MOTHERLAND

MOTHERLAND

I lingered to pen this, but how else would succour be gotten if the ills bedevilling her be untold?

My Motherland.

Heat pervades her and her wind is often at standstill.

She beclouds my awareness and my insightful thoughts were blurred.

Mediocrity reigns in her, bolstered by tribal, religious, age and sexual biases.

Forget the hype about her improved power; blackout is still the order of her day-

Noises from gen-sets causing mental havoc.

We walked with 2 mobile phones, often dual sim, as her networks are unpredictable.

Her Internet perpetually slow, vehicle traffic jam a miniature of hell.

Building fabrics and public roads all in comatose.

She is an ecosystem for survival of the fittest where the physically, emotionally and spiritually disabled are trampled and relegated.

Hypes about spiritual contentions are rampantly felt.

But negative forces seem to me to be gaining more grounds.

In Motherland nothing is secure.

Nerves wrecked even at hands traveling to pocket checking often for phone and wallet.

A warlike arena where fear rules.

Yet in her spite, I beheld some budding hopes.

Budding hopes at the spate of land developments in her towns and cities.

Budding hopes seeing average families possess mobile phones with internet; pay TV to connect cultures; bore holes for readied water and gensets for power generation.

Budding hopes at the deep political consciousness and sensitivity of her populace.

Budding hopes for the gift of spiritual houses giving the poor glimmers of hope.

We may say much of her ills, this mother that brought us forth.

But until we join in curing her ailments and boosting her hopes

Shall our destiny be eternally settled

From this land I was begotten

She brought me forth amidst work and toil

And I shall forever be faithful at the work of her prosperity.

Mother, poor dear Motherland.

ON NAIJA ROAD

The road is our common rendezvous

Big, small; Man, woman; rich or poor.

An exchange of aura, an interaction of spirits, a transfer and mix of forces happens on the road.

The road becomes a locus of relationship in any nation, city, town or village.

It can be said that on the road, we share a common home within the land that we belong.

Live in a mansion house of marble floor with silk hangings

But the communal happenings on your road is what ultimately defines you as an entity in the eyes of an outsider.

Take me along a road in any city and I shall tell of what the average home be like and the condition of the average heart.

And my testimony is that it does not glitter at all on the road of my land.

Each day’s experience of road traffic becomes as of a war.

We blame smokers but fare worse from inhaled fumes translating from vehicles’ exhausts.

Our roads are an ecochaos of lawlessness and disorder where the survival of the fittest reigns.

We have formed a mastery of bullying from horn rages translating from virtually every vehicle.

Swearing and cursing from drivers and passengers alike are taken as norm.

Hell miniature where no commonsensical rule is obeyed

Vehicles proceed even at a beckon of red from the traffic light.

Heaven beckons for pedestrians crossing the zebra line hoping vehicles would stop.

One way route is non-existent as it turns dual at the slightest traffic provocation.

Absolute defiance of commercial riders and drivers: from okada to keke to cabs to danfo to Lorries and trailers; the smaller the vehicle the more defiant and daring its driver.

No chance of ‘African time’ abating soon, not with the perpetual prevalence of unpredictable traffics and hold ups, worsened by alarming road conditions and traffic disobedience.

Long live Tokunbo vehicles, for it makes little economic sense to ply brand new vehicles on roads where potholes are more prevalent than smooth roads.

It may be debatable which comes first: tarring road or tarring stomach

But if we remain silent and the abnormal is not mentioned, it becomes a norm

We owe our

roads a revisit of its nature and culture.

Father Vacancy

FATHER VACANCY

I have 2 kids, a boy and a girl, aged 4 and 2 respectively.  Most times they get along fine, but sometimes for some reasons they get tired of cooperative play and descend into rivalry. Their cooperative play is always to mine and the family’s advantage at large for it gets me and my wife less distracted and we can go about the business of moving the family forward. But this doesn’t always happen this way; my kids descend into toy tussle. Most times it’s the fact that somebody wants to hold unto his/her toy while the other wants to ‘intrude’, and before I know it I have to interfere and play the judge.

