O God Almighty
Who suffered death
upon the Cross particularly
for my sins be with me.
Holy Cross of Jesus
have pity on me.
Holy Cross of Jesus
be my protector.
Holy Cross of Jesus
take away all bitter pains.
Holy Cross of Jesus
take away all evils.
Holy Cross of Jesus
let me walk in the way of salvation.
Preserve me from any temporal accidents.
take away any danger of sudden death.
I always adore
the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ.
Jesus of Nazareth crucified
have pity on me.
Make the spirit of evil
leave me for all times
O Mother of Perpetual Succour
I come before thy sacred picture
and with a childlike conscience
invoke thine aid
Show thyself a Mother to me now.
Have pity on me.
O dearest Mother of Perpetual Succour
for the love thou bearest to Jesus
and in honor of His Sacred wounds
help me in this necessity.
(mention your request hear).
O Loving Mother,
I leave it all to thee,
in the name of the Father,
I leave it all to thee,
in the name of the Son,
I leave it all to thee,
in the name of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Say this 3 times:
Our Lady of Perpetual Succour,
Pray for us.
Thank You Holy Cross of Jesus.
Thank you Lord Jesus.
Thank you Our Lady of Perpetual Succour.
Thank you Mother of Perpetual Succour.
** Say this powerful once for 3 consecutive day for requests and most urgent help.
*January 3: Monday after Epiphany:* He went about doing good
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Jn3:22-4:6
Resp. Psalm: Ps37-8,10-11
Gosp. Accl.: 1Tim3,16
Gospel: Mt12,12-17,23-25
*Keep God's commandments*
The word today gives us the recipe for meeting the favour of God. To ask and receive, we must keep the commandments of God and live as He wants. We must believe in Christ and love one another. We must then live by His Spirit. Are we law abiding children of God?
*Test every spirit*
There are deceivers all over the world today. They are the AntiChrists, because they failed to acknowledge the humanity of the Son of God. These are false prophets and charlatans. They are of the world, speak the language of the world, act according to the dictates of the world. On the contrary, those who are children of God listen to the teaching of the leaders God had put in charge of. Do we willfully allow ourselves to be deceived by false prophets and charlatans?
*He preached the good news*
Our gospel passage narrates the preaching, teaching and healing powers of our Lord Jesus after He had settled in Capernaum. The good news was proclaimed. Hearts were turned back from the pit of destruction back to the living and true God. Our Lord went about doing good. Those who had sick and suffering people brought them to Him for healing. Do we make the good news of Christ known and loved? Do we call the people to repentance?
*Let us pray*
"O God, whose eternal Word adorns the face of the heavens yet accepted from the Virgin Mary the frailty of our flesh, grant, we pray, that he who appeared among us as the splendour of truth may go forth in the fullness of power for the redemption of the world." Amen
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*
*Tuesday after the Epiphany of the Lord:* To love is to know God
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Jn4,7-10
Resp. Psalm: Ps72,1-4,7-8
Gosp. Accl.: Lk4,18
Gospel: Mk6,34-44
*To love is to know God*
Love is a positive, active principle. It brings out the best of our humanity. It edifies, ennobles, transforms, gives energy, makes people carry out incredible deeds. Love is this way because it is of God, proceeds from God, is enriched by God. This is why the word of God today teaches us to love one another. The standard for our love is God, not our human standards. To love is to be born of God and to know God. The greatest act of love was performed by God when He sent His Son that He might be expiation for our sins and that we might live through Him. Do we love? What is our standard of love? Is our love inclusive? Does our love move us to carry out great acts of kindness for others?
*His compassion and love is eternal*
The greatest revelation of God's love, the Lord Jesus Christ, also lived the greatest example of love for us to see. In today's gospel passage, He had compassion on the crowd that was following Him, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. He taught them to build them up spiritually and in things of God. He also recognized that they had physical needs, because they had been with Him all day and had not had food. From the five loaves and two fish that was generously given by the owner, our Lord multiplied this and gave enough food to five thousand men, not counting women and children, and after they had eaten to their satisfaction, they gathered up twelve baskets full of broken pieces of bread and fish. This miracle was a great display of compassion and love. Do we look out to help others in their need? Did we share with others during these past festivities? Are we sensitive enough to see the pains and struggles of others?
*Let us pray*
"O God, whose Only Begotten Son has appeared in our very flesh, grant, we pray, that we may be inwardly transformed through him whom we recognize as outwardly like ourselves." Amen.
