Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion By Tobe Eze

Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

At the Procession with Palms

GOSPEL
Matthew 21:1—11

At the Mass

FIRST READING
Isaiah 50:4—7

SECOND READING
Philippians 2:6—11

GOSPEL
Longer Form Matthew 26:14—27:66

THEME: LOOK BEYOND THE CROWD.

In one week time, the journey of our salvation which started on the Annunciation day will come to fulfillment. Jesus humbled himself, taking the form of a servant just to bring us salvation. Isaiah the prophet in today’s first reading is telling us exactly what Jesus did for our salvation. Jesus gave up everything, he did not talk just to give us salvation.

As Christians, many things are expected from and of us. We should learn from Jesus today who did not in his life time succumbed to the wishes of the crowd. The people we see today singing praises for us may also be the ones that will condemn us tomorrow. Jesus who looked beyond the crowd saw that it is best to be lifted up as recorded in the second reading by God not by crowd. In (John 6:15) after feeding of five thousand men excluding children and women, the crowd was trying to make him king which he did not accept for he know what crowd can be. The best king is the one made by God.

Crowd is a faceless identity. It is this same crowd today in the first Gospel was shouting Hosanna, throwing branches and clothes for Jesus to walk on them. On good Friday it will also be the same crowd that will shout crucify him crucify him. Jesus encountered many crowds in his life time but he was seeing beyond what ordinary men can see about crowd. Continue Reading

5th Sunday of Lent Year A By Tobe Eze

5th Sunday of Lent Year A

FIRST READING

Ezekiel 37:12-14

SECOND READING

Romans 8:8-11

GOSPEL

John 11:1-45

THEME: GOD CAN RAISE OUR DEAD SITUATIONS TO LIFE AGAIN.

My fellow Christians, we are drawing closer to the great event of our salvation, which is Easter. Today’s readings are telling us also like that of last week how God can bring out fortunes from our misfortunes. In the first reading today, the prophet Ezekiel is giving us hope that our dry bones will rise again. And the second reading is trying to make us understand that, it is only through living in the spirit that our dry bones will rise again. The Gospel makes it clearer that if we are living our lives in spirit, Jesus will cry to his father in our own dead situations like he cried for his friend Lazarus who was dead. Continue Reading

HOLY ROMANCE. By Tobe Eze

HOLY ROMANCE.

It was like a dream for me on that faithful night when it all started. Since that day this question. Is there a Holy Romance? Has not left me. Where is it written in the bible that there is a holy romance? But he won by quoting Bible passages where it is written that we should greet each other with a holy kiss. He quoted Romans 16:16 and 2Corinthians 13:12 which I read and saw that it is boldly written. I asked him, but what is written here is kiss and not romance. But he fired a horrible answer back that it is romance that begets kiss. He asked me which one I consider worse. Kiss or romance? He said immediately okay, if you choose kiss, let us go for it.

It all started on one of the all night crusades we normally go every Friday. I was one of the prayer warriors, so I normally go earlier every Friday. It happened that I went too early that day. I met only our leader Brother John. He is our leader and spiritual director. When he steps to the arena the atmosphere changes. When people see him coming they will start to sing Onyeze abaruola! Onyeze abaruola! Onyeze abaruola! He makes things happen. He sees the past, the present and the future. He does what even Jesus did not do when he was doing his own ministration on earth. Continue Reading

THE GOOD SIDE OF SEX. By Tobe Eze

THE GOOD SIDE OF SEX.

Introduction.

In the common language of everyone, “Everything that has advantage, has also disadvantage”. It is on this ground that I want to say that sex on its own has also something good that comes out of it. Let us not mind that we focus more on the wrong side of it and not even listen to the inner voice that talks in favour of it. Our minds are now negatively formulated about the word sex. Whenever we hear it, it will be as we heard devil calling us. Forgetting that all of us came from it and all that will come will also come from it. It is only the way, the time, the place and the persons involve that make it sin, not sex itself.

Everything we do on this earth has its own time. Even the Bible recorded it. There is time for everything, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. And sex is not an exception. Come and think of it, if a man waits till marriage before having sex, is it still an evil? Or if a woman does the same? It is a matter of time.

