Hey y'all. I suppose we are enjoying the strike. No? Sick of It? Me too. We can only pray ( I'm not planning to protest). I came across this useful application on Googleplay ( I don't know if it's available on blackberry app store, I'll ask ) it's called Verbum. It's an app that allows you access Daily Mass Readings ( yes, your own mobile missal ), Catholic Bibles (notice the s) and several books on our faith. It is definitely a keeper. secondly, I came across a very very useful website. It is apt on teachings of the church, it's the Year of Faith so it's a plus, I take that back, it's a Bonus because it's free of course ( I like awoof). The website address is http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/ Please check them out, but from time to time I would post necessary topics here for reference.

PICTURES FROM MATRICULATION PARTY FOR FRESHERS

 INFINITY doing their thing

freshers and some parents

addressing the freshers

CUTTING THE CAKE

PRESIDENT AND FR. PATRICK AKUNNE

FRESHERS and Some parents behind

FR. PATRICK addressing freshers

FORMER NFCS PRESIDENT MR. CHUKS MOKA AND FR. PATRICK

Five things I wish I had known... about being a father ( for men)

by Robert Andrews As I have met many fathers around the country at conferences and home-school conventions, I am often reminded of my own time as a father with three children in the 1970s, 80s and early 90s. Charles Dickens used a phrase to describe the time of the French Revolution that in many ways describes my experience as a parent – it was the “best of times and the worst of times.” Nothing in my life has given me as much fulfillment and joy as being a father to my children. I can also now see that nothing has been as difficult, even though at the time I was blissfully oblivious to most of my weaknesses and shortcomings. Only as my children have become adults have many of my own failures surfaced. What follows are five of those “blind spots” to which I was completely unaware as a young father and that have come to light only in the past few years. 1) I did not see that loving my children is different from worshiping them We are all in some way unconscious idolaters in our hearts. For some of us, our prevalent idol is our job, money, success, personal recognition, fame, leisure time, entertainment, sports, sex, intellectual attainment or even religious achievement or Christian ministry. These are all perfectly innocent pursuits in themselves until they come to occupy the central place in our hearts around which all else revolves – the place reserved for God alone. I did not recognize it at the time, and I would have vehemently denied it if you had suggested it to me, but my children became my predominant idol of choice, though there were others always waiting in the wings, vying for my attention. I taught in their Christian high school and coached their basketball teams, coached all their little league teams and was always eyeball deep in all they did. Only from the distance of more than a decade have I realized that much of the recognition, success and achievement that my involvement in their lives encouraged was for me as much as for them, because their success made me look like a successful father. “My, what well-behaved, smart, successful children Robert and Jill have. They must be wonderful parents.” All of our idolatry is really in some way the exaltation of ourselves. I have discovered that my children had indeed, very subtly, become idols in my life. I was too busy congratulating myself for the wonderful parenting job I was doing for that thought ever to enter my mind! 2) I did not know that the goal of parenting was not to be the perfect parent or even the best parent I could possibly be, but to be a parent who is a repentant sinner I did not know that the way to a real relationship with my children was to walk in the light with them, not by living in darkness, convincing myself that while I was not the perfect parent, I was at least in the top echelon. Oh, there were occasional flashes of lightning that illuminated the fact that I was nowhere close to a perfect parent, but after a brief time of uneasiness, I was always able to return to my comfortable darkness. 1 John 1:7 encourages us to “walk in the light,” and “walk” implies a way of life. I didn’t understand that an open, daily recognition of weakness and dependency on the Lord and not my superior parenting skills was the way to true relationship with my children. 1 John 1:7 says that “fellowship (genuine relationship) one with another” is the result. When my sons were early teenagers, both came to me on separate occasions for help in resisting the pornography that a neighbor boy had shown them. I counseled them on the dangers of pornography, how addictive it is and how destructive it can be to their future relationship with their wives. I then prayed with them that God would give them the power to resist. I was being the perfect father, standing for righteousness, but not being a transparent, repentant one. I didn’t understand that parenting by the gospel meant walking in the light with them, confessing to them my own struggles with pornography over the years, and then praying for us both that in our weakness God would be our power. I missed a golden opportunity to strengthen my relationship with my sons. 3) I did not know that I shouldn’t compare my children with other children, either positively or negatively In 2 Corinthianng those sins squarely and openly in his own life and then repenting! Without this step, “What you do speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say” will