₦airaland Forum

ebos:
Catholic always on top! "It will always stay on top of the other threads" Ok, an “Award” has finally been given to this very thread? So, Award Ceremony must be celebrated. Meanwhile, I will never forget it, this thread was posted to share the faith Catholicism and thinking strategy we both have in common but it later transmuted into unpleasant and maddening situation. But to discover a peaceful and better alternative strategy that will enable us forge ahead with this thread, we allowed unbearable rejoinders from which we learned wisdom and discovered what would do, by finding out what would not do and it helped us focus our energies by not dwelling on the experience (argument) that virtually smashed Catholic faithful on this site. I used to believe totally that those who win are the ones who persevere. It’s true but not always. If we had persevered and continued in that unnecessary argument without trying to embrace alternative strategy to keep this thread alive, maybe this Award would not have been possible today. At that time, I tried to give up, (just like few other Catholics) forget about Nairaland and devote my time for something else entirely, but one message came to my mind that we must try a different approach, a new route to give peace a chance. That new route was to avoid any further argument. Nevertheless, this should be seen as part of progress to Catholics and other Christians. They should learn from us as usual. Catholic teach every good thing.

That wan no bi lie

A_K_O:
It will always stay on top of the other threads, with the Nairaland Christian E-Fellowship and The Rules.

Yes, right from the beginning it has always being on top.

A_K_O:
My Catholic Brothers and Sisters,

I have decided to make your thread sticky because it is one of the most active threads on this section and is the most peaceful.
God bless.

Thank you and because our God is a peaceful God we will keep on imitating him.

Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows


For a while there were two feasts in honor of the Sorrowful Mother: one going back to the 15th century, the other to the 17th century. For a while both were celebrated by the universal Church: one on the Friday before Palm Sunday, the other in September.

The principal biblical references to Mary's sorrows are in Luke 2:35 and John 19:26-27. The Lucan passage is Simeon's prediction about a sword piercing Mary's soul; the Johannine passage relates Jesus' words to Mary and to the beloved disciple.

Many early Church writers interpret the sword as Mary's sorrows, especially as she saw Jesus die on the cross. Thus, the two passages are brought together as prediction and fulfillment.

St. Ambrose in particular sees Mary as a sorrowful yet powerful figure at the cross. Mary stood fearlessly at the cross while others fled. Mary looked on her Son's wounds with pity, but saw in them the salvation of the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, Mary did not fear to be killed but offered herself to her persecutors.

Quote

"At the cross her station keeping,
Stood the mournful mother weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,
All his bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword has passed."
(Stabat Mater)

Carlosein:
since i know i am right, i will send you the share of the money i won.

here is a cheque for 2billion Zimbabwean dollars!

Carlosein:
i think it was in 2003.

How sure are you?  you are free to use your 3 life lines;
50/50
phone a friend
or the Audience

idupaul:
@ oby1

nice story , its the best story on faith av seen in my entire life, i love it

You are most welcome brother.  May God increase our faith. Amen.

ebos:
@Oby,

The bomb explosion was in 2002 or 2003. Hope so?

Can't remember, but that day i thought the world has come to an end because everywhere was like shaking

ebos:
The way me dey look 4 money now - I ready to donate my kidney 4 Yaradua for just N200m. Even if it is to live extra 10 years and die after donating my kidney, no wahala.

take it easy o, no bi like that.

I found this quite interesting

The Faith of a Child

'My Daddy says only a miracle can save my brother now . . . so how much does a miracle cost?' 


Sally was only eight years old when she heard Mommy and Daddy talking about her little brother, Georgi. He was very sick and they had done everything they could afford to save his life. Only a very expensive surgery could help him now . . . and that was out of the financial question. She heard Daddy say it with a whispered desperation, "Only a miracle can save him now."

Sally went to her bedroom and pulled her piggy bank from its hiding place in the closet. She shook all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes. Tying the coins up in a cold-weather-kerchief, she slipped out of the apartment and made her way to the corner drug store.



She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her attention. . . but he was too busy talking to another man to be bothered by an eight-year-old. Sally twisted her feet to make a scuffing noise. She cleared her throat. No good. Finally she took a quarter from its hiding place and banged it on the glass counter. That did it!


"And what do you want?" the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice.



"Well, I want to talk to you about my brother," Sally answered back in the same annoyed tone. "He's sick . . . and I want to buy a miracle."