That we fall into many problems today is because we do not wait for the proper time. Premarital and ex-marital sex are doing the right thing at the wrong time, wrong place and with wrong person which in turn has changed the whole thing into wrong act. Patience is a virtue. We rush into things that are unclear to us many times and this land us into many problems. Looking at the percentage of divorced families these days, greater percentage is caused by either premarital or extramarital sex. Continue Reading

4th Sunday of Lent Year A Laetera Sunday By Tobe Eze

4th Sunday of Lent Year A

Laetera Sunday
FIRST READING
1 Samuel 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

SECOND READING
Ephesians 5:8—14

GOSPEL

John 9:1—41

THEME: God's ways are not our ways.

What Is Laetare Sunday? Laetare Sunday (/lɛˈtɑːrɛ/), so called from the incipit of the Introit at Mass, "Laetare Jerusalem" ("Rejoice, O Jerusalem"), from Isaiah 66:10, is a name often used to denote the fourth Sunday of the season of Lent in the Western Christian liturgical calendar. Again, Laetare Sunday is the popular name for the Fourth Sunday in Lent. The name comes from the first word of the Introit or entrance antiphon of the Mass for that day: Since there are six Sundays in Lent, Laetare Sunday falls just past the midpoint of Lent. For that reason, Laetare Sunday has traditionally been viewed as a day of celebration, on which the austerity of Lent is briefly lessened; the organ is played, flowers are allowed on the altar, and the purple vestments of Lent, signifying penance, are set aside and, as on Gaudete Sunday in Advent, rose ones are used instead. Continue Reading

WHY MEN ARE CALLED "GROOM”, AND THE WOMAN “THE BRIDE” ON WEDDING DAY?..

WHY MEN ARE CALLED "GROOM”, AND THE WOMAN “THE BRIDE” ON WEDDING DAY?..

Why is the newly wedded man called groom and the woman called bride? A friend of mine got tired of his wife just about six months after wedding. He complained bitterly to me about her and told me that he has concluded to break up with her; he went on to say that he was sure that he made a mistake. I did not respond immediately because I knew I must tell him that right thing, so I went home. And that is

What gives birth this message? Many men have broken up with their wives because they end up not being the wife that they have dreamt of. But they have forgotten that on their wedding day was when the man was commissioned for the new task. Nobody calls the woman wife on her wedding day but bride, because it is the man that will groom his bride to become the wife. That is why the man is called ‘bridegroom or groom’ and the word grooming has to do with patiently nurturing, teaching, tending and helping someone to become what he or she should be. It is therefore believed that a man that takes a woman to the altar of marriage is matured enough to patiently groom his bride to become the wife. The man is not supposed to just expect the bride to automatically become the wife, she must be groomed. It is clear that many of us men have unnecessary expectations when we were getting married, we want some magic to happen to our wives, we want them to become what we have had in mind about who we want our wives to be; not considering the fact that the woman does not know what is on your mind except you teach her. Continue Reading

3rd Sunday of Lent Year A By Tobe Eze

3rd Sunday of Lent; Saint Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

FIRST READING
Exodus 17:3—7

SECOND READING
Romans 5:1—2, 5—8

GOSPEL

 John 4:5—42

THEME: LOOK FOR THE WATER OF LIFE.

Why is God using water today? What is he trying to tell us with water? What is water symbolizing? And lastly. What is water? I will start from the last question.

What is water? Scientifically, Water is a polar inorganic compound that is at room temperature a tasteless and odorless liquid, nearly colorless with a hint of blue. Water is a liquid that washes many dirty things to make them clean. Water cleans everything and bring it to a better state. It is a pure substance.

What is water symbolizing? For the fact that water washes everything and makes them clean, then water can symbolize 1. Cleanliness. Because of this first symbol of water which is cleanliness, God himself chose water for baptism so that men can come back to him in a pure state. Jesus himself knew the neat nature of water and changed water not any other liquid into wine in (John 4). Prophet Elisha also for the same reason asked Naman to deep himself inside water (2Kings 5:1-19). And many other places in the sacred Scripture. 2. Water is life. Even the ancient philosopher Thales recognized this and he said that the world comes from water. He judged from the fact that everything needs water for its survival. Think of plants, they need water. Think of animals and human beings, without water their will be no life. 3. Water saves. When there is fire outbreak, it is only water that can quench the fire. When evil becomes too much, water comes to wash them away and save man kind. In the case of Noah (Genesis 6:9-9:17). Continue Reading

Morality in Abortion. By Tobe Eze

Morality in Abortion.

