Msgr. Anselm Nwaorgu

READINGS: FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT Rudyard Kipling is a writer, and his books sold so much that words in his books were said to be worth a hundred dollars each. Once, a journalist gave him a hundred dollars with the request, “Mr. Kipling, could you please give me one of your one-hundred-dollar worth words.” “Sure”, Mr. Kipling replied, and putting the money in his pocket, said, “Thanks”. Yes, thanks—to be grateful and to appreciate blessings in life—is a genuine and gracious mill

READINGS EIGHTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the 1st reading of this 8th Sunday in Ordinary Times (Sirach 27:4-7) we are told that one’s speech discloses the bent of one’s mind and that one’s faults are revealed when one speaks. The gospel reading (Luke 6:39-45) concludes with this statement, “for out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.” My friends, what comes out of our mouth reveals a lot about who we are and what our innermost self is made of. Speech always betr

READINGS: SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the gospel of this 7th Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year C (Luke 6:27-34), Jesus says, “Love your enemies and do good to those who hate you. Bless those who curse you and pray for those who despise you”. Now, I can hear people saying, “Yah right! Why should I love, do good, bless, and pray for my enemy—someone who has hurt me, lied against me, slandered my name, and hates me with passion?” Yap, we are not wired to be like that. We are

READINGS: SIXTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Building life on stable foundations; pillars of trust that can hold us in place, just in case, is what most people desire. Such a pillar could be God, a person, or a thing. In the first reading on this 6th Sunday in Ordinary Times, year C, the prophet Jeremiah contrasts casting our hope and trust in human strength and effort and casting our hope and trust in the Lord. He writes, “Cursed is the one who trusts in human beings, who seeks h

READINGS: FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the Gospel of this 5th Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year C, (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. He was amazed that Jesus would care about his daily struggle and understand his needs as a fisherman. Christ knew that Peter and his colleagues had fished all night without catching anything and knew the disappointment they felt in the

READINGS: PRESENTATION OF THE LORD The gospel of this 4th Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year C, tells the story about the rejection of Jesus by His own people; a rejection that deprived the whole town from experiencing the healing powers of Jesus Christ. The reason for this rejection was simply because of prejudice and bias. While in town, He taught them with power, insight, and authority, using stories from everyday life to engage the heart and minds of His listeners. One would

READINGS: THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the first reading of this 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 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 separate joy and gladness from holiness, religion,

READINGS: SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME The first reading on this 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year C, 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 said that he will not give up and that nothing will stop him from achieving his determined goal—the vindication of Jerusalem. My friends, this is

READINGS: BAPTISM OF THE LORD On this first Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year C, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. With the birth of Christ, God had to find a way to help us identify Him as the Lamb of God, the Savior, because anyone could rise and claim that he is the Messiah. The baptism of the Lord served this purpose, and we can, actually, call it the Epiphany of the Lamb. In the gospel of John, John the Baptist said, “So that He might be manifested to Israel, I came bap

READINGS THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD On this first Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year C, we celebrate the Baptism of our Lord. With the birth of Christ, God had to find a way to help us identify Him as the Lamb of God, the Savior, because anyone could rise and claim that he is the Messiah. The baptism of the Lord served this purpose, and we can, actually, call it the Epiphany of the Lamb. In the gospel of John, John the Baptist said, “So that He might be manifested to Israel, I came

READINGS: THE HOLY FAMILY This first Sunday of the year is the celebration of the Holy Family, and both the first reading (Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14) and the second reading (Colossians 3:12-21) paint a picture of how families need to function. In Colossians 3:18-21, St. Paul writes, “Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord” It is important to note that submission, in this context, is a voluntary choice that the wife makes for the greater good of the fam

READINGS: FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT The first reading on this 4th Sunday of Advent, Year C, 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).” For the Israelites, Bethlehem was a town too small to be counted among the cities of Judah, but for God, it was the town that would produce a king. This recalls the story of when God sent Samuel to go and anoint o

READINGS: THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT In many traditional settings, names are powerful, and, many a time, have an embedded meaning; a meaning that tell a story, describes a situation, makes a statement, states an intention, or even declares a wish. One of my friends, his name is “Akujobi”, which means, “The reconciler, the one who softened the heart to peace. He was named “Akujobi” because his parents experienced great opposition to their marriage from both families. But being in

READINGS: SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT The readings of this Second Sunday of Advent, Year C, call us to something serious by these words “Do not ignore this one fact, the day of the Lord will come like a thief” (2 Peter 3:8-10). “Be constantly on the watch! Stay awake! You do not know when the appointed time will come.” Many a time, we see Advent as the commemoration of the birth of Christ, but, in its truest meaning, it is more so the preparation for the second coming of Christ—J

READINGS: FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT This past Thursday, we celebrated Thanksgiving Day. Amazingly, when President George Washington recommended and assigned Thursday the 26th of November, in 1789 as Thanksgiving Day, and when President Abraham Lincoln declared the final Thursday of November as a national Thanksgiving Day, in 1863, both presidents saw the act of thanksgiving as not just limited to giving thanks but also as a time to seek God’s forgiveness for our communal sins, a

READINGS: OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE As we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King, on this 34TH Sunday in Ordinary times, Year B, the gospel reading (John 18:33b37) tells of the encounter between Pilate and Jesus, as the Jews lined up accusations against Christ trying to find a way to get Him condemned and crucified. At one point, Pilate asked Jesus, "Are you the King of the Jews?" Jesus answered, "My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom d

READINGS: THIRTY THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME The first reading (Daniel 12:1- 3) and the Gospel reading (Mark 13:24-32) of this 33rd Sunday of Year B, sounds like doom and gloom, whereby the light of this world will become dark, natural disasters of unknown magnitudes will happen, major wars will erupt, the Anti-Christ will appear offering a godless utopia to deceive many. Then there will be persecution and martyrdom of those who do not cave in, and then, life as we know it

READINGS: THIRTY SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME Deep down inside, we all like to be in control and to take charge of our own destiny. Unfortunately, though, circumstances can leave us at the mercy of things we can’t control—sickness, accidents, natural disasters, pandemics, even death— creating anxiety, desperation, and even hopelessness. On this 32nd Sunday, the first reading (1 Kings 17:10-16) tells the story of a woman who was about to die through starvation; a three-year

READINGS: THIRTY FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the gospel reading of this 31st Sunday in ordinary times (Mark 12:28b-34), Christ, after listening to a Pharisee’s reasoning about what Scriptures says about the commandments, told him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of Heaven”. The problem though, is that not being far from the kingdom of heaven is not the same thing as being in it. What we need is to be inside the kingdom, not close to it. We can know all about God and ye

READINGS: THIRTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME The gospel of this 30th Sunday in Ordinary times, Year B (Mark 10:46-52) tells of the story of a blind man, named Bartimaeus, who, although was physically blind, could see what the crowd, who had eyes, could not see; that Jesus of Nazareth was truly the Messiah. It was this depth of insight that empowered him to act, with resolute conviction, by calling out to Jesus for help. Unfortunately, the crowd discouraged him, bullied him, an

READINGS: TWENTY- NINTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME In the second reading of this 29th Sunday in ordinary times, we read: “Brothers and sisters: Since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin (Heb 4:14-15). This is a powerful statement. My friends, Ch