St. Paul's Catholic Church Benin City Nigeria

St. Paul's Catholic Church Benin City Nigeria St. Pauls Parish is a Roman Catholic Church. It date's back from the establishment of St. Pauls Major Seminary at its present state in 1938.

The Seminary chapel offered facilities for worship for the few lay persons who worked in.

06/04/2019

Greetings to you all and have a nice day

11/01/2019

May God blessing shine upon you and your household

11/01/2019

Good morning to you all, it is a beautiful Friday.

Have a stress free day

23/09/2018

23 SEPTEMBER, 2018
THE ETERNAL WORD REFLECTIONS.
TWENTY-FIFTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR (B).
Wisdom 2:12. 17-20
Psalm 54
James 3:16- 4:3
Mark 9:30-37
“WISDOM FROM ABOVE”
We continue our reading of the letter of Saint James. In today’s reading, he contrasts “wisdom from above” from earthly wisdom. He gives us the qualities of wisdom from above: “pure, peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits without uncertainty and insincerity”. He also presents the qualities of earthly wisdom, “jealousy, selfish ambition, disorder, every vile practice”.
The first reading gives a case of earthly wisdom. The worldly see the righteous as a reproach to them and so plot their downfall: “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions…let us test him with insult and torture…let us condemn him to a shameful death”.
The Lord Jesus is the righteous man par excellence. He is the Wisdom from above Incarnate. In the Gospel reading, He makes a prediction of His Passion: “The Son of Man will be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he will rise”. This is wisdom from above namely, that greatness is attained through service. While Jesus was telling the disciples about His Passion and Resurrection (The Paschal Mystery), they were busy discussing the trivial matters of who was the greatest among them. The disciples outrightly displayed earthly wisdom which lays emphasis on lording it over others. James speaks about what causes wars and fighting among people. These stem from passions which cannot be kept under control: “You desire and do not have, so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so you fight and wage war…you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions”. Here we have earthly wisdom at play.
But we are called upon as Christians to cultivate or imbibe the wisdom from above. The Lord Jesus is Wisdom Incarnate, Eternal wisdom. It is needful that we keep ourselves close to Him in His Church – listening to the Church through the Pope and Bishops, meditatively reading the Word of God and frequenting the Sacraments worthily. This will lead us to have the mind of Christ and lead us to say with St. Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ and yet I am alive; yet it is no longer I, but Christ living in me”. (Gal. 2:19b – 20a).
Our world in its present state needs salvation. None other than Christians who have conformed themselves to Christ in spirit and in truth can redeem the world. These will become the object of attack by the ungodly as we have in the first reading and the Gospel. The fact of persecution makes many Christians to compromise the truth of the Gospel. It is a case of “If you cannot beat them, join them”. This is a defeatist slogan. For the Christian, it should be a case of standing with Jesus who never abandons us. The response to today’s psalm is: Behold, the Lord is the upholder of my life”. The last stanza says: “See I have God for my help, The Lord sustains my soul…” This Lord is none other than the Wisdom from Above”, Jesus Christ.
Let us pray: Holy Spirit, lead me to Jesus, Eternal and Incarnate Wisdom. Amen.

…Though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people to win as many as I could… To the weak, I made myself weak. I accommodated myself to all kinds of difficult situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation (1 Corinthians 9:19,22).
FR. PAUL B. ENOW.

16/09/2018

TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY OF THE YEAR B.

