Love of the cross and Faith in Ressurection

When John leaned on Christ at the behest of Peter to ask Him who it was who would betray Him, Christ showed him the source of His betrayal and he, not Peter, was able to enter into the mystery of the cross , and though Peter determined to do the same, was not granted the grace and he denied Christ 3ce. It was only John who experienced to the full the mystery of love, up to Christ's death on Calvary .
On the day of Ressurection a kind of contrast also happened. Though John had ran faster than Peter to the tomb, for some reasons he couldn't enter in until Peter arrived and went in first; and it was given to Peter first to understand the mystery the empty tomb and faith in the Ressurection . This experience finds its root at Peter's confession and the promise of Christ on him that upon him and his confession He would build His church, for we are justified by faith, faith in the Ressurection of our Lord Jesus.
May we be granted the grace to experience the power of His Ressurection and the fellowship of His sufferings .
St Peter and St John: Pray for us

On The Pope's Resignation

I feel this action of the Pope should not be taken 'as usual’; after all, this has not happened in the years of our great great great grandparents, how much more our lives. Those who would deal with such things, beginning from the cardinals down to the laity would also have to refer through long history gone.

The ultimate exhaustion of perpetual rule: when the Pope resigns.

The demystification of positions and the ultimate affirmation of human communion: the Pope resigns.

An escape from the deadly attack of secularism or a painful decision for d good of d church?

Those who glory in hierarchism, authoritarianism and beaureucracy, learn from the Pope and let go!

Oba ko le pe meji l'aafin', a’sipa owe, we gonna have 2 Popes at the Vatican. Na wa o. Impossibilities are happening in these our days.

Real faith does not reflect as such in much talks and holy writings, but in action. Benedict xvi exemplified this in the summary of his homilies about the ongoing year of faith and the conclusion of his encyclical on faith through his resignation. That is faith.

We can only walk through a gesture as great as this through faith. I can see a parallel between this gesture and the crucifixion of Christ, which up till now is a cause for the rising and falling of many. It is a reality that this action would give credence to the arguments of those who would want to escape from the obligation of marriage, those who through laziness would give weakness of mind and body as an excuse for not seeing a project through, or, leaving out the grace of God and succumbing to our emotional sentiments and idiosyncratic decisions . 

On the other hand, the Pope's gesture could be taken as a great act of humility and this would rather influence those who would not let go of power to do so. It is an action which inspires us to take a bold and courageous leap of faith and act on issues which calls for progress without succumbing to outdated norms which have little relevance towards the life we live today, it helps in gestures which demystifies positions, destroys bureaucracy and makes us see our common human struggles as God's handmaids. The final stronghold of power could have been destroyed by this action, we are all a society of sinners.

So, you see, this action has the potential of having both positive and negative influence on people, and Christ himself has no excuse for that, He only says 'blessed is he who is not scandalized by me'. In America, the democratic installation of a black man has inspired many to rise beyond racial and tribalistic prejudices. Even in our own circle, the resignation of our dear Bishop, Babatunde Adelakun has inspired others to do thesame. Letting go is the greatest gesture of faith that I know of.

