Unabashedly Eucharistic

Our days are filled with desperate strife for power

Those who seek the future

In the consolidation of Capitalism

Or in the emergence of Confucius ideology

In the push for White Supremacy

Or, in the re-enactment of Imperialist dreams

In Stalinism, Leninism and Nazism

Or, the hope for a new dawn of Black Power

Nationalist dreams and ideology persist

And new age Liberalism is adamant

Zionism is stretching its muscle

And global Islamism stubbornly unyielding

Communism is pushing forth with venom

And, Totalitarianism and Fascism making its comeback

While the poor look forth in despair

Within all this I stick with one Force

As the true hope for humankind:

It is the potent silence of the Eucharist

That will usher in our new civilisation

Seek forth true freedom

Not in the common ideologies that be

But in the Corpus Christi

The hope of humankind

Call me what you may, but

I am unabashedly Eucharistic!

The Case for Black Maria

I penned the below in November of 2019, before Covid - 19

A couple of months back I suggested 10 propositions that I believe would positively impact the growth of Catholicism in Yorubaland. A couple of minor divergences then, but there was a consensus on many of the suggestions.

I was asked to prepare an expose about my conviction that Mary is Black (Point 7). I hadn’t (Not from lack of conviction but of lack of time and space to put my thoughts on paper).

Then, the Amazon Synod came and the Pachamama debacle happened and my argument was brought to the fore.

I read that the Church’s hierarchy struggled to explain the place of Pachamama at the Synod, and yet it is this battle of the spirits that the 21st century man should gear itself to fight more and more.

I can only thank Pope Francis for opening a can of long hidden canker-worms that can only be experienced but cannot easily be explained out.

I still haven’t got time to write a full expose, but I can itemize the points I would like us to explore and expose more.

1.            In the first instance the Synod should not be about Amazon, it should be about Africa. To win the Cosmos, your starting point should be Africa. Africa is the Mother!

2.            There are 3 forms of Motherhood: Your land of birth, your Biological mother and your Point of Connection with the Divine. And the origin of all this is the land. Don’t mess with the land. Even though we would all end in Jerusalem, the starting point is Africa!

3.            Science, Religion and History may look at ethics but there is a grand Reason behind Amazon (South America) drifting from Mother Africa (some said it was during the Flood, but I believe in the continental drift theory) and why the land calls back her children with 400 years of Slave trade. Let’s watch how history would unfolds. Seize not in thanking your star you are Black! 

4.            In Revelation (Rev:12), we saw a woman clothed with the sun, the moon was under her feet and she was adorned with a crown of 12 stars. Sun, moon, stars: a depiction of the entire cosmos. But where is the earth in this? Because, this woman herself is the Earth!

5.            Why do we think the cult of Black Madonna is coming back strong?

6.            There is a spiritual woman at the heart of creation. Some devotees of the earth find that solace as Pachamama, I have realized that reality as Mary.

7.            Authentic spirituality cannot just explain reality out, it must journey through the darkness of the vague to arrive at clarity. Mother nature is not an allegory, it is a reality.

8.            It may not be Oya, Olokun, Osun or Pachamama, but excuse me, you cannot just ignore this out. Pantheism is coming back with a venom because we dismiss it rather than engage it.

9.            This engagement will be an experiential journey to reality, and many will be lost, die and condemned in the process, but it is the path through which the Church can be purified and where Reality can be discovered.

10.         Ninu ikoko dudu ni eko funfun ti n jade! Ancient gates do not rise with fun. We cannot just throw away the baby of truth away with the water of superstition. The easier bit is to throw Pachamama into River Thebes. The harder part is that she is coming with a venom until we engage. Haha!

FROM A COVID-19 SURVIVOR

Lest I forget such morbid statelessness

The stark rottenness and helplessness

That lingered within the borders of hopelessness

O the pity of man who still thinks his destiny is his to carve

It is finished for that man who does not grasp Mercy as an alibi

What I experienced, as the angel of death sniffed at me

Is simply not a flu or fever system

It is a ‘conscious intelligent symptom’ filled with malice and malevolence

Helplessness under the claw of evil

Bolstered by a strange persistent weakness which lingered for days

Of which the world out there can do little to rescue

Covid knows what it’s up to: to kill and destroy!

