RESPONSE TO CRY FOR HELP OF A SEMINARIAN BY REV FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR ON WEDNESDAY 12TH MAY 2010
Wednesday: 12th May 12, 2010: 1: 11am
Hello Dear,
How are you battling with your exams, I hope all is well over there? Everybody is fine; just remember us in your prayers.
It is very penitent to say that experiencing this world full of miseries, struggles, enemies, worst still sin. Can one still be a priest and be a man? The joys and sorrows of priesthood are what border me most. What is the meaning of life without happiness? Where can that happiness be found excluding “God”. My identity is so much important that even what I do with it seen or unseen, still that wonderful voice still speaks to me O BOY WHAT ARE YOU DOING? What is the essence of all my philosophical and theological studies that only a sixteen year old girl can pull me down, what a shame? People who cluster around you in the name of love and they mess you up and go away. Their demands are always contrary to your identity even in the mist of their wonderful promises. WHAT A CONTRADICTION? This call lies in the consciousness of my identity but how can we live this life of priesthood without the world? The glories of this world are so wonderful, interesting, and enjoyable. How can one enjoy them and still be in communion with his God? Considering the fact that life is too short to waste it and too long to bear its misuse. Just consider these questions and many which will come later. Make effort to reply this mail as soon as possible.
RESPONSE:
I will not leave YOU as an orphan in my vineyard, Christ the Eternal Priest is telling you, inasmuch as you put on your sincere best without fear or favour. Let your daily endeavours gear towards the Parousia (Divine Presence). Please spend at least quarter an hour before the Sanctissimum and tell him what you think of your personal response to your questions, but make sure that you listen to him too. Christ knew that we are weak yet he called us and so you are not excluded.
The dignity of a human person is a supernatural gift. In humans when the egg and sperm mixes they form human being, but the INTEGRITY of a person is rather from God. Animals reproduce but do not produce INTEGRITY, therefore your vocation is a gift of integrity which of course you ought to maintain as a person. NOTHING (eternal forces: family, psychosomatic, friends, worries-intra or extra) should be a barrier between your VOCATION and the GIVER OF THIS GIFT. Be aware that the dignity of the work does not depend on the work, rather from the spirituality of the person who does the work, because work is done by the birth of LOVE, and Christ is that love, hence as priests and seminarians we are not just ALTER CHRISTUS or working IN PERSONA CHRISTI, but we are properly IPSE CHRISTUS. Ipso facto, going back to the temptation narrative of the synoptic, we owe Christ a lot, hence CAREFULNESS in relationship with people is highly commendable, but not without total trust in God and confidence in OUR BLESSED MOTHER MARY. The Psalmist, related to us of: THE MAJESTY OF GOD and THE DIGNITY OF MAN in Ps. 8, in every situation God takes care of us, that is why the Psalmist said: “Quid est homo, quod memor es eius, aut filius hominis quoniam visitas eum? Minuisti eum paulo minus ab angelis gloria et honore coronasti eum et constituisti eum super opera manuum tuarum, omnium subiecisti sub pedibus eius. – What is man that you should keep him in mind, mortal man that you care for him? Yet you made him little less than a god; with glory and honour you crowned him gave him power over the works of your hand, put all things under his feet” (4-6).
Saturday 31 December 2011
GOOD FRIDAY MEDITATION
Good Friday 10th April 2009, meditation at Santuario Monasterio di Montevergive Mercogliano by Rev Fr Paul Ikechukwu Ogujoffor.
The day is still and tranquil,
Nature is at its most calm condition,
No noise is heard,
The weather is brightened by the chilled sun.
God-man is symbolically at Gethsemane,
Jesus is experiencing the naive quietude of man’s concept,
Though his nature was Divine,
He accepted human nature to uplift and up-grade the son-ship of man.
Human nature abhors stillness,
Man by nature is an enemy to calmness,
Human beings are in constant turmoil,
This is so because we are in warfare with the creator of serenity.
The mystery of Good Friday is a form of contradiction to man’s likings,
Man prefers freedom in his search to be engaged,
This engagement which suppose to be Christological,
Are thwarted by immorality and deliberate cum conscious spiritual debasement.
Lord Jesus, as you hang on the cross for me,
Look not on my selfish desires and ambitions,
My thoughts are full of distracted imaginations,
Permit me to share in your divine silence.
O Lord, your death is LOVE for me,
Yet, I abhor this divine gesture by my sins,
I am in continuous dislike and abhorrence of your love to me,
May I understand that love, so that I may be saved.
O Lord, by my sins I continue to renew your wounds,
The blood and water from your sides are the great signs of my salvation,
Yet each time I deliberately contaminate them with my stupidity in sin,
Yet, what is my being that you care for always?
By your mystery Lord, you raised me to the highest point as a human,
Lord, you allowed me to be configured in your priesthood,
You drew me to yourself as to share in your power of creation,
This power of creation, I, mere and wretched creature exercises in my priestly duties daily in the church.
O Lord, for the many times I have shared in your sacramental creation unworthily, pardon me of my insensibility,
For the uncountable scandals which I have committed consciously or unconsciously , Lord erase completely the idea from the hearts and heads of those involved, for their sincere love and respect of your priesthood,
For the sacrileges which I have plundered myself into, Lord Jesus make me innocent and pure once again,
For many vocations to the priesthood and religious life which I have failed to nurture or encourage consciously or unconsciously by my indifference, O Eternal high priest pardon me and call them back to your service.
The day is still and tranquil,
Nature is at its most calm condition,
No noise is heard,
The weather is brightened by the chilled sun.
God-man is symbolically at Gethsemane,
Jesus is experiencing the naive quietude of man’s concept,
Though his nature was Divine,
He accepted human nature to uplift and up-grade the son-ship of man.
Human nature abhors stillness,
Man by nature is an enemy to calmness,
Human beings are in constant turmoil,
This is so because we are in warfare with the creator of serenity.
The mystery of Good Friday is a form of contradiction to man’s likings,
Man prefers freedom in his search to be engaged,
This engagement which suppose to be Christological,
Are thwarted by immorality and deliberate cum conscious spiritual debasement.
Lord Jesus, as you hang on the cross for me,
Look not on my selfish desires and ambitions,
My thoughts are full of distracted imaginations,
Permit me to share in your divine silence.
O Lord, your death is LOVE for me,
Yet, I abhor this divine gesture by my sins,
I am in continuous dislike and abhorrence of your love to me,
May I understand that love, so that I may be saved.
O Lord, by my sins I continue to renew your wounds,
The blood and water from your sides are the great signs of my salvation,
Yet each time I deliberately contaminate them with my stupidity in sin,
Yet, what is my being that you care for always?