It is not always a mathematical judgement, for often behind the toy tussle lays a power struggle between my kids and I have to make out time to listen to ‘trifling’ accusations and defences in order to avoid hasty and biased decisions. It requires much introspection, sensitivity and listenability on my part before deciding on whether to counsel sharing or to affirm the legibility of the other’s claim to the toy. My boy is stronger , but my girl is more stubborn such that when she gets smacked by him, she would simply not be cowed and screams louder, and the louder the noise the more I would be pressured to get involved.

The temptation is to be hasty and counsel an ‘ephemeral’ resolution so that I can just return to my business rather than listen to trifling about toys, but I see in these scuffles an opportunity to teach. What costs me more – and that which I sometimes do- is when I would have to take sides and reprimand the other about his/her lack of sensivity. That breeds a mind game of supremacy and power for anyone of them that I seem to have favoured. He/she feels empowered and rejoices secretly in the euphoria of Daddy being on his/her side, and would want to capitalise on this power by making a second attack on the other. I often watch out for this and when it happens, I quickly interject and make the other also feel better by reprimanding the latter, so it becomes a sort of ‘goalless draw’. But the harder task is when this power capitalisation from either party does not happen anytime soon, another strategy to return to balance requiring my own mind work begins.

My strategy and mind work is borne of the necessity to return the relationship to balance and prove to them that neither have a greater claim to me than the other, but this needs timing and articulation, otherwise the lesson would not sink in enough on the reprimanded party. The efficacy of some work is dependent on time, and time sometimes can be a pain.

I know most fathers share my experience. Cooperative play between my kids is best time for the family, for it allows Dad and Mum to focus on moving the family forward, but without these minor tussles, or if one is hasty about their resolution, one can lose the opportunity to teach and for the children to learn about the ultimate meaning of life, about compassion, about sharing about unity and friendship.

Why have I brought about this scenario? Considering the Nigerian situation, I see a deep fatherhood vacuum and the possibility of this vacuum lingering. What is tasking but urgently necessary is the necessity of finding a rallying figure for the nation, one that has a broadened heart transcending tribal, religious, class and political tussles who is capable and willing to do the work that justice, judgement and reconciliation requires.  Most people in our nation still remain deeply embroidered in this human ‘versus’ game.

Man is made for war, a father is meant to fight the external and balance the internal. Yes , our whole task in this plane of reality, if it would result in  any beneficial effect , is to battle and consolidate. But great and many are those whose energy , whether physical or spiritual, is still geared like Cain, towards battling against fellow humans, and using as pedestal the so called tribal , religious, racial, political and class pedestal  to perpetuate their claims of supremacy,, for they are at a loss what to battle otherwise.

In this reality of war, we seem to have lost focus on what to rally round and battle against, that is why, as a nation, the only time we seem to come together to make a positive unified war is when the national football team is playing against another nation.  Ingenuity is needed to continue the earthly battle and its consolidation, such that have been created by the great  champions of humanity in battling the necessary war against inequality, hunger , mediocrity and sickness. Not against fellow humans. That is the real battle!

Humanity by nature would prefer a rallying figure as father, what we all hate is lack of integrity and trust. Why would Boko Haram still lay claim to the vision of Usman Dan Fodio as a motivation for their struggle? Why would many in the East like to perpetuate the cause of Ojukwu’s Biafra? Why do many in the West still bask and reminiscence over tribal supremacy perpetuated by Awolowo? Because there is yet lacking a Genius to carve out a new cause to unify the entity called Nigeria. Nobody is yet capable of taking and building up on what these great men have created. We still perambulate upon their ingenuity while refusing to move forward. We perpetuate the causes of these heroes which were relevant in their ages and in the name of religious, tribal and political supremacy, we refuse to move on. We have no vision to carve a new notch and broaden our minds out of the scope laid down by our forefathers; we are all busily distracted by money, sex and power. There is no strong vision, how then can there be any mission? It is not about forgetting the past, it is about moving forward to the future.