Moral Justification of Abortion

Abortion has acquired the status of a perennial moral problem on which scholars have formed different and, at times, conflicting opinions. In layman’s understanding, Abortion is just the act of removing or terminating pregnancy. Put differently, it is the expulsion of the foetus from the womb before it is viable, that is before it can live outside the mother. Abortion is derived from the Latin word aboriri which mean to perish. Pro-lifers see abortion simply as murder or worst still, direct killing.

Classifying abortion into two major ways may not be a mistake for some abortions happen without human aid. The two kinds of abortion are: natural and artificial abortion. Natural abortion can be termed Miscarriage. Natural abortion happens spontaneously without any medical application or the aid of anyone. This happens involuntary or unexpectedly. This type of abortion is not sinful in anyway because it is not caused by anyone, it is rather a natural occurrence. Artificial abortion on the other hand, is any type or way followed to terminate pregnancy. It may be done by medical practitioners or even through many other ways by the pregnant woman or lady. It is this type of abortion that every rational and God fearing person consider as sin. We have many types of this artificial abortion and they include: Therapeutic abortion, which the aim is to save the mother of the child in the womb. For example, if the woman has cancer of the womb, abortion has to take place so that the woman may be cured. Another is criminal abortion, this is the one that are rampart everywhere. Criminal Abortion: This is the kind of abortion done by both married and unmarried women who term their pregnancy unwanted one. They try to save themselves the shame of giving birth to a child either out of wedlock (a lady) or that it will be a shameful thing to them. Continue Reading

Why does Rain Fall? By Tobe Eze

Why does Rain Fall?

Rainmaking is artificially causing precipitation to occur to condense the clouds, and thus, cause rainfalls. People across continents have at different times tried to make rain. In the 1930s the United States of America faced some drought at their Midwestern area.

 This made some of their technicians to use aircrafts to produce rain. According to Michael Brooks, "the idea was simple: seed the heavy clouds with tiny particles of silver iodide whose electrical charge would pull together the cloud's water droplets. Once enough droplets had gathered together, their weight would make them fall from the sky as rain". Making rain is as simple as that. However, it is pertinent to mention that people use different methods to make rain. Some people use leaves to make rain. Some other people use incantations. Some others use prayers.

 While some other people just cry under the rain. In Ekwulumili, Anambra State, rainmakers use stone especially mkpume onu to make rain. In Nsukka area, some rainmakers claim to have inherited the art of rainmaking from their ancestors. In fact, one rainmaker says they use a certain type of plate with some quantity of sand, little water, and cola nut which they would put at a strategic place, and at a given time in the morning; and on such day there would rain. From our inquiries, we discovered that there are some people who make and stop rains. Continue Reading

Can Cow save us? By Tobe Eze

Can Cow save us?

No, only Christ.

The fact that its relevance is not limited to Africa, or to Igbos alone, is indicative of the fact that it is not just the Igbos alone that have placed some significance on cows. Other cultures have high cultural value for it. We may not here begin to compare its strength to that of horse, but cows, as well as horses, are known for strength. In the past, its strength made it one of the means of transportation, ploughing, and threshing.

 According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations most animal dairies come from cattle. As a matter of fact, the following statistics indicate the level of importance humans have come to place on cows. According to the data from FAO 83% of milk produced across the world is produced from milk extracted from cattle; while buffaloes produce 13%; goats produce 2% while camels produce 0.3%; and the remaining 1.7% is produced by equines and yaks.

 Apart from being eaten as part of food or dairies, Igbos prepare different types of delicacies of beef. Some prepare it as steak. Others prepare it as "ngwogwo". Others prepare it as "kanda". Yet, others prepare it as "nkwobi". Even for Israelites too, beef was one of their several delicacies served at royal banquets or when men of honour were received (Genesis 18: 7; 1 Kings 4: 23). At funerals, in spite of the fact that the Catholic Diocese of Nsukka has established a standing rule that cows being used for funeral should be cut in pieces and served with food to guests; the use of cows at funerals is always problematic. Continue Reading