FAITH AS (AND REAL) DIVINE ECONOMY

 

Faith (in Christ in the Holy Eucharist) is the very essence of our life and it is the divine economy to be utilised amongst the faithful towards life within this realm of existence.

Faith, is not just about belief, it is about education and is to be broadened into awareness and the source of creativity.

‘Faith’ in the Real Bread is the real daily bread, which is the real source of our derivation of an awareness and knowledge about the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of earning our daily bread. That is why Christ counselled that we labour for the meat which endures towards eternal life, which is the Holy Eucharist.

Faith in Christ comes first, not secular knowledge. The former when properly applied should constitute a proper and lasting source for the latter.

Faith is the real work which is an awareness in the Church built on the Rock, Petrus from which comes forth the water of life: The Holy Spirit towards creativity.

Faith in Christ is the money of the Church. This is what He needs from us in order to act in the world, and if we are in the Church, the individual faith assists the communal faith, such that the more we have it the more we are aware that its utilisation cannot be hoarded but is more profitable if it is used for the entire community, such that whoever has more is given even more. The more you give, the more you acquire!

Christ does not ration the Spirit. He lavishes it to the good and the bad alike, and we gain its real benefit and utilisation by an awareness (faith) of this non-hoarding nature of Christ and the egalitarian constituent of His Church which is His Body.

Our physical nature of the Church as a constituent must tap into this spiritual reality of the utility of faith.

The Spiritual Church is reformed Communism by nature. Everything is held in common.  But it is an unforced Communism. The Capitalist arm of the Church is one who is still unenlightened and is still a baby in the faith.

The more of faith you let go, the more of it you have, and faith in Christ, being the primal source of real civilisation is the real and divine economy, and its ‘gold standard’ is rooted in the confession of Peter.  

This taps back into Baptism in the Church and what ought to be our primal task: making efforts to get people baptised into Christ through the Church in order for them to gain from such an immense benefit.

It’s like ‘benefits system’. Once you are a Citizen and have ‘recourse to public fund’, you are essentially covered.

Baptism in the Church confers that citizenship to the gold standard of faith in Christ where we can be assured of safety without a forced – but non-presumptive- benefits of the divine economy of faith in Christ. A faith which is also essentially the source of our perpetual world economy!

 

6/8/23

Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord  

Were Ni'se Oluwa... Pay Attention

Pay attention to what is happening during these days, an era of changes 

How lingering barriers are being silently and noiselessly broken 

Pay attention to the providence of the many credit cards which helped ease your birthday and book launch celebration 

Pay attention to the conglomeration of your families during your birthday 

Pay attention to how the Lord is easing you through breakthroughs regarding your accommodation

Pay attention to the sudden appearance and information from Aunty Tope Ekundayo

Pay attention to the coming back of SPAPTAN to the Church after 3 years 

Pay attention to the starting of Framat and the integration of your endeavours under her

Pay attention to the financial escapes through these benefits applications 

Pay attention to both the progress of the Synergy and Physics Projects 

Pay attention to the many blooming features great and small 

Pay attention to these positive works of the Holy Spirit , for

Were Ni'se Oluwa...

Pay attention . 

We Celebrate March !

 

40 years as ago was the earliest birthday I knew when Dad celebrated my 10th birthday (with Toyin). It was great but how I longed and wished Mum was physically there, but I wasn’t privileged to see my Mum witness my 10th birthday for she’d passed away few months earlier.

‘Aye t’esin o je, iru idi’e t’o ba mu suuru a je ni irinwo’

This is more of my celebration as hers, as she clocks 10. My mother become my daughter has been granted the mercy of having her mother and father intact. We do not take that for granted.

‘Eni t’o ni iya (ati baba) ko mo’yi , eni ti’o ni ni ki e bi! Oluwa a da wa si fun awon omo wa o. Olorun Alaaye a da awon omo wa so fun wa o’

‘A dupe fun gbogbo eyin ebi ti e se oju-seeyin, e seun a mo o l’oore o.

Iro ope ni a o ma a gbo ni agbala olododo. Nkan aayo ni a’a ma ba ara wa se o.

‘Aridunu ni Oluwa fi se won fun wa, won o ni di ari sokun o’

Mercy is 10!

The Lord has truly been gracious and merciful!

Ti Oluwa ni gbogbo ogo!

My Input for the Synodal Process in Osogbo Diocese

 

1. Get Priests into studying Sciences, especially Physics. The more time proceeds, the more the relevance of science and faith shall confluence.

 

2. Get Catechumen preparing for Confirmation to do the Life in the Spirit Seminar as a preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. No sane person can deny the experience of the Life in the Spirit Seminar.

 

3. Added to Philosophy and Theology, the formal study of Leadership and Management should be incorporated into the syllabus for those preparing for Priesthood.