By your mystery Lord, you raised me to the highest point as a human,
Lord, you allowed me to be configured in your priesthood,
You drew me to yourself as to share in your power of creation,
This power of creation, I, mere and wretched creature exercises in my priestly duties daily in the church.
O Lord, for the many times I have shared in your sacramental creation unworthily, pardon me of my insensibility,
For the uncountable scandals which I have committed consciously or unconsciously , Lord erase completely the idea from the hearts and heads of those involved, for their sincere love and respect of your priesthood,
For the sacrileges which I have plundered myself into, Lord Jesus make me innocent and pure once again,
For many vocations to the priesthood and religious life which I have failed to nurture or encourage consciously or unconsciously by my indifference, O Eternal high priest pardon me and call them back to your service.
LABOURERS IN THE LORD'S VINEYARD
“… A LABOURER DESERVES HIS WAGES” LK.10,6- ALL TO THE GREATER GLORY OF GOD. BY REV FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR, S.P.S. OKIGWE.
God never allows his servants to be in want’,
And the Psalmist said: “The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want”,
Indeed Christ was aware of this,
Hence he said, ” a labourer deserves his wages”.
Christ mandated us priests of the necessary things needed in the mission,
He also knew of the difficulties involved,
Hence he said, ” I am sending you out like a lamb among wolves”,
He also emphasized, “if you want to be my follower carry your cross everyday and follow me”.
Being a labourer in Christ’s vineyard implies imitating him,
This imitation is engraved in the sincere following of Christ,
For Christ, we are to be sustained in the vineyard,
In union with other things the wage ought to sustain us individually.
As a sincere servant our “WANTS” should not be prior to our “NEEDS”,
When the “spirit of want” is more than the “spirit of need” in the priestly life,
There is always a cohesion between spirituality and morality,
Indeed egocentricism and bankruptcy in priestly dignity evolves.
The result of this is lack of shame,
No shame in our urge for the pursue of money,
No shame in an unholy competitions,
No shame in our words and actions.
When we become “breadwinners” outside the sincere mission of Christ,
Our personal wants increases in geometric progression,
Then our hearts and minds will travel even faster than sound,
Thereby the genuine sacrifice of priestly life is in total eclipse.
In my priestly life I need to re-emphasize the virtue of detachment,
The spirit of detachment will help me increase the sincere love of the wage,
The wage ought not be weighed or equated in quantity,
For the spirit of weighing increases the inordinate search of “wants”.
This inordinate search of “wants”,
Makes the priest to be “invisible” (unavailable) in his area of apostolate,
When he is visible (available) many a time he is incomprehensible,
Why? Because his thoughts, words and actions mostly in liturgical services are incoherent.
God never allows his servants to be in want’,
And the Psalmist said: “The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall want”,
Indeed Christ was aware of this,
Hence he said, ” a labourer deserves his wages”.
Christ mandated us priests of the necessary things needed in the mission,
He also knew of the difficulties involved,
Hence he said, ” I am sending you out like a lamb among wolves”,
He also emphasized, “if you want to be my follower carry your cross everyday and follow me”.
Being a labourer in Christ’s vineyard implies imitating him,
This imitation is engraved in the sincere following of Christ,
For Christ, we are to be sustained in the vineyard,
In union with other things the wage ought to sustain us individually.
As a sincere servant our “WANTS” should not be prior to our “NEEDS”,
When the “spirit of want” is more than the “spirit of need” in the priestly life,
There is always a cohesion between spirituality and morality,
Indeed egocentricism and bankruptcy in priestly dignity evolves.
The result of this is lack of shame,
No shame in our urge for the pursue of money,
No shame in an unholy competitions,
No shame in our words and actions.
When we become “breadwinners” outside the sincere mission of Christ,
Our personal wants increases in geometric progression,
Then our hearts and minds will travel even faster than sound,
Thereby the genuine sacrifice of priestly life is in total eclipse.
In my priestly life I need to re-emphasize the virtue of detachment,
The spirit of detachment will help me increase the sincere love of the wage,
The wage ought not be weighed or equated in quantity,
For the spirit of weighing increases the inordinate search of “wants”.
This inordinate search of “wants”,
Makes the priest to be “invisible” (unavailable) in his area of apostolate,
When he is visible (available) many a time he is incomprehensible,
Why? Because his thoughts, words and actions mostly in liturgical services are incoherent.
GOLDEN JUBILEE OF MARRIAGE
HAPPY GOLDEN JUBILEE (50 YEARS) CELEBRTAION OF YOUR SACARMENT OF MATRIMONY MR FRANCIS XAVIER NYARWEGENDEHO AKIIKI AND MRS NYARWA JANE ROSE MASIKO AKIIKI of KITARASA FORT-PORTAL DIOCESE IN UGANDA AT KITUMBI PARISH TODAY 11TH FEBRUARY 2011
Christian marriage is a covenant and a Sacrament but not a contract. The Word of God invites us to reflect over the marital and conjugal love; and the chastity with faithfulness therein. Marriage is Sacrament of love and covenant, also a mystery of infinite togetherness. It is a sacrament of love and not a contract of love. This is a sacrament because it is a mystery. It is not a contract as very many think and does also hence ought to be kept and seen as such. If we believe it is a covenant then it demands love and sacrifice from both the husband and the wife, for no third party is needed for the execution of solemn promise made before the people of God in the Church by both of you (MR FRANCIS XAVIER NYARWEGENDEHO AKIIKI AND MRS NYARWA JANE ROSE MASIKO AKIIKI) on 11th February, 1961at VIRIKA CATHEDRAL CHURCH UGANDA, because whatever God has joined nobody should put asunder (Mk.10:9). Today, Friday 11th February 2011in KITUMBI PARISH after fifty (50) years both of you are re-echoing and making anew the promise, now in the presence of your Church’s hierarchy, many priests and religious men and women including your first Son a priest, REV FR CHARLES LIGHT and other children of yours, your grand children, relatives, in-laws, friends and many Christ’s faithful. Indeed this is a real and sincere concrete act of love and great joy, hence an appreciation of marriage dignity. Be aware that the slogan: “Variety is the spice of life” has no foundation in real and concrete conjugal love in marriage life. This is because it is a Sacrament of Love, the Mystery and Covenant of infinite togetherness; not a contract of love. Marriage is all about sacrificial love and covenant. Manifested in the consent when each couple says, “In good health and in sickness, in riches and in poverty, I will love you till death do us part”, therefore anything outside of this sacrificial love and covenant is bigamy, concubinism, adultery, promiscuity, moral licentiousness or immoral living within the marriage wedlock. Therefore, sincerity is the key to openness; Openness is a short cut to appreciation in marriage, appreciation is an expression codified in acceptance of each person’s imperfections and acceptance is the foot-match towards expression of genuine marital love. In concreteness there is full of relationship, relationship is the manifestation of feelings; feelings in marital reactions help each couple to grow, hence this growth finds fulfillment in the promise at the exchange of consent. Love is that which we cannot be tired of given, progress of marital concern cannot be devoid of charity, Charity makes way to concreteness, and therefore concreteness cannot be hidden in marriage. It was in view of this that you expressed your indelible love in the choice and meanings of the names you gave to your children thus:
1. FLORENCE (from Latin derivative means FOLLOWER, ADHERENT or SUPPORTER OF THE NATURE’S BEAUTY OF FLORA) NIGHT BROWN
2. GRACE (from Latin etymology GRATIA, which is GRACE meaning GOOD WILL) AGRIPPINA
3. [REV FR] CHARLES (from German origin signifies FREE MAN, no wonder then he freely chose to be a priest) LIGHT.
