Recently in Mass the opening prayer—also called the The Collect—directed these words to God concerning the things of this world, “loving you in all things and above all things…” So, what is it? Are we to love God in all things, or above all things? The answer of course is –yes.

What does it really mean when they say “The Real Presence” of Christ in the Eucharist?

The Catechism says this: In the most blessed sacrament of the Eucharist “the body and blood, together with the soul and divinity, of our Lord Jesus Christ and, therefore, the whole Christ is truly, really, and substantially contained.”

Fifty years ago, Archbishop Fulton Sheen solemnly said during a television show, that “First of all, we are at the end of Christendom, now not Christianity, not the Church.” He meant, “Christendom is economic, political, social life as inspired by Christian principles. That is ending — we’ve seen it die. Look at the symptoms: the breakup of the family, divorce, abortion, immorality, general dishonesty.” That was 1974. Today we know it’s even worse with the definition of marriage, gender confusions, and total disrespect of God and His commandments.

I love the Olympics. So, I tuned into the Opening ceremony of the Olympics to watch athletes around the world represent their respective cultures. It is also a time for the host country to present itself to the world, for France to put its best foot forward showcasing its culture and people. In the midst of these festivities, those in charge of the event thought it would be appropriate to have Da Vinci’s portrayal of Jesus’ Last Supper be reenacted by a group of drag queens in a sexually charged performance. It was awful, and weird, that someone thought this would be a good thing to include.

As you may know, evangelization is a passion of mine. It is an honor, privilege, and a great duty that the Lord has placed upon us in commanding us to “go make disciples” of all nations. We make others a disciple of Jesus by preaching Jesus. But there can often be preliminary steps to this proclamation and the way in which we evangelize can also have a significant impact on our fruitfulness. Thus, I would like to offer a few pointers (certainly not exhaustive) that I have found effective in evangelizing others.

This past Saturday there was an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Mercifully, the gunman was not successful in taking his life. I offer a few thoughts on what we can take away from this sad day in American history.

What occurred that day was an attack on our democratic way of life. There was an old Roman orator named Quintillian who said that society always needs men (and women) who can defend justice before a crowd.

The Christian life is not meant to be lived alone. Jesus sent out his disciples 2 by 2. We are made in the image and likeness of a God who is in Himself an eternal exchange of love. Thus, we are made for communion and love. We are made for relationships, and among the various loves we need as human persons, friendship is key.

Dear Family of God,

In our Gospel this weekend, Jesus was not able to perform any mighty deeds in Nazareth, because of their lack of Faith. Pride is one of the capital sins, his townmates cannot accept Jesus because of their pride. We all need to develop the Virtue of Humility so that we can accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and avoid eternal separation from God.

Dear Family of God,

From the Bible we know that there are two kinds of death, one is physical, and the other is spiritual or the death of our soul. The cause of both deaths is the envy of the Devil, who tempted Eve to commit the first sin. Death is a consequence of sin. Adam and Eve did not die physically when they disobeyed God, but they annihilated their soul, they were separated from the presence of God.

One of the things I love to do but I’m not good at is swimming. I grew up in a town that has one of the biggest rivers in Nigeria, River Benue. In fact, at one point my family lived very close to the bank of the river. Unfortunately, none of my siblings, including me, learnt how to swim. This is because some of our friends and relatives drowned in the river. That made us have a phobia for large bodies of water.

Dear Family of God,

God is in charge so “walk by faith and not by sight” (2Cor. 5:7).

If we have faith, we can be “full of confidence” like Saint Paul. We know that the Lord is with us, guiding us, working out all things for good, and drawing us into the fullness of life (cf. Rm. 8:28). We will experience a lot of obstacles and we cannot see yet our true final destination.

It’s summer. It’s June, and it’s hot. And although the summer has just begun, it feels like we are already in the “dog days of summer.” There can be a ho-hum attitude about the summer days as they roll on—hot and interminable.

A similar mindset can afflict us as Catholics as we think about ordinary time in the liturgical year. It is easy to get excited for Advent as we prepare for Christmas, or to be in a spirit of penitence as we enter the practices of Lent longing for Easter. But Ordinary time? It can feel so, well—ordinary.

Dear Family of God,

This weekend we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, given to us out of His great love for each one of us and that we will be able to participate in the holy exchange of love of the Holy Trinity, and be eternal like God. Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” (John 6:51).