 I experienced this national fatherhood vocation budding in some individuals long prior to the 2015 election. But, one by one, I have seen great men come down and delved into political partisanship, be it in gestures, words or actions, because of a lingering mediocrity that reigned within the political Responsible in the land. Though necessary, but such places are not fitted for the real fatherhood to which they belong. I believe the situation was so bad such that, as I would unwillingly ‘take sides’ between my kids, these potential National fathers had needed to dabble into these partisanship to save the nation, but this means, there would not come anytime soon for there to be a real Nigerian father, and the meaning of this is that, struggle would continue, because there is as yet, no adequate fatherly Judge who would any time win the respect of the mases. Some things require time, but sometimes time can be a pain. I pray that these men return back unto their lofty roles quickly and not get entangled into the ephemerality of money and power. There is an urgent vacancy for fatherhood in Nigeria, and there is little possibility of it being filled anytime soon, because so few have got the criteria, skill and ability required. Have you?

Wishing you all a happy Father’s Day!

GETHSEMANE AND THE EUCHARIST: THE PAIN OF CHRIST

Jesus' trial and temptation after His baptism has been well documented in the scripture. The bible tells of His three fold trials in the wilderness by Satan. A much deeper temptation , that which was not much apparent as the wilderness temptation occurred at the Garden of Gethsemane, and upon Jesus` overcoming that temptation was that which the destiny of our salvation was entwined.

God was tried at Gethsemane, reminiscent of the temptation at Eden and the crisis of Abraham whereby he was asked to sacrifice his only son. Here at Gethsemane, we see the supreme action of God , putting forward His son in sacrifice.

Most of our trials in life are easier borne once they have been overcome interiorly; so in this sense we can say , even the trial at Calvary could not have been possible if Christ had not overcome the ordeals of the Garden at Gethsemane.

I would like to compare the experience of the 3 disciples of Christ on Mount Tabor during the Transfiguration of Christ with their experience at Gethsemane during His agony . We see that on both occasions , these disciples : Peter , James and John were worn out with sleep, but we can ask ourselves: how did they keep awake on Mount Tabor but would not overcome the drowsiness at Gethsemane?

Many of us live by the senses, we derive pleasures only out of the spectacular as dictated by what we see, hear, taste, breathe or feel. We are immediately drawn towards marvellous and miraculous signs  such that unless there are acts like these, it becomes difficult for us to perceive God`s actions in the ordinary . We do not see God in our daily duties, much less when we are under pressures, temptations or trials .

It is this apparent weakness of man which prevented the three disciples from keeping awake during the trials of Christ at Gethsemane; they became so much insensitive to the ordeals of the Lord , thereby contributing to putting the salvation of so many at risk.Scripture tells us that God`s strength is made so perfect in our weaknesses. It is when we feel so much incapable of loving, and that we would wish to love anyway, that God`s greatness is perfectly manifested the more . Christ knew this and struggled against not loving at Gethsemane, but the insensitive hearts of the disciples was oblivious of the circumstance of Christ and would not struggle against their drowsiness in order to assist Him and they easily succumbed to slumber. That was the reason Christ admonished them to watch and pray so that they would not fall into sin. The greatest sin is to be insensitive to the plight of our neighbour who is in need.

Christ tells us in the scripture to labour not for the meat which perish but that which endures unto eternal life. God who is Truth tells us of the need for authentic work , which is that of striving for the meat that endures unto eternal life. This meat is His flesh in the Holy Eucharist.

It is because we seem more prone to the spectacular that we fail to see the actions of Christ in the Holy Eucharist who calls us to comfort Him in His longing for souls. Christ wishes the best for us,He would  want to pour out His love , wisdom, strength, mercy and graces on us, but we are asleep; truly asleep, because , when we are entirely focused on making money without visiting  Him, without eating Him, we loose out on authentic wisdom and on what salvation is truly about. Do we spend an hour in a week at least , talking to Him in the Eucharist? He asks us as He did ask the disciples. Can you not spend an hour with me? He needs our company.

Motherhood

I shall never tire of writing about motherhood.

I was at a well-respected friend’s place recently and in our discussion, I recounted about attending a talk by a Christian teacher from Spain (call him Jose) who was telling us his majorly African audience about certain aspects regarding Africans’ spiritual reservations that he is yet to understand. I told my friend about Jose’s experience of how he ventured into a shrine in a particular community which no one was permitted to enter under the penalty of mysterious death within 7 days. Jose mentioned how even the most advanced Christian in the community would simply shrug off the quest to venture into the shrine and would maintain a public denial about the community threat by disregarding any conversation towards that fact.  Jose narrated how he broke the rules and entered into the shrine for some academic researches. He said, here he was, alive after more than 20 years. He wondered how such dread could permeate in the mind of people, even of the intellectuals in the community.

