David Michael Okechukwu's Blog

St Rose of Lima (1586 - 1617) She was born in Lima, in Peru. She lived a life of selflessness and devotion from an early age. She refused to marry, and became a Dominican tertiary at the age of 20. Her asceticism and her intense spiritual experiences excited the criticism of her friends and family and the suspicion of the Church authorities.     She cared for the sick, the poor, Indians, and slaves.     She was the first person in the Americas to be canonized, and is a patron saint of South America.      Saint Eugene (- c.618) Ireland Eoghan or Eugene of Ardstraw was a native of Leinster, and, after presiding over the Abbey of Kilnamanagh (Co. Wicklow) for fifteen years, settled in the valley of Mourne (Co. Tyrone), his mother’s country, about the year 576. He was followed by many disciples. He was consecrated first Bishop of Ardstraw in about 581. His name is generally latinised as Eugenius, but the Irish form i...

Wednesday of week 20 in Ordinary Time   or Saint Rose of Lima, Virgin  Liturgical Colour: Green. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Ps 83: 10-11 Turn your eyes, O God, our shield; and look on the face of your anointed one; one day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. ________ Collect O God, who have prepared for those who love you good things which no eye can see, fill our hearts, we pray, with the warmth of your love, so that, loving you in all things and above all things, we may attain your promises, which surpass every human desire. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Judges 9:6-15 All the leading men of Shechem and all Beth-millo gathered, and proclaimed Abimelech king by the terebinth of the pillar at Shechem.     News of th...

ST JOHN KEMBLE (1599-1679) 22 Aug (where celebrated) John Kemble was one of the oldest of the martyrs, being 80 when executed. He was from near Hereford, being born into a Catholic family in 1599. He studied for the priesthood at Douai where he was ordained priest, and worked as a priest in England and Wales for 54 years. He founded several missions, some of which were still functioning well into the 19th century. In 1678 he was caught up in the aftermath of the “gunpowder plot” (this was a fictitious plot invented by Titus Oates and is now known as the “Popish Plot” to distinguish it from Guy Fawkes’ plot of 1605). He was cleared of all involvement of this and was eventually condemned for being a “seminary priest”. Before his execution he said: “I die only for professing the old Catholic religion, which was the religion that first made this kingdom Christian” He was hanged, drawn and when dead quartered at Widemarsh Common on 22 August 1679.

QUEENSHIP OF MARY  This feast of Queenship of Mother Mary was established by Pope Pius-XII by his encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam dated October 11, 1954. Mother Mary was proclaimed as "Theotokos" meaning "one who gives birth to God" or "God bearer" in the Council of Ephesus in the fifth century A.D.. Jesus is always the king of humanity and naturally His mother must have a share in the Kingship of Jesus. She is the Heavenly Queen and is referred as the woman clothed with sun and having a crown with twelve bright stars, in the book of Revelation. God has given to Mother Mary a great role to play in the eternal salvation of humanity, when she became the mother of the God's only Son, Jesus. She was conceived without any original sin that became a religious dogma in the year 1854 (Immaculate Conception). Mother Mary is the gate to the Heaven, and through Her only mankind can enter the Heaven. Holy Virgin Mother Mary, Queen of Heaven and Earth, have merc...

Tuesday of week 20 in Ordinary Time  (Our Lady, Mother and Queen ) Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 44: 10 At your right stands the queen in robes of gold, finely arrayed. ________ Collect O God, who made the Mother of your Son to be our Mother and our Queen, graciously grant that, sustained by her intercession, we may attain in the heavenly Kingdom the glory promised to your children. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Judges 6:11-24 The angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah which belonged to Joash of Abiezer. Gideon his son was threshing wheat inside the winepress to keep it hidden from Midian, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘The Lord is with you, valiant warrior!’ Gideon answered him, ‘Forgi...

  St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153) He was born near Dijon, in France, in 1090, of a noble family. In 1112 he joined the new monastery at Cîteaux. This had been founded fourteen years before, in a bid to reject the laxity and riches of the Benedictine Order (as exemplified by great monasteries such as Cluny) and to return to a primitive poverty and austerity of life.     Bernard arrived at Cîteaux with four of his five brothers and two dozen friends. Within three years he had been sent out to found a new monastery at Clairvaux, in Champagne, where he remained abbot for the rest of his life. By the time of his death, the Cistercian Order had grown from one house to 343, of which 68 were daughter houses of Clairvaux itself.     Bernard was a man of great holiness and wisdom, and although he was often in very poor health, he was active in many of the great public debates of the time. He strongly opposed the luxurious lives of some of the clergy, and fou...

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time  Liturgical Colour: Green. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Ps 83: 10-11 Turn your eyes, O God, our shield; and look on the face of your anointed one; one day within your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. ________ Collect O God, who have prepared for those who love you good things which no eye can see, fill our hearts, we pray, with the warmth of your love, so that, loving you in all things and above all things, we may attain your promises, which surpass every human desire. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Isaiah 56:1,6-7 Thus says the Lord: Have a care for justice, act with integrity, for soon my salvation will come and my integrity be manifest.     Foreigners who have attached themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love his name and be his servants – all...

