Sunday, December 15, 2024
                                               Are You Sure Blessed Tansi is on Your Side?
      There is always a sense of pride in thinking you are courageously standing with the Blessed Tansi on the right side of history. To live, grow, and share our faith, let us turn to his wisdom, which will help us be on his side as we journey of faith. He was a holy and excellent priest, one famously devoted to caring for the sick and the poor. He reminds us to adore the real presence in the Eucharist, go to Confession regularly, pray the Rosary faithfully, be humble, evangelize, pray ceaselessly and love the sick, the poor and the abandoned. His words are practical and poetic all at once. This priest is a sleepless patron of priests, an incomparable evangelizer, and a prayerful priest. As a layman before his ordination to the priesthood, he was so devoted and convinced of the urgency of evangelization as his companion witnessed. “Except for the administration of the sacraments, Michael Tansi did the work of a priest without answering the name. He was a catechist with a difference. He moved from town to town, village to village and house to house in his effort to infuse the gospel truth into the minds of the people. His field of work extended to Iwolo, Oghe, Owa and the surrounding towns. His journey was done on foot or push bike”(a testimony of his companion Msgr. Peter Meze on Tansi's pastoral zeal during his apostolic work at Eke Parish cf. Our Memoirs of Father Tansi p. 53) “Michael so edified the people and endeared himself to them that food and presents in kind flowed into his house in good quantities” (P. Meze op. cit p.54) His onetime curate and companion in the monastery Father Clement Ulogu said that he knew somebody who testified: “I knew him for many years even as a school teacher and even before we went to the seminary as a person concerned foremost with others, other persons, other world. He was self-effacing to a heroic degree” (Elizabeth Isichei, Entirely for God p. 23). The Holy Father John Paul 11 encouraging Nigerians to pay attention to the life and example of Blessed Tansi said: “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much… Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families…He spread the joy of restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion”. (Sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1988). You too are called even now to benefit from the life and legacy of Blessed Tansi. These meditations are just to help you. You neither have met nor knew him but now with these, you can stand on his right side. God who inspired his Saints is still at work inspiring us through the lives and examples of his saints. “Oh! Blessed Tansi, Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi! (exclaimed Cardinal Arinze). He was a Nigerian, one hundred per cent![…]. He lived out the Gospel in a way that was convincing in a way that [gave] credible witness, with a very high degree of credibility. The type of witnesses that is contagious. […] You would not be indifferent to Blessed Tansi if you knew him. You either are for him or you will want to run away from him. It is like fire. You can’t be near fire and be indifferent. You will [surely] be affected. And Fr. Tansi had a fire, so he was inspiring…He was a person ready to serve others. For example, when there were smallpox patients, and also lepers, they were segregated. Everybody run away from them but not Father Tansi! He gave them food and he gave them the sacraments. He was always available. So in many ways, he is a model for us especially for the Nigerian of today” (Arinze Cardinal quoted by Fr. Ed. Debany SJ symposium 100th Birthday of Blessed Tansi, Onitsha 18th March 2004). He was available to us as our brother and pastor but now is more available to us as one of those who enjoy the beatific vision. He is not only a friend but a patron. If he did not abandon the lepers and smallpox patients when every other person did he cannot now abandon us in our need. He is now in the company of the ‘great cloud of witnesses’ (Heb. 12) watching our performance and identifying with us in our faith struggle. Knowing that we have such a person out there supporting us, a person who wants to see you do well makes a difference in our race. 
     The life and choices of Blessed Tansi, teacher headmaster, priest and monk point to motivations far more sublime and universally appealing than mere development of one’s talents, the exaggerated enjoyment of life, the pursuit of honour, financial security and prestige. These Blessed Tansi had, however, at least potentially and yet he willingly and freely gave them all up to serve his brothers and sisters in need.  He was in all stages of his life a man detached from the vanities of the world while at the same time, attached to the higher values of perfect and courageous Christian discipleship. What if we have such people in present-day Nigerian society? Nigeria will continue to need professionals who will remain within the lay state serving the nation as teachers, businessmen, doctors, bankers, accountants and civil servants. And a few perhaps are called to and even needed in the sacramental priesthood or the consecrated religious life. All of these need the example and friendship of Blessed Tansi to make the needed impact in our society. The professional, pre-clerical life of Blessed Tansi challenges all of us with questions such as: Why do we work? For what purpose? Is it only to make money needed to feed and clothe myself and our families? What is the role of my Christian Catholic faith in my place of work? Am I a devout follower of Jesus seven days a week? Or am I only a Sunday Catholic? Am I punctual, prayerful, and attentive to the poor and needy clients or pupils? Am I honest in my business dealings? Is righteousness before God my supreme good or do my comfort, my family and my material prosperity come first? Am I free enough with my life to let it go if God should ask me or am I always praying for long life and prosperity? As a teenager and youth growing up in an increasingly sexualized culture, am I taught to achieve chastity in thought, word and deed? If married, am I faithful to the vows I made at the altar of God? And though I may dearly love my children, am I as free to let go of my firstborn child to the seminary or the convent as I am with my lastborn? When I encourage my child to the priesthood and the religious life, for what reasons do I do this? What are the fundamental reasons why we aspire to certain professions? And if we are now presently engaged in our chosen profession, why and how do we remain in them? Are we guided by love and justice in the discharge of our duty?
      Sometimes the Christian life is like a straightforward endurance race. But other times the race is complicated by people who want to throw us down into an old well, like what they did to biblical Jeremiah because they do not like what we say or do. And worse, sometimes these enemies may even be members of our household. We must remember that Blessed Tansi is not witnessing a straightforward athletic performance so much as a complex battle on multiple fronts. He is interceding for us, trying to help us, even as certain people on the ground are doing everything in their power to hinder us. There is a difference, after all, between the open hatred of Jeremiah’s enemies and the family member who loves you but does not share all the same values. The spiritual battle rarely has clear winners and losers, good guys and bad guys. Often, the hardest battles are between competing goods. The Blessed Tansi had it all. It is pretty easy to see ourselves as Jeremiah, as the good guy. It is easy to see ourselves as the beloved underdog who nobody thinks will win but who believes in himself so strongly and so rightly that he puts everybody to shame. There is a kind of allure to being in the righteous minority, to feeling as though you are the one person doing the right thing in a sea of wrong. It is often tempting to think that the more people are against you, the more you must be right. Let us set these things aside and look instead to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Cheered on by the Blessed Tansi who prays for us both now and in the moments of trial and let us keep our eyes on the goal. God will give us the grace to persevere and to reach the finish line.
​

                                                                Sunday, 8, December 2024 
                                          Blessed Tansi's legacies transform our faith journey.
      The life and legacies of Blessed Tansi are telling us that all of us are called to be holy. His was a life of faith, humility and perseverance in following what he saw to be God’s will for him, no matter at what cost. Becoming aware of Blessed Tansi's legacies in our lives and among our people is a crucial step in spiritual transformation. Such legacies solidify our faith and inspire us along the way of faith. They remind us of the presence of God and inspire us to model our actions accordingly.  “There is no doubt that the price of discipleship is high. Blessed Tansi did not hesitate to pay it. He is for us a model of detachment from creatures and attachment to the Lord. Every one of us, whether we be lay faithful, priest or religious can ask himself or herself how the model set for us by Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi can apply to us, in our vocation and mission, in our effort to live entirely for God. He has wonderfully shown us how to give total response to God’s call”. (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.254). The Holy Father, St. John Paul 11 stressed the importance of Blessed Tansi and his legacies and called all Nigerians to imitate them. “God has blessed this land with human and natural wealth, and everyone has to ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing.” (Sermon at beatification Nigeria March 1998).
      Meditating on the life and legacies of Blessed Tansi could be moments of grace. For many of us, the moments of acute awareness of the Spirit’s movement in our lives are special and occasional. Such moments could become for us mountaintop experiences, and we do not get to the mountaintop every day. But once we have been there, it is helpful to practice remembering those special moments of deep connection and to ponder how they have changed our lives and how we can continue to be transformed by the insight gleaned from these important moments. And by turning our attention to what we deem most important we may come to an ultimate concern in our life – a holy moment which is distinct from all profane and ordinary realities. It is also experienced as overwhelmingly real and valuable—indeed, so real and so valuable that, in comparison, all other things appear empty and worthless. Paying attention to what is holy and being grateful for those moments is countercultural and always has been. Remember the story of Jesus healing ten lepers and only one remembering and turning back to say “thank you” and praise God (Luke 17:11–19)? The world moves very fast, and we become impatient to get on with our lives, like those nine lepers who failed to stop and show gratitude. When we slow down, we may find ourselves out of step with our moving-at-the-speed-of-life culture. But if we simply take all these wonderful gifts without spending time appreciating them, then we are missing out on the fullness of the blessing. Take time with these meditations and try to give them a second thought before discarding them.

      We read these meditations on Blessed Tansi with the intention to focus on how God is trying to communicate with us using the lifestyle of one who has gone before us on this faith journey. Much as Elijah contemplated the fire, earthquake, and wind, wondering whether God was speaking to him through them, we also wonder about God’s voice and presence in our lives. We seek to discern God’s work among us, a practice for which we have practical guidelines but few absolute commandments. For example, if we read how Blessed  Tansi used his poor resources to help the Nnewi lepers we would ask ourselves how much are doing to help those in need around us. He was answering God’s calling in his own way and time. We too have our own call in our own time and place. His lifestyle can be so helpful when there are many choices before us. The Nigerian Catholic Bishops’ conference considering the usefulness of Blessed Tansi gave the following advice: “We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982 after considering the life of Rev. Fr. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO thinks that the promotion of the Cause of his beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of Priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favour of the promotion of his Cause”. (cf. The Catholic Leader. August 15th, 1982) The bishops as far back as 1982 knew that those meditating on the lifestyle of Blessed Tansi have a lot to gain. We can always test what we believe from these messages by determining if they are in line with Jesus’ great commandment: love God and love your neighbour as yourself (Matt. 22:37–38). We also test messages to see if they are in line with what we know about God from scriptures that echo that great commandment of love. The holy Father testifies of Blessed Tansi's love for his people: “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much…Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification” (St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998).
      Blessed Tansi considered the care and direction of a soul as one of his main priorities. In fact, after celebrating the sacraments and preaching the Word, it was one of the best ways he had to help others. Despite his many Masses to celebrate, the parish administration, multiple confessions, many preaching that must be prepared and endless treks ahead he still found sufficient time to attend to a soul in trouble and needs his help. The fact remains that spiritual direction was a vital help and he made time for it. Many of his young seminarians ended up being seminary formators, bishops and great and zealous priests. Those who did not become priests became exemplary married people and good citizens. Amid the crisis of love in the church and state today, a particular obstacle to Christian maturity is the unwillingness to be spiritually mature and balanced.  For us Christians, this is where we are called to be a prophet today. God calls through Blessed Tansi to awaken a sleepy Church, but an overly technologized ear does not recognise His voice. Many go back to sleep slightly annoyed that their faith has inconvenienced them somehow. Only after repeated instances do a few ask a priest what is going on. If the man is wise, will instruct a soul to begin a conversation, “Speak, Lord, your servant listens.”  But scandalised souls do not understand why they should make the sacrifices that the faith of Blessed Tansi requires. Often they try to numb themselves with food and alcohol to avoid dealing with their real problems. But manning up involves facing one’s issues head-on. Gaining the self-discipline to moderate your intake of food and alcohol will give you the confidence to start making other improvements in your life.

                                                                Sunday, November 1, 2024
                                                  Blessed Tansi's life teaches us to trust patience.
      The life and legacy of Blessed Tansi especially his trusting patience like the book of Daniel (chapter 12:1-3) gives helpful and encouraging dispositions in difficult situations like the ones Nigerians are going through now. What we hold dear and sacred in our culture is collapsing before our eyes and many in the Church are seeking to adapt the Lord’s teaching to the modern and collapsing age, we need to stand firm, not lose heart, and actively resist notions that seek to set aside what we have for years held sacred in our culture and what the Lord has taught and lived by our great men and women. “Many shall be refined, purified, and tested, but the wicked shall prove wicked; none of them shall have understanding, but the wise shall have it. From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the horrible abomination is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is the man who has patience and perseveres until the one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days. Go, take your rest, you shall rise for your reward at the end of days.” (Daniel 12:1-3)
      This piece of advice was lived in the life of Blessed Tansi who with trusting patience had to overcome great obstacles in his life. His monastic experience in Mount Saint Bernard was a success through lively faith and trusting patience. In this monastery “he found an entirely different form of apostolate there: hidden but worldwide exercised through intercession with God through prayer and self-sacrifice. No special ministry was undertaken. Michael would not perform another baptism or burial. He would not anoint another dying person nor go out on another sick call. He had no faculties to hear confessions for the first few years” (Wareing Gregory OCSO. in ‘Sorry shall not kill Me p. 11). He never mentioned these cumulative restrictions flowing from the nature and function of his new vocation. “Complaint was alien to him. Asked if he was all right or if the cold worried him his answer was always the same: "There is no trouble". (ibid. P.12). Blessed Tansi had gone to the monastery for the full Novitiate training and never looked for the privilege. Even though, the monks had made every effort to care for him. The impact of the life lived at the monastery was heavily penitential. He never complained. The cold was another enemy and great mortifier for the thirteen years in the abbey. “When puddles turned into sheets of ice overnight the sight puzzled him till the Novice Master put a boot heel into one, shivering it into splinters.” That's nice, Father". When he came up showing his numbed fingertips and said: "Something hurts there," he was told that the frost did that too” (Wareing Gregory OCSO in ‘sorry shall not kill me’ p.12). 
      The heroic quality of Fr. Tansi's life and apostolate as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Onitsha was obvious to any unbiased observer. The last thirteen years of his life, which were lived in a Cistercian Monastery, were very different in their outward form. He succeeded in passing unnoticed by many people who knew him as a monk. He lived well and was successful because he succeeded with patience in covering up his traces. Now his entire monastic mortified and penitential life teaches us numerous things:  
      Human life on earth is a time of testing.  That is to say, we are all being tested to see what we are made of. Do we have the true faith? Or, are we among those who merely hold the faith when it is convenient or expedient? In this collapsing culture, holding to the true faith is getting costly and, at times discouraging. We are rediscovering that the faith is costly and, like the Blessed Tansi, we are becoming a small and persecuted group. Large numbers of us have fallen away from the practice of the faith and become enamoured of the world. Are you ready to defend the faith and suffer for it? Or are you and I among the slothful, the lukewarm, and the cowards whom the Lord considers unfit? Yes, we are being tested. Will we pass the test?
     Blessed Tansi to be called to glory was refined. We are being refined and purified. To refine gold or silver means to subject it to fire and burn away its impurities. In this time of distress and where the gospel truth seems out of season, many scoff and raise questions for us; they confront us with false notions of compassion, fake versions of Jesus, and a tyranny of relativism that demands tolerance for everything except the Gospel truth. Often things through opposition grow stronger. Our collapsing situation and the enemies of the faith do us a kind of favour by forcing us to lay hold of the deeper realities and meanings of our faith. In defending true morality and Christian values we come to realize just how true and good these teachings are if we stay in the battle and listen to the Lord who uses opposition to deepen our knowledge of the faith and purify us of sloth, vagueness, and compromise.
      True repentance is hard to come by. Sin hardens the heart and the longer it is active the harder it is to repent. The wicked shall prove wicked; none of them shall have understanding. Deathbed conversions are not numerous. It is a very strange thing to have someone nearing death refuse the sacraments. But it happens often. Look around our enemies and sinners are very hardened in their views and quite passionate about them. Does this mean that we should give up trying to call people to repentance? No. Some do repent. And besides, God did not say to evangelize only if people are not stubborn. God wants to give everyone ample opportunity to hear the truth and repent. And even if many stubbornly refuse, he does not withhold his merciful summons to all to repent and believe the gospel.
      Idolatry and false religion are always near at hand among our youth – We may have thought that the worship of idols ended with the advent of Christianity. Occult practices are widespread and advocates of traditional religion are doing big business.  The pagan Mother Earth goddess being welcomed into our Churches and being venerated by many - a horrible abomination. For much money has become a new powerful deity to be worshipped with little or no compunction and a sense of no need to explain themselves or repent.
      Suffering accepted for the sake of love produces future glory. Those who persevere and keep the faith like Blessed Tansi shall be called to glory. While it is true that suffering is painful, the blessing that will come to the one who perseveres is more than worth it. Blessed is the man who has patience and perseveres. Those of us who endure this painful time in the culture and the Church need to remember that our reward will be great if we stay faithful. “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Rev 7:13) Yes, this is our future and our dignity if we are faithful. No one who holds God in reverence should grieve over the hardships of this present time, for a time of blessedness awaits him. He will live again in heaven in the company of all those who have gone before him; for all eternity he will rejoice, never to know sorrow again.
​                                                            Sunday, November 24, 2024
                                                 Blessed Tansi calls Nigerians to reconciliation.
      Sin sets us back in our spiritual growth since we kill the sanctifying grace growing in our souls. We become unable to gain merit since sanctifying grace is necessary for our good works to gain credit for Heaven. When we sin mortally, we separate ourselves from God. What is the place where we suffer separation from God? Hell is the final destination if we die in such a state. Sin is serious business. So is there no hope? “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36). We in Nigeria have never had it as bad as it is now. Every Nigerian is indeed looking for deliverance. The Holy Father in beatifying the saintly Nigerian, Blessed Tansi told Nigerians that: “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they were then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually found in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house (cf. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 5). He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and to hand on the gift of reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of Nigerian life” (St. John Paul 11 sermon Nigeria 22, March 1998).  For this reason, he was always available for those searching for reconciliation with God and their neighbour. He also spread the joy of restored communion with God inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion. In that way, he laid a true foundation for peace.  So why are we not happy in the land of plenty? Let’s just be honest. “God has blessed this land with human and natural wealth, and everyone must ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing” (ibid). The Holy Father like Blessed Tansi tells Nigerians the naked truth. There is no solidarity without truth and reconciliation. The effect of solidarity is peace. The fruits of peace are joy and unity in families, cooperation and development in society, and truth and justice in the life of the nation. Without these, there may be no bright future for Nigeria. 
      Many Nigerian Christian people are walking around knowing this truth – reconciliation but they are not free they are still bound by some things. They go to church, they are saved but they just are not free. Most are innocent – it is not their fault. Some are wounded because we have been sinned against. It often is not because of something we did. Because of life’s circumstances, we are afraid, angry, and beaten down with no confidence. We come to Christ with baggage. How can we get free? Christ paid the penalty of sin and overcame its power. That does not absolve us of responsibility. He stood in the proxy. He died for us. It should have been us but He knew we could not handle it. We have the responsibility of laying the sin down. Christ broke the power of sin not the practice of sin. The cross took care of the state of sin. It broke its stranglehold on us. Therefore, for us Nigerians “there can be no place for intimidation and domination of the poor and the weak, for arbitrary exclusion of individuals and groups from political life, for the misuse of authority or the abuse of power. The key to resolving economic, political, cultural and ideological conflicts is justice; and justice is not complete without the love of neighbour, without an attitude of humble, generous service”( St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998). We still must deal with the practice of sin that is why God gave us the Holy Spirit. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)
    Blessed Tansi spent his whole life in the ministry of reconciliation urging his fellow Nigerians to become instruments of reconciliation, treating all men and women as brothers and sisters, called to membership in the one family of God. “There is far too much division and conflict among Nigerians on grounds of ethnic origin, religious affiliation or political persuasion. Nigerians need to learn from Blessed Tansi how to reconcile and live in harmony and solidarity...Nigerians should note that reconciliation is no sign of weakness. Indeed it can be a sign of greatness, love and genuine desire for peace” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ p.252). Again the good news during such a terrible situation is that God’s grace is much greater. Through his sacrifice on the cross, Jesus gains the grace we need to be freed from sin. He takes upon himself the punishment that we deserve. He dies in our stead, and by so doing, frees us from sin and death. To receive this grace, we have the sacrament of baptism. Baptism wipes away original sin and personal sin. If we have the disgrace of falling into deadly sin after having received the sacrament of Baptism, the sacrament of Reconciliation allows us to go to the seat of God’s mercy and be cleansed of our new personal sin. For this reason, we should always be authentic and sincere when seeking his grace in this sacrament. Sin is deadly. This is a sad reality. However, we can be cheered by the fact that God’s love is so great that he reaches down into the depths of despair we prepare for ourselves to rescue us and pull us out. We sin, but he saves.
                                                               Sunday, November 17, 2024
                                                              Blessed Tansi Legacy Matters.
      The Pope who during his pontificate brought the gospel to the whole world described the legacy of Blessed Tansi as an inspiration to his country. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria, and he loved it so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. His goodness touched everyone who met him. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of virtue. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. Especially, the education of young people was precious to him”. (St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria March 23 1998).
      I have a special fondness for Blessed Tansi. I am convinced very much that his legacy matters very much to his fellow Nigerians today.  He is the patron saint of Nigerian priests. Blessed Tansi started his ever-priestly ministry in my parish even though I was not born yet. The second Nigerian priest who ever ministered in my parish and since then left a legacy for the care of the lepers. Even though he was transferred from our parish after only two years his love and care for the lepers remain even today a legend. The leprosy treatment centre he founded now cares for the lepers. A few of the remaining leprosy patients attend the center which is under the management of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Sisters. Blessed Tansi's holiness matured slowly but became legendary soon after he withdrew to the monastery in 1950. While a teacher and pastor in Nigeria he had a heart for the poor and was dedicated to the service of those suffering from poverty. His humility and generosity have propelled Christians to greater charity. Although he became most well-known for his works of service, his zeal for the gospel and evangelization was great.  He was also a reformer in the Igbo traditional culture and customs which was operated mostly by male domination and pride — a culture that focused more on wealth, achievement and prestige than on service to the people. He was a leader most outspoken in matters and laws which offend justice to the poor and the voiceless.  He respected the traditional family system but helped to sanctify Christian marriages. He fought vigorously to end any form of cohabitation before sacramental marriage. He established various measures and laws to break the tradition of cohabitation before marriage.
      Born into a peasant farming family in Aguleri in the Eastern Region of Nigeria in 1903, His parents were devout members of the Igbo traditional religion. He was a convert to Christianity at the age of nine. He went to school early with the kind help of his cousin's teacher. Upon graduation, he became a teacher in the same school. As a teacher, he maintained a very simple lifestyle which he continued even after his priestly ordination. He entered the diocesan seminary which was opened in 1924 at Igbariam. The seminarians were few but for him, the seminary experience was anything but a time to grow spiritually, as he encountered more conflict and violence than study and prayer. After many years of great perseverance, the only three companions who survived were ordained priests on the 19th. December 1937. The clerical culture at the time of his ordination was European and missionary consisted of two kinds of priests: those more possessed by a zeal for souls in parishes, surviving on the generosity of their people; and those who had attained power and wealth from foreign benefactors, not so much concerned with pastoral work as involvement in schools and temporal affairs. From day one of his priesthood Blessed Tansi left us a legacy of fidelity and availability in his priestly ministry. “When Michael became a priest he was prominent for his availability to his flock. “He was there where he was needed to hear confessions, to celebrate mass for the people, to visit the sick, even by night, to attend to the school teachers and the boarding house boys and to pray for the people confided to him” ( Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total response’ p.33). Most of his parishes were poor, especially in the outstations and since the poor had little to offer their priest, they were often ignored but Blessed Tansi grew in awareness of their condition and need emphasized holiness and apostolic works. He opened many outstations in all the parishes where he worked. He was very much after holiness for the flock and himself. He knew there was nothing as grand as a holy priest for the church. As he poured out his life in ministry for others, especially those on the margins, he desired to assist the faithful with a focus on personal sanctification and the needs of the poor. “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they were then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually found in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house (cf. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 5). He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and to hand on the gift of reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of Nigerian life” (St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998).
      With holiness for lay people in mind, he established the Mary League Girls - a female association directed toward preparation for Christian marriage, and concern for those abandoned and forgotten.  Within a short time, he established many local charitable groups, urging members to see Christ in the poor and attain holiness in their service. Today we have the members of Blessed Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement – a prayer group that seeks to promote and live his ingenuity, clarity and untiring faith as much as it did in his day. It is fitting because Blessed Tansi dedicated so much of his life to the improvement of worship. He worked tirelessly to expand the local church building new outstations, calling the youth to the priesthood and the religious life and lives of greater holiness. His love for the Mass was well known. He made it attractive in an age when the Church was at its primary evangelization. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest…Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church” (Pope John Paul 11in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998).
      The whole Church in Nigeria is greatly indebted to Blessed Tansi. The fruits of his great works and zeal greatly enriched our country. Thanks to his personable style and clear thinking, “God has blessed this land with human and natural wealth, and everyone must ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing” (John Paul11 in sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998).

                                                              Sunday, November 10, 2024
                                                  Blessed Tansi's life teaches us Perseverance.
      Perseverance in the life and success of anyone is more than just sticking it out; it is mainly about having faith. When the goal seems far away we must stick with our efforts, while still keeping in mind God’s timing. People used to say that any practical life often feels like the proverbial long and winding road, especially when our goals seem far away and our efforts fruitless. No matter what we are trying to achieve be it getting in shape, saving for a dream, or launching a project, the journey will always be challenging and full of setbacks. That is why keeping perseverance and the lessons it teaches us in sight is fundamental. We can always learn a lot from the Blessed Tansi whose life from childhood was full of challenges. He accomplished much in his life but never a single accomplishment without many challenges.
    Our biblical stories constantly show the power of being steadfast. Think about Moses’ journey out of Egypt. According to the biblical narrative in the Exodus, he spent 40 years wandering through the desert, sustained by God’s promise of a land flowing with milk and honey. Like Moses’ own, our goals may seem far off -- but our faith and perseverance will guide us through the desert of our doubts and difficulties. In his Letter to the Romans, Paul speaks of perseverance and endurance as fundamental to achieving our goal. “We … boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4). Purposeful human struggles are not in vain. They help us grow, build our character, and make us even more hopeful. Nobody sees the fruits of labour right away. As a farmer, we plant the seeds, water them, and then wait patiently for the harvest. In short, we have to trust the process, especially when we cannot see immediate results. This guided the life of Blessed Tansi from his early days, especially in the junior seminary where the seven students were subjected to hard and unnecessary hardship. Blessed Tansi and his group with heroic determination persevered. It was indeed a very tough time. We all experience times when our efforts seem futile and our prayers go unanswered. But it was in these dark times that his faith grew stronger. The students learnt to fly blind, trusting the instruments they have at hand: faith, hope, and grace. At a National symposium Father Debany Ed. SJ. using the words of Cardinal Arinze praised Blessed Tansi's spirit of perseverance: “Oh! Blessed Tansi, Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi! He was a Nigerian, one hundred per cent! […]. He lived out the Gospel in a way that was convincing in a way that [gave] credible witness, with a very high degree of credibility. The type of witnesses that is contagious. […] You would not be indifferent to Blessed Tansi if you knew him. You either are for him or you will want to run away from him. It is like fire. You can’t be near fire and be indifferent. You will [surely] be affected. And Fr. Tansi had the fire, so he was inspiring […] He also appreciated the human person, from the little child to the youth; he helped them to become somebody through schooling to realize what human dignity is. Women have much more respect and honour today in Nigeria than they had sixty years ago. Blessed Tansi showed a Christian sensitivity to the work of every human person, woman or child.” (Delivered at a National Symposium commemorating the 100th Birthday of Blessed Michael Iwene Tansi, OCSO celebrated at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Onitsha on Thursday, 18th March 2004). 
    Blessed Tansi had a guiding principle in his spiritual journey. The principle enlightened his determination and spirit of perseverance. “He had a very profound faith in Providence” says one of his monks Father Robert Hodge. (in E.Isichei ‘Entirely for God’ p.99). Another monk of the same monastery Father Anthony Hothersal says: “I don’t think Cyprian went in for any special devotions; his only attrait, if you can call it that was the holy will of God” (ibid). His Novice Master remarked “He had the kind sense of humour characteristic of those near to God. His many, natural disappointments never made him disgruntled. "No trouble" was almost his motto” (in G. Gregory Wareign ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ p. 17). Blessed Tansi so loved and desired the Cistercian foundation in Nigeria. It was for this foundation that he left his flourishing parish ministry for the Mount Saint Bernard Abbey – to bring back to Nigeria the monastic apostolate. He sacrificed so much for this project. “So many changes of plans for their future took place during 1953 that the faith and humble patience of Cyprian and Clement must have been sorely tried. Neither ever complained.” (Father G. Wareing in ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ p. 20) He persevered waiting and praying patiently for God’s time. He was sure of course that the foundation would one day come. He once told his Nigerian visitor “I went into God’s office where I saw the record where it was written: ’Foundation in Nigeria’. But what was missing was when the foundation would be started” (G. Wareing in ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’.  P.19).    
      As mentioned before perseverance is more than just sticking it out; it is about having faith and trust in Providence. Sure, we have to make sure to stick with our efforts -- but keep in mind God’s timing. No matter how long the road ahead may be or how dark the night, the sun will always rise. As we look back on it all, we will see that every step we took was necessary – and worth it. Jesus said that he was "the way," but that also he was the "truth and the life." It is a profound mystery that many have meditated on. Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also; henceforth you know him and have seen him.”(John 14:5-7)
    For Blessed Tansi looking for a monastic foundation in Nigeria, this way is not separate from its destination but joined to it. Christ in his human nature is the way, and in his divine nature, he is the goal. Therefore, speaking as man he says: I am the way; and speaking as God he adds: the truth and the life. These two words are an apt description of this goal. And this is the goal Blessed Tansi has been looking for immediately after his ordination to the priesthood. “From 1940 till 1945 he threw all his practical intelligence, methodical labour and burning priestly zeal into the work of forming a thriving parish from this outstation. Some measure of man is to be found in what God accomplished here through him. Marriage and the family came first” (E. Isichei ‘Entirely for God’ p.49). His love for a monastic foundation is a love for Christ and his apostolate. This goal is the object of his desire, and he desires two things above all. In the first place he wants to know the truth, which is peculiar to him; and secondly, he wants to continue to exist, which is common to all things. Christ is the way by which we come to know the truth, though he is also that truth: Looking for a goal, holding fast to Christ because he is the truth, where he desires to be. If you are looking for a resting place, hold fast to Christ, because he is the life. Whoever finds him finds life, and receives salvation. Jesus is both the road and the end goal. If we desire to reach God, we must do so through Jesus.
                                                              Sunday, November 3, 2024
                                              Simple ways to become a friend of Blessed Tansi
      January 20 is the Feast of Blessed Tansi. You can start your relationship with this Nigerian popular saint by following these simple suggestions. Remember that he is a Nigerian hundred per cent. “Father Tansi was a great man a many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria and the Catholic priesthood in Nigeria, a convert from African Traditional Religion who lived entirely for God, a follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back”  (cf. Lk. 9: 62)( Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 9). For us Christians, it will be very important to recall that he was among the first to receive the catholic faith from the European missionaries. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian”( John Paul 11 in a sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998). When Blessed Tansi died on January 20 1964 believers across Nigeria were sure that he would one day be declared a saint. Many described his death as a material loss but a spiritual gain. The official investigation into his cause did not begin until 1986, and he was not beatified until 1998; by that time, however, there were already thousands of people who were living spiritual friendships with him.
      Many of us would like to develop special friendships with this holy Nigerian but often the problem is how to begin. Here we give a few suggestions: The first step to take is to know who this person is. As you develop a relationship with someone, it is only natural that you will want to learn about that person’s life, experiences, and outlook on things. Becoming friends with a saint follows the same dynamic. So, if you want to become friends with Blessed Tansi, a good starting point would be to learn something about his life. Fortunately, there are many good biographies written about him by those who know him well – his town’s people, spiritual sons and daughters, novice master and the postulation for his cause.  The ‘Entirely for God’ is considered by many to be the best general account of his life. One book that I love. You can also check out some of the many articles written about Blessed Tansi on ‘weekly meditation’ featuring many quotes from him and highlighting different aspects of his spirituality.
      If you are serious about your friendship with Blessed Tansi you can ask questions. An important part of any friendship is knowing that you can ask the other person for support and help – and that is particularly important when building a relationship with a saint. Blessed Tansi is known for being an especially powerful intercessor. St. John Paul II understood this and said: “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they were then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually found in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house (cf. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 5). He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation” (Sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998). This is wonderful because we do not just ask Blessed Tansi to do us favors but to help change our hearts so that we can become the persons that God intends us to be. That is the definition of true friendship.
      As we become closer to Blessed Tansi, we will hopefully learn to pray with his simplicity and intensity, as well as become more focused and prayerful during the sacraments. When we have a friend whom we admire, it is only natural that we try to emulate them. We can also try to imitate how Blessed Tansi acted in the world, showing love to others specially the sick, the poor and the voiceless. The story of his love and help to the smallpox patients at Umunya an outstation of his parish in 1944 during an outbreak there is well known today. The joy, comfort and healing he brought to the lepers at Nnewi in 1939-40 are on record. As Christians, we have a mission to look after the sick. How could you express love if not through words which bring spiritual relief to the sick person? Bring God to the sick. Many are inspired when they try to look at suffering as Blessed Tansi did. It helped to understand that while human suffering will never be eliminated in this life, we can join Christ in embracing those who suffer as they cry out for meaning. As your relationship with Blessed Tansi grows, he will hopefully open your eyes and help you look at the world in a more beautiful and Christ-centric way, just as he did.
      There is one final aspect of friendship that is sometimes forgotten but is quite vital. A healthy friendship is never closed in on itself but opens itself to others – especially to those who feel isolated and marginalized.  How does this apply to your relationship with Blessed Tansi? Well, if you find help and comfort in that friendship, then you should invite others to join you. That is especially true for those you see who are lonely, feeling like outcasts, or who are struggling personally or spiritually. You might give them a prayer card of Blessed Tansi and explain how his friendship has helped you. Maybe you want to share a book or article about Blessed Tansi that you found helpful. Or if your parish has a Blessed Tansi Solidarity Prayer group, you could invite the person to join you in prayer. Sometimes you can invite somebody who might need help to come to Blessed Tansi. Whatever gesture you choose, keep it simple and respect the other person’s freedom, treating them with the same love and consideration that Blessed Tansi showed to others.
      Finally, there is a very subtle danger that we face in honoring the saints like the Blessed Tansi. The danger is not, as some non-Catholics believe, that honouring the saints is a distraction from God or even offensive to God since when a saint is honoured, it is God who is glorified. Rather, the danger that we face in honouring the saints is that we admire them–but from a distance. We marvel at the person of Blessed Tansi. We stand in awe as we contemplate his life of prayer, the poverty he chose to embrace, his detachment from the world,  the apostolic works he performed for the glory of God, or the miracles God performed through him. And the danger is, that this is all we do. We admire him, but we don’t imitate him. Blessed Tansi would be saying to all his friends:  “Don’t just admire my life. Rather, love as I loved, pray as I prayed, serve as I served, believe as I believed, hope as I hoped, and most importantly, give yourself totally to God and don’t look back.”  Hence, what he wants most from our friendship is not merely admiration, but imitation. God is giving each one of us the grace to become a saint right now. Jesus told St. Paul “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Cor. 12:9).  Holiness is possible for each one of us, regardless of our past, our wounds, our vocation, age, weaknesses, failures, etc. Regarding holiness, there are no legitimate excuses simply because the power and beauty of God’s grace are greater than anything we can fathom. The lives of the saints, especially what they did, how they suffered, and how God used them are all very impressive. They certainly deserve our admiration. However, what is most impressive is how each one of the saints in their way gave themselves to God without reserve. This is ultimately what the saints desire of us as well. We should not only admire the saints but imitate them, and maybe even God willing, go even further than they did in their gift of self to God.
                                                                                                     Sunday, October 27, 2024
                                                  In Blessed Tansi we Experience tangible faith. 
      In many ways, we can say that the Catholic faith is a faith of the senses. This is more evident in the celebration of the Eucharist. We taste the Lord himself, receiving him into our mouths at Holy Communion; we listen to God’s word, and smell incense; we touch holy water to our skin; we see the priest elevating the body and blood during the consecration. Through our senses, we encounter our God, where we come to know and worship him. The Blessed Tansi himself was a man of great faith; he inspired faith in those who knew him by his life and deeds. The Holy Father St. John Paul 11 commenting on his inspiration said “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today—young and old alike—are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest...Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church” (in his beatification homily Nigeria March 1998). His faith explained his zeal in the priestly ministry. “The esteem which people had for Father Tansi because of his zeal in the spread of the gospel helps to explain the praise which person after person has accumulated on this pastor”.(Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response’ p. 79) It was the love of God that moved him to great heights. Salvation of souls was his greatest priority. He instructed his parishioners on the fundamentals of faith, celebrated the Holy Eucharist with undoubted faith and in a way most inspiring. His faith moved him to work tirelessly for his vocation to the priesthood and religious life. “In the pastoral engagement of Father Tansi it was very remarkable how he gave maximum attention to the promotion of priestly and religious vocations and the building of Christian families together with the elevation of the women in society” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.81). He believed that good Christian families were more favourable to vocations. He spent time and was methodical in building up good Christian families that would be fertile grounds for vocations. Not surprising that in the Archdiocese his parish had the greatest number of priests, seminarians and religious. 
      Today his faith is still inspiring the faithful, his shrine and places where he worked are for most people places of pilgrimage. One of those places that is most effective at this is at his temporal shrine where many have the great fortune to visit. There, in the quiet environment of the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims have come, the Faith is brought to life through sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. Here pilgrims can see the casket containing his mortal remains. They can touch the glass and wood smoothed by those who have rested their fingers, hands, arms and faces upon it through the years, begging for the heavenly intercession of Blessed mind or spirit. They can smell the wax and smoke of the candles blazing next to the stone altar. It is to this kind of place that believers come in throngs, bringing their troubles and worries — and praise God for this faith. Often non-believers join the pilgrims and this is exactly the place where we should be encouraging as many non-believers as possible, whether they be those who have fallen away from the Faith, those who may doubt the existence of God, or those who may have never encountered God at all. The story of doubting Thomas from John’s Gospel, in which the beloved apostle wrote: “Now a week later his disciples were again inside and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and stood in their midst and said, ‘Peace be with you.’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here and see my hands, and bring your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe.’ Thomas answered and said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have you come to believe because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed” (Jn. 20:26-29). We must have faith to believe what we cannot see. But we also know that sometimes, as was Thomas’ experience, belief is easier when there is something to see, something to touch. We know that faith is sometimes more easily embraced when we can see the mortal remains of the holy Blessed Tansi. Blessed Tansi's holiness matured slowly but soon became legendary. He had a heart for the poor and was dedicated to the service of those suffering from poverty and discrimination. His faith. humility and generosity have propelled many to greater charity. Although he became well known for his works of service and asceticism, he was also a great reformer.
      Remembering and having devotion to Blessed Tansi depend on faith. He lived in surrender to Christ and can help us to better surrender to him. Christianity is a matter of surrender. Surrendering is a lesson we need to learn over and over again. We must continually give ourselves to Christ to renew our trust in him. Christianity couldn’t be abstract or theoretical. Christianity is an event, a reality. Christ is a person to be known with the mind and loved with the heart.
                                                                 Sunday, October 20, 202
                                                 Blessed Tansi lived for one thing necessary

      Our common experience is that life is complicated–perhaps because we have an uncanny ability to make life difficult. Anyone who has ever done even a minimal amount of soul searching or is even vaguely familiar with the daily news is faced with the reality that life, for most people, is not something that comes easily.  According to God, however, life is meant to be very simple because life according to God comes down to one thing and one thing only: love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great first commandment. And a second is like it, ‘you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 22:37-39). For Jesus, life is effortless because the priority of all human life, therefore the one thing that is truly necessary in life, is love. The Saints and those who have gone before us following Christ placed such an emphasis on love. Blessed Tansi lived entirely for love and so instructed his fellow Nigerians. 
      Because love is who God is and what God does, we become like God and share in His life only through love. You may have heard people say that Blessed Tansi lived entirely for God which is another way of saying that he lived entirely for love. “We are not therefore surprised that as a priest he lived a life of ever striving to do better and better. He did not settle down to half-measures. And he handed on to his spiritual children the desire to be one hundred per cent dedicated to God” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.76). Professor Elizabeth Isichei wrote about Blessed Tansi's advice to his friend Simon Oraegbuna on the need for Christians to have a dedicated love “If you want to eat vultures you may as well eat seven of them, so that when people call you ‘vulture eater’ you deserve the name. If you want to be a catholic, live as a faithful catholic, so that when people see you they know that you are a catholic. If you are going to be a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God” (Entirely for God p. 83). To live entirely for God is to love God and your neighbour. There are so many things in life that call out to us for attention and promise us fulfilment, peace, and satisfaction. Yet no matter how good some of these things may be, or how attractive they might appear or even how wonderful they might make us feel if the love of God and love of neighbour is not the first place in our hearts, we will never truly be able to appreciate the things of this world appropriately and therefore we will be constantly frustrated, disappointed and restless. The simple reason for this is because our priorities are out of order. The things of this world, even though they may be good in and of themselves, are not meant to be the priority of our lives–which is why the only appropriate place for them is at a distance from the love of God and our neighbour.
      Blessed Tansi lived a flaming example of love for his fellow Nigerians. He was consumed by the love of God. The salvation of souls was his priority in life. The greatest love you can have for a person is to care for the salvation of his soul. Blessed Tansi spent long hours in prayer, he fasted and did other many penances for the salvation of the soul. “He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and to hand on the gift of reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of Nigerian life. Father Tansi tried to imitate the father in the parable: he was always available for those searching for reconciliation. He spread the joy of restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion… Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification” (St. John Paul 11 in beatification sermon Nigeria 1998). Today nobody likes the way life is going in Nigeria. If he left us Nigerians all these examples, it would be helpful to sincerely ask ourselves, am I loving God and my neighbour in my life right now? Or am I just simply thinking about loving God and others or pondering it during prayer? Love is one of those things that is easy and even consoling most of the time to meditate on and prayerfully consider. It is loving itself, though, not simply thinking or praying about it, that is the real challenge. If we desire to be authentic disciples of Christ and experience intimacy with God, saying yes to this challenge of love is never an option. Jesus reaffirms this when he says in the Gospel of John, “By this, all men will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another” (John 13:34).
      Blessed Tansi in his prayer life, his relationship, and his work was guided by the priority of his life – love. Similarly for each one of us to better assess the degree of love that may be present or absent in our life, I would like to propose a short examination for us regarding three areas of our life: prayer, relationships, and work. In my life of prayer am I truly loving God or am I just seeking to be consoled, entertained, or simply going through the motions?  It is very possible, and even very probable at times, that during prayer I may not be loving God. In my relationships or among those many different people that I encounter each day who qualify as my neighbours, am I truly trying to love each person? Am I sincerely open to them? Do I treat the people in my life, whether I am naturally attracted to them or not, as means to a certain end? Am I consciously trying to love the neighbour in my life right now? It is often all too easy for us to discard certain people in our life, especially those many people whom we may not have a particular relationship with or those who are in some way estranged from family, friends, or society, as a nuisance or even a threat. By doing so not only do we fail to see the eternal significance of each person, but we also ignore Jesus himself, who in the Gospel of Matthew reminds us that it is he who is visiting us through others. Therefore, when we ignore them, we ignore Jesus for, “as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me” (Matthew 25:45). In my work, whatever form that may take, do I approach work with a loving and generous disposition, the disposition of a servant who freely gives of his time and talent for others? Or do I see work as simply something to endure, or something I do for only worldly gain or a practical outcome? Or even worse, is my work merely an attempt to glorify my ego to win the praise and esteem of others? The truth is, regardless of our occupation and the social class we may belong to, even the most basic and mundane job can have eternal consequences when that action is done out of love for God and others. Hence, the most important work, at least according to God, is not the one with the biggest paycheck, but the one that is done with the most love.

      What is your priority in life? Let us make Love our priority - where there is no love, put love, and you will see the result because love will come back to you. If there is tension or turmoil in a relationship, choose as best as you can to love the other person regardless of what you may feel or what they might have done to you and at the very least you will begin to change and most likely so will that relationship. If work is burdensome or difficult, try as best as you can to offer your work for the love of God and others, and I guarantee you that your experience of work will take on a much deeper and even more fulfilling role in your life. Many of us in Nigeria today find life at the very least frustrating. The fact is that most of our lives are out of our control – without priority. Despite our best wishes and sometimes even our best efforts, we cannot control God, the people in our lives, or the circumstances and situations of our lives. We cannot control our lives because our life, at least exteriorly, is beyond us. What is in our control and not beyond us is how we respond to life.





                                                           Sunday, October 13, 2024 
                                       Blessed Tansi's life and apostolate are all about Christ 
      The life and activities of Blessed Tansi and indeed of all the saints of every age and place point to the truths and values far more enduring than having a good job, a fat bank account, healthy children, a comfortable house, a good name and a good material living. His life and message are universal because they are the message of the Gospel applied to concrete situations in today's world. For him, human life on earth has a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. His words and advice also have such wide appeal because they touch on a fundamental thirst in every human heart: the thirst and search for love, goodness, and truth. He knew that this thirst could find its fulfilment only in God living among and identifying with the poor, the sick and the dejected of society. The Blessed Tansi is perhaps one of the most zealous priests the Archdiocese of Onitsha has known in the last sixty years. He began as a missionary. He was among the first Nigerians to be ordained, and he led his people by word and example. There is no saying what his future would have been had he remained in his native country - Nigeria. But Providence had another plan and mission for him somewhere. The former bishop of Umuahia, the late Bishop Anthony Nwedo has this to say about his zeal and commitment to the apostolate: “... it may be a high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm candour, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha October 1986).
      For many people, today his life offers an opportunity to nourish their faith once more. That means, first and foremost, discovering their identity in Christ. He so identified with Christ and his work that people who met him got something of God and their identity. He was a Nigerian. He lived out the Gospel in a way that was convincing in a way that gave credible witness to his fellow Nigerians, with a very high degree of credibility. The type of witnesses that is contagious. Cardinal Arinze said that you would not be indifferent to Blessed Tansi if you knew him. You either are for him or you will want to run away from him. He also appreciated the human person, from the little child to the youth; he helped them to become somebody through schooling to realize what human dignity is. Women have much more respect and honour today in Nigeria than they had sixty years ago. Blessed Tansi showed a Christian sensitivity to the work of every human person-man, woman or child. He was a person ready to serve others. “Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness” (St. John Paul 11 Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998). If those who met him forget everything about him they cannot forget that he was urging them to remember their identity as God’s beloved sons and daughters. “First as Teacher and later as School Headmaster, Tansi continued to reveal not merely his “sharp and keen” abilities as Educator, but of equal importance to us, his demonstrable preferential love of God and of Christian values. So much did he integrate academics with religious knowledge and practice – in those days, the Teacher also served the Christian community in the role of Catechist that Headmaster Tansi was often accused by less tepid souls of running the school in the manner of a seminary” ( Eddy. Debany SJ in a National symposium Onitsha March 18, 2004). He was telling them that Jesus took upon himself our humanity and his heart will never be separated from them. The encounter with Jesus Christ, especially through his witness reinforced the call to live a life centered on Christ. Suffering and sickness were common challenges people had to face but his catechesis gave them guidance and inspiration, equipping them to face the challenges of their time with unwavering faith.
      Before he entered the junior seminary in 1925 he was already a headmaster and was already doing a good and holy work simply by being a dedicated Christian educator: Had he continued in the same profession, he would surely have contributed significantly to the intellectual, social, moral and even political development of his people while at the same time enjoying much praise, esteem, honors and even financial security. Growing as a dedicated and pious lay educator, perhaps even married with children, he could have also achieved “blessedness”, the eternal reward of all Christ’s faithful simply by becoming a heroically virtuous and dedicated lay educator. So why did he give all this up in order to become a priest? Not certainly for the prestige or the money he already had both. So why did he leave his promising career to enter the seminary? Because, like all holy people, he was following the Lord’s invitation to a higher call to provide his people a transforming encounter with Jesus Christ. In fact, ultimately, his life cannot be about anything other than Christ the Lord.
      His life and ministry served as catalyst for a more profound relationship with Jesus Christ. As young Catholics gather in his new opened missions to worship, learn and pray together, the joy and energy present opens hearts and minds to the reality of Christ’s presence. Engaging in spiritual exercises that might not be a regular part of parish life for many young Catholics. They meet Jesus in a privileged way in the confessional, in the Eucharist, and in catechesis. This encounter fosters a deep sense of intimacy and love for Christ, often igniting a desire to seek him with passion and commitment. Young people can hear the Lord’s voice more clearly and begin to know the plans of love he has for them. This led to so many from his parish aspiring for the seminary and the religious life.
                                                            Sunday, October 6, 2024
                                                   Blessed Tansi made Love his Lifestyle.
      “He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness. He was then a man of the people:” (John Paul 11 Sermon beatification Onitsha Nigeria 1998). Blessed Tansi made it a priority to study love in the Word of God. Getting a revelation about how much God loved him and learning to receive His love had been life-changing for him. It has been the key to being able to enjoy his life because when he received God’s love, then he could love others. Through loving others he discovered that the best way—the only way—one can have a happy, powerful life is to get one’s mind off oneself and do something for someone else. Helping people, being a blessing, and adding value to other people’s lives are what it means to walk in love and follow the example of Jesus. “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us …” ( Eph. 5:2)  Jesus, our perfect and holy Savior gave His life for us, took all of our sin upon Himself, and shed His blood so we could have a personal relationship with Him and become the righteousness of God. That was His gift to us. And once we experience the gift of salvation, our gift to God is how we live our lives. Jesus had a direct command on this matter. “Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”(Jn. 13:34). If we learn how to follow this one commandment, everything else in our lives will fall into place. Because we can only become everything we’re created to be when we live a life filled with God’s love.
      “It is not an exaggeration to say that Father Tansi lived for God and his brothers and sisters. He saw Christianity as living entirely for God”. (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 210). From his baptism, he learnt to give God everything in his life and never to look back. “As a pastor, one can use the term pastoral charity to describe his dedication, his drive, his perseverance under harsh physical conditions, his readiness to visit the sick and his intense desire for the eternal salvation of the people”.(ibid. p. 211). Father Clement Mark Ulogu who lived with him both at Aguleri as his curate and at Mount Saint Bernard as a fellow monk had this to say about his total dedication to the service of love. “I lived with him in Mount Saint Bernard Abbey from June 1951 until his death. The general impression about Father Cyprian in the monastery is exactly the same as the extract from the letter I received on the occasion of his death: ‘Service of others and living for the other world, living for God and for fellow men –holiness. Yes, we can now understand why Fr Cyprian had so great a love for monastic total self-dedication to God and of the opportunities it offered to life, with its long night office, its silence, strict enclosure and common life. ( in P. Meze, our Memoirs of Fr. Michael Tansi, p. 96)  
      In Luke chapter 10, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate what it means to love God and your neighbour as yourself. We read that a man was travelling from Jerusalem down to Jericho when “he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.” (Lk. 10:30) A priest and a Levite both passed by him and neither stopped to help. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him and was moved to do something to help him. He dressed his wounds and took him to an inn where he could get the care he needed. He paid the innkeeper and told him, “Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I will pay you the next time I am here” (Lk 10; 35).
     There are a few similarities to this in Blessed Tansi's life. His yearly celebrations remind us of all the good and beautiful things around us in both the Church and the culture that we take for granted. These are bad times. People know and feel the pinch. Principalities and powers are everywhere victorious. Wickedness flourishes in high places. Uncertainty seems to be all around us; darkness seems to loom everywhere we turn; the world seems to be spinning out of control. What next is the question on every mouth: is there hope for humanity? Blessed Tansi's attitude to life beautifully captures the Christian answer to this question: Yes, there’s cause for hope, for joy, and even for excitement here and now. (Rev. 22:16) His simple, ascetical, mortified and detached life points to the dawn of hope and life. Point to the dawn of Jesus whose resurrection from the dead was also heralded by the dawn. (Matt. 28:1). With noble monastic simplicity, Blessed Tansi echoed the canticle of Zechariah proclaiming the arrival of the Savior, which is recited in his daily monastic morning prayer. He gave his life to go to the monastery when no other person was ready to go. He brought the monastic apostolate to Nigeria for the good of the local church. Giving up his rich and flourishing pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese for the life of enclosure where he became the last in the community was a pure act of love. Many of us in the local church today may not realize how much suffering has gone into bringing this apostolate into this country. Thank God his gospel is making its way to every part of this country.
      As the Samaritan was travelling the road and was probably going somewhere he needed to be; he had a plan but he was willing to stop and help this man even if it meant his plan was interrupted. In the same way, Blessed Tansi gave his best effort to make sure every Nigerian had good spiritual care. “In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification” (John Paul 11. Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998). This is what real love looks like. We also remember that 1 Corinthians 13 lists the characteristics of God’s love: it is patient and kind, never jealous, boastful or rude; it does not demand its way, is not irritable and keeps no record of being wronged. Love rejoices when truth wins out. It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love never fails.

                                                              Sunday, September 29, 2024                                                             

                                               Blessed Tansi moved from light to darkness. 
      Blessed Tansi was among the first Nigerians to be ordained priests. He led the people by word and example. He had a very flourishing apostolate in Nigeria as a parish priest. He had a great zeal for evangelisation and building up stations and parishes. From an early start, he dedicated his entire life to serving the Lord and His people as a pastor and minister by living out the necessary disciplines, principles, and commitments to help him do this. He had a great influence on the people - Christians and non-Christians. But at a stage in his very active pastoral ministry, he felt the call to follow Christ in another way. He was urged by the love of God and his fellow men and women. He was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord, and was also urged by a great desire to bring the monastic and contemplative apostolate to Nigeria. When no other person was ready to go for this, he volunteered to do this at a great cost. His high esteem for it impelled him to willingly sacrifice so much to obtain its blessings for himself and his people. He left an extremely active and flourishing pastoral ministry, which included his determination to foster vocations, sanctify marriages, care for the poor and the sick, spending himself in the confessional and answering sick calls. As we know things did not turn out like that. God’s ways are often strange. Fr. Tansi did not do this personally, for he died before his longing could be carried out. When he left Nigeria in 1950, he completely disappeared as far as his people were concerned. He had gone from light into darkness, from a life in the sight of all to a life hidden from the world. He moved from the world of authority and command to a world of powerless and inferior, from a life of master to the life of last in the community. Leaving a most rewarding pastoral responsibility to the four walls of a monastery where he was not even allowed to exercise his priestly functions for some time. Fr. Tansi did not see this as running away, as an avoiding of responsibilities. For him, it was God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown where God was waiting for him. It was leaving his country and his family like Abraham and so many others. It was to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. His was like all true calls from God, a venture of faith and love. The cost to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. He found peace and God in the darkness. Fr. Tansi was a unique person. Nobody will be him. He had his own life and vocation. His life helps us to see and appreciate what is important at the core of our faith and helps us to renew our awareness of the things that matter. His life is important to us because it was a life of faith, humility and perseverance following what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was cold and dark. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end even to realizing that he fulfilled his vow of stability perfectly by dying in the Abby far away from his people and land and being buried happily in the monastery.    
                                                                   Sunday, September 15, 2024,
                                  Experience and Encounter with Blessed Tansi – Miracle happen 
      Unfortunately, noise and distraction are too often our steadfast companions as we trek through our day-to-day activities. Youths, in particular, are frequently bombarded by social media even as they juggle hectic class/work schedules. Some say the only way to cope during these overly stimulated times - especially if your goal is to encounter Christ -- is to completely disengage from society. Is it possible to find Christ amidst the noise? Many today draw their inspiration from Matthew 7:7: "Ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you." They take time off their busy and noisy hours to visit the Blessed Iwene Tansi. An encounter with him makes for a perfect meditation for anyone who is seeking to make critical decisions about their future. As Catholics, the goal of our searching is not a thing, but a Person, Jesus Christ, and if we seek Him with all our hearts, the rest will fall into place. Blessed Tansi is the surest way to achieve this goal. We can easily get to him through his mortal Remains at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Many from far and near flock there to find him. Of course, we can also find and connect with him through our prayers and devotion wherever we are. With encounters with Blessed Tansi miracles are constantly occurring. The real question is do we see them? Do we have the eyes of a living faith which recognize the hand of the Lord at work? Do we ask for them? The Catholic Church has always proclaimed its belief in the existence of many different kinds of miracles. Our tradition and history are replete with examples of miracles. All miracles are due to the Risen Lord's continued ministry of Mercy in our midst. His redemptive work continues through the ministry of the Church which is His Body. All miracles are still signs of the Kingdom of God. Whenever we do see or experience miracles, are we responding to these great acts of love and signs of the kingdom - a life different as a result of finding true joy and freedom which comes from repentance and conversion?  
      To experience miracles begin to share your living faith in Jesus Christ with those around you who hunger for meaning in their lives.  Believe that the same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead is at work in the Church which is His Body. Pray for miracles in your life through the intercession of Blessed Tansi.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that miracles are a sign of the Kingdom of God:  “Jesus accompanies his words with many "mighty works and wonders and signs", which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father's works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God.” (CCC 547-550) These signs of the Kingdom continue to be manifested in our day. Sometimes such miracles are accomplished through the intercession of the Saints like the Blessed Iwene Tansi. They are an integral part of the process which leads to their canonization. The prayers and intercession of Blessed Tansi have brought some of the most extraordinary miracles. 
      We need just one miracle to bring his cause of canonization to a happy conclusion. The church demands one miracle through his intercession to proclaim him a Saint. We know that only God can work a miracle but we, his children can beg him to give us one through the intercession of the Blessed Tansi. Blessed Tansi does not need a miracle; we are the ones that need it. The cause of Blessed Tansi is for our interest and good. We are all convinced of this need but how do we pray for it? The most important thing for a miracle to happen is FAITH. And faith is to miracles as the cause is to effect. Paul was able to heal the crippled man because he saw he had the faith to be healed. Faith precedes miracles. (cf Acts 14. 7-10). There are many places in the Scriptures where faith and miracles are linked: “When Jesus had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith will it be done to you”; and their sight was restored. (Matt 9:28) Jesus even complained about the lack of faith in the people: “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “If you can’t?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief” … Jesus rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” (Mk 9:19-29). The disciples of Jesus were worried they were not able to perform miracles. “Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why could not we drive the demon out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt 17:19-20)
      The key point is that faith is the essential ingredient for miracles. There must be faith not only on the part of the one who pays for it but even more so on the part of the one who receives the miracle. For it may sometimes happen that the one through whom the miracle is accomplished, has only poor faith, but the one receiving it has the faith to be healed, and thus God grants it.  Perhaps in times like these where we often do not expect miracles or dismiss them too easily when they occur, the gift to be sought is the gift of the fear of the Lord. At its heart, the fear of the Lord is the awareness of the wonderful things God is always doing in our lives from moment to moment. It is the gift of wonder and awe before the displayed majesty of our God, and a desire not to offend him out of love and respect. And frankly, one way we might offend against his glory is to walk right past the glories he is doing from moment to moment, being ungrateful, unaware, and seeing as routine the magnificence of what he does. Indeed, our very own existence, all events of our life and countless other wonders are on daily display. And seeing them for the miraculous gift they begin to open our minds to the possibility of miracles too. The gift of the fear of the Lord helps to increase our awareness of God and our faith in Him. And faith is the door to even greater miracles.
      As we look for miracles to complete the cause of Blessed Tansi the Lord has a related question for us: Do you believe that I can do this? (Matt 9:28). It is true, that God sometimes says no. But perhaps we ought also to check our attitude, and ask why we might be quick to presume he will say no or has said no. Scripture says, “You have not because you ask not” (James 4:2). Why not ask with confidence and leave the answer up to God. God loves his children and will always answer their prayers when they do the right thing and when their prayers correspond to His will. In our own case, the church wants but a miracle to bring the Blessed Tansi to sainthood. Since everything is possible for God, you can experience miracles in your life when you invite God to intervene – even in situations that seem impossible. But too often, people neglect to ask God for miracles in their lives and end up settling for far less than God’s best for them. In this case let us all approach God with confidence if we trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. So do not hesitate to pray for miracles in honour of Blessed Tansi. Here is how you can ask God for a miracle: Maybe some evil is hindering this miracle from happening. If evil in the spiritual realm is hindering miracles from happening, pray for breakthrough prayers against evil to clear the way for more miracles to occur. Start by confessing your sins that come to mind, and then repent of each one specifically. Next, ask in Jesus’ name and through the power of His blood for the Holy Spirit to help you and the people you are praying for be victorious over all evil attacks. Ask God to protect you and those you are praying for from future attacks by evil. 
      There are no magical formulas to use to conjure up miracles. Instead, miracles happen whenever you welcome God’s powerful presence into the situations you face. So do not worry about trying to pray perfect prayers to convince God to do something miraculous in your life. Simply invite God to work in every situation in which you are seeking miracles, and trust Him to do what is best after you ask Him to intervene. You can use the official prayers for the cause or once you recognize the presence of God talk to God in your own words.
      Obey God’s command to forgive so your prayers will not be hindered. If you are unwilling to forgive someone who has hurt or offended you, that refusal to forgive can hinder your prayers from being answered, because God sometimes waits until you obey His commands before answering prayers. Remember how much God has forgiven you and let that motivate you to obey His call to forgive others. Ask God to help you forgive; you can choose to forgive even when you do not feel like it and rely on the strength God will give you during the forgiveness process.
      Praise God more through attendance at Mass and other forms of worship. You can experience more miracles when you spend more time praising God in worship because worship ushers God’s power into your life in fresh ways and helps you discern His voice more clearly as He leads you toward miracles. Make a habit of praising God for who He is, during both good and bad times in your life. Live a life that is completely devoted to God. Remember that Blessed Tansi lived a life completely devoted to God. When you devote yourself to God completely – in every area of your life you will notice more miracles happening in your life.
                                                              Sunday, September 8, 2024
                                                     Learning Humility from Blessed Tansi.
      A humble life is a revolt against the self-indulgent ethos that only looks out for oneself. Saints encourage us to have noble and good aims and to strive after them, even when it is inconvenient daily. Selfless self-improvement is our mantra. As we seek to become more fit, skilled, temperate, frugal, patient, courageous, resolute, and honest, we strengthen and improve our contribution to our society. To be humble is to be emptied -- emptied of myself. It is not wallowing in my wretchedness; it is bathing in God’s mercy. Pride dwells on all offences and festers like an infected sore. Humility wastes no time in carrying all offences to Jesus with confidence to receive forgiveness and start again. Blessed Tansi helps us to understand the beauty and delightful simplicity of humility. "This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word." Isaiah 66:2. I am reminded over and over that, I have a great deal to learn where humility is concerned. As painful as it is, the joyful irony is that only a God of infinite love and mercy would bother to teach this lesson. 
      Blessed Tansi is extremely humble and self-forgetful. He considers the good of other people before his own. As St. John Paul 11 said of him, “He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families”. (In the sermon at beatification. Nigeria March 1998). His years at Mount St. Bernard were a pure demonstration of faith and humility. In the monastery, some of the monks mistook his humility to be a sign of an inferiority complex. Father Hilary Costello who was his contemporary in the abbey later testified: “I noticed that he had too much respect for white priests, or rather for other people, or should I call it deference, for he would hold the door for others to pass. This appeared to me more than ordinary humility. He might have noble motives for doing this but his action struck me as too deferential. Even the Novice Master, Father Gregory Wareing thinks that Father Cyprian lacked proper self-esteem” (in C.Obi ‘Facing Saint Mount Bernard’ p. 196). He easily adapted to life in the monastery because he was already a man of great humility. He was a successful parish priest back in Nigeria, a man with authority, and power. In the monastery, he became the last in the community without any authority or voice. No special ministry was undertaken. “Michael would not perform another baptism or burial. He would not anoint another dying person nor go out on another sick call. He had no faculties to hear confessions for the first few years; it was 1955 before he was given limited permission to hear confessions of those Africans who called to see him. He never mentioned these cumulative restrictions flowing from the nature and function of his new vocation. The complaint was alien to him” (Wareing G. in ‘Sorrow will not kill me’ p.11). Only a person who understands and has practised humility could have adapted to such a life. “Moreover, no matter how humble Father Cyprian was, he had for years to live in the Abbey as an oblate, then a novice, and thereafter as a simple professed. A known successful pastor has to make more than average effort, certainly more than his young colleague, to adapt to this new life” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.215). In his deep humility, he never revealed to the community his pastoral achievements in the Archdiocese of Onitsha. “Most of the community did not know him at all. They did not know what he had done in the past, or his achievements before he came. Someone, bishop Heerey perhaps, must have told him to keep his head down and he did”(in E. Isichei, ‘Entirely for God’ p. 93). Abbot Ambrose Southey confirms that “what struck me about Fr. Cyprian when he entered was his humility. Nobody would have guessed from anything he said or did that he had been a very successful parish priest and that he had built up a parish from scratch etc. He was very anxious to learn his duties in the new life and always listened to explanations with great attention and respect” (in Isichei E. op. cit. p. 94). We cannot forget that in the missions he joined the women in sweeping, scrubbing and washing the church mud floor. No manual work is too low for him. He is at home with all kinds of farm work. 
      In our lives often much of what we think are the pieces of evidence of humility are something else entirely. There is most often an ongoing skirmish between a desire for holiness tainted with pride, discouragement over failings tainted with pride and goals of using our talents in the best way possible for God's glory of course. The discouragement part is quite seductive actually, because it can give the appearance of sorrowful humility when it is often wounded pride. Humility does not mean I must dislike myself. To speak ill of myself, to mentally berate myself over my flaws and mistakes is not proof of humility. It is evidence of pride. It just means I have not lived up to my expectations of myself, or worse, my delusion of grandeur. If I fail to live up to my standard of perfection I fear that I will be less esteemed by others. So I scold myself, feel sorry for myself, and cover my pride by declaring what a weak sinner I am. In this way, I can feel superior to those wretched souls who don't even have the decency to say they have done wrong and ask for pardon. You see, I am less sorry for the particular sin, less sorry that I have offended my Lord than I am for having revealed the humiliating truth that I am not nearly as grand as I did like to think I am. Hiding within this discouragement is the unspoken craving for distinction ~ I must conquer my failings and defects to achieve the reputation I seek. This is what tarnishes the desire for holiness and turns the focus on me rather than on Jesus. In my secret heart - in hidden thoughts I never utter out loud - I fear that what Almighty God has ordained for me and my life is too modest, too common, too bland for my taste, and I try to persuade Him for more glory for myself while claiming to seek only His. I want what I want, and I beg Him to want it as well. 
      Humility is a virtue that is most often confused. A true test is when you ask yourself if indeed you are truly willing to take the place God has ordained for you today without yearning for something better or more. Humility is being content to be who, where and what God asks of me today, and nothing more. I make my whole self - body, mind and heart - an empty vessel to be filled by Him as He sees fit. Whether noticed or unseen, praised or ignored, it must make no difference. Nothing I could ever do or be can compare to who He is. The glory is all His. "All our righteous acts are like filthy rags." Isaiah 64:6. I am small, ordinary, and quite sinful, yes. All that is true. But I am also His. He has said so and it is true. Everything He has is mine. It is outrageous but it is true. He loves me forever, and for me just to turn my eyes toward His face brings Him delight. "For the Lord takes delight in His people; he crowns the humble with salvation." Psalm 149:4. Blessed Tansi once wrote to his old houseboy Mr. Augustine Chendo from the monastery, “Yourself and your wife should keep always before your eyes that fact that you are creatures, God’s creation. As man’s handwork belongs to him so do we all belong to God, and should accordingly have no other will but His. He is a very kind Father indeed. All his plains are for the good of his children. We may not often see how they are. That does not matter. Leave yourself in his hands not for a year, nor two years, but as long as you live on earth. If you confide in him fully and sincerely He will take care of you” (in E. Isichei ‘Entirely for God’ p.81). I am His child and He will not reject me. "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are" (1 John 3:1) It is a relief to know that I am not fooling God. He knows this fearful, perverted "humility" lives in my heart, preventing me from realizing the peace of true humility. He will take care of it if I let Him; even in this, I have to let go, trust Him to keep His word and wait. My progress toward holiness follows my cooperation, not my command. It will not be accomplished on my schedule; I cannot rush or cajole Him into action. Learning to wait is part of learning humility. I have no one to impress - I only have one to love. A humble heart rests confidently in His mercy and love and has no fear of being little or unnoticed, nor any need for adulation.
                                                                   Sunday, September 1, 2024
                                                   Turn to Blessed Tansi for healing from cancer
     Many of us do not know that Blessed Tansi can heal cancer patients. Cancer is one of the most feared and lethal diseases. The Blessed Tansi is one of the saints who have special sympathy for those who suffer from such disease — and he suffered from abdominal growth. He is known for healing prayers. As human beings, we are all prone to suffer from diseases of many kinds, cancer included. No one can avoid it, not even the saints. When we learn about the lives of the saints, we discover that many of them suffered from various ailments. Knowing that we share this bodily weakness, we can turn to them to console us in moments of pain and to intercede with the Lord. Their prayers may help to obtain from God the restoration of our own or someone else’s health, if it is God’s will, but also the grace that our sufferings may serve for our sanctification. Cancer is a disease that has become common over the past century. I don’t know if Jesus healed cancer cases, particularly during his earthly life. However, I do know that he “went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people" (Mt 4:23). It seems like we can reasonably guess that he healed some people with cancer among them. We know God can do everything including the healing of any kind of cancer. In the same way, Saints can assist through their intercession to obtain healing in the face of cancer. In any case, let us trust in the healing power of Jesus and the intercession of the saints who help us pray for this grace. Here are some saints whom we know to have helped in the face of this suffering.
     A religious Sister, Mary Frances de Sales, matron at St. Joseph’s hospital turned to Blessed Tansi when one of the girls Philomena Emeka working in the hospital developed abdominal fibrosis which could not be operated on. Sister prayed with her workers to Blessed Tansi and on the day the remains of the Blessed were brought to the basilica for re-interment the sick girl got an instantaneous healing by touching the Remains.  Miracles happen, and God heals incurable sickness through the intercession of his saints. Sister Francese De Sales remained devoted to Blessed Tansi for the rest of her life. She was a great promoter of the Blessed Tansi Solidarity Prayer movement. She explained that her service, to which she devoted so much time and strength, was an expression of gratitude to God for the miracle of Philomena’s healing. Praying means giving some of your time to Christ, entrusting yourself to Him, listening silently to His word, and letting Him echo in your heart. There is another man cured of cancer through the intercession of St. John Paul II. Fernando Pedro Nieto Giménez, a provincial of the Spanish Province of the Order of Knights of St. John Paul II, when his 20-year-old beloved son Fernando fell ill with an aggressive form of cancer, he was terrified. As the doctors were battling to save the life of his son he went to the hospital chapel next door and prayed with his wife through the intercession of the Polish Pope St. John Paul 11 for a miracle. And a miracle happened. His son was healed through the intercession of Saint John Paul 11. The doctors could not explain the healing of his son.
      You can reach the Blessed Tansi very easily. At the basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha where the remains are kept. Many of the faithful flock to him for devotion. Many others today drew their inspiration from Matthew 7:7: "Ask and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock and it will be opened to you". They take time off their busy and noisy hours to visit the Blessed Iwene Tansi. An encounter with him makes for a perfect meditation for anyone who is seeking to make critical decisions about their future. As Catholics, the goal of our searching is not a thing, but a Person, Jesus Christ, and, if we seek Him with all our hearts, the rest will fall into place. Blessed Tansi is the surest way to achieve this goal. Many have tried to give favourable testimony. Their experiences have helped and encouraged many others. Miracles, signs and wonders occur. With encounters with Blessed Tansi miracles are constantly occurring. The real question is do we see them? Do we have the eyes of a living faith which recognize the hand of the Lord at work? Do we ask for them? The Catholic Church has always proclaimed its belief in the existence of many different kinds of miracles. Our tradition and history are replete with examples of miracles. All miracles are due to the Risen Lord's continued ministry of Mercy in our midst. His redemptive work continues through the ministry of the Church which is His Body. All miracles are still signs of the Kingdom of God.  If we do see and experience miracles, are we responding to these great acts of Love and signs of the kingdom? Are our lives different as a result of these miracles and signs?  Do they lead us to find true joy and freedom which come from repentance and conversion?  
      To experience miracles begin to share your living faith in Jesus Christ with those around you who hunger for meaning in their lives.  Believe that the same Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead is at work in the Church which is His Body. Pray for miracles before Blessed Tansi the difference will be clear. “Jesus accompanies his words with many "mighty works and wonders and signs", which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father's works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God.” (CCC n. 547-550). These signs of the Kingdom continue to be manifested in our days. Sometimes such miracles are accomplished through the intercession of the Saints like the Blessed Iwene Tansi. They are an integral part of the process which leads to their canonization. The prayers and intercession of Blessed Tansi have brought some of the most extraordinary miracles. We want miracles in our lives and nation. What we are going through now needs nothing less than a miracle for a solution. Blessed Tansi is our National saint and patron. What are we waiting for? Come to him with your problems and surely he will do the needful. Join us at his prayer movement and the celebration of his cult at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha every Monday. 
      Perhaps in times like these where we often do not expect miracles or dismiss them too easily when they occur, the gift to be sought is the gift of faith and the fear of the Lord. At its heart, the fear of the Lord is the awareness of the wonderful things God is always doing in our lives from moment to moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why could not we drive the demon out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt 17:19-20). After reading this what prevents you from acting, bring your sick to Blessed Tansi or tell someone who needs healing to come to Blessed Tansi? Faith is the great door to even greater miracles.
                                                            Sunday, August 25. 2024
                                                       Blessed Tansi Hospitality to all
      Blessed Tansi not only teach us that we must be hospitable to others, but we must also be aware of the context in which we find ourselves; that is, when we engage in hospitality, we should do so with consideration of the needs of our guests. What is expected of us depends, in part, on the people involved. Not everyone needs the same thing. Not everyone should get the same thing. Nonetheless, there are basic principles which we must engage. Everyone deserves compassion. Everyone deserves to be loved. Bishop Godfrey Okoye who knows him well testifies; “Fr. Tansi right from the beginning of his life had been hard on himself and hard on others, but at the same time he was very kind. He had a wonderful gift of combining strictness and kindness. He was strict to those under his charge but also a father to them. Those who passed through him could even give their lives for his cause, so benevolent was he. To a visitor, Fr. Tansi would offer all he had to make him feel comfortable. He would prefer to mortify himself in his effort to make a visitor happy” (in P. Meze, ‘Our memoirs of Fr. Michael Tansi’ pp 80-81). Msgr. Stephen Ezeanya (later Archbishop) who visited Father Tansi as a seminarian has the same impression: “he was very abstemious. He ate very little himself but did not force us to fast. In fact, he would insist we should eat well” (Isichiei E. ‘Entirely for God’p.44). Similarly, Cardinal Arinze recorded in his ‘Total Response’ that “Anthony Nwedo who entered the seminary in 1933 and later became the first bishop of Umuahia has happy memories of Michael’s charity: “Although I was, as it were at the periphery of his life, his goodness did not escape the notice of my boyhood eyes. His goodness was infectious and so was his charity. The fire of charity shone unmistakably in him and made a very deep impression on my young mind” (p.213) 
       It is also important to note that when we treat someone with hospitality, it does not mean we approve of everything they represent, everything that they should say or do. This is also why context matters, for what a person does when they are with us should be included in the considerations as to how we are to deal with them when they are our guests. We should not give room for people to act poorly, especially if we know they are looking for trouble because if we do, we might be found responsible for their actions; on the other hand, we should not disregard common decency, and so we cannot ignore our responsibility to our neighbour, no matter who they are. “Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. Specially, the education of young people was precious to him” (John Paul 11 in Beatification Sermon Nigeria 1998). We find other examples of how to show hospitality in the life and sayings of Blessed Tansi. These examples show us that he knew he had to be compassionate towards others while differentiating his hospitality based on the person he encountered. He was careful to avoid the temptation of using the parish resources for his own relations. “Fr. Tansi explained to his relatives that parish funds do not belong to the priest. One of his relatives informs us how he received no preferential consideration from the Father: “I am his nephew and I started teaching in Eziagulu Otu Aguleri in 1949, just before he arrived to be Aguleri’s parish priest. He came on trek later to my station and asked me how I was fairing. I told him I had not received my monthly salary for five months, and that my headmaster, Mr. Udedibia, had been feeding me. Fr. Tansi gave me the two shillings given as a gift to him by somebody. He asked the donor to leave the money on the altar rail for some poor person. On asking me to collect the money, he said I should be regarded as a poor person. Or else he would not have given me the money” (in C. Obi ‘Facing Mount Saint Bernard’ p.146. The nephew was Joseph Ndive Tansi)    
      In his life, Blessed Tansi did not want to disregard his obligation to be hospitable to all. He showed basic human decency to all, even to the poorest of his parish when they came to meet with him. He knew that he had to show them hospitality, especially because they took the time and effort to be with him. He felt it was important to take care of their bodily needs; he fed them, showing that he wished them well, before sending them away. His relationship with people teaches us a lesson which we can and should use to help us as we interact with people. Even when we disagree with people we must treat them well. We do not have to like them. We do not have to agree with them and what they stand for. But we must still show them hospitality; indeed, we must be charitable to them, hoping for the best for them. Wishing the best does not mean we are wishing for success in whatever someone wants to do. Wishing the best for them could mean we wish they would change their mind and not do what they are thinking of doing; showing people hospitality sometimes provides the means to make such a change, giving them the time they need to cool down and think things through. Indeed, it is often because people are not received with due respect that they often become angry and vindictive and engage in less-than-wholesome beliefs and practices. This is why, when we are not so hospitable, we might find ourselves as being one of the causes of the evils which happen later. On the other hand, care must be taken not to do hospitality with public funds. “In Nigeria of our day where over desire for quick money has brought down many problems in the society (think of embezzlement of government and company funds, stealing in all its forms, corruption, adulteration of drugs and kidnapping), the example of detachment left us by Father Tansi can be most healthy for everyone; lay faithful, religious and clerics” (in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response’ p.206)
      Hospitality is important. Charity towards others is important. How we treat others will have an effect on them. Social sin is real. Systematic evil will corrupt people, making them go astray. So long as we ignore the dignity of others, so long as we find ways to excuse in hospitality, we are a part of the problem; we are a part of the system which has gone astray.

             

                                                       Sunday, August 18, 2024
                                                              Prayerlife that draws us to prayer.
      We have said in many places in the past that Blessed Tansi lived entirely for God and anybody whose life is entirely for God must be a man of trust and prayer. Spiritual wisdom teaches us that we die as we have lived. Our lives are blessings in themselves, even as they are also opportunities for us to prepare well for a holy death and live eternally in God’s presence. Prayer is essential in life. Basic to Blessed Tansi's attitude to Divine Providence was his faith and prayer life. Professor Isichei records Blessed Tansi's advice to his old house boy and friend Augustine Chendo: “You and your wife should always keep before your eyes that fact that you are creatures, God’s creation. As man’s handwork belongs to him, so do we all belong to God, and should accordingly have no other will but His. He is a Father, a very kind Father indeed. All his plans are for the good of his children. We may not often see how they are. That does not matter. Leave yourselves in his hands, not for a year, nor two years, but as long as you have to live on earth. If you confide in him fully and sincerely he will take special care of you” (in ‘Entirely for God’ p.81). The Blessed Tansi was a man of prayer. Everything he did was surrounded by closeness to God. Like the Master, he took specific moments and went to specific places to pray.  He had a prayerful spirit and was a man of set prayer times. As such, it should not surprise us that the holy pastor ended his life in the house of prayer and contemplation.  As he lived in prayer, his death would be encompassed by prayer. “A prayerful pastor such as Father Tansi could not keep this measure all by himself. His people got contaminated by his love of prayer. The best way he taught them to pray was by his example” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ P. 175) His parishioners knew he was a man of prayer, one of them testified: “Prayer was second nature to him. Every waking hour of his life was spent in prayer formally and informally. He prayed always. He spent most of the night time praying. I got to know this because we were living in the boarding house – a living accommodation he provided for senior primary pupils in standards five and six. This boarding house was only 200 yards away from the Pastor’s house. (Dominic Odenigbo quoted in C. Obi's Facing Mount Saint Bernard, p.72). In his parish everywhere he went “he propagated the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, especially in the form of the First Friday of the month” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response P.176). He had a strong devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary through the Rosary and the observance of the first Saturday of the month in honour of Mary. His girls’ Mary League Association was encouraged to have a special devotion to Mary and to attend the first Saturday devotion regularly. 
      Jesus' life particularly his entire passion was full of prayer as the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: “When the hour had come for him to fulfil the Father’s plan of love, Jesus allowed a glimpse of the boundless depth of his filial prayer, not only before he freely delivered himself up (‘Abba . . . not my will, but yours.’), but even in his last words on the Cross, where prayer and the gift of self are but one: ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,’ ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise,; ‘Woman, behold your son’ – ‘Behold your mother,’ ‘I thirst,’ ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ ‘It is finished’; ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!’ until the ‘loud cry’ as he expires, giving up his spirit.”(CCC. no. 2605). His prayer and the gift of self are but one.  This marked his utter reliance confidence, and extreme love he bears for the Father. The profound example of Jesus is a summons to all the children of God to follow. In our lives, as we undergo sufferings, heartaches, betrayals, rejection, and other areas of darkness, we are to cooperate with grace and offer these inflictions of a fallen world to God and such an oblation should be marked by prayer. Blessed Tansi did exactly this.  He prayed in times of multiple hurts and harms of his life. “The desire which Michael Tansi had for a greater place for prayer in his life did not come in one day or as a surprise. It was first of all part of his desire to give God his best.” (in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response’ p. 178)  Prayer is not an accidental portion of life. It is not something that is an extra to the intricacies and turmoil of life. The Blessed Tansi prayer life shows us that prayer should be the most natural response of a child of God who is hurt and suffering.
      With all we are going through in Nigeria today pain wants to close us in on itself. Sufferings want to dominate our lives. The hurt we undergo wants to be the lord and centre of everything we do. The falseness of the world desires to encompass us and lead us to forget about God, feel abandoned or alone, and think we have to solve things ourselves and rely on our strengths and talents to work our way through pain and suffering. At times, we become suppliants to these lies, especially when they involve ongoing pain or the suffering of our loved ones. The prayer lifestyle of Blessed Tansi teaches us not to give up and to hold fast to God from whom our true relief would come. One way to hold fast is through prayer. The blessed Tansi seemed to break through the darkness of his time and offered us another way - the way of love. As God is close to us in our lives and our sufferings we should be close to others especially those beaten down. If God is always present, always ready to embrace us, and always ready to assist us and strengthen us by his grace we should be present to others to help and to strengthen them.
      The Blessed Tansi shows us by his holy life how we are to pray. By living a life of prayer, we can also see his witness and follow him through the sufferings and struggles of this world. Like him, we can suffer as a people of prayer since we have first laboured and sought to live faithfully as a people of prayer throughout our lives. We can often ask ourselves -when we are suffering, do we draw close to God in prayer? Does our own experience of suffering help us to see the cause of other people who suffer perhaps more than us? Does this move our compassion and readiness to help? 

Tansian Meditations
      If you have been following us in these weekly meditations it is time for you to take some time to reflect on Blessed Tansi's instructions on Mass as if he were speaking to you. Listen to his invitations as you prepare for Mass and Adoration. How does this help you understand your identity in Christ? Ask Him to intercede for you and help you move beyond your current limitations and weaknesses so that you can proclaim Christ in the Eucharist with greater confidence and charity. As we remember this holy pastor we cannot forget his Eucharistic love and devotion, his encouragement to draw closer to Christ in the Eucharist and to one another. With the Eucharist, therefore, heaven comes down to earth, the tomorrow of God descends into the present and it is as if time remains embraced by divine eternity

​                                                                  Sunday, August 11, 2024
                                                 Blessed Tansi's youth apostolate was full of hope.
      Generation of Nigerian youths between the advent of Christian missionaries and the rise of nationalist sentiments have been known as one of the loneliest generations and more than half of them, who were raised in traditional religious households were strong and faithful devotees of the Igbo traditional religion, very responsible and honest. However, there was this feeling of loneliness and disconnect caused by fears of invading colonial masters, the slave trade and the uncertainty of their future. The only businesses available to young men were: subsistent farming, hunting, wine tapping and trading. For young women, their situation was worse. Society itself gave more rights and privileges to male youths. “Custom gave more rights to men than to women in such matters as inheritance leadership of family or the extended family, or clan, and generally in chieftaincy matters” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 125) In his pastoral approach Blessed Tansi as one-time pastor in the Igbo society of the Archdiocese of Onitsha sought to improve the condition of the youth and women in particular. He wanted to give them more hope for the future by not only building and promoting a society where everybody would be accepted and given a chance to develop. Marriages, women, and youth came first as his pastoral priority. He wanted to liberate women by giving them a role in the society. Educating them was his first approach; he built pre-marriage centres for young married women where women were taught wifely skills and how to keep the home. This is in line with the church's mind in her pastoral constitution on the church in the world today (Gaudium et Spes) where she honors women as mothers of the family, the first educators of the human race in the intimacy of the family circle. It should be remembered that Blessed Tansi did not read this document, and died before the document was published.  The very rich teaching on the family and youth was already in his pastoral plan.
       Having himself been brought up in a simple home in IgboezunAguleri he was concerned about the needs of the weak and marginalized in society, the poor and weak particularly the many deprived of their right by the unjust system in the society. As a youth, he learnt a lot of real-life situations from his maternal cousin who generously arranged for his education and moral upbringing with the missionaries in the Christian village of Aguleri. It was the perfect choice for the studious little boy, who decided to enter the seminary after his teaching career. He was ordained a priest in 1937 and worked as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Onitsha from 1937 to 1950. During this period in his apostolate, he was forced to deal with traditional systems, policies and leaders that hindered human and spiritual growth, especially among the youth.  In general, he spoke out strongly about the rights of everybody – the poor and the sick against some bad traditional rulers who exploited the weak in society. “Father Tansi knew that to prepare women for their due status in society and to help build up Christian families would not be accomplished in one day in a culture such as has been briefly described. He went about this apostolate in a way that we could call methodical. That is why he made a big effort to see that women get the respect due to them in the society” (Arinze Cardinal in “Total Response’ p. 127) He started with the younger generation of women – young girls and the family. He set up two “... pre-marriage preparation centres: one for brides already cohabiting with their intended husbands and another for other brides. These centres worked for the promotion of women's rights and dignity, encouraged women's education, taught women duties in marriage and family values, wifely skills and human and spiritual formation. For the first time, women stood up in public to defend their rights and girls stood up against traditional masquerades that oppressed and harassed women with impunity. This would in the traditional society be a crime punishable by death except for the high moral stature of the Father” (ibid.  p. 128) 
      Apart from his regular mission schools, he set up for the boys a separate boarding facility for the boys in standard five and six. The emphasis here was moral, human and intellectual formation-uniting and preparing them for their future adult role in the emerging new society - Nigeria. Regularly he also hosted weekly Bible studies and mission trips at parishes throughout the Archdiocese. A sense of belonging is at the heart of all these activities to welcome young adults and provide a place for them to feel closer to God and to discuss and make decisions for their future. The primary virtue of evangelization is hospitality. If you can’t make someone feel like they belong, it doesn’t matter if we are teaching the truth or not. The ministry, founded in Onitsha and borne out of a desire to improve the spiritual life and active participation in the life of the local church, is now in other dioceses in Igboland. The ministry has resulted in at least building up solid Christian families, sanctifying many marriages, making many conversions and many vocational discernment for seminarians and religious aspirants. In his time not many went to college, and not many had the modern social gathering.  Not many got tapped into student’s ministry, or marital vocation, but the pious pastor had his adult youth at his fingertips. They had the fellowship that was necessary for young adults. The spiritual connectedness and friendship that were necessary for their healthy spiritual development were not lacking. 
      Being intelligent and good at administration are helpful qualities for any pastor. Blessed Tansi was both. But those abilities alone were not enough to make an effective pastor into a saintly one. Besides God’s grace and man’s cooperation with that grace, the pastor needed to with passion respond to the specific challenges he faced both with the Heart of Christ and the gifts God had given him. Today Nigerian pastors of souls have a lot to learn for the legacy of Blessed Tansi - to face the pastoral challenges of their time with means appropriate to their time. “In the contemporary pastoral approach and the mentality of today, the methods used by Father Tansi would be an object of debate especially regarding their values and practicability. It should be remembered however that he was a person of special moral and spiritual nature. No one challenged him. In his unique way, he achieved much. He was a child of his epoch.” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 129). What is important today is for the pastor to see the pastoral problem of his day and seek to solve it with whatever means at his option.
      Bad traditional rulers took control of Igboland and its customs for a very long time. Their supporters and faithful Catholics debated and fought for years with occasional improvements in the government’s treatment of the Church. But with Father Tansi he never started a fight he did not win. All his reforms got through and survived him. Today after many years he had gone some of his pastoral reforms are still in use by contemporary pastors of souls. Blessed Tansi was a strong leader who led his people by word and example. But more than that, he was a holy man. 
                                                                     Sunday, August 4 2024.
                                                        Blessed Tansi suffered so much – Why!
      Blessed Tansi from his youthful days, through his seminary years to his pastoral ministry period and then to the evening of his life at Mount Saint Bernard was known to be a penitential mortified person. “Anyone close to Father Tansi could without much difficulty recognize him as a deeply mortified person, even long before he entered the seminary” Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ p. 188). Sometimes these sufferings are self-imposed as if he delighted in them. Samuel Edezi who lived in Aguleri with Father Tansi remembered “how Michael chose narrow overgrown footpath as a punishment and how he fasted, living on pawpaw for several days at a time” (Isichei E. in ‘Entirely for God’ p.18) “Descriptions of his childhood and adolescence reflect a degree of docility and industry which a modern parent would find less gratifying than alarming” (Ibid p.18). Today many people are turned off by the idea of having to suffer for the sake of holiness. For them, the image of a Catholic saint who had to go through unimaginable ordeals and martyrdom is not a very enticing one. Some would question why suffer when all you want is to be happy. And doesn’t God want us to be happy, too? For some of them, it is not easy to understand how a good God would allow so much suffering. And it is harder to grasp why His followers would suffer the same fate as Jesus did. Jesus did nothing wrong. He made the blind to see and the lame to walk. He raised even the dead. Why must He die such an excruciating death? In the same way, why must saints suffer unjust punishments from men? Why must they be starved, flogged and beheaded? Even those who did not die as martyrs lived in a self-sacrificial way, often letting go of personal comfort, and spent their time in prayer, fasting and works of charity.
      Blessed Tansi as a young headmaster of the school at Aguleri was noted for being strict and exact on himself and on others. “His mortified and perfectionist tendency showed itself in the seminary at Igbariam, as a fellow seminarian testifies: ‘ he tried to do everything with perfection, even ordinary manual labour… at Igbariam we had to cultivate the soil. We had general work and private work… Even in those early days he did everything with the utmost perfection, and the ambition or aspiration to perfection pervaded his life” (Augustine Metuh quoted in Cardinal Arinze ‘Total Response” p.190) When the three companions were at Eke Seminary Michael Tansi was appointed the seminary procurator. His work included cycling every weekend from Eke to Enugu for Seminarians’ provisions - a distance of fifteen miles through the difficult Milliken Hill at the entrance of the city of Enugu. The return journey was extremely difficult for he had to push his bike with the load of provision up the dangerous hill. Cardinal Arinze testifies that “to have persevered in the seminary at Igbariam, Onitsha and Eke in those years was in itself not far from a heroic act of mortification. To begin with, the material provision of food and lodging was rather poor. The teaching staff was minimal one or two priests covered every subject. But much more serious was the fact that in those years the missionaries doubted whether local people could make good and reliable priests in the next two or three generations. The first seminarians were therefore subjected to harsher tests than the candidates in the seminaries today”( Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response p.191) When he became a priest on December 19, 1937, the same story of penance, mortification and suffering continued. “Father Tansi had a reputation of not only being mortified but also of demanding high standards from people. Some nicknamed him ‘Reverend Father Strict’. This was not without foundation” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ p. 194). As a manager of schools in his parish, some teachers were not willing to work under him because he demanded a very high standard of performance. Some said that he demanded ‘the life, not of a priest, but of a hermit’. As a priest one of the ways he mortified himself was in the matter of food and drink. Mr. Vincent Obiano his onetime house boy testified: “He was so ascetic that I believe he did not consider food important for his existence…so he ate the barest minimum just to make his body metabolism function. He was on daily fasting” (ibid p. 197). 
      His priestly vocation was an outstanding model of priestly asceticism, of piety, of special devotion to the Eucharist, of devotion to the ministry of reconciliation and pastoral zeal. His priestly vocation teaches us the basics of the priesthood in its blueprint, building up parishes out of nothing and interested in orphans, the needy and the poor and doing acts of charity for the sick and underprivileged. At the same time overwhelmed with his sense of unworthiness and weakness in the face of his mission. Bishop Anthony Nwedo CSSp former bishop of Umuahia testifies that: “It is hard to think of any other Indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm candour, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha October 17, 1986) His monastic adventure on the evening of his life must have cost him the greatest suffering of his life. “When he left Nigeria, he disappeared as far as his people were concerned. He had gone from light into darkness, from a life in the sight of all to a life hidden from the world. Yet he did not see it as a running away, as an avoiding of responsibilities. For him, it was God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown, to leave his country and his family like Abraham and so many others, and to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. It was, like all true calls from God, a venture of faith. None of us can know what it cost him ― though I am sure that the process of canonization will reveal some of this ― but we can glimpse some of the more obvious things. He went to another culture and people, he had to adapt to strange ways, he had to get used to a cold climate and different food, and to many things that even those who came from this country found decidedly peculiar and contrary to what they were used to. It was not easy” (Abbot Moakler in sermon Mount Saint Bernard September 18, 1986). Now the question before us is: why must the saints and holy people suffer like this? Is there some deeper wisdom we must learn to understand the suffering of the saints? The first reason why the saints undertake suffering for the sake of Christ is to show their love for God. Blessed Tansi spent his life entirely and willingly for God. The deeper one’s love for Jesus, the more also one is willing to embrace suffering for His sake. It is not that God wants to see us suffer. But He allows us to love Him ever more deeply in this life until we join him in heaven where we can no longer suffer.  Secondly, it shows us how necessary suffering is to get to heaven.
      If the saints never suffered, we may get the wrong idea that salvation is only for our present life. Suffering gives us a glimpse of hope and makes us look forward to heaven. Thirdly, through suffering, we can make sacrifices for other people. The saints did not just suffer for themselves. Many took on voluntary sacrifices such as fasting and spending long hours in prayer to offer for sinners and other people in purgatory. Fourthly, suffering makes us gain merit for heaven. Some of the sufferings of these saints did not come from voluntary offerings. They were a result of unjust situations in the world that were allowed by God so that they could receive a greater reward in heaven. And lastly, suffering can make us grow in humility. The more righteous a person becomes, the greater also is the temptation for pride and vainglory. To avoid attributing their holiness to themselves, they are sometimes taken to difficult trials. Suffering and temptation become the cross that reminds them of their weaknesses. The suffering of the saints should remind us of the suffering of Christ. Christ did not undergo all those hardships without a good reason. He did it to save us. He did it because He loves us. The saints merely reflect and carry on the mission of Jesus Christ. They embody the kind of love that is willing to make a sacrifice for the sake of saving one’s neighbour.
                                                                  Sunday, July 28, 2024
                                                                 You too can be a SAINT
      “We cannot avoid thanking God for the many favours which he has given to Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, and through him, to Nigeria, Africa and the church worldwide” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 243). Through the intercession of Your Blessed Tansi, O Lord, may I tread the way of holiness courageously as he did. We are all called to spend our lives striving to fall more and more deeply in love with Christ – entirely for God.  We are meant to seek, find and follow the paths that lead to our vocations. We are meant to love God truly, to seek and to do always and only his will. Again we are intended to fall in love with God.  We are called, just as the famous Blessed Tansi we honour always has been called, to spend all our Christian lives, from the time we realize Him, to the time we enter eternity, loving, serving, and giving our everything to Him and those in most need of his mercy.  As Christians, we ought to have a deep personal relationship with Christ. We have to ask ourselves what the Lord requires of us as our expression of this gratitude for the so much we have personally received from him. We must have a prayer life that reflects that relationship. That relationship will help us to become like Blessed Tansi and the other saints we may have known. These saints in the way they lived out their vocation have certain things in common. Some of them before they became saints were sinners.  Some of them, before their conversion, or reversion were notorious sinners.  If you tell me you do not sin, that is just not true because you are a sinner. As a sinner, you may not realize the depth of love Jesus has for you and until you do you may not know what you need to change in your life so that you may sin less and become saint-like just like the saints.  By the way, saints do not consider themselves saints.  They look at their imperfections and know they need to continue seeking God’s will and become still more holy.
      Some sinners in the bible turned Saints.  Look at Saint Peter.  He denied being a follower of Christ, a friend of Jesus and yet he is a Saint and for we Catholics the first Pope. Saint Paul was an avid hater of the followers of Christ. But he has an incredible miraculous conversion story.  He not only became a follower of Christ but wrote letters of encouragement to people in the early Church which made their way into the New Testament. All the Saints were madly in love with Jesus.  Yes, some were priests, nuns, married, or single.  Some held down simple jobs and others were renowned scholars.  Some started their childhood poor and others were from wealthy, even noble families. Some died as martyrs, some at a quite young age of illnesses or still others old age.   So there is no mould, no one lifestyle to become a saint.  You can’t truly look at an infant and say a hundred years from now he or she will be a canonized Saint. So what then do the saints have in common? They were madly in love with Christ.  They made sacrifices for those in need.  They, based on their own time and place in history, gave their whole lives to Christ, always putting the needs of others before their needs.  They gave up what they had, including what most of us would consider what they may need, for the love of others.  Perhaps it was food or clothing for the monetarily poor or they may have offered up their sufferings without complaining.  They had such a wonderful relationship with Jesus.  A true Saint would go against the grain even giving up family expectations, or an easier life to live humbly, simply and to seek God no matter the cost. Let us be clear about this there are many unsung Saints lost to history who lived just as holy a life as the ones that can be seen as statues, icons, banners and prayer cards. These are the ones who were never canonized or even considered because they were never known beyond the people they interacted with and who are also lost to time and history, but not lost to God.
      Now it is my turn and your turn to be a saint.  What changes can you make in your life that will enhance your relationship with our God? It is a lifelong process and a forever commitment.  How can you better serve your community, the sick, the downtrodden etc.?  What can your prayer life be like if you put in more time and effort?  What changes can each of us as individuals make given our current state of life?  Do we need to change our state of life and lifestyle? The answer to these questions will come from the general principle of loving God and neighbour more than anything else. All our specific individual answers will not fit into the same mould as someone else’s. It is easy to look at the lives of the saints. Blessed Tansi is there for our example and model. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest” (St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998). His lifestyle shows us his holiness. It is for us to see how you can mirror some of his actions, his deep committed love for Christ and his neighbour above all. Keep trying. Do not give up if you are not yet there. Know that now God loves you no matter what, but know also that you must become more like the saintly children of God and not just out of fear of hell.  No Saint ever became so out of fear, but only from a deep love of God and neighbour.
      You are not alone in the struggle; you have the constant help of the Body of Christ who is always solicitous and anxious for your salvation. The church like a mother, proud of the triumph of her children, presents those who have made heaven to the whole Christian world, inviting all the faithful to share her maternal joy: “Let us all rejoice in the Lord, celebrating a feast in honour of all the saints, at whose solemnity the angels rejoice and give praise to the Son of God” (Introit solemnity of all the Saints). The book of Revelation offers us the apocalyptic vision of the glory of the saints: “I saw a great multitude which no man could number, of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and in the sight of the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and with palms in their hands… Ranks of martyrs, apostles, confessors, and virgins, luminous hosts, who delight unceasingly in the vision of God, adore Him continually and praise Him as they repeat: “Benediction and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honour and power and strength to our God forever and ever. Amen.”(cf. Rev. 7: 2-12)
     Who are these glorious saints? Men who have lived upon earth as we have, who have known our miseries, our difficulties, our struggles. Some of them we recognize easily, for the Church has raised them to the honours of the Altar, but the great majority is entirely unknown to us. They are humble people who lived obscurely in the accomplishment of duty, without display, without renown, whom no one here below remembers, but whom the heavenly Father looked upon, knew in secret, and, having proved their fidelity, called to His glory. The honourable positions occupied by some in this vast gathering, or the mighty deeds accomplished by others, no longer possess any value of themselves: eternal beatitude is not determined by the great things achieved here below. One thing only endures, for the humble and the great, the poor and the wealthy: the degree of love they had attained, to which corresponds the degree of glory which now renders them eternally happy.
                                                                Sunday, July, 21, 2024
                                                How Blessed Tansi lived ‘Entirely for God’ 
      Professor Elizabeth Isichei reflecting on the life of this Nigerian Saint said: “No man is an island, in Igboland or anywhere else. To understand anyone, it is axiomatic that the observer must understand something about the society in which he lived. But understanding the precise linkages between the individual and his environment is extraordinarily difficult, as becomes clear when one reflects on the diverse factors that shaped one’s own experience and sensibility, or the strangely different paths often taken by brothers. It is the more difficult in the case like that of Michael Tansi, for none of the more relevant variables – Aguleri society, twentieth-century mission history in Igboland – have as yet been adequately studied” ( in ‘Entirely for God’ p. 1)
      Studying the lifestyle of Blessed Tansi, a twentieth-century parish priest in a yet-beginning mission land has helped me to discover more that the best way—the only way—one can have a happy, powerful life is to get one’s mind off oneself and do something for someone else. Helping people, being a blessing, and adding value to other people’s lives are what it means to walk in love and follow the example of Jesus. “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us …” (Eph. 5:2). Jesus—our perfect and holy Savior—gave His life for us, took all of our sins upon Himself, and shed His blood so we could have a personal relationship with Him and become the righteousness of God. That was His gift to us. And once we experience the gift of salvation, our gift to God is how we live our lives. In his imitation of the Master, Blessed Tansi lived entirely for God. Because his life is entirely for that he made love to be his lifestyle. Because his life was entirely for God his person and his convenience did not matter to him, he made his mission his priority.  “He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. His goodness touched everyone who met him. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. Especially, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification” (St. John Paul 11, in sermon beatification Nigeria March 1998) 
      Blessed Tansi who had first-hand experience of any Christian community…took missionary teaching as a blueprint to live by '' (Esichei E. ‘Entirely for God’ p.5), visited most of his outstations on foot and in some of the stations where there was no shelter for him. “In many of the stations, especially in the beginnings of Dunukofia and Akpu parishes the priest passed the night in some corner of the school church” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.36). His very close mission companion at Akpu parish Mr. Ibegbunam Lawrence could not understand his physical strength and self-forgetfulness. “I suffered a lot with him in the bush. We would stay in the open like wild animals, without any shelter... At Okpeze the bush was very thick. There was no house, nothing. We were to open a mission station there. I suffered a lot with Father. I didn’t sleep” (quoted in C.Obi, Facing Mount Saint Bernard, p.121). The former Catholic Bishop of Umuahia believes that “...it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm candour, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Anthony Nwedo in Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha October 17, 1986) In all these, it was the love of God the main motivating factor.
      If today Nigerians make love a priority in their lives and take a little time to study the place of love in the lifestyle of Blessed Tansi they would be getting a revelation about how much God loves them and learning to receive His love would be life-changing for them. Jesus says in John 13:34, “… Love each other just as I have loved you” If we will learn how to follow this one commandment, everything else in our lives will fall into place. Because we can only become everything we are created to be when we live a life filled with God’s love. Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan to demonstrate what it means to love God and your neighbour as yourself. (cf. Lk.10:30-37).  Beaten and stripped of his clothes, and left half dead beside the road by the bandits, the despised Samaritan felt compassion for this man and was moved to do something to help him. He dressed his wounds and took him to an inn where he could get the care he needed. He paid the innkeeper and told him, “Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I will pay you the next time I am here” (v. 35). This Samaritan was travelling to where he was needed but his sympathy for this wounded man made him stop even if it meant his plan is interrupted. He gave his best effort to make sure the man had good care and then paid for him to get it. He was willing to pay whatever it was going to cost. Blessed Tansi living entirely for God is like the good Samaritan. The Holy Father says that “everyone who met him was touched by his goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families” (in his sermon beatification March 22, 1998). When you consider Blessed Tansi's compassion in his pastoral approach and his total detachment to worldly possessions and honours you cannot but conclude that he is showing us what real love looks like. Paul lists the characteristics of God’s love: it is patient and kind, never jealous, boastful or rude; it does not demand its way, is not irritable and keeps no record of being wronged. Love rejoices when truth wins out. It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love never fails. (cf. 1Cor.13:4-7) . Blessed Tansi was able to live out these because from the moment he detached himself from his traditional African religion and attached himself to the Christian religion he had everything he needed to be like Jesus. He had complete trust in Divine Providence and it became easy for him to resist the temptation to be selfish. But for me and you, it is important to understand that God is not expecting us to be perfect in our love walk or to do it without His help. What He wants is for us to seek Him through prayer and studying His Words, and as we do, lean on Him for the grace to do what He is asking us to do each day. If God is love, we can rest in the truth that He is patient with us, He is always with us, He believes in us, and will not give up on us. And with God’s love in our lives, we can learn how to live a life of love like Blessed Tansi.
                                                                     Sunday July 14, 2024
                                                     Blessed Tansi Serves Christ in the poor/sick.
      Today over eighty years after his stay at Nnewi, people still remember how Blessed Tansi dispelled the myth about leprosy to them.  “He stayed in Nnewi for two years, and left thirty-seven years ago. I wondered if many people would remember him at all. But Nnewi oral traditions speak with precisely the enthusiastic unanimity one finds elsewhere.” (E. Isichei ‘Entirely for God’ p.38) Philip Anajemba a prominent Nnewi Christian teacher remembers Elizabeth Isichei “I feel that Tansi’s canonization is overdue because his person was held sacrosanct while at Nnewi. No Rev. Fr. was as good as Fr. Tansi and Nnewians so loved him that when his transfer was hinted to them they rose in unison to object to it…Neither the Catholics nor anyone else spoke ill of him” (‘Entirely for God’ p.38). Nnewi and indeed most towns in Igboland believed that leprosy was caused by the earth goddess on those who infringed the laws of the goddess and as a result the lepers were avoided even by their relations. They were not allowed to live with other members in the same house nor eat with them. They were not seen in public and often not fed. In the event of their death they were not buried because the earth goddess would not accept them rather they were dumped in the evil forest to rot away or consumed by wild animals. This was the situation Blessed Tansi met when he arrived to begin his mission at Nnewi in 1937. He was moved with sympathy and with words and action he fought against this custom. He did what he could to see that the neglected leprosy patients got something to eat. “Nnewians abhorred lepers more than anything. But Father Michael sent prepared food to them through me. Those who received his food were Matthew and Ayagbakwuonye lepers. He built homes for the destitute from the proceedings of his tithes and Mass sayings” (Anthony Uchendu in E. Isichei, ‘Entirely for God’ p. 39) He gave them a home, medicine and food. He became their best friend and when nothing happened to him the peoples’ attitude towards the lepers began to change. The myth disappeared but his fame remained. “Fr. Michael was the most hard-working of all priests who ever lived at Nnewi and he hardly ate because time spent at table could be utilized in doing some work. He was regarded as a living saint. He never distanced himself from the people. He worked even with women in scrubbing the church floors…he was sympathetic beyond comparison to the destitute. He rendered financial aid to them from his meager tithes. He fed those brought to the mission especially the sick… repaired thatched churches with men, scrubbed the floor with women. He had no leisure hours”. (Pius Unachukwu, a teacher in E.Isichei ‘Entirely for God’ p. 38).
      Another deadly infectious sickness he had to battle with was smallpox which people believe to be caused by evil spirits on those who broke the laws of the land. These received the same fate as the lepers. Blessed Tansi treated them, fed them and prepared them for death and in the event of death he buried them. “At the outbreak of smallpox epidemic, for instance, his action was prompt. His zeal and alertness at attending sick calls and administering the sacraments was exemplary”. We all know that illnesses, from the common cold to terminal diseases, strike at the core of our fallen nature. Despite the physical pain and spiritual agony, sometimes the sick, with the help of God’s grace, can see beyond the vanity of the world. Because of their humbled position, they can recognize the need for prayer and penance for furthering the glory of God and saving souls more so than their healthier counterparts. This more often can come about with proper pastoral care. Blessed Tansi whose hallmark of holiness is ascetic charity has a very soft spot for the sick and the poor. In his care for the sick he turned the hearts of the sick to Christ and away from worldly concerns. More so because he himself was a totally detached priest. He became “all things to all men, that [he] might by all means save some” (1 Cor 9:22). By becoming another Christ, he truly understood the plight of the sickly and suffering man.  As much as he ministered to the physical needs of the sick he cared for, he always did so in light of eternity for he was aware that no number of medical techniques or supplies can save a soul. His conviction that only God saves spurred him to ceaselessly seek the salvation of souls. He embodied what our Lord said to His disciples: “truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). He understood that “almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22). 
      His dedication to the sick stemmed from a totally selfless and pure love of God and from a profound faith -- faith that he was being called to do God's work, what he had asked of him. Jesus taught us that what we do to the sick and poor we do them to him. “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me...come O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25: 34-36) Blessed Tansi himself was a poor pastor, he had not much. When he visited an out station as a custom people gave him eggs, chickens, fruits of various kinds and yams. He distributed most of such gifts to the poor and needy in the outstation. His station catechist testified that such distribution reached its climax during Christmas and Easter periods. “Myself and other zealous workers would come to him and collect  yams, bread, fowls and so on, and distribute them among the poor in the outstations”(Elizabeth Isichei  in ‘Entirely for God’ p. 53).
      Blessed Tansi by the example of his care for the sick, provides us an additional example of making frequent and fervent confessions so we can constantly humble ourselves by acknowledging our sinfulness and our dependence upon God alone. Pastoral compassion is at the root of his relation with the sick. Everyone deserves compassion. Everyone deserves to be loved. It is also important to note that when we treat someone with hospitality, it does not mean we approve of everything they represent, everything that they should say or do. Blessed Tansi was guided by common decency and responsibility to his neighbor, no matter who they were.
     [Please remember the Vatican needs one miracle to bring Blessed Tansi to the fullness of the altar, be a part of the prayer champagne for this miracle. Report to the Postulation (whatsapp 2348030958350 ) any favor you know to have been received through the intercession of Blessed Tansi.]
                                                                   Sunday, July 7, 2024
                                                            Blessed Tansi attitude to wealth.
      All the faithful of Christ need some minimum of detachment from creatures without which they cannot rightly claim to be true disciples of Jesus. When the young man came to Jesus looking for perfection Jesus' reply was: “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me. When the young man heard this, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions''. (Mat. 19:21-22). To sell everything is indeed serious; it is hard - well, for some people, like Blessed Tansi and St. Francis of Assisi, that is exactly what they did. We could solve many Nigerian problems if only the rich Nigerians realized they don’t need the treasures, the jewelry, the multiple houses, and so on as much as others need their help. “Blessed Tansi reached a high level of detachment from creatures: food, house, living conditions, money, means of transport and changes in climate” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 253) In actuality, the distribution of wealth is probably not a reflection of God’s blessings so much as it is a test of your character. If you are wealthy, what will you do with the money? Jesus and ordinary common sense would answer-do as Blessed Tansi did – invest in the common good, the poor, the needy, the sick and the marginalized. Train the young people, the future hope of the new Nigeria. In this way you will be doing exactly what Jesus told the rich young man to do - sell all you have, give the proceeds to the poor. (cf. Matt.19:21). The rich young man was not really giving away but investing in real estate – come, follow me and possess eternal and imperishable wealth. “First as Teacher and later as School Headmaster, Tansi continued to reveal not merely his “sharp and keen” abilities as Educator, but of equal importance to us, his demonstrable preferential love of God and of Christian values… Popular, effective and even beloved though he was, Headmaster Tansi gradually began to notice within himself a deeper and more demanding “calling” to the service of sacramental priesthood which, if responded to with generous detachment, would necessitate his leaving an already prestigious teaching profession and with it, a relatively autonomous life style” (Ed Debany SJ. in paper at National Symposium on Blessed Tansi, Onitsha 18th March 2004). His invitation to leave his prestigious teaching profession with all its potentials to wealth was as demanding as to ask the rich young man to sell all he had but Blessed Tansi did not hesitate at his positive response even though at the displeasure of many including his mother. “Orekyie, Michael’s master and guardian, was strongly opposed to his protégé’s abandoning his chances of worldly advancement and the financial enrichment of his extended family. His fellow villagers could not understand his action…His poor widowed mother went mad with rage. He sympathized with his poor mother all right, but there was no turning back”. (Elizabeth Isichei in ‘Entirely for God’ p. 28)  
      In what God did later with the Blessed Tansi we see the reward of the change of vocation from headmaster Tansi into Rev. Father Tansi. The prodigious variety and obvious fruits of his priestly ministry in the three parishes assigned to his pastoral care are today living admiration. As a priest he needed some money for his parish ministry – setting up structures-churches and schools, pre-marriage training centers. But more than these his priority went to human beings, the poor, the sick, the old, the widow and the orphans. He cared for other people. Then again, other people’s problems were his concern and priority – to lift them out of poverty and save their lives. “He never had much money for these purposes. But he used very wisely the little that was available. He was not preoccupied with money raising projects. Rather he motivated the people to communal labor…” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.206). Just as volunteering time makes people feel better about themselves, so does using one’s money for others. As a parish priest he had not much but the little he got from his ministry he shared according to peoples’ needs. The hungry came first, then the widows and the sick. Father Tansi was methodical too. “He had a list of old women, all the old women in the area. He would take out the list wherever he went, especially in places like Umuogem, Enugu-Aboh and Umueji. When he went there, he would visit every old woman and give her presents. The next time he went there he would see them coming, asking for more of his help”, says Hyacinth Okoli (quoted in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response’ p. 55). By giving out his towel to a poor man that has no clothes he shows us how to give out our excess to the one who has none. “He gave him his towel, saying that he did not need a towel to dry himself when another person had nothing to wear” (ibid p.56). In the seminary he secretly dropped a shirt on the bed of another seminarian who had none and when the seminarian was inquiring who left the shirt for him the donor told him “to box his shirt and to stop disturbing the peace of the world” (Peter Meze in E. Isichei Entirely for God, p.33). It is always the little things that show a person’s mind and inclination. Blessed Tansi had not much material things but the little he had he gave in a very striking way. A young man who went to visit him on an outstation at Uke gave his experience: “At midnight I felt somebody was just putting something on me, at the real dead of the night. It was Father Tansi who took his own blanket at night and put it on me” (Elizabeth Isichei in ‘Entirely for God’ p.51). The Holy Father had already said that “…he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families” (John Paul 11 in his sermon beatification Nigeria 1998).
      It is well known that the blessed Tansi respected the poor. He did not blame them for their poverty rather he sought to improve their condition with whatever help he could give. His charity extended even to compassion for traders and market women who sat long hours without anyone buying from them. “When Michael was procurator of the seminary at Eke, and went to the market for purchases, he deliberately bought from as many as possible so that each trader got something. (G. Wareing in ‘Sorrow will not kill me’ p. 6) Sometimes we wonder at the rate of extravagant spending in this country. Money that could have been used for common good, the poor and the needy are simply lavished often on the rich and the wealthy. Does that make any sense? Think then of what a difference a wealthy person could make to multiple lives. As Christ said, it is better to sell what you possess and give to the poor. You will have greater satisfaction through love and good works and greater treasures in heaven than worldly goods could ever provide. “In the Nigeria of our day where over desire for quick money has brought down many problems on society (think of embezzlement of Government or company funds, stealing in all its forms, corruption, adulteration of drugs and kidnapping), the example of detachment left us by Father Tansi can be most healthy for everyone: lay faithful, religious and clerics” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.206)
                                                                 Sunday, June 30, 2024
                                                            God is at work in Blessed Tansi.
      Again and again, we see the fruits of Christ’s labour, the saints and those who, having lived by faith became holy by grace. We look to them and their great deeds, and then we honour them. In doing so, we honour God, for their holiness is, in part, the work of God, for  God gave them the grace they needed to do wondrous things with their lives. Certainly, they were not perfect. God is not localized, nevertheless he walks about locally in his agents (cf. Gen. 3:8), when they preach him from place to place. For God, who is not moved in space or time, is moved in space and time in his agents, as often as they preach him in any place. That is, we are all called to become agents, to become one of the crowds of witnesses who illuminate the world with God’s grace. Not everything they did was respectable. But their faith allowed them to open themselves up to God and change for the better throughout their lives. They were open to and cooperated with the grace they needed to become holy. With it they became, as it were, angels, messengers of God, revealing to the world the way of grace, and how grace can perfect those who embrace it with faith, hope and love. 
      St. John Paul 11 told Nigerians and the world: “Christ is thus a part of the history of the nations. He is a part of the history of your nation on this continent of Africa. More than a hundred years ago missionaries arrived in your land proclaiming the Gospel of reconciliation, the Good News of salvation. Your forebears began to learn of the mystery of the redemption of the world and came to share in the New Covenant in Christ. In this way, the Christian faith was firmly planted in this soil, and in this way, it continues to grow and to produce much fruit” (In sermon beatification Blessed Tansi, Nigeria 1998). We can learn from our own man, the Blessed Tansi, not only by looking at what he has done right but also, from what he has done wrong, for by doing so, we can be encouraged to do good with our lives but also not to despair when we find ourselves struggling to do what we know is right; that is, through him, we can see how grace can perfect nature in such a way that even our wrongdoing does not have to get in the way of our perfection. This is why the commemoration of Blessed Tansi and the saints, who triumphed over tyrants and became angels, is cause for celebration among the heavenly beings. And because "God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men's faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled . . . the appeal we make in Christ's name is: be reconciled to God" (2 Cor. 5:19-20). In the same way in our own Blessed Tansi God has worked through him to bring about marvelous achievements in our salvation. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria ... He was first of all a man of God... Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. Especially, the education of young people was precious to him”. (St. John Paul 11 in a sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998). Cardinal Arinze testifies that “Father Tansi was methodical in the measures he took to promote priestly and religious vocations. He knew that good Christian families are the best garden from which such vocations would germinate. He helped to build up such families through his elevation of the status of women, through the pre-marriage training centres which he set up, through the joyful and solemn celebration of the sacrament of matrimony and his homilies in support of the Christian family” (in ‘Total Response’ p.84)
      Blessed Tansi has been proclaimed ‘blessed’ that is he has made a past mark in the way he has lived his life and vocation. He is our brother and we, as Christians, but also as humans, indeed, as creatures created by God, are called to be one, to realize our unity in love that is to experience the oneness we will have in the eschatological kingdom of God. Through it, we know we need each other. We are better together, and in our communion with each other, we will realize better that what is lacking in one may be supplied from the common bounty of those gone before us marked with the sign of faith. We can look to the past and see what God has done in Blessed Tansi despite the questionable things he might have done at some point in his life because he found himself drawn beyond himself by grace and become something more, something better. 
      Through his faith adventure into the Monastery of Mount Saint Bernard with all the sufferings he found himself receiving blessings, blessings which brought him grace, and through that grace, was able to become someone greater, someone who could and would share something of himself with his brothers and sisters. Today Nigeria is booming with monastic vocation-what God has done through one man’s faith, effort and suffering. Of course, Blessed Tansi is not the only one.  If we look through our bible stories, we will find many who have done noble things, many who had great faith, like Abraham, David and Solomon, and yet if we look closely at them, we will find they also did many great evil things as well. Their evil actions did not terminate their connection with God, even if they might have found their relationship with God faltering from time to time because they had faith, and through that faith, they opened themselves up to grace, letting their faith, not their defects, have the last word. If they are capable of such, despite all we can see they have done, we should have hope, no matter what we have done, we can also find ourselves brought into the body of Christ and receive saving, indeed, deifying grace as well. Like Blessed Tansi we must struggle with ourselves, making room for grace, for then we make room for God and allow God to continue to be at work not only in us but in the world at large. For God can be found in all the good which God’s Saints do. 
       Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (cf. Heb. 12:1-2). If we do so, if we let God’s grace transform us from within and make us holy, we will find it does more than purify us from our sins: it will make us temples of God, and in that way, God will dwell in us. But this will only happen if, upon receiving such grace, we do not turn in upon ourselves, and so cut ourselves off from further grace. We need to be constantly open to God and God’s grace, so that we can go from grace to grace, glory to glory, and to do that, we need to live entirely for God as Blessed Tansi did.

