S'up? (Page 48)

Exodus 17:8-13; 2 Timothy 3:14-4:2; Luke 18:1-8 The Example of the Widow: God Needs Your Help in the Battle for Salvation There was a village in Cameroon, in years gone by, where anyone caught stealing received the mark of what he/she stole on the forehead. There were two men who stole a sheep, and they were caught. ST= “Sheep Thief” was written on their foreheads. One of the two men was too ashamed to remain in the village, so he migrated from the village. The other man stayed on and tried to change his ways. He became a very charitable and humble man. Many yearsRead More →

2 Kings 5:14-17; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19 The Forgotten Battle: The Salvation of the Soul as A Human Duty Samaria, the capital of Israel, came into international prominence with the Assyrian invasion and the exile of Israelites to Nineveh in 721 B.C. In those days, when a capital city and its king are captured, the battle is over. So, like most capitals of many nations, to conquer Israel, its capital Samaria had to fall. The difference, however, was that the destruction of Samaria, by the Assyrians, was more than a material destruction, the destruction was aimed at her soul and mind, the transplantation ofRead More →

Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-4; 2 Timothy 1:6-8, 13-14; Luke 17:5-10 The Problem is NOT Them, but Myself: Christianity is NOT a Theoretical but a Practical Religion! More often than not, the blame game trumps our religious and political landscapes. The United States’ election campaign, 2016, is an instance of this or the just concluded United Nations summit in New York City, New York, where United States of America and Russia traded spars against each other, on who is the bad guy, while Syria burns, literally. Republicans and Democrats appeal for votes, with arguments marshaled out on the basis of who can protect the United States better,Read More →

Amos 6:1a, 4-7; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31 Heaven is Real: But are you a Man/Woman of God ready for Heaven? We live in a world, where only those things that are demonstrable in a laboratory or tactile are accorded existence. This is what we generally think and believe: existence has to be concrete and visible, for example, evolution theories are credible for this reason. Hence, the existence of heaven, hell, and purgatory are difficult to grasp for our contemporaries. These difficult issues, especially of the existence of invisible realities, is what the Church confronts us with today. Let us begin from the known toRead More →

Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2: 1-8; Luke 16:1-13 or 16:10-13 “United we Stand, Divided we Fall”: We are all God’s Children! The prophet Amos is popularly know as the prophet who promoted social justice, bringing to the fore the oppression and exploitation of the poor. Today’s first reading gives credence to this opinion, and Pope Francis lends support to the crusade for workers’ rights and the rights of poor people. A close look at the plights of the masses, in the economic distribution, in the whole world, one cannot but still see the necessity for and relevance of Amos’ prophecy for contemporary societies. In theRead More →

Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-32 or Luke 15:1-10 When I Forgive my Brethren, I imitate God’s Compassion: “Forgive us our Trespasses as we Forgive those who Trespass against us”! Our television screens are inundated with scenes of violence and strife. Nations are at war against nations: Russia against Ukraine, the two Sudan against each other; intra-national wars in Democratic Republic of Congo, Central Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Syria, Colombia, Ecuador, etc; those nations not at war are preparing for war or aggression, like North Korea and Iran. To this list, one can add American gun-violence and racial tensions, global family disunities and divorces,Read More →

Wisdom 9:13-18; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33 The Cross: God’s Language of Wisdom! A Buddhist monk once offered this idea to a young person solicitous of making good progress in spirituality: “start out early, travel light, arrive safely”. In a more expatiated form, a person who desires something has to start out early in search of the desired object. In order for the search to be successful, unnecessary encumbrances have to be avoided, this is the meaning of “traveling light.” Having begun early and traveling light, the wayfarer will arrive safely. The advice given by the Buddhist monk shows that there is no culture andRead More →

“Alms atone for sins” (Ecclesiasticus 3:29): Charitable Deeds Will Earn you Heaven Growing up in northern Nigeria, it was a taboo to be a debtor; my parents wouldn’t accept that. We, my siblings and myself, were taught contentment with whatever meager resources we had, especially finances. The implication of this lesson was that no one spent the money he didn’t earn or have. North America taught me a different lesson: here, everybody is a debtor, including self-acclaimed rich people like Donald Trump. In fact, being a debtor is a good thing out here, because one has a credit history and can even have good credit.Read More →

Not your Condemnation of yourself, but your Acquittal by God: You’re God’s Ambassador, behave like one! Our world today reels in sin and wallows in the darkness of unbelief. Thank goodness, it is not because there are so many bad people around, but simply because good people sit back and do nothing or not enough. How often does one hear, “we are all sinners”; “there is no good person left”; the world is in a terrible shape. The good news is that, these are all human judgments, not God’s. On the part of God, this is the message he has for us – “For GodRead More →

Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53 There is always salvation for those who wait on the Lord! In an age of political correctness, the desire to say just what people want to hear and not to offend others, does the truth still have a place in our polity and religious life? What is the role of faith and religion in a secularized and modernized world? These are serious questions to be asked, if religion, particularly Christianity, will be relevant to our contemporary world. In the so-called first-world, issues like abortion, euthanasia, same-sex union, gun control and eugenics are considered no-go-area, especially for religious interventionRead More →