You think you are the worst sinner? Pope Francis has a word for you as the Catholic church celebrates Pentecost

Sunday, 24th May, the Catholic church marked the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the apostles on Pentecost day. During his homily in St. Peters Square, Pope Francis said that the church is open to all, even to the most sinful.
Read his words below:

The gift of the Spirit restores harmony of languages ​​that
had been lost in Babel and prefigures the universal
dimension of the mission of the Apostles. The
universal Church is born, one, Catholic, with a
precise, but open identity, that embraces the whole
world, without exception. To nobody does
the Mother Church closes the door in the face, to
no one! Not even to the most sinful, to no one!
And this is out of the strength, the grace of the
Holy Spirit. The Mother Church opens, opens its
doors to everyone because it is Mother.

Speaking further about Pentecost, the Pope added:

The Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost in the
hearts of the disciples is the beginning of a new
season: the season of the testimony and fraternity.
It is a season that comes from above, from God,
like flames of fire that came to rest on the head of
each disciple. It was the flame of love burning
away all bitterness; it was the language of the
Gospel that crosses the boundaries put into
place by men and touches the hearts of everyone,
without distinction of language, race or nationality.
On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit is poured
out continuously, even today, on the Church and
on all of us because we go out of our mediocrity
and our closing off of ourselves and communicate
to the world the merciful love of the Lord. This is
our mission! We too are given the gift of the
'language' of the Gospel and the 'fire' of the Holy
Spirit, in order for us to proclaim the risen Jesus,
alive and present in our midst, and warm the
hearts of people, bringing them closer to Him, the
Way, the Truth and the Life.
Source: Zenit

Is it true that there are preachers who are fed up with preaching?

Patheos is claiming that there are preachers who are fed up with preaching and are looking for a way out but it has not been easy for them. Read what they wrote below:
"Church ministers do more than lead our Bible studies and our worship services. They do more than run the administrative parts of the church. Our ministers represent an idealized state of spirituality that we want to believe is possible for anyone. Maybe we haven’t achieved that
state ourselves, but we like thinking that Brother Jones or Father McGee has gotten to the Promised Land. And maybe he can lead us there. Therefore anything that reminds us of the basic humanity of our ministers can be uncomfortable.
Here is the thing that we don’t talk about:
There are thousands of ministers out
there who no longer wish to be ministers. They no longer want to work in churches. They don’t want to do it anymore. But they don’t know how to leave. They don’t
have anywhere to go. They don’t know what to do."

Wow! You need to read this! "The power of prayer" by Dan Burke

The Power of Prayer
By prayer the soul is cleansed from sin, replenished with charity, confirmed in faith, strengthened, and refreshed in spirit. Prayer establishes the inward man, pacifies the heart, knows the truth, conquers temptations, expels sorrow, renews the senses, stirs up languishing virtue, puts to flight tepidity, and scours the rust of vices. In prayer, the quick sparkles of celestial desires are incessantly sent forth, from the burning coals of divine love. The privileges of prayer are rare, the prerogatives admirable. Prayer unlocks the gates of heaven, manifests divine secrets, and always finds free access to the ears of God.

Note from Dan Burke, the authur: This excerpt is taken from
my newly edited and published version of St. Peter of Alcántara’s great work on Prayer and Meditation entitled
“Finding God Through Meditation .” St. Peter was a spiritual director of St. Teresa of Avila.

Truth is, l read this more than thrice, immediately l received it cos l was not only thrilled spiritually, l was equally thrilled linguistically. Share how you felt after reading it.

What is striking in this pic?

The Catholic Diocese of Sokoto celebrated their 50th anniversary recently. The pic below is a photo capture of the calender they gave out as souvenir to mark the event. But their is something striking about one of the pics. Can you find it out?

Did you go to church today?

Today is the Third Sunday of Lent. Easter is already knocking o. Hope you went to church and partook in the blessings and grace of today?

Today's Readings

MONDAY OF THE FOURTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME
PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD
FIRST READING
Mal 3:1-4
Thus says the Lord God: Lo, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me; And suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you seek, And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who will endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like the refiner’s fire, or like the fuller’s lye. He will sit refining and purifying silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, Refining them like gold or like silver that they may offer due sacrifice to the LORD. Then the sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem will please the LORD, as in the days of old, as in years gone by.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM: 24:7, 8, 9, 10
R. Who is this king of glory? It is the Lord!
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in! R/
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD, strong and mighty,
the LORD, mighty in battle. R/
Lift up, O gates, your lintels;
reach up, you ancient portals,
that the king of glory may come in! R/
Who is this king of glory?
The LORD of hosts; he is the king of glory. R/
SECOND READING
Heb 2:14-18
Since the children share in blood and flesh, Jesus likewise shared in them, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the Devil, and free those who through fear of death had been subject to slavery all their life. Surely he did not help angels but rather the descendants of Abraham; therefore, he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every way, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest before God to expiate the sins of the people. Because he himself was tested through what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
GOSPEL
Lk 2:22-40
When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted —and you yourself a sword will pierce— so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him

Pope tells fathers not to leave their children like ophans

On Wednesday, during the weekly General Audience, Pope Francis spoke about the dignity and the role of fathers during his catechesis on the family
Here is Vatican Radio's report
And speaking of an “absence” of the father figure
in society, the Pope said that “without father
figures, young people often feel ‘orphaned’, left
adrift at a critical moment in their growth and
development.
Calling on fathers to be responsible, he said that
fathers are necessary as examples and guides for
our children in wisdom and virtue.
Society itself – he continued - has a similar
responsibility not to leave the young as orphans,
without ideals, sound values, hopes and
possibilities for work and for authentic spiritual
fulfilment.
Just as Jesus promised that he would not leave
us orphans – Pope Francis concluded - let us ask
him to deepen and renew our appreciation of
fatherhood and to raise up good fathers for the
benefit of our families, our Church and our world.

