Meditations on the Paschal Mystery through the Eyes of Mary (PART III: THE GREAT EASTER VIGIL)
Topic: Alleluia! Jesus our Savior, the Son of Mary, has risen! Alleluia! Today’s texts: To help us ponder the profound mysteries of this most solemn night, there are seven Old Testaments readings (Genesis 1:1-2:2; Genesis 22:1-18; Ex 14:15-15:1; Is 54:5-14; Is 55:1-11; Baruch 3:9-15,32-4:4; Ezekiel 36:16-17a,18-28) detailing the story of creation, the Fall, and the promise of salvation through […]
Meditations on the Paschal Mystery through the Eyes of Mary (PART II: Good Friday)
Topic: Christ himself was wounded for our sins! And a sword pierced your heart too, Mary! Texts for Meditation: Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9; and John 18:1–19:42. What really is good about this Friday? Certainly not the bloody excruciating barbaric torture, suffering, and death of Jesus Christ upon the cross. No! What is good about […]
Meditations on the Paschal Mystery through the Eyes of Mary (PART I: Holy Thursday)
Topic: This is my Body… this is my Blood… given up for you! Texts for Meditation: Exodus 12:1-8,11-14; 1 Cor 11:23-26; and Jn 13:1-15. Holy Thursday (evening) marks the beginning of the Most Sacred Triduum, during which we celebrate the Paschal Mystery of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, his suffering, death, and resurrection. I […]
For the Feast of Saint Joseph
In the Gospels, St. Joseph doesn’t say much, if anything. He is the QuietMan, there in the background but leading, protecting, and guiding the Holy Family.There is only one word we are told he uttered and that is the name of Jesus, for hewas specifically entrusted with the task of naming the Divine Child and […]
Benedict XVI as I Saw Him: Reflections on the Life of a Baobab of Faith from a Simple African Priest
I woke up on the morning of the 31st of December 2022 in good cheers. After all, it was the last day of the year, and I was excited and hopeful about the New year. Still, I had a very heavy heart. A day or two before, Pele the great soccer player had just passed […]
PROGRAM OF STUDIES
Master of Arts in Theology: Ratzinger Studies Preamble “God is the real central theme of my endeavors. I have never tried to create a system of my own, an individual theology (…) The point of departure is first of all the Word. That we believe the Word of God, that we try really to get to know and understand it and then, as […]
Morality Truly Christian, Truly African:
Engagements with the Theology of Paulinus Odozor Co-organized by Maurice Agbaw-Ebai and Matthew Levering Mundelein Seminary– November 2-4 2023 All Sessions held in the Conference Center Room 101 Thursday November 2 [Dinner available at the Refectory from 5-6:00 PM] 7:00-8:30 PM Keynote Maurice Ashley Agbaw-Ebai (St. John’s Seminary) – “Ratzinger’s Theological Anthropology in Conversation with Aspects of […]
“All are welcome”: The tempting heterodoxy of today?
Today, we find ourselves dancing to the drumbeats beckoning us into the infernal circles wherein are normalized, as approved human behavior and dispositions, the ideologies of transgenderism, homosexuality, and the unprecedented deification of autonomy, the so-called freedom to say, think, or do whatever the human spirit defends as fitting, right, and doable. The question of […]
Etsi veluti Deus non daretur (As if God does not exist) …
In the lines that follow, I share with whomever would give it a thought some reflections on the realities facing today’s Christian. This is inspired or framed around the liturgical readings of Friday of the 26th Week in Ordinary Time, Cycle I, namely, Baruch 1:15-22 and Luke 10:13-16. These scriptural texts invite us to ponder […]
THE CROSS STANDS AS THE WORLD REVOLVES
“Stat Crux dum Orbis Revultur” – The Cross Stands as the World Revolves. With these words, the sons of Saint Bruno have, for almost a thousand years (since 1084), devoted themselves to a life of absolute silence and solitude. Seeking to leave no trace, they have for generations sought to immerse themselves more and more […]