The Church in her wisdom has given us a way of sharing in this wonderful season through prayer, fasting, repentance, renewal, alms-giving as well as special days of remembrance. She gives us Holy week which starts on Palm Sunday in remembrance of our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem followed by Holy Thursday to reflect on our Lord’s Last Supper and institution of the Holy Eucharist as well as his agony in the garden and betrayal of Judas (Matthew 26). Then we participate in Good Friday in remembrance of our Lord’s crucifixion and death on the cross for our sins (Matthew 27). Followed by Holy Saturday, a day to remember and reflect upon our Lord’s death. Later on tat Saturday evening at the Easter vigil Mass after sundown we celebrate Jesus’ victory over death by his resurrection and welcome the newly instructed into full communion with Jesus’ Church and the body of Christ. The new faithful are baptized and confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) during this special and most Holy Mass on Saturday night. We continue to celebrate our Lord’s victory over death on Easter Sunday (Matthew 28). What a beautiful way to remember our Lord Jesus and enter into the mystery of his Passion, Death and Resurrection.
In preparation of these events the Church—by her authority of the keys given to Peter (the first Pope and Vicar of Christ) to permit or forbid and lead Jesus’ one Church (Matthew 16:18-19) -- obligates us to practice Abstinence and Fasting. Abstinence from meat is to be observed by all Catholic Christians age 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and on all the Fridays of Lent. Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholic Christians who are 18 years of age but not yet 59. Fasting according to the law of the Church is having one full meal a day, it does not necessarily have to be in the morning.

The Church in her wisdom has given us a way of sharing in this wonderful season through prayer, fasting, repentance, renewal, alms-giving as well as special days of remembrance. She gives us Holy week which starts on Palm Sunday in remembrance of our Lord’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem followed by Holy Thursday to reflect on our Lord’s Last Supper and institution of the Holy Eucharist as well as his agony in the garden and betrayal of Judas (Matthew 26). Then we participate in Good Friday in remembrance of our Lord’s crucifixion and death on the cross for our sins (Matthew 27). Followed by Holy Saturday, a day to remember and reflect upon our Lord’s death. Later on tat Saturday evening at the Easter vigil Mass after sundown we celebrate Jesus’ victory over death by his resurrection and welcome the newly instructed into full communion with Jesus’ Church and the body of Christ. The new faithful are baptized and confirmed by the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:1-4) during this special and most Holy Mass on Saturday night. We continue to celebrate our Lord’s victory over death on Easter Sunday (Matthew 28). What a beautiful way to remember our Lord Jesus and enter into the mystery of his Passion, Death and Resurrection.
In preparation of these events the Church—by her authority of the keys given to Peter (the first Pope and Vicar of Christ) to permit or forbid and lead Jesus’ one Church (Matthew 16:18-19) -- obligates us to practice Abstinence and Fasting. Abstinence from meat is to be observed by all Catholic Christians age 14 years old and older on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and on all the Fridays of Lent. Fasting is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday by all Catholic Christians who are 18 years of age but not yet 59. Fasting according to the law of the Church is having one full meal a day, it does not necessarily have to be in the morning.

Jesus Christ communicated the authority to forgive sins on His Apostles on Easter night, when he told them “whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven, whose sins you shall retain they are retained” (Jn 20:19-23). In this way He gave the Apostles the power to give “peace” (v.21), which is nothing less than the reconciliation of man with God. The text even makes clear how Confession is to be conducted. Christ’s representative, the priest, must decide whether to forgive or retain. Therefore, the penitent must confess each and every serious sin, that is anything which separates him from Christ. If the priest judges he is truly sorry, He must absolve since Christ’s Passion merited forgiveness for every repentant sinner. Only if the person shows no willingness to give up sin does the priest retain, that is withhold absolution, as we “do not give what is holy to dogs” (Mt 7:6). In one form or another the Sacrament of Penance has been in continuous practice in the Church. Its existence in all the Churches of the First Millennium, even those separated from Rome, shows its apostolicity. The present Catholic discipline of secret confession dates to the early middle ages, though there are suggestions of an even earlier practice. Prior to that, confession of sins involved lengthy public penance for great sins such as adultery, murder and apostasy from the faith. Thankfully, it is much easier today. The point was, however, that serious sin is a horrendous offense against God that ought to be rare among the baptized but frequently is not. In the second and third century theological battles were fought over whether Penance could be received more than once after Baptism. The rigorists, like Tertullian, left the Church and their movements passed into history. Even the practice of the sacrament today is no encouragement to sin, as they thought. On the contrary it requires humility to confess your sins. It also gives great peace to hear the priest say in Jesus’ name “I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” It is Christ’s will that we hear those words. Although God CAN forgive sin directly it requires a perfect motive: love of him and sorrow over having offended such a good Lord. An imperfect motive would mean we have not fully turned from our sin back to God. Not every one can rise to the occasion, so rather than excluding the marginal person struggling with sins, perhaps even more a lifetime, Christ has given us the Sacrament in which He raises us up, even when the dependence of the sacrament on grace and mercy. As Jesus himself said, He came not to save the self-righteous but the sinner.