​                                                                Sunday, June 23, 2024
                                                     Following Blessed Tansi to Holiness
      “There is no doubt that the price of discipleship is high. Blessed Tansi did not hesitate to pay it. He is a model of detachment from creatures and attachment to the Lord. Every one of us, whether lay faithful, priest or religious, can ask ourselves how the model set for us by Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi can apply to us, in our vocation and mission, in our effort to live entirely for God. He has wonderfully shown us how to give a total response to God’s call” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 254). The Church reminds us that the call to holiness in life is not optional. In her Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium she says, “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and the perfection of charity” (no. 40).  The Master Himself told his disciples that “he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt. 10 38). Certainly the life of Blessed Tansi is “telling us that all of us are called to be holy. His was a life of faith, humility and perseverance in following what he saw to be God’s will for him, no matter at what cost and even when many details remain unknown” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’. P.252) Furthermore his life reminds us that the Gospel is not an impossible ideal reserved for the select few, but rather a real and attainable standard to which we are all called and by which we will all be judged. Yes, by which we will all be considered. This is another truth stirring us in the face. There is no escape for anyone. 
      I have a note of caution however, growth in holiness is not our accomplishment, but a pure gift from God. The Lord does it, not us. Blessed Tansi's steps to spiritual stewardship were not cosy little acts he performed to produce holiness — they were rather simply tried-and-true ways he opened up in humility and faith to let the Lord in to do his work in, on, for, and, often, despite himself. We too can get the same result if we imitate him closely and faithfully. We must remember that our stewardship of the Spirit is never a soothing benefit we cling to, but an inspiration to love humankind better. The Jesus who calls us to spiritual ecstasy in the beatitudes likewise invites us to the pouring out of self on Calvary.
      Now convinced of the need to take Blessed Tansi seriously as our spiritual model to answer the call to discipleship, what do we do and how do we do it? Blessed Tansi was single-minded and driven. It was God or nothing. His approach to life focused on Him. It was entirely for God. His mission was consuming. His concerns were not the world’s concerns. He was on a mission. You are either in or out. He always said ‘If you want to be a Christian you might as well be a good one’. His sanctity was found in his willingness to give of himself to someone and to live out those virtues of faith and hope. To begin to imitate Blessed Tansi think of being yourself, the creature God created you to be, and God’s demands on you. Then take the first step, if the Lord wants it He will give you the grace, then the second and… Take note of the key to our spiritual growth: a faithful, personal, loving relationship with Jesus. To know Jesus, to hear Jesus, to love Jesus, to trust Jesus, to obey Jesus, to share his life in the deepest fibre of our being, and then to serve him — this is our goal.
      To follow Blessed Tansi to holiness does not mean in every detail. He lived his own life and his vocation. We too have our own life and vocation. Some of his essential spiritual programs for growth in the spirit might help us in our own lives. Some of them include:  

• Daily Prayer. That is the kind of examined life of humility that has become so foreign to our culture. We do before we think, never mind prayer, because we don’t think we have time or quiet to think or pray. Patient, persevering, persistent prayer, every day, is number one. Here I am not speaking of the Mass — such as the Eucharist — but of silent, personal, private prayer, a daily period of quiet communion with the Lord, conscious of his presence, accepting of his love, and returning it with praise, petition, and thanksgiving.
•  Daily Mass: A personal encounter with the Eucharistic Lord. An essential moment in the day, a reverential awe for the Real Presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, and a desire to spend time before him there in visits and prayer
  
•  Daily Fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours: This ancient prayer of the Church is mostly associated with those in Holy Orders. It is also intended to be the prayer of the laity, who “are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually” (CCC. no. 1175)
  
• Daily Spiritual Reading: A daily reverent meditation upon Sacred Scripture, daily spiritual reading of the enduring books of our Catholic tradition,  documents of the magisterium, the words of our Holy Father, the documents of the Apostolic See, the messages and pastorals of our bishops, all vehicles of the Holy Spirit for fostering our growth in sanctity.
  
• Spiritual Direction: An honest, trusting, fruitful, consistent relationship with a spiritual director/fathe
  
• The Sacrament of Penance: Regular reliance upon the mercy of God abundant in the Sacrament of Penance should be a priority in our lives. While how often you approach this sacrament is a good topic to discuss with your spiritual director, at least once a month seems a solid tradition of the Church.
  
• Growing in Virtue: A tireless effort for growth in virtue and turning away from sin should be the pattern of our daily lives. Obedience to the constant refrain of the Gospels - we are always in the process of conversion, repentance, dying to sin, self, and Satan, rising to new life in Chris
  
• Devotion to the Blessed Mother and the Saints: Our devotion to them is a sustaining dependence upon the "Communion of Saints," an awareness that we are members of a supernatural family not confined to the here and now, that we have the saints as examples and helpers, pre-eminently, especially our Blessed Mother. Thus, a wholesome devotion to her would be an essential part of our spiritual regimen.
• Holistic Formation, Allowing Spirituality to Permeate Our Lives: The spiritual life is not a tidy, isolated compartment of our existence! No, as Pope John Paul II said, "Spiritual formation is the core which unifies and gives life to our entire being." Thus, every element of our lives is part of the spiritual arena, and growth in holiness will entail wholehearted immersion in a spiritual regimen. Our goal is nothing less than a reordering of life through the sacraments, which will configure us in an irrevocable, radical way to Christ. That we may be good, holy, happy, healthy, learned, zealous selfless, committed faithful is the goal of our spiritual growth.

​                                                              Sunday, June 16, 2024
                                           Blessed Tansi's Path to Sainthood invites us to holiness.
      On the 22nd of March 1998, tens of thousands of Nigerians gathered at Oba Onitsha to watch St. John Paul 11 proclaim a humble Nigerian priest Fr. Tansi, BLESSED and millions worldwide through the media watched this unique event. “Today, one of Nigeria's sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another” (John Paul 11 in sermon beatification). Blessed Tansi became the first and only National saint of Nigeria.  In the pomp and circumstance that followed this event, it was easy for many to lose sight of the theological and practical significance of the Church’s declaration of sainthood. This declaration first tells us that the Catholic Church recognises the humble and exemplary way Blessed Tansi lived his Christian life and vocation. The church presents him as a model Christian. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest” (John Paul 11 in beatification sermon Nigeria 1998)
      At the heart of this proclamation is that Blessed Tansi is a true disciple of Jesus. In his life he imitated very closely the Master Jesus – he lived entirely for God. Jesus Christ, the God-man is the principle through which all things were fashioned, and the standard by which all things will be judged. He is the Word of God made flesh- the divine Logos. Jesus is the measuring rod. As the visible image of the invisible God, Jesus reveals a way of life because he is the author of life. He is the template by which we were created. When teaching his followers the meaning of discipleship - the discipline of the Christian life, Jesus repeatedly used a simple phrase that is breathtaking in its implications. “Follow me.” Therefore the entire Christian life is nothing more than a call to conform ourselves to the rule of Christ as it is expressed in Scripture and in the teachings of the Church. It is not until we are conformed to Jesus that we achieve the fullness of our humanity because it is in the image and likeness of God that we were created in the beginning. Jesus Christ reveals humanity to itself.
      Now let us come back to the significance of what the Catholic Church did at Oba Onitsha on 22nd March 1998. The Church recognized the humble Blessed Tansi who lived his Christian life and proposed his lifestyle for all Nigerians and in particular for all Nigerian Christians. He is a declared role model for all of us. When we talk about somebody who is officially canonized by the Church, we are saying much more than the fact that an individual has made it into heaven. The decree that an individual enjoys the beatific vision of God in heaven is part of the beatification process, not the canonization process. Canonization means something more profound. When the Church declares someone a saint, it declares that an individual is worthy of universal veneration, which is just another way of saying that his or her life represents a model worthy of imitation by the entire Church. They are those who have so fully conformed their lives to the norms of the Gospel that their lives in turn represent a norm against which we can all measure our response to God. They have so perfectly followed Jesus that they have become universal models of imitation. The paradox of canonization is that the saints are not the exception to the rule for Catholics. They are the rule. They are the norm. That is because all people are called to be saints. 
      For Nigerians Blessed Tansi (by beatification) is only a national Saint waiting to be canonized as a saint of the universal church. “Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church.” (John Paul 11, sermon beatification March 22, 1998). All that the church needs now to make Blessed Tansi a saint of the universal church is one miracle approved by the Sacred Congregation for the Saints. Nigeria and indeed the universal church have been praying for the past twenty-six years that God may give us this miracle needed to declare his humble and pious priest worthy of a universal imitation and veneration. This is where you need to come in. We invite you to be a part of the process - Pray in your way and ask others to join you in praying. Only God can work a miracle but his children can ask Him to make one to show us that Blessed Tansi is worthy of the church’s universal veneration. To pray for this one miracle is a duty we owe to the local church and the universal church. Remember also that you have to report to the Postulation for the cause of any favor you know to have been received through the intercession of Blessed Tansi. You can report to: postulationtansi@yahoo.com or WhatsApp-08030958350. 
      When the saints are understood as human beings whose lives represent the norm rather than the exception to the rule, they can no longer be viewed from a safe distance. When Blessed Tansi is understood as the model to response to the Gospel call, he immediately becomes a challenge to our complacency, he reminds us that the Gospel is not an impossible ideal reserved for the select few, but rather a real and attainable standard to which we are all called and by which we will all be judged. Please don’t keep him a safe distance from you. As you begin to measure your lifestyle against the response to our Christian calling, his profound witness to holiness can quickly become a cause for unease. It is easy to imagine him as an otherworldly contemplative who lived in the world of mysticism. In this way, he is disarmed, and the challenge he represents is easily dismissed. I am not however saying that he should become a cause for anxiety. No, rather a cause for joy. As a witness to the Gospel, he reassures us that holiness is available to all, even the most hardened sinners. A glance at the list of those who have been canonized reveals men, women and even children from around the world, from every walk of life and from every time, place and culture in Christian history. If the saints teach us anything, they teach us that the relationship between God and humans is never short on creativity. They also teach us that this creativity is a measuring rod against which we may judge our complacency when responding to the Gospel. When we begin to realize that there are countless ways to respond to the Gospel, we realize how little excuse there is for our tepid response. I think all of us now reading this should make up our minds to be a saint.

                                                                     Sunday, June 9, 2024
                                                        Blessed Tansi Lived a Life of Integrity
      Today integrity is one of those abstract qualities that we all wish to possess, but often find difficult to apply when it comes to real situations and practical dilemmas. In Blessed Tansi we find one who lived fully for God and his neighbour, his life was a single piece and at the same time complete, undivided, intact and unbroken. According to friends and colleagues, he was a man of faith, integrity and deeply held convictions. His integrity was the bond that held his other virtues together; it was his mark that successfully integrated all his good principles making his life a unified whole. Living with integrity is easier than living a deceitful life and making unethical decisions is often easier in the short term, it eventually takes its toll. There is no real happiness to be found in struggling to remember your lies, living in fear of getting caught, and not feeling like you truly earned your reward. Living with integrity brings wholeness and peace. Your conscience can rest easy, and you can look at yourself in the mirror with pride.
     “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. His goodness touched everyone who met him. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families.” (St. John Paul 11, in sermon beatification Nigeria March 22, 1998) Blessed Tansi was a man his parishioners could count on. As a manager of the mission schools in his parish “teachers liked him for several reasons: their schools were doing well in academics (in 1942 his school at Dunukofia was rated the best in the vicariate” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p 49). The teachers and the pupils knew their manager would do what he said he would do. The vicariate had an overwhelming confidence in his administration for this he could be trusted with greater responsibility. His parishioners knew that when he said anything he was going to do it. Everybody felt comfortable opening up to him and turning to him in times of crisis. Because of that his ministry and the life of his parish became much healthier, stronger, and more satisfying.
      “Today, one of Nigeria's sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another… His goodness touched everyone who met him” (St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria March 22, 1998).
      He was not only a zealous and hardworking pastor but was also extremely transparent and he made his ministry as transparent as possible. “In some ways, he was so much like the other schoolmasters of his place and time, in his zeal, his strictness, his concern for details. But there the resemblance ends. Other schoolmasters did not go barefoot during Lent, or cook soup for old ladies or, for that matter, for themselves”.(Elizabeth Isichei, ‘Entirely for God’ P. 23) In his pastoral zeal he did not take credit for others’ success.  In his respect for others “he was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families” (St. John Paul11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998) He was careful to avoid situations where he would have a conflict of interest. “... it may be a high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other Indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm candour, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha October 17, 1986) 
      In the ministry, every pastor is sometimes faced with dilemmas in making some pastoral decisions. Blessed Tansi's commitment to a life of integrity allowed him clarity when he had to make hard choices. He was never at war with himself over which path to choose. Instead, he experienced the confidence that came with having every aspect of his life knit together in a unity of purpose. The decision to enter the seminary was one such example. It was for his family members something difficult to understand and even harder to see a way out but for him his mind was made up, and the path was clear – no going back.  “Orekyie, Michael’s master and guardian, was strongly opposed to his protégé’s abandoning his chances of worldly advancement and the financial enrichment of his extended family. His fellow villagers could not understand his actions. They thought it shameful to deliberately renounce offspring and to become a kind of slave to any “god” His poor widowed mother went mad with rage. She went to the mission and harassed the parish priest to give her son back. She cried out her eyes in vain. He sympathized with his poor mother all right, but there was no turning back” (Father Ed Debany SJ in National Symposium commemorating 100th Birthday of Blessed Tansi Onitsha 18th March 2004). Only a person with a high degree of personal integrity and conviction could make such a choice. He was all the time sure of himself and confident in his trust in God. Living a life of integrity was for him a daily process – something that did not end until life itself. For all in particular we Christians integrity is a value that we should strive for in all areas of our life. Most importantly, you must have integrity within yourself. It is sad to have a Christian who acts like a social chameleon: a different man with you, a different man at home, a different man at work, a different man when travelling and so on. Instead of being a single self, he lives as multiple selves, transforming into who he thinks each group wants him to be. Such a Christian ends up feeling fragmented and confused as to who he is. Such ruins relations, marriages in particular. The first step towards integrity is being honest with yourself. Be who are. Say what you mean. Do what you say you will do. Don’t just walk the walk; talk the talk. Decide now, not later. Think of your personal value system. Know who you are and what you stand for. Don’t justify the means for the end. Take personal responsibility for your life. At the heart of integrity is the ability to own up to the fact that you are in control of your life. You are responsible for both your successes and your failures. Nobody else but you. The Abbot of St. Bernard Monastery England meditating on the life of Blessed Tansi gave this advice:  “Fr. Cyprian’s life was Fr. Cyprian’s own life. That was his vocation. In reflecting upon it, we are all, clergy, religious, and laity, meant to focus on the things that are at the core of our faith, to renew our awareness of the things that matter. If his life is important, it is because it was a life of faith, humility and perseverance following what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was dark and cold. He was just one more disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can learn from him as we can from his Master …When Fr. Cyprian died in 1964, I think most of the community thought very much the same as that Carmelite sister at Lisieux. What could be said about him? He had lived simply and edifyingly ― but was there any more to say? Was he so very different from the rest of us?”(Abbot Moakler in sermon Mt. St. Bernard Abbey September 18, 1986).
                                                                  Sunday, June 2, 2024
                                              Blessed Tansi: Special intercessor for Students/Youths.
     Blessed Tansi knew so much about being a student with difficulties and taking care of students. At the age of seven, he was taken to live with his uncle-teacher Robert Orekyie, who cared for his upbringing and education. While studying, he served his uncle as a house boy, doing all the domestic duties for him. He was pious both in his religious and domestic duties. He performed with equal dedication his daily domestic chores, was assiduous in his academic studies and was more than capable when involved in sporting events with his mates. Tansi was not merely a well-rounded youth interested in the normal activities of his age group but more importantly, he did all things both with intensity and moderation. He did not play too much, nor even pray too much. He performed all of his many domestic duties without ever failing in his academic studies.  He was a successful pupil, despite his domestic duties, and passed his exams each year. “He was good at sport, which he attached with the energy and determination to excel that which he brought to his spiritual life. … information from the Onitsha sojourns remembers swimming and wrestling contests, both of which he won” (Elizabeth Isichei, Entirely for God, The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi, Macmillan Nigeria 1981. p. 19). Can Nigerian parents and guardians today teach their children to emulate the disciplined, moderate and dedicated behaviour of young Tansi? But as all children, they will need guidance, discipline, direction and correction of the kind that Michael found so readily in his uncle Robert Orekyie. Can our children be taught the value of detachment even from good things such as excessive play, snacking, television, sleep, and browsing the internet, to aspire to and develop the higher values of Christian living? They can only if he or she is taught to do so by the good words and positive examples of the lay and religious elders of the community.
       First as a Teacher and later as School Headmaster, Tansi continued to reveal not merely his sharp and keen abilities as an educator, but of equal importance to us, his demonstrable preferential love of God and Christian values. So much did he integrate academics with religious knowledge and practice – in those days, the Teacher also served the Christian community in the role of Catechist that less tepid souls often accused Headmaster Tansi of running the school in the manner of a seminary. “He commanded genuine respect by his style of life. There was something dignifying and awe-inspiring about him. Some people did not feel drawn to him because of his ascetical and austere life. This is understandable since the life of mortification can only appeal to the devout and those seeking heroic sanctity and not many seek this level of union with God. (C. Obi in ‘Facing Mount Saint Bernard’  P. 89 )
      As a diocesan priest and school manager, “Father Tansi understood the teachers very well. He had himself been an auxiliary teacher, then a grade 11 teacher and thereafter headmaster. Even when he was doing philosophical studies at Onitsha, he and some other seminarians were assigned some teaching duties at Saint Charles College. He was therefore well prepared to be a manager of the catholic schools in his parish. (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ P.48).  As a pastor interested in building up strong families, communities and youth for the future of the church he visited his schools and supervised the school activities. “As school manager, he visited his schools regularly. Going through the classes he supervised and corrected the teachers. Dominic Odenigbo testifies “he taught us mathematics, English language and religion. He even corrected our weekly tests in these subjects. He held refresher courses in the evenings for the teachers to improve the quality of teaching. (C. Obi in ‘Facing Mount Saint Mount Bernard’ P. 86) Cardinal Arinze was convinced that teachers had a very cordial relationship with him. “Teachers liked him for several reasons: their schools were doing well in academics (in 1942 his school at Dunukofia was rated the best in the vicariate” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p 49) Nigerian students and youth have a lot to learn in the life of Blessed Tansi. They have also in him a very strong advocate who understands them and the condition of their lives in present-day Nigeria. “By canonizing some of the faithful, i.e., by solemnly proclaiming that they practised heroic virtue and lived in fidelity to God’s grace, the Church recognizes the power of the Spirit of holiness within her and sustains the hope of believers by proposing the saints to them as models and intercessors”.( cf.  CCC 828) So Nigerian students who require a little saintly help to get through their finals, or any exams, turn to Blessed Tansi powerful intercession. Sometimes taking exams can be a huge source of stress for students and their anxious parents. However, for people of faith, there is help to be had from this incredible saint of our time. Blessed Tansi was desperate to become a priest, yet with his severe learning difficulties it was a real struggle. Thankfully he did not give up. He worked hard for several years doing mental jobs with his companions where his devotion and humility did not go unnoticed and he was finally allowed to become a priest. His gentle and persuasive approach to spiritual guidance helped individuals discern God’s will in their lives. His emphasis on discernment, integration of spirituality, learning and prayer guided his students in making wise choices amidst academic pressures and uncertainties. This can be particularly helpful when students feel overwhelmed by all the material they have to learn. His practical wisdom and kindness encouraged his seminarians and religious aspirants to approach their studies with patience, compassion, and a spirit of service to others. This service could take the form of students helping others who are struggling in their studies, or making time to lend a hand to someone in need. His so many virtues would inspire for those working hard on their exams, while also reminding them that their spiritual life can act as the ultimate useful revision tool. The life and choices of Blessed Tansi, teacher and headmaster, point to motivations far more sublime and universally appealing than the mere development of individual talents, the exaggerated enjoyment of life, and the pursuit of honour, financial security and prestige. These he had and yet he willingly and freely gave them all up. Because he was a man detached from the vanities of the world while at the same time, attached to the higher values of perfect and courageous Christian discipleship. Parents, guardians and all teachers should help to introduce the determination and lifestyle of Blessed Tansi to their children. Only by doing this can Nigeria produce future generations of Nigerians capable of making this country a pride of Africa.

                                                              Sunday, May 26, 2024
                                                   Blessed Tansi on the path to sainthood.
      Have you heard of Blessed Tansi's journey to sainthood? Blessed Tansi was a 20th-century parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha during the early missionary evangelization and during the colonial era - a time of hostility against the natives by colonial business traders and slave hunters. It was also the time when the nationalist sentiments were breeding high. To advance in society, the nationalists were pushing for independence while the Blessed Tansi sought in his way to evangelize his people building strong institutions of marriage and family as centres of love, protection and freedom. He knew that uniting them would strengthen their faith and give them protection. Thanks to his vision, and effort many flourishing parishes grew up in the places where he worked. Today many of his one-time pupils and students have very responsible positions in society and the church. Today “ … this Nigerian priest said to have been not too tall in height, later in life rather frail in health, not one of the brightest students, but distinguished for his iron will, his firm trust in Divine Providence, his readiness to sacrifice his will in the service of God, his impressive acceptance to be misunderstood, a man never settling down to half measures, dissimulation, pride or love of convenience, but always self-mortified and ready to put his whole heart and person into what he was doing … seemed to have summarized his whole life in his advice to one of his parishioners ‘if you are going to become a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God” ( Arinze Cardinal in; Total Response’ p.9) is on the final path to sainthood. Following in the footsteps of this holy Nigerian priest is at the forefront of forming men in their faith, helping, protecting and sanctifying Catholic families, defending a culture of life, and helping those most in need. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria recently adopted him as the model and patron of the Nigerian priests (cf. declaration at the conclusion - the year for Priests at Onitsha 3rd. day of June in the year 2010),
      The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria is indeed proud to be the premiere sponsor of the cause of his cause to sainthood and invites you to take an active part in the promotion of his worthy cause through prayers for the cause and veneration of his first-class relic at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Like the Blessed Tansi, we need to continue to witness the beauty of the Catholic faith by drawing closer to our Lord. Discover how to benefit from the exemplary life of Blessed Tansi as the Holy Father advised all Nigerians: “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest”. (John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Onitsha Nigeria March 22, 1998). Blessed Tansi today is recognized for his deeply pastoral and thoughtful approach to ministry. He emphasizes the importance of mercy and compassion in the Church's mission, particularly in addressing the needs of the poor and promoting peace. His mission in the local church and the catholic world is not yet over. Trusting in the intercession of Blessed Tansi we look for a brighter future for the church. 
      But how can we all be a part of this project? Do not be left out, you are important and you can do something. The life of Blessed Tansi emphasizes the church’s universal call to holiness. “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and the perfection of charity” (Lumen Gentium 40) His life is telling us that we too can be holy. His life was a life of faith, humility and perseverance in following what he saw to be God’s will for him, no matter at what cost and even when many details remain unknown. His lifestyle is a lamp for our steps not in every detail however but in the important areas of our Christian calling. All that Nigeria needs now is the tiniest bit of compassionate imagination to be able to see the problems posed by tribalism in Nigeria. The fact that so many in positions of authority along with those who put them there seem blind to the problem is the most devastating condemnation of our national identity. The national outlook of Blessed Tansi can certainly help. The Blessed Ilene Tansi was a man of hope and vision and this is precisely one of the greatest challenges of our time. His apostolate to the family had a special bearing on the youth and the future. In his pastoral ministry wherever he went he promoted the status of women, insisting that betrothed girls should attend a six-month marriage training centre where they were taught Catholic doctrine, home-keeping, Christian family traditions, sewing, knitting and other wifely skills. He thus laid solid foundations for Christian families. He was doing this because he knew the important role of women in the family and the nation. 
      He is a blueprint for all Nigerians of goodwill who have for a long time searched for a coherent view which is not at loggerheads with what we have hitherto heard of making Nigeria a great nation, a direction Nigeria shall evolve herself in the coming time to be finally able to get out of the current absolutely poor form. Today Nigerian youths need his teaching, encouragement, and hope for the future to build a sane, safe, forgiving, and truth-speaking Nigeria. We need Nigerian youths who are willing to roll up their sleeves, with or without masks and gloves, and wrap their arms around the emotionally and spiritually dying Nigeria. As it is, the old generation seems to have failed and disappointed us. We need the future generation who will rally around sane principles that preserve truth, justice, and our liberties. We do not need sinless youth; we need youths who are overcoming their propensity to fall short while learning that love is not a notion. It is a verb that requires proper application, not co-dependency.
      To promote the cause of his sainthood we need to promote his principles and lifestyle. His priestly ministry was always a living witness of the power of God at work in human weakness. He was a man of the divine word and of the sacred, a man of joy and hope. To people who could no longer conceive that God was pure love, he would always affirm that life was worth living and that Christ gave life its full meaning because he loved human beings. Finally, we need just one miracle to reach sainthood. When, where and how this miracle will come I just do not know. Only God knows for he alone can perform miracles. As his loved children we can certainly ask him in prayer to give us a miracle to bring the journey to sainthood to the end. Therefore all of us can and must offer prayers for this cause. Pray privately, join the Tansi praying group in your parish, and pray in your family devotion. You can also offer masses for the same intention. Remember to report favors received to the Postulation for the cause, (postulationtansi@yahoo.com or whatsapp 08030958350).
                                                                  Sunday, May 19, 2024
                                                            Living the way of Blessed Tansi.
      “Blessed Tansi reached a high level of detachment from creatures: food, house, living conditions, money, means of transportation and changes in climate. Every Nigerian is not called to become a monk or a nun. Everyone is not called to copy every detail of the life and example of this great Christian. Nevertheless, Blessed Tansi teaches us at least to live that minimum of detachment from creatures without which a person cannot be a genuine follower of Christ” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ p.253). Yes, we are not all called to follow him to the priesthood or the religious life but we are called to love God and our neighbor as he did. Called to make some sacrifices to better the lives and conditions of our fellow men and women. We are called to realize that we will go to heaven when we die and therefore to pursue holy life with the seriousness it deserves according to the warning of the Master Jesus “He who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me” (Mt. 10:38). Blessed Tansi is a prime example for us of love of God and neighbour, of Christian courage and fidelity, of perseverance and determination, of Christian trust and hope and of living entirely for God. These strong bonds of loving care between him and us find their foundation in the relationships that unite Jesus to us and God. These bonds are manifested by giving his life entirely for us. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. Especially, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification” (St. John Paul 11 in beatification sermon Nigeria 1998). This total gift of self is the specific attitude of Blessed Tansi, the one which characterized his entire mission as a Christian, priest and monk. This total gift, a sign of love ready to give life, brings to the fore the fact that he treats his fellow men and women people sons and daughters of God and not as ‘goods’ To give entirely his life for his vocation means to be willing to risk his own life for others and means to deprive himself of what most people value so much in life. “He is for us a model in detachment from creatures and attachment to the Lord” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.254). 
      Living our life after the example of Blessed Tansi does not mean being naive, foolish and blindly obedient, but means being humble, trusting and letting ourselves be held in his protecting arms, lovingly abandoning ourselves to him who walks with us and for us. Moreover, being humble and trusting in him does not mean not using our intelligence because humility is the virtue which predisposes the intelligence to faith and the heart to love. It is another way of saying to let ourselves be guided by his example – lifestyle. Let us not forget that for us priests and religious Jesus wanted us in the Church to be like the “Good Shepherd”. Not only but especially in the parish, where the priest continues the mission and pastoral duty of Jesus; the priest must therefore shepherd the flock, by teaching, by giving grace, by defending the people from error and evil, by consoling but above all by loving. This was the lifestyle of Blessed Tansi as a priest.
      Even if the way of being a priest changes according to place and time, all priests are called to imitate Christ the Good Shepherd who, unlike the mercenary shepherd, does not seek other interests, does not pursue any other advantage than that to guide, feed, protect his sheep: “so that they may have life, life in abundance ( cf. Jn. 10.10). Some of the methods Blessed Tansi used in sanctification of marriage may not be appropriate today but the end of his method – sanctification of marriages still today remains important and valid. Some of his methods used in solving pastoral needs were appropriate at the time but may not be now.
      Like the universal call to holiness by baptism, every Christian is called to be good to his neighbour in his environment. Parents must be good and caring to their children, edifying them with love. Children at every stage must obey and love their parents and learn a simple and coherent faith, learning to live the life they have received as a gift. While the spouses must give an imprint to their relationship as a couple, by conforming to good and caring, so that family life is always at this height of feelings and ideals desired by the Creator, to which the family owes its name as the ‘domestic Church’. Blessed Tansi gave much importance to the education of the young people. In the same way, teachers at school, and workers in workplaces or offices, learn to teach and seek to be good and kind to others. Above all, must be good and caring for the common good in society. Today Nigeria needs convinced and dedicated witnesses more than ever. Today so many are poor and sick. They need the love and care of all who can show them the kind of love which Blessed Tansi showed to the sick and poor in his days. We need many who will be their brothers’ keepers.
      The Holy Father St. John Paul 11 called Blessed Tansi an example for all Nigerians which example should be given to the whole church to imitate. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest… Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church” (in the sermon for beatification  Nigeria March 22, 1998). In his advice to his fellow Nigerians  Cardinal Arinze advises: “Everyone of us, whether we be lay faithful, priest or religious can ask himself or herself how the model set for us by Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi can apply to us in our vocation and mission, in our effort to live entirely for God. He has wonderfully shown us how to give a total response to God’s call” (in ‘Total Response’ p.254)
                                                                 Sunday, May 12, 2024
                                                        Blessed Tansi was our true Pastor.
      A true parish priest/pastor is like a good shepherd who gives his life for his flock (cf. John 10:11-18).  A true pastor knows his parishioners and gives his life for the flock committed to his pastoral care in his parish. Unlike the mercenary parish priest who only has interested relationships with the flock, Blessed Tansi knows, that is to say, loves and cares for his parishioners. The relationship between him and his parishioners is based on deep bonds of love, mutual trust, sacrifice, and compassion. In the words of Cardinal Arinze “When Fr. Tansi became a priest he was prominent for his availability to his flock. He was there where he was needed to hear confessions, to celebrate mass for his people, to visit the sick even by night, to attend to the school teachers and the boarding house boys and to pray for the people confided to him” (in ‘Total Response’ p.33). From his pastoral approach, risks, and actions there was a strong bond of love between him and his people – going out at night for sick calls when there were obvious dangers abroad and when the practice was forbidden by the diocesan practice, his close contacts with the lepers, victims of smallpox, long treks to reach his remote outstations. We recall the parishes were like small dioceses at Dunukofia parish he had eighteen towns some of them reached by only narrow and dangerous bush tracks and at Akpu parish the story was the same he had twenty towns with muddy and flooded tracks during the rainy season. The only available means of transportation was the bush bike so he did most of the journey by foot. He was interested in everybody and everything that concerned his flock. “His enthusiasm and example drew in willing helpers from all levels of the surrounding people...His firmness and kindness saved a vocation to the priesthood when calamitous sickness swept away Godfrey Okoye's father and three brothers. His example more than his words strengthened Godfrey's will to persevere”. (Fr. Gregory Wareing OCSO in ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ P.9)  Nigerian priests and religious who are looking for a good example of how to be good parish priests and how to approach others in error look no further then than in the Blessed Tansi. He has more information about what the Catholic faith actually and authoritatively teaches stored in his computer brain. “From 1940 till 1945 he threw all his practical intelligence, methodical labor, and burning priestly zeal into the work of forming a thriving parish from this outstation. Some measure of this man is to be found in what God accomplished here through him” (Fr. Gregory Wareing OSCO-in ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ p.8)
      The Blessed Tansi in his pastoral approach made great use of his practical common sense – with his deep understanding of Igbo culture, local idioms, and proverbs he presented his sermons and arguments seriously and constructively in such a way that they made a deep and lasting impression on his audience without ever insulting or belittling them as people for whom Christ died. That is the kind of pastor that he was. This with his humble fidelity to the teachings of the Mother Church, mixed with a kind, friendly, and loving attitude toward others made him someone – a priest you would want to hang out with.  That is the kind of Christian we should all be to make converts for Christ. "It was his zeal for souls which was perhaps the most manifest; he preserved the purity of young girls, brought families back to   God by convalidating marriages and baptizing the children.  He travelled long distances to say Mass, treking through swamps and bush paths to visit about fifty outstations. His mortification and self sacrifice were beyond normal and obvious to all who knew him". (Testimony of Sr. Aloysius Adimonye, a onetime parishioner of Blessed Tansi at Akpu parish and later became a religious) The Holy Father spoke of his sacrifice, love and respect for other people:  “Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification”. (John Paul 11- Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998)
       Blessed Tansi left for future pastors a legacy most effective for conversion and for bringing souls back to Christ.  The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria “after considering the life of Rev. Fr. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO thinks that the promotion of the Cause of his beatification will bring good results to our country especially in the area of Priestly spirituality”(cf. the Conference declaration in ‘the Catholic Leader. August 15th, 1982) His pastoral admonition to sinners and erring Christians, one of the spiritual works of mercy is another area where he showed himself a good pastor.   He wanted to imitate his Master Jesus in the Gospels, like when He preached the good news, when He fed His sheep, when He gave over His body, and when He fixed His eyes firmly on the Father and then told us to do the same. Cardinal Arinze testified that:”for decades afterwards, people remembered some of his fiery sermons. From the old Dunukofia parish, some people still recall his denunciation of some towns and his appeals to them to repent. Here is an example: “Agwo talu Ogidi Odida, bulu Agbaja onu, jua Ogbunike odu, na-ejefu ka o taa Ifite-Ukpo” (The snake that bit Ogidi Odida, spat on Agbaja, stroke Ogbunike with its tail, and is now going to bite Ifite-Ukpo) (in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response’ p.42) These towns mentioned are in his parish of Dunukofia. In the same way he did not hesitate to denounce objectionable practices in the African Traditional Religion. Cardinal Arinze continues that: “there was also a touch of poetry in some of his phrases: “ akpo ife ife ga eme unu ife” ( Disregarding important matters, literally, not calling a thing a thing. Not taking a matter seriously, will bring disastrous consequences upon you), he fired during his years at Nnewi (cf. Arinze ‘total response’ p.43, quoted E. Isichei in Entirely for God p.40) 
      Here we think of his love and compassion for the lepers and the smallpox victims. These victims were rejected by the society who thought that they became sick as a result of their offences against the goddess of the land. And because of the infectious nature of these diseases anybody who approached or sympathized with them would incur the same anger of the gods. Blessed Tansi broke this myth by his love, compassion and assistance to these unfortunate victims. It will be recalled that when he was at Nnewi parish he travelled on bush bike from Uruagu Nnewi to the hill country of Awgu (distance of about 80 miles) to collect drugs for his lepers. His kindness to the lepers changed the unfriendly attitude the parishioners had for the lepers.
      His deep concern for the unity of family and sanctification of married life are some pastoral legacy for today parish priests. His pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha to a great extend devoted much attention to sanctification of marriages, consolidation of the family and the education of the young for their role in the new emerging independent Nigeria and local church. His expansion of so many outstations in his parish was to bring people nearer to know God and to love him. Schools were opened where ever an outstation is set up. These schools were to give education to the young and to prepare them for their future responsibilities. Nigerians are fortunate to have a blue print for successful pastor in Blessed Tansi who through grace, faith and works has become  “…a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land”.( John Paul 11. Beatification sermon Nigeria. 1998). And as the Apostle Paul outlines God’s design for good living. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:8–10).
      Blessed Tansi pastoral ministry had everything to do with being good, godly and perfect but with compassion and love. For him life was ‘entirely for God’. He presented God as having an incomprehensible and absolute love for us his creatures. Yet full of mercy and compassion for the sick, needy and sinners. In Blessed Tansi as pastor we meet a true Nigerian, who is fully alive with the Spirit of God, effective in whatever task God proposes for him, courageous in the face of trials and difficulties, mortified and charitable, always full of prayer, humility and heroism in the practice of the Christian virtues and was affectively detached from material world.  He lived fully within the Nigerian context but at the same time is not of the world and did not adapt to the pattern of Nigerian way of life. He did not disdain the created world nor fears it nor runs from it but rather experiences the world and its many goods as gift from God to be used with freedom, responsibility and gratitude.

                                                                 Sunday, May 5, 2024
                                                    Blessed Tansi lived a life of total love. 
      Jesus came to give us love and life (cf. Jn. 10; 10).  This total gift of self is the specific attitude of Jesus, the one which characterized his entire mission on earth and not only his passion and his death. Jesus wants every priest in the Church to be like Him the “Good Shepherd”. Every priest continues the mission and pastoral duty of Jesus to be the shepherd to the flock by teaching, giving grace, defending the sheep from error and evil, consoling but above all by loving. This total gift of self-giving, a sign of love ready to give life, brings to the fore the fact that we belong to Jesus. Blessed Tansi like many Saints in Christ’s church knows this love, and so shares that love to the world, bringing with it, the love of God and the grace which that love imparts. He knows far more of this truth by experience than what can be learned through study, which is why his wisdom exceeds the wisdom of the scholars. Blessed Tansi shows us how those who follow the way of love will be exalted by that love. In the words of the Holy Father “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian.” (John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998) He was born around 1903 in the village of Igboezunu of Aguleri Nigeria. Nigeria then was a British colony. Most people had hard and brutal times with the colonial traders who used them like slaves. Before the birth of this Nigerian future blessed his father was one of those maltreated and imprisoned by the colonial traders. He and some others were unjustly beaten and imprisoned for three good years at Asaba for leaking some palm oil from the drum of the white man. While in prison he prayed God to give him a male child who would learn the ways of the white man to revenge his unjust imprisonment.  As providence may have it his prayers were answered. As soon as he was released from prison he had a son whom he named ‘Iwegbunam’ (may anger not kill me). This child Iwegbunam was to become the first Nigerian blessed who changed the concept of revenge to love.  The love which God showed to him as a child and to his father in prison led him to have a greater love for both God and humanity. When he learned what Christian missionaries said about God, about Jesus and his love for all humanity, and the way Jesus, despite being Lord, served all with his great love. This was very attractive to him, so he chose the path of peace and love however not without problems, as Pope Jon Paul 11 related: “On the contrary, it demands courage and sometimes even heroism: it is victory over self rather than over others. It should never be seen as dishonour. For, in reality, it is the patient, wise art of peace”. (in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998)
      Later on, his simple pure love attracted many people to him as a school teacher, catechist, seminarian, diocesan priest and later a Cistercian monk. Everywhere he went it was entirely for God. Blessed Tansi was not some scholarly saint, indeed life and the method of education then have made it impossible for him to be such, but he far exceeded so many of those who were otherwise educated because he embraced love and knew its strength and value as it was what had freed his people from the pains of their past, giving them peace and joy in a life under slave trade which otherwise could have been one of hardship and misery. As he grew up under the missionaries he found more in that love than people find in the pleasures of the world; indeed, those who had enslaved his people and used them to pursue their pleasures were themselves enslaved by their passions, while his people, when they found the love of God, were able to be free and happy and bring a little bit of that joy and happiness to the world around them. This is what holiness does. This is how holiness is discerned. Holiness does not necessarily come from knowledge. Holiness does not come from being smart or appearing to be wise. Holiness comes principally from love. The more someone loves, the more that love transforms him, making him better. God is love, and to pursue love is to pursue God. To act out of love is to follow the way of God. If one holds fast simply to love, nurturing it, and developing it, he will develop his relationship with God. He will be like God, loving everyone, for true love is boundless. Thus, pure, simple but honest love is more important than education; if we try to become wise in our own eyes and lift ourselves above others through our worldly achievements, our vainglory will lead us astray.
      Like Blessed Tansi we should focus on our relationship with God, and with our education and achievement, our relationship with love. Boasting over what little knowledge and achievement we have accumulated for ourselves will only make us look foolish when we compare it to what we do not know and have. Boasting, indeed, over ourselves, turns us away from what should be our true focus, God, and the way of God, which is the way of love. If we boast about ourselves if we glorify ourselves, we have abandoned the way; whatever success we find will be nothing in comparison to what we have lost. Have we fulfilled the testimony of our conscience, which is itself, the dictates of love, or have we tried to find ways around it to excuse ourselves? If we use our education and success to silence our conscience, even to override it, then we cut ourselves off from the grace of God and love; if, on the other hand, we use it to reinforce our conscience, to understand the world around us so that we can better fulfil the dictates of our conscience, then it can do us good.
      Many holy saints were not educated scholars and yet they knew the way better than such scholars because they lived the way instead of merely reflecting upon it. Likewise, many holy saints held simple positions in life because through it, they found they could and would increase their ability to love – to love God and others, while those who looked to exalt themselves in positions of honour and glory only learned how to love themselves and so failed to grow in love because of such self-attachment, and so they did not become holy despite whatever they knew of the way to holiness. Throughout the world today, we see this happen again and again; those who were treated with scorn, because they appeared to be simple, because they did not look for glory or wealth, were the ones who proved to find happiness while those who scorned them perished without finding peace or joy. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:21). Those who treasure love will find God and their heart will be with God. This is what the Blessed Tansi shows us. It is love which motivated him and made him holy. Other saints might have different ways by which they acted upon that love, but that love is something which they held in common and it is that love which allowed grace to flow into the world, bringing the holiness of the kingdom of God into it.
                                                                 Sunday, April 21, 2024
                                                           Are these Meditations Helpful at all?
      Cardinal Arinze in his book ‘Total Response’ (Personal Memories of Blessed Tansi), tells us that “Fr. Tansi was a great man, a many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria and of the Catholic priesthood in Nigeria, a convert from African Traditional Religion who lived ‘entirely for God’, a follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back (cf Lk 9:62)” (p. 9). He was not only a priest but also a professional teacher and headmaster from 1917 to 1925. In addition to his ministerial priesthood, he was an enclosed contemplative monk for thirteen years from 1950 to 1964. For two years every week, these meditations have been looking at various sides of this ‘many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity’. I want to ask you this time if they have been helpful to you at all. This is the man who taught us by his words and lifestyle to trust that we are loved in our weakness and to trust in love even when we are weak. This is the wealth that Jesus himself wants us to have, to trust that we are loved in our weakness. This is the wealth that exposes the bankruptcy of Satan’s lies. It is the currency of life itself and heaven. It is the power that can topple the kingdom of darkness and the empty promises of the world and transfer us to the Kingdom of Light and Truth: unwavering trust that we are loved amid our weakness. We are weak but for us, Christ became so poor that we might become strong and rich (cf 2 Cor. 8:9). The richness that Christ gives us is the wealth that He shares with us is His boundless confidence in God the Father, his constant trust in God.  This trust in Providence led the Blessed Tansi through all the sometimes impossible tasks in his life. He followed God without doubting his love and tenderness for an instant. “A central note in the music that was the life of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi was his trust in Divine Providence. This was like a red thread going through the details of his life and helping one to understand his pastoral zeal, his promotion of priestly and religious vocations, his sacrifices to elevate women and build up Christian families, his prayer life and ascetical self-sacrifice and finally his entry into the monastery and living entirely for God” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response” p.231)
      Now if you are ready to take the next step in your spiritual life or career with these meditations, you will have gained the knowledge, inspiration and support to reach your goals and serve well where the good Lord is calling you. Examples from Blessed Tansi's life struggles and efforts can help you live a successful life as he did. When the future Blessed Tansi was but a small boy growing up in his village of Aguleri, he was exposed to the local traditions and customs of his parents while at the same time, to the Christian/Catholic religion being newly introduced in his town Aguleri. As a young boy of nine years, he made a decisive, radical and preferential break with what he then perceived as the no-Christian aspects of Igbo culture and traditional religion. The destruction of his juju [chi] together with his sacramental baptism on January 7th, 1912 was his first conscious act of detachment from traditional Igbo religious practice, together with his incipient attachment to Christian, liturgical practices and evangelical discipline which he practised all through his life. Can we make such decisive and permanent decisions of great importance in our case? Meditating on a lifestyle like this could influence our decisions for life or correct mistakes we have made in the past.  Professor Elizabeth Isocheim recorded an eyewitness account of Blessed Tansi's childhood heroic piety which no persecution could change: “When we were young…. some boys made fun of his attitude at prayer, but the more they did so, the more fervently did he pray. Other boys tried in vain to imitate him. He found time to attend daily morning masses and made visits to the Blessed Sacrament” (in ‘Entirely for God’, The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi, Macmillan Nigeria 1981. p. 18).
      As a young man, he was not merely a well-rounded youth interested in the normal activities of his age group but more importantly, he did all things both with passion and moderation. He did not play too much, nor even pray too much. He performed all of his many domestic duties without ever failing in his academic studies. Can this be said about our growing population today?  His life as a lay professional has a lot to offer to Nigerian professionals. As an educator, but of equal importance to us, are his demonstrable preferential love of God and of Christian morals and values – love, compassion, fairness, and dedication to duty. He was popular, effective, an even beloved by all. At the same time contributed so much to the intellectual, social, moral and even political development of his people. “In some ways, he was so much like the other schoolmasters of his place and time, in his zeal, his strictness, his concern for details. But there the resemblance ends. Other schoolmasters did not go barefoot during Lent, or cook soup for old ladies or, for that matter, for themselves [...] After his death, Joseph Nwanegbo ordained with Father Tansi- commented: “I knew him for many years even as a school teacher, and even before we went to the seminary, as a person concerned foremost with “others” (Isichei E. in ‘Entirely for God’ The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi, Macmillan Nigeria 1981. p. 23). Those who have been following us must have noticed that the example of Michael Tansi, as a teacher and headmaster has something positive and challenging to our modern Christian professionals. Most modern-day professionals will remain within the lay state serving the nation as teachers, merchants, doctors, bankers, accountants and civil servants and become saints.
      As a priest, his lifestyle is not different. Moving quickly from 1925 when Michael Tansi entered the Seminary at Igbariam to 1937 when he finally received priestly ordination, his life is all entirely for God.  Francis Cardinal Arinze summarized his priestly life this way: “Blessed Tansi Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi! He was a Nigerian, one hundred per cent! […]. He lived out the Gospel in a way that was convincing in a way that [gave] credible witness, with a very high degree of credibility. The type of witnesses that is contagious. […] You would not be indifferent to Blessed Tansi if you knew him. You either are for him or you will want to run away from him. It is like fire. You can’t be near fire and be indifferent. You will [surely] be affected. And Fr. Tansi had a fire, so he was inspiring. […] He also appreciated the human person, from the little child to the youth; he helped them to become somebody through schooling to realize what human dignity is. Blessed Tansi showed a Christian sensitivity to the work of every human person, woman or child. […] He was a person ready to serve others. For example, when there were smallpox patients, and also lepers, they were segregated. Everybody run away from them but not Father Tansi! He gave them food and he gave them the sacraments. He was always available. So in many ways, he is a model for us especially for the Nigerian of today” (Ed. Debany SJ in an audio interview recorded in Vatican City, Rome, May 29, 2003).  
      Have you ever thought of the effects of these weekly meditations on your lifestyle? Is this practice worth the effort? I don’t know what your experience might be but from many who have opened up to me the practice profoundly impacts their daily life in numerous ways. The benefits span a spectrum - from overcoming stage fright to making clearer decisions, finding inner peace, enhancing professional skills, becoming a better listener, seeing beauty in everyday sights, and detaching from results. It is not an exaggeration—the list is genuinely endless. We all desire to be holy and have a successful life. We are meditating on the life of a known holy man who has made a successful life in our own time and environment. His life has a lot of messages for us. It empowers us to serve others in a way that honours God. No matter your path and profession this meditation will help you become who you are meant to be.  A peaceful mind reflects a world of abundant beauty when your vision is not veiled by tumultuous, distracting thoughts all day. This is wonderful, but the deepest benefit is how you feel, in a general way, every day. At a certain point, your baseline is a calm trickle of joy that simply runs all day and night. A real-life example of how a still mind instils joy into daily life and does a lot of spiritual good to the struggling soul. Blessed Tansi is not calling on us all to live his own life but to live our own lives with a purpose. He is not calling us all to the priesthood or monastery but to live our particular vocation entirely for God and our neighbour. Meditation on his lifestyle will just help us to that. And if you have been uplifted, know that your practice has been useful, received and cherished. 

                                                                  Sunday, April 14, 2024
                                                  Some of the ways to honour the Blessed Tansi.
      Christians across Nigeria and beyond have been fascinated by this humble Nigerian who lived in the 20th century. Even though he spent the last 13 years of his life in a monastery away from Nigeria, his influence can still be felt today. He was born to a poor peasant family in the rural town of Aguleri, Nigeria. His parents had little money and could not read or write. They were pious people in their Nigerian traditional religion. However, they had high hopes their son could one day acquire a Western education and understand the ways of the white colonial masters. Their hopes came through when their son became a humble Nigerian priest whom God chose to work through to accomplish extraordinary miracles in the lives of countless people who came to him for spiritual help. Through God’s power, he was able to accomplish so much in the work of evangelization which was at its initial stage at the time. “... it may be a high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm, and candor, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Bishop Anthony Nwedo in Sermon at the re-interment mass, Onitsha 17th October 1986) 
      Blessed Tansi devoted his life as a teacher, a priest, and a religious monk in the service of God and humanity.  After his death, the promotion of his cause which started in the Archdiocese of Onitsha in the early 1980 became a very concrete and practical way to bring God’s blessings to his people. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria supported the promotion of his cause because of the benefits that would come from it. “We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982 after considering the life of Rev. Fr. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO thinks that the promotion of the Cause of his beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favor of the promotion of his Cause” (the ‘Catholic leader’ Owerri August 15th, 1982). The Universal Catholic Church on 22nd of March 1998 recognized the humble way he lived out his Christian vocation. On that blessed day for all Nigerians, a large image of Blessed Tansi was seen on the facade of the podium where St. Pope John Paul 11 celebrated the beatification Mass. “Today, one of Nigeria's sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another” (St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998). With his beatification, the Blessed Tansi received a cult to be celebrated in his honor.  His cult includes his mass, liturgy of hours, and a right to public honor and veneration. Since then devotees and spiritual sons and daughters of Blessed Tansi could for the first time sit alone with the Blessed and speak to him directly. Now, they could share him with the world and could best do that by continuing some documentary work like this one on his legacy that continues to inspire millions in their life of faith.
      Blessed Tansi is, for all followers of Christ, a model of the interior life—the life of continual mindfulness of Divine Love and God’s abiding presence in every moment of our lives. For priests and those in consecrated life especially is a living rule by which they can measure their fidelity and authenticity to be better conformed to the ideal of perfection to which they are called.  In a solemn concelebrated liturgy to close the special year for Priests held at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria enthroned the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi ‘Patron and model of Nigerian Priests. “… we, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, having prayerfully considered the matter, unanimously choose and hereby declare, also BLESSED MICHAEL IWENE TANSI THE PATRON OF NIGERIAN PRIESTS





. We make this declaration on this 3rd. day of June in the year 2010, on the tomb of the Blessed, in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha, Nigeria”.  (solemn declaration at Concelebrated mass Onitsha. 3rd June 2010). 
      The blessed Tansi legacies are his greatest gifts to us and the best way we can remember, honour, and imitate this great Nigerian Saint include:


Try in your life to make a total commitment to the demands of love in your vocation in life. Holiness is possible in all vocations in life. We too like Blessed Tansi can become saints if we live our vocation entirely for God and our neighbour.
Like Blessed Tansi live a life of gratitude through your prayers. Say prayers of thanksgiving for the gifts you have received from God. Ask Blessed Tansi to help you see the good things about your condition in life. Pray for his intercession for peace in your life and family. 
Dialogue with God: Apart from your prayers of thanksgiving make a daily dialogue with God. He is your father. Think of all the reasons you are grateful to Him today and let Him know what you appreciate most about Him.  Blessed Tansi spent most time in his apostolate helping to ease tensions and pain in families, father-son, and father-daughter relationships. “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house” ( St. John Paul 11, in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998)
Choose a preferential option for the excluded. Blessed Tansi had a deliberate choice among many possibilities to help someone whom the society gives little or no attention to - those whom the present system marginalizes or makes vulnerable to harm. Always choose a helping hand to someone in need. This is what the Blessed Tansi was known for.
 Detachment from the material world. Blessed Tansi was never interested in the pursuit of wealth neither as a professional teacher, a priest or as monk. He chose poverty and lived poor. His lifestyle will help to reduce greed and avarice - the greatest enemy of our people.


      The trials of life can make us arid and can drown out our canticle of love, causing our spirit to be interiorly despondent, thereby losing our first love (cf. Rev 2:4).  If we find ourselves in such a state, above all, do not lose heart; God who is faithful will not abandon us. We have only to call upon Blessed Tansi to intercede for us in our misery. Blessed Tansi seeing our good will and our desire to make real changes in our life will restore the joy of our youth. With his help our national patron, grace will spur us on to desire God more and more, and our inner life can once again flourish, giving us joy and giving God glory. To understand and venerate Blessed Tansi helps to know about the man himself whose primary concern is entirely for God.
                                                           Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024.
                                                              “He is truly risen-Alleluia”
      God is love, and the reality of the Easter proclamation confirms this. So we can rest in the truth that Jesus is always with us and patient with us. He believes in us, and will not give up on us. And with God’s love in our lives, we can learn how to live a life of love. This is the Easter Good News. Furthermore, the Blessed Tansi ‘entirely for God’ must make love our lifestyle. Make it a priority to study how to love especially from the Word of God and the life of the saints like Blessed Iwene Tansi. The Saints learned how to love from Jesus' example. “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34). Getting a revelation about how much God loves them and learning to receive His love have been life-changing for the Saints. If we do the same it will be a key to being able to enjoy our life because when we receive God’s love, then we will be able to love others.
      The Passion story we have just celebrated shows us that the best way and perhaps the only way to be happy and have a powerful life is to get our minds off ourselves and do something for someone else. Helping people, being a blessing, and adding value to other people’s lives are what it means to walk in love and follow the example of Jesus. The apostle Paul in his lived experience had this to say: “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us …”(Eph. 5:2) Jesus Our reason for Easter, our perfect and holy Saviour gave His life for us, took all of our sins upon Himself, and shed His blood so we could have a personal relationship with Him and become the righteousness of God. That was His gift to us at his Resurrection. And once we experience the gift of salvation, our gift to God is how we live our lives and everything else in our lives will fall into place. Because we can only become everything we are created to be when we live a life filled with God’s love.
      Every day our Risen Lord is showing us in the parable of the Good Samaritan (cf. Luke 10:30-37) what real love looks like. Paul lists the characteristics of God’s love as: it is patient and kind, never jealous, boastful, or rude; it does not demand its way, is not irritable, and keeps no record of being wronged. Love rejoices when truth wins out. It never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love never fails. (cf.1 Corth.13:4-5). Because he has risen we can of course live up to this list. We can love others like this because as we died and rose with him who has risen from the dead we have everything we need to be like Jesus. The Spirit of God in us is greater than our enemy – selfishness and pride. (cf.1 John 4:4). So in Christ, we have the power we need to live a life of love. Happy Easter.

                                                                Sunday, March 24, 2024
                                         Blessed Tansi: Forms in us a heart of spiritual revival.
      Even the simplest reflection allows us to realise the awe-inspiring courage of Blessed Tansi. His strength is rooted in a living relationship with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. “Today, one of Nigeria's sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another” (Pope John Paul 11, in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998) Blessed Tansi showed his love for God and his neighbour in action. His pastoral zeal was evident in his concern and total dedication to his priestly calling. He changed the hearts of his faithful to love God and their neighbour. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great first commandment. And the second is like it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:35-40). The Blessed Tansi was greatly moved by the people’s need for the gospel and did not spare himself in his parish ministry, like his Master he went “… about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every infirmity” (Mt. 9:35-36). His parishioner who later became a Cardinal said: “Father Michael Tansi cannot have remained unmoved by the urgency of preaching the kingdom of God and crying need of the people to receive the Good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. How did his zeal work itself out, especially when he was among the flock of the Lord assigned to him in the parishes of Dunukofia, Akpu and Aguleri” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response ‘ p. 31)? He was a pastor concerned both for the spiritual and material life of the people. “I knew him for many years even as a school teacher, and even before we went to the seminary as a person concerned foremost with others, other persons, another world. He was self-effacing to a heroic degree” (Testimony of an old colleague quoted in Isichei E. ‘Entirely for God’ p. 23) He has a chrism to change peoples’ lives. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification” (St. John Paul 11 in a sermon at Beatification Nigeria March 1998).
      His attention to the sick and needy was beyond what was seen as possible.  “Father Tansi was very attentive to sick calls. In the Vicariate at that time the priests were advised not to go on sick calls by night for security reasons. But our hero ignored that counsel and was ready to move whenever a sick call came” (Arinze Cardinal, ' Total response’ p.34). At Umunya an outstation of Dunukofia parish there was an outbreak of smallpox in 1944. It was so severe that many died and many more were dying. The rich escaped to nearby towns and villages leaving the poor and the dying to their fortune. When Blessed Tansi heard what was happening he rushed to the place with his catechist and administered the sacraments to the dying and buried the dead. Meanwhile, his catechist remained at a distance for fear of the disease. It was a ministry that even now no one would consider bold, brave and courageous. It was too risky. Blessed Tansi counted on his faithfulness as a pastor who would not abandon his flock in all circumstances. Would it not have been easier and possible for him to go without his catechist whom he knew would not lift his finger to touch the dying or the dead? Of course! Yet he has always done so in most of his difficult pastoral engagements so they may give witness and testimony. His examples and messages are expressed and done not just in his words, but in the way he formed his catechists and faithful. His words and actions are not just spoken, but inscribed in the very hearts of those who followed him.
      Today our spiritual revival is only successful if we have a deep and humble conviction of both God’s plan and our own personal call to it. Only then do we have the courage to face any obstacle with loving confidence that God has called us to a mission before us? Blessed Tansi “spread the joy of restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion” (St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria March 1998). This question lurks at the core of every human heart. So often the real answer is blurred by responses we so readily grasp after, and yet time and again fail to satisfy. One response in particular that gnaws at so many of us today is personal identity. All of us have inherent value. Created in God’s image and likeness, our value is inestimable. Yet, when we focus too much on that value, we miss the big picture that our heart longs to see such as who are we in terms of our performance and contribution to the things that really matter in our lives. We are important, but that means nothing unless we know we are loved. The only way to confirm we are loved is if we know we are children of God. Because of this relationship, everything else in our world becomes true, good and beautiful. Our identity in Christ makes our accomplishments meaningful, our relationships enjoyable and our wildest dreams at least fun to think about, if not completely possible. Today Blessed Tansi's message, words and deeds are still fresh and effective in the minds of so many who happen to hear about his mission. His message and deeds are not only a textbook example of evangelization, but they also show us how good commitment to our relationship with our neighbour leads us to Jesus, so that we may help make his divine will a reality. As we strive to bring him to the fullness of the altar, let us turn to him in confidence, that he may strictly order us to invite our brothers and sisters into a burning love for God through His Son Jesus. For a good and personal spiritual revival could we consider seriously the following considerations: Blessed Tansi could have lived an easy life, full of food, parties and pleasure. But he did not want an easy life. He wanted to serve Christ with total dedication serving his neighbour especially the poor. How can I get detached from the excessive pursuit of material possessions and learn to give my excess to those who have not? What in your life holds you back from striving to love Jesus more like Blessed Tansi? How can you allow him to help stoke the flames of love for Jesus in the Eucharist in your own heart? Do you desire Blessed Tansi to strictly order you to take action on behalf of Jesus as he did, or does that possibility cause you to hesitate? What is one way you can allow Blessed Tansi to form your heart so that you can also be a humble and faithful messenger of Jesus? How can you now become involved in the promotion of his worthy cause? The Holy Father, St. John Paul 11 reminds all of us of the importance of Blessed Tansi's example when he said “As we stand before the Altar of Sacrifice, soon to be fed and nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ, we must be convinced that each of us, according to our particular state in life, is called to do no less than what Father Tansi did. Having been reconciled with God, we must be instruments of reconciliation, treating all men and women as brothers and sisters, called to membership in the one family of God” (ibid).
                                                                Sunday, March 17, 2024                                         
                                                  Benefits from Pilgrimage to Blessed Tansi
      When Blessed Tansi was exhumed from his resting place at the monastery of Mount Saint Bernard England – in September 1986 and brought back to Nigeria he was reburied at the priest's cemetery near the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. The reburial took place on the 17th of October 1986. He was again exhumed on the eve of his beatification which took place on March 22nd 1998 at Oba near Onitsha. Since after his beatification, his mortal remains have been kept in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha where thousands of devotees make pilgrimage to the Basilica to see him. His official cult is celebrated in the Basilica every Monday with a large number of the faithful attending. This basilica has become a special place, where the holy faithful people of God gather to pray to Blessed Tansi, to be consoled, to be healed and to look to the future with greater confidence. It has become a real place of pilgrimage to Blessed Tansi. The Monday devotees from across Nigeria have found the place a good help to rediscover the centrality of prayer in their lives. More and more people who come have enjoyed prayer that comes from the heart, not like parrots. From the heart with the typical spirituality that characterises the Cistercian spirituality and Blessed Tansi prayer life.


[1. To Pray and Experience Mercy]

Many come to Blessed Tansi at the Basilica, above all, to pray. Efforts have been made to make the Basilica truly a privileged place of prayer. The Holy Eucharist is devoutly celebrated in the basilica and much effort is devoted to the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the pilgrims. Part of the attraction for pilgrims is that the pilgrims have a choice of priests for confessions. The choice of priests makes for good discernment so that it does not happen that those who come to the confessional, attracted by the Father’s mercy, encounter obstacles to experiencing true and full reconciliation. The Sacrament of Reconciliation is to forgive always. Blessed Tansi as pastor spent hours at the confessional. “The number of people for confessions could run to hundreds especially in preparation for the first Friday Sacred Heart devotion when many school children and Mary League girls attend. Father Tansi who had no assistant priest all five years in Dunukofia parish patiently sat in the confessional until the last penitent was served”.(Arinze Cardinal, in ‘total response’ p. 33). Pilgrims have a good opportunity for prayer, especially the Rosary which helps them to keep alive and nurture their faith with prayer. 


[2. To Be Consoled] 

Many come to Blessed Tansi to be consoled. In his pastoral ministry, Blessed Tansi set great value on visiting people in their homes, advising and counselling the sick and bereaved. We remember that a lot of pilgrims come because they bear in the spirit and the body weight, suffering, worry, the sickness of a loved one, the loss of a family member; so many situations in life are often the cause of loneliness and sadness, which are laid on the Blessed and await a response. Consolation is not an abstract idea and is not made up first and foremost of words, but of a compassionate and tender closeness that understands pain and suffering. Compassionate and tender closeness - this is God’s style: close, compassionate and tender. This is the way of the Lord. To console is to make God’s mercy tangible; that is why the service of consolation cannot be missing for devotees of Blessed Tansi on pilgrimage to him. “He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we are comforted” (2 Cor. 1:4). 


[3. To Look at the Future with Greater Confidence] 

Finally, some come to Blessed Tansi to look to the future with greater confidence. All pilgrims need hope. They seek it in the very gesture of pilgrimage: they set out in search of a safe destination to reach. They ask for hope in prayer because they know that only a simple and humble faith can obtain the grace they need. So, it is important that when returning home, they feel this has been fulfilled and are filled with serenity because they have placed their trust in God. In Blessed Tansi many who come and participate in the celebration of his cult, return to their ordinary lives with the hope that they received words and signs of hope so that the pilgrimage they have made achieves its full meaning.
      It is our hope and prayer that through the intercession of the Blessed Tansi in our troubled times, many of our suffering brothers and sisters may find peace and hope visiting the Blessed Tansi. At the same time imitating his lifestyle – total acceptance of the will of God at all times. St. Paul made it very clear in many passages that we are to imitate and emulate him, as an example, as he, in turn, imitated Christ also that we should imitate God, and other holy persons, and be an example ourselves to others. This provides a strong biblical rationale for the veneration - strong honouring; not worship of Blessed Tansi. (cf. 1 Cor. 11:1: 1 Timothy 4:12 ;) Pilgrims depart from the basilica with something of Blessed Tansi they have learnt. This they try to apply in their daily lives. just like Paul the Apostle: “And you became imitators of us and the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit; so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. (1 Thessalonians 1:6-7) “Anyone close to Father Tansi could without difficulty recognize him as a deeply mortified person, even long before he entered the monastery” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ p.189) Most evident of his devotion to Christ was his Eucharistic devotion and piety. The person of Christ in the Eucharist was central in his life. “Father Tansi prayed often and this he did deeply and for long hours. He went to bed early at about 8, 00. pm and rose for prayer at about 2.00 am. He then prayed till the time for morning mass. He prayed with utter devotion, he was notably devoted to the Mass, the divine office, the rosary and the Saints” ( C. Obi, Facing Mount Saint Bernard, p.73) Describing his Eucharistic piety Cardinal Arinze recorded that “in his years as pastor, the faith of Father Tansi in the Eucharist was very manifest. He was often seen in his chapel on a visit to our Eucharistic Lord, especially by night. His chapel, although simple, was always clean. So were his vestments for mass and Eucharistic Benediction” (in ‘Total Response’ p. 173)
      If you are a true devotee of Blessed Tansi you should often ask questions like what in your life holds you back from striving to love Jesus more like Blessed Tansi who saw Christianity as living entirely for God? How can you allow him to help stoke the flames of love for Jesus in the Eucharist in your own heart and to keep up the effort to give God your best in the use of time, possession and fidelity to his love and neighbour? Do you desire Blessed Tansi to strictly order you to take action on behalf of Jesus as Blessed Tansi did, or does that possibility cause you to hesitate? What is the one way you can allow Blessed Tansi to form your heart so that you can also be a humble and faithful messenger of Jesus


                                                               Sunday, March 10, 2024
                                                   Blessed Tansi Cause:  Can I get involved? 
      Every Nigerian should be involved in the cause of Blessed Tansi because “the life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much” (Pope John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria March 1998). He is a pride of Nigeria and the Catholic Church in particular.  “Father Tansi was a great man, a many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria. a convert from African Traditional religion who lived “entirely for God”, a follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back (Lk 9, 62). (Arinze Cardinal in “Total Response p.9) He was a Christian consumed with the love of God and his neighbour. His zeal and passion for the things of God, the poor and the sick were extraordinary. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest” ( Pope John Paul 11 in Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998). The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria unanimously approved the promotion of the cause because of its spiritual benefits to Nigerians. “We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982 after considering the life of Rev. Fr. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO thinks that the promotion of the Cause of his beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of Priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favour of the promotion of his Cause” (cf. ‘The Catholic Leader Owerri. August 15th, 1982). Those who knew the zealous pastor testify to his great love of God and his neighbour. “Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness”.  The Holy Father told Nigerians on the day he was beatified. (cf. beatification sermon)  “He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him” (ibid). 
      Soon after his beatification in 1998 the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria in a solemn concelebrated liturgy to close the special year for Priests held at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, June 3rd 2010 enthroned the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi ‘Patron of Nigerian Priests’. His priestly vocation was an outstanding model of priestly asceticism, piety, special devotion to the Eucharist, devotion to the ministry of reconciliation, and pastoral zeal. His priesthood teaches us the basics of the priesthood in its blueprint, building up parishes out of nothing and interested in orphans, the needy and the poor and doing acts of charity for the sick and underprivileged. At the same time overwhelmed with his own sense of unworthiness and weakness in the face of his mission. 
      Since the introduction of his cause, exhumation and re-interment at Onitsha in 1986 there has been significant change and interest in the spiritual life of many Nigerians. The idea of our call to holiness and becoming a saint became popular in different Nigerian languages. “ …it is interesting to record that the life of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi has inspired and encouraged not only individuals but also groups to pray in this connection, the Blessed Father Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement deserves special mention … the members are inspired by the Trappist spirituality.” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response’ p.242).  We cannot here fail to mention the growth of monastic life in Nigeria. This growth has certainly the Blessed Tansi special inspiration. Blessed Tansi was sent by his bishop in 1950 to Mount St. Bernard Abby to learn the Cistercian way of life with the hope that now a monk he will return to Nigeria to start the monastic apostolate. But it did not happen that way he died some months before he could return to Nigeria. Now fifty years after his death, the monastic apostolate has begun to flourish in Nigeria.
      At this stage I am sure no one would again ask the question ‘can I be involved?” Of course, all of us must be involved. The question now is how do you get involved? First  “…we cannot avoid thanking God for the many favours which he has given to Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, and through him, to Nigeria, Africa and the Church worldwide. At the same time we have to ask ourselves what the Lord requires of us as our expression of this gratitude” ( Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response’ p. 243)  Secondly after thanking God for the gift of Blessed Tansi we need to adopt what is good in his lifestyle. I don’t mean becoming another Blessed Tansi or copying him. No, Blessed Tansi's life is his own life, his vocation.  But in reflecting upon his life, we all, clergy, religious, and laity, are meant to focus on the things that are at the core of our faith, to renew our awareness of the things that really matter. If  Blessed Tansi's life is important, it is because it is a life of faith, of humble and persevering following what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was dark and cold. He is just one more disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can learn from him as we can from his Master. So as we pray for his cause to prosper, let us also pray that he may be an inspiration to many, whatever state of life they are called to, and that he may draw many to the priesthood and the monastic life.
      Thirdly we can join in a more positive way to pray for the cause. There is the Blessed Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement in many parishes across the country. Become an active member of your parish. If you are a priest or religious help to promote this prayer group wherever you are. Fourthly, as most of the good things we have come from hearing, become a promoter of this cause by telling people about this holy man. If you like this weekly meditation think of forwarding it to somebody you know. At the same time, you can help to distribute literature, prayer cards and leaflets on this great man. Tell your friends, church leaders, and other Christians about this Cause and his prayer group and encourage them to visit our website. It is important to the cause to report all favours you know to have been received through the intercession of Blessed Tansi.
      I repeat you can be involved in the campaign for this cause. Just decided today to get involved. You can reach the postulation for the cause for more explanations if need be. (08030958350 or postulationtansi@yahoo.com.)  You will receive a free prayer guide as well as weekly e-mails with encouragement and prayer themes. We send important updates on what God is doing for us in Nigeria through the intercession of the Blessed Iwene Tansi and how you can get involved in the activities of the Postulation for the cause of Blessed Iwene Tansi.
                                                               Sunday, March 3, 2024
                                            Blessed Tansi's Journey so far – Urgent call for prayers.
      The Postulation for the Cause of Blessed Tansi is making an urgent call for prayers for the Cause. Prayer is what the cause needs most now.  Do you know that it is now twenty-seven years since this humble Servant of God was raised to the altar (Blessed) by His Holiness John Paul 11. Since then many Nigerians especially the members of his Solidarity Prayer Movement have been praying for a successful conclusion of this worthy cause [sainthood]. For the happy conclusion, the cause needs only one miracle which will be accepted by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Only God can perform miracles, we cannot but we, his children need to ask him for this miracle through our prayers. Here prayer becomes our greatest weapon to reach the end. The process of his canonization was officially opened in the Archdiocese of Onitsha on January 20th, 1986 by Stephen Ezeanya, the Archbishop of Onitsha.  Soon after the inauguration of the cause, Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya made a request to the Vatican and St. Bernard Monastery England for the remains of Blessed Tansi to be exhumed and transferred to Nigeria. On the 12th of September, 1986, the remains were exhumed in the Cemetery of Mount St. Bernard Abbey, Coolville England. On the 19th of September 1986, the remains were flown to Nigeria and on Friday 17th October 1986, the remains were reinterred at the Priests’ Cemetery at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity compound, Onitsha.  With the return of the remains to Nigeria, the cause gained seeming wildfire popularity.
     The final public session of the Onitsha Archdiocesan Tribunal for the cause took place on May 5th, 1990 after a concelebrated Mass at the Basilica field. Following the closure and the dissolution of the Archdiocesan Tribunal for the cause the documentations {Acts} were brought to Rome and consigned to the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints on May 21st 1990 by Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya. This consignment signals the opening of the beatification process for Fr. Tansi. The Onitsha tribunal acts were made public documents in the Vatican on May 28 1991. A copy was returned to the Onitsha Archdiocesan archives. The cause gained such acceptance and popularity in the Vatican that on the 11th of July 1995, in the presence of the Holy Father John Paul 11 a decree was issued to recognize the heroic life and virtue of Fr. Tansi. And eleven months later on 25th June 1996, another decree recognized the miraculous claim attributed to the intercession of Fr. Tansi. With these two decrees by the Vatican, the road to beatification became open and wider than ever. The Catholic bishops Conference of Nigeria immediately invited the Holy Father to come to Nigeria to beatify Fr. Tansi. On his second Pastoral visit to Nigeria, the Holy Father, John Paul 11, beatified Fr. Tansi on 22nd March 1998, recognizing the humble way he lived his Christian life. Fr. Tansi became the first Nigerian Saintly Model, an advocate and benefactor. With his beatification, Blessed Tansi became a National Saint of Nigeria, and received the right to a cult to be celebrated in Nigeria, Cistercian Communities and in places outside Nigeria that have devotees and special interest. With his beatification, the first stage in the promotion of the cause successfully came to a happy end. The Church opens the second stage, with the Holy Father St. John Paul 11 giving Nigeria and the Bishops’ Conference in particular a new assignment to bring the fruits of blessed Tansi holy life to the universal church.
      “…Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruit of holiness, which has grown and matured in the church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African… Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local church now offers to the universal church…”  (Sermon Beatification Oba Nigeria 1998). What is required to bring the fruits of blessed Tansi holy life to the universal church?  Put simply one miracle attributed to the intercession of  Blessed Iwene Tansi and will be accepted and approved by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints. This is what we have been waiting for the past 27 years since after the beatification. Only God can perform miracles, we cannot but as his faithful children we can and should ask him to give us a miracle for the canonization of our brother. We do this by celebrating the cult of Blessed Tansi and my prayers. The cult of Blessed Iwene Tansi includes his mass and liturgy of hours. Prayers will include any form of prayer and devotion to him.
      Since the beatification date, Nigerians and devotees of Blessed Tansi worldwide have been praying for the one miracle needed to conclude the process – sainthood. Nobody knows when this miracle will come and from where – only God knows. All we can and must do is beg God to show us by this miracle that Blessed Tansi is worthy of a universal honour in the church of Christ. For this reason, the postulation is urgently calling on all Nigerians and their friends worldwide to intensify prayers for this cause. The Purpose of this call is to mobilize prayers for the Cause of Blessed Tansi. The most common miracle for canonization is healing. The Congregation for the Causes of Saints considers almost exclusively extraordinary physical healings and recoveries since these incidents usually have verifiable facts such as medical tests and records, as well as objective and widely accepted measurements for diagnosing serious conditions and declaring a person healed.  In the last 27 years, we have had some possible miracles attributed to the intercession of Blessed Tansi. We have positive evidence that people close to the event truly prayed exclusively to Blessed Tansi for a miracle. Our local doctors felt that the cure could not be scientifically explained. But these have all failed the Vatican standard for lack of adequate medical tests and records.
      Prayer is what the Cause of Blessed Iwene Tansi needs most at this time. Prayer for God to grant us the needed miracle. All Christians in Nigeria should be involved in this prayer request. I remember years ago Nigeria was among the countries that actively and publicly prayed in catholic schools and churches for the Canonization of the Blessed Martyrs of Uganda and Blessed Martin de Pores. I was then in primary school and to part in these prayers. These blessings are not Nigerians yet we prayed for them but today we have our own Blessed- a Nigerian. Could we as we did for these blessed in the past pray publicly for our own Blessed Tansi in our catholic schools and churches possibly in all Nigerian languages? On till now, only the Blessed Iwene Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement, the devotees and friends of the Blessed Tansi officially engaged in the prayers for the canonization. It is possible to get the official prayers for his canonisation translated into different Nigerian languages. The two prayers official prayers for his canonisation in use now are:
      (a)  O God, who granted many graces to your servant, Priest and Monk, Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, choosing him as your faithful instrument for evangelization and sanctification of your people, grant also that I may spend my life loving you and my neighbour and serving the Church. Deign to glorify your servant Cyprian Michael and through his intercession to grant me the favour I now ask in faith…… (make your intentions here)
Our Father……
Hail Mary……..
Glory to the Father……
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
     (b)  Lord, you choose the humble and the poor so that they may be signs of your power, you made your Servant Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi a faithful priest in spreading your gospel, and You gave him a love for prayer and the monastic life. Glorify him according to the designs of your love and through his intercession grant us the favour we ask (… here mention your request) through Christ our Lord. Amen.Our Father……
Hail Mary……..
Glory to the Father……
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen


                                                              Sunday, February 25, 2024                                                                
                                                   Why Blessed Tansi matters now in Nigeria.
      In the contemporary confusion in Nigerian politics, and social and economic life, people need more clarity about basic moral values and justice. The Blessed Tansi whose lifestyle is love for his neighbour can help to address some of the confusion. “Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us.” (Eph 5:2) Cardinal Arinze described Blessed Tansi as “… a great man. A many-sided specimens of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria and the Catholic priesthood in Nigeria, a convert from African Traditional religion who lived “entirely for God”. A follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back” (cf Lk 9:62) (in ‘Total Response’ p. 9). While the Holy Father John Paul 11 called his life and witness an inspiration to all Nigerians present and future. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much…Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness”. (In his sermon Beatification Nigeria 22nd March 1998).  His life as a professional teacher, a diocesan priest and a religious monk touched every Nigerian showing us what we should be and how we should live. “He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of purity” (ibid). Blessed Tansi was a great moralist and had a great concern for social justice and peace. “He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. Especially, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification” (ibid).
      The life and witness of great Nigerians who made love their lifestyle serve both the Church and State as an advisor on social and political matters, a role that marries deep spiritual and social insight with intellectual rigour. As a renowned educator and school administrator during the colonial era, his wisdom in forming the future post-colonial Nigerians is an enduring valuable asset. As a very successful pastor of souls and renowned expert in moral and social justice, his lifestyle and witness will always remain a useful guide in our religious and political life. What is true yesterday in his life is also true today and will be true tomorrow. Blessed Tansi is a great Nigerian who to the maximum, developed the mind of his people to know both natural truths and accept the revealed truths that God has made known to us. He tried to think about them, bring out their intelligibility and formulate them in practice through his pastoral methods in the family, youth and community. And these are permanently valid. They worked and people were happy with them. “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house” (John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria March 22nd 1098).
      Today many Nigerians are ‘disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them’ they are no longer clear about basic moral and social values because of how social life is functioning today; people are lost. There is a wild cry asking for social justice, good governance and respect for the common good because to live and exist as a nation, we have to base ourselves on something solid – truth. To serve the public you must understand and respect what is justice. You cannot make complex decisions in the realms of justice or the realms of politics or economics if you don’t know the difference between good and evil. The mind has to grasp these fundamental issues and then this gives solid foundations.
       What do you think is the legacy of Blessed Tansi today? His pastoral concern for marriage and family, youth education and empowerment, preferential love for the poor, compassion for the sick and less privileged, total dedication to duty, justice to all and detachment from worldly matters. 
      His approach to justice and social matters inspired by the love of God and neighbour emphasizes not wasting the cross of Christ but rather centres on the cross of Christ, who bore our sins, liberated us from sin, and bestowed divine grace upon us. Articulating his legacies in practice, addressing our practical social questions, and synthesizing justice for all remain in great part the work of our leaders – religious and civil. The main challenge this nation faces today is not about redefining what is true or is not, but rather about integrating the ever-changing social challenges with the profound sense of love – love that liberates all. If not for greed and selfishness Nigeria had all it needs to be a great nation. Blessed Tansi and St. John Paul 11 think that way. “God has blessed this land with human and natural wealth, and everyone has to ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing…There can be no place for intimidation and domination of the poor and the weak, for arbitrary exclusion of individuals and groups from political life, for the misuse of authority or the abuse of power. The key to resolving economic, political, cultural and ideological conflicts is justice; and justice is not complete without the love of neighbour, without an attitude of humble, generous service” ( St. John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998).



                                                              Sunday, February 18, 2024
                                                     Call on Heaven: Become a Prayer Partner
      The cause of Blessed Tansi is this movement backed by the fervent intercession of thousands of devotees of Blessed Tansi and devoted Catholics across the country. This particular cause needs one miracle approved by the Vatican to reach the fullness of the altar – sainthood. Nobody knows when and from where this miracle will come.  Only God who alone can perform miracles knows. We who are his faithful children and devoted lovers of his Servant Blessed Iwene Tansi can beg God our Father to grant us this miracle through the intercession of Blessed Tansi. This is now the responsibility of the devotees of Blessed Tansi. Join us in this important spiritual task. When you become a Prayer Partner in this campaign, you commit to spiritually supporting this cause in a variety of ways—both individual and corporate. Together, we continually call on heaven to send an even greater outpouring of grace upon our Church and open our hearts to what God is about to do through his Servant- the Blessed Iwene Tansi. Today, you are invited to join a team of spiritual advocates fervently interceding on behalf of this noble Cause for a happy conclusion. Many have already signed up and are now praying. Help us especially this lent with your prayers fasting, and penance. When you become a Prayer Partner, you commit to spiritually supporting this cause in the following ways:
      Individual Prayer: In addition to your regular prayer life, set aside extra time to pray for the cause. Intercede for the happy conclusion of the cause by offering Masses, Rosaries, and novenas—however you like to bring your intentions before the Lord. Deepen your relationship with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament by making time to soak in his presence in Eucharistic adoration outside regular Mass times.
      Corporate Prayer: Prayer Partners especially the Tansi solidarity prayer group gather virtually each week to pray as a group for the Cause. Together, we call down graces upon this cause and open ourselves to any prophetic words the Holy Spirit may have to share with our Church, discerning the voice of the Lord for this cause. If you still need to become a solidarity member join and please attend as often as you can our weekly prayer meetings.
       Fasting and penance: Before Jesus began his ministry, he committed himself to prayer and fasting for 40 days. Moses also spent 40 days without food or water as a plea for mercy on behalf of his people who had turned away from the Lord. From Daniel in the Old Testament to Paul in the New, fasting accompanies powerful prayer throughout the Bible. We invite you to join us in this powerful spiritual practice as we anticipate the amazing things God is about to do for us, Nigeria and his Church. Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, and subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, rendering the heart contrite and humble.
      Bring your sick ones to Blessed Tansi for healing: The Church and Christians of good will have to be near to the sick in their suffering through care, compassion and above all, prayer. Bearing this in mind we devote special time of prayer and sharing our suffering for the good of the Church and of reminding everyone to see in his sick brother or sister the face of Christ who, by suffering, dying and rising, achieved the salvation of mankind. (cf. Letter Instituting the World Day of the Sick, 13 May 1992, n. 3). All Christians have to care for the sick and they are urged to imitate the Good Samaritan in their care and compassion for those who are sick and suffering and remain near to them, both in prayer and also in their actions.  With this in mind bring the sick in your parish to Blessed Tansi to seek relief through his intercession. You meet Blessed Tansi's physical mortal remains at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. It makes sense to bring the sick of your parish on a pilgrimage to blessed Tansi. May the Blessed Tansi, be our support and our hope and, through his intercession increase our sensitivity and dedication to those who are sick.
      Remember also that it is very important to report to the postulation all the favours you know to have been received through the intercession of the Blessed Tansi. This report helps the cause in the most significant way. (WhatsApp 234803095835)
      Remember your prayers make a real impact in the lives of many people across this country, bring significant relief to many suffering and help to bring this worthy cause to a happy conclusion. Since this cause was introduced in Nigeria a lot of spiritual benefits have come with it, many favours through the intercession of Blessed Tansi have been reported across the country. Solidarity members are reporting exciting new growth in their parishes and rekindled devotion to Blessed Tansi and Jesus in the Eucharist. And God is just getting started to do more.
      Can we count on your prayers? This cause is bearing great fruit – the harvest will be great. Make an impute in your parish. Ask Jesus how you can be a promoter of the cause in your parish. Does your parish have a solidarity prayer movement? If not, begin one today. Perhaps God is calling you to take on this important role during this Lenten season. We know what happens when two or three gather in the Lord’s name, but what happens when it is thousands?  Gathered as one Church at the feet of Jesus, we will open our hearts to his demand. Together, we will be healed, converted, unified, and launched into a new chapter of Tansi devotees. Who will bring this holy fire back home to your parish? Don’t let your community miss out on this amazing call for prayers.  If your parish already has one solidarity prayer group, it’s possible they need your help as a member and a leader. Your charism can be of special help to them. No matter your exact role, your ministry as a part of this movement will help create fertile ground for the Holy Spirit to ignite greater devotion to Blessed Tansi. Act today, please.
                                                            Sunday, February 11, 2024
                                       Blessed Tansi detachment can help Nigeria in distress.   
      On January 20th we celebrated the feast of Blessed Tansi. His life of radical dedication to following Jesus is extreme, and yet is something that we can all emulate to reduce tension and distress. His intrinsic holiness though not the chosen lifestyle can serve as a universal model of essential holiness appropriate to all Christians whether these be high ecclesiastics, religious, youths or any member of the baptized laity. He is such a spiritual person who is fully alive with the Spirit of God received at Baptism avoids serious sin, is effective in whatever task God proposes, is courageous in the face of trials and difficulties, is mortified and charitable, is always full of prayer, humility and heroism in the practice of the Christian virtues and finally, is affectively detached from all things both good and evil even from life itself. This is because a rejection of the world did not define his life–but by a clinging to all things Christ. He is such a person who lives fully within the world but at the same time is not of the world and as the letter to the Romans reminds us, does not “adapt to the pattern of this present world” (Roman. 12;2). Finally, he is such a person who never disdains the created world fears it nor runs from it but rather experiences the world and its many goods as gifts from God to be used with freedom, responsibility and gratitude. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian”(Pope John Paul II in sermon at beatification Nigeria March 22nd 1998).
      In addition, he is a spiritually detached person, prayerful and active compassion for the world especially when its parts or members are disfigured by human sin and injustice. “He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their [Nigerians] continuing sanctification. Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their independent and selfish existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house”(ibid).  The spiritually detached man or woman of God abhors only evil and its sinful manifestations but at the same time, does not invest his or her identity and self-worth in earthly pursuits and concerns even when these are good and noble because when all is said and done, the spiritually detached person always has another home in view.
      From his early start, Blessed Tansi showed immense preferential love of God and Christian virtues. “First as a Teacher and later as School Headmaster, Tansi continued to reveal not merely his “sharp and keen” abilities as an Educator, but of equal importance to us, his demonstrable preferential love of God and Christian values. So much did he integrate academics with religious knowledge and practice...Tansi was often accused by less tepid souls of running the school in the manner of a seminary” (Ed. Debany SJ in a symposium organised by National Blessed Solidarity at Holy Trinity Basilica, Onitsha on Thursday, 18th March 2004) “As in his years as a parish priest, he imposed a rigid religious regimen on others, which they accepted. During Lent, he went to school barefoot, as a penance, hurrying home for his shoes and socks when he heard an inspector was coming. Like the other Igbo schoolmasters of his day, he was strict, sometimes to a degree that jars the modern observer. During Lent, the children were forbidden to play in their recreation period. Instead, they had to listen to Bible stories” (Elizabeth Isichei, Entirely for God, The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi, p.22) 
      With his teaching profession, Blessed Tansi was growing up as a dedicated and pious lay educator, with great potential for greatness in riches either as a civil servant, businessman, or politician. But he abandoned these potentials and opted for the priesthood.  Not certainly for the prestige or the money for he already had both even though he always eschewed these even as a layman. Like all holy people, Tansi was a man growing in interior detachment from all things and people and moving steadily towards a deeper, heartfelt and ultimately mysterious union with the Absolute - God himself. The same interior force or holy desire which moved Jesus to forever leave Nazareth at the age of thirty, St Anthony Abbot to give away his father’s significant inheritance, the first martyrs to prefer death over apostasy, St. Patrick to abandon the patrician comfort of continental Europe for the wilds of pagan and barbarous Ireland, Mother Teresa of Calcutta to seek transfer from her bourgeois Religious Congregation for total service and solidarity with the poorest of the poor that same interior force, the fruit of spiritual sensitivity to the interior motions of the Holy Spirit, inspired Tansi toward the next stage of his ever more perfected union with God which he then understood as priestly, sacramental and pastoral service to his Igbo brothers and sisters. Only a person effectively detached from the values and goods of the world can make such a leap forward an act of spiritual sacrifice. 
      In the face of our changing world, I often wonder whether it is better to leave the world and flee to the monastery. While this is never a serious consideration the thought process revolves around the countless challenges that we face raising a life in our broken culture and flawed society. There seem to be more and more hurdles to living a faithful life in Nigeria with each passing day. Whether it is the rejection of the importance of faith or the denial of truth it sometimes feels like the world is against everything Christian and ultimately inhuman – where are we going? Blessed Tansi reminds us that following Jesus is not about rejecting the world and running from it but falling more in love with him so that we can give him more access to change our Nigeria and the world.
      The parents of Blessed Tansi died poor but devout followers of the Igbo traditional religion. Blessed Tansi as a teacher with sufficient income was left with the responsibility of helping his siblings. “Orekyie, Michael’s master and guardian, was strongly opposed to his protégé’s abandoning his chances of worldly advancement and the financial enrichment of his extended family. His fellow villages could not understand his actions. They thought it shameful to deliberately renounce offspring and to become a kind of slave to any “god” (Elizabeth Ichcie in Entirely for God p.28) Blessed Tansi was not merely running away from responsibility he was following the Lord’s command: “If you want to be perfect, go and sell all you have and give the money to the poor–you will have riches in heaven. Then come and follow me” (Mt 19:21-24). He took this as a sign that Jesus was inviting him to live differently. He viewed these words as spoken for him and to him. He was convinced that he must act. He was convicted of what he must do. That conviction is something, I think, that we all pray for and desire. We want to be a disciple who acts on the words of our Teacher and our God. The difference between myself and Blessed Tansi is that he acted. His conviction was followed by a choice to move. That does not mean that we sell our possessions. Blessed Tansi's call is unique. It is special. It is his own. We all have our own. It must not be the priesthood or the monastery. It must be ours in our own time. Is there something you know you need to do to be more faithful, but you are holding off on it? Maybe there is something at work that is unjust that you know you have to act against, but it will cost you something. Maybe you just need to pray more and commit to waking up earlier. Whatever conviction you have deep inside of your heart involving preferential love of God and your neighbour, act on it like Blessed Tansi. Choosing to act radically as a disciple takes courage. However, knowing the holy actions we are being invited to do cannot occur if we do not live like Tansi in one specific way: we must be devoted to our vocation and daily prayer. This ascetic practice is not for the few monks but for every single one of us. Leave everything behind and be with God – every single day. Carve out time to bask in His Presence. Only when we enter our internal desert away from the world can we live radically for God?
                                                                                                      Sunday, February 4, 2024
                                   Blessed Tansi's legacy helps set our goals with sainthood in mind.
Our weekly meditations should help us to understand better the life and legacy of Blessed Tansi. And understanding them will help us set our life goals with sainthood in mind. As we turn the calendar to a new year, the momentum of resolutions fills the air. People post reflection questions and set intentions. Others choose a word or a theme for the next 12 months. By this time, we have successfully begun to implement our 2024 resolutions, failed, or, most likely, experienced some combination of the two. While I appreciate the momentum of making New Year’s resolutions, after January has nearly passed, I am ready to be reminded of how these resolutions fit in with Christian living. It is good to live with intention, but if our enthusiasm has waned or we feel like a failure, take heart in the way resolutions fit into our Catholic lives. By now many of us will agree with Cardinal Arinze that: “Father Tansi was a great man, a many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria and of the Catholic priesthood in Nigeria, a convert from African Traditional Religion who lived ‘entirely for God’, a follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back (cf Lk 9:62). Care is needed in the presentation of this exemplary priest not to exaggerate to the right or to the left, to distinguish between one’s wishes and the historic reality, not to project ones ideal of a saint on this particular blessed and to seek to stick to proven historical facts and reliable witnesses” (in ‘Total Response’ p. 9) In addition the Church in her universal call to holiness teaches us that sainthood is not just the plan for a select few but the goal for each one of us. To become a saint, we must be resolved internally in the pursuit of sainthood. Our resolutions each year should be at the service of this pursuit. There will always be trends when it comes to the secular setting of resolutions, but by anchoring our goals to sainthood, we unite them with God’s grace working in our lives.
      With the exemplary life of Blessed Tansi before us, setting our life goal with sainthood in mind becomes easy and reachable. For it is Providence who stirs in us the desire to do something great with our lives, the will to follow an ideal, the refusal to allow ourselves to be grounded down by mediocrity, the courage to commit ourselves humbly and patiently to improving ourselves and society, making our Nigeria more human and more fraternal like Blessed Tansi from who we learn the art of living for God and others. Making resolutions with Blessed Tansi legacies in mind challenges us to grow in what God is calling us to do. It roots us in his plan for our lives. This gives our resolutions more depth than simply checking boxes or creating new routines. All goals must include a desire to do the will of God because only in doing the will of God can we find our peace and joy. “You will never be happy nor have any peace of mind until you learn to put away your likes and dislikes. Do what you are told, take what you are given, go where you are sent, nothing else will procure you the desired satisfaction...the sooner you learn to take up the will of another the sooner your happiness will begin” (Blessed Tansi advice to Sister M. Aloysius quoted in Gregory Wareing, ‘Sorrow will not kill me’ p. 22) The great secret is this: find out what God wants, and when you know, try to do his will gaily or at least bravely.
      The Blessed Tansi is humble and grateful to God for all the graces he has received. “Father Cyprian was humble and simple; indeed extremely ... he was so humble and self-effacing. He must have acquired and developed these virtues long before he entered the monastery. One found them so natural to him, he never on any occasion singled himself out ... never drawing attention to himself” (C.Obi “facing Mount Saint Bernard’ p.289). In our time where independence and self-agency are viewed as virtues, it is good to remember that as humans we exist as creatures. We depend on God as our creator and our saviour not only when we are praying or thinking theologically, but in our daily existence, in each moment. In making resolutions, we focus on what is within our power to control, yet as Christians, we are called to open our wills to God’s grace as we move through our days. We exist in God’s creation, and we depend on God and his creation to live. While sometimes it might feel like we should be able to do it all, humility invites us to recognize our dependence on God, others and the earth as a beautiful thing. Placing our resolutions in the realm of dependence on God takes the pressure off of us and allows us to view our choices as both privileges and responsibilities to carry out with God’s help. The more we lean into our dependence on God for our very existence, the less we lean on ourselves in our resolutions and instead respond to God’s grace that he is giving us in the moment. We have to ask ourselves what the Lord requires of us as our expression of this gratitude to Him.
      Resolutions after the legacy of Blessed Tansi invite us to look ahead to the future. They help us think about how to bridge the gap between who we are and who we want to be. Once we have realized that becoming the best version of ourselves means pursuing sainthood, we must remember that grace is offered to us in the present moment. It is only in the present moment that we can build, foster and experience a relationship with God. It is in the present moment that we take up our crosses and follow Christ, uniting our wills to God’s will and accepting his grace. Regardless of our feelings on making resolutions, as Christians, we are invited to regularly reflect, resolve and make adjustments to our daily living in search of sainthood. Each of us is called to be resolved in our Christian living, set on embracing a life of virtue united with Christ and today is the perfect time to begin again. We are living our true identities more fully in 2024 after the example of Blessed Tansi. The desire to remake ourselves is something essential to our nature, certainly our fallen nature because we all do it. We do not want to be exactly the people God made us to be. We prefer a different idea of who we are.
      Today we live in a society possibly unique in its power to make us want to be other people. How we live as Catholics requires us to see the world in which we live, the world that wants to make us worldly. That means making us want to be other than the people God made us to be. God has a plan for each of us, and as our lives unfold daily, our attentiveness to Divine movement will allow us to see it. If we become too tangled in our resolutions, we begin to focus on ourselves instead of what God is doing in us.
[Thank you for your participation, devotion and prayers for the Cause during the celebration of the annual feast and Diamond Jubilee of Blessed Tansi call to Glory. Please report to the Postulation any favour you know people received through the intercession of Blessed Tansi].
                                                             Sunday, January 28, 2024
                                               How God quietly called Blessed Tansi to glory.
      Last Saturday, January 20, 2024, Nigeria celebrated the annual feast of Blessed Tansi and also the Diamond Jubilee of his call to glory at the Leicester Royal Hospital England. In the Archdiocese of Onitsha the celebration is continuing in the four Episcopal regions -Nnobi region on Saturday, January 27, Dunukofia region on Saturday, February 3 and Iyiowa region on Saturday, February 10. At each region the Relics of the Blessed was present and the faithful came with great devotion to honour their national Saint and Hero. It will be recalled that Blessed Tansi went to England in July 1950 to bring back to Nigeria the Cistercian contemplative way of life but like God’s ways are not like ours he did not do it in person for he died just a few months before he was due back in Africa. However today God has answered his wishes and prayers for there are 29 flourishing monasteries in Nigeria. Blessed Tansi made his vow of stability in Mount Saint Bernard, a vow that was a promise to live and die in the community of profession. He kept this vow literally. When he promised stability in the community of Mount Saint Bernard in England he must have felt that he was closing the door for the foreseeable future to his primary purpose of bringing back to Nigeria the Cistercian, contemplative life.
      His love and dedication to the monastic way of life were so strong that God would allow him to fulfil it later. Before his death, his community approved to make a foundation in the Cameroons with Blessed Tansi as the Novice Master. “Five Nigerians and seven Europeans would make up the founders”.( Fr. Gregory Osco in an unpublished testimony 1986) Even though, this decision was what Blessed Tansi had been praying for however, the long years, months, and weeks of discussions in Chapter during the years 1961, 1962 and 1963 must have placed an increasing burden of stress on him. He had left all to follow his Cistercian vocation in a foreign country with a wretched climate he had followed faithfully a strict monastic regime for 13 years. He had been sustained by the steady hope that his sacrifices would make possible the introduction of the Cistercian, Contemplative life to his people. This project was vitally at stake throughout all these wide-ranging and drawn-out discussions. For most of the days and weeks, he sat there silent, listening and praying. To add to the stress he was named Novice Master: “Fr. Cyprian was named Novice Master. He laughed out loud at the announcement and had to be reassured later that this was not just a consolation prize, but a serious choice made by the Abbot for a very responsible post. “Cyprian set to work at once to prepare his classes” (Fr. Gregory ocso in unpublished testimony 1986). Typical of him Blessed Tansi set out with great seriousness to prepare for his responsibility but God had a different intention for him. He had suffered very much and would not like him to take this temporal gratification instead would offer him eternal glory. 
      As the first pioneers left Mount St. Bernard England on Sunday, October 27th 1963 to Cameroon to build the new Monastery in preparation for the main batch of founders Fr. Cyprian would join them later as the Novice Master God began to unfold his plans for the to be Novice Master early in January 1964. The community Infirmerian Father Leo noticed that Blessed Tansi had some pains and as he would not complain of his pains they thought it was Lumbago which he had had before, so they kept an eye on his health which began to deteriorate rather very rapidly. He was alone in his cubicle, didn’t want to read much, said his prayers, and was preparing for his final call to glory. He refused to disclose to anybody how serious his pains were. “Father John Morson, the prior, came up and asked Cyprian, “Was he all right?”. Always a little pain” Father James McDermott was the assistant Infirmarian. While he was helping him to change his clothes for the weekend, he noticed that the right thigh was twice the size of the other. He was worried about that. The Doctor came and was more worried about a lump he felt in Cyprian’s stomach. By this moment there was very little to life. He was only about eight stone at the time, I think. He was so easy to live as I put the pillows behind him that I was a little frightened. He smiled and made a sign of thanks, and I went out” (Fr. James McDermott in unpublished testimony at Mt. St. Bernard 1986). The next morning, Father Mark when the bell for rising went at two o’clock, slipped along the corridor from the dormitory to this room and found Father Cyprian on the floor of his room in great agony. Immediately the alarm was raised. He was put back into bed.
      The infirmarians and Father Germain Scannell who was a medical student, and had done much medical Infirmarian work at Bamenda in the Cameroons gave him a pain killer, but from the intensity of the pain, Father Germain guessed that there must be an aneurism so he asked for a further sedative to be given. Meanwhile, he was praying quietly and accepting God’s will. He had been quite shaken when he was anointed on Sunday afternoon and perhaps did not realise how ill he was. So Father John, feeling it his duty, rather bluntly, assured him that this was serious and he might die. He accepted to die if it was the will of God. The doctor was summoned again and he arranged immediately for a transfer to Hospital, to the Royal Infirmary at Leicester which was one of the best Hospitals in England.
      Before he left for the hospital Father Cyprian, with great devotion, received the viaticum. Father John who had been his confessor and was much devoted to him gave Cyprian his last Communion. The ambulance went off and the Assistant Information, Father James McDermott went in with the ambulance. First of all, Cyprian was taken into Casualty and after a time a young doctor came out and said to Father James; “will you help me, please? This man must be in terrific pain but he just admits there is a little pain.” Father James tried to get a clearer statement from this humble and mortified man. Then he was admitted to a ward and they began to prepare him for an immediate operation. Mr. Frizzell, who had removed his T.B. Throat gland a couple of years before was in charge of this. He had arranged to operate and was going to operate immediately. He was going to see if the lump in the stomach was malignant or not. He was more concerned with the source of the thrombus in the leg. While these investigations were going on the nurse told Father James McDermott there would be nothing to do for him for an hour or two and he had better go and get a meal. So he went off to find himself a meal. In the meanwhile, when his condition had worsened. There was an Irish Catholic nursing sister Siobhan Walsh, who had known the Monastery for a long time and was very kind to any of them who went into Leicester Royal. She phoned the Guest master and told me that Cyprian was sinking rapidly. Immediately the prior took Father Mark. Father Adrian drove them but when they arrived they were met by a rather uncomfortable nurse at the entrance to the ward. The curtains were drawn around Cyprian’s bed. He died at 2.45 pm, called to eternal glory – the reward of his long years of faithfulness.
      As we take time to celebrate the legacy of his life it would be inspiring to learn more about the source of his courage and strength, which was his faith in Jesus. Blessed Tansi cannot be understood apart from his Christian faith – his total response to his vocation in life. As a religious raised in a family of devout traditional religious faith, he was deeply shaped by the faith of his parents to believe that the vows made to the gods are vows to be taken seriously. Hence his baptismal and other religious vows must be taken seriously. He was a strong believer from beginning to end. We know that he was a professional teacher and later considered becoming a politician before finally answering the call he felt from God to become a priest. The way he responded to that call offers a fascinating glimpse into what entering a vocation can look like for every one of us. All his life he sought and followed Divine inspiration not like ‘burning bush’ or ‘blinding light’ but through prayer and discernment. Many of us today still feel that unless we see a burning bush or a blinding light on the road of Damascus, we have not been called. Divine calls are something slow yet insistent. Blessed Tansi's call was neither dramatic nor spectacular. It came neither by some miraculous vision nor by some blinding light experience on the road of life. It did not come as a sudden realisation. Rather, it was a response to an inner urge that gradually came upon me. This urge expressed itself in a desire to serve God and humanity, and the feeling that his talent and his commitment could best be expressed through his total commitment. It is through the quiet and slow insistence that often God calls each of us. A voice deep in our hearts speaks to us of something outside our current experience, and it is in answering this call with courage that we begin to live freely and deeply the life God desires for us. As we honour the life and legacy of Blessed Tansi, who before anything else was first and foremost a dedicated priest of God, may we find inspiration to answer the call God has put upon our hearts?
                                                              Sunday, January 21, 2024
        Blessed Tansi call to Glory - Diamond Jubilee. [First published on Sunday, September 23, 2023]
      Today 20th. January 2024 is the yearly feast day of Blessed Tansi. Nigeria always celebrates this feast with joy and pride.  Today is also the DIAMOND JUBILEE [60 years] of his call to eternity. The last 13 years of the earthly existence of Blessed Tansi was spent in Mount Saint Bernard Abbey England to answer what he considered to be a divine call for him; he was looking for God who called him.  He had followed a strict monastic regime faithfully for 13 years. He had been sustained by the steady hope that his sacrifices would make possible the introduction of the Cistercian Contemplative life to Nigeria and his people. But this project was vitally at stake throughout all these wide-ranging and drawn-out discussions. For Blessed Tansi he left the whole thing to Divine Providence and spent most of the days weeks and months in silence, listening, praying and waiting for the Lord.
      For the last four years before 1963, the Infirmarian had been keeping an eye on Blessed Tansi's health. After the T.B. gland in his throat had been excised he was asked to keep a week-by-week record of his weight; and was given a flask of hot milk to take to bed with him each night after an old duodenal ulcer had been diagnosed. “During the following week, he complained diffidently of pains in the back. He was always vague about any aches and pains and disliked drawing attention to them.   "There is no trouble" was his habitual answer to questions about his health” (in Gregory Wareing's Sorrow Shall Not Kill Me). However, the infirmarian thinking that this might be a slight return of 'Lumbago' put him to bed in the dormitory where a special light was fixed up in his cubicle to enable him to read in bed. Even though he repeated that he was quite comfortable and had no needs, the wardrobe keeper persuaded him to accept extra blankets, for January is a cold month, and joked that next year he would not need all these blankets in Nigeria. Surprisingly, an “unexpected reply came back in sign language: that he would not be returning to Africa: he would be buried here, at Mt. St. Bernard” (Gregory Wareing in unpublished written testimony).  Again trying still to make him more comfortable it was suggested that he should be transferred from his boards and straw mattress to a more comfortable bed on the infirmary corridor. But Blessed Tansi declined the offer with a smile.  As usual, he was 'all right'. He read little, ate less, and spent the week quietly, thinking and praying. The infirmarian attending to him one day noticed that his left thigh was about twice the size of his right. He had some pain there. The doctor came at once and diagnosed a deep thrombosis of the leg but was more concerned with a lump he had felt in his stomach. He suspected a growth. Then Dr. Frizelle, his previous surgeon, came from Leicester to see his patient and confirmed a growth. He was doubtful about its malignancy but arranged for him to be admitted to the hospital for immediate operation on the next day. Blessed Tansi was then immediately transferred to a comfortable bed in an infirmary corridor room. The Prior, to his surprise, anointed him and pointed out the possibilities ahead of him. The next morning, when the community rose at 2 a.m. Fr. Mark Ulogu slipped along to this room and found him on the floor by the side of the bed, in great pain. He was lifted gently back. The Superior and three infirmarians were called out of Vigils, one of the ex-medical students suspected an aneurysm, from the intensity of the pain, despite the analgesics given him. When the doctor came he made arrangements for immediate transfer to Leicester Royal Infirmary.
      At 9 a.m. he received the Viaticum with the same intensity of zeal which he had been anointed yesterday afternoon. This time he was quite willing to go to hospital, ready to die if God so wished. The will of God was all he wanted. As Fr. Mark had been present at his anointing so now he was praying at his bedside when he received Viaticum. The ambulance had been waiting outside the door of the Guest House while the Guest Master made the men a cup of tea to keep them busy during the anointing. Before his viaticum, he had been in great pain. Now he was smiling at everyone and joking with them as he had his mind and heart towards his heavenly rewards. As the stretcher was placed in the ambulance, Fr. Germain one of the groups chosen for the African foundation put his head around the door and said: "Your ticket is booked for Africa. Let's have you back soon." The reply came back, strong and assured, in a tone of voice never heard before at Mount Saint Bernard: 'We will go'. (Gregory Wareing in ‘Sorry Shall Not Kill Me p. 46) We will go from heaven.
      On arrival at the Casualty Clearance in Leicester Royal Infirmary, the pain returned to him in full force. But yet ‘a little pain', was all that he would admit to the doctor. He was x-rayed. Then taken to a bed in Marriot Ward, and prepared for immediate operation on his stomach. At about 1:45 p.m. the same day 20th January 1964 the Guest Master took a phone call from the Ward Sister warning the Abbey that Fr. Tansi was sinking. At once, Fr. Adrian drove the Prior and Fr. Mark into Leicester. The Guest Master phoned a Senior Irish Catholic Sister in the Royal Infirmary. Immediately, she went across the hospital to Marriot Ward to see if she could help the dying monk. The monastery carload arrived soon afterwards but they were all too late. Quite suddenly Blessed Tansi died alone, at about 2 p.m. on January 20th, 1964. 
      The official report gave the cause of his death as: "Arteriosclerosis and rupture of a coronary aneurysm". He has been called to glory. During his early days in the Novitiate Fr. Cyprian had written to his old colleagues that life in a monastery may be hard, but that a monk's funeral was all that an Igbo could desire. On the morning of January 21st. The community assembled at the Church door to meet the car bearing Fr. Cyprian's coffin. As it entered the drive the bells commenced to toll in the tower. On arrival, the frail body was transferred by the hands of his brethren to the common monastic bier and escorted into the nave to lie between the choir stalls. Day and night the brethren took turns to pray beside it till the funeral Mass the next day January 22nd. 1964. Many touched their rosaries to that peaceful, smiling, brown face. It was here in this church that he had made his vows. He had kept them all. He was to be buried in the monastery of his profession, thus keeping his special, monastic vow of stability to the full. Nothing has gone wrong. This is all right. This is what he came for. It will help us all. There was Faith. God and glorious reward.
      It will be remembered Father Tansi, took simple vows here at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, on December 8th 1953. He made those vows into perpetual solemn Vows on December 8th 1956. He would enter the next phase in his apostolate once his soul came into the presence of God. God's plans were being worked out. Fr. Gregory Wareing his one-time novice master testified:  “While I was living with him in the same Monastery and Community, from personal observation, as far as I know, he admirably kept all these monastic vows. I do not know of any occasion on which he broke his vow of obedience, his vow of Chastity, his vow of poverty, or acted deliberately and openly against his vow of conversion of manners” (  In a written unpublished testimony 1986).