At the end of my account, my friend whom I was visiting responded that Jose probably did not die because the community could not get hold of the name of his mother. We laughed it off.

It is on this basis of observation from my friend that I would like to focus my essay of motherhood in our contemporary society upon.

I consider myself privileged to hail from a ‘mind before matter’ culture, but within this culture of mind there permeates two extremities: That of a mind that is either fixated on producing results through manipulations of components from natural laws; or that of a denial of this prevalence of this natural manipulations through an unwillingness to involve in the inherent cultural and the importation of other more permissible cultures, leaving vacant any experience that would occur from a sincere attempt at verification of the extent and potency of this manipulations. (This vagueness is similar to the artificial dichotomy created between reason and faith.)

For me, this manipulative contact of children through motherhood is not just a mind game but a mind reality. Many spiritual manipulations happen through contact with mothers, and it is easier so for this agents to do this if such mother is aligned more into a competitive arena of rules and laws and the manipulations of matter aimed at material conquest, much more when she does this with a view to a physical annihilation of an opposition.

Destiny has made it possible for us to be children of our mothers. No human entity lives on earth except through a mother. We are bound towards an eternal obligation then to take care of our mothers, for what she becomes in the mind rule, is tied to that which we would be in the future. If we neglect our mothers, we are neglecting our destiny in the rule of the mind. If we do not take care of our mothers, we face unpalatable consequences. What we are now, they were and what they are we shall become. It is a cyclic responsibility. We do a right and justified thing to defend our mothers, in life and at death, for what happens to her vibrates into the core of our being and into our eternal destiny.

Apart from our natural mothers, there are two other mothers that we have which are not immediately apparent: 1) The Lands of our Births and 2) The Sources of our Mind Evolvement (This can be church, mosque, shrine or school). It is from these Sources of mind evolvement that the future of the other mothers lie, that is, - The Lands of our Births and Our Natural Mothers- are tied. If the sources out of which we renew and evolve our minds operate in mediocrity, then we shall always have the land and our natural mothers subject to the manipulations within the confines of rules of labour. We often assume the spiritual arena to be operating on the dictates of our methodologies. There is an infinite prevalence and variations in (or out) there, but these are, and must be subject to one Truth.

The authentic mark of a true mother is in her inclusivity. She is an adept at utilizing the concept of unity amidst the scopes of diversity without fear or favour. A real mother expands her bosom, she is welcoming, she never says ‘me and my children alone’ for she knows that ends in nihilism and that what brings forth fruitfulness is in inclusivity. Such is the prosperity of a motherland that welcomes visitors and immigrants and a Mind source that is universal by nature. That is why the afterlife is often referred to as the City of God, for it operates under an inclusive canopy. It is neither a town, much less a village.

Mothers work so that their children advance more than them. If that be not the case, there is no point vying, for the battle would have been lost from the onset.

Children, on the other hand, need be entirely focused on the well-being of their mother. If that is entirely bereft of the reality, then the battle has been lost, well before fighting.

Of what then should consist motherly devotion on the part of the children? Apart from the material care which is very important, the mind care of the mother is of utmost necessity, for on it depends her future, our destiny and the evolvement of posterity. Gently, slowly but firmly, matured children must work at the mind renewal of their mothers. This is a reciprocal activity, for if the mother has only had a material outlook and has not brought up the children on the mind work of renewal, it would be herculean for the children to derive the capacity of doing this utmost important work. When mothers purely raise their children up to focus on the material, they are simply digging up their own grave.

Change is tough for mothers, in comparison to their children. Mothers can be bent on ‘leaving things as they are’. Don’t leave your mother to leave things as they are. This motherhood hierarchy, of the family, of the land, of the mind source are often reluctant to change. Everything moves, everything changes, only Truth remains. Firmly, slowly but gently, make your mother see the reason at moving, at letting go, if not, there is the danger of mothers turning into Principalities; this is horrible, it is hell! Mothers should beware of complacency. This is why politically it is not plausible to keep recycling old Politicians without bringing in fresh blood. But a child who would want the mother to move could leave the mother wondering, where to? If the child doesn't know where to, and in the name of change forces the mother deeper into mediocrity, then stagnancy and poverty could linger long in the household.

