Msgr. Anselm Nwaorgu

READINGS: 2th Sunday in Ordinary Times The Gospel of this 29th Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year A (Matthew 22:15-21) is about how the Pharisees and the Sadducees, in spite of their long-lasting hatred for each other, came together to entrap Jesus, by posing to him a question about whether Jews should pay taxes to Caesar or not; a question to which, if he answers yes, the Pharisees would condemn him for being a traitor to the Jewish Nation, and if he says No, the Sadducees would

READINGS: 26th Sunday in Ordinary Times On this 26th Sunday in Ordinary Times, Year A, the gospel reading (Matthew 21:28-32) tells the parable of a father and his two sons; a story about our relationship with God, our Father. In the parable, the father had asked his sons to help him out with work in his vineyard. The first son responded with an outright “No” but later changed his mind and did his father’s bidding. The second son responded with an outright “Yes” but failed to

READINGS: 25th Sunday in Ordinary Times The gospel reading for this 25th Sunday in ordinary times, Year A (Matthew 20:1-16), is about a landowner who went out to the marketplace, at different hours of the day, to hire laborers for his vineyard. Amazingly, when out around 5:00 p.m., an hour before the end of the workday, he saw some laborers still standing and waiting to be hired. Guess what? They were hired and they got a full day’s pay. It is amazing what a persistent and un

READINGS: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Times My dear friends, the readings of this 24th Sunday in ordinary times, year A, return to a critical issue that Christ often spoke about—Forgiveness. The First Reading (Sirach 27:30 – 28:1-5) says: “Anger and wrath are abominations, yet the sinner hugs them tight. The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance; for He will remember all their sins in detail. Forgive your neighbor the wrong done to you; then, when you pray, your own sins will b

READINGS: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Times My dear Parishioners, Life has continually taught the lesson that if you don’t climb a mountain, it is very difficult for you to view the plains. Yet climbing a mountain is never easy. It is usually full of challenges to deal with, obstacles to overcome, and stress to endure. The temptation is always to find the easy way out, and yet, time and time again, experience has shown that the easy way out is never a good way out, in the long ru

READINGS: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Times My dear Parishioners, A grandchild of a Presbyterian grandmother came back from Sunday school and said to her grandma that the teacher told them that Jesus was Jewish. Grandma looked at her grandchild and, with a smile on her face, said, "Well, that may be, but I assure you, God is still a Presbyterian”. On this Twenty-First Sunday of Year A, the gospel reading (Matthew 19:16-22) tells the story about Christ inquiring from His apostles

READINGS: 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time My dear Parishioners, On this 20th Sunday in ordinary times, year A, the gospel reading (Matthew 15:21-28) tells the story of Jesus’ encounter with a Canaanite woman whose daughter was possessed by a demon and had come to Jesus to seek healing for her baby. She approached Jesus and called out to Him, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me” and when her request went unacknowledged, she took it up a notch; she knelt down in worship before J

READINGS: The Transfiguration of the Lord The Gospel reading, on this 18th Sunday in ordinary times (Matthew 17:1-9), presents us with the story of the Transfiguration. Jesus had taken Peter, James, and John up a high mountain, “And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you

READINGS: 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time In the gospel of this 17th Sunday in ordinary time, year A (Matthew 13:44-54) Christ continues to use parables to teach about what the Kingdom of God would be like and God’s determination to exercise patients with us so that none would mistakenly be lost. As Scripture says, “The Lord is…patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9) and in Ezekiel 33:11, it says, “I have no pleasure in t

READINGS: 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time On this 16th Sunday in ordinary time, Year A, the Gospel (Matthew 13:24-43) tells of the Parable of the Weed. A farmer planted wheat in his farm only for the evil one to come at night and plant weeds in the same garden. When the servants sought permission to go and take out the weeds, the owner said: “let them grow together until harvest time”, so that you do not take out the wheat in the process of weeding out the weeds. Sometimes, we

READINGS: The Most Holy Trinity Today, we celebrate the Trinity; a doctrine and a mystery beyond human comprehension. How can there be Three Persons in One God? Trying to understand this with the human mind is like trying to empty an ocean into a human dug hole. Most important, in the doctrine of the Trinity, is not about understanding how God is, but how God, basing on Scriptures, relates and has shown Himself to us, for our sake, and how that revelation unfolded through the

