grace sim

Inquisitive

[grace sim @simgracea]

A.S.K.

Always believe.
Speak positively.
Keep hope alive.

Matthew 7:7

[Talk2veee @talk2veee]

Every Parent should watch this video.

Now I understand why that father followed his daughters to the toilet despite the backlash he faced.

We live in very dark times

[Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch @FrUgochukwu]

In 1928, Alberto D’Apolito was a seminarian, preparing for ordination to the priesthood. During a few days of vacation, he visited Padre Pio in San Giovanni Rotondo.

One day, Alberto noticed Padre Pio staring out the monastery window at a mountain in the distance. He appeared to be deep in thought. Alberto greeted Padre Pio, but there was no response.

When Alberto drew closer, he realized that Padre Pio was not even aware of his presence. Alberto tried to kiss Padre Pio’s hand but he noticed that it was completely rigid. He heard Padre Pio say, “Ego te absolvo a peccatis tuis.” Padre Pio was pronouncing the words of absolution in Latin, just as he did when he was hearing someone’s confession.

Alberto ran to get the superior of the monastery, Fr. Tommaso. Fr. Tommaso rushed to where Padre Pio was standing. Padre Pio was still in the process of repeating the Latin formula for absolution when Father Tommaso approached him.

Suddenly Padre Pio shook himself, as though he was waking up from a deep sleep. He looked at Alberto and Father Tommaso and greeted them. “Oh, I was not aware that you were standing here beside me,” Padre Pio said. “I was looking out the window at the mountains.”

A short time later, a telegram arrived for Father Tommaso from the city of Turin. It was from the relative of a man who had just passed away. The telegram was sent in order to thank Father Tommaso for allowing Padre Pio to leave the monastery and assist the dying man.

It confirmed to Father Tommaso and Alberto what they had already suspected. Padre Pio had gone in bilocation to hear the man’s confession and to assist him in his last moments.

Padre Pio once told Father Parente, “I only know one thing, I go wherever God sends me.” On another occasion, he said to Father Funicelli, “All I can tell you is that I always try to remain attached to the thread of God’s will.”

Through the gift of bilocation, Padre Pio was able to visit many of his spiritual children who were in great need. He comforted those who were bereaved, came to the rescue of those in danger, and assisted the dying. It was part of his mission to souls. He truly remained conformed to the thread of God’s will.

[ChurchPOP @Church_POP]

A Catholic priest in Minnesota was visibly overcome during the consecration at a school Mass on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. While the moment was initially described online as a possible visible Eucharistic miracle, the local pastor later clarified that Father Brent Bowman received a profound, personal grace from the Lord.
The powerful video shows Father Bowman struggling with emotion as he celebrates Mass at St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church in Hopkins, Minnesota. It quickly spread across social media, where some viewers called it a “possible eucharistic miracle in the US.”
But what happened, the pastor explained, points to an even deeper truth: Jesus is truly present at every Mass.

Read more at https://t.co/gQ3fT4o0Gl!

✍🏻The Editors
📹: St. Gabriel the Archangel Catholic Church, MN

[grace sim @simgracea]

Reminds me of "O wa" when i went to Lagos for Law School.

[Ndi Kato @YarKafanchan]

Doing NYSC in the South East and getting ready to shout "kwo pour" to the bus driver. When I first started entering bus, I would gently say "please drop me here". Lol... them no de gree hear that one. You must shout "kwo pour" to get them. I wan melt.

[Chidi Anselm Odinkalu, CGoF @ChidiOdinkalu]

24 yrs ago this week, @NigBarAssoc gathered in Ibadan, Oyo State, at the beginning of its 42nd Annual Conference.

The participants included the Chairman of Onitsha Branch, Barnabas Igwe & his wife, Amaka, who was also a lawyer. She was pregnant.

At the end of the conference, they departed back to Onitsha, arriving on 1 September. The following day, Barnabas & Amaka went to work together in their law office. It was their last.

On their way back from work on that fateful 2 Sept in 2002, a criminal gang attacked & murdered both of them.

Ken Emeakayi, a member of the cabinet in the @anambrastate_ then, was subsequently arrested & charged with the killings. A prison break ostensibly freed him & ransacked the trial, before it cld be concluded.

In March 2024, the Truth, Justice & Peace Commission of Anambra State re-examined the matter & reported to @CCSoludo as the Governor of Anambra State. It recommended a re-opening of the prosecution with a view to bringing Mr. Emeakayi to lawful account.

