Easter 2016: Quotes and messages you can share with loved ones

For Christians, the Holy Week comes to an end with Easter Sunday.

Christians across the world will celebrate Easter with the midnight service on Sunday to herald the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after he was crucified. The crucifixion of Christ was observed on Good Friday.
The Holy Week began with Palm Sunday on March 20 and comes to an end with Easter Sunday on March 27.

Here are some messages and quotes you can share with your loved ones on Easter:

1. May this Easter bring you all together for a great celebration filled with lots of joy, happiness and love.
2. Wishing you a Happy Easter! May it be a wonderful time spent with your friend and family.
3. Easter celebration represents new life. Enjoy this holiday with your loved ones.
4. Christ showed His endless love by giving His Life to wash away our sins. May your have a wonderful Easter filled with love and peace.
5. Wishing you a peaceful Easter that fills you with new life and vitality.

6. Celebrate this holy week with a heart filled with peace and love towards your friends and enemies. Have a blessed Easter 2016.
7. May you be blessed with immense love from God, who will bring abundant happiness in your life by filling your heart with peace. Happy Easter.
8. It is the day to remember our Savior, who has risen from the dead. Easter greetings to you and your family.
9. Happy Easter everyone! Remember the reason for the season and make yourself and the world a better place.
Quotes
1. "When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”" —Matthew 27:52-54
2. "And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."" —Luke 23:43
3. Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song. — Pope John Paul II

Pope Francis celebrates Easter Mass in St.Peter's Basilica in 2014. -AFP
4. Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, 'Christ is risen,' but 'I shall rise.' Phillips Brooks
5. There would be no Christmas if there was no Easter. —Gordon B. Hinckley
6. Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life. — Janine di Giovanni
7. "Jesus replied, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.'" —John 12:23-25
8. “Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” —John 11:25-26
9. "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” —Romans 6:9-11
10. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” —Peter 1:3

Catholic Church Demotes Father Mbaka

Popular Catholic priest, Reverend Father Ejike Mbaka has been moved to a new duty post at Our Lady Parish, Umuchigbo, Njinike accompanied by hundreds of his parishioners admirers and well wishers.
He relocated on Saturday after he was transferred from Christ the King parish, GRA, Enugu where he had, over the years, built a cult like fellowship on the strength of precision of most of his prophecies and miracles recorded during prayer sessions at his Adoration Centre.
Father Mbaka prophesised the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari ahead of last election and also warned him last month of a plot to kill him.
His followers believe he's being punished. Mbaka himself said his new posting is a witch hunt.
As early as 7am on Saturday, a crowd had started forming at the Christ the King parish Enugu preparatory for the movement. Several lorry loads, buses and cars filled with people lined the streets as he made his way to Emene.
Band groups dished out music to which people were dancing. In fact, some were overcome by emotion to the extent that they broke down in tears.
Social and economic activities along major streets came to a halt. The journey lasted four hours. It was a triumphal exit for Father Mbaka as he addressed the crowd and said:

“I know we are going to suffer between now and a few months to come. I am going to suffer and suffer. I know that.
“I’m going to suffer because I have no place to put my head. I am going to suffer because I have no place to keep the Adoration Ministry’s assets.
“I know I’m going to suffer. Fortunately, it is going to happen in the month of lent. So, I am going to use my exit here as a Lenten observance but Jesus said it all in John 16:20 to his apostles that you will be sorrowful and the world will be rejoicing but very soon I will turn your sorrow to joy.
“But for now I know you are going to suffer. The Adoration Ministry is passing through suffering right now even though I’ve accepted that is the will of God. Is the will of God through suffering? It is a mega suffering
“The quantum of the assets of the Adoration Ministry is the only thing I am bothered about for now.
“Where am I going to keep them? I am going to stay in one small room that has only one small bed, one small table, little toilet and bathroom. So where am I going to keep all the adoration assets?
“My clothing and books I can keep in the car or somebody’s house but where will I keep these assets that I have given to the Catholic church of Enugu?
“But I say may God take the glory and whoever that has offended me, I have forgiven.
“I won’t fight anybody or even dream of battling anybody. If anybody allows the devil to use him, the same that advised you to make a mistake will laugh at you when you cry over the error. The baby is born, there is no going back.
“We are moving out. We have been doing it and we will do it again. Moses was going out with a rod in his hand, Mbaka is moving out with his Bible and this nobody can take away from me.”
I am telling you people as a courageous leader, do not be afraid. "We are moving and in not distant time, you people are going to smile."