READINGS: Pentecost Sunday On this Pentecost Sunday, the 1st reading (Acts 2:1-11) narrates the birth of the Church. We are told that the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles like the rush of a violent wind, with tongues as of fire dancing on their heads, and although the apostle, Peter, was speaking in Aramaic, people from all nations heard him in their own native language. What an experience in unity in diversity! When it comes to the gospel, we may be diverse in gender, colo

READINGS: The Ascension of the Lord Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which was traditionally celebrated 40 days after Easter (typically fell on a Thursday) and nine days before Pentecost. However, most dioceses in the United States now celebrate this Solemnity on to the following Sunday, and in the case of this year, 2023, the 7th Sunday of Easter. In today’s First Reading (Act 1:1-11), St. Luke tells us that the story of the earthl

READINGS: 6th Sunday of Easter On this sixth Sunday of Easter, year A, Jesus says, “He who obeys the commandment he has from me is the man who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father. I too will love him and reveal myself to him.” (John 14:20-21). A child once asked the mother, "Why do I have to obey and do everything you say? The mother responded: “Because I love you!” “Oh,” the little child exclaimed, “Okay, I will obey and listen to you because I love you

READINGS: 5th Sunday of Easter On this 5th Sunday of Easter, year A, Peter tells us in the second reading (1 Peter 2:4-9) that we “are living stones, approved by the Lord.” The question then is, whose approval do I seek in this life? Some are given into the temptation of seeking approval from themselves. The problem though is that self-approval is loaded with all kind of difficulties because it is ridden with the judgment of others. A majority of society is given to seeking a

READINGS: Divine Mercy Sunday One of the main actors in this Sunday’s gospel (John 20:19-31) is the apostle Thomas, the man we have come to know as Doubting Thomas, because he said, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe.” What is not frequently appreciated, though, is that Doubting Thomas is also Confessing Thomas, “My Lord and my God!” Confessing Thomas became the apostle who b

READINGS: Easter Sunday Today is Easter Sunday; the Sunday of all Sundays. The joy of this day is not just that Christ rose from the dead. Rather, it takes its full force from the fact that Christ was crucified and died. Without Good Friday, Easter Sunday will not be as powerful an event in history as it is. Such is life! Life comes with a combo of sorrow and joy like a bed of roses that is full of thorns and yet colorful and beautiful. Unfortunately, our need for comfort usu

READINGS: Palm Sunday Today is Palm Sunday; the day we celebrate our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem with the people singing “Hosanna to the Son of David.” Unfortunately, four days later, that chant changed to “Crucify Him, Crucify Him.” The Apostle James, in his letter (chapter 3:6-10), says that “the tongue exists among our members as a world of malice, a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” He continues, “From the same mouth, we bless God and [also] curse human be

READINGS: 5th Sunday of Lent The gospel of this fifth Sunday of Lent (John 11:1- 42) presents us with the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. This story can be our story, any day, any time! Lazarus was the brother to Martha and Mary, family friends of Jesus. Lazarus had fallen sick, and the family had done everything they could to save him, but all to no avail. So, they turned to Jesus because they knew that if only Jesus lays His hand upon him, he would be made wel

READINGS: 4th Sunday of Lent Last week we began our reflection on the story of the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, an encounter that revealed a Jesus who knows what human tiredness feels like and how difficult it is to keep going even when the flesh is weak; a Jesus who understands the value of breaking barriers; a Jesus who knows how to empathize with our struggles and tribulations. Continuing with the story, we learn that the woman came to the well around

READINGS: 2nd Sunday of Lent When I was growing up, the phrase “your word is your bond” was enshrined as a mark of integrity, nobility, and trustworthiness. Unfortunately, our world is increasingly becoming a culture where “alternate truth” is trending, and doubling down on lies is en vogue. Trust has become a rare commodity as promises are broken with equanimity, people lie over blatant truths, warranties are not honored, and political correctness seems to drive our “yeses”