Fr.Charles Ezejide

Exodus 17:3-7; Psalm 95:1-2.6-9; Romans 5:1-2. 5-8; John 4:5-42. “LENT: A SEASON OF HEIGHTENED “THIRST” By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide. ·        Fasting, Prayer, and Almsgiving are the three pillars of Lent. While fasting, a lot of people employ various models of fasting, especially from food and drink. Those who fast from food and drinks or embark on “dry” fasting, that is, fasting without drinking water, are not aliens to what being thirsty is. The tongue can be really dry and yearning for a drink. The question is, what do you thirst for when you thirst? ·        Today, the church celebrates the third Sunday of Lent. Our journey with Jesus in the wilderness is far spent. We are almost halfway into the journey of self-denial and self-discipline. And because the journey is halfway done, our temptations are gradually becoming unbearable. ·        In the first reading (Exodus 17:3-7), ...

  Genesis 12:1-4; Psalm 33:4-5.18-22; 2 Timothy 1:8-10; Matthew 17:1-9. “SHIFTING GROUNDS FOR THE KINGDOM” By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide. ·        Today, the church celebrates the second Sunday of Lent. On this day, we continue in our struggle to conquer sin and the self, so that we may be focused on God. Can we say that we are making progress on our journey with Jesus in the wilderness? ·        This season of Lent enjoins us to keep up the struggles; it is difficult, and temptations are heightened especially as the day goes by, but we must realise that the more sin grows, the more the grace of God abounds (Rom. 5:20). We should use this grace of God to fight against sin and temptation. ·        Dearly beloved in Christ, we cannot master the self, conquer the self and flee from sinful passions and inclinations to sin if we do not daily find time to be “alone”. I repeat, the ...

  Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7; Psalm 51:3-6.12-14.17; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11. “THE BEAUTY OF BEGINNINGS ” By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide. ·        Today, the church celebrates the first Sunday of Lent, Year A. In this season, we journey with Jesus in the wilderness. This journey in the wilderness is a moment for reflection, repentance, and renewal. ·          On this first Sunday, the reading of the day wants us to reflect on the beauty of beginnings. New beginnings are often met with resistance, suspicion, and doubt, but once we dare to make the first move, it becomes our reference point from then on. ·        In our spiritual lives, we also have beginnings. These beginnings may be when we first received the faith, when we were baptised, when we received our first Holy Communion, when we were confirmed, and when we attended our first Life in the Spirit seminar. Th...

Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119:1-2,4-5, 17-18,33-34; 1 Corinthians 2:6-10; Matthew 5:17-37. “CHOOSE YOUR CHOICE!” By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide. ·        Today, the church celebrates the 6 th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A. On this Sunday of the year, the Lord invites us to make choices that will guarantee us eternal life. The God who called us to be Christians does not impose himself and his ways upon us. God lays out the different options available to us and invites us to make our choice. ·        Dearly beloved in Christ, it is most likely true that most of us were baptised as infants and at that time, we did not even have what it takes to make choices. Our faith was chosen for us. Our baptismal name was also chosen for us. ·        Today, the Lord presents us with a golden opportunity to take ownership of our faith. He presents us with the option to choose him again now as an inf...

  Isaiah 58:7-10; Psalm 111:4-9; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5; Matthew 5:13-16. “LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE!” By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide. ·        Before we begin this reflection, I beg you to say a prayer for me, thanking God for the privilege of ministering on his altar with my feeble hands as a Catholic priest for the past 11 years. Today, 7th February, marks my priestly ordination anniversary . ·        Today is a beautiful day the Lord has made, and we who are counted among the living must be grateful and count ourselves lucky and glorify God with all our heart and mind. ·        In the spirit of gratitude and glorifying God, there is no better way to do that than to obey God’s commandments and to live in peace with ourselves and our neighbours. In fact, if we are indeed grateful to God for all our unmerited favours, then we must become in the world the light of the world and the sa...

Zephaniah 2:3, 3:12-13; Psalm 145:6-10; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31; Matthew 1:1-12.   “FROM HAPPINESS TO BLESSEDNESS!” By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide. ·        There is a strong desire to find happiness at all costs in everyone. We try to find reasons to make ourselves happy and have fun despite the many things around us that should make us sad. We are not ready to stop at anything until this happiness or joy is found. ·        What makes each of us happy differs from person to person? For some, their happiness lays in the amount of money they have, some it lays in how influential they are, for some, it lays in how vast their connection and league of friends are, for some, it is in how much approval they get from people around them etc. what makes people happy can be really vast, but our focus today is not just being happy but that kind of happiness that guarantees blessedness or eternity. ·    ...