Humbly permit me to share my view of the world through the Good News. Voyage with me as I preoccupy myself about ... The Lord's Affairs... And, let my Heart Speak to Your Heart. As Blessed Cardinal Newman would says: 'Cor Ad Cor Loquitur...' Heart speaks to Heart...'
Today, I give thanks to SHE who led me to be theologically pruned under the umbrella of St AMBROSE... I started AMBROSE University with HER, and I wish to end my testimony with HER, the mother of all mothers, the mother of my Savior, MY Spiritual Mother; the Blessed Virgin Mary...
This is my testimony... And during this Easter Season 2021, it is well bear witness for what the Lord my God; He who is Alpha & Omega, He before whom I bow (ADONAI), He El Shaddai who always knew better than me the plans He had for me (Jeremiah 29:11), He whom the choirs of angels worship day and night and before whom the saints bow, the greatI AM... We've finished another race, and one more time, no one else but you get the ultimate glory.
Many know of you know of my testimony shared again and again about the beginnings of my entry to AMBROSE University, thus I shall focus more on the last days, weeks, months and years of my educational journey. Let note that what was a program of a few years turned out to be 11-12 years for me including the years I took off here and there for x- y- z reasons...
It seems the more I reached the end of the ride, the more it seemed that the many graces acquired intellectually, emotionally and spiritually were going to be stolen from me via unexpected circumstances. Often times, the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, would pour with my soul different strategies to resolve it, to get through what seemed to be illusory storms. Through it all, my God, the almighty, kept me focus on one thing; so I was always reminding myself that I am under the guidance of St AMBROSE, himself, the patron saint of our campus. I could constantly tell myself that He knew why the whole heavenly court had sent me and willed for me to do a Master of Arts in Leadership since being certain Church careers available to my classmates, I knew were not an option for this Catholic Lady that I am. I was often simply joking around that Catholics like me our Lord Jesus Christ did not know what to do with... He was sending them to this regional seminary. Or other times, I would tell myself that having wished for so long that the angels would deepen my knowledge on spiritual matters as they did with the Blessed Virgin Mary based on written accounts after her apparition to several mystics, that indeed my prayr was answered and it would serve its purpose in times.. Thus obeying to that inner call was a commitment renewed daily, weekly, monthly in trials till the day I finished my Master degree, and till the day I received the message from my program advisor that I am off the hook and qualify for graduation... PRAISE THE LORDDDDDDD!!!!!
Every course I took served its purpose whether an elective or whether a mandatory course. I would dream of how I could potentially use in a short or long term. See whether I wanted it or not, whether I was aware of it or not, whether the professor asked for it or not, the Holy Spirit always had a practical way for the knowledge gained to dwell within me... Let me give a very simple example. Among the non mandatory courses of my program, I took was Hebrew Biblical Language (Level 1 & 2 out of 3 levels).
Now, when I went on pilgrimage in the Czech Republic after that, I met a renowned Czech writer and scholar at the Jesuit Retreat Center where I stayed in Prague who happens to teach Hebrew at the local university there, and in one of the libraries of the Retreat Center on a weekly basis. Having been invited to one of his classes at the Center the next day, I attended Father Josef Blaha's Hebrew classes. I was stunned by the learning strategy he shared / I gained that day, and I thought if I wasn't hooked to learning Hebrew, now I am sealed.. With a grateful heart to him and to the Lord for such gifts and many others, I came back to Calgary and to this day, I have not ceased seeking time to grow my knowledge in Biblical Hebrew, and even Classical Hebrew; and one of the ways I have tracking my growth is via my youtube channel where I host poetry
Indeed the Lord has given me mmm.... a fine platform; this was totally a Holy Spirit moment. There are always many ideas roaming through my mind, but the Lord has a way of getting my focus on what He wills, and from there whatever piece of the puzzle was missing, I am given... and Youtube is one of the many branches of the platform He's laid out before me. AMBROSE Seminary has been the place where ADONAI has been refining the image of Him that He has made me to be as He says in the book of GENESIS, and in the process there were profound moments of theological conversations in my family, because I soon understood that I may choose my Spiritual Family, but my biological family I did not choose... And there seemed to be many unknown that more and more made my family (paternal and maternal) one of the finest platform He GOD almighty gave me and a large branche of that outreach tree. EPIC!!! Because I always knew graduating that I did not a congregation (or so I thought...) But then it seemed I have much more than I think, and there is more work than I can think of or imagine even if I was never pushy toward the members of my family... Their lives, their actions, their choices are enough to challenge me every day theologically, and I hope this journey from near or afar blesses them too. See, it is when I became aware of it, that suddenly the Holy Spirit made me aware of how I had been in communion not only with all of them but with one of my Uncle who hungers for spiritual knowledge and whose name is rooted in... theos...