"I beg your pardon," said the pharmacist.



"My Daddy says only a miracle can save him now . . . so how much does a miracle cost?"



"We don't sell miracles here, little girl. I can't help you."



"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. Just tell me how much it costs."



The well-dressed man stooped down and asked, "What kind of a miracle does you brother need?"



"I don't know," Sally answered. A tear started down her cheek. "I just know he's really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my folks can't pay for it . . . so I have my money.



"How much do you have?" asked the well-dressed man.



"A dollar and eleven cents," Sally answered proudly. "And it's all the money I have in the world."



"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the well-dressed man. A dollar and eleven cents . . . the exact price of a miracle to save a little brother. He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said "Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents."



That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, renowned surgeon, specializing in solving Georgi's malady. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn't long until Georgi was home again and doing well. Mommy and Daddy were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.



"That surgery," Mommy whispered. "It's like a miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?



Sally smiled to herself. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost,  one dollar and eleven cents,  plus the faith of a little child.

Gospel
Lk 6:39-42

Jesus told his disciples a parable:
“Can a blind person guide a blind person?
Will not both fall into a pit?
No disciple is superior to the teacher;
but when fully trained,
every disciple will be like his teacher.
Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye,
but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own?
How can you say to your brother,
‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’
when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first;
then you will see clearly
to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye.”

MEDITATION OF THE DAY
Psychology has had a mixed press - sometimes embraced, sometimes mistrusted or misunderstood - but it has made an invaluable contribution to our understanding of the psycho - spiritual issues around our struggle to be fully human in imitation of Christ. From almost any branch of psychology, at least two lessons can be learned:

One, that it is easier to identify the 'problems' and failings of others than to recognize them in ourselves;
Two, that the shortcomings we discern in others are usually mirror images of those which lie, either dormant or active within ourselves.

This spot-lighting of another, with its accompanying blind spot vis-a-vis ourselves, is known as projection. We put the material 'out there' on a sort of imaginary screen and consign these home-truths to the world of cinema, shelving the responsibility. Jesus understands very well this unconscious survival strategy and finds different ways of alerting us to it.
In today's Gospel he employs humour. The Gospels never mention Jesus laughing. This is remarkable, as he certainly had a pronounced sense of humour, typical perhaps of the style and genre of humour among his Jewish contemporaries. Some of his stories and analogies would have had his audience falling about with mirth. The sheer simplicity of his jokes makes them particularly effective. Can a blind man lead a blind man? he asks, artfully, adding the rhetorical question, ' Will they not both fall into a pit? (v.39). This paints a picture, and laughter would have followed as the listener recognized in the image their own incompetence and presumptuosness. We are all 'blind' in some ways: to our ignorance, our conceit and the personal agendas which obscure of vision and mar our judgements. The 'blinder' we are in these ways, the more clearly we think we can see, and the more we presume to guide others. Unaware of the great 'plank in our own eye, we arrogate to ourselves the right to remove the 'splinter' from our neighbor's.

Beware of the false but plausible teaching or self-appointed spiritual gurus! After all, if we follow a certain teacher whom we admire, we will only, at best, achieve resemblance to that earthly teacher whereas we should be imitating the one Lord and Master: Jesus himself

"Jesus, you call us beyond human teaching, to embrace the Word of life. Give us the courage to follow your call and to walk always with you, who are the Way, the Truth and the Life."

Carlosein:
morning peeps,
thank God it's friday!!!


God be with you all and keep you safe.

Yes o! thank God is Friday

CGKing:
Holy Mary? Holy Mary So there are still ignoramuses in this world.
Do you guys read your bible at all? Is all this Mary and Angel thing ", having
grazen images" aside from the Lord God Almighty?

Catholism is the devil's biggest fraud

JOURNEY OF THE SAINTS
It is better to remain silent and to be than to talk and not be. ST.IGNATIUS OF ANTIOCH.

~Lady~:
If you all will please offer up prayers for the people of Texas. I have family living there.
Please ask God for everyone's safety. Hurricane Ike looks very terrible, and dangerous. It's also approaching very fast.
Please, Please, Please pray for them.

Thank you

Father in your word you said you will be a pillar of fire by night for us and a pillar of cloud by day, please we are calling upon you to come and protect as many that are relying on your help to shield them from this looming hurricane in Jesus name. Amen.