be the order of the day. All children have a powerful “hypocrite-detector” that improves exponentially in effectiveness as they grow older. Comparing our children with others is foolish because it leads to self-righteousness when children are judged as superior, or discouragement and even rebellion when parents feel their children never seem to reach their standard of achievement. How we approach our children, by law or gospel, reflects how we see our relationship with God. Since I am most generally an “older brother” from the parable of the prodigal son, my tendency is to see myself, and therefore my children, as superior. A “younger brother” will see himself and therefore his children as failures, never quite measuring up. But we are all sinners, loved by God with a love that is not in any way affected by our sin. It is seeing God’s love for us as fathers that will allow us to love our children in the same way and free us from comparing them with others. 4) I did not know that I was creating a default mode in the hearts of my children that would either help them to think the best of others or foster judgment and criticism. When my oldest son was in college, he was the head-resident on his floor in his dorm, charged with the very loose responsibility of keeping order on the floor. On a visit to campus, I asked him about the other boys on the floor, which included a good number of rather rowdy football players. “Oh Dad, they are just a bunch of meat-heads.” His attitude of scorn and judgment struck me like a thunderbolt and I heard the Lord say to me, “He got that critical attitude straight from you!” I am sorry to say that much of the heritage I have left with my children that they now carry with them is judgment and criticism. I have an opinion about what everyone ought to do, even when I have no responsibility in their lives, and I do not hesitate to make that opinion known. How much better to love them with a love that covers all things and does not expose sin but believes and hopes for the best in them (1 Corinthians 13). Too bad that is not my spontaneous reaction! My default mode is to be critical and judgmental. As they were growing up my children constantly heard me be critical of others and the decisions they made, the life style they chose to live and the friends they kept. It is not my job to even have an opinion about what others do if I have no God-given authority in their lives. They answer to their own master and not to me (Romans 14:4). I was sharing my besetting sin of critically judging everyone I see with a friend. His reaction was, “Oh, we all do that.” My response to him was, “So, what’s your point? Do the sins of others excuse me to sin? Does ‘everyone does it’ give me a free pass?” As we Andrews are recognizing this sin, acknowledging it and repenting, the Lord is graciously beginning to reset our default mode, even as adults. This is the only possible way for me to “Be holy, even as I am holy”—not by trying harder but by facing my sin, acknowledging it, repenting and trusting the Spirit within to change my critical heart. I know it will be a life-long process. Have you ever recognized a besetting sin of yours reproduced in your children? What was it? 5 – I did not know that there are times to be a sympathetic listener and not an answer man who can “fix the problem” James 1:19 says to be “swift to hear and slow to speak.” Legions are those to whom I have done just the opposite. I have had correct biblical answers to questions they really weren’t asking me, though I was convinced they should be. More often than not, they already knew the answer—they just needed me to listen, understand and then encourage them to trust the Lord for the power to do what they already knew to do. There is nothing less attractive than an answer man who is always the teacher and never the learner himself. Just recently I fell into the trap again of giving a close friend the right answer for what he should do about a vicious personal attack by a member of his extended family, someone with whom he had grown up and who supposedly loved him. His confidence as a man was shaken. He did not need to hear initially what he should “do,” but that I loved him, as did God, Who also believed in him, was pleased with him and had him right on schedule in his spiritual growth. There would be plenty of time later to let God show him a course of action. Interestingly enough, this family crisis is bringing my friend’s immediate family together; what the enemy meant for evil, God intended for good. This has been my pattern over the years with my wife and children as well. Their struggles have more often than not elicited an answer as to what they should do rather than addressing the insecurity that comes from wondering whether or not their problem-solving father really cares about them as people. As the one who represents God in my family, my attitude is to be a reflection of His, and His primary concern is His relationship with me, not what I do, what I say or the theology I believe. If I understand His great love for me in spite of what I do, what I do will naturally and unconsciously change. Conclusion Seeing these five failures in my parenting that we have discussed over the past few weeks has surprisingly been a source of encouragement to me and a means of strengthening the relationship between my wife and me and our grown children. Grandfathers and grandmothers are still little children in God’s classroom of learning to face their sin, repent and walk by faith! Does it make sense to you that openly

