THE SURPRISING CONVERSION by Rev. Fr. Chibuike Uzoh

A reverend gentleman, shared this faith experience and indeed, the whole pieces are bricks enough to build a soul into a strong temple of God. Relish the spiritual chicken-soup!

FR. CHIBUIKE 1ST FROM RIGHT @ ORDINATION

 

"That day, I had a wedding to attend, my friend was wedding and I must be there. I also know that many priests would be there because that friend was a Seminarian. The mass was 10.00 a.m. I left my house by 9.15 am as I know that the place was about a 30 mins drive. I gave myself the grace of 15 minutes to pray before the mass. Something told me they will be late too, brides and latecoming sef.

On my way, I stopped at the shop of my tailor to pick up my cloth. . At the shop, one woman ran to me, she was panting and sweating. I got alarmed and asked what that was. She told me that her niece was dying in the hospital. Well, the tailor's shop was just adjacent the hospital. She requested I come pray for her. I had my Holy water, HOLY oils, stole and Bible with me there.  My car sometimes is my mobile chapel. I parked and went to the hospital. When I got to the hospital, I saw the parents of the sick child crying and pacing around. I was told that the child needed blood transfusion BLOOD GROUP O POSITIVE. The person they got to donate blood failed one of the blood tests. They seem to have no hope of blood immediately. I smiled they looked at me in a funny manner. I smiled because I know that I am O positive, I have enough blood, and I have got neither HIV nor HEPATITIS. They seem to be the tests I know. I said, “OYA, NURSE TEST ME”. They were amazed. I insisted.  The tests were conducted, I passed, and I lay down on the bed and was bleed. After donating blood, I sent one of the nurses to buy me malt and milk, which i paid for. After taking the malt and milk, I encouraged them and left. I even forgot to pray for them. When I got to the wedding, the mass was almost over. I explained to my friend after the mass. The funny thing is that I saw the people in church on Sunday. The child was with them, looking very healthy and lovely. I have never seen them in church before, so I went to greet them. I told them that I have never seen them in church, did they come for any special thing. I learnt that they were Catholics before but stopped attending mass for a long time, choosing instead to stay at home. They were fallen Christians. They told me that my actions touched them. I felt like dancing but as a priest na. If I dance for road, e no go work. Well, I feel great shaa. My primary school (GOOD SHEPHERD SCHOOL NNEWI) motto was "ACTIONS NOT WORDS.” 

Now I believe!

                                  Rev. Fr. Chibuike Uzoh is a Catholic Priest of Nnewi Diocese.

Virgin Mary, Other Mary(s) and the Children of Mary: So has the Virgin Mary other Children?

The BOYHOOD of Jesus as recorded in one of the synoptic gospels Lk 2:41 is interesting in understanding Mary and the foster father of Jesus, Joseph. 

That was the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem.

Jesus was 12 years old at that time, but at the end of the feast, he stayed behind unknown to his parents. They thought he went home with their kinsfolk till they found he didn’t after a day’s journey. They went back to Jerusalem and it was after a three day desperate search did they find him.

Lk 2: 48 “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” 

At age 12, it was unlikely for a typical Jewish family not to have had more children; otherwise, Mary should have said, “Your father, other siblings and I, have been looking for you.”

The ADULTHOOD of Jesus which of course expired at the cross on the Calvary even more casts light on the issue at hand. 

John 19:25, “But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

Verse 26, “When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, 27 “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.”

If Jesus died at the age of 33, it was most probable that the mother would be about late 40 or early 50 plus or minus. If she had married again, WHO was her husband?

Again, it is unimaginable that the supposedly other children of Mary would amount to nothing not to have been around their dying brother Jesus and sorrowing mother, Mary.  It is irrational to think Jesus’ other ‘brothers’ could be irresponsible.

THE MOTHER AND BROTHERS OF JESUS:

Mark 3:31, “And his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside they sent to him and called him.” Cross Reference Matthew 12:46

Mark 6:3, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?

Remember, the follow up of these upbraiding was that they unanimously took OFFENSE at him! As a consequence, Jesus did not do mighty work in his home town. They said that, not because they knew him, but because they were blind to know that the poor carpenter and little Mary were super abundantly UPGRADED AND UPDATED.

James as brother of Jesus:

JUDE 1:1, “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of JAMES, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.”

St. Jude explicitly warned against FALSE TEACHERS, “ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into LICENTIOUSNESS and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” Verse 4

By denying the inviolable path and the perpetuity of sanctity of the womb that bore Him, they have denied Him who is Emmanuel, God is with us. It is abominable.

“It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. AND CONVINCE SOME, WHO DOUBT; SAME SOME, BY SNATCHING THEM OUT OF THE FIRE; on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” Verse 19-23

“But I saw none of the other apostles except JAMES the Lord’s brother.” Galatians 1:19

RECALL @ THE CRUCIFIXION

“There were also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him; among whom were Mary Magdalene, and MARY THE MOTHER OF JAMES AND JOSEPH, and the mother of the sons of Zeb’edee. Matthew 27:55-56

Synoptic Mark 15:40 writes, “…and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses…”

MOTHER OF JAMES AND JOHN

“Then the mother of the sons of Zeb’edee came up to him, with her sons, and kneeling before him she asked him for something.” Matthew 20: 20

“And from that hour, the disciple [John] took her [Mary] to his home. It is inconceivable that a Jew, irrespective of their feminine denigration and abnegation, would cast his mother away besides the knowledge of the dictates of the Decalogue.

