Di Baptism of Jesus: Who E Be and How to Embrace Sacramental Grace
Read the account of Jesus’ baptism for Matthew 3:1–17 with prayer…
As you dey pray, close your eyes and check the way you dey see yourself. You dey look down on yourself? Sometimes, deep sadness dey weigh you down? Life dey frustrate you and make you lose hope? If na so, think deeply about why you dey get this kind thought and feeling dem. Most likely, na because you don focus more on your weakness and failure dem than on the dignity wey you get as pikin of God. For silence, think deeply about the false picture dem wey you get of yourself and those things wey no good wey you don use define who you be…
Now turn your mind to one thing—your baptism. Everything change for that moment. Your soul receive spiritual mark wey nothing fit ever erase, wey show say you be pikin of God. God love you for ways wey you no fit ever understand finish. The water of baptism don wash your soul clean, and you don receive new life. Hear the Voice of the Father as E dey tell you, “You be my beloved son…you be my beloved daughter.” Accept who you be, so that the Father fit also tell you, “You dey please Me well”…
Also read the account of the forty days wey Jesus spend for desert for Matthew 4:1-11 with prayer…
Devil and the demon dem wey turn against God and dey under am dey work all the time. Dem dey lie to us every time, dey use the natural power wey dem get to put ideas for our mind, influence us and confuse our thinking. You dey listen to dem and give in to false reasoning? After Jesus’ baptism, the Spirit lead Am enter desert for forty days to fast, pray and overcome the temptation dem wey we dey commonly face. Start by facing the first temptation wey Jesus overcome—desire of the flesh. How devil dey tempt you for this area? You dey chop too much—dey overdo food wey dey make you feel good, alcohol, too much rest, or other comfort dem for body? You dey fast, do penance and control your appetite dem? E easy well-well to fall for the trap of thinking say if we satisfy every desire wey we get, e go make us happy, but no be so. Freedom dey bring happiness. We dey gain freedom when we control our appetite dem, especially through mortification. Identify the main temptation dem wey you dey face for this area, and as you dey pray, bring those temptation dem under the power wey Christ don win for us…
Secondly, as you dey pray, think deeply about the temptation to prove to other people say you get value and worth. Na pride be this. Na only wetin God think about you matter. How God dey see you? If Jesus for start His ministry by throwing Himself down from the highest point of the Temple for everybody to see, and angel dem for catch Am and bring Am down to ground, everybody for dey amazed. E for get plenty people wey believe in Am, but no be through faith dem for believe. Dem for believe because of pride, wey our Lord no get at all. Check whether you dey show off, dey try convince other people about your talent and success dem, so that dem go respect you for small time. If na so, know say that kind “respect” no get value wey go last. Love no dey stand on worldly pride. As you dey pray, turn again to who you truly be through the Baptism wey you receive, and find rest for that identity alone…
Finally, how much your heart hold wealth and power? You dey always need make things happen the way you want? You like to dey in charge? How much your heart hold material things? The poverty wey Jesus live na the clearest sign for us say to gather wealth no be the answer to life wey get fulfilment. Na poverty be the answer. Na simple life. Na to free your heart from material things wey you get. Also, to dey in charge and always get our way no be wetin dey bring happiness. Na service wey no dey seek personal gain. We must build the habit of putting other people first and find great joy as we dey do am. Think about how you dey do for these area dem, and as you dey pray, open your heart to the poverty and selfless life wey Jesus show for His birth and for wilderness when E face temptation. Na this road E show each of us. You go follow am?…
Wedding for Cana: To Dey Bear Spiritual Fruit
Read John 2:1–12 with prayer…
As you dey pray, imagine say you dey the Wedding for Cana. Imagine say you be one of the disciple dem wey Jesus just call. You dey excited to follow Am, but you never sure. E be like say E be great person—a prophet or even the Messiah wey God promise—but question dem still dey your mind. As you dey think deeply, check wetin dey make you hold back from following our Lord. If some dey clear, face dem directly. If no one dey clear, then pray, look deeper inside yourself and try identify any small doubt or even small thing wey dey make you hold back…
