All posts tagged: Christianity

A Thing For Lent

Published by Osemhen

It’s almost cliché, isn’t it? My first post this year is on the first day of Lent. I think it’s safe to say Lent is my favorite part of the Catholic calendar. Does that sound weird? Lent is ash on my forehead. Lent is fasting and abstinence and purging my soul. Lent is haunting hymns. Lent is sorrow and pain and deprivation and all the things that are considered ugly about human existence. Lent is death. But Lent is also hope. It’s the reminder of everything this world is. Drought. Then rain. Aslan dying. And then resurrecting. Death. And Life after. Lent is honesty with God. Look, Lord. It’s just me here. With my flaws and imperfections and I’m unworthy, Lord. Many times, I even forget to pray.  Did I ever tell you how I sometimes envy Muslims their dedication to prayer? Seriously, good Muslims are #dedicationgoals.  I see them stop conversations abruptly so they can go pray. And I think with shame of all the times my phone buzzes that it’s time for my prayer, and …

Blessed Are The Merciful: Difficult Conversations

Published by Osemhen

Thank you, guys, for sticking around despite my inconsistent blogging. 🙂 How’ve you been? I’ve missed this. Anyways, I’m so behind on my posting schedule for the Works of Mercy series. I was wondering how I’d even catch up but then I realized that a number of them have the same themes. 😀 (No, it’s not cheating.) St. Paul is one of my favorite saints. His conversion story reminds me of God’s infinite mercy. How else could one man go from being a terrorist (think Isis-type of religious persecution of Christians) to being one of Christianity’s biggest proponents? Seriously. But in all the drama of Paul’s life there’s a character who’s sometimes forgotten. Ananias of Damascus. The believer through whom Paul’s sight was restored. The one who gave him his first instruction and then baptized him. This month, I’m focusing on the first 3 Spiritual Works of Mercy. To counsel the doubtful Teach the ignorant Admonish sinners All of us know dozens of “ignorant” people we would just love to “instruct” i.e. Tell how to …

Things To Give Up This Lent: A List of Ideas

Published by Osemhen

We interrupt our regular “Blessed Are The Merciful” series to bring you this Lenten edition. 😀 So Lent begins officially on Wednesday. That’s tomorrow. Traditionally, these 40 days before Easter are dedicated to fasting, alms giving and prayer. The model is Christ’s example; he spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting and praying. Most people remember the fasting; not everyone remembers giving alms and using the season to deepen our prayer life. And when we say fasting, people automatically think of food. Then there are all the various modes of fasting as practiced by the various denominations. 6am to 6pm fasting, one-large-meal per day fasting, dry fasting (no liquids, no food), one normal-sized meal per day and liquids (Milo, Lucozade etc.) to supplement… I could go on.    For clarity, these are the rules for fasting in the Catholic Church: Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are prescribed days of fasting and abstinence (from the flesh of all animals except fish) for Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59. The ill, pregnant and nursing mothers …

Forgiving All Wrongs

Published by Osemhen

Hola, everyone! Thanks for being patient; this post was supposed to go up last week Sunday but I’ve been super busy with a lot of things. Thank you for all the likes, shares, kind words and comments on my last post :D. Like wow! I was a bit apprehensive about blogging about being pregnant but your responses made it worthwhile. I tried to respond to everyone but couldn’t and I figured I’d just go ahead and give you guys more posts. Know that I read and treasured each comment, and your prayers are a huge help. First of all, how did December go? In the midst of all the feasting and turning up, how did you help to feed the hungry? I hope the ideas I posted were helpful. Pope Francis officially kicked off the Jubilee Year of Mercy, ushering in a year of dutiful and deliberate kindness. The custom of a Jubilee Year is derived from the Old Testament: Leviticus 25: 8-13. In summary, the Jubilee Year was celebrated as a year when slaves and prisoners …

"Blessed Are The Merciful": Practically Living the Works of Mercy

Published by Osemhen

Pope Francis is pretty much everyone’s favorite Pope at the moment. It’s not difficult to see why. No disrespect to Pope Benedict (Emeritus), but Pope Francis inspires us every day with his simplicity, his dislike for ceremony and his willingness to demonstrate God’s mercy and compassion to the poor and sinners. He takes it all back to the basics. Love. Mercy. Compassion. Forgiveness. Understanding. Like Jesus told us to do. Last week, I read his message for Next Year’s World Youth Day in Poland. It’s not very long, and it’s absolutely worth the read. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy” (Mt 5:7) That’s the verse on which the WYD theme is based. There’s a fair bit of history and theology at the beginning of the message and then he gets to the really practical bit: how can we as young Christians live the virtue of mercy? James 2: 14 – 26 talks about the relationship between faith and works. Sometimes, I forget what works exactly I’m supposed to be doing. Every day, I …

A Lenten Reflection on Faith

Published by Osemhen

This is who I am. This woman in her mid-twenties, with a day job and a writing itch. A daughter. A sister. The “best girlfriend in the world”. A cousin. A niece. A best friend. A friend. A colleague. A side-kick. A buddy. A Catholic. A practicing Catholic. And what does that even mean? I left the Catholic Church as a teenager. I was disillusioned by many of the adult Catholics around me including, it must be said, a couple of priests. I didn’t understand the “idol worship”, or how the Catholic Church could help me develop the faith I needed to move the mountains in my life. And there were many mountains that needed moving. So I left in search of the Light. And I found it…in the Catholic Church. Let me explain. I searched in other churches, and I found sparks, glimmers that whetted my appetite. In one of the pentecostal fellowships I joined in university, I learnt to study sacred Scripture. In another, I learned to give to the church, to only …

The Gospel According to Mark

Published by Osemhen

Today, I put up the second Ted-Post by Mark Amaza. I met Mark (Twitter handle: @amasonic) at the Zain Africa Challenge in 2009. In the 3 years I’ve known him, Mark’s passion and fierce patriotism have inspired me. When I got the idea for the Ted-Posts, I knew it would be incomplete if he didn’t write in. So here. I present his piece. I have always been very proud of my heritage and my roots as a Nigerian first, then a Christian and a Northerner next. There is always pride in my voice when I meet people from the South and I tell them that I am a Christian from Borno State, and how I tell everyone how multi-religious my extended family is, the fact that my maternal grandfather is a Muslim and was even the muezzin of his village till old age caught up with him, and how I have numerous uncles and aunts who are Muslims, some of whom grew up with us. But this nice story of religious co-existence is not everywhere …

Ted-Posts, Lent and Broken Laptops

Published by Osemhen

 Early this year, one of my friends asked me, “If you could give a Ted-Talk on any subject of your choice, what would you talk about?” It took me awhile to answer but I replied, “The importance of singularity, of not taking your cues from the crowd and daring to stand alone.” But his question has haunted me over the past one month and I realize now that I’d actually talk about something else, if I got the chance. I’d talk about the importance of friends. Because no matter how much I want to believe that I have always done my thing, it would be slightly dishonest. I am the sum-total of all the people I have let into my life. And everything good about me, I have because I aped someone else. Ditto everything bad 🙂 (this is a sub to relevant parties. You know yourself). But honestly, I have been privileged to know and count among my friends, some pretty cool people. And I want to share them with you via “Ted-Posts”. If …