It often happens that children know but mothers wouldn't bulge, then crisis looms. While this crisis is sometimes necessary in other to save motherhood (or childhood as it were), it is important to be gentle but firm and always keep reconciliation as an ultimate focus. I tremble when I see how at the slightest crisis, people leave their families for good, or their land of birth forever, or change churches or mosques at the slightest provocation. Destiny knows why it has positioned you there. Work towards renewing it, only as a last result must you leave. Then you shall be vindicated and your destiny would be a favoured path. Not when you leave erratically.

There are two parallels of motherhood; both are hierarchical and are material, but while one material has succumbed to the spiritual and has transcended rules and laws through faith, the other is at the mercy of manipulations from natural components in an arena of toil and perpetual competition. I am talking of Mary and Eve, and between this, every mother, in every land, in every place of worship, must decide on whose side of the parallels to align.

 It is so wonderful how today, the whole world is revisiting the importance of motherhood and how this is reverberating in the consciousness of humanity. When you connect to an authentic mother, you’ll be inclusive, you’ll value unity even in diversity, you’ll have a passion for the land and you’ll value all women.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the women that matter in my life. I love you all. You give meaning to my life

      

Mater Dei.

Prior to her, the history of the gods was filled with wars, storms, violence and different perambulations.

Satan rebelled against God in heaven and he was cast down. In Eden, man was co-opted into this rebellion. From the serpent, through Eve, man became enslaved and got engrossed the more into this rebellion such that the more rebellious humans are, the more they are initiated into the company of the gods, for Satan, a fallen angel, who would want to be God, had colonised the earth and made himself its god, such that he is referred to as the prince of the world.

With time, the good spirits as was created in the Garden of Eden got chocked up and holy men who appeared throughout the course of history increasingly despaired and became more and more exasperated so to say about a return to the Beatitudes. Such was the agony of John the Evangelist when he saw no one was found worthy to open the scrolls of the book in the Book of Revelations.

The world, until Christ, was under Satan’s yoke. From the highest to the lowest, man was in bondage and the strife either to be an Orisa (god) or to parley with such, was rife. It was a question of winner takes all, the whole world was embroiled in an unpalatable and unhealthy competition for the survival of the fittest, while Satan sat as its Prince and delighted pawning both gods and man into despair and exhumes in triumph at the chaotic emblem stamped on earth since the fall of man.

The strong and powerful men maintained the status of being beneficiary of the gods, sometimes they are referred to as 2nd only to the gods to preserve an awe for them, or even at their deaths, a cult is formed in their honour and they are worshiped as gods.The poor who were always at the bottom of the echelon and could only look with despair at the length of alienation from the strong, and in futility at the gods who must have abandoned them to their fate as outcasts and scapegoats of life. They as such live miserably, as any hope for recompenses even afterlife seemed far out of grasp.

Spiritual time is not as it is in everyday observation or as it is conceptualized in scientific studies. These issues described above, regarding the sport in which Satan has made of humanity and the futility to which the poor have been abandoned are still happening in this age, at this moment. You only need to look around to witness the sport Satan makes of men when they refuse to look deeply at the world from Christ’s perspective. Adam and Eve might well have fallen gigantically in the heart of a man today. Evil still reigns in the heart of men until Christ be made manifest fully upon earth. Principalities and Powers still looms, perhaps as close as the heart of your home, or closer still, in your mind and intellect.

There is one who dwells in the secret place of the most high and abides under the shadow of the Almighty. She is Mary. The deepest mysteries are embedded in her. Mary knows deep mysteries that are difficult for any human mind to fathom. What, for instance, if she has not revealed to some just a glimpse of the mysteries of her son’s birth? We would probably have no clue regarding Christ’s divinity, and that is only a tip of the iceberg of what she knows.

When God decides to manifest His glory, He uses nothing and nothingness to beat the devil at his game. Sure the last thing being expected by Satan was for a poor tiny nonentity from an obscure village like Nazareth to beat him at his game. He was busy looking up and waiting to beat whoever would come any near his domain since the call of Abraham. Not in his wildest dream did he think God would stoop so low as to become a man. Tufiakua! That, to him is an extremely insane and scandalous act to conceive. Stooping to conquer is not in his ‘Wikipedia’, humility is not part of his DNA.