Another example; throughout my studies, the Lord began to lead me more and more toward entrepreneurship, and honestly I was unsure where I had the courage to take on that vocation... But He made the way, reminding me of childhood dreams I had, and I took that walk of faith. Walking that journey in a way that everyday unfolds faith and knowledge gained has led to me discovering one day from a family member, one of my Grandfathers, who was shopping in my boutique that one of my aunt to who I had not spoken to in a while had recently wedded a Jew; and the gift was for the newborn child... I was speechless at the works of the Holy Spirit.. At the time I was taking Hebrew, I did not know a Hebrew Speaking Gentleman was courting, and wedding into our family...
See the day I read the message that I am officially done, it is the day the research component of a personal project I had been working, a personal project I cherished throughout my studies among the many in my heart *the Canonization of my grand aunt Sister Delphine TOSSA - GBEGO* led to me finding out from one of my Grand Uncle & mydad explicit details about our royal lineage and my title... Surprised, "Christ is just beginning with me! Co - heiress role of my Savior is taking fleshhhhh!!! I will testifyyy" I shouted and thought while everyone else at home was laughing. One chapter closes, another opens
Sr Delphine PUZZLE
So here I am giving thanks to the Lord for every person who has blessed at AMBROSE University, and... indeed, I am walking away with a Master degree of Arts in Leadership and Ministry under the umbrella of St Ambrose and the ... finest platform to serve, influence, lead, be led by... Keep me in your prayers, and whenever I remember you like St Paul often wrote, I will give thanks to the Lord for you...
May the Risen Lord Jesus Christ be ever more glorified as the Easter Season unfolds day after day! Halelluja! Halleluja!
The Scriptures remind us that when one is fasting to look their best, so that only God "you Father In Heaven" knows what you are offering...
Could it be that 2021 has arrived?
Could it be that I was away from you during the Christmas season?
Could it be that I blogged little during the Epiphany season?
Well, as this Lent leads us to a season of Prayer, Almsgiving and Fasting, I wish us a
Fruitfullllllll LENT...
May the next 40 days with our Lord JESUS - Christ in our spiritual desert be victorious ever step of the way as we battle our weaknesses to be fortified for what lays ahead...
And thus we remember that we are DUST and to DUST, we shall return. This is one of my favorites hearings on ASH Wednesday...
Have a FRUITFULLLLL LENT...
Photography by Mark Lockwood. Makeup by Siobhan Frawley.
Fanny Magnificat, MZRB... For more about my writings *True AMAZONe*, *Making Wise History in Union with the Holy Trinity*, the *ANTHOLOGY of Wise and Inspiring Poets*, Youtube Me...
What if your liturgical calendar had 9 Advent Sundays and No Ordinary Sundays? Well,my faithful readers, it is your African - Mozarabe Girl! You see since prayerfully answering the call to deepen my faith journey by leaving the comfort of the Latin Roman Catholic to joining the Latin Mozarabic Catholic Rite (a rite that seems to be in extinction, but larger than life itself however), I have been jouneying from the Roman Rite liturgical calendar to the Hispano - Mozarabe liturgical calendar, meanwhile exploring the very roots of the Mozarabic tradition in Africa and in Asia; The Saints' calendar on my blog gives you a hint of that.
It has also been the opportunity to release my thoughts over calendars.
I've been collecting for the past
few years no longer with the mindset of just following the liturgical
calendar, but allowing myself to think out visually. WHo knows where it would lead me? Trusting in the Holy Spirit WAS a Free of Charge opportunity...
See I've always wondered why we call the Ordinary Seasons of the Church "Ordinary times"when the truth is it is not really ordinary. After the Christmas Season, wewould fall right back into Ordinary times, and I wondered what it would be like to have an Epiphany Season?
