Dear Friends in Christ,

The Lord and Lover of Souls Leaves No One Behind

Our God is a generous lover. His merciful love extends to all he has created, including Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, the epitome of the most despicable enemy of God’s chosen people, an ally with their Roman oppressor. Yet, God loves Zacchaeus even more, so much that he seeks him out and invites himself to his house: “Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house” (LK 19: 5).

God is intensely interested in our salvation despite our inclinations to recede from his inviting reach. As Ezekiel says, the Sovereign Lord takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked but wants them to turn away from their sin and live (33:11).  Zacchaeus seeks to see who Jesus is, perhaps out of curiosity but probably more out of genuine hunger for what is lacking in his life-the Divine love. But the mission of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world is to reach out to save that which is lost. Zacchaeus combats with the hostile crowd, but he overcomes them by resolutely responding to the urges of grace and Jesus rewards his response to grace by bringing salvation to his house (Lk 19:9). Zacchaeus acts right and in response to grace, he makes restitution and gives half of his wealth to the poor.
Jesus’s extravagant merciful love as seen in his salvation of sinful Zacchaeus fills us with hope of redemption. If Zacchaeus can gain redemption, so can we. As St. Ambrose writes of our Lord and Lover of souls, “He chooses a chief tax collector: who can despair when such a man obtains grace?” God is a lover of souls (Wisdom 11:26) and good to all his creatures (Psalm 145:9), he will leave no one behind because he loves all and wants all saved.
We don’t have to climb a sycamore tree to see Jesus and benefit from his generous love, he makes himself readily available to us in His Eucharistic presence in the tabernacle and in the confines of the confessional. Will you seek him out in those sacred places today, getting ahead of crowd of obstructions-pride, procrastination, fear, lack of faith, and so forth, and just abandon yourself to his healing grace? Don’t hold back from the one who overlooks our sin that we may repent; his love leaves no one behind.
 In Christ’s Mercy,
Fr. Bernard Oniwe, OP
P.S.  November is a month specifically dedicated to the Holy Souls in Purgatory, don’t forget to offer prayers for family members and loved ones who have slept in the Lord.
 
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Dear Friends in Christ,

Remember the Dead, Offer Masses for the Souls in Purgatory                                        

As we bring Respect Life month to a close let us not rest on our oars in building a culture of life. Our parish was actively engaged through prayers and public acts in propagating our Christian belief in the sacredness of life from conception to natural death. Once again, I am thankful for the pro-life group and the Knights who carried out public awareness acts and prayerful acts respectively. The faith we express in praying for Respect for human life we must now extend into the month of November as we pray for the Holy Souls in Purgatory and celebrate All Saints. Do not forget to offer masses and other forms of prayers for family members and friends who still need purification to behold God face to face. Being a Holy Day of Obligation, All Saints masses shall be offered on All-Hallows –Eve and on the actual day in our parish, please endeavor to offer prayers for your departed loved ones during this intense period of grace.
One is not oblivious to the cultural celebration of Halloween that is sometimes clouded in the spirit of unchristian supernatural characters ranging from witches to vampires, hence the need to make sure we do only what is edifying to God even as we have fun playing different characters in our choices of costumes. Halloween, in its original and proper form, is a Catholic celebration and where and when it is being hijacked by something unwholesome it is our task to reclaim its Catholic spirit for the Catholic family. There are many supernatural characters we can invoke as we pray for the dead during All Saints celebration; let parents educate their children about the amazing characters in our spiritual treasure trove. Let parents pray with their children as they go out to have fun during trick-or-treat night, help them to do all things in the spirit of Christ.
Let our prayers for the dead in the month of November reflect the prayer of the church as found in Eucharistic Prayer II: “Remember also our brothers and sisters who have fallen asleep in the hope of resurrection, and all who have died in your mercy; welcome them to the light of your face.” Let us remember the souls of all the faithful departed at masses and visit the cemetery to pray for them.
Do you know you can gain a plenary indulgence under the usual condition when you visit the cemetery to pray for the dead during the month of November?

In Christ’s Hope,

 Fr. Bernard Oniwe, OP

Dear Friends in Christ,

Like a Praying Mantis: Reflection from Hunt Valley

During one of my meditations on Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at Hunt Valley a couple of days ago, I heard the Lord say to me in the interior of my mind: “I desire a praying parish.” Part of our mission as a parish is sharing “the good news of Jesus Christ through prayer….” Are we living out our mission to the best of our ability? We need to be intentional and faithful to our communal and individual prayers if we are to be effective in bearing witness to the Gospel. To keep our praying hands steady in the manner Moses’ raised hands remained steady in prayers till sunset in the battle against the Amalek (Exodus 17: 8-13), it must be anchored firm in faith.  Praying persistently is only possible when faith is the foundation, a faith with no room for doubt (James 1:6). Jesus instructs us “to pray always without becoming weary” (Lk 18:1). It is necessary that we pray without ceasing. It is only when we pray with faith that we can sustain a life of consistent prayer, a consistency rooted in stillness before the Lord. Jesus is always with us in his real presence in the tabernacles of our churches. We are called to cultivate the habit of the praying mantis, in stillness and silence in the sacred places of our parish church and the domestic church as well-the family at home. The parish prays in the church as Eucharistic people and extends the prayer to the domestic church, the family at home and wherever they find themselves. We take Jesus with us everywhere we go. In practical ways, we sustain our praying mantis mode by a realization that prayer is a part of our daily life, not a compartmentalized practice carried out only at Sunday Mass. Consequently, we have to make a commitment to pray at fixed times and at a designated place in our homes, and our prayer must be inspired by the Holy Spirit who teaches us to pray, for we do not know how to pray (Rom 8: 26-27) . I desire that we become more and more a praying parish where adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is central and devotion to the Holy Rosary of the BVM is a norm. Thanks to those who make our monthly parish Adoration hour possible by attending and those who pray the rosary for life after the 8:30 am mass during Respect Life month in October. I desire with Jesus that we don’t get weary of praying.  Can you commit extra time to joining the parish at prayer beyond the Sunday mass you attend? As parents, have you considered starting a daily family morning or/and night prayer?
Yours in prayer,
Fr. Bernard Oniwe, OP

