September 17, 2021
Friday of di Twenty-Fourth Week for Ordinary Time
Readings for Today
Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of di Church—Memorial wey no compulsory
Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Virjin and Doctor of di Church—Memorial wey no be compulsory
Listen for English
Jesus travel from one town and village go another, dey preach and announce di Good News of di Kingdom of God. Di Twelve and some women wey He don heal from evil spirits and sickness dey follow Him… Luke 8:1–2
Our Lord dey carry out one mission. He trek from one town go another, “dey preach and announce di Good News of di Kingdom of God.” Truly, His message na “Good News.” He heal sick people, drive demons comot and, di one wey matter pass, He forgive sins. Because of this, plenty people begin follow Him. No be only di Twelve wey Jesus call by Himself, and wey He go later send out as His Apostles, dey follow Him; other people follow Him too. Today Gospel still mention three women by name: Mary of Magdala, Joanna and Susanna. Dem na just few among di people wey our Lord touch their lives deeply, and wey leave everything to follow Him.
Di choice wey these first followers make to leave everything and follow Jesus dey invite us to check how far we too don give our lives to follow Him. Among di plenty people wey hear Jesus preach, no doubt, dem respond in different ways. Some reject Him, others get interest to know more about Him, others biliv in Him but no ready to become His disciple, and some give themselves with all their heart to Jesus and His mission to announce di Good News. For this last group, di Good News wey dem hear change their lives.
How you dey respond to our Lord? One good way to answer this question well na to check how much time and energy you don give to our Lord and His message of Good News. How much time you don spend dey read His holy Word, dey pray to Him, dey talk about Him and dey learn di faith wey He teach? How much His message dey affect di decisions wey you dey make for life? To be Christian no be something wey we fit keep for only one corner of our life. We no fit get our “time for faith” for just few moments every week, then spend all di remaining time on other things. Na true say plenty activities wey be normal parts of our life go fill our days. All of us get duties and responsibilities wey dey take plenty of our time every day. But to “put our whole life inside,” as we fit talk am, mean say Jesus and His message dey enter everything wey we dey do. Even our normal daily activities like work, housework and other things like that must be for God glory and according to His divine will.
For di first people wey follow Jesus, even though dem travel with Him from town to town and completely change how dem dey live their daily lives, dem go still don do plenty normal activities. But in di end, dem do those normal activities to help themselves and other people fulfil their main mission: to listen to di Word of God and respond to am.
Today, think deeply about how far you don dedicate every part of your life to our Lord and His mission. To do this no necessarily mean say you must become evangelist wey dey preach for public, spend di whole day for church, or do things like that. E simply mean say you dey invite Jesus and His mission enter everything wey you dey do, every day, throughout di day. We no fit ever reach point wey we go say we don serve our Lord enough. As you dey check di things wey you dey do every day, look for ways to bring our Lord enter everything wey you dey do. To do this go truly make you one of His faithful disciples wey don give their whole life to Him.
My divine Lord, You dey carry out di mission to save souls and build Your glorious Kingdom. I thank You as You invite me, no be only to let Your holy Word change my life, but also to help spread that Word to other people. My life na Your own, dear Lord. Abeg, enter every part of my daily life and use me for Your glory. Jesus, na You I trust.
More Reflections on the Gospel
Reflection Dem about God im Mercy
Meditations on Scripture for Ordinary Time
Saints for Today –
Saint Robert Bellarmine, Bishop and Doctor of di Church
Saint Hildegard of Bingen, Virjin and Doctor of di Church
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