Virgin Most Powerful and Faithful, help of Christian intercede for them.

Feast of the Holy Name of Mary

This feast is a counterpart to the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus (January 3); both have the possibility of uniting people easily divided on other matters.

The feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary began in Spain in 1513 and in 1671 was extended to all of Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. In 1683, John Sobieski, king of Poland, brought an army to the outskirts of Vienna to stop the advance of Muslim armies loyal to Mohammed IV in Constantinople. After Sobieski entrusted himself to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he and his soldiers thoroughly defeated the Muslims. Pope Innocent XI extended this feast to the entire Church.

Quote

“Lord our God, when your Son was dying on the altar of the cross, he gave us as our mother the one he had chosen to be his own mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; grant that we who call upon the holy name of Mary, our mother, with confidence in her protection may receive strength and comfort in all our needs” (Marian Sacramentary, Mass for the Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary).

ebos:
Today we commemorate the September 11 attacks

Do we even remember the bomb explosion that happened _{i can't remember} i think it was in Ikeja or so. May their souls and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in perfect peace.

ebos:
Wetin go happen be say na Failure dey knock so!

Failure? Abeg o! nothing like failure.

Did you go for a vigil mass?

ebos:
@Lady,

PDP is my Party but una be Democrats - Obama them supporters.

So wetin come happen?

Gospel
Lk 6:27-38

Jesus said to his disciples:
“To you who hear I say, love your enemies,
do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you,
pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek,
offer the other one as well,
and from the person who takes your cloak,
do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you,
and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment,
what credit is that to you?
Even sinners lend to sinners,
and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them,
and lend expecting nothing back;
then your reward will be great
and you will be children of the Most High,
for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

MEDITATION OF THE DAY
Vegeance has no place in Christian thinking:  There are two main reasons for this: firstly, as Christians we are trying to imitate our Lord and Master, Jesus, who taught and practised forgiveness and urged his followers, 'Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you'(v 27); secondly, forgiveness involves compassion - which means 'suffering with' - and compassion is probably about ninety per cent of what Christianity is all about.  Without compassion we cannot be called Christian. 'And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them' (v 31) means, surely, exercising our spiritual imaginations and trying to be alongside others as we try to make sense of all the apparent anomalies and contradictions in their lives and attitudes.  Compassion for another, whether that person is victim or perpetrator, has the wonderful effect of eclipsing all our other emotions, especially negative feelings of anger, resentment, jealousy or vengeance.  For the one who feels that compassion, its effect is most liberating.  This is why Jesus keeps persevering in his teaching on compassion and forgiveness.  He knows that, if only we follow his example, working perhaps against our natural instincts in order to try to be more like him, we will be happy and fulfilled, steeped in God's love.  Christ on the cross was able to look at his executioners and beg the Father's forgiveness.  In doing that, he was able to go ahead in truth, freedom and love with the mission entrusted to him.  We, too, were made for this self-transcendence and final liberation in our crucified and resurrected Lord, but sometimes it seems we have learnt and read all about Jesus in sacred Scripture and even received the Lord in Holy Communion, whilst somehow forgetting that he is an integral part of us.  If we always believed this, we would live as resurrection people, worshippers who recognize that Jesus' rising to new life out of the filth and pain of crucifixion has indeed freed us all from sin.

"Lord Jesus, you teach us to expect little or nothing of other people, but a great deal of ourselves.  We are called to live the spiritually nomadic life that you lived on earth, never clinging to what gives mere material or psychological satisfaction.  Help us to make your choices, reaching out for relationship with those around us, and loving and forgiving even when it costs and elicits no response."

JOURNEY WITH THE SAINTS
"Many people have difficulty finding a meditation book.  But I have found nothing so good as my own heart and the heart of Jesus.  Why is it that we so often change the subject of our meditation?  Only one thing is necessary: Jesus Christ.  Think unceasingly of him".  ST. JOHN GABRIEL PERBOYRE.

Today's Saint

St. Cyprian (d. 258)


Cyprian is important in the development of Christian thought and practice in the third century, especially in northern Africa.

Highly educated, a famous orator, he was converted to Christianity as an adult. He distributed his goods to the poor, and amazed his fellow citizens by making a vow of chastity before his Baptism. Within two years he had been ordained a priest and was chosen, against his will, as Bishop of Carthage (near modern Tunis).

