Easter greetings
to you all on this day, from the Our Lady of Fatima!
Today and as
always, we re-live and re-capture, in its entirety and its urgency, the
revelation, vision and mission of Fatima as championed and sponsored by Our
Lady, the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The situation of
the Church today is very worrisome and a scandal. The once strong and
indissoluble cornerstone entrusted unto the Shepherding hands of the Bishop of Rome is given
over to so much tinkering and over-ripped suspicion, and threatened to its
foundations by party spirit, over-arching ambitions, or should I say,
careerism.
The Church herself, and in fact, the virtue of
religion, is given over to the Great Conspiracy. And, in place of the Divine Image
which the human person is irrevocably subscribed to for meaning and purpose, the image of the Great Harlot is emerging and asserting herself. It
interests me so very much that, as ugly as the devil is, he would also ask for
handsome men and beautiful women to be subscribed to him.
Today, nations
and institutions are being divested of their original visions and missions, and
are saddled with bizarre vocations that can only be described
as a self-destruct construct.
It is about the
Great Deceit whereby Humanity is led (or, misled?) to assert its freedom and independence
from the Great Architect pursuant to a new kind of re-branding that distances
it in a very arrogant manner from the transformation achieved by Christ at
Calvary and permitting it to exploit the possibilities available to it without
constraints or limits, and irrespective of the horrendous outcomes - believing these would be dealt
with as they emerge.
Dear friends, we
are living at a very critical moment in the evolutionary history where the only
secret of victory is and still remains that we consistently and resolutely
affirm, confirm and assert our identity as Christians and live by this Name in
Truth and in Love.
Indeed,"Faith is the Victory that overcomes
the world". But then "what is faith without Good works?”
Also, seated under the dome in the opposite
direction and perhaps, for want of and in an effort to sustain some kind of jaundiced
relevance and an affluent pastoral infatuation characteristically given
to unnecessary but substantive deviations and detractions from the Faith of the
Church, the German Bishops Conference is toying with the costly
option that has the capacity to place the Church on the part of another schism.Pastoral charity is the first qualification that makes a pastor. But no novelty or need can undermine or lower the standard of holiness.
And while the
simplicity and unreserved commitments to the gospel ideals after the example of
Mother Theresa of Calcutta have won and must be to made to win compulsorily
the appreciation of the Holy See, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
is gravely concerned that the efforts and devotion of these beautiful women at
the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) may be marred and discredited
on the long run by LCWR’s romance with
some people and currents of thoughts whose loyalty to the Faith is considered
doubtful and may finally prove to be the exact opposite of whatever vision and
mission the LCWR has set out to serve or achieve in the first place.
Across nations, inside
the halls of fame of these nations and in different global institutions, evil
propaganda, terrorism and corruption are employed to drive home the central
message of modern civilization using arts, politics, economics, science and
religion. As a result, one is overwhelmed by the new contents
being fed into the concept of freedom and the manner of its expression in today’s
world. In this regard, equivocation, diversion, subversion and inversion are
power words that must win some critical outlook and a rebuke from those who are
committed to the authentic cause of freedom.
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The central message of the Readings of
today - one which also is the summary of the Fatima Message - is that living
and bearing witness to the gospel ideals, and not otherwise, is the only way of
being Christian and a member of the Church. Astute intellectuals, astute diplomats,
astute rhetoric, astute philanthropy and astute administrators have absolute
inclinations to transforming into Astute Devils if their hearts are not
circumcised and their efforts not ruled by the Holy Spirit. Powerful and
influential Churchmen, conservatives and progressives alike, have had their names
entered into this ugly list which the Devil uses for a Roll Call in the
Christian community and in other religions today.
Therefore, in respect of authentic commitments
to the gospel ideals, or the basic tenets of Islam and Traditional Religion
respectively, the fight against corruption and terrorism in our dear country
Nigeria must be sustained in Love, in Name and in Truth.
Whatever form or shape they take;
whatever they profess or represent; under whatever umbrella they choose to take
cover, terrorists - it must be emphasized - are not worth dying for, they are
worth fighting against. The only avenue of escape for terrorists and corrupt
Nigerian officials is not through the backdoor of our Cathedral Churches, or
the windows in the domes of out different Mosques through which people, in the
pretext of performing ritual births, disappear into thin air after
accomplishing terrorist acts. Or, by carving out more elegant idols and
worshiping them in the name of godfathers. It is by declaring for Amnesty as
offered in accord with the provisions of functional and operative laws - the Constitution
of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This is why the power of a Sovereign
National Conference is exploding all of us in the face; this is the need for
the Sacred Deed.