The obvious helplessness of a seemingly stable system  

The media, a harbinger of fear, horror and heightened anxieties

Speaking with my GP was useless as the surgery was shut

111, not much help because, they’ve got more urgent priorities

The idea of walking into A & E means a step to the morgue

And the nonchalance of men at letting off the weakest is sickening!

Even when I never liked the politics of Boris

I suddenly found our destiny entwined

That languid forlorn countenance

Tells of the helplessness of power when confronted with death

Upon the hopelessness of a system bereft of any assurance

It surely could have gone either way

Worldly cares are utterly useless in the face of futility

Any advice or rhetoric of help, helps little

When the choice of going down or staying well is not up to me

The impracticability of self-isolation and social distancing

Luckily surrounded by loving families and friends far and near

Who are equally helpless, but could only say ‘sorry’

No meaningful prayers you can muster in such state

Blessed if you know how to offer up your sufferings

The clean practices of the past would plead your cause

In the lethargic face of hopelessness surrounding that countenance

Now, I will sing the goodness of the Lord, my inheritance

Who sends forth His Spirit and renewed me

And has not cast me out to the netherworld

I sing to Him my warrior and glory

I praise Him who has rescued me

My strength, my courage, my joy,

The eternal, He who thirsted for my rescue as I thirsted to survive

Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

*Had I been close to any Bishop in Yorubaland

*Had I been close to any Bishop in Yorubaland , the following would be my advice to him* 

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 Life in the Spirit Seminar as a preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. No sane person can deny the experience of Life in the Spirit Seminar.

3. Added to Philosophy, Psychology 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 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 Maria being a Black Woman. Black Maria. Mary is Black.  Not as a matter of sentiment but as a fact of reality. There should be a culture of installing the Black Maria grotto in Parishes.

7. At least 25% of our Diocesan budget should be invested in 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 put rare gardening species in 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 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.

9. Our Graveyards should be accorded a 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 It 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. An Eucharistic culture should be the breathe of every Parish, that is where our renaissance would be found .

The Case for Black Maria

1.    In the first instance the Synod should not be about Amazon, it should be about Africa. To win the Cosmos, your starting point should be Africa. Africa is the Mother!

2.    There are 3 forms of Motherhood: Your land of birth, your Biological mother and your Point of Connection with the Divine. And the origin of all this is the land. Don’t mess with the land. Even though we would all end in Jerusalem, the starting point is Africa!

3.    Science, Religion and History may look at ethics but there is a grand Reason behind Amazon (South America) drifting from Mother Africa (some said it was during the Flood, but I believe in the continental drift theory) and why the land calls back her children with 400 years of Slave trade. Let’s watch how history would unfolds. Seize not in thanking your star you are Black!

4.    In Revelation (Rev:12), we saw a woman clothed with the sun, the moon was under her feet and she was adorned with a crown of 12 stars. Sun, moon, stars: a depiction of the entire cosmos. But where is the earth in this? Because, this woman herself is the Earth!

5.    Why do we think the cult of Black Madonna is coming back strong?

6.    There is a spiritual woman at the heart of creation. Some devotees of the earth find that solace as Pachamama, I have realised that reality as Mary.

7.    Authentic spirituality cannot just explain reality out, it must journey through the darkness of the vague to arrive at clarity. Mother nature is not an allegory, it is a reality.

8.    It may not be Oya, Olokun, Osun or Pachamama, but excuse me, you cannot just ignore this out. Pantheism is coming back with a venom because we dismiss it rather than engage it.

9.    This engagement will be an experiential journey to reality, and many will be lost, die and condemned in the process, but it is the path through which the Church can be purified and where Reality can be discovered.

10.    Ninu ikoko dudu ni eko funfun ti n jade! Ancient gates do not rise with fun. We cannot just throw away the baby of truth away with the water of superstition. The easier bit is to throw Pachamama into River Thebes. The harder part is that she is coming with a venom until we engage. Haha!