So, where were the other children of Mary at the Crucifixion or could it be possible she bore them after her Jesus’ chapter?

However, could it be a deliberate ignorance that those who castigate this most beautiful woman never read of the Magnificat Luke 1:46-49

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for HE HAS REGARDED THE LOW ESTATE of His handmaiden. For behold, HENCEFORTH ALL GENERATIONS WILL CALL ME BLESSED; for HE WHO IS MIGHTY HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME AND HOLY IS HIS NAME.”

These are people who sing, “It shall be permanent

                                                          It shall be permanent

                                               What the Lord has done for me, it shall be permanent.

They want permanence of favour and they deny a supernatural blessing upon She, who has been blessed. Not mere blessing; hear the message God Himself sent to this damsel through an archangel Gabriel:

Lk 1:28, “HAIL, O FAVOURED ONE, THE LORD IS WITH YOU!” Some translations go by, “Highly favoured one.”

Don’t they know what divine favour means? Is there any place in the bible, you were enjoined to curse Mary? I consider these attitudes as WICKEDNESS and if it is not, can someone say “Amen” to this prayer, “May your favours and even present joys fade away like gas in Jesus Name….”

OTHER IF CLAUSE:

If Mary bore other children, these would have been inconsequential, immaterial, for the condition sene qua non for her blessedness, is, “…for HE WHO IS MIGHTY HAS DONE GREAT THINGS FOR ME AND HOLY IS HIS NAME.”

What was the great deed done to her?

A creature was elected to contain within her the Creator, who is Son and God in the unity of the Holy Spirit. Who would remain the same after such a substantial transformation?

If Mary bore other children, like our mothers, it is only an imbecilic son would clap for a person who taunts his mother before him. And you think you are still with your senses, to think that Jesus will be happy with you for dishonouring his gorgeous mother?

It is laughable to see those churches and their proud pastors who dishonour Mary hoist extra-large billboards on the major streets with their wives smiling happily like children in a birthday party. They even set seats aside for the big masquerades, that is, the mother of the pastor or the mother-in-laws in their sanctuaries….

Is Purgatory in the Holy Bible?

Attack greatness, and in the speckles of its prominence, shine.

The prayer, “May s/he rest in peace” everyone says is a prayerful wish that the soul of a departed who is yet to rest in peace, rests in peace. 

If s/he has rested or one is sure the soul has arrived to the blissful abode, the prayer may be wistful and unnecessary. Hence, anyone who says the above prayer, irrespective of religious inclination and denomination, intrinsically professes Purgatory as real. Why not, what is Purgatory?

Purgatory, according to Catholic Church doctrine, is an intermediate state after physical death in which those destined for heaven "undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven".^[1] Only those who die in the state of grace but have not in life reached a sufficient level of holiness can be in Purgatory, and therefore no one in Purgatory will remain forever in that state or go to hell.

So what’s your problem?

You question the term purgatory as a condition to belief as if your name is in the dictionary; yet you answer your name. Wait, do you have a bible? Read the following

Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”

Revelations 21:27, “nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven.”

1 John 1:8,10, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

                                If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

1 Corinthians 3: 13,"...it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one

                                one has done."

More Texts

Is 35:8, 52:1
Zech 13:1-2
1 cor 3:15
Lk. 12:47-48, 58-59
Rev. 21:27
Heb 12:22-23

Job 14:13-17,

¹³ Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol,
    that thou wouldest conceal me until thy wrath be past,
    that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
¹⁴ If a man die, shall he live again?
    All the days of my service I would wait,
    till my release should come.
¹⁵ Thou wouldest call, and I would answer thee;
    thou wouldest long for the work of thy hands.
¹⁶ For then thou wouldest number my steps,
    thou wouldest not keep watch over my sin;
¹⁷ my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
    and thou wouldest cover over my iniquity.

 

Have considered the teachings of your pastors in relation to your life as a Christian in the light of the Scriptures?

 Now read this:

1 Corinthians 3:10-15 

^“10 According to the commission of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. ¹¹ For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. ¹² Now if any one builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble— ¹³ each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day  will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. ¹⁴ If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. ¹⁵ If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”

What is through FIRE?

Your unbelief could be likened to someone who refuses to enter a taxi, because the term TAXI is not written in the Bible.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church defines purgatory as a "purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven," which is experienced by those "who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified" (CCC 1030). It notes that "this final purification of the elect . . . is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1031). 

The purification is necessary because, as Scripture teaches, nothing unclean will enter the presence of God in heaven (Rev. 21:27) and, while we may die with our mortal sins forgiven, there can still be many impurities in us, specifically venial sins and the temporal punishment due to sins already forgiven.