She was strong in the Lord

May 2013: Month of the Our Lady

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
			1 St. Marculf	2 St. Athanasius	3 St. James the Lesser	4 St. Florian
5 St. Hilary of Arles	6 Bl. Edward Jones	7 St. Rose Venerini	8 St. Peter of Tarantaise	9 Ascension Day [holy day of obligation] St. Pachomius	10 St. Solange	11 St. Ignatius of Laconi
12 Sts. Nereus & Achilleus	13 St. John the Silent	14 St. Matthias	15 St. Dymphna	16 St. Simon Stock	17 St. Paschal Baylon	18 St. Pope John I
19 Pentecost St. Celestine	20 St. Bernardine of Siena	21 St. Eugene de Mazenod	22 St. Rita	23 St. John Baptist Rossi	24 St. David I of Scotland	25 St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi
26 Trinity Sunday St. Philip Neri	27 St. Augustine of Canterbury	28 Bl. Margaret Pole	29 St. Maximinus of Trier	30 Corpus Christi St. Joan of Arc	31 St. Mechtildis

April 2013: Month of the Holy Eucharist

Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
	1 St. Hugh of Grenoble	2 St. Francis of Paola	3 St. Richard of Wyche	4 St. Isidore of Seville	5 St. Vincent Ferrer	6 St. William of Eskilsoe
7 TheOctave of Easter St. John Baptist de la Salle	8 Radonitsa St. Julie Billiart	9 St. Waldetrudis	10 St. Michael de Sanctis	11 St. Marguerite d'Youville	12 St. Julius	13 Pope Saint Martin I
14 St. Lydwine	15 St. Paternus	16 St. Bernadette	17 St. Anicetus	18 St. Apollonius the Apologist	19 St. Alphege	20 St. Marian
21 St. Anselm	22 St. Abdiesus	23 St. George	24 St. Fidelis of Sigmaringen	25 St. Mark	26 St. Cletus	27 St. Zita
28 St. Peter Chanel	29 St. Catherine of Siena	30 St. Pius V, Pope

FRIDAY HOMILY: The 5,000 Fed - Miracle on the Mountain

What do you have?

The Feeding of the 5,000 appears in each of the Gospels. Jesus had sent the Twelve on their first missionary journey and upon their return began to relate all the wonderful things that had happened. About the same time John the Baptist was beheaded. Certainly, this seemed like a good occasion for a quiet retreat to be built up spiritually and get rested for the remaining opportunities for ministry.

(Catholic Online) - Miracles always involve the impossible - otherwise they wouldn't be miracles! Impossible, however is a relative term. What may be an insurmountable obstacle to one person may well be within the realm of capability of another. 

For a young father, simply having a drawer full of batteries may be all that is required to be a miracle worker in the eyes of his three year-old whose toy stopped working. The little boy's face was full of wonder when the lights and siren of his miniature fire engine were working once again.

A doctor, skilled in the medical arts, may seem like a miracle worker to a patient who is desperately trying to find relief from an ailment. "Oh, that doctor is a miracle worker!" she exclaimed.

Then there are the supernatural miracles - the ones where it requires divine intervention to bring about the solution. This is the kind we are dealing with in today's gospel.

Here, in John 6:1-15, we have the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. Feeding that many people without adequate resources is quite a challenge, but the task increases in difficulty when you factor in that this is only the number of men, with the women and children an additional number!

The Feeding of the 5,000 appears in each of the Gospels. Jesus had sent the Twelve on their first missionary journey and upon their return began to relate all the wonderful things that had happened. About the same time John the Baptist was beheaded. Certainly, this seemed like a good occasion for a quiet retreat to be built up spiritually and get rested for the remaining opportunities for ministry.

Unfortunately, the people followed Jesus and the twelve as they crossed the Sea of Galilee and went up into the hills. As Matthew records, "there was a great throng and he had compassion on them." (Mt. 14:14)

In addition to the inconvenience - their time of retreat was ruined - the apostolic company had another problem. How are they going to take care of all these people, who obviously came without make any plans themselves on how or where they would eat?

As the time grew late, the disciples came to Jesus regarding the dilemma, suggesting that Jesus dismiss the crowd so they can go and take care of themselves. He, however, has other plans.

The Lord Likes to Begin Where We Are
"You give them something to eat." This imposing statement from Mark's account must have seriously rattled the disciples. In fact, Philip's estimate, in responding to Jesus question about buy enough bread, indicated that it would take about two-thirds of a year's wages to accomplish the work.

Often the Lord wants to show us that many of the problems we face are too big for us to handle. At the same time, he wants us to offer whatever resources we might have as a part of the solution.

Andrew, for example, responded to the same question from a different viewpoint. "There's a boy here with five barley loaves and two small fish." He must have thought that at least we can get started with what they had.