Dear Friends in Christ,
 
One Leper A-Leaping !
 
Giving thanks is an integral part of our Catholic faith. Eucharistein, a Greek word from which Eucharist is derived means "to give thanks." To give thanks is an indication of faith in Jesus. Persistent attitude of gratitude is tantamount to keeping faith in Gracious God. Naaman shows gratitude to Elisha on being cured of his leprosy by bringing him gifts (2 Kg 5). One leper out of ten healed by Jesus returned to express gratitude. Only one returned to give thanks in a loud voice glorifying God and falling on his face at the feet of Jesus. Of the ten, only one leper leapt for joy in thanksgiving. "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? "(Lk 17:17). Because of his show of gratitude Jesus rewarded him with a gift greater than the cure of his leprosy; he received from Jesus greater gift of faith and personal recognition. 
 
Why is it that we sometimes don't give thanks to God for numerous blessings we receive from him? We sometimes even skip giving him thanks for gift of our food! We often fail to recognize the importance of thanksgiving in our faith expression. Such ingratitude is not acceptable and diminishes our sense of faith in God. St. Paul reminds us today to give thanks in all circumstances (1 Thess 5:18); we don't have to wait till Thanksgiving to give thanks. In all circumstances-good and bad- we should give thanks.
 
My Yoruba people have a saying: Bi omode ba dupe oore ana, a tun ri omiran gba (A child grateful for gifts received will receive another). Like the one leper a-leaping and unlike the nine who are ungrateful, I want to say thank you to all of you gracious parishioners who give to the church their time, talent and gift. Many of you are fulfilling your monetary pledges, many of you have been very supportive of the changes made to Sunday masses, many have made sacrifices to keep church religious events alive from those catechizing our children, those who volunteer in the parish office to those praying the rosary between masses on Sundays. In a special way, I want to thank those who made themselves available to be voted for membership of our Parish Pastoral Council. In a couple of weeks, we shall get to decide on our choices for membership of PPC. Thank y'all!
 
With gratitude,
 
Fr. Bernard Oniwe, OP
 

Dear Friends,  
 
Go to your Guardian Angel and the Blessed Virgin Mary
 
“Angel of God, my guardian dear. To whom his love God commits me here; Ever this day be at my side. To light and guard, to rule and guide. Amen”
 
October 2 is the feast of the Guardian Angels. Every Human Being has a Guardian Angel. Br. Emmanuel, my religious education teacher for Holy Communion class made us memorize the traditional prayer to the Guardian Angel, and I have always prayed to my Guardian Angel since then. Like the saints and martyrs of Christ, we can love and seek the help of angels. This is a noble act based on orthodox Catholic teaching of angels.
 
It is an established Catholic teaching that every human being, from the moment of conception, has a guardian angel. It is reasonable to believe that our guardian angels minister to us till the moment of our death. Our guardian angels are constant companions in every season of our lives. It is a reliable Catholic doctrine that God appoints only one guardian angel for each human being. This angel remains a protective spirit of that person until bodily death. Angels are intelligent and pure spirit. They were created out of nothing by God, before creation of human beings. They were all created good but some, out of disobedience against God became demons. With the exception of the Sadducees, all believers in God in the Old and New Testaments professed belief in angels. Catholics believe in the protective ministry of the angels and are encouraged to go to their guardian angels and indeed talk directly to them. God does not leave us unprotected, he sends his angels to watch over us as King David affirms: “For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways (Psalm 91:11). I want to seize the moment to say Thank You to St. Michael's Guard for their angelic ministry at our parish Eucharistic celebrations.
 
October is also the month of devotion to the Holy Rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As we celebrate Christ our Hope in this month of Respect Life, we have no better person to fly to than Mary, mother of life. Mary is our sure source of hope in this time when our faith is placed on trial in the court of secularism. Our Mother Mary with our guardian angels will accompany us throughout life as beacons of hope. The rosary is the weapon of choice as we continue to wage war against culture of death. Please go often to Mary, pray her rosary daily to help enthrone and sustain culture of life in the world. 
 
“Go to the Madonna. Love her! Always say the Rosary. Say it well. Say it often as you can!  Be souls of prayer. Never tire of praying, it is what is essential. Prayer shakes the Heart of God, it obtains necessary graces!”-St. Pio of Pietrelcina.
 
Can you commit to a daily recitation of the Rosary during the month of October? Go to Mary!
 
In Jesus and Mary,
 
Fr. Bernard Oniwe, OP