Instead, the governor rewarded Mr. Emeakayi with appointment as the man in charge of security in Anambra State.

As @NigBarAssoc convenes in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, for its #NBAAGC2026 Annual Conference, @okenwalillian examines the issues....

https://t.co/L8CR1k5EhM

[grace sim @simgracea]

😳😳😳😳😳😳😳😳

[World Wide @Worl_dwides]

Washing dishes the British way

[Ndi Kato @YarKafanchan]

The difference between daughters and sons is so stark. I experienced being locked out in the rain with my mum almost everytime we returned from church in Calabar and it was traumatizing. I still talk to a therapist about the trauma about my childhood. But for him, this is funny.

[Ezri Konsa @EzriKonsa]

Locked in & ready.

A proud moment to join this incredible club.

I’m here and hungry to help achieve everything @Arsenal ❤️

[cinesthetic. @TheCinesthetic]

GREASE (1978) turns 48, and that opening sequence still knows exactly how to make an entrance. 🎶

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

The perfect start to 26/27 👊

[Arsenal News @Arsenal_NewsHub]

🚨🚨 Mikel Merino reflects on the first calls he received after winning the World Cup: 🏆❤️

“The first calls I got were from the Arsenal boys. Almost every single one of them reached out to congratulate me, and honestly, that meant just as much as lifting the trophy.

When you’ve shared a dressing room, fought for each other every week, and built those relationships, moments like this become special. They weren’t calling because they had to—they were genuinely happy for me. You could feel the love and the pride through every conversation.

Football gives you trophies, but it’s the people you meet along the way that make those moments unforgettable. I’ll never forget those calls. It reminded me that at Arsenal, we’re more than teammates—we’re a family.” ❤️

❤️🤍 #Arsenal #MikelMerino #WorldCup #COYG #FootballFamily #Spain

[grace sim @simgracea]

Haibo!

Like countrymen, like players.
All rough tackles, no positive results.

#México
#BafanaBafana
#SouthAfrica
#Worldcup

[Arsenal @Arsenal]

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINALISTS ❤️

[CSW Hoosier 🇻🇦 @CSW_Hoosier]

You fundamentally don’t understand how apparitions work. That’s okay. I’ll explain.

Mary is now glorified in her resurrected, heavenly body. She is not constrained by the limitations of her earthly, first-century Jewish appearance any more than the Risen Christ was bound by the locked doors of the Upper Room (John 20:19). In apparitions, heaven accommodates itself to the needs of the recipients.

There are parallels to this elsewhere in Scripture: The Holy Spirit appeared as a dove at the Baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:22), and as tongues of fire at Pentecost (Acts 2:3). This does not mean the Holy Spirit is a dove or fire – it means those forms communicated a truth to the witnesses. Similarly, Our Lady's indigenous appearance communicated a truth to the Aztec people: she is your mother, not just a foreign conqueror's goddess.

The fruit of this appearance confirms its authenticity and purpose: after the apparitions, eight million natives of Mexico converted to Catholicism from 1531 to 1538. Such a mass conversion was an unprecedented phenomenon, the likes of which had never been witnessed in any country of the world.

So now that we know heavenly beings can confirm their appearance to the needs of those receiving their messages, how do we know it really was Mary?

There are multiple lines of converging evidence to support this:

1. She identified herself. Our Lady of Guadalupe first introduced herself as the Mother of God and the mother of all humanity when she appeared on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico in 1531.

2. The tilma itself is miraculous. The image has been proven to have not been painted by humans, therefore being created by a divine being. Tests have shown that none of the colors on the tilma resemble natural, animal, or mineral colorings or paint that could have been used to create the image. Furthermore, the image is iridescent, meaning it shows luminous colors that seem to change from different angles – again humanly impossible to paint by hand.

3. The tilma defies natural decay. The tilma is made up of a type of cactus fiber native to the area, and is known to last only about 15–20 years before it deteriorates. The miraculous image has shown no signs of degradation even almost 500 years later.

4. The miraculous eyes. When experts examined Our Lady's eyes with satellite imaging, they discovered several human figures reflected in them, sized differently in each eye, exactly as they would appear in human corneas. They include three Indians, an elderly bishop, a dark-skinned woman, and a bearded Spaniard – all matching the profiles and nationalities of the seven people believed to have been present when Juan Diego unfurled his tilma.

5. The image is scripturally confirmed. Revelation 12:1 reads, "a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet" – describing the exact placement of Our Lady of Guadalupe standing in front of radiant light, like the sun, and over a crescent moon which was present the day of her apparition.