Saint John Eudes (1601 - 1680) He was born and died in Normandy. He was ordained priest and spent many years preaching parish missions. He organized a congregation of nuns that grew into the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity, dedicated to the care of women rescued from a disorderly life, and a congregation of priests dedicated to the running of seminaries. He was active in encouraging devotion to the Sacred Heart, and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.     In his time the Church in France was corrupt and in many ways a source of evil rather than grace. The higher clergy were rich and privileged, and enjoyed and guarded their privileges (the country was run, and wars were waged, by a cardinal). The lower clergy were ignorant and the common people were poor, superstitious, and oppressed as much spiritually as materially. To this mix was added the poison of Jansenism, which taught that human nature was corrupt, original sin rampant, and perfection was both necessary for sal...

Saturday of week 19 in Ordinary Time  or Saint John Eudes, Priest  or Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary Liturgical Colour: Green. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 73: 20, 19, 22, 23 Look to your covenant, O Lord, and forget not the life of your poor ones for ever. Arise, O God, and defend your cause, and forget not the cries of those who seek you. ________ Collect Almighty ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters, that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Joshua 24:14-29 Joshua said to all the people, ‘Fear the Lord and serve him perfectly and sincerely; put away the gods that your ancestors ...

St. Joan of the Cross St. Joa was born in a place called Anjou in France on June 18, 1666. After the death of her mother, Joan inherited the family business. She was running a shop near the shrine of Virgin Mary. She was so greedy for money that she opened the shop even on Sundays. During those days no one used to open the shops on Sundays expecting more sales on Sunday. But she met a poor beggar woman named Francoise Fouchet on the Pentecostal day in the year 1693 and that poor woman somehow touched the heart of Joan. Joan got sympathy on this woman and asked her to stay with her in the house. A sudden change of mind has happened in Joan after seeing this widow. Then after this incident, she wanted to do some service for poor people. Therefore she closed her family business and started spending her entire time doing good deeds and for doing penance. She founded 12 religious houses, schools etc. She founded a congregation of St. Anne of Providence of Samur, which was approved by V...

Thursday of week 19 in Ordinary Time Liturgical Colour: Green. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 73: 20, 19, 22, 23 Look to your covenant, O Lord, and forget not the life of your poor ones for ever. Arise, O God, and defend your cause, and forget not the cries of those who seek you. ________ Collect Almighty ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters, that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Joshua 3:7-11,13-17 The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This very day I will begin to make you a great man in the eyes of all Israel, to let them be sure that I am going to be with you even as I was with Moses. As for you, give this order...

St. Stephen of Hungary St. Stephen was from a very noble family and was born in the year 997 to father Prince Geza and mother Sarolt of Hungary. He married Giselle, the daughter of Duke Henry-Ii of Bavaria. He took very sincere efforts to spread Christianity and extended patronage to Church leaders. St. Stephen was anointed as king of Hungary by Pope Sylvester-II on the Christmas day in the year 1001, with the consent of the Holy Roman Emperor Otto-III. St. Stephen dedicated his crown to Holy Mary, during the coronation. His only son Emeric died after being wounded in a hunting expedition in the year 1031. Therefore St. Stephen was having no son left to rule his Kingdom. So in his death bed he raised the Holy Crown by his right hand and prayed to the Holy Mary to take the Hungarians as Her subjects and to become the Queen of Hungarians. He died on August 15, 1038, on the commemoration day of the Assumption of Mary. St. Stephen’s right hand is kept as a relic and is called as the...

Wednesday of week 19 in Ordinary Time  or Saint Stephen of Hungary Liturgical Colour: Green. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 73: 20, 19, 22, 23 Look to your covenant, O Lord, and forget not the life of your poor ones for ever. Arise, O God, and defend your cause, and forget not the cries of those who seek you. ________ Collect Almighty ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as your sons and daughters, that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which you have promised. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Deuteronomy 34:1-12 Leaving the plains of Moab, Moses went up Mount Nebo, the peak of Pisgah opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land; Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the la...

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary - Mass of the Day   (see also Vigil Mass) Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass These readings are for the day of the feast itself: ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Rev 12: 1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Or Let us all rejoice in the Lord, as we celebrate the feast day in honour of the Virgin Mary, at whose Assumption the Angels rejoice and praise the Son of God. ________ Collect Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant, we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever....

Assumption of Mary Virgin Mary remained in the world with the Apostles for some time after Jesus ascended to heaven. But she also died when the time fixed for her by the God came and was buried by the Apostles. But tradition says that The Apostle St. Thoma was not present during the death and burial of Virgin Mary but came after a few days. He was very anxious to see at least the face of the mother once. The Apostles were also eager to see the face of the mother again. So they opened the grave but to their astonishment the body of Virgin Mary was not there. God has not left the body of the Virgin Mary to decay but has taken Her to heaven with body and soul. Death was only a way for The Holy Mother to enter heaven. Mother Mary is the only way for every disciple of Jesus, to enter heaven. Mother Mary was the ladder through which Jesus descended to this world. Therefore we must use the ladder, Mother Mary, to go to heaven and for eternal bliss. 

The song lyrics for today is that of TATIANA MANAOIS titled LIKE YOU. It got me thinking about my own potentials as a young man and what l could do with my own uniqueness that no one else has in the world.  Enjoy this piece and leave your comment below. ARTISTE : TATIANA MANAOIS  SONG TITLE : "LIKE YOU" You got to get up You got to get up and make a move 'Cause the world will never see you until you do No, they don't really care what you're going through So you got to show them, baby You got to show them the real you You got to give them what you've got No, don't let them see what you're not 'Cause you are strong, you are wise You are worth beyond the thousand reasons why And you can't be perfect, baby 'Cause nobody's perfect, darling But, no, no, no, there's nobody in the world like you What do you do when you can't let go? What d...