 

4. As the traditional churches give way to modern English-speaking Pentecostalism, the Catholic Church shall with time remain the only Christian champion of Yoruba tradition in our land. And as the world delves openly deeper into hidden knowledge, specialists should be raised among Priests in the study of our culture, especially the deeper ‘forbidden’ aspects of it in order to properly inculturate, guide and guard the numerous who flock to these esoteric dangers irrespective of what is being taught on the pulpit.

 

5. The culture of the individual celebration of Baptismal days should be proactively championed by the Church.

 

6. In-depth research to be made on the spirituality behind Black Maria. Mary is Black.  Not as a matter of sentiment but as a fact of reality. Without transcending physiology and entering into consciousness, this will sound all pure nonsense, but we cannot properly resolve the human concern without addressing the primordial ‘blackness’ of Mary. This should begin by having the audacity to create a Black Maria grotto in all our parishes.

 

7. At least 25% of our Diocesan budget should be invested in the religious, cultural and scientific education of the youths. This is the real Sustainability that should be practiced. Catholic children, young and youths should be nurtured and cultured just as one carefully puts rare gardening species in the nursery and cultivate. Young people are the strength of Africa and the most potent force of the Church and the world. They should be prepared for the leadership position awaiting them in the Church and in the world.

 

8. I don’t know how it’ll work but I know this present condemnatory attitude of Pentecostalism will not serve the Catholic Church in our land well. Courageous Collaboration must be fostered with other faiths and especially with Pentecostals. Picking what is good of them and condemning lovingly what is bad. The attitude of closed condemnation which is presently the norm will not help us to grow and face the draconian ideologies that are imminent.

 

9. Our Graveyards should be accorded proper proactive material and spiritual dedication. Physical maintenance of our gravesites must be a constant norm. Our problems generally as a nation have been compounded because of the neglect of our dead.

 

10. We should be more radical about the Eucharist. Few people believe and yet the Eucharist is everything. Its sacrificial significance should be pointed out more (Mass) since we are sacrifice obsessed in our land. The Eucharist should not be preached only when Jn:6 is read, it should be the focus of everyday preaching at Mass. A Eucharistic culture should be the breath of every Parish, that is where our Renaissance would be found.

 

11. A cultural dialogue and encounter with people of other faiths such as Islam and Traditionalist should be initiated.  The dualistic rationale for action in my opinion may be untenable in the long run. A true survivor is one who can thread in Grey, and from there be able to discern Black and White. This is tough in our culture because we’ve built an environment of winner takes all, but without the intelligence or stooping in Grey in order to win the White, we run the risk of losing all to Black. It is work, but it is necessary to work!

 

12. The concept of welfare support should be a parish affair and not be narrowed down to St Vincent de Paul. ‘Egbe alaanu to ni’lo aanu’. There should be a real structural initiative to address individual needs in the Parish. This may cause rancour but it was also a problem in the early church, and in my opinion, it should be the starting point for faith. Priests should cultivate enough detachment to let the deacons champion this. And where are the deacons? The church should have the humility to ordain spiritually-minded professionals as deacons to manage the Church’s temporal affairs. Priests should only stay as general overseers and devote more time to the Word. That was what the early church did.

 

Fr Madewa’s Thanksgiving/Itunu Mi baptism day

 

PFL

First of all, thank him for holding the fort for me. Yobo did not even raise any eye eyebrow when I returned and he said Fraser came on site, he asked for me yet all went smoothly. Mo dupe o Oluwa. Oramonisefayati  

coincidence? watch the happening of today o ni meaning

even when we've got no clue what or how to do, He takes over the initiative

Nigeria pilgrimage. The necessary journey back

During the COVID period, as I saw the necessity of motherhood as biology, land, and school, Fr Madewa’s acceptance to give us communion became a sign of the land of my birth coming to our aid and rescue during the great ordeal.

When we were invited to Father Madewa’s Mass. I saw it as a beckon from my land, (touching from the past sign) and considering all that Fr Madewa has done for us. We owe him that respect. So I wanted that we all attend, even though I would be working

The idea was that Dear and the kids come with Uber while I drive down to meet them. But then events at St. Peter’s coincided: Dear's baptism day, Mass booking for 3 pm and her scheduled to be reading same time.

I saw this as a call for her to do this task to hold on to the journey forth (St Peter’s)  while I go on the journey back( Nigeria chaplaincy) since she is me, and I am her. We will both be riding the journey forth and back.

The coincidence of today being her baptism day is also very significant considering it is all about motherhood. And this is projected even more when the ceremony of the consecration to Our Lady and the renewal of our baptism vow was conducted by Fr Madewa at the chaplaincy. Coincidence?

I saw these as an induction into the consecration of our trip to the motherhood of Mary. During the Great baptism day of my wife who represents biological motherhood and as we make plans to plight our motherland of Nigeria, today represented by the chaplaincy. Still coincidence?  