I had notice that some Catholic rites had instead Trinity Seasons, such as the Latin Ordinariate Catholic Rite (Anglican Communion). So I kept looking and searching into different liturgical calendars. At times, it was really overwhelming. Other times, it was sad because it literally caused me to envy certain rites. But there are moments that really made me perplexed because it either confirmed something I had in mind, or shed light on something I was not aware of. Such was the case when in my researches, I read that certain episcopalian traditions embraced an old tradition of the church while developing their own liturgical calendar. It does not have the Catholic Saints obviously, but the days after Easter are known as Pentecostide... (and not ordinary times). Research shows that the Pentecostide Season used to be known as well as Kingdomtide...
Thus with a smile on my face because I was begin to find these answers very interesting, I carried on creating a skeleton, but I would always get stucked it got close to the Advent Season in the Hispano-Mozarabic Rite vs the Advent Season in the Latin Roman Catholic Rite. It even got worse when I noticed that in the Latin Extraordinary rite, there is no ordinary times after Easter, it continues with a Pentecost Season, but they also had a different feast of Christ the King (feast that seals the liturgical year and launches the Advent Season). So I'd keep asking myself...
Lord, how were all these dates to honour your royal title chosen? So obviously, I would celebrate it all, but on my lil' homemade calendar, I could not figure out which one to pick.
And so I persevered again repeating the same process this year wondering how I would make further progress from last year, on a very blank secular (military to be exact) Canadian Calendar. It had no saints, just monetary prizes (and few worldwide religious celebrations), so there was no way I could be influenced by other rites. However, as I kept updating it, I felt this uneasiness again when came the time to add the feast of Christ the King. This time I had both dates (the date when the Latin Roman Extraordinary rite celebrate theirs (Oct 25, 2020) & the date known to all in the Latin Roman Ordinary Rite (Nov 22, 2020). Meanwhile I remembered the adoration I had offered for His Majesty, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, his family & his people had reached my goal the day before (October 18, 2020).
It is true I pray the funniest prayers, and I do not apologize for that, because it seems the heavenly court enjoys it, because I often get answers to those prayers. See at the time I dedicated this adoration by Father Cesar Augusto Calderon Caicedo the exorcist who allows me to collaborate with him via Megalunei TV, there were not many subscribers. So I told the Lord I will let wait for as long as it takes for the number of views to be equivalent to the number of subscribers... and that in the process I would be attentive to what He, my Lord and God, might tell me through this man (this simple act of offering to Him for the King of Morocco's Coronation anniversary). So suddenly I was taken aback, and became very attentive to the Calendar. Was the Lord wanting me to celebrate / put the the Feast of Christ the King on that Sunday? or on the same day of those of the Extraordinary rite (Sunday after the 25)... Or before... So although I wrote the name of the feast down as you may see I began to hesitate... I say *me* because it is just me having fun designing a liturgical calendar. I do not know who will join me in this or even how liturgical calendars get approved :-)... So to sort it out, I chose to believe that the Lord's answer was for the day Adoration was completed, although nothing had been posted and perpetual adoration continued... From there I was finally joyfull to start counting an Advent Season; This would give exactly nineteen (19) Pentecostide Sundays on my calendar. What a surprise suddenly! From the 20th Pentecostide Sunday being the Feast of Christ the King on my calendar Christmas (December 25th, 2020), I am getting exactly 9 Advent Sundays... Now tell me about an ADVENT NOVENA, and I am ready to salute the Holy Spirit... So this said, should you join me during this New Advent season of my life (with this skeleton of my ongoing design of a Liturgical Calendar till I post a full one...)
~~~ Advent 2020 with me ~~~
Advent Sunday I -----> October 25, 2020
Advent Sunday II ----> November 1, 2020 (All Saints' Day)
Advent Sunday III ---> November 8, 2020
Advent Sunday IV ---> November 15, 2020
Advent Sunday V ----> November 22, 2020
Advent Sunday VI ---> November 29, 2020
Advent Sunday VII --> December 6, 2020
Advent Sunday VIII -> December 13, 2020
Advent Sunday IX ---> December 20, 2020
Till I write to you next, thank you for your support and for journeying with me.