“WHO DO YOU SAY THAT I AM”
In today’s Gospel reading, the Lord Jesus addressed this question to His disciples after they gave varying answers to what the people thought Jesus was. Our Divine Lord now addressed the question to His closest friends, those who had been with Him for three years. Peter gave the answer: “You are the Christ”, meaning the Anointed one of God, the Messiah.
Peter gave the answer without knowing the full implications of the mission of the Messiah. Jesus lost no time in making known to them what He stood for: he was going to suffer many things, be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, be killed and after three days to rise again. This was definitely not the expectation of the disciples and the generality of the people. They expected a political Messiah in the manner of the great king David who extended the boundaries of Israel in the many battles he fought. They expected that Jesus would conquer the Roman overlords and establish the lost glory of Israel. Because Jesus did not meet their expectations, Peter tried to dissuade Him.
The Lord Jesus responded to Peter’s persuasion by calling him ‘Satan’. Satan is opposed to God’s plan in every way. Peter was now performing the role of Satan even though he had just been commended for being inspired by God. The response of Jesus to Peter’s confession of faith is a fulfillment of what we have in our first reading today. Isaiah foretold that the Messiah would suffer greatly. At the same time, Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would have God’s protection: “He who vindicates me is near”. The responsorial psalm continues with the theme of God taking the part of the Messiah, “He has kept my soul from death, my eyes from tears and my feet from stumbling”. God always takes the part of those who are committed to His service.
Like the disciples of Jesus in the Gospel, the question of who Jesus is, is addressed to us. It may be the case that we are just following Jesus but we do not really know who He is. We may count many years of embracing the Christian faith but still do not know who Jesus is. This may be true in the face of the preaching of a crossless Christianity by a great number of preachers of the Gospel in our time.
Jesus made clear to His contemporaries, the terms of following Him: “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever saves his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it”. Like Jesus, would-be followers have to practice self-denial, to give up their lives for others.
In the second reading, James advocates that our faith be put into action. Our faith is greatly shown when we pay attention to the needs of the poor. This entails self-denial and giving up of self for others. Our world is one of the great contrasts between the rich and the poor, between the affluent and the poor. True knowledge of who Jesus is can be shown pre-eminently when we sincerely reach out to others in love. We have to embrace His cross wholeheartedly.
LET US PRAY: Holy Spirit, lead me to a true knowledge of Jesus. Amen.

…Though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people to win as many as I could… To the weak, I made myself weak. I accommodated myself to all kinds of difficult situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation (1 Corinthians 9:19,22).
FR. PAUL B. ENOW.

02/09/2018

2 SEPTEMBER, 2018.
THE ETERNAL WORD REFLECTIONS
TWENTY-SECOND SUNDAY OF THE YEAR (B).
Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-8
Psalm 15
James 1:17-18,21b-22,27
Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23
“BE DOERS OF THE WORD”
After five weeks of reflecting on the Eucharist reading from John 6, we resume our reading of the Gospel Mark. The Eucharist is Jesus Himself and as such occupies a very central place in our Christian faith.
Today, our focus is on the law of God, the Word of God. It is to be revered and kept accordingly. Keeping it is a sign of greatness. No wonder Scripture regards as fools those who say “there is no God”. The law of God is not to be interfered with. The responsorial psalm highlights the fact that keeping the law of God will enable one to enter into the Lord’s presence, into the tents of eternity.
The Gospel reading presents the scribes and Pharisees as persons who distorted the law of God with their traditions and insistence on external cleanliness, on personal hygiene. For them it was a question of moving from the outside to the inside. However, for Jesus it was a case of moving from inside to outside. The purity of our actions is to be judged by what comes from within the person. In this, Our Divine Lord made true the teaching that those who worship the Father must do so “in spirit and in truth” (John.4:24).
Our second reading is from the letter of James, a letter which is very much concerned with practising of the word of God: “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves”. Yes, when Christians fail to act according to the dictates of the word of God, they are living in a fool’s paradise. When Christians fail to live according to the word of God, they are doing a great disservice to the work of evangelisation launched by Jesus. The effort to carry the Christian message to the ends of the earth is stunted when believers of Jesus fail to live according to what they profess. In Christian circles today, we have preachers whose every sentence is loaded with biblical quotations; we have Christians who do likewise. However, their mastery of biblical citations is not matched by good lives. Their lives are at best scandalous. As a result of lack of proper witnessing, our world is in a sorry state as regards morals and all sorts of ills.
James tells us the type of religion that God expects of us: “…to visit orphans and widows in their affliction and to keep oneself unstained from the world”. Christ Jesus identified Himself with those in need, those on the margin of society (Matt.25:31-46). The Christian has to distance himself from worldliness and enthrone godliness: “Do not model your behaviour on the contemporary world, but let the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves what is the will of God…” (Romans.12:2). Remember “religion is caught not taught” (Blessed John Henry Newman). “The world is more in need of witnesses than preachers” (Blessed Paul VI).
LET US PRAY: Holy Spirit, help me to be a credible witness. Amen.

…Though I was not a slave to any human being, I put myself in slavery to all people to win as many as I could… To the weak, I made myself weak. I accommodated myself to all kinds of difficult situations, so that by all possible means I might bring some to salvation (1 Corinthians 9:19,22).
FR. PAUL B. ENOW.