————————

The Guadalupe apparition is not evidence against Mary's identity; on the contrary, it is one of the greatest demonstrations of her universal motherhood. The Word became flesh to dwell among us (John 1:14), and what God did in the Incarnation – becoming man to reach all mankind – He did again at Tepeyac through His Mother. She came as a mestiza woman to a mestizo world to say: God's love has no ethnicity. His Church has no borders.

Mary was Jewish. She will always be Jewish. But in glory, she is also the Mother of all peoples – and at Guadalupe, she proved it.

[Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch @FrUgochukwu]

Eternal God, in whom mercy is endless
and the treasury of compassion inexhaustible,
look kindly upon us and increase Your mercy in us,
that in difficult moments we might not despair nor become despondent,
but with great confidence submit ourselves to Your holy will,
which is Love and Mercy itself. Amen

[Nigeria Stories @NigeriaStories]

BREAKING: Bandits have invaded a wedding party in Kahir village in Kagarko Local Government Area of Kaduna state, killing 13 while abducting an unspecified number of people.

[Zariyi Yusuf Madaki @ZariyiYusufu]

First of all, his proven track record with the Christians in Kaduna doesn’t say the same - very gruesome extremist treatment of Christians that many of you applauded him for. In fact, the only thing that made him your hero.

He then led Arewa the way of Muslim-Muslim presidency, which it embraced with the hope of replicating the Kaduna template at a national scale, with some clerics selling their pulpits for N13m.

Embrace your fate 🙏🏿

[Steven Kefas @SKefason]

Your daddy admitted publicly to paying them money in 2016.

We have not forgotten how the insecurity in Kaduna grew in both sophistication and casualties after his confession.

[Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch @FrUgochukwu]

WHY DO CATHOLICS NOT SING ALLELUIA DURING LENT?

One of the practices or observances in the Catholic Church is the omission of Alleluia during Lent.

There are reasons behind this omission.

First, Catholics do not sing or say Alleluia during Lent because Lent is a penitential season, not yet a season of full celebration. Alleluia means “Praise the Lord,”. It is the song of victory, the cry of those who stand in the joy of God’s triumph (cf. Revelation 19:1–6). During Lent, the Church deliberately sets aside this joyful acclamation to enter spiritually into the desert with Christ (cf. Matthew 4:1-11).

Second, Lent is a time of repentance and mourning for sin. Scripture teaches that there is “a time to weep… and a time to dance” (Ecclesiastes 3:4). Lent is the Church’s time to weep over sin, prepare the heart, and return to God (Joel 2:12-13).

Even the Psalms show us that repentance precedes praise: “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise” (Psalm 51:17). By setting aside the Alleluia, the Church allows us to enter this spirit of humility, conversion, and interior renewal.

Third, the silence of the Alleluia creates longing. By fasting even from joyful words like Alleluia, the Church deepens her hunger for redemption. When the Alleluia returns at the Easter Vigil, it expresses the fullness of Resurrection joy, echoing the heavenly praise: “Alleluia! Salvation and glory belong to our God” (Revelation 19:1). In this way, the Church teaches us that true praise is born from conversion, and authentic joy is born from the Cross.

In all: we silence the Alleluia during Lent so that our repentance may be sincere, and so that our Easter joy may be complete.

[Ugochukwu Ugwoke, ISch @FrUgochukwu]

A few months ago, a lady made this post: “If you want to have a close relationship with God, the Catholic Church is not the best place for you.” She used to be a Catholic.

Yesterday, this same lady shared that after months of exploring other churches, she has finally found one that meets her spiritual longing. For that, I sincerely thank God with her. When it comes to matters of faith and religion, every person is free to choose, because there is a deep quest for God written in every human heart.

That said, what troubles me is turning a personal experience into a general conclusion. I am a Catholic, not simply because I was born into it, but because I have chosen to live it and the Catholic Church has profoundly deepened my relationship with God.

Through the Holy Mass, where Christ gives Himself to us in Word and Sacrament; through the Blessed Sacrament, where we encounter Jesus truly present; through the Sacrament of Reconciliation where I encounter the mercy of God; through the Scriptures, prayers, and the rich spiritual tradition of the Church, many of us grow daily in intimacy with God.

The lady's problem (like many others) is that she simply inherited the Catholic faith from her parents without making efforts to own it. It is not enough to be born Catholic; one must make the effort to become Catholic. When that effort is made, the Church is not an obstacle to encountering God - it is one of the deepest schools of communion with Him.