Ainsi me fut accordee la grace d’apprendre un peu plus les
nouvelles ayant cause le deces de la Soeur Franciscaine Patricia Arlette Eloise
ACACHA du BENIN, fille de Padre Pio aupres de ma grande Soeur, Soeur Mireille de Jesus
Amour. Les nouvelles recus de l’Internet a travers notre mere m’annoncait que
la Soeur mourut “due a un accidentde
voiture alors qu’elle se rendait a la messe matinale” il y a quelque jours le 5
Octobre 2020.
Aujourd’hui, je decouvre que le conducteur qui l’a cogne
aurait confesse qu’ “il ne voyait pas une religieuse, mais vit un mouton avec
un sac.” Cependant, il ne fut pas capable d’eviter la creature, et fut mortifie
de savoir que c’est une religieuse qu’il a renverse avec sa voiture…
Voir Le MOUTON???
C’est une image tres forte. A premiere vue, cela peut
paraitre effrayant. On peut se demander pourquoi le Seigneur montrerait une
religieuse comme un mouton alors qu’elle se rend a l’eglise? On peut se
demander est ce de la sorcellerie ou quoi?Mais lorsque nous voyons cette tragedie a travers les YEUX de la FOI, le
MOUTON a une signification tres profonde pour nous Catholiques. Parfois, nous
ne le realisons parce que la celebration liturgique devient une routine. Mais
en faisant tres attention, nous nous souvenons que Durant chaque celebration
liturgique, avant de recevoir l’Eucharistie, nous chantons sous toute sorte de
melodie
l’AGNUS DEI “l’Agneau De
Dieu” qui nous rappelle que le Christ est l’Agneau de Dieu qui enleve les
peches du monde, et qui nous rappelle qu’en recevant le corps du Christ, nous
aussi nous participons a ce sacrifice. Le Christ vit en nous, l’Agneau De Dieu.
Comme le dit l’Apotre St Paul: “Ce n’est plus moi qui vit, c’est le Christ qui
vit en moi.” Alors cette creature est l’un des symbols souvent minimize compare
a la croix, mais un symbol tres fort.
Mais pourquoi le Seigneur des seigneurs montrerait – il
qu’il est present en cette religieuse, la Soeur Patricia Arlette Acacha, sous
forme d’Agneau au conducteur? Parce que depuis le debut des temps, Dieu pour
nous conviver un message parle notre langue. Et voici, nous nous retrouvons sur un terrain ou elle nous ouvre la porte au dialogue interreligieux. Et le language spiritual de ce
conducteur comme je l’ai decouverte, est la foi islamique. Pour le musulman, le
mouton est un animal sacre sacrifie durant la fete de la Tabaski ou encore connue sur le nom de Eid – Al – Adha (comme je
l’ai decouverte cette annee).
Parmi toutes les fetes musulmanes,
je referre souvent a la fete de la Tabaski comme la Paques Musulmane. Vous n'avez pas a etre d'accord avec moi. Cependant, cette celebration ou le
mouton est sanctifie, sacrifie et partage a aussi pour les musulmans des
racines qu’ils (ou elles) tracent a l’Ancient Testament. Le Seigneur des
Seigneurs n’a pas utilise une croix, symbol avec lesquels les musulmans (es)
sont familiers.
Alors comment interpretera le conducteur ce que Dieu tout
puissant (Allah) a voulu lui dire a travers cette vision un fois qu’il se sera
remit du choc? Et nous Catholiques,
comment vivrons nous le fait qu’au lieu de chanter l’Agneau De Dieu, le
Seigneur a choisi de se fair voir en Agneau et d’etre immole en la Soeur
Patricia qui lui a donne toute sa vie a travers cet accident.
Que son ame repose en paix et que Dieu lui accorde la
lumiere eternelle. Qu’elle continue d’interceder pour nous et que sa vie qui
fut un example reflectant l’appel de notre Seigneur Jesus d’etre “parfait comme notre pere qui est au cieux
est parfait” nous inspire. Durant sa vie basee sur les temoignages, elle
donnait des lecons, et meme sa mort nous laisse une lecon, un des mysteres
divins interreligieux sur lesquels tout un chacun meditera.
Soeur Patricia Arlette Eloise ACACHA, ORA PRO NOBIS...