Cyprian complained that the peace the Church had enjoyed had weakened the spirit of many Christians and had opened the door to converts who did not have the true spirit of faith. When the Decian persecution began, many Christians easily abandoned the Church. It was their reinstatement that caused the great controversies of the third century, and helped the Church progress in its understanding of the Sacrament of Penance. Novatus, a priest who had opposed Cyprian's election, set himself up in Cyprian's absence (he had fled to a hiding place from which to direct the Church—bringing criticism on himself) and received back all apostates without imposing any canonical penance. Ultimately he was condemned. Cyprian held a middle course, holding that those who had actually sacrificed to idols could receive Communion only at death, whereas those who had only bought certificates saying they had sacrificed could be admitted after a more or less lengthy period of penance. Even this was relaxed during a new persecution.

During a plague in Carthage, he urged Christians to help everyone, including their enemies and persecutors.

A friend of Pope Cornelius, Cyprian opposed the following pope, Stephen. He and the other African bishops would not recognize the validity of Baptism conferred by heretics and schismatics. This was not the universal view of the Church, but Cyprian was not intimidated even by Stephen's threat of excommunication.

He was exiled by the emperor and then recalled for trial. He refused to leave the city, insisting that his people should have the witness of his martyrdom.

Cyprian was a mixture of kindness and courage, vigor and steadiness. He was cheerful and serious, so that people did not know whether to love or respect him more. He waxed warm during the baptismal controversy; his feelings must have concerned him, for it was at this time that he wrote his treatise on patience. St. Augustine remarks that Cyprian atoned for his anger by his glorious martyrdom.

Quote

“You cannot have God for your Father if you do not have the Church for your mother, God is one and Christ is one, and his Church is one; one is the faith, and one is the people cemented together by harmony into the strong unity of a body, If we are the heirs of Christ, let us abide in the peace of Christ; if we are the sons of God, let us be lovers of peace” (St. Cyprian, The Unity of the Catholic Church).

ebos:
Coming 2 see u guys later

ok, we are waiting to see what you've got for us

Well I am supposed to be working with abused kids in a house, but when the storms came by a tree fell on the roof of one of the houses. So the kids are all in one house and they don't need that many personnel. I have to wait for a few weeks for them to fix the house. I don't know how long it will take and they don't know either. So my best bet is to find another job.
I was really looking forward to working with these kids, I love children.

Our heart desire the Lord says he will grant, so i pray the Lord grant you your heart desire.

Thanks Oby. How r u?

I'm fine my sister, thank you.

Today's Saint

St. Thomas of Villanova (1488-1555)


St. Thomas was from Castile in Spain and received his surname from the town where he was raised. He received a superior education at the University of Alcala and became a popular professor of philosophy there.

After joining the Augustinian friars at Salamanca he was ordained and resumed his teaching, despite a continuing absentmindedness and poor memory. He became prior and then provincial of the friars, sending the first Augustinians to the New World. He was nominated by the emperor to the archbishopric of Granada, but refused. When the see again became vacant he was pressured to accept. The money his cathedral chapter gave him to furnish his house was given to a hospital instead. His explanation to them was that "our Lord will be better served by your money being spent on the poor in the hospital. What does a poor friar like myself want with furniture?"

He wore the same habit that he had received in the novitiate, mending it himself. The canons and domestics were ashamed of him, but they could not convince him to change. Several hundred poor came to Thomas's door each morning and received a meal, wine and money. When criticized because he was at times being taken advantage of, he replied, "If there are people who refuse to work, that is for the governor and the police to deal with. My duty is to assist and relieve those who come to my door." He took in orphans and paid his servants for every deserted child they brought to him. He encouraged the wealthy to imitate his example and be richer in mercy and charity than they were in earthly possessions.

Criticized because he refused to be harsh or swift in correcting sinners, he said, "Let him (the complainer) inquire whether St. Augustine and St. John Chrysostom used anathemas and excommunication to stop the drunkenness and blasphemy which were so common among the people under their care."

As he lay dying, Thomas commanded that all the money he possessed be distributed to the poor. His material goods were to be given to the rector of his college. Mass was being said in his presence when after Communion he breathed his last, reciting the words: "Into your hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit."