Attackers killed 12 people Wednesday morning in a small Christian village in central Nigeria, officials said, cutting out most of the victims' tongues in the latest violence in a region where religious fighting already has killed hundreds this year.

The attack almost mirrored the tactics used by those who carried out similar massacres in Christian villages last week when more than 200 people were slaughtered.

Under the cover of darkness and a driving rain, raiders with machetes entered the village of Byie early Wednesday, setting fire to homes and firing gunshots into the air to drive frightened villagers into the night, witness Linus Vwi said.

"It was raining. They took that advantage," Vwi said.

Vwi said he and about 20 neighbors rushed into the surrounding wilderness, cowering in bushes as they listened to screams.

He said the attackers spoke Fulani, a language used mostly by Muslim cattle herders in the region. Officials and witnesses blamed Fulani herders for the killings last week.

Fulani community leader Sale Bayari denied that Fulanis took part in those killings, though he said the community suffered a similar massacre recently.

Six people were wounded in the overnight raid and taken to a local hospital, said Mark Lipdo, leader of a regional Christian nonprofit group. He said attackers burned down 15 homes during the violence.

The dead included seven women, four children and one man, Lipdo said. Attackers removed the tongues of most of the victims, witnesses said.

It was unclear why attackers took the victims' tongues. In Nigeria, killers sometimes take body parts of their victims for black magic or "juju" rituals, later using them as charms.

Attacks this month come after more than 300 people — mostly Muslim — were killed in January violence in the nearby city of Jos and its surrounding villages.

Nigeria, a country of 150 million people, is almost evenly split between Muslims in the north and the predominantly Christian south. The recent bloodshed has been happening in central Nigeria, in the nation's "middle belt," where dozens of ethnic groups vie for control of fertile lands.

The violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands. The government of Plateau State, where Jos is the capital, is controlled by Christian politicians who have blocked Muslims from being legally recognized as citizens. That has locked many out of prized government jobs in a region where the tourism industry and tin mining have collapsed in the last decades.

Wednesday morning, state radio immediately began broadcasting news about the deaths to the tense community. State spokesman Gregory Yenlong appealed for the calm, saying the government remained on top of the situation and would bring the attackers to justice. However, killings continue despite a dusk-til-dawn curfew in a region supposedly protected by Nigerian security forces.

The latest killings add to the tally of thousands who already have perished in Africa's most populous country in the last decade over religious and political frictions. Rioting in September 2001 killed more than 1,000 people. Muslim-Christian battles killed up to 700 people in 2004. More than 300 residents died during a similar uprising in 2008.

The Eucharist is, for Catholics both a meal and a sacrifice. The Lord gave us the Eucharist at the Last Supper because he wanted us to share in the life of the Trinity, the loving communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We become united to God at our Baptism, and receive a further outpouring of the Holy Spirit at our Confirmation. In the Eucharist we are nourished spiritually, brought closer to God, again and again: “By eating the Body and drinking the Blood of Christ in the Eucharist we become united to the person of Christ through his humility,” write the bishops. They remind us of the words of Jesus in John’s Gospel: “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him” (Jn 6:56). This meal of fellowship and unity, though, also is understood as a sacrifice. Why is that? Because Jesus died for our sins. Human sin was so great that we could never share fully in the life of God. Jesus came to reunite us. The Bishop write, “Through his death and resurrection, he conquered sin and death and reconciled us to God. The Eucharist is the memorial of this sacrifice. The Church gathers to remember and to re-present the sacrifice of Christ in which we share through the action of the priest and the power of the Holy Spirit.
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At Confirmation, we learn the implications of our new life in the Holy Spirit.
All powerful God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, by water and the Holy Spirit you freed your sons and daughters from sin and gave them new life.
Send your Holy Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgment and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence. (Rite of Confirmation).
This prayer names the traditional “Seven Gifts of the Holy Spirit.” The biblical origin of these seven gifts is found in Isaiah (11:1-3) where he is foretelling the qualities of the Messiah.
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The Commandments speak of remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy (Gen. 2, 3; Exodus. 20, . The Sabbath is Saturday, so why do Catholics worship publicly on the first day of the week, that is, Sunday?”
This is a question normally posed by those – such as the Seventh Day Adventists – who regard Sunday worship as a mark of the Apostate Church of the Beast. Our Lord Jesus Christ declared that He was Lord of the Sabbath and that its observance was at His disposal: St. Matt. 12, 1-8; St Mark 2, 24-26; St. Luke 6, 5; St. John 5, 10-11. As a consequence, the early Church, in order to distinguish itself from the worship of the Synagogue, felt itself free from to depart from Sabbath worship and worship God on an alternate day of the week. This is evident from the words of St. Paul to the Colossians: “Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or Sabbaths. These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (2, 16-17). If Christ Himself had the power to “dispose” of the Sabbath, so too His Church which is His Body.
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Preparation for reception into the Church begins with the inquiry stage, in which the unbaptized person begins to learn about the Catholic faith and begins to decide whether to embrace it.
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professor charlse soludo has one another battle in his bid to the governorship candidate of pdp in the next governorship election in anambra state as court struck out suit against him yesterday.

