Msgr. Anselm Nwaorgu

READINGS : 3RD SUNDAY OF EASTER The Gospel for this 3rd Sunday of Easter, Year C, describes the turning point in the lives of the Apostles. The apostles were apparently lost as to what the future held for them. In the midst of this confusion, Peter declared that he was returning to his former trade—“I am going fishing” and six other apostles eloped with him. They fished all night and caught nothing. Then, at dawn, something happened. Christ appeared to them for the 3rd time a

READINGS: EASTER SUNDAY The response to the Responsorial Psalm for the first reading on this Easter Sunday is: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad”. It is truly a day when the biggest thing that means the most in our lives happened—the resurrection of Jesus Christ—the very act that destroys the powers that block our blessings, pollute our anointing and short-circuit our destinies in life. Today, we have gained a counselor, a defense lawyer, and an a

READINGS: PALM SUNDAY A professor was traveling by boat and as the boat set sail, he asked the sailor, “Do you know anything about Biology, Ecology, or Oceanology”?, to which the sailor answered, “No Sir” and then the professor yelled out, “What on earth do you know, then, as a sailor? You will die of illiteracy. ”After a while, a heavy wind developed, tossing the boat around, and the sailor made the situation look worse, using his expertise, and then turning to the professor

READINGS: FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT In the Gospel reading of this 5th Sunday of Lent, Year C (John 8:1-11), we are confronted with the story of the woman caught in adultery and how she was treated, with humiliation and condemnation by the crowd—made to be on the ground while everybody else was standing, her sin laid bare for all to see, surrounded by angry accusers willing to stone her to death, and stamped with shame and disgust. Where was the man caught with her in this act? The

READINGS: FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT In the first reading of this fourth Sunday of Lent, Circle C (Joshua 5:9-12), we read that the day after the Israelites ate of the produce of the land of Canaan, while encamped at Gilgal, the manna, that God had supplied to feed them during their 40-year journey, on their way to the promise land ceased. This act, on the part of God has two very important lessons for us. For over 40 years, God had miraculously provided food, in the form of mann

The next three Sundays in our Church will be Scrutiny Sundays as we will be celebrating part of the process of initiating those who are being prepared to come into full communion with the Catholic faith. During the Masses for these Scrutinies, the readings will be taken from Circle A instead of Circle C. The gospel, for this Sunday, therefore, is the story of the Samaritan Woman’s encounter with Jesus (John 4:1-42) What is fascinating about this story is that it reveals the

READINGS: SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT My dear friends, as we continue our Lenten journey, let us remember some of the greatest lessons of these past two years of coronavirus pandemic—the uncertainty of life; that life is too short; and the need to get our priorities ordered right. At the heart of Lent is fasting and the purpose of this fasting is to reset the heart.. There are two types to fasting that resets the heart—what we need to fast from and what we need to fast into. When i

READINGS: FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT Rudyard Kipling is a writer whose books sold so much that words in his books were said to be worth a hundred dollars each. So a journalist once gave Kipling a hundred dollars with the request, “Mr. Kipling, could you please give me one of your one hundred dollar words.” Kipling took the money, put it into his pocket, and looking at the reporter said, “Thanks”. Yes, thanks—to be grateful and to appreciate blessings in life—is a genuine and gracio

READINGS: EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the 1st reading of this 8th Sunday in Ordinary Times (Sirach 27:4-7) we read: The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had; so too does one’s speech disclose the bent of one’s mind”. Again, it says, “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks”. So if we ever want to get a glimpse of what our heart is full of, all we have to do is to listen to the words that proceed from our mouth. Our speech always

READINGS In the gospel of this 7th Sunday in Ordinary Times (Luke 6:27-34), Jesus says, “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you”. What a radical injunction to give! How do you love someone who has hurt you, lied against them, negatively gossiped about you, hates you with passion and ignominy? That goes against every natural instinct in our body. At the time of Jesus, payback was the norm: “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” and that is no different from h

The first reading on this 6th Sunday in Ordinary Times, year C, (Jeremiah 7:5-8) presents us with a scenario that could easily prompt an essay requiring us to compare and contrast between a person whose trust is in human beings and their abilities and a person whose trust is in the Lord; between a brown lifeless shrub in the desert and a green fruitful tree planted by the bay; between a person who is cursed by God and a person who is blessed by God. Life always requires an an

READINGS In the Gospel of this 5th Sunday in Ordinary Times (Luke 5:1-11), Peter was awestruck when Christ turned from preaching to the people to asking him to cast his net into deep sea for a huge catch, for He knew that Peter and his colleagues had fished all night in futility. Peter knew that Jesus had healed the sick and driven out demons, but he was amazed that Jesus would care about his day-to-day routine and understand his needs as a fisherman. Yes, God is interested

READINGS The gospel of this 4th Sunday in Ordinary Times, tells the story about the rejection of Jesus by His own home people; a rejection that deprived the whole town of the wonderful works of God’s mercy and the power of Jesus to heal and to restore. The reason for this rejection was nothing else but prejudice and bias; He was “Guilty by Association”. While in town, He taught with insight and authority; presenting old truths in new lights, using stories from everyday life t

READINGS: 3RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the first reading of this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Nehemiah told the people, “Do not be saddened this day, for rejoicing in the LORD must be your strength!” because “This day is holy to our Lord” (Nehemiah 8:9-10). Yes, every day, every hour, every minute, every second of our lives is holy to our God and so we must rejoice in the Lord. Sad to say, many a time, we tend to disassociate joy and gladness from holiness; from religion

READINGS : 2ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME The first reading on this 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Times begins with this statement: “For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines forth like the dawn and her victory like a burning torch” (Isaiah 61:1). Here the prophet is saying that he will not give up and that nothing will stop him from achieving a determined result—the vindication of Jerusalem. This is what I call commit

READINGS: The promise of a Messiah was based on the premise that a virgin will bear a son and his name shall be called Immanuel. Having made this promise, God also had to find a way to help us identify the Messiah when He came, because anyone could rise up and make the claim the he is the Messiah. So, among other things, the Baptism of the Lord served to identity Jesus as the Messiah, the Lamb of God, the one who will take away the sins of the world; it was the Epiphany of th

READINGS As we celebrate the Epiphany of our Lord, one question keeps coming to my mind: “Why did the Magi, these rich and non-Jewish merchants, leave Persia to travel hundreds of miles to Bethlehem in search of a new born king? They apparently had more than enough to live on and so why make this travel? Many a time, in life, we may have enough to live on but not enough to live for. Probably the Magi were in search of someone that could give meaning to their lives. In the Old

READINGS THE HOLY FAMILY , JESUS, MARY & JOSEPH Today is the Solemnity of the Holy Family, the first Sunday of the New Year. The 1st reading, taken from the book of Sirach, and the 2nd reading, taken from St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, come together to paint a picture of how a Christ-centered family should function, by outlining how each member of the family ought to behave in their various roles. In Colossians 3:18-21, St. Paul writes, “Wives, submit yourselves to your

READINGS FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT The 1st reading on this 4th Sunday of Advent begins with this statement: “You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2). Bethlehem, an unknown town, a town too small to be counted among the towns of Judah, a town not to border with, is the town to produce a king. Remember when God sent Samuel to go and anoint one of the sons of Jesse, all his b

READINGS THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT Nigerian names, and especially Ibo names, generally have a meaning; meanings that tell a story, describe a situation, make a statement, state an intention, or even declare a wish. The name of my friend is “Akujobi” (the one who has taken the anger away). He was named “Akujobi” because his parents experienced great opposition to their marriage from both of their families. They were, by all intents and purposes, forbidden to marry. But, because