4. EDWARD (of German origin signifying HE WHO TAKES CARE OF THE PROPERTY or OWNERSHIP, coincidentally immediately after the first son who is now the Church’s property, the beloved Edward becomes the successor of he who takes proper and direct care of the family after the father FRANCIS XAVIER) MUGANZI (Beloved)
5. ANGELINA (derived from Greek and means MESSENGER or HARBINGER OF GOOD NEWS) MUHUMUZA (Consoler)
6. STEPHEN (of Greek origin signifying HE WHO IS CROWNED, because of his strong Faith in God) KUGONZA (Love)
7. MARY (from Egyptian it signifies SHE WHO IS LOVED BY GOD or BELOVED LADY BY GOD, and from Hebrew means LADY) GORETTI KANYIGINYA
8. ELIZABETH (derived from Hebrew signifying GOD HAS SWORN AN OATH or GOD IS PERFECTION) TUSIIME (Let us give thanks to God)
Hence both of you (MR FRANCIS XAVIER NYARWEGENDEHO AKIIKI AND MRS NYARWA JANE ROSE MASIKO AKIIKI) as you are celebrating your Golden Jubilee 50 years of Sacrament of Matrimony today Friday February 11, 2011 the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Lourdes, always be aware that the word MARRIAGE uniquely reminds both of you as one body these things:
M - MARRIAGE is a covenant keep to it.
A - ADMIT the things you cannot change in life.
R - RESPECT is a must to be shown to each other.
R - REASONING together for the smooth going of the family is an obligation.
I - IMITATE the Holy Family (JESUS, MARY and JOSEPH) in the Bible and INSIST on good moral behaviours of your children, even now they are all grown up and your grand children.
A - ACCEPT each person’s imperfection and ADD his or her virtues to yours.
G - GIVE no third party a chance in your marriage, so that what God has joined nobody should put asunder.
E - ENCOURAGING each other ought to be a daily duty.
From, REV FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR (OKIGWE DIOCESE NIGERIA)
M - MARRIAGE is a covenant keep to it.
A - ADMIT the things you cannot change in life.
R - RESPECT is a must to be shown to each other.
R - REASONING together for the smooth going of the family is an obligation.
I - IMITATE the Holy Family (JESUS, MARY and JOSEPH) in the Bible and INSIST on good moral behaviours of your children, even now they are all grown up and your grand children.
A - ACCEPT each person’s imperfection and ADD his or her virtues to yours.
G - GIVE no third party a chance in your marriage, so that what God has joined nobody should put asunder.
E - ENCOURAGING each other ought to be a daily duty.
PRIESTLY ORDINATION ANNIVERSARY
17TH PRIESTLY ORDINATION ANNIVERSARY OF REV FR CHARLES NYARWA LIGHT ABOOKI OF CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF FORT-PORTAL UGANDA ON THE FEAST OF TRANSFIGURATION OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AUGUST 6, 2011
The Mystery of Divine Manifestation or Epiphany is concrete in the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ. This Mystery of Transfiguration is concrete in the sacerdotal ordination which is manifested ontologically in the candidate at ordination of Catholic Sacred Priesthood. Christ as the Eternal High Priest, through the apostolic succession given to the Bishops, changes, transforms and transfigures man ontologically into a priest (Spiritual-Moral-Bridge between God and man). This is exactly what you (Rev Charles) experienced on the Solemnity of Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ on August 6, 1994 at CHRIST THE KING PARISH KITUMBI through your then Bishop, Most Rev Dr KALANDA PAUL AKIIKI. The family of MR FRANCIS XAVIER NYARWEGENDAHO AKIIKI and MRS NYARWA JANE ROSE MASIKO AKIIKI of KITARASA FORT-PORTAL in UGANDA, remembering their promise to God on January 15, 1965 when Charles was born, were highly grateful that in the family of a School teacher, God has chosen a teacher of Faith, Moral and Spiritual things in the person of their son REV FR CHARLES, Oh what a great privilege God has bestowed on this family. Indeed, years passes like a twinkle of an eye. Meditate on the aura of your “ontological-transfigured-personality” as a priest which you experienced sixteen (17) years ago. It seemed like a dream when the Lord delivered his Lord from bondage the Psalmist says. To you what does the priesthood seem like especially now that you are into the vineyard for 17 years? Does it still seem a Mystery and Transfiguration before you? Are you so familiar with the Eternal High Priest that the mystery of the priesthood is meaningless or common to you? The solemn promises you made before Christ, represented by the Bishop and the Christ’s faithful, how far have you gone with them within these 17 years in the service of the Lord? Do you still have the transfer of obedience which you promised the then Bishop to your present Bishop, Most Rev Dr ROBERT K. MUHIIRWA AKIIKI? Do you still remind yourself that you an ALTER CHRISTUS acting IN PERSONA CHRISTI and at the same time you are an IPSE CHRISTUS, who celebrates the TRINITARIAN LOVE daily in the sacraments? Therefore, always remember that solemn ordination exhortation: BELIEVE WHAT YOU TEACH, PRACTICE WHAT YOU TEACH AND IMITATE THE MYSTERY YOU CELEBRATE. Ipso facto, we wish to remind you that your whole life ought to be that of SACRIFICE, OBEDIENCE and HOLINESS OF LIFE, which is a form of IDENTIFICATION AND IMITATION OF CHRIST, THE ETERNAL HIGH PRIEST. The mystery surrounded by the priesthood of Christ is such that we ought to be constantly thanking God for choosing mere creature to be “HIS-SAME-SELF”. We ponder and meditate upon the power of absolution of sins, so great a mystery which is same with the power of creation, for in this mystery Christ the Priest re-creates, renews, re-born and make present SIMILACURUM DEI into an excellent and most pure form of humans. This privileged human enjoys being in a state worthy to commune and stay with his creator in the SANCTISSIMUM SACRAMENTUM celebrated yet by his “transfigured creature”, the priest. The power in and of the Word makes visible the “Invisible” in a very concrete form full of divine and celestial aroma. The FEAST OF TRANSFIGURATION vis-à-vis your priestly ordination ought to be seen in your daily life clearly from the word TRANSFIGURATION thus:
T – TRANSFORM all who come to you by what you are for Christ.