without been told, you don't need a prophet or an iman to tell you that things are really bad in nigeria.right from the local,state and federal government level.citizens are not getting the fruit of democracy and the government of the day are making things difficult for its citizenry.please let us join hands to pray for nigeria.

have you said thank you boys to our golden eaglets for defeating the koreans?

but who told you you are innocent.allow the court to declare you innocent please.

The Election Petitions Tribunal sitting in Asaba, the Delta State capital, has thrown away the petition of Chief Great Ogboru, which challenged the election of Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.
The five-man panel, which was led by Justice B.S Mohammed, while delivering its 20-page judgment last week Monday, ruled that Chief Ogboru, who contested the governorship election on the platform of the Democratic Peoples’ Party (DPP), had failed to prove beyond all reasonable doubt that the election that brought in Uduaghan was surrounded with irregularities, and, so, the court thereby dismissed the case in favour of Dr. Uduaghan.

According to Mike Mudock, a great preacher, “the most fertile ground on earth is the burial ground” Why? “Many people have died in their prime with their dreams, goals and aspiration in life.”
When I remember these words, my heart skips a beat because, ordinarily, these people would not have died. Many people, particularly youths, have died for nothing while others have been maimed for life because of cult activities. Some are just a bundle of waste because, academically, they are no where. In fact, they are useless to themselves, there family and the society at large. They are perpetually in search of trouble and where there is none, they forment it. The most terrible aspect of the whole thing is that some parents know that their children and wards are involved in one cult or the other, but they turn their eyes to the other side. With the spate of cultism, one may be tempted to say that cultism is now institutionalized because both the young and old are now involved. In the past, we know that cultism was associated with undergraduates in higher institutions, but these days, we find pupils in primary school and students in secondary schools, what can we say. The world is in maze.
The Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary defines a cult as a way of life, an attitude or idea which has become very popular. It is also a group of people who have extreme religious beliefs and who are not part of any established religion. So, a from-all indication, a cult is not an approved organization. It is practiced in the secret, therefore, it is illegal. From the word cult, we have “cultism” which is the act of engaging or involving oneself in a treacherous activity that can mar one’s destiny. It is a destiny destroyer.

with the bashing of new-zealand 5-0 by the eaglet.has our youth football come back to our old glory.your comments please.

with the bashing of new-zealand by our eagle 5-1.has nigeria youth football come back it's former glory.your coment please.

this match will be a sure win.

yes it was full of praises today.may his name be praised.

may the lord gives us the grace to partake in the blessing of the new month.happy month of november.

were you in church service today.the scripture readings are taking from where?

please i am always confused any time a question is been put to me as a catholic about blessed virgin mary the mother of jesus.did she have other children after jesus christ?

is nation football coming back to it's old good days as we beat argentina 2-1?

the holy bible is the best book that has ever existed in human history.

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i dont believe ur a catholic otherwise u would not have sounded this way.let ur concience judge u.

the police in anambra state linked the kidnapp of former central bank governor's father to pdp.is it true?

Wonder they say shall never end. The former Central Bank Governor and the Governorship aspirant of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Professor Charles Soludo’s Father were kidnapped today by kidnappers.
The whole saga according to source is connected to his son’s quest to contest for the Governorship election in Anambra State.

Purgatory is it in the bible?
That is the question many people ask. After death comes judgement.Heb.9:27.The sentence that cannot be changed-the judgement.The reward must be heaven, purgatory or hell according to one’s deed. Yes many Christians do not believe that purgatory does exist. They believe that after death one goes to heaven or hell, but we Catholic believe that there is purgatory.
According to the Oxford Advance Learners Dictionary, it means the condition after death in which the soul is purified in preparation for heaven, a place of temporary suffering. The word “Purgatory” comes from the word “purgation” meaning to purge, removal of something bad or undesirable.
Invariably, purgatory means a place where souls of the dead are purified or assisted by the prayers of the living before they are fit to enter heaven. Souls in purgatory belong to the Church suffering, then the living or the faithful on earth are the Church militants while those in heaven are known as the Church triumphant. That is why we have the communion of saints for we are one body in Jesus Christ.
The suffering in purgatory is less or more intense proportioned to the penalty which souls must expiate, still it is a place of great hope where the love of God is so intensive and that the face of not being able to see the Almighty God face to face becomes the greatest pain.

if you discover that your pastor is having an affair with your wife,what will you do?

Divorce in marriage in the part of women,is it hereditary?