Light for the Living

LIGHT FOR THE LIVING SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A (1 Kings 3:5, 7–12; Romans 8:28–30; Matthew 13:44–53) My beloved in Christ, In a peaceful farming community in Ogun State , there lived a wealthy cocoa merchant called Chief Adekunle . His compound had everything a man could desire—big houses, barns full of cocoa, dozens of workers, motorcycles, cars and even a loud generator that announced itself every evening before the village cocks had finished crowing. Whenever visitors came, Chief Adekunle would proudly stretch out his hands and say, "Look around! There is nothing money cannot buy." One afternoon, while he was boasting as usual, he noticed something that disturbed him. Across the dusty village square, a group of children were laughing so loudly that even the goats stopped chewing to look at them. The children had no toys. No expensive clothes. No mobile phones. They had tied empty milk tins together with rope, made a little cart, a...

  LIGHT FOR THE LIVING SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A (Wisdom 12:13, 16–19; Romans 8:26–27; Matthew 13:24–43) My beloved in Christ, In a quiet farming community in Ekiti State , there lived an elderly cocoa farmer called Baba Adebayo . He was famous, not because he owned the largest farm, but because his harvest was always the cleanest and richest. One planting season, his young apprentice, Tunde, came running into the farm with a cutlass. "Baba! Baba! The weeds have invaded our farm. Let me clear everything immediately before they destroy the cocoa!" Baba Adebayo looked at him, smiled, and said, "My son, easy! When a young goat is given a cutlass, even the yam begins to pray." The old man walked slowly into the field. He knelt down, pulled aside some leaves, and asked, "Tunde, can you tell which one is the young cocoa and which one is the weed?" Tunde bent over. He scratched his head. He looked again. Finally he c...

  LIGHT FOR THE LIVING FIFTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR A (Isaiah 55:10–11; Romans 8:18–23; Matthew 13:1–23) My beloved in Christ, In a farming community in Katsina State , there lived an old farmer called Malam Audu . He was famous throughout the surrounding villages because, year after year, his farm produced the biggest harvest. Whenever people admired his barns, they would say jokingly, "Perhaps Malam Audu has a private agreement with the rain!" One planting season, a group of young farmers gathered around him to learn his secret. One young man asked eagerly, "Baba, which seed gives the biggest harvest?" Another interrupted, "No! Tell us the fertiliser you use." A third whispered, "I heard you pray facing east before planting!" The old farmer laughed so heartily that even his goats stopped chewing to look at him. "My children," he said, "if seed alone produced harvest, every market where seed...