                                                             Sunday, January 14, 2024
                                          Beginning 2024 with Blessed Tansi - Memoir of Prayer
      Prayer is one of the most essential aspects of the Christian life. It is our way of communicating with God, expressing our gratitude, confessing our sins, asking for His help, and aligning our will with His. Prayer is also a way of strengthening our faith, as we trust God to hear us and answer us according to His perfect wisdom and love. I want to invite you as special devotees of Blessed Tansi to join our members in a new series that we are planning for the New Year - the diamond jubilee of Blessed Tansi's call to glory. We shall explore his prayer life and faith in more depth and detail. While at the same time hoping that our prayers for his cause will bring this worthy cause to a happy conclusion. We just need one miracle to be approved by the Vatican to bring Blessed Tansi to the fullness of the altar. For some of us, our journey through prayer may have not been a straight line. We have seen it evolve and change in many ways. We have gone through seasons of tremendous growth and tremendous struggle. We have had seasons where prayer was at the center of everything that we do and we have had seasons where we hardly prayed at all. Some can still remember when they first encountered God personally in their life, they were so eager to learn how to pray and to experience God’s presence and power in their lives. We may have read books on prayer, listened to sermons on prayer, and joined prayer groups and meetings. We also remember having tried to follow different methods and models of prayer, hoping to find the best way to connect with God. We prayed for ourselves, for our families, for our friends, for our church, for our country, and for the world. We prayed for God’s guidance, protection, provision, healing, and blessing. We prayed with faith, believing that God would do great things in response to our prayers. But as time went by, we also encountered some challenges and difficulties in our prayer life. Sometimes, we felt like we were just repeating the same words and requests over and over again, without any passion or sincerity. Sometimes, we felt like we were too busy or distracted to pray, or that we had nothing to say to God. Sometimes, we felt like God was not listening or answering our prayers, or that He was saying no or waiting for our requests. Sometimes, we felt like we were praying for the wrong things, or that we were not praying according to God’s will. Sometimes, we felt like we were losing our faith, or that we were doubting God’s goodness and power.
      Through these ups and downs, we learned a lot about prayer and faith, and how they are related to each other. We learned that prayer is not a formula or a technique, but a personal and intimate relationship with God. We learned that prayer is not a one-way communication, but a dialogue where we listen to God as much as we talk to Him. We learned that prayer is not a way of manipulating or controlling God, but a way of submitting and surrendering to Him. We learned that prayer is not a way of getting what we want, but a way of discovering what God wants. We learned that prayer is not a way of changing God, but a way of changing ourselves. We also learned that we are not alone in our prayer journey.
      As we celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Blessed Tansi's call to glory we recall the role and importance of prayer in his Christian journey. His becoming a Catholic was a pure act of God’s grace and favour. And once a catholic the door opened for him to greater depths of prayer and support in prayer than he ever could have imagined. “When the future Blessed was but a small boy growing up in the Igbo village of Aguleri, he was exposed to the local traditions and customs of his native people while at the same time, to the Christian/Catholic religion of the French/Irish Holy Ghost Fathers who first evangelized Eastern Nigeria. It is not for us here to analyze in depth the motivations for the Christian conversion of young Iwene other than to note the profound formative influence of his maternal uncle Robert Orekyie – but rather to show how, even at the tender age of 9 while he was still a young layman – the future Blessed made a decisive, radical and preferential break with what he then perceived as the no- Christian aspects of Igbo culture and traditional religion. The destruction of his juju [chi] together with his sacramental baptism on January 7th, 1912 can be seen as Michael Tansi’s first conscious act of detachment from Traditional Igbo religious practice, together with his incipient attachment to Christian, liturgical practices and evangelical discipline as mediated and filtered by the predominantly Irish missionaries”. (Fr. Debany Ed. SJ, in a national symposium at Onitsha 18th March 2004)  
      From that early start, he learnt to persevere in prayer even at the risk of threat as witnessed by his childhood friend “When we were young, we used to play in the moonlight. After eating in the evenings, we would go from house to house, calling our age group to play in the moonlight. When we went to his house to call him, we could not find him at home. After searching for him everywhere, we eventually found him in the church, seated alone in one corner. We often found him crying in the church. This is what happened every day. Some of our mates would then call him out and beat him up. We were about twelve years old then. His devotion to prayers was most striking. If you watched him praying in the church, he knelt motionless, fixed his eyes on the tabernacle and tears gushed from his eyes. Some boys made fun of his attitude at prayer, but the more they did so, the more fervently he prayed. Other boys tried in vain to imitate him. He found time to attend daily morning masses and made visits to the Blessed Sacrament” (Elizabeth Isichei, ‘Entirely for God’. p. 18)
      We just have started nine days of novena prayers in preparation for his feast day and the diamond jubilee of his call to glory. Please join us wherever you may be and make participation your prayer journey for the year 2024 and beyond. Prayer is not just something that we do, but something that defines who we are as devotees of Blessed Tansi. Prayer is not just a part of our life, but a reflection of our life. Prayer is not just a means to an end, but an end in itself. Be a part of the Blessed Tansi prayer legacy.
                                                            Sunday, December 24, 2023
                                                    Blessed Tansi urges Charity at Christmas
      Christmas is around the corner. This Sunday meditation will remind us of our Christian legacy of giving and sharing especially with the poor at this Christmas. The heart of every Christmas is Christ, and Christ was poor. He was born poor, lived poor and died poor. With that in mind, capturing the authentic spirit of Christmas becomes a bit easier: Give to the poor as Jesus thought his followers that what they do to the poor and needy, they do to him: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty you gave me drink ...come O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Mt 25: 14-36). Today many are both hungry and poor among us. Blessed Tansi had a reputation for mortification both as a layman, a priest and as a monk. Food is not an important item on his agenda. “Witness after witness tells us that he ate very little and that they wondered how he kept going physically” (Arinze Cardinal in Total Response p. 196). His onetime house boy at Akpu parish, Mr Obiano Vincent testified at the Lagos Archdiocesan Silver Jubilee Celebration that “... he ate the barest minimum just to make his body metabolism function. He was on daily fasting. For instance, we did not for once prepare yam, garri or fufu, which a normal Igbo household enjoys now and again. His food, if not groundnuts and bananas or oranges, was restricted to two or three very thin slices of boiled yam with pepper, salt and sometimes eggs fried in oil. That was the most sumptuous meal I ever saw him eat during the period of about two years I lived with him” (quoted in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response’ P.197). Augustine Chendo, a school headmaster very close to Blessed Tansi at Dunukofia parish gives a similar assessment: “Both as a seminarian and as a priest Michael did not spare himself. His serious outlook on life deepened by a very sharp conscience, made an ascetic of him...For him Father Tansi, food was just a necessity, which could be set aside when the salvation of souls was at stake” ( P. Meze, Our Memoirs of Father Michael Tansi, p. 97)
      “We must, however, add that Father Tansi did not impose his austere eating or non-eating habits on other people. “He was not fanatical about fasting”, says his curate at Aguleri, Father Clement Ulogu. “it was just that food was not important for himself, though he saw to it that others fared well as his guests” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response, p.199) Blessed Tansi is a man for God and others, he lived for his brothers and sisters. This is an important legacy he left for us. He saw Christianity as entirely living for God and others. Here we can understand and appreciate his pastoral charity to the poor, the sick, the orphans, the rejected in society and the widows. Every year at Christmas he had a Christmas ministry for the less fortunate, whether it was giving clothing, food, donations or a special collection.  At other times whatever he had in material wealth was meant for the poor. His compassion for those who are in need was extraordinary. The poor, the needy and the sick are always around us, especially at this time. Do not wait for them to come to beg, reach out to them in the spirit of Christmas. Food is a basic need. And in his time the Blessed Tansi went out of his way to help the hungry. “When he visited an outstation, people gave him eggs, chickens, fruits of various kinds and yams, even when they were themselves rather poor. Father Tansi distributed most of such gifts to the needy” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.55).
      Like Blessed Tansi who shared his meals with the poor, the Holy Father, Pope Francis ate lunch in the Vatican audience hall with some 1,250 people, continuing a tradition he began on the first World Day of the Poor in 2017. Maybe a cup of rice, garri, beans or a loaf of bread, a piece of meat or fish a piece of cloth or a little money and what have you may put smiles on another’s face this Christmas. By making a gift like this, you can provide hope and relief to the most vulnerable members of your community, from parents struggling to afford gifts for their children to families in desperate need of a warm place to sleep. Your generosity will bring tangible joy to your neighbours who need it most this Christmas season. “Poverty is a scandal; Christians must use their gifts for charity” (Pope Francis at Mass in the Vatican, Nov. 19, 2023, the World Day of the Poor) The material, cultural and spiritual poverties that exist in our Nigeria today are “scandal” that Christians are called to address by putting their God-given capacity for charity and love into action this Christmas. The poor, whether the oppressed, fatigued, marginalised, victims of our economic hardship, dismissed from jobs, the hungry, those without homes or left without hope, are not one, two, or three, they are a multitude among us today. When we think of this immense multitude of the poor, the message of the Gospel repeated in the life of Blessed Tansi is clear: let us not bury the gift of the Lord this Christmas. Let us spread charity, share our bread, and multiply love as we celebrate God’s love at Christmas. 
      Do not turn your face away from anyone poor this Christmas there are many around you.  The present situation in our country has reduced many to a state of extreme poverty. Christmas is a great gift of love from God the Father and at Christmas we are called to become a gift to others-whatever you have, nothing is too small.  Mercy, compassion, joy and hope, are our goods that we cannot keep only for ourselves. We can multiply all that we have received, making life an offering of love for others. Let us remember that just as the Infant Lord came to us at Christmas he will one day come to ask what we have done with our gifts from God. We must begin now to prepare for his coming at the end of time in which he settles the accounts of history and introduces us to the joy of eternal life if we can make it. We must ask ourselves, then: How will the Lord find me when I return to him and he might ask me: why did you allow so many of the poor to die of hunger when you possessed gold to buy food for them? May each of us reading this according to the gift he has received and the mission entrusted to him, strive to make charity bear fruit and draw near to a poor person.
[Gabriel’s message emphasized that God knew Mary’s character and that she was just a “lowly maiden,” but this was a key reason she had been chosen. She would be honoured throughout “all generations,” and her son would be “Emmanuel, by seers foretold.” This message is told and retold throughout the ages, reminding us why she had been chosen for this important assignment. Happy Christmas – enjoy every fun at Christmas and New Year. We shall have a break – to resume on the second Sunday of January]
                                                            Sunday, December 17, 2023
                                              Spend the last days of Advent with Blessed Tansi
      Advent prepares us for Jesus’ coming at Christmas and for his coming into our lives afresh. And no one knows apart from the Virgin Mother how to get ready to welcome Christ better than the Saints. They express their love for him by putting him first in their hearts. They make room for him by clearing the clutter of sins and faults. The saints pursue holiness by embracing the Lord’s teaching and lifestyle. They respond to his graces by practising spiritual disciplines like prayer, scripture study, fasting and almsgiving. And the saints express their love for God by reaching out to others with the Good News. They especially dedicate themselves to caring for the poor and marginalized. Blessed Tansi is one such saint of our place and time. So, let us make the most of this Advent and spend it with him, imitating the ways that he opened his heart to Jesus.
      The Blessed Iwene Tansi from childhood desired the will of God in all things. Even at the age of twelve, he made a decisive, radical and preferential break with what he then perceived as the non-Christian aspects of Igbo culture and traditional religion. The destruction of his personal juju [chi] together with his sacramental baptism on January 7th, 1912 can be seen as Michael Tansi’s first conscious act of detachment from traditional Igbo religious practice, together with his incipient attachment to Christian, liturgical practices and evangelical discipline as mediated and filtered by the predominantly Irish missionaries who at the time, congregated the native Igbo converts into what were then termed Christian Villages. With the help of the missionaries, he sought a way to serve the Lord Jesus. Reflecting on Scripture, he learned to do the loving thing in every situation, which he discovered was the fuel that fired the faith of martyrs and saints. Doing the least of actions for love became the secret of his actions as a professional headmaster and later as a diocesan priest and contemplative monk. One may now ask what a 20th-century priest/monk has to do with us in this modern age - struggling with the duties of changing family life, work or school, social and economic fluctuations and keeping up with the digital world. We don’t have much time for pursuing holiness, do we? But that is where Blessed Tansi sets the example for us. His simplicity and dedication to his social and civic duties show us that we, too, following his example can be holy and pleasing to God at all times.
      As a Teacher and later as a school headmaster, Blessed Tansi continued to reveal not merely his sharp and keen abilities as an educator, but of equal importance to us- his demonstrable preferential love of God and Christian values. So much did he integrate academics with religious knowledge and practice – as in those days, the teacher also served the Christian community in the role of catechist that Headmaster Tansi was often accused by less tepid souls of running the school in the manner of a seminary. The example of Blessed Tansi challenges us today in our various vocations and professions to show a preferential love for God and neighbour and to practice Christian values and morals.
      In July 1924 Bishop Shanahan opened a Seminary at Igbariam on the banks of the river Niger, with three Senior Seminarians and six Juniors. It was known there that Michael Tansi had approached Fr. McNamara, his parish priest, telling him his desire to become a priest. His mother and all the family members were strongly opposed to his desire to abandon his chances of worldly advancement and the financial enrichment of his extended family. His fellow villagers could not understand his actions. They thought it shameful to deliberately renounce offspring and to become a kind of slave to any god. His poor widowed mother went mad with rage. She went to the mission and harassed the parish priest to give her son back. She cried out her eyes in vain. Michael Tansi sympathized with his poor mother all right, but there was no turning back. His determination to continue with what he considered the will of God could help the younger generation in their various choices in life.  Blessed Tansi the priest, the monk, even the layman, was attracted to daily and private prayer before the Blessed Sacrament – a union with God.  The deeper the union between God and the human soul, the more effective and zealous will that soul’s service be whether to family, church or to humanity.
      Blessed Tansi's childhood simplified his life, initiating practices of prayer and self-denial that he pursued the rest of his life in following Jesus Christ. He had complete faith in God and persevered by dedicating himself to helping the poor. His life tells us of the value of assisting the poor and the weak among us. We may imagine that becoming a saint requires heroics like founding a religious order or converting people in faraway places who have never heard of the Gospel. But Blessed Tansi shows us that the daily faithful care of people entrusted to us by our vocation requires more than enough heroism to make us holy. Pope St. John Paul II in his sermon at his beatification celebrated Blessed Tansi as a man of the beatitudes. Detached and strong, he devoted himself to the weak and malformed. He lived a self-made poverty so he could give everything to the poor. He was a lover of solitude and at prayer was solemn, reflective and quiet.
      Blessed Tansi has become the religious hero of contemporary young Nigerian Catholics. We recognize his high Christian ideals and values, which we most need in our present Nigeria. We gravitate to this handsome and charming saint of our time who delighted in bringing all to Christ, praying the rosary with his youth and spending nights in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Advent anticipates not only Jesus’ coming to us as a baby, but it also expects his final coming in glory. Since the Father knows the day of the end, the Lord cautioned us always to be watchful and to conduct ourselves uprightly following the example of Blessed Tansi. When Jesus comes as the Bridegroom to wed the church, we do not want to be as unprepared as the five foolish virgins in the parable (see Mt 25:1-13). So this Advent, following the saints, may we decide always to love God above all and to do loving things in everyday circumstances.
                                                            Sunday, December 10, 2023
                                                 Blessed Tansi: relevant in Nigerian problems.
      “Which way Nigeria?” is a popular question in the mouth of many Nigerians as the problem of this country deteriorates daily and the solution is not in sight. The simple truth which many refuse to accept is that all Nigerians are responsible for what is happening now. Pointing fingers cannot solve the problem but living the Blessed Tansi lifestyle each one of us might help. We cannot afford to neglect the wisdom of the Holy Father Pope John Paul 11 when he said to Nigerians: “God has blessed this land [Nigeria] with human and natural wealth, and everyone must ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing” (Sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998) Blessed Tansi a true Nigerian dedicated his entire life to the service of God and his fellow Nigerians as a lay educator, a priest and religious monk and in all these professions he sought the good and welfare of everybody building bridges for love and reconciliation between individuals, villages and towns. He did not give any room for intimidation and domination especially the poor and the weak. The Holy Father used him as an example for all Nigerians to say: “As your nation pursues a peaceful transition to a democratic civilian government, there is a need for politicians — both men and women — who profoundly love their people and wish to serve rather than be served (cf. Ecclesia in Africa, 111). There can be no place for intimidation and domination of the poor and the weak, for arbitrary exclusion of individuals and groups from political life, for the misuse of authority or the abuse of power. The key to resolving economic, political, cultural and ideological conflicts is justice; justice is not complete without the love of neighbour, without an attitude of humble, generous service”.(John Paul 11- Sermon beatification Nigeria March 1998)
      Ours is not a problem of poverty – Nigeria has all it takes to become a rich nation and be able to feed its citizens. The problem is rather that of greed and selfishness at all levels of society. We remember that the Blessed Tansi in question was detached from material possessions and positions of honour even from the ones he could legitimately have. The wealth he gained from his ministry he used to better the life of the poor. As a lay Christian educator, he was doing good and holy work simply by being dedicated. His dedication contributed significantly to the intellectual, social, moral and even political development of his people. At the same time, he was enjoying much praise, esteem, honours and even financial security. Today his example as a lay professional educator has a positive and challenging impact on our modern professionals at all levels. Each professional has something of him to give to our nation. As a priest, he spent much time self-reconciling differences. The Holy Father advised: “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their independent and selfish existence. He knew that they were then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually found in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house (cf. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 5). He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and to hand on the gift of reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of Nigerian life” (John Paul 11- beatification Nigeria March 1998). 
      World over the lives of the saints and blessed of every age and place point to truths and values far more enduring than having a good job, a fat bank account, healthy children, a comfortable house, a good name and a good material living. The lifestyle of detachment from material things and attachment to the Gospel values of Blessed Tansi is indeed relevant at every age and every situation. Unless we Nigerians cultivate gospel values of discipleship we might continue to make this country a war zone. Again the words of the Holy Father to Nigerians are relevant more than ever: “Christ is thus a part of the history of the nations. He is a part of the history of your nation [Nigeria] on this continent of Africa. More than a hundred years ago missionaries arrived in your land proclaiming the Gospel of reconciliation, the Good News of salvation. Your forebears began to learn of the mystery of the redemption of the world and came to share in the New Covenant in Christ. In this way, the Christian faith was firmly planted in this soil, and in this way, it continues to grow and to produce much fruit” (John Paul 11 Sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998). This New Covenant in Christ is love and respect for one another as Nigerians – belonging to the same family – whether North, South, West or East, respective of our religious differences. The Holy Father said: “When we see others as brothers and sisters, it is then possible to begin the process of healing the divisions within society and between ethnic groups. This is the reconciliation which is the path to true peace and authentic progress for Nigeria and Africa. This reconciliation is not weakness or cowardice. On the contrary, it demands courage and sometimes even heroism: it is victory over self rather than over others. It should never be seen as dishonour. For in reality it is the patient, wise art of peace” (John Paul 11 – beatification Nigeria 1998). 
      Many Nigerians have struggled to find a voice and respect in this country. As citizens all Nigerians deserve respect. Respect surely has its place; we should not correct it with unneeded harshness, personal attacks, or demeaning words. However, we must regain a healthy sense of the need to hold every Nigerian accountable and insist on what is right. This is our country, we have no other- our struggle to find our voice, long suppressed must continue. We must find this voice, even regarding our political leaders. We must be respectful but firm and clear that we expect full respect for all citizens of this country. Again here we need Blessed Tansi who was fearless in confronting the traditional leaders of his time. We know him as a strict disciplinarian- though renowned for his love, generosity, and humility, as well as his power to heal, console, and reconcile. If he saw something in your soul that was unholy, you were going to hear about it, no matter who you were. He would meet with anyone, from the poorest beggars to chiefs, traditional leaders, and politicians. None of them were denied his love and encouragement. Neither were they spared the hard truths that God gave him to say. Only God was to be pleased, not man. Spiritual truths were to be extolled over every temporal matter - safety, comfort, pleasing worldly powers. Such a lifestyle still rings true today!  We must speak in love and with respect, but we must also speak insistently and with clarity. The very credibility and fruitfulness of many Nigerians are at stake. We have a duty and a right to speak out against injustice. Nigeria has a great heritage from Blessed Tansi we must embrace it without fear holding it with great esteem.
                                                             Sunday, December 3, 2023
                                               Blessed Iwene Tansi: Pillar of the local Church
      One of the many lasting attributes of the Catholic Church the world over is its ability to attract to the state of evangelical perfection men and women drawn from every known historical place and culture, into its vast aura of holiness - sainthood. These men and women are honoured, remembered and indeed even prayed to, not because of where they lived nor even for what they accomplished, but for that ever-attractive and inspiring state of holiness that they were able to achieve during their earthly lifetimes. What inspires us most about these holy men and women is their shared singular pursuit of holiness and godly things while at the same time, their love and compassion for their fellow men and women. In Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, a Nigerian priest we meet one who came from being a devout pagan village boy to a Catholic Christian,  to a Catholic priest, to a Cistercian monk, to the honours of the alter and perhaps God willing soon to the fullness of the honours of the alter - SAINT.  His early search for the truth and God drew him increasingly towards the missionaries who were just beginning their primary evangelisation in his town – Aguleri. However, there were many hurdles on his way. He passed through several stages on his journey, each rooted in his humble acceptance of the will of God and truth. His journey of faith was characterised fundamentally by openness to truth, conversion and missionary approach.  He will be remembered as one of the faithful servants of the church in this local church in our days who lived out the call and mind of the church in his life. Like all holy people, from his childhood, he was a man growing in interior detachment from all things and people and moving steadily toward a deeper, heartfelt and ultimately mysterious union with the Absolute good.
      His life and message [legacy] are universal because they are the message of the Gospel applied to concrete situations in the world of today. For him, human life on earth has a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. His words and advice also have such wide appeal because they touch on a fundamental thirst that is in every human heart, and that is the thirst and search for love, goodness, and truth. He knew that this thirst could find its fulfilment only in God lived among and identified with the poor, the sick and the dejected of society. Total love and dedication to God are his gifts to his fellow men and women. Despite the poverty of his life, and his detachment from material things, the Blessed Tansi lived a tireless worker of God and a hero whose only motive was the love of God and the desire for the salvation of his people. He knew what it is to be a priest and he tried to live it out faithfully. From the high lands of his Nnewi mission to the far ends of Orumba country and the midlands of Dunukofia to the rich river lands of Aguleri his notoriety as a holy priest grew and spread through the entire Archdiocese of Onitsha. Blessed Tansi one-time altar server, Cardinal Arinze writes: “Fr. Tansi was a great man, a many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria and of the Catholic priesthood in Nigeria, a convert from African Traditional Religion who lived “entirely for God”, a follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back (cf. Lk 9:6)” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.9),  It was not only Cardinal Arinze who remembers with admiration and affection the priestly zeal of Blessed Tansi. From the time Blessed Tansi was an assistant priest at Nnewi in 1937 until he departed for the Trappists monastery in England in 1950, he served with such priestly zeal and dedication that the ordinary of the Archdiocese, Archbishop Charles Heerey, held him up as a model for all priests to emulate. This is a great compliment given the fact that most of the priests of the great Archdiocese of Onitsha were, at the time, expatriates. Proof of his kind of person and his change of vocation from Headmaster Tansi to Rev. Father Tansi was the will of God, lies in the prodigious variety and obvious fruits of his priestly ministry in the three parishes assigned to his pastoral care. He was admired and effective as a lay educator, but exceptional in his pastoral ministry.
      In 1982, eighteen years after his death at Mont Saint Bernard Monastery, the Archbishop of Onitsha requested the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria for approval to initiate the cause of beatification for this Nigerian priest, the Conference gave a unanimous approval.“We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982 after considering the life of Rev. Fr. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO thinks that the promotion of the Cause of his beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of Priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favour of the promotion of his Cause”. (cf ‘The Catholic Leader. August 15th, 1982).  On the 11th day of July 1995, in the presence of the Holy Father, John Paul 11 the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued a decree to recognize the heroic life and virtue of Fr. Tansi and eleven months later, on June 25th, 1996, another decree recognized the miraculous claim attributed to the intercession of Fr. Tansi, and with this the road to beatification became wider than ever. The same Bishops Conference of Nigeria requested the Holy Father to come to Nigeria to beatify Fr. Tansi.  The request gave rise to the second Pastoral visit to Nigeria of the Holy Father, St Pope John Paul 11, to beatify Fr. Tansi on March 22nd, 1998, recognizing the humble way he lived his Christian vocation. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria …[he] is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian… Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church.” (St. John Paul 11, Sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998).
      With his beatification on March 22, 1998, Blessed Tansi became the first National Saint of Nigeria.  In a solemn concelebrated liturgy to close the special year for Priests held at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria enthroned the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi ‘Patron of Nigerian Priests’.  The decree reads: “Celebrating the year for Priests [June 19th. 2009 – June 18th. 2010] proclaimed by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XV1, which was aptly and prayerfully observed in Nigeria; desirous to hold out models of Priesthood to encourage sacrifice, prayers and dedication to priestly life in our land; having Saint John Baptist Mary Vianney as the universal Patron Saint of Priests; we the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, having prayerfully considered the matter, unanimously choose and hereby declare, also BLESSED MICHAEL IWENE TANSI THE PATRON OF NIGERIAN PRIESTS. We make this declaration on this 3rd. day of June in the year 2010, on the tomb of the Blessed, in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha, Nigeria.  In testimony of which we undersigned, President and Secretary of the said National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria herein affix our signatures”. 
      Francis Cardinal Arinze praising the Catholic Bishops’ Conference choice and declaration wrote: “ It is encouraging and fitting that the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria have shown great appreciation for the spiritual stature of Father Tansi and considered him as a model and patron for priests in Nigeria” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.104).  A one-time student of the Blessed Tansi at the St. Charles’s Training College Onitsha and later a priest and bishop has this to say at the mass and sermon on the re-interment of the remains of Blessed Tansi. “. . . it may be high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm candour, and the sensitiveness that concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful. From the point of view of his work in Nigeria, his most fruitful period was that of his years as the parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha. This was the time of his untiring and self-spending labours and of the setting forth of his ideas; by 1950 before he went to the monastery he had left his imprint on the Nigerian church. Fr. Tansi's predominant quality in those years was viral and sympathetic generosity. His flock responded with unshakable confidence. His ideas were accurate, large and simple. It was the ardent character of this desire for the salvation of souls that marked him out for the increase of his flock. It was an agony, to see souls going astray without spiritual care. It was a part of his attraction that he was a planner who worked with his hands. Like most of those who have the power of moving crowds he was an optimist, his message came across very simply and directly…” (Bishop A. Nwedo, sermon at mass of re-interment Onitsha October 17, 1986).
​                                                             Sunday November 26, 2023
                                                         Blessed Iwene Tansi, Pray For Us.
      Nigeria stands in great need of heavenly deliverance. Through the intercession of Blessed Tansi, we pray that Nigeria stands firm in God’s truth and justice and knows the protection of lasting peace. For some time the Catholic Church in Nigeria has been praying for ‘Nigeria in distress. Everybody’s experience is that things are not getting any better. There are a lot of problems with this post-independence age. Notably, I think we, occupants of post-independence Nigeria can never truly decide how angry we should be. We are told that tolerance is the primary virtue, but of course, this only applies to those who are guided to some extent by fundamental ethics and morality and not certainly those who take their stomach to be their God. Gone is the time when people who deviate are told promptly to sit down and shut up. Today doings after a time become customs. In the face of such immorality and corruption, as declared by the current determinants of social virtue, tolerance is abandoned for blind rage. We are all aware of what family for example stood for Blessed Tansi and his age. But in this increasingly isolating epoch, we flee from true connection and community, buying into the myth that we are better off without the social ties and family ties that might constrain our freedom or challenge our worldview through personal engagement. Let us not despair even though we have enough reason to do so. Catholics are called to be joyful, to hope, to march steadfastly onwards to heaven, bringing as many fellow pilgrims with us as we can. But how do we do this? How do we sow peace when speaking truth only invites rage? How do we defend our faith when even the basic precepts, which our revered predecessors fought for precepts that are universally honoured for years are now under assault – justice, love and truth take different meaning these days? Human life has no more value. Just to mention a few.
      Now Blessed Iwene Tansi (1903-1964), knew the answer, and it was simple. He loved Christ above all, and as a result, he stopped at nothing to defend love, truth, justice and peace, both his teaching and his lifestyle. “…Who is this Nigerian priest said to have been not too tall in height, later in life rather frail in health, not one of the brightest students, but distinguished for his iron will, his firm trust in Divine providence, his readiness to sacrifice his will in the service of God, his impressive acceptance to be misunderstood, a man never settling down to half-measures, dissimulation. pride or love of convenience, but always self-mortified and ready to put his whole heart and person into what he was doing” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.7) 
      Blessed Tansi is a true Nigerian, what he can do other Nigerians with the same zeal can do the same in their various vocations. A skilled zealous pastor, Blessed Tansi is perhaps most famous for evangelisation and saving souls in his thirteen year pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha (1937-1950), working beyond normal capacity all the time. “... but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm candour, and the sensitiveness their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Anthony Nwedo CSSP- late Catholic bishop of Umuahia in Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha October 17, 1986)  Blessed Tansi was moved only by a passion for Christ and his people. He was ready to give all for the sake of love – compassionate to all especially the needy. “Fr. Tansi was a great man, a many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria and of the Catholic priesthood in Nigeria, a convert from African Traditional Religion who lived “entirely for God”, a follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back (cf. Lk 9:6)” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.9),
But his ministry was truly characterized by his pastoral compassion and tireless fight against traditional injustice that threatened the peace of the community. Today, we are blessed to have his rich legacy as our model and inspiration. His sermons and instructions, and especially his encouragement to the family and the youth –the future generation made his ministry most outstanding. He desired peace, but he understood his duty was to protect his people and the mission of Christ to bring others to the truth. In his pastoral approach to traditional rulers and traditional laws, he maintained that undiluted truths and customs are not mutually exclusive. Indeed, the former entirely depends on the latter. He comprehended that diluted, weakened traditions, offered in the name of tolerance or driven by a false sense of compassion, would only harm and offend the respect of the weak. True peace can only come by boldly proclaiming and living the truth in love. As a professional teacher and later as School Headmaster, a Seminarian, a priest and a monk, Blessed Tansi continued to reveal not merely his sharp and keen abilities as a dedicated professional, but of equal importance to us, his demonstrable preferential love of God and of Christian values. So much did he integrate professionalism with religious knowledge and practice – in those days, the teacher also served the Christian community in the role of Catechist that Headmaster, Tansi was often accused by less tepid souls of running the school in the manner of a seminary. (cf Elizabeth Isichei in Entirely for God, The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi, Macmillan Nigeria 1981. p. 18).
      In as much as Nigerians pray to Blessed Tansi for intervention in our national problems which in most cases are manmade Nigerians should also imitate his lifestyle. In this regard does the example and living style of Blessed Tansi, as a professional have anything positive and challenging to say to our modern Christian professionals? Does his obvious dedication to his profession while profoundly integrating it with Christian values inspire modern-day bankers, teachers, traders, politicians and civil servants to use their professions as means for the betterment of Nigeria with the resultant reward of eternal life with the blessing of heaven?
      The lives of the saints and blessed of every age and place point to truths and values far more enduring than a good job, a fat bank account, healthy children, a comfortable house, a good name and a steady supply of GSMs. Certainly, most modern-day professionals will remain within the lay state serving the nation as teachers, merchants, doctors, bankers, accountants and civil servants. And this is good and necessary as few are called to and even needed in the sacramental priesthood or in the consecrated religious life. The professional, pre-clerical life of Blessed Tansi challenges all of us with questions such as: Why do we work? For what purpose? Is it only to make money needed to feed and clothe myself and our families? What is the role of my Christian Catholic faith in my place of work? Am I a devout follower of Jesus seven days a week? Or am I only a Sunday Catholic? Am I punctual, prayerful, and attentive to the poor and needy clients or pupils? Am I honest in my business dealings? Is righteousness before God my supreme good or do my comfort, my family and my material prosperity come first? Am I free enough with my life to let it go if God should ask me or am I always praying for long life and prosperity? As a teenager and youth growing up in an increasingly sexualized culture, am I taught to achieve chastity in thought, word and deed? If married, am I faithful to the vows I made at the altar of God? The life and choices of Blessed Tansi point to motivations far more sublime and universally appealing than the mere development of my talents, the exaggerated enjoyment of life, and the pursuit of honour, financial security and prestige. These he had (at least potentially) and yet he willingly and freely gave them all up. Because he was a man detached from the vanities of the world while at the same time, attached to the higher values of perfect and courageous Christian discipleship. 
      When we are tempted by the irascible temper within us to fly into a rage at those who disagree with us, or conversely to bite our tongue in the face of moral evil, lest we appear too divisive, we must look to the example of Blessed Tansi and call upon his intercession. His life was so rooted in Christ that he could not help but proclaim the Gospel and do so fearlessly. He never sought division, but he never shied away from it if it was the consequence of defending his moral principles, and thus allowing the full truth to permeate more hearts. Like all wise and holy saints, he understood that life is very short, and eternity is very long. He lived his life and led his faithful accordingly. Blessed Tansi – Pray for Nigeria.                                                                                                   Sunday, November, 19, 2023
                                   Relationship with Blessed Tansi - come and be renewed
      For us Nigerian Catholics a relationship with Blessed Tansi is a must - it is about having a real relationship with our brother in Christ who has made an outstanding victory over the world and now in the presence of God. We are often committed to helping or even praying for one another in the same way we are committed to asking for help and prayer with Blessed Tansi. “Pray for one another, that you may be healed. The fervent prayer of a righteous person is mighty” (Jas 5:16). Besides, the teaching of the Catholic Church on the Communion of Saints emphasises the importance of the Church’s veneration of the saints and for us particularly- Blessed Tansi. The Church is not only earthly but also divine, just as Jesus is fully human and fully God. And while those who make up the Body of Christ, the Church, are individuals, they are also members (see 1 Cor 12:27), having a relationship with the Head of the Church and one another. For us Nigerians Blessed Tansi is like an open treasure-houses accessible to all, like flowing fountains at which everyone can drink. Please come and be healed and renewed. Nothing in the Communion of Saints is private, although everything is personal. He is just as real and immediate to us as those sitting beside us at Mass. In fact, he is even closer, as he is able to relate to us perfectly, being holy and complete, free from sin and the distractions of this world. He is alive — truly alive, filled with divine life and enjoying perfect union with God. He is among “a cloud of witnesses” (Heb. 12:1) surrounding us, helping and encouraging us. 
      Another reason why we should have a real relationship with Blessed Tansi is for our national security and guidance. As we observe the current realities unfolding in our social, economic and political life, it is essential to address the feelings of unease and apprehension that may arise within our nation. The escalation of insecurities resulting in so many deaths of innocent Nigerians, indeed echo the turbulent times prophesied in Scripture. Blessed Tansi is both our national model and patron. Model, because his life is an example of true and patriotic living and patron because he is given to us by God to lead us to the true love of God and service to our fellow Nigerians. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love.” (John Paul 11, sermon beatification Nigeria 1998) Blessed Tansi is a part of the history of our nation. More than fifty years ago he served and dedicated his life to us as a teacher, diocesan priest and religious monk proclaiming the Gospel of reconciliation and the Good News of salvation. Through his ministry, the Christian faith was firmly planted in this soil, and in this way, it continues to grow and produce much fruit. This fact was testified by the Holy Father John Paul 11: “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest” (Sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998) As his brothers and fellow criticisms, we are tasked with an important role—to anchor our nation in the assurance of God's ultimate victory. But how – by following the example of his dedicated service to God and our fellow Nigerians in our various vocations. In the face of what we are presently going through - our nation raging and citizens trembling with fear and hunger - these may serve as a powerful reminder that God is mocked nor disturbed by our national calamities. The psalmist writes in Psalm 2:4, "He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision." Our trust should not lie in force and might but in love and God. "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."(Ps. 20:7)  These verses are not merely poetic expressions but affirmations of God’s dominion that should always resonate within our understanding and action. As we confront this national stark reality, we remember the Blessed Tansi – how he laboured and sacrificed all for his fellow men and women and that Jesus doesn’t abandon us in our feelings of fear, anger, and helplessness.“I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world.” (Jn. 16:33)
      The world may look different today, but Blessed Tansi's life is a rich legacy for his fellow Nigerians looking for a better life, justice and peace. Blessed Tansi waited for God with unwavering faith and trust for many years and at his time God answered his prayers. “God, however, is the director of events. He is Providence. And his time is the best. What Father Cyprian and Father Mark had been hoping for, became a reality after the death of Father Cyprian” ( Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.246) We are,  as it were, on the cusp of a new chapter for in Nigeria - a chapter that begins with the rebirth of this incredible legacy of Blessed Tansi. Don’t miss this opportunity. The Catholic Church in Nigeria is on the verge of celebrating the diamond jubilee of his call to glory – a moment of God’s grace through the powerful intercession of Blessed Tansi. Don’t miss your chance to be a part of this generational moment. Come with faith and be renewed. You will find blessing and renewal through a profound encounter with Blessed Tansi.
      “You will hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not alarmed, for these things must happen, but it will not yet be the end.” (Mt. 24:6) At a time in our history when we are literally experiencing instability in our social, political, and economic life, these words of Jesus are both unsettling and consoling. He told us what to expect. Even in our fallen world, men and women still have free will, and we can so readily turn against our Creator and one another for innumerable reasons. And we can also change and live after the example of our national saintly hero. What is most important? That, no matter what, Jesus promises us that in him, we will find our peace. “For by the cross the incarnate Son, the Prince of Peace, reconciled all men with God. By thus restoring all men to the unity of one people and one body, he slew hatred in his own flesh; and, after being lifted on high by his resurrection, he poured forth the spirit of love into the hearts of men. For this reason, all Christians are urgently summoned to do in love what the truth requires, and to join with all true peacemakers in pleading for peace and bringing it about.” (Gaudium et Spes, no. 78) In a very real way, what we notice on the streets of our own cities where gang violence, open injustice, drug trafficking, and human trafficking are a daily reality. The only way to respond to this is through a radical act of love – which Blessed Tansi left us as a perfect model and legacy. 
      If we partner with Blessed Tansi our bond with him deepens in our personal prayer. Our relationship with him grows and we can hear his invitation today to offer ourselves as he did. To love God and to dedicate our lives to the service of our fellow Nigerians. He is calling you today to be a peacemaker wherever you are on Nigerian soil. Let us run to him now with all that weighs upon our hearts. He longs to hear from us and desires to help us. I pray especially that the celebration of the diamond jubilee of his call to glory will inspire each of us to be men and women of peace.
                                                            Sunday, November 12, 2023
                                                Cause of Blessed Tansi inspires us to holiness
      At the conclusion of his book ‘Total Response’ Cardinal Arinze remarks: “ As we come towards the end of these reflections, we cannot avoid thanking God for the many favours which he has given to Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, and through him to Nigeria, Africa and the church worldwide. At the same time we have to ask ourselves what the Lord requires of us as our expression of this gratitude” ( p.242) By his life Blessed Tansi is telling us that all of us are called to be holy and we can and must be holy. “All the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of Christian life and to the perfection of charity” - (which is holiness) (Lumen Gentium, 40). St. Paul sometimes addressed his letters to “the saints” in a particular city (see Eph 1:1; Col 1:2). In this case, he was speaking of all Christians as the “holy ones,” because they have now been made holy by their baptism and are striving to become more holy. The Catholic Church therefore affirms, then, that all faithful Christians are “saints” in this sense. The vocation, the calling, to holiness is universal; God is speaking to all Christians when He says in Scripture, “Be holy because I [am] holy” (see 1 Pt 1:14-16).
      The Catholic Archdiocese of Onitsha has for many years been promoting the cause of canonization of Blessed Iwene Tansi. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria supported her and approved the promotion of this cause in 1982. “We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982 after considering the life of Rev. Fr. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO thinks that the promotion of the Cause of his beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of Priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favour of the promotion of his Cause” (cf ‘The Catholic Leader. August 15th, 1982) The same conference in a solemn concelebrated liturgy to close the special year for Priests held at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, enthroned the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi ‘Patron of Nigerian Priests’. “...Celebrating the year for Priests [June 19th. 2009 – June 18th. 2010] proclaimed by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XV1, which was aptly and prayerfully observed in Nigeria; desirous to hold out models of Priesthood to encourage sacrifice, prayers and dedication to priestly life in our land; having Saint John Baptist Mary Vianney as the universal Patron Saint of Priests; we the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, having prayerfully considered the matter, unanimously choose and hereby declare, also BLESSED MICHAEL IWENE TANSI THE PATRON OF NIGERIAN PRIESTS. We make this declaration on this 3rd. day of June in the year 2010, on the tomb of the Blessed, in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity, Onitsha, Nigeria” 
      With his beatification in March 1998, Blessed Tansi became a National Saint of Nigeria, and received the right to a cult to be celebrated in Nigeria, Cistercian Communities and in places outside Nigeria that have devotees and special interest. With his beatification, the first stage in the promotion of the cause successfully came to a happy end and the Church opened the second stage, as the Hoy Father St. John Paul 11 gave Nigeria and the Bishops’ Conference in particular a new assignment: “…Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruit of holiness, which have grown and matured in the church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African…the life and witness of Fr. Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God, his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to this great love of God…. Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and Christian charity is a spiritual gift this local church now offers to the universal church…”  (Sermon Beatification Oba Nigeria 1998) The Holy Father by this statement asks Nigeria to bring their National Saint to the Universal Church- fullness of the Altar – sainthood. 
      Though the Church teaches that we can’t know for sure who may be in hell, the Church also insists that, in some cases, we can know for sure that certain individuals are in heaven. We refer to them by name as “St. So-and-So.” So how does the Church gain the confidence that a particular person is in heaven? Various kinds of evidence are sought in the process called canonization, which leads to the formal recognition of a person’s sainthood. This evidence includes reliable testimony to the person’s extraordinary holiness in this life; indications that the person’s life has drawn others closer to God; and carefully documented miracles occurring after the person’s intercession has been asked for. Such miracles provide evidence that the person can offer effective assistance because he or she is now with God in heaven. Because Blessed Tansi has been perfected in this world and now lives in God’s presence for this reason the church confidently urges all of us not only to imitate his holiness but also to ask for his assistance to live holy lives. Those who have been perfected and are now face to face with God in heaven — that is, the “saints” have a share in His divine nature (see 2 Pt 1:4). This insight helps us understand the Church’s teaching about what we call the Communion of Saints — that is, the fellowship, the sharing, of the saints. Because of their perfect love, they love us still on earth as God loves us. They want to help us; they want to see us reach heaven as well. So they have the desire to assist us in any way they can. The perfected saints also have a share in God’s perfect knowledge. They are able, through God’s grace, to know what is taking place on earth. God allows them to see and hear what He sees and hears, so they can hear the requests we may make of them. Similarly, the perfected saints have a share in God’s perfect, supernatural power. They are able, through His grace, to act on our behalf, to intervene in earthly affairs, just as God does. They don’t just pray for us; they can act on our behalf in other ways as well. “The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful” (Jas 5:16). 
      Let us always venerate our own Blessed Tansi as a sign of showing him honour and requesting his heavenly assistance. Showing honour is a natural human response to the goodness, even the greatness, of another human being. We honour the founders and other leaders of our country from throughout history. We name cities after them, print coins with their face, write books about them, and make statues of them to erect in public places. We paint pictures of them to display in schools and government buildings. We speak reverently and gratefully of them on patriotic holidays. We do these things because it is a matter of justice to recognize their gifts and contributions to us. Justice means giving each his due, and we recognize that we owe much to these great human beings, and we want to say so in different ways. Let us do similar things to Blessed Tansi to promote his cause and to obtain his favour. Promoting the cause of Blessed Tansi has inspired great devotion and many other acts of piety among Nigerians. His veneration has become an act of faith for many who have seen it in an extraordinary manner the way of life to which we are called as Christians. Now that God has perfected him and is a saint standing face-to-face with God in heaven, we have even more reason to venerate him. “It is interesting to record that the life of Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi has inspired and encouraged not only individuals but also groups to pray. In this connection, the  Blessed Father Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement deserves special mention … this movement organises weekend, rallies and congresses marked by Holy mass, talks on Blessed Tansi, Rosary, Eucharistic Benediction, the unveiling of statues, night vigil, singing, candlelight procession, testimonies, confessions and distribution of prayer cards. The members of this movement visit the sick and the poor and help them.” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 243-244) The promotion and veneration of Blessed Tansi has also inspired the monastic apostolate which is now flourishing in this country. “We thank God that the church which is in Nigeria is not forgetful of the dedication to prayer which the Blessed Cyprian Tansi left her in inheritance” (ibid p. 248).
      For us today Nigerians as the old saying goes, “Imitation is the sincerest form of praise” and so the Church urges us to imitate the Blessed Tansi, to follow his example of holiness. In the end, that is the best way to honour him. Speaking of Blessed Tansi the Holy Father remarks: “God, in fact, has blessed this land with human and natural wealth, and it is everyone's duty to ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing. As your nation pursues a peaceful transition to a democratic civilian government, there is a need for politicians — both men and women — who profoundly love their own people and wish to serve rather than be served (cf. Ecclesia in Africa, 111). There can be no place for intimidation and domination of the poor and the weak, for arbitrary exclusion of individuals and groups from political life, for the misuse of authority or the abuse of power. In fact, the key to resolving economic, political, cultural and ideological conflicts is justice; and justice is not complete without the love of neighbour, without an attitude of humble, generous service”.( John Paul11, Sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998)

                                                             Sunday, November 5, 2023
                                                        How to ‘partner with Blessed Tansi.
      Nigerians should befriend Blessed Tansi. This is not dissimilar to how we have human friends, The importance of Blessed Tansi is that God has seen it fit, in his generosity and mercy, to give us such a saint now far more intelligent and nearer to God than any other created being.  His greatest essential task is to see us home - to get us home to heaven. We can take advantage of this, as he guides us on Earth. We begin by acknowledging his existence, communicating with him, cultivating and expressing love for him and what he stood for, and incorporating him into our daily lives, including by seeking his guidance. Bringing Him into our hearts is to acknowledge, and pray to him regularly, and to become more habitually used to calling upon him in all needs, even very small needs, because he is there for those as well. Pray your own prayer to him or use the Postulation common prayers which hit all the essential aspects of communicating with him - ask for his intercession and protection. Seeking guidance from him benefits us as human persons. Because in fact, with his position in heaven, he knows more about us than we know about ourselves. 
      Joy and happiness are all that humans including Nigerians love and desire. Because Blessed Tansi daily heard the Lord, he lived a life of joy. Compared to the adventures of his younger years, the joys may have seemed, to the less wise eye, simple or mundane. He showed us that it is in the seemingly simple and mundane that one finds joy, though. Blessed Tansi knew from childhood that life has a purpose and that heaven was open above him, so he didn’t need a single thing on this earth. Because of this, he was able to wholeheartedly enjoy these pleasures as little gifts from a Father who delights in seeing his children revel in the sweetness of life. The fullness of joy comes from union with the Lord, but he sprinkles little joys throughout our days as reminders of the greatest joy to come. He lived the greatest joy because he spent his days grateful for life on earth but in eager anticipation of the life to come. He wanted others to be able to share in this hopeful anticipation - sharing the truth in a way that brings others to the feet of Love himself. He evangelized in many ways: living with great conviction that God is love, giving instructions that dealt with morality, catechising his flock with relentless energy and being a friend and pastor to all especially the needy. Having received the Good News in his own heart, he wanted to share it with others. Having encountered Love, he wanted others to know Love. As Nigerian Catholics, we are blessed to have his example to look to as a model of life lived valiantly for Christ. We can also look to him in our own lives as one who led or is leading lives of holiness. His close presence can inspire and spur us to deeper devotion and intimacy with Our Lord. And, hopefully, one day we will be able to join him and the choirs of angels and saints in heaven, forever more praising Our Lord.
      If you want to give Blessed Tansi a special treat, learn his simple act of piety, kneeling before God in prayer, this conveys a great truth: our God is king of all and deserving of all reverence. God is not just sovereign within the walls of a church; his sovereignty extends over all the universe and at all times. Therefore, our every act should reflect this truth. We should constantly be reverencing the Lord with our actions and speech. We are daughters and sons of the King — princesses and princes in his eternal kingdom — and our ways should speak of this. Then attend mass regularly and do more Eucharistic adoration because, in a real sense, when you are adoring Jesus in the Eucharist, Blessed Tansi can join you in adoration - which is so natural to his nature, and he can also protect you. The secret of his success in life is Jesus in the holy Eucharist. And it is in pursuit of holiness that Blessed Tansi ultimately became a living sacrifice in imitation of Christ, the Good Shepherd, pouring out his zeal and strength for his flock. It is in his Eucharistic piety that he leaves us a legacy which if we, old and young, men and women representing different cultural families and vocations follow will feature new Eucharistic witnesses and will testify in living colour—what holiness looks like. The Eucharist was the secret of his day. It gave strength and meaning to all his other activities of service. His regular practice of Eucharistic devotion in varying forms has been a vital source of charity in his life –through this singular practice he was able to serve his poor with devotion – since he was able to see Christ whom he adored in the poor.  Our own personal missionary journey to the peripheries of our lives will inevitably be different than the one encountered by Blessed Tansi. Our reception of Christ in the Eucharist and adoration in his presence will transform our lives to be of loving service to our neighbours. Today Nigeria is yearning for the meaning and purpose of life, the Eucharist offers us the profound answer as it once time offered to Blessed Tansi. If we, in the midst of our ordinary lives, can model this yearning for a purposeful life to the lifestyle of Blessed Tansi the transformation Nigeria is looking for will come. 
      Detachment from material things is another area Nigerians can partner with Blessed Tansi for purposeful living. His constant, full and generous cooperation with grace, impulses and inspirations of God in both the large and small decisions of everyday life made him courageous in the face of trials and difficulties, mortified and charitable. Blessed Tansi lived fully within the world but at the same time was not of the world and as the letter to the Romans reminds us, did not adapt “to the pattern of this present world” (12; 2) As a true Nigerian living in Nigeria he never disdains the created world nor fears it nor runs from it but rather experiences the world and its many goods as gift from God to be used with freedom, responsibility and gratitude. He lived with prayerful and active compassion towards his fellow Nigerians disfigured by human sin and injustice. He never invested his identity and self-worth in earthly pursuits and concerns even when these are good and noble because he had another home in view. The radical discipleship of Blessed Tansi is very much needed today. His obvious dedication to his profession as a teacher, priest and monk while profoundly integrating it with Christian principles and values should inspire modern-day Nigerian bankers, teachers, traders, politicians and civil servants to use their professions as means for the betterment of Nigeria with the resultant reward of eternal life with the blessed of heaven. 
      Those who desire to partner with Blessed Tansi should remember his general attitude to life – simple and quiet when he did speak aloud, everyone within earshot listened. He did not waste words, and he did not mince words. He spoke only the truth, and he always aimed to do so with perfect love. In this way through his quiet acts, he taught so many others how to live a life of virtue. Though his life was riddled with suffering he was patient in suffering – accepted it as a treasure. His attitude to suffering today teaches us that suffering can often sanctify us in ways beyond our comprehension if only we surrender ourselves to the Lord. Blessed Tansi as a contemplative and pious man loves silence in a particular way.  He abhorred senseless noise. Noise distracts, confuses and dispels peace. And our world has become quite noisy. Sometimes remove yourself from this plague of constant din and find silence where God makes himself known to you. He is not a clamorous God. He is a God of whispers. It is apart from noise, in silence, that we hear him. 
Let us meditate on these principles and foundations of his life that true Nigerians cannot afford to forget: 


He appreciated the human person, from the little child to the youth; he helped them to become somebody through schooling to realise what human dignity is. Women have much more respect and honour today in Nigeria than they had sixty years ago. Blessed Tansi showed a Christian sensitivity to the work of every human person, woman or child
 He was a person ready to serve others. For example, when there were smallpox patients, and also lepers, they were segregated. Everybody ran away from them but not Blessed Tansi. He gave them food and he himself gave them the sacraments. He was always available. So in many ways, he is a model for us
 Man is created to praise, reverence and serve God, the Creator and by this means to save his soul. His life was entirely for God
All other things on the face of the earth are created for man so that they may help him in achieving the end for which he is created.  From this, it follows that man is to use them in as much as they help him on to his end, and ought to rid himself of them for as far as they hinder him as to it.
For this, it is necessary to make ourselves indifferent to all created things so that on our part we want not health rather than sickness, riches rather than poverty, honour rather than dishonour, long rather than short life, and so in all the rest; desiring and choosing only what is most conducive for us in achieving the end for we were created.

[Remember that the Diamond Jubilee of his call to glory is coming up on January 20, 2024 – pray for the worthy cause --pray for the one miracle to get him to the fullness of the Altar]
                                                             Sunday, October 29, 2023
                                        Blessed Tansi: our model of Eucharistic devotion and piety. 
      The Eucharist is Jesus Christ - body, soul and divinity present on our altars under the appearance of bread and wine - the source and summit of our Christian life - “an important daily practice and becomes an inexhaustible source of holiness.” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia). Pope Benedict has this to say: “In the Eucharist the Son of God comes to meet us and desires to become one with us; Eucharistic adoration is simply the natural consequence of the Eucharistic celebration, which is itself the Church’s supreme act of adoration.” (Pope Benedict XVI in Sacramentum Caritatis) The Eucharist is both a sacrifice, heavenly food and real presence. “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” (Jn 6: 51) 
      In our recent history, Blessed Tansi is one of those holy men and women who lived, loved, and served on the very soil upon which we now stand. They all testify—in unique and powerful ways—to what it means to encounter Jesus in the Eucharist and go on a mission with him for the world's life. They leave us a legacy which if we follow will feature new Eucharistic witnesses. Old and young, men and women, representing different cultural families and vocations will testify in living colour—what holiness looks like.   And it is in pursuit of holiness that Blessed Tansi ultimately became a living sacrifice in imitation of Christ the Good Shepherd, pouring out his zeal and strength for his flock. The Holy Father advises Nigerians that through imitating his Eucharistic piety they can reap the fruits of his labour. “So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest... Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church” (St. John Paul 11 in his sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998) 
‍      Father Tansi's driving force was to be a faithful shepherd to his people, which meant bringing them to Jesus and this Jesus is the Eucharist – the centre of his life and ministry. He celebrated Mass for his parishioners with such extraordinary devotion because he knew it was essential for them to experience the full beauty and mystery of the Mass, where they would encounter the depths of Christ’s love for them. Early on, he established the tradition of the sacrament of reconciliation before mass in every outstation he was visiting. The sacrament of reconciliation and the mass made a great feast for the faithful in the outstations, especially the remote ones – the Father’s visiting is like a feast.  These were real shared moments, which for them were truly Eucharistic - quite satisfying and revealing: satisfying for the contact and interest, and revealing as to the poverty that exists so close to them here and the great faith and spirit they manifest. Jesus, the Bread of life- the Eucharist and sacrifice was near to them. Whatever happens Fr. Tansi in the remote corners of his parish in the Archdiocese of Onitsha was the only priest left at the mission as an icon of Christ the Good Shepherd for his people. His presence alongside his suffering people spoke volumes about Christ’s redeeming love for them. He celebrated at every Mass, he lived faithfully every day. He became one with his parishioners to show them—not just tell them—how much God loved them.  He was indeed a sign of the love of Christ for his people. Fr. Tansi is not just an ordinary priest. He has a spiritual presence about him that people see, feel and experience. He was a quiet man, yet people could sense the peace, joy, and love which filled him. Seeing him celebrate or in adoration, people kept wondering why he had the qualities they so desperately wanted. In addition to the varying forms of Eucharistic piety he also highlighted Eucharistic benediction and the importance of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) in his parish and exhorted all his parishioners to participate.
Even in the English monastery, those who attended his masses left with a great impression that there was something in the sacrifice of mass. “ Many people who participated at his masses in Mount  Saint Bernard speak of his Eucharistic celebration in such a way that we are led to conclude that there is something special in those celebrations” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.183)  Fr. Brian a member of the monastic community would never forget his encounter with Fr. Tansi at the Eucharistic celebration. “I have served others since, but this is something I shall always remember. There was something that even a small novice could recognise as something quite special. I had a similar feeling of the presence of God at Fr. Tansi's last mass, before he was taken to the hospital where he died” (Isichei E. ‘Entirely for God’ p. 103). Nowhere was this more evident than during his celebration of the Mass. “It is Father Cyprian who is saying mass today. I would not miss it for all the world...his masses seemed to be more holy than those of other monks...I discovered that not only all lay people living near the abbey but also the monks themselves thought that Father Cyprian said mass with a difference. On the altar he did not look like an earthly man, but when a conversation with us he was ‘nwa Tansi’ again.” (Sr. M. Eucharia Anyaegbunnam recorded in Peter Meze's ‘Our Memoirs of Father Michael Tansi’ p. 163-164). One of the monks of Mount Saint Bernard, Hilary Costello had a chance encounter – a real life-altering with Fr. Cyprian at mass and testified before the Archdiocesan Tribunal: “Seeing Fr. Cyprian celebrating mass was most edifying. He took a lot of time to prepare for mass. I used to serve his mass before my priestly ordination. He valued the mass...the manner in which Father Cyprian celebrated mass showed that he had great faith in the presence of Christ in the divine mysteries that he was celebrating. He had prayers always on his lips” (in C. Obi ‘Facing Mount Saint Bernard’ p. 196).
      Blessed Tansi was deeply devoted to the Eucharist. The Eucharist was the secret of his day. It gave strength and meaning to all his other activities of service. His regular practice of Eucharistic devotion in varying forms has been a vital source of charity in his life. Adoration was never a passive practice in his life without which he would have been too poor to serve his poor. Our personal missionary journey to the peripheries of our lives will inevitably be different from the one encountered by Blessed Tansi. But the question we must answer is the same: what is God asking of me today, in this moment, in this place? How can our reception of Christ in the Eucharist transform our lives to be of loving service to our neighbours? In a world yearning for meaning and purpose, the Eucharist offers us a profound answer. It is an encounter with the living Christ, a communion of love that renews our spirits and empowers us to be witnesses of his presence in the world. If anyone can model this call to holiness in the midst of our very ordinary lives, it is you reading this. It all begins with our willingness to say “yes” to whatever—and whomever—God has placed in front of us.
‍      Recently during his trip to World Youth Day in Lisbon, Pope Francis exhorted all members of the Church to renew the practice of Eucharistic devotion: he said, “Only in adoration, in the presence of the Lord, do we truly rediscover our taste and passion for evangelization … and everyone, priests, bishops, consecrated men and women, need to recover it, this ability to be quiet in the Lord’s presence.”(Pope Francis, Homily, in Lisbon 2 August 2023)
                                                            Sunday, October 22, 2023,
                                              Blessed Tansi: Meet a zealous Pastor of our time.
      “One of the ways in which the love of God and neighbour shows itself is in a life of apostolic zeal.  Zeal is love which shows itself in action. While in general zeal is a strong movement of spirit, based on deep affection to promote what is loved and remove what stands in its way, apostolic zeal is an impelling desire to advance the kingdom of God, to help souls to live and grow in God’s grace, and thus to make God better known, loved, adored and thereby more faithfully served. The zealous person and more so the zealous priest not only loves God but ardently takes measures to share this faith and love with others and is ready to make sacrifices to see this happen” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 29). Throughout its history, the Catholic Church has seen numerous dedicated pastors, who were holy priests. Their words and actions remain a perennial source of inspiration for us to follow. The Blessed Tansi is an example of such a priest in our times. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much... Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. His personal goodness touched everyone who met him” (John Paul 11 in a sermon at Beatification Nigeria 1998). When Blessed Tansi was a pastor in the Archdiocese of Onitsha 1937-1950 he came forward to work with all his zeal for all especially the family, youth, poor and abandoned young people. He was ready and indeed gave his life for all. He was willing to suffer whatever was the will of God for the conversion of all. His commitment is in line with the words of St. Paul, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16). He lived and preached the Gospel without any discount. This Saintly pastor was so immersed in his pastoral care that he cared little for his health and personal well-being. The former bishop of Umuahia, the late Anthony Nwedo describing his pastoral energy said “... it may be a high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm candour, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self forgetful”. (in Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha. Oct.17, 1986). For some of the faithful in areas where he ministered, he was not only a model but a yardstick to measure the performance of other priests.  Mr Emmanuel Okonkwo Akukalia of Ukpo in Dunukofia parish said, "He was the yardstick by which he judges every priest he meets. All have fallen short of it except the late Fr. Kennedy who came nearer to his ways but not exactly (in Isichei. E. ‘Entirely for God’ p. 14). Blessed Tansi sacrificed so much including his own life for the love of God and his neighbour. “The love of Christ urged him on (cf 2 Cor 5:14) to great feats in the apostolate so that he could say with Saint Paul: “We put no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way through great endurance, in affliction, hardship, calamities...labours, watching, hunger, by purity, knowledge, forbearance, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, trustful speech and the power of God” (2Cor 6:3-7) ( in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response p.78)
      Pastoral zeal gave him enormous courage and strength to carry on the task he assumed on himself. He understood clearly that it was what the Lord wanted him to do. This gift also gave meaning to his priesthood and the pastoral ministry he had assumed on himself. It was a concrete way of practising the gospel values and evangelical counsels he had taken on himself at his ordination.  His zeal for the ministry made him to be effective in his ministry and helped him to achieve more for the Lord and for the people through his reaching out to the flock more frequently and more meaningfully without counting the cost. For him, only the Lord and his flock counted – entirely for God and his people. His way and manner of apostolate were methodical – he was always close to the people and the people always close to him shared life together- a sure way to find holiness and make religious life a joyful enterprising for the Lord. “He went about this apostolate in a way that we could call methodical. That is why he made a big effort to see that women get the respect due to them in society” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.127). In the Archdiocese of Onitsha, one thing that singled Blessed Tansi out among others is his activity of shepherding, leading the flock and caring for the flock. “It was not only Cardinal Arinze who remembers with admiration and affection the priestly zeal of Blessed Tansi. From the time he was accurate at Nnewi in 1937 until his departure for the Trappists in England, in 1950, Tansi served with such priestly zeal and dedication that the ordinary of the Diocese, Archbishop Charles, Bishop Heerey, held him up as a model for all priests to emulate. This is a great compliment given the fact that most of the priests of the great diocese of Onitsha were, at the time, expatriates. Tansi was, what we refer to in America, as “a priests’ priest”.”(Fr. Eddy Debany SJ. in a lecture Symposium organized by Blessed Tansi National Solidarity Movement Onitsha March 18 2004). In his preaching, Jesus gives a vivid description of a good shepherd who loves and cares for his sheep with utmost concern and is ready even to give his life. Pastoral zeal is the hallmark and identity of the priesthood. “For zeal for your house has consumed me.” (John 2:17)
      Blessed Tansi was filled with pastoral zeal from the moment he realized his vocation, even as a little child in Aguleri village. “When the future Blessed was but a small boy growing up in the Igbo village of Aguleri, he was exposed to the local traditions and customs of his native people while at the same time, to the Christian/Catholic religion of the French/Irish Holy Ghost Fathers who first evangelized Eastern Nigeria. It is not for us here to analyze in depth the motivations for the Christian conversion of young Iwene other than to note the profound formative influence of his maternal uncle Robert Orekyie – but rather to show how, even at the tender age of 9 while he was still a young layman – the future Blessed made a decisive, radical and preferential break with what he then perceived as the no-Christian aspects of Igbo culture and traditional religion. The destruction of his personal juju together with his sacramental baptism on January 7th, 1912 can be seen as Michael Tansi’s first conscious act of detachment from Traditional Igbo religious practice, together with his incipient attachment to Christian, liturgical practices and evangelical discipline as mediated and filtered by the predominantly Irish missionaries who at the time, congregated the Igbo converts into what were then termed Christian Villages” (Fr. Eddy Debany SJ in a lecture Symposium organised by Blessed Tansi  National Solidarity Movement Onitsha March 18 2004) Like Jesus found in the temple,  Blessed Tansi from childhood had a strong desire to do God’s will.  “Don’t you know that I have to be busy with my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).
      His pastoral zeal was his realization and fruitful living of his priestly vocation – a vocation he cherished very much. It is the best way of furthering the Kingdom of God. And it is a hallmark of his holy life. Blessed Tansi is a Nigerian priest one hundred percent.  He lived out the priesthood in a way that is convincing - in a way that gives witness with a very high degree of credibility. The type of witnesses that is contagious. He appreciated the human person, from the little child to the youth; he helped them to become somebody through schooling to realize what human dignity is. Women have much more respect and honour today in Nigeria than they had sixty years ago. Blessed Tansi showed a Christian sensitivity to the work of every human person, man, woman or child.  He was a person ready to serve others. For example, when there were smallpox patients, and also lepers, they were segregated. Everybody ran away from them but not the pastor, Blessed Tansi. He gave them food and he himself gave them the sacraments. He was always available. So in many ways, he is a model for us especially for the Nigerian of today.
                                                             Sunday, October 15, 2023
                 The veneration of Blessed Tansi draws many to Basilica Most Holy Trinity Onitsha.
      Hundreds of Pilgrims wait their turn to touch the relics of Blessed Tansi at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. They come from all over the country, many bringing with them images or statues of the Nigerian patron saint to be blessed. It is certainly one of Nigeria’s most visited and beloved religious venues – the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, with a circular, cross-shaped roof visible from miles away and a sacred history that each year draws thousands of pilgrims from near and far to the banks of the Lordly  River Niger site in Onitsha.
      Early December-January is the busiest time, as pilgrims converge ahead of January 20, the feast day honouring our National Hero. To Catholic Pilgrims, the date is the anniversary of the call to the Glory of Blessed Tansi far away from Nigeria at Mount Saint Bernard England where for good thirteen years he was battling with his greatest mortifiers the cold weather of Leicester, where he was answering God’s call in the Cistercian contemplative apostolate.
      More than a common part of Catholic culture and practice, the veneration of relics worldwide has been practised less during the last 50 years or so. But that seems to be changing in recent years, as the number of canonised saints increased during the pontificate of St. John Paul 11. Relics seem to be making a comeback and in a big way. And yet the veneration of relics in the Catholic tradition gives honour to God the only subject of worship, who is glorified in the saint or relic. Honouring the saints — and their relics — is an important part of what we do as Catholics since it is the glory of God that is seen in his saints. Pilgrims who come to the basilica see physical and tangible Relics of Blessed Tansi, these are concrete reminders for them that heaven is obtainable for them — so long as they recognize what made him holy and work to apply those qualities and lifestyles to their lives. When venerating his relics they express gratitude to God for those members of our spiritual family. In the presence of the relics they recall the holy life of the Blessed and they pray for the grace to achieve what he has achieved — eternity with God in Heaven.
      It is a part of our culture in Nigeria for people to honour the memory of their loved ones by keeping their pictures around the house. Many also keep cherished belongings of their deceased loved ones. These belongings likely are treasured, and treated with honour and reverence. They are kept in safe and honourable places. They are well-packaged when the family moves. Such things are often handed on from one generation to the next. These secular “relics” assist us in recalling the person and his or her life, and the memories that remind them of who they were and what they were about.  We also build monuments to great men and women and set up grave markers to memorialize our dead. And so it seems almost second nature for us to honour members of our family and those dear to us and the objects that belonged to them. Such similar reverence is translated into our family - the Church – the body of Christ. The saints are those men and women from our family who are deserving of our honour for their life of spiritual greatness. Moreover, they have put on Christ in baptism and become members of his body. The memories of Blessed Tansi are still very much alive among us when we visit the Basilica. He is still very active in our lives when we pray through his intercession. He is a very active member of our family and as members of the same family, we remember the role he played as our pastor and elder brother. And as human beings — composites of body and soul, we honour his body after his death just as family members visit and decorate graves on birthdays, death dates or holidays. Made in God’s image and likeness, we recognize the dignity of the human person by honouring their earthly remains — that is why the Church demands proper disposal of a person’s remains. Within this context, then, we should understand that relics are meant to be honoured and venerated, not worshipped. In fact, Blessed Tansi is leading us to fuller worship of God in spirit and truth. By honouring his memory, body and belongings, we give thanks to God for his holy witness – the kind of life he lived. 
      For many pilgrims, their journey to the basilica is an expression of gratitude for miracles that they believe the blessed Tansi brought into their lives. Around the basilica, some people light candles while praying in silence. Some kneel and weep. Others carry statues of the Blessed and rosaries of the Virgin in their arms as they receive a priest’s blessing. It was in this Basilica that a young lady Philomena received a complete and permanent cure for her stomach tumour. This miraculous cure was approved by the Vatican and used for the beatification of Blessed Tansi. As a pilgrim, always regular at the Monday devotion to Blessed Tansi is eager to share the fervour of her faith. “My entire life is filled with miracles from God and the Blessed Tansi, I could write a book about all that he has done for me.”  Many who have received various graces and favours come back yearly to thank God, the basilica and Blessed Tansi and to ask for more favours.
      As pilgrims, devotees, and friends of Blessed Tansi let us remember that: “the life of Blessed Tansi is telling us that all of us are called to be holy. His life of faith, humility and perseverance in following what he saw to be God’s will for him, no matter at what cost, and even when many details remain unknown” ( Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.252) All devotion to him must include a sincere desire to be holy. We cannot be his true devotees without a strong desire to emulate the disciplined, moderate and dedicated behaviour of his life. Part of his favour to our devotion will be his guidance, discipline, direction and correction.  In order to aspire to and develop the higher values of Christian living all pilgrims and all devotees must be conscious of their good words and positive examples in the community they live. The heroic piety of Blessed Tansi as a child, teacher, priest and monk did not in any manner diminish his humanity. He performed with equal dedication his daily domestic chores as a child, was assiduous in his academic studies and was more than capable when involved in sporting events with his mates. Tansi was not merely a well-rounded youth interested in the normal everyday activities of his age group but more importantly did all things both with passion, intensity and moderation. He was a successful pupil, despite his domestic duties, and passed his exams each year. He was good at sports, which he attached with the energy and determination to excel which he brought to his spiritual life.
      As a matter of fact Blessed Tansi lifestyle ought to be inculcated in the minds of all Nigerians but more importantly the baptized members of Christ’s Church. Its perfect attainment should not be limited solely to those who live out their vocation in the strictly contemplative life but as Blessed Tansi has shown us, can be struggled with and even enjoyed by all members of the Church from children and laypeople to priests and religious alike. This is my personal intuition and I hope that it is correct. The Holy Father has the same view in his advice to all Nigerians. “God, in fact, has blessed this land [Nigeria] with human and natural wealth, and it is everyone's duty to ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing. As your nation pursues a peaceful transition to a democratic civilian government, there is a need for politicians — both men and women — who profoundly love their own people and wish to serve rather than be served (cf. Ecclesia in Africa, 111). There can be no place for intimidation and domination of the poor and the weak, for arbitrary exclusion of individuals and groups from political life, for the misuse of authority or the abuse of power. In fact, the key to resolving economic, political, cultural and ideological conflicts is justice; and justice is not complete without love of neighbour, without an attitude of humble, generous service.” (John Paul 11 in his sermon at beatification March 22nd 1998).

                                                                    Sunday, October 8, 2023
                                                      Things Blessed Tansi Taught Nigerians
      With the beatification of the Blessed Tansi on March 22nd 1998 at Oba–Onitsha- Nigeria, a great awareness has been created throughout Nigeria and beyond on the humble way the Nigerian saint lived out his vocation. He was a very humble pastor of souls, who touched the lives of so many people in his days and is still touching many lives by his legacy to Nigerians and the world. Blessed Tansi's greatest achievement, to my mind, is making deep spirituality available to ordinary people like you and me. He taught how to live and become a saint in a simple way. Looking back, especially in the areas he performed his pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha; I can see that he influenced the entire Catholic life — most especially in recent years. “As a pastor, one can use the term pastoral charity to describe his dedication, his drive, his perseverance under harsh physical conditions, his readiness to visit the sick and his intense desire for the eternal salvation of his people” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘total Response p.211) With the promotion of his cause in Nigeria the term ‘holiness’ and ‘becoming a saint’ have become a popular saying. The activities of his spiritual sons and daughters, devotees and his solidarity prayer groups all over Nigeria are influencing the daily spiritual lives of many.  His spiritual legacy is inspiring and encouraging not only individuals but also groups to pray. Most of his prayer groups are inspired by Cistercian spirituality. The now flourishing monastic apostolate in Nigeria is one of the great legacies of Blessed Tansi. He is the patron and model of the priestly life and ministry in Nigeria. Here are some master insights of his that can help us understand ourselves and grow holiness.
      God is everything – entirely for God. A lawyer from among the Pharisees asked Jesus a question to test him: “Teacher which is the great commandment in the law?” We all know the answer, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets” (Mt. 22:35-40), God is the beginning and the end of creatures. Outside Him there is nothing. Indeed God helps me to live my life with zeal for God who is everything. “He saw Christianity as living entirely for God. From his day of Baptism, he did not look back. He kept up the effort to give God of his best in the use of time, in studies...” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 210)
      Sanctity of marriage, life and family. Marriage, a sacrament of love, life and service is the bedrock of human society. Marriage and family give life, love and service to all of us. This should be respected, sanctified and cherished by all. The Catholic Church has high esteem for marriage and family – ‘the first and vital cell of society’. In his apostolate, Blessed Tansi set out to build up Christian marriages and families by sanctifying and reconciling broken ones. 
      Preferential love for the poor, sick and needy. - What is done to the poor is done to the Lord himself: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was sick and you visited me” (Mt. 25:34) Blessed Tansi showed us how to live this gospel without discount. His house was twenty-four hours open for the sick, the hungry, the aged, the needy and the voiceless. Food is a basic need of every one and to feed the hungry is to respect and love him. “Father Tansi knew that to prepare women for their due status in society and to help build up Christian families would not be accomplished in one day ... he went about this apostolate in a way that we could call methodical” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response p. 127)
      Total detachment from material wealth and worldly greatness – As a young professional teacher in the early colonial era Blessed Tansi had so many opportunities for greatness and wealth. He could have remained in the teaching profession, joined the government civil servant, or became a businessman or politician but he chose to enter the seminary for the priesthood. Thus remained through life a truly spiritual person, fully alive with the Spirit of God received in Baptism, avoided serious sin, effective in whatever task God proposed, courageous in the face of trial and difficulty, mortified, charitable and always full of prayer. He lived fully within the world but at the same time was not of the world and did not adapt to the pattern of the world around him. On the other hand, he did not disdain the created world nor fear it nor run away from it but rather experienced the world and its many goods as gifts from God to be used with freedom, responsibility and gratitude. His spirit of detachment challenges us today.
      Self-control is the foundation of his mortified penitential life. “The first seminarians were therefore subjected to harsher tests than the candidates in the seminaries of today. “Ordinations, in these circumstances” writes Professor Gray, “demanded a heroic blend of determination, self-control and abnegation Many Africans rebelled and challenged the basic racist assumptions of their day by frontal assault Tansi and two other of his companions persevered. Thereby they effectively shattered the stereotype and opened the way for their successors” (Richard Gray: An African Saint, in Times Literary Supplement, London quoted in Newsletter Blessed Iwene Tansi, Dec 2008 p. 11). “An unmistakable general impression which Father Tansi made on a person who comes close to him was that here was a priest who had reached a remarkable level of self-control” ( Arinze  Cardinal in ‘Total Response’  p. 193) What will our Nigeria look like if fifty percent of the citizens practice self-control?
      Patient with God and His world – his seminary days, his vast area of apostolate in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, and his monastic adventure were all full of trials that demanded his patience.  Our wishes and feelings matter but only to a point. God has his plan in our life. his life teaches us that one train of thought can leave us sad and another joyful. Blessed Tansi never complained. “It was never in the character of Father Cyprian to complain, whether it was about food, or cold, or work assignment or illness.” (Arinze Cardinal in Total Response p. 223)
      The presence of God in eternity - visible in all creation. Increased our outlook, trust and gratitude for God. Blessed Tansi lives in the presence of God all the time. Joyful things on earth but blessedness in the life to come. Our attention should be on what God’s omnipresence in eternity means to us as we are constantly surrounded by his love and care at all times.
      May the example of the heroic life of Blessed Tansi, who sacrificed his life in order to serve God and his people, help you to understand that one grows up with holiness and heroic deeds through faithfulness in small, everyday things.
{Remember that January 20, 2024, will be the diamond jubilee of Blessed Tansi's call to glory – pray sometimes for the happy conclusion of his worthy cause.}
                                                                 Sunday, October 1, 2023
                                                             Blessed Tansi - Life of service.
      During the official church’s recognition of the humble way he lived out his mission and vocation Pope John Paul 11 presented the life of Blessed Iwene Tansi as an example of the Gospel in action and service to the greater good of humanity. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. His personal goodness touched everyone who met him. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families” (Sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998).
      In his 62 years of life as a child in the village, a school pupil, a school teacher, a seminarian, a diocesan priest and finally a Cistercian monk Blessed Tanis touched the lives of many wherever he worked. “Today, one of Nigeria's own sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another” (ibid) Blessed Tansi had an apostolic zeal, which was an opportunity for the faithful to meet passionate witnesses to the proclamation of the Gospel, an extraordinary individual who embodied the will and also the inner passion to carry the Gospel forward. He was admired by all because like so many saints before him, he took very seriously his vocation to holiness – the kind of holiness that can serve as a universal model of essential holiness appropriate to all Christians whether these be high ecclesiastics, religious, youths or any member of the baptized laity. The holiness was essentially based on humble service. He lived a truly spiritual person fully alive with the Spirit of God received at Baptism, avoided serious sin, was effective in whatever task God proposed, was courageous in the face of trial and difficulty, was mortified and charitable, always full of prayer, humility and heroism in the practice of the Christian virtues and finally effectively detached from all things both good and evil even from life itself. Blessed Tansi lived fully within the world but at the same time was not of the world and as the letter to the Romans reminds us, “does not adapt to the pattern of this present world” (Roman. 12; 2). This does not mean that he disdained the created world nor feared it nor ran from it but rather experienced the world and its many goods as gifts from God to be used with freedom, responsibility and gratitude. “Father Tansi needed some money for his parish structures, building schools, churches and running pre-marriage training centres, but for him, the priority went to human beings, especially the poor, the sick, the old, the widow and the orphan” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response p.205). Because of his total detachment from creatures, he had enough time for God and his fellow men and women - full of prayerful and active compassion for the world especially when its parts or members are disfigured by human sin and injustice. As fully spiritually detached he abhorred only evil and its sinful manifestations but at the same time did not invest his identity and self-worth in earthly pursuits and concerns even when these were good and noble because when all is said and done, he had another home in view. He was a good disciple of Jesus – deliberately chose poverty, lived it and above all had in himself the mind of Christ who “though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6-7). “It is one thing that a person from a rich family takes the vow of poverty and enters a religious congregation. It is quite another situation when an Igbo man who could have become rich in things of this world deliberately chooses to be poor and to live poor. This is the choice that Fr. Tansi made. It was going against the current in society.” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.203)
      He lived a life of works of mercy – the doctor of the poor and the weak. His faith was at the centre of his life; had a rich prayer life, and was an extremely compassionate priest. He was someone who often gave medical assistance to the poor and needy, often without asking for any compensation. Instead of the wealth of money, he preferred that of the Gospel. At Nnewi, he provided medicine and service to Nnewi lepers. This life of service was predicated upon charity and mercy and underscored by his willingness to listen to the will of God. This kind of apostolic zeal is derived from certainty and strength. The certainty was the grace of God and the strength was his willpower and determination.
      He is a model of holiness committed to the defence of the poor in the challenges of history and, in particular, as a paradigm of service to his neighbour, like a Good Samaritan, without excluding anyone. He is a man of universal service. The Holy Father said he spent his life to promote good and to build peace and justice in truth. “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their independent and selfish existence...He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and to hand on the gift of reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of Nigerian life... He was always available for those searching for reconciliation. He spread the joy of restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion” (John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998) Also blessed Tansi stressed how important it is to be open to the needs and requirements of other people. Monsignor Joseph Nwanegbo ordained with Father Tansi- commented: “I knew him for many years even as a school teacher, and even before we went to the seminary, as a person concerned foremost with “others” (Isichei Elizabeth in ‘Entirely for God’ p.23)    
      Many more talk of his total service and solidarity with the poorest of the poor. The same interior force, fruit of his spiritual sensitivity to the interior motions of the Holy Spirit, inspired him to seek a more perfected union with God which he then understood as priestly, sacramental and pastoral service to his Igbo brothers and sisters. Nothing more and nothing less! It was a desire to serve. His was a way of the saints even open to us today. How I wish his example to serve as a teacher and headmaster have anything positive and challenging to say to our modern Christian professionals. Could his obvious dedication to his profession while profoundly integrating it with Christian values inspire modern-day bankers, teachers, traders and civil servants to use their professions as means for the betterment of the world with the resultant reward of eternal life with the blessing of heaven?  The lives of the saints and blessed of every age and place point to truths and values far more enduring than a good job, a fat bank account, healthy children, a comfortable house, a good name and a steady supply of other goodies. The professional, pre-clerical life of Blessed Tansi challenges all of us with questions such as: Why do we work? For what purpose? Is it only to make money needed to feed and clothe myself and our families? What is the role of my Christian faith in my place of work? Am I a devout follower of Jesus seven days a week? Or am I only a Sunday Catholic? Am I punctual, prayerful, and attentive to the poor and needy clients or pupils? Am I honest in my business dealings? Is righteousness before God my supreme good or do my comfort, my family and my material prosperity come first? Am I free enough with my life to let it go if God should ask me or am I always praying for long life and prosperity? The life and choices of Blessed Tansi, teacher headmaster and priest point to motivations far more sublime and universally appealing than the mere development of my talents, the exaggerated enjoyment of life, the pursuit of honour, financial security and prestige. These he had at least potentially and yet he willingly and freely gave them all up.  Because he was a man detached from the vanities of the world while at the same time, attached to the higher values of perfect and courageous Christian discipleship. 
                                                             Sunday, September 24, 2023
                                               Blessed Tansi call to Glory - Diamond Jubilee.
      The last 13 years of earthly existence of Blessed Tansi began in the early summer of 1950 when a rather large pilgrimage was setting off in that Holy year from Nigeria, among them were Europeans, Africans, lay people, Sisters, priests including Blessed Tansi on his way to Mount Saint Bernard monastery to prepare for his end which will eventually become his beginning. He survived for 13 years the cold, the damp, the mist, and the fog of Charnwood forest in the centre of Leicestershire, at about 600 feet above sea level. It was indeed a very trying period for him. He was answering what he considered to be a divine call for him; he was looking for God who called him. He had left all to follow his Cistercian vocation in a foreign country with a wretched climate.  He had followed a strict monastic regime faithfully for 13 years. He had been sustained by the steady hope that his sacrifices would make possible the introduction of the Cistercian Contemplative life to Nigeria and his own people. But this project was vitally at stake throughout all these wide-ranging and drawn-out discussions. For Blessed Tansi he left the whole thing to Divine Providence and spent most of the days and weeks and months in silence, listening and praying waiting for the Lord. Fortunately, the community's final votes of May 6th 1963 concentrated all the efforts of his Community on making a Cistercian Foundation in the Cameroon Highlands, not in Nigeria. With this vote, things began to move rapidly for the Cistercian Foundation in Africa and Blessed Tansi's final days. On May 30th, 1963 the Abbot announced in the Chapter the names of those chosen to go on the foundation. Blessed Tansi was named Novice Master. When he was reassured his appointment was not just a consolation prize, but a serious choice made by the Abbot for a very responsible post he set to work at once to prepare his classes.
      For the last four or five years prior to 1963, the Infirmarian had been keeping an eye on Blessed Tansi's health. After the T.B. gland in his throat had been excised he was asked to keep a week-by-week record of his weight; and was given a flask of hot milk to take to bed with him each night after an old duodenal ulcer had been diagnosed. “During the following week, he complained diffidently of pains in the back. He was always vague about any aches and pains and disliked drawing attention to them.   "There is no trouble" was his habitual answer to questions about his health” (in Gregory Wareing's Sorrow Shall Not Kill Me). However, the infirmarian thinking that this might be a slight return of 'Lumbago' put him to bed in the dormitory where a special light was fixed up in his cubicle to enable him to read in bed. Even though he repeated that he was quite comfortable and had no needs, the wardrobe keeper persuaded him to accept extra blankets, for January is a cold month, and joked that next year he would not need all these blankets in Nigeria. Surprisingly, an “unexpected reply came back in sign language: that he would not be returning to Africa: he would be buried here, at Mt. St. Bernard” (Gregory Wareing in unpublished written testimony).  Again trying still to make him more comfortable it was suggested that he should be transferred from his boards and straw mattress to a more comfortable bed on the infirmary corridor. But Blessed Tansi declined the offer with a smile.  As usual, he was 'all right'. He read little, ate less, and spent the week quietly, thinking and praying. The infirmarian attending to him one day noticed that his left thigh was about twice the size of his right. He had some pain there. The doctor came at once and diagnosed a deep thrombosis of the leg but was more concerned with a lump he had felt in his stomach. He suspected a growth. Then Dr. Frizelle, his previous surgeon, came from Leicester to see his patient and confirmed a growth. He was doubtful about its malignancy but arranged for him to be admitted to the hospital for an immediate operation on the next day. Blessed Tansi was then immediately transferred to a comfortable bed in an infirmary corridor room. The Prior, to his surprise, anointed him and pointed out the possibilities ahead of him. The next morning, when the community rose at 2 a.m. Fr. Mark Ulogu slipped along to this room and found him on the floor by the side of the bed, in great pain. He was lifted gently back. The Superior and three infirmarians were called out of Vigils, one of the ex-medical students suspected an aneurysm, from the intensity of the pain, in spite of the analgesics given him. When the doctor came he made arrangements for immediate transfer to Leicester Royal Infirmary.
      At 9 a.m. he received the Viaticum with the same intensity of fervour which he had been anointed yesterday afternoon. This time he was quite willing to go to hospital, ready to die if God so wished. The will of God was all he wanted. As Fr. Mark had been present at his anointing so now he was praying at his bedside when he received Viaticum. The ambulance had been waiting outside the door of the Guest House while the Guest Master made the men a cup of tea to keep them busy during the anointing. Before his viaticum, he had been in great pain. Now he was smiling at everyone and joking with them as he had his mind and heart towards his heavenly rewards. As the stretcher was placed in the ambulance, Fr. Germain one of the groups chosen for the African Foundation put his head around the door and said: "Your ticket is booked for Africa. Let's have you back soon." The reply came back, strong and assured, in a tone of voice never heard before at Mount Saint Bernard: 'We will go'. (Gregory Wareing in ‘Sorry Shall Not Kill Me p. 46) We will go from heaven.
      On arrival at the Casualty Clearance in Leicester Royal Infirmary, the pain returned to him in full force. But yet ‘a little pain', was all that he would admit to the doctor. He was x-rayed. Then taken to a bed in Marriot Ward, and prepared for immediate operation on his stomach. At about 1:45 p.m. the same day 20th January 1964 the Guest Master took a phone call from the Ward Sister warning the Abbey that Fr. Tansi was sinking. At once, Fr. Adrian drove the Prior and Fr. Mark into Leicester. The Guest Master phoned a Senior Irish Catholic Sister in the Royal Infirmary. Immediately, she went across the hospital to Marriot Ward to see if she could help the dying monk in any way. The monastery carload arrived soon afterwards but they were all too late. Quite suddenly Blessed Tansi died basically alone, at about 2 p.m. on January 20th, 1964. 
      The official report gave the cause of his death as: "Arteriosclerosis and rupture of a coronary aneurysm". He has been called to glory. During his early days in the Novitiate Fr. Cyprian had written to his old colleagues that life in a monastery may be hard, but that a monk's funeral was all that an Igbo could desire. On the morning of January 21st. The community assembled at the Church door to meet the car bearing Fr. Cyprian's coffin. As it entered the drive the bells commenced to toll in the tower. On arrival, the frail body was transferred by the hands of his brethren to the common monastic bier and escorted into the nave to lie between the choir stalls. Day and night the brethren took turns to pray beside it till the funeral Mass the next day January 22nd. 1964. Many touched their rosaries to that peaceful, smiling, brown face. It was here in this church that he had made his vows. He had kept them all. He was to be buried in the monastery of his profession, thus keeping his special, monastic vow of stability to the full. Nothing has gone wrong. This is all right. This is what he came for. It will help us all. There was Faith: God and glorious reward.      It will be remembered Father Tansi, took simple vows here at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, on December 8th 1953. He made those vows into perpetual solemn Vows on December 8th 1956. He would enter the next phase in his apostolate once his soul came into the presence of God. God's plans were being worked out. Fr. Gregory Wareing his one-time novice master testified:  “While I was living with him in the same Monastery and Community, from personal observation, as far as I know, he kept all these monastic vows in an admirable way. I do not know of any occasion on which he broke his vow of obedience, his vow of Chastity, his vow of poverty, or acted deliberately and openly against his vow of conversion of manners” (In a written unpublished testimony 1986).


                                                             Sunday, September 17, 2023
                                                               Meet a Eucharistic Pastor    
      In Igbo traditional religion as in the times described in the Old Testament, sacrifice was the way one sealed a covenant, not just a contract or an agreement. It was a life commitment between the two parties. To enter a covenant was to undertake a most solemn obligation on which the parties staked their lives. One of the most enduring legacies of Blessed Tansi is his deep devotion to the Eucharist. He learnt early enough in Igbo traditional religion that every true sacrifice ends up with a meal. So it was easy for Blessed Tansi’s converts to understand the Eucharist as a sacrifice and a meal. That already-created awareness helped him to deepen the devotion and understanding of the Eucharist as the real presence of the Lord in the parish. He sought the friendship of the Lord daily to know him better in the Scriptures, in the Sacraments, in prayer, in the communion of saints, in the people who came to him, sent by the Lord. He tried to come to know the Lord himself more and more. “In his years as pastor, the faith of Father Tansi in the Holy Eucharist was very manifest. He was seen often in his chapel on visit to our Eucharistic Lord, especially by night.”(Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 173) Because the immense gift of salvation is accessible to us in the Sacrament of the Eucharist where God gives himself to us, to open our existence to Himself, to link it to the mystery of love, to render us a participant in the eternal mystery from which we come and to anticipate the new condition of full life in God, in the expectation of which we live. Fr. Tansi seemed to be living in the presence of God all the time. Monsignor Stephen Ezeanya (later Archbishop) said: “… on the altar I find the picture of Fr. Tansi indescribable. The devotion and attention with which he said mass, his bows his genuflections, his observance of the rubrics and the way he treated the sacred species were exemplary, one cannot see in him someone who did not belong to this world. He was in the world but certainly not of the world. He showed this by his comportment” (in P. Meze, ‘Our Memoirs of Father Michael Tansi p. 72). He carried out his priestly Eucharistic ministry with great faith and devotion. The Holy Father St. John Paul11 praised the efforts of the Blessed in fostering communion and reconciliation through the Eucharist. “He spread the joy of restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion” (in beatification sermon Nigeria 1998)
      While many are familiar with and remember with admiration the Blessed Tansi’s radical preferential love for the poor and the sick and the decision to pursue a life of religious poverty, few remember his intense love of the Eucharist. This Eucharistic devotion was evident from an early age, when something like the Christ child who wandered off to Jerusalem’s temple, young Michael Tansi could not be found by his friends — only to be located in the local church’s tabernacle. Joseph Idigo one of Fr. Tansi's boyhood friends has this to say about his early devotion to the Eucharist: “When we were young, we used to play in the moonlight. After eating in the evenings, we would go from house to house, calling our age group to play in the moonlight. When we went to his house to call him we would not find him at home. After searching for him everywhere, we eventually found him in the church, seated alone in one corner. You would not know that there was anyone there. We often found him crying in the church. This is what happened every day. Some of our mates would call him out and beat him up. We were about twelve years old then.” (In Isichei Elizabeth ‘Entirely for God” p. 18). A similar testimony was later given by one of the same group age, John Mokwe: “...his devotion to prayers was most striking. If you watched him praying in the church he knelt down motionless, fixed his eyes on the tabernacle and tears gushed from his eyes. Some boys made fun of his attitude at prayer, but the more they did so the more fervently did he pray. Other boys tried in vain to imitate him. He found time to attend the daily Masses and made visits to the Blessed Sacrament” (Elizabeth Isichei in ‘Entirely for God’ p. 18) 
      Blessed Tansi's road to the priesthood was difficult and filled with obstacles. But by God’s grace, they were overcome one by one. He was ordained to the diocesan priesthood in 1937 and had a very fruitful apostolate in the Archdiocese for 13 years. His hard-working, zealous, ascetic life and energetic nature led him to his inclination toward the contemplative life, and eventually joined the religious monastic life with the Cistercians of Mount Saint Bernard in 1950.  Blessed Tansi priesthood magnified a great love for the Eucharist and a tenacious desire to spread Eucharistic devotion. These have earned him renowned as an apostle of the Eucharist. In reality, his whole life was a Eucharist because the centre of his life as a ministerial priest was the Eucharist and from the time he entered the cloister he raised up a continual thanksgiving to God in his prayer, praise, supplication, intercession, offering and sacrifice. He accepted everything and offered everything to the Father in union with the infinite thanks of the only-begotten Son, who lives at the right hand of the Father.
      With his long fasts and no comfort one sometimes wondered what gave him the joy, which people never failed to see on his face. Some think it was the presence of God, which he considered as the fulfilment of all desire, the inheritance with the saints, the furnace of love and our heavenly homeland.  This was testified in his most favourite song, ‘Ife annuli na enu uwa ma ife ebube na enigwe’, (joyful things on earth but blessedness in heaven). To lovingly attend to God's living presence was to remain, to surrender, and to dwell with Him. Awareness of the presence of God automatically inspired in him a love for prayer, to be with God all the time, craving for spiritual growth, everything making sense for him, generous to people, zealous in his ministry, and happy doing his work with tranquillity. To the Nigerian religious sisters who came to Mt. Saint Bernard to seek his advice, he described this kind of contemplation as primarily God's work which we make space for by self-denial and silence. The soul humbly asked and obediently waited for God’s response. Speaking of Fr. Tansi's depth of prayer before the Lord of the Eucharist, the Holy Father St. John Paul 11 said to the congregation gathered at Abuja - Nigeria: “By grace, he was "made joyful in God's house of prayer" (Is 56:7). And he understood that God's house is a "house of prayer for all the peoples" (ibid.). It is a house of prayer for the Hausa, for the Yoruba, for the Igbo. It is a house of prayer for the Efik, the Tiv, the Edo, the Gwari, and the many other peoples — too numerous to mention by name — who inhabit this land of Nigeria. And not just for these peoples alone, but for all the peoples of Africa, for all the peoples of Europe, of Asia, of Oceania, of the Americas: "My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples" (Abuja Nigeria March 23, 1998)
      Blessed Tansi's life was spent encouraging others to do what he was doing as a 12-year-old: to sit at the feet of the Eucharistic Lord and listen to him. This we must do particularly in robust health, in suffering from various ailments and in all kinds of trials.  True love for God cannot triumph unless it becomes the one passion of our life. Without such passion, we may produce isolated acts of love, but our life is not really won over or consecrated to an ideal. Until we have a passionate love for our Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, we shall accomplish nothing,

Are You Ready For Your Healing?
                                                            Sunday, September 10, 2023
                                                      The Next Blessed Tansi of Our Time?
      There is no doubt that in today's Nigeria God is raising up the apostles and saints whom he will use to respond to the challenges of our difficult time in ways you and I can't even imagine. But are these people now living the difficult Nigerian situation? No. They are among us; they will not come from the sky. It is essential to remember that even in the darkest times for the Church, God is always at work, calling forth disciples whose wildly different lives, situations, personalities and responses to God will send out ripples that converge and change the direction of history. Blessed Tansi is the saint of his time as well as Saint John Paul 11, St. Padre Pio and many others of different times and periods. All of them are honoured and remembered and indeed even prayed to, not because of where they lived nor even for what they accomplished, but for that ever-attractive and inspiring state of holiness that they were able to achieve during their earthly lifetimes. Today is our time inspired by their example we all are called to the same form of the holiness of life. The difficult period of our Nigeria is not an impediment to holiness. We know that King Henry VIII declared himself head of the Church in England, beheaded Sts. Thomas More and John Fisher, and began suppressing the ancient religious communities. The years spanning fifty years marked the dramatic beginning of generations of persecution and suffering for English Catholics. And yet God was already raising up the only answer for really bad times: fruitful new Catholic apostles. Look at who was emerging in the Church during the very same period: St. Philip Neri, St.Ignatius of Loyola and his six companions, including St. Francis Xavier and St. Peter Claver.
      Today we have our own Blessed Tansi, “a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest” ( Saint John Paul 11 Sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998).  The church recognised the humble way he devoted his life to the service of God and humanity in his own calling. He is today an example to all Nigerians of every calling to live a holy life. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness” (ibid). If he made it we too can also make it in whatever situation and vocation we find ourselves. Those who know testify to his goodness and the human struggles in his life. “Father Tansi was a great man, a many-sided specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria, a convert from African Traditional religion  who lived ‘entirely for God, a follower of Christ who put his hand to the plough and did not look back(cf Lk 9:62). (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.9)
      What could be said about this Blessed Tansi?  Was he different from his fellow Nigerians – certainly not he was a true Nigeria. Was he so very different from the rest of his fellow Nigerians- certainly not. What may be different is the kind of lifestyle he adopted for himself. He lived simply and edifyingly. He knew that personal union with God, prayer and sacrifice could help him and help in the salvation of his fellow Nigerians. He knew that it was love that counted. We are all brothers and sisters belonging to the same Body of Christ with many members, each having different functions ― but each is needed, and each is important. Some will be businessmen and women, educators, politicians, civil servants etc.  Each in its own way working for the common good, progress, peace and joy of Nigeria.
      Blessed Tansi began his career first as a school teacher in the colonial administration, then as a seminarian and a priest.  He was among the first Nigerians to be ordained, and he led his people by word and example. There is no saying what his future would have been had he not taken to the priesthood. But he felt the call to follow Christ in another way. He too was urged by the love of God and of his fellow men and women. He too was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord. He wanted the priesthood and later the monastic life for his people. For him, it was God’s call, an invitation to service which entailed leaving his country and his family like Abraham and so many others, and undertaking what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. It was, like all true calls from God, a venture of faith.
He served God and humanity as a) a professional teacher, b) a diocesan priest, and c) a religious Cistercian monk. The common guiding principle in all these is ‘entirely for God’ whether as a teacher, a priest or a monk. God and humanity were at the centre of all he was doing. He distinguished himself in the love of God shown in his:


burning zeal and courage to do his duty for God and benefit of humanity
attention to the needs of the poor and the sick
detachment from material goods
sincerity to his religious duties
courage and fearlessness for the course of truth and justice
thorough in whatever he did
simple, trustworthy and friendly

A combination of these qualities in practical life made him the saint of our time. Blessed Tansi is not calling all of us to follow him to the priesthood or religious life but rather in whatever vocation we put the above into action.
      Right now, God is raising up the apostles and saints in Nigeria whom he will use to respond to the challenges of our difficult time in ways you and I can't even imagine. These are children, teens and adults of all ages — and from every conceivable social, cultural and economic background in Nigeria. They are women and men. Their vocations may be invisible to us and to their families and friends right now. Their destiny, and the ultimate impact of their obedience, are probably hidden even from themselves and will be revealed only one step at a time as they walk in obedience with Jesus in the midst of his Church.
But they are among us now. It is entirely possible for each and every one of us who has been anointed for mission by Jesus Christ himself to become one of those seminal agents of spiritual awakening. But only if we each personally seek union with Jesus and strive to walk in the obedience of faith. The question is always: Which of us will say “Yes”? Which of us will become a member of the “generation of saints for this time and in Nigeria?
[Don’t forget to pray for the happy conclusion of the cause of Blessed Tansi and report to postulation the favours received through his intercession].

                                                                Sunday, September 3, 2023
                                             Blessed Tansi on Being a Responsible Christian.
      The Vatican 11 Council Fathers says in Lumen Gentium: "God shows to men, in a vivid way, his presence and his face in the lives of those companions of ours in the human condition who are more perfectly transformed into the image of Christ (cf. II Cor 3: 18). He speaks to us in them, and offers us a sign of his kingdom, to which we are powerfully attracted, so great a cloud of witnesses is there given (cf. Heb 12: 1) and such a witness to the truth of the Gospel. …a call to holiness is the will of God and such holiness is expressed “in multiple ways those individuals who, in their walk of life strive for the perfection of charity, and thereby help others to grow” (no. 29) This is true of the life of Blessed Tansi whose general impression everywhere is that of genuine, sincere, attached to the gospel without discount, severe on himself and out for the best for people. Whatever, is worth doing must be done well. As a freshman postulant in the monastery, he requested his novice master not to spare him from doing whatever was necessary for him to be a good novice. "Father; if this thing is to be begun, it must be begun well. Do not spare me. Please tell me my faults."(Father Gregory Wareing in a written unpublished testimony)  Father Michael had come to Mount Saint Bernard for the full novitiate training and never looked for the privilege. The same he did for his parishioners, spiritual sons and daughters. ‘Whatever is worth doing must be done with perfection’. He frowned at half measures – anyone who wants to be a Christian must become a good one – worthy of the name. “Akpo ife ife ga eme unu ife” (disregarding important matters, literally, not calling a thing a thing, not taking a matter seriously, will bring disastrous consequences upon you” (in E. Isichei, Entirely for God p. 40)
      Similarly “Venantius Ike and Jerome Chigbogu, both of Umuonyiba Ufuma quoted his fiery homily: ‘Ufesiodo, olili di aso unu na anata na atu m egwu, Aka bu aka na ayi oyi ga aba n’oku muo’ (Ufesiodo, I am frightened by the Holy Communion you receive. All who commit fornication will go to hell), (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.43).  In all these, he was expecting perfection from his parishioners. It might not be out of place if we now put ourselves in the place of Ufesiodo and react to his heart-touching remarks. From Bishop Godfery Okoye we have this testimony: “ Father Tansi was my Spiritual Director.  He did not believe in half measures.  The sanctity of life for a priest is paramount to him.  He stressed the characteristic virtues of a priest: charity, humility, obedience, zeal, self-denial, prayer, etc. These things he practised himself” (in a written unpublished testimony 1976)  His fame for discipline so spread around the Archdiocese that headmasters and teachers refused to go to his parish schools when they were asked to do so.  To pass his examinations one had to study very hard. Those who came for baptism and the first Holy Communion examinations were required to know the whole of the “yellow Catechism book.” His apostolate was rewarded with many conversions but, he made sure that the applicants, except in cases of dire emergency, were suitably instructed before receiving them into the church. All aspirants are solemnly warned that after baptism, they will be expected to attend regularly to their Catholic duties.  He knew most of the adult converts by name and he knew well who were fit enough for the Sacraments. At Umudioka in Dunukofia, he knew when any members of his flock were missing from liturgical services. 
“…I came in contact with him in 1949 at St. Joseph’s Catholic School Aguleri, where I was doing my Standard Six. He wanted all those in standard six to live in the boarding house where he made a strict regulation and supervised our studies and discipline”  (Francis Offite in written unpublished testimony May 1989).  Another Mrs Theresa Okolo, the wife of Vincent Okolo, the headmaster at one of his mission School at Dunukofia in 1940, today remembered well that: “…He was meek, humble, and very honest in dealing with people but very strict as regards spoilt and undisciplined persons. He loved children and offered them gifts but never spared punishing them when they did wrong”. (May. 1984). 
      The lasting life values for me in his quest for perfection in whatever we do are: a.) seeing where we are and how we are called to move forward, b.) recognizing that just because we have been baptized does not in fact make us real Christians. At no time should a Christian forget or neglect his responsibilities i.e. losing sight of the fact that Christians are defined first by their love and practice, and c) some Christians are well-intentioned but not always well-informed of their faith is real, and they try to put that faith into action, but misguided beliefs and untrustworthy influences sometimes take them off course, leading to tribulation and struggles – a case in many of our Christian public servants. While some Christian servants take to heart that the central message of Christianity is love in action, they participate in the rites and rituals of the Christian life – attending church, saying prayers, and participating in the sacraments, their focus on doing good is rightly placed, but a lack of concern for doctrine and theology makes them susceptible to error, and in particular to the stumbling block of believing that their good deeds make them superior to or more worthy than others.  Blessed Tansi insisted on well-balanced Christians, mature, pillars of the church, who marry faith and love in lives of service. Such Christians recognize their own shortcomings and exhibit genuine humility.
      Today some of us tend to focus on the grace of God, how God loves us and forgives us of our sins – good, but this truth can be overdone. Some even take this concept so far that they think and say that God will forgive us no matter what we do wrong because his grace “is sufficient.” And some still claim God has already forgiven us of all sins that we will commit in the future. They may explain that God’s grace is more significant than our sinning ways. They may say, “God will never leave me or forsake me” (Deut. 31.6) But that should be interpreted in context. Remember Blessed Tansi's saying: “aka bu aka na ayi oyi ga aba okumuo” (All who commit fornication will go to hell), “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15.14). God has reached out to us by offering his Son Jesus Christ as a sacrifice for our sins on the cross. By believing this with all our hearts, we encounter the grace of God and enter into a relationship with God and Christ. But we must be responsible in keeping ourselves in the love of God by doing, to some extent, Jesus’ commandments. That’s our human responsibility–to learn Jesus’ teachings and continue in them. What kind of Christian are you?
                                                           Sunday, August 27, 2023
                                                     Blessed Tansi is his Life and Ministry
      Blessed Tansi life and ministry are entirely for God. He is identified with that. “Who is this Nigerian priest said to have been not too tall in height, later in life rather frail in health, not one of the brightest students, but distinguished for his iron will, his firm trust in divine providence, his readiness to sacrifice his will in the service of God, his impressive acceptance to be misunderstood, a man never settling down to half-measures, dissimulation, pride or love of convenience, but always self-mortified and ready to put his whole heart and person into what he was doing. Who is this priest who seemed to have summarised his whole life in his advice to one of his parishioners: ‘If you are going to be a Christian at all, you might as well live entirely for God” (Arinze Cardinal in “Total Response” P.7) This, then, explains key aspects of his ministry and what he chose to prioritize. He lived and at the same time affirmed that the whole meaning and truth of existence can only be found in God and love. This was of critical importance to him since if God is the source, goal and meaning of all of created existence then the world can only truly be itself when it orients itself to this reality, to this infinite love. God is no add-on to human existence but is the world’s truest fulfilment. If we attempt to ignore God and live our lives as if God does not really matter, then we lose God and the world and ourselves.
      This is why Blessed Tansi spoke so often of the quality of the Christian life and detachment from the world. Over sixty years he was already warning people of the danger of putting God second in their lives or living as if God is irrelevant. This is as if he knows the modern world will be constructed on the proposition that God is completely irrelevance to how our secular society should operate, and that in the cultural sphere, this God should remain a purely private affair of subjective choice on a par with my preference for a banana over a fish or watermelon over oranges. For Blessed Tansi the greatest priority in his life and ministry is first to realize that our efforts at evangelization must begin and end with a desire to make God’s presence in the world tangible, visible and real. And that is the project of saint-making and sanctification. He was not interested in projects, programs and strategies other than ‘may your kingdom come’ in human lives. His goal and purpose were for more saints. “I know him [Tansi] for many years even as a school teacher, and even before he went to the seminary, as a person concerned foremost with other things; other persons, other world. He was self-effacing to a heroic degree” (in Isichie E, ‘Entirely for God’ p. 23) As a priest he manifested a great zeal for the salvation of his people. This was the time of primary evangelization in Igbo land. He saw his task essentially to double down on the very essence of what the Church is by nature. And that is to be the sacrament of Christ in and for his people. Christ is the only reason the Church exists, her pearl of great price, and thus the path of Christological holiness is her one and only purpose. “Michael Tansi cannot have remained unmoved by the urgency of preaching the kingdom of God and the crying need of the people to receive the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ” (in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response’ p.31) This zeal was very evident in the parishes assigned to his care, Dunukofia, Akpu and Aguleri in such a way that the success was evident to even a biased observer. His life and ministry speak much to this moment of our history that God is disappearing from our horizon, and with the dimming of the light that comes from God, we are losing our bearings, with increasingly evident destructive effects. Blessed Tansi did not limit his pastoral care to his catholic members only he was also highly interested in members of other religions, fallen Catholics and polygamists. “He went uninvited to pagan families and exchanged views with them... half Catholics, pagans and polygamists seemed to be his best friends because he was after the ‘lost sheep” (E. Isichei ‘Entirely for God’ p. 40)    
      Once again it is important to highlight the central importance of his apostolate to the youth - the question of youth education and involvement in the social and political affairs of the community. Blessed Tansi saw the youth as the future of both the local church and of the State. “Father Tansi was convinced of the importance of literary education for the formation of the whole human person and the preparation of citizen for full participation in the life, in the family, in the church, and in social, economic and political arenas” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 44) While the Nationalists were struggling for independent Nigeria he was busy preparing the youth spiritually and politically for the future. He was a strong supporter of independence, freedom and religious liberty these are fundamental human rights grounded in our dignity as creatures who are made in the image and likeness of God and also as creatures who are destined to love God in the freedom of faith. Truth is the central category of Blessed Tansi’s thinking. His many social and religious reforms were based on truth and freedom. For there can be no truth without freedom and no freedom without truth. Marriage must be a union of equals and girls the weaker sex must be free of all kinds of intimidation and molestation from males. This was necessary in a society where some traditional rulers have chosen empty freedom without truth as long as they can use it to exploit the poor masses. The truth he fought for is oriented to love and to equality leading to free socialization. 
      Blessed Tansi has left us and is now with the Lord. “This great follower of Christ has a message for us today, for the lay faithful, for clerics and for consecrated men and women” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response p.28).  His legacy remains with us as he is now in that realm that St. Paul described as something no eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind can even imagine — which was St. Paul’s way of saying that when we finally encounter the truth that is God, we will see that it is a love of unimaginable and infinite depths. And as I pray that soon he will reach the fullness of the altar I can only smile and imagine that he, too, is smiling and is saying to himself, “At last! I am seeing Truth and beholding Glory.” The glory of the Lamb who was slain and who now reigns as the Lord of history.