On Ifa : My response

TAYO AKINOLA’S QUESTION: Ifa: An art or a religion? Some people see Ifa in Yoruba culture as an art and they believe that the way you learn music, astrology/astronomy and painting/fine arts, the same way you can learn Ifa if you put your mind to it; while another school of thought believes that Ifa is a religion.  What is your view concerning Ifa? Please support your comment(s) with reason(s) and it will be appreciated if we all stick to the topic and no name calling.  Thank you. MY RESPONSE: Mahatma Ghandi said that one of the sins of humanity is 'religion without sacrifice'. On that basis, I would say any so called art, divination or practices which either offer sacrifices or mediate between man & G(g)od in the offer of sacrificial oblation is a religion. On a particular note, in Yoruba culture, there is a tradition borne out of what I call the 'exasperation of Orunmila': Ifa, who mediates between men & gods, and would succumb to these principalities, perceiving wrongly that the only way out is to beg evil through sacrifices, for it knows not the way of conquering it through love, thus, in the attempt at mediating, Ifa becomes an accomplice in evil. There is only one manner of conquering evil: through love, that which comes about through the one sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every other sacrifice falls under aiding and abetting evils. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Side of Ifa: The Good: Ifa has developed a searching and deeply intuitive prerogative amongst the Yorubas. And has balanced an otherwise warlike tribe with the virtue of 'Iba' and 'Iwapele'. Note that it would be hard to find someone with a name having the prefix 'Fa', who hasn't a high form of intelligence. They should thank their fore fathers. Except perhaps that person's fore father is a fake Ifa priest, just like we have fake prophets. The Bad: The Ifa precedence has created a 'can-not- do' culture. Even in the emerged Islam and Christianity culture that resulted, we have a populace who is fearful, and would rather consult a pastor or Imam before they embark on the tiniest venture, and this decision of the so called men of God is what determines their destiny ever after. What we have as a result is a mediocre religion which is entirely dependent , gullible,superstitious and thus remaining a baby of faith forever. The Ugly: The nation of Yoruba is at the mercies of the gods which are the principalities holding the society to ransom. Even in our days , the oracles are consulted before kings are chosen, chieftancy ceremonies are filled with oaths and occultic practices. As I said , I really don't blame Orunmila, it sees a situation which seems entirely hopeless, and rather than despair, requests of its adherents to make sacrifices to this demons holding the barriers of progress. And the land remains stuck in a parambulation of living and not progress. Christianity have come, and little by little, ancient gates are been opened, but I continue to wonder if we are not going from one demonized criteria to another , for the western culture as we have it today is composed of a whole lot of garbage dictated my Marxists and Freemasons, including our modern day religions. And these things do not stop at killing the body like the Orishas, they kill the soul! Humanity has thrown away the baby of truth with the water of superstition. Mythology has been completely erased and has been replaced with science and in the process, the sense of 'awe' in the face of the spiritual has been immensely affected. Have we taken the time to ponder on the wisdom of the 'odus'? We should; because it is on these basis that the whole foundation and destiny of Yorubaland get established. To redeem our motherland of the falsehood upon which it is established, we need to embark on an inculturated journey , and endeavor to sieve out the baby of truth from the water of superstition. This is no little task, and hardly has anyone dared to embark on the task already, we , as a result have become intellectually berserk by the garbage fed us by westernization and we remain complacent with the fact that we live under a curse propounded by an ancient king ( Alaafin Aole; read history) that people shall come from afar of and laud it over the sons of the land. And in succession, we are held bondage under the Sultanate of Uthman Dan Fodio, the Queen of the British Empire, then the kingdom of America. They come , become our Lords,raze our resources and take over our lands. He who plays the piper dictates the tune. In the process we have completely lost our identity and the realization of our collective destiny. But from the advent of this raze have developed a Pearl of great treasure: not a myth, not odu, but a Truth that has discovered us: herein is our epiphany : that everything that Orunmila has despaired about, that mythology even in her presumption and creative endeavors have dared not to fashion out , have become factual: God has become man. God was killed and has risen from death to redeem man so that he may die no more. Life is a continuum for he with faith in Christ! The task on the Yorubans, if they are serious about liberating their land from the shackles of the Orishas who have held the land to ransom and have conspired with the external gods of Marxist atheism and freemasonry to kill , to steal and to destroy souls, is to commence on the arduous journey starts of understanding the history of the land and its accompanying rituals. Just like I laugh at a professed Christian who has not seek to understand the history of the church, catholism and the mystery surrounding the Mass. Or a catholic who refuses to understand Judaism, her history and the mystery surrounding the covenant . If we don't understand the odus- armed with the strength of Christ- Yorubaland shall forever remain locked