R – RESIST any form of unworthy inclination contrary to the Priesthood of Christ.
A – ADMIT your mistakes humbly even when they are made public.
N – NOTHING whatsoever should put off your mind from showing and giving people Christ all the time.
S – SANCTITY is the key to successful priestly ministry.
F – FORTIFY yourself always with constant union with God in your prayer life.
I – IDENTIFICATION with Christ is a sine qua non.
G – GOD ought to be projected in your service to humanity and not you as a person.
U – UNION with your Bishop and the Church is tantamount to humility to God.
R – REMAINING chaste all the time is a true celibate life.
A – ACCEPT the things you cannot change in life.
T – TEACH always with your life.
I – IMITATE your patron saint, it is also a way to IMITATE Christ.
O – OBEDIENCE to your Bishop at all time.
N – NO to sin always.
Therefore, looking back these seventeen years in the Lord’s vineyard, we wish to say congratulations and at the same time remind you of your endeavours to Christ’s faithful in these areas:
1) KAHUNGE PARISH September 1994 – December 1994, as Curate how was your ministry in your first year as a priest?
2) KAMWENGE PARISH January 1995 – January 1996, as Curate how did you exhibits your obedience and loyalty to the Bishop and his successors?
3) BUKWALI PARISH February 1996 – August 1998, as Parish Priest, did you still remember the good things you wished to do excellently whenever you are made the Parish Priest and were faithful to them?
4) YERYA SISTERS’ NOVICIATE August 1998 – October 2004, as Chaplain, can you imagine how many vocations you fostered by your sanctity of life or in the contrary how many that left the religious life because of you?
5) MABIRA PARISH October 2004 – August 2009, as Parish Priest, at this point do you still have the strong desire to work for the people of God irrespective of their ingratitude or were you insensitive to their flight and was only interested in your self?
6) ROME FOR STUDIES August 2009 - 22nd June 2011. How, has the change from Pastoral environment to Academic environment edified and brings in an increase or growth in your priestly life outside your diocese and country too? What are you thinking regarding the orientation and ongoing formation you accumulated academically and otherwise, more importantly as you have now specialized in Spiritual Theology in the enviable PONTIFICIA UNIVERSITÁ DELLA SANTA CROCE ROMA? Congratulations Rev Fr Charles Nyarwa Light Abooki. Tui est sacerdos in aeternem secundum ordinem Melchizedek.
From, REV FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR (OKIGWE DIOCESE NIGERIA)
ANNIVERSARIO SACERDOTALE
CONGRATULAZIONI DON ALESSIO ALASIA PER CELEBRAZIONE DEL SUO 12º ANNIVERSARIO DI SACERDOZIO PRESSO LA PARROCCHIA SAN MARTINO RICCIONE DIOCESI DI RIMINI OGGI 26 SETTEMBRE, 2010.
L'ufficio del sacerdozio è basato su sacrificio, l'obbedienza e la santità di vita che è Trinitaria o Teocentrico in natura con le sue funzioni nel Verbum Incarnatus. In prospettiva di questi, il sacerdozio cattolico è totalmente incarnato. Qualsiasi forma di vita fuori di questa vita sacerdotale, riguardo alla spiritualità, la moralità, sociale ed academico sono “un-devoto”, “un-sacerdotale” è “un inganno al sacerdozio ministeriale di Cristo” quale noi partecipiamo.
L'ordinazione al sacerdozio è la fine di un inizio. È un inizio perché la vita intera del sacerdozio cattolico è una formazione continua. Allora, perché il prete mai è in formazione e riforma con altri nel suo ministero sacerdotale. La sua vita dovrebbe essere un'influenza positiva e continua ad altri come Cristo lo volle per sè.
Io desidero umilmente perciò, riflettere il 12º anniversario di sacerdozio di DON ALESSIO ALASIA con i 12 Apostoli ' chiamati come Lei ontologicamente configurati in Cristo nel mistero del sacerdozio per essere un apostolo.
Dal 26 settembre 1998 al 26 settembre 2010, DON ALESSIO ALASIA è considerato un apostolo perché fu spedito alle persone per mostrare e dare Cristo a tutti.
Io desidero rendere grazie a Dio per il regalo del sacerdozio di Cristo in Lei. Sia consapevole che la Sua vita è quella dell’ Sacrificio, l'Obbedienza e la Santità.
Io medito così perciò, la Sua vita sacerdotale:
1) PIETRI (La Pietra) [Feb. 22 & giugno 29] - Come Pietro, sia sempre la pietra dalle quale tutti possano soddisfare e consolidare la loro fede in Cristo, il Sacerdote Eterno.
2) ANDREA (Virile e Bello) [Nov. 30] - Come Andrea, la Sua natura virile e la bellezza è un mezzo per allevare vocazioni al sacerdozio per la gioventù.
3) GIACOMO IL GRANDE (Camminando Sulle Piste di Dio) [luglio 25] - Il Suo cammino quotidiano sulle piste di Dio come Giacomo il Grande, possa sempre attrarre persone a Dio.
4) GIOVANNI l'Evangelista (Dio È Misericordioso) [Dec. 27] - Il Suo ministero sacerdotale come Giovanni l'Evangelista è ancorato maggiormente sulla misericordia di Dio nel Sacramento della Riconciliazione, celebrazione dell'Eucaristie Santa anche la proclamazione del Vangelo (il kerygma). Faccia tutto questo con gioia sempre senza mai lamentarsi.
5) FILIPPO (Innamorato Di Cavalli) [maggio 3] - Il Suo amore speciale per la natura egli esseri animali, come Filippo aggiunga posse vigore alla Sua felicità e amore nel ministero sacerdotale.
6) BARTOLOMEO (Figlio Coraggioso) [agosto. 24] - Come Bartolomeo, l'apostolato sia fruttifero nel Suo lavoro sacerdotale guarnito dal coraggio che è natura nel Suo stile del ministero sacerdotale.