VATICAN: IRAN MUST JOIN FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM

Pope Francis held talks with Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, at the Vatican Tuesday, calling on Tehran to play a key role in stopping the spread of terrorism as Iran tries to improve its image in the global arena following an agreement on its nuclear program.
Hassan Rouhani made the first state visit to Europe by an Iranian president in almost two decades this week, following the lifting of sanctions against his country.

The pontiff warmly clasped the hand of President Hassan Rouhani in the first official call paid on a pontiff by an Iranian president since 1999. They held 40 minutes of private talks before Rouhani met with other top Vatican officials.

The talks "delved into the conclusion and application of the nuclear accord, and the important role that Iran is called upon to play, together with other countries of the region, was highlighted," the Holy See said.

It added that that role should "foster adequate political solutions to the issues plaguing the Middle East, fighting the spread of terrorism and arms trafficking."
The "cordial" talks also stressed common spiritual values, the statement said.

Usually it's the pope who asks his audience to pray for him. This time, after the two men spoke with the help of Italian and Farsi language translators, it was the guest who asked the pope for prayers. "I ask you to pray for me," Rouhani said.

The Vatican meeting was a key part of the Iranian effort to take a more prominent place on the world stage after the nuclear deal with Western powers.

Iran, which agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for an end to economic sanctions, is eager to carve out a bigger role in mediating Middle East conflicts. Francis' papacy has emphasized mediation and conflict-resolution, including his role in helping Cuba and the United States to normalize their relations.

Rouhani heads to France today on his four-day European trip seeking to boost Iran's image abroad as well as to rehabilitate economic ties with a continent that had been a big trade partner before the sanctions.

Francis gave Rouhani a medal depicting St. Martin giving his cloak to a poor man in the cold, describing the saint's act as "a sign of unsolicited brotherhood."
Rouhani brought a gift of a hand-made rug that he said was made in the Iranian holy city of Qom.

Before going to the Vatican, Rouhani told a forum of business leaders in Rome that "Iran is the safest and most stable country of the entire region."
Italy also sees Iran as a potential peacemaker in Syria's civil war, as the Italian government fears the warfare will further destabilize Libya — just across the Mediterranean from southern Italy — fuel terrorism and jeopardize energy security.
"Italy has always backed the role of Iran as a regional player in resolving tensions in the area, starting with the Syrian crisis," Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said after meeting his Iranian counterpart, according to his office.
Rouhani has described the political talks leading to the nuclear deal as a potential blueprint for pursuing peace in the Middle East.

Vatican offers homeless new mother a place to live

Vatican officials offered to house a homeless woman who gave birth near St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday.
Italian police found the woman while patrolling the area—she had given birth on a piece of cardboard around 2 a.m. Wednesday, according to CBS News.

Officers covered the mother and child in their jackets to protect them from the near freezing temperatures, later taking them to a nearby hospital.

The woman received a visit from Monsignor Konrad Krajewski, who carries out Pope Francis’ charity missions. He offered her space at a home owned by the Vatican for mother and babies in need.

According to a Vatican spokesman, the woman has not decided if she will accept the offer.

PHOTO: Africa's Tallest Statue Of Jesus Unveiled In Nigeria

Africa welcomed its largest ever statue of Jesus after an unveiling ceremony took place in Abajah village in Imo state, eastern Nigerian on New Year Day.

According to The News, the 8.53 metre (28 foot) tall “Jesus de Greatest” statue commissioned in 2013, was built by a Chinese company and  carved in white marble.

The huge statue of Jesus which was recently unveiled in Imo state. Photo: NAN

Hundreds of Catholic priests and worshippers besieged St Aloysius Catholic Church in the village to behold its unveiling which was commissioned by Obinna Onuoha, a local businessman.

Onuoha it was, who hired the Chinese company to carve the statue and place it in the grounds of a 2000-capacity church that he built in 2012.

The man who said he has had the dream of erecting the statue since he was 26years old, said: “It’s the biggest statue of Jesus on the continent. Definitely pilgrims will come.”

THE CELEBRATION OF CHRIST THE KING IN MAKURDI

This Sunday in the Catholic calendar is the Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King, the last Sunday of the Church year. (Next Sunday will be the First Sunday of Advent and the first day of the Church’s calendar). It is implicit in the feasts of Epiphany, of Easter, of Ascension.

The feast of Christ the King is celebrated in the Roman Catholic church in honour of Jesus Christ as lord over all creation. This feast of was created by Pope Pius XI in 1925. This is a medieval feast which uses the metaphor of “King”, a powerful one in those days, to describe the role of Jesus. The Kingdom of God is the central teaching of Jesus throughout the Gospels. The word kingdom appears more than any other word throughout the four Gospels. Jesus begins His public ministry by preaching the kingdom. "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel (Mark 1:14).