under the shackles of external agencies and her lying gods. INTERJECTIONS FROM BABALOLA @Niyi Francis Akinola, Tayo said no name calling. You don't need the attack on Marxist, Freemasons, British and Americans. They have done their own good to humanity, in some cases more than your so-called Yoruba people and even the politics of the Church. Before Freemasons, the whole Europe was engulfed by religious wars and persecution. They delivered us from 'monkish ignorance' - to use Jefferson's words. I humbly suggest the following; First, I think you should separate your religious intent from the political one. Yoruba tradition has to be re-invented along multi-religious and non-religious lines with respect to current religious liberalism and the same religious liberalism that Ifa represents. Using Odus as a basis for redemptive homily through inculturation as Pope John-Paul II had encouraged is another matter. Both should be encouraged. The first entails reading Orunmila as one would read Socrates. The inculturation would entail the baptism of Orunmila as Aquinas did to Aristotle and the reading of Ifa as an Old Testament. Second, Ifa, which means the Truth, cannot be boxed like Judaism or Christianity or Islam. Even if all Odus are written down. Ifa cannot be entirely understood by one person or a single group. You can only see a small glimpse. Thirdly, Ifa is not exclusivist but unlike Judaism or Christianity or Islam, allows for growth of religious pluralism - or progressive religious accumulation. Fourth, Ifa is not only about divination and sacrifices, it is also concerned with other realms like - psychology, philosophy, astronomy, geometry, medicine, geometry, science, etc. As Wande Abimbola stated it is a body of knowledge. Like the Chinese I Ching, these aspects are more relevant today. Fifth, there are many eses in Ifa, where sacrfices are not proposed. Rather, the customer or patient is told to change his/her ways. The sixth is that on the issue of sacrifice, Ifa is closest to Judaism and not so different. Sacrifices are not as important as obedience to natual laws. Seventh, orisha means 'ori ti asa' [chosen heads]. Yoruba people only see them as spirits and sometimes as companion of Olodumare. They are not more important in the scheme of things than Olodumare. Yoruba people say - orisa, bo le gbe mi, fi mi si bo se bami. We don't say that about Olodumare - who is central to Ifa via Orunmila. Eighth, Uthman Dan Fodio's children do respect justice among themselves more than us. Unlike us, they respect merit among themselves, as we employ arrangements and the injustice of dispoilment through spiritual, economic and physical might. That is why we are exhausted and weak. Eloquent but no moral force - no conviction. Powerful but no permanence - Photo-trick culture. I do not believe in the so-caled Aole curse. Our problem is lack of justice among ourselves. And finally, the greatest threat to your proposed project of revisiting Ifa are the the badly educated Christians and Muslims, the former especially. MY RESPONSE Aaah at last! Just what I needed: To get people talking on a topic that I feel should be of utmost concern to every well meaning Yorubaman. And it is a real pleasure to have a response from no less a person than Olusegun Richard Babalola, for I am well aware of his long held passion regarding this subject. I hold Segun in high respect, and would beg pardon before I begin (Only for the sake of truth) that I would be objecting some of his objections. To begin with, when Tayo said no name calling, I take it to mean a mutual respect for each person that comments regarding the subject he tabled, not on bodies, institutions, organisations or individuals that are alien to the post in question, otherwise much havoc would be perpetrated if we would have to be ‘nice’, and the rationale to the arguments would then have been defeated. I feel it would be absolutely whimsical and quite nonsensical if one attempts to be nice to all protagonist in the face of such salient topic. Please correct me if I am wrong: I believe that, conciliation in the face of injustice shall never reconcile the world to truth. Your response made me jubilant, for it gives me an opportunity to express my long held position in the face of history and my conviction about humanity and the life we live.I am passionate about living! As a preamble, I would like to note that, while it would be callous and biased to disapprove entirely of the progress made through science, westernization and secularism, I would also say that we should not be negligent about the many tares generated among the wheats of progress, and I would like to raise our consciousness to the rapid spreading of this tares, most especially in our days, and I believe that  if there is no radical change of attitude, actions and culture, the tare would end up consuming all that remains of the wheat. My opinion is not borne out of sentiment, the clarion call for change is urgent! I would like to reiterate my insistence that Freemansonry and Marxist ideologies are  at the root cause of our dilema .Freemasonry is the father of all fifth column lodges, prominent of its ideology is that you believe in a supreme being, but the manner of the being that you believe is entirely up to you. At first, this looks entirely harmless; after all what is my business about whatever ‘garbage’ anybody takes as god, but beginning from the middle ages and accelerated through the French revolutions, Freemasons have infiltrated everywhere, they hold the top echelon of power in politics, business, media, religion and every facet of wordly power, they have institutionalise the ideology of the dictatorship of relativism, and man is basking in the euphoria of this fake freedom which they have propounded. Assisting Freemasonry is Marxism. A communal utopia which aims at building a