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*
*Wednesday after the Epiphany of the Lord:* Love is of God; God is love
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Jn4,11-18
Resp. Psalm: Ps72,1-2,10-13
Gosp. Accl.: 1Tim3,16
Gospel: Mk6,45-52
*Let us love*
Our world is beset with talks on love but many times lack the true demostration of love. The word of God today teaches us that love must be based on God or on the pattern that God gave us. To love in this way is to have God abiding in us and have His love perfected in us. The love of God for us is so great that He demonstrated it by sending His Son and giving His Spirit to us. What model of love do we follow, that of God, or the commercialized love that the world sells to us?
*We love through confession*
Jesus is the greatest revelation of God's love and of His love for us. He was sent into the world to show us the path of true love. In Him, we have the demonstration and revelation that God is love. When we abide in love, God abides in us and we abide in Him. When we love in the way the Lord has shown us, then God's love is perfected in us, we have no fear of judgment and punishment. Do we love according to the pattern of love that our Lord gave us?
*The example of love*
The Lord Jesus is the greatest revelation of love and of the love of God for us. He did not only profess love; He lived love. In today's gospel passage, He showed e depth of His love and care for His disciples. Even while praying on the mountain, He did not forget them. While they were rowing on the sea and were im distress, He did not forget them. He walked on the sea towards them out of love. When they thought they were seeing a ghost, He called out to them to have not fear because He was the One. Out of love for them, He stopped the raging wind and calmed the sea. Do we understand the depth of Christ's love for us? Do we speak confidently about it to others?
*Let us pray*
"O God, who bestow light on all the nations, grant your peoples the gladness of lasting peace and pour into our hearts that brilliant light by which you purified the minds of our fathers in faith." Amen
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*
*Thursday after the Epiphany of the Lord:* Jesus, the model of true love
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Jn4:19-5:4
Resp. Psalm: Ps72,1-2,14-15,17
Gosp. Accl.: Lk4,18
Gospel: Lk4,14-22
*We love God, because He loved us first*
The movement to love does not begin from us. It begins from God. Our love is therefore our imperfect, human response to the love of God. To love is therefore to be like God and to imitate Him. To hate is to negate the nature of God that is in each of us. To fail to love the brother we can see demonstrates our incapacity to love God, who we cannot see. The love of God and neighbour, therefore, have to go hand in hand. The proof that we understand the love of God is by keeping His laws or commandments and helping others do the same. Do we come to God out of love? Do we realize that our love must be rooted in, nourished and developed by God, otherwise it is self serving?
*He was motivated by love*
In His entire earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus was motivated by love and acted always out of love. In today'sgospel passage, the scripture from Isaiah described His entire mission of love: He was anointed by the Spirit of the Lord, for others. His anointing was to preach the good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, liberty to the oppressed, proclaim the Lord's acceptable year. He was sent so that humanity might have life and be able to enter into a new relationship with God. He spent His life on this mission of love. What motivates and drives us? What have we learnt from the Lord on what love truly is? How have we patterned our understanding of love on His own selfless example?
*Let us pray*
"O God, who through your Son raised up your eternal light for all nations, grant that your people may come to acknowledge the full splendour of their Redeemer, that, bathed ever more in his radiance, they may reach everlasting glory." Amen.
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*
*Saturday after the Epiphany of the Lord:* "He must increase, but I must decrease"
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Jn5,14-21
Resp. Psalm: Ps149,1-6,9
Gosp. Accl.: Mt4,16
Gospel: Jn3,22-30
*The Lord hears us*
We serve a living and true God. We serve a God who knows our needs and responds to them. The word of God today teaches us that for our prayers to be answered, we must pray according to the will of God. If we do that, God hears the requests we make of Him. Many times we lose interest in prayer because we do not receive answers to our requests. Do we pray according to the will of God? Do we ask for things that will not bring us harm and harm to others?
*Pray for sinners*
The word of God today also makes us understand that as believers, we are a family and should see ourselves so. That is why the spiritual health or otherwise of any should be the concern of all. The word today admonishes us to pray for sinners whose sin are not deadly, that is, whose sins have not consigned them to death. Those in this category are recalcitrant grave sinners who never believe they are in sin and would listen to no admonition to turn back from their sins. Anyone who is born of God does not sin and tries very hard to avoid and overcome sin. Do we try to overcome sin? Do we keep ourselves from situations, persons and occasions that can lead us to sin? Do we realize that there are sins that are deadly because of their nature and gravity of offence?
