St. Anthony's Parish, Asipa, Ibadan

21/08/2019

CYON visit to orphanage home, part of youth week activities

01/08/2019

Unlimited Praise for a Limitless God.

03/06/2019

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfTeyRa8-jA
Video Highlights

Our Children, our Pride: Career and Vocation in focus. That was the theme that guided the 2019 Children’s Day celebration at St Anthony’s Catholic Church, As...

30/04/2019

https://youtu.be/mVT0r6jwtug

The Community Easter Picnic at Asipa Parish is always fun and something everybody looks out for. This year’s own was fantastic.

21/04/2019

EASTER TONIC WITH FR. JOHN IDIO, OMV
EASTER SUNDAY
HE IS ALIVE!

Today is a very joyful day. Alleluia is our song. Why? He is alive! On this very day, Christ conquered death and sin. It’s Easter Sunday! For some people, today is about the nice Sunday outfit, the new shiny shoes they will launch, the new Brazilian hair they will wear, the rice and stew and chicken, the Easter party they will attend, the hanging out with friends, the Easter shopping and holiday; but for us, it’s about Christ. It’s about worshipping the Lord who died and resurrected to take away our sins and so give us new life.

The Easter life must be a new life. Ensure that the ‘old lifestyle’ (lifestyle of sin, wickedness, lying, cheating) does not corrupt the new life in Christ. If you are still trapped in the game of betrayal and lustful pleasures; if you are still wallowing in sin, you are still far away from encountering the Resurrected Christ.
If you have encountered the Resurrected Christ, jealousy, outburst of anger, selfish ambition, etc, must be things of the past. This Easter, we’ve been created anew. Let our ways be new, let our thinking be right, let our character be positive and let our actions be good. If these do not happen, then we are proving to the world that His death is in vain and that our celebration is empty and meaningless.

ACTION
Go for thanksgiving in appreciation to God for sending His Son to die in order to give you new life. It’s not only when you get a new car and a better job that you go for thanksgiving in the Church.

PRAYER
As the grave could not hold Jesus again, no agenda, no propaganda, no program of the enemies will be able to hold you. As Jesus has resurrected, may you also arise in all areas of your life - business, family, job, evangelization, etc. May this Easter season be a season of Divine favour, of joy, of grace and of mercy.

Note : Dear friends, I just wanted to journey with you from Lent through the Paschal Triduum to Easter. Here the spiritual tonic has come to an end, till further notice.
Thanks for allowing God touch you through the reflections.
Happy Easter and stay lifted in the Lord!

20/04/2019

HOLY WEEK TONIC WITH FR. JOHN IDIO, OMV
HOLY SATURDAY
CROSS, THE VICTORIOUS WEAPON

The whole world stands still as Jesus is put to death unjustly. He has descended into the underworld through His victorious weapon, the cross. The whole earth is silent as the King ‘sleeps’; darkness has covered the face of the earth as the Light of the world ‘goes off’. The tomb is closed, a stone is rolled across the entrance and the soldiers on guard are rejoicing that evil has conquered. The women are planning to bring spices in the morning to help preserve his body. But Jesus does not need all that because it’s just a temporary rest.

What is going to happen this Easter Vigil is beautifully captured in the Exsultet, which is sung tonight: “This is the night, when Christ broke the prison-bars of death and rose victorious from the underworld. This is the night, when all who believe in Christ are delivered from the gloom of sin, and are restored to grace and holiness of life.” It’s the holy night when wickedness is conquered, our sins are washed away, order is restored and joy returns to those who mourn. In fact, our existence on earth would have been meaningless if Christ had not redeemed us this way. In appreciation for the price He paid for our huge debt, let us stop swimming in sins.

ACTION
Don’t miss the action of the Easter Vigil. Be a partaker in the redemption story.

PRAYER
Father, through the sanctifying power of your death, may our faults be washed away. May we rise with You to newness of life; may our lives from today take a new meaning entirely and may we live only to please You.