Before Christ, the Law of Moses came as a process back to the unity and beatitude of the beginning, Satan foresaw that man would be incapable of fulfilling all its rites, so he was certain man would still get locked under his yoke and rebellion against God, and that this would continue ad infinitum. He also believed that man would perpetually perambulate within himself in a perpetual struggle for supremacy without the realization of his oneness. Man was constantly manipulated by Evil and the land was literally stuck under in the knot of the venture for supremacy of the Orisas.

As an expert of the art of God, Satan knew justice demands that man makes recompense for his disobedience and he believed the Law to be a big distraction through which man would hopelessly hope to redeem himself, for he was aware that no flesh and blood would be capable of fulfilling all the rigours that the Law demanded for a journey back to the beatitudes. He also knows that, according to natural law he was aware of a perpetual gulf between man and God, and God would need a perfectly pure medium to travel to save man, and as long as he, Satan remained the prince of the world, there was no way a pure creature would survive sin and corruption. Even if there was to be such a person, the question of free will to which every man must be subject would make the task insurmountable.

That God would decide to go through the pain of re-creating another world in order to save a world who would do no good to His hallowedness is an effort too great for nothing. A recreation was started, this time, not externally, as happened in Genesis, but internally in the heart of a masterpiece of His. Creation was secretly and quietly fine tuned and perpetually made infinitely more beautiful than was of Eden. Mary was the creation. In her, nature was recreated. Water, earth, vegetations, fish, birds sky etc was fully embedded in her, because in the 2^nd and final epic battle between goodness and evil, God Himself was to come down to save man, and inside this creature called Mary, creation was perfected as a medium for the Creator to descend and live and be born in order to rescue man out of his enslavement and his co-option into the rebellion against Him.

Satan cannot understand the reason for 3 things: Love, mercy and grace. As such one of the deepest prayers that evil cannot stand is this longing: O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. For that 2nd creativity was hidden from him. This new refashioning of creation, in the Church’s dogma is referred to as the Immaculate Conception.  But there was still one thing God would not do in this grand design of His. Out of His justice, He could not touch free will.

To save man, God depended yet on the response of a girl He had made. All heavens remained in suspense as Angel Gabriel was sent to deliver this message to the little girl of Nazareth. It was a gargantuan risk taken by the Divine, similar to a football game, when the final spot kick by a team player would determine the victory or defeat. All heavenly hosts held their breadth hoping that the divine gamble would pay off and not be a double ‘mistake’ if she refuses. Fingers crossed...

Divine Intelligence had perfected everything in that girl, she was immaculately conceived, she was filled with every grace, but free will was what His justice would not allow Him to tamper with in man.  From that moment: from that fiat, from that acknowledging statement: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord…”, the Fall was reversed in an instant. A family of man had become god without having to go through the rebellious route and thus not in allegiance to Satan but through the humility route, by the acknowledgement of her nothingness. Nothingness is a verb the devil loathes but which he has become. Mary acknowledged and faced up to her nothingness and by that she has become Something. God pierced through into humanity, the Word was made flesh, the genius out of the divine had paid of and the first out of all humans –Mary- was saved! “My spirit rejoices in God my saviour!”

All strives, chaos, and kirakitas now have a new channel, an authentic one, a lasting one. God has created a medium, through which all the rebellious ideologies of the evil one is smashed by a sincere and realistic acknowledgement of one human of her nothingness in utter dependence on Divinity, so that she can offer back to God everything that is rightly His. “He has looked upon the nothingness of His handmaid…”

A Vacuum who understands perfectly the fallen state of man allows the passage of Eternity into time. In her, time and eternity become married. In time, Satan is a billion of year’s old intelligence who holds humanity to ransom in gravity and friction. In Eternity, Satan is a ‘no-more’ force; the actual nothing, for it has been cast in the lake of fire. In the Product of God in Mary : The Christ Jesus, time is being purified and made authentic so that it can be in true subjection to eternity and a cause for authentic freedom.