Very. Rev. Fr. Dr. Edwin O. Parish Priest of St. Paul's Catholic Church Airport Road Beni City setting the example by ho...
01/09/2018

Very. Rev. Fr. Dr. Edwin O. Parish Priest of St. Paul's Catholic Church Airport Road Beni City setting the example by hosting HCA Choir which has been doing so well. Just returning from the Archdiocesan HCA choir competition with the 5th time in the 1st position.

26/08/2018

26 AUGUST, 2018.
THE ETERNAL WORD REFLECTIONS.
TWENTY-FIRST SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR B).
Joshua 24:1-2a.15-17.18b
Psalm 34
Ephesians 5:21-32
John 6:60-69
OUR FREEDOM TO CHOOSE.
God is Almighty. Yet He does not force us to choose Him. We exercise our freedom to choose Him or to reject Him. Our being candidates for Heaven or candidates for Hell depends on the choices we make in our daily lives. The readings of today’s celebration highlight the fact of our making choices regarding our relationship with God and our relationship with our fellow human beings.
In our first reading, we have the people under the leadership of Joshua making a choice for God over other gods. God had brought them out of Egypt, the land of bo***ge and was leading them safely to the Promised Land: “…therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God”.
In the Gospel reading, we come to the highpoint of the discourse about the Eucharist. Many of the disciples of Jesus ceased to follow Him because they felt that the teaching on the Eucharist was a difficult one. One the other hand, the Twelve accepted the teaching: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have believed, and we have come to know that You are the Holy One of God”. The Eucharist is very central to our Catholic belief and practice. The question of Jesus to His disciples whether they, too, would go away, strongly implies that He was ready to start all over again if their response had been negative. The Apostles exercised wisdom in making a choice for Jesus. We are equally called upon to make a choice for Jesus and all He stood for.
In fact, we are not the first to choose Christ. It is He who first made the choice of us: “You did not choose Me, no I chose you and I commissioned you to go out and bear fruit, fruit that will last” (John.15:16). Our second reading is a familiar one in the celebration of marriages. In it, the Apostle tells us that Christ chose us in the same manner as spouses out of love for one another. The relationship of the spouses has to be modeled after Christ: “Be subject to one another out of reverence of Christ”. Jesus is the perfect example of self-giving. There has to be a mutual self-giving between the spouses. Faithfulness to each other is a testimony to the fact that the spouses are sincere to the choice they have made of each other. Acting otherwise would be hypocritical. In exchanging their consent the spouses talk of “for better for worse; for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health till death do us part”. In effect, they accept the consequences of their choices. We may be quite familiar with late Nico Mbarga’s “Na my choice”.
As Christians every choice we make should have Christ in view. He came that we may have life and have it more abundantly (John.10:10). The wisest thing to do is to stick with Christ notwithstanding the odds. A choice for Christ is a choice for the narrow way, a choice for the Cross, a choice that leads us to salvation, to spending eternity with God. Let us be wary of embracing the prosperity Gospel which makes a mockery of the Cross of Christ.
LET US PRAY: Holy Spirit, guide the choices I make daily. Amen.
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:10-11).
FR. PAUL B. ENOW.

22/08/2018

23 AUGUST, 2018.
THE ETERNAL WORD REFLECTIONS.
THURSDAY OF THE TWENTIETH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR (II).
Ezekiel 36:23-28
Psalm 51
Matthew 22:1-14
SALVATION: A DIVINE INITIATIVE.
Salvation is primarily a divine initiative. The human person has to key into it. In our first reading, God addresses the exiles of Judah. He is going to give them a new heart and put a new spirit in them. This will enable them to walk according to the divine statutes being careful to obey the divine ordinances. They would be restored to the land of their fathers and would belong to God.
The human person has to be opened to God’s plan of salvation. The Gospel acclamation taken from Psalm 95:7,8 tells us not to harden our hearts but to listen to the voice of the Lord. The psalmist in the responsorial psalm gives a positive response asking God to give him the right disposition to receive God’s salvific action. In contrast, in the Gospel reading, we have people who reject God’s plan of action to save them. The garment to be worn at the Lord’s banquet, are deeds which accord with the divine statutes.
God sends us invitations daily to enter into His presence. How disposed am I to the divine invitations? It will do us a lot of good if we seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness. Let us work hard at this.
ST. ROSE OF LIMA, PRAY FOR US.
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:10-11).
FR. PAUL B. ENOW.