Itakun to s’ogba, lo s’agbe, lo s’elegede. Watch this space.

just saw today is the feast of Jacinta and Francisco and we made a consecration to Our Lady of Fatima in the church too.  Reminiscence of our memorable pilgrimage to Fatima.

The only way is through. The Lord made us survive with Eucharistic communion. At the heart of the lockdown, he made us survive no vaccination, even with the VCOD coercion. I’m assured he will make us survive the journey back to Nigeria.

2022: Before Naija Travel 

 

Mom

 So, I was pondering today, what is it about 40?

40 days, 40 years, 40 hours…

Presentation, Exodus, after Baptism ….

40, seems to me, to be the period of the completion of a process, an era, a phase….

This 40, in my opinion, is both subjective and objective

I experienced this ‘subjective’ phase years back with the domino accumulation of blessings

which resulted in marriages, travels, children, etc for us

Now, here is an objective experience, as in, actual 40 years after her passing

I don’t know… but I know this:

‘Se l’ayo wa sese bere….’

Mercy Titilayo Akinola is living her glory

and it is an accumulation of glory unto glory!

Keep resting in the bosom of the Lord Mum

That is another thing: 'Oku olomo ki’i sun'

Rest is really not about sleep

It is about gusto, about vibrancy, about Mercy

23/01/23

Deacons and Welfare Supports in Church

 

Introduction

 

The concept of welfare support should be a parish affair and not to be narrowed down to just specific groups. There should be a real structural initiative to address individual needs in the Parish. This may cause rancour but it was also a problem in the early church, and in my opinion, it should be the starting point for faith.

Priests should cultivate enough detachment to let the deacons champion this. And where are the deacons? The church should ordain more spiritually minded workers and professionals as deacons to manage the Church’s temporal affairs. Priests should only stay as general overseers and devote more time to the Word. That was what the early church did.

 

1.    What are Deacons doing and what should they be doing in the church?

I do believe there has to be a new or rather broadened job role for deacons in the Church, which should be coordination and meeting the temporal needs of parishioners.

There is a heavy burden on Parish priests in the overall work of meeting the spiritual, mental, and material needs of the parish. These needs are increasingly difficult to detach from each other.

When these practical issues are not properly approached priests are either overburdened or parishioners are alienated when they feel no one does care for their ordeals.

Come to think of it, lots of parishioners’ prayers still stop on the temporal end, and as such the practicability of a pragmatic need of localized meeting of temporal need could be where the diaconate can find its reform.

The deacon can start by coordinating the workers in the parish in order to integrate the contribution of their expertise into the mission of the parish with continual feedback to the priest so that as souls are being fed spiritually, there are practical initiatives in place toward meeting their temporal need even on the parish level. 

I am aware that the Catholic Church is one of the largest charities in the world but this impact seems not to be felt by those in most need on the Parish level.

These workers when properly coordinated can meet the diverse needs of the parish. For instance, properly coordinated legal assistance, urgent building fixing at home, or medical attention.

I am aware that there are legal implications and risk management issues that have to be put in place, but the entire salvation decision itself comes as a risk decision. To close our eyes to these practical needs of parishioners means we are more interested in preserving honour than in saving souls. 

The new deacon in my opinion should be able to be the link between the Clergy and the Laity. Many laities are absorbed with real practical temporal concerns and surviving the pressures of each day, which are increasingly difficult for priests to manage in postmodern times.

These are not far-fetched from what the deacons were doing in the early church.

Without a proper contemporary structure that is practical enough in meeting the concerns of parishioners, we may continue to have issues with the engagements of parishioners on the parish level.

 

2.    Parish Welfare Call Centre

With the vast array of communication methods available nowadays, it is necessary that parishes have means and processes of continual and personalized engagements with parishioners in order to give them a sense of belonging.

This could be through the use of text messages, WhatsApp messages, or through the individualizing of email postings like Mailchimp or Convert Kit. Whatever method is preferred, it is necessary that church workers, probably coordinated by deacons and reported to Parish priests, have a proper system of welfare calls, logging, and reporting system in place so that individual parishioners can be engaged with and issues followed up.

I am aware that there are regulations like GDPR et al, but this should not be a hindrance to ensuring that parishioners feel cared for and that the parish stays abreast of what is happening to each of them.

This sort of idea requires proper professional coordination and it may be difficult to put in place initially, but once it becomes a culture, like the daily booking of Masses, it is something that would immensely assist the life and well-being of each parish and parishioner.

There is a close link with the first and second points mentioned in this writeup so that during calls if there are issues with parishioners, this can be logged and if it were spiritual issues, signposted to necessary prayer groups, or if they were temporal matters, signposted to the needed worker group as explained in point 1 above.