Thomas of Villanova was already called in his lifetime "the almsgiver" and "the father of the poor." He was canonized in 1658.

chidipooh

Sele

sowing

Carlosein:
oh my sis, i ponder a lot of confusing things. from lady's precarious (to me) position-she just got a job and we celebrated and now she's looking for another again (i am lost ).

i ponder all the issues she ponders and passes through day-in, day-out. from politics, to tuition fees, to life and death situations, to ordinary feeding.

lady, my heart goes out to you. be strong and keep your head in this sea of pandemonium.

God is your guide and may Our Lady be your help.

Dominus Vobiscum.

oby, all this and more is what i ponder.

In all these the song that came to my mind now is;

He is able , , more than able , , to accomplish what concerns me today yyyy , ,
He is able , , more than able , , to handle anything that comes my way yyy , ,
He is able , , more than able , , to do much more than i can ever think kkk , ,
He is able , , more than able , , to make me what he wants me to be eee , ,

God knows everything, he sees, he hears and not deaf. He is able and can do whatever he says he will do.

and what are you pondering?

Today's Saint

St. Peter Claver (1581-1654)


A native of Spain, young Jesuit Peter Claver left his homeland forever in 1610 to be a missionary in the colonies of the New World. He sailed into Cartagena (now in Colombia), a rich port city washed by the Caribbean. He was ordained there in 1615.

By this time the slave trade had been established in the Americas for nearly 100 years, and Cartagena was a chief center for it. Ten thousand slaves poured into the port each year after crossing the Atlantic from West Africa under conditions so foul and inhuman that an estimated one-third of the passengers died in transit. Although the practice of slave-trading was condemned by Pope Paul III and later labeled "supreme villainy" by Pius IX, it continued to flourish.

Peter Claver's predecessor, Jesuit Father Alfonso de Sandoval, had devoted himself to the service of the slaves for 40 years before Claver arrived to continue his work, declaring himself "the slave of the Negroes forever."

As soon as a slave ship entered the port, Peter Claver moved into its infested hold to minister to the ill-treated and miserable passengers. After the slaves were herded out of the ship like chained animals and shut up in nearby yards to be gazed at by the crowds, Claver plunged in among them with medicines, food, bread, brandy, lemons and tobacco. With the help of interpreters he gave basic instructions and assured his brothers and sisters of their human dignity and God's saving love. During the 40 years of his ministry, Claver instructed and baptized an estimated 300,000 slaves.

His apostolate extended beyond his care for slaves. He became a moral force, indeed, the apostle of Cartagena. He preached in the city square, gave missions to sailors and traders as well as country missions, during which he avoided, when possible, the hospitality of the planters and owners and lodged in the slave quarters instead.

After four years of sickness which forced the saint to remain inactive and largely neglected, he died on September 8, 1654. The city magistrates, who had previously frowned at his solicitude for the black outcasts, ordered that he should be buried at public expense and with great pomp.

He was canonized in 1888, and Pope Leo XIII declared him the worldwide patron of missionary work among black slaves.

Quote

Peter Claver understood that concrete service like the distributing of medicine, food or brandy to his black brothers and sisters could be as effective a communication of the word of God as mere verbal preaching. As Peter Claver often said, "We must speak to them with our hands before we try to speak to them with our lips."

Lindiwe:
don't worry lady, we will continue to pray for you and your family, especially for the repose of the soul of your step-mum.

@carl,
hope you got my offline. . . guess you were already asleep when i came back!
hope you're not doing another TDB today! well if you happen to, maybe we'll chat again!

[b]@all
have fun peeps,
it's another great day that our Lord has made . . . so rejoice and be glad! :[/b]D

A wonderful day indeed, so beautiful. Infact there is a song in my heart now, let me share it and if you know it you can join.

" I can see everything turning around , , , everything turning around , , , i can see everything turning around , , , for my good"

~Lady~:
She is Our Mother and the Mother of Our Lord.

Happy Birthday Mother. I love you!!!!


Hello all.
I would like to request that you put me and my family in your prayers. I just lost my stepmum. She's been called home. Please pray especially for her children.
Thanks

I love you too my Queen and my Mother!!! Happy Birthday!!!  The novena still continues, i was not opportuned to attend yesterday's.

May the soul of your departed stepmum and souls of all faithfull departed rest in perfect peace. Amen.

What happened to your newly gotten job?