world empire of materialism, consumerism and has as its  mission the putting of religion at bay! On the face of it again we see nothing wrong, but the error of Marxism which has polluted everything and has as its mission the death of God, is putting posterity in peril. Marxism does not relent, because the idea is the seat of money and earthly well being, it is spreading its error like an aggressive cankerworm. It is the source of the tare, the aggressive secularism as we have it today. What is my problem? My problem is that I am acutely aware of the war we fight. I call it the ‘Ki ijoba a Re de war’ or the ‘Thy kingdom come war’. The world is once again telling God, this is not Your domain, You come here we kill You. And for me, staying on the fence is not given to me as an option in this war, fighting on the world stage is herculean and dreadful. My little strategy is tackling secularism and relativism in myself, my home, my family, my community , and whenever I am opportuned, on social media, I use my gadgets to air my opinion. The first objection you raised is precisely what I would not be tempted to support anymore. The resources of the dichotomy between art and belief, between politics and religion, between church and state has been spent, they are not working anymore. It is only a question of time before the monster of state rear its head in its entirerity. The present separation does nothing but send a multitude of souls packing into hell, promoting apostasy and providing a wide and credible platform for the spread of atheism. The only part of Christianity left for us is a watered down and shallow one, and there is this uncomfortable and growing opinion about getting rid of religion. There is nothing wrong with religion; it is fake ideologies (also in religion) that something is wrong with. Asking me to separate my religious intent from my political one is telling me to stop at truth at some point. It is because we are complacent about the world forever remaining under the shackles of evil that we refuse to venture into some sensitive human endeavours like politics. We tend to give that part of life to the realm of the devil. I am not suggesting that we return to the political atrocities perpetrated when the church was in power during the medieval periods, what is at stake is not earthly power, what is at stake is truth and the salvation of souls. I am passionate about the reign of truth, of peace, of authentic liberation which makes man live forever. Marxism promises worldly comfort at the detriment of souls, what I foresee is a leadership that practices the beatitudes and a justice where everyone is equal before the Law. ‘Onijogbo ni I sin ilu, ilu kii sin Onijogbo’-(Saworoide). Let he who would be first be the last, that is not happening at the moment in most world politics, and I am optimistic about its possibility. I am more of a realist than an idealist. I KNOW THIS IS POSSIBLE. If Christianity does not speak out now, politics would come into the realm of the church anyway (that which is already starting) and would make it known that there has never been any dichotomy. The state rules all along. And I don’t have any problem with state leadership, but that it should provide authentic and just leadership. When issues like abortion, gay marriages, and the likes are brought to the fore front, the position of religion should not be criminalised. And I try not to be a prophet of doom, but the time is near when he who does not contribute to the common purse of America to abort children, or the church which does not consent to marry gays in the UK, would face the justice of the human right campaigners and would be sentenced for treason. It would then be too late to object anything, and it would be very obvious that the divorce between church and state does not help souls anymore.’ B’aa wi ‘ a o ku, b’aa wi orun la n lo’. Nobody sends me to say anything; I even fear my church would term my position heretical. If at this age I cannot stand for what I believe, then I would live a fool forever. Now, lets come back home to Yorubaland where I would like to say something regarding your second objection. In the quest of freeing our land, and as a consequence her people, we have to search for truth. The scripture says: you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. I believe any authentic search for truth, that which you said Ifa is, should bring about a reconciliation of ideas, and that this reconciliation should be borne out of mutual respect for each others’ views, and that any attempt at arrogance from either side would only return us to the status quo. Contrary to your objection, in the quest towards this liberation, I have as a major mission, the precise quest to ‘box’ Ifa. I know you would think that statement is quite presumptous and rash. Let me explain my strategy : armed with the whole armour of Christ, I shall venture into the school of Agboniregun and learn about odu and the mystery of Orunmila. Just as Christianity spread through contact with the Hellenistic culture, I have concluded that my understanding of the nature of Truth lies precisely in the quest of boxing Ifa , not into any ideology, for as you explain, this is dangerous and harmful, but into a person, the person of Jesus Christ. The crisis point between God and the world is this: The Word was made flesh. Everything has to be reconciled through Him and in Him. And thus shall our land be truly liberated, not so much the importation of Roman culture in form of Catholism, or that of American ways in form of Pentecostalism, or the British way through Protestantism, or the Arabic ways through Islam. But the journey towards inculturation demands the patience of a student in a school; and we shall not be tempted to take a short cut as happens in the Caribbean Sancteria religion which attempted to baptise