Fr. Ken's Pastoral Care

Readings: Deuteronomy 4:32-34.39-40; Psalm 33; Romans 8:14-17 and Mathew 28:16-20. THREE PERSONS IN ONE GOD.    The Old Testament often presents a monotheistic idea of God. That is, One God who stands as a Father and Creator of heaven and earth. Until the emergence of Christ in the New Testament, was there any knowledge of God the Son who is the redeemer? From the Son, we hear the promise of God the Holy Spirit, who is the sanctifier. Are these three persons one and the same God or different from each other? This has led to so many controversies, of which we will begin with a brief historical view, to a biblical background and culminate with a catechesis on the Trinity.   Historically, religious divisions came from conflicting beliefs about God , rather than any conflict between theism and atheism. This division has caused many to look keenly to the nature of God. Among the ‘many’ was Arius who fell into heresy, known as the Arian heresy in the fourth century. W...

Pentecost Readings: Acts 2:1-11; Psalm 104; Galatians 5:16-25 and John 15:26-27; 16:12-15.  DOES THE HOLY SPIRIT PROCEED FROM THE FATHER ALONE OR FROM THE FATHER AND THE SON?    Today we celebrate Pentecost Sunday, a day when the Church recalls the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Mary and the Apostles, the beginning of the Church and the start of her mission to all tongues and people and nations. As today officially ends the season of Easter, tomorrow we shall continue with the ordinary season. In attempt to understand the outpouring of the Holy Spirit this day, can we affirm that the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father alone or from the Father and the Son?   Traditionally, the day of Pentecost was a Jewish feast held 50 days after Passover. The first fruit of the wheat harvest presented to God at the passover is also celebrated this day, and so it is called the day of the first fruits (Nm 28:26). It marked the day when the Law was given to Israel. On ...

Unity and Love Readings: Acts 1:15-17.20-26; Psalm 103; 1John 4:11-16 and John 17:11-19.  THE PRAYER OF JESUS CHRIST: UT UNUM SINT (THAT THEY MAY BE ONE).    Thursday last week, we celebrated the Solemnity of Ascension of the Lord into heaven, which begins the fulfilment of Christ’s promise of the Holy Spirit. For pastoral reasons, this Solemnity is celebrated today in some part of the world. Meanwhile, the Catholic Church in Nigeria celebrates the seventh Sunday of Easter, which emphasizes Jesus Christ’s prayer of unity and love to his Father. Christ communicates this to us his disciples in other that we proclaim it to every spheres of life.   As we continue to walk through the Gospel of John and Acts of the Apostles this Easter season, we observe that after the ascension of Christ, in the time of the Apostles, the unity of the Christian community was threatened because of the admittance of Gentiles (Pagans) into the Church, which led to the Council of Jeru...

The Ascension Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47; Ephesians 4:1-13 and Mark 16:15-20.  IS BAPTISM SUFFICIENT FOR SALVATION?    In a country like Nigeria where her citizens seems to be hopeless of the future, for those who believe,   we still have recourse to someone who gives us hope as seen in today’s liturgy. “ He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ” Celebrating Christ’s Ascension to heaven is another form of His presence with us, which gives us hope of eschatology (life after death).   The Ascension of Christ into heaven is a holy day of obligation, traditionally celebrated on Thursday as popularly believed that this event took place on a Thursday, forty days after the resurrection of Christ. However, in some parts of the world, this solemnity is celebrated on Sunday in other to enable the faithful working or schooling in non-Catholic/Christian organization or schools have a full participation of it...

God is Love Readings: Acts10:25-26.34-35.44-48; Psalm 98; 1John 4:7-10 and John 15:9-17.  THE CENTRAL THEME OF JOHN’S GOSPEL     A way to describe the Easter season is walking through the Gospel of John and Acts of the Apostles. While the synoptic Gospels have the central theme of the Kingdom of God, being expressed by the miracles performed by Christ, John’s Gospel on the other hand, has the central theme of love. This is what we are called to reflect on today, the pro-active love of God and the commandment to love one another, with Christ as our yardstick.   When we talk of love as the central them of John’s Gospel, we emphatically speak of the Divine Logos , which is seen as the prologue of John 1:1ff (In the beginning was the Word…). The Divine Logos is Christ himself, the ‘Word’ that was with God, became flesh and dwelt among us . Scholars such as Karl Rahner calls it ‘Transcendental Anthropology,’ using the anthropological point of view (the human natur...