God dey invite all of us to the eternal wedding of Divine Union. E dey invite us to become fully one with Christ as our prayer dey deepen, we dey turn to God and our life dey change. Think deeply about Jesus’ presence for the Wedding for Cana and the invitation wey you receive to attend. See am as your invitation to become one with Christ and tell Am “Yes”…
Now turn your eyes to our Blessed Mother and hear her talk say, “My Son, dem no get wine.” Think deeply about how the Blessed Mother notice this problem, how she care, and how she ready to help. As you dey do so, know say she know well the struggles wey you dey face and how you need grace. She dey see them with the compassion and understanding of a mama. Picture this truth for your mind: na your good alone she dey seek, and the only thing wey she want na make your soul full with her Son’s grace…
As you dey see the compassion for the Immaculate Heart of Mary, picture her as she dey look into your eyes and dey tell you with deep love, “Do anything wey He tell you.” Listen to those words again and again. Allow the Holy Spirit to show you any way wey you don fail to obey God’s will at once and completely. For prayer, show God say you truly dey sorry for your sins, and make firm decision to change…
As Jesus dey order the servants to fill six stone water jars, see one of those jars as sign of your own soul. All wey you fit do na to present yourself to our Lord, full with water wey no get taste. By your own power, you no fit bear fruit, you no get anything wey plenty pass measure, and nothing wey get merit. Then see our Lord as He dey pour His grace into your soul and dey change wetin you bring to Him into the finest “wine” of grace wey plenty pass measure. Look steadily at your own soul wey don change, with wonder…
The wine na for the celebration, for everybody wey dey there. Na so too we must see ourselves as instruments of God’s grace, as we dey offer our lives wey grace don now change to help other people. Who God dey call you to love more? Who God dey call you to pour His grace upon? If the person wey host the wedding don see the wine and keep am for himself, the celebration for don end. If we refuse to share freely the grace wey we don receive, we go lose everything, and other people go suffer because of am. Think deeply about your duty, no be only to receive plenty grace, but also to offer am to other people, so that dem go experience God’s glory as the grace wey dey inside you dey touch their lives…
Proclamation of di Kingdom and Call to Turn from Sin to God: Dem Proclaim di Gospel
Read Matthew 4:12–25 with prayer. Also consider to read some parts of the Sermon for Mountain, Matthew 5–7.
Remember one part of the Gospel wey don challenge you before, and take time stay with that passage for prayer. To pray with Scripture different from to read or study am. To pray with Scripture na to actively communicate with Jesus. E be like say you dey sit for the Mount of the Beatitudes, dey listen as He dey preach to only you. Take time picture Him as He dey use His Word teach you, especially those sermons wey don challenge you pass…
To listen to, understand, and respond to everything wey Jesus teach no be something wey person fit do for one day. For prayer, think deeply about how you don give yourself to this mission. Think about the Twelve Apostles and picture yourself as you dey travel with them for three years, dey spend time with Jesus every day. Even after those three years, dem run away with fear when dem arrest Jesus. But everything wey dem don hear and see lay the foundation for deep holiness. For prayer, reflect on the foundation wey dey inside your own heart. Pay attention to where e weak, and rejoice for where e strong…
Jesus’ proclamation na first of all a call to turn away from sin and turn to God. You dey regularly examine your conscience, go Confession, and try to remove even small sins from your life? God dey call us to dey perfect! After His Sermon for Mountain, Jesus talk say, “So, una must dey perfect, as una heavenly Father dey perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Think deeply about that passage and examine whether you dey strive to dey perfect or whether you dey satisfied to just manage…
Go back to the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3–12) and read them one by one. Pause after each one, pray to understand the meaning well, and open your heart to accept them fully…
Transfiguration: To Experience Comfort for Spirit
With prayer, read how Jesus and His Apostles talk with one another just before the Transfiguration for Matthew 16:14–28.
