David Michael Okechukwu's Blog

Monday of the 3rd week of Eastertide  or Saint Joseph the Worker Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon The Good Shepherd has risen, who laid down his life for his sheep and willingly died for his flock, alleluia. ________ Collect Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, putting off our old self with all its ways, we may live as Christ did, for through the healing paschal remedies you have conformed us to his nature. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Acts 6:8-15 Stephen was filled with grace and power and began to work miracles and great signs among the people. But then certain people came forward to debate with Stephen, some from Cyrene and Alexandria who were members of the synagogue called the Synagogue of Freedmen, and others from Cilicia and Asia. They found they could not get the better of him because of his wisdom, and because it w...

Oh our Lady, Queen and Mother of Nigeria we beseech thee, We we come to your throne of grace seeking your face In a special way in this year of celebration  Of the Marian year and centenary of Fatima  We come to you this year, Mother of the Holy Family  To intercede for our troubled families  We come to you, Help of Christians  To intercede for the persecuted Christians in Nigeria  We come to you our Lady of perpetual help  To intercede for our country and our leaders  We come to you especially, Our Lady of Fatima  In this centenary of your appearance in Portugal  When you brought peace to that once troubled country  And as we mark that historic moment this year,  We beg of you to do the same in our country, Nigeria  Obtain for us that peace which can only come from Heaven : Peace in our hearts, homes, places of work and our nation  May the celebration of the Marian year in Nigeria  And t...

Mother Teresa Says:   "Yesterday is gone and tomorrow has not yet come; we must live each day as if it were our last so that when God calls us we already, and prepared, to die with a clean heart."

Blessed Marie of the Incarnation (1599-1672) Canada Born in Tours, France, Marie married and had a son before her husband, Claude Martin, died. He left behind a struggling business that Marie was able to make profitable before selling. Free to pursue her religious inclinations, she experienced a mystical vision on 24 March 1620, that set her on a new path of devotional intensity. After working with a Spiritual Director for many years, she decided to enter the Ursuline Convent in Tours to try her vocation. She abandoned her son to the care of her family, but the emotional pain of the separation would remain with her. Later, when her son become a monk, they corresponded candidly about their spiritual and emotional trials.     Sometime near 1638, Marie de l’Incarnation was guided by visions to go to Canada and found a convent. Marie, along with two Ursulines and Madame de la Peltrie, landed at Québec City in August 1639. They managed to found the first hospital in Canad...

St. Pius V He was born on January 17, 1504 in Bosco, Italy. His birth name was Antonio Ghislieri. He entered the Dominican Order when he was 14 years old and took the name Michele. He was ordained a priest in 1528 and he taught theology for sixteen years before becoming master of novices and prior of many Dominican Houses. Pope Pius-IV consecrated him bishop on September 14, 1556 and made him cardinal on March 15, 1557. In spite his closeness with pope Pius-IV, he opposed the pope Pius-IV when the pope tried to make one of his relative aged 13 years as cardinal. After the death of pope Pius-IV, Michele was elected pope on January 7, 1566 and took the name Pius-V. After becoming pope he continued to wear the Dominican white cassock that led to popes wearing white cassocks. He deprived himself of many customary luxuries of popes and spent long time in prayer. He observed the spirit of Dominican Rule throughout his life. When Emperor Maximilian-II of Germany tried to abolish clerical...

3rd Sunday of Easter Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 65: 1-2 Cry out with joy to God, all the earth; O sing to the glory of his name. O render him glorious praise, alleluia. ________ Collect May your people exult for ever, O God, in renewed youthfulness of spirit, so that, rejoicing now in the restored glory of our adoption, we may look forward in confident hope to the rejoicing of the day of resurrection. 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 Acts 2:14,22-33 On the day of Pentecost Peter stood up with the Eleven and addressed the crowd in a loud voice: ‘Men of Israel, listen to what I am going to say: Jesus the Nazarene was a man commended to you by God by the miracles and portents and signs that God worked through him when he was among you, as you all know. This man, who was put into ...