7) TOMMASO (Il Gemello) [luglio 3] - La Sua celebrazione sacerdotale quotidiana dei Misteri in PERSONA CHRISTI e la Sua Relazione Umana ed equilibrata è come gemello della natura che significa Tommaso.
8) MATTEO (Il Regalo di Dio o Regalo Di Dio) [Sept. 21] - Il sacerdozio di Cristo che Lei esercita è privilegio da dividere, è un Regalo Di Dio che significa MATTEO, così dia senza carica come Cristo comandò.
9) GIACOMO IL PICCOLO (Camminando Sulle Piste di Dio) [luglio 25] - I miracoli fatti da Dio nelle Sue attività sacerdotali ogni giorno ed ogni momento rivela il più grande di Dio, sebbene Lei è meno che Dio ma A Dio Sia La Gloria come Giacomo il piccolo nel Suo apostolato.
10) JUDA TADDEO (Regalo Di Dio) [Oct. 28] - All'Ultima Cena JUDA TADDEO chiese a Dio perché lui si mostrò solamente ai discepoli e non al mondo (Gv. 14,22). Cosí è Lei partecipe discipolo di Cristo come JUDA TADDEO, che è il Regalo Di Dio-Cristo Stesso, sia mostrato e dato alle persone da Lei in tutto ció che Lei fa.
11) SIMON (Ascoltando) [Oct. 28] - Come SIMON l'Apostolo, ascolti sempre attentamente le persone specialmente nell'amministrazione dei Sacramenti nel Confessionale e come accada durante il rito di un matrimonio.
12) MATTIA (Regalo Di Dio) [maggio 14] - L'apostolato di MATTIA era fatto col potere dello Spirito Santo, che è il Regalo di Dio a MATTIA. Perciò come Lui divida questo regalo come apostolo, rimanga fedele.
In quel giorno fedele del 26 settembre 1998, la memoria dei SANTI COSMA E DAMIANO (i Martiri) Lei sia ontologico trasformato in un ALTER CHRISTUS davanti ai fedeli di Dio, sotto la successione apostolica del Suo vescovo. Sia consapevole che sacerdozio è martirio. Ricordandosi il gesto più simbolico di contatto di corpo col Vescovile all'ordinazione, quando Lei mise le Sue mani piegate in quello del Vescovo e lui le coprì con le sue, e chiese a Lei: Promette Obbedienza a me ed il mio Successore? E Lei rispose: Sì io Faccio e lui concluse con una preghiera: Dio che avviò questo buon lavoro in Lei lo porti a compimento e Lei rispose Amen.
Congratulazioni per il suo 12º anniversario sacerdotale, il 26 settembre 1998. Nelle parole di SANTA MONICA, “Figlio mi Ricorderó all'Altare Di Dio” cosí non cessare mai nel ricordare l'anima del Suo adorato padre all'Altare Di Dio ogni giorno sempre. Eterno riposo dona Lui Signore e riposo in pace. Amen. Auguri !!!
DON PAUL IKECHKWU OGUJIOFFOR (DIOCESI DI OKIGWE NIGERIA)
WOMANHOOD A GIFT (COMPLETE VERSION WITH THE ITALIAN)
HAPPY WOMEN’S FEAST DAY IN ITALY TODAY TUESDAY 8TH MARCH 2011, EVE OF ASH WEDNESDAY BY REV FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR
God is a giver of all gifts, while human beings are mere custodians of these gifts. Any being or gift that is worthy of goodness, excellence, wonderful, kindness, handsome and beautiful, takes it root from God therefore, we should constantly give thanks and praise to God for the gift of women to humanity and the world in general. Let us then know that women are beings that nature used also in upgrading the dignity of creation. Ipso facto, on this special feast day of women in Italy
W – WOMEN are special and extraordinary gift which God used in garnishing and showing his goodness in nature.
O – OUTSTANDING is the presence of any woman amidst the world’s beautifulness.
M – MATURITY in the world over that lacks recognizance of women, is debased of incompleteness.
A – ATTRACTION from any woman young and old as well, should help all in the struggle towards being attracted to the Most High God.
N – NEVER in the history of humanity in the world has there existed any success without a direct or indirect connection of a woman, either spiritually, morally, physically, financially or otherwise.
The gift of a woman by nature to the world brings out clearly the hidden ontological character of motherhood of nature. Therefore, each woman whether religious, consecrated lay, single or married, with or without any biological child of hers ought to always maintain this title of good motherhood, for it is evident in the nature of a woman and word motherhood:
M – MAINTAIN your integrity as a mother always
O – OFFER every thing to God in prayer each day.
T – TEACH always with good example.
H – HOLINESS is very necessary in your life, as much will always be expected from you.
E – ENDURANCE ought to be in all you do.
R – RESPECT to all, old as well as the young.
H – HOLD firm the good moral teachings of all that come to you.
O – OBSCENITY should be avoided in you as a mother.
O – OBEDIENCE ought to be emulated from you.
D – DO every thing at its proper time.
I significati da parola DONNA
D – DONO di Dio con cui, Lui fa la creazione molto interessente.
O – OFFERTA in cui Dio stablisce il Suo bellezza e amoresissimo paterna.
N – NESSUNO che cade dall’ albero, ma della meraviglioso natura e maternità di una donna.
N – NEANCHE cura che pó dare al mondo se non originalmente con carateristiche materna.
A – ALLA luce dal mondo, vediamo che la donna é in centro, accoanto, davanti e dietro.
Friday 30 December 2011
ANTHROPOLOGICAL-THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION
ANTHROPOLOGICAL-THEOLOGICAL REFLECTION ON HOPE IN LIGHT OF SPES SALVI OF BENEDICT XVI
BY PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR
Introduction
Man is a being that has total dependence on God. This dependency is not void from his personal effort or search for higher good. Hence he makes use of intellect, moral will and spiritual strength to go towards the Eternal and Highest Good (Summum bonum). Hope is of the human spirit as conative openness to reality, as outreach in search of the meaning and value of life. This value finds its fulfilment in God. In search of this value we cannot do without oppositions be it human, psychological or theological. Therefore be it as it may, the need for the use of intellect and knowledge is very much advocated towards our trust and hope in God. In fact it is a moral obligation which is our human nature ought to be complimented with from the God.