 CLICK HERE TO READ MORE ON CHRIST THE KING SUNDAY 

Over here in Makurdi the Capital of Benue State, There was procession from St. Theresa Parish High Level down to Holy Ghost Catholic Church. The event was rounded up with the Adoration of The Blessed Sacrament.

 CLICK HERE TO READ POPE MESSAGE FOR CHRIST THE KING 

Check out images and a video clip below:

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"Leave church doors open"- Pontiff declares

In the wake of the Paris attacks, churches have now been working on upgrading security but Pope Francis advises against this.

The pope maintains that the church must stay open despite all these terror fears.
"Please, no armoured doors in the Church, everything open," the 78-year-old pontiff told pilgrims in St Peter's square, Italy.
"There are places in the world where doors should not be locked with a key. There are still some but there are also many where armoured doors have become the norm.

"We must not surrender to the idea that we must apply this way of thinking to every aspect of our lives, ... " Francis said, "To do so to the Church would be terrible."

He urged the Church to keep its doors open to lapsed believers who are considering returning and to the hundreds of thousands of migrants arriving in Europe from Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.

HOMILY FOR THE 31ST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME OF THE YEAR (B).

WHEN IS LOVE REALLY LOVE?


Rev. Fr. Boniface Nkem Anusiem PhD.

Have you experienced love before? What does it seem to love or to be loved? Is there fake and real love? What is love? Where is love? How is love? Is love what we feel; that is affection? Remember that feelings fade but love never dies (1 Cor.13:8). Is love equivalent to likeness? Remember likes often turn to dislikes! What actually is love and when is love real? Let us reflect on these and more issues connected with love.

On the 14th of April 1912, the greatest maritime tragedy in sailing history occurred with the R.M.S Titanic. The sea vessel was the largest at the time with state of the art accompaniments which included aboard gymnasium, swimming pool, restaurants and park. The passengers in the epoch-making voyage were the exclusively rich at the time who wanted to be reckoned with the first voyage of one of the best from White Star Line. There were also few poor and lucky folks who were emigrants to North America who got free tickets. In all, there were more than 2,224 passengers on board.

With sixteen watertight compartments in a 1/6 mile long hull, the captain Edward John Smith made a pre-voyage boast that “not even God could sink the Ship”.(Of course God does not sink ships he rather saves them). The Titanic left Southampton to New York for her first sail on the historic 10th of April 1912.

While screen playing the story as a movie, James Cameron created two characters that made the movie “Titanic” to get universal acclaim. Hence as the Ship began her journey, fate brought about the meeting of two young people who later became love birds. Rose was of the super-rich class and was by family arrangement to marry a man from another rich family while Jack was one of the poor lucky emigrants heading to North America to search for better living. As the interaction between Rose and Jack grew, they came to connect and eventually fell in love.

An hour before midnight on the 14th of April 1912, amidst a starry moonless night, the Titanic collided with an iceberg which the crew noticed late in the midst of late night merriment. The formidable Ship broke into severally pieces while letting in the freezing North Atlantic Ocean water to engulf the Vessel. Unfortunately, rescue came a bit late and there were few lifeboats. Those in the first class were evacuated first which would have made it possible for Kate to have the option to escape death leaving Jack behind but she could not. She preferred to go through it all with Jack.

They struggled together to survive the raging freezing ocean water. At last there was just a platform left for them to hold unto. Rose clung unto it on top while Jack had his entire body inside the grisly cold water. He kept on encouraging Rose to hold and never to give up. Before a rescue could come, Jack was entirely frozen and died. Rose was eventually rescued!
While recounting what happened that eventful night after many years as an old woman, Rose said that she could only remember that a young man, out of love that she could not describe, gave up his life so that she could live. If we are asked to describe in one word what Jack did for Rose, the most fitting word would be sacrifice! The word sacrifice itself has a lot to do with love. To love one must let go something that is precious and that entails making a sacrifice. So to define love we must keep our eyes on sacrifice.