[Please remember to pray for the happy conclusion of his worthy Cause]
                                                         Sunday, August 20, 2023
                                             Blessed Tansi is faithful to his Spiritual children
      Blessed Iwene Tansi is a priest and pastor. He has many spiritual sons and daughters. He is like a father to them. The duty of a spiritual father is to help his sons and daughters answer the call of God and step into the greatness for which they are made. The vocation of a priest is above all the salvation history of one baptised person in his area of apostolate. Blessed Tansi was very faithful to his apostolate. Each one of us has his own part to play in the salvation of the world. Priests serve people; this is their purpose in life. Priests are ordained not for themselves, but for others. A spiritual father sows seeds of hope, encourages forgiveness and teaches how to sacrifice in a way that only a father can do. He answers doubts about the faith when it is shaken. Blessed Tansi for the rest of his priestly life always expressed the highest esteem for the gift of the priesthood. He loved and lived it out to the full. It was his youthful dreams. He pondered on his desire to become a priest but it was far from easy for him to achieve it. He is one of such spiritual fathers of our time. He is an icon of Christ, who has taken precisely from God’s style: closeness, compassion, and tenderness. “The zeal of Blessed Tansi in promoting vocations to the religious life, therefore, was in practice shown in his role as spiritual father to several religious sisters” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ P. 108) The administration of the sacraments and the celebration of the Eucharist are the bedrock of his ministry, but salvation history takes place in his encounter with individuals, hopefully bringing that person to an encounter with Christ. In the ministry often individual priests do not know the good they do, and others get some recognition.  For all his spiritual sons and daughters he recommended absolute participation in the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and confession for nobody could claim to be enthusiastically pursuing spiritual growth, but who made little effort to receive frequent Holy Communion, spent some time regularly in adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and went to confession. “He [Fr. Tansi] went about this apostolate in a way that we could call methodical. That is why he made a big effort to see that women get respect due to them in society... Many were the initiatives which Father Tansi took to promote women and the Christian family, to defend women’s rights, encourage their education, start associations and training centres for their human and spiritual formation and in general create conditions for their welfare” ( ibid. P.127)
      There is, however, one charism, which Blessed Tansi has, and which has not received the attention it merits and that gift is ‘spiritual direction’. Spiritual direction is a long-standing tradition in the Church and an excellent means for growing in prayer life and in sanctity. Seeing our lives from an outside, objective source is a great way to know ourselves better so as to better ourselves more quickly and efficiently.  Paul laments his personal tribulations and humiliations which he underwent for his proud Corinthian sons and daughters: “I am saying all this not just to make you ashamed but to bring you, my dearest children to your sense. You might have thousands of guardians in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good news…” (1 Corinth 4:14) And again disappointed with his Galatians sons as he recalled his sufferings and efforts to make them children of God: “…my children, I must go through the pain of giving birth to you all over again until Christ is formed in you …”. (Gal. 4:19). In another occasion to the Corinthians he spoke to them as if they were his own children ( cf. 2 Cor. 6:13), while to the Thessalonians Paul even assumed the role of a mother: “Like a mother feeding and looking after her own children we feel so devoted and protective towards you, and has come to love you so much…” (2: 8) 
      Among the Igbos of Nigeria, fatherhood has great importance in society. The concept of fatherhood is not limited to the father-son relationship. Anybody who in any way consistently helps another to make adventures and successes is said to be “fathering” him. It is the moral duty of elders to help the young to grow in the life and custom of their ancestors. The seriousness attached to this custom is demonstrated in the importance of the extended family relationship even today in Nigeria. An elder or wealthy person is obligated to help all his extended family members, who in turn regard him as their “father”. Blessed Tansi himself benefited from the generosity of his cousin for his boyhood education. As a priest, he devoted his life to others. He was a shepherd who had to look after the flock entrusted to him and took care of them. But his concern did not end with the flock, it extended to all mankind. On behalf of all who entrust their spiritual lives to his care and guidance, he was a father, exercising rights, duties and responsibilities similar to those of fathers in the temporal traditional order. Blessed Tansi was conscious of having this particular charism, writing to his spiritual son, Fr. Godfry Okoye (later Bishop) he said:  “…It is not for want of words or language that the church uses the word “Father”, mother”, “brother” and “sister” for people who have dedicated their lives to the service of God in his creatures ― the church means that a Reverend Father should be real Father to every creature in his parish.” He was certainly aware of the great importance of this Fatherhood. His love was directed above all to the spiritual interest of his children, the ultimate salvation of their souls. In his letter of condolence on hearing the death of Fr. Tansi one of his spiritual sons said: “…Fr. Tansi’s death is a material loss but a spiritual gain. We have lost a Father and a friend but we have gained a saintly advocate who is very aware of our needs”  
      Summarizing her relationship and experience with Fr. Tansi, a spiritual daughter Mrs Veronica Umegakwe said: “...his life too became for me a yardstick, with which I measure my closeness to God” (Positio. Onitsha Informative Tribunal interview. Mrs Veronica Umegakwe presently is one of the most active living daughters of Fr. Tansi) The mother of a family at Umunachi Mrs Theresa Nzeakor who enjoyed the direction of Fr. Tansi later said: “… looking back now 44 years of my wedding, I am glad to say that the wedding brought a lot of blessing to my family. He remained very close to my family directing and shaping our future…” (Positio. Onitsha informative investigation 1988)  In her own experience, Mrs Theresa Okolo saw him as a Father who not only looked after their spiritual life but who also to an extent was their physical doctor, treating them whenever they were sick, preaching and practising general cleanliness and good discipline.  To one of his spiritual daughters, Fr. Tansi wrote:  “…I have the confidence you will be as good as your promise, it pays to be good. But it requires effort and often costs pain. Sometimes one is ridiculed because one is making an effort to be good. But virtue, people say, is its own reward. Goodness is an ornament. A good girl is a treasure.” (Tansi manuscript – unpublished letters) On another occasion writing to a newly professed spiritual daughter, he said: “…I am so happy to see you so nobly minded, so closely united to God by the vows of religious consecration. All that happened in your profession is but a faint shadow of what the future will bring. Cloudy days must necessarily come... But when they do come to the thought that they are allowed by the design of a loving Father and a dear spouse should be a great support.”(ibid


      Blessed Tansi saw this mission as indispensable for the local Church, for his suffering people and for the world, a mission which called him for complete fidelity to Christ and constant union with him.  He knew that there was no other way than to abide in his love which, entails constantly striving for holiness and growing ever closer to Jesus, who counted on him, his minister, to spread and to build up his Kingdom and to radiate his love and his truth.  God used his willingness and disposition to touch many lives in some particular way, a priest who was there for his people during illness, personal problems or family crises. A priest, whose teaching and personal witness inspired people to greater faith and continued conversion, a priest, who had become peoples’ spiritual director, confessor and personal friend. A priest, who was renowned throughout Nigeria as a compassionate and insightful confessor, and who made himself available for confession as long as there was a need. There was nothing about people and their needs that did not get Blessed Tansi's pastoral attention. Girls were not only taught to read and write, sew, cook a tasty meal, conduct a household, to raise the children marriage would someday bring to their homes, but they were also helped to find husbands and to prepare for their weddings. Indigent young men were helped financially to pay the “bride price” for their prospective wives.
      Since sixty years and more Fr. Tansi had gone to his reward, yet his spiritual children remain dotted all over the globe with something of his own life and spirit. While some received through knowing him the vocation to the priesthood, and the religious life, others the grace of deeper prayer life, of greater love for God and neighbour, of serious devotion to duty, and again others the grace and willingness to unite a little more to the sufferings of the Lord, or to be more penitent, detached and mortified in our world engrossed in materialism and selfishness, where daily one noticed the erosion and debasement of true human values and where immorality and vice become an accepted way of life for so many. In his characteristic gentleness, he emphasized the importance of spiritual direction. He did not want his sons and daughter to copy him but to imitate Christ.  He put up Christ as the model for all his sons and daughters. His role as a spiritual director was not to tell his sons what to do, as a boss or a military drill sergeant did. Rather, he helped his sons to discover and to accept what God was doing in their lives and what God was asking them to do. It was an ongoing conversation between his son, himself, and the Holy Spirit about how his spiritual son could know, love, and follow Christ more fully. He further recommended spiritual direction for everybody not just for seminarians and religious. You too need human companionship in your true spiritual journey.  

[Please pray sometimes for a happy conclusion of this worthy cause and report to the postulation any favour received through the intercession of Blessed Tansi]
                                                               Sunday, August 13, 2023
                                             Blessed Tansi's life and ministry centred on God
      One of the many lasting attributes of the Catholic Church world over is its ability to attract to the state of evangelical perfection men and women drawn from every known historical place and culture, into its vast aura of holiness. These men and women are honoured, remembered, and indeed even prayed to, not because of where they lived nor even for what they accomplished, but for that ever-attractive and inspiring state of holiness that they were able to achieve during their earthly lifetimes. What inspires us most about these holy men and women is their shared singular pursuit of holiness and godly things while at the same time, their love and compassion for their fellow men and women.  Reflecting on the God-centred life and ministry of Blessed Iwene Tansi, how does one begin to assess his achievement as a teacher, priest, and monk? His public career spanned over 40 years. “What could be said about him? He had lived simply and edifyingly ― but was there any more to say? Was he so very different from the rest of us?... Fr. Cyprian began as a missionary. He was among the first Nigerians to be ordained, and he led his people by word and example. There is no saying what his future would have been had he remained in his native country. But he felt the call to follow Christ in another way. He too was urged by the love of God and of his fellow men and women. He too was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord. He wanted to bring the monastic and contemplative life to Nigeria ― and since no one seemed ready to go; he himself asked to go to a monastery so that in due time he could bring that way of life back to his homeland. As we know, things did not turn out like that. God’s ways are strange. Fr. Cyprian was not to do this personally, for he died before his longing could be carried out” (Abbot Moakler sermon Mt. Saint Bernard abbey Sept 18, 1986). 
      One could write volumes on his legacy and still barely scratch the surface of his deep significance for the local Church. But is it possible to find an adequate thread that connects all of the various aspects of his life together into a single, coherent trajectory? Suppose we were to attempt such a construction. In that case, I think it is safe to say that through all of the various stages of his life the thing that most animated him, the one thing that guided him throughout his life, was his faith in the Son of God as the actual manifestation of the face of God — and, as such, the most important metric for truth. One of his most consistent theological and life-guiding principles flows out of this faith, which is his insistence on ‘God is everything’. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria … is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian… Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church.” (St. PP.JP 11 Sermon @ Oba-Nigeria 1998) 
      In Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi we meet one who came from being a devout devotee of the African Traditional religion to a Catholic Christian to a Catholic priest, to a Cistercian monk, to the honours of the alter and perhaps God willing soon to the fullness of the honours of the altar - sainthood.  His early search for God and truth drew him increasingly towards the missionaries, but there were many hurdles on his way. He passed through several stages on his journey, each rooted in his humble acceptance of the will of God and truth. His faith journey was characterized fundamentally by openness to truth, conversion, and missionary approach.  He will ever be remembered as one of the faithful servants of the church in our days that lived out the call and mind of the church in his life. The former bishop of Umuahia, the late Bishop Anthony Nwedo has this to say: “... it may be a high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm, candour, and sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha 1986)
      Blessed Iwene Tansi as a professional Teacher and Headmaster continued to reveal not merely his sharp and keen abilities as an educator, but of equal importance to us, his preferential love of God and of Christian values. So much did he integrate academics with religious knowledge and practice.  In those days, the teacher also served the Christian community in the role of Catechist. It was in this respect that Michael, the headmaster was often accused of running the school in the manner of a seminary, prayer, discipline, hard work, and honesty. Professor Elizabeth Isichei summarizes well the exceptional character of Michael Christian layman and educator:  “In some ways, he was so much like the other schoolmasters of his place and time, in his zeal, his strictness, his concern for details. But there the resemblance ends. Other schoolmasters did not go barefoot during Lent, or cook soup for old ladies or, for that matter, for themselves”.( Elizabeth Isichei, ‘Entirely for God’ P. 23) Blessed Tansi could have also achieved “blessedness”, the eternal reward of all Christ’s faithful simply by becoming a heroically virtuous and dedicated lay educator. So why did he give all this up in order to become a priest? Because, like all holy people, he was a man growing in interior detachment from all things and people and moving steadily toward a deeper, heartfelt, and ultimately mysterious union with the Absolute good. The same interior force or holy desire which moved Jesus to forever leave Nazareth at the age of thirty, St Anthony Abbot to give away his father’s significant inheritance, the first martyrs to prefer death over apostasy, St. Patrick to abandon the patrician comfort of continental Europe for the wilds of pagan and barbaric Ireland, Mother Teresa of Calcutta to seek transfer from her Religious Congregation for total service and solidarity with the poorest of the poor. It was the same interior force, the fruit of spiritual sensitivity to the interior motions of the Spirit, that inspired Blessed Tansi towards the next stage of his ever more perfected union with God which he then understood as priestly, sacramental, and pastoral service to his brothers and sisters. Nothing more and nothing less. 
      With his priestly ordination at the hands of Bishop Charles Heerey on December 19, 1937, the young priest began his priestly ministry at Uruagu Nnewi with a zeal for souls that characterized his whole ministry in the Onitsha Archdiocese for the next thirteen years: unremitting toil for souls in a mission which was expanding at a phenomenal rate. Some measure of a man is to be found in what God accomplished here through him. - brought the massive expansion of the church, building new outstations, reconciling and sanctifying marriages, and bringing relief and help to the poor, sick, needy, and abandoned. His message is universal because it is basically the message of the Gospel applied to concrete situations in the world of today. For him, human life on earth has a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. His words and advice also have such broad appeal because they touch on a fundamental thirst that is in every human heart, and that is the thirst and search for love, goodness, and truth. He knew that this thirst could find its fulfillment only in God living among and identifying with the poor, the sick, and the dejected of society. A call for the monastery came in 1950. But monastery when the Archdiocese had very few priests and when he was at the very summit of his popularity and effectiveness as a diocesan priest. He heard once again, an unmistakable calling to a deeper union with Christ the High Parish. It was a calling to contemplative union with Christ which for him could best be experienced within the confines of a monastic enclosure. The first calling was his Christian conversion and baptism, the second was to education, the third to Catholic Priesthood, and the fourth to the monastic life. When he left Nigeria for Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in July 1950, he completely disappeared as far as his own people were concerned. He had gone from light into darkness, from a life in the sight of all to a life hidden from the world. From the world of authority and command to a world of powerless and inferior, from a life of master to the life of last in the community. For him, it was God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown where God was waiting for him. It was leaving his country and his family like Abraham and so many others. It was to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. His was like all true calls from God, a venture of faith and love. The cost to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. He found peace and God in the darkness. His spirit was contemplative and missionary, missionary because contemplative. He knew that personal union with God, prayer, and sacrifice, however, hidden, were fruitful for the whole Church and therefore missionary. He died in the abbey of his first profession on January 20, 1964. The church recognized the humble way he lived his vocation on March 22, 1998.
                                                              Sunday, August 6, 2023


                                         Blessed Tansi Search for Goodness: A challenge for us
      Blessed Tansi lived entirely for God - another way of saying that Blessed Tansi lived entirely for goodness. Once, Jesus was called good by someone seeking to flattery him. Not only did Jesus use the situation as an opportunity to denounce the use of such flattery, but he also used it to indicate to everyone that only God is unconditionally good: “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”  And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone”. (Lk. 18:18-19). God alone is simply good without conditions but everyone else, if they are called good, will be called good because of the way they open themselves up to and participate in the good which lies beyond themselves; for God, that good lies within the divine nature itself and comes from it instead of being something God participates in from some external source. God is good. God is the source and foundation of every goodness. 
      This is one of the lessons which we can learn from Blessed Tansi who wanted what is good for himself and had to seek God. And when he found God did what it took to unite himself with the divine nature, for that is how he was able to participate in the good for himself. Thanks to grace, thanks to his union with God, insofar as he was united with God, he was good. This goodness shows forth in his actions and challenges answering God’s call as a teacher, a student-seminarian, a priest, and finally a religious monk. At every stage in these vocations, it was goodness that was his main concern. In each of the various vocations, he saw goodness and went after it. Similarly in every one of our various vocations goodness is possible and we should make goodness the main purpose of that vocation. If we do exactly this we will be living in love and our lives will be entirely for God. Indeed, as a teacher, civil servant, married life, politician, market man, and woman, and what have you all things are made to be good, that is, made to participate in the goodness of God. When we talk about them being good by nature, we only do so conventionally, understanding that God’s grace established that nature and gave it its goodness. If someone or something should try to be good by themselves, that is, apart from God, they will find that goodness will depart from them because they have departed from God and God’s grace. Thus, we must remember, all goodness always comes from God, and our greatest good comes from union with God. Grace allows us to be deified, and so grace allows us to become good. Grace, however, is not something that is forced upon us; it is not something which will transform us against our will. We must cooperate with it. We must work out our salvation with fear and trembling, struggling throughout our life to follow the commandments of love.  Such struggle is impossible without grace, but without that struggle, grace will only serve as a potential in our life. Grace requires our cooperation to take full effect. Our sinful habits and desires impede the work of grace so long as we attach ourselves to them instead of dying to the self and letting grace come in and transform us, making us be what God expects us to be, that is, holy as God is holy (Cf. Lv. 19:2). With grace, we will be able to be perfectly analogous to the way the Father is perfect (cf. Matt. 5:48). 
      The law is the law of love; the commandments which come out of the law of love serve to show us the way to embrace love and to become perfect. In and of themselves, each commandment, each particular law, does not make us holy, but if we embrace all of them through grace if we engage them as they are meant to be engaged, as commandments of love and not just as legalistic expectations, then they can work to our purification and illumination. “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  (Lk. 18:20-22) Blessed Tansi sold and detached himself from every wealth for the sake of love. Only by giving up all that we have, only by dying to the self, could we become perfect and have all things in and through union with God. Wealth as every other God’s gift is meant for service of love. But when we get attached to wealth, and so are slaves to it instead of being a true servant of God. If we want to be perfect, if we want all the riches found in union with God, we would have to give all that we have, including our very self, so that then there would be nothing left to stand in the way between us and God. Only then, we can and will have found ourselves to be united with God, and in that unity, we will have found perfection; we will have become a true spiritual master. So long as we are attached to earthly wealth, we will never find ourselves satisfied. 
      God’s wealth is found in those who are lowly and despised because such people have learned not to trust in material wealth or people but in God alone. God’s riches are made known when his mercy is shown towards those who are despised and lowly among men, who put their hope not in their own riches or strength, but in the Lord. Blessed Tansi in his ministry had not much but the small he received from the parishioners when he visited any outstation he gave to those who needed them most – the poor. “When he visited any outstation, people gave him eggs, chickens, fruits of various kinds and yams, even when they were themselves poor. Father Tansi distributed most of such gifts to the needy” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p. 55) In this way Blessed Tansi truly put into practice the perfection and holiness intended by the challenges of love.  He was willing to share all that he had, his goodness, with those who needed his help. Similarly, we are all called to become good, not by nature, but by grace. We, likewise, are given the same call as all true followers of Christ. We look to Jesus and call him good and ask for grace to be good especially when we struggle against our worst habits and sins, all those things which turn us away from the path of love, so we can be open to grace.  Are you willing to live entirely for God in your different vocations and callings including your very selves, in order to find perfection


 [ Please report to the POSTULATION  favours received or known to have been received by someone. This helps to promote the Cause.] 

                                                                Sunday, July 30, 2023
                                                Like Blessed Tansi we too can receive Grace
      “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest” (John Paul 11 in sermon beatification Nigeria 1998) When a Christian is filled with grace, he must engage it, cooperate with it, live it out by embracing the dictates of Christ - the dictates of love as found in his vocation. That is, he lives his life in such a way as to show himself worthy of the calling which he has been given: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph.4:1-2)  Blessed Tansi with his life lived entirely for God is calling his fellow Nigerians to receive God’s grace and to live a life worthy of their Christian calling. He is calling his fellow Nigerians to wake up and face the challenges of their Christian calling as he did, “Father Michael Tansi cannot have remained unmoved by the urgency of preaching the kingdom of God and the crying need of the people to receive the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ” (Arinze Cardinal in ’Total Response’ P.31) Even as a seminarian, he was already full of zeal for the salvation of his people. Monsignor Peter Meze Idigo writes: “With the exception of the administration of the sacraments Michael did the work of a priest without answering the name. He was a catechist with a difference. He moved from town to town, village to village, and house to house in his effort to infuse the Gospel truth into the minds of the people ...his journey was done on foot or push bike” (‘Our memoirs of Fr. Michael Tansi’ P.53) an indifferent observer cannot close his eyes to his zeal for goodness and perfection Father Clement Ulogu testifies this “I knew him [Tansi] for many years even as a school teacher, and even before we went to the seminary, as a person concerned foremost with ‘others’: other persons, another world. He was self-effacing to a heroic degree” (in E. Isichie, ‘Entirely for God’ p. 23) As a priest he “was prominent for his availability to his flock. He was there where he was needed to hear confessions, to celebrate Mass for the people, to visit the sick even by night, to attend to the school teachers and the boarding house boys, and to pray for the people confided to him” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ p.33)
      Blessed Tansi was with humility answering his call and looking to others with love, and through that love, sought peace and unity with all. Whatever your vocation may be the guiding light to it is LOVE, the success shall be determined by how much you have exercised the demands of love. This will not always be an easy task. Blessed Tansi has not been given an easy calling. He was tempted as all of us are tempted, judged by others who say he was not worthy of grace.  God, who is love, is the only one who has determined to offer grace to everyone. God calls us all together to be one even as God is one. We are to embrace each other with love, to bear with each other, to be patient with each other, realizing that we are all working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Our focus, our knowledge, and our abilities will often is different from others. We need them even as they need us. We cannot do all things by ourselves. Being judgmental, however, will make it harder for all of us, for if we follow through with such an attitude, we will cast others needlessly aside. This is why we must not start looking to others to determine who we think is or is not worthy of grace. We should know that we are not worthy, and yet we are still offered it. We should not be surprised when others are offered it as well. It is never up to us to determine the worthiness of others to receive the gifts of Christ. It is not up to us to judge in this fashion. Certainly, we are to make prudential decisions in the world, and that means, we must judge and reject various activities, such as those which would harm the common good, but even when we do this, we must realize that everyone is called to grace, everyone is called to be in the mystical body of Christ. We must not stand in the way of those who would come to receive grace. 
      Blessed Tansi reminds us that when we turn away from the path of love, we create excuses to justify our misbehaviour. We look for reasons to put our actions right. We tend to judge others behaviour. But no matter what basis we choose, we choose wrong.  we become legalistic, acting as if the partial truth we embrace is universal instead of merely a part of a greater whole. God, not us, knows the fullness of every situation and always offers mercy and grace. Certainly, this does not mean we cannot and should not ignore wrongdoing, but we must engage it with love and grace, not with a judgmental spirit. Jesus, after all, used the story of the Good Samaritan to point out how those who can be and often are judged as vile by some particular basis prove themselves to be greater than those who would judge them. (cf. Lk. 10:3-37) We are called to love and to be loved. We are called to love, and with that love, cast aside all self-attachment because such attachment leaves no room for grace. When we become filled with grace, we can and will share that grace with others as we are all sharing in the grace and legacy of Blessed Tansi when we see him bearing the burdens of others, when we see him helping out the poor and needy, even if they are not Christian. We can and should see and admire how God is at work with him. Before his legacy, we should realize that we are not doing enough. God offers grace to all. That grace is often secretly at work. Who are we to try to squash it by our open doubt or refusal?

​                                                               Sunday, July 23, 2023
                                             Blessed Tansi like the Saints Show Us the Way
      The Blessed Tansi is a true Nigerian who lived in this land before us. He seems to have been made and created to show his fellow Nigerians how to live a true Nigerian. We honour and respect him for his achievements and dedication to serving this great country. He lived his life with holiness, embracing grace so that through that grace, he was able to become glorified in Christ. As we honour him we are to call to our mind the kind of life he lived, his trials and his successes, the grace he received, so that we can follow his example and become like him in living our own lives. “Fr. Tansi's life of abnegation was so evident to people that when people heard he was going to the monastery they were not surprised” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response’ P. 193). We are all called to live good lives in whatever vocation we find ourselves-holiness. Of course, we are not called to follow Blessed Tansi to the seminary, priesthood or monastery but to follow him to love our God and our neighbour in dedicated and selfless service. “An unmistakable general impression which Father Michael Iwene Tansi made on a person who came close to him was that here was a priest who had reached a remarkable level of self-control” (ibid. P.193) “Anybody who lived with him easily noticed this, he used to mortify himself very much, he ate very little, worked very hard, and denied himself every bodily comfort, he would not impose on another this way of life.” (P. Meze in Our Memoirs of Father Michael Tansi, P. 73). We can and should also learn from his mistakes. We should learn that we, like him, can err, but we, like him can also gain forgiveness, and so find that grace is not cut off from us just because of something foolish we say or do. We are to always look for and pursue holiness – not, of course, the sham holiness of legalism or manipulation, but the holiness of love with Christ-like compassion. For Christ showed us is the path to sanctity - is the path of love. And when we love, we will share the graces we have with each other. The more we love, the more we will share, and the more we will find ourselves growing in holiness, becoming more and more like Blessed Tansi, until, at last, grace transfigures us and we are saints as well. “It is true that Fr. Tansi attracted many young people to the priesthood or the religious life. This was mainly by the power of his way of life and not just by what he said to them. An example convinces more than words. Young people are not allergic to sacrifice. But they need to see people who are led by healthy and robust principles. Fr. Tansi struck people, not excluding the young, by his life of union with God, his intense prayer life and his heroic devotion to pastoral duties”( Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response’ P. 100)
      Love is the key to holiness.  Love shows us that we need each other and that we are in this world together. What we do, good or bad, affects each other. We should, therefore, seek what is best for all. The more we love, the more we will want to do all we can to make sure no one is hurt by us. We will do all we can to make their lives better. “... He demanded high standards of performance from teachers, seminarians and the betrothed. He however did not impose on others his frequent fasts and few hours of sleep.” (ibid p.101) We should help and support each other, realising and reinforcing the love which connects us and makes us one. Even though Blessed Tansi was strict but was admired by all because, in the long run, it did them good. “And all the regulation of that time makes our faith to be strong in God till now” (Dorothy Nwosah quoted in Arinze Cardinal ‘total response’ P. 103)
      If we reflect upon and follow the dictates of love as lived in the life of Blessed Tansi, we will cast aside all selfishness that has ruined families, groups, towns, and our country as well. We will seek to give ourselves over to others. We will not look to be first, to be honoured above all others, to have power before all; instead, we will seek to serve, and in this way, we will appear to be among the least in the world. And yet that will bring us about holiness and true greatness, revealing the meaning of Jesus when he said: “But many that are first will be last and the last first” (Matt. 19:30).
      This is what Blessed Tansi did throughout his entire life. “Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another... Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself. He was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families” (John Paul 11 in his sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998). Saints live their own lives, which is their vocation without making noise but their life influences others. Blessed Tansi did not think much of himself. He loved others. “What could be said about him [Tansi]? He had lived simply and edifyingly ― but was there any more to say? Was he so very different from the rest of us?” (Abbot Moakler sermon Mt. St. Bernard Sept. 18, 1986)  Blessed Tansi didn’t seek great honour and glory in front of others. He loved and was loved; he helped build others up and in so doing, through the bonds he formed with others, he was also lifted up. As a qualified and trained headmaster in the early Nigerian colonial era he had great potential for greatness but he freely gave it up to become a priest so that being made great among the first of his people he willingly became one of the last. But this only made him great in the kingdom of God.
      It is important for the new generation of Nigerians to see how Blessed Tansi acted in and out of love, not holding to such greatness as something to separate him from the rest of his people; this is why today he continues to look to Nigeria in love, continuing to act in that love, in the humility of that love, working for the good of his beloved country even as he experiences and participates in the kingdom of God. He continues to be there for us, surrounding us, helping us even now, so that he continues to be the first who is last, and the last that is first. Blessed Tansi was glorified for love, and he continues in glory and shows himself to continue to be worthy of honour and praise because of how love continues to manifest in and by them in his actions. He continues to be transformed by God’s grace, to become more and more loving, which is the result of his continued deification. He continues to embrace the work of love, and like God, continues to surround us, helping us even as he encourages us to become just like him. He shows us what it is we should be pursuing; we should not seek earthly glory, but the kingdom of God. We should desire to reign in eternity with love. He shows us how to do so; we must follow Jesus and his dictates of love.
      Love should draw us into Jesus, to follow after him. If anyone should get in our way of that love, if anyone should demand that we should act contrary to the dictates of love, we should not do as they say; we should follow Jesus. We should put Jesus and the way of love above everyone and everything else. And since it is the way of love, we should show no malice to anyone, especially those who would try to take us away from the path of love. We are called to love everyone because in everyone there will be some good, and that good is something which God loves. But we must make sure we engage such love properly, and not allow people to abuse it and lead us astray. Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb. 12:1-2).


                                                                 Sunday, July 16, 2023
                                                Blessed Tansi –‘Don’t Manipulate Holiness’.
      ‘If you want to become Christian, you might as well be a good one [Tansi] Blessed Tansi used to tell his parish converts that the only way to be a Christian is to become a good one. Holiness, true holiness, is developed through acts of love, love which is given to God, of course, but also love which is given to and shown to our neighbour. Blessed Tansi is a Christian who devoted his entire life in very concrete ways to the service of God and his neighbour.  Since performance piety is not based upon love, but rather on the desire to receive accolades for what we do, even if it might contain some good, it does not lead us to the perfection of love expected from Christians. As if living a mortified and penitential zealous pastor in the Archdiocese of Onitsha is not enough Blessed Tansi opted for the monastic life where “he did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their [his people] continuing sanctification”.( John Paul 11, Sermon Beatification  Nigeria 1998)  If all we can do at a particular time is give thoughts and prayers, and we do so out of love, that is one thing; but when we focus on thoughts and prayers so that we think we need to do nothing else, we fall into the error of quietism. We are expected to help others, to do our part cooperating with grace, not just in our own lives, but in the world around us. If we ignore that in need, our love grows cold, and so we will not be able to attain true, lasting holiness.
      In our practical world, all that matters is love. We are to love. Love will have us desire to protect others, not only preserving their lives but the dignity of their lives as well. If we find ourselves excusing ourselves, as Cain did, from our duty to our neighbour, if we claim we are not our brother’s keeper, we have failed to understand what Blessed Tansi is saying to us - it is to be a Christian. “By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (Jn. 13:35 RSV). It is better to be focused on those in need and help them than it is to be focused on our own piety, our own acts of worship, indeed, our own personal fight against various carnal vices if that fight ends up having us disregarding our neighbour. The more we care for those in need, the more we love our neighbour as we should, the more our love will bring us to true holiness and the more holiness will attract others to us. “Cyprian still has work to do for Nigeria and for the whole of Africa. Throughout his thirteen years at Mount Saint Bernard letters came from Nigeria, letters full of news and problems, full of trust in a revered leader” (Fr. Gregory Wareing osco, in Sorrow shall not kill Me P. 21) It is possible to fight against various vices in the wrong spirit, that is, without love, and so find ourselves gaining nothing, as Paul warned us (cf. 1 Cor. 13:1-3). “One of the ways in which the love of God and neighbour shows itself is in apostolic zeal. Zeal is love which shows itself in action”(Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response’ P.29)  While it is good to be concerned about our personal spiritual development, we must not develop ourselves at the expense of common good or those in need. “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me” (Mt. 25: 34-35) This is love in action – this is holiness – this is permit card for entry into heave. “Fr. Tansi lived this gospel without discount... when he [Tansi] visited an outstation people give him eggs, chicken, fruits of various kinds and yams, even when they were themselves poor. Father Tansi distributed most of such gifts to the needy” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response P.55). God is happy and rewards us when we take care of those people in distress. It is a far greater vocation, a far greater calling, to take care of others than it is to merely take care of ourselves. The best ascetics are those who know their work, their labour, is not just for themselves, but for all. They always make room for others, even if the others are those who might not seem to fit in well with them. 
      When we help others, when we do acts of charity, we should do so out of love, and not out of the spirit of proselytism. True love for others means that no matter what they make of themselves and their lives, indeed, no matter what they believe, we will be concerned for them and their well-being. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Good Samaritan tends to the man’s wounds, as blessed Tansi tends to the wounds of his people, both physical and spiritual. Spiritually, by the long hours in the sacraments of the Church which offers healing to those wounded by sin.  Christians, as good neighbours and their brothers, must assist their neighbours who are robbed, beaten, and left for dead by sin. If we pass those injured by sin and leave them in such a state, we cannot say that we acted in mercy and proved ourselves good neighbours. We might believe that our way of life, and our faith ultimately would be best, but we also recognize and respect religious liberty and the freedom everyone should have to decide for themselves their own religious faith and belief. “Father Tansi respected the poor. He did not blame them for their situation. Rather he did what he could to help them improve on their life situation. He knew how difficult and humiliating it was for people in his culture to go begging. So he went out of his way to find them and see what he could do” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘total response P. 59). True holiness, a holiness which emerges out of love, will be naturally attractive. The pretence of holiness, with all the false piety and intent to make of ourselves, appear so great that others will stand in wonder and bow down and do as we wish, always leads nowhere. Whatever accolades one gets will not last. Ultimately, it is love, and love alone, which will never be lost.
      Therefore, if we want to be holy, we must first embrace the way of the cross, that is, die to the self, not in nihilistic self-denial, but in and through self-giving love, loving others without placing any expectations on them. The more we do so, the more we will develop that love in ourselves and become holy for we will become more and more like God. And the more we treat others out of love, the more they will respond to it in kind. For love attracts love in return, not out of expectation, certainly not out of demand, but out of the very bounty of joy which is found in it. We are to be holy like God is holy and God is holy through love. Love connects us to God, to grace, and to each other. Love motivates us to make sure we do not become slothful in the sight of those in need. All our spiritual disciplines developed to help us attain virtue and overcome vice must be engaged with this understanding. All our fasting, all our prayers, all our struggles against temptation do us no good if we subvert the expectations of love, for it is with and through such love we find our Christian vocation: “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous” (1 Jn. 3:11-12). Like the Good Samaritan, we must acknowledge the existence of wrongdoing among us and those injured by it. A Christian sees human injury and responds with compassion. 
      [Please join us to pray often for the happy conclusion of the final stage of Blessed Tansi to SAINTHOOD and report any favour received to the Postulation.]
​                                                                 Sunday, July 9, 2023
                                          Blessed Tansi Spiritual fatherhood and self-sacrifice
      "Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as head of the Church is made visible in the midst of the community of believers. In the beautiful expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop is typos tou Patros: he is like the living image of God the Father." (CCC 1549) By virtue of his priestly ordination Blessed Tansi was included as a member of Holy Orders. As the Catechism describes above, he is called to a unique call of spiritual fatherhood and to be a reflection of God the Father to his people. When a priest is ordained, a special cloth is used to wipe the excess oil from his hands. That anointing is part of his consecration to his sacred duties and an extremely moving part of the Rite of Ordination. Following an old tradition, that cloth used to wipe his hands (called a “maniturgium”) is presented to the mother of the priest and according to old pious accounts, the mother is to be buried with it when she dies, she can present it to St. Peter at heaven’s gate, where she will be swiftly admitted for having given her son to the Church.
       The period Blessed Tansi was ordained priest - December 19, 1937, was the most painful for the local church for want of missionaries. There was a rapid increase in the number of Catholics without a corresponding increase in the number of priests. Blessed Tansi, “an excellent young man, with a deep understanding of Christianity, of good judgment and delicate conscience, coming from conditions of gross paganism and ending as a Cistercian monk, ... an outstanding example of supernatural grace” (Rector Denis Kennedy C.S.Sp. in P.Meze, memoirs of Michael Tansi p. 58) joined the Holy Ghost Fathers’ missionary apostolate with “undiluted pastoral zeal at Nnewi with its many outstations” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ P. 20). Blessed Tansi from his seminary formation seemed to have learned that if there is no self-sacrifice, there is not really priesthood. From the beginning of his priestly apostolate, he put this into practice. “Early next day, taking only the bare necessities the two priests set out to the nearest outstation. News of their coming preceded them. They found eight hundred men, women, and children lined up waiting to go to confession. Settling down quickly to hear them they worked right through the day and far into the night with brief breaks for light refreshment. Fr. Tansi never spared himself in the confessional.   He had patience with all and never hurried anyone. During their masses the next morning the same long lines of people came to receive Holy Communion.   The two missionaries packed after breakfast and set off for the next station.   This was to be the pattern of Fr. Tansi's work in the Onitsha Diocese for the next thirteen years unremitting toil for souls in a mission that was expanding at a phenomenal rate. It was so dangerous to travel at night that there was a rule in the diocese that no priest was bound to answer a sick call after dark.  Fr. John tried to persuade his curate to follow this rule but Fr. Michael's conscience would not allow him to wait till daylight.  All night calls were answered immediately” ( Fr. Gregory Wareing ocso in ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ P. 7).
      Blessed Tansi felt most fatherly as a priest while celebrating Mass and in the confessional. In the confessional he directs and leads souls, encouraging and challenging them like a father did to his children. “When Michael became a priest he was prominent for his availability to his flock. He was there where he was needed to hear confessions, to celebrate mass for the people, to visit the sick even by night, to attend to the school teachers and the boarding house boys, and to pray for the people confided to him” (Arinze Cardinal in ‘Total Response’ P.33) He was indeed a shepherd to his numerous flock, everyone received his attention when needed. “Tansi kept faithful night watch over his flock. To prayer, he added mortifications of many kinds. When the Blessed Sacrament was exposed night and day for the devotion of the Forty Hours Father Tansi was in and out of the church throughout the night in case some hostile group should commit an act of sacrilege.   The next morning would see him at his prie-dieu, as usual, from five to six a.m. before celebrating mass.  This seems like total self-giving” (Fr. Gregory Wareing in ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ P. 9).  
      To all his parishioners, the young people, in particular, Blessed Tansi was very affable and friendly, being their priest, being their spiritual father, means helping and holding them to account and calling them to more. He was very eager to bring all to holiness. “On Sundays, he would often conduct a service at an outstation. Knowing his people well; their good qualities and their faults, his instructions went home. When explaining the catechism his illustrations were clear and understood by all. His sayings were remembered” (ibid .p.5)
      For all his priestly efforts to be effective, it means sacrificing for them. It means undertaking fasts and doing penance. It means being an example of prayer, particularly by loving the liturgy and working to organize reverent, noble Masses. And it also means finding plungers, emptying buckets set out to catch leaks, opening the church and the hall at inconvenient hours, heading to the sick calls in the middle of the night when there was obvious danger abroad and otherwise dying to oneself. Again and again and again. This was the heart of his fatherhood: the laying down of his own life. He was detached and forgoes what he wanted, knowing the course that he had to pursue for those entrusted to his care. 
      As a real spiritual father to his flock he was brave and self-sacrificing for it takes courage to swim upstream. It demands fortitude to look past the threats that may come and lead forward. A man must be brave to pursue, at a great personal cost, what is right. Like Blessed Tansi all our priests today have responded to God’s call of selfless service and ministration of the Sacraments of the Church. As such, our priests share in the priesthood of Christ. In the exercise of the sacraments, priests are in persona Christi, bringing to time and space the mysteries that are eternal and immeasurable. The summit of those mysteries, of course, is the Eucharist, where Christ is made present by those ordained to stand in his place. The local church thanks Blessed Tansi for the example he set for us, always tempering justice with mercy, in a unique way leaving us a sample and virtue of being a faithful spiritual father upright and an extraordinary example of what it means to be a man of integrity.
      ( please remember to pray sometimes for this Cause and to report favours received to the postulation..) 

                                                                  Sunday, July 2, 2023
                                                        Recognition of Holiness of the Saints
      Holiness radiates - the more we find it, the more we encounter it, and the more it positively affects us if we let it. This is why our contact with the saints is important. Through them we have a mediation of God’s grace to us, allowing us to slowly become influenced by it and become better through it. But this is true only if we do not resist it.
      “No one after lighting a lamp covers it with a vessel, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a stand, that those who enter may see the light” (Lk. 8:16). The stand might be dirty, the stand might have blemishes, the stand might have all kinds of problems: but the light it shines is the true light and those who come into that light share the benefits of that light. This is how we might want to consider the saints: they are the stands, no matter how crooked, broken down or decrepit they might be, which nonetheless let the light shine through them and others, as a result, see and come to the light itself, whereupon they have the chance to partake of the light and share it with others. Saints are holy because they bear the light, but that does not mean they all bear the light equally well. Blessed Tansi is a light among many Nigerians. His light shines brightly among his people – any body who meets him is touched by his goodness. He is now on the last stage of sainthood – the fullness of the altar. There are many other Nigerians living saintly lives – their light shines for other people to see the goodness and glory of God in them. Christians can, and do, recognize many saints beyond those officially proclaimed to be saints through the process of canonization. Canonization does not place a limit upon who can and cannot be a saint. Indeed, it is only because the faithful recognize such holiness apart from those officially canonized that the church begins to look and consider the canonization process itself. The church proclaims what becomes obvious to it. To do this it forms an official investigation into claims of holiness and sainthood. Like in the case of Blessed Tansi, this affirmation takes a while as holiness can be subtle and only after its slow transformation of many people through the years does it become evident enough to be officially proclaimed by the church. It took Blessed Tansi his life time - 62 years of his laborious toil as a child, teacher, seminarian, pastor and monk to become the saint he is. At the same time it has taken the church 37 years to investigate that his life in order to confirm him the saint that he is.  
      It can be said that holiness radiates. Those who touch that which is holy find it penetrating them, allowing them to radiate that holiness. However, becoming touched by holiness does not mean someone will necessarily remain holy: those who touch it, those who come in contact with it, can resist it, turn against it, or worse, they can take what has been given and abuse it. Those who touch such holiness must cooperate with it, not resist it, if they want it to continue to reside in them. They must let it change them, making them better as a result of their encounter with it. Grace perfects nature, but only when it is not resisted. Holiness can be resisted: it can be denied: grace is not irresistible. In any case, even if it is denied or resisted, it still affects those who touch it, so that as long as some aspect of that holiness remains with them, they can still be vessels of grace and holiness for others. 
      When the church looks for holiness she looks for those touched by holiness, she does so by trying to see how that holiness was spread to others. It wants evidence; it wants to see people who have been positively affected by and changed by such holiness. Such we refer to as ‘fama sanitation– fame of sanctity.  This is why the church looks for miracles in order to verify the holiness being seen in such a person. The recognition of that holiness has manifested itself in many different ways throughout church history. The process of canonization is only one form of recognition of a saint. Before the process of canonization became regulated, popular acclimation often was the means by which holiness was recognized. 
      The process of canonization in the church does not deny the holiness of those who have not been canonized. It does not affirm all that those who are canonized have said or done in their lives. It simply points out that there is a suitably large presence of holiness being radiated by a saint that it becomes silly to deny that holiness. The church reminds us that there are a countless number of saints with the Feast of All Saints, affirming that the canonized saints only form a partial representation of the number of actual saints.
      Let us not forget we are called to be saints and every day we are making that sainthood. We cannot be a saint of another person. We must be our own saints just as we are who we are...
      Blessed Tansi is our national saint but he has his own life. It is his life – his own vocation. Blessed Tansi is not inviting all of us to follow him to the priesthood or monastery but his life and legacy are inviting all of us clergy, religious, and laity to reflect and focus on the things that are at the core of our faith, to renew our awareness of the things that really matter. If  Blessed Tansi's life is important to us Nigerians, it is because it is a life of faith, of humble and persevering following out of what he sees to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was dark and cold. He is just one more disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can learn from him as we can from his Master- Jesus. 
       Blessed Tansi's life and spirit are contemplative and missionary ― missionary because contemplative. He is intent on personal union with God, prayer and sacrifice all his life as a teacher, priest and monk. He knows that it is love that counted. His love of God and neighbour even when he was in the monastery “he did not forget his own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification”.( John Paul 11-sermon beatification mass 1998) The Church is Christ’s Body, with many members, each having different functions but each is needed, each is important in contributing to the holiness of the Body-the church. We too have our own calling to serve God and humanity in the married life, priesthood, religious life, political life, market woman, or in so many different professions. Whatever that calling is, it is a true call, a true invitation like that of Blessed Tansi or Abraham and so many others. It is a call to undertake what we believe to be a deep and enduring way to serve God and our neighbour.  
      So true holiness is developed through acts of love, love which is given to God but also love which is given to and shown to our neighbour. We are to be holy like God is holy and God is holy through love. Love connects us to God, to grace, and to each other. Love motivates us to make sure we do not become slothful in the sight of those in need. All our spiritual disciplines developed to help us attain virtue and overcome vice must be engaged with this understanding. All our fasting, all our prayers, all our struggles against temptation do us no good if we subvert the expectations of love, for it is with and through such love we find our Christian vocation: “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, and not be like Cain who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous” (1 Jn. 3:11-12). So we are expected to help others, to do our part cooperating with grace, not just in our own lives, but in the world around us. If we ignore that in need, our love grows cold, and so we will not be able to attain true, lasting holiness.
                                                                    Sunday, June 25, 2023
                                                       Blessed Tansi: A Saint for Our Times
      Blessed Tansi is often described by many who know him as a reformer of our times; however, he did not seek to change the Church’s institutions or teachings, but instead to reform himself. Through his preaching and example, he showed people how to faithfully follow Jesus, which brought about many conversions. His life and legacy are familiar to most Catholics in Nigeria. “It is interesting to record that the life of Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi has inspired and encouraged not only individuals but also groups to pray. In this connection, the Blessed Father Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement deserves special mention ...This prayer movement is inspired by the Trappist spirituality. Members gather periodically in the parishes to pray and to meditate on the life and writings of Blessed Cyprian.” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ P. 242) The friends and devotees of Blessed Tansi from across Nigeria visit every day on pilgrimage the Relic of the Blessed in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Every Monday friends, spiritual sons and daughters and devotees gather from 9am to about 12 noon to celebrate the cult of the Blessed and to pray especially for the happy conclusion of his cause. The growth of the monastic apostolate in Nigeria today is by God’s grace the inspiration and labours of Blessed Tansi who left Nigeria to Mount St Bernard England with Fr, Mark Ulogu in 1950 to bring the monastic way of life to Nigeria. This way of apostolate is a heritage left Nigeria by Blessed Tansi and it owes a lot to these early pioneers who suffered a lot in their first monastic adventure. Today there are over 21 monasteries flourishing in Nigeria.
      The Catholic bishops’ Conference of Nigeria had in 1982 supported the promotion of his worthy cause because it would bring many spiritual benefits to the local church. “We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982, after considering the life of Reverend Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OSCO, thinks that the promotion of the cause of his Beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favour of the promotion of his cause” (in the Catholic Leader Owerri, August 15, 1982). The same conference that hoped for a good result to come from the promotion of the cause met again 28 years after on June 3rd, 2010 after a grand celebration to close the year of Priests’ proclaimed by Pope Benedict XV1 adopted Blessed Tansi the Patron of Nigerian Priests. “We, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, having prayerfully considered the matter, unanimously and with one voice choose and as a result of this declare Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi the Patron of Nigerian Priests. We make this declaration on this 3rd day of June in the year 2010 on the tomb of the Blessed, in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, Nigeria” (in the National brochure-conclusion of Year for Priests June 24, 2010. P. 14).
      Iwene Tansi was born in 1903. His father Tabansi Odatu and his mother, Ejikwevi Muoba were peasant farmers and practised the prevailing African Traditional Religion which Europeans improperly call paganism. It was the religion of their ancestors before the advent of the Christian religion. At a very early age in his life, he was sent to live with a cousin's teacher who gave him the opportunity to attend Catholic school and to receive Catholic education. Baptised at 9, he devoted himself completely to his new religion and never turned back until death. As a school pupil, a teacher, a seminarian, a priest and a monk he served God and his neighbour with undivided mind and attention. All his life he dedicated himself to prayer, penance, and giving the poor food, money, and clothing.  He was delighted to see himself as the best friend of the poor, lepers and the abandoned. He regarded meeting with lepers as an important opportunity for conversion and for doing good. Recall that in his time in almost all Igbo land lepers were abandoned and feared, At first he had to overcome the initial traditional fear, gave them food and money and kept their company. He spent a lot of time praying for a change in the traditional attitude towards lepers. The Blessed found a way of life for himself in the following passages of the Gospels: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matt 19:21). “Take nothing for your journey… “(Luke 9:3). “Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24 – 28). His example so inspired many people at Nnewi that the community offered a portion of land to him at Ndi akwu Nnewi to house his lepers and be able to attend to them. For those who may not remember that is the origin of the Catholic leper colony at Nnewi. 
      One aspect of his idea of reform is to be faithful to what the Church teaches and to bring people to real holiness - to firmly believe and simply profess the true faith as held and taught by the Holy Roman Church. He sought to go further than the teachings and to imitate Jesus as much as possible. He celebrated Mass reverently and used clean, beautiful altar linens and sacred vessels, and wanted everyone to show great love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. From him, we learn that the only way to sanctify the Church is for its members to reform their lives with God’s help. He began with the family and sanctification of marriages. He did not preach a complicated way of life for his parishioners but one that is faithful to the teachings of the Gospel and uses the means the Church has given us to grow in holiness, such as prayer and the sacraments - we should confess all our sins to a priest and receive from him the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He contributed much to the evangelization of the local church in her very early primary evangelization when the local church was in a transition from the traditional religion to Christianity. He was a real pastor, who with his deep knowledge of Igbo customs, idioms and use of slang and lack of pomposity, was more accessible to everybody. One thing that is notable in his life and legacy is his passion for the Truth - that he was willing to make an enormous sacrifice for it.
​​                                                                 Sunday, June 18, 2023
                                                 Whopping Holiness in Others for Christ.
      “His enthusiasm and example drew in willing helpers from all levels of the surrounding people...His firmness and kindness saved a vocation to the priesthood when calamitous sickness swept away Godfrey Okoye's father and three brothers. His example more than his words strengthened Godfrey's will to persevere”. (Fr. Gregory Wareing OCSO ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ P.9)  For some priests and religious having a loved one who does not believe in God is soul-crushing. Not being able to share the joy of the Mass with that person or to share anything about the Faith, for that matter, can be incredibly lonely and can bring a person to the brink of despair. However, take heart and never give up praying for your loved one because “for God, all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). Worse still if you have a belief system that most people are going to a place of eternal punishment separated from divine love forever, would not you do anything and everything to lead people, not just with words typed and spoken, but by your very actions, away from such a fate. What is the best and most prudent way to treat others so that they might see the goodness, truth, and beauty of divine reality personified?
      If you are looking for a good example of approaching others in error, look no further than in the Blessed Tansi. He has more information about what the Catholic faith actually and authoritatively teaches stored in his computer brain. “From 1940 till 1945 he threw all his practical intelligence, organized labour, and burning priestly zeal into the work of forming a thriving parish from this outstation. Some measure of this man is to be found in what God accomplished here through him” (Fr. Gregory Wareing OSCO-‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ p.8).
       He also possesses a degree of humble faithfulness to the mother church, and a kind, friendly, and loving attitude toward others that make him someone you would want to hang out with. He devoted his entire life apostolate as a teacher, a priest, and a monk to the salvation of souls. With a deep understanding of Igbo culture, idioms, and proverbs he presented his sermons and arguments seriously and constructively in such a way that they made deep and lasting impressions on his audience without ever insulting or belittling them as people for whom Christ died. That is the kind of pastor that he is.  That is the kind of Christian we should all be to make converts for Christ. "It was his zeal for souls which was perhaps the most manifest; he preserved the purity of young girls,   brought families back to   God by convalidation marriages and baptizing the children.  He traveled long distances to say Mass, trekking through swamps and bush to visit about fifty outstations.  His mortification and self-sacrifice were beyond normal and obvious to all who knew him". (Testimony of Sr. Aloysius Alimony, a one-time parishioner of Blessed Tansi).
       His sacrifice, love, and respect for other people made in the image and likeness of God gave them the honey spoonful of kindness and being respectful to them. “Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him. Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification”. (Pope John Paul 11- Sermon beatification 1998)
      By whopping holiness in other people for Christ out of love for the other person and kindness to all Blessed Tansi left us a legacy most effective for conversion and for bringing souls back to Christ.  Admonishing a sinner is one of the spiritual works of mercy after all. Everyone wants to imitate Jesus in the Gospels, like when He preached the good news when He fed His sheep when He gave over His body, and when He fixed His eyes firmly on the Father and then told us to do the same. Christians are supposed to be the light of the world but instead many are the dark of the world by being a nasty person in the name of Christ. Jesus is mild, calm, articulate, firm, and even mildly angry.  Blessed Tansi tried to imitate him in whopping holiness in his parishioners. He was gentle, mild-mannered to them, but firm and spoke the truth when he needed it. Being kind to others made in the image and likeness of God does not mean compromising the Truth or that you should never correct anyone about anything. It does mean that Truth must never outweigh the Love and Compassion we practice in order to touch hearts, minds, and souls. Some people say crazy untrue, ugly wrong-headed stupid garbage and at other times they word things differently, emphasize different aspects of something, and have a different angle on a belief that when you look at you find out you share the same thoughts about it, just from a different vantage point. People sometimes need to learn connections, have blanks, and understand information. Instead of helping others to really see errors we swing a hammer on their head and heart. Holiness, true holiness, is developed through acts of love, which is given to God, of course, but also love given to and shown to our neighbour. True holiness, a holiness that emerges out of love, will be naturally attractive.
                                                                Sunday, June 11, 2023
                                                       Venerating the Relic of Blessed Tansi.
      Most Catholic churches house God present in the Eucharist. At the same time, many of them also hold relics or remains of the saints - holy men and women now in heaven after dedicating their lives to God. These are normal people like you and I who have chosen to follow Our Lord, and many of them gave up their lives by being martyred for their faith or by living entirely for God and their neighbour. Seeing them and knowing them, I think that we as Catholics need to get back to them and realize we can become one of them also. Here in our Archdiocese, the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha holds complete, or nearly complete, bones of Blessed Tansi. In his own words, Cardinal Arinze tells us about his master and mentor. “ Who is this Nigerian priest said to have been not too tall in height, not one of the brightest students, but distinguished for his iron will, his firm trust in Divine Providence, his readiness to sacrifice his will in the service of God, his impressive acceptance to be misunderstood, a man never settling down to half measures, dissimulation, pride or love of convenience, but always self-mortified and ready to put his whole heart and person into what he was doing” ( ‘Total response’ p.9) All that Cardinal Arinze described here in the person and body of Blessed Tansi, and it is our belief that our bodies, because they are joined to Christ through baptism and the reception of the sacraments will rise again. It is a testimony to that belief. It is also a testimony to the fact that we are saved together as members of Christ’s mystical body. The saints were real, normal people. Every person is called to be a saint, and he or she is not alone because the saints as their friends are cheering them on from heaven. Speaking of Blessed Tansi the Holy Father John Paul 11 said, “Blessed Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest” (Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998) Today, Nigerian Catholics are invited to meet Blessed Tansi in a special way by venerating his relics. We honour him as one of those who represent this holiness and when we address prayers toward him, it is to the God who made him holy and that he would intervene for us, the poor men and women who follow in holiness behind him.
      It will be recalled that Blessed Tansi died and was buried in his monastery of Mount St. Bernard England on January 20, 1964. When his cause was opened in Nigeria his body was exhumed on September 14. 1986 and brought back to Nigeria on September 19, 1986, and on October 17, 1986, he was re-interred at the priests’  cemetery Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. On the eve of his beatification at Oba-Onitsha-Nigeria on March 22, 1998, his remains were again exhumed for the beatification ceremony. Since after the beatification he has been resting in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha where thousands of devotees flock every day to venerate his remains. The Remains is open and accessible to all who want to visit him. In addition, there are prayers, adoration, and mass in his honour every Monday from 9am to 12noon. During this Monday cult in his honour many devotees avail themselves of the opportunity to get his third-class relic. A third-class relic is any object that has been touched by a first or second-class relic. To venerate his relics is to encounter the very personal presence of Blessed Tansi. Christians are weird, and part of that weirdness is the recognition that the body is part of our salvation because salvation itself is not just some sort of intellectual insight. It is the flesh and blood, history and presence of Blessed Tansi among us. For many devotees who come to the Basilica to venerate Blessed Tansi, it is like stepping into heaven for a little bit. Many after staying with Blessed Tansi say they feel something — like his presence approaching them. Others after staying say that they have a great spiritual satisfaction. It will be recalled that Blessed Tansi during his life had an extraordinary gift of attracting people to himself. “Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families” (John Paul 11, Sermon at Beatification 1998)
      In today’s Nigeria, we all need some peace and joy, and to visit Blessed Tansi at Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, this is a great place to find peace and healing. If nothing else, just sit there and see if someone is trying to speak to you. Visitors can also see belongings of Blessed Tansi including a set of his three volumes of his breviary, the chalice used at his first mass at Aguleri on 20 December 1937, his pair of eyeglasses, a pair of shoes used for his burial, a pair of soutane he wore traveling from Onitsha to Lagos on his way to Mount Saint Bernard July 1950, two wooden planks used for his burial and a coffin used to convey his remains to Nigeria after exhumation in 1986. These collections provide a great experience of immersion in the mystery of the Communion of Saints. Everyone who comes declares an intention to return because of a bad time to explore everything here. One has to see them to believe them.
      We have heard countless stories and testimonies of answered prayers at the Blessed Tansi. A lady Philomena 20 years was cured of her years of inoperable stomach tumour by touching Blessed Tansi Relic. Her case was investigated and approved by the Vatican.  Another interesting case was a married lady Joy Anaduaka, who was healed of her cancer of the esophagus by touching the Remains of Blessed Tansi. Another case of a Lebanese living in Warri who came to visit the Relic of Blessed Tansi at the Basilica was healed of his cancer of the urinal bladder by touching and venerating the relic of Blessed Tansi. There are other numerous testimonies of favours received after visiting and touching the Blessed. Many come away with the sense that the saints are not far from us at all and show that we all have something to offer with our strengths and weaknesses. Just as St. Paul says to the Corinthians, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong”.  We were made for heaven and the relics remind us that it is much closer than we think.
       Blessed Tansi is our Father in faith, our brother, our teacher, our pastor, official patron of Nigerian priests and our friends, and to visit and venerate the remains of his lives on earth is a constant reminder of how close he remains to us and that he is urging us on in the trials of life so that we may one day join him. Why not consider a trial visiting him – a pilgrimage? You will be glad you did.
     ( Remember to report to the Postulation any favour received through the intercession of Blessed Tansi – your report will help to promote the cause).
​​​                                                                Sunday, June 4, 2023
                                                Blessed Tansi an apostle of the Common Good.
      Throughout the history of the church, we have seen numerous dedicated pastors, who were holy priests. Their words and actions remain a perennial source of inspiration for the new generation to follow. We have the example of St. John Bosco an Italian priest who came forward to work for abandoned young people in Italy. He lived his whole life – studying and working, for others. The patron of priests, St. John Mary Vianney would pray to suffer for his entire life for the conversion of his parish. Their commitment is in line with the words of St. Paul, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel.” (1 Corinthians 9:16)  In our own time Blessed Tansi is another example of a Nigerian priest who dedicated his entire life to his people and their common good. This saintly pastor was so immersed in his pastoral care that he cared little for his health and personal well-being. He understood clearly that it is what the Lord wanted him to do. Pursuing the common good gives meaning to his priesthood and the pastoral ministry he assumed on himself.  For him, it is a concrete way of practicing the gospel values and reaching out to the flock more frequently and meaningfully. His detachment from material and earthly desires motivates him to reach out to the poor more often and to find more opportunities for catechesis and evangelization in matters of public interest and justice.  The human person and his well-being were the centers of his ministry. “In the name of the common good, public authorities are bound to respect the fundamental and inalienable rights of the human person.” (CCC – 1907) and must “make accessible to each what is needed to lead a truly human life: food, clothing, health, work, education and culture, suitable information, the right to establish a family, and so on.” (CCC, 1908). Among the Igbos where Blessed Tansi performed his priestly apostolate in Nigeria, the family was held in high regard but in family matters the custom gave more rights to men than women. The leadership of the family, village, clan or town were reserved only for men. A man if he wished was allowed to have more than one wife. “The woman was honoured as wife and mother, especially if she had one or more sons because in those days it was the sons, not the daughters who inherited their father’s property” (Arinze, ‘Total Response’ p. 125) Blessed Tansi knew the importance of women in building flourishing Christian family and society. They must first get respect in the family and society so that they can play their role in the greater future of society. He started by giving them the education which they never had. He set up two pre-marriage preparation centres: one for brides already cohabiting with their intended husbands and another for other brides where they received the formation they needed for their human and spiritual growth. The same thing he did for the young girls through the formation of ‘The Mary League association. “Fr. Tansi formed an association for girls which were called Umu Mary (children of Mary). The girls were generally teenagers. They were given deeper teaching about the church, about Jesus Christ, about the Blessed Virgin Mary, and about preparing for Christian marriage...”(ibid  p. 130). 
      Another group of people Blessed Tansi cared for and promoted their dignity and respect was the sick, the poor, and the needy. He became their friend, spokesman, and helper. They had a special place in his heart and apostolate. “ It is no exaggeration that Fr. Tansi lived for God and his brothers and sisters... one can use pastoral charity to describe his dedication, his drive, his perseverance under harsh physical conditions, his readiness to visit the sick, and his intense desire for the eternal salvation of his people”( Arinze, in Total Response p. 211). The welfare of others was his utmost concern – to see that people are free, respected, and happy. “Service of others and living for another world, living for God and for fellow men – holiness. Yes, we can understand why Fr. Cyprian had so great a love for monastic total self-dedication to God, and of the opportunities it offered to life...” (Peter Meze, Our Memoirs of Father Michael Tansi. p. 96)
      Traditional customs which did not respect human dignity were under serious fire. The masquerade cult, widowhood, ‘ozo’ title, and ‘osu’ system to mention a few. He single-handedly fought against them and within a short time gained positive results - promoted peace and ensured morally acceptable means for the security of society and its members. His apostolate was always oriented towards the progress of persons just as the Catechism of the Catholic Church would teach: “The order of things must be subordinate to the order of persons, and not the other way around.” (no. 1912) This order is founded on truth, built up in justice, and animated by love. At the centre of the common good is the human person and the order of the common good is impossible without truth, justice, and love.
      Nigerians at every level need to promote, support, work for and vote at all times for those who will work for the common good. As Christians, they are called to move out beyond their own private interests and concerns, to truly work for and promote the common good, both in their spiritual life, but also in their civic engagements. It is a disgrace for all of us that some are poor, hungry, and abandoned in our society. While others live in extraordinary affluence.  It is even worse to see in our midst people who deliberately hinder others from receiving the justice which is their due or another actively working to hinder if not eliminate such justice. To ignore the most vulnerable, the most helpless constitutes the gravest of sins. 
      God is the beginning and the end of every particular good, that is, God is the source and summit of every good.  “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jas. 1:17).  Since these are proper goods for us, pursuing them must connect us with God because they come from God: It is possible to pursue these goods in an inordinate fashion when we engage them without their connection with the greater good - God. God is to be loved with all our heart and soul. Christians are not to treat particular goods as if they are God; we must recognize that their goodness is relative, and so the love and honour we give them are relative. This is why honouring and loving our neighbour, supporting them with justice, is itself proper; this is also why we cannot avoid society, for we are called to participate in it, indeed, to love it in relation to the goodness which it has been granted. This leads to the conclusion that engaging in politics and embracing work for the common good, is truly work for someone who loves God.
      Blessed Tansi leaves for his fellow Nigerians a way of life to follow. We are social beings, and in our social relations, we must work for and preserve the common good of all. The pursuit of social justice does not turn us away from God, but rather connects us with God, for through its pursuit we pursue the good which finds its fulfillment in God. To neglect or reject that pursuit is to neglect or reject one of the goods which have been given to us by God, and if we do that, we would dishonour God. Christians, in particular, are called to move out beyond their own private interests and concerns, to truly work for and promote the common good, both in their spiritual life, but also in their civic engagements.
                                                                   Sunday, May 28, 2023
                                                     Detachment is the bone of his spiritual life.
      Christ adds detachment from the world to the list of examples of faithfulness to him. “In truth, I tell you there is no one who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or land for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times as much…”( Mark,10;28-31). When the Nigerian future Blessed, Michael Iwene Tansi was but a small boy growing up in the village of Aguleri, he was exposed to the local traditions and customs of his people while at the same time, to the Catholic religion just being preached by pioneer Irish Holy Ghost Fathers. His parents belonged to the Ibo traditional religion and that was his first religious contact. His parents were devout religious people living simple honest village life.  It was the profound formative influence of his maternal uncle that brought Michael in contact with the Christian religion. It was while living with this teacher at the age of 9 that he made a decisive, radical, and preferential break with that the religion of his parents. “The destruction of his personal juju together with his sacramental baptism on January 7th, 1912 can be seen as Michael Tansi’s first conscious act of detachment from traditional Igbo religious practice, together with his incipient attachment to Christian, liturgical practices and evangelical discipline as mediated and filtered by the predominantly Irish missionaries who at the time, congregated the Igbo converts into what were then termed “Christian Villages”. (Father Ed Debany, SJ, in a Symposium, sponsored by the Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement of Nigeria)
      The future blessed was an ordinary village boy going to the village school, playing football and doing other things with his school companions, and at the same time not afraid to enter into the new exacting life of a Christian convert. At that age, it meant for him to play less with his friends and pray more with his newfound God. A childhood friend remembers: “When we were young, we used to play in the moonlight. After eating in the evenings, we would go from house to house, calling our age group to play in the moonlight. When we went to his house to call him, we would not find him at home. After searching for him everywhere, we eventually found him in the church, seated alone in one corner. We often found him crying in the church. This is what happened every day. Some of our mates would then call him out and beat him up. We were about twelve years old then. His devotion to prayers was most striking. If you watched him praying in the church, he knelt down motionless, fixed his eyes on the tabernacle and tears gushed from his eyes. Some boys made fun of his attitude at prayer, but the more they did so, the more fervently did he pray. Other boys tried in vain to imitate him. He found time to attend daily morning masses and made visits to the Blessed Sacrament” (Elizabeth Isichei, ‘Entirely for God’. p. 18) Note that his childhood heroic piety did not in any diminish his humanity. He performed with equal dedication his daily domestic duties – serving his master and at the same time he was diligent in his academic studies and more than capable when involved in sporting events with his mates. He did everything with passion and moderation. He did not play too much, nor even pray too much. He was from childhood detached enough from excessive play in order to perform all of his other academic, spiritual, and domestic duties, though when he did play, he did so with gusto and obvious ability. Even as a priest “from 1940 till 1945 he threw all his practical intelligence, methodical labour, and burning priestly zeal into the work of forming a thriving parish from this outstation. Some measure of this man is to be found in what God accomplished here through him” (Fr. Gregory Wareing osco in ‘Sorry shall not kill me’ p.8)
      In order to aspire to and develop the higher values of Christian living the new generation of Nigerians would need the guidance, discipline, direction, and correction of the kind Blessed Tansi found so readily in his uncle Robert Orekyie. Unfortunately, many people today may consider Blessed Tansi the stuff of legend. But his ideal must be chosen as a guide for the spiritual life. He left a stunning testament of Christian life that most of us have never even heard of, let alone read. In his lifestyle, Nigerians found an extraordinary account of the grace of God active in his life. “His enthusiasm and example drew in willing helpers from all levels of the surrounding people, he also helped the men to thatch their houses, and with the women he scrubbed floors. His firmness and kindness save a vocation to the priesthood... his example more than his words strengthened  Godfrey’s will to persevere” ( ibid.p.8)
      His growth in virtue at every stage of his life was seen and shown in his continuous and steady detachment, which will not give in to any objection even from his mother – God first. “His poor widowed mother went mad with rage. She went to the mission and harassed the parish priest to give her son back. She cried out her eyes in vain. He sympathized with his poor mother all right, but there was no turning back.”  (Elizabeth Isichei: Entirely for God, The Life of Michael Iwene Tansi, Macmillan Nigeria 1981, p.28)  What we may not know is that Blessed Tansi, “like so many saints and blessed before him, was inwardly and frequently drawn to union and communion with all three persons of the Blessed Trinity though most especially to Jesus as he became manifest and present sacramentally with each celebration of the Eucharist. Little wonder then, that we note Michael Tansi the priest, the monk, even the layman, attracted to daily and private prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. For as every mystic knows, the deeper the union between God and the human soul, the more effective and zealous will that soul’s service be whether to family, church or humanity in general”.(Father Ed Debany, SJ, in a Symposium, sponsored by the Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement of Nigeria)
      At every stage in his life, he was making progress in his search for God. As a school teacher, a headmaster, a diocesan priest, and a Cistercian monk it was God that he was looking for – entirely for God. “The same interior force or holy desire which moved Jesus to forever leave Nazareth at the age of thirty, St Anthony Abbot to give away his father’s significant inheritance, the first martyrs to prefer death over apostasy, St. Patrick to abandon the patrician comfort of continental Europe for the wilds of pagan and barbarous Ireland, Mother Teresa of Calcutta to seek transfer from her bourgeois Religious Congregation for total service and solidarity with the poorest of the poor that same interior force, the fruit of spiritual sensitivity to the interior motions of the Holy Spirit, inspired Tansi towards the 
      next stage of his ever more perfected union with God which he then understood as priestly, sacramental and pastoral service to his Igbo brothers and sisters. Nothing more and nothing less!” (Father Ed Debany, SJ, in a Symposium, sponsored by the Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement of Nigeria)
For Blessed Tansi being a priest is humbling oneself in a spirit of service. The secret to his spiritual testimony is the secret of the spiritual life. “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger, abounding in mercy” (Ps 103:8). Knowing well his own weakness, No blackmail, either from Satan or other leaders in the Church could tear him from the love of God once he had found it. That confidence in God’s goodness poured out in an encounter with God, changed his life.


                                                                     Sunday, May 21, 2023
                                          The lifestyle that redefines holiness for new Nigerians.
     Nigerians are fortunate to have a blueprint for successful living in Blessed Tansi who through Grace, Faith, and Works has become  “a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land”.( John Paul 11. Beatification sermon Nigeria. 1998) and as the Apostle Paul outlines God’s design for good living. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:8–10).
       The political and social events in Nigeria these last years keep me thinking about whether Nigerians, as religious as they are, understand that God has for everybody a design for pious living – holiness. I have met many who say they are tired of rules-based, ineffective, and judgemental religions. Many have the desire to live victoriously but operate from human strength only. The blessed Tansi lifestyle provides a new way to live on this side of the cross. If you are feeling empty and mentally exhausted, discover God’s design for living the supernatural life in the life and legacies of Blessed Tansi whose words and actions remain a perennial source of inspiration for us to follow. His commitment to life proposes to the new generation of Nigerians intrinsic holiness though not the chosen lifestyle.  Blessed Tansi can serve as a universal model of essential holiness appropriate to all Christians whether these are priests, religious, youths, or any member of the baptized laity. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28–30). To the new generation of Nigerians, this Lord’s invitation to his followers can apply to moral and spiritual legacies which the Blessed Tansi be quitted to Nigerians. His life teaches us that holiness is possible for all. How we view God may influence how we understand holiness. For the Pharisees, we remember holiness was a very strict code. It had everything to do with how they viewed God – powerful, aloof, set apart, and much too holy and perfect to even glance toward anyone who was a sinner. Because of this view of God, the Pharisees behaved in much the same way - too godly to associate with sinners and too focused on keeping holiness codes to bother with the lives of those dirty, filthy commoners who didn’t observe the Law as perfectly as they did.
      But notice that Jesus took a very different approach to this concept. He prioritized holiness and perfection with compassion and love not exclusion of anybody based on race, religion, background, or occupation. This is why we see Jesus spending so much time with sinners who were not acceptable to the Pharisees - the drunkards, the prostitutes, the sick, the outcasts, and the Roman-sympathizing tax collectors from within their own faith community. 
      Holiness, as blessed Tansi lived and practiced had everything to do with being good, godly, and perfect but with compassion and love. For him, life was ‘entirely for God’. He presented God as though unimaginable in glory and perfection surrounded night and day by the Holy angels upon His eternal throne set far above the heavens yet has an incomprehensible and absolute love for us his creatures. Yet full of mercy and compassion for the sick, needy, and sinners. 
      In Blessed Tansi we meet a true Nigerian, who is fully alive with the Spirit of God, avoided serious sin, was effective in whatever task God proposes, was courageous in the face of trial and difficulty, was mortified and charitable, always full of prayer, humility and heroism in the practice of the Christian virtues and was effectively detached from all things both good and evil even from life itself. He lived fully within the Nigerian context but at the same time is not of the world and does not adapt to the pattern of the Nigerian way of life. He did not disdain the created world nor fear it or run from it but rather experiences the world and its many goods as a gift from God to be used with freedom, responsibility, and gratitude.
      In his days society favoured the concept of survival of the fittest but in his fight for the common good, he fought against any traditional law or custom that discriminates against people. We can now think of his fight for the right of women, especially widows, the ‘osu’ system, slavery, and the use of masquerade cult to intimidate and deliver judgment. He showed his full prayerful and active compassion seeing his own people disfigured by human sin and injustice. He abhors evil and its sinful manifestations but at the same time, did not invest his identity and self-worth in earthly pursuits and concerns even when these are good and noble.  His love and compassion for the sick. Here we think of the lepers and the smallpox victims. These victims were rejected by society because their offenses against the goddess of the land incurred punishment from the deity. And because of the infectious nature of these diseases, anybody who approached or sympathized with them would incur the same anger of the gods. Blessed Tansi broke this myth with his love, compassion, and assistance to these unfortunate victims.  His love for the family and married life: his pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha devoted much attention to the sanctification of marriages, consolidation of the family, and the education of the young for their role in the new emerging independent Nigeria and the local church. His expansion of so many outstations in his parish was to bring people nearer to know God and to love him. The schools that accompanied each outstation were to give education to the young and to prepare them for their future responsibilities.
      However, he hated sin but loved the sinner. His very long hours in the confessional demonstrated his love for the sinner and his determination to bring such a person back to God. His special and continuous catechetical instructions were meant to deepen their love for God and their neighbour. This was a direct shot across the bow of the traditional practice that had taught that being a good man meant setting yourself apart from ritual and customs offenders and not associating with those who were unclean. Blessed Tansi turned the entire thing upside down. Showed what it meant to be good – being like God. God is merciful and loving to everyone – even to those who hate Him. His legacies today teach us that being good is not a statement about being perfect and it is not a challenge for us to do the impossible. Instead, it is a redefinition of what holiness is all about – loving as God loves – not about dividing ourselves from one another over who is more perfect or godly than someone else. And not love one ethnic group more than another but rather love and respect one another as we carry out our civic and religious responsibility – allowing each person what is his due irrespective of who he is or from where he comes from. God created a process that empowers everyday believers to produce exceptional results. He does not demand spiritual results without giving believers a clear process that makes successful living possible. Whenever Nigerians separate themselves from others because they are either Yorubas, Igbos, or Hausas, successful or sinful, they are deceived as the Pharisees were about what holiness is all about. Whenever Nigerians create an Us vs Them division between themselves, they are following the road with a dead end. I don’t know about you, but I think I had rather be more like Blessed Tansi who detached himself from material things and gave himself entirely for the service of God and his neighbour. Today the universal church recognizes the value and goodness in his lifestyle.
​                                                                  Sunday, May 14, 2023
               Blessed Tansi Retreat summary of talks to Newly appointed Bishop Godfrey Okoye
         taken from a chapter ‘In Community – Dec.1956-Jan 1964’ by Fr. Gregory Wareing ocso “Sorrow Will not kill me” published by Postulation Cause Blessed Tansi Onitsha. ( part 2 continuation of part 1 last week)
        His fourth conference opens with a quotation from III Kings (1 Kgs in later versions than Douai and Knox) 19:10. 'With zeal I have been zealous for the Lord God of hosts.' 'Zeal is called the ardour of charity, the flame of love.'
       'Indifference, or want of zeal, is a sign of want of love. 'Bishop should regard what is done to God as done to themselves'...no limit to what they are expected to do.' 'We must have the mind of Christ'...' preferring to die rather than to go against God's Will, like the martyrs.' Fr. Cyprian praises highly the European Missionaries who gave their lives to bring the light of the Faith to the Igbos. 'We were on the wrong way, and they, at the risk of their lives, came to put us right.' This fact reminds him of the light of Christ 'kindled at the Easter Vigil ceremony.'
       In his fifth conference, Cyprian next turned to Bitter Zeal and warns the Bishop against it. This is the cause of nearly every heresy or schism in the church. Watch out for it.' 'Good zeal is generally supported by humility, the foundation of all virtue, and her first daughter, Obedience.' 'Every good zeal is free from self-seeking... Since the work in which we are engaged is God's work it is right that we should leave it in the hands of God; His Will should be respected. The work has to be done in the ways He wants.' Once more we can see that Cyprian's own life tallies with his teaching. Throughout his monastic life, he never took the initiative concerning the project on which his African heart was deeply set a Cistercian foundation in Igbo land.
        Cyprian gives the Bishop 'a good test' of true zeal... 'Your reaction to a command from your superior asking you to give up your activity.' (We think at once of his own tests...giving up celebrating and preaching at the 8 o'clock Mass in the secular church at Mt. St. Bernard is his withdrawal from the list of readers in the refectory there...). 'Sometimes it requires a real heroic virtue to comply with such an instruction. But it is common in the lives of the saints, and they never hesitated to obey the order'. 'Your will should not be the norm of your action. God's will, coming as it often does from your Superior/s, must be your norm. Self is often the reason why you resent work being given to another which you want to do personally yourself. Mind your own business...Nobody is necessary to God.'
      The next conference is on The Good Shepherd. 'He gives his life for his sheep. Christ, the Good Shepherd, is the Model for a Bishop. Money, food, clothes, a house, anything given short of life itself is not enough. The men and women, boys and girls of Port Harcourt (Bp. Okoye's first diocese) are yours...be up and doing to help them...You are wedded to Port Harcourt, and the first duty of a man to his wife is to love... Port Harcourt must be in your thoughts night and day...You have to get a map of your diocese, study every street and know your people by name. Study their difficulties, be up and doing to help them.' Cyprian focuses attention on the daily occasion at your door. It is the occasion of giving a smile from the heart to a troubled soul that needs some consolation...to listen with undivided attention to the poor wretch before you.'
          'Never omit the reading of your Scripture day by day.' Watch Our Lord's way of dealing with people, His compassion for souls, his condescension for the poor... children suffered to come to him...women treated with utmost regard, and consideration, without offense to good breeding or morality.' Why did Pope John the XXIII, appeal to all classes of men?'
      He was a true Father to all, a Good Shepherd of souls…He desired to show that men should be treated as men... men whom Our Lord did not disdain to redeem with His own blood.'
      Above all your prayer is what your people need most. Pray for your people. You will be heard.'..'Can you say; "Come after me. I know where we are going. You are safe?" 'Woe is the shepherd who knows how to feed on the sheep, but not how to feed the sheep!' ... provide for the education of your youth, boys, and girls, for the training of the clergy.'
      First and foremost you need a Junior Seminary...You need a Religious institute like that of the Christian Brothers...for youth education...You need a teaching Order of Women for our mothers and girls and an Institute like the Sisters of Charity for the townships. You need a convent of Contemplative at Port Harcourt, the Carmelites, the Poor Clares, our Cistercians. While the active members search for souls, these will bring down God's grace for their sins. 'Make your plan before the Blessed Sacrament. Do nothing without counsel. Money will come. Deus providebit. (God will see to that). The candle must be lit, and lit to burn,... 'Without me, you can do nothing...quite literally.' 'Without God and God's light and direction we can do absolutely nothing... in the natural order, and much less in the supernatural... 'No man has trusted in God and been confounded. God must be the Principal Author of every good work. We must be satisfied with our position as instruments'... 'It is a duty, a necessity to call on God if you really mean business. Ask and you will receive... to be a successful Bishop.  you must be a man of prayer...' Cyprian then stressed the power of example, that of our Lord, then of saints who were Bishops, like Charles Borromeo or Francis de Sales.
        'First, have a rule of life...Regular time to get up., regular time to bed. Fixed time for meditation should never be missed and should be supplied 'with quam primum (as soon as possible) if by chance not done at the prescribed time. Thanksgiving after Mass is not to be omitted or hurried. The Divine Office must have its time...not said when opportunity offers itself...preferably in your Oratory, not in the common square. Every spare moment should see you before the Lord asking for graces for yourself, your innumerable children, the diocese, and the work to be done...Men are looking upon you, some to find things to emulate, others to find things to criticize...Work while you have the time. The harvest is great. Friendship with the King in the Blessed Sacrament.'
        In his last conference, Cyprian renews his early love for Mary the mother of God, our mother with the deep Cistercian devotion to our lady. Queen of Citeaux fostered and practiced in his own Abbey.
       This is her age. We have come to recognize her due to her apparitions in several places.' 'Everything that could be said of her has been said by St. Bernard. St. Ephraim is not less profuse (in her praise).  'One of the signs of predestination...is devotion to the great mother of God and our mother.'
        He wants Bishop Godfrey to examine, during this retreat how he stands in her regard. 'A boy's best friend is his mother, and a priest's best comforter is the mother of priests; a Bishop's greatest hope is the Queen of the Apostles.' In his own Cistercian Order the practical, traditional ways of honouring Mary are many and striking. Cyprian ends this talk and the whole retreat by citing many of them!
                                                                                                                                       Sunday, May 7, 2023
        Blessed Tansi Retreat summary of talks to newly appointed Bishop Godfrey Okoye July 1961
       taken from a chapter ‘In Community – Dec.1956-Jan 1964’ by Fr. Gregory Wareing ocso “Sorrow Will not kill me” published by Postulation Cause Blessed Tansi Onitsha. (part 1)- part 2 will be next week)
       On July 30th 1961, Fr. Cyprian Tansi was asked by his Abbot to give retreat to Msgr. Godfrey Okoye C.S.S.P. newly elected Bishop of the recently erected See of Port Harcourt. The Msgr had once been a parishioner of Fr. Tansi at Dunukofia. His vocation to the priesthood had been protected and confirmed by the words and examples of his parish priest. Your vocation comes first; Tansi told him when death swept away Godfrey's father and three brothers in quick succession. Fr. Tansi himself undertook the support of this bereaved family. Godfrey completed his studies for the priesthood.
       In the first talk of this retreat given to his 'son become father and Lord' Fr. Cyprian frankly and humbly stressed the present reversal of their mutual roles. It is my turn to learn from you. He had prepared diligently calling on all his natural and supernatural wisdom to help this new successor of the apostles, entrusted with a wide spreading mission to souls in Nigeria and in other parts of the world.
        Cyprian first stressed the need for a retreat. 'Set aside time each year; at least an hour's recall each month for this personal affair between God and yourself. You need a Patron Saint, preferably, for you, a Bishop. But the great patron, the Lord and King is Christ, who asks love for love.
        In the second talk he took John 15:16 as his text; you have not chosen me I have chosen you. Where are your contemporaries at school, and in the seminary? Most have fallen away. Not many ordained priests and now you are a Pontiff, a Prince of the Church. To whom much is given (from Him) much will be required. He who is mighty has done great things to and for you and holy is his name. Gratitude follows naturally. You have a divine mission 'appointed to go' and 'bear fruit, in many parts of the world to be God's messenger, a messenger of peace, a messenger of love, a priest of God, another Christ, showing to all you meet that God is love, is worthy of (all) your love'.....
       Cyprian enumerated the usual 'trappings' then associated with the rank of a Bishop. They have their place, alerts Cyprian, but the Bishop is the Bishop without them. How much of a Bishop is left without fruit? A tree fit to be a cut dispenser of love, a peacemaker, an apostle, a vicar of Christ. Woe to those who cling to a passing world. One thing alone lasts. One thing is worth seeking ... God! ... In order to love adequately, faithfully and constantly we need a companion, a friend, a patron, a counsellor. We must look for the one in the Blessed Sacrament; see him, too, in Holy Scripture and in other Pius books. You are loved deeply.
        For his third talk Cyprian quotes the famous chapter 13 of I Corinthians, Charity is patience; is kind ... if we are to remain good we need the mass, meditation and spiritual reading. When we reflect on God and his many gifts to us, we find it easy to love him but it is not quite so easy to love our neighbours. Virtue is loveable, not so vice. It is not easy to know if we love God, but we know if we love men. The rest of this talk shows that Cyprian has studied carefully the last Encyclical of Pope-John XXIII, 'Pacem in Terris' (Peace on earth). The 5th and last section of this encyclical gives a very valuable and clear outline of how a lay man or woman can exercise a truly Christian apostolate in the very midst of their work-a-day world. The basic vocation of the laity is to sanctify the temporal concerns of men.Returning to the paramount necessity of charity to all men Cyprian quotes St. Teresa of Avila:' we could never love our neighbour perfectly if we had not a great love of God, and St Paul's though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, if I lack charity, I am nothing. He warns the Bishop that the last judgement hinges on our conduct towards our neighbours' and concludes this retreat talk with; There must be kindness to every child of Adam... it is easy to resolve to lay down your life for others, but not so easy to give them a simple smile, a kind word. But that is just what they want. (to be continued in part 2)


​                                                                                                                             Sunday, April 30, 2023
                                                      Blessed Tansi's zeal for us consumes him.
          World over Catholic priests are more identified with their pastoral ministry, their supervisory role as elders, and being a “servant” to the community. They are rightly called presbyters or elders, who are more of administrators, leaders, and assembly elders. Blessed Tansi was so committed to his flock that a  historian Elizabeth Isichei described his entire priestly life as ‘Entirely for God’ In studying the priestly life of Blessed Tansi one cannot fail to notice immediately that his pastoral zeal is his priestly identity -  pasturing the flock committed to his care with wholehearted love and commitment. It was the commitment that made a difference in his life – a dedicated worker in the vineyard of the Lord. All those who knew him testify that he worked with enthusiasm, passion, fervour, keenness, eagerness, devotion, wholeheartedness, vehemence, and the like. Speaking of his pastoral zeal and dedication Cardinal Arinze  who has known him very well from childhood for many years has this to say: “ Who is this Nigerian priest said to have been not too tall in height, later in life rather frail in health, not one of the brightest students, but distinguished for his iron will, his firm trust in Divine Providence, his readiness to sacrifice his will in the service of God, his impressive acceptance to be misunderstood, a man never settling down to half measures, dissimulation, pride or love of convenience but always self-mortified and ready to put his whole heart and person into what he was doing”( in ‘Total Response p. 7) 
         Blessed Tansi's zeal is the fruit of his inner happiness and contentment in his priestly vocation which he took as a task given to him by God with full responsibility and on the other hand a way of life he has chosen for himself. “He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love... Everyone who met him was touched by his goodness”. (JP. 11 Sermon beatification 1998). His priesthood was something he assumed with joy and a great sense of responsibility. This turned out to become bliss for him and others who are the beneficiaries of his pastoral activities. “I know my sheep and they know me. And I am willing to die for them.” (John 10:14)  His Priesthood was a blessing to himself and his fruitful pastoral activity in turn becomes a blessing for others. “A man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of others especially the sick and poor... Even when he was sent by Bishop Heerey to the Cistercian Abbey of Mount Saint Bernard in England to pursue his monastic vocation, with the hope of bringing the contemplative life back to Africa, he did not forget his people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuing sanctification”. (Saint John Paul 11. Sermon Beatification 1998)
         His kind of relationship with his flock made him know them and their needs. “Tansi knew and worked with all these groups. The people were proud of him. He was one of themselves but so outstanding in his zeal, they marveled at all the work he was doing for God amongst them. They love him for it and allowed him to influence their live-in many ways”. (Gregory Wareing osco. ‘Sorry shall not kill me’.  P.5) This generated a kind of love that brought him close to the parishioners. And “ spontaneously, they offered him gifts to show their gratitude” (ibid)  The weak parishioners got his greatest attention Just as  Pope Francis would say, “The pastors should know the smell of the flock and the sheep should know the smell of their shepherd.” We cannot serve and love the flock that we do not know. It is not enough to love the people; they must know they are loved. Often he was so immersed in his pastoral care that he cared little for his own personal needs, what to eat, what to wear, and his other personal comforts including his health and personal well-being. We now think of his unending difficult pastoral treks through bush paths and farmlands that are often dangerous. Sometimes these treks are done without food and water.  However, his pastoral zeal gave him enormous courage and strength to carry on the task he assumed on himself with full understanding that it was what the Lord wanted him to do. His one-time student and comp temporary, the former bishop of Umuahia, Anthony Nwedo cssp has this to say “... it may be a high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm and candour, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self forgetful”.( Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha 1986) Sr. Mary Aloysius Adimonye, as a young girl and a parishioner of Blessed Tansi at Akpu parish remembers many years after that “ it was his zeal for souls which was perhaps the most manifest; he preserved the purity of young girls, brought families back to God by convalidating marriages and baptising children, he travelled long distances to say mass, trekking through swamps and bush to visit about fifty outstations. His mortification and self-sacrifice were beyond normal and obvious to all who knew him”. (quoted in Fr Gregory Wareing - ‘Sorrow shall not kill me’ p.9)
        The Gospels are full of statements that highlight Jesus’ pastoral zeal—to reach Father’s love for humanity. Like his Master, the Lord Jesus, Blessed Tansi was filled with pastoral zeal from the moment he realized his vocation, even as a little child serving his master and teacher Robert Orekyei in the little village Aguleri he was full of zeal for pleasing his master and as a teacher in the same village his main concern was his peoples. Indeed, it was his childhood desire to do with zeal whatever ever was his duty and responsibility. Like Blessed Tansi Nigerians can learn to live out the demands of their vocation with zeal.  Zeal is the realization and fruitful living of one’s vocation. It is the best way of furthering the Kingdom of God. And for each one of us, it is a hallmark of responsible living. 



                                                                  Sunday, April 23rd. 2023


                                         Blessed Tansi Legacies uplift Nigerians to live heroic lives.    
          Today Nigerians undoubtedly are going through a hard time socially, economically, and politically, which involves a storm of great magnitude for the country. Amid that, the choice to answer God’s call is never before to many of us. Fortunately, we are not alone. People who have answered the call invite each one of us to do the same — to arise and embrace God’s spectacular plan of salvation in our lives. The life and legacy of Blessed Tansi show that tempestuous times give rise to heroic lives. We need each other. As the book of Proverbs says, “Iron sharpens iron, so one man strengthens another.” (27:17). Honesty and truth matter but deceit and lies have great consequences. For those who chose differently — those who ignored or postponed God’s call to honest living only to see their home demolished by the pounding waves the book of Hebrews advises, ‘don’t neglect to meet together’ because ‘we are meant to lift one another’ in our faith” (10:24-25 ). The legacies of Blessed Tansi are about being inspired, getting greater formation, and going from there to do the needful in our Christian calling. Perhaps we have all blown it. We have all made mistakes. But we have a great and merciful God that has loved us so much that he has given us a way, and the way is through Jesus Christ. That is what we are going to gather and talk about and do it together through the help and inspiration from one of us who has gone before us doing what we are now called to do - this is precisely the mission of Christians in this country - to ignite other Nigerians to become who God is calling them to be and help others do the same. We are going through a period of time in our history where many Catholics are drifting or even running away from the Catholic faith, and it is time to articulate with clarity the importance of being a disciple of Christ after a good example of Blessed Tansi at this point of time in history. It is a great time to be alive. 
        Blessed Tansi is a true Nigerian with much in common with many Nigerians. As Cardinal Arinze said “... a Nigerian priest said to have been not too tall in height, later in life rather frail in health, not one of the brightest students, but distinguished for his iron will, his firm trust in Divine Providence, his readiness to sacrifice his will in the service of God, his impressive acceptance to be misunderstood, a man never settling down to half-measures, dissimulation, pride or love of convenience, but always self-mortified and ready to put his whole heart and person into what he was doing.” (in ‘total response’ p.7)  He was from a humble and poor background, and suffered many setbacks in his early childhood – the death of his father for one, and later the mysterious death of his mother. As a professional teacher and headmaster, his dedication to duty and humble lifestyle speak to all professionals of our day. As a seminarian for the priesthood, the will of God was all that mattered to him. Our seminarians and aspirants today will have the joy of their calling when they learn from Blessed Tansi how to put away their likes and dislikes and accept the will of God for them. As a Priest in the Archdioceses of Onitsha, he had an extraordinary zeal for evangelization and the growth of the local church. His priestly zeal and holiness certainly will inspire new Nigerian priests and religions. He left a legacy of how to be a priest. The last fourteen years of his earthly life were spent hidden from the world – spent in prayer and contemplation at Mt. Saint Bernard Abbey England. This is another form of apostolate – called from his flourishing missionary work to the life of enclosure. He obeyed what he considered to be the will of God for him and lived out his vow of stability to the full. He may not be inviting all of us to the monastery and the religious life. He lived his own life as he perceived God’s calling. He is inviting all of us in different and various vocations of our life to take seriously the purpose of our life and calling – to see God as the end of our purpose and life. This must be expressed in the love we have for God made practical in our love for our fellow human beings. His life is bringing together men and women of different ages and vocations to inspire and equip them, so that they can make the difference they are meant to make in their own families, relationships, and society, reminding them that they are not alone in this daily battle. This is one of the reasons why the universal church sets him before Nigerian as their national saint and model so that every Nigerian will appreciate and emulate the humble way he lived out his vocation.
         Regardless of the circumstances or sins that may be preventing Nigerians from truly answering God’s call to greatness, his legacies stand out as a message of hope in God’s mercy and power to transform our lives. The celebration of the silver Jubilee ( just concluded) of the second papal pastoral visit to Nigeria and the beatification of blessed Iwene Tansi is an opportunity for every Nigeria to make a change in his/her life –something different from what it was last year if you cannot do anything to change something about your faith. Take a chance. Do something bold. If we stay and don’t try, who will make the difference that we are supposed to make? The opportunity is not waiting for you, it will pass.  This event will help Nigerians to enter into a whole new level of understanding about their faith, themselves, and their responsibility to one another and to our nation. The goal of his beatification is also to extend his mission to our work places, the parish, and family lives by guiding all who desire to remain faithful as they continue to meet the challenges of their vocation in life. There has never been a greater need in today's Nigeria


 
                                                                  Sunday, Sunday 16, 2023
                                                    Blessed Tansi Legacies are alive and strong

         Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi lived entirely for God and humanity. Nigeria has received a lot of favours from God through him. “... We cannot avoid thanking God for the many favours which he has given to Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi and through him to Nigeria, Africa and the church worldwide”. ( in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response’ p.243). These favours the church officially recognised by his beatification at Oba Nigeria on March 22nd 1998. Speaking of these favours during the beatification mass, the Holy Father, Saint John Paul 11 said: “So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest. In this regard, I wish to thank and to encourage the Church in Nigeria for her missionary work in Nigeria, in Africa and beyond. Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church”. (JP 11 in Beatification sermon 1998)
         Blessed Tansi laboured all his life for the growth and sanctification of the church. He lived and worked for truth and justice for everybody, especially for those the society seems to reject. He seemed to have been born and destined for this purpose. His onetime Novice Master in the monastery speaking of this destiny said: “From 1940 till 1945 he [Fr. Tansi] threw all his practical intelligence, methodical labour and burning priestly zeal into the work of forming a thriving parish from this outstation. Some measure of this man is to be found in what God accomplished here through him”. (Gregory Wareing ocso, in ‘sorry shall not kill me’ p. 8)
        His legacy speaks today of a loud living and relevant message. If we think Christianity is a weak, dying reality, poor in morality we are absolutely wrong, as the life and legacies of Blessed Tansi show that it is still a big deal. The absolute and strongest sign of this is his witness in our own times. He lived a great sign of hope in a very trying period of the colonial era. His life, compared to the martyrs of which the Church Father Tertullian said “The blood of Christians is the seed and ensures the growth and fruitfulness of the People of God. Francis Cardinal Arinze confirming this truth said: “This is a mystical reality in his [Fr. Tansi] life ... it is not an exaggeration to say that Father Tansi lived for God and for his brothers and sister. He saw Christianity as living entirely for God. From the day of his baptism, he did not look back. He kept up the effort to give God his best in the use of time, in studies, in manual labour, in the observance of seminary regulations, in fidelity to liturgical rules and in the unquestioning acceptance of assignments given to him by the bishop” (‘Total response’ P. 210) Part of the reason he lived a very ascetical and mortified life is for the flock entrusted to him that he might bring new life to them. We know that the sacrifice of the martyrs calls down grace which benefits the Church. But it is also true in very practical ways that not only does the witness of holy pastors convince non-believers and inspire believers, but their penitential mortified lives cause the faith’s most ardent believers to engage themselves more actively in the spread of the faith. Their lives are shining examples for the new generation of Nigeria.
         Blessed Tansi essentially a very zealous pastoral parish priest in the Nigerian colonial era, was more interested in the spiritual liberation of his people than the liberation agenda of the nationalists of his time.   His utmost concern was to find labourers in the Lord’s vineyard. He recruited young boys and girls from his boarding school and parish and prepared them for the seminary and religious life.  He looked after them while in the houses of formation and when they were on holiday. “With such a dedicated pastor as Fr. Tansi, there is no surprise if many priestly and religious vocations have arisen in the parishes where he worked.” (Cardinal Arinze - Total Response –P.118). We recall here the Holy Father John Paul 11 advice to the bishops of Nigeria on the challenges in the formation of priestly and religious formation in Nigeria. He was speaking to them during his second pastoral visit in which he beatified Blessed Iwene Tansi.  The Holy Father emphasises the formation which was something which Blessed Tansi was doing 50 years back. “With more than three thousand seminarians currently in formation in your existing inter-diocesan major seminaries, you are planning to open new ones, this will allow you to ensure more readily the proper training of candidates to the priesthood”.( Abuja 1998)
         We can also stop and think for a moment about the growth and flourishing monastic apostolate in Nigeria at a time when some monasteries in many places are closing down. Blessed Tansi is the father of the monastic apostolate in Nigeria. When he was a pastor in the Archdiocese of Onitsha he desired the monastic apostolate for himself and for Nigerians.  He went for it, suffered for it and finally brought it to Nigeria because he knew the value of the hidden, contemplative life. He did this because of his understanding that personal union with God, prayer and sacrifice, however, hidden were fruitful for the whole Church. He knew that sharing in Christ’s mediation by sharing in his Cross is one of the most fruitful of the apostolate. He knew that it was love that counted and that the contemplative and the missionary apostolate needed each other. 
         Blessed Tansi's ideals in his love and esteem for women and the family are still alive, challenging and relevant in the church and society today. His apostolate has very high regard for women and the family “the first and vital cell of society” (cf. Vat.11, Ap. Act. 11). He first fought for the right and respect of women in a culture that has male domination tendency. It was not easy for him. Set up centres to give women moral education, wifely skills and care for home and children. He took special care for the sanctification of Christian marriages since the traditional native culture allowed the man and his wife to live together after the payment of the bride prize. He did not allow that for his new Christian converts and therefore set up measures to stop that practice for his Christians. Christian men and women must not live together even after the payment of the bride's prize. Some of his measures were strict and hard. Christian girls whose bride prize has been paid were not allowed to live with prospective husbands until united by sacramental marriage. Often this involves taking the girl away from the husband and keeping her in the pre-marriage centre until the man is ready for a sacramental marriage. In his time no one challenged him, he was a man of his epoch moved by the zeal to evangelise and sanctify. That zeal still remains valid for the growth and sanctification of our church today. His legacy is the story of what happens when holy pastors witness Christ. Their faith attracts others. We all need to repeat their words and follow their actions. Their faith is our faith; their hope is our hope. And that hope is strong. Blessed Tansi's legacy in other words is alive and well and living in Nigeria.  His spirit is also thriving today in the local church and among Nigerians.



                                                                   Sunday, April 2, 2023
                                                  Blessed Iwene Tansi - Nigerian Christian Prince
        It was March 22nd, 1998 the Catholic Church recognized the humble achievement and contribution to the world of Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi. During that ceremony the Holy Father, John Paul11 described him as “a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian”.(in Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998)
         During his life, the Blessed Iwene Tansi acting like a religious prince modeled his entire life and spirituality on ‘give and not count the cost’, ‘fight and not heed the wounds’, and ‘everything entirely for God’. Today we celebrate the glories of Blessed Tansi but let us not forget that he was despised and even hated by some few traditional rulers and chiefs who were dominant in his time and who opposed his reforms because of his call for change in culture and way of life diminished their cultural influence and gains. He was hated because he was the most outspoken champion of orthodox Christian morals and values and traditional cultural reforms. Conversely, he was loved and revered by faithful Catholics and ordinary men and women, especially by Catholics of the younger generation, precisely because he was such a strong defender of the faith and traditional religious values. Unfortunately some of his own among the clergy of the Archdiocese feared that his confrontations with the chiefs and traditional rulers would have an adverse impact on their opportunities for local support. Thus they did not always support him. As foreign missionaries, they wanted to blend in with the traditional establishment and not wage a culture war against it. It did not take long for Blessed Tansi to gain prominence in his fight against bad customs and bad traditional rulers.  The parishes where he worked were flourishing with faith. While some clerics who kept their heads down and compromised with the traditional rulers and customs were nurturing trouble with the young missionary church. Blessed Iwene Tansi actively promoted them, often with the help of senior seminarians – future priests, for them he became a mentor.
         His personality was that of an alpha male whose alternative career could have been in the field of politics. He was “a great man, a many-side specimen of redeemed humanity, a pride of Nigeria ...” ( in Arinze Cardinal ‘Total Response p. 9).  In his youth, he was offered a position to lead the community as a professional headmaster but turned it down to enter the seminary. Like the influential parish priest of Ars St. John Vianney, whom he admired, he believed that parish priests should play a role in the public life of their nations. Also, he relied heavily on the laity to promote his ideas. His leadership style was that of a fusion of the old traditional youth roles who were village functionaries with that of the new generation of Christian youth converts trained and equipped with sound morals who take part in the government of the community. He went about building new outstations in the farmlands and villages. For each outstation he built he placed a teacher/catechist to be in charge. By giving the young converts an education he was preparing them for future leadership. 
        In addition to being a public religious figure and an entrepreneur, Blessed Tansi was also ascetically inclined. The hallmark of his Christian identity was ascetic charity. Despite his priestly poverty, he gave much more than those who have. The main urge for his giving was his compassion for the sick and the weak. The lepers and the smallpox victims got his greatest attention because these unfortunate victims according to the native custom and belief were abandoned by all including their relations. He became for them a brother, a physician, and a spiritual father sharing his merged resources with them. Only heaven knows the kind of joy he offered to these unfortunate and abandoned victims.  Everybody knew about his fights for the underprivileged, widows, and women in general. He was much worried about the general condition of the masses - hunger, sickness, and repression. He seemed to have been made and given to “give and not count the cost,” “fight and not heed the wounds.”  He knew he was born into a cosmic battle, and he was prepared to fight like the heroic priest caught on the wrong side of the war. While he was the kind of man who regularly enjoyed the company of high ecclesiastical dignitaries he never forgot his more lowly sick friends. He was warm, fun, a master of repartee, interested in playfully exchanging ideas. All who met him immensely enjoyed his company and his guidance. He had an easy manner in correcting people and bringing evangelization into every discussion — often — when discussing the vagaries of everyday life. His passion for truth was not only about Catholic doctrine; he insisted that our private conversations be rooted in the truth. He showed affection by teasing people. Once a person became his friend, he remembered him for life. Today Nigerians “... young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest”. (JP in sermon beatification 1998)
        Pastors of souls in this land will learn from his princely detached lifestyle and never open the door to the spirit of worldliness, for this makes them interpret ministry according to the criteria of their advantage and leads them to use their role to serve themselves instead of serving others, and to neglect the one relationship that matters, that of humble and daily prayer.
  