19/04/2019

HOLY WEEK TONIC WITH FR. JOHN IDIO, OMV
GOOD FRIDAY
NO PAIN, NO GAIN

Today is Good Friday, the summit of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is crucified on the cross and left to die. But Christ knocks out death with resurrection. Before now, the cross was an emblem of suffering and shame, a sign of foolishness, disgrace, failure, hatred, humiliation and defeat. But henceforth the cross is a symbol of victory and glory. In the midst of financial hardship, existential troubles, physical suffering, spiritual laziness, the cross becomes a symbol of hope. Jesus has paid our debt with His Life. By His death, He has broken and shattered the bars of iron that lock us out from salvation and has told us to walk away free! And “if the Son of man sets you free, you are free indeed” (John 8:36).

Good Friday is a day to pause and reflect on the meaning of the passion and death of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. His wounds bring us healing and His death offers us a free ticket to salvation. The ticket is free, but at least we must make effort to receive it. The Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us that our trials and sufferings are not in vain. They can bring about unimaginable blessings. That famous dictum is right: no cross, no crown; no pain, no gain.

ACTION
Let us participate at the passion play/stations of the Cross today.

PRAYER
Lord Jesus, You were pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; and by your wounds we are healed. Help us to appreciate this by acting rightly. Help us to understand too that our sufferings have meaning when we take them to you. But help us not to suffer in vain. At the end of our trials, let there be triumph and victory.

18/04/2019

18/04/2019

HOLY WEEK TONIC WITH FR. JOHN IDIO, OMV
HOLY THURSDAY
EUCHARIST, PRIESTHOOD AND SERVICE

Today we commemorate Jesus’ Passover meal, the Last Supper, with the apostles. On this day, the Church celebrates two important realities: The institution of the Holy Eucharist and the Institution of the priesthood. These two sacraments are interwoven, that is, very closely related because without the priesthood we would have no Eucharist, and without the Holy Eucharist, priesthood would be valueless. In fact, the priest exists for one main purpose of offering the Sacrifice of the Holy Mass.

To underline the importance of the Holy Eucharist, St. Alphonsus De Liguori once said that the other sacraments contain the gifts of God, but the Holy Eucharist contains God himself. In the Eucharist, Jesus left us something important: He left us Himself. That is why the Holy Eucharist is the life and summit of our Catholic faith and it is linked to our salvation. Jesus told us in John 6:53 “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.” The Shoprite bread nourishes the life of the body, but the Heavenly Bread, the Holy Communion preserves the life of the soul. Let us value the Eucharist by participating in it frequently and worthily. There is no better help to Christian perfection than frequent and worthy reception of the Holy Communion.
Today, Jesus also washes the feet of His disciples seeking to teach us something about Christian service and humility. What makes us great as Christians is the humble service we render to others.

ACTION
Be sure to go for confession and be in a state of grace today so that you receive the Holy Communion worthily.

PRAYER
Eternal God, we are perfectly united to your Son when we eat His body and drink His Blood. Help us to always receive Him worthily so that we are nourished for everlasting life. Help us to serve others in humility and love. Through Christ our Lord.

15/04/2019

HOLY WEEK TONIC WITH FR. JOHN IDIO, OMV
MONDAY OF THE HOLY WEEK
DON'T BE SELFISH LIKE JUDAS

Today’s Gospel serves as a lovely preamble to the Passion of Jesus. Jesus is back in the house of his friends, Mary, Martha and Lazarus, whom he raised from the dead. As usual, Martha is active hostess preparing and serving food. Mary, the contemplative, brings in a jar of an expensive perfumed ointment and pours it all on the feet of Jesus, filling the house with its fragrance. Judas who was there resents this action of love, calling it a terrible waste because he is a spiritually blind materialist. Hypocritically, he suggests the ointment would have been sold and the money would have been better used in helping the poor. But the Bible records that he was indeed more interested in getting the money for himself than sharing it with those in need. He was selfish. Since he cares for only money, he is to betray the Lord with a kiss.

Some people have Judas’ spirit, always ready to betray, to kill for money, to ravage friendship, to take undue advantage of situations, etc. Sometimes we act like we care for people, when indeed our eyes are on their money and whatever we can gain from them. This Holy week, let’s kill the Judas’ spirit in us. Don’t allow Satan to use you to execute his evil.