*He must increase; I must decrease*
The humility of John the Baptist and his sense of mission and the understanding of the limits of his roles, are outstanding. At the height of his popularity, he exited the stage and made others realize that his time and mission had come to an end. The purifications carried out by our Lord were reported to John by his disciples. They reported that our Lord was baptizing and all were going to Him. John answered them that this power was given to our Lord from heaven and that he had already declared that he was not the Christ but the one sent before Him. He was the friend of the bridegroom who stood to hear the voice of the bridegroom when he came. Do we recognize the limits of our mission and the fact that others are also called to the same mission and we have to collaborate with them?
*Let us pray*
"Almighty ever-living God, who through your Only Begotten Son have made us a new creation for yourself, grant, we pray, that by your grace we may be found in the likeness of him, in whom our nature is united to you." Amen.
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*
*Tuesday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time:* "He taught as one who had authority"
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Sam1 9-20
Resp. Psalm: 1Sam2,1,4-8
Gosp. Accl.: 1Thess2,13
Gospel: Mk1,21-28
*The prayer of a distressed heart*
The prayer of Hannah at the sanctuary in Shiloh, where Eli the priest was the servant who stood before the Lord, was the prayer of a desperate and distressed woman. She prayed with her whole being. She wept from the depths of her heart. She asked the Lord for the favour that had eluded her up till that moment. She asked the Lord for a child and promised God that if her prayer was answered, she would totally dedicate this child to God all the days of his life. Who do we go to in our time of distress and anguish? Do we continually apply our failed human solutions?
*Yahweh encountered Hannah*
The prayer from a distressed, agonizing and beleaguered heart that trust in God and put total, unflinching faith in Him, can never go unanswered. Yahweh sent Eli to this distressed woman. Eli at first thought she was a drunk. Hannah told him it was the anxiety and vexation of her life that turned her to what she was. Eli consequently gave the word of authority and prophecy from Yahweh: "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have made to him." The word was spoken with Yahweh's authority in His holy sanctuary. The word became fulfilled. Hannah conceived and bore a son and named him Samuel. Do we know that with God, there is no intractable problem?
*He taught with authority*
Eli spoke with the authority of Yahweh. Our Lord Jesus spoke as God. This is why there has never been and will never be a teacher like the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not teach human ideas, thoughts and formulations. He did not depend on any human authority or school of thought or master. At the time of His earthly ministry, each aspiring disciple would be apprentice to a known master. Our Lord lived the thirty years of His life preceding His public ministry, in total, shadowed obscurity. Those who heard Him today knew they had never heard any human person teach like that. They knew He was not under any known human master. He taught with His own authority. Do we understand how fortunate we are to be called to be Jesus' disciples? Do we realize that no greater person born of a woman can ever give us the wisdom that the Lord Jesus gives us?
*He acted with authority*
Sometimes, it is easy to talk. It is, however, hard to back up our talk with demostrable examples that show the divine source of what we are doing. Our Lord backed up His authoritative teaching with authoritative healings and miracles. He did so in today's gospel passage, in the synagogue in Capernaum, on the sabbath. He demonstrated to the people that even demons were little minions that He could deal with without any sweat. With just a word of command, He rebuked and sent the unclean spirit out of the man. The unclean spirit obeyed this higher order and came out of the man. Do we understand, even faintly, the immensity of the power of Jesus? Do we tap into those immense powers, especially in difficult moments? Do we ask Jesus to expel satan from our lives and teach us how to overcome satan and the evil angels and spirits aligned with him?
*Let us pray*
O God our Father, our lives are in your hands. You gave us your Son to save us and free us from all the oppressive powers of darkness. Give us grace to run to Him in moments when we are at a loss over what to do. May He reveal His power and come to our aid, so that our faith in Him may continually be strengthened. Amen.
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*
*Wednesday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time:* "He healed many who were sick with various diseases"
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Sam3,1-10,19-20
Resp. Psalm: Ps40,2,5,7-10
Gosp. Accl.: Jn10,27
Gospel: Mk1,29-39
*Samuel, the minister of God*
Hannah fulfilled the vow that she made to Yahweh. After weaning Samuel, she took him to the Sanctuary in Shiloh and gave him to God as his servant. Samuel became servant to Eli, the priest. The word of God today recounts this fact of Samuel's "apprenticeship" under Eli. By now, Eli was old and could not see. But today's word also mentions the fact that the word of the Lord was rare and there was no frequent vision. There was therefore a lessening of fervour. Eli's corrupt sons did not help matters. Do we fulfill the promises we make to God? Do we strive to lead our children in the way of the Lord, on the path of righteousness?