Because she has been there, a subject of the law, born and bred in the law and under the law, she is able to appeal to all ancient gates to arise and allow enter the king of glory: Her Son and God’s Son, the Christ Jesus, right from His conception in her womb. In the response of her body to the laws of nature, as water and blood flowed through her being, through His movement, respiration, nutrition, growth, excretion in her and by the work of her memory, intellect and will , she commands all ancient gates, right from her body, all the laws of time and space to be lifted and the king of glory was entered fully into this new creation , until He was fully gestated and like God, through Him, with Him and in Him, she is able to freely offer this masterpiece, this God Man, for the salvation of humanity. She is truly the mother of God and that of all authentic children of God. In her we can concretely say: Orisa bi iya ko si (There is no god as a mother). Every human mother who would resonate this saying would have to strike a root in Mary. Her faith and humility naturally smashes barriers generated by Satan and his allies. They are either, both lifted up and co-opted into divine plan or they are smashed into oblivion. That is the enmity promised by God between the serpent and the woman in Genesis.

Something happened after forty days of His birth that can be easily ignored in the scripture. Mary freely acted God; she freely offered to God what belonged to God. As she carried her into the temple, all ancient gates arose into the old creation and the prophecy of God was fulfilled: “I shall put enmity between thee and the woman, between her offspring and yours…”. Simeon saw this salvation and prayed the Nunc Dimittis. What else?

In the Old testaments, God seemed not to really like the idea of the Israelites asking for a King, but it was through this line of kingship that His Son, the Christ was born and made manifest. Likewise, the idea of Orisa (god) can appear revolting, as in a child’s mind, it still connotes rebellion to the One Supreme God. No. Since Mary, authentic Orisas need submit to One God in Christ. In actual fact, any Christian, born in Mary and of water and the Holy Spirit is an Orisa, infinitely greater than the orisas who bully them by striking their heels. But with her faith and humility, they smack and pulverise their heads.

Because she is composed of matter and she acknowledges the fact that whatever spirit she’s got belongs to the Giver, she qualifies perfectly to be an orisa, but an orisa who alone has the means to offer everything back to the owner. Previous orisas tremble at this fact, for it was a humble acknowledgement of death and defeat, she let go of her opinions and plans to accept a seemingly impossible divine strategy.

“This girl really messed things up” That seems to be the echo resounding from the college of humanity who had reigned out of their allegiance to evil. “Why would she give to Him all what we have gathered over the years, out of rebellion and toil, to Him by a momentous fiat?” From Mary, every orisa since inception now faces a choice, either to lift higher ancient doors and succumb to the kingship of God, or to be annihilated into that which they dread the most: gehenna.

Mary has the capacity to influence God in a way that we can only call scandalous. Perhaps, if you’ve no capacity to listen to scandals, you are advised to stop the reading here.

Mary has power over nature and natural phenomena. She works on destiny and aligns it towards the straight part of mercy. She is ‘A tun ori eni ti ko suwon se’ (she remoulds an otherwise tarnished destiny) She can stay the hand of God like no one else. God is obedient to Mary. She has this capacity because she trusted and let go. Even in our age, one wonders at how much God bestows on His servants when they are truly humble and faithful. Isn’t Elijah a man like us? Mary is infinitely greater than Elijah. She is at the same time, a daughter of God, a spouse of God and the mother of God. She is soaked into the Trinity. She is full of grace. She prophesied that all generations would call her blessed. Avoid this at your own risk.

Christ was to start His public mission at 12 when He was found teaching the doctors in the temple at Jerusalem; Mary stayed this path and fashioned God’s destiny and our salvation. Christ had to wait another 18 years under her domain before she allowed His manifestation of His glory - even when He was not ready - at Cana. These signs, for the discerning mind are pointers to the one great sacrifice of Calvary. Mary, like Abraham, gave Him over for us at Calvary. If she wanted, she wouldn’t...

In conclusion...

I write because of my conviction that in our extreme materialistic, matter before mind world. If we are to return to the path of salvation and freedom, we have to rediscover the path. Christ says: You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. He said again, Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart and you shall find rest to your souls. Humility is truth. There is a depth of humility and faith that I believe we need to rediscover in Jesus Christ and only with the help of Mary shall we arrive at it. Getting to the path of true humility is not a soft work. Mariology should be an integral path to total deliverance in our age and time.