Many years ago I remember seeing a sign on the wall of a small business in our community that read, "We've been doing so much with so little for so long, that we are now able to do almost anything for nothing."

From that measly beginning, our Lord was able to feed the entire company and have twelve baskets of fragments left over.

In the economy of the kingdom, this is how it always seems to begin. When Moses was facing the daunting task of leading the children of Israel, God asked him a question. "What do you have in your hand?" God took that rod as unique point of contact with the power of God manifesting on the earth. As Scripture later declared that the Rod of Moses had become the Rod of God.

One thing needs to be said about God's intervention, it cannot be reduced to a mere formula. For example, if we had ten loaves and four fish, would we be able to feed 10,000 people?

This becomes clear in another feeding account where Jesus feeds 4,000. Here he uses seven loaves and a few (more than two) fish. Obviously, it is not about proportion but God's intervention!

In one of his Angelus messages from last July, Pope Benedict stated, The miracle was not worked from nothing, but from a first modest sharing of what a simple lad had brought with him. Jesus does not ask us for what we do not have.

Rather, he makes us see that if each person offers the little he has the miracle can always be repeated: God is capable of multiplying our small acts of love and making us share in his gift.

Fr. Fernandez, in his great series In Conversation with God, writes, [Our Lord] does not wish us to remain without doing anything if the instruments which we have at our disposal are insufficient or even scarce. Jesus asks us for faith, obedience, daring and always to do whatever we can; not to omit using any human means ...

that is available to us and at the same time to count on him, conscious that our possibilities will always be very small.

Don't wait until we have all the human means, don't wait till all difficulties disappear. On the supernatural plane there is always fruit: Our Lord sees that; He blesses our efforts and He multiplies them.

When we see God's working in our lives at various points, we can easily proclaim with St. Paul his great doxology from Ephesians, Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Eph. 3:20, 21)


Great Works Begin with Thanksgiving
This miraculous feeding has always been seen by the Church Fathers as an image of the Eucharist. Using a familiar formula for Jewish tradition, there is the breaking of the bread and the giving of thanks. The Greek work for "thanksgiving" is eucharisteo, where we get our word "Eucharist."

In this great miracle of feeding, as in the Last Supper and, in fact, every Jewish prayer of blessing over food, thanksgiving precedes the meal. 

Giving thanks is something that I learned as a child. Whenever someone would give me a treat or a gift, my parents would always remind me, "Now, be sure to say 'thank you!" And I would.

Unfortunately, we can easily get to the point where we are only thankful when things go well. We hold our thanks for a goody or gift. 

In the economy of the Kingdom of God, thanksgiving is the platform upon which we base our actions. We begin with thanks, knowing that he is able to do that "exceeding abundant" work we proclaimed from Ephesians.

St. Paul told the Thessalonians, to Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (I Thess. 5:16-18)

When we are facing our challenges, this is the time to offer thanksgiving, recognizing that the Lord is our source for what we are about to encounter. We can't operate on conditional thanksgiving.

The feeding of the 5,000 was more than a dinner miracle to impress the gathering. It provided a connection to God's provision of Israel during their wilderness wandering with Moses. I opened the door for Jesus to move the discussion beyond manna to the Messiah and his present ministry as the bread of life.

In addition, Jesus is giving each of us an invitation to live a life of multiplication, taking what we have and trusting ourselves to Him. This begins with offering to God what we have and then give him thanks for what he is about to do.

In May of 1982, Blessed John Paul II appeared at Murrayfield Rugby Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland to address the 40,000 youth that had gathered to greet him. His challenge that day, was built on this great miracle of our Lord.

Saint Andrew gave Jesus all there was available, and Jesus miraculously fed those five thousand people and still had something left over. It is exactly the same with your lives. 

Left alone to face the difficult challenges of life today, you feel conscious of your inadequacy and afraid of what the future may hold for you. But what I say to you is this: place your lives in the hands of Jesus. He will accept you, and bless you, and he will make such use of your lives as will be beyond your greatest expectations! 

In other words: surrender yourselves, like so many loaves and fishes, into the all-powerful, sustaining hands of God and you will find yourselves transformed with "newness of life", with fullness of life.

culled from Catholic Online

by Father Randy Sly, the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and a priest with the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, established by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, through the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. He is currently the chaplain of the St. John Fisher Ordinariate Community, a priest in residence at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church and Director of Pro-Life Activities for the Ordinariate. He is a popular speaker for parishes, apostolates and organizations.