July: A month of unmerited favour

I may not know the most favourable month in your life, but as for me, July is my month of unmerited favour. The Lord God favoured me greatly in this month. 1) I was admitted into Postulancy on July 15, 1995. 2) I started my journey into Religious life, as a novice at the Disclaced Carmelite Community, Onuiyi Nsukka on July 15, 1996. 3) I took my first Religious Profession on the Feast of our Lady of Carmel, July 16, 1997. 4) My solemn profession took place on July 12, 2002. 5) My deaconate Ordination took place in July 2013. 6) My Priestly Ordination took place on July 24, 2004. 7) Hopefully, in this same month of unmerited favour, we shall dedicate a Divine Mercy Adoration Altar at the Adoration City, Akazie Mgboma Alike, Ikenanzizi Obowo in Imo State of Nigeria on Wednesday, July 17, 2019.

All the major events in my life, as a Religious Priest, took place in the month of July. This morning as I was asking God ‘why July and why not other months?’ He asked me: “Have you forgotten that you are a child with a difference?” “You are the apple of my eye. I created you in a special way and that is why everything about you is special. The number seven is not just a unique number; it is also the number of perfection. After creating the world in six days I rested on the seventh day. Seven is the Sabbath day, a day of rest and of celebration.” It is a day of worship, a day of divine encounter with the Most High God. No wonder the month of July, the seventh month of the year, turned out to be the month of unmerited favour in my life.

Child of God, as the Lord God has favoured me in the month of July, He will also favour you in this month. My dream to become a priest of the Most High God came true in the month of July. Your own dream will surely come true. My status changed from layman to an ordained minister – in this month of July, God will bless you with a new title. He will transform your name from nobody to somebody. Those who were looking down on you will start looking up to you.

The month of July is a month of celebration. It is a month of jubilation. In this month of July, I am not just celebrating my 22nd anniversary as a professed man of God, I am also celebrating my 15th anniversary as a priest of the Most High God. I am celebrating my Union with the Holy Spirit. Child of God, this month will be a month of celebration for you as well. You will celebrate and you will be celebrated! Your period of sorrow is over!

Incidentally, in today’s responsorial Psalm, the Psalmist declares that there would be a divine restoration in this month of July: “God will save Zion And build the cities of Judah, That they may dwell there and possess it. The descendants of His servants shall inherit it, And those who love His name shall dwell in it.” (Psalm 69:35-36). Child of God, before the end of this month, you shall possess your possession!

Finally, the month of July is a month of peaceful Rest. “The seventh day God ended His work and He rested on the seventh day. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work” (Genesis 2:2-3). Child of God, your period of restlessness is over! From today, you shall experience inner peace and rest. And it shall be well with you, in Jesus name – Amen!