19/08/2018

19 AUGUST, 2018.
THE ETERNAL WORD REFLECTIONS.
TWENTIETH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR (B).
Proverbs 9:1-6
Psalm 34
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58
ENCOUNTER WISDOM IN EATING AND DRINKING OF THE LORD.
We continue our reflection on the Eucharist. Our first reading speaks of wisdom preparing a banquet for the simple. Partaking of the meal prepared will enable participants to “live and walk in the way of insight”, the way of Wisdom.
The responsorial psalm is an invitation to the meal prepared by Divine Wisdom, Jesus Christ. Those who accept the invitation of the Lord are the humble who fear the Lord and do good. The end result of accepting the invitation of Wisdom is that the fear of the Lord is deepened in the participants and they are set on the path to eternal life. It is therefore worthwhile to heed the call of the psalmist: “Taste and see that the Lord is good”.
The Gospel reading presents us with reactions to the invitation of Jesus: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”. In the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus puts this invitation in another way: “Take and eat, this is my body… Take and drink, this is my blood which will be poured out for you… Do this in memory of Me”. The Jews in their pride refused to accept this invitation so they could not see the goodness of the Lord. The Apostles with the exception of Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, accepted the invitation of Jesus and have handed it on to us.
In our times, too we have those who accept the invitation of Jesus and those who reject it. Generally, statistics show that not up to half of the baptized who attend Mass on Sunday receive Holy Communion. Without words but with their lifestyles, those who do not consistently receive the Eucharist, ask Jesus the same question that the Jews of old asked “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” As young persons, most of these people were quite fervent in the reception of the Body and Blood of Jesus. However, as the years went by, the choices they made gradually took them away from accepting the invitation of Jesus, which is an invitation to life.
In our second reading, the Apostle warns us about the lives we lead: “Look carefully brethren, how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making most of the time, do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is…be filled with Spirit…” When we made it our duty to grow wise in the things of the world than in the things of God, we cut ourselves from Divine Wisdom who is present in the Eucharist. Familiarity with Jesus in the Eucharist will certainly fill us with the wisdom that we need to attain the everlasting life for which we are destined.
JESUS IN THE BLESSED SACRAMENT, HAVE MERCY ON US. AMEN.
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:10-11).
FR. PAUL B. ENOW.

12/08/2018

12 AUGUST, 2018.
THE ETERNAL WORD REFLECTIONS.
NINETEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (B).
1 Kings 19:4-8
Ephesians 4:30-5:2
John 6:41-51
FOOD THAT ENABLES TO MEET GOD.
In our reflection last Sunday, we said God provides food. The food that God provides is one that enables those who believe to meet Him. In the first reading, we find Elijah on the way to Mount Horeb to meet God. He had just confronted the prophets of Baal and dealt them a severe blow. He was running away from the wicked queen Jezebel who had threatened to kill him just as he had done to the prophets of Baal. Elijah received nourishment from heaven to enable him make the journey to Horeb.
In the Gospel reading, the Lord Jesus tells us plainly that He is the Food that we need to attain everlasting life: “I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this the bread he will live forever, and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh”. These words did not find a place in the hearts of the audience. They knew Jesus so well that they wondered why He was telling them that He was the Living Bread that had come down from Heaven.
Through the ministry of the priest the Body and Blood of Jesus is made available to us in the sacrifice of the Mass. Recall in the Synoptic Gospels we have the institution of the Body and Blood of Jesus, in which He asked that it should be done in His memory. Christ’s faithful are greatly encouraged to participate fully, consciously and actively in the celebration of the Sacrifice of Mass. In the celebration of Mass we have the Communion Rite, in which the faithful are invited to eat and drink of the Lord.
Frequent and worthy reception of the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist will lead to the cultivation of virtues and doing away with vices. Our second reading presents us with lists of both vices and virtues: “bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour, malice” (vices), kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness” (virtues). In the practice of the virtues, we imitate God as His beloved children. In the Eucharist, we experience the self-giving of Christ. A responsibility is placed on us to do likewise. We have to be bread that is broken and shared among so many and grapes that are crushed to form the wine.
Our world is in a sorry state with the many problems we face, stemming largely from our individual and collective inability to lay down our lives for one another. The redemption of our world lies with us Christians. We have no other choice than to be Christ-like. The Apostle invites us in his letter to the Philippians that we should have the mind of Christ who was steeped in humility, embracing the shameful death of the Cross to give us life. A Christian is one who lives for others. Having received life, we ought to be ready to give back that life for others.
LET US PRAY: Jesus, Bread of life, empower me to lay down my life for others. Amen.
“Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:10-11).FR. PAUL B. ENOW.

Additional funeral pictures
10/08/2018

Additional funeral pictures

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