US church gives $500 (N84500) Tithe to their members after making sales! Can a church in Nigeria give Tithe to their members in a “Reverse Tithe” after recording profit? Lol!

Please read about the mission work of LaSalle Street Church, how they gave each of the 350 members of their church $500 (N84500) and their advice to “our Catholic bishops and some of our clergy to think more broadly about how effective pastoral leadership functions.”

Christine Schrenk – I was recently struck by a highly creative project at Chicago's nondenominational LaSalle Street Church, where the church's pastoral leadership entrusted $500 to each of its 320 members and asked them to use the money for some good cause.

Pastor Laura Truax and church elders decided on a "reverse tithe" after receiving an unexpected windfall of $1.6 million from the sale of a 1970s-era, racially integrated, low-income housing development, Atrium Village, which the church had established in partnership with three other Protestant churches. The partnership had a 15 percent share in the property, a 35-year agreement that a percentage of units would be set aside for disadvantaged populations, and final say in any decision to sell the property. When the 35-year agreement expired, the property had greatly appreciated in value and there was a great deal of pressure to sell it. The church partnership finally agreed, but with the stipulation that a percentage of units in any new construction would be set aside for low-income people.

"It's not really our money," Truax said in a telephone interview. "The way we look at it is that God wants it back in circulation."

When she distributed the checks, Truax preached on the parable of the talents, encouraging everyone to reflect about where he or she could best invest in the socially progressive legacy of LaSalle Street Church. The faith community is well known for its commitment to the poor, whether it be feeding homeless families in the neighborhood or donating an ambulance for a medical clinic in Niger.

Church members were dumbfounded by the unexpected gift but quickly rose to the challenge.

Kristin Hu planned to give her $500 to help "dreamer" children of immigrant families. Jonas Ganz, an avid skateboarder who grew up in Amman, Jordan, donated his share toward a new skate park in his hometown. Other church members put their money toward a no-kill animal shelter, food pantries, an eyeglass ministry, and purchasing winter clothing for disadvantaged college students.

The diversity of needs churchgoers chose to support is impressive. Even more impressive is the creative pastoral leadership that trusts the leading of the Spirit in each believer.

Truax wrote about this on her blog:

How do we know it won't be "squandered"? We don't. But we know this: that every day we wake to gifts we never sought, expected or earned. ... This is the essence of faith I think. Not just that we believe in God but that God believes in us. And trusts us to do great things with his gifts.

The biggest challenge is still to come as the congregation decides what to do with the rest of the money. The unprecedented "reverse-tithing" project, you see, addressed an array of pastoral concerns. This is the most innovative aspect of the whole endeavor.

Truax's No. 1 concern is to forestall tension that could emerge as the community works out how to spend the remaining $1.44 million. She hopes the great diversity of causes supported by her flock will shape the community's discussion. She had this to say in the Chicago Tribune:

That's why I felt this tithe was so important and giving it to people and letting them do whatever they wanted with it and letting them hear all these amazing ways other people are being led. It might open space in each one of us to recognize there are many wonderful ideas, not one of them is any better than the other idea ...We'll be able to be generous both in our spirit and the way we talk about these things with each other.

Now that's what I call wise pastoral leadership. This pastoral team is more concerned about sustaining the harmony and unity of their church family than in the final decision about what to do with a bunch of money.

"At the end of the day, there are 100 great things the money could be spent on," Truax told me. "It's not about the place we end up, but more about how we get there."

LaSalle Street Church is in the middle of a nine-month discernment effort to see how to use their windfall on behalf of the church's mission. An 11-member leadership council, including Truax, is spearheading the discernment. One hundred fifty church members have already joined 15 small groups that meet in people's homes to ponder and pray. Prayer captains present monthly summaries of each group's leanings and learnings to the leadership council. A team of 30 is interviewing the remaining 170 church members, including the youth community. You can find more details about the innovative process at the project's loveletgo blog.

You will also find interesting posts about Ignatian discernment and Stephen Colbert!

This is not so surprising since Truax went to Loyola of Chicago for her Master's of Divinity. Though never a Catholic herself, Truax tells me: "The foundation of my spirituality is Ignatian. I made the 19th annotation retreat many years ago, and Ignatian discernment is molded into a lot of what we do here."

When learning about how LaSalle Street Church operates, I noticed how much this congregation resembles our earliest Christian communities, where small groups of believers gathered in private homes to pray, discern and experience the leading of the Spirit. Members of each small house church then gathered for weekly worship in a larger assembly of 300 to 400 people, usually in the inner courtyard of a home or warehouse owned by a wealthy Christian patron, some of whom were women. Their "pastor" was either a leader of a house church such as Nympha or Stephanus or a missionary/prophet such as Paul or Prisca. Their "leadership council" was a "council of elders" (presbyteroi) composed of tested local leaders both male and female.

It is lamentable that many of our Catholic bishops are now closing viable Catholic parishes with important ministries in poorer neighborhoods because they have "only 300 members."  

Look at what "only 300 members" are doing at LaSalle Street Church!

Is it time for our Catholic bishops and some of our clergy to think more broadly about how effective pastoral leadership functions? True pastoral leadership notices, encourages and trusts the work of the Spirit in the heart of each believer for the building up of God's reign in our world.

And then it gets out of the way.
What a great force for good a Spirit-powered Christian community can be in our wounded world!
Thanks, LaSalle Street Church.