Hope as a virtue
In hope we were saved Rom 8: 24. As one of the three theological virtues, the three things that last 1Cor 13:13, hope has traditionally been understand together with faith and love as the modalities which described Christian existence. While Christian hope is a spes docta “learned hope”, hope itself is a fundamental human affect. In scholastic theology hope was understand as a part of the supernatural organism of the state of grace. In the state of glory love remains, but faith gives way to vision and hope cedes to possession. This is an interesting variation on the traditional Catholic teaching that faith and hope are caritate formata “formed by love”. In the light of Trinitarian formulation of the foundational Christian mystery of God’s self-communication to humanity through Christ and in the Spirit, hope becomes human hospitality for the divine guest.[1]
Therefore, hope is the enduring orientation of human will toward final union with God, considered as a goal that can be attained with God’s help, but without divine help impossible to attain. The theological virtue of hope was contrasted with two opposing vices, despair and presumption. Despair leads the individual to conclude that one cannot attain salvation, even with God’s help, whereas presumption leads the individual to believe that one is sure of salvation, or can attain it readily through one’s own efforts.[2] In his Summa Theologiae, Thomas Aquinas set out goal of human life as the happiness of seeing God and defends the attainability of this goal.[3] Discussing the theological virtues, he assert that “hope is such a disposition that embraces as its object a future good, namely eternal life or enjoyment of God”.[4] “Hope can also embrace intermediate goals and can look to a good both for oneself and others”.[5] Therefore, it both relies on God and is directed to God as a source of fulfillment for oneself, preparing the way for love that is directed to God altruistically.[6] Aquinas also discusses the practice of hope by linking it to the beatitudes and to the gifts of the Spirit.[7] The practice of the Christian virtue of hope, and a pastoral strategy to support it, requires means of cultivating creative imagination based, not on secular entertainment, but on the larger vision of a transcendent future that is gift and invitation of God.
The essence of Christian hope
Christian hope, focused on the reign of God, recognizes that human beings are essentially interdependent, and therefore called to love and care for one another, achieving personal happiness by looking beyond themselves. The challenge for Christian spirituality and pastoral strategy in our times is to rediscover in depth the personal and communitarian dimensions of the theological virtue of hope, and especially to keep discerning in changing circumstances the interdependence of the personal and social dimensions of hope for the true quest and welcoming of the reign of God coming among us.[8] Worthy of note is that the consequence of the re-finding of the centrality of eschatology in the Bible is a form of theological concentration on Christian hope. The Holy Father in his Spe Salvi, made a profound exposé of hope taking bearing from Pauline letter Spe salvi facti sumus – in hope we were saved Rom 8: 24. He discussed the eschatological character of hope as an exordium towards eternal life from numbers 10-12 of his Encyclical.
If we do not have clearly in mind what Christian hope means we may not be able to give events in our real life like when in pain, sorrow, misfortune, etc. Without this virtue one may fall into depression or even to the point of getting annoyed with God for things that do not go well in his life. Christ took on human nature with all its consequences, if we do not have this constantly in our thoughts, we may end up having aspects of our life which are unlinked with Christ’s life. All the aspects of life are present in God’s plan, thus no part of human life is absurd, if life is willed by God and has been loved by him, and there is always meaning to every life. The love that Christ did was to enable people to have a better future, seen as an earthly good to be enjoyed here as a preparation for eternal salvation. His love is for all since he wants us to have future life. Some words of Christ enable us to see that the kingdom of God in contemporary times. Through God’s grace our lives become converted into the live of sons of God and thus all the things that we do should be seen from point of view of the action of sons of God. The grace of God does not transform the earth in itself but only who those who act as children of God are able to give this world its rightful meaning. Ipso facto, “the true Christian, who acts according to his faith, always has his sights set on God. His outlook is supernatural. He works in this world of our, which he loves passionately; he is involved in all its challenges, but all the while his eyes are fixed on heaven. Saint Paul brings this out very clearly: quae sursum sunt quaerite (seek the things that are above), where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. Savour the things of heaven, not the things that are upon the earth. For you are dead, to worldliness, through Baptism, and your life is hidden with Christ in God”.[9]
This goes into buttressing the fact that for Christian faith, Jesus is the eschatological Son of Man, the definitive apocalypse of hope. In his words, deeds and destiny the Kingdom of God is revealed as God’s irrevocable commitment to humanity. In his crucifixion hope is defined as total self-surrender in trust to the God whose self-surrender to us is our salvation. In his resurrection the fulfillment of hope is anticipated for all humanity. Jesus is the prolepsis (“anticipation”) in the history of the destiny of history. Through his bestowal of the eschatological Spirit we are saved now as we await in hope the redemption of the bodies Rom 8:23.
The fruit of Christian hope
In the new language of hope in God, otherwise called apocalypticism, the apocalyptic symbolism radicalized and universalized hope by interpreting all of history in terms of a temporal dualism between ‘this age’ and ‘the age to come’. Beyond and transcending history, hope anticipated eschatological salvation in symbols of the Kingdom of God and the resurrection of the dead.[10] Therefore in what to hope for, “our aim is the very Love of God, to enjoy that Love fully, with a joy that never ends. We have seen in so many ways that things here below have to come to an end for all of us, when this world ends; and even sooner, for each individual, when he dies, for we cannot take wealth and prestige with us to the grave. That is why, buoyed up by hope, we raise our hearts to God himself and have learned to pray, in te Domine speravi, confundar in aeternum (“I have placed my hope in you, O Lord: may your hand guide me now and at every moment, forever and ever)”.[11]
Be it as it may for the kingdom of God, it is an interior reality although one has to exteriorize some things here on earth. It is both present on earth but will be perfected in the future. We enter into this kingdom through the grace of God which we receive in baptism. Many a time people remember the kingdom of God when there is a need for something to hope for especially in moment of crisis, not just economic. People who claim to have the solution to all the problems of the world, something similar to the situation of Israel just before the arrival of Christ. People want to change the state of things in a society, the state or in the Church and bring future; however they have a very narrow concept of the future. In the Church concept of life after death has a strong presence in the liturgy. In order to give hope of life after death to the people, salvation exists even though we may be living in the “valley of tears now”. Human life has no value without Christian hope. It is not easy to live the life of Christian in difficult moment, example in hunger, sickness, problems, insecurity, etc. It may be difficult to think of God to pray. Having many earthly goods does not impede one from God, the kingdom of God can be won bearing poor or rich, what is inside a person’s heart is what matters.