Saturday of the 2nd week of Eastertide  (Saint Catherine of Siena, Virgin, Doctor ) Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Here is a wise virgin, from among the number of the prudent, who went forth with lighted lamp to meet Christ, alleluia. ________ Collect O God, who set Saint Catherine of Siena on fire with divine love in her contemplation of the Lord’s Passion and her service of your Church, grant, through her intercession, that your people, participating in the mystery of Christ, may ever exult in the revelation of his glory. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading Acts 6:1-7 About this time, when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenists made a complaint against the Hebrews: in the daily distribution their own widows were being overlooked. So the Twelve called a full meeting of the disciples and addressed them, ‘It wou...

St. Catherine of Siena She was born on March 25, 1347 in Siena, Italy. Her parents were Giacomo di Benincasa and Lapa Piagenti. Her mother gave birth to twin daughters when she was 40 years old named Catherine and Giovanna. Giovanna died early. It is reported that Catherine had her first vision of Jesus Christ when she was five years old, when Jesus smiled at her, blessed her and left her in ecstasy. She vowed chastity when she was seven years old. When her elder sister Bonaventura died at child birth, Catherine’s parents wanted Catherine to marry the widower of her elder sister. But she refused to do so and lived a secluded life of penance and constant prayer. On seeing the position of Catherine, her parents gave up the idea of her marriage. She then joined as a tertiary of the Third Order of Saint Dominic, wearing black and white habit. In about the year 1366 she experienced a mystical marriage with Jesus as per her biography written by Raymond of Capua. She also received stigma...

St St Peter Chanel (1803 - 1841) He was born in France, at Cuet (near Belley), in 1803. He had been a priest for three years when he was accepted by the Marists, a missionary order. He was sent out to evangelize the island of Futuna in the Pacific, where cannibalism had only recently been banned by the local ruler, Niuliki. At first all went well, and Father Chanel and his lay assistants made many converts; but as he learned the local language and gained the confidence of the people, Niuliki became jealous and fearful; and the baptism of his son and his son’s friends was the last straw. While Father Chanel’s companions were away, Niuliki sent men who set upon him and clubbed him to death. His mission had lasted only three years: he is the first martyr of the South Seas. St Louis Mary Grignion de Montfort (1673 - 1716) He was born to a poor family in 1673, at Montfort-La-Cane in Brittany, and was ordained at the age of 27. He had a deep devotion to the Blessed Virgin, and...

Friday of the 2nd week of Eastertide   or Saint Peter Chanel, Priest, Martyr   or Saint Louis Marie Grignion de Montfort, Priest  Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Rv 5: 9-10 You have redeemed us, Lord, by your Blood, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made us into a kingdom, priests for our God, alleluia. ________ Collect O God, hope and light of the sincere, we humbly entreat you to dispose our hearts to offer you worthy prayer and ever to extol you by dutiful proclamation of your praise. 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 Acts 5:34-42 One member of the Sanhedrin, a Pharisee called Gamaliel, who was a doctor of the Law and respected by the whole people, stood up and asked to have the apostles...

Wednesday of the 2nd week of Eastertide  Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Cf. Ps 17: 50; 21: 23 I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will tell of your name to my kin, alleluia. ________ Collect As we recall year by year the mysteries by which, through the restoration of its original dignity, human nature has received the hope of rising again, we earnestly beseech your mercy, Lord, that what we celebrate in faith we may possess in unending love. 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 Acts 5:17-26 The high priest intervened with all his supporters from the party of the Sadducees. Prompted by jealousy, they arrested the apostles and had them put in the common gaol.     But at night the angel of the Lord opened the prison gates and said as he led them out, ‘Go and stand in ...

Mother Teresa Says   "Without patience, we will learn less in life. We will see less. We will feel less. We will hear less. Ironically, rush and more usually mean less.