the Orishas into saints, causing havocs. By educating ourselves to freedom, harmed with the grace of Christ, we shall bring forth the long awaited reconciliation and the authentic freedom of a race. I know whom I believe, and like the Magi, I know it would be the ultimate joy for Orunmila to be reconciled with its objects of quest since ages past. When the practices of Ifa authentically meets the person of Christ, then shall we be better placed to understand the mysteries of the odus and be able to separate the wheat of truth from the tare of unnecessary sacrifices which only feeds the ego of the demons holding our land to ransom. I know of only one sacrifice, one Lord, one Master, and one God. Lift up your heads you ancient gates; let the king of glory enter! As per the third point you raised; the occult kingdom flourished in Yoruba land in spite of the advent of westernisation and Christianity because it found a ready home with the Freemasonry. Fifth columns persisted in Islam and Christianity in the land in the name of Ogbonis, the Awos et all. These groups facilitated and encouraged this pluralism and the culture of the survival of the fittest. Relativism doctrine thrived, even in our religions. But the inconvenience of Christianity within this group lies precisely in the profession of Truth as one, of God as one, of the Lord and Master as one. Lets say it as it is, because much evils are being perpetrated by silence and complacency.I respect diversity, and God Himself is a Unity in Diversity. But the motive of diversification and pluralism, if it is selfish and narcist in view becomes evil. In answer to your fifth and sixth issue, I maintain that without religion; Arts, Philosophy, Science and Psychology would become exasperated in the search for truth. Separating these arms from religion does not do justice to a holistic quest of life and reality.   There was a cry which resounded in the book of Revelation which I would like to bring our attention to; It was that of John the divine when confronted with the futility of humanity and creation in the quest towards opening the seal. It was an exasperated cry of despair and the recognition of  the urgency and the necessity of tackling this desperation towards the realisation of life and freedom. This exasperation takes many form; you often hear of karma, reincarnation, cyclic existentiality and the likes in religions like Bhudism, Hinduism, Shintoism and African religions and you wonder why this is so . Even Judaism and Islam at certain points succumb to this exasperation of John the divine.This sensitive area needs elaboration and I confess, without falling into sentimental bias, I am still in the process of studying this issue and shall not discuss this further, but what I am sure of is that the event of Calvary broke open the seal, and I am convinced that no human, no god, no orisha, no scientific postulation, no artistic construction or reconstruiction could reveal the reality of that moment. This is borne, not out of sentiment, this is a conviction of mine: There is something more than oscillation, cyclism and perambulation. Light travels perpetually and in a straight line, and that Light is Christ. On your seventh objection regarding Orishas, I insist that the intricacies and complexity surrounding them makes me hold no apology in my condemnation of them. The ways of the Orishas can only facilitate chaos and confusion. I respect Orunmila, but I have very little tolerance for the Orishas. Not all of them are mythological characters and the humans figures among them have got a pedigree for immorality, violence, chaos, vengeance, and amidst all this, their agencies have raised them to divine status because of their unrestrained desires. No servant is greater than his master. Regarding the issue you raised on the eight point I would say categorically that I respect Islam, and we ( Yoruba) should feel indebted to Islam for promoting a continuum of integrity and morality in the land. Islam has contributed and still continues to contribute to the advancement of the human race, and has been a great factor towards the continuation of the idea of God in the world. We share a lot in common, and we should not take lightly our common patrimony with Islam and the Jews as the fruits of Abraham of whom the promise was made. Islam is destined in the world for a positive purpose. The extent of the negative aspect of secularisation would have been worse if it has not been countered by radical Islam. I vehemently oppose the idea of reprisal attack and the ideology of demonising a party who is in opposition, to the extent of killing fellow humanity, but the point I am making is this: though, virtue lies in the middle, but extreme situations sometimes demands extreme measures as a counter.Now, lets take what extremity means in context. If Mohammed supports or actually fought wars, it is logical for the adherents of Islam to do same. If Sango sends fire, brimstone  and thunder upon his enemies ,it is logical for the leftist among his followers to do the same. If Christ stood for a Truth and carried his cross and died rather than deny this Truth, it is pertinent that his adherents do same in the face of extreme measures. The beatitude is the consequence of authentic leadership, and flesh and blood would naturally shrink from this. That is the reason behind every opposition  of  all wordly gods and ideology . Finally , I recognise the fact that I had pulled the string of this topic beyond the realm proposed by its originator, but it was an opportunity for me at grasping on an issue that has been burning and lingering inside me for a long time, and every objection as the one proposed is a further chance for me to propound more on my idea. I am less interested in winning the argument; I am more interested in keeping the discussion going. Thank you