                                                             Sunday, March 26, 2023
                                     Silver Jubilee of Beatification: The True Spirit of Blessed Tansi.    
        The Archdiocese of Onitsha has for the last 24 years been celebrating each year the anniversary of both the second pastoral visit of Saint John Paul 11 to Onitsha and the beatification of Blessed Iwene Tansi during that historic visit but this year the celebration took a different dimension – weeks of preparation accompanied by novena prayers, the number that turned on Wednesday 22nd. March 2023 at the basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Months earlier Archbishop Valerian Okeke, the Archbishop of Onitsha and the Actor in the cause of the beatification of Blessed Tansi gave directives that the prayers for the canonization of Blessed Tansi be said each morning during the morning assembly in all the Catholic schools in the Archdiocese.   And weeks before 22nd March each of the six Episcopal Region in the Archdiocese comes together one day to celebrate Blessed Tansi with a rosary procession, prayers, and confessions and end with the Holy Eucharist. Members of Blessed Tansi Solidarity, devotees, and friends of Blessed Tansi have joined the preparation with novena prayers and masses. March 22nd March was the D-day – the grand Jubilee celebration. It was a big thanksgiving to God and a grand honour to our national hero and Patron-Blessed Iwene Tansi. One of the many enduring attributes of Blessed Tansi is his ability to attract to the state of sanctity men and women indeed even children into the vast aura of holiness. Today he is honoured and remembered and indeed prayed to, not because of where he lived nor even for what he accomplished, but for that ever-attractive and inspiring state of holiness that he was able to achieve during his earthly lifetime. What inspires us most about him is his shared singular attachment to God and Godly things while at the same time, his admirable and free detachment from the vanities of our time. Admired because, like so many saints before him Blessed Iwene Tansi, at every stage of his life, took his vocation to holiness very seriously. His legacy is not of someone self-referential and lost in himself, but that of a sincere seeker who generously invested his talents in the demanding service of the Gospel, in fidelity to the Church, and in concrete contributions to society. We can rightly say that he learned to listen to and live the Gospel, accepted being a disciple in the Church, and was a committed citizen in a country-Nigeria that was increasingly in need of love and reconciliation.
        “Oh! Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi! He was a Nigerian, one hundred percent![…]. He lived out the Gospel in a way that was convincing in a way that [gave] credible witness, with a very high degree of credibility. The type of witnesses that is contagious.[…] You would not be indifferent to Blessed Tansi if you knew him. You either are for him or you will want to run away from him. It is like fire. You can’t be near fire and be indifferent. You will [surely] be affected. And Fr. Tansi had the fire, so he was inspiring”. (Extracts from the recorded recollections of Francis Cardinal Arinze – once a pupil and devoted mass serve of Blessed Tansi)
       When he was young, he did all the activities common to the village boys of his age. Living with his cousin's teacher he was a servant boy doing all the household works for his master. After eating in the evenings, the others spent their time playing in the village moonlight. The young Iwene would be often found praying in the church. His devotion to prayers was most striking. It is said that if you watched him praying in the church, he knelt down motionless, fixed his eyes on the tabernacle and tears gushed from his eyes. Some boys made fun of his attitude at prayer, but the more they did so, the more fervently he prayed. Other boys tried in vain to imitate him. He found time to attend daily morning masses and made visits to the Blessed Sacrament. His heroic piety as a boy servant did not in any manner diminish his humanity. He performed with equal dedication his daily domestic chores, was assiduous in his academic studies, and was more than capable when involved in sporting events with his mates. He was not merely a well-rounded youth interested in the normal everyday activities of his age group but more importantly, he did all things both with intensity and moderation. He did not play too much, nor even pray too much. He performed his many domestic duties at home and in the parish house despite failing his academic studies.  
         As a youth of 16 years, he obtained the First School Leaving Certificate and during the following year, began a new phase in his life as an apprentice teacher in the Christian village. As a teacher and later as School Headmaster, he continued to reveal not merely his sharp and keen abilities as an educator, but of equal importance to us his demonstrable preferential love of God and of Christian values. Popular, effective, and even beloved as a teacher, he gradually began to note within himself a deeper and more demanding calling to the service priesthood which would necessitate his leaving an already prestigious teaching profession and with it, a relatively autonomous lifestyle. He decided against the expectations of many though not without some temporary doubts and emotional pain. He believed the priesthood to be a place he could better and more wholeheartedly serve God and humanity. Nothing more and nothing less! Total service and solidarity with the poorest of the poor.
        He finally received priestly ordination at the hands of Bishop Charles Heerey in 1937. Today we remember with admiration and affection the priestly zeal of Blessed Tansi. From the time he was accurate at Nnewi in 1937 until his departure for the Trappists in England, in 1950, Tansi served with such priestly zeal and dedication that the ordinary of the Diocese, Archbishop Charles, Bishop Heerey, held him up as a model for all priests to emulate. This is an excellent compliment given the fact that most of the priests of the Archdiocese of Onitsha were, at the time, expatriates. Yet another piece of evidence that the change of vocation from Headmaster Tansi to Rev. Father Tansi was clearly the will of God lies in the prodigious variety and obvious fruits of his priestly ministry in the three parishes assigned to his pastoral care in the Archdiocese of Onitsha. God was still drawing him to Himself -to a life of total dedication away from the world at Mount Saint Bernard monastery England where he died January 20 1964 fulfilling perfectly his vow of stability.
       On occasions like this - the Jubilee of his beatification, the challenge that we want to share with you is not only to venerate him, honor, and pray to him but to make his way our way of discerning and responding to God’s call; his way of understanding the Church and the world; his way of relating to politics, with workers and businessmen; with children and youth; with ecclesiastics and religious life, with the sick, the poor and the voiceless in the society. What motivated him? What did he intend to achieve? How does his behavior enlighten us today as we face a difficult political and economic problem in our country so that we do not remain indifferent, superficial, or abstracted from what is happening around us? The life and choices of Blessed Tansi as teacher and headmaster, point to motivations far more sublime and universally appealing than the mere development of my talents, the exaggerated enjoyment of life, and the pursuit of honour, financial security, and prestige. In the end, Blessed Tansi, can serve as our model of essential holiness appropriate to all Christians whether these be high ecclesiastics, religious, youths, or any member of the baptized laity. The work and ways of Blessed Tansi still have much to say to us.
                                                                   Sunday, 19 March 2023
                         Blessed Iwene Tansi: 25 years of Beatification. (March 22nd 1998- 2023)
       Wednesday, March 22nd Nigeria shall celebrate the 25 years of the beatification of Blessed Tansi by Saint John Paul 11 during his second pastoral visit to Nigeria at Oba near Onitsha. It was an event of National, religious and political importance. Being proclaimed Blessed by the universal Catholic Church is a recognition of the humble way Blessed Tansi lived out his Christian vocation in radical fidelity - a great honour to his person and to Nigeria his country where he was born and received the Catholic faith, professed it and witnessed it as a child, a teacher, a diocesan priest and later as a religious Cistercian monk. 
        This event of twenty-five years ago and the life of Blessed Tansi are events that touch the lives of many people in so many ways. The event was unique and the first of its kind in this part of the world. Blessed Tansi lived a life admirable in so many ways that the church acknowledges its humble Christian character. The celebration of these 25 years is an excellent opportunity to pray for the successful completion of his worthy Cause -.fullness to the altar and how best Nigerians will live out his legacy. We remember that this fruit of holiness which grew and matured in this land is our own brother. He was like us and lived with us. He made his Christian way of life truly African. In him, Nigeria has something to offer to the universal church – truly Nigerian/African holiness. This is a good reason to rejoice, thank God and be proud. “Father Tansi witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local church now offers to the universal church…”( John Paul 11 Sermon Beatification 1998)  We have something in Blessed Tansi that Nigeria can offer to the universal church. What a happy memory. It is fitting that we celebrate a Nigerian, true servant of the Lord who exemplifies what it means to be a true Christian disciple and a model of holiness. During his ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Blessed Tansi was a great and inspiring spiritual leader who offered direction and inspiration to everybody.
       His beatification brought the Holy Father to for the second time to Nigeria. It was a pastoral visit to beatify Blessed Tansi but we remember that his coming brought Nigeria many social and political blessings. Before his coming Nigeria was in a bad shape, fearful, insecure and was in great social and political tension, it was a military rule I quite remember, political tension was at its highest and there were many political prisoners. But soon after the Pope’s visit, papal intervention and beatification of Blessed Tansi tensions began to die down, many in prison were released, political parties formed and the country returned to civilian rule. In all these, I see the hand of Blessed Tansi who loves his country so much. Certainly, heaven was at work for and in Nigeria. The Blessed Tansi is still very much alive in Nigeria; his fame of holy life is spreading among Nigerians. Many Nigerians are inspired to live a life of penance and devotion after his example. Many more are relinquishing their worldly desires and devoting themselves to a new way of life in service to others and the common good.  Could more Nigerians who aspire to worldly success and fame after the blessed Tansi example sacrifice some of their wealth for the good of the common people and become missionaries to spread the Gospel of love to the poor and voiceless in this country? Could more wealthy and powerful Nigerians learn to give to the poor instead of taking what belongs to the poor? Blessed Tansi travelled to a point of exhaustion the length and width of his mission in the Archdiocese of Onitsha to bring help and hope to millions of his people.
​​                                                                 Sunday Mach 12, 2023.
                                                    Blessed Iwene Tansi Eucharistic Legacy.
        Our Sunday Eucharist is Christ who gives himself to us and continually builds us up as his body. We are able to celebrate and adore the mystery of Christ present in the Eucharist precisely because Christ first gave himself to us in the sacrifice of the Cross. (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, no. 14). . God saves and it is our job to invite every person on this earth to personally know this fact. The diocesan investigation into the life and virtues of Blessed Tansi gave revealing evidence of the living presence of the Holy Trinity in his life and activity. He seemed to be living in the presence of God all the time. He felt God’s presence, he spoke of his presence and rejoiced as if God was physically present to him. He sought to bring everybody to the Eucharistic Lord. This fact was on the lips of almost every witness that came up to testify.
       “Father Tansi had a strong faith in the Holy Eucharist. He celebrated Mass in a way that inspired faith. His Eucharistic Benediction celebrations nourished faith. Even the way he genuflected showed his Eucharistic faith. He prayed for long hours in the Chapel by day and by night”    (Francis Cardinal Arinze) 
      This kind of piety is indeed a spiritual formation, fostering the disposition that leads us into fruitful celebration and participation in the Eucharist. We recall that very early in his life he felt the overwhelming love of God. This love ravished his soul and he welcomed it in the many difficult decisions he had to take, to become a Christian, to break from the last connection with the traditional religion by destroying his personal ‘chi’, leaving the teaching profession for the seminary and becoming a priest at the stiff opposition of his relations and to surrendering all the time to the same love of God as he called him even to the monastic life. Rather than a static idea, the Presence of God was for him ever actively present in the soul, constantly at work, continually rebuilding by love what weakness in him might have destroyed. Throughout his life he celebrated the Eucharist as a mystery to be believed, celebrated, and lived. Each of these dimensions was important for his spiritual growth as a Christian. “In his years as a pastor, the faith of Fr. Tansi in the Holy Eucharist was very manifest. He was often seen in his chapel on visits to our Eucharistic Lord, especially by night. His chapel, although simple, was always clean. So were his vestments for mass and for Eucharistic Benediction. He organised the Corpus Christi procession with a touch of beauty and love and saw that the choir and the flower girls did their part with credit and faith”. (in F. Arinze, Total Response p. 173)
        As a priest Blessed Tansi made the sacrifice of mass the first and highest function of the day. A good number of his parishioners testified to this. He remembers Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross at Mass; the Word once again becomes flesh and dwells among us. This little bit of matter—a small piece of bread and some drops of wine—is transformed into the presence of divine love accompanying us along the way.  The gift of the Eucharist was for him worth more than all the rest of his life. The Eucharist was Jesus and Jesus was the centre of his life.  Fr. Tansi believed that through his priestly ordination the Lord in his mercy had confided on him with the words ‘No longer servants, but friends’. With these words, the Lord had entrusted to him the words of consecration in the Eucharist. He had entrusted him to proclaim his word, to explain it aright and to bring it to all people. His Eucharistic piety took its base from here. He went to the Lord of the Eucharist with a friendly trust because he was not only the Lord’s friend but the Lord knew him by name. He sought the friendship of the Lord daily to know him better in the Scriptures, in the Sacraments, in prayer, in the communion of saints, in the people who came to him, sent by the Lord. 
       This was how Fr. Tansi became truly himself. This was the way Fr. Tansi lived his life for others since the Lord himself set his glory aside in order to seek us, in order to bring us his light and his love. “… although he was rich, he became poor for our sake, so that you should become rich through his poverty” (2Corith. 8.9). This is the reason for his great zeal to bring Christ to the remotest parts of his parish even if it meant trekking long distances or going by bush bike through the narrow pathways of the farmland often at the risk of snakes and wild animals. Blessed Tansi knew that his people have been struggling to live and that they had not much to depend on. They needed to rely on the Lord in everything because they have no one else to rely on, not even themselves. They were facing death, the uncertainty of severe illness, aggressive poverty, permanent disability and injustice. He was also aware of this kind of poverty in his loved ones and he sought to model his own life after that of the Master who came to rescue his loved ones in their poverty.  Hence his priestly love for the Eucharist bore within itself the precious cargo of patience, humility, and growth in conforming his will to God’s will, to the will of Jesus Christ, his friend in the Eucharist. “His long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love” ( JP 11. In sermon beatification 1998). With his long fasts and no comfort one sometimes wondered what gave him the joy, which people never failed to see on his face. Some think it was the presence of God, which he considered as the fulfilment of all desire, the inheritance with the saints, the furnace of love and our heavenly homeland.  This was testified in his favourite song, ‘Ife annuli na enu uwa ma ife ebube na enigwe’, (joyful things on earth but blessedness in heaven). 
        Awareness of the presence of God automatically inspired in him a love for prayer, to be with God all the time, craving for spiritual growth, everything making sense for him, generous to people, zealous in his ministry, and happy doing his work with tranquillity. To three Nigerian religious sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary who came to Mt. Saint Bernard to seek his advice he described this kind of contemplation as primarily God's work which we make space for by self-denial and silence. The soul humbly asked and obediently waited for God’s response.  He made it clear to these sisters that the weaknesses we discover in prayer did not impede God's work but instead became instruments through which He was revealed. Human frailty was meant to be enveloped in divine splendour and this was achieved in the deep silence of loving surrender to his living presence. Through humbly clinging in love to the living presence of the Holy God we became what we were predestined to be: the praise of glory. Blessed Tansi Eucharistic piety reminds all Nigerians of the heart of the Eucharistic faith of the Church. We go to Sunday Eucharist because God dwells among us. Even in our poverty, God is there. And learning to love our parish community is part and parcel of the Eucharistic celebration. God has come to each of these men and women to share Himself with them. If we can’t deal with that, it is we who need to change rather than God.
                                                              Sunday, March 5, 2023
                                        Blessed Tansi leaves a Legacy of a true Pastor of Souls.
         To become a priest was the youthful dream of Blessed Iwene Tansi, he pondered on his desire to become a priest but it was far from easy for him to achieve. Indeed, he arrived at priestly ordination only after many ordeals and misunderstandings, with the help of far-sighted priests who did not stop at considering his human limitations but looked beyond them and glimpsed the horizon of holiness that shone out in that truly unusual young man. So it was that on 19 December 1937 at the age of 33, at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Onitsha ( now basilica) after numerous uncertainties, quite a few failures, and many tears, he was able to walk up to the Lord's altar and make the dream of his life come true.  By this gift of his priesthood, he knew that he was consecrated to serve, humbly yet authoritatively.  He knew that the Lord had given him great graces at his ordination and urged him more strongly than ever to throw himself into the work of his sanctification so he might draw many other souls to Him. And so the young priest wanted the greatest possible fervor and exactness in all his priestly duties. “ For 13 years Father Tansi had been a devoted pastor baptizing, absolving in the confessional, preaching, catechizing, visiting the sick, organizing schools, building and traveling... he could also react quickly and lose his temper when a big principle was at stake”( in Cardinal Arinze, ‘Total Response”. P. 217)
         For the rest of his life, he always expressed the highest esteem for the gift of the priesthood. He loved and lived it out to the full. His pastoral care for his parishioners is like the Fulani and their cattle.  He stood with the people, no matter the risk. He was their advocate even at risk to his own life.  He really went to every corner of his parish, untiringly, in order to seek his flock and to bear fruit that lasts. He was a priest to the last, for he offered his penitential mortified life to God for his community and for the entire human family, in a daily self-oblation for the service of the Church. And in this way, he became an imitator of Christ, the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep.  He saw this mission as indispensable for the Church, for his suffering people, and for the world, a mission that called him for complete fidelity to Christ and constant union with him.  He saw his pastoral mission as indispensable for the Church, for his suffering people, and for the world - a mission that called him for complete fidelity to Christ and constant union with him.  He knew that there was no other way than to abide in his love which entails constantly striving for holiness and growing ever closer to Jesus, who counted on him, his minister, to spread and build up his Kingdom and to radiate his love and his truth.  From the moment of his ordination, he was determined to be completely enthralled by Christ.  This was the goal of his entire life and the goal of the entire pastoral ministry. 
          Father Tansi, a good pastor lived according to the mind of Christ and his church. Through his priestly lifestyle, he emphasized the indispensable role of the priest. As a pastor, the parishes where he worked and the people who met him knew that he was the greatest treasure that the good Lord could give to a parish and at the same time one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy. It is here that we find the reason for the great mortification and penance in his life for his flock. To live for him is to suffer, it is the truth, the most obvious and indisputable truth in life, the data on which any quasi-scientific theory of human life must be erected. Apart from spiritual pains and problems related to morality, physical suffering was the most obvious problem in the world of his day.  Living condition was hard, essentials were not there, and depression, despair, and divorce were more painful than death. For him and his pastoral care Christ came as the solution to all problems – spiritual and physical. Everyone must have faith in God. He brought God to their level sanctifying families and marriages. He sought to dispel local myths and superstitions that created fear and anxiety among the people. Gradually beliefs and myths about the evil forests, leprosy, smallpox, and evil malignant spirits of the dead began to disappear.  His attitude to life emphasizes the truth that if we do not have before us a purpose and a meaning in life, then we cannot endure any suffering that is inconvenient. His simple presence among the people did them well, brightened and touched hearts hardened by the ups and downs of life and above all enlightened and shook indifferent consciences. Christ came not to free us from our pains, but to transform them into his. Christ does not try to solve the problem of suffering; he changed it into a mystery. 
          He had such confidence in God, in himself, and in his divine mandate to raise very strong voices against the injustice and the abuses of power that some traditional rulers used to oppress the poor, the weak, and women in order to exploit them for their own selfish ends. He could not remain neutral or indifferent before the pain was caused to others by acts of injustice and violence. The masquerade cults violating the fundamental rights of any woman or man were an offense. He stood strongly against them. Apart from his pastoral care for the sick especially leprosy and smallpox victims, he assisted them with his merged material resources. Oral tradition has it that most times he forfeited his meals to the poor and the sick.
          He had power and influence over his flock but not as traditional rulers and chiefs, he was a compassionate and merciful shepherd, not an overlord, but a servant who stoop to wash cloth the lepers and to bury the dead ones - not a local agency that administers earthly goods, but the God’s servant who brings God’s mercy, comfort and compassion. He stood all the time in the midst of people’s troubled lives, - families, women, and youth and needy - ready and willing to dirty his hands with them. His closeness to his people as a pastor of souls is a marvelous testimony that he bequeathed to us - a legacy that invites us to carry forward our various missions to all our brothers and sisters. The seeds he planted in this local church, along with many others, will bear fruit. It is good to remember with gratitude such a great pastor who marked the history of our country and our local Church, who preached the Gospel and went before us in faith. He is the solid root that strengthens our evangelical zeal.
                                                                    Sunday, February 26, 2023
                                       25 years after Beatification: Nigeria any hope for real change.
         Nigerians after 25 years of the second papal visit and beatification of Blessed Iwene Tansi should see hope for real change in their lives. Immediately after the visit, Nigerians seemed optimistic that the pontiff’s words and deeds made a real difference in inspiring change, even if perceiving the concrete results will take time. Today after 25 years did our optimism elude us? Today the mass poverty and the bleak conditions facing many sick people, the corruption that enables them to continue and perhaps the greatest - Nigeria is looking more and more like a battlefield without any hope of change. 25 years ago the Holy Father spoke strongly, on the real and main problems of Nigerians – his words were like intravenous epinephrine for a patient in anaphylaxis.  Yes, definitely his words made a difference at the time – at least the military head of state decided to hand the government to the people. But have Nigerians learnt anything in the area of love for one another and reconciliation? The papal visit has confirmed us in hope, service and joy. God has sent him to us. We are not naive. We trust in Him.
        “Today I wish to proclaim the importance of reconciliation: reconciliation with God and reconciliation of people among themselves. This is the task which lies before the Church in this land of Nigeria, on this continent of Africa, and in the midst of every people and nation throughout the world. ... For this reason, the Catholics of Nigeria must be authentic and effective witnesses to the faith in every aspect of life, both in public affairs and in private matters”.( JP 11 Sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998)
         We thought that for Nigeria there was no way to push back. Every social actor was highly sensibilise and ready for action. But what has happened these 25 years – seems we have learnt nothing and have forgotten nothing. As Nigerians celebrate the 25 years of that event we renew our belief that our blessed national hero Iwene Tansi will really strengthen the building of peace and reconciliation in his native land. Not only that but also to bring people closer to build bridges – political, social, ethnic and religious. Violence continues to plague much of this country due to ethnic and religious tensions and our leaders are unable to overcome tribal and power-sharing disputes.  I personally believe that at the end of the day God through the intercession of Blessed Tansi will bring comfort to his people and we will always reach the level where Nigerians can agree on how the country can move.
         Hope for real change - Even though many Nigerians are now losing faith in our political leadership to effectively achieve peace we need to have faith and hope, we need to give them at least a chance and we should not be too prejudiced by what has happened. God is patient, so we give them a chance to try again and to bring peace and desired development to our people. Today we all need to join hands condemning tribalistic instincts and stressing the importance of forgiveness and unity in the national reconciliation process. If our political leaders take to heart the fact that change is necessary and begin to change, the whole country within a short time will be strong and will also be an example for other countrie
       All Nigerians should take responsibility in front of their community and God and not be complicit in national matters of great importance. The credibility of the church is crucial for this impact. Not due to its political views and power decisions, but because of coherence. If lay people, priests, religious, and bishops are coherent in their own lives, Nigeria will radiate peace. We recall that Blessed Iwene Tansi our extraordinary and ascetic pastor urged his parishioners to ensure that suffering people never feel alone. During his time many were suffering from endemic hunger, disease, rejection from their own people, and exploitation at the hands of both traditional landlords and colonial masters. Such moments of suffering were always accompanied by a feeling of aloneness. Blessed Tansi had a great concern for those who suffer; he was always near them in his ministry. He did not only share his merger resources with them but was close to them as their friend. He prayed for all the sick people, in the families, in the neighbourhood, that they may never feel left alone, or be treated with indifference or lack of concern by those whom God has put in their path of life to be God’s presence and compassion to them.  He remains for us today an eloquent witness to God’s closeness to the sick and the poor. All of us are created and called to be brothers and sisters to each other on our earthly pilgrimage. We must be grateful for the many opportunities God gives us, to bring hope into the lives of many suffering people, through our loving concern for the individual sufferer. In this way, we can help our troubled Nigeria, sometimes on the brink of despair, to discover a new reason to live or to die with a smile of contentment.
        His example should continue to guide us today as we find many suffering in our midst by opening up horizons of joy and hope for all those in need of understanding and tender love, and especially for those who suffer. In order to stand with a suffering person, we need that beautiful quality of a human heart – compassion. A touch of compassion, or a look of compassion, can bring hope to the one suffering.
                                                             Sunday, February 19, 2023
                    Remembering Blessed Iwene Tansi: Looking back at 25 years of Beatification.
        Nigeria thanks Blessed Tansi for reminding her of what is most important in life.  His legacy is his greatest contribution to his country. This will be continuing and will be essential to Nigerians of every generation. He was famous during his lifetime but his beatification 25 years ago brought out to light the magnitude of the man. This magnitude can be measured in part by the massive reaction his beatification has occasioned. Both in Nigeria and around the Catholic world the humble committed and simple way he had to live out his vocation was extolled.  Ordinary and simple he is the most prominent churchman that Nigeria has ever produced, and certainly the most influential Nigerian within the country as well as around the world. 
       We recall that in 1998 the charismatic and loving Pope, John Paul 11 with the heavyweights of his pontificate, was already getting weak on account of age but the importance of Blessed Tansi's beatification to Nigeria, Africa and the Catholic world brought him to Nigeria for the second time during his pontificate. The reason for his second pastoral visit to Nigeria was to beatify Blessed Iwene Tansi. For the Catholic Church in Nigeria, it was the greatest spiritual/religious event of the century. His second pastoral visit to beatify Blessed Tansi marked the greatest positive political turn for Nigeria which was on the verge of political collapse. From nowhere after the death of the military head of state political prisoners were realised and the military decided to hand over political power to civilians. The national election that followed was smooth, peaceful and fair. I think this is the second greatest blessing from the Papal second pastoral visit to beatify the Blessed Iwene Tansi. Nigeria had never had it so good. Thanks to the Holy Father and thanks to the Nigerian son Blessed Iwene Tansi that brought the Holy Father. It is now twenty-five years since that event and what has Nigeria learnt in her religious and political life?
         According to the Holy Father, “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house” (cf. Sermon – beatification Nigeria 1998). Blessed Tansi spent his life teaching us through his own experience the ‘emptiness’ of the world and its material things and ‘the illusion’ that followed at the end. He lived the way of total detachment from material things and sought the way of reconciliation with God and his neighbours. Nigeria in 1998 had a very great and urgent need for reconciliation, especially in its political life. Hence the Holy Father called on all Nigerians to follow the way of Blessed Tansi. “Today I wish to proclaim the importance of reconciliation: reconciliation with God and reconciliation of people among themselves. This is the task which lies before the Church in this land of Nigeria, on this continent of Africa, and in the midst of every people and nation throughout the world. ... For this reason, the Catholics of Nigeria must be authentic and effective witnesses to the faith in every aspect of life, both in public affairs and in private matters”.(ibid)
Twenty-five years after as we recall the Papal second pastoral visit, his words to us, the Blessed Tansi and his beatification we are lifted up and called to our responsibility to one another and to our country. This is our responsibility and we must do it unless we want our Nigeria to continue to “... look more and more like a battlefield, where only selfish interests count and the law of force prevails" (ibid). I am tempted to say that what we have learnt (if any) we have forgotten so quickly. We have to begin again. May the remembrance of the twenty-five years of Blessed Tansi beatification make us ever more committed to seeking peace and reconciliation in ourselves, our families, towns and nation so that our journey of faith and nation-building will be characterised fundamentally by openness to truth, conversion and forgiveness.  What is really important in the lives of Nigerians is that the legacy of Blessed Iwene Tansi survives and thrives. The quarter-century remains for Nigeria - 25 years of kindness, hospitality, support, national dialogue, correction, commiseration, and celebration - were for a purpose that the seeds of the blessed Iwene Tansi would continue to bear fruit. It is a great high time in the life of the local Church. Would Nigerians be his equal in fidelity and courage? The Catholic Church in Nigeria is still praying for the one miracle accredited to the intercession of Blessed Tansi to move him to the fullness of the altar. Help and pray sometimes for this one miracle and if you ever receive any favour through his intercession remember to report to the postulation for the cause of Blessed Tansi (postulationtansi@yahoo.com or 2348030958350) 


                                                             Sunday, February 12, 2023
                                           Silver Jubilee- Beatification – 1998 March 22nd.2023 
           Nigeria Remembers Blessed Iwene Tansi- An important Church figure and courageous Spiritual leader


        “Today, one of Nigeria's own sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another”( JP 11 Nigeria 1998-beatification sermon). 
        These words of the Holy Father Saint John Paul 11 echoed in Nigeria and the whole world twenty-five years ago (March 22nd. 1998) when the Saintly Pope proclaimed Blessed Tansi the most important man in Nigeria because “Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families”. (ibid). The church recognized the humble way he lived out his vocation as a Cistercian monk, parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, professional teacher, and a young child that grew up in the remote village of Aguleri in the early twenty century.
      Today Nigeria considers Blessed Tansi as one of the most influential figures in the contemporary local Church, is being celebrated around Nigeria as a courageous leader, a fine priest, and a man of great suffering. He is a courageous leader who inspired so many clergies and lay faithful around Nigeria to proclaim Christ crucified, raised, and with us still. What we will most certainly never forget is his call to leave his flourishing pastoral work in the Archdiocese to travel to a strange land to bring the monastic apostolate to his fellow Nigerians. It was for him to follow Christ in another way – a true call like Abraham to leave his relations and country to find God in a new world. He went but did not return after fourteen years of monastic experience at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey England. At his death, on January 20 1964 Nigerians thought they have lost one of their greatest leaders, a man of fidelity and integrity who was a confessor who did not shed his blood but suffered greatly for the faith. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest.” (JP 11 beatification Onitsha 1998) 
         He was a committed staunch advocate and defender of Catholic principles and virtues. He fearlessly proclaimed the Gospel and worked to explain the teachings of the Church. He spoke the truth as he found it, however difficult or unpopular. He was also a man of prayer, of the deep Christian faith, and a loving shepherd to his flock in parishes, schools, hospitals, and throughout his diocese. The former bishop of Umuahia, the late Bishop Anthony Nwedo CSSP has this to say about him: “... it may be a high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm, candor, and sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self-forgetful”. (Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha 1986) The saintly bishop who was a student and contemporary of Blessed Tansi in the seminary gave a magnificent explanation of the contemporary importance and enduring relevance of Blessed Tansi to many who had never heard of him. He prayed that God might set in the local Church strong and mighty pillars that may suffer and endure like Blessed Tansi. In Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi we meet one who came from being a devout pagan village boy to a Catholic Christian,  to a Catholic priest, to a Cistercian monk, to the honours of the alter and perhaps God willing soon to the fullness of the honours of the alter.  His early search for the truth and God drew him increasingly towards the missionaries, but there were many hurdles on his way. He passed through several stages on his journey, each rooted in his humble acceptance of the will of God and truth. His journey of faith was characterized fundamentally by openness to truth, conversion, and a missionary approach.  He will ever be remembered as one of the faithful servants of the church in our days who lived out the call and mind of the church in his life. 
                                                               Sunday, February 5, 2023
                                                   The lasting legacy of Blessed Iwene Tansi
         Blessed Iwene Tansi (1903-1964) left a lasting legacy over the course of his lifelong service to the Church as a teacher/catechist, priest, and monk. While most of the current generation of Nigerian Catholics will know Blessed Tansi through his legacy as the first Nigerian Cistercian monk, it’s unlikely that he would have been entrusted with such a lofty position if it was not for his immense and important work as a priest starting, most notably, with his work as a zealous evangelizer in the Archdiocese of Onitsha.
        Blessed Tansi Influences – Blessed Tansi has a special charism of having an influence on people. His influence started very early in his life. In his early years in school, he was leading his fellow students – to prayers, to games, and to catechism instructions.  When he speaks others will obey. As a school teacher and headmaster, the story is the same.  He has a great influence on the other teachers and on the parents of the pupils. The reason – he has a character and is zealous for the welfare of the pupils, the teachers, and the parents. He makes sacrifices for all. He is in charge and has command of everything. In 1925 he entered the diocesan junior seminary at Igbariam. The students were very few – only eight in number. He was given a very responsible function –master of manual labour. Manual labour was third in importance after studies and prayers. The students worked more than three hours a day either on the farms or in the fields cutting grass. Through his personal dedication to manual labour he excised great influence on other students and encouraged them to persevere in their hard manual labour. Another function of the great influence he held for many years in the seminary was the seminary bursar/procurator. As a priest, the story was the same, his zeal, charity, dedication, compassion, and mortified ascetical life won him great respect and influence. His period (1937-1950) as parish priest and pastor of souls saw the greatest commitment to pastoral renewal and reform in the Archdiocese, we mention a few:
        Sanctification of marriage and family: he considered family basic for the parish's growth, so he started by sanctifying Christian marriages, educating the would-be wives in domestic work and wifely skills. He did not leave out the youth – boys, and girls he organized them and offered them a Christian education. 
        Radical changes in Igbo culture: Fully to understand Blessed Tansi the, parish priest, it is necessary to grasp the role played in shaping the Archdiocesan parish apostolate.  Before he joined the Archdiocesan apostolate as a priest the young missionary church was enveloped with a great fog of uncertainty by some practices carried over from the Igbo traditional religion. With his knowledge of Igbo culture and tradition his aim, therefore, was to help relieve that condition by explaining the Christian faith to his converts without compromise. The traditional culture that offends Christian moral principles was abolished not only for Christians but for the whole community. By his charity and special option for the sick and the needy, he brought Christ's compassion home to the people recovering from the evils of slavery, apatite, and colonization.  Before he left for the monastery in 1950 Father Tansi had gained a reputation as a holy, zealous, and progressive pastor.
         ‘Osu and Oghu’ System: A kind of cast system which existed long before the advent of missionaries. The system discriminates against people because of either their birth, heritage, or status in society.  He relentlessly with the Christian social concept threw a great convincing light on the Igbo traditional social discrimination. However, it was not easy. Here he had his greatest opposition. The hostility and suspicion toward him grew among his opponents and for years carried over where ever he went until his withdrawal to the monastery. Future pastors of souls continued from where he stopped. 
         Liberation of Women: The Igbo culture excluded women from many public and social activities. Some of these sometimes offend the dignity of their human person. Blessed Tansi fought for the rights and liberation of women from these customs. 
         Demythologized the Masquerade cult: This cult in some parts of Igbo land was fearful and deadly. Nobody could oppose them and their decisions. They are regarded as demigods. In some places, they are used to perpetuate injustice. They could molest women especially those that resist their love advances. Blessed Tansi in his fight against this cult, exposed them, unmasked them, and advised his Mary league girls to unmask them – a serious taboo in some parts of Igbo land.
         Abolished the evil myth of leprosy and smallpox: Grounded in his experience growing up in an environment dominated by belief in traditional religion Blessed Tansi for years had expressed deep concern and regret over the faith of lepers and smallpox victims. In many parts of Igbo land leprosy and smallpox are deadly sicknesses considered as a punishment inflicted on persons who offended the deity. Nobody, not even their relations could associate with them. They are avoided and in case of death, they are not buried but thrown into the evil forest to decay on the surface of the earth or eaten by wild animals. In part even as a young man, he had a tremendous and unwavering faith, tenacity of purpose, and rugged physical strength to fight these evils. It was no surprise when in 1937 he became a priest he launched an all-round attack on this traditional belief and sought to restore sanity to save the lives of innocent victims, The way he did it was by teaching and showing personal compassion and friendship to the victims of these sicknesses.
         The cost of these reforms to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. He found peace for himself and his brothers. He was a unique person. Nobody would be him. He had his own life and vocation. His life helps us to see and to appreciate what is important at the core of our being and faith and also helps us to renew our awareness of the things that really matter in our lives. His life is important to us because it is an exemplary life of faith, humility, and perseverance in following what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end. For us there will always be suffering that cries out for consolation and help. There will always be loneliness. There will always be situations of material need where help in the form of concrete love of neighbour is indispensable- namely, loving personal concern.
                                                             Sunday, January 29, 2023
                                   After the feast on January 20: How do we remember Blessed Tansi?
          Nigeria celebrated the annual feast of Blessed  Iwene Tansi on Friday, January 20. Throughout Nigeria, many Christians including the members of Blessed Tansi Solidarity, devotees, and friends gathered in different dioceses to celebrate the Eucharistic Celebration to mark the feast. In the Archdiocese of Onitsha, the feast was celebrated this year on the parish level – each parish gathered in their parish/station to honour our national hero. Now that the celebration is over, how shall we continue to honour and remember Blessed Tanis? Blessed Tansi is our patron and companion in our life journey. He is with us seven days a week and twelve months a year. Feast or no feast we should be aware of his presence in our lives. In the following ways:


        Paying homage to him is a way of showing honour to him just as honour is given to and shared among human beings. Among us, many paintings, statues, and other remembrances of notable leaders, heroes and saints have been set forth for our edification and inspiration. In the Catholic Church, we give special honour to the saints for their heroic virtue and example. This honour is technically termed “dulia,” to distinguish it from the worship (latria) due to God alone. Get some of his statuses, pictures, medals and photographs as a kind of memorabilia. Besides we all need a saint to challenge us. There are many things in this life that distract us from looking toward Heaven. Whether it be work, life struggles, or any other thing we are all guilty at one time or another of becoming stale in our journey of faith.  God forbid we stay there.  We pray and we can look to Blessed Tansi who came before us for help and guidance.  The bottom line is that there is always some aspect of our spiritual lives that we need to develop. Blessed Tansi can help us.  His words are as challenging today as when they were first spoken.  Studying his preaching, teaching, and lifestyle is a good way to reinvigorate our faith.
         Take part in the program for his Silver Jubilee: March 22 2023 will the Silver Jubilee of his beatification. Make sure you take part in the Archdiocesan program for the celebration. Above all use the occasion to pray for a miracle for his canonization. You remember the deteriorating social and political condition of Nigeria in 1998 before he was beatified. I believe that the grace of beatification calmed down the social and political confusion of the time and brought in a civilian administration the following year. Thank you, God.
         Make a pilgrimage to the Blessed Tansi Shrine: This is another way to pay respect to Blessed Tansi. The temporary shrine is at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Here you can find his mortal remains. Visit him individually and in groups and have personal contact with his mortal remains. There is mass every Monday at 9.30 am before his remains. Joining in this mass is one of the most perfect ways of honouring him and obtaining favours. At the end of the mass, there is special ministry for the sick. When you come you will also have the opportunity to leave your written request before the mortal remains. In this way, you will benefit from other masses/prayers celebrated at the shrine.
         An agent of peace: The Blessed Tansi spent his life working for peace and praising those who work for the cause of peace. People like that are too few among us. Peace in the homes and families used to be his greatest concern.  Considering the need now to bring peace into your world would be another way to honour Blessed Tansi. In fact, everyone who has joined the ranks of Blessed Tansi must be a glowing point of light in his world, a nucleus of love, a leaven of the whole mass. Peace belongs to every Christian, flowing from the unity of the Church and our vocation to discipleship. It is not an optional pursuit. It is part and parcel of our vocation. To continue the fight for peace is to be aware. Our Nigeria will never be the dwelling place of peace, till peace has found a home in the heart of each and every Nigerian, till every man preserves in himself the order ordained by God to be preserved. 
         Helping to bring the Cause to a happy conclusion:  The Blessed Tansi needs only one miracle recognized by the Vatican to get to the fullness of the altar. Only God can perform miracles. We as humans cannot. But we can beg him to perform a miracle through the intercession of Blessed Tansi. This we must all do if we say we love Blessed Tansi. Pray every day for this miracle.
         Promote the Cause of Blessed Tansi: Apart from praying for a miracle, you can also ask other people to pray. If you love Blessed Tansi talk to your friends about Blessed Tansi. Offer them medals, prayer cards, leaflets, and books dealing with the life of Blessed Tansi. Help all you know to learn about him.
         Report Favours Received; when you receive favour from Blessed Tansi you must report that favour to the Postulation Blessed Iwene Tansi, Basilica Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Email- postulationtansi@yahoo.com, phone – 08030958350.





                                                                   Sunday, January 22, 2023

                                             Celebrating Blessed Iwene Tansi Feast day Jan. 20:

                                              God did Nigeria good in giving us Blessed Tansi


          The Blessed IweneTansi (1903-1964) whose feast day we celebrate on January 20 is truly a saint for everyone. He was a devoted teacher, pastor of souls, zealous evangeliser and a Cistercian monk. As a good shepherd pastor of souls he is a man worthy of being called “Father”, people see and feel in him that love that the Almighty God has for each one of us. We are His creations and adopted children, the Christian faith teaches us he created us and adopted us as his children.

          We see this man surrender daily himself and all that he has to God in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass just as he did years ago when he abandoned his government lucrative teaching profession and opted for the seminary and when the left his flourishing parish apostolate and opted for the monastery in 1950. Many who knew him and his pastoral capacity thought he was making a mistake. But for him it was a call to follow Christ in another way. He was urged by the love of God and of his fellow men and women. He was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord. He wanted to bring the monastic and contemplative life to Nigeria for Nigerians. For him at that time it was God’s call and will – it was an invitation to go into the unknown, to leave his country and his family like Abraham and so many others, and to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. It was, like all true calls from God, a venture of faith                        


          He lived his life of faith better than anyone i know and no one could explain it. Through his words and teaching, he could make the faith so accessible to a ll because he lived what he taught. Some of my favorite of his teachings are found in his apt use of Igbo idioms and metaphors which bring home to his audience the real meaning of the mystery he wanted to conferee. Some of these metaphors are still repeated today even by those who did not know from where they originated. When he talked about some of his Christians who wanted to be Christians but take interest in pagan feasts and sacrifices he said that if one wanted to eat a frog he should better eat a fat one so that when people call him a frog eater he should be proud of the name. He spoke about religious women who loved God and lived to praise Him with their lives with such awe that religious life became attractive to many. He was a man who loved women with the purest reverence and fought relentlessly to liberate them from a certain Ibo culture that enslaved them. The kind of teaching and training on sexual purity and chastity he handed to his Mary League Girls and intending couples are today meant for all the women of the world. Sincerely can’t help now but think as we celebrate his feast day. God wants us to see this man and his life again. He has a message and legacy that will bring us Nigerians nearer to him but not many of us actually heard and live this legacy. We need more of him. We can learn a lot from him.   


          Blessed Iwene Tansi fatherhood is both extraordinary and infectious. Fatherhood including spiritual fatherhood is a rare gift in our world today. I remember during my pastoral ministry at Dunukofia where Blessed Tansi was parish priest for a number of years people continue telling me that Blessed Tansi fatherhood was extraordinary. Again and again especially among the older people I continued hearing tales of his pastoral zeal, love and compassion. How much I wished to be remembered like him that after I had left the place. They were at that time calling him a saint even though his cause for canonization was not yet initiated in the Archdiocese. Again I suppose this was partly due to the kind of penitential mortified ascetical life he was living and partly due to his love and compassion which were all-inclusive. Because at that time his cause for canonization was not yet initiated I cynically thought that was too good to be true. They were local parish people and couldn’t have predicted how this would all play out, but they were convinced of God’s love for us to give him to us for a time. In Blessed Tansi the hour is now when the Christian vocation is being achieved in its fullness, the hour in which Nigerian Christians acquire in their world an influence, an effect, and a power never hitherto achieved. That is why, at this moment when Nigeria is under-going so deep a transformation, Christians impregnated with the spirit of Blessed Tansi can do so much to aid others in not falling.

           Are You Ready for Your Healing this time around? 

• Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?

• Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?

• Are you bound by the injuries of your past?

         There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us. Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.  




                                                                  Sunday January 15, 2023
                                            Celebrating the feast of Blessed Tansi January 20: 
What we have learnt.
          Every year at the feast of Blessed Tansi Nigeria remembers with heartfelt gratitude his consistent and committed witness and his dedication to the Gospel and to the local Church, his pastoral initiatives in the Archdiocese of Onitsha which today serve as foundations for both teaching and deepening the faith in our land.  His pastoral zeal, determination and wisdom are his legacies for future Nigerian priests. His perseverance even in the hour of trials authenticates his ministry. He was such a figure of strength, and endured so many trials with such faith and courage, that he seemed invincible. He is one of the great national churchmen of our time.
         Our yearly celebration of the feast of Blessed Tansi is meant to help us to be better than we were last year, especially in the practice of our faith and our daily lives. In other words it is meant to help our self-improvement. If it does not then something must be wrong. Either we are not serious about it or it does not mean much in our priorities. Remember you don’t need to be better than anyone else. You just need to be better than you used to be – some improvement you must have noticed in yourself. During each year's novena to prepare for the feast we want to be able to look back and say, “I led a good life; I have improved in this virtue or the other.” But what exactly is the measure of a good life? To have lived a good life has nothing to do with comparing our possessions or our accomplishments with anyone else. It’s all about comparing where we started and where we wound up.  We may have stumbled along the way, but we want to be able to honestly say we made slow but steady progress from last year to date. That means continually striving to be a better person than we were last decade, last year, last month, last week—even a better person than we were yesterday. We should all the time aim at being the best possible version of ourselves. 
              In Blessed Tansi the Holy Father John Paul 11 presented Nigerians as an example and a model of a Nigerian who lived lives of moral strength and honor, overcoming difficult challenges to become the best person Nigerians could possibly be. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much. He was first of all a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness” (Sermon Beatification 1998) His life offers a series of life tips and standards to live by.  They may not change your life immediately, but I believe if you incorporate them into your life, they will put you on the right path. They can help you live a life of meaning and character. Some of these include:
   Honesty. Blessed Tansi lived a life of honesty to himself, to his neighbor and above all to God. He never pretended even at the greatest trying moments of his life. His honesty nourished his prayer life.
    Man of prayer. His prayer life nourishes his soul, keeping him regularly in communication with God.  “... his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love”. ( JP.11. Beatification sermon 1998)  we too must have time each day to meet God in prayer at least once a day,  break away from your work or home routine and take a little time to feed your soul. This may involve a walk out in nature, reading a spiritual text, spending some time in quiet contemplation. Know how to quiet the inner self because only by quieting the self can you be open to the external sources of strengths you will need. Only by muting the sound of your own ego can you see the world clearly. That means engaging in a regular practice of meditation, contemplation or centering prayer.
    Gratitude. In prayer the Blessed Tansi finds something to be thankful for each day. We too can find something to be grateful for, even if it is just to give thanks for the food on the table or the roof over our head or the fact we lived to see another day. Have a prayer of gratitude each morning, giving thanks first for your family and friends.
    Humility. Blessed Tansi is extremely humble. “He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families” (St. JP 11 Sermon beatification 1998). Be humble. Humility reminds us that we are not the center of the universe. This means keeping our ego and pride in check. Be willing to hear out from others. Be open-minded. Trust in a force greater than yourself. The world can be a tough place and we need all the help we can get. We all need someone or something to lean on. 
             For some of us spiritual life is about becoming stronger and less afraid. Our practices help us build spiritual abilities and help us feel fearless and secure. I believe spiritual life is all about living where we are afraid and overcoming our daily challenges with love and trust in God and overcoming constant fear and anxiety. We celebrate the feast of Blessed Tansi with devotion because we know that he can help us because we live in a frightening world. We grow in spiritual wisdom and maturity as we recognize that our world is full of valid reasons to be afraid and to trust in the assistance of those who have gone before us marked with sign of faith. Some of us are afraid because of remarkably real things we have already experienced. We live with the memories and the trauma which continue to haunt our present and our future. Even when we have moved on to find somewhere safer, we continue to live in a frightening place. Recognizing and understanding our challenges require us to spend time reflecting on them; we contemplate what makes us afraid and why. We share our stories with a trusted, listening friend/brother who can help us see them clearly and learn their lessons.

Are You Ready for Your Healing this time around? 
•    Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
•    Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?
•    Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.



​                                                              Sunday 25 December 2022
                                                   Blessed Tansi a great Catechist of our time.
               As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords and the Saviour of humanity we recall that there has been none and shall ever be a historical figure as widely known as JESUS. Today so many of his followers (Christians) live with the illusion that they really know him when in reality they simply have various impressions about Him. Impressions however, are not knowledge. Some of these impressions come from different sources – experiences with churches, families, friends, catechists, books and social media. You can now begin to think of how you came to know Jesus. I am convinced seeing what is happening around me with my fellow Nigerian Christians that many of these sources are either completely wrong, mostly wrong, or mostly right but with significant errors. As a result of this, it is hard to imagine any subject more fraught with confusion, misinformation, and deception than the subject of who Jesus really is. The most important person who has ever lived is also the most misunderstood. 
            The name Jesus is on the lips of so many and thoughts flow the moment we hear the name Jesus Christ but which thoughts are true, and which are false.  Even more important than His teachings on life and ethics is who Jesus actually claimed to be. Scripture itself presents Christ not as a myth, but history. It emphasizes the role of eyewitnesses. Our faith in Christ is only as good as the authentic reality of the Christ we believe in.  Jesus is God who took flesh and became man to bring the kingdom of God to humanity. Nothing is more important than who Jesus is and what He has done. Christianity is not simply a religion about Christ but a relationship with Christ.  You have never met him in person, and you don’t know anyone who has. But there is a way to know who he is. Jesus Christ has a unique excellence and a spiritual beauty that speaks directly to our souls through so many things that happen in our lives. It is like seeing the sun and knowing it is light, or tasting sugar and knowing it is sweet. Again we know him through so many who have gone before we marked with the sign of true faith. The lives of these people are so startling that they challenge us to make up our minds about this most remarkable person - JESUS.
             The Blessed Iwene Tansi, a Nigerian, Christian is a perfect example of a follower of Jesus. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian”. (St. JP 11, Sermon-beatification 1998). The universal call for holiness alone would be insufficient to explain Blessed Tansi's consistent pursuit of being a true Christian. He is a great Catechist of our time – a true catechist who taught and lived the kingdom of God as Jesus taught. Even as a young man he had a tremendous and unwavering faith, tenacity of purpose and rugged physical strength to fight the evils in his society.  Sometimes his efforts seemed pitifully futile in the gigantic morass of trouble and despair that was the moral and social condition of the time. But he never despaired, and pushed on until success was achieved. Now looking at the huge success that he achieved one might think that he got all on a plate of gold. Not one of the reforms introduced by him was accomplished with ease, and having been introduced not one would have survived a month without his aggressive pursuit. That was his life, his call to be a Christian, an invitation to do a service for God and humanity, which later on matured into leaving his country and his family like Abraham and so many others. An invitation to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring service - a venture of faith and love. The cost to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. He found peace for himself and his brothers through darkness and suffering. He was unique - nobody would be him, he has his own life and vocation. His life as a Christian helps us to appreciate what is important at the core of our being, faith and vocation as Nigerians. His legacy helps us to renew our awareness of the things that really matter in our lives. His life is important to us because it is an exemplary life of faith, of humility and perseverance in following what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was cold and dark. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end even to realizing that he fulfilled his vow of stability perfectly by dying in the Abby far away from his own people and land and being buried happily in the monastery of his profession.  
           Christmas and Christ mean nothing to us if we are not ready to make every effort in our Christian life. The kind of effort that leads to godliness – putting on the full armour of Christ and standing fast against all kinds of evil (Eph. 6.), putting to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom.8.13), the old self and putting on the new man (Eph.4.22), to be a Christian is to be proactive - to fight the deeds of darkness with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12).  Daily Christian living is daily Christian dying. Jesus likened the pain of Christian living to "gouging out an eye" and "cutting off a hand" indicating that growth in godliness requires parting with things the Christian initially thinks he cannot do without - a truly gruelling process but a true way to peace and happiness.  This is his universal teaching and message, a message that provides hope and guidance to people from all walks of life. This message also reveals how this humble priest-monk impacted the lives of millions, both those who knew him personally and those who indirectly came to know him or read about .him. His message is so universal because it is basically the message of the Gospel applied to concrete situations in the world of today. Our lives on earth have a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. His words and advice also have such wide appeal because they touch on a fundamental thirst that is in every human heart, and that is the thirst and search for love, goodness, and for truth. He knew that this thirst could find its fulfilment only in God living among and identifying with the poor, the sick and the dejected of society.
                                                              Sunday 18 December 2022
                              Blessed Tansi shows God’s Love in the Pursuit of the Common Good 
          In his love and search for God, Blessed Tansi understands that God is the beginning and the end of everything, that is, God is the source and summit of every good. Hence his absolute respect for God even in the search for the thing of this world. He has a good sense of the good of reason which helps him determine the proper good for any particular person or thing. When he has discovered it he does not go back but uses all his strength to pursue it. He does not mind what people may say when he is convinced of a particular good. In those days when some of his Catholics were living without sacramental marriage he was convinced that the condition was not good for them even when the people did not understand him. He applied a kind of force to separate such couples. Discrimination of women in certain areas of social and political life of the community was traditionally accepted but he considers it bad and gross injustice and fought for a change for the good of every one. There is no single change he made that does not bring good and value to the entire community. Even today there are many ways in which we could engage the good, and each way is of value. His abandoning the teaching profession for the junior seminary in 1925 and abandoning his rich pastoral work in 1950 for the monastery are all examples of his good sense of the good of reason. In each of these instances people around him objected but he saw the common good and universal value of his undertaking. His good is always the common good of all. Since these are proper goods for him, pursuing them connects him with God, they come from God. “Every good endowment and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jas. 1:17). 
         It was hard for Blessed Tansi to sleep when the poor leper is homeless. He cannot enjoy a good meal when he knows of a poor widow without food. Personal evidence has it that many times he asked his cook to take food prepared for him to a beggar. He cannot close his hear when a sick person or a beggar is knocking at his door. Today our problem is many because we often remove God when we pursue what we consider to be good for us. We pursue them in an inordinate fashion, engaging them without their connection with the greater good – concern for God and our neighbour. The fact that they can be and are often abused does not mean we should deny their value, for if we did that, we would have to deny every other particular well, for they can be similarly abused. Reason is good, but it has its limits; beauty is good, but we must not assume if someone is beautiful, that means they are of good character; politics indeed, is good, but it must be aimed at the common good, and the common good itself must take into consideration the fullness of the good and how it applies to the community and everyone in it.
         Blessed Iwene Tansi loves God with all his heart and soul, believes in him, and has unshakable faith in God’s providence. He knows God’s divine activity is the source and foundation of every good. His own activity must take from the source that is good that is God himself. In such activities, God is loved and honoured. He leaves us Nigerians a good legacy – to honour God by our decisions and activities. We are not to treat particular goods be it personal, family, social or political in any way as if they are “the God”.  We must recognize that their good is relative, and so the love and honour we give them is relative. This is why honoring and loving our neighbor, supporting them with justice, is itself proper; this is also why we cannot avoid society, for we are called to participate in it, indeed, to love it in relation to the goodness which it has been granted. This leads to the conclusion that engaging in politics, and embracing work for the common good, is truly work for someone who loves God.
           Blessed Tansi today reminds his fellow Nigerians that when they act when they seek and honour the good found in creation, they must always make sure the means they use are just and will promote the common good. When they engage in politics and the love for the common good involved them, they must not ignore the dictates of justice, but rather, fulfill them. If they look to help the rich and powerful more than the poor and needy, they are not looking after the good of the community,  they are not looking for the common good, but only helping those who have already taken more for themselves than is just and right.  Nigerians to find true peace must work for common good and so encourage change in the face of any abuse. The common good is a part of the good that they must seek to preserve and protect; those who are virtuous will pursue it, even if it is costly to them. Such self-sacrifice shows that they truly love the common good for the good itself and not out what they selfishly hope to attain from it for themselves. The pursuit of social justice turns us to God and connects us with God, for through its pursuit we pursue the good which finds its fulfillment in God.


                                                                 Sunday, December 11, 2022
                                                       Tansi: the lasting legacy of love and joy     
          My dear friends in this life journey with the Blessed Iwene Tansi, for more than one year we have been meditating weekly on the life and relevance of Blessed Tansi. As the liturgical year comes to end and a new one begins to bring us to Christmas let us with the Blessed Tansi enter into a living and redemptive way of celebrating the birth of the Saviour who comes to deliver and save us. Our weekly meditation is for us a powerful opportunity to recommit ourselves to the narrow way the Lord Jesus talks about. The bridge legacy of Blessed Tansi provides us with resources to help us take full advantage of the graces of the holy season. Advent and Christmas are good times to take stock of our spiritual progress and, with the help of the Holy Spirit, determine a course for the years ahead. 
        Blessed Iwene Tansi is both important and relevant in Nigeria today when the nation seems to be without order and when even tacit rules are flouted with seeming impunity. A nation with a legitimate and professional military general president and commander of the National Army that cannot defend either the citizens or their properties, where all public efforts to manifest dissent are crushed, and the rising cost of essential commodities reduces many to hunger and poverty. A nation in which non-state actors, like terrorist organizations, wreak havoc on others from their bases in failed states. All this is having an impact on us now, and surely will in the future. In these times when social concerns are so important, I cannot fail to mention the Blessed Iwene Tansi our national saint whose life and the mission were for peace and joy. He left us a legacy that promotes and encourages the common good. His social activism, and his passion for justice and for the cause of the oppressed, were inspired by the Gospel, his faith, and the example of the saints. He is the kind of guide Nigeria needs now as we think of his merits and service to the poor and needy.    
        In the midst of our present national confusion, we remember the Blessed Tansi a determined activist for peace of his time, who offers us a response. Unequivocally he condemned all kinds of injustice to the masses and sought to rehabilitate those who suffer because of unjust laws of the state. His zeal for peace in the family, village and community together with his loyalty to the Gospel and Our Lord’s call for peace might well stir up similar aspirations in our hearts today as we welcome the Prince of Peace at Christmas – peace in our families, our towns and our states. His zeal to open up remote outstations, build schools and gather them together broke the loneliness of the countryside dwellers as they become vibrant communities. Today many Nigerians, though may be living in towns and cities are struggling with unparalleled levels of isolation and loneliness.  Would Blessed Tansi zeal and love for community and common good not inspire us as we meditate and celebrate the joy of Christmas? His Christmas celebration, sacraments, gathering and organising the youth for music concerts and liturgical choir awaken the souls of many and recall to them the fact that God is their destiny. His Christmas preparation, decoration and celebration fascinate and bring joy to everyone in the community – Christians and non-Christians alike. Life and gifts were shared, those who have gave to those who have less or nothing. Christmas was joy shared by all. In the midst of that, he delivered the spiritual meaning of Christmas – love and joy. The inevitableness of the celebration, the recurrence of it, made the community feel that inevitably they would have to pause in the mad rush of living to remember their first beginning and last end.
         Finally, we remember his uncompromising attitude on chastity and sexual immorality. Even though he would encourage everybody to join the celebration of the infant King, he would not allow any immoral behaviour at all costs.  With the problem of immorality – indecent dressing, dance, play and social gathering associated with our celebration of Christmas today, we have a lot of healing words and attitudes to borrow from his legacy. Pastors of souls should remember that many of our young people today use the Christmas period as an occasion for immoral and unchaste behaviour. They should play their role like Blessed Tansi and save many uninformed young people from falling into trouble. It is true we cannot love God unless we love each other, and to love we must know each other but to know each other we must have good and right intentions. The exchange of gifts at Christmas must be with good intentions.  We know God in the breaking of bread, and we know each other in the breaking of bread, and we are not alone anymore. Like St. Paul Blessed Tansi made it very clear that we are to imitate and emulate him, as an example, as he, in turn, imitated Christ also that we should imitate God, and other holy persons, and be an example, ourselves, to others. 
       Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
•    Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
•    Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?
•    Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
    There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.


                                                            Sunday, November 27, 2022
                                    Archdiocese Prepares to celebrate Silver Jubilee of Beatification.  
          Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Onitsha on December 19, 1937, by the missionary Archbishop Charles Hieery in the Cathedral of Most Holy Trinity (now Basilica) Onitsha. He celebrated his first mass at St. Joseph Catholic Church Aguleri, his home parish. He was among the first Nigerians to be ordained Catholic priests, and for thirteen years in the Archdiocese, he led his people by word and example building new churches and outstations. In 1950 he felt the call to follow Christ in another way. He was urged by the love of God and of his fellow men and women. He wanted to bring the monastic and contemplative life to Nigeria. For him, it was God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown, to leave his country and his family like Abraham and so many others, and to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. It was, like all true calls from God, a venture of faith. As we know, things did not turn out like that. God’s ways are strange. He was not to do this personally, for he died on January 20, 1964 and was buried in the abbey before his longing could be carried out.
         The Archdiocese of Onitsha – Archbishop Stephen Nweke Ezeanya initiated the cause of his canonization on January 20 1986 at the basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. The Holy Father Saint John Paul 11 in his second pastoral visit to Nigeria beatified him at Oba near Onitsha on March 22nd. 1998. (will be 25 years – in four months' time). His beatification touched the whole Catholic world but in Nigeria made very serious impact in the religious and political life of the nation. He became the first National Saint and later in 2004 proclaimed Patron of Nigerian Priests. His Cause has only one step to the fullness of the altar – one miracle. Now Prayer at all levels and by everybody is needed to get this miracle as the Archdiocese prepares to celebrate this Silver Jubilee to boost the promotion of the cause – get the one miracle and to make the life and legacy of Blessed Tansi available to the new generation of Nigerian Catholics. The most important thing during the Silver Jubilee celebration is PRAYER, PRAYER, PRAYER, AND MORE PRAYER.
        The Archbishop has formed some priests’ committees for preparation. The committee is suggesting: 


Between January-February a weekend celebration/prayers in the six regions of the Archdiocese.
Parishes that wish may organize a one-day prayer/celebration
One day Archdiocesan grand finale celebration
For a period of one month (February to March) the official prayer for canonization is said every day after each mass in all our parishes.
Beginning on December 1 the official prayer for canonization be said every day in all Archdiocesan primary and secondary schools.


          The kind and unassuming Pastor, Blessed Tansi left a legacy of love and joy for the new generation. We remember him running around his parish like a busy bee looking after his flock – sacraments to those who needed them, compassion to the sick and hungry. We remember him a pastor who represents the image of a poor Church for the poor, a pastor close to the abandoned and forgotten, a pastor who conveys the tenderness of God, a pastor who goes forth to announce the joyful message of the Gospel as well as accompanies the faithful on their journey, a pastor whose whole life was lived as an evangelizing moment. We remember the outbreak of smallpox in his parish, many were sick, and a lot more were dying he was a pastor, nurse, food provider, and funeral undertaker. He humbly served with the utmost care and attention all that were in need and thus was bringing joy to those who were suffering. Today many Nigerians have different kinds of suffering. Blessed Tansi example is a challenge to all. We are to imitate and emulate him as an example. This provides a strong rationale for the veneration we give to him. He would like St. Paul to say to us “be imitators of me, as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1) It is hoped that the celebration of the Silver Jubilee of his ‘blessedness’ will leave a lasting impact on our minds - to relive his life and legacy, his mission, his vision and the way he cared for his fellow men and women who just put everything into his hands - their heart, their very self, everything. All of us have felt the holes in our hearts because of the kind of indifference we show to our fellow Nigerians
         Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
•    Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
•    Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?
•    Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
   There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.
                                                            Sunday, November 20, 2022
                                                     Blessed Tansi legacy to a new generation
         Twenty-five years ago, the Catholic world was moved by the beatification of Blessed Tansi at Oba Nigeria by Pope Saint John Paul 11.  The news of this saintly Nigerian pastor was everywhere. For Nigerians in particular his pictures, voices, and teachings took the country by storm. The humble way he lived out his vocation and his vibrant approaches to local pastoral problems, marked by his unfailing charity to the poor/ needy and his visible personal piety, were a staple of international news - Catholic and secular. And now it will be 25 years (March 22nd’ 2023) since that event. Many of our emerging generation of Catholics have no personal memory of this humble /pious pastor. In my own personal experience promoting the cause of his canonization, our younger generation has heard the name of Blessed Tansi and knows his face, but I have found that the sense of his mission is not there. It is the accomplishment of this mission that makes him special and a saint. The new generation of Nigerian Catholics in particular needs to know and understand this in order to appreciate the relevance of his life.
        Today many in Nigeria do not really know his zeal for evangelization, his love, and zeal for proper Christian families, his work for the poor, and his love for prayer and contemplation. 
        They do not know how outspoken he was against bad traditional rulers, corrupt leaders, and injustice. They do not know his monastic experience and intimate life of prayer. They did not see the news clips of Pope Saint John Paul 11 visit to Nigerian to beatify Blessed Tansi, which famously coincided with the tragic death of the then military head of State, General Sani Abacha. Perhaps they do not even know how Nigeria after so many years of unwanted military rule got back the civilian administration. They do not know that fact. To help a new generation know, love, and appreciate Blessed Tansi and his legacy, the Archdiocese of Onitsha through the Postulation for the Cause of Blessed Tansi has just re-produced a documentary on his life. The film, “The life of Blessed Iwene Tansi, Priest and monk”.This film is very much a work of the Holy Spirit and a dogged lover and devotee of Blessed Iwene Tansi, Fr.  Ed. Debany SJ, who pioneered the production and made very considerable efforts and sacrifices in the midst of severe challenges to see the documentary out. He remained faithful to his commitment with the utmost attention and dedication to see the project through. The postulation for the Cause of Blessed Tansi shall ever remain indebted to him for this work. This film is not only about the biography of Blessed Tansi, his spirit, his mission, and legacy of love and joy carried on and shared today throughout Nigeria and beyond by his spiritual sons and daughters, devotees, and solidarity members but also the legacy which he has left for the new generation of Nigerian Catholics. The documentary cuts back and forth from the essential moments of his life as a teacher, seminarian, priest, and monk and current stories of his love and charity to the poor. Anybody who watches it will not fail to be impressed by the way he lived out his own vocation in his own time and how each one of us called to our own vocation will see our hidden call for ministry, evangelization, and service to the poor in our midst. It is often wonderful, beautiful, and touching to me to see a large number of his devotees in prayer and sacrifice. In their faces, one can see the face of Blessed Tansi. It is beautiful and it is touching. 
         We recall that the Blessed Tansi left his very flourishing parish ministry in 1950 to become the first Nigerian to answer the monastic call. He hoped to bring this kind of apostolate to his country but the way of providence is different he did not for he died in the abbey just before his pioneer team left for Cameroon near Nigeria to begin a monastic foundation. For those who love God, everything works unto good, today, sixty years after his death the monastic apostolate is indeed flourishing in many dioceses in Nigeria. The Archdiocese f Onitsha has one Cistercian foundation for men and one Benedictine foundation for females. This is undoubtedly the work of the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of the Blessed Tansi. Indeed God wants the world to know that Blessed Tansi's labours at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey shall never be in vain. Those who knew Blessed Tansi on the world stage as a teacher, seminarian, priest, and monk watching this documentary would appreciate a marvelous job capturing his life, telling his story, and sharing his legacy with future generations. 
         Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
•    Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
•    Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?
•    Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.
​                                                               Sunday, 12 November 2022 
                                           Blessed Tansi Youth Apostolate is for a better Nigeria.
         The prophetic words of the saintly Pope on the relevance of the life and ministry of Blessed Tansi today make more meaning to me and remain very important in our national, social and political problems. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much... in a special way, the education of young people was precious to him”. (JP. 11 Nigeria, Sermon Beatification 1998)
         When we think of what is happening today in our country we cannot but remember our origin, our past, and our great leaders and their inspiration. Today Nigeria bleeds. The blood of innocent men and women, children, religious leaders, and faithful increasingly shed by armed militant groups who kidnap and kill them in their homes, workplaces, and on their religious duties tell a real story of how barbaric we have become. Any true Nigerian should be concerned about the fundamentalism, terrorism, and banditry that are growing in this country. Many men and women of the church suffer. These happenings are like we are going to real social suicide and of course our national ultimate destruction. In the face of these challenges, young people cannot be passive. Their future is threatened, and their ultimate survival is blinking. They have a duty to resist, organize and take dutiful responsibility. Their involvement in politics is good and is now.  It is the highest form of charity to their nation because it strives for the common good. 
          Blessed Tansi because he was a good Nigerian and a man of God, detached and concerned for the common good, and devoted much of his apostolate to education and formation of the young people to be able to take their future responsibility in the new independent Nigeria. Because of his generous and courageous love, he was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families and the growing generation. He touched the lives of young people with his goodness to prepare them for the future. He tried in every way to promote their dignity and respect, especially for women.  He had boarding schools for boys and an association for girls. Though this association was religious it prepared them for everything they would need in their future lives – to face challenges with courage, to fight for their rights always, to get organized in fighting for their right, and to depend on the advice and guidance of elders. He did not build universities to give them professional abilities and integration to face their future but he did a lot by organizing them in all his outstations and villages to become a powerful voice in what concerned them in the daily affairs of their community life. Today the state and many religious bodies have schools and universities which equip young people with both knowledge and skill but what have you after graduation - they end up seeking jobs in Europe and North America while some fall prey to criminals and outlived politicians who turn them into militant groups to achieve their evil political ambition. Nigeria should be a land of opportunities and promise but the absence of these has resulted in many tragic deaths for many attempting to cross the Mediterranean, which has become the Nigerian youths’ graveyard.
        But who is to blame – complex but irresponsible on the part of the youth will get a lion's share of the blame. Their age gives them lion shares of the opportunities that abound in this country. Why should the youth allow those on the verge of their grave to lead them to the same grave? After sixty years our natural ability begins to decline and is a time to give way to the younger person – simple logic. Despite the crippling social and economic conditions that we live in today, the youths cannot underestimate themselves and if they do not struggle, who will? Blessed Tansi taught his youth to work for full independence and to draw on the strength of their youth to continue in their struggle, continue to strive toward putting an end to anything that jeopardizes their future - war, hunger, poverty, and the semi-permanence of refugees.  Sad to notice that many young people don’t care for the roots they received, their families, countries, and history – in that situation they cannot be mature.
        The lessons and relevance of Blessed Tansi youth apostolate are still important for youth to participate in the leadership of this country. He urged the youths of his time and of today to be cautious, but courageous and brave in their efforts to overcome personal and community challenges.  He made them understand their responsibilities, to continue to be strong, continue to struggle with all their youth abilities, the feelings they have, and all of all strength and unity. This was the reason why his girls were able to face the masquerade cult in Dunukofia and Aguleri. They had the courage to challenge and unmask the masquerade. Their past was not always positive, there has been obvious discrimination against them but they changed their fate by struggle, proved their maturity, and created a better future for others. Today their discrimination is a thing of the past. Nigerian youths are not meant to be exploited by the older generation nor are they meant to be a subculture. Nigeria and its many natural resources are our common wealth and heritage.  Jesus taught us to be engaged and to struggle for justice. To be a true Nigerian in this day and age mean to be engaged, to stop all those structures that want to keep Nigerian youths from being engaged to live in the present with a firm grip on reality, and try not to be alienated in shaping the future of this country.
       Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
•    Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
•    Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?
•    Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.  
​                                                               Sunday, November 5, 2022
                                          Blessed Tansi opposed the bad Government of his time
            Those who have gone before us marked with the sign of true faith have always been not only the source and origin of renewal in the most difficult and trying moments of any nation but also have shown us a way out of the mess which enslaves the nation. Their way of life inspires countless individuals in their faith and hope for a better tomorrow. They have played their role in life and have walked through the sands of the streets of our towns and villages living us their wisdom that continues to resound. Blessed Tansi as a teacher, pastor of souls, and contemplative monk lived for others reconciling families and the peoples among themselves, and with God dropped for the new generation of Nigerians some spiritual wisdom along the way. “Today, one of Nigeria's own sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another... Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria...” (JP 11 Sermon beatification 1998)
             The Catholic Church has from its origin been an advocate for common good and stood with severity for the poor and vulnerable. Christ the Master and model rebuked many bad teachers of the people who were obstacles on the path leading to the true knowledge the God.  “... woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites, you shut the door to the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. (Matthew, 23, 13). Jesus warned against those who like to emphasize and promote rigorous legalism while acting contrary to the rules they use to control the people. He indicated that they were hypocrites who, despite trying to hide their hypocrisy, could only do so for so long before their malice was revealed:  In the time of Blessed Tansi there were bad traditional chiefs and rulers who like to embrace power for their own gain, using the pretense of being religiously pious to the tradition of the land as a way to achieve power and milk the poor, the widows, the voiceless and women to death.  Blessed Tansi condemned them and was not afraid of having their hypocrisy exposed. Off course it was not easy when exposed; he had to deal with the fallout of that exposure. The masquerade cult and the dehumanizing rites of wood hood stood out so clearly in my mind. In his fight, he stood his ground that those who show themselves so dishonest should not be given any power in secular society. This is because their interest is not in the common good, nor in any objective good, but in their own personal gain. They will use and abuse particular notions of the good for their own sake, pretending, by doing so, that they are on the side of the good, but when confronted by what they have done, and how and why they act contrary to their own rhetoric, they will try to find a way to maintain the power they have attained. 
            Today the plight of an average Nigerian is pitiable because of the bad economy and insecurity resulting from bad government. Bad politicians who know only themselves and their selfish ambitions come out during the elections and ask for the mercy which they have been unwilling to give to others. They will say that they have or will change, and that should be good enough. However, the way they have treated or treated others who make similar mistakes should serve as a warning; their concern remains for their own private gain, and they are willing to do anything to achieve their desires. This is where I think that the Blessed Tansi, whose core values in social program centre in diversity and inclusiveness ought inspire and help honest voting Nigerians – to tell dishonest politicians that enough is enough. Unfortunately, from experience, the purity of faith and practice which submits to God alone suffers because of the cult of personality even though Christians and their leaders should as a community of free persons be able to speak frankly against abuse of power, and hypocrisy in the pursuit of political office. Hypocritical politicians, politicians who pretend to be something they are not, certainly are afraid of the public finding out what our problems are – dishonest management of our country. They know that if their true way of life is revealed, they risk suffering the way they have made others suffer even as they might lose power and authority, as the people they used to get such power might turn on them. They hide the cause of our national problem from the electorate.
            As a matter of fact, our Christian leaders, as moral leaders should tell their people that no one who wants power for the sake of personal gain, and who holds no objective values, should be given such power. Those who would tell us not to be concerned when someone is revealed to be a hypocrite, those who would say we should show mercy to those who made mistakes in the past, while not being willing to give the same mercy to others, also tell us who and what they are, and that is hypocrites who like to lord it over others. The current times are very different and challenging especially for Christian leaders who should speak up and act on behalf of people kept poor for a long time. Over the years, a large part of Nigeria's territory has been occupied by terrorists and the inhabitants of those areas are living in fear in refugee camps, farmers were driven from their farmland, Christians stoking fears over illegal conversion or possible death if refused, life is meaningless, especially those belonging to the marginalized ethnic groups. Yet the fascist state of mind denies the right to speak and act differently, dissent is unacceptable: The one language, one creed, one party program is detrimental to democracy. Such an agenda puts the very fabric of the nation at stake. Therefore, the challenge is huge, and the urgency can’t be put off. We need to be awakened to this new reality. Unfortunately, all of us are not aware of these dangerous moves taking place.
            As Nigerian Christians committed to justice and peace, we have concerned about the deteriorating situation of our nation on every front. The poor have become poorer every day; the rich and powerful continue to profiteer at their expense and amass scandalous amounts of wealth. As devotees of our National Hero, Blessed Tansi, we maintain that targeting Christians with hate speech and persecution, by a regime that systematically and continuously denigrates and demonizes them with a divisive and violent agenda and claimed intolerance is on the rise. The silence of religious leaders on issues that are destroying the democratic, pluralistic and secular fabric of our country is unfortunate.
          Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
•    Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
•    Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?
•    Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.
​​                                                                 Sunday, October 30. 2022


                                                    Blessed Tansi Worked For Common Good
           We remember Blessed Tansi as somebody who lived for others. He seemed to have been born and given for the good of others – the family, the youth, the poor, the sick, and the voiceless. The choice of this kind of life was for him true freedom. He chose to live that way. It was true freedom that came with responsibility. For him those who try to deny their responsibility to their neighbour and society lose their freedom one way or another. For they will find they will have to face the consequences of their actions. He was so concerned with the dignity of every individual – dignity that must be respected at all cost.  It cost him great amount of time and energy to fight for the dignity of every individual especially of women. Village and traditional laws that offend human dignity were attacked in his ministry. The ‘osu/ohu’ system in Igboland (a kind of slave system) received his greatest condemnation and violent attack.
             He looked for a society that would provide freedom and in such society people must work together and must promote the common good - basic human rights. His pastoral reform of widowhood and masquerade cult were aimed at this. The chiefs and traditional rulers who are not concerned with the common good but are concerned about their ability to fulfil all their desires, whether or not others suffer as a result of their actions must change their ways. They are tyrants and must not continue that way. They are the ultimate libertines, having no one to stop them when their desires hurt the common good. Off course their condemnation generated a lot of conflict and opposition but he never gave up. Many of those who opposed his fight for freedom and promotion of the common good see his philosophy as the worst kind of evil. This can explain why many abandon their sick relations to their fate in cases of small pox and leprosy. Blessed Tansi looked after them and provided for their needs.
           With what is happening today it is not hard for us to see that when people put their personal, private interest over the common good, society falls apart; when society is dismantled, there will be no protection for human rights, which means, and their basic freedoms will no longer be guaranteed.  Those who want to protect liberty know that liberty promotes the freedom for people to follow goods which do not hinder or harm society as a whole. The common good must be protected if freedom is to be protected. This is why so many of those who put themselves against the common good and speak of it in the guise of freedom end up being tyrants when given the chance. We even see this ideology taking over faith communities that should give examples. Their indifference to their neighbour comes from the way they embrace their faith; it is all about themselves and what they can get from God without any consideration of what God expects from them in return. 
           We like Blessed Tansi but for many the way they live shows they are more concerned with their own private pleasures, safety and the freedom to engage all their inordinate desires, than they are for the good of their neighbour, and therefore, the common good.
 If they are expected to change their ways for the sake of their neighbour, they show they are not willing to do so as long as they are not forced to do so. If they are forced, some will comply, but others will fight back. It is clear, so many do not want to fulfil their obligation to society. For such people mandates are necessary. But mandate would not have been necessary if everyone fulfilled their obligations. To put it simply many of us are selfish. They will not embrace the common good when they find it inconvenient to do so. They will fight any attempts to make them do so, even if the attempts are for their own good. 
Blessed Tansi charges his fellow Nigerians with serving the common good, directing their efforts to the integral renewal of their communities and society as a whole. This entails confronting the deeper causes that the crisis has laid bare and aggravated: poverty, social inequality, widespread unemployment, and the lack of access to education. Inequalities in society which exist among Nigerians help make or worsen the problem in part, because they reinforce the notion that the common good does not matter. The breakdown of civilization is due in large measure our acceptance that freedom has no obligations on us. We have been led to believe we should not put a stop to malign interests who would work to subvert and overthrow the common good for the sake of their own private whims. Poverty is not the result of fate; it is the result of selfishness. What is shown to break down and destroy the common good is unacceptable, whether it is from bad Governments or from bad citizen who think they should be free to full their every whim, even if it means that others will be needlessly harmed for the sake of their whim, must be stopped so that the common good can once again be re-established. 
         What path of justice must be followed so that social inequalities can be overcome and human dignity, so often trampled upon, can be restored? Individualistic lifestyles are complicit in generating poverty, and often saddle the poor with responsibility for their condition.                                                                                      The massive wealth inequality in this country that leads to people needlessly suffering without food, shelter, clothing, or basic health care, is unacceptable. This is where Blessed Tansi principle of  preferential option for  the poor and needy comes into play, for it is about restorative justice so that the common good can indeed be common, and the basic needs of everyone is met in common by society. Individualistic lifestyles, as they are about the promotion of the private good over the public good, must be put in check. 
           Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
• Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
• Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
• Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing. 
​                                                                Sunday October 23, 2022
                                                   Blessed Tansi Chose the Way of Peace
             The path to Peace is the path of Jesus but following Jesus is not always about saying a prayer so that we can live forever in a mansion in the sky after we die. It is not either about following biblical principles so we can have a successful, happy life here on earth. And it certainly is not even about being a patriotic citizen of whatever country we happen to be born into. Following Jesus is about loving God, our neighbours including our enemies, and all of creation. It is a new and only way to be human – it is a path of peace. It is about living together in peace. It is about choosing to see the image of God in every member of the human family. It is about choosing love over fear and finding peace within no matter what is happening around us. Path to peace is fundamentally a choice – to have peace or to live in fear and war.
           Let us remember our national hero and Saint, Blessed Tansi, who chose the path of peace. He lived and worked at the time of British colonial administration and shared the fate and condition of all his country men and women. He was among the first groups of Nigerians who had western education in the colonial administration. While his counterparts, the Nationalists were fighting for freedom and a place in the Government he took to the way of peace and love – a way of radical holiness. Rather than being quick to judge and slow to forgive, he was uncompromising with himself and generous with others. His example gives us today a path forward in civilized discourse. His choice was simple – a class room teacher, then a headmaster as if he had not enough to offer himself for the service of the masses and the poor he chose to become a priest with all its commitments and scarifies in order to offer himself completely to God and his fellow men and women. His vocation and mission helped him to bring people together to offer them the true path to peace and reconciliation. He spent most of his spiritual and mental life dealing with the suffering of others. He seemed to be made and given to build, reconcile and sanctify families, to wage relentless war against any form of discrimination and to bring to the youth the future Nigerians a sense of dignity and true patriotism. His lifestyle which is his legacy speaks to us of a way of love and peace. As no violence can ever bring peace, he will urge every Nigerian not to be consumed with fear but to be led by love-even for their enemies. In his cultural revolution he avoided the way of fear which is the broad path that leads to violence, destruction and pain. His philosophy is the way of love, the narrow path-taken by only a few-that leads to peace. 
           Every person and every generation must choose their own path. Unfortunately, Nigeria has recently chosen the way of fear and destruction. But it is never too late for us to pilot a different course. The choice remains ours to make. We can choose the narrow way of Jesus or the broad, bloody path of empire. Unfortunately, Nigeria today has got it wrong with her choice. Nigeria is living in threat and fear of what may happen next. Security is almost at the edge of collapse.  Almost every Nigeria is living under the occupation of either boko haram or unknown gunmen. There are in some places whispers of a violent uprising to come in which Nigerians will purge their land of these killers. Blessed Tansi will tell us to live out of peace within and the cycle of violence must end somewhere. He suffered no delusions that everyone would join his revolution to form some sort of utopian society built upon love and peace. There is always a price to be paid for choosing peace in a world addicted to violence. Many called his philosophy pacifism but at the end he won. 
Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
• Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
• Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
• Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.  


                                                                     Sunday, October 16, 2022


                  Blessed Tansi - Re-interment Anniversary (Modified October 18, 2020 reflection)

  Every year on October 17th the Archdiocese Onitsha celebrates the anniversary of the re-interment of the Remains of Blessed Iwene Tansi at the priests’ cemetery, basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. We will recall that Fr. Tansi was among the first Nigerians to be ordained priest. He led the people by word and example. In the Archdiocese of Onitsha he had a very flourishing parish apostolate as parish priest. He had a great influence on the people, Christians and non-Christians. But at a stage in his very active pastoral ministry he felt the call to follow Christ in another way – the monastic apostolate. He was urged to do this by the love of God and his fellow men and women. He was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord, and was also urged by a great desire to bring the monastic and contemplative apostolate to Nigeria. He left his extremely active and flourishing pastoral ministry and left for Mount St. Bernard Abbey England in 1950.  When he left Nigeria he completely disappeared as far as Nigerians were concerned. He had gone from light into darkness, from a life in the sight of all to a life hidden from the world. From the world of authority and command to a world of powerless and inferior, from a life of master to the life of last in the community - all perfection and holiness.  God’s ways are often strange. He did not come back alive, for he died on January 20th 1964 just before his longing to bring monastic apostolate to Nigeria could be carried out. He was buried in the Abbey.

        At the heart of his monastic adventure was God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown where God was waiting for him. It left his country and his family like Abraham and so many others. It was to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. His was like all true calls from God, a venture of faith and love. The cost to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. He found peace and God in the darkness. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end even to realizing that he fulfilled his vow of stability perfectly by dying in the Abby far away from his own people and land and be buried happily in the monastery of Mount Saint Bernard England. After the Archdiocese of Onitsha had initiated his process for sainthood in 1986 Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya, the Archdiocese of Onitsha, got the permission of the Vatican and Mount St. Bernard Abbey to bring back his Remains to Nigeria. He was reburied in the priests’ cemetery Onitsha on 17th. October 1986.

Every year we remember this event because his life helps us to see and to appreciate what is important at the core of our faith, helps us to renew our awareness of the things that really matter. His life is important to us because it was a life of faith, of humble and persevering following out of what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was cold and dark. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end dying in the Abby far away from his own people and land and be buried happily in the monastery.  After his death the monks of Mt. St.  Bernard Abbey praised his refined meekness, his serene equilibrium, rectitude, loyalty, reasonableness and special approach to meditation. Today in Nigeria his testimony invites us to be able to combine love of God with love of neighbour and not to tire of building relations of brother hood and reconciliation.   His pastoral life was full of life and vigour as he made converts in great numbers and attracted many people to God. His pastoral gentleness and compassion are even today remembered and admired.

         October 17th every year has become for all devotees of Blessed Tansi special day of prayer. We celebrate his return after 13 years of Monastic experience in England. We celebrate and cherish his memory with love and affection. We pray to him for assistance. This year our novena started on the 9th October.  We shall spend the next nine days reflecting on his life and the message which is the message of the Gospel. We will join our prayers, in a crescendo of intercession, asking for his intercession for Nigeria and for the happy conclusion of his worthy cause. 

Monday 17th October Eucharistic Celebration to end the Novena

Venue: Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha: Time 10 am.




Are You Ready For Your Healing? 

•Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?

•Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?

•Are you bound by the injuries of your past?

There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.





                                                                      Sunday October 9, 2022
                                        What every Nigerian should know about Blessed Tansi
        The Blessed Tansi’s life was Blessed Tansi’s own life. That was his vocation as our own life on earth is our vocation – a call to service and holiness. He lived a life admirable in so many ways. What strikes me most is his radical fidelity to his vocation that lent stability to the lives of countless others. Fidelity can take many forms. Important is his heart’s stability, translated into embodied living. In reflecting upon his lifestyle, we are all, clergy, religious, laity, meant to focus on the things that are at the core of our faith, to renew our awareness of the things that really matter. If his life is important, it is because it was a life of faith, of service, of humble and persevering following out of what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost him everything, even when all was dark and cold. He was just one Nigerian and one more disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. We Nigerians can learn from him as we can from his Master - Jesus. As we pray for him and to him, ask God that he may be an inspiration to many Nigerians, whatever state of life they are called to in life. He lived with all the seriousness that successful life demands. Life, especially the Christian life is like a man who carries a flickering flame through a long, stormy night. The wind blows, the rain lashes down. To keep his flame from going out, he cups it with both hands, focusing all his attention on keeping it safe as he makes slow progress towards his destination. What keeps his courage up is the certainty that he will, as long as he is faithful,  arrive his destination one day. The hope and certainty of reaching one day keeps the journey alive. In his life journey Blessed Tansi had a life-long charism for friendship. He knew that, in order to serve God, we have need of one another, and that this fellowship of truth-seeking hearts is life’s sweetest gift. We need one another in other to make it as individuals, as families and as a nation. 
          Blessed Tansi resonate with us most because he had similar experiences to ours. He came from true Nigerian family background; survived assault in many ways; had very poor parents; grew up in difficult situations; survived in many professions – teacher, catechist, student, diocesan priest and religious monk. In all these life experiences he had enormous struggles remained faithful and committed to love of God and his neighbour. Anything that is significant to you is significant to God, and Blessed Tansi is a saint for that. As we approach his feast day 20 January, and with it the 25th anniversary of his beatification (22 March 1998), I know that I cannot be the only one trying to think of ways to honour his legacy. His legacy is his life and a gift to his fellow Nigerians of all works of life. Here are a few things every Nigerian can do to honour his legacy and bring his blessings to Nigeria. 
                        
 Prayer: Blessed Tansi is known for his life of service, but his service would have been impossible had he not fully centred himself in prayer. Like his Master Jesus Blessed Tansi prayed always and often spent all night in prayer, Cardinal Arinze, a student in his boarding school told me that the students did not know when Blessed Tansi went to bed and when he got up. The students saw him in prayer as they went to bed and again saw him praying when they rise. Through prayer our love of Jesus becomes more intimate, our love for each other more understanding, and our love and service for the poor more compassionate.
 Get to know him better: Knowing a saint – what he wrote and said are most accessible way to understand him. He acted and spoke the truth with love. One person told me that that he preached the truth and gospel without discount. He had really no enemy because in his cultural and socio-political reforms he did not view anyone who disagreed with me as an enemy. He was able to reach out to those who hold different views without insults, anger or overwhelming judgment.
 Every person is important: He had a mindset of dignity for all he treated each and every person he met with the inherent dignity that they deserved as children of God. It didn’t matter if that person was a criminal, sick, a lapsed Catholic politician or a poor, dying person. All were deserving of respect and love. Every individual is created in the image and likeness of God, and treating them that way helped to remind them of that fact. 
 Discern your mission from God:  At each stage in his life, Blessed Tansi heard God calling him because he was listening, opened, and knew what God’s voice sounded like. He had spent years cultivating a deep relationship with him. It was this confidence that made it possible for him to say yes and stand firm even when it was tough. In reality he had many hurdles to overcome and lots to tempt him to go back to his previous life at each stage. Like him the mission to which God calls us has and will continue to change with the passage of time and seasons. In him we find a reminder that discernment is not a one-and-done event but rather the process of continually turning to the Lord throughout our life to seek his will. What is he calling us to today? What mission is lying heavy on our heart? What work do we need to do to accomplish it? Are there tools or skills we need to acquire in order to do his will? 
Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
• Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
• Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
• Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.
​​                                                                 Sunday, October 2, 2022
                                                        Blessed Tansi a National Moral Hero
             Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya, a gentle and holy bishop, a true devotee of the Blessed Tansi returned the mortal remains of the Blessed Tansi to Nigeria. We recall that Blessed Tansi left Nigeria in July 1950 to bring to Nigeria the monastic way of life. Before he could do this he died in 1964 and was buried in the monastery where he took his vow of stability. The bishop got the Vatican and the Community of Saint Mount Bernard Abbey consent and permission. The exhumation itself took in the Abbey from September 12-17 1986. The body left England finally after thirty-six years of stay to Lagos Nigeria on September 18, 1986. The Eucharistic celebration for the re-interment took place at the basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha on October 17, 1986. Two things left a deep impression on me that day: the miraculous healing of an eighteen-year-old Aguleri lady and the powerful testimony of Bishop Anthony Nwedo CSSP in his sermon during the mass - “... it may be high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering”. In similar words the Holy Father, St. John Paul 11 at the beatification mass on March 22nd. 1998 gave almost the same testimony. “ Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest ... Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift that this local Church now offers to the Universal Church”.( Oba –Onitsha, 1998).
           The Blessed Tansi life, as a lay professional teacher, a diocesan priest and a religious monk is an inspiration to everyone young and old. Many who know him testify of his great love for God and his fellow men. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. His heart filled with generous and courageous love made him a man of the people who put others before himself. The climax of his pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha includes pastoral care of families, the sanctification of marriages, education and development of the youth and ascetic charity to all especially to the sick and needy. “He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him”. (John Paul 11, Sermon Beatification 1998)
           He was greatly concerned for the sexual morality of his flock, especially the youth. He offered them protection and guidance. For the girls, he fought for their rights and dignity and protected them against the masquerade who used to molest them, especially those to whom they refused their love advances. His Mary league girls were given permission to fight the masquerade. He offered sacrifices and prayers for the sanctification of his flock. Even when he was far away in the monastery he did not forget his own people. He did not fail to offer prayers and sacrifices for their continuous sanctification.
          As a young priest, he fought against the ‘osu – oru’ system (a kind of cast) which was an inherent injustice inbuilt in the traditional customs and practiced against its own people. By this system, one becomes a slave to either an idol or a prominent rich individual. Another thing that disturbed his concern was the amount of suffering, hunger and disease prevalent in his society. To these, he found the solution the gospel way and so he lived it out in practical terms. With his tremendous and unwavering faith, tenacity of purpose, and rugged physical strength fought these evils. He was but one man, and sometimes his efforts seemed pitifully futile in the gigantic morass of trouble and despair that was the moral and social condition of the time. Now looking at the huge success that he achieved one might think that he got it all on a plate of gold. Not one of the reforms introduced by him was accomplished with ease, and having been introduced not one would have survived a month without his aggressive pursuit. He understood the need to make every effort in the Christian life. That effort was for him a growth in godliness which required exertion on the part of the Christian – to put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom.8.13) to put off the old self and put on the new (Eph.4.22).
          He distinguished himself as an excellent, tireless confessor and spiritual director. Passing with a single inner impulse from the altar to the confessional, where he spent a large part of the day as long as the penitents were there. He did his utmost with preaching and persuasive advice to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of the sacrament of Penance, presenting it as an inherent demand of Eucharistic participation. Fr. Tansi was very aware that we were all prodigals invited back to the embrace of the Father. For this reason, he gave great importance to the ministry of confession. He made the sacrament possible and available and stayed on it as long as there was a need. “He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and to hand on the gift of reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of Nigerian life”. (ibid)
         Are You Ready For Your Healing? 
• Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
• Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive healing?
• Are you bound by the injuries of your past?
        There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing

                                                               Sunday, September 25, 2022                                                                                                                 Nigeria needs Blessed Tansi now more than ever
            We recall that on the 22nd of  March 1998 pilgrims from around Nigeria and the world gathered in equatorial hot sun-drenched  Oba temporal airport square in the Archdiocese of Onitsha Nigeria to hear Pope  Saint John Paul 11 officially declare what most Nigerians had known for decades that Fr. Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OCSO is a Saint. The atmosphere was one of jubilation, certainly, but it was more than that; there was also an unspoken recognition of how the life of this humble and selfless priest can change Nigeria and the world. In his homily during the beatification Mass, Pope challenged the Nigerians to continue the work of Blessed Tansi — work, he noted, that was not easy, and that took humility, courage, and compassion to perform. In two words: love and reconciliation. Pope Father said: 
        “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God to lead their independent and selfish existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house (cf. Reconciliatio et Paenitentia, 5). He encouraged people to confess their sins and receive God's forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. He implored them to forgive one another as God forgives us, and to hand on the gift of reconciliation, making it a reality at every level of Nigerian life... he was always available for those searching for reconciliation. He spread the joy of restored communion with God. He inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion” (John Paul 11. Oba Nigeria 1998). 
           Blessed Tansi's mission to the poor, the sick and the voiceless remains for us today an eloquent witness to God’s closeness to the poor and the weak. Today, the poor and the vulnerable are still with us. Nigeria today needs other Blessed Tansi to look after them. Blessed Tansi is a model of holiness for Nigerians. His holiness so tender and so fruitful is so near to us. A tireless pastor, a worker of mercy who understood that our only criterion for action is gratuitous love, free from every ideology and all obligations, offered freely to everyone without distinction of language, culture, race, or religion.  If we find a place in our hearts for the poor and those who suffer and give to those whom we meet along our journey, especially those who suffer we will be bringing blessings that will change the face of this country. In this way, we will open up opportunities for joy and hope for our many brothers and sisters who are discouraged and who stand in need of understanding and tenderness.
           Today twenty-five years after his beatification, and 58 years after his death in January. 20, 1964, we could use his inspiration and intercession now as much as ever. Thousands of devotees all over Nigeria are finding meaning in his mission and apostolate. Since his death in 1964 vocation to the priesthood and religious life particularly the monastic apostolate are ever increasing in Nigeria. He was among the pioneers of the priesthood in this country and the first Nigerian to embrace the monastic apostolate. He is the father of monastic apostolate in this country. We cannot forget his indomitable fight against traditional customs and practices that offend life and human dignity and discriminate on the basis of gender, religion race, and tribe. His life is relevant today in this country where many are being discriminated against and killed because of religion. We could use him where the rich are using the poor to become richer and where so many are fleeing — or trying to flee — from the vicious and poor administration of the public resources. Today, if we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other - that man, that woman, that child is my brother or my sister. If everyone could see the image of God in his neighbour, do you think Nigeria would not be a better place to live. We could still use his lifestyle in any number of situations, where too many people are hungry and thirsty, where too many people are sick and dying, where too many people have lost their faith in God and man. He remains for Nigerians an example we need to inspire us to become beacons of God’s light in Nigerian world of darkness.
      Are You Ready For Your Healing? 


Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
Are you bound by the injuries of your past?


There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.   


                                                                   Sunday, September 18, 2022
                                                           Blessed Tansi showed God’s goodness
           The Blessed Tansi, our national saint and heavenly advocate showed Nigeria and the world God’s goodness by living the Gospel without compromise. We remember him a great and compassionate pastor of souls who stopped at nothing to bring the joy of the gospel to his people. A man of God and the people who used his heart filled with generous and courageous love to show goodness to his people. He embodied the poverty of the disciple, which is not only detachment from material goods, but also victory over the temptation to put oneself at the centre, to seek one’s own glory as he followed the example of Jesus and was a meek and humble pastor. Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of everybody. How can we forget his attention to the families, the young people, the sick and the needy. He brought them hope by putting concrete meaning to their lives more than ever. Today our country is experiencing hard time of personal or societal crisis when most people are especially prey to feelings of anger as fear and uncertainty threaten their future. Many have become more susceptible and look to those, who with skill and cunning, take advantage of their situation, profiting from their fears and promise to be the saviour who can solve all their problems, whereas in reality they are looking for wider approval and for greater power. Blessed Tansi preached and lived the truth and joy of the gospel – love, forgiveness and reconciliation as opposed to selfishness, greed, corruption and violence. This same truth which he presented is even more vividly needed in today's Nigeria. Because we have neglected his advice and way of being true Nigerian our nation is experiencing the painful consequences of this neglect – Nigeria is looking more and more like a battlefield, where only selfish interests count and the law of force prevails.
           As Nigerians venerate their national Saint – Blessed Tansi, they are drawn deeper into the great mysteries of the Most Holy Trinity who woks through His saints. We also venerate him in order to draw closer to the Communion of Saints and in so doing give glory and honour to God. His life and mission are reminders of the hope we have in Christ and the journey we undertake each day striving to love as Christ loves, so that one day we too may be saints. Furthermore that our country may become a home for all where the truth of the gospel is lived. Examining the life of Blessed Tansi the way he lived in the joy of the Gospel, without compromises, loving to the very end some might be tempted to immediately dismiss the deeds attributed to him as tall tales. The reality, however, is that miracles do occur and are tall only insofar as they stretch our faith, inviting it to grow. One of the distinctively Catholic signs of devotion is the keeping and veneration of saints which act as a reminder that these holy people are not simply fairy tale characters, but that they did in fact live as truly as you or I. The very tangible reality is that the way Blessed Tansi lived is the way Christians today are called to live their lives. A way that should inspire great confidence in God’s great love for us and help us to place complete faith in Him as we live worthy of the saints. who are signs of our faith alive throughout history and active beyond the pages of the Bible. The Blessed Tansi did not exploit the needs of others or use their vulnerability for his own aggrandizement. He did not want to seduce his people with deceptive promises or to distribute cheap favours. His continued struggle to live out goodness should inspire us to love - to be purified of our distorted ideas of God and of our self-absorption, and to love God and others, in the church, society, and nation, including those who do not think the way we do, to love even our enemies. This must mean for us to love even at the cost of sacrifice, silence, misunderstanding, solitude, resistance, and persecution.


                                                               Sunday September 11 2022 
                                               Blessed Tansi legacy of humility and holiness 
         The holiness of Blessed Tansi lived in humility, zeal for the salvation of souls, love for the under privileged and daily dedication to church and neighbour is a legacy that has much to offer for the modern church and Nigeria. The church recognized the holiness of his life when twenty-five years ago in 1998 the holy Father John Paul 11 officially recognised the humble way he live out his vocation – Christian, priest and monk. Today all who knew him still talk of his zeal and holiness. I met Francis Cardinal Arinze a few weeks ago as he was spending his holidays at Onitsha - Nigeria. As he talked to me about Blessed Tansi I cannot but believe in his best authentic memory of this man: a man of assiduous and profound prayer, of attentive listening and capable of human and spiritual support, a pastor of priests and of the people of God, learned and prepared as a teacher of the faith and a good communicator of the word of God, a friend and brother of priests, a visitor of the sick and an incomparable catechist. As he talked to me I had the impression in my heart that he was a man who prayed, a priest who loved his people, a priest who loved the Eucharist and the church. The Cardinal was baptised by Blessed Tansi, served at his masses at Dunukofia, prepared him for the seminary and sent him to the seminary, followed his seminary career until he became a priest. I doubt if any other person can know the depth of Blessed Tansi spiritual life better than Cardinal Arinze. Their friendly son/father relationship continued until his death at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey in early 1964.  
          Blessed Tansi embraced poverty and was someone who felt good with the people. He lived for his people and spent himself for them and their sanctification. Some 58 years after his death, Blessed Tansi testifies to us the face of a humble, hardworking, and serene church, concerned about following the Lord, far from the frequent temptation to measure the incidence and value of the Gospel by the state of opinion of the people, of society, towards itself. His example of holiness is important for the church and for today’s Nigeria torn to pieces by hatred, violence, corruption and selfishness.  Through his example legacy we are called to the heart of the Christian life: to the humility and the goodness of those who know how to recognize themselves as sinners in need of mercy, and of those who serve with generous dedication and with good works to others, announcing the joy of the Gospel. 
          Born January 3, 1903, in Aguleri Anambra State of Nigeria, Blessed Tansi was ordained priest for the Archdiocese of Onitsha at the age of 35, at the basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. He left his pastoral print of holiness and zeal at the parishes where he worked- Nnewi, Dunukofia, Akpu and Aguleri. He ended up fulfilling his vows of stability at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey England on January 20 1964. 
          His cause for canonization formally opened at Onitsha in January 20, 1985, 21 years after his death, and was formally submitted to the Vatican May 21, 1990. Five years later, in July 1995, Pope John Paul 11 approved of Blessed Tansi heroic virtue, allowing him to be declared “venerable,” and on June 25 1996  the same Pope recognised the  miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Tansi  and moving him forward on the path to beatification. On his second Pastoral visit to Nigeria, Holy Father, John Paul 11, beatified Fr. Tansi on 22nd March 1998, recognizing the humble way, he lived his Christian life. Fr. Tansi became the first Nigerian Saintly Model, advocate and benefactors. On 3rd. June. 2010 in the year of priests he was solemnly proclaimed Patron of Nigerian Priests at Onitsha during the closing the National ceremony for the year of priests. The Archdiocese of Onitsha during a solemn celebration of his feast January 2017 inaugurated the Blessed Iwene Tansi Central Shrine at  Igboezunu Aguleri. 
          Blessed Iwene Tansi is a Nigerian, a Christian, who had a vision of what the essentials of being a Christian are. And had the courage to put them into practice. He was also an apostle of the church and was someone dedicated to living out his priesthood. He had a positivity that he never sought to condemn, he looked for what was good, and he didn’t judge or condemn people. He was a true Nigerian who maintained this sense of serenity with his richness in humanity and that meekness that was characteristic of his personality throughout his life. All though he was strict he lived in the joy of the gospel without compromise loving to the very end. He embodied the poverty of the disciple, which is not only detachment from material goods, but also victory over the temptation to put oneself at the centre, to seek one’s own glory. 
           Blessed Tansi left for us Nigerian priests and religious a very relevant legacy for our vocation. We therefore must surely be willing to appreciate it and live it with love and devotion. And, while there are human limits to what we can do, and while it is important to get proper rest etc., we ought to embrace the truth of offering our lives in sacrificial love and service for the people and country as our patron saint did. He worked so hard for his people that he routinely went to bed tired. As a pastor he lived for his flock, did not use them, but lived for them to give them a shepherd’s care, loving attention, the protection of prayer, the Sacraments, and the truth of God’s word. Woe to priests who live selfishly for the people rather than sacrificially for them. Surely priests do at times tend to the physical weaknesses and illness of our people. But more usually ours is a ministry to those who are spiritually weak, and injured by sins, whether their own, or the sins of others who have hurt them. We are very much needed in the present Nigerian situation. Sacramental confession ought to be generously and conveniently supplied to God’s people. God’s people have wounds that need binding with the medicine of the sacraments. The doctor is usually near his patience. God’s people need care and we who are priests and shepherd ought to do everything we can to become more available and effective in healing the spiritual sickness of sin and helping to bind the wounds of those hurt by the human struggle with sin. ​



​

​                                                                   Sunday, August 4, 2022
                                                     Blessed Tansi thirst for Righteousness
            Blessed Iwene Tansi lived the monastic spirituality to the full. We must also remember that he lived his vow of stability to the ​full. The God he was all his life seeking in conversion lead him to Mount Saint Bernard Monastery. All the time it was returning from guilt to grace, returning from sin to righteousness, returning from wrong-doing to virtue as Isaiah would say: “Transgressors, return to your heart”  ( 46:8)  His conversion in the heart means also making progress in charity, moving from one virtue to another, until he was able to see God in contemplation. His main reason for leaving the flourishing parish apostolate in the Archdiocese is to meet Jesus, to find his face, to find solutions to some important life questions.  Such true monastic love liberates and decentralizes him from himself in order to center him on God and his neighbors putting him at their service.
            Before even he entered the monastery BlessedTansi had been in complete service to God and his neighbor. He was on the road to righteousness. He preached justice acted and lived just- those who know him revered him as righteous man. Even the traditional corrupt leaders of his time who opposed some of his cultural reforms respected his sense of justice and righteousness. His devotion and sense of duty as a professional teacher, seminarian’s bursa in the seminary and parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha were extraordinary. In all he humbly and faithfully persevered in his duties and tasks which sometimes could be annoying and burdensome.  His prayer life both as a pastor and monk reveal a continuous beholding the face of Christ not just in imploring help but also in thanksgiving, praise, adoration, contemplation, listening and ardent devotion. Being constantly in the face of God he had nothing to hide from him.  His heart was always open in love with Christ also open to the love of his brothers and sisters. His habit of prayer developed his conversation with Christ and made him the intimate friend of Christ he had always imitated.  ‘Abide in me and me in you.’ (Jn 15:4)  This reciprocity is the very substance and soul of all his priestly and monastic apostolate.
            “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6).  Blessed Tansi person and lifestyle is without a doubt that of a person who is intent on heaven. His desire for righteousness is not, of course, the false righteousness performed by those who like to glorify themselves and receive accolades for what they have done on an external basis, but his true righteousness, a righteousness which is borne out of love that seeks the good for all. His desire for righteousness not only gives him the appearance of holiness, but rather the true holiness of life. For fidelity to his vocation he acted in accordance with the dictates of justice, working for and promoting the common good. His thirst for righteousness is not just for some time it is all the days of his life. There is no end to what he would do in order to find it. But he sought for it, not just for himself, but for the common good of all. His rigorous fight against injustice in the traditional system was to lift others up with whatever holiness he had achieved, and so in sharing that holiness, he found it returned to him exponentially and the more he sought to share it with others, the more it filled him up with its glory. 
             For us the pursuit for righteousness is a lifelong pursuit. Righteousness is a way of being. To be righteous, we must constantly act, living out the dictates of love. We all have a mission before God and man. If we think only of ourselves, no matter what virtue we pursue, we will be far from righteous, because we will have ignored the core of righteousness itself, that is love. So long as love is ignored and rejected, what is desired is not righteousness, but its simulacra, the reason so many who seek after the appearance of holiness. This is also why they often end up doing something which demonstrates how far they are from true righteousness. It is better to listen to a humble sinner than a proud would-be saint. If we truly desire righteousness, if we truly thirst for it, we will receive it, it will be ours, but it will be ours in due time. We must struggle for it. We must not give up when we stumble. Righteous life is not impossible. If it were, God would not tell us to be righteous, for God knows it would be foolish to ask us to do what is impossible. However, it is impossible without God. That is, it is impossible without grace. God asks us to be righteous while offering us the very means by which we can achieve it. He doesn’t make holiness cheap, something easily attained without struggle; we must prove we want it. We must cooperate with grace and let it heal us so that we can gain the strength we need to resist temptations when we encounter it. When we ask God to lead us not into temptation, we are asking God to give us the strength we need to resist temptation and not fall for it.
 Are You Ready For Your Healing? 


Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
Are you bound by the injuries of your past?


There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.  

 ​                                                                        Sunday 28, 2022
                                                     Blessed Tansi Penitential Mortified life.
          Christians must overcome all their self-cantered, selfish inclinations. They are called to die to the self so that they can truly love others, thereby following after Christ. They are told that if they put into practice such self-denial, they will get a reward. “Lo, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there is no man who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life” (Lk. 18:28-30). So, what exactly does Jesus want from us, and why are we told to deny ourselves everything to follow after him, if we will be rewarded as he says? Find the answer in the life style of Blessed Iwene Tansi who right from the time of his conversion had given the impression that he was wholly intent on eternal life, was preparing for it, awaiting for it and living for it. In doing that he did not neglect his duties at any time in his life. He saw clearly his goal and in his simple quiet way prepared for it. As a school boy he led others to religious functions: mass, prayers and catechism instructions. His domestic responsibilities in the house of his cousin/master did not stop his religious duties. As a teacher, seminarian and priest the story was the same. Even today fifty eight years after his death blessed Tansi is still exercising a great influence over the lives of many people especially those who know him. During his life he seemed to have a special charism, to lead and to inspi                     


           From the early start of his spiritual life such practices as fasting, vigils, long prayers, solitude and various other forms of mortification played an important part in his spiritual development, strengthening him in virtue and liberating his spirit from all selfishness. He was never at any time robust. Sometime his health was undermined by the severe mortifications to which he subjected himself. This was so much so that his bishop at the end of his pastoral visit to his parish at Dunukofia in 1943 worried by the young priest’s emaciated appearance thought that the young parish had not enough to feed the priest. On the contrary the priest had too much but was giving out to others and managing with little comfort. In 1948 at Akpu the parishioners were touched by his strenuous exertions and voluntarily raised by a collection some sum of money and sent the same to the bishop at Onitsha to buy a kit-car for their Parish Priest. The bishop an Irish kind prelate knew that Blessed. Tansi would not accept the car however he bought the car which Blessed Tansi eventually rejected and requested the bishop to buy for him a motorcycle. Blessed Iwene Tansi never departed from the severe asceticism of his early years. If anything, he greatly increased his austerities.
         Besides, other physical sufferings and mortifications, he had other trials to overcome, these were far greater torments.  Through his personal poverty he identified with his flock, his generosity made him revered and loved. He could build a decent rectory as his colleague but he chose to identify himself with the local buildings. His house was built with mud and grass thatched roofs. He could afford a clean rest house in the outstations but he decided to live in the school store whenever he was visiting an outstation on trek. All through his life he had great potentials to wealth but he had always rejected them choosing a poor state. His leaving a very rewarding teaching profession with all its great future promises for the Seminary seemed a kind of madness for his relations. The majority of his flocks were poor. Their houses, meals and clothes were poor. He by his personal industry, education and status could rise above the general poor condition of the average man. He did not want to do it. He chose to raise their standard of living but himself remaining poorer than all. Most of his flock ate three times a day, a little food in the morning, then midday meal if during the farming season was taken in the farm, otherwise at home and a heavy pounded yam or cassava in the night. Bl. Tansi had enough to eat but rather the food prepared for him he chose to give to the poor and needy and fed on groundnuts and roasted yam, a diet poorer than that of the poorest villager. His house furniture was also poor consisted simply of three or four simple local-made back-chair, with a long bench at the centre of the room. The bed was a wooden bed with a grass mattress on it. He used locally-made pottery vessels for his meals. The provisions which he bought from the market for himself were usually the ones most people would not like to buy. He was very generous to people especially to the poor and the sick. But his spirit of poverty and sense of justice prevented him from helping materially his own relations. He wanted them to work for what they needed. He consistently resisted the financial and other material pressures coming from his immediate family.
           The Blessed Iwene Tansi dying to the self, denying himself by taking up his cross after Jesus is about training himself to overcome our fallen, sinful inclinations, inclinations which are based, not upon the loving nature given to us by God, but rather, on the way we have developed a false sense of the self and made ourselves to be the ultimate good above all other goods. Selfishness ultimately makes it impossible for us to know how to love others especially the poor. Attachments to self hindes us from loving and being loved. For his vocation in particular self-denial and asceticism are therapeutic tools to empty himself all thoughts of the false notion of the self. We all seek what we think will give us pleasure but what we get will never fully satisfy us. We need to find ourselves open to the world at large, acting, not out of selfish desire, but according to our proper nature, that is, in and through self-giving love. Thus, we will be open to grace, allowing it to transform us and make us better, and in our betterment, we will find ourselves not holding onto that grace as if it were an object to be hoarded, but rather treat it as a gift to be shared by all, so that we will share it with others, allowing it to spread throughout the world and make everything better.
       Are You Ready For Your Healing? 


Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
Are you bound by the injuries of your past?


         There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing.  


​                                                                  Sunday August 21, 2022
                                                                Driven by Passion for Souls.
            To appreciate Bl. Iwene Tansi passion for souls, let us go back to his time - the 1940’s when it was still dark, no road, no means of transport in order to relive what the dawn was like when he walked in his white cassock through the towns and villages, from Umunachi to Ukpoakpu, to Ukwulu down to Nando to reach the huts of his sick and dying Christians. From the parish centre Umudioka there were narrow bush tracks leading to villages and farms lands. Those bush paths were mostly used by farmers and hunters. Both sides of the path there were infinite forests and farmland often dangerous because of wild animals and dangerous snakes. These were the only way open to him to reach his parishioners in remote villages and towns – it was a matter of trekking – continuous trekking in search of his parishioners. As he went, he opened mass centres which later became stations and Christian communities. Among those early missionary priests in our land who best represent Christ, were the founders of the faith and Christian communities, and preeminent among them are the indigenous priests who with their knowledge of the people and culture brought faith into the heart of Igbo land. They were the earliest evangelizers in the era of Christianity in our land.  They helped to set up and hold together the Christian community and faith when it was just beginning. It was through them and their valiant work that the faith has been passed down so that it could be received by present generation.  We owe them a lot. This is not to say they were perfect. They were not. But they showed us how to overcome such imperfections arising from the religious transition from the traditional religion to Christianity. They let their love for Christ overcome their worst inclinations and impulses, so that when the time came, that love helped them prevail against temptation, including and especially, the temptation to lapse from the faith to save their temporal life. These for the sake of Christ and souls were slain all the daylong and accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (Ps. 44:21).
             Blessed Tansi zeal for vocations is a result of his zeal for Christ and souls. Blessed Tansi and a few others were the first indigenous ordinations in this land in the 1930’s. The priests were few and the apostolate was great. The Church needed priests badly - both the indigenous and missionary priests were over worked.  Aware of this need, Blessed Tansi gave himself to answer for the need. The importance which he attached to answering this call was shown by the seriousness with which he lived his priesthood. The zeal to live his own priesthood perfectly was his greatest contribution to fostering vocations. Some of his seminarians then said that his personal life as a priest was an eloquent sermon for vocations.  Boys and girls were inspired by his life to opt for the seminary and religious life.  In his days his Parish had always the highest number of seminarians and aspirants to the religious life. As soon as the seminarians arrive in his house, he welcomed them, found out what he could do for them, cheered them up and saw that they had a little comfort. Even today as humanity is undergoing transformation in social, cultural, and religious spheres we find in him permanent values of the priestly life and ministry. His   message carried by his examples, has not faded away, but still today attracts many.
            Similarly the monastic vocation now flourishing in Nigeria has his inspiration – his zeal for Christ and souls made him opt for the monastery even when he had a flourishing pastoral ministry. He was a pioneer monk in Nigeria. When he heard of the monastic apostolate with its worldwide apostolate and benefit he desired it. His bishop began making arrangement for it. Though he had little control and even less choice regarding the time and exact location of the monastery - that was Archbishop’s task when, in July of the Holy Year 1950, Blessed Iwene Tansi walked through the main gate of Mt. St. Bernard Abbey in Leicester, England - he entered into a world that was foreign and exotic even to most European Catholics. For an Igbo priest, originally hailing from an environment and culture that was Eastern Nigeria 60 –70 years ago, the transition must have been both painful and at the same time enthralling. It was for him a call. He answered. We can only speculate as to how difficult he found the transition from spiritual guide and teacher in Nigeria, to learner in Mount Saint Bernard. One would expect that the severity of the monastic Rule would have been tempered a little for the benefit of this little middle-aged Nigerian, but my informants were unanimous that there was nothing of the kind. He followed every monastic rule for his thirst for his Master and souls. He was basically delighted with what he found. “Here I have found a place where charity is practiced as it is preached” he wrote back to his Nigerian friends.
            That was his life and calling. He does not expect us today to follow him but he expects us today to get seriously committed to the practice of our faith. As today we might not be tempted by gold or silver or the promises of earthly tyrants, but we can be tempted by various passions and inclinations which encourage us to act contrary to the dictates of love. We must die to the self, rejecting those inclinations and desires of the self which lead us away from such love. If we do so, we imitate the Blessed Iwene Tansi and find ourselves not only sharing in the divine glory, but sharing it with others, for we will become vessels of God’s love in the world, no longer tempted to hold it in to ourselves as some exclusive glory but recognizing it as something which is to be shared and used to make everyone better



Are You Ready For Your Healing? 


Have you prayed To Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
Are you bound by the injuries of your past


There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing. 


                                                                Sunday, August 14, 2022
                                               Blessed Iwene Tansi is relevant in Nigeria today.
            The Blessed Cyprian Tansi lived a life of witness to peace and love, capable of overcoming every sentiment of hatred and revenge.  As a true Nigerian and lover of his country, he warned against the temptation that reconciliation between our ethnic groups is not possible. He fought against any unhealthy attachment to one’s group that leads to despising others. There was to be no place for intimidation and domination of the poor and the weak, for arbitrary exclusion of individuals and groups from political life, for the misuse of authority, or the abuse of power. When he was fighting these ills with the traditional rulers of his time he was showing a way for a new Nigeria. The key to his social, political, and economic philosophy in resolving economic, political, cultural, and ideological conflicts was justice; and justice was not complete without the love of neighbours or any ethnic group. His fight for the widows, women in general, girls, and the poor was to give them their rights and justice in the community.  His life and witness remain an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria. His destiny and mission - a life of prayer and self-giving love was not an end in itself, but was literally for others.
          We will recall that Blessed Tansi was among the first Nigerians to be ordained priests in the 1930s, and he led his people by word and example. This was the time when the nationalists were fighting for a new Nigeria. There is no saying what his future would have been had he taken to political life. But he felt the call to follow Christ in another way for the interest of Nigeria. He too likes the nationalists was urged by the love of his country - his fellow men and women. He was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with God for the good of his country. In his ministry, he learned that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from each other and from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish lifestyles. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them and that they eventually end up in trouble until they can find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to true peace, love and reconciliation. His life and legacy are still relevant in today's Nigeria. His life and mission were a kind of moral revolution against injustice, hatred, and marginalization of any group, the poor and the weak. He was succeeding but he was just one man - he is today calling all Nigerians to be part of the revolution he started.
           You too can be a part of something of life-changing in the present-day Nigeria in crisis. Blessed Tansi needs each one of us to be his partner in this moral revolution to save the nation. He is seeking lay people, families, religious and priests all men of God, and politicians to volunteer their time, talents, and prayers in pursuit of the grassroots renewal our country so desperately needs. Just as many humble pieces come together to form a glorious stained-glass image, so too will God use each of us, however ordinary or imperfect, to bring about this renewal in Nigeria. He only asks that you listen to his voice. We can all respond to one—or all three—opportunities for participation.