ACTION
Do something for the poor today. Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do it unto me.

PRAYER
Father, may this holy week be a week that we overcome the Judas’ spirit in us. Help us to show authentic love to people not a deceptive and hypocritical actions. Bad luck shall not knock on our doors this week and road accident will stay far away from us. . May this new week be loaded with fresh blessings and divine favour, through Christ our Lord.

14/04/2019

HOLY WEEK TONIC WITH FR. JOHN IDIO, OMV
PALM SUNDAY
THE LAST DAYS OF JESUS

Today is Palm Sunday and it marks the beginning of Holy week leading us to Easter. On that first Palm Sunday, as Jesus was passing by, the people recognized that this man on the donkey was not an ‘ordinary’ man; He was a man that deserved to be worshiped, praised and adored. So the people started spreading their garments and palm branches on the road for Jesus to match. They started shouting, dancing, clapping their hands and praising Him with excitement: "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest heaven!".

If you really know who Jesus is, and what He has done for you, you too can’t but bow down in humble adoration and worship. If you really know what He has done to keep you in good health, keep your family together, make you have a good job, a wonderful home and a wonderful life, you can’t but shout – Hosanna in the highest. God has given you mouth, not only to eat, but above all to sing and praise Him for His goodness. Your mouth is not for gossip and telling lies, but to sing and praise God. Pope Francis says that gossip is one of the ugliest things in Christian community. It is terrorism because a gossiper does the same thing as a terrorist: he approaches, talks carelessly, throws the gossip bomb, destroys others and leaves quietly.

Holy Week is a sacred week, for it is the week that we commemorate the last days of Jesus' life on this earth. In the passion narrative, He is betrayed, denied and abandoned by his close friends, his disciples. He is falsely accused by the Jews, wrongly tried, and unjustly sentenced to death. All these happened for our salvation. And so, don’t be superficial about the Holy Week: go to confession, forgive one another, do charity work and acts of sacrifice, participate at the Stations of the Cross.

ACTION
Don’t miss the Palm Sunday procession and Mass. Beg for the graces you need and desire to be active this Holy Week. Forgive someone today.

PRAYER
Heavenly Father, as we start this Holy Week, we ask you to be our director and helper. May we follow your footsteps in all we do and help us to choose rightly. May we choose life over death, blessing over curses, and health over sickness. Deliver us from troubles and protect us from dangers. Throughout this week, may your abundance overflow in our families and may we succeed and excel in all we do.
Through Christ our Lord!

13/04/2019

LENTEN TONIC WITH FR. JOHN IDIO, OMV,
SATURDAY, FIFTH WEEK OF LENT,
SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THEM, NOT YOU

The tension between Jesus and the religious leaders is really increasing. They are conspiring to eliminate Him. Even enemies are now friends in order to speak with one voice against Jesus. They unite to dig a pit to make Him fall so that they can cover Him, and then His life and story will be forgotten. Why? They are afraid and envious of Him. Jesus is just too much for them; they can’t stand Him. He is performing astonishing miracles, and, on account of this, His fans are increasing, His popularity is building up: too much attention on the carpenter’s son, a son of nobody. His compassion toward sinners is exceptional but unacceptable to the Jews. The conclusion is: let Him die.
The question is: why planning the downfall of a good man, an innocent fellow? When someone is successful, why do we become envious and do everything possible to pull him down? Christians should not fall into this temptation. We should not be part of those who conspire to destroy others. Rather, we should learn to appreciate the good things others are doing and provide them support and encouragement. Don’t ever treat people badly even if they are bad to you. When someone treats you badly, don’t retaliate, paying back evil for evil; Just know that something is wrong with them, NOT YOU.

ACTION
Don’t pay back evil for evil today. Try to do something today that benefits others. Read 1 Peter 3:9

PRAYER
May God bless and protect you.
May your family and children be secured.
May He bless your work and your business.
May He bless your going out and your coming in.
In all you do this weekend, may you excel and be happy.