Letter To My MP Regarding My Position On The Redefinition Of Marriage

Dear Ms Theresa Pearce,

Thank you for your letter referenced :LRE/AKINO2013 dated on the 16th of October 2012.

I quite appreciate your personal reply to me, giving me your practical reasons why you felt the government should proceed with the redefinition of marriage. As a result of the immediate reactions and the imminent decision of the government regarding this, I deem it fit to respond to your letter and to proffer my personal reasons as to why I believe marriage should not be redefined and the practical option I feel are available towards avoiding discrimination in the society.

Experience and studies have shown that stability of home, society and nation is more sustainable under a properly instituted marriage and that all the other various forms of relationships do not really hold grounds in relation to family life, the society and its stability.

If we both agree on the statement above, our point of mutual departure shall then be that of reaching an agreement about what actually constitutes a properly defined marriage, and we shall try to see if we can actually, whimsically include gay marriage as part of this institutionalized marriage criteria, as is actually being proposed, and this in conscience, is what I would like to discuss on.

Ms Pearce, would you rather agree with me that, instead of the government going to the root and origin of marriage, and attempting to upturn it without any regards for its anthropological significance and its cultural foundations, wouldn't it be more accommodating to refine civil partnership, and perhaps 'upgrade' the Gay partnership as a 'higher' status of civil relationship, rather than making marriage a mortal culprit and upturning all its moral significance by the introduction of gay marriage?

Not that this is a good alternative, but at least, it would in a way leave a measure of compromise, rather than leaving the government entirely to the caprices of venturing into a project and decision whose repercussion would be unsustainable and detrimental to the future and posterity at large. We have already made enormous mistakes with the environment and the economy, and an attempt to tamper with marriage would also constitute a gross misconduct which would simply create a more hardened future for us and for our children.

I believe in the freedom, uniqueness and equality of humanity, but a freedom without order and boundary historically has proved disastrous and inimical to humanity, and attempts to tamper with these laws have often resulted into deeper chaos for the world. That is the basis of my objection towards legislating on the redefinition of marriage.

My personal position is that homosexuality is a disorder which needs to be approached and tackled as a social ill; but this letter is not to reiterate my personal position on this, but it is a cry towards the emancipation of creation and humanity from impending disasters which could come about as a result of decisions borne more out of levity than deep personal convictions on the part of the government.

I'm not talking simply from faith perspective, but also from simple reasoning and logic. The natural law of creation is such that it would accommodate humanity and make the distribution of the world's goods an abundance, and attempts at tampering negatively with these natural laws have always caused calamity for man, and the height of this tamper is one which affects the root cause and structural capacity of bringing forth humanity into the world, which is the institution of marriage between man and woman. This diabolical attempt of the government towards the sacrilegious fondling with the sanctity of the naturalness of marriage is thereby extremely inimical.