Become a prayer partner for Nigeria: Join the team of spiritual advocates for the Blessed Tansi lifestyle - help us cover the whole promotion in prayer, fasting, and penance.
Share a testimony of how the life of Blessed Tansi has touched you – bring forward the favors received through his intercession. Share your testimony to open more hearts.
Change your own lifestyle – become a bearer of peace – a distinctive sign of a Christian - something that begins with us; from you and me, from the heart of each one. By doing so, peace will dwell in your home, in your church, in your country. Blessed Tansi underlines the importance of community and brotherhood by uniting families and towns and by solving conflicts and destroying every instinct of supremacy, oppression, greed, and possession.

        So let us, as we pray for him and to him, ask God that his cause may prosper, and that he may be an inspiration to many Nigerians, whatever state of life they are called to, and that he may draw many to a deeper truth that God has not forgotten us.  Finally, may this truth remind us that we all need each other, and depend on each other. We are all members of same blessed Nigeria, and may our sharing in the brotherhood and blessings of Nigeria make us more aware in a very concrete way our collective responsibility to this country. Blessed Tansi’s life and death can contribute even a little to that awareness that by itself will be no small achievement, for it is something that Nigeria of today most needs.
       [Are You Ready For Your Healing? 


  Have you prayed to Blessed Tansi for God to heal you or someone else without results?
 Are you beginning to wonder if you or a loved one will ever receive a healing?
 Are you bound by the injuries of your past


There are many reasons why being ready for your healing and actually receiving your healing are two distinctly different things. All too often, the two never get together because of the barriers that hinder God's work from being done in us.  Come to Blessed Tansi and you will know what it will take for you to receive your healing].​





                                                                   Sunday, August 7, 2022
                                                             Blessed Tansi a Martyr for Christ
          Christians are meant to follow the example of Christ, to glorify the Father in the world by doing what he did - to empty themselves of all attachments which cut them off from God, including, and especially, their attachment to self. If they do, they will, like him, share in the glory which God rendered to him. From eternity Jesus possessed glory in his divine nature. It was something which he did not hold onto, but rather, through his love for humanity, he became man and assumed human nature, so that he could present that glory to the world. He emptied himself of his glory out of love so that he could and would share it with us. It is love which is the bridge. It is love which connects us to him. It is love which lets us not only to experience the divine glory, but to share it with others. Indeed, it is love which makes us want to share it with others. When we embrace that love, we find ourselves united with Christ, and in that unity, we then continue his work in history.
        We have the privilege of having the Blessed Tansi who offered himself as a sacrifice give us an example of Christ-like love. “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God; consider the outcome of their life, and imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7). By his life and Christian witness Blessed Tansi was just another disciple of the Lord who came before us, followed Christ, and continued his work in history in our midst. Today his life is very relevant. If we want to learn how to be Christians and receive the glory which Christ promises to us we must imitate him.
         “... it may be high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm and candor, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self forgetful”. (BP. Anthony Nwedo-Sermon at the re-interment Onitsha 1986)
         In Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi we meet one who came from being a devout pagan village boy to a Catholic Christian, to a Catholic priest, to a Cistercian monk, to the honours of the altar and perhaps God willing soon to the fullness of the honours of the altar - saint.  His early search for the truth and God drew him increasingly towards the missionaries, but there were many hurdles on his way. He passed through several stages on his journey, each rooted in his humble acceptance of the will of God and truth. His journey of faith was characterized fundamentally by openness to truth, conversion and missionary approach.  He will ever be remembered as one of the faithful servants of the church in our days who through his cross lived out the call and mind of the church in his life. His pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha was that of suffering. He did what many at the time considered pastorally impossible:


Changed not only the pastoral method invoke at the time but also the daily life of the entire community he ministered and reset the trajectory of the traditional Igbo culture.
Created new and concrete pastoral initiatives which made his wishes realities.
Did not just preach from the pulpit rather he went down to the people in the environment of their daily life.
Dedicated a lot of effort in building and sanctifying marriages as a bed rock of his parish community.
Exhorted the youth to have faith, brought them together and gave them a boarding accommodation in the mission parish school where he took special care to prepare them for future leaders. 
Did not just ask the community to love one another but he fought customs that offend the dignity of the human person and stood for equal right to women. The traditional masquerade cult received a deadly blow from where it never recovered during his presence.
Did not just say be kind to the poor and the sick, he went out on his way to become not only the voice of the poor and weak but he helped them to the extent of sharing his meal with them. The tradition avoided the lepers but he became their best friend and helper.
His highest priority for his parish was the Sunday Eucharist and other Eucharistic pieties.
Next, to the Eucharistic pieties was the sacrament of reconciliation. He spent very long hours in the confessional.
nothing shows his love for the future of the church more clearly than his love and care for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.


         His spirit was contemplative and missionary, missionary because contemplative. He knew that personal union with God, prayer and sacrifice, however hidden, were fruitful for the whole Church and therefore missionary.  When he left for the monastery he went to another culture and people to adapt to the ways that were strange - he had to get used to a cold climate and to different food, and to many things that even those who came from England found decidedly peculiar and contrary to what they were used to. It was not easy. His entire spiritual life was aimed at a conversion of heart, from bad to good, from good to better, and from better to best. It was an ongoing process, from bad to good to better to best.  It was a process of the heart shown and lived in – conversion, devotion, and contemplation.


                                                                    Sunday, July 31, 2022
                                                     Blessed Tansi: Model of Perseverance
         There are days, sometimes weeks or years, when we wonder how much further we can go. Sometimes it feels like a long time since we made any real progress or accomplished anything. There are obvious reasons for worry, we are stuck or sitting up on blocks turning to rust. We might be frustrated because other people do not seem to even remember our most significant work. We feel we are being hindered and hampered as we struggle to make a meaningful contribution. This could happen to anybody at any time. Perseverance is a challenge to us humans.
          The Blessed Tansi gave us an example of dedicated perseverance and remained a model for us.  As a child, a teacher, a seminarian, a priest and a religious monk he had challenges and difficulties but he got through them all by perseverance and determination. His childhood was rough, lost his father at an early age and in order to make his primary education he has to live with his cousin teacher for his up keep and education.  He was literally a servant to his cousin doing all the house work, studies and church activities. He had great opposition from his family to go to the seminary. His seminary days were rough. Those early seminarians to the priesthood were unnecessarily tried at the formation houses. He and his few companions persevered through determination. His pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha had trials and oppositions. He was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord. He wanted to bring the contemplative life to Onitsha and since no one seemed ready to go; he himself asked to go to a monastery so that in due time he could bring that way of life back home. When he left Nigeria for England, he disappeared as far as his own people were concerned. He had gone from light into darkness, from a life in the sight of all to a life hidden from the world. Yet he did not see it as a running away, as an avoiding of responsibilities. For him it was God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown, to leave his country and his family like Abraham and so many others, and to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. It was like all true calls from God, a venture of faith. The cost on him was great. He went to another culture and people, he had to adapt to ways that were strange, he had to get used to a cold climate – his greatest mortifier and to different food, and to many things that even those who came from England found decidedly peculiar and contrary to what they were used to. It was not easy but he persevered. However, things did not turn out like that. God’s ways are strange. He did not bring the monastic way of life personally, for he died before his longing could be carried out.
           We too have a unique opportunity to practice living in new ways. The ways we understand and live into life, based in our reflection, will change what our lives become. Any of us who want to make a successful life must persevere all the time. We may realize we need to be responsible for leading ourselves before we can take responsibility to lead others. We may have been following good advice, exceeding expectations, getting things under control. It is possible we have even overcome opposition and outscored our competitors. We may feel less hopeful about making a significant difference. Do we still believe in what we are doing? Are we feeling discouraged, tired, or ready to give up and stop trying? We might see ourselves as out of options, out of time, out of luck. Here is a real danger to perseverance. It can happen in spiritual life. A lot of people do different things for different reasons, looking for their own answers. Some people want to become better or stronger. Other people would like to develop new skills and learn to do things in new ways. Some people want to find peace, happiness or calmness which has eluded them. Each of us is seeking something different. Are we dissatisfied, disappointed by what we have found so far? Each of us wants to heal the pain of lacking the depth and joy for which we hunger. Everyone wants more than just to be reassured or comforted. Each wants something real which will make his life different.  In all that each wants to find deep, underlying truth which transcends life’s challenges. The value of our experience is not in how it makes us feel. We have not worked so hard or so effectively just to add to our resumes. What determines how much further we can go is how willing we are to allow the insights of our faith to shape our actions. The challenges we face in the future are not about replicating the effectiveness we have demonstrated in the past. Our leadership will be less about efficiency or meeting goals and more about wisdom. When we take time for contemplation and reflection we begin to dip our toes into wisdom. Contemplation allows us to hold our experience up to the light and see new facets.
            In all his life adventures Blessed Tansi persevered because he was living his own life that was his vocation. He focused on the things that are at the core of his faith and continually renewed his awareness of the things that really matter. Today his life is important, it is because it was a life faith, of humble and persevering following out of what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was dark and cold. In that way he was just one more disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can learn from him as we can from his Master.





​                                                                    Sunday, July 24, 2022.
                                                     Blessed Iwene Tansi Prophet of Nigeria.
          There is a great cry of the heart in the land; the poor innocent and wounded hearts are beating loudly all over Nigeria—and we all must take heed. Nigeria today needs more than ever the ascetic love and charity of its national hero and saint, Blessed Iwene Tansi call for the work of national emancipation and freedom has not been completed. His life detachment warns us about a danger that all of us face. The danger of complacency, comfort, and worldliness in our lifestyles and in our hearts - danger of making our well-being the most important thing in our lives. He warned that whenever material things: money, worldliness, become the centre of our lives, they take hold of us, they possess us; we lose our very identity as human beings.
              Today his lifestyle and message is relevant, his lessons on zeal for common good to inspire us to destroy finally the systemic injustice and tribalism that is our nation’s original sin that subject millions of Nigerians to levels of intimate and intrusive, and therefore volatile treatment no democratic community would ever tolerate. The political rules and decisions are there so that the dignity of each human might be respected and safeguarded. To safeguard them Blessed Iwene Tansi, spent his life and strength among us his fellow Nigerians preaching and living the Good News of salvation and seeking to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another. He is a true prophet of peace and reconciliation in our time. He did not live for himself but for others. He spoke words of love and forgiveness in the family life, village town and nation. As if what he did in his life time is not enough, after his death  he brought  the Holy Father, St. John Paul 11 in 1998 to remind Nigerians the whole truth about love and living together: “Today I wish to proclaim the importance of reconciliation: reconciliation with God and reconciliation of people among themselves. This is the task which lies before the Church in this land of Nigeria, on this continent of Africa, and in the midst of every people and nation throughout the world”. (Onitsha-Sermon beatification 1998). Without reconciliation "the world [Nigeria] will look more and more like a battlefield, where only selfish interests count and the law of force prevails" (Ecclesia in Africa, 79).
             Most of us will remember what the political atmosphere looked like when the Holy Father came and what happened after that. But today Nigeria has failed even to hear this truth. Nigeria has failed to hear that the plight of the masses and the poor have worsened over the years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that small segments of the privileged class are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s present disorder and unrest are caused by our nation’s wintersthis truth.  failure or delay to listen to the Prophet of our time. And as long as Nigeria postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.
           Next year 2023, the silver jubilee of the beatification of Blessed Iwene Tansi, Nigerian national Prophet and of the second pastoral visit to Nigeria of Saint John Paul 11 coincides with national elections in Nigeria. It is fitting. In such a year with the usual political empty promises and of reckoning, let us take to heart, listen to that prophetic call for justice especially for the most vulnerable, the truth that Nigeria cannot be Nigeria until the common masses lives matter for all of us. The Blessed Iwene Tansi life and words of prophecy should reecho once more deep into our hearts to produce the desired change as we prepare for our national political elections. Let our hearts remember the hidden sufferings of so many. Let our hearts break for the anguish of many innocent lives lost over the yearsentkshould reecho oner justicef , beaten down, disrespected. Let our hearts sing the freedom-song of limitless love—sing and dream a dream of Nigeria where truth will set us all free.
           It is common knowledge that over the years in this country, the poor and vulnerable were not only neglected, but abused by those with money and power. Those who live on the lives of others, those who live a life of luxury, relying upon others so that they can maintain that life of luxury for themselves, would find that such a lifestyle came at a high cost. They would eventually be looked upon by others who saw their luxury and wealth and would come and take it from them, just as they had taken it from others. Social injustice, systematic evil, can last only so long before the whole system breaks down. Those who take advantage of others will find that they will likewise be taken advantage on another day. It is common for those with great wealth, those who enjoy extreme luxury, to be blinded by it. They hide from themselves the suffering and injustices which are around them, so then they can ignore the fact that they are the cause of pain and sorrow for others. We must not become prideful of our own prosperity, especially if our prosperity employs systematic sin to give the benefits of that prosperity to a few at the expense of many others. So long as we promote and accept injustice, so long as we let our prosperity and a luxurious way of life get in the way of justice, our worship of God is reprehensible, because there can be no true worship of God without the promotion of justice. We must do what we can to dismantle systematic injustice and make sure those who suffer at the hands of injustice receive what they need in order to be healed. We must dismantle systematic evil. We must fight against oppression. If we do so, if we work for justice, then, we can offer our own sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving to God and find ourselves vindicated by God for following the true spirit of prophecy.[I don’t know whether you know that Blessed Tansi needs only one miracle accepted by the Vatican to reach the fullness of the alter-join us to pray for this one miracle] 





                                                          ​​    Sunday, July 17, 2022
                                                         Blessed Tansi - Pray for Nigeria.
        Nigeria today is hurting. Nigerians all need healing, yet many of us are separated from the very source of our strength. Jesus Christ and his one and only national Saint who invites us to return to the source and summit of our faith—the Real Presence in the Holy Eucharist. Nigeria is like a world that has forgotten God and without the sacred to give it orientation, it has fallen into chaos.  Not only societies and communities, but families and individuals are fragmented and dismayed.  A deeper truth remains - for though we have forgotten God, God has not forgotten us. Recently the victims of terrorism are of another category to which nothing can be compared. It is very clear to anyone who has been closely following the events in Nigeria over the past years that the underpinning issues of terror attacks, banditry, and unabated onslaught in Nigeria that we need heavenly assistance and immediately too. Terrorists are on free loose slaughtering, massacring, injuring, and installing terror in different parts of Nigeria since over eight years not because of any reasonable thing but because they are evil. Recently, the massacre of men, women, and children during liturgical worship in the church has added a new and fresh dimension to the crime wave in the country. There is a profound fear in every part of the country due to widespread kidnappings, as well as attacks on churches, markets, and public transport. Many have lost their home, family, friends, and community. The youths take a great risk to come out and live their true authentic lives. In some places people are badly rejected by family and community, thrown out like trash. Kids beaten, disowned, thrown to the streets—all because they belong to this ethnic group or religion. The situation breaks my heart.
          At the face of these our political leaders with the national security seem not to have any fruitful ideas on how to protect the citizens and make Nigeria a safe place to live.  This is where the only Nigerian saint comes in - heavenly solution and not human.  Our National Saint, Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi a true son of Nigeria, a living witness of the power of God at work in human weakness, lived in love and peace in this country and handed the same legacy which we have so quickly lost and forgotten. This Nigerian saint saw his mission as indispensable for the Church, for his suffering people and for Nigeria, a mission which called him for complete fidelity to Christ and constant union with him in reconciling his fellow Nigerians with God and with one another.  He knew that there was no other way than to abide in his love which, entails constantly striving for holiness and growing ever closer to Jesus, who counted on him, his minister, to spread and to build up his Kingdom and to radiate his love, truth and reconciliation. He had an extraordinary influence, a magnetic personality which seemed to attract everyone to him. He had great influence over his companions and his fellow Nigerians. “Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another.  . . the life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in the Nigeria that he loved so much”. (Pope Saint John Paul 11, sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998)
           Realising that we have failed, some Nigerians particularly in the crime torn areas of our state are desperately seeking assistance both human and divine since the Nigerian Government for these eight years or more is completely helpless on this matter. Some groups of Blessed Tansi devotees are remembering Blessed Tansi particularly because of certain elements of his biography that are exceedingly relevant to our day. He was a man of peace who devoted his entire life for the service of God and his neighbour. He loved peace, spoke of peace and lived for peace. Blessed Tansi had been a voice of love to those who were rejected and ill treated. Today he is still our true fulltime Advocate and Allie. We need him badly for a vibrant community full of extensive resources for love and care - with free hearts to love and be loved. The Blessed Tansi had taught us that political and religious leaders hold our future in their hands—and their response matters. They hold tremendous power for change in our communities, schools, places of worship, and homes. If human power has failed we turn to our heavenly advocate – he cannot fail us.
         “All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing” (ibid).
           A heavenly assistance will come but before then each and every Nigerian has something to do in the present situation - that is lavish inclusion. Real love accepts people as they are with room for who they may become. We need listen more than we speak.  Do your own part of the work.  We can err on the side of love and acceptance - default toward love and acceptance, not judgment and rejection. “Reconciliation necessarily involves solidarity. The effect of solidarity is peace. And the fruits of peace are joy and unity in families, cooperation and development in society, truth and justice in the life of the nation” (ibid). We must all choose love over being right, because love is always right. Support the change and be the change. Focus on inclusion, acceptance, and affirmation.  Focus on diversity in our lives. Expand your worldview. Switch your focus away from who is right and wrong to what is loving and unloving. Then choose love, because love is always right. Become inclusive because it is humane. It is kind. It is how we love well. Look for people on the edges, and be love and kindness. Your heart, so many other hearts need us to be part of that change. Be inclusive. Be affirming. Be the change and the love you want to see in our Nigeria.​


                                                               Sunday, July 10, 2022
                                            Blessed Tansi detachment is union with God.
             Last week we saw that Blessed Tansi started to practice detachment early in his life. From the time he accepted God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ his attitude towards material thing changed. His former interest for traditional feasts and dances changed, he began to focus more on God, the church, the Blessed Sacrament and the activities of the parish. Even after school classes he is either found busy with house work in his master house or in the church before the Blessed Sacrament. When he became a teacher after his elementary school the salary he received was used for the up keep of his widowed mother, his poor siblings and poor children in the village. It is said that he kept nothing for himself and that often he went to school without shoes even though he could afford one. His interest was not on what he wore but on his duty and responsibilities. His decision to leave his lucrative teaching profession for the diocesan junior seminary in 1925 was a practical demonstration of his detachment from the world. Similarly, his leaving the very flourishing parish apostolate in 1950 for a total life of enclosure in Mount Saint Bernard Abbey Leicester, where he became the last in the community speaks eloquently of total spiritual detachment. Again from the Abbey, was his novice master, Fr. Gregory Wareign, a man who stood by him in the dramatic and extraordinary vicissitudes which characterized his life in the Abbey. He was an accurate annotator of Fr. Tansi spiritual itinerary, especially in the Abbey, he has this to say:
           “Here we meet one of the outstanding lessons of Fr. Cyprian’s Monastic life at Mt. St. Bernard ― the deep conviction of the over-riding value of the contemplative life and its worldwide apostolate. His high esteem for it impelled him to sacrifice so much willing to obtain its blessings for himself and for his own dear people. He left an extremely active and very blessed apostolate in the Onitsha Archdiocese, including his determined drive to foster vocations, sanctifying marriages, care for the poor and sick, spending himself in the confessional, and in answering sick calls to travel to a foreign land and a severe climate purely in order to learn in the school of the Lord’s service how to love and serve his fellow monks under a rule and an Abbot, to praise God night and day in choir, to study the Bible and other holy reading so that in the end his soul could be liberated from all earthly ties and cling fully to God in Divine love. He was asked to forgo many things during his thirteen years as a Cistercian monk. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end ― even to realizing that he would fulfill his vow of stability perfectly by dying here in England far away from his own people and land and be buried happily in the monastic cemetery of Mount St. Bernard Abbey ― where he rested while the pioneer band went off without him to make the longed foundation in Bemenda and not in Nigeria.”
           These testimonies hold primacy of place not only because they were fundamental in revealing the religious personality of Fr. Tansi but also because they constituted a unique and precious revelation of his inner life and disposition. They revealed candidly and openly all the warmth and feeling of a life that was completely wrapped up in a love affair with God and detached from the world. By these Blessed Tansi was opting for his union with God and personal spiritual growth hence denying himself of anything that could hinder progress - material goods and relationships. It is vital to note that the detachment of the soul from worldly attachments must never be divorced from either faith in or love of God. God created human beings with desire, especially with the desire for God. Detachment and self-denial are a means to an end by which one properly orders one’s desires to obtain spiritual perfection or union with God. For us Christians, the goal of detachment is union with God. To be in union with God requires that we have adequate knowledge of God which is often difficult for natural humans. Fortunately, natural human knowledge is not the only way of knowing. God can infuse the intellect with supernatural knowledge - the theological virtues; faith, hope, and love. Having faith in God means man freely commits his entire self to God (CCC 1814) willing and able to deny and detach himself from those desires that interfere with his commitment.
           Like Blessed Tansi we too could become spiritually detached from any worldly thing that impedes our spiritual growth. It is quite simple and quite difficult. It involves denying one’s own will in favour of the will of God which can be simple and at the same time difficult. With grace and human effort one can overcome the natural inclination to put one’s own desires and needs first and achieve detachment. The human effort must include prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The purpose of these spiritual practices is to take the focus off of oneself and onto the love of neighbour by which we love God frees us from sinful desires.


                                                             Sunday, July 3, 2022
                                            Blessed Iwene Tansi: Why So Detached from World.
          Jesus advises his followers to enter through the narrow gate into eternal life. Only through detachment from worldly things could the followers of Jesus enter heaven through the narrow gate. The purpose of detachment is to order human beings to God. When we adhere to worldly things, we become worldly. When we adhere to God, we participate in God’s Divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). It is common among the Church fathers to practice spiritual detachment. Saint John of the Cross likens it to a form of blindness whereby the soul is cut off from worldly attachments and must rely entirely on faith. Properly practiced, spiritual detachment can serve many benefits. The most fundamental basis of spiritual life requires recognizing that we are creatures and that God is our Creator.
          In considering the life of Blessed Tansi we notice that the tricky part about his life of detachment is that material goods are not ends in themselves, and so we should never seek our soul’s satisfaction in their possession or enjoyment. In the same way material goods are means to an end, and so if ever a possession or a practice is inhibiting one from achieving ones end (holiness and spiritual fruitfulness as a child of God), then those possessions or practices need to be discarded. For me with many years of pastoral experience knowing how naturally pushy an average Nigerian is finds it hard to explain the kind of detachment Blessed Tansi had at that time when the practice of detachment would look like going against the current. It must have been for him a hard tiring task which could be accomplished only by grace and strength of will. He opposes all inclination of nature and makes his will to do what is repugnant to nature like denying himself all legitimate comfort. This was, however, a sweet task for a soul in love with God-a soul which knows that everything it refused to self is given to God.   His consistent attitude is that material goods should be sought, welcomed, and used insofar as they help us achieve our purpose of glorifying God and helping to save souls. Money was the great deceiver and must be kept on a leash.  Considering the present day Nigerian greed for money Blessed Tansi shows many Nigerians the face and presence of God. He speaks to us, and offers us a sign of God’s kingdom in our material pursuit.
            His stand on material possession is a solution to the economic crises now in the country. The sky-rocketing essential materials, food and fuel prices have precipitated the worst social and economic unrest in the country in years, leading to thousands of demonstrators marching for change. People are stranded without basic needs such as food, fuel, domestic and industrial gas. Patients are left in the lurch without the medicine needed to sustain their life. Parents are yearning to find milk food for infants and children.  Crimes are multiplying daily all over the country. Explosion of real violence is a real danger as the country’s economic crisis worsens. The real cause of all these is material corruption, greed and bad economic management. Something must be done and rapidly too. Blessed Tansi life style of detachment is a way out – to bring about justice, equity and open the way for our youth to have a country to live with dignity.
            His life is a voice of a prophet to Nigeria at this moment. Even though he himself in his days often felt unworthy and of no use but God knew well what he was worth before him and effectively using him to preach the Good News of the Gospel. God gave his silence, his quiet, his self-forgetfulness, his words and his gestures a certain virtue, which unknown to himself, worked in the hearts of those around him. His love for poverty and detachment does not mean that he is hostile to people who do not follow his life style. The desire to give His life for the salvation of the world constitutes the most remarkable example of detachment from worldly things. His life is very relevant to Nigerians of all tribes, religion and occupation today.For us Christians generally, detachment occurs within the context of Catholic asceticism. Asceticism is a form of spiritual exercise whereby one seeks spiritual perfection that properly orders one’s appetites and affections of created things for the purpose of serving God. Detachment is not reserved only for those in a religious order.  “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Matt 16:24). In other words, Christians, as followers of Christ, must detach themselves from all worldly attachments and appetites no matter what the cost.





​                                                                     Sunday .June 26, 2022
                                                       Blessed Tansi Penitential mortified life.
            Christians learnt from the early church that it is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. The Church has not changed her apostolic and highly organized structures and traditions. The cross is still an integral part of Christianity. Jesus the founder of Christianity announced the cross without ambiguity. He himself endured hostility, hardship, and the horrors of the cross yet triumphed and showed that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. He caught the wise in their craftiness and showed that the thoughts of the wise of this world are futile (1 Cor 3:20). The soft Christianity of many today, who remove the cross and replace it with a pillow and who insist upon inclusion and affirmation to the exclusion of all else, is strangely absent in this early setting. Christ himself was emphatic: if you want to follow me carry your cross daily and follow me. We are Catholics sent to proclaim the gospel: that God has loved the world and sent His Son, who by dying and rising from the dead has purchased for us a whole new life, free from sin and the rebellious obsessions of this world. He is victorious over all the death-directed drives of this present evil age. Simply put, He has triumphed over these forces and enabled us to walk in the newness of life. To walk in that newness of life is not easy but some have done it and left us an example to follow.
            The Blessed Tansi is an example of those who discover the easy way to succeed and carry the crown. Let us follow him and see the secret of his success. He accepted his vocation and remained faithful to his mission. He went forth announcing the Gospel as good news, with joy and confidence, admonishing his converts especially those obsessed with pleasures to embrace the cross as our only hope, appointing catechists and teachers in every outstation he opened to teach and follow after him. Because these and all his faithful have to look up to him for example and model he remained accountable to them by his way of conduct. He suffered in his mission, long and endless treks under the equatorial heat- sometimes going without food.  Everybody knew he was working beyond normal human capacity. His labours and happiness were linked to his harvest. He knew he was to announce a new life, set free from the bondage of sin, rebellion, sensuality, greed, lust, domination, and revenge. His was to announce a life of joy, confidence, purity, chastity, generosity, and devotion to the truth rooted in love. He has to live that himself in order to make an effective proclamation. For this reason, he had to be extra hard on himself. There is no doubt some—indeed many—were offended and sought to convict him and his Christians as disturbers of native tradition and then of peace. Some evil men who benefit from certain unjust customs don’t like him and his mission and don’t want to change their way of life. They prefer darkness to light, immorality to holiness and slavery to freedom.
            He suffered and as a weapon to fight back, he resorted to a life penance and mortification, long hours before the Eucharistic Lord all for his flock and for his enemies. The saying “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” made sense to him and he sought to put it into practice. He announces and teaches that “If you’re not willing to endure the cross, no crown will come your way. If you can’t stand a little disappointment, if you can’t stand being talked about sometimes, if you think you should always be up and never down, I have come to remind you: no cross, no crown.” Our glory is through the cross. There is a test in every testimony, a trial in every triumph. There are demands of discipleship, requirements for renewal, laws of love, and sufferings set forth for those who want the glory. The Blessed Tansi left us an example to follow. Through his penitential and mortified life, the cross becomes not suffering but life, power, and love. Because of his mortified life, it is possible for him to live without sin, learn to forgive, live the truth in love, and overcome rebellion, pride, lust, and greed. Many today insist that the Church soft-pedal the cross, that we use honey, not vinegar. We joyfully announce and uphold the paradox of the cross and must be willing to be a sign of contradiction to this world, which sees only pleasure and the indulgence of sinful drives as the way forward that exalts freedom without truth or obedience, and calls good what God calls sinful.


                                                                        ​​Sunday 19, 2022
                                                Blessed Iwene Tansi: A Path to Hidden Holiness
           The saints are human. They did not drop from Heaven. They are human just like you and me. We are all called by God Himself to be great saints – just as the saints were. January 20th. is the feast day of a Nigerian who answered that call to be a saint.
          Blessed Tansi was born in Aguleri, Anambra-Nigeria on January 3, 1903. He had a typical childhood with his parents and many siblings in a small town a few miles from Onitsha, attending the local parochial school with his mates. There he became a great example of charity to his friends. Nearing the age of 9 in 1912, he was baptised and took the name Michael. From an early age, Michael was eager to do God’s will. Soon after his baptism, he heard a sermon about achieving holiness. Three points impressed him: first, that it is God’s will for everyone to become a saint; second, that it is easy to do so; and third, that there are great rewards in Heaven for those who become saints. Consumed with zeal for God, he began attending more frequently the parish church and the Blessed Sacrament, fasting on small piece of yam and water and imposing harsh mortifications on himself.  However, when his cousine/teacher realized what he was doing, he forbade him from undertaking this fasting regimen and these penances on the grounds that doing so was damaging his health and banned him from assuming any further penances without permission. It is said that the parish priest told him that he could become the great saint he was striving to be by being completely obedient to his Cousin/teacher in whose house he was living at the time. He obeyed but was not satisfied. He considered obedience a necessity, and therefore, insufficient as a penance. However at his age and dependence on his master with obedience he could give more glory to the Lord than by many long and arduous penances, for God delights in obedience more than sacrifice. (cf.1 Sam 15:22). It was in this manner of obedience, then, that he surrendered to God, trusting that he would become a saint by obeying his teachers and master. He subsequently abided by the maxim: I cannot do big things, but I can do little things with great love.
              We recall a very strange thing that happened on the eve of his baptism something of a kind of a sublime example of hidden holiness. He was baptised at the age of nine. As the parish priest was giving the last instructions for baptism and the necessity of parting completely with the agents of the devil, the young boy recalled that he has an idol [chi] which his pagan parents made for him at birth. He ran straight home and in front of his mother brought out the idol and broke it – an abomination - an offence punishable death in the traditional religion. His mother was dumb founded – could not understand the boy. After breaking the idol the boy ran back to the church and joined others for baptism. He was baptised the next day January 12, 1912. On that day, which he called the happiest and most wonderful day of his life, he made four resolutions, which guided him from then on - to go to Confession and Holy Communion as often as his confessor allowed him; to sanctify Sundays and holy days in a special manner; to have Jesus and Mary be his chief friends; and to choose death before sin.
             His quiet, unassuming example of sanctity lays out an imitable path to sanctity. He gave himself entirely to the service of his master and lived an ordinary servant’s life in an extraordinary way - attending Holy Mass and receiving Holy Communion with utmost love and reverence as often as he could, going frequently to Confession, performing hidden mortifications.  By doing the simple and ordinary things he became great because he was faithful in doing God’s will. That, in the end, is what makes great saints: doing the will of God. We know that great thing like “prophecies…will pass away, tongues…will cease, knowledge…will pass…, but love never ends” (1 Cor. 13:8). Therefore, it is love that will make us saints and it follows that to love God is to do His will. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15).
            All great saints imitate Christ to a heroic degree. They endure their trials bravely. They are steadfast in faith to the end. Life is a continual battle with the forces of darkness, and it will not get any easier with age. But with the prayers and example of Blessed Iwene Tansi, we have another faithful protector to guide us to God. We would do well to act on his words: “if you want to become a Christian better be a good one ...go to confession regularly and to Communion as often as you can.” 





                                                                    Sunday, June 12, 2022
                                                      Blessed Tansi: Pastoral approach to culture
            Blessed Tansi cultural creativity was for change. Many who went before him did their best with the opportunity available to them but they did not make much powerful and lasting impact on Igbo tradition and Christian culture. They did not do more than just either consume, criticise, condemn, or copy it. The Blessed Tansi method was the only way to truly change what was wrong in Igbo culture; he sought to create something new for it - something that will inspire people enough to start to reshape their lives, behaviours, belief and surroundings. This is what he did; first he embraced his calling as a God given opportunity to help others and to change the society. He accepted the desire to take what existed in the world around him and make something better. He took his vocation serious by accepting all its demands to be creative.
          He took good care of the good things that the culture has already given him. Preserved and nourished the best of what people before him have contributed to the culture in the areas of family, marriage, youth initiation, festivals/ masquerade and role of women in the society. These areas were very sensitive because of their connection with the traditional religion. In Igbo tradition life is intimately connected with the worship of the deity.  The daily life of an Igbo man is not different from his religious life.  In these areas he focused his greatest attention making them more acceptable to Christianity. He was also aware of their future role in the society. By the payment of the bride price tradition permits the couple to live together but not so with the Christian tradition. It was difficult for converts to accept the Christian view. Blessed Tansi sought to present a true experience of authentic Christian vision for marriage and family life in order to achieve the spiritual fruits that come from living out the nuptial sacramental vocation.
          He dared to take risks for the people. He was brave and willing to think and do things that have never been thought of or done before (such as separating even with force young men and their wives who were living together without sacramental marriage) - things that would make his environments a better place. His faith and trust in God helped him to overcome fears that would block him from using his creativity to the fullest. Distractions and obstacles were many but knowing that he was not pursuing a vague and naïve general idea of changing the society, he thought and prayed about the specific ways God wanted to use him to do His redemptive work at this particular time and in this particular place. He was strengthened by the Gospel's power to transform culture as such power cannot be contained in any particular culture; it reaches into every culture and changes it by changing the lives of the people within. With God's power at work to make even the impossible gloriously possible, every culture can be changed for the better. Relying on God's unlimited power instead of his own limited efforts he was able to dethrone the myths of the evil forest, challenged and defeated the masquerade cult and bettered the status of women in general. Gradually through his efforts the community where many people have rejected or were unaware of the truths of the Gospel began to be committed to approaching their society’s challenges with an apostolic mindset. His humble way of life and trust that God was at work through him in such a way that even his efforts on the smallest scale was hugely significant if God had called him to do it. Today Nigerians reap the fruits of the risked which he took in his time. Now, when we are living in a time when killing for money is a hobby, when money seems to answer and solve all problems, when bribery and corruption are at their highest level when children cannot pray in school, when many youths are unemployed and many take to violence and horror, witchcraft and Satanism. It is time for us to learn about those who strove for and achieved sainthood; it is time for Blessed Iwene Tansi whose strong determination proves today that convinced pastors of souls who are mindful that people need to be shown Christ’s love and compassion before they will be ready to understand and embrace many of the Church’s teachings will make a similar success in the ministry.  If Blessed Iwene Tansi a Nigerian at my own age, living right here, open to the same, if not bigger dangers, still found time and means to keep himself a true follower of Jesus Christ, why cannot I do the same. Real religion is not made up of only words; we must come to deeds. Faith without good work is useless.
                                                                  Sunday June 5, 2022
                                                 Nigeria needs Blessed Tansi message now.
             There is no problem, I tell you, no matter how difficult our problems may become there is hope in Blessed Tansi message and heavenly intervention.  His message is an inspiration to everyone in the Nigeria. His life is his own and his vocation.  In reflecting upon his vocation and how he lived it out we are focusing on the things that are at the core of our life and faith in order to renew our awareness of the things that really matter in our life.  His life is important because it is a life of faith, of humble and persevering in and following out of what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was dark and cold. He was just one more disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can learn from him as we can from his Master. As we pray for him and to him we ask God that his cause may prosper, and that he may be an inspiration to many Nigerians, whatever state of life they are called to, and that he may draw many Nigerians to a life worthy of their state. He spent much of his life in reconciling families, groups, towns and cultures.  “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them, and that they eventually find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house”( St. John Paul 11. Sermon. Beatification 1998)   He was a champion for forgiveness, encouraged and implored all to forgive one another and to hand on the gift of reconciliation to everybody. In this way he made reconciliation a reality at every level of Nigerian life. He inspired people to welcome the peace of Christ, and encouraged them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion.
             Today Nigeria needs to live in peace with one another. Perhaps this is the greatest problem now confronting this great nation. This peace can only come through the witness of the sons and daughters of Nigeria. With individual reconciliation Nigerians can bring to society at large the forgiveness and reconciliation of Christ our Peace. If we don’t do this our country can become more and more like a battlefield, where only selfish interests count and the law of force prevails. Like Blessed Tansi we Catholics in Nigeria must be authentic and effective witnesses to the faith in every aspect of life, both in public affairs and in private matters.
           The real measure of this man is to be found in what God accomplished through him.  His humble but zealous apostolate brought massive expansion of the church through building new outstations where reconciling and sanctifying marriages, families and towns took place. One of the obvious effects of his reconciliation efforts was relief and help to the poor, sick, needy and abandoned. His message is universal because it is basically the message of the Gospel applied to concrete situations in the world of today. For him human life on earth has a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. His words and advice also have such wide appeal because they touch on a fundamental thirst that is in every human heart, and that is the thirst and search for love, for goodness, and for truth. He knew that this thirst could find its fulfillment only in God lived among and identified with the poor, the sick and the dejected of society.
            The life of Blessed Iwene Tansi teaches Nigerians how to give more and give all for the good of all - common good - how to suffer more and by this means to bring relief and to save more souls. Through his penitential and mortified life he brought God’s blessings for his people. There are, of course, many ways to sacrifice for the good of others. If God permits physical sufferings, we can convert them into a bodily self-offering. We can sacrifice monetarily — truly sacrifice, going without things we need — in order to help those who often go without many of the basics we take for granted. And we can make the commitment to give our life to spread the message of love and forgiveness whether in far distant lands or in our own neighborhoods.


                                                                      Sunday, May 29, 2022     
                                                Relevance of Blessed Tansi Family Apostolate.
           Family, the domestic church, is the key to the renewal of society and the Church at large. But how is the family to live out its mission in an apostolic way? From my pastoral experience over these fifty years, I do not believe there has been ever an easy time to be a parent or raise a family. We are certainly in a time with its own unique challenges, especially regarding our faith. I am confident, however, that if the Lord has allowed the Church and the family to live through an age such as this, then He has a plan for how we are to remain in Him and communicate His Gospel to the world. However, the church and parents need to double down on their commitment to Christ and take the posture of sharing our living faith with our children who will in turn become the next generation of apostles.
          In this regard, Blessed Tansi has a message for our generation. In my early years in the junior seminary, I remember being regularly inspired by the missionary journeys of St. Paul and the other Apostles. I used to dream of new mission fields, extreme situations, and heroic crusades that the Lord had in store for me when I become a priest. In fact, one of my hopes in discerning the priesthood and celibacy was the perceived freedom to radically follow Christ to the ends of the earth. Later few years after my ordination to the priesthood my bishop, Francis Arinze, now Cardinal introduced a heroic missionary priest - Fr. Michael Iwene Tansi to me. I picked an interest and studied his life and ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha. Needless to say, what I imagined in my missionary dreams became real in the life of this holy priest.  I love his zeal for the salvation of souls. His pastoral approach to the family fascinated me. Today we are hearing the repeated calls of pastors declaring that the entire Church must embrace our missionary callings and each takes up his part to proclaim Christ to all creatures. That we can no longer live as foreigners and allow the invading surrounding cultures to take away our Christian family values. I continue to tell myself that if the present-day pastors of souls were to adopt Blessed Tansi's zeal and approach to family apostolate some of our problems might be minimized.
           The Blessed Tansi baseline is that experience will outweigh instruction. Instruction must be followed up by action and experience and this guided his pastoral approach to families. For families to take up their role in the mission of the church they must be involved in apostolic activities, which means intentionally building the kingdom in response to God’s calling. He began with the sanctification of marriages and families. Parents need to be holy first before they can initiate their children into it. Father Tansi promoted the status of women. He insisted that betrothed girls should attend his marriage training center where they were taught Catholic doctrine, home keeping, Christian family traditions, sewing, knitting, etc. He thus laid solid foundations for Christian families in the mothers-to-be. He opposed the Igbo practice of men calling their wives "onye be m" (the person of my house) because this suggests inequality of the spouses and undermines the proper role of wives in the family.
           He promoted the education of young girls and young boys in many senses of the word. He had primary schools and succeeded in inspiring his teachers, who saw their role not just as teachers but as formators of the growing population. At Dunukofia and other places, Father Tansi had boarding houses for pupils in Standards five and six, young people around the ages of eleven and twelve. The boys lived in the mission compound from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon then they would return to their parents and help on the farms at the weekend. These children in the boarding house had fixed times for morning and evening prayers. They took turns in serving Mass which they all attended each morning when Fr Tansi was not visiting the many outstations of the parish. Fr Tansi himself read the spiritual reading to them for fifteen minutes each day with explanations.  For his teachers who taught these children, he insisted that those who have young girls and young boys must teach them dignity, respect, and love for life. They must teach them purity and holiness. Teach them not to be afraid. Teach them to love one another and to keep the commandment of God about love. Teach them not to touch each other in an immodest way so that on the day of their wedding they could give to each other a virgin heart and a virgin body. The young people must be able to control themselves, to be able to love and to be able to pray. Only a man with a great concern for the future role of the family could do these things.
            He was sometimes hard on parents who neglect their parental responsibilities.  He made his parishioners realize that by God’s design, the family is the place where we really learn everything. Parents who have seen their children grow into adulthood know their longing for a home, especially for Christmas and many other holidays. Families are necessary for every age of human life and history but we need to adjust our understanding and practice of family life to better suit the needs of the age we find ourselves in.  





                                                               Sunday May 22, 2022
                                          Tansi had quick and deep understanding of Christianity.
                Looking at the way Blessed Iwene Tansi lived out his life and the kind of lifestyle he adopted one would think that the Blessed Tansi lived in the Light of Heaven. The Holy Father St. John Paul 11 thought that way.  “He was, first of all, a man of God: his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love. Those who knew him testified to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness”. (Beatification sermon 1998)  Remember that the Blessed Tansi family background was not Christian. His parents were devout members of the Igbo traditional religion. He was brought up in the practices of this religion: attending feasts, sacrifices, and dances with his parents. At the death of his father when the young boy was only seven, he was sent to live with his Cousin Robert Orekeyie for upkeep and education. This devout teacher brought him to the catholic school where he was exposed to Christianity. He began to learn the Christian religion which was just being introduced by the missionaries who combined evangelization with western education. The young Iwene Tansi was so absorbed and fascinated with the Christian religion that within three years he was ready for baptism which he received in 1912. He was among the first group of children in Aguleri who were received and baptised by the just coming missionaries. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian” (ibid).
             Coming from a pagan background and very quickly rose to ‘Blessed’ is for everybody a remarkable evidence of grace and human personal effort. The way he lived his life from the age of twelve when he was baptised shows a clear and quick understanding of Christianity. He did not only accept the content of the Christian way of life but living it he made it African-Nigerian. Because he made Christianity his own and Nigerian his pastoral ministry made great impression and impact on the people. What he learned as a child in the traditional religion he transferred into the richness of Christianity.
          The most important judgement any of us will ever make is about the intentions of God – his very nature and the purposes of his heart. This judgement in and of itself shapes the rest of one’s walk of faith. If we judge God to be angry and vengeful, we will not feel safe in his presence and will steer clear of spiritual intimacy; if we judge him to be merciful and gracious, we can discover the most incredible, tangible connection with the Lord, and walk closely with him each and every day. This was the first and most important step in the life of Blessed Tansi. He seemed to have understood who and what God represents in his life. He judged God faithful, and in doing so received the blessings that radically transformed his life, his future, and his view of the entire human race. Judging God faithful, the young Tansi measure expanded to contain the uncontainable.  He was able to see the world in a different way – with the eye of faith. He understood what to take from the world and what to reject. It was moving away from the old and moving towards the new – accepting Christ and his way of life. He struggled to trust God and his neighbour, and to see God as he is. He succeeded because his trust in God was as easy as his breath. “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”. (Rom.12:2) One of the great lessons Blessed Tansi tried to teach his young people is to make a correct and true judgment of God which will lead to a true and unlimited intimacy with God. Thinking falsely of God will prohibit one from lightness of spirit and will lead one to walk around with heads full of lies and shoulders bowed.  He helped them to maintain a clear, accurate image of God at the forefront of their minds. “... show us the Father and that will be enough for us. . . Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” John 14: 8-10.  He understood Christianity as the way of life of Jesus who is the way the truth and the life. Jesus God became for him the healer, the deliverer, the protector, the provider, and thinking otherwise was undermining the faith. The day he accepted that God is good was the day he truly learned to adore Him. His worship of God was as free as it was because he trusted Him completely and loved to be in His presence. His detachment from the world is another proof for us of his belief that humans are aliens and strangers in this world, and should be longing for a better country - that better country is not up in the clouds—it is down on earth. While the world now under sin and curse is not our home.  The New Earth filled with beauties and no longer under sin and curse will be our home forever. ​

​​

                                                              Sunday May 15, 2022
                                           Tansi Pastoral approach to Fallen Catholics.
              Because his was an era of primary evangelisation, there were strictly speaking not much fallen Catholics. What were obtainable were lapsed and uncommitted Catholics most of whom were lured to returning to the traditional religious practices after their conversion by the excitement of its feasts, dances and social affiliations. Blessed Tansi would never allow that because of the dangers to their faith evolved. For him converts must reinvigorate their faith with a strong hunger for Christ by all time fidelity to their baptismal vows, intimate relationships with others, depth of their own interior life, and growth in personal virtue. When they are strong they can form others into intentional disciples by their evangelization. This was actually how he sent out teacher catechists as evangelizers to the remote areas of his parish. He believed that the multiplication of disciples in this way could and would change traditional culture as well as individual lives. His zeal is such that no time, no energy and no resources should be wasted for evangelization and he himself taking the lead. His Dunukofia mission included Uke, Abatete, Ogidi, Eziowelle, and Abacha; others were Umudioka, Umunachi, Ogbunike, Umunya, Awkuzu, Abba, Ifite-Ukpo, Ukpo-Akpu, Enugu-Agidi and Ukwulu. For the purposes of his pastoral trek, he divided his very vast mission into three zones: the central zone, Umudioka, Umunachi, Ogbunike, Ifite-Ukpo, and Umunya: the Eastern zone, Ogidi, Abatete, Uke, Eziowelle, Abacha and Ideani, and the Western zones Ukpo-Akpu, Abba, Ukwulu and Enugu-Agidi. Each week he concentrated his pastoral ministry in a zone, the others were visited only on emergency cases like a sick call or death. “Going on trek” became a regular thing for him and when people looked for him and could not find him the conclusion is ‘he is on trek’. The only means available for him for such distance and vast area was a bicycle. He did most of the trek on foot.He had very strong words of condemnation for towns and individuals that did not meet up to his expectation. Abatete, Ogidi and Ogbunike were singled out in this connection.  “Agwo talu Ogidi julu Ogbunike odu, bua Abatete aso” (The snake that bit Ogidi rubbed its tail on Ogbunike and spat on Abatete). He hated sin and denounced wrong doing, by using strong measures, which the undiscerning may described as harsh and irritable. To see his flock giddily intent on justifying their evil ways with contempt for God afflicted and tortured him, made him suffer agonies, exhausted his mind and rent his heart. He commented denouncing the hardened heart of some Abatete Catholics: “Abatete, Nkwuputa unu na eyim egwu, Olili Nso unu na anata na eyim oyi” (Abatete people, your confessions terrify me, your sacramental communion are shameful). This impelling need to make others understand the error of sin and the offence committed against God and his determined will to do everything possible to collaborate in the salvation of souls, led him to be sharp at times and even harsh toward others. This brusque treatment served to startle sinners to make them realize the seriousness of their offences against God, induce them to reflect and to repent. It suffices to think of all the times harsh words and seeming curses were pronounced over an individual or a group of individuals. “Ogbunike, mango di na uno uka unu na ekpe unu ikpe” (Ogbunike, the mango tree on your church yard testifies against you). His pastoral method and action is all motivated and guided by love and compassion. In other words, he was willing to love others enough to do whatever it takes to help them grow closer to God and, to get them to heaven. He was willing to suffer with them and for them. And willing to do more at all times for them.​





                                                           Sunday, May 8, 2022
                                Blessed Tansi Pastoral Method has an attraction to the Young.
            One of the attractive sides of Blessed Tansi pastoral approach is his attention to the young people. His ministry attracted them and they followed him. His apostolate had a great attraction to the young. We can think of the success of his school apostolate, his boarding houses for boys and girls, and the formation of Mary league girls who were organized with a kind of military rules and discipline. Above all was his great zeal for evangelization and expansion of the church and the compassion for the poor, sick and aged which attracted the interest of the young people. The young people could see immediately his concern for the spiritual and human need of the people. Francis Cardinal Arinze told me that during the holidays his house looked like a mini-seminary. He worked beyond the normal human capacity in his pastoral ministry. It was clear to everybody that he was for them and cared very much for both their spiritual and material needs.  It was easy for them to follow his instructions. Some of his pastoral methods for bringing back sinners to the sacrament may be too hard for the present day pastors but they were appropriate for his time.  What was important was the goal of his apostolate which goal is still the same today but the method may differ.
             Today one of the most worrying features of our day is the falling away of young people from the ways of faith. Many are no longer attracted to the church and clergy. The sad fact is that as the priests and church leaders struggle to fill the young hearts with the joy of the Gospel — with the certainty that each has an indispensable role in salvation.  The secular society insists that anything transcendent is an illusion. Power, money and success/happiness seem to answer all human quests and problems. As a result meaning and purpose are absent from the lives of many young people. The local church must solve this great puzzle of how to reach the young people on a spiritual level. Even though times are different and culture has undergone great changes a good study of Blessed Tansi approach to youth apostolate might help. The good news of the gospel is the same to every generation and should be attractive to all at the same time. Blessed Tansi used the method he was convinced appropriate at his own time. His personality and lifestyle are something else to consider.  He was a holy man, what he believed he lived and preached. Cardinal Arinze said that his person and presence are like fire to which no one who comes close could remain indifferent. When the holy pastor spoke the audience listened with rapt attention and interest. In digging into some of his writings and advice to young people who followed him I have come to appreciate his attempts to teach them love and sincerity to oneself -  a way out of the blankness and despair of skepticism of the time and into the easement of moral certainty.   In his time life was difficult and filled with suffering. There were afflictions people couldn’t control, like illness, the loss of loved ones and natural disaster. Even worse was what tradition called malevolence - the dark parts of our nature that hurt others, and the malevolence of those around us that wound us. This was the baseline condition of life, and to young people who suffered it came as a relief to learn that it was everyone’s experience. The good news, according to Blessed Tansi was that we could still prevail. We could take up arms against the sea of troubles, and by opposing we could courageously confront them. Humans were not victims but protagonists, and able ones. From the beginning he adopted a lifestyle of responsibility for himself showing everyone that life has a meaning and purpose.  Before everyone his personality and actions were like light shining and lighting up the dark world that others rely on. People simply believed and followed him. Even certain tragedies of his own life like the mysterious murder of his mother did not change his optimist and positive lifestyle.  The malevolence that adds the horror of purposeful injury to the accidental cruelties of our days is nothing else but original sin, the inky darkness that lives deep inside each of us, without exception.
              He taught his youth that they must be responsible, maintain self esteem and dignity even in the pursuit of happiness.  The young men of his days were aching for a challenge and for a citadel to conquer as much as the young of today.  Only that the old knew, inside them, that they were created not for the banal pursuit of comfort but for the glorious adventure of heroic deeds and noble purposes. This idea of noble purpose that Blessed Tansi taught them made all the difference. Some present day pastors have presented our religion as a comforting, healthy way to pursue happiness and grow our self-esteem.  We have forgotten the meaning that comes from taking on responsibility — for our relationship with God, for the beautiful practices of our faith, for our brothers and sisters. It is in the fulfillment of duty that the heart is engaged and enkindled, and that dysfunction becomes peace. Jesus Christ modeled and proposed a life of valorous responsibility. “Take up your cross and follow me”.  
​


​                                                                  Sunday May 1, 2022.
                                                  Turn to Blessed Tansi when life gets messy.
             We considered some weeks ago the benefits of knowing Blessed Iwene Tansi. Part of knowing him is to be able to learn from the way he himself managed the difficult stations in his lifetime and to be able to run to his patronage when we are in difficulty. When the Blessed Tansi in 1949 arrived to become the first indigenous parish priest of Aguleri he found almost everything upside down: his own people did not want him as their pastor, the mission and the schools were bankrupt, the teachers and other church workers were owed salaries for months. In this embarrassing situation, he reassured his assistant priest Rev. Mark Uluogu that they have two most important things they needed to begin their mission; there is God for them and there is a roof over their heads. We all know that when life gives us too much lemon the best thing to do is to make lemonade instead of wasting the lemon. But what should you do when the lemons come in multiples and so quickly that there isn’t time to look for the juicer? This was that sort of situation for the parish priest and his assistant in Aguleri 1949.
           What happens in real-life situations when all of our best plans and preparations get thrown out of the window at a moment’s notice by factors beyond our control? It could be difficult and trying if you have ever had such a situation. Like the Blessed Tansi at Aguleri incident be optimist and trust in God with the hope that things will get better. Sometimes one feels it is hard to be optimistic in the midst of stressful situations. But often this is due to a misunderstanding of what true optimism really means. Authentic optimism is not wishing our problems away or telling ourselves pretty lies that things are not really as bad as they seem.  Rather it is a true belief that at the beginning of time, God had a plan for the world and that–in spite of sin thwarting that plan in the present–God’s plan will be restored through grace at the end of time.  It is another way of saying that all things work for good for those who love God and earnestly work hard for that good. Be positive and act positively. Do what is humanly possible and wait for God’s action.  You can change the situation; you have the means available to you. Recall your past blessings, your strengths, and your skills as a reminder of what you have to work within responding to life’s challenges. God has not changed, has not forgotten you, and has not finished with you. Keep the big picture of God’s blessings in mind – this requires us to be able to step out of the chaos of everyday life and remember who we are and what is important.


This requires us to stay connected to God–to be able to see things from his point of view. People who look at Blessed Tansi thirteen years of monastic experience from the outside may think that it was the most difficult station in his life. It may be or may not but surely it was the most fulfilling station of his life because he found God where he could relate most intimately with him. Like him, if we find ways to bring the present moment to God no matter how crazy it is. God will take over and we find joy in managing the situation. Often we forget the positive thing to do and look on the negative side – coming up with the wrong questions – who has done this to me, my enemies are on me. Forget such thoughts and focus on little ways to be a gift to others all day long.  As you go about your day, consciously ask yourself: how you can make a difference in this moment? Is there something I can do to make this person’s day even a little easier or more pleasant? Is there something you can do to take down the tension in this situation? 

            You don’t have to be a martyr about it.  Just look for those little ways to be a gift or create caring connection while you are passing by or passing through.  These little acts of kindness increase your joy by helping you see all the ways you are making a positive difference in your world and in the lives of those around you. Then have you prayed to God with Blessed Tansi : O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me! The Blessed Tansi said this prayer many time in his life time. When you repeat it with him the difference will be clear. As you do these things remember that at the different and difficult stations in his life he persevered trusting God will not abandon him.​​​





​                                                                 Sunday April 24, 2022
                                                          Blessed Tansi Lifestyle is radical
              The Lord is truly risen indeed...! As we rejoice in God’s love and mercy shown to us in the resurrection of Christ we see a reason to take responsibility for the great gifts received. For we walk no longer in darkness but have the light of life. Jesus has laid out a path for us, showing what will truly give us joy and happiness. As we celebrate the ‘Mercy Sunday’ we remember God has forgiven us in Christ and his mercy has a mission which is not licentiousness, lawlessness or a permission to continue in our old life of sin. Mercy given calls for new beginnings – radical change, so that we can go and sin no more. Blessed Tansi understood very well that the mission of God’s Easter mercy is ultimately one of self donation. And he lived it out by a radical way of choices and life so as to die to sinfulness, selflessly serve others and became a second chance for others.
             In 1950 Blessed Tansi left his flourishing apostolate in the Archdiocese of Onitsha for unknown plunge into the monastery of Mount Saint Bernard England. The decision to do this was radical for he was leaving the security of the world, even his own safety, in order to answer a divine call to live his life according to the Gospel - close to the poor and to his people, with a heart drawn to Jesus and his brothers and sisters. It was not an easy adventure but he was happy because he found God whom he was looking for. It was what he thought to be the will of God for him. He was radical after his Master Jesus who gives all and asks for all. He gave to Blessed Tansi a love that is total and asks from him an undivided heart. Blessed Tansi understood that his Master Jesus is not content with a percentage of love. He cannot love him twenty or fifty or sixty percent. It is either all or nothing. He cannot treat his Master like the gospel rich young man who went away sad after Jesus had asked him to sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor and come and follow him. Off course Blessed Tansi gained at last;  it paid him. He did not loose anything giving up all for the sake of Jesus and his gospel. He is now officially counted among the Blessed of God.
           This radical lifestyle stated early in his life. I now can think of his leaving the comfort of his parent’s house to live and serve his cousin teacher in order to go to school and to become a Christian. At his time the teaching profession was among the most rewarding profession but he gave it up for the seminary in 1925.  He was a very successful parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha from 1937-1950 but he gave it up for the monastery in 1950. In his pastoral ministry some of his methods were also radical. His vehement opposition to the traditional rulers who used their laws to suppress the right and dignity of the people especially the poor is among some of his radical decisions. He fought for the right and freedom of women and opposed any one who stood on his way. Girls were literally instructed to fight the masquerades that often molested them for refusing their love advances. Some of the traditional laws on widowhood were unfair and degrading, these he could not allow to be going on. He was not afraid to denounce them and boldly preached love and human respect to all. I should also mention his radical love for the poor and sick. The lepers come readily to my mind. The lepers in the traditional religious belief were offenders of the earth goddess. They were being punished by the gods and nobody should associate with them for fear of incurring the wraths of the gods. Blessed Tansi broke that concept at the displeasure of the people. He befriended them, fed them, treated them and found a home for them and nothing happened to him. This radical step opened the eyes of the people and they responded to his call to love and help the lepers.In all these Christ was the highest lover he was looking for. Like the biblical trader he was looking for the goods of great value and when he found one, went off and sold all he had to buy it. (cf. Matt. (13: 44-45). God was his object of highest value – wherever and whenever he saw this valuable he abandoned everything and went for it. In each of his radical changes he was greatly criticised. But he was certain on what he was doing and nobody could stop him not even the cruel death of his mother. His desire to uphold the supremacy of God regardless of any social status was not appreciated by the majority of his contemporary. What they thought he lost in each case the Blessed Tansi gained a hundredfold.





​​                                                     Sunday Easter, April 17, 2022
                                                              Your help is still needed!
                                                    The Lord has truly risen indeed! Alleluia.
            This Easter, as you experience the great joy of the Lord’s resurrection and as you make more Easter people welcome, think of going out of your way to make new devotees for Blessed Tansi. The start of one’s relationship like a faith journey is an exciting and blessed time, and each one of us should go out of our way to make these new devotees feel excited and supported by the protection of Blessed Iwene Tansi. We need a kind of grassroots campaign once more to bring Blessed Tansi to every corner of Nigerian community. If Blessed Iwene Tansi is a product of the Nigerian local church who we want to bring to the universal church for recognition (Sainthood) all Nigerians must know him and take part in this great work. During this Easter season spend some time learning about Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, a Nigerian, beatified by the Holy Father, St. John Paul 11 on March 22nd 1998 at Oba near Onitsha. The members of Blessed Iwene Tansi Solidarity Prayer Group, the Devotees, and the members of his associates are embarking on a campaign to inform Nigerians through understanding and prayer how to encourage the Vatican to canonise this humble Nigerian priest. Learn about the life and virtues of this holy Nigerian, and then share his stories with your family and friends. Support his prayer groups in your parish. If you do not have any help to start one immediately. Children, schools and organizations can become effective means to increase awareness of his canonization. Parents and teachers can become great and effective agents in this regard.
            I am particularly happy that after two years of pandemic uncertainty, things are beginning to get back to normal in our churches this Holy Week and Easter. The Lenten Friday Stations of the Cross, Palm Sunday, and Easter Sunday Masses were celebrated without any significant restrictions for first time since 2019. This is a great reason to thank God and to consider doing so with an ever-increased attitude of love and hospitality for the rest of our lives.  “Welcome one another … as Christ welcomed you, for the glory of God,” (2 Cor. 15:7). This will become our mission as we bring the Blessed Tansi to the fullest of the altar. The stories of the way Blessed Iwene Tansi celebrated and lived lent and Easter are hopeful and inspiring. His dedication stemmed from a totally selfless and pure love of God and from a profound faith -- faith that he was being called to do God's work, what he had asked of him and faith in the Gospel message. It was through doing what he believed to be his work that he saw, loved, and consoled Jesus in his neighbours. The trials and difficulties he experienced were only on the sense level, for he was in reality constantly united to God and lived in an unbroken union with him and was able to declare that his mind and heart are habitually with God. He chose to focus on what was beautiful and had a special gift of perceiving God's action even in challenging circumstances, accepting whatever happened as permitted by him for some greater good. It was again a reflection of his strong faith. During lent in spite of his mortified and penitential way of living he seemed to work harder – even beyond normal capacity. Increased his long hours in the confessional, more pastoral treks, increased visits to the sick,  made more provisions for the sick and needy, longer fasts and prayers.  Remained more available to his parishioners.
           As we move about we can see for ourselves that in some parishes there are some old members of our prayer group whom we have not seen for a long time. They may have stopped attending our gatherings due to one reason or another. Please help them to find their way back for we still need them. We probably may even know families or individuals who, for one reason or another, have decided not to return — or who have simply drifted away, believing to be out of sight and out of mind. Do not be afraid to ask your parish priest or religious in your parish for help. These as well as the laity have an important role to play in encouraging the faithful to come back to Mass and popular devotions. As members of the Body of Christ, we are part of a family of believers. This Easter, let us remember that our important duty - to promote the cause of Blessed — of making him known and of praying for a successful conclusion of his worthy cause.





                                                                     SUNDAY April 10, 2022
                                                                                                                        The Simplicity of Blessed IweneTansi
               Blessed Tansi extraordinary life began in 1910 in the village of Igboezunu, Aguleri. From his humble beginnings as the child of peasant farmers Blessed Tansi would one day become a powerful spiritual leader in the Archdiocese of Onitsha and from his penitential and mortified life would bring the monastic apostolate to Nigeria. He started to be extraordinary when at the age of 9 he was preparing for baptism and in order to renounce Satan and all his works went and broke his personal ‘chi’ {God} made for him at birth. This act is an abomination in the traditional religion – the consequence is death. People thought that he would die but he did not. People feared what would happen to him later. By his action he did not condemn the traditional religious practice of his parents but taught that he knew something much better. From that time he followed the incoming missionaries, joined their schools and apostolic work.  
                As a priest he was much devoted to the poor, sick and needy. Spoke much of helping the sick and the poor so that one might assume that charity was the virtue he valued most in his life, but it was not. Rather from his most constant emphasis on simplicity before God and his personal lifestyle, simplicity would be the personal virtue he valued most.  It can also be said thatsimplicity was his “gospel”.  What exactly is this holy simplicity that is so important to him and how can we imitate this virtue in our own lives? From the way he lived we can describe what simplicity meant to him. His whole life has one single purpose which is freedom from complexity or division into parts. It was to love God with his whole heart and with his soul and with all his mind. (cf Matt. 22:37).  He did not want to do things to impress anybody or out of human respect. He was single-minded in intentions and in his pursuit of God’s will. He was free from any kind of luxury or ornament. He was completely detached from material wealth. He had no superfluous furniture, pictures or decorations in his house where everything was simple. I think that he knew that possessions bring attachment, and attachments hinder one from living for God in complete freedom. He lived Jesus command: “Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poo r, and you will have treasure in heaven.” (Lk 18:22) Finally he was free from any form of deceit or guile. He was very sincere with himself and with the people. He was sincere in words and actions saying things as they truly were to avoid any duplicity or deceit. He was a “true Israelite, in whom there is no guile or deceit.” (Jn 1:47)
              How can we imitate this virtue? In all humans there is a war going on inside each one of us daily. We struggle with a deep yearning for power, control, honor and praise. All of which we falsely believe will bring us comfort, love, and peace. Without consciously knowing it, we constantly seek to satiate these aspects of our egos in large and small ways. This battle leads us to spend our days trapped in cycles of fear. We all do it. It is a part of our fallen nature. Therefore, we live in a society where it is considered normal to present an image of ourselves that is not authentic. Just as in Blessed Tansi day, this is an obstacle for evangelization and service to the poor. If people sense any lack of authenticity in us, then they know we cannot be trusted and our message or service to them will be empty. On the other hand, if we have the courage and humility to be seen as we truly are, to speak the truth in love, and to do everything with authenticity as our guide, then we will be effective in sharing the gospel and in helping the poor, the way Tansi was. Simplicity is the spirit of Jesus and no one has ever embodied simplicity the way Christ did. Looking at the life work of Blessed Tansi we see that by imitating Jesus in His spirit of simplicity, he became Christ to the poor, the sick, and the abandoned.  He was move with pity at the condition of the lepers just as Jesus was moved with pity for the widow from Nain whose son had died. (Lk 7:13) His heart was filled with compassion when he encountered the widows and orphans of his parish who suffered, and he wanted to do all in his power to help them. We too can do the same in our neighbour hoods.





​​                                                              Sunday April 3rd. 2022
                                                      Benefits of Knowing Blessed Tansi
            Befriending the Saints can give us a boost when we feel lost, lonely, and afraid of trusting God. Today living a wholehearted Christian life is becoming increasingly difficult. Our culture is becoming anything but Christian. Secular culture is bombarding our spiritual life on all fronts. If we lose the ability to be intentional about setting aside moments each day for solitude, we will lose our faith without realizing why, how and when. Sometimes our faith can become stale and stagnant and we desperately grasp at frayed floss to keep hanging on. Whether you are a Catholic from infancy or a convert well into your adulthood, faith relies on more than what we can see. Friendship with Blessed Tansi somehow brings us back home. We are inspired by his dramatic conversion and equally so by his quiet fidelity in all the stations of his life as a teacher, priest, and monk. We are drawn by his wonderful pastoral leadership and example. We are edified by his courage in facing difficult situations in his life. Our hearts fill with compassion at his spirit of poverty and detachment from material things. But mostly our hearts drop at his excellence in clemency, love, and compassion to the sick and the poor.
           We long to do great things for the poor when we read about his pastoral ministry to the lepers, the widows, and the abandoned. Meanwhile, the tireless work for educating and catechizing the young people reminds us that this is our work too. His concern for the sanctification of family and marriage, education, and liberation of women help as we strive to love and give equal rights to all people we encounter. His missionary experience and practical zeal for souls which found fulfillment in his call to the hidden way of life - contemplative and missionary help us to understand the importance of our personal union with God, prayer, and sacrifice. As a good pastor of souls, he shows us that holiness does not have to be flashy, but involves the basic virtues in which he thrived — faith in God, the twofold love, heart-felt compassion, the capacity for hard work, and a real fatherly sense of protection for those entrusted to us.  “ …Fr. Tansi's witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church”. (JP 11 Nigeria 1998) He lived out the Gospel in a way that was convincing and in a way that gave credible witness with a very high degree of credibility. The type of witness that is contagious. The work we are called to do is the work of the Saints. But we need the histories and legacies of the Saints to bolster the belief that we, too, are called for something greater than acquiescing to the world’s clamor. 
           We know that the beginning of every relationship often feels awkward and forced.  Don’t loose courage if you find in Blessed Tansi lifestyle a little difficult, it has to be so. You are a different person and called with your personal charism. Educate yourself on whom Blessed Tansi is. Understand more about the lives he lived and the works he did. Pray, and continue to pray! Spread the information about him.  Share this information with your friends, family, bible study groups, knitting circles, committees and more.
           Continue your acquaintanceship with him by offering traditional prayers, such as novenas or even chaplets. Later, you may likely move to a more organic and natural conversation with him. Put his picture that you love best on your reading table, near your bed or any other place you frequent very often.  Form a habit of mentioning his name often but more importantly when you need his assistance. If you can join one of his prayer groups and attend masses celebrated in his honour.  Wearing his blessed medal is an intimate and constant reminder for you to strive for virtue throughout ordinary and especially difficult days in your life. Wearing his medal can help us in our spiritual journey, even as we offer a brief aspiration or cry for help.  Parents may like to give their children his name at their baptism in this way you will be accustomed with his name in the family. Friendship relies on reciprocity. It is important to move from a superficial knowing to a deepening of fondness for a person. It might sound strange at first, since the Blessed Tansi is a person physically distanced from you. But the give-and-take of this relationship will enliven you, because you will learn how to move from asking to thanking. And he will always, always lead you to Jesus, your True Love and model.


                                                            Sunday March 27, 2022
                                        Beatification of Bl. Tansi – Blessing to Nigeria.
            Last Tuesday, March 22, 2022, the Archdiocese of Onitsha celebrated the 24th anniversary of the Beatification of Blessed Iwene Tansi. The venue was the beatification site at Oba. It will be recalled that the Holy Father John Paul 11 now Saint, beatified  Blessed Tansi in his second pastoral visit to Nigeria. During his sermon the Holy Father described Blessed Tansi as “a prime example of the fruit of holiness, which have grown and matured in the church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African” As we celebrate this unique event we remember that this fruit of holiness which grew and matured in this land is our own brother. He was like us and lived with us. He made his Christian way of life truly African. In him, Nigeria has something to offer to the universal church – truly Nigerian/African holiness. This is a good reason to rejoice and to be proud of. Furthermore, the Holy Father said that “Father Tansi witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local church now offers to the universal church…”  We have something in Blessed Tansi that Nigeria can offer to the universal church. What a happy memory. It is fitting that we celebrate a Nigerian, true servant of the Lord who exemplifies what it means to be a true Christian disciple and a model of holiness. During his ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Blessed Tansi was a great and inspiring spiritual leader who offered direction and inspiration to everybody.
         The second visit of the Holy Father to Nigeria was in itself a great blessing to Nigeria.  He came only to beatify Blessed Tansi. The beatification brought the Holy Father a second time to Nigeria.  We remember that his coming brought Nigeria many social and political blessings. Before his coming Nigeria was in a bad state, fearful, insecure, and was in great social and political tension. It was a military rule I quite remember, political tension was at its highest and there were many political prisoners. Soon after the Pope’s visit, intervention and beatification of Blessed Tansi tensions began to die down, many in prison were released from detention, political parties were formed and the country returned to civilian rule. I see a hand of Blessed Tansi who loves his country so much in all these changes. Certainly, heaven was at work for and in Nigeria.
          Twenty-four years after, one would ask: what have Nigerians learned? This may be a good question for reflection for every Nigerian especially the politicians and those in public office. The Blessed Tansi is still very much alive in Nigeria; his fame of holy life is spreading among Nigerians. Many Nigerians are inspired to live a life of penance and devotion after his example. Many more are relinquishing their worldly desires and devoting themselves to a new way of life in service to others and the common good.  Could more Nigerians who aspire to worldly success and fame after blessed Tansi example sacrifice some of their wealth for the good of the common people and become missionaries to spread the Gospel of love to the poor and voiceless in this country. Could more wealthy and powerful Nigerians learn to give to the poor instead of taking what belongs to the poor? Blessed Tansi travelled to point of exhaustion the length and width of his mission in the Archdiocese of Onitsha to bring help and hope to millions of his people.
            The beatification of Blessed Tansi which came at the period of Nigerian religious and political history is a profound symbol of the deep Divine love and blessing through the intercession of his devoted and humble Servant. I have great hope that this year’s celebration will increase our zeal for perfection which will lift us up from our tepidity and selfishness and inspire us to strive more diligently to work for love and peace for our brothers and sister many of whom almost seem to be weakened or at death’s door through starvation.​


                                                                 Sunday March 20, 2022
                                            Beatification Memorial: Tansi Mindset a Challenge.
           On Tuesday 22nd. March 2022 we remember the 24th anniversary of the beatification of the Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi at Oba near Onitsha by the Holy Father, St. John Paul 11. We celebrate the event today with sense of devotion, thanksgiving, commitment and responsibility. It is his lifestyle, his legacy for all Nigerians of today and of the future. He lived among us as a professional teacher, a diocesan priest and a religious monk.   His life and priestly vocation in particular was outstanding model of asceticism, piety, devotion to the Eucharist and of pastoral zeal. Today his life teaches us the basics of Christian vocation, love and responsible living. His concern for the under privileged, orphans, the needy and the poor speak eloquently to all Nigerian of life giving values we seem to forget today. To ignore these values may have a catastrophic effect on nation building and future Nigerians. We learnt when we became Christians that the human curse started with Adam when he lost the close communion he had with his Maker. Ever since then, mankind has been emotionally afraid, emotionally naked and emotionally in hiding. Our problems all stem from the fact that we are separated from the presence of God in our lives which has been the legacy of Blessed Tansi. We all know that we have gone astray over the years. Nigerian need to return to the basics Blessed Tansi taught for no particular age group, no level of economics, and no strata of social standing is immune to the biting fangs of guilt.  Unfortunately, Nigerians have sacrificed this basic truth at the altar of egoism and selfishness. Those who seem to believe in his legacy have actually failed him by refusing to accept or even simply to acknowledge his great truth.
          The love of God and of his fellow men and women urged him to live the way he lived. A man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord. We, clergy, religious, laity, are meant to focus on the things that are at the core of our faith, to renew our awareness of the things that really matter in our lives. If his life is important, it is because it was a life faith, of humble and persevering following out of what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was dark and cold. He was just one more disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, and we can learn from him as we can from his Master. So let us, as we celebrate his life, pray for him and to him, ask God that his cause may prosper, and that he may be an inspiration to many, whatever state of life they are called to, and that he may draw many to the priesthood and the monastic life. We will always count it a great privilege to have had him as a brother, to have witnessed his beatification on a Nigerian soil. He gave a great example of faith, fidelity, humility, love.Finally, our hearts go out to him in our struggle to find our place in this vast, confusing world. And we pray that we see ourselves through the eyes of the One who knows us better than anyone else does and who loves us beyond we can ever imagine. To do this, we must start thinking like the Blessed Tansi did and heeding our own call as devotees who are living today. May our celebration today remind us that we all need each other, depend on each other. We are all members of the same Body, and may our sharing in this Eucharistic celebration make us more aware in a very concrete way of the catholicity, the universality of the Church, and of our real oneness in Christ. Blessed Tansi life and death can contribute even a little to that awareness that by itself will be no small achievement, for it is something that the world of today most needs


                                                             Sunday March 13, 2022
                                              Blessed Tansi lived against the current
             Sometimes his actions looked like going against the current of natural behaviour. But for him, it was a matter of justice and self-conviction. For an average Nigerian who was naturally pushy it was a hard tiring task which could be accomplished only by strength of will. Blessed Tansi opposed all inclination of nature. This was a sweet task for a soul in love with God;  a soul which knew that everything it refused to self was given to God and that when it had reached the point of renouncing self in everything God Himself will give it the precious pearl of divine union. He was united with God’s will in all his actions. Because he surrendered completely to God’s providence and living in God there was nothing left in his self, nothing was provided for the future, no road was mapped out, but like a child was lead wherever God pleased. Even though he often felt unworthy and of no use, God knew well what he was worth before him and effectively using him to preach the Good News of the Gospel. God gave his silence, his quietness, his self-forgetfulness, his words and his gestures a certain virtue, which unknown to himself, worked in the hearts of those around him. This may be the reason why everyone who came in contact with him was touched by his goodness. No one remained indifferent after meeting Blessed Tansi.
             His love for poverty and detachment did not mean that he was hostile to people who did not follow his life style. His two assisting priests at Akpu, Fathers Panaki and Emerenini were allowed their own life-style. He did not despise the innocent joys of this world. In appearance he looked at least ten years more than his actual age. Toil had thickened his figure from slimness to a broad sturdiness. He was very generous to people especially to the poor and the sick. But his spirit of poverty and sense of justice prevented him from helping materially his own relations. He wanted them to work for what they needed. He consistently resisted the financial and other material pressures coming from his immediate family. While parish priest at Dunukofia his brother came from Aguleri asked him for money to buy seed yams for the planting season. He refused and made him to understand that the mission fund did not belong to the parish priest. On another occasion his cousin brought Aguleri fresh fish to sell in the market at Akpu but was not able to sell all the fish before some went bad. He was stranded, he had no money to travel back home. When he learnt that his cousin Fr.Tansi was around, with every hope of rescue he went to him for help. To his greatest embarrassment, Fr. Tansi gave him a knife and asked him to cut grass in the field in order to earn his return fare. His brother Vincent might never forget the day when he visited him at Dunukofia and Fr. Tansi asked him to split stones in order to pay for the food he ate.
             Even though hardship and rigorous self-discipline have exacted an inevitable toll on his face yet his friendship with people did not change. Gray was beginning to temper his hair. His eyes already weakened through excessive reading with poor light especially during student days were beginning to tell on his sight. The body stress from the continued unrest and long treks under hot afternoons of equatorial region had very little mercy on the ascetic young man. And with all these his sober mannerisms were normal and cordial. 





​                                                                                                                 Sunday March 6, 2022


                                    Tansi lived with detachment from worldly riches/pleasures.

                Human nature likes easy comfort and pleasure. Sometimes the demand could lead to frustration and despair if not achieved. St. John of the Cross proposed a golden rule to curb and to subdue this incessant demand of nature for inordinate desire for pleasure: ‘ ... never incline to the easiest thing, but to the hardest; not to the tastiest, but to the most insipid; not to the things that give the greatest pleasure, but to those that give the least; not to the restful things, but to the painful ones; not to consolation, but to desolation; not to more, but to less; not to the highest and dearest, but to the lowest and most despised; not to the desire for something, but to having no desires’. This has guided generations of seekers to spiritual peace and progress. 


              Jesus himself lived each and every moment of his earthly life doing the will of his Father and to the young rich man who admired him wanted to live after his example he asked him to give up everything and follow him. The Blessed Tansi took serious the words of Jesus to this young rich man and made it a pattern of his life style. Very early in his life in the village living with the parents who had not much and who lived by providence from hand to mouth he learnt contentment at having nothing and trust in providence. He was not attracted to wealth and pleasures. When in 1919 he became a school teacher a position that earned him some salary but money was not his priority rather what he can do for others with his position and money.

             As a parish priest he did not own anything, he gave everything away to the neediest; he did not feel the necessity of having anything for himself: His ridge fasts, incredible pastoral trek and labour, sleepless nights, austere penances and continual mortifications were natural consequence of his detachment and love of poverty. Most of the spiritual sons and daughters today echo the most constant and repeated advice of their master, “…the world is nothing, only God. We should leave this world and have time for God”. For him to have time for God meant to dedicate his activities to him, to spend his life and be spent for Him. To give himself time for the service of God was to give back to Him one of the most precious gifts he has given to man. He looked at the world as something which was passing away, his attitude to temporal things was total detachment. His favourite Igbo adage summarized this: ‘Chakulu chakulu cha. Anu felu akpili, ogaa’ (Chew a piece of meat once, twice and thrice, once dawn the throat, it goes and never returns). With this he presented to his parishioners a very realistic picture of the world, its pleasures, its wealth, honours and beauties. They pass away so quickly. The world is not a lasting place. He undertook difference kinds of penances, imposed many hardships on himself in order to subdue the flesh and to make it the servant of the spirit. Through his personal poverty he identified with his flock, his generosity made him revered and loved. He could build a decent rectory like his colleague but he chose to identify himself with the local buildings. His house was built with mud and grass thatched roofs. He could afford a clean rest house in the outstations but he decided to live in the school store whenever he was visiting any outstation on trek. His house was poor, diet was poor, clothes was poor, last to go to bed and first to rise and spent long hours at night in prayer. Throughout his life he had always had great potentials to wealth and high positions but he had always rejected them choosing a poor state. In spite of his rigid lifestyle he was cheerful without dissipation, humble without pretence, serious without constraint, giving fraternal correction without haughtiness, edifying his neighbour by word and example without hypocrisy, strict on himself without imposing this on other people, confiding in divine providence without presumption and blending most beautifully work, rest and prayer. 

             He is a model of evangelical life not only for priests, but for laypeople, especially for those who work in the vast field of charity. He learnt to love the poor from childhood, the traditional society where he grew up had special place for the weak. He saw how his parents welcome and share their meals with the poor and needy. As a priest he became still more detached and his heart opened for everyone. To have such a new heart was to see and experience his desired change. He became less desirous for himself and focused less on passing worldly things, and more on the lasting treasure of heaven. He concentrated attention on the other things and began to love what and who God loved. He began to love holiness, justice, chastity, goodness, righteousness, and truth. His heart became alive with joy and zeal for God and an evangelical spirit impelled him to speak what he believed and knew to be true. This love for other things led him, in the course of his priestly life, to give away everything he had.

             St. James had similar warning when he said: “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God … Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded” (James 4:4, 8).

                                                                  Sunday, February 27, 2022

                                                           Blessed Tansi Lived with Prudence


               The faith is to be lived out. To do so, we are expected to act with prudence. We should not expect God to do everything for us. If we believed God should do everything for us and so we do nothing, there would be no purpose for us, no reason for us to live.  God can and will often help us in various ways, but more often than not, it will be through inspiration instead of direct intervention. If we do not engage such inspiration properly, if we do not engage it with prudence, we might end up suffering greatly, or worse, dying when we need not die. On the other hand, if we are faithful and wise, we will put our trust in God while doing what we can for ourselves. This is exactly the kind of legacy Blessed Tansi left behind: that to make a right choice we should remember one thing: good decisions are always about others, not just ourselves


               Choosing is a challenge. It involves facing the fear of the unknown, emerging from the chaos of uniformity, deciding to take your life in our hand. Blessed Tansi was a pious man of God, a man who acted in accordance to wisdom and grace, doing what he could to fulfil his role as a monk, pastor and teacher in the world. The decision to leave his rewarding teaching profession a sure financial means to support his poor aging mother and family was not an easy one. The opposition from the family and relations was tough. Exercising his usual wisdom and prudence and trusting that God was calling him to the priesthood he had to leave his teaching profession for good. He entered the Archdiocesan junior seminary at Igbariam in 1925. Ordained priest in 1937 and worked as an assistant priest at Nnewi for two years. He was appointed to the new virgin parish of Dunukofia in 1940 where he found no structure on arrival. He was given an ‘evil forest’ to build his mission. It looked like an impossible task but he trusted in God and used his wisdom and prudence to make Dunukofia a viable, flourishing and enviable parish in the Archdiocese. He trusted in God and trusted God would work in and with him in his actions. God never disappointed him. With the same trust he took a great unknown plunge in his monastic vocation where he suffered greatly at Mount St. Bernard Abbey. He knew that God was calling him to a monastic life which he knew nothing about. It was God he was seeking and following, the place was immaterial. He suffered but was happy because he found God. He did not say to God: “Why should I leave my home where I have a flourishing apostolate?  Instead, he knew that it was God calling him and it was his responsibility to obey without counting the cost. The cost was great indeed. He became the last in the community with absolutely no responsibility. This was after he had been a parish priest for ten years in the Archdiocese. The cold was his greatest mortifier after food. He was patient with all of them. At last he gained more than he lost and today he left us a flourishing monastic legacy in Nigeria


            In his prudent life adventures there are many things we can learn. First and foremost among them is that when uncertainty is near, we should be prudent and wise and not presume that we can do nothing thinking that God will keep us safe from any and all harm. We must do what we can to protect ourselves and those around us. God cannot do for us what we can and should do for ourselves. God might inspire us, God might give us special graces which will help us in the situations which we find ourselves in, but in the end, God wants us to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, that is, God wants us to cooperate with grace, doing what we can so that there is something for grace to take up and perfect. 

If we have faith, we show it by what we do. We are to trust in God in everything we do, but to do that we must trust that God will work in and with us in our actions. If we don’t give God something to work with, then grace has nothing. Blessed Tansi did exactly what we should all do. In every difficult and uncertain situation he trusted God would assist him and would engage it with prudence. This attitude helped him to succeed as a good pastor and monk.  If we want God to help us, we must be willing to do our part, or else suffer the consequences of our inaction.

 ​                                                          Sunday, February 20, 2022


                                                        Blessed Tansi and Self-denial
            Last week we discussed the Blessed Tansi commitment to service and the common good. This action is rooted in his humility and self-denial. He made his life service, a sacrifice to his ministry and vocation. He denied himself comfort for the sake of those entrusted to him to serve. Their comfort was a priority for him. He never allowed his own passions or selfish wants and desires to dictate his actions. Instead, he was docile and receptive to the will of God preoccupied solely with what will bring souls to Christ and improve a lot of his people who were at the time extremely poor and exposed to various sicknesses. 
            The world in which we live is getting overly complex. We are so enamored with gadgets, technology, material wealth, fashion, and entertainment/pleasure that we often miss what is essential. That is not the world of Blessed Iwene Tansi. His greatness stands out even more because his mission was carried out in humility and silence. He chose this way and style of life — humility and simplicity in his apostolate and relation with others. He invites you and me to be disciples who serve others first, not ourselves. Even today opportunities abound and can take a variety of forms. We can volunteer our time at church or in our communities assisting at something that can promote the common good. We can visit homeless shelters or refugee camps. We can assist those around us who are struggling right now financially, emotionally, and especially spiritually, either in person or through charitable organizations in our parish. Or, we can make visits to those who are homebound, in hospitals, in their homes, or widows who are struggling to make ends meet.
            Blessed Iwene Tansi teaches us a lesson of simplicity. Stories abound how he slowed down to appreciate the people of all classes, blessing and encouraging them. His house during the school holidays was a semi seminary/convent. He took great interest in seminarians and postulants especially the indigent ones serving and spending time with them, sharing faith and experiences, or even making a personal retreat is of benefit in keeping things simple. The church women never forgot that he helped them to sweep and scrub the church floor for Sunday mass. His priesthood was not out to make a name for himself. He was no social media influencer. Instead, the reason for his life was to remain humble before God and to bring as many souls as possible to Him. There was another thing to his simplicity that allowed him to increase his trust and dependence upon God. Because he was not distracted by the trappings of culture, he was able to have fortitude in God’s plan because of his simple trust in a God who loved him. The same trust is accessible to us if we keep it simple. The sacrifice which is always a mystery but not devoid of meaning is necessary for all of us in our vocations, Tansi invites you and me in the struggles of life to carry our pains in life with patience and to unite them to the cross of Christ. Tansi in denying his own objectives wants and desires made his will one with God. We are also called, like him, to unite and to make sacrifices. This can be done through charitable giving, fasting, increased prayer, or giving away things we do not need. His silence, service, simplicity, and sacrifice are not easy pills to swallow, but they do lead us closer to Christ and salvation.


​                                                            Sunday, February 13, 2022

                                                  Blessed Tansi:  Service and Common Good.

              Living out the Gospel demands can often be difficult. Christians ought to see the face of Christ in every person they meet, but when that person is deformed, disabled, or unpleasant, it can be hard to reach out with the gospel demand of charity. We have the example of many saints who lived out the gospel of love despite trials and obstacles. The Christian goal is so much more than being a hero in the eyes of the world. Christians strive to become saints - like Blessed Tansi, who build a culture of life in our society by serving and saving the lives of lepers and bringing comfort to the most hated and feared people in society.

When we think of Christians in our Nigerian situation that lived out the gospel call for love and service we typically think of Blessed Iwene Tansi, who heroically chose to befriend and to serve the lepers against the traditional exclusion—a choice which cost him a great disaffection from the community even from his own Christian converts. That is the way he lived the gospel of love and service. He saw Jesus in every person – in the faces of disfigured lepers, in the agony of the sick and hungry, and in the anguish of those who suffer because of traditional laws which militate against the common good. He was outspoken when it concerns the lepers and the underprivileged in general. He condemned society’s apathy to them.

            Today people speak more of his service to the poor and weak and his concern for the common good than his marvelous achievements in the pastoral life of the Archdiocese. We sometimes forget that he not only stood up for the problem of lepers but also brought attention to the needs of the poorest of the poor and the sick. Fr. Tansi changed the ugly destiny of the lepers in Nnewi – giving them a home and a sense of being human. In the tradition of Nnewi people, as it was in many other places among the Igbos, leprosy was a dreadful sickness. Many abhorred and shunned the leper, who was regarded as an ill-fated person. Lepers were abandoned and isolated. Relations did not even help their lepers for the fear of the gods. Such was the fate of the lepers that Fr. Tansi met at Nnewi in 1938. When he met them he had no doubt about his love and sympathy to them. He denounced publicly this obnoxious belief that they were ill-fated and that they committed serious crimes against the gods.  His Christ-like-sympathy to the lepers quickly like a bright flame lighting up the darkness of peoples’ mediocrity, revealed what Christ was constantly asking of them, that was, a whole field of man’s relationship with the needy neighbours

            Before he left Nnewi for Dunukofia in December of 1940 on transfer he has already gained the people’s welcome response to his call to assist the destitute and lepers. His personal love and initiative to all human problems had that piercing shattering effect in penetrating the people’s apathy caused by traditional religious belief. Gone but his message remained, his life speaks his message, his deeds form the content of that message, his testimony, his protest to indifferent man. When it comes to spending the money available to him he had priorities. He placed the sick and the destitute first in his priority, then the widowed and poor. He was sympathetic beyond compare to the destitute and orphans. He rendered financial aid to them from his merger tithes. He fed those brought to the mission house, especially the sick. Today people remember his charity and concern for the common good, his going to the village visiting the sick, comforting the bereaved, and feeding the hungry children.

    ​                                                        Sunday, February 6, 2022
                                                              What does a Saint look like?
              "Open to me the Gates of Holiness: I will enter and give thanks."  Holiness is at once the point of departure and the destination of humanity.  All are called to holiness of life – Sainthood.   Bereft of what is holy, life easily drifts into meaninglessness. Failure to respect that the human person is first of all spiritual and religious before he is biological and political is a catastrophic failure of our secular society.  Our life especially the Christian life has a process of maturity from baptism to the fullness in Christ – holiness. (Ephesians 3: 16-19).  This fullness is the end goal of our journey with God and is union with Christ.
             With so much solemnity Nigeria has given recently to the celebration of the annual feast of Blessed Tansi some are asking the question: how does a saint look like. When Blessed Tansi was alive and working in the Archdiocese of Onitsha people saw in him some saintly treats - the reason they flocked to him for holiness. He was a saint. Seeing him was for them seeing a saint.  He looked and acted like a saint. Why was he different- because he lived entirely for God and others. We are constantly told by our culture that we have to take care of ourselves. This is true in the proper sense. If we do not take care of ourselves, then we can’t take care of other people. But we are not supposed to put ourselves first. When we do, things become disordered within our souls. It is in times of suffering that this becomes a greater danger and we forget to serve the people around us. It becomes dark, and we focus too much on our own affliction.
            Jesus came to preach the gospel to the poor and the weak. This particular mission plays a very important role in the life of the church and in the ministry of every priest. Blessed Tansi lived and acted with a belief that God heals us in our grief in the measure and manner we reach out to others in their needs and suffering. He opened his arms wide so that in his bodily pains and sufferings united with Christ—he can open himself up to others who are suffering around him. He was able to bind the wounds of others, through his willingness to love in his grief. The Nnewi lepers benefited, the sick especially those with a deadly disease and abandoned ones benefited immensely, the smallpox victims of Nando in 1943 got relief and the widows of Dunukofia found in him a saviour. By doing saintly work he became a Saint. Similarly, if we do the work of saints we too will become saints.  Like the Apostle Paul, the Blessed Tansi has been crucified with Christ; it was no longer him but Christ bringing his salvation through his servant. (Gal. 2:20).
             We all aspire to be heroes in worldly matters. But as Christians, our goal is so much more than being a hero in the eyes of the world. We strive to become saints—like Blessed Tansi, who build a culture of life in our society by serving and saving the lives of lepers and bringing comfort to the most hated and feared people in society. One of the things that militates our desire for sainthood is our fleshly desires but our faith tells us that God helps us to grow and acquire good habits and increase in the virtues - holiness.   As we increase in the acquired virtues, God also increases us in holy prayer and can bring us to such depth in wordless prayer and holy encounter with Him.​​             


                                                               Sunday, January 30, 2022


                                                      Blessed Tansi: Our pathway to humility.
              Last week Nigeria celebrated the life and legacy of Blessed Tansi, our national religious hero, whose leadership helped bring about massive changes to the pastoral life of the Archdiocese of Onitsha in the 1940’s. We remember not only the justice he pursued but also the compassion he showed to the poor and the weak. Today we look at his life and mission as a pathway to freedom/humility. Blessed Tansi opened up for Nigerians the pathway to freedom, peace and happiness and this is the pathway of humility. More than half of a century after his death, Nigeria faces many challenges — issues of economic inequality and regional discrimination, violence in our communities, the struggle to have a good government and many more. In recent years, our nation has also become more polarized and our divisions angrier. As we look to our future, let us continue to draw from Blessed Tansi wisdom, especially his commitment to the beatitudes and the principles of nonviolence and love for our enemies.
            He was among the first Nigerians who received the faith from the early missionaries in this country. He so absorbed this faith that he made it his own and truly Nigerian. The love for this faith and its demands set him on fire that revolutionised and changed the life and culture of the people at his time. People, traditions and cultures that militate against the Christian faith and culture received serious attack. Love alone knows how to find this trail and faith, unshod and thus vulnerable, progresses step by step into what would seem to be powerlessness.  Such an adventure can only be possible through courageously engaging the task with total reliance on God.  It is a task that one takes under the authority and power of heaven. He won at last. The poverty and chaos of his time did not hinder his total and relentless pursuit for common good even though he was aware his own power and authority are subject to futility and conditions of the time.  He knew that in a world that is passing away, self-preservation means either gaining control over circumstances as long as possible or else losing it all together. Furthermore he knew that the more one lives by the struggle for earthly power and authority, the more one's own freedom is diminished. He gave up all these, subjected himself to self denial and extreme detachment that he may unite himself with heaven for the good of others. The years of his teaching career was a service to others, his pastoral apostolate in the Archdiocese of Onitsha was itself love and compassion. He could have time for himself but he chose not to. This is his royal pathway of true freedom and recourse is made to earthly power only as love for Christ deems necessary and then it is quickly surrendered. Regarding the possession of earthly goods, power and authority devotees of blessed Tansi must take the path of humility which requires total indifference to anything that is not God's will. This kind of indifference to earthly possession and power is impossible except to those who by faith live under the power and authority of heaven. Again and again we are reminded that to overcome all our self-cantered, selfish inclinations we are to die to the self so that we can truly love others, thereby following after Blessed Tansi. This way of life must not be understood nihilistically. It is not about destroying ourselves, denying ourselves of the good given to us. It is rather about training ourselves to overcome our fallen, sinful inclinations which are based not upon the loving nature given to us by God, but rather, on the way we have developed a false sense of the self and made ourselves to be the ultimate good above all other goods. Such selfishness ultimately makes it impossible for us to know how to love others because all we love and worship is our selfish self. Blessed Tansi is telling us that we need to move beyond all particular attachments we might have in the world, especially attachments to ourselves, which hinder us from loving and being loved, that is, all those attachments which would hinder us from the state we need to be in to experience God and his glory.


​                                                                   Sunday, January 23, 2022
                                                                Lessons From the feast 20 January.
            Nigerians and devotees of the Blessed Tansi everywhere have celebrated on January 20 the annual feast of the Blessed Tansi. Nine days to the feast many joined the novena prayers to prepare for the feast.  Many dioceses in Nigeria have a grand Eucharistic celebration to honour and venerate our National Saintly hero.  In the Archdiocese of Onitsha, the devotees gathered yesterday, Saturday 22 January to honour our patron saint with a grand solemn Eucharistic celebration at the Central shrine Aguleri.  Now the grand jubilation is over one may begin to ask what have we learned and gained from these celebrations. Yes, for some, prayers have been answered, for others, healing has taken place but for the majority, great spiritual joy has taken place. But beyond all these something more important – a change in the ways we live.
           Blessed Tansi lived out his vocation and mission in a very simple, humble, and consistent way all his life. His whole life and activities were grounded in the love of God and neighbour.  His thoughts are on loving God, acting the way God wants him to act, which means loving and supporting his neighbour the best he can with the gifts which he was given. Because of giving himself, overcoming the self, that is dying to the self and abandoning all attempts of self-glory he received eternal beatitude, a beatitude which is shared by all who find themselves one in Christ. The reason the church recognized his simple/humble life on March 22nd, 1998 – making him Blessed.
           We too have a mission/vocation in life. To live out that mission, to fulfill it, one must be grounded in love, to realize it is not about rising up and becoming a spectacle in the world for others to love and respect, but rather, it is about loving and respecting others, lifting them up so that they too can be that which they are meant to be. Blessed Tansi's life and mission promoted the service to others. Think of his untiring labours to evangelize his parishioners, the youth, the women, the family, and indeed the whole of Igbo culture. By fulfilling his ministry and turning himself into a living sacrifice of love for the sake of others he laid a foundation for future Nigerians to imitate. He did not selfishly prop himself up, nor did he allow others to do so for him; rather, he always made sure his parishioners knew that his mission, as great as it was, was a limited one.
           Our life too must be lived for the sake of others, indeed for the sake of the whole world. It is only in such service that true glory is found, true peace, and when it is found, it is shared. Nigerians, when properly living out their mission, live for others, promote the common good working to make sure that the next generation will have the best guidance possible so that they, too, can live out their mission and be as God desires them to be. By living out and fulfilling our duty, by acting out of love, not selfishness, Nigerians will receive not only what is promised to those who properly live out their vocation; but will enjoy loving peace as brothers. . In that way Nigerians will look like brothers and sisters of Blessed Tansi. 





                                                            Sunday, January 16, 2022  


                                                        January 20, Feast of Blessed Tansi
                                                        Spend the feast with Blessed Tansi.
            January 20 every year is the feast of Blessed Iwene Tansi, spend the feast day with him. Many devotees have been preparing for the feast with  nine days novena prayers. We remember him as a very devoted and energetic Christian, simple priest and monk. He spent a greater part of his life in Nigeria as a child, a school teacher, a seminarian and a priest until he joined the Cistercian Monastery in England where he fulfilled his monastic vow of stability on January 20 1964. With his sure guidance devotees who are struggling with the frustrations of our present day Nigeria will soon have a sigh of relief as they experience within themselves an ever-growing desire for the coming celebration of his feast day. In today Nigeria with so much darkness, so much anger. so much sadness, so much loneliness, so much angst and so much fear we need the Blessed Tansi in our lives. Our loving Patron- Blessed Tansi knows all this pain, yet has us happily prepare and follow his lead. We follow him not all to the priesthood or monastery but to our own given vocation charism. Each of us has been given a charism thanks to the grace imparted to us in our baptism. It is this charism which gives us our particular mission in life. Not everyone has the same mission, not everyone has the same work to do. Nonetheless, all have something invaluable to contribute to the world. All missions complement each other. Thus, no matter what one’s mission is, what one’s charism is, if they live it out properly, they will find themselves receiving not only grace, but great personal satisfaction, as they will have realized who they are meant to be in Christ.
           For us in Nigeria this feast will help us to examine our life and living, our spiritual journey which is very relevant to our patron — Blessed Tansi. His impact on our life of faith, perhaps will be a worthwhile opportunity to examine what lessons he has taught us and consider how we can carry these into everyday life. At this time more than ever he is calling on all to follow him to a life of righteousness. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6). Nigerians should desire righteousness not the false righteousness performed by those who like to glorify themselves and receive accolades for what they have done on an external basis, but true righteousness, a righteousness which is borne out of love and seeks the common good as Blessed Tansi lived out in his life. Nigerians should act in accordance to the dictates of justice, working for and promoting the common good which sends selfishness to its untimely death.
           Blessed Tansi showed us how to love and whom to love. His preferential love for the poor and the weak is for us today a yardstick. As long as love is ignored and rejected common good will suffer and suffering will prevail. In his humble life Blessed Tansi showed us that pride will lead to destruction and suffering. Pride is a common sin that all of us battle. It causes division within ourselves and in our relationships with other people. We see the devastating impacts of pride in our families, friendships, relationships with co-workers, strangers, and in the inner-workings of the Church. Pride is the original sin through which we desire to be God, to always be right, and to have power. No joy can come from pride.
          During this feast “have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:4-7)
 
                                                                Sunday January 9, 2022
                                                      Serving you on our journey to Sainthood
           You know what...Words really can’t express my appreciation adequately. On behalf of all of us in the postulation, I say thank you for your prayers and commitment to this worthy Cause. I know that without the assistance of your prayers and support we would not have been where we are today. Thank you for being true partners in this worthy Cause of the Canonisation of Blessed Iwene Tansi.
           Please continue to keep this Cause in your prayers and be assured that I offer up every suffering for you and your journey towards the conclusion of this Cause and God. That is what moves me most - that all we do is serving the Cause and drawing you closer to God. Please keep all of us in the Postulation in your prayers that our mission may soon come to a happy conclusion.
           May the Lord bless you and may Mary, the Holy Mother of God, be your light as we journey into 2022,  please God our year of promise and favour. Jesus Christ be praised, now and forever. . I would like to say a BIG THANK YOU ALL for being with us in the year 2021, and may 2022 bring with it vibrancy and great opportunities for all of you and help us remain strong as we collectively work for the promotion of this cause. 2021 has seen a great progress in the Cause. My special thanks and appreciation to the members of the Onitsha Archdiocesan Tribunal who investigated the alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of the Blessed Tansi. They did a very excellent job.  To them and all the various groups in the Blessed Tansi Prayer Solidarity I extend my warm greetings and best wishes for a very happy, stress free, prosperous, and safe 2022
          With the Vatican investigation on the alleged miracle opened, the process now needs more prayers than ever. Blessed Tansi feast day comes up on Thursday the 20th. January 2022 with the novena for the feast stating on Tuesday 11th, January 2022. Let us all pray during the novena for the success of the Vatican investigation on the alleged miraculous cure. The Archdiocese of Onitsha will be having a grand assembly and solemn Mass at the Central Shrine Aguleri on Saturday 22 January 2022 at 10 am. All devotees of Blessed Tansi should be there.
          Your prayers certainly will make a difference in the promotion of the Cause. Our commitment to this cause in this year provides us new seasons in life that invigorate us to live with more passion, purpose, and direction. The novena for the feast this year is the most obvious time many of us hit, reset and start on new ventures in life. We are all going to see the new things God has planned for us. Please join us with your prayers for the happy conclusion of this worthy Cause


                                                                  Sunday 19, December 2021
                                                         Tansi Priestly Ordination-84 years ago.
               Today Sunday 19th December 2021 marks the 84th. anniversary of Blessed Tansi priestly ordination. In those days priestly ordination was not a common event.  It was a very rare event. The first African priestly ordination in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, Fr. John Cross Anyogu (later bishop) was in 1930.  Seven years later, on 19th. December 1937 the second priestly ordination of William Obeleagu, Joseph Nwanaegbo and Michael Tansi at the Holy Trinity Cathedral (now Basilica) Onitsha took place. These three had been companions in their struggle to the priesthood in the seminary since 1925 when they entered the junior Seminary at Igbariam. Each of them took his priestly vocation serious and touched the lives of many people in different ways as God shows to all, in a vivid way, his presence and his face in the lives of those He called to minister to his people.
              Blessed Tansi in his own way and through his personal charisms become an example of the first fruits of the early missionary’s evangelization. He became perfectly transformed into the image of Christ (cf. II Cor 3: 18). He spoke to us, offered us a living hope for God’s kingdom to which his converts were powerfully attracted.  Fr. Tansi for the rest of his life always expressed the highest esteem for the gift of the priesthood. It was clear to him what he was called to be and to do -  Sacerdos et victim. He loved and lived it out to the full. He wanted and inspired all the youths in his parish to become priests or religious. It was his youthful dreams. He pondered on his desire to become a priest but it was far from easy for him to achieve it. Indeed, he arrived at priestly ordination only after many ordeals and misunderstandings, with the help of far-sighted priests who did not stop at considering his human limitations but looked beyond them and glimpsed the horizon of holiness that shone out in that truly unusual young Nigerian.  
             By this gift of his priesthood he knew that he was consecrated to serve, humbly yet authoritatively.  He knew that the Lord had given him great graces at his ordination and urged him more strongly than ever to throw himself into the work of his sanctification, that so he might draw many other souls to Him. And so the young priest wanted the greatest possible fervor and exactness in all his priestly duties. He saw this mission as indispensable for the Church, for his suffering people and for the world, a mission which called him for complete fidelity to Christ and constant union with him.  He knew that there was no other way than to abide in his love which, entails constantly striving for holiness and growing ever closer to Jesus, who counted on him, his minister, to spread and to build up his Kingdom and to radiate his love and his truth.  From the moment of his ordination he determined to be completely enthralled by Christ.  This was the goal of his entire life and the goal of the entire priestly ministry. 
              Today we remember him as a good priest who lived according to the heart of Christ. A good shepherd of souls, a devoted evangelizer, a compassionate brother, a good Samaritan to the sick, needy, poor and voiceless. Through his priestly lifestyle he emphasized the indispensable role of the priest. As a pastor the parishes where he worked and the people who met him knew that he was the greatest treasure that the good Lord could give to a parish and at the same time one of the most precious gifts of divine mercy. His life and witness is “an inspiration to everyone in the Nigeria that he loved so much…” (John Paul 11 sermon at beatification). He was a man who through his intimate friendships with God lived not for himself, but for everyone. He was for everyone a man of divine word and of the sacred, a man of hope and joy. Tansi loved his people, worked and prayed for their sanctification. He radiated hope in an age with so little of it. He was a true disciple of Christ in his love and service. He was always serious about the message which he delivered, a message of hope in Christ who gives full meaning to life because he loves human beings. Through his ministry he was a living witness of the power of God at work in human weakness. Fr. Tansi really went to every corner of his vast parish, untiringly, in order to seek for his flock and to bear fruit that lasts. He was a priest to the last, for he offered his life to God for his flock and for the entire human family, in a daily self-oblation for the service of the Church. And in this way he became one with Christ, the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep.


                                                                Sunday, December 12, 2021
                                           Tansi detachment: Powerful message to Nigerians today
            An average Nigerian would not accept poverty. It is a curse but the simple gospel message is that Jesus lived poor each and every moment of his earthly life doing the will of his Father in heaven. "My meat is to do the will of my Father in heaven”. Detachment to material world represents to every soul the words which touch the heart and urges every person to take serious the words of Jesus to the young rich man give up everything and follow me. None of us can slow the passage of time; and while we often focus on all that has changed in the intervening years, much remains unchanged, including the Gospel of Christ and his teachings.
            Today money and material pleasure seem to charm us with seductive and insistent messages that focus on easy gains, false needs, the cult of physical wellness, and of entertainment at all costs.  All these are like fireworks that flare up for a moment but then turn to smoke in the air. The evils of their pursuit have put Nigeria on a dead-end road. The only way to resist these evil trends is to return to the beauty and amazement of the faith and the examples of our father in faith. We take a great risk forgetting who we are and becoming obsessed with appearances, bombarded with messages that make life depend on how much we have in the bank, what we wear, the car we drive,  the house we live in, the friends we make and how others see us. 
            The Blessed Tansi, a true Nigerian continues to bombard us with his strong message of detachment to material possession and worldly pleasures which remain valid today. A peculiar aspect of the life of this humble Nigerian priest was his detachment from material goods. He did not own anything, he gave everything away to the neediest; he did not feel the necessity of having anything for himself: His ridge fasts, incredible human labour, sleepless nights, austere penances and continual mortifications were natural consequence of his detachment and love of poverty. Most of his spiritual sons and daughters today echo the most constant and repeated advice of their master: “Remember that your worth is in who you are and not what you have”. Ascetic but not austere he loved genuine pleasures and entertainments. Stressed and weak from his continued unrest and long pastoral treks under the hot afternoon heat of equator he still had time to sit with the villagers whereby a score or so of them would gather outside their huts at the tropical moonlight, to converse, make jokes, play flutes or drums and to share some calabashes of palm wine. Good humoured arguments might take place, a flute man perhaps would break the monotony, and then the drum, sooner or later, songs and dances would begin. Whenever he had time to join them he used the occasion to impart some religious instruction. His sermons became richer when he made use of lessons drawn from these ancient stories. He also mixed with young people and enjoyed their jokes. 
             Tansi is a model of evangelical life not only for priests, but for laypeople, especially for those who are entrusted for common good or those who work in the vast field of charity. He learnt the love of the poor as a boy, the traditional society where he grew up had special place for the weak. He saw how his parents welcomed and helped the poor and needy. As a priest he became still more detached and his heart opened for everyone. To have such a new heart was to see and experience his desired change. He became less desirous for himself and focused less on passing worldly things, and more on the lasting treasure of the Kingdom of heaven. He concentrated attention on the other things and began to love what and who God loved. He began to love holiness, justice, chastity, goodness, righteousness, and truth. His example constitutes a constant invitation to everyone to open arms to every person who had need.  In many ways his message has been for our times.
            Fr.Tansi through his personal poverty identified with his flock, his generosity made him revered and loved. He could build a decent rectory but he chose to identify himself with the local buildings. His house was built with mud and grass thatched roofs. He could afford a clean rest house in the outstations but he decided to live in the school store whenever he was visiting an outstation on trek. All through his life he had great potentials to wealth but he had always rejected them choosing a poor state. His leaving a very rewarding teaching profession with all its great future promises for the Seminary seemed a kind of madness for his relations. Through his personal industry, education and status he could rise above the general poor condition of the average man. He did not want to do it. He chose to raise the standard of living of others but himself remaining poorer than many. Most of his flock ate three times a day, a little food in the morning, then midday meal if during the farming season was taken in the farm, otherwise at home and a heavy pounded yam or cassava in the night. Fr. Tansi had enough to eat but he rather prepared the food, gave to the poor and needy and fed on groundnuts and roasted yam, a diet poorer than that of the poorest villager.
           In 1948 at Akpu the parishioners were touched by his strenuous exertions and voluntarily raised by a collection the sum of a hundred pounds. They sent the money to the Bishop at Onitsha to buy a kit-car for their Parish Priest. The bishop an Irish kind prelate knew that Fr. Tansi would not accept the car however he bought the car which Fr. Tansi eventually rejected and requested the Bishop to buy for him a motorcycle. It was not easy for the people to accept poverty kindly. Fr. Tansi was the one man who left relative comfort and security for poverty. A mentality, which was hard to understand by the majority.



                                                          ​         Sunday, December 5 2021
                                                               Blessed Tansi Road to Sainthood
           Our greatest goal on earth is to become saint. A saint is a human being chosen by God for a special purpose. All are called to be saints in one sense or another. We all have a special job on this earth that nobody else can do. We can either do it or fail to do it. It is another way of saying that nobody can be you or can replace you. To achieve that job in its fulfilment requires a multitude of sacrifices and of steps growing in virtue.  Saints’ way of life in a in certain sense is to be an enemy to the way of world, the way of the flesh, and the devil. Reading the lives of saints as in the life of Blessed Iwene Tansi we notice their great detestation to every sin. Saints are totally dependent on Christ for all things.  They are above all Servants of Christ, willing to give up every aspect of their being for the greater good of being closer to God. Saints are in every way human. We cannot become saint without becoming human. Human beings in their nature are fearful and panicky and these are good qualities to sainthood. A human being realizes and acknowledges before God that he is in need of salvation. That is what it means to become a human being. Our sin and weakness define us as the human race in great need of mercy.
           Our weakness can become our greatest strength if we allow God to make it so when we trade our sinful natures for humility before God. We know that humility is the basis of all other virtues. Love without humility is selfish and self-serving. Charity without humility is an empty gesture. And so on. Humility is the most important thing in God’s grand economy. Love springs from humility, and from love springs mercy. Genuine Christian love and mercy for our fellow man is nothing without humility and humbleness before God. 
           The church canonises some Saints in heaven to show us that we too can become saints. Being a saint does not mean to be a holy superman or superwoman. It is quite the opposite in deed. In fact, saints know and revile their own sin. The Blessed Tansi lived a very happy social life. Though ascetic in his way but was very cheerful with others and people felt at home with him. His house as a pastor in the Archdiocese of Onitsha was home to all especially to the youth. During the holidays seminarians and aspirants make his rectory their home. He allowed lawful enjoyment for his youth. He gave nice food to all who were visiting. His onetime cook Mr. Uchendu remembers that the only time the pastor came to supervise in the kitchen was when a visitor was around or when he was preparing the meal for some poor people. It was said the once he offered the visiting seminarian, Mr. Godfery Okoye (later bishop) his only camp bed in the out station while he himself passed the night on a wooden chair. He always advised his youth to enjoy themselves as much as they could – if only they kept away from sin. Each and every one of us can march towards sainthood and achieve the highest of human potential if only we can be humble. Pride is the greatest obstacle to holiness. The road may seem endless but rest assured that God’s own grace will guide your steps if you let Him.
​


                                                                Sunday November 28, 2021
                                                              Friendship with Blessed Tansi
            Making friend with Blessed Tansi or any Saint for that matter goes hand and hand with faith in God. You make friend with a saint because the life of the saint reflects the image of God. Without faith it will be impossible to love or please God. In Blessed Tansi we meet a simple priest who many Nigerians remember with pride and who the universal Catholic world on the 22 March 1998 recognised the humble way he lived out his vocation. He is dynamic and endowed with fiery zeal for souls, gifted in native common sense, full of wits and piety, very humble and given to charity and love of the neighbour. As a professional teacher, a priest, and religious monk he followed the path of integrity, and his message today for his fellow Nigerians is his simple lifestyle detached from the mad pursuit of material wealth. His memory lives on in his spiritual sons and daughters and in the parishes he initiated and pastured in the Archdiocese Onitsha, where his cause of canonization was initiated in 1986. The Blessed Tansi Prayer Group and the knights of Blessed Tansi carry on his work to this day. In imitation of his strong faith, members are fortified in the Catholic faith. In the shadow of his compassion to the weak and charity to all, the members contribute time, talent and commitment to Christian faith for building up the local Church and Nigerian society. 
          To befriend a man like this you need faith which is “... confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1)  So, healthy faith is based on hope and the assurance that God loves us and rewards us. Similarly, to befriend Blessed Tansi you need an assurance conviction he loves you and will be ready, if you are, to lead you to God.  You and I all have faith. You know when you have faith. We believe in God and know when we believe in Him. We believe in ourselves also and we can believe lies or the truth. So we know really when we have a faith-interest in the Blessed Tansi and want to become his friend. Even if you do not have what it takes to become his friend you can ask for help to become his friend and your making this request is already a sign that the friendship has begun. I can guarantee he will answer your prayers, and it will start with you evaluating and changing your beliefs. Start believing what I will now say to you. 