And for the security and peace of our
lives together, this makes a simple but resolute demand upon all of us
Christians to be fully disassociated and distanced from the Great Conspiracy,
Re-imaging and Great Deceit which form the vision and mission of the ruling Peoples’
Democratic Party, PDP. Our Lady of Fatima requests of us that we make this sacrifice,
and in love, for peace and security.
Let us, therefore, now more than ever
in this Antioch of our time, live by our Name – the Name for which our neighbors
in Antioch knew us. It may be difficult and challenging, but it’s worth the
sacrifice; it’s worth the risk. The Universal Salvific Will of God is knocking
at our Christian hearts. May our hearts open in Charity to our brothers and
sister in need. It is about “Kirche in Not” more than it is about
politics.
Of course, the Enemy has come to steal
to main and to kill. But Christ has come that we may have life, and have it
abundantly. In the Gospel of today, Jesus made one powerful assurance. “No one
can steal from the Father”. As a precedent, he had declared that he was not
willing to lose any of those whom the Father has given him. And what belongs to
him belongs to the Father! They –Jesus and his Father - are one.
I have decided to use the Third Eucharistic
Prayer during the Holy Mass of today. In my reflections about the situation of
those kidnapped girls, the trauma of their parents, the destabilizations and
denials it has brought into the affairs of innocent and authentic Muslims in
Borno, Adamawa and Kaduna – many of those Muslims who were not there when
those evil bunkerers descended on Nigeria’s Human Resources more valuable than gold to subject those fair
creatures to trauma and possibly, death; Muslims who blushed and reeled in
pain when those insipid plutocrats in military attire usurped and violated the
sacred chambers of our institutions and looted our treasuries in the name of
military administration - I discovered the Church praying;
Look with favour on your Church’s offering
and see the Victim whose death has reconciled us to yourself … may this
sacrifice, which has made our peace with you, advance the peace and salvation of
all the world.”
In our prayers for peace and security,
I think “for many” is not the ideal, but “for all”, after the example of Mother
Theresa of Calculta.
Of course, there is no peace without
justice. At this, we must remain committed in the fight against insurgency,
terrorism, corruption, abuses and clericalism as made manifest in Boko Haram,
Clergy Sex Abuse, etc.
On this day of the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Our Lady of Fatima, may the MarysRose Organization and the MaryRose Evangelistic
Association be re-energized and become all the more committed to the Fatima
Cause and be confirmed in partnership with the Our Lady of Fatima and Queen/Patroness
of Nigeria. Amen.
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PUBLIC
ANNOUNCEMENT:
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Pursuant to the Victory of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus and Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Our Lady has requested
and re-emphasized the need for the prayers given below to draw our attention. They were sent to
Rome for confirmation but no reply has come yet. Before the reply comes, and I believe it surely will,
all are now instructed to insert and recite them in the 1st, 3rd
and 5th Decades respectively of the Daily Rosary. They must be
attended to with the intercessory tools and devotional attitude which they provoke.
Collect :
Almighty and Eternal God, the great and
loving Shepherd of the flock Pope John Paul II lived in a very awfully
inspiring and miraculous way the great Fatima Message. By unceasing
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Immaculate Heart of Mary he came to
appreciate in every way humanly possible the urgency and significance of this
message for the faith of the Church and for our world. At this time when the
whole world is once again drawn to the
force and power of his commitment to the faith which Jesus Christ entrusted
into his Shepherding hands, and now, more than ever, he is united in
intercession with the Mother of your Son who was her closest confidant while he
was here on earth, grant the grace and power to come face to face with the
gentle personality of this woman, and experience the renewal by the Holy Spirit
which you have brought to us through the little children of Fatima, Amen.
Offertory:
Lord, you found the sacrifice of
Calvary a worthy gift most pleasing to you, the remedy for sin, a
transformation of the created order and the glory of your name. May these gifts
on the altar, through the sanctity and exemplary life of your priest and
servant Saint Pope John Paul II, draw your attention to our need, now and
always, for the Great Renewal which the Blessed Virgin Mary gave to us as a
message from heaven. Amen.
Post
Communion:
Lord, you have fed us with the
nourishing bread from heaven - the only food that satisfies our hunger for
meaning and purpose of life. You have made us drink from the cup of Eternal Salvation
- the only drink that kills our appetite for sin. Through the sanctity and
witness of Saint John Paul II, may our lives be transformed and may you bring us to
that eternal feast in heaven. Amen.
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