St Mark   He was a cousin of Barnabas and accompanied the apostle Paul on his first missionary journey; later he followed him to Rome. He was a disciple of Peter, and his gospel is told from Peter’s point of view. He is credited with founding the Church in Alexandria. His body was stolen from Alexandria in 828 (though some say that the wrong bones were stolen) and taken to Venice, which adopted him as its patron saint.  We read a passage in the Gospel of Mark (14:51, 52) 'And a certain young man was following him (Jesus), clothed in a linen sheet over his naked body. And they tried to seize him, but he left the linen sheet and escaped naked'. This incident occurred at the Garden of Gethsemane. Whether this young man was Mark? Many researchers say that the young man escaped naked was Mark only, which clearly shows that Mark was closely associated with Jesus and his last hours in the world. How Mark was able to follow Jesus and his apostles to the Garden of Gethseman...

Saint Mark, Evangelist - Feast  Liturgical Colour: Red. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Mk 16: 15 Go into all the world, and proclaim the Gospel to every creature, alleluia. ________ Collect O God, who raised up Saint Mark, your Evangelist, and endowed him with the grace to preach the Gospel, grant, we pray, that we may so profit from his teaching as to follow faithfully in the footsteps of Christ. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. ________ First reading 1 Peter 5:5-14 All wrap yourselves in humility to be servants of each other, because God refuses the proud and will always favour the humble. Bow down, then, before the power of God now, and he will raise you up on the appointed day; unload all your worries on to him, since he is looking after you. Be calm but vigilant, because your enemy the devil is prowling round like a roaring lion, looking for someone to eat. Stand up to...

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied. “Look closer”, he said, “a...

Monday of the 2nd week of Eastertide   or Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen, Priest, Martyr  Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon Rm 6: 9 Christ, having risen from the dead, dies now no more; death will no longer have dominion over him, alleluia. ________ Collect Grant, we pray, almighty God, that we, who have been renewed by paschal remedies, transcending the likeness of our earthly parentage, may be transformed in the image of our heavenly maker. 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 Acts 4:23-31 As soon as Peter and John were released they went to the community and told them everything the chief priests and elders had said to them. When they heard it they lifted up their voice to God all together. ‘Master,’ they prayed ‘it is you who made heaven and earth and sea, and everything in them;...

I have a friend named Monty C. Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Isidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up. “That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit o...

St. George He was born in between the years 275285 A.D. in Lydda, now in Israel, in a Greek noble family. His father was Gerontios, a Greek officer in the Roman Army and mother Polychronia. His name in Greek is Georgios, meaning 'worker of the land'. After the death of his parents, George went to Nicomedia and applied for a soldier job before Emperor Diocletian. Since the Emperor knew George’s father and he welcomed him for the job. He was promoted as a Tribune at the age of 20 years and stationed as an Imperial guard of the Emperor. But when the Emperor Diocletian issued an edict in the year 302 at the advice of his Caesar Gelarius that every soldier should sacrifice to the Roman Gods, George refused to worship the Roman Gods and disobeyed the edict. Emperor Diocletian tried to change the mind of George because of his friendship with the father of George but George sternly refused to worship the Roman Gods. So on the orders of the Emperor Diocletian, George was tortured ...

Divine Mercy Sunday (2nd Sunday of Easter) Liturgical Colour: White. Readings at Mass ________ Entrance Antiphon 1 Pt 2: 2 Like newborn infants, you must long for the pure, spiritual milk, that in him you may grow to salvation, alleluia. Or 4 Esdras 2: 36-37 Receive the joy of your glory, giving thanks to God, who has called you into the heavenly kingdom, alleluia. ________ Collect God of everlasting mercy, who in the very recurrence of the paschal feast kindle the faith of the people you have made your own, increase, we pray, the grace you have bestowed, that all may grasp and rightly understand in what font they have been washed, by whose Spirit they have been reborn, by whose Blood they have been redeemed. 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 Acts 2:42-47 The whole community remained faithful to the teaching of the a...