king. Sure enough, the king stopped his entourage by the siting beggar. Instead of giving something to the beggar, the king begged some beans of the beggar, since the beggar was picking his beans in a tray while waiting. In response, the beggar said to the kingRead More →

Sirach 35:12-14, 16-18; 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18; Luke 18:9-14 God’s Wisdom and not Human Justice leads to Salvation! It was Jean-Jacques Rousseau who once said, and I paraphrase, that “man was born free, but he is everywhere in chains.” Where do the said chains come from, who made them? Just like God, who has put in place natural and divine laws, human beings have enacted social laws to guide their interpersonal dealings, and law courts to arbitrate in cases of infringements of human laws; of course, there will be judgment day for every violation of divine laws, a heavenly court. The chains of which RousseauRead More →