 Blessed Tansi loves you and will help you get through God’s plan for your life
Blessed Tansi greatest interest in heaven is to see you true and effective ambassador of Christ.
Your life has a purpose – you are salt and light for so many


You can make a list of many other things you are expecting to get out of this friendship. Can you agree and make my list yours. I believe this will help you build a stronger and healthier friendship and faith in Blessed Tansi. Then will your long awaited miracle come. 






​                                                                    Sunday, November 21, 2021
                                                     Blessed Tansi legacy continues to inspire
              With a heart for the poor and dedication to the suffering, Blessed Tansi's humility and generosity continue to inspire his devotees.  We remember that his holiness which became noticeable early in his life grew and matured slowly but has now become legendary. He had a heart for the poor and was dedicated to the service of those suffering from poverty. His humility and generosity have propelled his devotees to greater charity in recent times. Since after his beatification in 1998 many groups and associations have taken to his way of charity to the poor and less privileged. Although Blessed Tansi became most well-known for his works of charity, he was also a reformer in the family and marriage. Worried by the influence of Igbo culture and tradition which weighed down on Christian family and marriage, he staged a battle to reform Christian family and marriage. His reform helped the Christian family and marriage to refocus its mission.
              Born into a poor peasant farming family in Eastern Nigeria in 1903 the Blessed Tansi went to seminary in his twenties after some years of profitable teaching profession. The experience was anything but a time to grow spiritually, as he encountered more conflict and violence than study and prayer. The Christian marriage culture of his era consisted of two: those who live without sacramental marriage after the traditional marriage which recognises them as husband and wife and those who after the traditional marriage go for sacramental marriage before living together.  After his priestly ordained in 1937 at the age of 34 he started his family reform at Nnewi. First fought for the right of lepers in the family, (for lepers were excluded from the family), the right and education of married women and the sanctification of Christian marriages in general. This fight continued wherever his priestly apostolate brought him: Nnewi, Dunukofia, Akpu and Aguleri. He insisted that lepers who traditionally were regarded as cursed by the earth goddess should be helped and assisted by the family. Young traditionally married couples should not live together without sacramental marriage. He founded and built hostels where he kept young traditionally married girls. Here they were taught wifely skills and prepared for sacramental marriage. He was aware of what corrupted family culture was doing to the Church. Hence he resisted the opposition of young Christian men whose wives were taken to the premarriage training centres. He realised the great importance of good chrisitan family to the local church. As he poured out his life in ministry for others, especially those on the margins, he desired to build the local Church in renewing family with a focus on sanctification and the needs of the poor.Blessed Tansi today should be seen as a heavenly patron of all charitable works and special advocate for holy family life.  The cause of his canonisation has reached an advanced stage in the Congregation for the causes of saints. The postulation for the cause calls for more prayers to get this cause to a very happy conclusion.


​​                                                                    November 14, 2021
                                              Tansi Loving Concern for Souls in Purgatory
          Last week we discussed purgatory and some of the ways we can help those who are there. Apart from helping them our belief in purgatory itself provides consolation for the living. Looking out for the good of others is necessarily wrapped up with the pursuit of our own holiness. Union with God is our ultimate life goal. As such, it is our ultimate joy. So whatever truth helps us attain our ultimate goal of union with God necessarily is a joyful truth. The doctrine of purgatory is one of those truths that help us achieve ultimate union with God. The ultimate destiny of every soul in purgatory is secure. Since they died in God’s grace and friendship their destiny is heaven.  Every soul in purgatory is secure with respect to his salvation. Therefore, purgatory is a joyful truth. It inspires the pursuit of holiness. 
          Our belief in Purgatory elicits loving concern that manifests itself in acts of charity, which in turn contributes to our pursuit of holiness. The holy souls need our prayers –and at the same time, they can be powerful intercessors for us. “Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective.” (CCC 958) When we pray for them, it makes them able to pray for us.  Their intercession could be a tremendous blessing in our life. This reciprocity can be understood since from the early days of the Church the faithful not only pray for the Souls in purgatory but also asks for their intercession.
          The Blessed Tansi had a loving devotion and concern for the souls in purgatory. He celebrated the feasts of All Saints and the All Souls with great solemnity and encouraged his faithful to pray for those in purgatory through the month of November. At every outstation of his parish under the supervision of his teacher-catechist he established a devotion and novena prayers for the holy souls through the month of November. He himself took part in the devotions at the parish centre. He taught that as member of the body of Christ we have obligation to pray for our members who are suffering. Just as the knowledge of some relations suffering somewhere elicits sentiments of love within our hearts that manifests itself in acts of help, so too knowledge that fellow members of the Mystical Body of Christ are suffering across the boundary of death can elicit a movement of charity within the heart and manifest itself through acts of charity on their behalf. Such acts may include offering the Mass, almsgiving, indulgences and prayer.
         True concern for the good of others is necessarily wrapped up with the pursuit of holiness because it is the essence of love. Love for our neighbour is the second greatest commandment (Matt. 22:39). So love for neighbour is essential to our pursuit of holiness.  Our concern for those in purgatory reminds us that love of neighbour extends beyond the boundaries of death to the suffering souls in purgatory. So whatever acts of love we perform on their behalf, whether it be offering the Mass, almsgiving, indulgence, or prayers, such acts contribute to our growth in holiness. We become more conformed to Christ, who always lives to make intercession for us. (Heb. 7:25).  Each November, the Church, in Her goodness, offers a gift for the faithful to give to the souls in purgatory. From November 1-8, the faithful can gain a plenary indulgence for the souls in purgatory by visiting a cemetery and praying there for the dead. In order to obtain the indulgence, a Catholic in the state of grace must have the intention to obtain it and fulfill the following condition


(a) visit a cemetery and pray there for the dead, even if only mentally
(b) make a sacramental confession ( within about 20 days before or after)
(c) receive Holy Communion
(d) recite at least one Our Father and one Hail Mary for the Holy Father 
(e) be free from attachment to all sin, including venial 

God is on our side. He wants us to be able to obtain this indulgence as an act of charity for the souls in purgatory, and He will help us fulfil the conditions if we only ask.



​                                                                Sunday November 7, 2021
                                                           Purgatory: They need your help.
            When our loved ones die, we naturally want to honor them with flowers, a funeral Mass, kind words, and sometime an extravagant funeral expenses. But the best present we can give them is to pray that they might be united with God. On All Souls’ Day November 2, the universal Church prays for all those in purgatory, people who were much like us, whose offense may have been less than ours. On that day, and during the entire month of November, we remember our departed brothers and sisters as we go to the cemetery where they are buried, obtain indulgences for them, give alms, do some good work, ask for Masses to be said in remembrance, all on behalf of those close to us and to others we may have neglected during the year. We remember that when the Church canonizes a saint, we are confirming he is in heaven. The Pope does this based on the supplied evidence of a holy life, and also the evidence of miracles attributed to the prayers of the saint. Canonization says they are in heaven now and that any purification they might have needed is complete.
           Catholics have always believed in a place of final purification for the faithful who died. From the earliest days the Church believed that those who died a martyr are already with God since they were perfectly conformed to Christ and his cross by their death. But for many faithful who never had the opportunity to give such a public witness, the church offers prayers, especially the mass that having been purified from every imperfection they would enter into heaven. The place of this purification is called purgatory. Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that all those who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified are indeed assured of their final salvation but after death they undergo purification, so as to enter heaven. (No. 1030) Purgatory is not a second chance after death; it is the final step for righteous individuals who, before death, lacked an opportunity to atone for venial sins or do sufficient penance for serious sins already confessed.
             The basic principle of justice is that all debits owed must be paid. Christ paid that debit for us by uniting our nature to his divine nature and we receive forgiveness when we turn to him in repentance through those whom he appointed for this purpose. “... those whose sins you forgive are forgiven..” (Jn. 20:21-23). There are however other people to whom we are indebted by our wrong doings.  We have to pay these as much as we are able: such as returning stolen goods, correcting injury to someone’s good name, asking forgiveness of someone we hurt and so on. If we do not pay this in this life we have to pay it in the next. This is why this month the church is asking you to help the suffering souls in purgatory. Remembering and praying for the faithful departed is tied directly to our belief in purgatory. Any prayer or pious act applied to the souls in purgatory can be a way to pray for them. The most effective manner of praying is to have Masses offered for them or to apply the fruits of your own attendance at Mass. The Rosary, too, is a wonderful way to pray for them. We pray for the souls in purgatory because they are undergoing the final purifications that are necessary for most of us after we die. Every time you pass a cemetery, it is time for a little prayer: ‘Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord.’ It is just common sense that you help some of them get out of Purgatory. If you do I assure you they will never forget you. May the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.





                                                                      October 31, 2021.
                                                                   Sinners become Saints.
               The Church at All Saints Day, November 1 honours the Saints in heaven, those who have been canonized by the Church as Saints as well as those who have not been canonized. The Church is composed of Christ faithful living on the earth and those who have gone before us. These include the Saints in heaven and the faithful Souls being purified in Purgatory. All the faithful here on earth are looking forward to become Saints in heaven when we leave this world but we know that it is hard to stay joyful today here on earth. We have all noticed a rise of anxiety, anger, and bitterness, whether in ourselves or among neighbors. Our cultural climate is today toxic, to say the least. Yet we are called to be missionaries of saintly joy/happiness. How do we do this? How do we develop and protect our happiness as heaven is close at hand.
                All devotees of Blessed Tansi have an added advantage of becoming themselves saints because they find in their connection with him an inspiration and encouragement for living out their vocation in life. Saints are ordinary people who love Jesus and wish to serve him in their neighbours. It is not God’s will, however, that all devotees should follow Blessed Tansi to the priesthood or monastic life. But it is God’s will that all should in their various vocations love God and their neighbour as Blessed Tansi did in his own vocation. All of us at one time or the other need motivation and reassurance that what we are doing is correct and will bring us to holiness. We find these in the life of Blessed Tansi.  He came from a poor family background, found early child hood difficult, lost his father at a tender age, brought up by a cousin teacher who sent him to school. He was a professional teacher, a seminarian who found his studies rather difficult, he was a diocesan priest first an assistant priest and later a parish priest and finally ended his life as a Cistercian Monk. In his life you can find one who faced with courage and determination all the ups and downs of life. If you want to find a saint who experienced what you are experiencing - is there in the life of Blessed Tansi. If you long to hear about a Nigerian who had been there, done this or that, and survived he is there. If you want to read about saintly children, teachers, seminarian, pastor or religious his life will give you a blue print. With great delight, you will find in his life a clear road to sainthood. That is not to say that the different stations in his life were easy for him or that his life  was so wonderful.  Not at all.  He was fully human, weak, and sinful but he persevered trusting in the grace of God. He used the graces given him to love and serve his family, neighbours (specially the poor and sick), and God. In this aspect he was a hero.
           This is the reason why we the devotees and friends of Blessed Tansi would want to share his life style to all. Since we know that many out there do not have a lot of free time to seek for a saintly motivator, try to keep the image of the Blessed Tansi always reflecting in your lifestyle. In all your daily activities in the office, in the farm, in the market, at school, while in the car waiting to pick up your child, or whenever you can steal a few minutes for yourself keep the determination and persevering spirit of Blessed Tansi before your eye. When you reflect on the lessons learned from his life and pray through his intercession you can be sure of his powerful assistance from heaven. It is my hope that you will feel such a connection with him. You can be sure of having him your spiritual friend and an inspiration. Have no doubts about this, your vocation in life whatever it may be is a vocation. God has called you to serve his people through it. With the gifts and virtues he has bestowed upon you, you are made to be a saint, and to help others become saints too. You will be a Saint. Don’t be afraid of a fall for every fall has a lesson with it.  So whether you are a priest, religious or lay faithful find encouragement and inspiration in the Saintly lifestyle of Blessed Tansi. Your decision and conviction to act now is so critically important in the conditions in which we are now living because everything is becoming so secularized. My prayer is that you will be heartened by the saintly possibilities in your vocation to become a saint.


​                                                                   Sunday, October 24, 2021
                                                                          Tansi, Pray for Us!
               Blessed Tansi's legacy inspires all his devotees. One of his outstanding legacies is the habit of prayers. He is known for this habit all through his life. He was born in Aguleri, in Eastern Nigeria, in 1903. His parents were poor farmers, whose four children attended the pagan feasts and dances with their parents of the traditional Igbo religion. His conversion and baptism at the age of 12 brought him close to Mass and the daily Rosary. As a child, he had a great love for the mass and Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. As a school teacher, he prayed with his pupils and brought many with him to Sunday masses. At age 23, he announced to his family that he wanted to be a priest and in spite of their great opposition he entered the diocesan junior seminary at Igbariam in 1925 and was ordained a priest in 1937.  He began his priestly ministry at Nnewi in 1937, Dunukofia in 1940, Akpu in 1945 and Agleri in 1949. He entered the Cistercian Monastery of Mount St. Bernard in 1950 where he died in 1964 after fulfilling his vow of stability.


              During his lifetime as pastor of souls, Blessed Tansi drew many people to himself and his ministry. He founded many mass centres and schools in the villages and farms in the rural areas of the Archdiocese. He was known for his compassion to the sick and needy. He was very much concerned with the family, sanctity of marriage and the youth. He spent long hours at the confessional and encouraged people to go to confession regularly. Blessed Tansi also had a tremendous devotion to the Holy Eucharist. To the faithful who believed themselves unworthy to receive the sacrament, he responded that we are all not worthy of such a gift, however, to approach the Blessed Sacrament in a state of mortal sin is one thing, and to be unworthy, quite another. All of us are unworthy, but it is he who invites us. It is he who desires it. We all approach the sacrament with humility and receive with a heart contrite and full of love.
             Many miracles have been attributed to Blessed Tansi, including the gifts of reading the souls of his penitents during confessions, prophecy and healing. He lived a penitential and prayers life. He described prayer as the best weapon we have. It is the key to God’s heart. He advised that we speak to Jesus not only with our lips, but also with our heart.  He also maintained that the best place to find God is in prayer. Blessed Tansi was known for his great intelligence and exemplary character, piety, humility, charity and purity. The Nigerian Bishop’s Conference named him Patron of Nigerian Priests. Many of his devotees are enjoying his powerful protection and intercession and at the same time praying for a happy conclusion of his worthy cause.
             He died repeating the words “Jesus, Mary and Joseph.”  Pope St. John Paul II beatified him in his native land before hundreds of thousands of pilgrims on March 22nd, 1998, and designated January 20 as his feast day. Thousands of his devotes are praying hard today for his canonisation – the fullness of the altar.


                                                                Sunday, October 17, 2021
                                Tansi advise to his devotees [a follow up of October 17 celebration]
              Many of us have taken part in the novena masses/prayers for the October 17 celebration. We have prayed and hopefully looking forward to the effects of our prayers. Many are already rejoicing that their prayers have been answered. As we look forward to better days ahead we should remember some of the things the Blessed Tansi is expecting of us in the days ahead.  What he expects from us is surprisingly simple and the results will be great if we try to do them.
            The first is to remain in the habit of prayer.  As we have come through the nine days masses/prayers we should remain in prayer always. Talk to Jesus always. Talk to Blessed Tansi every day no matter how short the prayer is. Remain in his friendship. Then, invite people to join you in prayer especially the members of your family. The first people to pray with are your family members than the others around you. There is always great power in prayer. “In order to love adequately, faithfully, and constantly we need a companion, a friend, a patron, a counselor. We must look for the One in the Blessed Sacrament.  See him too in Holy Scriptures and in other pious books”. (Retreat to Bp. Godfrey Okoye Mt. St. Bernard Abbey ― 1961).
           Promote the habit of Sunday Eucharist. The Sunday Eucharist called the Sunday Mass is the greatest weekly obligation of all of us. Nothing, I repeat nothing should take the place of this all-important weekly obligation.  Blessed Tansi loves his Sunday Mass and he celebrated it with great devotion.  He doesn’t ask for Eucharistic Adoration, though that is his great practice; he doesn’t even ask for daily Mass. He asks for Sunday Mass from each of us. Today especially among the young many have fallen into the trap of thinking that Sunday Mass is no big deal, and not worth promoting. That is a huge mistake. After all, it is the summit toward which the Church’s action tends and at the same time the source from which comes all her strength. (Says Vatican II). Committing to going to Mass every Sunday, no matter what, will transform a family and will change the fortunes of the individual.
            Do not neglect the sacrament of Reconciliation/confession. In many of the parishes in the Archdiocese weekly confessions still remain a common practice. Many take this practice seriously. But in some places, this sacrament is getting into crises-resulting in the loss of the sense of sin. Blessed Tansi himself was famous for his diligence at the confessional and the time he spent there and advised people to go regularly to confession. The sacrament is essential for our life as Catholic disciples and devotees of Blessed Tansi. We all know that God forgives our sins at the confessional. He also wants his parishioners to forgive one another as God forgives them. He makes the gift of reconciliation real at every level of Nigerian life. “There must be kindness and forgiveness to every child of Adam”


       His devotees must love the church. The Blessed Tansi has a deep love for the Church – the body of Christ.  He wants our love for the Church. He assures his sons and daughters that nothing in their life will happen without grace and grace comes most often from the church and from hearing the Word. Love the church because it a body to which you belong. Respect it, protect it, build it up and stay close to it always. Lastly he asks for love: with one another and with the poor. All devotees must witnesses to Love, stake everything on charity. He wants us to love our families and fellow parishioners, and let that love pour out to the poor.  His demand on us is quite simple and not complicated. No need to take a difficult course or adopt a strange way of life. Just ask others to join us as we pray, worship, confess, read the Bible, and serve. The result will be astonishing.





​​​                                                                                                               Sunday, October 10, 2021
                                                        Be part of the Reinternment Anniversary


           We are all prepared for 17th October, we have been keeping up with the novena mass/prayers which we began a few days ago. Our faith can bring us and our loved ones in need a great relief. A young girl was healed because a religious Sister brought her to Blessed Tansi on October 17. This year the event could be a source of great hope for us and many more.  We all have friends or family members whose spiritual and material well-being matter much to us.  We may have tried explaining, arguing, and the rest, and come up short.  Do not give up.  Instead, look up to Blessed Tansi on October 17 and beyond. He is the one who can help us in desperate situations; he can also obtain healing for us. He loves us personally and loves our loved ones in need. Come to him with faith and confidence.  We should bring our love ones to Christ through the Blessed Tansi, and bring Fr. Tansi to those around us especially the needy.  We can do this in several ways:


 bring somebody with you to Mass during the novena in honour of Fr. Tansi,
 proclaim the gospel of Fr. Tansi in word and deed to those around you,
 keep a regular devotion to Fr. Tansi,  
make a pilgrimage to Blessed Tansi during this year’s novena.
he was famous for the time he spent in the confessional, go regularly to confession.
always pray for a happy and quick conclusion of the cause
tell stories about Blessed Tansi to the old and young especially of favours through his intercession.
his holiness is a shining example for the faithful, put into practice in your own life what inspires you in his lifestyle.
like him keep faith in times of trial, adversity, and illness. 
give gifts if you can to promote his cause especially for the building of his shrine at Aguleri.



         Through encounters with Blessed Tansi miracles are constantly occurring. The real question is do we see and understand them? Do we have the eyes of a living faith which recognize the hand of the Lord at work? It is a part of our duty to Blessed Tansi to report to the postulation the favours and miracles received through his intercession. The postulation for the Cause of Blessed Tansi needs to know the favours which you receive through the intercession of Blessed Tansi. These testimonies can be sent directly at postulationtansi@yahoo. You can also give your testimony to your parish priest who will eventually make it available to the postulation. It is through these testimonies we can make out a miracle. If you do not want your testimony to be published, your wish will be respected.  Feel free to send us new ideas and suggestions on how this cause could become more popular in order to get one miracle needed to reach the goal


​​​                                                                    Sunday, October 3, 2021
                                                              Tansi: Significance of October 17
             For all devotees and lovers of Blessed Tansi, 17th October will forever be remembered?  When the remains of Blessed Tansi were brought back from Mt. St Bernard Monastery England they were reburied in the priests’ cemetery Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha on the 17th. October 1986 after a solemn concelebrated mass. It will be recalled that on that day just before the Eucharistic celebration the first major miracle obtained through Fr. Tansi intercession was recorded - a girl with advanced stage of cancer.
            The pious and ascetical Archbishop Charles Heerey, an Irish missionary bishop of Onitsha wanted a monastic apostolate for his diocese. When he found that Fr. Tansi was very interested in the monastic apostolate he made contacts in Europe to find him a monastery. After several contacts Mount St.Bernard agreed to accept him.  Father Michael entered Mount Saint Bernard on 3rd July 1950. Archbishop Heerey and Fr. Tansi expressed their fervent hope that Father Michael would eventually return to Nigeria to establish the monastic and contemplative life in Onitsha. At that time he entered the abbey there were 71 in the community, of whom 30 were priests and the rest were brothers. To become the last in this community he was choosing between fame, popularity, power, authority, the idol of money, and the love of God that promised to fill his heart and desires. He was choosing a place where he would like to die. 
            After 14 years of monastic experience death on January 20, 1964 brought to an end this humble life of a quiet Nigerian monk at the abbey of his final profession and at the same time giving it an ultimate divine value. He could not return to Nigeria as hoped for but his spirit did. After 22 years in September 1986 his remains were exhumed and ready for the long expected return to Nigeria. He had done everything well, he has fulfilled his monastic vow of stability and owes nothing to anybody; he has to go to his people who has been long waiting for him to return. He arrived Onitsha on the 16th of October 1986 and was received on the 17 October1986 with a solemn Eucharistic celebration in the basilica where he was ordained priest in 1937, his remains were later reinterred at the Priests’ cemetery beside Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. That day before the Eucharistic celebration began through his powerful intercession a young 20 year old girl obtain a complete and instantaneous healing of an advanced stage of cancer.
             The events of that day till date have a specific ecclesial trait: an enlightened pastor who left his flourishing apostolate to bring the contemplative apostolate to his people returning performed a miraculous healing to mark his return. He returned with heavenly gifts and blessings for his people- authenticating the path of holiness he has chosen. Every year we gather to celebrate this wonderful event through which many receive conversion, graces and healing. For this year 2021, the celebration shall take place on parish levels. To take part remember:


To join in the nine days novena masses and prayers, which begin from Friday October 8 to Saturday October 16. For this year October 17 is a Sunday many would like to end and have their mass on Saturday 16th.
Remember to book masses with your parish priest early enough.
Join in the novena at least privately
For those around Onitsha make time to visit the Relics at the basilica of the Most Holy Trinity.
Do not forget to pray for the happy conclusion of this worthy Cause.





                                                               Sunday, September 26, 2021
                                                     Tansi: the legacy of apostolic vigour (3)
            The Gospels are full of statements that highlight Jesus’ pastoral zeal—to reach Father’s love for humanity. Similarly, Fr, Tansi was filled with pastoral zeal from the moment he realized his vocation and calling to the Lord’s business. Another fundamental characteristic of this extraordinary priestly figure was his diligent ministry of confession. He recognized in the practice of the sacrament of penance the logical and natural fulfillment of the priestly apostolate, in obedience to Christ's mandate: "…if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained" (cf. Jn 20: 23). Even though his days were fully engaged and despite the hardship and personal discomforts he imposed on himself, Father Tansi was always encouraging and stressing the importance of the confessional act as a means to bring spiritual comfort and peace. Because he was deeply convinced of the spiritual importance of it he spared no effort to make himself available for all who needed it. Just as he had a reputation as a very zealous pastor in the same way he had a reputation as a zealous confessor. He was a man who would do anything for his parishioner in order to put them right with God, austere towards himself and strict with discipline too. He was a leader and was fearless in standing up against evil and a principle he believed was right.
            The sanctity of marriage and the family also played an important role in his priestly ministry.  His concern was demonstrated in the relentless efforts towards the establishment of pre marriage centers where intending female couples were protected and were taught some pre marriage courses and wifely skills. He had an intense concern for the spiritual formation of women in general and for the maintenance of sexual purity in particular. His concern for leading individual cassava growers and market women to real holiness is one of his most attractive and unusual characteristics. He promoted education of young girls and young boys in many senses of the word. He had primary schools and succeeded in inspiring his teachers, who saw their role not just as teachers but as formators of the growing population. At Dunukofia and other places, Father Tansi had boarding-houses for pupils in Standards five and six, young people around ages of eleven and twelve. The boys live in the mission compound from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon and return to their parents to help them at home and farm work at the week end. Fr Tansi was very concern for the purity and holiness of boys and girls. His concern for holiness of the young was not only limited to his seminarians and aspirants but also to every young girl and boy. The young people must be able to control themselves, to be able to love, and to be able to pray. Only a man with a great concern for the future could do these things.
             Assuredly love of Christ was his most characteristic quality. He normally spent the night uniting himself to Christ in prayer, sometimes being found on the chapel floor as his students come in for morning prayers. Much of that time was given to meditation. His care for others complimented his love of Christ. He loved people not simply because of Christ’s command or because he saw Christ in them, but from a natural compassion. His concern for others ran deeper than meeting their material needs. He worried about their eternal salvation.


​                                                                 Sunday, September 19, 2021
                                                        Tansi: the legacy of apostolic vigour (2)
            At his time evangelization in Nigeria was at its primary infant stage. The missionaries were few and were just beginning. Language and culture posed a great problem for them. Guided and strengthened by the Spirit they did excellent work even though the prize in suffering and death was enormous. Fr. Tansi and his first Igbo priests made a lot of difference in the new missionary outreach in the Archdiocese of Onitsha. In his vast mission, he faced unexpected situations, new issues, and emergencies to which he respond in the light of faith and with a deep knowledge of Igbo culture. The sick are dying without any form of medical care, the vast majority of his parishioners were poor and starving, injustice to the voiceless stayed on his face. These were some serious problems that he was obliged to face and to solve. He did these by showing a mature pastoral charity to lonely people and those in need of assistance and help. He first brought Christ nearer to them by ministering the sacraments and by giving them the Word of God and consolation. It was for him an urgent matter because it concerned a fundamental aspect of social life and justice, namely, charity to the weak, the poor and the defenceless. Apart from conversion and administration of the sacraments Fr. Tansi considered with equal gravity the duty of charity and justice, that is, the duty to help widows and poor people and in response to the commandment of Jesus to provide lovingly for the brothers and sisters in need. Infant mortality was high but no child died without baptism, no sick went without his visit and no beggar left without food no matter how small. He thought that Christians must not only proclaim the word of God but must also put the word which is charity and truth into practice. “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian… Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which this local Church now offers to the Universal Church”. (St. John Paul 11, Nigeria 1998)
           Fr. Tansi believed that all people are great gifts from God. He believed that all human beings need to be protected and loved—from the moment of creation until death. He treated every person with dignity and respect, no matter how dirty, poor, or helpless they were, and worked tirelessly in the defence of marginalization of women and girls. He is a great example of how we should live our lives as Christians—always willing to help those in need and respecting the dignity of every human being no mater his state and condition. It was said that he visited the sick and the poor constantly. Sick people were brought to his house, treated and fed. His little income was meant for their needs. He did not only depend on his income. He begged in order to supply the need of his sick and poor parishioners. In the traditional religion the faithful provided for the essentials of their priests so his converts had a carry-over attitude and considered it a religious obligation to provide for his daily needs. His converts were generous, they did not have much money but they gave him the produce from their farms. With these, the pious pastor was able to prepare delicious dishes for his aged and destitute friends. John Uchendu, his onetime cook remembers that the only occasion Fr. Tansi came into the kitchen to supervise the cooking was when the food was meant for his destitute and visiting friends. Fr. Tansi remains today a model of pastoral charity to pastors and Christians.
 


                                                                     Sunday, September 12, 2021
                                                               Tansi: the legacy of apostolic vigour.
            The Catholic Church canonizes holy men and women as role models for the living, these are examples of people who heard God’s call to holiness and set themselves to that task in the different areas of their vocation in life. They are mortals like us. We can look at the timeline of their lives and see their obvious weaknesses and struggles and how they overcame them by relying on God, His Sacraments, and His Word. As we study the life of Blessed Tansi, we see his personality, his achievements and his popularity.
            Even with his very flourishing pastoral apostolate in the Archdiocese of Onitsha Fr. Tansi still felt that God was calling him to a life of enclosure. In 1950 he left to become a Cistercian monk of Mt. St. Bernard abbey in England. His leaving a vibrant pastoral apostolate in the Archdiocese of Onitsha looked like both a loss and a disappearance. He was such an active and successful parish priest that the people thought that his opting for a monastery was a pastoral loss to the church in the Archdiocese. When he left he disappeared from his own people who were for 13 years anxiously waiting for his return. When his death in January 1964 was announced in Nigeria many who knew him thought that Mt. St. Bernard has rubbed them a powerful and vibrant spiritual leader, while  some others believed that unless a grain of corn dies in the ground it will yield no fruit. With his death the fame of his sanctity grew and spread especially among the parishes and outstations where he ministered as parish priest. The first initial steps to put him on the road to canonisation was made by Archbishop Francis Arinze (now Cardinal) the then Archbishop of Onitsha. He made contracts with the bishop of Nottingham where Fr. Tansi died and obtained from him an authority and competence to open the cause of Fr.Tansi at Onitsha. On April 22, 1982 he also obtained the support of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria. Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya officially inaugurated the cause in the Arhdiocese of Onitsha on January 20, 1986. Soon after the inauguration of the cause, he also brought back the Remains from Mt.St. Bernard Monastery to be reburied at Onitsha-Nigeria 17th October, 1986.
             The greatest achievement of this holy priest is his great and touching evangelical witness. Greatly linked together to his role in the new evangelization in the Archdiocese of Onitsha is his witness as a Christian, a priest and a religious. It is said that man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses. Fr. Tansi is a great witness among his people. He teaches his parishioners primarily by his personal influence and authentic Christian witness. This is especially evident in the way he live out his life, simply and honestly. He offers the Sacrifice of the Mass with great reverence, respect and awe. His holy example inspires the people to pray and make regular visits to Jesus in the tabernacle. He is so consumed by apostolic zeal that he never abandons his duties despite having often suffered from a conviction of personal inadequacy and unworthiness. He remains faithful to his penitential mortified life; praying, fasting and self-mortification. He also observes with strict fidelity and dedication the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience. By his heroic practice of prayer, humility and patience he is responsible for an untold number of conversions. One of his students at the St. Charles’s Training College Onitsha and later bishop has this to say: “. . . it may be high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high degree of energy, enthusiasm and candour, and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self forgetful. From the point of view of his work in Nigeria his most fruitful period was that of the years as the parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha;”( Bishop A. Nwedo, sermon at mass of re-interment October 17, 1986).
              He lived in an era of missionary and infant primary evangelization. The Igbo man of those days needed God as well as charity. His ministry of charity is intimately linked with the proclamation of the gospel but doing charity is not only giving food and other material needs but giving God. Love of God and the neighbour is a fundamental quality in the life of Fr. Tansi. This takes us to the heart of his life and message which is very much needed today. 


                                                                Sunday, September 5, 2021
                                                       Fr.Tansi Patron of Nigerian Priests (2)
            If we begin to compare the pastoral attention which Fr. Tansi gives his flock to what today the people of God  get from their pastors you will notice that the People of God today are being spiritually starved without knowing. They seem to be getting used to the worldly notions of the priesthood and the over bureaucratic responses they are repeatedly getting from some of their pastors. In Blessed Iwene Tansi as in some priest-saints we see the true vision and understanding of the priesthood. His priestly style and life point to the sublime heights the priest is called to and the lay faithful calling to love their priests deeply as men appointed by Christ to be other Christ in this life. Priests through their sacred office and the indelible mark placed upon their souls at ordination, they are other Christ.
          Fr. Tansi really went to every corner of his parish, untiringly, in order to seek for his flock and to bear fruit that lasts. He was a priest to the last, for he offered his life to God for his flock and for the entire human family through his penitential mortified life of prayer and fasting. He ate very little, slept little, prayed much and spent most of his time on pastoral trek to remote villages and farmlands. And in this way he became one with Christ, the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep. His greatest priority in his ministry is the daily Eucharist and the ministry of confessions-penance. All through his life he expressed the highest esteem for the gift of the priesthood in the celebration of Mass and in hearing confessions. The Sacrifice of the Mass which is the living source from which our reparation derives its efficacy and inspiration is the first and highest function of the day. The gift of the Eucharist was for him worth more than all the rest of life. This daily function was celebrated with a fervour which is apparent even to strangers. “Father Tansi had strong faith in the Holy Eucharist. He celebrated Mass in a way that inspired faith. His Eucharistic Benediction nourished faith. Even the way he genuflected showed his Eucharistic faith. He prayed for long hours in the Chapel by day and by night,    (Francis Cardinal Arinze)
           The Eucharist is Jesus and Jesus is the centre of his life. Similarly, his lofty priestly ideal is made abundantly evident by his desire to see himself as the great High Priest of his people, who should be "a propitiation for the sins of the people." (Hebr. 2. 17). He shows this in his desire and long hours at the confessional. Confession is synonymous with going on trek to the outstation. He gives great importance to the ministry of confession. He makes the sacrament possible and available and stays on it as long as the people needed it. He distinguishes himself as an excellent, tireless confessor and spiritual director. Passing with a single inner impulse from the altar to the confessional, where he spends a large part of the day as long as the penitents are there. He does his utmost with preaching and persuasive advice to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of the sacrament of Penance, presenting it as an inherent demand of the Eucharistic presence and participation.Other area his pastoral ministry received great attention and where he had his greatest option is the ministry to the hungry, thirsty, homeless, afflicted, imprisoned and the poor in general. He serves Jesus in the needy around him. Jesus sums up the commandments as loving God above all else and loving our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus identifies himself with all those around the world who are underprivileged and do not have sufficient source of livelihood. “Whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.” Christians from the very beginning have praised those who care for the underprivileged. Fr. Tansi sees this mission as indispensable for the Church, for his suffering people and for the world, a mission which calls him for complete fidelity to Christ and constant union with him. His life belongs to Christ alone who is his joy, and through his deep intimacy with him, his heart is expanded to love the multitude of souls entrusted to him. He focuses on the salvation of souls and to be a loving spiritual father to those souls. He is no longer his own and not ordained for himself.


                                                                    Sunday, August 29, 2021
                                                          Fr. Tansi: Patron of Nigerian Priests
               It was on the 3rd day of June in the year 2010 at the National Eucharistic celebration to mark the end of the ‘Year for Priests [June 19th. 2009 – June 18th. 2010] that the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria declared the Blessed Iwene Tansi the Parton of Nigerian Priests. The same Conference had earlier sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982 after considering the life of Rev. Fr. Iwene Tansi gave approval for the promotion of his cause as it will bring good results to Nigeria especially in the area of priestly spirituality.
            The universal call for holiness alone would be insufficient to explain Fr. Tansi consistent pursuit for holiness. Although each age has its own spiritual condition, Fr. Tansi’s age helped to condition his spiritual ambition. It was an age when racism was inherent in the colonial political system, when the hitherto quiet and static Igbo traditional society was invaded by the ferocious western influence, when the traditional belief and customs remained unquestionable and when Christianity was threading its way into the unique static life system. There were certainly some obvious difficulties to be encountered. One thing certain Fr. Tansi lived with the utmost simplicity. But as a growing youth many things remained for a long time a great puzzle; the evil ambition and influence of colonization with the accompanying racists’ assumptions, desecrating of the happiness of the native society with spoliation and savage appetites of greed made manifest in slavery. The second was the inherent injustices inbuilt in the traditional customs and practiced against its own people, the ‘Osu’ and Oru’ system were more prominent, and the third was the amount of suffering, hunger and disease prevalent in his society. He must have found the solution to these problems the gospel way and so he lived it out in practical terms. These and many others were the problems that disturbed this young man in the village and could explain his gospel way of life.
            He excised his priestly ministry during the colonial administration and when most priests were foreign missionaries. Like other priest-saints, he demonstrated that a priest’s fruitfulness is directly tied to how much he is willing to die with Christ for the salvation of souls. From his day one as a priest he was willing to give everything to God for the salvation of souls. In his lifestyle he sacrificed the comforts of the world, honor, and praise so as to be able to lead his spiritual children to the heights of holiness. His kind of priestly life was not a functionary one as this will be spiritually impotent in the condition of his parishioners who might quickly lose sight of his high calling and saw him as seeking the security and comforts of this life above their salvation. His pastoral approach was different. The years of his pastoral ministry at Dunukofia, Akpu and Aguleri the story was the same. He was concerned and dedicated to the salvation of his spiritual children’s souls above everything else. His concern was Christ and the promises of eternal life. Like a soldier, he defended his flock at all times fighting spiritual battles on their behalf through fasting, penitential life and prayer. He forsook the comforts of this world for the sanctification of his apostolate and his flock. He gave priority to the celebration of the Sacrament of Penance, the celebration of Mass and the opening up of centres for worship and school. His ministry took him to remote villages and farm lands where the only way to reach them was by narrow bush tracks frequently used by farmers, wine tappers and hunters. Fr. Tansi really went to every corner of his parish, untiringly in order to seek for his flock and to bear fruit that lasts. He was a priest to the last, for he offered his life to God for his flock and for the entire human family in a daily self-oblation for the service of the Church. And in this way he became one with Christ, the Good Shepherd who loves his sheep.


                                                           Sunday, August 22, 2021


                                                Blessed Tansi: Prophet of the Future.

              We all know the Blessed Iwene Tansi, a humble Nigerian priest who lived in Nigeria's colonial era. The church recognized the humble way he lived out his life and priestly ministry by beatifying him before his numerous countrymen and women in 1998 at Oba in the Archdiocese of Onitsha-Nigeria. He is a model of hope for many Nigerians who are today passing through many difficult social, economic, and political problems. Very certainly, many of us are going through circumstances that we don’t understand. Even though we know and understand that all things work together for our good yet the reality on the ground can lead to despair. Many like the biblical Job are being tested and tried on all sides, illness, grief, pain, suffering, hunger, spiritual and physical attacks on their lives. The life and teaching of Blessed Tansi can encourage and give us hope for the future that God causes everything to work together for your good.

         In his times and life Blessed Tansi cried with those who have been abused; consoled those who grieved; prayed with those who were homeless and helpless; sheltered those who were physically and spiritually lost. He was a powerful voice for those who have no voice. In him, we experience one priest whose priesthood was unconventional, creative, energizing, unpredictable, and exciting. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in Nigeria that he loved so much... Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families”. (St. JP 11, Nigeria 1998)

             He lived with hope as he faced the problems of the time and this is precisely where one of his greatest challenges of our time lies. He was a man of the divine word and of the sacred, a man of joy and hope. To people who could no longer conceive that God is pure Love, he would always affirm that life is worth living and that Christ gave it its full meaning because he loved human beings. He loved them all. The religion he advocated is a religion of joy, not a morbid quest for mortification as had sometimes been believed.  What gave him joy was the great number of Masses he had celebrated or will celebrate, making Christ really present on the altar each time. The innumerable absolutions he had given and would give enabling sinners to be forgiven and return to God with hope. As a man of the future, he took seriously Paul's words: "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above" (Col 3: 1). His priestly ministry was always a living witness of hope and the power of God at work in human weakness. His family apostolate was not only future/hope oriented but laid solid foundations for future Christian families.

             We too, no matter our condition and status can put a smile on somebody’s face and bring him hope and life. You can be the only bible/Jesus some other person can and is waiting to read. You can become the Good Samaritan to someone in trouble/abandoned. You can bring hope to others by the good example of your life. God is the One in whom we live and move and have our being.




                                                                     Sunday, August 15, 2021
                                                                 Fr. Tansi is Relevant today.
               Every one of us is born with a gift to share, a burden to carry, and a job to do. Today messes and chaos are common place in most households and communities. It is true that God did not create chaos; chaos comes from the enemy. We know this, because in the Old Testament, God spoke in the still, small voice – not in the thunderous noises, atop a high mountain, or through the gusty gales. Still, because He is a God of mercy, He enters into our calamities. He is present with and through every tribulation and every moment we feel our brains are hijacked by the chaos in our everyday life. Sometimes we cannot find joy. But we can create it. We remember many Nigerians who by their life and legacy have brought joy, peace and reconciliation to their fellow Nigerians. Such people lived like true prophets among us. One of such men whom we are promoting the cause of his canonisation is Blessed Iwene Tansi, born January 3, 1903, ordained priest January 19, 1937 died January 20 1964 and beatified on 22nd March 1998. Like a true prophet he was consumed in serving the Lord and his people alone and no other gods or interests in the world. He was amazing and incredibly courageous. Like many saints, he was misunderstood by those around him. He had much to overcome when he was growing up and during his pastoral ministry. The young saint struggled in school, but was able to persevere through his formation after starts and stops due to the events of his day.
            Today he is the patron saint of Nigerian priests. If ever there is a priest-saint for our times, it is Blessed Iwene Tansi. A man who understood to his very depths the calling placed upon him at his ordination. He lived the sacred character of his office fully and he loved deeply with the heart of a spiritual father. Like the Good Shepherd, whose heart is moved with pity at the flock without a shepherd. Blessed Iwene Tansi sought to give his life as a sacrifice for the salvation of souls. He wanted to lead all souls to God. The catholic church today in Nigeria needs badly a Saint like him when the beauty, sacred character, and the high calling of the priesthood is being marred by scandal and poor spiritual formation. We look up to his pastoral example at a time when priests look like functionaries, administrators, fundraisers, social justice warriors, and bureaucrats. In the present day Nigeria when people seem to lose hope in the Government of the day their salvation could come from priests who choose Christ and the love of souls over and above everything else. Men who seek to love with the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus regardless of what others think, including their brother priests.
              In the years of his pastoral ministry at Dunukofia, Akpu and Aguleri the story is the same. He was concerned and dedicated to the salvation of his spiritual children’s souls above everything else. He was not concerned with honour, praise, acceptance, or worldly lures. His concern was Christ and the promises of eternal life. Like a soldier, he defended his flock at all times fighting spiritual battles on their behalf. He fasted, prayed and lived largely on poor and merger diet. He forsook the comforts of this world for the sanctification of his apostolate and his flock. Part of the reason I think the people of God are looking for prayers houses today is because they are starved for spiritual fathers. They need spiritual attention which they sometimes do not find in their pastors. In many ways, the faithful do not even realize they are being spiritually starved because we are so used to worldly notions of the priesthood. Now is the time to recapture a true vision and understanding of the priesthood as we earnestly promote the cause of canonisation of Blessed Iwene Tansi.


​                                                               Sunday, August 8, 2021
                                                  TANSI JOURNEY TO SAINTHOOD.
              Faithful Christians in Nigeria have continued to ask: “when will Blessed Tansi be canonized and why the delay? The postulation does not have the answers except that the only thing needed to reach the fullest of the altar - is Sainthood is one miracle accepted by the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints. When, how and from where this miracle will come the Postulation just don’t know. None of us can work this miracle except God. Jesus himself “accompanies his words with many "mighty works and wonders and signs", which manifest that the kingdom is present in him and attest that he was the promised Messiah. The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith, he grants what they ask. So miracles strengthen faith in the One who does his Father's works; they bear witness that he is the Son of God.” (CCC # 547-550)
              As God’s children we can all ask Him to do a miracle for us through the intercession of Blessed Tansi. And indeed we all have a duty to ask him to do it for us. I believe that if we do he will. The Catholic Church has always proclaimed her belief in the existence of many different kinds of miracles. Our tradition and history are replete with examples of miracles. All miracles are due to the Risen Lord's continued ministry of mercy in our midst. His redemptive work continues through the ministry of the Church which is His Body. All miracles are still signs of the Kingdom of God. The Blessed Iwene Tansi has already on 22nd of March been beatified by St. JP.11 in Nigeria. This was an official recognition of the humble way he lived out his life and vocation.
             Today the primary purpose praying for his canonization is to have the church officially authorize his veneration and intercession world-wide. The investigation process prior to his canonization seeks primarily to ensure that he lived an extraordinary life through the ordinary events of his life as professional teacher, priest and religious, that he is in heaven and that God is working through his intercession bringing favours and granting petitions to the people of God. When he will be canonised his cult shall be celebrated world-wide and in addition:


His name is added to the church’s catalogue of saints.
He is invoked in public prayers world-wide.
Churches may be dedicated in his memory.
Mass can be offered in his honour and his feast days are celebrated his memory.
His relics are enclosed in vessels and publicly honoure


               Some of these prerogatives he already enjoy in Nigeria as a National Saint when he was beatified in 1998. When he will be canonised they will be extended to the universal church. This is what we are praying for. All it requires is a miracle through his intercession and approved by the Holy See. Miracles provide the strongest reason many faithful have for their faith. The process for determining a miracle cannot proceed without the testimony of physicians who might or might not believe in miracles but must fill two absolutely essential roles.


to declare the prognosis hopeless even with the best of the art, that is - a public admission of medical failure.
 to recognise a miracle which is to express surprise at the outcome without giving medicine any credit for the cure.


              Blessed Tansi is now on this final trial stage in the Vatican where he is being tried for a miraculous healing attributed to his intercession. Join us in prayers for the Cause as we celebrate the mysteries of our faith which bring about miracles. The universal church provides an avenue for us to ask for this miracle- through the celebration of Tansi cult - mass, office, approved local prayers and veneration.    ​





                                                                   Sunday, August 1, 2021


                                                        Nigeria: Democracy or Conspiracy
               Sadly, one of the tendencies we have as humans is to take something which is good and taint it. Sometimes we abuse a good thing in itself as we employ it for some evil ends. The good thing is entirely destroyed as it is certainly reduced to the benefit of a smaller group, just as evil corrupts the good by destroying it. Democracy as a system of government and as we know it is good and perfect but can be abused by a group and changed in such a way as to benefit only a few individuals. A political group can manipulate democracy for its own purpose in exclusion of the entire community. When this happens they become political conspirators with conspiracy theory for their own purpose. A conspiracy theory is an accusatory perception in which a small group of powerful people are working in secret for their own benefit against the common good and in a way that undermines the bedrock ground rules against the widespread use of force and fraud. Political parties could degenerate into political conspirators.
              In our traditional setup we know there had been bad chiefs and rulers who used their privileged positions for their own purpose. In the days of Blessed Iwene Tansi these undoubtedly received his intransigent attention and condemnation. Masquerades were pursued, their secret revealed, an offence that attracted severe punishment or banishment; men that molested widows by insistent love advances were denounced publicly, religious feasts that end up at night with dances and procession by boys and girls were condemned, the system by which masquerades were used to hand down judgments was condemned and their verdicts rejected and resisted, traditional burial rites and rites of widowhood came under very severe attack. He was a spokes man for public conduct and morality. The Parish priest was not afraid to denounce even rich men if their ways were evil. On several occasions during his ministry at Aguleri his parishioners rose up and challenged his apostolate which they said did not have any sympathy for their customs. He stood out against the whole of the parish council at Aguleri on what he considered to be a matter of principle for the common good. If the Blessed Tansi were here today he would stand up against some of our political parties for their manipulation of democracy.
             To some extent what has been happening in Nigeria recently can be seen as a conspiracy of a small, powerful and elite force of political parties against the common good. They certainly wish to retain their standing regardless of whether their actions benefit the citizens or not. They have determined wrongly that what is good for them as those in power is in the best interest of the people of Nigeria. Simply themselves, this small powerful force abused their authority against the good of the nation.  Nigerians love democracy but the political party conspiracy must be rejected. The past is not being destroyed, history is not lost when conspiracy is removed, rather, the past becomes free and we are once again able to learn from it. We can and should be able to both recognize and respect the good of the past, the holiness of democracy without accepting any ideological conspiracy which turns the good into some evil. We must remember the greater good, knowing that its promotion is the promotion of God and God’s will.


                                                                   Sunday, July 25, 2021
                                                                    The sins of a Nation        
          You do not have to be perfect to be a blessed Christian. We cannot earn the grace and blessings of God—they are gifts. Last week we considered Nigeria as the biblical Prodigal Son - a particularly ungrateful and foolish young man, who in essence wanted his father dead but since his father could not die. He requested for his share of the inheritance which he squandered with high living and whores.  There is nothing so remarkable about this fellow. His name is ours and our Nation. So is the land he went to. Strange, to call it a far country, when it seems as if it were next door, because all you have to do is turn your head where you are, and you will see many Nigerians doing exactly what the young son was doing. Actually, you do not have to turn your head at all. All you need is to look into your own heart. That far country is, like God’s abundant blessings Nigeria has been blessed with but what do we Nigerians do in practice – you notice a realm of corruption, licentiousness, ingratitude, impiety, cruelty, and slavery. Every one of us has been there, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. So many sins have been committed in this country that has been so much blessed. And many loyal sons and daughters of this land who understand have shade tears at the fate of this Nation.
            What the great fathers of this land did bequeath to us - great political and moral wealth, quite aside from a heritage of deep spirituality, art, music, and brotherly love; we have mostly squandered it or left it to rot. The funny thing about drunken license is that even when you are in the middle of it, you are not genuinely enjoying yourself. Who is really happy with our situation? There may be shrieks of laughter here and there, as from madmen, or grinning, like skulls, but gentle smiles, no, none of them, nor self-forgetful and innocent mirth. Somewhere deep within we know that it is all a sham. It is a sad and sullen land. I can see it in the youth, who view the older folks as largely selfish and not to be trusted—nor are they entirely wrong about that. How can such a nation survive - where the Government is clueless, the politicians shameless, civil servants’ attitude to work carless and the masses helpless and heartless. Imagine a nation where more than half of the graduated and qualified working population are unemployed.  I am not surprised, what do you expect when the passion for education among the young is dead, and the passion to become an overnight billionaire is what is driving this generation. When teenagers, the future hope and leaders , who are supposed to dedicate all their time in studies learning morals are busy on social media looking for either a date, how to defraud others or to get many questionable followers on social media or are making suicidal attempts for green pastures abroad. What do you expect when unfortunately and shamefully the parental institution that represents the first agents of socialization and learning has failed. What do you expect from a society that celebrates money and material things more than integrity and excellence thinking it is brave, it is free, it is authentic, it is something or other to forget the emptiness gnawing away within. Even though a bad omen looms ahead, correction starts from each one of us.​


​                                                                    July 18, 2021

                                                           Nigeria: A Prodigal Son
                 Life can get tedious and life in the present day Nigeria can get even more tedious. The world ordinarily is not as the world should be, broken by sin, and so can be hard to understand. Nigeria not only shares the fate of the world but in addition faced with great inhumanity can be another hell for many Nigerians. In fact, there are, most probably these problems created by Nigerians that they will never solve to their own satisfaction. They are simply lost and confused like the biblical Prodigal Son. The answers may be beyond the capacity of their intellect but heaven will help because “Father Tansi knew that there is something of the Prodigal Son in every human being. He knew that all men and women are tempted to separate themselves from God in order to lead their own independent and selfish existence. He knew that they are then disappointed by the emptiness of the illusion which had fascinated them, and that they eventually find in the depths of their heart the road leading back to the Father's house” (Sermon beatification Nigeria March1998) Fr. Tansi accepted a reasonable uncertainty in his life but just lived by faith and action while his faith sought understanding continuously as he did not have the option of not thinking and of doing the best reasoning possible.
             In our longing for the return of this Prodigal Nigeria justice is important. Nigerians must desire it, yearn it so much and hunger for it. And just as we cannot live without food, so we find we cannot properly live and be satisfied without justice. So long as we hunger for it, so long as we thirst for it, we should find ourselves working for it. We will do what needs to be done to attain it. Once we begin our pursuit for justice, we will find that there is no end to our search for it. Our quest for it must goes on forever. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice.” It does not suffice for us to want justice. We will find ourselves constantly reforming ourselves so as to conform to its dictates. But will not stop there. We will work to transform unjust and unfair structures, so that the country itself can become more and more just. This means, we must heal at all levels the damage done by injustice. If we do not, we will find ourselves promoting injustice through our neglect.
              Nigerians at all levels need hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism. Goodness does not come on grand stages with fanfare and media coverage. Rather, the best people are those who live lives of excellence and virtue with conviction, seeking no reward or notoriety. But how is such conviction cultivated? Blessed Iwene Tansi and successful people sought to be a blessing to others regardless of their faith and ethnic background. It is not our task to conquer and rule at all cost. It is our task to be a blessing to Nigeria. The use of intimidation and force for political ends is not righteousness but idolatry. To invoke God to justify violence against the innocent is not an act of sanctity but of sacrilege. It is time for Nigerians to seek common sources of moral conviction, shared simply by being human. Having for so long felt the pain of injustice and dishonesty in this country every Nigerian should have a fellow-feeling with other Nigerians, who suffer the same pain. This is not a call to debate, legislation, philosophical hair-splitting, or theological distinctions. It is a simple call to action. We are called to do more than talk.
              “Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi is a prime example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and Nigerian. So too the Nigerians of today — young and old alike — are called to reap the spiritual fruits which have been planted among them and are now ready for the harvest”.( Saint JP 11. Sermon beatification Nigeria March 1998)


                                                                      July 4, 2021               
                                             God wants to speak to you – Nigeria.
            Let us not forget the Blessed Iwene Tansi’s powerful call to Nigerians. The Holy Father, Saint JP 11 reminded us of this truth when he said: “Today, one of Nigeria's own sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another…This is the task which lies before the Church in this land of Nigeria, on this continent of Africa…” (Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998)
                     God speaks to us on a daily basis, so why do we have such a hard time hearing Him. Do you understand the words that you sometimes read and hear?  Communication is difficult in any relationship, especially when there is a language barrier or a problem with transmission. How many Nigerians of different ethnic groups or political associations can boldly say they understand this call for dialogue and reconciliation?  Can you hear me! is always a funny joke while the devil at work knows what he is doing, lives and properties lost, masses suffer in the land of their birth and in the midst of plenty.  Nigeria has the powerful strength to capture Mazi Nnamdi Kalu in a foreign land but does not have the strength to capture Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen in Nigerians own soil – that logic does not fit in. Something is wrong somewhere. Everyone I know today expresses this frustration. We want to hear from God, but we cannot hear His voice. We want to obey His every command, but we cannot hear His instructions. Material considerations, selfishness and avarice harden our hearts. Of course there are some things we can do to save the situation.
               Avoid violence at all cost; it is a devil’s tool. Take the word of God which is alive and active. Sharper than any double edged sword.  (Heb. 4:12) Learn from the advice and lifestyle of our great men and women who have gone before us. Reconciliation is a task which lies before Nigerian men and women of every ethnic group. This is an advice from a foreigner, head of the world’s greatest religion and an extraordinarily intelligent and prophetic holy man.  Reconciliation: “This is the task which lies before the Church in this land of Nigeria, on this continent of Africa…”
              The Blessed Tansi set aside a secret place to meet with God. His favourite spot was before the Lord in the tabernacle where the Lord filled his brain, body, and spirit with love for his neighbour. Here he focused his mind on God thoughts. Even today God generally speaks to our minds through thoughts, His usual method of communication. Yes, He can speak in an audible voice, send a human angel or write on a wall. But He usually speaks to your negative self-talk directing your mind to think creative, healthy, and divine thoughts. It is not too hard to hear the voice of God in your mind. It is just a matter of discerning His thoughts, the enemy’s lies, society’s errors, and our own selfishness and pride. I have met with many who tell me that many present day Nigerians have no integrity. If you are holding a public office and you can no longer perform, save millions of your country men and women from unnecessary suffering and resign – that is integrity.
              Do you realise that you are irreplaceable Nigerian with an irreplaceable function and duty to Nigerian. In our day-to-day lives as Nigerians with integrity we are to look up to our spiritual mentors like the Blessed Tansi, and they are to be positive influences for all our earthly matters. Like them the bottom line is this: all Nigerians should strive to be men and women of integrity for our community, for our families, for our sons and daughters, and for all children. We need to stand into the breach where Nigeria has intentionally broken down and attempts to destroy itself through greed and proud arrogance. This is the devil’s storm trying to destroy Christianity.  If he then succeeds he can destroy the lives of millions of families, millions of women, millions of children, and millions of sons and daughters who look up to see good leaders but see no one stepping into those roles and thus they fall into despair or grief.


                                                                           June 27,2021


                                            You Are God’s Answer to Nigeria’s Problems
             God has a master plan to change Nigeria, and we each have a place in it. All we need to do is live the basic vocation of every Christian: Love Jesus Christ as God and love our neighbour as Jesus Christ. “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”  Many who have lived in this land before us lived out the command of the Lord and were both happy and at peace in this land. They are both an inspiration and testimony. “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone inNigeria… Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself…” ( PP. JP 11 Sermon beatification Nigeria 1998).  We recall that even as a young man Tansi had a tremendous and unwavering faith, tenacity of purpose and rugged physical strength to fight evils. He was but one man, and sometimes his efforts must have seemed pitifully futile in the gigantic morass of trouble and despair that was the moral and social condition of the time. He never gave up. Now looking at the huge success which he achieved one might think that he got all on a plate of gold. Not one of the reforms introduced by him was accomplished with ease, and having been introduced not one would have survived a month without his aggressive pursuit. It was his life, God’s call for him, an invitation to do a service for God. The cost to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. He found peace for himself and his brothers through darkness and suffering. His life helps us to see and to appreciate what is important at the core of our being and also helps us to renew our awareness of the things that really matter in our national lives. His life is important to us because it is an exemplary life of faith, of service and perseverance. To his spiritual son he said: “ You have divine mission, appointed to go and bear much fruit… to be God’s messenger, a messenger of peace, a messenger of love, a priest of God, another Christ, showing to all you meet that God is love, is worthy of your love…” (Bishop G. Okoye Mt. St. Bernard 1961).
                Nigeria is a land of possible gods and goddesses, a society of possible riches and poverties. All day long Nigerians are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. There is no exemption to this rule whether you like it or not.  But let us stop deceiving ourselves, we are adults. In Nigeria today we are all architects of our national economic and social woes. We don’t have to blame anybody. Let stop the game of blame. Any change begins with you. Our attitude and unpatriotic behaviours should stop. Politicians sing the song of the people yet they have no intention to right the wrong in the community affecting the people. Sometimes we take others as ordinary people. No, it is not that way. Nobody is ordinary. Our next door neighbour is the holiest object presented to your senses. The dullest and most uninteresting person you disregard today may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship. In our multi-ethnic differences, we live surrounded by icons of Christ, waiting for you to serve whoever you call your God through them.
              Nobody is small. God is counting on your response. No matter whom you are, God needs you in his plan to reach others. God has committed some work to you which he has not committed to another. Each person has his mission. The more you love, even in a small way, the brighter Nigeria becomes. Your smallest service will have enormous results. Our small words and gestures can bring great change. We each know from personal experience that hurtful words or actions can wound for a lifetime — it is all the more true that loving words and actions can change lives. Our times, dark and marked by evil, can change if we first bring the light of the Gospel, especially through our lives. If we change, Nigeria will change. Neglecting important things now will lead to disastrous things tomorrow.      


                                                            Sunday, June 20, 2021 
                                                   Tansi Saintly solution to Nigerian Crises.
                In all civilized groups peaceful, negotiated dialogue and looking for what unites give solution to political and social crisis. Violence, power minded arrogance, use of military might or repression has nothing good to offer.  Where ever there are situations of existing inequalities, abuse of office or intimidation of the weak and poor there is always an absence of peace. The marginalization of any group ethnic, religious or political party is a threat to democracy. It is inhuman and below the integrity of any real human to talk of peace which he or she does not want to work for.  The kind of peace we want must begin with us. The Nigeria we want must begin from all of us no matter who you are and where you are. Until we realise that the value of Nigeria today is the average of our own individual values, we will keep on killing, making mockery and fooling ourselves. You and I are our Nigerian problems. Be the change you want to see in Ngeria.
                I know of  one man, a patriotic Nigerian, whom the whole Catholic world recognised the humble way he lived out his simple life reconciling his brothers in the most difficult times of the British Colonial era, the Blessed Tansi. “Today, one of Nigeria's own sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another”. (PP. Saint JP.11. Sermon Beatification Nigeria 1998). Tansi has the peace of Nigeria at heart while ministering as a priest and much more now as Nigerian national heavenly advocate.  He used peaceful, negotiated solution, without giving up his principles to find solutions to the pastoral crises of his time. Such solutions helped to avoid the violence or repression which is often used around the world particularly in colonial administration and in situations of existing inequalities.
                Years of his pastoral activities in Nigeria have been like rain in the midst of the hot social and religious situations that the country was going through at the time. He lived in a positivist Nigeria, which did not prevent him from expressing his faith, but not in a polemical way. He was very friendly and had a very good relationship with those who thought differently from him. And in the Nigerian current situation, this is very important. He was also an open believer. He is a testimony, a model, so necessary in today’s Nigeria. I have been discovering many different facets of a multifaceted life of this pious priest who on the one hand was normal, close to the people, very demanding but much loved and admired by all.
              Without having had any publicity campaign, his testimony spread like wildfire throughout Nigeria and beyond. I am struck by the requests for his relics from all over the world. Nigeria has a treasure in the lifestyle of this holy man but does not want to use it. Nigeria! Stop killing one another and come to meaningful, loving and positive dialogue. The poor masses that voted the politicians to power are being killed every day in thousands and politicians are busy protecting the political interests and affiliations. The interest of Nigeria is bigger than any political party, ethnic or religiousgroup. 


                                                                         June 13, 2021
                                                    Walk with the Saints and become Saint
             The choice of our associations will determine our destinations. Even someone with great character, self-esteem and religiously inclined can be led astray by bad associations. “Do not be misled…bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinth. 15:33). There is a great wisdom in the importance of choosing the right partners in business, marriage, vocation and friendship. The old saying: “Show me your friends and I will show you your destination” 
            In Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi we meet one who came from being a devout pagan village boy to a Catholic Christian, to a great professional teacher, to a Catholic  priest, to a Cistercian monk, to the honours of the alter and perhaps God willing soon to the fullness of the honours of the alter. Many of his devotees world-over are now praying that he gets a fair judgment at his trial for sainthood in the Vatican. Providence in his early childhood put him in the hands of a devout and disciplined teacher/cousin. His early search for the truth and God drew him increasingly towards the missionaries, but there were many hurdles on his way. He passed through several stages on his journey, each rooted in his humble acceptance of the will of God and truth. His journey of faith was characterized fundamentally by openness to truth, conversion and missionary approach.  He will ever be remembered as one of the faithful servants of the church in our days who lived out the call and mind of the church in his life. He fulfilled the command of the gospel: “…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)
             His lifestyle is a yard stick for all Nigerians if we are serious to get out of our present national and individual problems. Come near to him ask questions that will help you to know him better. Pray to and through his intercession. Prayer will help you find a safe place with him and with God. You may be hidden from the world, swallowed in our national personal problems but God knows you and what you may be going through. “...your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3).
            For those things that are legitimate, good, and approved by God, Blessed Tansi encourages and wants his devotees to have access to them. In fact, the desire will is God to be your first source of blessings. Often, we think that happiness is outside of us and depends on circumstances. Our friendship with Bl. Tansi will teach us that God is the only true giver of happiness.
            I know many of you have gone through many painful ordeals which really hurt. I remember King David once taught Solomon a great lesson: “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers.” (Psalms 1:1)  I personally want to be blessed, and I am sure you do, too. So let us take a moment and ask God to help us choose the company of Blessed Tansi. Ask God to help you discern the great profit in his lifestyle and to enter into a covenant with him.  Begin today by getting more information through the: Postulation, Cause of Blessed Tansi Basilica Onitsha, (postulationtansi@yahoo.com). You will be glad you did. Choose wisely because you are a miracle.
                                                                                                        June 6, 2021


                                              Saintly Solution to Nigeria’s problems

             The blessed Iwene Tansi (1903 – 1964) was a leading figure in the early Catholic Evangelisation in Nigeria, possessed brilliant understanding of the Igbo culture/religion and practical abilities to conversion and enculturation. His pastoral approach in the Archdiocese of Onitsha (1937 – 1950), are considered by many the best pastoral approach to Catholic Evangelisation in Nigeria, and had a profound influence on the religious life not only of Christians but of the whole community. “ … it may be high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering”. (Bp. A. Nwaedo, Sermon – reburial mass of Iwene Tansi, Basilica Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, October 17, 1986)

                Blessed Iwene Tansi as we know was the first Nigerian Trappist Monk (June 1950 – January 20, 1964) who lived the Monastic life with great zeal, faith, humility and absolute tenacity in his love for God and humanity. His beatification by John Paul 11 on March 22, 1998 is a gift from God to Nigeria, a country that is in need of the wisdom contained in his lifestyle. The trials that Nigerian face today are different from those that confronted Blessed Tansi. Nonetheless, his life approach and sermons have much to say about how to respond to abuses of trust and power, to the pressures of life within a secular Nigeria. It is hard to describe the power that his words have to move the heart and the mind if only Nigerians will listen.

                 Twenty three years after his beatification the church is earnestly praying for his canonisation which will come after a successful recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. We know that one of the most common type of miracles considered by the Vatican is a sudden healing of someone.  The cure to be considered miraculous, the disease must be serious and impossible to cure by human means. The healing must be spontaneous, complete and permanent. One such miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Tansi has been recorded. The Church to recognize a miracle, a thorough process must first take place. The first diocesan process has been successfully concluded in the Archdiocese of Onitsha and the second and last process is now taking place in the Vatican. We all need to pray hard for a positive judgment of the church on this matter. The medical experts involved in the investigation are humans and therefore there could be human errors. This is the reason for prayer.

            The present problem of Nigeria is rooted in love. There is an absence of love in our social, political and religious life. Blessed Tansi knows love, and shares that love to his people. He knows far more of the truth by experience than what can be learned through study, which is why his wisdom exceeds the wisdom of the scholars and politicians. We all want our lives to matter — to have some sort of lasting significance. But this can prove elusive, even for those who have the best of intentions. Trusting God means believing in His care for us and loving others even when evil seems to be gaining the upper hand — a point understood and rooted in Blessed Tansi lifestyle.


                                                                  Sunday 2, May 2021.
                                                               Called to Labor of Love

              When we think of the life and times of Blessed Tansi one thing stands clear to us that is his whole life was a labor of love.  His entire life was lived in service to God - as a school teacher, headmaster, catechist, priest and monk.  In all these and at every stage he remained a faithful servant - caring for the poor, needy and the voiceless in the service of the church and God. He had one single ambition- that the will of God to save all mankind may come through. As he answered God’s call both as a professional and as church minister the story is the same – that they may know him and his plan for their salvation. This one thing dominated and influenced his life style. His prerogatives showed his characteristics most clearly. He is a doer that laid down his life for others. When he would have enjoyed the then very lucrative teaching profession he opted for the seminary. When he was popular and very successful parish priest he opted for the monastery because his bishop wanted the monastic apostolate for the diocese and because he felt God was calling him to a life where he could give up all and think alone of God – foe him a higher calling to bring God’s salvation to all. He did not ask questions of God’s plan; he did not waste time or got caught up in himself. He did not count the cost of what the monastery adventure could mean to him – going from master to servant, from authority to the last in the community where for sometime he was not even allowed to perform some of his priestly functions. He did not give in to any fear or temptation to doubt.
                Each of us has to do the work God lays before our path.  What is your guiding principle as you go about your business?  Is it love, wealth or power? To begin with are you satisfied with your income, savings, and resources, or are you living hand to mouth specially now most people are just scraping by. What is guiding and influencing your life style? What solutions do you have to get things going well in your life? I think we all should ask ourselves the right questions and tell ourselves the real and right truth about our life. Why are things going wrong in our lives? The answer must come from within and must do with what are our priorities in life. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Cor. 9:6) Service of God in our neighbour must come first. Common good must supersede private interest. Every bit of our future good harvest is tied to how we sow and reap and what we do to others. You cannot embezzle public fund or with hold funds meant for the masses and expect to have a good conscience. The experience of Covid pandemic has taught me one thing for sure that it is time to take a step of faith and consistently seed our time, talents, and resources for the Kingdom of heaven. Blessed Tansi lifestyle can help each and every one of us.



                                                               Sunday 25, April 2021.
                                                          God gives grace to the humble          
               We all need one more favour or the other in our lives. The Easter season, which lasts from Easter itself until the feast of Pentecost is the most appropriate time of the liturgical year to receive more favours from God. The Church, in her wisdom, has more for us during this season.  More joy, more feasting, more life. Jesus spent forty days after his resurrection with his disciples teaching, strengthening and comforting them for the days ahead. During this period he helped them to understand what had just happened and what would happen next. They needed this time with the risen Lord to deepen their faith, and I think we do too. When we spend time learning more about the events that took place after the Resurrection, our faith will mature with the same new understanding that the disciples experienced.
               In the case of the disciples fear of the unknown was their most immediate problem – what would happen to them now that their Master is gone. Some of us live in great fear of our future – the unknown. Some are in need more forgiveness while others struggle with guilt and shame. These and perhaps more are truly very legitimate concern for many. The Covid pandemic has unfortunately added to the list. Many have no job while those who have lost them and others have lost their business and are hungry. These are enough reasons for concern. There is no aspect of the disciples’ daily life that did not get the attention of the risen Lord. We can access more favour than ever before during this Easter season. Each day is new and glorious, for each day opens up to us the whole new concepts to try again and explorations to make. Each moment, the risen Lord hides his Presence so that we may seek and find Him. Each cross hides His shadow that we may take up that cross with purer love. The church assures us of more grace as we live every day the life of Easter – believe, repent, and get converted/renewal in your life. Grace comes in the form of forgiveness and cleansing of sins and mistakes. Grace positions you as a child of God. God is not angry or neutral towards you. He loves you as a son or daughter. His grace will unleash more and more favour upon you and through you to others.
                 The period of Easter to the birth of the Church – Pentecost is a time of fresh starts and is the perfect time to enter into ourselves and begin to live the truth of our faith. As you live the Easter Season and as you begin to think about how the hidden and risen Lord is present in your own family, in your business and in the challenges of your life you encounter him as the disciples did. Let prayer and the Risen Christ be your inspiration as you encounter him in the Broken Bread of the Eucharist. May this Easter season be a blessing to you and your family as you celebrate the resurrection of the Lord.





                                                             Sunday 18, April 2021.

                                               Make yourdaysofEasterFullofHopeMake

                I have always told devotees of Blessed Iwene Tansi to make their devotion full of hope. In the same way you can make your Easter period and the rest of your life full of hope. Remember that Easter is the most important liturgical time for us Catholics because it celebrates Jesus' victory over sin and death for the salvation for mankind. This is also God's greatest act of love - to redeem mankind. Think of the cripple at the temple entrance, he never imagined his problems will ever be over and that he could ever walk again and earn his living. It was the power of the resurrection that fixed his life problems. The Resurrection shows us that God is up to something greater in our lives. Like the disciples of Jesus there is more to come than the fear, drudgery and pain of our present days. The closed doors in your life will begin to open when you know this victory, believe it and live it. Christ has brought the world victory. Even with what is going on in Nigeria today as we experience almost an eclipse of any sense of morality even and of human life itself. Sanctity and inherent dignity of human life in this country is a mockery to many. In the midst of this confusion there is still hope because Christ is risen from the dead. [Col’. 3:1]


                 But how can this hope come in practice in the midst of all these security, social, political and economic challenges? Simply by living your faith every day the resurrection miracle will come. Each and every one of us doing right what he/she supposed to do. Then the divine assistance will come. The power of the resurrection will take control. Light will overcome darkness. Come out of your darkness then you may experience the light. When we are daily astonished and amazed by God’s love shown to us on the cross then we shall be sure of God’s forgiveness and the possibility of a new beginning. 

                When I think of the human and life risks which the Blessed Iwene Tansi took in his days to make a single convert and to establish a new mission I can’t but be moved to action. His efforts to be a holy priest and effective pastor challenge every day our very poor mediocrity. In the same way if God had loved us so much as to dofood for us what He did in His Christ then I must become an Easter Christian and alleluia will become my song every day of my life. Be careful the jubilations, joys and hopes of Easter are not just for the time of Easter. They are for daily living especially in our daily Eucharist, our life-giving food.                                               

                                                             Sunday 28, March 2021.
                                                                    Reconciliation.
              Just last Monday 22nd of March, we celebrated the 23rd anniversary of the second pastoral visit of St. John Paul 11 to Nigeria and the beatification of our Brother, Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. The team of the Holy Father’s prophetic message to Nigeria at that mass of beatification was ‘reconciliation’ which after twenty three years re-echoes a fresh in our minds and heart. “Today I wish to proclaim the importance of reconciliation: reconciliation with God and reconciliation of people among themselves. This is the task which lies before the Church in this land of Nigeria, on this continent of Africa, and in the midst of every people and nation throughout the world. "We are ambassadors for Christ . . . and the appeal that we make in Christ's name is: be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20). For this reason, the Catholics of Nigeria must be authentic and effective witnesses to the faith in every aspect of life, both in public affairs and in private matters”.
              We are yet in another Lent with COVID.19. Lent is a natural time of reflection, a time to model our behaviour. In the advice of the Holy Father let us make these days a time of introspection and of self-emptying, of prayer and of sacrifice.  A good time to push our own desires aside to make room for God’s will. For more than three years in this country we have been living a life of significant sacrifice. We have endured all kinds of mental, emotional and spiritual fatigue that come with periods of economic, social, security, health and educational uncertainties and anxieties. Most of the world are living and managing the Covid pandemic but ours is plus the pandemic of killing, insecurity, hate, corruption and absence of any concern for common good. Had we listened to the holy Father John Paul twenty three years ago we would have not been in the mess we find ourselves today. Unless Nigeria learns to love and to reconcile with one and live with another and stop pretending that one group is superior to another our country will continue to “look more and more like a battlefield, where only selfish interests count and the law of force prevails" (Ecclesia in Africa, 79). (JP. 11, 1998) At the same time bearing a lot of the man made pandemic challenges. God is completely aware of all we are going through. What can we learn from those experiences and how can we look ahead to what is to come. Burdened and worn out spiritually, physically and emotionally yet a new life is always possible in Christ Maybe this is the time to focus on personal growth in a particular virtue or to grow in relationship with members of our family. Maybe we focus on breaking any bad habits we acquired over the past years. We are God’s children that make us givers and receivers of love. And no matter what else is going on, that is always going on. If we take this seriously, we will be asking in conscience forgiveness from God, and asking if we have been holding a grudge against someone, and have not sought to make amends with that person. Celebrating the sacrament of Reconciliation might be a great start. Forgiveness is also the fundamental condition for reconciliation, not only in the relationship of God with man, but also in relationships between people.





                                                            Sunday March 21th, 2021

                                                  St. John Paul 2nd Pastoral visit-Nigeria
                                                          Beatification of Blessed Tansi
                The second Pastoral visit of the Holy Father, John Paul 11 (now St. John Paul 11) to Nigeria on 22nd March 1998 to beatify Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi OSCO is one of the greatest historical/spiritual event that has ever happened in this country. In a few days we will be celebrating the 23rd anniversary of that event. We remember the Holy Father now a Saint of the Catholic Church, his powerful words of wisdom and encouragement should re-echo once more in our ears and minds.
                 “Today, one of Nigeria's own sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed "Blessed" in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another. Today I wish to proclaim the importance of reconciliation: reconciliation with God and reconciliation of people among themselves. This is the task which lies before the Church in this land of Nigeria, on this continent of Africa, and in the midst of every people and nation throughout the world. "We are ambassadors for Christ . . . and the appeal that we make in Christ's name is: be reconciled to God" (2 Cor 5:20). For this reason, the Catholics of Nigeria must be authentic and effective witnesses to the faith in every aspect of life, both in public affairs and in private matters”.( John Paul : sermon beatification mass)
               We remember our brother and hero, the Blessed Tansi. We remember his lifestyle: simple, detached from material things, mortified and penitential living, his ascetic charity and endless pursuit of virtues/holiness, his zeal for Christ and the gospel, a tireless worker of the Lord whose only motive is the love of God and salvation for his people. But it is not enough to remember this lifestyle as event done and forgotten. It is our legacy. We love it and take it up in our lives. We learn and practise them because they are practices that will lead the Christian to a bit of holiness. They focus us on God, moving us away from the excesses that may hinder us from holiness. His mortified penitential life is proposing a construction project for all his devotees and sons. His ascetic charity reminds us that we are temples of God. This image puts clearly before us our true Christian identity and an opportunity to eschew selfishness, to love, to do good and to help a neighbour in need. Remembering his life is an opportunity for us to come to self-knowledge, knowledge of our own fragility, selfishness and sinfulness. His detachment is a reminder that we do not use our positions in life only for bastions of wealth and prestige but rather an opportunity for self-emptying love and of friendship with the poor and lonely.  Unfortunately, we have a complicity, in our greed and selfish-laden society how can we let ourselves off so easily. We have suffered greatly for our mistakes and sins of greed in private and public life.
                   His long years of trials and suffering remind us that in real life not everything that glitters is gold, yes a momentary pleasure, to be sure, can be followed by a life time regret and anguish. Nigerians like other humans crave for something good and pleasurable but this craving is literally insatiable with earthly realities. This insatiability is not a curse but a sign that our hearts are made for something infinitely greater than earthly realities where Blessed Tansi and St. John Paul are having a real infinite good time. Life is beautiful. Nigeria is blessed. Nigerians can live a privileged life. It is time for us to step up and do what we could and have to do. There is a lot of joy in standing up to the most powerful force on earth and giving ourselves over. We are in the hands of loving God. We are all called to be saints.[Note!!!!  Unfortunately, we shall not gather in crowd for this year’s celebration because of the scourge of Covid pandemic. But do your normal novena and attend mass in your parish church. Pray for a quick and happy conclusion of Blessed Tansi trial in the Vatican.]


                                                            Sunday February 7, 2021
                                                              Make 2021 full of hope.
               In the last two weeks we meditated on our resolutions during the New Year and the Feast of Blessed Tansi. Let us endeavour to stick faithfully to them throughout 2021. One thing that can hinder us from doing so is FEAR. For in this year where the pangs of 2020 and its pandemic are still a reality the words of Jesus to his disciples still give much hope. ‘Do not be afraid’.  These words serve as a reminder that despite all of our worldly worries, God still care for us and we are his children. Continuing in the footsteps of our Father and Patron, Blessed Iwene Tansi we have come to understand that when there is so much bleakness in the world, so much political discord, so much isolation and suffering, prayer is greatly needed to provide strength. Similarly the words of Saint John Paul 11 testify to the importance of prayer when the going is tough. “In prayer we express to God our feelings, our thoughts, our sentiments. We wish to love and be loved, to be understood and to understand. Only God loves us perfectly, with an everlasting love. In prayer, we open our hearts and our minds to this God of love. And it is prayer that makes us one with the Lord. Through prayer we come to share more deeply in God’s life and in his love.”(to young people: Louisiana USA 1987).
                The Blessed Tansi who makes prayer a part of his daily activity would pray the whole night when faced with difficult circumstance. His mission in the Archdiocese of Onitsha was a very difficult one. To succeed he remained faithful to the promptings of the Lord in his prayers even in the midst of great suffering. Through his prayer life, great humility, developing confidence in the Lord and growing determination, he would act on what the Lord asked of him, even if he would be misunderstood. By grace he was "made joyful in God's house of prayer" (Is 56:7).
              Do not be afraid of 2021 rather seek divine support for your resolutions through your fidelity to prayer. Dedication to the service of others, your family and work will first be derived from your time devoted to prayer and meditation. Goodness, happiness and prayer have such a link that none could exist without the others. Form a habit of daily prayers, go to mass on Sundays and on week days when you can. Have a true devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Blessed Tansi and some of your favourite Saints. When you realise the importance of prayer your Christian life will change and you begin to understand better the world around you.  I invite you send us your prayer intentions at email postulationtansi@yahoo.com  we can also enrol you in our Prayer Guild. By becoming a part of this program, you commit to regularly joining us in prayer at Masses celebrated every Monday at the Shrine of the Blessed Tansi, Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. I also invite you to join us in-person as your comfortability allows to these every Monday Masses at 9.30am where we pray for the happy conclusion of the worthy cause of Blessed Tansi. We want you to be part of our community as we strive to meet your spiritual and material needs. In doing so, we provide hope that by focusing on you beyond the typical New Year’s resolutions, you will have a large impact on others by being Christ to others.


                                                               Sunday Jan. 31, 2021
                                                        In the footsteps of Blessed Tansi.
              January is often the time we make resolutions. We have just been through with the annual feast of the Blessed Tansi.  Many of us during the novena in preparation for the feast have made some resolutions and promises to God through him. Hopefully we shall remember those promises as we enter the New Year with all the hopes it has for us. For some of us improving your physical health during the pandemic is most important. Good, but we must also remember that Blessed Tansi would demand us to strive to improve our spiritual health as well as physical. He himself did not care very much for his physical health but the spiritual. Spiritual health is achieved when you feel at peace in our self and with others. This does not mean you will not face difficult situations or even experience hard times, but you have a way to cope when these situations arise. You can fall back on your Patron the Blessed Iwene Tansi and his set of values which will put you in connection with a higher power to find meaning and purpose in your life.
              One of the ways to do this is to look at your past in order to see what went well and what did not. Many of us will blame the Covid. 19 which has caused us many hardship during the past year.  Even though, there has been much suffering I am almost certain of many positive highlights each of us can recall. Every suffering comes with very positive lessons. In whatever situation a child of God will always fine some sunshine among. Blessed Tansi suffered much for his apostolate and for his people. In every situation he saw the hand of God who uses suffering to bless his children. His thirteen years of monastic experience in a cold and physically hostile environment in England was unimaginable for an African in those days. He went through it just for the promises it would bring for him and his people. Today we all see the fruits. Similarly in 2020 the pandemic threw us into some very difficult circumstances: the shutdowns, the riots of the youth, the hunger and layoffs not to mention of the political turmoil and insecurities. Nobody saw these coming. At least not most people. These trials were fabricated. There is a sinister force pulling the strings of world domination. The devil is up to no good. As St. Paul puts it: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12). Whatever happens this evil one, the devil, the father of all lies has no power over a child of God. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (Jn. 10:10)Like Blessed Tansi you can with determination make a difference in your environments that seems to be going dark.  At this moment of your life going in the footsteps of Blessed Tansi “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.” (Matth.5:14)  As salt and light you can make a positive difference for the people around you.                                    


                                                                 Sunday Jan. 24, 2021
                                                        2021 With Blessed Iwene Tansi.
               It is just four days we came out of the Novena mass/prayers for the feast of Blessed Iwene Tansi. I hope you enjoyed the feast. For the covid. 19 we are not able to gather for the feast in large numbers, nevertheless, all the devotees have their celebration in their parishes and institutions. It was good. Now we are going to live the after fruits of the celebration. I suggest you live 2021 under the protection of Blessed Tansi helping you to make 2021 better than 2020 and better than all the years of your past life. Let us face it—2020 tested our faith, health, and financial prowess but with Blessed Tansi 2021 can be our great comeback year. Do you believe this? Devotees of Blessed Tansi believe it, and so do I. There are a few important elements I like you pay much attention: 


Seek an honourable living and keep away from evil deeds.
Don’t give up at the face of any disappointment.
Always appeal to God to bless you. 


              2021 can be the greatest year of your life. Be bold and ask God for incredible things because you are designed to be a miracle through the heavenly intercession of Blessed Tansi. Keep him always very close to you in all you do. If you keep his company you will enjoy the sweetness of his favour. The old adage says, “Birds of a feather flock together.” And your associations very often determine your destination. The greatest favour Blessed Tansi wishes for his spiritual sons, daughters and devotees is holiness of live. “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful ;”( Psalm 1:1). Do you notice the progressive nature of these relationships: following the sinner’s advice, standing in his/her pathway, and sitting in the midst of the wicked? Your choices in 2021will have a connection with your success/failure. We cannot fool ourselves. Luck alone will not get us through this pandemic, nor will it get us into lives of significance. Without any pretence do your honest part as well as you can. “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7).  There is also a direct connection between your harvest and the books you read, the friends you make, the places you go, the efforts you make and the partnerships you develop. 
                Come with us to Blessed Tansi this 2021 I do like to challenge you to take a hard look at yourself and your needs. Discover new ways of solving your problems and of becoming a new and happier person in 2021. I know you can become a happier person this year. We in the Postulation for the Cause of Blessed Tansi are praying you will take the necessary steps and God will help you through the intercession of Blessed Iwene Tansi


                                                                   January. 17. 2021


                                 Feast of Blessed Iwene Tansi (January 20): Life and Legacy.
             The beatification of Blessed Iwene Tansi on 22nd March 1998 continues to remind us that the life ministry of this holy, humble parish priest continues even to this day. In the words of Pope John Paul 11 his “the life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in the Nigeria that he loved so much”. (Sermon Beatification Mass 1998) His feast day every year on the January 20 is a yearly invitation for all Nigerians to develop a deeper relationship with Jesus. His legacy is a journey through the ultimate expression of self-sacrifice that he endured for us. If celebrating his feast does not create some lasting change in us, it means we have done it wrong.
             In his life and ministry he strove for holiness, cried with those who were abused; consoled those who grieved; prayed with those who were homeless/lost and had been a powerful voice for those who have no voice. He was one whose priesthood was unconventional, creative, energizing, unpredictable, and exciting. He was among the first Nigerians to be ordained, and he led his people by word and example. He was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord. He wanted to bring the monastic and contemplative life to Nigeria ― and since no one seemed ready to do it; he himself requested to go to a monastery so that in due time he could bring that way of life back to Nigeria. He went to England, to another culture and people, he had to adapt to ways that were strange, he had to get used to a cold climate and to different food, and to many things that even those who came from England found decidedly peculiar and contrary to what they were used to. It was not easy. As we know, things did not turn out like that. God’s ways are strange. He was not to do this personally, for he died in England at age of 62 before his longing could be carried out.
               The memory of his life style lives on in many Nigerians especially in the Archdiocese of Onitsha which initiated his cause of canonisation in 1985. The shadows of his ascetic charity show us that holiness does not have to be flashy, but involves the basic virtues - faith in God, the twofold love, heart-felt compassion, the capacity for hard work and a real fatherly sense of protection for the neighbour. By all accounts his priesthood and religious characteristics made him a Christian and a model priest. He was regarded as saintly by the elderly and infirm for whom he cared, by the parents whose children he taught catechism and by the weak and marginalized with whom he visited. Even non-Catholics were impressed by his authenticity.
               All of us want our lives to matter — to have some sort of lasting significance. But this can prove elusive, even for those who have the best of intentions. Think back, for instance, on the past ten to fifteen years of your life. If you are anything like Blessed Tansi, there are many things that, with the wisdom you have now, you would have done differently. But, here you are today — your past frozen, as it were — living with the consequences of the decisions that have brought you to this point. Ultimately, his feast celebration this year can turn us to his witness of holiness an inspiration in our own call to be saints.
               As I wish all- devotes of Iwene Tansi a happy and fruitful celebration I request you to remember this worthy cause in your prayers, especially at Mass. Ask the faithful friends, especially children to pray for the cause. If you can attend the every Monday cult celebrated in the presence of his RELICS at the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha please do. The celebration begins at 9.30am.





                                                                   Christmas, 2020
                                                    Wise men still seek Jesus at Christmas.
              Many of us have looked forward at least from the time of advent for a saviour - divine help and healing for there have been times when we needed to hear something positive from God and would open our door for a divine healing process from our so long frustrations. We looked to Christmas as a coming light into our disturbed and darkened life. God loves to make promises and then eventually fulfil them in time. The only thing that can hinder God’s promises is our free will, when we reject or refuse to cooperate.  Christmas is God’s promise to bring healing and salvation to the world. God reaches out to us with open arms at Christmas. God is waiting for us on Christmas, and it is up to us to go out and meet him. If we have ever needed an invitation to encounter God, Christmas is that invitation. It is a time not only to meet him on Christmas Day, but also to look forward when he will come again to invite us into that eternal embrace.
            Let us go joyfully to meet the Lord. The shepherds hasten with joy to the stable in Bethlehem and the wise men from the East did everything to overcome all obstacles to meet the Lord. Both the one and the other in a certain sense symbolize the entire human family waiting for God’s fulfilment. Our relationship with God is always a two-way street. God opens his arms to us and waits for us from wherever we come and wherever our journey is taking us. It is again ‘come to me all you who labour and are over burdened’. It is an invitation. We need to take the initiative and run joyfully to meet him and be embraced by him. Like the wise men from the East we need not count the cost or be distracted by any other thing. 
             These wise men had a revelation that a coming Messiah was born. Aided by their faith and a star, they risked their lives to worship the little baby. These three wise men brought treasures gold, frankincense and myrrh to Jesus. Have you ever sought Jesus in the midst of trials? Have you ever brought Him treasures that were meaningful to you?  I assure you that even today wise men still seek Jesus to give Him their gifts and talents.

                                                                          Dec. 20. 2020
                                                             Christmas in Covid Pandemic.
              Already here with us is Christmas celebrations and its meaning.  Our hope for the future should be much brighter. Nevertheless, it may be an understatement to say that 2020 has been a trying year on all of us. Here in Nigeria we have dealt with a contentious SARS-POLICE brutality that is still largely unresolved. We have faced a global pandemic that has caused economic ruin and social isolation on a historic scale. This latter has surely brought pain and suffering to each of us personally as we may have experienced the death of relatives and friends, lost jobs or business and may be battling with un precedented price increases . Our Church also has had the greatest liturgical restriction ever witnessed in my entire life. Everyone wants 2020 to end. But we are not sure of what is coming next after 2020. So, where and to whom can we turn for hope? The meaning of Christmas may give an insight, the Incarnate Word of God is our first and last hope of safety future. In him humanity has all the answer for our global problems. We can look to Jesus Christ, Saviour and Crucified Lord, and realize that death and suffering is not the end. He has conquered, and He wants to conquer for us and with us. All of us want to be happy. No matter whom we are or where we are from, we all share that desire for happiness. 
              Some things make us happy for a short time, like food, fun, and being with friends. But these pleasures come and go. Many are able to find longer-term happiness with family, but families also come with disappointment and hardship. And ultimately, all of us are confronted with an inescapable reality—we are all going to die. When we contemplate the end of our lives, we must ask serious questions. Is there nothing more to this life – faith in the meaning of Christmas will tell us ‘there is much more in life’. Many of us are already prepared or are preparing for our journey to the silent stable that will hold our Savior on Christmas, we take with us our own nothingness. We can only truly approach Him if we surrender everything to Him. Much will be asked of us as we begin to celebrate the Christmas feasts. Many people will be unable to see vulnerable family members to celebrate the holidays, some have died and some will die, and others will lie alone sick in hospital beds. Thank God we have come out of quarantines and lockdowns in this country and in some other nations. This is the reality we face in this year’s Christmas that has contained much darkness. Sacrifices will be asked of us that we may not expect or want to make. How we prepare spiritually now for these possibilities and for disappointments during the Christmas will determine whether we are free to enter the light of Christmas, regardless of our circumstances. We must surrender everything to Christ now. He alone has the ‘words of eternal life’.  There is nowhere else to go. Jesus has the words that bring the happiness of eternal life.  
            Now where ever you are whatever you have for this Christmas share it with others – no matter how small. Sometimes in difficulties we find God and his blessings. Be a blessing to someone at this Christmas. Saints, men and women of true heroic virtue, have all traversed grave difficulties only to be made better for such trials. The Blessed Iwene Tansi has taught us that noble souls, in adversity, rise to new heights. So, even the very challenging 2020 Christmas can be the cause of soaring like a jet plane to heights of holiness that we have previously never thought of. Here is hoping great, a blessed Christmas and a new year for all of us.

                                                                       Dec. 13.2020         
                                                          Live the charity of Bl. Tansi
          If there is anything Blessed Tansi left us as a legacy, it is charity-love for our neighbour especially the most vulnerable. Devotees of Bl. Tansi must follow after and continue the work begun by Christ in his earthly ministry and continued in our time through our pious pastor and heavenly benefactor, Blessed Iwene Tansi. Jesus served all through humble love. He fed the multitudes. He healed the sick. He forgave sinners. By all that he did, he showed his love to humanity. God himself shows to men, in a vivid way, his presence and his face in the lives of saintly people who lived in the human condition and are more perfectly transformed into the image of Christ (cf. II Cor 3: 18). Most of those who have known Fr. Tansi have a unanimous testimony that throughout his life he had a consistent pursuit of goodness. Where there is love for the neighbour specially the weak, he believed there is God. This is his universal message, a message that provides hope and guidance to people from all walks of life. This message also reveals how this humble monk impacted the lives of millions, both those who knew him personally and those who indirectly came to know him. His message is so universal because it is basically the message of the Gospel in concrete situations. Lives on earth have a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. Human thirst and search for love, for goodness, and for truth could find its fulfilment only in God, lived among and identified with the poor, the sick and the dejected of society.
          Nigerians in whatever state of life are instinctively drawn to goodness, to genuineness, to holiness, love and compassion. But many have not the courage to live this out in practice or even to condemn a wrong doing where it exists. How can we live a life worthy of our calling if we think that the legacy of Blessed Tansi is insignificant in Nigeria today? How can we truly say that we follow him if we think so little of helping people in their material needs, pitting them against spiritual obligations? There is too much suffering today in this country. Have we truly understood Blessed Tansi and his message? Sadly, we have not. We often relativize and ignore the needs of others. We try to find ways to justify our inaction. Make no mistake the material health and wellbeing of our neighbours is as important as our religious duties. Christ identifies himself with the needy brother.
           Christ entered our world to help us, to serves us out of love. We are expected to live in the world, serving others like he did. This is how we are to live the legacy of Blessed Tansi in all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love,  eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.( Eph.4:1) It is out of place to fight against each other because we let sin divide us. It is sin to be arrogant, boastful and proud, expecting others to glorify us. When we do some good for someone else, we think we deserve special praises, showing that our reason for doing what we did was for our own good, not the good of others. Remember when Christ was asked about how to inherit eternal life, Jesus told the lawyer that we should love God, and love our neighbour as ourselves (cf. Lk. 10:27). If we do so, we shall experience what it means to be truly alive (cf. Lk. 10:28), for only when we have organized our lives around the dictates of love and fulfil them do we truly achieve our full potential.



                                                                  December 6, 2020
                                                    Bl. Tansi Devotee Must Care for Others
             Every practicing Catholic in this country has at least heard of Blessed Tansi Solidarity prayer movement and their activities to spread devotion to him by imitating his life style. Blessed Tansi is a priest who made fraternal charity the hallmark of holiness and life style. A priest with a heart for the weak, sick, widows and orphans, a priest who devoted much of his parish pastoral ministry to sanctifying marriages and families, a priest who would become known as an apostle of Christian family life, a priest who improved the social and spiritual status of women. As Providence would always have its way the difficult early years of the young Iwene Tansi would be essential to his later understanding of his parishioners’ problems and to his vision for solving them. He lost his father at a very early age and was brought up by his cousin who looked after his early development and education. 
               As a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha (1937-1950) his charity reached out to every parishioner, parish young male parishioners who were being lured away from their faith and education by the idle traditional practices such as dances, feasts and masquerade he organised schools and boarding houses to give them formal education. For the young female parishioners he organised a convent-like house to give them the elementary education and wifely skill which they would need as future wives. For the widows and orphans, he went so far as to accept guardianship of widows’ children who stayed in the parish environment as he provided for their spiritual formation. Powered by his deep prayer life, he not only preached the faith, but lived it by transforming friends into brothers who cared for one another. 
             Even today in our own time God’s grace flows through us like a river, washing us and nourishing his divine life in us. His grace flows freely when we let go of the attachments that dam us up, blocking grace’s entry points. If we are distracted by material things and do not make time to pray or care for the need of our brother we will miss what is most important. Those dams not only block the grace from working within us, but they also block it from flowing out to others and becoming a source of light and strength to them. Becoming a saint is not easy in any age, but in ours it has become increasingly difficult due to the rise of an anti-Christian culture – money, greed and selfishness. What is holding you back from being a saint? We face so many obstacles, both within and without. When we open ourselves to God’s grace, he makes crooked ways straight in us, turning us into conduits of his grace for our culture and people. The saints provide witness to the reality of God’s grace-that it is possible to be holy. If we cling to God above all else, his divine life will flow through us, not only cleansing us but bringing God’s fire of love to our Nigeria. 


                                                                 November 29, 2020
                                                              Living in difficult times.             
             This is not silly. People are suffering/hungry in this country. The corona virus pandemic, trauma caused by its related deaths, the deaths and losses caused by ENDSARS protest, widespread civil strife on our streets, the economic hardship triggered by increased fuel prices, the depreciating value of the Naira, more importantly rampant deaths on our streets, the non-concern attitude of political leaders and anxiety over our country’s political situation have all played their part. The loss of confidence in our political system makes many to seek something else to comfort them. Some of them good and some bad. For some this is no other than their faith in God. For me this is the beginning of what I call my faith. Our help must come from God and from no other but we must play our part well. The essence of faith is that something meets me at my cross road and that thing is greater than anything I can come up with on my own. It breaks me out of isolation and liberates me from my preoccupation with myself. It enables me to resist the brute force that would otherwise pull me under. It frees me to escape my own gravity and selfishness. The most basic answer to our crisis is when you put your faith into practice and seek goodness. If you are a man, be a man of God/Goodness. If you are into anything that is not chaste/good/morally edifying, get it out of your life. Are you misusing the authority and power you have at work or in the family? Are you misusing the wealth and the money that belongs to you or to others especially money meant for common good?  Faith is relationship/fellowship with him who has the power to carry me safely over the elements much stronger than me. And all of this can start simply by acknowledging His ever-presence in all I do and seeking to do good.
             Do not give up, it is of no use. Now is the time to recommit to living by faith — not by our ideas, not by emotions or feelings or passions or fears, not by our resources, by preconceptions, our plans, or by our understanding but by desiring for all Nigerians the very good you desire for yourself. Yes, what we are being blessed with at this trying moment in time is the exquisite gift of desolation. It is a gift and a lesson. Perhaps, God purposely puts to the test the very confidence he himself inspires in us. He does this by letting us suffer for our faults, actions and omissions at the same time calling us for a change of direction since all that glitters is not gold. We cannot continue to build our nest where we do not belong. We belong to God. This is true but not all. We need to have our sense of belonging. Let all Nigerians do something called gratuitousness which is the desire and ability to do something simply because they are good in themselves, without concern for personal gain or recompense. The beautiful part is that all of us can do this, and it is ridiculously easy. Even more make it a daily duty to make someone’s day plus-one better. By doing this we communicate that we care about them and that we can be counted on. Bonds of friendship become more deeply forged and relief for the suffering will come.


                                                                    Nov. 15. 2020


                                             Purgatory- where our love ones lavish.
               Last week we meditated on the indulgences for the souls in purgatory and the new opportunity the Holy Father offers to all of the baptised to gain indulgence for these our love ones in the month of November. I am sure you are making use of the opportunity already. This week we meditate on what purgatory looks like. This mediation will help us to understand better what these love one suffer and help us to do everything to avoid purgatory ourselves when we die. The problem with any question about the afterlife is that only those who have experienced it can explain its attributes. Most of us have not had any near-death experiences where we can get a glimpse of what awaits us, so we rely on what God has told us through the Bible and the official teaching of the Church. The Church teaches that
             “All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured
of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven”. (CCC 1030)
             It is a final stage of purification for the elect after death. It is like washroom before entering
the banquet hall for the great feast of the Lamb. How long does this last, we just don’t know. Strictly speaking, purgatory is a spiritual experience, being a prelude to Heaven. Basically, after we die and before our bodies are resurrected, many of us will experience purgatory. It is difficult to understand how we can experience something without our body, but it is a mystery we will only understand after our own death. Saints have different depictions of it, many of them including some sort of pain. It is a type of pain that is temporary, lasting only a time until we are able to move forward to Heaven. The good news for us is that once we reach purgatory, the only direction we can go is up!
              The Blessed Iwene Tansi asserts that helping the souls in Purgatory is one of the greatest acts
of charity we can offer to our loved ones who have departed from this life these souls are in dire need of purification of their souls. Therefore, as a manifestation of our great love, compassion, and concern to come to the assistance of our brothers and sisters detained in Purgatory to be purified of their past sins, let us be generous and strive to do something special for them. Indeed, may our prayers and sacrifices serve not simply to alleviate their pain, but also help them to arrive at their ultimate goal—the eternal bliss of Heaven.
            There are some practices to undertake this November:


Offer Masses-By far the greatest sacrifice we can offer for the souls in Purgatory

       would be to offer Masses.


Offer Your Daily Communion- Make an explicit offering and intention at every Mas you attend, to assist at Mass and receive Holy Communion to alleviate and liberate the souls in Purgatory.
Fervent Prayer-Every day, say at least one prayer for the souls in Purgatory. In doing so, you are practicing one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy.
Almsgiving- Give generously to the poor- money, food, clothing, shelter, or even sleeping mat
​Corporal Works of Mercy - Feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, give clothes to the naked, visit the sick and the incarcerated. “Whatsoever you do for the least of these my brothers, you do unto me.”(Mt. 25:40)
Offer up Your Sufferings for the Suffering Souls-So much suffering in our country, but so much suffering is actually wasted.
Pray to Our Lady & the Saints like Blessed TansiMay the Souls of the faithful departed through the Mercy of God rest in peac



                                                                  November 8, 2020
                                                            November for Holy Souls
            Every November, the Church offers the faithful an opportunity to release souls from their temporal punishment in purgatory so they can immediately go to heaven. This is called a plenary indulgence for the souls in purgatory. This indulgence applies to one soul of your choice each time you perform the required acts. Steps to Obtain a Plenary Indulgence for Souls in Purgatory this November:


Visit and Pray at a Cemetery for the deceased even if mentally.
Go to Confession & Receive Holy Communion
 Pray for the Pope ( one our Father and one Hail Mary )



This specific plenary indulgence is normally only recognized from Nov. 1-8 but because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Vatican extended the period for plenary indulgence for the souls in purgatory throughout the entire month of November.  A great privilege indeed.
             The Blessed Iwene Tansi who lived a life of intense prayer and mortification had a great devotion for the souls in purgatory. He had supernatural gifts and great sensitivity to the angelic world and the souls in purgatory. He talked often of the eternal condition of those who had died encouraging the faithful to pray for them. He encouraged his parishioners to pray and make sacrifices for the Holy souls during the month of November. He had a special devotion to the souls in purgatory which continuously grew in his ministry until he organised groups from his Christian mothers’ society and Mary league association into a powerful prayer army for the poor souls in purgatory. With them he organised regularly Masses to be said for the peaceful repose of souls in purgatory. As true faithful devotees of Blessed Iwene Tansi we should imitate his pious devotion to the souls in purgatory, especially during this month of November.
           The holy souls need our prayers and at the same time they can be powerful intercessors for us. Our prayer for them is capable not only of helping them, but also of making their intercession for us effective. When we pray for them, it makes them able to pray for us. This reciprocity has been understood since the early days of the Church and many have been benefiting from it. Let us imitate the example of the Blessed Iwene Tansi and the Saints who have special devotion to the souls in purgatory. God is on our side. He wants us to be able to obtain this indulgence as an act of charity for the souls in purgatory, and He will help us fulfil the conditions if we only ask.


                                                                  November 1, 2020
                                                                     Saints And Us
           November 1st. we celebrate the Festival of the Saints of whom there are many of our Nigerian brothers and sisters. It is a day that should fill us with great hope and joy because it reminds us that we are part of a great communion, a great band of brothers and sisters, who completed the same pilgrimage that we are currently traveling. They have made it to the New Jerusalem that heavenly city where there are no more END SARS youth protect, corruption, tears or suffering, crying out or pain, where there is no more deat h but only life forever with our God. It is clear that Nigerians are living in a time of confusion and uncertainty; living conditions are bad both in the Government and citizens. I am not qualified to evaluate whether this is the worst confusion I have ever seen or not— it is true we have been through some pretty bad times over the decades—but it is serious as it is certainly intensifying as hostility and neglect and  abuse of human right continues to grow. What Nigeria needs now is Saints, Saints and more Saints. What Nigeria needs now is sinners and penitents who have experienced again and again the merciful love of a Father who is always longing for the return of his prodigal sons and daughters. We are the prodigal sons and daughter if we just can do the right thing.  This is the only change that can save us from total collapse – God forbid.
             Like the Saints whose festival we celebrate today, we are called to infect our country with the joy of the Gospel. It is the joyful witness of those who have experienced the happiness of knowing God’s love  and forgiveness— not as a theory or a theological concept — but as a result of a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus that is irresistible to a nation longing for authentic and enduring peace and joy. It is the witness of this true joy that has the power to transform our many years of bad Government, tribal hatred and nepotism into vibrant peaceful society. The feast of the Saints offers us a new opportunity to open our hearts even wider to our fellow Nigerians and to Christ in order to receive complete joy and abundant life that only a change of heart can provide.          
               Perhaps we can find a metaphor in the ENDSARS youth protect that has wreaked so much havoc on much of our States. What appeared as one enormous storm was in reality the conflagration of several storms joining forces and colliding to create a colossal weather event. That crisis was a conflagration of many societal ills coming together. We need to read the handwriting on the wall. Our culture more and more is embracing an ideology that believes in only what can be seen and touched, while affording little importance to what requires discipline, what is long-term and enduring, what cannot be seen or touched but which elevates the human heart and inspires the human spirit. Some have rightly identified the current crisis to be primarily a crisis of bad Government and greed.  More importantly I think it is a result of crisis of Saints among Nigerians. That is to say that morality and Christian values have been so weakened because there are not enough believers living their faith with passion and zeal. The antidote to this perfect storm-crisis is the witness of the Saints. What can most readily rescue Nigeria caught in the whirlpool of despair is the joyful example of the Saints, whose festival we celebrate today, among whom are recovering sinners. The Saints are individuals who experienced the depth of God’s love for them revealed in Jesus Christ. The Saints discovered the beautiful and life-changing truth that God did not love them in their perfection — in other words because they deserved to be loved — but loved them in their weakness. It was the joy of experiencing the merciful love of God that drove our Blessed Iwene Tansi and so many of the Saints whose Feast we celebrate today to proclaim the Gospel of love — not so much by words but by the quality of their lives.  


                                                                    October 25, 2020


                                              Blessed Tansi can save the unity of Nigeria.
            When any situation goes off hand a child naturally runs to either the father or the mother believing that they will offer solution. Nigeria seems to be on a cross road now. Which way forward no one is sure, to be or not to be is the problem at the moment. Force will definitely not bring the desired solution. One thing is certain to every dick and harry in this country know something is wrong, Nigeria has got it all wrong these years. We cannot continue this way - that leads to a dead end – a place of no return. The Blessed Iwene Tansi advocated dialogue in situations like this. When he was one time parish priest of Akpu made up of two warring communities – Akpu and Ajali he advocated dialogue that eventually brought the communities peace.  This is the Nigerian way of handling community differences. God helps those who help themselves. Nigeria can only survive the present predicament through meaningful dialogue. Together, we can seek the truth in dialogue, in relaxed conversation or in passionate debate and in a true spirit of dialogue, we grow in our ability to grasp the significance of what others say and do, even if we cannot accept it as our own conviction .
              The attitude of know-it-all position will not help anyone. We must face the reality in truth. Many are suffering and dying in a country of plenty while few seem to have the monopoly of everything – wealth, power and intelligence.  This cannot hold for long – does not make sense. Our diversity allows disagreement, while hoping for common ground and common good, at least in goals, if not always in methods and means to a shared end. I do not have all the answers to our problems but I am concerned to encourage an honest and open debate so that particular interests or ideologies will not prejudice the common good. We cannot continue to be indifferent to the plight of millions of our young Nigerians. I have their sympathy when they say enough is enough but not with violence. With dialogue something new and good can emerge.
             God has given us this beautiful Nation and good people that inhabit it. Let us honestly look at the way we look at one another, not just locally or tribally, but nationally, for the common good, for the good of the future of this country and our children given to us by God. The Igbo man has blood just as the Yoruba man in the same way as a Fulani man and so on. If you harm any of them he will bleed the same way. All these things mesh in together exceptionally well. I now turn to the Blessed Iwene Tansi our National Saint, our national heavenly Advocate, a man of peace and reconciliation who spent his earthly life reconciling his Nigerian brothers and sisters with themselves and with God, who understands peace and speaks of love to come to our assistance at this time of our national trial.


                                                               October 18, 2020.                           
                                                        34th Re-interment Anniversary
             Yesterday Saturday, 17th October we celebrated the 34th anniversary of the re-interment of the Remains of Blessed Iwene Tansi at the priests’ cemetery basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Fr. Tansi was among the first Nigerians to be ordained priest. He led the people by word and example. He had a very flourishing apostolate in Nigeria as parish priest. He had a great influence on the people Christians and non-Christians. But at a stage in his very active pastoral ministry he felt the call to follow Christ in another way – the monastic apostolate. He was urged to do this by the love of God and his fellow men and women. He was a man of prayer, intent on personal union with the Lord, and was also urged by a great desire to bring the monastic and contemplative apostolate to Nigeria. He left his extremely active and flourishing pastoral ministry and left for Mount St. Bernard Abbey in 1950.  When he left Nigeria he completely disappeared as far as Nigerians were concerned. He had gone from light into darkness, from a life in the sight of all to a life hidden from the world. From the world of authority and command to a world of powerless and inferior, from a life of master to the life of last in the community - all perfection and holiness.  God’s ways are often strange. He did not come back alive, for he died on January 20th 1964 just before his longing to bring monastic apostolate to Nigeria could be carried out.
              At the heart of his adventure was God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown where God was waiting for him. It left his country and his family like Abraham and so many others. It was to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring apostolate. His was like all true calls from God, a venture of faith and love. The cost to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. He found peace and God in the darkness. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end even to realizing that he fulfilled his vow of stability perfectly by dying in the Abby far away from his own people and land and be buried happily in the monastery.   When in 1986 Archbishop Stephen Ezeanya initiated his cause of canonisation in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, the bishop got the permission of the Vatican and Mount St. Bernard Abbey to bring back his Remains to Nigeria. He was reburied in Onitsha on 17th. October 1986.Every year we remember this event because his life helps us to see and to appreciate what is important at the core of our faith, help us to renew our awareness of the things that really matter. His life is important to us because it was a life of faith, of humble and persevering following out of what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was cold and dark. After his death his fellow monks at Mt. St.  Bernard Abbey praised his refined meekness, his serene equilibrium, rectitude, loyalty, reasonableness and special approach to meditation. Today in Nigeria his testimony invites us to be able to combine love of God with love of neighbour and not to tire of building relations of brother hood and reconciliation.   His pastoral life was full of life and vigour as he made converts in great numbers and attracted many people to God. His pastoral gentleness and compassion are even today remembered and admired.


