​A father’s role in the life of a child is a unique and irreplaceable calling, one designed by God to provide strength, guidance, and a model of faithful leadership. While a mother’s nurture is foundational, a father’s presence offers a different kind of security—a steady anchor in the storms of life. Fathers are often the ones who encourage adventure, who teach resilience through skinned knees and lessons learned, and whose approval builds a deep sense of confidence and identity in a
child’s heart. Their strength is not just physical but emotional and spiritual, creating a safe space for their children to grow and flourish.
 
The spiritual leadership of a father is profoundly impactful. When a father leads his family in prayer, opens the Word with them, and demonstrates a life of integrity and dependence on God, he provides a powerful example for his children to follow. He becomes a living reflection of our Heavenly Father's character—a provider, a protector, and a source of wisdom. This consistent, daily walk of faith does more to shape a child’s spiritual compass than any sermon ever could. It shows that God
is not just for Sundays, but for every moment of life.
 
The responsibility of fatherhood is a high calling, and it is a ministry that builds a legacy for generations to come. Today, let us honor the fathers who are striving to lead their families with
love and godliness. Let us pray for them, encourage them, and recognize the vital role they play. 
 
         ~  Dr. Joe Pettigrew, pastor and Christian author
 

​Food For The Poor began in 1982 in Jamaica. Today, our interdenominational Christian ministry serves the poor in primarily 15 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Thanks to our faithful donors, we are able to provide food, housing, healthcare, education, fresh water, emergency relief, micro-enterprise solutions and much more. We are proud to have fed millions of people and provided more than 15.7 billion dollars in aid.

HUNGER AND POVERTY RELIEF IS OUR PURPOSE
Our purpose is to bring urgent relief to vulnerable families affected by poverty. We designed our assistance programs to empower our beneficiaries to become self-sufficient and ultimately inspire them to build strong communities so their members can help  each other. We constantly seek simple, efficient strategies to fight hunger and poverty without adversely impacting our aid recipients or their country. Our short-term focus is to demonstrate that poverty is not inevitable and that people can break out of poverty with the proper assistance. We partner with subject matter experts, local and international NGOs, universities and colleges, churches, and service organizations to achieve our goal.

HUNGER RELIEF
Our food distribution programs provide food to those who cannot afford it or lack access to nutritious meals regardless of their religion or background. Our hunger relief efforts require the implementation of complex food distribution logistics that involve warehousing, transportation to remote areas, establishing distribution centers, community gardens, and agricultural development projects aimed at increasing local food production.

POVERTY RELIEF
We expanded our hunger relief programs to include poverty interventions to have a lasting impact on the families we help. These programs aim to address the root causes of poverty and improve the overall well-being of impoverished individuals and communities. The initiatives include job training programs, microfinance initiatives, access to education and healthcare, and infrastructure development.

Our faith inspires us to be an organization built on compassion, and motivated by love. Our mission is to bring relief to the poorest of the poor in the countries where we serve.

We strive to reflect God’s unconditional love. It’s a sacrificial love that embraces all people regardless of race or religion. We believe that we can show His love by serving the “least of these” on this earth as Christ challenged us
to do in Matthew 25. We pray that by God’s grace, and with your support, we can continue to bring relief to the suffering and hope to the hopeless.

 An Apologetical Explanation of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist
 
How is Christ truly present in the Eucharist?
 
Jesus said to (the Jews), “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh
of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have not life in you; he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.” (Jn 6: 53-55)
 
The Church teaches that Jesus Christ is truly, really, and substantially
present-in his Body, Blood, Soul, and Divinity-in the Eucharist. The bread
and wine consecrated by the bishop or priest in the Liturgy of the Eucharist become the Body and Blood of Christ.
 
The Church has always recognized Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist. Christ’s words in, instituting this Sacrament at the Last Supper were unequivocal: “ This is my body…. This is my blood” (Lk 22: 19-20). In the Eucharist, “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained” (Council of Trent (1551): DS 1651). St. Paul condemns the unworthy reception of the Eucharist as a profanation of the very Body and Blood of Christ (cf. 1 Cor 11: 27-29). Already in the fourth century, St. Cyril of Jerusalem  exhorted, “Do not see in the bread and wine merely natural elements, because the Lord has expressly said that they are his Body and his Blood: faith assures you of this, though your senses suggest otherwise.” (Cf. CCC 1373, 1375)
 
This change in the Eucharistic species, in which the substance of the bread and wine becomes the Body and Blood
of Christ, is called transubstantiation. It occurs at the consecration during the Mass, when the bishop or priest pronounces the words of consecration over the bread and wine as Christ commanded (Cf. CCC 1376-1377, 1411-1413)
 
In the Eucharist Christ remains truly and totally present under the appearances of bread and wine. He offers his Body and Blood to us in Holy Communion to be nourished by his divine life. The Eucharist is, therefore, not merely a symbol of Christ’s presence but also the active presence of Christ himself, who gives himself to us unconditionally so our lives might be united to his intimately. The Eucharist is “the perfection of the spiritual life and the end to which all the sacraments tend” (Sth III, 73, 3c). (Cf. CCC 1323-1325) (from The Didache Bible, Ignatius Bible Edition, p. 1373)
 
Dear friends, after the Holy Communion, when we place the Eucharist in a monstrance and conduct Eucharistic procession through Elizabethtown to the historic church of St. Peter, we demonstrate our faith in the Real Presence
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. Our worship and adoration of the Eucharist in procession is
a witness to our faith.  
 
“When, therefore, the Church bids us adore Christ hidden behind the Eucharistic veils and pray to Him for the
spiritual and temporal favors of which we ever stand in need, she manifests living faith in her divine Spouse who is present beneath these veils” (Pope Pius XII, Mediator Dei, 131).
 
In your prayers, please pray for my vacation trip to Nigeria tonight. Remember my mother, Veronica, in your prayers as she turns eighty on June 12. Pray that the celebration turns out well and is memorable.
 
In Eucharistic Faith,
Fr. Alayode, OP