Fr. Ebido harps on sacrifice God wants - ITREALMS

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Saturday, Fifth Week of Lent B (March 27, 2021) 

Your Daily Blessing: May God's blessing in your life multiply in proportion to how you bless others. Amen!

Read Ezek 37:21-28; John 11:45-56; pray Psalm 23[22]. 

NARRATION:  Chidi is the first of 8 children. His parents were poor but managed whatever their subsistent farming could offer to raise a large family. Food was never enough, but they managed to get by each passing day. It was therefore not surprising that when Chidi finished primary six (Grade 6), his father immediately sent him off to learn how to trade (“igba-boi”), a form of apprenticeship under a master-servant model common among the Igbos in the South-East of Nigeria. 

It was to be for seven years, after which, if he served well, he will be “settled” by his Master (ògá). This will then provide venture capital for the apprentice to begin his own business.

Chidi did very well. His master therefore settled him well; he gave him 5,000 naira then (an equivalent of millions of naira today). He started his own business and was very successful. 

Before long, he was the one that continued supporting the family, helped train his other siblings in school, four to university level. Two of his brothers joined him in business. In no time, he built a beautiful house, that replaced his father’s mud house.

 

Chidi was very generous towards his siblings, and God’s favour was with him. Even when he got married, he continued to support his brothers and sisters. If you come to that family today, you will not believe their humble beginnings. They lived together, each of his brothers building a house next to each other, a beautiful site to see. His four sisters all got married, and you can only imagine what happiness they shared each year at Christmas when they return to celebrate their love. It all started with the sacrifice of one man. 

The success we see in Igboland is the result of many such stories of sacrifices. 

God blesses generosity with generosity, kindness with kindness, love with love, mercy with mercy. Unfortunately, we are beginning to see in the last decade or more, a disruption of this beautiful story. 

Instead of one person sacrificing for the group, the group is being sacrificed by one. So instead of harvesting happiness and joy, love and mercy, it is a banquet of bitterness and sorrow. 

ALSO READ: Seek you friends closer than brothers says Fr. Ebido - ITREALMS

In the Gospel, Jesus gets ready to ‘sacrifice’ himself for the many. And he say, “if you want life, follow my example.”  

 

PRAYER: Dear Lord, please give me a kind and generous heart, ready to make sacrifices for the group without necessarily forgetting my own needs. Help me see how I imitate you when I act in love. Amen.

🙏🏽©️Fr Augustine Ebido, O.P.