PENTECOST - 2021, MAY 23
THE LORD HAS GIVEN US A NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT
Dear brothers and sisters,
WARM GREETINGS AND UPDATE
How are you today? I pray that you are well, blessed and highly favored!
I am back from my visit to my Motherland. The primary purpose of that visit was to see my mother who had been weighed down by illness and also to visit with my home Bishops.
My mother is holding her own. She is still sick but ambling on. Thank you wholeheartedly for your prayers for her. Please do not relent.
Most Reverend Callistus V. Onaga my home Diocesan Bishop and his auxiliary Most Reverend Ernest Obodo sent you their greetings and episcopal blessings. The Bishops are in good health and good spirits. Thank God! They received me very well. They did not issue me an ultimatum to come home immediately. So, I still have a few years in the United States. Thank you for the many ways you make the light of Christ shine in our world. I deeply appreciate your love, kindness and generosity. May the Lord reward you for the ways you ministered to me while I was getting ready for the visit to the Motherland.
PENTECOST SUNDAY
“You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him” (Romans 8:15-17). Being so blessed, may we treat no one, born and unborn, as a second-class citizen and may we not allow ourselves to be treated as one. You belong, you are called and chosen. “You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit'' (Ephesians 2:19-22).
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Today, Christ Jesus, the crucified, risen and ascended Lord fulfilled the promise of sending the Holy Spirit from the Father. He sent us the Holy Spirit that we may be one with him, with one another and his witness to the ends of the earth.
With the Gift of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of David is restored. The scattered children of God are brought into unity of tongue, heart and worship. The division at the tower of Babel is removed. The Church is manifested as the Sacrament of Christ destined for the unity of the human family.
With the Pentecost, Christ has completed the Passover. He has redeemed us, sent us the Holy Spirit and given us new hearts and new spirit. Did you receive the Holy Spirit?
Where is the work of the Holy Spirit palpable? Where can we feel him and touch him? The Bride of Christ answers,
“The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:
- in the Scriptures he inspired.
- in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses.
- in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists.
- in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ.
- in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us.
- in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;
- in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;
- in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation” (CCC 688).
Do not forget, the Holy Spirit buoys you up. It is in him that we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Let us pray, “O blessed Light divine, Shine within these hearts of yours, And our inmost being fill! Where you are not, we have naught, Nothing good indeed or thought, Nothing free from taint of ill” (Sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus).
With Pentecost celebrated, we have entered the Ordinary Time.
TAKE HEART
Our three loved ones transitioned during the time I was in the Motherland. They are Mr. Leroy Willis, a dear son of Mama Edyce Lawrence, Mrs. Susie Purdie, dear mother of Rosemary and Mrs. Hildred Lomax, dear mother of Sylvia, Pam, Kevin, Matthew Lomax and mother-in-law of Sheila Lomax. Please do not forget to reach out to our bereaved ones in love and solidarity, above all pray for the eternal repose of the deceased. The funeral Mass/rites have been held for them. I was privileged to officiate at the holy Mass for Mama Hildred last Monday. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
CONCLUSION
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
THE LORD HAS GIVEN US A NEW HEART AND A NEW SPIRIT
Dear brothers and sisters,
WARM GREETINGS AND UPDATE
How are you today? I pray that you are well, blessed and highly favored!
I am back from my visit to my Motherland. The primary purpose of that visit was to see my mother who had been weighed down by illness and also to visit with my home Bishops.
My mother is holding her own. She is still sick but ambling on. Thank you wholeheartedly for your prayers for her. Please do not relent.
Most Reverend Callistus V. Onaga my home Diocesan Bishop and his auxiliary Most Reverend Ernest Obodo sent you their greetings and episcopal blessings. The Bishops are in good health and good spirits. Thank God! They received me very well. They did not issue me an ultimatum to come home immediately. So, I still have a few years in the United States. Thank you for the many ways you make the light of Christ shine in our world. I deeply appreciate your love, kindness and generosity. May the Lord reward you for the ways you ministered to me while I was getting ready for the visit to the Motherland.
PENTECOST SUNDAY
“You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through whom we cry, “Abba, Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may be glorified with him” (Romans 8:15-17). Being so blessed, may we treat no one, born and unborn, as a second-class citizen and may we not allow ourselves to be treated as one. You belong, you are called and chosen. “You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built into it for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit'' (Ephesians 2:19-22).
Today is Pentecost Sunday. Today, Christ Jesus, the crucified, risen and ascended Lord fulfilled the promise of sending the Holy Spirit from the Father. He sent us the Holy Spirit that we may be one with him, with one another and his witness to the ends of the earth.
With the Gift of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of David is restored. The scattered children of God are brought into unity of tongue, heart and worship. The division at the tower of Babel is removed. The Church is manifested as the Sacrament of Christ destined for the unity of the human family.
With the Pentecost, Christ has completed the Passover. He has redeemed us, sent us the Holy Spirit and given us new hearts and new spirit. Did you receive the Holy Spirit?
Where is the work of the Holy Spirit palpable? Where can we feel him and touch him? The Bride of Christ answers,
“The Church, a communion living in the faith of the apostles which she transmits, is the place where we know the Holy Spirit:
- in the Scriptures he inspired.
- in the Tradition, to which the Church Fathers are always timely witnesses.
- in the Church's Magisterium, which he assists.
- in the sacramental liturgy, through its words and symbols, in which the Holy Spirit puts us into communion with Christ.
- in prayer, wherein he intercedes for us.
- in the charisms and ministries by which the Church is built up;
- in the signs of apostolic and missionary life;
- in the witness of saints through whom he manifests his holiness and continues the work of salvation” (CCC 688).
Do not forget, the Holy Spirit buoys you up. It is in him that we live, move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Let us pray, “O blessed Light divine, Shine within these hearts of yours, And our inmost being fill! Where you are not, we have naught, Nothing good indeed or thought, Nothing free from taint of ill” (Sequence, Veni Sancte Spiritus).
With Pentecost celebrated, we have entered the Ordinary Time.
TAKE HEART
Our three loved ones transitioned during the time I was in the Motherland. They are Mr. Leroy Willis, a dear son of Mama Edyce Lawrence, Mrs. Susie Purdie, dear mother of Rosemary and Mrs. Hildred Lomax, dear mother of Sylvia, Pam, Kevin, Matthew Lomax and mother-in-law of Sheila Lomax. Please do not forget to reach out to our bereaved ones in love and solidarity, above all pray for the eternal repose of the deceased. The funeral Mass/rites have been held for them. I was privileged to officiate at the holy Mass for Mama Hildred last Monday. May their souls and the souls of all the faithful departed rest in peace.
CONCLUSION
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