The symbiosis in theological virtue
In traditional Catholic theology, hope is identified as one of the virtues, together with faith and charity, by which the human person is oriented towards personal union with God in the Beatific Vision. Therefore, according to Catholic moral theologians, an attitude of hopefulness in God, or at least in some form of goodness that transcends the individual is an integral component of a good human life.[12] Hope resides in the will, because its proper object is the good, which is the object of the will, but charity and faith are more perfect than hope. The goods of this world fall under the secondary object of hope, but only to the extent that they can be useful to us for salvation. For this reason, St. Thomas says that, “apart from the salvation of our soul, we ought not to ask God for any good unless it is some way related to our salvation”.[13] The act of hope, even of unformed hope, is of itself good and virtuous. This is expressly stated in Sacred Scripture (cfr. Ps 119: 112; Mt 6: 33; Heb 11: 26) and be demonstrated theologically because eternal life is the supernatural ultimate end of man. Therefore, to work with one’s gaze fixed on this end is not only good and virtuous but also necessary. By the same token, in this life there is no state of perfection that habitually excludes the motives of hope. Hence, the principal characteristics of the virtue of hope in perfect souls are seen in the universal confidence in God, indestructible peace and serenity, the desire to die in order to reach heaven and heaven beginning on earth.[14]
Hope in Patristic Literature
In Patristic Literature, authentic Christian hope often expressed itself in a radically countercultural way of life. Ignatius of Antioch stressed Eucharist and community harmony as the principal ways of showing forth hope of Christian, but they also stressed endurance in persecution. Justin the Martyr sees the hope of Christians in his First Apology, in fidelity to community worship and in law-abiding, civically responsible lives, lived calmly and without resentment in spite of calumnies and persecution. Origen in First Principles and elsewhere gives more weight to contemplation and renunciation as the proper expressions of Christian hope, which he sees as referring mainly to an afterlife. Lactantius in Divine Institutes Bk 7 lays stress on properly understanding the plan of God as the basic component of the practice of hope. These authors were concerned about the Christian way of life as expressing practically the hope offered by God’s promise. In the early centuries, the First Letter Clement of Rome and the Didache hold out the expectation of the parousia, or triumphant return of Christ, a resurrection of the dead, and general judgment, but they are not explicit about what would follow that judgment. In the Medieval era, regarding the devotion to the Dead, the other strand of thought competing with a careful Scholastic analysis of hope was the continued preponderance of fear as the attitude toward the future. It is exemplified in art and literature, in liturgical texts such as the Dies Irae in the Mass for the Dead, in Marian piety, and especially in the growing practice of indulgences, and it appears in the next few centuries. Writings such as those of Catherine of Genoa on purgatory were an attempt to revive trust in a merciful God and to inspire hope as the dominant attitude toward the future beyond death.[15]
Reflecting on the words of Apostles, It is by hope that we are saved…but hope that can be seen is not hope Rom 8:24-25, St. Augustine brought out these headlines:
1) The promise of the world is deceptive; but God’s promises never deceive,
2) By being meek and mild keep to the straight ways which the Lord teaches you,
3) We are the body of the head in which what we are hoping for has already been fully achieved,
4) We have been saved by hope,
5) We make use of the world as though we are using it,
6) Wait patiently for what do not yet possess.[16]
Ipso facto, the Augustinian doctrine reminds us that patience is an essential feature of hope. But there is a tension between patience as faithful expectation and dynamic anticipatory consciousness inspired by the remembrance of the Christ event. For Christian hope to wait is to anticipate, to make progress towards the still outstanding goal. This Augustinian understanding of the spiritual life as the process of sanctification was further clarified by the Thomistic identification of grace and glory, the life of grace now is inchoate future glory. Given this understanding of grace as ‘realized eschatology’, there can in principle in be no fuller gift of the Holy Spirit short of its ultimate consummation.[17] Hope during history is hope for eternity, a higher plane of perfection above and beyond history. Such hope begets patience on earth as it focuses on heaven as its ultimate satisfaction. But the patience of hope is a gift of the Holy Spirit who renews the face of the earth Ps. 104: 30.[18]
Anthropological character of hope
Worthy of note is that in the nature of hope we have two things: a passion and a sentiment. “Hope is one of the eleven passions. It is, therefore, an impulse of the sensitive appetite that tends towards some absent good apprehended by the senses, and which is attainable, but not without some difficulty. Hope is one of the worthiest sentiments of the human heart, which tends towards some absent moral good, despite the obstacles that stand in the way of its acquisition. This sentiment plays an important part in human life; it sustains men in their arduous undertakings: the labourer when he sows, the seafarer when he sails, traders and pliers of fortune when they embark on some enterprise”.[19] The situation of man in the world today needed to be relieved of worries and taught to be aware of God’s infinite goodness irrespective of the condition; hence the Council Fathers in Gaudium et Spes 4, discussed positively the necessity of being conscious of the fact that life without hope is very boring. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 1817-1820, gave the summary of the natural and supernatural characteristic therein in the virtue of hope from anthropological to theological background.
Hope is a very difficult topic since in the human sphere; there are so many objects that can be the target for hope. In the supernatural aspect there is only one God. However the future which Liberation Theology offers is in the ultimate consequence a future without God an intra-worldly paradise. At times it is difficult to know how to reconcile eternal life with daily happenings. Some have accused the Church and also of the Gaudium et Spes of speaking and writing a lot about the family, the society, etc, but without doing much, that it presents a beautiful picture of the future which has nothing to do with the earthly reality. A Marxist had declared many years ago that he gives the future to himself. The forgetfulness of the reality of eschatology makes one to be too attached to the immediate future. History is not just an amorphous structure that acts without rules. Individual history is what makes up the collective history.
Trying to construct a worldly paradise on earth can lead people to carry out atrocious acts thinking that they are doing well, example was the petition of pardon by John Paul II for the wrong things that Catholics have done over the centuries. In the Vat II, it was noted that there were movements against human life; they were going to ‘explode’ later on in the so-called “culture of death”. Dialogue is interesting but doesn’t serve much if it is not translated into concrete actions. In Spe Salvi, the boredom in young people which leads them to fix their attention on the present only without thinking of the future, can even lead to depression. The Pope also outlines the link between faith and hope without a good. In pastoral care, sometimes people do strange things in order to attract younger people. One may be led to forget that which makes Christian life more in the Holy Spirit. When one is holy and takes God with him wherever he goes, giving hope to many people, one should never lose sight of the fact that one has to present God to others in whatever he does.