*God calls Samuel*
The reason for Samuel's gift to Hannah his mother and of Hannah's reciprocal gift of her son to Yahweh is brought out in today's word. The "gift" that was dedicated to Yahweh by her mother, was accepted by God and used by Him to further His glory among His people. Samuel, in today's word, was called by God where he was lying in the temple at Shiloh, close to the Ark of God. God called him three times, but because he had not yet recognized the voice of God, he ran to Eli, thinking that Eli called him. After the third call, Eli intuited that it was Yahweh calling the young man. He instructed him to respond, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears." God then gave Samuel the message. Do we recognize the voice of God if He calls us now? Do we enthusiastically embrace whatever responsibility God may be calling us to?
*He healed them all*
The gospel passage today shows our Lord, busy at the mission His Father gave to Him. The word recalls our Lord's visit to the synagogue and what He did after leaving the synagogue on the sabbath. He healed Simon's mother in law and healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast demons out of many who had gathered at the door. This, however, did not prevent Him from maintaining constant communication with His Father in prayer. He was not too busy to pray. He knew the people were looking for Him, but He had His priorities right. Do we have our scale of preference? Do we have our correct priorities?
*Let us pray*
O God our Father, we thank you for the gift of our lives. We present ourselves to you today. Take us and use us. Let your glory radiate within and through us. Help us to put you as the first priority of our lives. May we never be separated from you. Amen.
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*
*Thursday of the 1st Week in Ordinary Time:* "Of course I want to!" "Be cured!"
ReplyDelete*Scripture*
1st Reading: 1Sam4,1-11
Resp. Psalm: Ps44,10-11,14-15,24-25
Gosp. Accl.: Mt4,23
Gospel: Mk1,40-45
*They went to battle without Yahweh*
All through its chequered history up till the moment in today's word in the first reading, Yahweh was the one who led His chosen people in battle. He fought for them against the Egyptians. He fought on their side when they entered the promised land to take possession of it. It appears the people went to battle against the Philistines without this fundamental understanding. They probably thought they could go it alone, now that they were in the promised land. How wrong they were. Israel was roundly defeated by the Philistines and about four thousand of their army were killed on the field. Do we go out to battle, trusting in our man made arsenals? Do we trust in ourselves, forgetting that it is futile to do so?
*The ark could not help*
The ark was an assurance and sign of the presence of God among His people. The ark was not a magical thing that conjured God and subject Him to the whims and caprices of man. While it was true that Yahweh assured the chosen people of His presence and that His glory would dwell in the ark, that did not replace an authentic relationship that should exist between Yahweh and His people. The Israelites thought that the ark alone could save them from the Philistines. The corrupt sons of Eli thought so too. Even the Philistines were afraid when the heard the noise from the camp of the Israelites, but they picked up courage and engaged the Israelites and defeated them, such that over thirty thousand foot soldiers lost their lives in that battle. Nothing can replace a living and authentic relationship with God. The chosen people thought the ark was a magical loket that effected whatever they desired. Are we like that? Do we see God in an utilitarian sense, as provider, and not as our lover, who is worthy of our attention at all times?
*The value of true faith*
The Israelites who went to battle against the Philistines had no true faith. They were roundly disgraced. By contrast, the leper in today's gospel passage had true faith in the power of God. He knew our Lord could heal him if He wanted to or if He wished. Such was the living faith of this leper. Our Lord met him in that point of need and faith. He cured him of his leprosy. He then told him to go and carry out all that was precribed in the law of Moses for those who were cured of such contagious disease. The leper could not contain his joy. He made his healing known to whoever cared to know. What is the value of our faith? How much do we believe in the power of God to heal and transform us?
*Let us pray*
O God our Father, we thank you for the power of your word. We thank you for the gift of faith. We ask you to increase our faith. Give us your grace to understand that our relationship with you is what is important. Assist us to respond in faith to your love and care. Amen.
May the Living Word of God find a true dwelling place within our hearts and souls today and always. *Rev. Fr. Anthony Igbekele*