Picture yourself with Peter and the other Apostles as Jesus dey tell una for the first time say He go suffer well-well for the hands of the religious authorities, and dem go kill Him. Imagine how that kind news go shock you. You just come to believe say Jesus na the Messiah, the Son of God; you don see Him do miracles and hear His powerful sermons, and now He dey tell you say He go suffer well-well and dem go kill Him…
As you dey listen well to our Lord as He dey reveal the news about His Passion wey dey come, you look at Him and sense the confidence for His voice—how sure He dey, His firm determination, and His peace. Even though holy sorrow dey run through His words, peace and joy still dey there. You sense how urgent His mission dey, and you find say your mind dey pull you for different directions. You bin dey hope for a glorious Messiah, no be One wey dem go kill…
As you dey imagine say you dey there when our Lord first tell His disciples about di suffer wey E go face, imagine say Jesus now turn to you and dey tell you about your own suffer. E start with compassion to go through di list of sacrifices wey E want make you offer. Wetin go dey that list? Who E want make you forgive? Who E dey call you to bless when dem curse you, to show kindness when dem sin against you, and to show mercy wey pass di justice of this world by far?…
As you dey think about di love wey involve sacrifice wey God dey call you to show, and you dey feel how your soul dey hesitate, turn your eyes to di Transfiguration (Read Matthew 17:1–13 with prayer). Imagine this same Lord wey dey call you to love with sacrifice as E dey transfigure before your very eyes, dey shine pass anything wey you don ever see, and dey fill all your body senses with di purest sweetness wey you don ever feel. You go trust this Lord wey dey shine so bright and full of glory?…
Remember any experience wey don change you deeply or carry you reach spiritual mountaintop. Any time don dey for prayer or when you feel spiritual comfort, wey you just know say God love you and E dey with you? Go back to those moments make dem remind you say na di Cross be di road to experience God glory more fully. Di Cross dey lead to di Resurrection, and di Resurrection dey lead to di Ascension. We must die, rise, and ascend with our Lord, so that di true Mountaintop experience of di Beatific Vision for Heaven go be our own forever. Make up your mind to continue to climb that mountain and to stand firm through every struggle, as you know wetin dey wait for you for di top…
How Jesus Establish the Eucharist: To Understand Communion and Adoration More Deeply
Start your prayer by remembering di Last Supper and reading one of these accounts with prayer: Matthew 26:14–35; Mark 14:12–26; Luke 22:7–38; or John 13–17. Na then di first Mass start, and e continue throughout Jesus’ Passion. With prayer, think deeply about di Last Supper wey Jesus share with His Apostles…
For John Gospel (John 6:51–58, RVC-CE), Jesus talk say, “Na Me be di living bread wey come down from heaven; if anybody chop this bread, e go live forever; and di bread wey I go give for di life of di world na My flesh.” As person fit expect, some of di Jews ask our Lord, “How this man fit give us im flesh make we chop?” Jesus answer dem even more clearly. Use this deep statement about di Eucharist to meditate with prayer. As you dey read am, think deeply about how important e be to receive Holy Communion:
True true, I dey tell una, unless una chop di flesh of di Son of man and drink His blood, una no get life inside una; anybody wey chop My flesh and drink My blood get eternal life, and I go raise am up on di last day. Because My flesh na real food, and My blood na real drink. Anybody wey chop My flesh and drink My blood dey remain inside Me, and I dey remain inside am. As di living Father send Me, and I dey live because of di Father, na so anybody wey chop Me go live because of Me. Na this be di bread wey come down from heaven, no be like di one wey di forefathers chop and still die; anybody wey chop this bread go live forever.
Because di Mass na di one Sacrifice of Christ on di Cross wey dey last forever, dem dey carry us spiritually go di Cross every time we attend and take part for Mass. Take small time imagine di Crucifixion. Together with His Blessed Mother, gaze at our Lord, and remember with prayer say this reality dey become present to you for Mass…
After Holy Communion, dem dey put di consecrated Hosts wey remain inside di tabernacle. This sacramental presence of our Lord na His True Presence. Even though E hide from our eyes, na our Lord dey there, di same Lord wey di angels and saints dey adore for Heaven. Close your eyes and acknowledge His True Presence inside di tabernacle. Think of your parish church or chapel and acknowledge Am, declare your faith in Am, thank Am, and adore Am…
Next: Meditations for di Sorrowful Mysteries
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