Those who say Mary is nothing are right. She is nothing but she is a mother of Something. In Revelations 12 she was led into the desert to be rescued. Only by Mary can we discover the root of our nothingness in the desert of our being and the realisation of our utter dependence on God. Satan and his children could and would not do this because there is a dread of not being in control. In the school of Mary, her children find out that in this humility and nothingness lies the greatest power and might, even over God!

Today we celebrate the New Year in time, but the Church celebrates Mater Dei, because in her, Time and Eternity are married such that Time is made new every day through the influence of Eternity.

Happy New Year!  

21 Inspirations In Time.

1)      Nelson Mandela: Activist and Politician who braved internal oppositions after he was freed and forgave his enemies and gave them equal rights after he was elected President.

2)      Gordon Brown: Former British Prime Minister, the leading protagonist against the 2008 economic crisis. He ‘saved the world’ at the cost of his Political career.

3)      Julian Assange: The WikiLeak's bulwark who braved mighty oppositions and revealed the hypocrisy of the US government and many Governments across the world. 3 years on, his freedom is still largely curtailed at an Ecuadorian embassy in London.

4)      Benazir Bhutto: Pakistani Politician, who escaped assassination twice, still went to the same area and eventually got shot and died the third time. She risked martyrdom for the emancipation of her land.

5)      Malala Yousafzai: 15 year old Pakistani blogger who was shot and risked her life for advocating education for girls.

6)      Benedict XVI

: Catholic Pope who risked tradition by abdicating the Papacy of his own volition in order to liberate the church the more.

7)      Murtala Ramat Mohamed: Former Nigeria Military President. He gave up his life in the cause of fighting corruption and correcting irregularities in government.

8)      MKO Abiola: Business mogul turned politician who let go of freedom and braved death for the cause of democracy.

9)      Dora Akunyili: Former NAFDAC Director and Communication Minister who fought the perpetuity of retrogressing Principalities to a standstill. She gave up her life in the service of her nation.

10)   Pastor Bakare: Fearless radical Pastor and Politician who would not be cowed. Critic of Lie not minding whose head is gored. Courageous advocate of truth and justice in the land.

11)   Mallam Nuhu Ribadu: Former EFCC Chairman, an anti-corruption stalwart whose like is yet to be seen in the nation.

12)   Gbenga Adeboye: A multi-talented Philosopher and media personality who courageously used his talents to speak out against various evils in the land, he risked and gave his life in the service of truth and employed his talents towards the emancipation of the soul of man.

13)   Fela Anikulapo Kuti: Fearless Musician who used his music to expose the corruption in government.

14)   Ali Baba: Comedian. God raised him, he used his facilities to raise others. Now, comedy is a mighty industry in Nigeria through his lifting others up.

15)   Shuaib Amodu: Former Super Eagles Coach. Twice he qualified Nigeria for the World Cup; twice he was refused the right to lead Nigeria to the world Cup. Twice Nigeria ‘fumbled’ at the world cup as a result. He held no animosity. Keshi today is reaping the fruits of Amodu’s actions.

16)   Bishop Babatunde Adelakun: Former Catholic Bishop of Oyo diocese, who even before Benedict XVI would, taught me by his actions that an elder must always learn to let go. He always leads his companions in the act of ‘letting go’.

17)   Br Joseph Kotoye: A man whom, up till now, I’m yet to come across his like. A Mechanical Design Engineer. He literarily sold all what he had and gave his life to the service of the poor. No, I am not giving a medieval story, neither is he European or American; he is a simple ‘commoner’  living at Abule Egba in Lagos.

18)   Mr Samuel Akinjogunla: A man of ultra-confidence in God. His way of life and the manner of his death has become a resounding gospel in my life.

19)   Akinkunmi Akinola : My brother. He was born in sorrow, he lived in toil and he died in pains. A boy of 13 who is graced with having no animosity. Heaven embraced him. I see that every day.

20)   Engr Michael Araoye Akinola: He risked, braved and gave ALL for the emancipation of his children!

21)   You:  Yes you who are reading this. You are my Inspiration , my lesson about what it means to live!