 A constitution called love, which carries with it all its natural intricacies, but has no means of producing fruits of its own volition does not seem to me to be a right foundation to bequeath the future. If humanity presumes to foster of its own accord, the limitation of love to a stagnant and 'fruitless' relationship like Gay marriage, then I believe that this tamper with the law of nature and its cosmological being would constitute an intrinsically evil action and the aftermath can only be negative. The fruitfulness of couples is what we must encourage and this happens in a well defined marriage between a man and a woman.

I have gay friends, and they are nice, pleasant and good people, but this reason does not make me justify actions which are essentially not contributing to the welfare of humanity. I am also aware about those who have decided to sacrifice their sexual energies and have channeled these energies into making the world a better place, or about those who desire the fruitfulness of matrimony but due to their physiological constituents are unable to do so. But creating a legalized capacity towards sexual gratifications without a direct means of procreation is an illusionist responsibility; and the sole cause of portending material gains should not warrant the rewriting of an ancient plausible custom.

The fact that I have a craving that is difficult to curtail does not warrant me justifying it, and the fact that I have a habit I struggle against does not necessitate anyone discriminating against me. I shall support the gays in their quest for human rights, but I shall object them, to the last towards the justification of their acts.

Legalizing gay marriage is anthropologically incorrect and is unnatural. It would ultimately prove inefficient and incapable of reforming society for good and would end up straining family life the more.

Thank you for your time and I hope you would be kind enough to take these reason into cognition when you are presenting the stance of our constituency towards redefinition of marriage.

Yours faithfully,

Overwhelmed With God's Favors?

God needs one thing in recompense: Praises and Thanksgiving.
To thank Him perfectly, its not just enough to say or sing it, you'll need to offer Him the totality of your life.
To offer Him the totality of your life perfectly, it's not just enough to say or sing it, you'll need to make Him do it for you.
To make Him do it for you perfectly,it's not just enough to say and sing it, you'll need to attend the sacrifice of the eternal covenant (Mass).
To attend the sacrifice of eternal covenant perfectly , you've got to receive and take Him to yourself in holy communion.
To receive and take Him to yourself perfectly in holy communion, you've got to do His will and keep Him in your memory day and night.
Praise and thanksgiving is the true worship, but it transcends words, it demands action.
The action part of thanksgiving is the Eucharist .
When you are overwhelmed about God's mercies, do praise and thank Him with your mouth,but also make sure you attend at least one Mass!
Psalm 116: 12 - 13
Rev 12: 11

So, What Has Become of Them?

When we are bequeathed with the great grace of loosing a very loved one, we are faced with a deep disturbance and we have this great urge in us to want to help such loved one out of his 'vicissitude' .We would like to believe he is greatly to be pitied for leaving the world. No! We are far more to be pitied. The deeper we love a person, the more the horror of this separation faces us, and we would love to be spared, yet our beloved is simply pointing to us what is life, but we would like to be spared of our pains and predicaments;anything that reminds us of him becomes a source of pain: his pictures, writings, videos, belongings etc; or the frequent dreams we have of the person, which perhaps we would want to be spared of, for they are at the same time deeply sorrowful and highly complex to fathom, for though we should not disregard dreams, they could be highly difficult to decipher,as difficult as trying to communicate to a babe what we would want of him . Just as it could be difficult to realize that sorrow at the departure of a loved one is one of the greatest grace we would ever have as much as it draws us towards memory, reconciliation & conversion if it is authentic .
So what has become of our loved ones, we would love to know? Are they in heaven, purgatory or - God forbid- hell? We would like to know if they are faring well; the truth is that, if such person has died in Christ and is someone acquainted to trusting in His mercy, his present state would be far far better than ours , and on the contrary, he is very much concerned about us, and his greatest concern is for us to know the truth and live it as he now knows it vividly.Mercy at last is the ultimate determinant and it lies outside the scope of our judgement ! Mercy is the promise of our faith,the faith of our fathers, of Abraham and his sons forever.
So are you sad & anxious about the state of your loved ones? These are simply calls for you to practice reconciliation , conversion & memory, that is the litmus test that they are faring well, and you are perhaps far blessed than those who have not experienced loosing a beloved, for blessed are those who mourn.

I Had A Dream: I Died... And Rose!