Sins opposed to hope
Sin is a threat to Christian life. It destroys our faith and hope, therefore we ought to be careful and guard against the excesses opposed to hope: presumption and despair.
i) Presumption
“Presumption consists in expecting from God heaven and the graces necessary to reach it, without willing to take the means he has ordained. One may presume on the Divine Goodness, by neglecting God’s commandments, persuading oneself that God is too good to sentence one to damnation. This is to forget that if God is good, he is like just and holy, and that he hates iniquity. Again, one may through pride presume on one’s own strength, rushing into the midst of dangers and occasions of sin, and forgetting that he that loves dangers and occasions of sin, and forgetting that he loves danger will perish in it. Our Lord promises us the victory, but on condition that we watch and pray: Stay awake and pray not to be put the test. The spirit is willing enough, but the human nature is weak” Mk 14: 38.[20] Furthermore, “presumption is an act by which one expects to obtain eternal happiness and the divine helps in an undue manner, relying on one’s own strength and works or against the ordinary ways of divine Providence. For example, one hopes to obtain eternal happiness without observing God’s precepts”.[21] Humility and meditation on the inscrutable judgments of God are some of the remedies against the sin of presumption.
b) Despair
“Despair is the deliberate act of the will by which one shuns eternal happiness on account of the estimated impossibility of attaining it. It is the loss of confidence in the goodness and mercy of God and his divine assistance”.[22] By these assertions we can easily agree that, “Since in despair man relinquishes the hope of obtaining perfection and salvation, he will by consequence no longer care for his duty to strive after them. Either he will turn totally to the goods of this world and seek some satisfaction in forms of hedonism or pseudo-heroic nihilism, or he may lose the will to work and live. In the attitude of despair man cuts off the bond which binds him to God and his will”.[23] Firm faith in the mercy of God and strong self spiritual esteem can go along way in helping us fight against despair.
Pastoral necessity and awareness of Christian hope
The Eucharist has a central role in the Christian life which also gives us the security that God never abandons us, a great motive for hope. Faith in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist implies that it is the highest point of hope of the Church. In the Eucharist is the personal communion of Christ with Christians. Whatever activity that promotes the contact between people and the Eucharist has a great influence in one’s faith and hope. Those who don’t have a bright future on thus earth can find in the Eucharist the conferring presence of Christ. It is a firm anchor that enables us believes in the future. It is the faith that each Catholic should have. What is the Christian life without hope? The object of supernatural hope is not interchangeable with any other thing here on earth. No human instrument can destroy this source of great hope, except of course we ourselves through sin. Human hope does not have the same assurance as supernatural hope. If a priest does not give good example to others Christians, their hope in eternal life can suffer. For Holy Father, in the Spe Salvi, Christian hope in a certain sense gives a push to human hope. However our human action does not only have an earthly dimension, we can convert them into instruments of co-redemption with Christ. In the activities of human person who is the Son of God is wherever human and supernatural hope comes together. One has to see beyond this earthly life in order to understand the nature of supernatural hope. Therefore, “Put all your hope in Jesus. You yourself have nothing, are worth nothing, can do nothing. He will act, if only you abandon yourself in him”.[24]
The current historicization of hope however must never reduce Christianity to another form of secular humanism. Ockham’s razor is pertinent here. What must be done is to show the intrinsic connection between hope for eternity and hope for history. This connection is grasped by theological reflection on what is called historical consciousness. There is no infinite qualitative distance between time and eternity. The incarnation has removed that distance as the focal revelation of God’s action in and for this world through Jesus and through those empowered by the Spirit. Eternity is the future of time. Eternity is the fruit the issue of history. Eternity is the ultimate value of all the penultimate values realized in the history of the world. Hope is our hospitality for the God of the promise who has come and will come. To live in hope is to reject pretentious utopianism that would identify the kingdom of God with any intrahistorical realm of freedom. To hope for oneself is to hope for all, and the resurrection of the dead entails a new heaven and a new earth Apoc 21:1. Hope opens us to the future of God. Sustained by the Spirit of God, hope remembers Jesus Christ as the prolepsis of God’s future.[25] In view of these, human progress is something good because it is the will of God. Whatever is good in body and soul is good. But the problem in modern world was after the Second World War; the human progress was greatly theorized. Human progress is good for the human happiness. Once human progress is against human happiness, it is no better.
BENEDICT XVI: SPE SALVI
According to the Christian faith, redemption is offered to us in the sense that we have been given hope, trustworthy hope, by virtue of which we can face our present. Faith is Hope. Hope is a key word in Biblical faith so much so that faith and hope seem interchangeable. We see how decisively the self-understanding of the early Christians was shaped by their having received the gift of a trustworthy hope, when we compare the Christian life prior to faith, or with the situation of the followers of other religions, no hope emerged from contradictory myths. Facing a dark future we are involved thus in nihil ab nihilo quam cito recidimus. Only when the future is certain as a positive reality does it become possible to live the present as well. The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been the gift of a new life. To know the true God means to receive hope. We who have always lived with the Christian concept of God have grown accustomed to it and have ceased to notice that we posses the hope that ensues from a real encounter with God. The hope is not just simple and moderate but of great nature. It is this hope that made Bakhita refused to be separated from her Paron, hence was able to receive Baptism and Confirmation and first Holy Communion. The hope born in her which had redeemed her made her not to keep it to herself alone but to everybody.
Conclusion
[1] Cfr. Scanlon M J, “Hope” in Komonchak et al, The New Dictionary of Theology, The Liturgical Press, Minneota, 1987, 492ff.
[2] Cfr. McBrien R P [ed], “Hope” in Encyclopedia of Catholism, Harper Collins, SanFrancisco, 1995, 639.
[3] Cfr. S.T I-II, qq.1-5.
[4] S.T I-II, q. aa. 1-2.
[5] S.T I-II q. 17, aa. 3-4.
[6] Ibid. q. 17, aa.5-8.
[7] Cfr. Hellwig M K, “Hope” in Downey M [ed], The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, The Liturgical Press, Minnesota, 1993, 509-510.
[8] Cfr. Ibidem 513-514.
[9] JoséMaria Escrivia, Friends of God, Scepter Publisher Inc, New Jersey, 2002, n.206.
[10] Cfr. “Hope” in The New Dictionary of Theology, 492.
[11] JoséMaria Escrivà, Friends of God, n.209.
[12] Cfr. “Hope” in Encyclopedia of Catholicism, 639.
[13] S.T, II-II, q.137 a 4.
[14] Cfr. Aumann J, Spiritual Theology, 257-262.
[15] Cfr. “Hope” in The New Dictionary of Catholic Spirituality, 507-510.
[16] Cfr.St. Augustine, Sermon 157 n 1-6.
[17] Cfr. S.T Ia IIae, 106, 4.
[18] Cfr. “Hope” in The New Dictionary of Theology, 494-495.
[19] Tanquerey A, The Spiritual Life, n. 1190 A.
[20] Ibid, n. 1201a.
[21] Pazhayampallil T, Pastoral Guide Vol I, Kristu Jyoti Publications, Bangolare-India, 1997, 630.
[22] Ibid, 628.
[23] Peschke K H, Christian Ethics Vol II, Theologial Publication, Bangalore, 1996, 79.
[24] JoséMaria Escrivà, The Way, n. 731.
[25] (cfr. “Hope” in The New Dictionary of Theology, 497-498).
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