OMNIUM DEFUNCTORIUM: I AM A POTENTIAL PURGATORIAN

author: by REV. FR PAUL IKECHUKWU OGUJIOFFOR
2nd NOVEMBER 2009

By our nature each person is a potential candidate for judgment.
Depending on how I lived my life, purgatory is a place for very many of us.
Contemplating on what my life will be afterwards I ought to be careful daily.
This is because life is a mystery as death is, and a concrete reality before us.

The soul of the just is at the Lord’s hand the author to the Wisdom Literature said.
For my soul to be with God at the last time, it depends on me.
Meditating on the phrase “it depends on me”, the drama revolves on my spiritual cum moral life.
Hence, with the Psalmist I pray thus: De profundis clamavi a te Domine, Domine exaudi voce meam Ps. 129 (130): 1-2.

I ought to ponder over always life after life. [cfr. Ecclesiates 7: 4].
Being in touch with this reality, my moral and spiritual life ought to change unto good.
By an ordinary natural charity I ought to help those in purgatory.
By my spiritual participation in prayer, I trek into the life of “koinonia of grace”.

The life unto the unknown is unexplainable.
With faith the teachings of life after life makes meaning.
In each moment of my existence, I make it meaningful or meaningless.
For the dangers I feel within this knowledge, carefulness ought to be my watchword.

How often do I remember to pray fore those who are dead?
Do I always remember those who have nobody to pray for them?
Have I erased in my mind some people because it has taken time they died?
We are called to pray constantly for the dead because we are potential purgatorians.

By the intercessions of Our Blessed Virgin Mother and all the Saints, may the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace. Amen.

Tags: REV.+FR+PAUL+IKECHUKWU+OGUJIOFFOR

38days to go for The Experience Lagos 2009

Just like I was thinking….

date: December 5, 2009

 

 

The Experience Lagos, 2009

By the grace of God, I will be there again this year, and I am already believing this one will be a boomerang across Lagos.

My previous experiences:

• my experience at the experience 2007
• my experience at the experience 2008 – how great is our God and also my Picassa photo gallery of 2008 experience pics

I gotta buy a new camera in the next one month, coz this time, I’m gonna be the official The Experience Photographer for the Naija Blogville.

 

ps: just in case there are other members of the Naija Blogvillers who would be going, perhaps we could hook up, and have fun praising the Lord.

Tags: The+Experience+Lagos

LoveNotes: what is the difference between Church wedding and Court wedding

The above picture is sourced from this article on PM News.

I would rather not dwell on details of infidelity of the couple accusing each other,  but this prompts some thoughts.

In Nigeria, at least from my own observation, information etc., the various levels of marriage are:

• Introduction – families of couples get to know each other,
• Engagement – traditional wedding ceremony, dowry payment, etc,
• Religious (Christian / Islamic) wedding.

A fourth which could take the place of a religious wedding is the Court wedding, meaning a couple could either do one of (religious wedding, court wedding) or both, as they please – after getting engaged.

Please note, the above is just my own information.

My questions are these:

1) In matters of seniority, heirarchy and validity which comes first, which carries more weight: Religious or Court wedding? or do the two entities carry equal weight? If so, where do we place conflicts of interests.

2) In terms of importance (as in first things first), I am informed that there can’t be a Religious or Court wedding without a traditional wedding – as in religious organizations / the court would actually ask/demand a confirmation from the couple and family members, that all traditional rites have been fulfilled by the couple. Please, how true, false, necessary or unnecessary is this?

3) (a) can a court dissolve a marriage between a couple who did not do an initial court wedding? or (b) can a religious organization dissolve a marriage between a couple who were wedded only in the court of law? why or why not.

4) Lastly, why is the marriage certificate usually given to the bride. I am of the information that its her sole-property. I suppose there should be two copies, one for the husband and another for the wife.