Why do I want to talk about this? Like all these numerous dreams, some come out so sharp and alive that you would want to keep them in your memory, not because they are pleasant , but because they plant an indelible lesson towards the journey of life.
Such was that which I had on the night of the 4th, cum morning of the 5th of October, and I consider it a lesson from my Patron St Francis, which I celebrated on that 4th.
The dream began from a church, and there was this talk - presumably by one of the administrators of the church( I don't remember him as a priest, neither as a layman; I'll call him a churchman )- about an exhibition of The Transfiguration , which would depict a somehow real experience of the transfiguration ,that which was being organized by the church ; so about four of us (me, including some friends, which i dont recognize in real life) decided to visit this exhibition with this churchman, and I personally was very excited about it, I presume my other 3 friends also were.
We left the church, it was night, and our first passage was a building which looked like a hospital. We were surprised that the patients hadn't slept by that time of the night, it felt like around 2am( probably the real time I was having the dream); later it became impressed upon me that we were in a kind of psychiatrist hallway, the patients weren't asleep, and they weren't awake either, they were moving like zombies. It was a bit scary.
Led by this churchman, we crossed this building into a main road , I had a feeling we were still traveling around a very large compound with all these( church, hospital and the exhibition venue) buildings in the custody of the church. I entered the back of a pickup van with my 3 other friends and I heard my cousin ( either Tobi or Tosin) shouting to greet me as the van was moving. He appeared to be the only recognizable figure in that dream.
We got to the exhibition building and the churchman was leading , passing through hallways, until we got to a particular door which he unlocked and went in, I followed suit and the door shut behind me with my 3 other friends outside. Immediately I felt the horror of where I was, it was very dark and frightening . I protested to the churchman that I didn't want to go in first but he ignored my plea and in spite of the fact that I knew he was with me, my horror was never lessened, it was a feeling of being alone in spite of somebody. Not knowing I hadn't seen nothing yet: I had no choice but to follow this churchman as he led me through a dark corridor and I witnessed the most dreadful part of this adventure: along this narrow corridor were beings ( wether humans or demons, I don't know) thrusting their hands out from holes of the walls from this narrow corridor and were making to grasp me, this hands were horrific and rotten and was like of dead rotten men in the midst of darkness!
I knew the churchman was at the front but I was dead with fright, I feel it is impossible to face such horror and be bold, it was very very dreadful ! In the midst of this, some things remained deeply impressed on me during this dream: I still knew the passage of this horror was a necessity towards experiencing the Transfiguration exhibition . I was also very conscious of my extreme powerlessness, and I feel indeed every man would be powerless inside that corridor , and also, I was very factually conscious that Christ would rescue me and that I would scale through, and indeed, in my own case, I was lucky that this corridor was much shorter,I feel I could have died out of fright if it had been longer. Also, meanwhile I was still hopeful and picturing what my idea of the Transfiguration exhibition would be like, I wanted to walk through the corridor quickly but I was very frightened, terrified and weak, I pity very very much in that instant those who wouldn't have the consolation of faith.
As the churchman wouldn't help me, I cried: 'Oluwa gba mi!'
I woke up.
These things remained deeply impressed on me after waking up:
1.The Transfiguration exhibition was fulfilled in the waking up to Reality. In my dream, I had preconceived an environment shining, glowing, ornamented etc, as an expression of Transfiguration , but it came out to be simply, a waking up to the peace of Reality , and that , this our present life itself is the dream, our death and Ressurection is the actual experience of waking up unto the Real Reality!
2. That Daddy's death experience was very similar to this, and Christ's went through this: He descended into hell. This 'hell' in which everything breathes damnation may be purgatory, or hell itsef;and to think that any man would be presumptuous enough to think that he could save himself from such terrifying tunnel is the height of pride, the more he would struggle alone without calling on The Lord in faith and trust, the longer he shall be in that horrific place ,and, God help him that those terrible beings don't grab him and drag him inside that hole!
3. The life of faith is a journey, I can only explain those idiosyncratic people we passed through at the hospital as people who live without motive, perambulating without journeying. From the church to the exhibition is the journey, inside that room is the experience of death, my bed at home is waking up to Reality, the Ressurection . But we are still dreaming, lets learn, this life itself is the dream. Reality is awaiting us.