In the First Reading today (Deut.6:2-4), we are presented with the instructions given by God to the Israelites. Among other things God said: “Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might”.
If we examine the above instruction very closely, we will discover some pertinent points. First and foremost it was a command. Some translations would say: “You MUST love the Lord your God…” To show the seriousness of the instruction it began by summoning them to HEAR; to pay attention; to LISTEN. Furthermore, this love of God is to be done with the fullness of three important personal effects:

1) With all your heart: The heart is mentioned up to a thousand times in the whole of the bible. In Hebrew it is known as lebab and in Greek it is known as kardia. The heart is the seat of physical, emotional, and moral activities. In fact people are known to be good or bad from the point of view of their hearts. In the gospel of Matthew (15:18-20) our Lord Jesus Christ mentioned that it is not what goes into someone that defiles the person but what goes from inside; that is from the heart. It is from there that all evil proceeds. Loving God with all our hearts means that we allow our hearts to be God-full, leaving no space for any other thing. It means giving God our hearts

2) With all your soul. The soul is the most important aspect of the human person that survives after the death of the body. It is often used interchangeably with life. In Genesis (2:7) we are told that God breathed on man after making him from the dust of the earth and he became a living soul. Our soul represents everything about us. Without the soul we are no more. To love God with all our soul means submitting our entire being to God.


3) With all our might: Might has a lot to do with strength; not just physical strength but also spiritual strength. In the book of Judges (6:12) Gideon was greeted as “mighty man of valour”. In Ephesians (6:10) Paul advised saying: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might”. Loving God with all our might means channelling all our physical and spiritual strength to God.

From what we have above, we can clearly see that loving God with all our heart, soul and might means sacrificing everything about us to God. A practical example of giving all these to God was the action of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Dan.3:1ff). For the sake of their love for God, they were ready to lose everything including their lives however, God gave them back what they offered and even more.
In the Gospel Reading today (Mark 12:28-34) we discover that the instruction about love continued. One of the Scribes came to our Lord Jesus Christ and wanted to know which of the commandments could be the first. That is the most important of all. The man could be representing the men and women of his time (and of our time too) who were (are) confused as to what could be the most important of the commandments.

The Scribe who came to Jesus Christ wanted him to give preference to one of the commandments over and above others. May be as a Scribe he had been confronted with the same question or he wanted to size the opinion of our Lord to know the extent he knew the law. In whichever way, the response our Lord gave was indeed very remarkable. He quoted for him the passage we examined in the First Reading (Deut.6:2-4) about loving God and concluded with a passage in Leviticus (19:18) which says: “Love your neighbours as yourself”. In essence our Lord is of the view that the greatest commandment is the commandment of LOVE.
From what we have above, our Lord Jesus Christ gave us the two dimensional expression of love: to God and to our fellow human beings. In any case, it will be pertinent to examine how we can achieve these. The love of God is not achieved by saying it: “I love God”. It begins first from knowledge of God. The book of Hosea (4:6) says that “My people perish for lack of knowledge!” It is very clear and indisputable that you cannot love what you do not know! That could be fantasy, lust or infatuation. From knowledge and communication, you connect. That is the due process to love. Love seeks to express itself in selfless giving; an example is what our Lord Jesus Christ did for us. A selfish person cannot love effectively because his/her self-interest will always block the way to reaching out to others.

Love strictly seen is the seed of every good thing. Love is the reason why Jesus Christ came into the world (Jn 3:16), love is the reason why he preached and worked miracles (Matt. 9:36; Mark 6:34). Love is the reason why he went to the cross to die (Rom 5:8). Love is the reason for our salvation. Love answers all questions! Love is the only thing that can decide our fate after leaving this world. Love is a seed which every right thinking Christian must always sow.
Part of the reason why love as a phenomenon seems to be hard to define is that it is another name for God and God is not easy to define or describe. 1 John 4:8 tells us that “whoever does not love does not know God for God is love”. No wonder then St. Paul (1 Cor. 13:7) said that love conquers all things; this means that everything is subject to love which is God.

To love is not optional as most of us think. It is a commandment which carries a lot of consequences. In John (13:34) our Lord Jesus Christ said: “I give you a new commandment Love one another as I have loved you”. It also identifies who we are: “If you love one another everyone will know that you are my disciple” (John 13:35). Love is not based on conditions or conveniences. For some people their love is seasonal: the season of abundance; when things are going fine. The litmus test for love are critical times like the one Rose and Jack experienced at the Titanic tragedy and the love Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had for God to the extent of marching into to the burning furnace.
Today our Lord Jesus Christ has given us the assignment to examine our love quotient. Do we love just by words of mouth, just by flowers, paintings, writings, messages and others materials gifts or do we practice and actualize love by our selflessness! Love is really love when it is selfless and sacrificial!

Happy Sunday and blessed week ahead!

Fr. Bonnie
(fatherbonny@hotmail.com).