                                                                 October 11, 2020
                                                           Covid 19 - Transform Nigeria.
             The good effect of suffering is sometime it brings us to our senses when we erred, helps us to think better, humiliates us and more importantly helps us to think of others who suffer perhaps like us. The present Covid 19 has succeeded to put everyone rich and poor alike, powerful and weak in the same fear and lockdown.  The sufferings we are undergoing today in Nigeria is inviting all of us, individuals, societies and government to slow down and to listen and to engage with others – brothers and sisters, in meaningful dialogue and mutual assistance. This is a big challenge to all of us - an invitation to look at our fellow Nigerians through the same lens. Many are suffering and dying – a condition that could be avoided if only we can think human. We as people and government have not had it on a plate of gold since independence. Covid 19 has exposed and worsened our condition.
             For example, Nigeria has had for decades the fuel-prices problem – various governments have subsidized the product to help the masses while creating an avenue to enrich a few – it has not worked nor helped anybody.  Logically the solution should be for supply and demand to determine price. But why should it be done now that the Covid 19 left many struggling to make ends meet. Many Nigerians are grieving the loss of loved ones; healthcare professionals are working under tremendous strain; schools and markets shut down - all those things we know about in the struggle trying to deal with this virus that is hitting so many. Why should the government bring this fuel prices thing now the people are at their lowest. Why should it retain the monopoly of the product?  It does not make sense.
             Nigerians live in a country that is still structured by inequality, and the church has to wrestle with that as much as the country has to wrestle with it. Nigerians are brothers and sisters in the light of our common creation and that has a radical equalizing effect. And it means that is a permanent binding: We can choose not to speak to your brother or sister, but they remain our brother and sister; it is a lifelong, indissoluble bond. There are structures of sin that blind us to our ways of relating – corruption is an example. The key point is the necessity of dialogue and encounter of truly listening to the other’s experience and allowing it to challenge one’s way of thinking and acting. This will make way to recognizing and understanding the structures of injustice in the country and the way in which we break our relationships with each other.  Nigeria is on the brink. If we take responsibility for our common home and for our brothers and sisters, then we do have a good chance. Many have a loss of hope and are afraid because there is so much collapse, and the dominant culture tells us to work harder, work harder, do much of the same. Our national Saint and powerful heavenly intercessor, Blessed Iwene Tansi will see us through.


                                                               October 4, 2020
                                                   Corruption-Nigerian Pandemic
             So far Nigeria has recorded over one thousand covid-19 deaths in six months. Everybody talks about this deadly virus and fears it but for years Nigeria has been living with the other more deadly virus afflicting its people, economy and life such as the “pandemic of corruption”, whose victims are the poorest and the youth who because of corruption are dying in thousands in Libya,  Mediterranean  Sea and other places across the world. This is so painful because it undermines the credibility and vitality of democracy, morality and the hope of all, especially impacting the humblest and poorest in our society. Corruption is a social, political and economic scourge that rots and eats away at everything. Dying many Nigerians have lived with this monster for years looking and waiting for a messiah that is unlikely to come. It has claimed the lives of more Nigerians than the Covid. 19    pandemic.  Government and societies have called for years a meaningful fight against corruption without addressing the root cause - kind of partisan politics in this country. If the Nigerian youths find their destiny in their fatherland – why should they prefer to go to die in the desert?  This is corruption pandemic which take more lives of Nigerians than Covid 19 pandemic. We need the efforts of men and women who love God and their neighbour as themselves to make a change.
               Nigeria needs to rehabilitate the way of exercising its political order, as ideological and partisan passions today don’t allow the people to see beyond what’s good for themselves, hence the need to cure another great virus. That of social injustice, marginalization and lack of opportunities for the weakest. The old politicians remember this country is not only for you. At 60 we should all retire from active politics. Give a chance to millions of intelligent/active Nigerian youths. I believe Nigeria has a future because God in his providential love never abandons his people. The compass of the soul of a Christian people always heads towards God. But we cannot continue as we are, because Nigeria after what we are going through would not be the same again. Wanting to return to normality has to be wanting to return to the normality of the good, not to injustices, violence, deception and unbridled materialism. Blessed Iwene Tansi assist your country men and women with your heavenly intercession.


                                                           September 27, 2020
                                           In Covid. 19-Keep Christ at the Centre
               Who would have thought back in March that, two thirds of the way through 2020, the Covid 19 would still be a huge part of our lives? The situation has indeed been challenging. Many have been doing their best to share the joy of our faith and keeping best to keep Christ at the centre of their life. When we keep Christ at the centre of our life then there is no greater responsibility than caring for the sick — who are Christ himself. Our faith tells us that care of the sick must rank above and before all else, so that they may truly be served as Christ “I was sick and you visited me” (Mt 25:36), and, “What you did for one of these least brothers you did for me” (Mt 25:40).
             The Blessed Iwene Tansi transformed the parishes where he worked in so many ways, but treatment of the sick was the most dramatic one. He did not just love the sick because of Christ but he loved them as Christ himself. The Igbo man of Fr. Tansi days needs God and charity. Blessed Tansi ministry of charity is intimately linked with the proclamation of the gospel. His doing charity is not only giving food and other material needs but giving God. Love of God and the neighbour is a fundamental quality in the life of Blessed Tansi. We too can imitate him in this most trying period of covid 19 pandemic. We cannot tell who will be infected the next day or who is dying next. We have a great responsibility to one another – love and care. Whatever you can to help another do it.  Even if it is these days when everything is hard, you can look at that hard beaten neighbour and say, I love you because you are my brother/sister. We must all wake up the pandemic challenges – Government, Societies, Churches and individuals. The responsibility is ours and we can’t afford to be indifferent. Often people in need have excessive demands – yes because they are in need/suffering. They challenge our patience to put up with them even when they distress us. Serving the sick leads to a greater joy and reward.  Do something today - the kindnesses we do now will be remembered for a lifetime.


                                                            September 20, 2020
                                               Covid 19 – Seek Blessed Tansi help.
              If Blessed Iwene Tansi were alive today, he would assist the poor and needy affected by the pandemic and would call on people to not be indifferent to the needy and the poor. We remember him for his great concern for the poor and needy when he was in our parish. His life as parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, speaks out forcefully of his dedication to the suffering, poor and needy and his fight against Christians living a double-life. Befriending the sick and poor was not an option in his ministry activity it was the main event. His priesthood was linked to service, to the tender affection and protection given especially to the poorest, weakest, the least important and most easily forgotten. Like the good pastor, he sought to be the servant, not the lord of his parishioners. Most confusing for many of his contemporaries was his attitude to the poor and infirm. Later on as a priest he spent a greatest part of his time to serve the sick and dying. The most striking difference in the compassionate parish priest is that while others may send alms to the sick through servants and messengers for fear of contagion or attack. In a gesture both fearless and kind he went into the villages and homes of his vast and remote parish to losing relief to the sick and needy. There is a popular story of how he brought the sick and the poor to his house to be treated or fed.
             He did not fear even the dreadful small pox. In 1944 another popular story had it that there was a serious and terrifying epidemic at Nando, an out station of his parish where many were affected by the epidemic, some died. As the plague assumed its large proportions many were affected. On hearing of the Nando epidemic, the compassionate priest rushed to the place, administering the sacraments, giving some medicine and food and burying the dead.  His life and ministry focus was on Jesus and His love for all, especially the poor. His spirituality was based on the person of Jesus who loved us and gave Himself for us. He saw Jesus in every person and loved Him very specially in the poor, needy, sick, destitute and suffering through his care and service. We are today experiencing an unprecedented pandemic and many lockdowns affecting life of all sections of people, especially the poor. Death, hunger and poverty are around us. If Blessed Tansi were alive today, he would repeat what he did at Nando years past and would tell us to see Jesus in every suffering person, needy person, poor person, dying person, and care for them in whatever way you can.  He drew his strength from prayer, very specially from Jesus in the Holy Eucharist, and with that strength met the same Jesus in the poorest of the poor and served Him with love. If he did so much in his mortal flesh he can certainly do more for us in his heavenly state. Let all join together in prayer to seek his powerful intercession wherever you are and whatever is your condition. His help will certainly come. Every Monday in the Archdiocese of Onitsha his cult is celebrated in the Basilica that holds his mortal remains.


                                                                 September 13, 2020


                                                              In Covid 19 God speaks
           Some relations experience difficulties in communication, especially when there is a language barrier. There may be also problems with transmission. If you are in a relationship with God do you ever have problems hearing from God? Most people I know express this frustration. We want to hear from God, but we can’t hear His voice. We want to obey His every command, but we can’t hear His instructions. But the Scripture says that “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword...” (Hebrew 4:12). May be your relationship with God is not so healthy. Maybe something blocks the way. Have you ever asked yourself that question?  Healthy relationship matters.
          The response to Covid-19 by many nations demonstrates that health is more important than business, money, relationships, entertainment, education, the arts, fashion, and countless other priorities we once had before the Covid 19. The lockdown in most countries is a ‘good litmus test’. The health of your physical body is important and needs to be a priority. It is the foundation of everything else- emotional, spiritual, relational, financial, career and community. Each sphere of your health requires an investment of time and energy. So many people take their health for granted until they become sick. If you neglect one, it will have a negative impact on the whole. Each sphere has its own set of needs and obligations. For example, your body needs a balanced diet of healthy foods. If you don’t eat well and exercise, you may experience life-threatening conditions that require surgery or medication. If we are careful we can know the functioning of our body and our health condition. In the same way we can know our spiritual condition. If we see ourselves clearly it will not too hard to hear the voice of God in your mind. It is always a matter of discerning His thoughts as the enemy’s lies, negative vain ambition and glory invade our daily activities. God generally speaks to our minds through thoughts. This is God’s method of communication.
           In practical life everyone has some burden, more or less heavy to bear: physical or moral weakness, financial need, the press of duties and responsibilities, fatigue or other troubles which weigh on his shoulders. In the midst of these everyone feels the need of a helping hand to carry this weight. The period of Covid 19 calls for a helping hand from every one of us. Maybe God is speaking to you now.  If you open up you will hear his direction. If you are deaf to the needs and problems of your neighbours you are definitely deaf to the voice of God. During this pandemic, God certainly speaks to every one of us. Let us see who we can help out there. Love for Christ is the vital expression of our union with Him and with one another. The closer this union becomes, the more our love increases and the more we are able to hear his voice.  That voice is for us to share the joys and sorrows, the cares and anxieties of others as if they were our own. The Covid 19 has affected us in various ways. In the same way our needs vary. Can you today give a helping hand to someone in need? As a government, church, society or individual do not make things more difficult for people already suffering from the pandemic hardship.  As I say to many people ‘stay prayerful.’ It is another way of helping. God understands what is most important that each one of needs most.
“Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep” (Romans 12:15). 





                                                                   September 6, 2020
                                              Covid 19.  Spiritual when your roof is leaking.
              It is hard to be spiritual when your roof is leaking. Nigeria with leaking roof is on dual track – handling the challenges of mundane social political life and also working on her dreams and goals. There are moments in life when you have to set your challenges down for a moment to go fix your leaking roof. Nigeria battles with two challenging monsters – the pandemic and the insecurity of life and property. In the recent past many Nigerians have lost their lives and property from the hands of fellow Nigerians namely boko-haram. With many dying every day from the present pandemic and violence across the country Nigeria has a serious leaking roof. This is the time to look at our national dreams without any apology.  First things must be first: only a living person can think of a dream and vision. ‘Which way Nigeria…?’ your children are dying from the hands of terrorist, Nigerian soil has been occupied by enemies of the country for many years. Let us not deceive ourselves things are not alright – our country is rotten, our roofs are leaking and youths look up for a better tomorrow but hardly is there any hope. Many of them leave the country at all risk in search of green pasture.  Many die on the way. Many Nigerians are reaching a breaking point while the rich become richer and the poor poorer. How long will this situation continue Mother Nigeria at 60 years?
            As the covid 19 pandemic is claiming many lives and destabilizing economy worldwide, Nigeria on the other hand is killing fellow Nigerians more than the pandemic because a hungry man is an angry man.  If more Nigerians die from violence and insecurity than from the pandemic, it makes sense to look first for vaccine to stop the human killing across the country. Who should provide it? The answer should come not only from politicians but from every Nigerian. In all cultures and religions to kill is a great moral offence. The more we use arms and weapons for settling disputes and misunderstanding the more people we kill and the further we shall be from achieving the end. Here I humbly recommend the vaccine of love and compassion in all we do.  The greatest and most effective vaccine of all is the Kingdom of Compassion. The more I study the Kingdom of Heaven, the more I am struck by one simple force that emanates from its mandate of love - compassion. Blessed Tansi, universally proclaimed ‘compassionate Nigerian’ was really human and full of the kingdom of heaven and dominated by its power, the reason he had compassion on those who suffer.  Begin by asking yourself: ‘are you full of compassion for the suffering masses in this country, the lost, broken and marginalized.  Find a need around you today, and fill it. Yes the past is you. We have all gone wrong but we can’t remain there. We must forgive ourselves and move forward. What is particularly alarming to me is how easily people will buy into the lie that you need to forgive yourself and not take the time to actually think through the issue more critically. Forgiving yourself of the wrong done means you are ready indeed for a change. This is the change Nigeria must make. What is more problematic is that most often we end up in lip forgiveness and reconciliation. We have an issue with loving ourselves too much. We have an issue of presumptuousness. We presume an inflated sense of the self, so much so, that at the end of the day, we still need to answer to ourselves. We pay lip service to the idea that you need a peaceful united Nigeria yet we have still find a way to make ourselves the primary victim of our crimes against Nigeria. If we are honest, we have all found ourselves in this predicament at one point or another in our walk. Like the biblical David and those in their own desperate plight in the wilderness, we must fix our eyes upon the Standard ethic


                                                                    August 30, 2020
                                                      Covid 19- Nigeria – Call for Service
              Nigeria like every other Country is looking for a solution to the global pandemic – vaccine / treatment. With hope and God willing this will come soon. Before then what other help can we as a government, a community or as an individual give to those suffering most among us, remembering that the pandemic affects us in varying ways. Some are sick, some lost their means of lively hood – hunger and name it. During an epidemic of small pox in 1944 in Nando and environs sections of Blessed Tansi parish of Dunukofia. The Blessed Tansi treated the sick, the dying and buried the dead. The epidemic was so severe that there were no celebrated funerals and because of the infectious nature of the disease no healthy person could come near the infected and the dying. Before the epidemic Blessed Tansi was a humble parish priest who went above and beyond his duties to serve his people at various points of their need. He was a priest for the people. But in a special way during this small pox epidemic his loving heart was on clear display, as he did all that he could to minister to his people spiritually and corporally. Till date people still remember the heroic way he continued to shepherd his people during a deadly outbreak.
            The people of Nando knew little of hygiene and less of sanitation; it was hard to make them take the most necessary precautions. Blessed Tansi was everything at once: doctor, nurse, and sanitary inspector, as well as parish priest. Not only were there, the sick and the dying to be tended, but the living to be heartened and consoled. He never abandoned his flock and stayed with them, making sure they were buried with great dignity at a time when funerals were only allowed at the graveside, with a strict restriction on attendance as we experience today in our own pandemic. For fear of infection and taboo associated with the victim of small pox the dead had to be dropped at the evil forest or buried by night and no one was allowed to attend the funeral. Not only did the pious pastor recite the prayers and carry out the ceremonies prescribed by the Church on such occasions, but would take his place as coffin bearer (where coffin was available) and even helped to dig the graves. This extraordinary care for others carried on throughout the rest of his life, and he never wavered in his desire to minister to the needs of those that were suffering.
         Today what can we learn from his life style - Bear one another’s burdens, that is what he is telling us. Blessed Tansi did so much for his people because He was moved with compassion. Be filled with a heart of compassion. Be moved to tears and actions before your suffering Nigerians. Care about people and their plight. Care, because God cares, and He wants His compassion to flow through you, your family, your church and your business. Be the heart and hands of Jesus to a lost Nigeria.  Christ forgave the woman of adultery and stopped a murderous mob. (John 8:2-11)


He forgave a handicapped man of his sins and healed him. (Matthew 9:2-7)
He healed a woman with an issue of blood. (Matthew 9:20-22) 
He fed thousands, with the word and with food. (Matthew 14: 15-21)Jesus had compassion on the people because they were like sheep without a shepherd. (Mark 6: 34)  You too can do it. This is the time for it.





                                                                     August 23, 2020
                                                  Covid 19 – Teaches something Beautiful.
             mirrors what our hearts truly desire: our rest with God.  Seeing something beautiful can change ugliness we find in this country. Without sacrificing our desire for justice or losing focus of the vigilance we need amidst a pandemic, we need to stop and recognize that that Something beautiful attracts and has more power than we usually afford it. It is a helpful remedy to the ffering I agree but when put hands together to help one another our suffering will be lighter –that is beautiful and can give us some rest in the midst of suffering. It is a rest that which is beautiful can change our hearts for the better and offer us a little moment of rest. Yes, many are suyour hearts because the beautiful goes straight to the heart. The perception of something truly beautiful stops us in our tracks and can give us a moment of pause, a moment of rest or wonder – the moment of delight. For a brief time, the heart rests in the beautiful because the beautiful finds a home in the human heart. Nothing could be further from such rest than many of the current events of our day. The Covid-19  pandemic, which has disrupted the lives of people across the globe. Many are out of their means of livelihood and are suffering – physically, psychologically, and spiritually. So many people have died across the globe. Covid-19 is ugly. In addition to that there is the sad and horrible death of many recently in South Kaduna and across the country at the hands of youths’ brutality and the subsequent senseless and destructive violence in its wake. This, too, is ugly and manmade. These harsh realities reveal the ugliness in our hearts. This is uglier than the covid pandemic. The vaccine for this killing is in our hands and we can’t use it because we are ugly. The ugliness of sin, suffering, and hatred can distort the capacities of our minds and hearts to perceive and enjoy the beautiful. When the mind and heart are infiltrated by the ugly, the heart cannot rest. The result being a loss of meaning and purpose, often filled with bitter rage and hate, anxiety and chaos. The ugliness that suffering and sin usher into this country – without the antidote of God – can fetter the heart to this ugliness and lock it into place with a dead end. Many wealthy politicians have for a long time made the youth of this country to believe that all is power and money and this must be got at all cost. They give money, promise power, get to the top and destroy the youth that foolishly fought for them. The vicious circle of youth obedience to the powerful and mischievous at the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, violence and cruelty continues and many of the innocent youth end up in suffering and jail while the real grand thieves run this country.
                Only something beautiful can change our situation. A simple invitation to love what is good and beautiful can begin to make a new pathway to the dead end of our problem. Some time projecting the life and sacrifice of our national heroes and what love, patriotism, forgiveness and justice did in the lives instead of our present and extraordinary emphasis on wealth and power can bring nearer the idea of goodness and beauty. Beauty is something that radiates in our minds beyond the sensible world. When someone truly grasps something beautiful, the very hardness and ugliness of heart they may have begins to scatter by the radiance of this new, penetrating light. They begin to see a need in their world the desire to fill the need will in turn fill their heart with compassion move them to tears and actions. Care about people and their plight. Care because Jesus cares and wants compassion to flow in this country.  Please be the heart and hands of Jesus to a lost country. 


                                                                      August 16, 2020
                                          Covid. 19 - Nigeria needs more of human decency
             Many in this country are facing more trials, temptations and setbacks. Emotionally healthy people also have tough times. But the present pandemic seems to put everyone in the same trial. Our society stinks whether you know it or not. An air of brokenness pervades our national horizon. Sometime time ago we were all angry with someone he said that this country is a cheat-hole. He should not have said that but looking at real condition he may not be wrong. We are the ones making this country a cheat-hole because many of us are cheats.   Actually, human decency is the lifeblood of any civilization and culture. The desire to help each other keeps humanity surviving and thriving. This is a kind of craving to reduce slaughter and make life better for everyone. It is the driving force of social and national advancement. Every government program that reduces poverty, improves health, prevents violence, upgrades nutrition, guarantees human rights, betters education, secures housing, assures equality, cures disease, enforces fairness, among other things, is a step in the process - decency. Can we proudly be positive about this for Nigeria? Nigeria has a problem, you all know it - she lacks decency. But who is to blame? Quickly I say all of us to blame. At all levels we have not done what we should do to help one another. The youths who suffer most are used to cause havoc and to slaughter other youths.
            In many countries the decline of violence may be the most significant and least-appreciated development.  But in our country brutality is deeply woven into the fabric of our daily existence. Murder, rape, genocide, torture, wife-beating, lynching, duelling, tribal/religious attacks and killings are the order of the day. Our today’s instant flashing of lurid news scenes, especially over the past few years, makes it appear that terrible behaviour is everywhere in this country.  You can disappear and get lost anywhere and anytime in this country. Savagery has its way everywhere. Even in this pandemic there is so much going on right now that demands our attention and none of it is good. I will not torture you with a litany of it all – you do not need reminding. Suffice it to say that it is overwhelming.Put decency in what you have to do to get by. But do not abandon your dreams of being human – decent. Do not restrict them. Do not curtail them. When it comes to justice for human life, justice for the poor and weak do not set small goals, let the sky be your limit. Whether we are talking about politics, the pandemic, or our ordinary everyday lives, I assure you we are a long way from being complete. Completion will be determined at least in part by our present actions. And our actions flow from our goals and dreams. The famous saying: “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” And remembering that “in these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” (Romans 8:37) I find the answer to all our troubles of life – faith in Jesus. Jesus is the answer to all the prejudice, hatred, violence and even COVID-19. Your faith in him is the secret to set people free. You have the answers to all of life’s questions. You carry around in your body the antidote to hopelessness and guilt. God believes in you, and He is reaching out through you to win the lost, broken and abused. Your faith tells you very strongly that you are a warrior for God among your people. You will overcome all obstacles and trials. You were designed by God to do great exploits. Hardship is not a sign you have sin in your life rather it is a sign you are on the right track with God.


                                                                August 9,2020
                                  Covid-19 Pandemic- Opportunity for self knowledge
           These days the world feels ‘afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed but not driven to despair; persecuted but not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed’ ( Corth. 4: 7.). This is true just because of whom we are. Do you know you are royalty, chosen, holy, special and part of the Light-Christ. I have heard many say that they have never been in a very deep, dark, tormented situation as the world is now due to the covid-pandemic. Many have been subjected to a kind of imprisonment caused by the lies, shame, guilt, rejection, self-hate, addiction and suicidal thoughts. The enemy like the roaring lion knows, if he could isolate you, he could torment and lie to you. Many during this horrifying period have been wearing this cloak of shame, loss of hope, self-hate for too long.
            For a moment, think of God literally removing this cloak off your shoulders because of who you are – a creature so dear to God. What will He not do for a loved child like you – so royal, chosen and special. When you fully realise this truth you will feel some lightness in your heart, His tangible presence and peace. He is your Father, He is the very air that you breathe. You love the Father-God so much, and you know He loves you equally. You may not understand everything, but He understands every situation. You may not be sure of what happens next but he is in control and will never leave or forsake you because you are royal to him. Rather, He clothes you with righteousness.
           If He permits the present situation for reasons best known to him, who are you to question him since you know he will surely bring our boat safe to the shore. You need to learn to love the new discovered you and at the same time not hate the old you of the past. Forgive yourself, let go of your past behaviours, memories or identities. Do not be stuck in the failures of your past or the labels you have been going with, they can only help you move from where you are to your new found state. You can be completely honest about yourself. Whatever that past may have been, God is ready to change that for you. This is one of the good things we have learnt since following the Blessed Iwene Tansi and studying the lives of the Saints who have gone before us living the life of faith. You are created for growth and success and not for any kind of failure. Whatever kind of failure you may have experienced is for now a lesson for your success to come. Because ‘you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) Repeat today to the hearing of yourself and others: “I am royalty, chosen, holy, special and part of the light.” You should fall in love with the new found you. (2Cor. 5:17) ​


                                                                    August 2, 2020
                                 Covid. 19 Pandemic – dare to pray and go to Mass.
            Prayer and Mass are so necessary in the midst of pandemic and present societal collapse.  In dystopia, as we experience around the world today, would it not be safer and more meritorious to worship in a more socially acceptable way? Get it right, humanity is helpless before this pandemic, big and small countries are affected alike, powerful and weak are both on their knees, rich and poor run with equal anxiety for safety.   The pandemic has exposed the nothingness and powerlessness of the self made rich and powerful. This was the condition of man when Christ first walked the streets of Israel and it is precisely to deal with the miserable human condition that the night before He died, the Lord made Eucharist. When one is bereft of one act of worship that is right and just for human solution what else does one expects. We need to return to that table of the Cross-Altar-Eucharist. Without the Word of God and the Eucharist to lift up our hearts, the world's empty boorishness is deaf to the cry of human injustice to heaven. It is to help humanity escape this labyrinth of anxiety and despair that Catholics must go to Mass.
                We go to mass to meet with Blessed Iwene Tansi and the other Saints of God who over the centuries have put their lives on the line so that we might enjoy blessings we ourselves did nothing to earn. We remember that Blessed Tansi and these saints are signs of hope, reminding us that what is noble is also worthy of the sacrifices we share as a people. The Blessed Tansi in his priestly ministry sacrificed a lot to bring the Mass to his people because he believed it to be a sign of hope and salvation. He was never tired of making long and dangerous pastoral treks through the bushes to the remote villages and farm lands to celebrate masses. The Sacrifice of the Mass makes their belief, efforts and conviction present to us again. At this time world-over there is so much suffering especially among poor and vulnerable.  The Crucified Christ has chosen to disguise Himself in their plight and without the Mass, we can never recognize Him.  We go to Mass because, contrary to the prevailing voices of lost hope and doom, our Christian faith teaches us to believe first and foremost that we are not condemned but forgiven at a great price. When we go to Mass we stake out a claim that before the Cross we are each of us judged as thieves and liars. The blood of Abel is on our hands. Before the Cross to which the Mass brings us, we see, in the very face of all our self-contradiction, there is truth and this truth raised up on the Cross has taken the form of mercy. Participating in the Mass opens floodgates of astonishing wonder and confident sharing in Christ's great sacrifice unleashes torrents of Divine Glory on the suffering and unrepentant humanity.
             At Mass, we stand as children of the Most High God whose Love has called us to true worship and we find the courage to work for reconciliation and to believe in the power of kindness even more than the threat of covid pandemic-disease. Not worthy that the Lord should enter under our roof, we accept responsibility for what we have done and failed to do, and as Christ calls to us at Mass, we climb down from our pride to repair what damage we have done giving Him the opportunity to heal the broken situation of the world. May the prayers of Blessed Iwene Tansi assist every one of us.​                                                            


                                                                      July 26, 2020
                                                             The World is Suffering
         ‘May God bless you, be gracious to you, hear and answer your prayers’. When I remember that we have missed each other for some weeks partly because of the very difficult times we are all going through it becomes totally reasonable to give you blessings. It is a gracious and useful option when you cannot find words to respond to someone else’s difficult circumstance. May God work it out for all of you and remove the stones from your path. Sometimes, when terrible things as we are seeing now are going on, we feel inclined or even obligated to provide big, important, theologically profound answers to the existence of evil not only in the world, but in that other person’s own life. However, some occasions might call for it. But when confronted with another person’s grief and trouble, the sympathetic listener might do better to say, I am praying for you; may God do something for you. In the present situation we are all in the same boat. Our griefs right now are piled up so high. No one person can even understand all of them. A better thing to do is to repeat prayers and blessings. We need God’s blessing. We need him to turn his face towards us. We need him to give us his peace and healing. We need him to keep us and be gracious to us. We need him to take care of both us and our children and our children’s children. And we need this all the time—in the morning, in the evening, every moment, every hour. We need it right now, for if God turns away from us, that is darkness and despair. The person who does not think he needs God’s attention and love and blessing is in a bad way—deluded in the short run, lost in the long one. This is the most powerful weapon we have at this trying period. With the right disposition we can trust that he has already answered our prayers. He is for us, he has blessed us, he is keeping us, his face shines on us. How can we know this? Because we are suffering.
          In 1944 Blessed Tansi as the parish priest of Dunukofia was faced with a similar situation as
the world is facing today. There was a deadly epidemic of small-pox, a very deadly and infectious sickness. Many were affected by the epidemic and many died. As the plague assumed its large proportions the harsh laws of banishment became impracticable because of the vast numbers of those affected. The healthy and the rich who could care for themselves, fled to the neighbouring towns. It was believed that whoever visited the patient would himself contact the disease. Fr. Tansi remained moving from one village to another, administering the Sacraments, giving some medicine and burying the dead. The Catechist who accompanied him was afraid, stayed at a distance, while Fr. Tansi went from hut to another looking for the weak, the dying and the dead. He relied on the power of his faith and prayers.
           The whole world suffers now. That is what it means to be human. That is why every single
person endures so much disappointment—because no one wants to experience suffering, and yet every single person does. For the person who turns his or her face against God, who shakes a fist or just does not even pay attention, suffering turns out to be pointless. There is no reason for it. Covid 19 is for everyone—the whole world endures this terrible time. But for those who love God, covid 19 is actually good. It is God’s blessing; it is his favour and goodness for those he loves. See and feel it for is an objective reality. God does not give bad things to those he has called, to those he loves. A lot of his gifts feel awful, but they are not awful. All of them are good. So do not despair, go ahead and pray that everyone might come within the reach of God’s saving embrace. Blessed Iwene Tansi-Pray for us.                                                                                           


                                                                    April 12, 2020


                                              ​   Easter Victory in Closed Churches.

         Governments at national and state levels have imposed restrictions and lockdowns to check the spread of the coronavirus.  In our villages local authorities have forced all religious groups to suspend prayer gatherings. And Catholics are no exception. For the first time, our Catholic bishops have asked their people not to go to churches to take part in the annual liturgies that mark the core of their faith — the passion, death and resurrection of Christ. As far as I know it has never happened in the history of the Catholic Church, which has challenged persecutions, calamities, wars and plagues to preserve and celebrate her faith. What is happening?  Is the fear of death above faith in God many ask? Death remains a major talking point these days. It cannot be otherwise when a virus continues to kill people across the world, unconcerned about race, status, riches, nobility, faith or political clout.
            With this quarantine heavy mortifications have been imposed by circumstances beyond human control. The faithful cannot participate in the liturgies of our faith. Nevertheless, the Easter victory will be more powerful than ever, because with the churches closed God comes much close to our quarantine – homes and families. In this Easter season, death stares at humanity. In the Archdiocese parish priests are instructed to have Passion Week liturgies privately, offering them for their people. The vital liturgies include Maundy Thursday that celebrates the institution of the Eucharist, the source and summit of Catholic faith life, and the Good Friday service that remembers the passion and death of Christ. Celebrated without people, they cannot be anything more than rituals. But that is how things have been this year.
               All hope is not gone the holy apostles thought themselves bereft of the One they hoped might be the Messiah. On the Mount of Olives, three of them slept a depressed sleep, haunted by anxious confusion. At this time we should not entertain the impression of being abandoned by God who had promised to be with us always. How could the Lord forget his solemn words ‘I shall not leave you orphans’. It make sense, the Satan is try to steal your Easter joy and victory. No, he cannot, no matter how much he may try. He is “a murderer from the beginning … a liar and the father of lies” (Jn 8, 44). Christ suffered the cruel passion and death, in order to redeem our human nature, to restore to us true life and to bring us surely and safely to our true destiny: eternal life with Him. This is the true Easter victory. Our joy does not take away the sharp sting of loss and death but with confidence and courage, faces them as part of the lifelong combat of love which we are called to wage during this life – after all we are, by God’s grace, true soldiers of Christ (2 Tm 2, 3) – in the sure knowledge of the victory of eternal life.
            We love Christ and his Redemptive Incarnation by which He is alive for us in Church, and for this we are joyful in fighting the good fight with Him, in staying the course, no matter what trials we face, and in keeping the faith, when the Father of Lies tempts us to doubt Christ and even to deny Him. “Do not fear, only believe” (Mk 5, 36). As some today seem to live without hope because of the coronavirus let them remember that the victory over the epidemic does not depend totally on us. God alone can bless our efforts and give us the victory over loss and death.  Prayer is our strength, prayer is our resource. Here then is the favourable moment to rediscover the fatherhood of God and our being children.
          Easter victory and blessings are rooted in eternal truth, the victory of Christ over what clearly looked like his annihilation, the victory won in His human nature for the sake of the same victory in our human nature, no matter what hardships we may be suffering. If we believe in Christ, if we trust in His promises, then we must celebrate with joy His great work of the Redemption. 


                                                                     April 5, 22020
                                                 Quarantine Holy Week - a Moral Test.

             It is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy week. Most of our churches are either empty or closed. Major streets in our big cities void and silent, the population is locked into their apartments – what is wrong? Families, relations and friends are keeping their social distance in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus.  Before our eyes the traditions of our faith are being turned upside down at the moment, noting that Holy week and Easter celebrations are most likely going to be in the closed four walls of our apartments. Never has this happened in my life as a Christian and as a priest. Is this a moral test or what?
           There is a storm of uncertainty, fear, and anxiety everywhere in the country. If the storm is unabated it will expose more our vulnerability and uncover those false and superfluous certainties and falsehood around which we have constructed our daily schedules, our projects, our habits, and priorities. It will show us how we have ignored and allowed to become dull and feeble the very things that nourish, sustain and strengthen our lives and our communities – our love of God and neighbour. Prices of essential commodities have suddenly high rocked with the slightest mention of this storm on the shores of our country. If we don’t show concern for our suffering neighbour how do we expect to get mercy from God? The way we treat others the same way God will treat us.
             This storm is very capable of exposing the reality of our nothingness and helplessness which we often have covered with our egos. This global storm - coronavirus pandemic, which has infected more than half a million people worldwide and resulted in more than 30,000 deaths has left every one rich and poor panicking. More importantly for weeks now it has been evening in our big cities especially Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Onitsha. Thick darkness has gathered over our markets, squares, and streets; it has taken over our lives, filling everything with a deafening silence and a distressing void. Here in Onitsha we feel it in the air, we notice it in people’s gestures. Some are afraid and lost having been caught off guard by an unexpected, turbulent storm. Rich and poor, sick and healthy, pastors and faithful have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented.  All of us concerned called together for action. Could this be a moral lesson to help and show us a way forward for a future better Nigeria?  Do we really need a storm to learn this lesson? All of us in this boat-Nigeria need comforting each other. We need common hands on deck for our common good and survival. On this boat are all of us. Let us all speak anxiously with one voice saying we are perishing so that we cannot go on thinking of ourselves, but only together can we win in this country.
              Let us all admit that wrongly in this country we have all gone ahead at breakneck speed, feeling powerful and able to do anything. Greedy for material gains and profit, we let ourselves get caught up in things, and lured away by haste. I see this storm as a reproach to us, we have not been shaken by the evils of injustice in this country, nor have the blood of so many innocent killings disturbed us, nor have we listened to the cry of the poor. We have carried on arrogantly regardless, thinking we would stay healthy in a country that is so sick. Now that we are in a storm, let us learn the moral lesson.The quarantine Holy week and Easter  will remind us that by his cross we have been saved in order to embrace hope and strengthen to sustain all measures and all possible avenues for helping us protect ourselves and others. In his cross we find the courage to embrace all the hardships of the present time, abandoning for a moment our past eagerness for power and possessions in order to be capable of inspiring others after the storm. It means finding the courage to create a country where everyone can recognize that they are called to new forms of love, hospitality, fraternity, and solidarity irrespective of tribe and religion. 


                                                                       March 29, 2020
                                                            2020 Lenten Journey we need.
            On February 26 we celebrate Ash Wednesday and mark the beginning for the season of Lent for 2020. Since then many of us have given up something as a sign of penance: a favorite food, desert, drinks, smoking and what have you. The whole point of giving up something is to replace it with a spiritual practice.  What spiritual practice have you taken to replace what you have given up. Some give more time to prayer and meditation, some go to mass daily some visit the sick more regularly while others devote their time in works of charity.  What to do is up to you but you must do something to fortify yourself for the looming spiritual struggle ahead. If Jesus was tempted, we are certainly not exempt. The evil one will come after you. That is a guarantee. Unfortunately for all of us our plans for this lent and whatever they might have been, planned or not, the pandemic has changed everything. Far beyond our control, God’s permissive will has allowed the pestilence of the coronavirus to cover the earth including Nigeria. To fight this pestilence our civil and religious leaders are putting unexpected and compulsory measures upon us: quarantines, restrictions on movement and gatherings, social distancing, cancellation of work, entertainment, and time with family. In some dioceses the sacraments have been publicly suspended. As it is now I am not sure of possibility of public Holy week ceremonies. For people like me it seems the world is turning upside down.
            In fact in these restrictions God has designed a new and perhaps a more spiritual journey for 2020 lent for us. This is where we are. This is our world, at least for now. No amount of anger, shaking our fists, annoying our neighbours, and burdening every one with complaints and negativity can win this war against corona virus. We can choose a higher path and accept these measures as our new lenten ascetical practices, adjust patiently to them, allow their annoyance to become opportunities for selfless service to our loved ones, and seek to grow internally in the lessons of humility and self-abandonment. In addition, the restrictions can be a source of light-heartedness and humor. Our Blessed Tansi did just that in his own case. We can learn what to do from his example. In 1944 there was a serious and terrifying epidemic of small pox at Nando, an outstation of his parish Dunukofia. Many were affected by the epidemic and many died. Small-pox was another dreadful sickness in Igbo land. Like the lepers the consequence was banishment to the evil forest. As the plague assumed its large proportions the harsh laws of banishment became impracticable because of the vast numbers of those affected. The healthy and the rich who could care for themselves, fled to the neighbouring villages. It was believed that whoever visited the patient would himself contact the disease. On hearing of the Nando epidemic Fr. Tansi rushed to the place, administering the Sacraments, giving some medicine and burying the dead. The Catechist who accompanied him was afraid, stayed at a distance, while Fr. Tansi went from hut to hut looking for the weak, the dying and the dead. He was to the sick the doctor and the nurse and to the dead a funereal undertaker. Those who experienced what he was doing thought he would contact the dreadful sickness but he did not. During the period though his days were fully engaged and despite the hardship and personal discomforts he imposed on himself, the Father was always encouraging and stressing the importance of the confessional act as a means to bring spiritual comfort to the sick and dying.  Greater seriousness was given to providing the Eucharist to the sick and dying.  In the spiritual life our equipment is our mind and hearts. There is hope even now. The hope is Jesus Christ and his sacraments. Receive the sacraments and help your sick and dying neighbour to the best of your ability. Who knows how many will survive the looming epidemic, but remember in life you can choose to be either angry or entertained. In these weeks in which a surprising Lent has been given to us, accompanied by an array of unexpected ascetical practices, we can choose to be entertained. Rather than focusing on what used to be let us choose to be here now.  We can accept reality, and truly make this Lent and its blessings our own.


​                                                               March 15, 2020


                                                      Discover yourself this lent.
               If we put before us the ceremony we had on Ash Wednesday when we received and wore as a public declaration that we are sinners who ask for the mercy and grace of God, we will quickly become more honest to ourselves. These acts announce the simple humbling admissions of our souls to us and to the rest of the world. They tell us of a sobering message of our human weakness before God and our neighbour.  There couldn’t be a better or more transparent way to start a change in our life. This change MUST continue for the rest of our lives. Our participation in lent is about accepting who we are. It is acknowledging the bad news of human weakness that is oftentimes in our hearts and in our world. It is about confessing our waywardness. Lent opens a forum where we can admit to ourselves, and to those around us, that we are sinners and in need of divine help. By acknowledging the sinfulness in our souls, such sinfulness loses its power over us. By confessing them, we realize their interior weakness and futility. Lent is the season of confessions and of freedom in Jesus Christ.

                Encouraging his parishioners to go to confession and his staying for very long hours at the confessional are some fundamental characteristic of Blessed Tansi extraordinary priestly figure. One of his spiritual sons now a prince of the church told me, that even though “He was courageous in preaching the whole Gospel and all the commandments without discount or equivocation. He heard Confessions with zeal”. He was diligent in the practice of the sacrament of penance. Thus he distinguished himself as an excellent, tireless confessor and spiritual director. We are all saints and sinners, Tansi made this clear to us and that was the reason why he sat at the confessional for very long hours. For him the sacrament of penance was synonymous with going on treks. His treks were regular and consistent through his large and scattered towns and villages of his parish. Wherever the priest was visiting there were also confessions which always began with instructions, self examination and prayers for contrition. With preaching and persuasive advice he helped his parishioners to rediscover the meaning and beauty of the sacrament of Penance, as he presented it as an inherent demand of the Eucharistic presence and participation. The pastoral concern he gave to personal repentance and confession made his parishioners believe that the sacrament is essential for our life as Catholic disciples as this sacrament fills us with an increase in the gifts of faith, hope, charity and fortitude providing us with a deeper knowledge of ourselves and a deeper intimacy with God.

            All devotees of Blessed Tansi must know that the consequences of sin are always disastrous. We can never be ourselves when we sin. God's love is far greater than man's capacity to love. God can forgive what man refuses to forgive. The love, mercy and compassion of God can overcome the rebellion of the human heart. God patiently seeks the conversion of every person especially at the period of lent. We must therefore struggle for our own salvation by grace. Lent calls us to holiness, to love, to practise of patience, kindness and peace to those closest to us. This is the living out of our confession. It is the reason for the ashes. It is the work of Lent.


                                                                March 1, 2020


                                                    Blessed Tansi for a holy Lent

               The Christian time for conversion, for fasting and prayer and almsgiving began last Wednesday Feb.26, 2020. It is not just a memory, an event done and forgotten. Now to what end do we take up these practices. Why do we fast, pray, give a bit of alms and give up social media etc? We do all that because they are practices that will lead the Christian to a bit of holiness. They focus us on God, moving us away from the excesses that may hinder us from virtue.

              But looking at the lifestyle of Blessed Iwene Tansi we may have something more in store for us. His mortified penitential lifestyle is proposing a construction project for all his devotees, a building of a temple of holiness through the restoration of each Christian. His ascetic charity and endless pursuit of virtues remind us that we are temples of God. This image puts clearly before us our true Christian identity. The Church is a temple, the dwelling place of the Spirit as each baptized Christian is a stone in this temple, the presence of God made available to men and women. His lent was not just a period of forty days but his whole life commitment. Every day was lent for him – an opportunity to eschew selfishness, to love, to do good and to help a neighbour in need.

             If we are going to make a meaning out of what we did last Wednesday, if we want to be the temple of God, the presence of the Spirit, we must give up practices of self-deception, greed rampant in our society, chasing the wisdom of the world rather than the foolishness of God. We must look at the lifestyle of Blessed Tansi through who we can give ourselves over entirely to Christ, who comes daily to smooth our rough edges, clean up our morally objectionable life, placing us in communion with every member of Christ’s needy – the poor, the suffering and the abandoned.

            The practice of fasting, almsgiving and prayer that we take up each lent is like making a building project that will be completed at the end of our life. Each step at that building restores our splendour as the living stones in the temple of God. Before we took up ashes and the practices Lent, we needed to recognize whom we are - tell ourselves the truth about our life, our love of self, our love of the wisdom of this world.  Unless we know ourselves and tell ourselves the truth about us we may be living a fractured communion with ourselves, with God and with our neighbour. The life of Blessed Tansi is an opportunity for us to come to self-knowledge, knowledge of our own fragility and sinfulness.  Do we give food and drink to the thirsty neighbour or do we take from them the little they have. Do we see in those under us the suffering Christ? Are our concern only for self and family? Do we use our positions in life only for bastions of wealth and prestige instead of opportunity for self-emptying love and of friendship with the poor and lonely? The period of lent, in this sense, is a time of honest discernment. Remember it is only the wise person before God who is honest, who sees his defects and does something about it. Discernment is about seeing in advance, looking into the invisible realm of our life, thinking the way God thinks, declaring the impossible to be possible and touching God so that He touches us. Don’t make a mistake about - we are all broken and crumbling in need of serious repairs. Not just me, not just you, but the whole Church.                                                                                              


                                                                   February 23, 2020


                                                      Blessed Tansi impact on our lives

           ‘If you meet Blessed Iwene Tansi, you will change’ someone told me. Some say he is like fire. You can’t sit near the fire and remain indifferent. And if you become changed then you will have the ability to make change yourself. Blessed Tansi taught us to pay attention and to feel the sufferings of others. You can’t be indifferent to his concern for the poor lepers of his day, to the sufferings of the widows in his time, to the traditional segregation of the slaves and outcasts.  He gave the Nigerians of his time a great hope.  Today he gives us courage to do what we need to do in our times if we want to be called disciples of Christ and his devotees.

           Good devotees of Blessed Tansi should spend their time up close and personal with him sharing with the world what they have learnt from him. Articles of faith learnt, memorized and intellectualized will not be enough for his devotee.  With the poor, needy and the great injustice of our time before us we got to know what Blessed Tansi is all about. His priestly ministry of compassion taught us to believe in love and God. In spite of numerous disappointment and setbacks he just kept going, kept going, kept going, kept going. Through his lifestyle peace is possible in our turbulent nation. We can change our attitude if we want to.

             He did not look back in his pursuit for the good of others.  He just kept going. He insisted on the necessity doing more than he demonstrate and speak. He believed also in the necessity to act, and to act without fear since fear is often used to control us. What do we need to overcome the present day challenges of Nigerians?  He gives us a lasting solution - to have an eye on your neighbour’s welfare. He shunned all kinds of greed and was going out to the peripheries of his parish to touch the wounds of Christ. Today that lifestyle and attitude challenge us to do the same. He was a man of the beatitudes. He lived the beatitudes and today is calling us to love God with all our heart and all our soul and love our neighbour as ourselves. But we have a complicity, in our greed and selfish-laden society how can we let ourselves off so easily. But by very important token, we have suffered greatly for our mistakes and sins of greed in private and public life. Life is beautiful. Nigeria is blessed. Nigerians can live a privileged life. It is time for us to step up and do what we could and have to do. There is a lot of joy in standing up to the most powerful force on earth and giving ourselves over. We are in the hands of loving God. We are all called to be saints. 





                                                         February 16, 2020
                                                       Who are these Saints 
               Most of us grew up seeing statues or images of saints at church and in our homes. From childhood we become accustomed to the use the word ‘saint’. As I was growing up a catholic I have never asked why saints in the Catholic Church or why some are saints and others are not. All are accepted as part of the catholic faith. The word ‘saint’ refers to something or someone that has been ‘set apart’, that is ‘holy’. The Apostle Paul refers to Christians as ‘saints’ (Col 1:1-2). The reason St. Paul calls Christians ‘saints’ is that Christians have been ‘set apart’ and made holy by the grace of baptism. They are not like the rest of the world. Today the Church is only giving certain Christians the title ‘saint’ and not all Christians. The doctrine of the .communion of saint’ can help to understand the basis for the restricted use of the word saint. The Church teaches that “the communion of saints is the Church” (CCC 946-962). But the doctrine of the communion of saints, which is mentioned in the Apostle’s Creed, is more than that. All the baptized faithful in heaven, earth and purgatory form one body in Christ (Rom 12:15).
              Since they form part of one holy Body, the good of each is communicated to the others, which makes the communion of goods throughout the body possible.  Some of these goods include the faith received from the apostles, the diversity of charisms, the charity that is carried out, and the sacraments especially the Eucharist. Holiness extends to the three different states of the same Holy Body, which is the Church: the Church Militant (on earth), the Church Penitent (in purgatory) and the Church Triumphant (in heaven). Hence the Church bestows on some of its members who have passed from this life the title “saint.”
              Paul recognises the ‘saints’ who are still on earth and the ones who are in heaven. “May you be strengthened … giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in light”. (1 Cor.13:12) These ‘saints in light’ are those who have passed before us and that enjoy the light of God. They are the ones who possess the fullness of inheritance (sainthood) and the Christians on earth only share in that inheritance. What we see on earth in a mirror dimly, they see face to face in heaven the beatific vision. They are in God’s presence and are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4). They have run the race and have been crowned (2 Tim 4: 7). The church venerates them and calls them saints. We on earth form part of the Church Militant, who continues to run the race as pilgrims. 
                  The Church does not pretend to have a list of all the saints in heaven. As far as we know, one of our deceased family members may be enjoying the beatific vision. Even then, we should pray for them, that they may be made perfect and enter heaven, for we won’t know for certain if they have, unless the Church confirms it through a rigorous process. This rigorous process is what we have been doing in the case of Blessed Iwene Tansi. We know that when he lived here with us he was very exemplary in the love of Christ, the church and his fellow men and women. We know and can testify that he has run the race and have been victorious. He can’t be indifferent to the challenges we currently face on earth. Rather, he is always attentive to our prayers and, through his powerful intercession, he is eager to help us join him in heaven.


                                                                                                         February 9, 2020

                                                   St. Valentine inspires those in love
           Valentine popularly known and celebrated among many Nigerians as the ‘day of love’ or  ‘the day of friendship’ actually dates back to the third century, indeed many years ago. It is celebrated in honour of a young Italian priest who later became a bishop around 175 AD. He was famous for his evangelization efforts, miracles and healings like Blessed Iwene Tansi of our day. During his time the Emperor Claudius III made a law which prohibited the celebration of matrimony among young people because he the Emperor believed that single men without families were better soldiers, since they are not attached to anyone. St. Valentine did not comply with the decree of the emperor and challenged him by marrying young couples in secret. When the emperor found out, he sent for Valentine to be incarcerated. The bishop was tortured and then decapitated in 270 AD. In our days the Blessed Tansi was not happy with the state young people, women and marriage. He challenged the traditional laws that offend the sanctity of women and marriage. He set out to train girls for marriage and sanctified the marriage and family in general. 
             St. Valentine’s Day is a beautiful feast for all of us since it presents the opportunity to celebrate the truth about love, friendship and marriage.  St. Valentine is the patron of those in love, as a saint of the Catholic Church he inspires us to live out today in our lives in true love. Jesus left us a new commandment: “That you love one another; even as I have loved you” (Jn 13:34). This means that the point of reference that teaches us how to love is not how I love but how Jesus loves me. The mirror for all in love is as Jesus loves. Anything short of that yardstick is some other thing else but not love.
           Today this beautiful feast has been manipulated by many giving it some other unfortunate and too material meaning. It has become custom that the couple in love, whether they are boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife or simply friends, should express their love with a date or a present and the bigger and more expensive, the better. This is not the Christian meaning of Valentine Day. We all desire to love and to be loved. From the baby who sleeps in his mother’s arms to the elderly man who impatiently awaits a visit from his children and family, we all have an innate necessity to know that we are important, valuable and loved by someone else. Our hearts long for love, whether we know it or not. God created us with a thirst and urge to be loved so that we could search for him, who is the only fount of love.
            Valentine celebration should be God and heaven orientated for love is man’s activity for all eternity the only reason that justifies the existence of each and every one of us. The human act by which a person chooses and does the good for another is the supreme act of liberty. And the greatest proof of love was given to us by Jesus Christ. He gave himself up entirely and poured out his blood for us. Bishop Valentine went to his grave defending love and marriage and more recently our Blessed Iwene Tansi challenged customs and all who perpetuate unchaste act against women and marriage.


​

                                                             January 26, 2020


                                             Blessed Tansi for Becoming Saints
             I believe that we have all followed the novena prayers which led us to the feast of Blessed Tansi on Monday 20th January 2020. I wish to thank all who joined in the novena and the feast. At the shrine of Blessed Tansi Aguleri the Archdiocese had a big celebration and many from all works of life participated. The homilist Bishop Godfrey Onah at the Eucharistic celebration in his charismatic way convinced the congregation that the reason why all gathered for the celebration was because they believed holiness was important in their lives and that they are sincerely seeking for holiness through the invocation of Blessed Tansi. Holiness of life is another way of becoming a saint. Becoming a saint as holiness is a choice of a friendship with Christ. Every path of holiness implies a choice that is renewed at every step of life. The choice that Jesus sets before us is to follow him as friends follow one another, seeking each other’s company and spending time together out of pure friendship.  But is it really true that we choose to be holy?  Yes and no! If we place holiness as a radical option and a choice it is difficult to say ‘no’ to holiness in a direct, definitive and exclusive way. Normal practical reason prevents us from choosing evil as evil. The ‘no’ to holiness is more likely a “yes” to holiness delayed indefinitely.  No sane person would choose something that exceeds his potential. We are naturally called to be holy. The contrary is a negation.
            We are all inspired by the heroic holiness of Blessed Iwene Tansi. It might be profitable to ask what is the key to his holiness and in what does that key reside. For him and for all of us it is ‘if you love me keep my commandments’. Bl. Tansi showed his fellow Nigerians how to accept the will of God at all times and in all circumstances. He was touched by the beauty of God’s love and could not but respond with his whole life in the midst of difficulties and trials. He met the love of God in Jesus Christ, the Eucharist and in his fellow men and women in the church community. We too equally have the same opportunity but often are too distracted by many superficial things or are afraid that following the Lord’s calling may rub us of our ‘freedom’.
             From the day of his ordination to the priesthood it was clear to him what he was called to become and to do. He showed all of us what everyday doing the will of God really means.  In his life as in many saints, we see over and again trials and sufferings which often come from the hands of those who are suppose to be at their side.  The very people, who should have held them up, were pushing them down.  These become for them opportunities for redemptive suffering.  Today we have Christians in government, in business, in married life, and other positions suffering in ways that we cannot imagine, often by the hand of governments, superiors, relations, friends or the people next door. Here we can easily see the connection between this suffering and the Christian life. Christ and his Saints are part of our history. God gave us the Blessed Tansi who some fifty years past spent his life entirely for him and his fellow Nigerians. Through his efforts the Christian faith is firmly planted in this soil, and in this way it continues to grow and to produce much fruit which we now enjoy in this country.
           Finally, may our veneration and devotion to Blessed Tansi on his feast day remind us that we all need each other and depend on each other. We are all members of the same Body, and may our sharing in the Eucharist make us more aware in a very concrete way of the catholicity, the universality of the Church, and of our real oneness in Christ. Fr. Tansi virtuous life can contribute even a little to that awareness that by itself will be no small achievement, for it is something that the world of today most needs.

                                                                          January 19, 2020.
                                                       Celebrate Bl. Tansi Feast Day [January, 20]
Experience of yesterday saint is relevant today
           One of the many lasting heritage and attribute of the Catholic Church is its ability to attract to the state of evangelical perfection men and women from every place and culture, into its vast aura of holiness. Such men and women are honoured, remembered and prayed to, not because of where they come from nor for what they accomplished, but for that ever attractive and inspiring state of holiness which they were able to achieve during their life time. What inspires us most about them is their shared singular pursuit of holiness and their love and compassion for their fellow men and women. Blessed Iwene Tansi whose feast we will be celebrating on Monday 20 January 2020 is one of such men who left a print of holiness on the sand of our time. To appreciate his passion for Christ and souls and idea of his holiness and virtuous life let me borrow from people who are better qualified than me to speak about holiness of life and virtues.



      1. St. Pope John Paul 11
            “The life and witness of Father Tansi is an inspiration to everyone in the Nigeria […] is a prime                  example of the fruits of holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the              Gospel was first preached in this land. He received the gift of faith through the efforts of the                           missionaries, and taking the Christian way of life as his own he made it truly African and                             Nigerian[…] Father Tansi's witness to the Gospel and to Christian charity is a spiritual gift which              this local Church[Nigeria] now offers to the Universal Church.” (Sermon @ Oba-Nigeria March                22, 1998)

      2. His Lordship, Bishop Anthony Nwedo
             “[...] it may be high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has                   left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael                     Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering. He had a very high                       degree of energy, enthusiasm and candour and the sensitiveness which is their concomitant. He                   had a generosity of temperament which was entirely self forgetful”. (Sermon at the re-interment                   Mass Onitsha 1986)

      3. His Eminence, Francis Cardinal Arinze.
            “O! Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi! He was a Nigerian, one hundred percent! […]. […] He              was the first Catholic priest that I knew. Father Tansi opened our parish which was called                            Dunukofia in 1939. […] He was a person ready to serve others. For example, when there were                    smallpox patients, and also lepers, they were segregated. Everybody run away from them but not                  Father Tansi! He gave them food and he himself gave them the sacraments. He was always                          available. So in many ways, he is a model for us especially for the Nigerian of today. He lived out                the Gospel in a way that was convincing, a way that [gave] credible witness, with a very high                      degree of credibility. The type of witness that is contagious. […] You would not be indifferent to                    Blessed Tansi if you knew him. You are either for him or you will want to run away from him. It is                 like fire. You can’t be near fire and be indifferent. You will [surely] be affected. And Fr. Tansi had                 fire, so he was inspiring. […] He also appreciated the human person, from the little child to the                  youth; he helped them to become somebody through schooling to realize what human dignity is.                    Blessed Tansi showed a Christian sensitivity to the work of every human person, man, woman or                  child”. (Speaking in an oral interview on the person of Blessed Tansi)

      4. Rev. Fr. Gregory Wareing OCSO [ Novice Master of Fr. Tansi at Mt St. Bernard Abbey]
            “In Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi we meet one who came from being a devout pagan                        village boy to a Catholic Christian,  to a Catholic  priest, to a Cistercian monk, to the honours of                  the alter and perhaps God willing soon to the fullness of the honours of the alter.  His early search              for the truth and God drew him increasingly towards the missionaries, but there were many hurdles             on his way. He passed through several stages on his journey, each rooted in his humble acceptance             of the will of God and truth. His journey of faith was characterized fundamentally by openness to                 truth, conversion and missionary approach.  He will ever be remembered as one of the faithful                     servants of the church in our days who lived out the call and mind of the church in his life”.

     5. His Lordship, Abbot Moakler OCSO
           “Fr. Cyprian began as a missionary. He was among the first Nigerians to be ordained, and he led                 his people by word and example. There is no saying what his future would have been had he                         remained in his native country. But he felt the call to follow Christ in another way. He too was                     urged by the love of God and of his fellow men and women. He too was a man of prayer, intent on               personal union with the Lord. He wanted to bring the monastic and contemplative life to Nigeria ―            and since no one seemed ready to go to him; he himself asked to go to a monastery so that in due                  time he could bring that way of life back to his homeland. As we know, things did not turn out like                that. God’s ways are strange. Fr. Cyprian was not to do this personally, for he died before his                        longing could be carried out. When he left Nigeria, he disappeared as far as his own people were                concerned. He had gone from light into darkness, from a life in the sight of all to a life hidden from              the world. Yet he did not see it as a running away, as an avoiding of responsibilities. For him it was              God’s call, an invitation to go into the unknown, to leave his country and his family like Abraham                and so many others, and to undertake what he believed to be a deeper and more enduring                            apostolate. It was, like all true calls from God, a venture of faith.” (Sermon Mount St. Bernard,                    Farewell Mass September 18 1986)



These testimonies, what do they tell us today as we come to celebrate the Feast of Blessed Tansi. They bring us to one thing: we are all called to holiness. We should never look at the saints of yesterday as not relevant for today. There are many more saints who have entered heaven, than are recorded.  It does not change their status, but it puts a spotlight on them for us to reference. The circumstances may change, but the principles do not because they are rooted in Jesus Christ who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.



                                                                         Dec. 22, 2019
                                          Emmanuel: God with Us - A Christmas Message

              During these past three weeks of advent season we have waited ‘in joyful hope for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ’. With Christmas approaching quickly we cannot but begin to rejoice in our ‘blessed hope’ for the promises to us is coming-Jesus our King coming to his poor territory [the world] to pay a visit to everyone of his empire. He is here; he has not withdrawn from his empire and has not deserted the hopes of his people. He is God’s answer to the longings for liberation of countless hearts who do not yet know Him. For those who already knew him an invitation to pause in silence to understand his presence in the individual events of their daily life. His presence is a signs of the attention he has for each
one of us as he mercifully whispers into our ears, not to trust in what we see, not to share in that general lack of faith, not to be carried away by the world and its material pleasures, but to take heed, watch and pray and avoid filling the longing in our hearts for God with material things.
            As we will soon begin to celebrate this joy of his presence I will like to encourage you to make room in your heart to receive this greatest gift the world has known: the birth of Christ. Open wide your heart and say, ‘Yes, Jesus, I have room for you.’ This will help you to experience all the blessings of Christmas, the indescribable gift that Jesus gave in coming to dwell among us – Emmanuel, the one word found in Matthew 1:23. It is a Hebrew word meaning: "With us God." God with us! It is an amazing word! It is a very precious word. I hope that the Lord will speak to our hearts today showing us the grace and mercy of God revealed in the Incarnation. Emmanuel is God’s presence among us as he first came over 1900 years ago. He came as a little babe in Bethlehem placing himself at the mercy of mortal men. In the same way he comes daily, hourly, unto us who believe in Him, revealing Himself
to us now as he shall come again in His glorified body to take us back to the kingdom of our Father.
         Thank God we have Emmanuel, God’s gift to humanity. He is not only the One we wanted, but He is also the One we most needed. How we enjoy thinking and talking and thanking God for the Christmas celebration. But let us face it, along with the Christmas celebration comes the Christmas challenges. Christmas celebration brings with it many challenges. Christmas continually calls us back to living faith, repentance, and a renewed relationship with the Lord - to the things that really matter. Christmas presents an opportunity for shaping family life, developing customs and practicing family piety, all of which can help us to assimilate the beauty and truth revealed in the comings of the Lord. Christmas unfolds for us a road, a way, a path for the Christian life and a deepening of the Christian vocation. In it, Jesus comes,
sanctifies and transforms our ordinary into the extraordinary, by grace.


                                                                         Dec. 15, 2019
                                                                 Great lessons of Advent.
          Our Christian religion is essentially different from the traditional religion of our grandparents. The Christian does not merely follow a series of rules and regulations, nor does he submit himself to a guru's indications of how to live certain austere principles. Christianity is not about a what, but about a who.  It is about relationship with the best of all friendships - Jesus. Relationship with Jesus is personal.  He is real and alive.  He sees us, hears us, speaks with us and walks with us.  He is always there to bless us and to strengthen us. Advent prepares us to meet this great personal friend.
           John the Baptist figures prominently in our Advent gospel readings as the “burning and shining lamp” (Jn. 5:35). He helps us to understand the message of advent which is an invitation to repentance/reconciliation-returning to the ways of the Lord. The simple people of his time, the poor and lowly ones who longed for goodness, lined up to receive the waters of the Jordan River from John’s hands as they humbly confessed their sins. Isaiah is another prophet with the Lord’s command to prophesy to the people. Isaiah did not only preach but lived what he preached. He feared God, not man. He never thought twice about going up to kings and declaring to their faces what God wants from them. He rebuked and encouraged people regardless of their standing. His message is clear-do not fear! Fear leads all of us to a
lot of foolish decisions. It is through fear that the devil holds us in bondage. The solution to fear is trust in God. Even if we were to be killed, we would still win.
          Fr. Tansi is another prophet of our time. He does not just call us to virtue, he shows us the way. Getting direction from someone when we are lost can be a frustrating experience. Sometimes you come across a kind person who says to you, ‘come, I will take you there’.  In this case, the person is the way and you cannot go wrong. Fr. Tansi sought to take his parishioners by hand to show them the way to heaven. He does not give advice and directions only; he leads with his own example.  Through his honest compassion and apostolic zeal within the circumstances of his daily life he leads many to true repentance.  He shows Jesus to others by saying and doing gospel demands-love your neighbour, forgive all, help those in need, do not molest the weak especially the widows and women. He denounces openly obnoxious laws and customs as well as those who perpetrate them.  His parishioners followed him as the people of Israel followed John the Baptist since authentic relationship automatically brings one to imitation.
           Today, because of political or social alliances, friendship, or fear individual Catholics allow political views, programs and influence to overrule their faith. Catholics need to be Catholics first everywhere and every time, and be willing to denounce sin and evil no matter who perpetrates it or promotes it. Advent invites us to reconciliation in our life. It may be in our personal life, conflicts in families, villages and towns and more importantly in political parties. In this way we can spread the joy of restored communion with God, inspire others to welcome the peace of Christ, and encourage them to nourish the life of grace with the word of God and with Holy Communion. What a wonderful way to prepare the way for the Lord’s
coming.

                                                                    Dec. 8, 2019 
                                                        Practice to Wait Expectantly

           The Catholic Church in Nigeria and more especially among those directly involved in the promotion of the Cause of Blessed Tansi have waited since after the beatification on 22nd  March 1998 to see Fr. Tansi come to the fullness of the altar. After the beatification I personally thought it was coming in a few years-two or three. I did not think it will take more than twenty years. Even though twenty years have passed my hope and expectation are as lively as they were twenty years ago. This expectation is alive because of the new and increasing personal relationship with the Blessed. He is here and there alive in my daily life. He is never far. The expectation naturally grows daily.

            The Church’s season of Advent is all about waiting-waiting for Jesus’ appearance.  It is a time of joy because the coming of Christ is not only a gift of grace and salvation but it is also a time of commitment. Such waiting is not passive. The joy of his appearance motivates us to live the present as a time of responsibility and vigilance. We need to get our houses in order. What can we do this week, this month, this coming year to prepare for his arrival?  But it is very difficult to wait in a society like ours where everyone is looking for instant gratification, quick money, fast healing and growth. Every one struggles to arrive first and quickest. In the midst of these challenging circumstances some look at life as a cup half empty and others look at life as a cup half full. The idea of patience with which the farmer awaits for his crops to mature is lost. The lifestyle of waiting as the prophets of old waited patiently and attentively for the Messiah to come is irrelevant.

            How can we cultivate such a lifestyle of responsible and vigilant waiting for Jesus to come?  "Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man" (Lk 21:36) we have so many ways to become distracted and loose our focus.  God is ready to heal those who sincerely wish to amend their lives, but cannot take pity on the obstinate sinner. The Lord pardons sins, but He cannot pardon those who are determined to offend Him. 
Wake up; begin by resting yourself into a season of anticipation when everything cries now. Let us think about how saints of old by good and honest living waited hundreds and thousands of years for the prophecies about the Messiah to be fulfilled. Let us begin first by cleaning up ourselves and our thoughts especially our hidden thoughts about God, others and ourselves stowed away in cluttered hearts with the awareness that Jesus sees all. It is all about becoming a new person, a conversion of heart, putting all sinful habits far from our lives. Advent helps us examine the condition of our soul. How am I living as a disciple of Jesus Christ? "…take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare; for it will come upon all who dwell upon the face of the whole earth.  But watch at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21: 34-36).  When in the darkness of our daily struggle, we honestly seek to become heralds of hope for those around us advent becomes a responsible waiting for us. Let’s get ready. He is coming.




Dec. 1, 2019

National inequality shames national integrity.

​         The agony and cry of the most vulnerable in our broken and divided Nigeria need an urgent national concern if we really want to make progress. The beautiful faces of the poor, hungry and marginalised give a true picture of our national image and help us recognize ourselves as we are. A nation where the majority can’t afford three meals, where a married worker with six children who is being considered for thirty thousand naira monthly wage buys from the same market as his boss who receives ten times his salary. There is no way to describe this than as gross national injustice, a shame to national integrity. Fr. Tansi life message tells us clearly that the service of faith and the promotion of justice cannot be separated, because they are radically united to achieve meaningful progress and development. In his service to the poor and needy Fr. Tansi lived out what all followers of Christ must do-to serve the poor and the needy. In the
poor, followers of Christ find a privileged place of encounter with Christ. It is a precious opportunity followers of Christ should not miss-to meet Christ himself among those who are victims and impoverished. We must remember that these suffer because of the sins of the rich –namely sins of greed and corruption. In Blessed Tansi days as it should be in our days too, he saw following Christ as serving the crucified of his day. The crucified of his day were those who suffered because of others greed, corruption, deprivation, bullying, injustice and marginalization of the weak. What did he do in his time? He used all the opportunities he had to condemn and to unmask those evils. He showed creative commitment in the service of the poor, defending human rights and providing social services. In a practical way he went out with a human face to meliorate the sufferings of those concerned – accompanying the victims and paying attention to their human needs - the hungry he gave food, the naked he clothed, the homeless he
gave shelter, the abandoned he provided for, the ignorant he instructed, the hopeless he gave hope and comfort and the youth without any future he gave hope, confidence and trust.
           Today we are saddled at all levels of our society with gross selfish pursuit of interest, inequalities and complete neglect and denial of human dignity. Families and “umu nna” not excluded. In such a situation how can such a group make progress except in evil. Never has our nation been so hurt and mistreated as in our days. The deterioration of our national values affects the most vulnerable of our society. Today Nigeria needs a true cultural revolution, a transformation of our collective gaze, our attitudes, our ways of seeing ourselves and fellow citizens. Those who take part in decision making at all
levels of our societies should undertake the slow work of changing the existing structures that will better the lives of the most vulnerable. Whoever you are and where ever you are share your hope where you are, encourage, console, comfort, invigorate, raise possibilities, generate alternatives, help to think and act differently.

​                                                                      Nov. 17, 2019
                                                  Clarity and Charity: Hallmark of his Life.
             For many years I have had the opportunity working in the Cause of Blessed Tansi and
studying his lifestyle. The two things that continue to impress me most about his lifestyle are
his ascetic charity and the clarity in his person, behaviour and dealing with people. Those who know him continue to testify that nobody meets him and goes away the same. Some say that he is like fire and no one comes near fire remains the same. In every small thing we do or omit, we set the tone of our future. Charity and clarity belong to the same person. Charity necessarily demands clarity. Loving someone means being merciful but also being truthful. Love accepts the truth about the loved. For Blessed Tansi love is an essential ingredient of his priestly ministry. No one can truly evangelize without charity. From the time of his conversion and baptism he seems to have understood the demands of the Christian vocation. From the time he personally destroyed his personal ‘chi’ (idol) he gave everyone the impression that he was wholly given to God and intent on eternal life. He was preparing for it, waiting for it, living for it, through living his normal life and ministry. He did not neglect his duties at any stage of his life. He saw clearly his goal and in his quiet way he prepared for it.
          Charity is the corner stone of his preparation for eternal life. As a school boy he led others to religious functions: mass, prayers and catechism. His domestic responsibilities in the house of his cousin/master did not stop his religious duties. As a professional teacher, seminarian and priest the story was the same. Even today sixty years after his death Fr. Tansi is still exercising a great influence over the lives of many people especially those who know him. All along his life he seems to have a special charisma, to lead and to inspire others.
           Growth in virtue is not passive but proactive. Christians work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) Our daily Christian living is our daily Christian dying. Growing in holiness is a gruelling process. It is a process of understanding with utmost clarity who we are and what we are here for. It is moving deeper and deeper into the reality of our being within the circumstances of our state of life. Blessed Tansi had a consistent and conscious pursuit of goodness all his life. At the same time he was widely known to have suffered an intense trial of faith in the pursuit of goodness. It is here that we find his universal message: where there is love for the neighbour specially the weak, there is God. This message provides hope and guidance to people from all walks of life. This message also reveals how this humble monk impacts the lives of millions, both those who know him personally and those who indirectly come to know him or read about him as we promote the cause of his canonisation.
          Many saints have talked about the importance of living with internal and external order in our lives. Whether or not we are aware of it disorganization absorbs a great part of our energy. Our lives on earth have a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. His words and advice also have such wide appeal because they touch on a fundamental thirst that is in every human heart, and that is the thirst and search for love, for goodness, and for truth. He knew that this thirst could find its fulfilment only in God lived among and identified with the poor, the sick and the dejected of society.

                                                                      Nov. 10, 2019
                                                      Intercession of the Bl. Tansi works.
          I know of one prayer ministry called ‘dey work pray ministry’ . I gaze what that means is that the ministry is profitable. Catholics believe that saints and angels in heaven can pray for us on earth and can hear our intercessory requests, just as people on earth can do; in fact, being so near to God’s presence in heaven, their prayers are more powerful than ours on earth. 

          The Blessed Tansi during the whole course of his earthly life breathed nothing but piety, compassion and mercy. He cared deeply for everyone he met. He was a man who through his intimate friendships with God lived not for himself, but for everyone. He was for everyone a man of divine word and of the sacred, a man of hope and joy. Blessed Tansi loved his people, worked and prayed for their sanctification. He radiated hope in an age with so little of it. He was a true disciple of Christ in his love and service. He was always serious about the message which he delivered, a message of hope in Christ who gives full meaning to life because he loves human beings. Through his ministry he was a living witness of the power of God at work in human weakness. There was nothing about people and their needs that did not get Bl. Tansi pastoral attention. Girls were not only taught to read and write, to sew, to cook a tasty meal, to conduct a household, to raise the children marriage would someday bring to their homes, they were also helped to find husbands and to prepare for their weddings. Indigent young men were helped financially to pay the “bride price” for their prospective wives.
          He was significant in his time but more significant today in our time. He was a prophet of his time who used his charisms to wave into the problems of his days. His charity even now is felt more strongly among the communion of Christ’s body. The world grows old but Blessed Tansi and his mission is ever young. He saw this mission as indispensable for the Church, for his suffering people and for the world, a mission which called him for complete fidelity to Christ and constant union with him.  He knew that there was no other way than to abide in his love which entails constantly striving for holiness and growing ever closer to Jesus, who counted on him, his minister, to spread and to build up his body.
           Today Blessed Tansi devotees and spiritual children remain dotted all over the globe with something of his life and spirit. While some received through knowing him the vocation to the priesthood, and the religious life, others the grace of a deeper prayer life, of greater love for God and neighbor, of serious devotion to duty, and again others the grace and willingness to unite a little more to the sufferings of the Lord, or to be more penitent, detached and mortified in our world engrossed in materialism and selfishness, where daily one notices the erosion and debasement of true human values and where immorality and vice become an accepted way of life for so many. Many others receive material help ranging from healing of some bodily sickness to financial help. While we know that Christ alone is the Mediator through whom, and to whom, prayer is to be offered. Asking Blessed Tansi to pray for us is a very sure way of getting our petition through. We always pray in Christ, through His power and to Him, whether it is directly to Him, or through Blessed Tansi or any Saint in heaven. Come with us to Blessed Tansi. It will be an experience you will never forget - ‘ dey work’.

                                                                  Nov. 3, 2019
                                                     God is Blessed Tansi gift to us.
         The Blessed Tansi was an ordinary and simple Christian. He had the holiness of a Christian and a priest, the reason for giving God to his people. The majority of his parishioners did not ask from him money, supplies or earthly goods but they asked for the Lord ¾ a treasure they presumed that their priest had. Silver and gold this simple priest had not but he had Jesus- the greatest treasure of all. That is why people are still looking for him fifty-five years after his death.
        In spite of the poverty of his life, his detachment from material things, the Blessed Tansi lived a tireless worker of the Lord. His only motive was the love of God and salvation for his people. He knew what it was to be a priest and he tried to live it out in practice. From the high lands of his Nnewi mission to the far ends of Orumba country and to the midlands of Dunukofia to the great river fertile lands of Aguleri his notoriety as a holy priest grew and spread through the entire Archdiocese of Onitsha. Apart from feeding the hungry and the poor, caring for the orphans and widows, God was the only true and lasting treasure he desired for his people. The people knew that, all his earthly concern was entirely for God. The magic/charm was the witness of his lifestyle. From his lifestyle people learnt to pay, for they saw him halting frequently before the tabernacle, they learnt to love and to be compassionate for they saw him ministering to the poor, widows and the sick. They learnt to be honest and industrious because they saw him hard working and transparent in his dealings with all. The humility and respect with which he approached the tabernacle struck the parishioners leading them to believe in the presence of the one in the Tabernacle. He himself sought in every way, by preaching, his power of persuasion, and untiring labours to help his parishioners to rediscover the meaning of life. In all his parishes Christ faithful expected to find God in their parish priest. In him the people did not look for a politician, a business manager, a money magnet or a social worker but a man of God who brought them into contact with God, with holiness, the greatest divine edifice. “The priest must be a man of God, the one who belongs exclusively to God and inspires people to think of God. So the priest must have a deep intimacy with Jesus” (Pastores Dabo Vobis.)
       In modern day Nigeria professionals will remain within the lay state serving the nation as teachers, merchants, doctors, bankers, accountants and civil servants. And this is good and very necessary for the nation. They are doing God’s work and helping God’s people as priests and religious do. The professional, pre-clerical life of Blessed Tansi challenges all of us whether we are teachers, merchants, doctors, accountants, bankers, and civil servants with questions such as: For whom do you work and what is the purpose of your work? Is it only to make money? What is the place of your Catholic faith and morals in your place of work? Are you a devout follower of Jesus seven days a week? Or are you only a Sunday Catholic? Are you punctual, prayerful, and attentive to the poor and needy clients or pupils? Are you honest in your business dealings? Is righteousness before God your supreme good or do your comfort, your family and your material prosperity come first? The life and choices of Blessed Tansi as a professional
teacher/educator, priest and religious point to motivations far more sublime and universally appealing than mere development of talents, the exaggerated enjoyment of life, the pursuit of honor, financial security and prestige. He had these potentially and yet he willingly and freely gave them all up to serve God and his people.

October 20, 2019

​                                                    Great benefits of knowing Blessed Tansi.
           Our novena prayers to the Blessed Tansi in preparation for the celebration of his reinterment anniversary ended last Thursday 16 th . October and the celebration took place on Friday 17th October at Ala-Tansi Aguleri with the Eucharistic celebration led by His Grace, Most Valerian M. Okeke, with His Lordship, Bishop Denis Isizoh assisting. We have the great crowd of devotees, friends of Bl. Tansi and lay faithful lay in the congregation. With the feast over we would like to recount our gains. We have all prayed perhaps for different intentions. Many have prayed for healing of either of body or soul. One thing I know is that for all who truly participated physically or in spirit will continue to enjoy the guidance of Bl. Tansi. I want you to remember that staying alert is an important part of our adventure on our spiritual journey and that we are all born weak and wounded by original sin. God has loved us each and every moment of our lives no matter what we may be going through.
         It is natural to desire healing when you are suffering from any illness or injury. The pain and
frustration of not having a healthy body can be intense. So you pray for relief through the intercession of Blessed Tansi. You believe that God can heal you if He chooses to, as he does for others sometimes. But what if no healing comes your way? Does it mean you do not have enough faith to be healed or that God does not want a healing for you? It is certainly neither of them. Many people with great faith have prayed for one thing or the other but never receive the answer they hoped from God. Instead, God chooses to keep them physically afflicted to accomplish a greater purpose for them and those who care for them. If you have prayed for physical healing but have not got better, you can always keep asking God to heal you, if it is His will, at the right time. But you can do much more - even if you never experience healing. Here is what you can do when God chooses not to heal you.

 Do not fight against God’s decision. Accept the pains that God has allowed into your life. And ask God to give you the strength to go through it, the grace to benefit from it, and the devotion to thank Him for His love for you in all circumstances. Keep in mind that when you reach out for God, He will meet you wherever you are and embrace you.
 Do not let people make you feel bad about yourself because they think your illness or​ injury is a result of a lack of faith on your part. Rest assured that only God really knows how much faith you have, so other people’s judgments should not matter to you. Acknowledge the reality that God reserves the right to heal you or not, as He sees fit – no matter how much faith you have.
 Suffering can turn you away from a dangerous path of sin that you would have headed down otherwise, remind you that your strength lies in the fact that God meets you in your weakness and empowers you, restore beautiful purity your soul that you have lost while living in this fallen world, increase the amount of good that you can contribute to God’s kingdom.
 Even when your suffering does not end, you can go on because God is with you every step of the way. Trust in His promises that He knows what you are going through, and that He cares.
 While your illness or injury limits you, there is no limit to the amount of glory you can bring to God by choosing to trust Him in the middle of your pain. Live with gratitude for what each moment brings, acknowledging that every breath you breathe​ is a gift from God.

                                                                 October 13, 2019

                                    Time with Bl. Tansi helps us confront our daily problems,
           [Tansi brings us hope and consolation. Join us as we celebrate his 2019 re-interment anniversary. Aguleri, October 17, 2019, Holy Mass 10am].
            In the year 1950, Fr. Tansi was at his best in his priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of Onitsha, he was making great converts, strengthening marriages and homes, leading the youth to Christ and his church. His popularity was at its best. It was then that he decided to seek the Lord in solitude and prayer. Detached from all material things and the pleasures he entered Mount Saint Bernard Abbey England where he died far away from his own people on January 20 1964. Twenty two years after his death his fame for holiness was still growing in Nigeria. The Archdiocese of Onitsha on behalf of the Catholic Church in Nigeria exhumed his body from where he was buried in England and brought him back to Nigeria for reburial. He was re-interred in the priests’ cemetery near the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha on the 17th October 1986. Since then every year on the 17th October his devotes and faithful all over Nigeria celebrate his return and re-interment as a mark of their love for him and an appreciation for the sacrifices he made for his country. He is a special benefactor to all Nigerians. Come and see for yourself what spiritual and material benefits others derive from being his devotees and spending some time with him. 

          Unfortunately, noise and distraction are too often our steadfast companions as we trek through our day-to-day activities. Youths, in particular, are frequently bombarded by social media even as they juggle hectic class/work schedules. Some take a time off their busy and noisy hours to visit the Blessed Iwene Tansi. An encounter with him makes for a perfect meditation for anyone who is seeking to make critical decisions about his future. The goal of this searching is not a thing, but a Person, Jesus Christ, through Bl. Tansi. Blessed Tansi is the surest way to achieving this goal. As we come he tells us to trust the Lord and not be afraid to go against the tide if it is necessary in our life since our life’s goal is not death but heaven. He himself did not claim to be a superman, but an ordinary person who lived following Jesus; a person who loved others in the spirit of the beatitudes. In the faces of his suffering parishioners and more despised; he saw Christ face which now he contemplates in its glorious beauty.
         In this year’s celebration he will be telling all of us to be holy because every one of us is called to be holy; it is a vocation for everyone. It is a path whose name and face is Jesus Christ whose kingdom is for those who put their safety in God's love, not in things of this world. It is for those who have a simple, humble heart; those who do not assume to be fair; those who do not judge others; those who know how to suffer with those who suffer and rejoice with those who rejoice; those who are merciful, not violent, those who try to be artisans of reconciliation and peace. He is telling us that the normal earthly life with its ups
and downs is what led him to the glory of heaven; that every normal earthly life is a mixture of joys and sorrows, struggles and hopes.
            In his legacy he speaks of his radical choice of Christ in terms of his love for Christ, the church and his people, following him wholeheartedly, without preconditions or hypocrisy in serving others, enduring suffering and adversity without hate and responding to evil with good deeds, spreading joy and peace. He made his own choice when he embraced the lepers, the poor and the suffering face of Christ. It was a choice between what brings fame, popularity, power, authority, the idol of money, and the love of God that his heart desires. Come with us to Bl. Tansi his story is an invitation to reflect on the meaning of life and to
seek the secret of true joy in God. It is a concrete proof that those who do the Lord’s will and trust in him alone lose nothing; on the contrary they find the true treasure that can give meaning to all things. As saints beget saints Bl. Tansi, a true Nigerian saint who has a great impact and involvement in the life of every Nigerian will beget other Nigerian saints.

​                                                                     October 6,2019
                                                         Power of Mass in Christian life.
The Blessed Tansi understood and lived the power of the Mass and prayers from the time he became a Christian. It is said that as a school boy of thirteen as he was playing with his mates he was hurt in one of the eyes, a hurt which left a permanent mark on him, he did not go home to tell his master instead he went into the church before the Blessed Lord and prayed into the night asking God to heal him and to prevent his master from punishing him at home. As a priest the Sacrifice of the Mass, a living source from which our actions derive their efficacy and inspiration, was the first and highest function of his day. The gift of the
Eucharist was for him worth more than all the rest of life. The Eucharist was Jesus and Jesus was the centre of his life. He relied much on the formidable power of prayer and through his prayers God worked many wonders through his apostolate. He demonstrated to the people the power of prayers, which demonstration often left the people with a great amazement and admiration. It was at Umudioka in 1943, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, his parishioners had gathered from every corner of the parish for mass and sacred procession. Because the school church was too small for the congregation the mass was said in the open air and the Corpus Christi procession was to follow after Mass. At the gospel reading during
the mass the rain threatened seriously. It was likely that it was coming, it had already started in the neighbourhoods, everybody lost hope. The congregation had already started to scramble for shelter. Fr. Tansi advised everybody strongly that there would be no rainfall until evening. He asked all to pray to God their Father to hold the rain since God, knowing that they had no church would hold back the rain until after their liturgical function. To everybody’s greatest surprise there was no rain until after the Corpus Christi procession and until everybody had reached their far-flung homes. Similar incident was repeated at Nando where Fr. Tansi was on trek and at night there was a great storm and the wind removed the roof of the school church where the Sunday Mass would be celebrated the next morning. Before the Congregation arrived for Mass Tansi had already swept and scrubbed the school without a roof and prepared everything for mass. Shortly after the Mass had started than another storm actually came back. There was no other place to take shelter. The congregation heard him crying aloud to God to stop the rain for his homeless children to worship Him. The rain stopped instantaneously. Later on Fr. Tansi heard that the same people rumoured that he stopped the rain by magical powers. He then explained to them that the action was God’s
response to their prayers. They were in a great need and God knew their plight, hence he answered immediately to rescue them. He spoke convincingly to God who was willing to answer the prayers of His Children. 

There is a text from the Acts of the Apostles that sets forth quite well some of the powers of the Sacred Liturgy and community prayers. From it we can learn the power of mass to deliver, instruct, and transform us and the world. 

“About midnight, while Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God as the prisoners listened, there was suddenly such a severe earthquake that the foundations of the jail shook; all the doors flew open, and the chains of all were pulled loose…” (Acts 15:25- 33).

Note the determination of Paul and Silas here they were in an awful place, a deep dungeon with rats and filth all about, and yet they were singing praising God. Such praises will bring blessings, for when praises go up, blessings come down. The last thing we should ever consider stopping in our life is the Mass. We must always be determined to pray, and whenever possible, to attend mass, even at great risk. Our worship should rock this world to its foundations. The world ought to know and experience that we are at prayer. Good prayer, preaching, and the simple presence of the Church ought to shake things up a bit. It is said that
a good preacher will comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Each of us has a little of both within us. The early Christians were often arrested for being disturbers of the peace. Religiously, they upset the order by announcing that many of the old rites were now fulfilled that temple worship was over, that Jesus was the true temple and Lord, and the Eucharist now supplanted the lucrative temple rites. Morally, the Church shook things up by demanding love of one’s enemies and that people no longer live as did the pagans, in the futility of their minds. These things and more tended to disturb the political, social, and religious order. The prayer of the Church in her liturgy should set people free: prison doors swing open, chains fall loose, and increasing freedom granted to faithful. We gather to celebrate mass every day,
say the prayers of the church and learn many earthshaking truths that liberate us from the hold of the world, the flesh, and the devil.

                                                             September 29, 2019
                                                  Our problem: Cross or human injustice
          In the recent years Christians are facing a lot of problems in this country that some ask: why all these problems? Are they from God or are they man made? Get it straight that God does not send anyone a cross to bear. To think otherwise is not just insipid; it actively harms our faith in God. The cross is all about injustice. Not God’s Divine justice, but man’s injustice. The most extreme case of injustice in human history is the death of Jesus on the cross. He was innocent yet the powerful religious leaders of his time decided he must die. The message of his death is that the powerful legal authorities of this world are most of the time wrong as they prepare crosses for the innocent. The only way to demonstrate how wrong they are is in the way of non violent resistance. Might does not make right. This is the way of ‘taking up
the cross’, a conscious and courageous choice to bear the brunt of injustice.
         The Blessed Tansi is a true Nigerian who used a non violent attitude to expose the powerful and unjust traditional leaders of his time. Through his statements of contradiction and denouncing their attitude and unjust laws he exposed them. His behaviour provoked strong reaction in the minds of the people against injustice and greed. He never compromised with them. It was not easy for him when he was fighting for the rights of widows and women in general. He had a tremendous and unwavering faith, tenacity of purpose and rugged physical strength to fight the evils of his day. It was tugging for him to bend the arc of injustice towards justice specially knowing that it will hurt and that probably that he might not live to see justice’s ultimate triumph. The reforms introduced by him was accomplished with ease,
and having been introduced not one would have survived a month without his aggressive pursuit. Now the case of traditional masquerade comes to my mind. The whole community suffered for the injustice inbuilt in the masquerade cult. His struggle against it was consistent and gradual until he had won many on his side who became aggressive with him against the injustice inbuilt in the cult. A greater part of our national ills is embedded in injustice and greed. We all know it and almost all talk about it but few have the courage to make consistent conscious and courageous efforts to expose the real devil. How I wish if a few of us will be Blessed Iwene Tansi-like.
           God never works injustice, but humans certainly do. Our cross here in Nigeria is the consequence of nonviolent resistance to injustice of our fellow Nigerians especially our leaders. It is a cry to those in power who are not in chains like the majority to take up the cross to win freedom for the enslaved fellow Nigerians. So please enough to our fatalistic comments and empty cries about our problems. No more blaming God for human cruelty. Resist and expose injustice. Seek to relieve pain. Consider the cost of taking up the cross to win the crown of glory. If you cannot bear it, make peace with doing basic justice. Whatever you do never collaborate with injustice.

                                                                   Sept. 22, 2019
                                                              Life Is Worth a Fight 
            Today in Nigeria our culture can be harsh in all kinds of cruel ways. There is much suffering and trials for those who call themselves Christians.  Some Catholics understandably are demoralized, scandalized, angry beyond words, and ready to quit. It is hard to travel around and not feel intense awe and sorrow. Awe at these men and women desperate for their lives being tortured by the very people paid to protect them. Sorrow at the lack of faith in our day so often in our lives and certainly in our culture. Surely, even in the face of evil in our society Christians can stay, fight, and become who they are created to be and leave a beautiful legacy for others. 
         "God shows to men, in a vivid way, his presence and his face in the lives of those companions of ours in the human condition who are more perfectly transformed into the image of Christ (cf. II Cor 3: 18). He speaks to us in them, and offers us a sign of his kingdom, to which we are powerfully attracted…” (Vat.11. LG.39) 
By imitating these saints we strive for the perfection of charity in our life and thereby help others to grow as well. One of such saints we know is a Nigerian born and brought up in this land who indicated with clarity to all Nigerians that the Christian life is worth a fight. He himself fought all his life to put on a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, meekness and patience. He used to say that the whole of holiness, perfection and profit of a person was in doing the will of God perfectly. As a young man he had a tremendous and unwavering faith, tenacity of purpose and rugged physical strength to fight these evils of his day. In his pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese not one of the reforms introduced by him was accomplished with ease, and having been introduced not one would have survived a month without his aggressive pursuit. Off course, it was his life, God’s call for him, an invitation to do a service for God, which later on matured into leaving his country and his family like Abraham and so many others. It was a call from God, a venture of faith and love. The cost to him was certainly great but later he gained more than he seemed to have lost. His life helps us to see and to appreciate what is important at the core of our being and faith and also helps us to renew our awareness of the things that really matter in our lives. His life is important to us because it is an exemplary life of faith, of humility and perseverance in following out of what he saw to be God’s will for him, even when it cost everything, even when all was cold and dark. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end even to realizing that he fulfilled his vow of stability perfectly by dying in the Abby far away from his own people and land and be buried happily in the monastery of his profession.  

There is need to make every effort and put on the fight in the Christian life. This process involves putting on the full armour of God and standing fast against the devil (Eph. 6.). What is earthly in the Christian must be put to death ( Col. 3,5) in order to fight the good fight ( 1 Timothy 6,12). The Master himself exhorts the Christian to strive to enter the narrow gate (Lk. 13.24). Growth in virtue is not passive but proactive.  Christians work out their salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12) for the sanctification process could sometimes be both bloody and sweaty.  Daily Christian living is daily Christian dying. Jesus likened the pain of Christian growth to "gouging out an eye" and "cutting off a hand" indicating that growth in godliness requires parting with things the Christian initially thinks he cannot do without. His message is so universal because it is basically the message of the Gospel applied to concrete situations in the world of today. Our lives on earth have a purpose and this purpose must be taken seriously. His words and advice also have such wide appeal because they touch on a fundamental thirst that is in every human heart, and that is the thirst and search for love, for goodness, and for truth. He knew that this thirst could find its fulfilment only in God lived among and identified with the poor, the sick and the dejected of society.

                                                                          Sept. 15 2019
                                                    Cost of being a Christian in today’s Nigeria.
        How are Christians to follow Jesus in today’s Nigeria? For sure Jesus is calling all of us to follow him-his Christians. Even though he is all powerful, he will not force you to do it. We see examples of several people who were invited to follow the Lord. Some said yes and others said no. But why is he calling us?
         •    To give us the fullness of joy and life
         •    to set us free
Those of us who say yes to follow do so by a conscious decision to leave their old life of sin and immorality behind and set out on the new path chosen for them by the Lord, a life of truth and holiness. Jesus is looking for a serious commitment on the path of anyone who would say yes to him. Jesus’ call will certainly be difficult because it will involve loving our enemies and putting others first, sacrificing some of ‘ourselves’ to him. Being a true Christian is not supposed to be easy. It has always been a tough job, but you will be working for a great boss who will give you all the help you need. That is only one answer that brings peace and joy. It may involve some inconvenience and discomfort, but it is worth it. “If you must eat a frog, you might as well eat a fat one” (Blessed Tansi) “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matt 22:14). It is wise to choose the “narrow gate” which leads to life (Matt. 7:13)
       “And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27). The cross comes to a Nigerian Christian in many different forms. Today in Nigeria carrying the cross is the same as accepting Christ’s demands on honesty, sexuality, forgiveness, love of one’s enemies, heroic charity, generosity and living a truthful life at all cost. No one is to have priority over Jesus Christ and what He teaches. Being a Christian does not mean that we are in any way exempt from the troubles and trials of our country. Jesus indicates that we will be hated, persecuted, and sorely tempted by the world. Remember the simple rule: No cross, no crown. 
         In the Blessed Tansi we meet a Nigerian who remained faithful to his decision in spite of the national problems of his time. It was an age when racism was inherent in the colonial political system, the hitherto quiet and static Igbo traditional society was invaded by the ferocious western influence, the traditional belief and customs remained unquestionable; Christianity was threading its way into the unique static life system. There were certainly some obvious difficulties to be encountered. He lived of course with the utmost simplicity trusting God and doing his very best to change the situation. Apart from the white man’s savage appetites of greed made manifest in slavery; there was the inherent injustices inbuilt in the traditional customs the ‘Osu’ and Oru’ system practiced against fellow Nigerians and of course the suffering, hunger and disease which were prevalent in his society. He did his best to find solutions to these problems the gospel way and so he lived it out in practical terms. Sometimes his one man efforts must have seemed pitifully futile in the gigantic morass of trouble. He never despaired because of the moral and social condition of the time. We too must not despair and throw in the towel at the face of Nigerian moral, social and economic problems. At all times the Christian is call to make effort, to put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom.8.13) to put off the old self and put on the new (Eph.4.22) to put on the full armour of God, to stand fast against the devil (Eph. 6.) and to put to death what is earthly (Col. 3, 5) in order to fight the good fight (1 Timothy 6, 12).

                                                                       Sept. 8, 2019
                                                           Work you do Matters to God
           Being a priest for many years I have noticed that some Christians have an erroneous belief that a sacred-secular-world divides between our work life and our church-spiritual life. No one doubts that our prayers, sacraments, church attendance, and other church-based service are important to God.  But some often think that our time spent at work, business or school is not as important to God.  There is a very important spiritual relationship between our work and faith. The work we do in life is part of our calling from God–along with our families, our church life, and our citizenship as Nigerians where God places us to love and serve Him in our neighbours. God himself works through us in our everyday lives to recreate the world making everything new.  All vocations in life are equally valuable in the eyes of God. Even though in the eyes of the world all vocations are not equal. Some vocations that get enormous amount of money are often considered more valuable.  The lowly and low-paid jobs that involve higher and more important levels of service to the neighbour are considered less valuable. Many of those necessary jobs are hard, dirty, tedious, and unpleasant.  Those who do them are sacrificing themselves for others. All vocations are equally important before God and man and they teach us not to look down on anyone for the work they do.
           The Blessed Iwene Tansi lifestyle teaches us that our station in life is our very mission field into which God has sent us. Each person’s work has deep significance no matter who they are, or what they do for a living.  Every person’s work matters to God. Whether we are religious men and women, parents, farmers, educationists, or mechanic, bankers, military generals or nurses – all work matters to God. Our faith makes a great difference in what you do, how you treat people, the decisions you make, and how you conduct yourself. The work you do is where you are the salt of the earth and the light of the world as Jesus describes in Matthew 5:13-16.  You can contribute to the Kingdom of God no matter where your vocation
has placed you. Like most of us Blessed Tansi received the gift of faith through the efforts of the Irish missionaries and he lived out that faith in all the various stages of his life as a village school boy, as teacher and headmaster, as a seminarian, as a diocesan priest and as a Cistercian monk. At each stage he made it truly Christian and his own - Nigerian. The climax of his spiritual growth is found in doing his work which brought massive expansion of the church, building up the society and improving the life of the people. His work brought about many converts to Christianity, reconciled and sanctified marriages and brought relief and help to the sick, the needy and the abandoned. He is an example for all Nigerians workers to imitate.
          Your own workplace today like his is filled with all kinds of people facing all kinds of challenges — illness, fear of losing their job, adultery, grief, confusion, dilemmas, negligence, stealing, office and business politics and so on.  In many ways you are more in touch with the needs of those people than any pastor of souls. Use this opportunity and make the desired change humanity expects from you.​  

                                                                                                          September 1,2019
                                                 Charity and Justice the heart of Holiness
        Charity and Justice is a part of the Christian vocation and mission. We all face unexpected situations on our life journey, new issues and emergencies to which we have to respond in the light of faith. Our country is facing many of such challenges at the moment. It is our responsibility to always respond to such problems in the light faith. The early Christians of Jerusalem had such serious charity/justice problems and they were obliged to solve them with sense of responsibility. It began with Greek-speaking complaining about the Hebrew-speaking because their widows were left out of the daily distribution (cf. Acts 6:1). It was a serious matter concerning charity to the weak/poor and justice. Even though they were facing the primary need to proclaim God’s word in accordance with the Lord’s mandate they considered this a priority, a duty of charity and justice, that is, the duty to help widows and poor people in response to the commandment of Jesus: love one another as I have loved you (cf. Jn 15:12, 17), to provide lovingly for their brothers and sisters in need. Today in Nigeria we hear the cry of minority groups, the weak and the poor- they must be heard. It is a matter of charity and justice. Nigerian Christians must not only proclaim the word but must also put the word which is charity and truth into practice. The great Nigerian problems today will be over if the leaders chosen to represent the masses will confront our problems with great responsibility in the light of charity and truth.

           Blessed Iwene Tansi with his dedicating diligent non-distracted attention in very busy pastoral ministry had time for his neighbor. He had true charity, true service to others, which did not need many things but certainly needed the necessary things which were above all his heartfelt affection and the light of God. Today in the many places he worked people remember his charity, his going to the village visiting the sick, comforting the bereaved and feeding the hungry. He did not only give but he begged for the needy. He used to forgo his own meals and necessities in order to provide for all who needed his charity. He had priorities in spending the money available to him. He placed the sick and the destitute first in his priority, then the widowed and poor. His ministry at Nnewi changed the traditional ugly destiny of the lepers.  It is said that the people’s welcome response to his call to assist the destitute and lepers showed that his personal love and initiative have that piercing shattering effect in penetrating the people’s apathy caused by traditional religious belief and awakening their inner spirit to the very realities of the human nature. There is no doubt that even today his life speaks the same message, his deeds form the content of this message. These deeds are his testimony, his protest to indifferent man. He authenticated his mission for he did not only dare to speak things that were different to the customs of the people, words like love one another but he went further and lived out their meaning. His frenetic life-style is a precious reminder to us today if we put charity and justice for others our country will become a better place for all of us. His ministry without doubt is a true and proper example of devotion to daily activities which should be carried out with responsibility and dedication while remembering also our need for God, for his guidance, for his light which gives us strength and hope.

​​​​                                                                  August 25, 2019
                                                     Detachment as means of holiness
         The world tells us that security and happiness can be found in the stuff of this world namely: money, success, possessions, power etc but the bible tells us just the opposite. The things of this world will not last. Unless we focus on God, we are wasting our eternity. Jesus is both the treasure we cherish and the one who provides the right to have the treasure. He is all we want in the world. Jesus alone is the ground of our acceptance with God and the goal of our heart's desire. He is our righteousness and our reward. Compared to him all else is garbage. The simple gospel message is that Jesus lived each and every moment of his earthly life doing the will of his Father and wanting his followers to leave everything to follow him. This is where Christian life style gets tough. Many are frightened by it to some degree. Few understand it. Even fewer live it.  
        The Blessed Iwene Tansi is a model of evangelical life of detachment from the material world not only for priests, but for laypeople, especially for those who work in the vast field of charity and public service. He learnt the love of the poor as a boy, the traditional society where he grew up had special place for the weak. He saw how his parents welcome and help the poor and needy. As a priest he became still more detached and his heart opened for everyone. With such a new heart he experienced the desired change. He became less desirous for himself and focused less on passing worldly things, and more on the lasting treasure of the Kingdom. He concentrated attention on the other things and began to love who and what God loved namely: love, holiness, justice, chastity, goodness, righteousness, and truth. His heart became alive with joy and zeal for the Kingdom and this evangelical spirit impelled him to speak what he believed and knew to be true. This love for other things led him, in the course of his priestly life, to give away everything he had. Founded a home for poor children, dedicated every effort to them so that they would receive a healthy Christian education. His example constituted a constant invitation to everyone to open arms to every person who had need. In many ways his message has been for our times. He did not own anything even though he could if had wanted; he gave everything away to the most needy. He did not feel the necessity of having anything for himself. His ridge fasts, incredible human labour, sleepless nights, austere penances and continual mortifications were natural consequence of his detachment and love of poverty.
             For an average Nigerian who was naturally pushy Blessed Tansi life is like going against a current. For many to imitate him is a hard tiring task which can be accomplished only by strength of will. This task is opposed all inclination of nature and sometimes a will to do what is repugnant to nature. This is however, a sweet task for a soul in love with God a soul which knows that everything it refused to self is given to God and that when it reaches the point of renouncing self in everything. The tricky part of a life of detachment is that material goods are not ends in themselves and so we should never seek our soul’s satisfaction in their possession or enjoyment. In the same way material goods are means to an end and so if ever a possession or a means to possess is inhibiting one from achieving ones end holiness, then those possessions or practices need to be curtailed or eliminated.  The material goods should be sought, welcomed, and used insofar as they helped us achieve our purpose of glorifying God and helping to save souls.

                                                                      August 18 2019
                                                                   Justice Serves Love
         Ironically what should unite us is dividing us. Religion has come under attack in recent years in Nigeria. Religion has been blamed for dividing people and inciting violence but the essence of any true religion is to unite and bring us to the one God. As much as the people of faith despise the notion, the fact is that religion has been used to divide people for political and other selfish gains as the fear-mongers fully realize that creating fears and hate based on religion actually works. Christianity and Islam worship the same God and have so many moral principles in common.

​
The Golden Rule is almost the same for all religions found in Nigeria.

For Christians: “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12). “The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:31). Don’t judge others, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn others, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. (Matthew 7:1 and Luke 6:37).
For Muslims: “O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, though it may be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be rich or poor: for Allah can best protect both…” 4:135. “As you would have peopled do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, and don’t do to them.” Kitab al-Kafi vol. 2, p. 146
For traditional Religion: “One should never do that to another which one regards as injurious to one’s own self.” “Egbe belu ugo belu nke si ibe ya ebena nku kwa ya” (the kite and the eagle have the same right to the same branch but if any refuses to allow the other it should meet untimely death”​

​

        I have simply quoted some passages from the teachings of the three main faith traditions in Nigeria. If this is true why do we see all these bitterness in our country of plenty? Why all these killings and destructions going on? Almost all our law enforcement agencies and securities are either Christians or Muslims. Why can’t they do the job for which they are paid with godly disposition. The main terrorist threat in Nigeria is not from violent Muslim extremists, but from right-wing extremists. The common man hopes for a better Nigeria with an eye to a day he would be able to have daily three good meals with his family and live without fear. To all of us Nigerians no matter whom you are, where you are and what you do let us be:




independent from hate and fear of others who are not like us.
independent from forces that divide based on religion, social status, and ethnicities.
treat others like we would like to be treated.




         Love conditions justice and justice serves love. Nigerians should allow common good and respect for life to triumph over selfishness, bitterness, anger, and revenge. Let the politicians not divide us for their selfish purposes. When we choose the path of love we are choosing the path of peace for ourselves and for the world around us.

                                                                          August 11, 2019
                                                               Sometimes God Has A Better Plan.
          We have our own ideas about how our lives should play out. We decide in advance where we should work, who we should marry, where we should live and how many children we will have and so on. I do not know if you have noticed that things rarely work out exactly the way we planned. Blessed Iwene Tansi monastic adventure is typical case to note. In 1950 Blessed Tansi entered Mount Saint Bernard monastery hoping to get the monastic training and return to Nigeria to establish the monastic apostolate and remain under the jurisdiction of his bishop. For this reason he could neither enter the canonical novitiate at Mount Saint Bernard nor take the vow of stability. He spent three years in the Novitiate with a changing
group of novices under the care of a novice master Fr. Gregory who had a reputation for strictness. For these years he was being trained with other white younger men who went on to profession, while he continued in the novitiate following the life and rule of normal novices without knowing when or how this puzzle would end. His patience was great. He was not discouraged. Fr.Tansi and his Archbishop have different plan from what God plans. 

             To solve the problem the Archbishop of Onitsha invited Fr. Tansi Abbot to look at sites in Nigeria where the Nigerian monastic foundation could be made. After his inspection the abbot and his team chose Uturu then in Owerri diocese where a Cistercian house could start. On the strength of this decision Abbot Malachy gave the novices’ habit to Fr. Tansi on 8 February 1953. This marked a great beginning in his monastic journey. He was happy thinking that something was going to happen. Unfortunately soon after this ceremony, the site for the proposed new foundation at Uturu was discovered to be too small and no other suitable site was offered. His desire to return to Nigeria was no longer in sight. God has a different plan. He was given the free choice; to return to Nigeria and to return to his pastoral activity as a diocesan priest or to apply to make profession at Mount Saint Bernard and to remain monk of the Monastery forever. He applied to make his monastic profession and to remain monk of the abbey. On 8 December, 1953, Fr. Tansi made his simple vows as monk of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey. For him this was definitely a radical change, since until this  moment, he had seen his stay at Mount Saint Bernard as a preparation for bringing the contemplative life to his own country. His vow of stability had fixed him permanently in England, and furthermore it must have seemed as if a Nigerian foundation would never be made. He did not question God’s will, but he gave his best offer by trying to live the Cistercian way of life as perfectly as he could while the ghost of this abandonment continued to hunt him. He suffered, prayed, adapted, did not blame anyone and remained docile to the will of God.
            On 8, December 1956 he made his solemn perpetual vows and by this became full member of the community. God had a better plan in 1959 Abbot Malachy resigned and two year after Abbot Ambrose was elected Abbot in July 1961. With his election fortunate enough the whole question of a foundation in Nigeria was again raised. There was much discussion in Chapter on the difficulties of making a foundation. Nearly all agreed that preparations should be made for a foundation in Nigeria. Finally Abbot Ambrose decided to send Fr. Luke and two other monks out to Nigeria to look at the sites now available. At the end of February 1962 they were in Nigeria to look for sites suitable for monastic foundation. It was just two years after Nigeria Independence. Nigeria was divided into three regions: East, West and North. The difficulty with Onitsha in the East was the problem of climate, which was hot, damp and heavy: would seem to offer tremendous difficulties for European to follow a Cistercian way of life. Jos area in the North was much more favorable but a predominantly Muslim area and might present difficulties in the future. By May 1962 Fr. Luke found around Jos what seemed a suitable site and all agreed to put in for a Certificate of occupancy to enable the monastery to use the land. But unfortunately the request was turned down by the muslin local government authorities in the North. These were apparent human setbacks but it was not for God whose plans have not yet come. Humans have to wait. But Fr. Tansi intensified his prayers for a foundation in Nigeria as all hopes for a foundation in Nigeria were not gone with the refusal to grant a certificate of occupancy in Jos. Meanwhile a bishop from Western Cameroun had written and invited Mount Saint Bernard to make a Cistercian foundation in his diocese. The site at Mbengui in Cameroun was inspected and found suitable. Finally the decision was taken to make the foundation in the Cameroun and not in Nigeria. With the decision to make a foundation in the Cameroun rather than in Nigeria taken, on 30 May 1963, the names of those chosen to go to Cameroun were read out and Fr. Tansi was appointed Novice Master. With this appointment he set out to prepare for it but God has other plans. The other arrangements proceeded with great speed and on Sunday 27 October 1963 the first founders left for Bamenda. Fr. Tansi was preparing hard to follow them later but about mid January 1964 he was taken ill with what was thought to be lumbago. He was confined to bed in the Infirmary. He read little, ate less and spent the week thinking
and praying quietly. Days later the monks noticed that the left thigh was about twice the size of the right. A doctor was called. He diagnosed a deep seated thrombosis of the leg. Then he was moved to the room in the infirmary corridor. The next day a specialist came out from Leicester to see him. He confirmed that there was a growth in the stomach but thought the source of the thrombosis was the most urgent matter. The patient was moved to Leicester Royal Infirmary because before this he had had serious attack of pains. He was not unconscious and prayed continually. “My God, My God, thy will be done, into thy hands. Oh
my God” He died in the hospital on January 20, 1964. 

            Even though he died but God’s plan did not die. The Cistercian Monastic foundation was made in the Nigerian neighbouring country Cameroon. But today the monastic apostolate is flourishing in Nigeria. God’s plan has worked the way he wanted. Fr. Tansi would be saying to us like St. Paul to the Philippians: “I want you to know, brothers, that my situation has turned out rather to advance the gospel, so that my imprisonment has become well known in Christ throughout the whole praetorium and to all the rest, and so that the majority of the brothers, having taken encouragement in the Lord from my imprisonment, dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly”. (1:12-14) The Blessed Tansi had a good plan, but God’s plan was even better. When things do not work out the way you expect, try giving God the benefit of the doubt and realize that he knows best. You might not understand it now or ever, for that matter, but the Lord has a pretty decent history of bringing good out of all situations. If things look bleak right now, do not give up. God is always in control.

                                                                    August 04, 2019   
                                                            Our Relationship with God
      We are all familiar with the song ‘whatever you do to the least of your brothers you did it to me’. Many Nigerian Christians sing this often but do not live it. In the life of Fr. Tansi Nigerians witness a new star which emerges on the horizon of the Catholic Church. The beautiful, providentially timely figure of our time, the glorious figure of a typical school teacher, parish priest and a contemplative monk who is today the school of Christian life and holiness. This humble priest succeeded to bring this about by ascetic charity and teaching linked by a total love of Christ and a profound compassion towards the poorest. His is a living example of how to be a Nigerian Christian of our time. He educated the young people to be good and responsible, concerned with the true spiritual good of the person, animated by great balance in making the mercy of God felt and, at the same time having an acute and lively sense of sin which many of us are losing today.For him every sin is an abuse of human freedom. When we sin, we defy God who loves us unconditionally. The consequences of sin are always disastrous. We can never be ourselves when we sin. The hallmark of his relationship with God is his ascetic charity. The love he has for others shows the love he has for God. Our relationship with God can never be the same when we do not have it well with our neighbour. We very commonly stir this relationship by some of the following:

 Our words which can hurt others.  Harsh or judgmental words spoken to others are something Jesus takes personally because anyone who persecutes his neighbour is persecuting Jesus. (Acts.9:4)
The world can become a palaver between us and God. There is an unholy trinity out there that seeks to destroy us. “All that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world”(1 John 2:16). 
Unconfessed sins can also damage our relation with God badly. “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me”(Psalm 51:3). Unconfessed sin is a burden that would not go away unless made right. 

There are dozens of other things that can damage our relationship with God. From experience we have many times hurt God and our neighbour by our ungodly behaviour. Ours is a God who forgives, and there is no sin that God cannot forgive. Amend your relationship with him today by reconciling with your neighbour whom you have offended. And today is the best of days to begin.

                                                                   July 28, 2019
                                                          A time for Compassion
This time is bad for many in this country. Many are undergoing different kinds of suffering. No matter what your problem is the Lord intends to sensitize us to others and their needs. Part of our problem is that in spite of our good will with our busy schedules and multitudes of distractions, we rarely stop to consider what is going on in the lives of others. When we intentionally slow down and observe the world around us, we can see more clearly the struggles and challenges many Nigerians are facing. God is challenging Nigerians to adjust their outlook and attitude. When we adopt a positive attitude, it directly impacts our outlook, personalities, and relationships. The apostle Paul seems to be talking to us at this point in time: “…therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” “Col. 3:12-13” Where ever you find yourself there is always someone that needs your care. When you take the time to ask people how they are doing and genuinely listen to and care about their response, you gain a more realistic perspective of the person’s circumstances and put yourself in a better position to feel and show compassion.
           One Nigerian born saint was known to be the glue that held many families and the youth
together. He modelled Christ-like compassion and would happily give someone in need or hungry his food or the dress off his back. In fact, that is exactly what he did. During his time there was much poverty and suffering in our land because of injustice everywhere in the land. He did everything he could to bring justice and to alleviate the sufferings of many. He courageously exercised compassion by putting the following into practice.
          Asked and listened attentively to everybody in need. It is said that he never passed anybody
without a greeting and a follow up question ‘how are you?” He listens attentively to the answer and would show his appropriate compassion in the form of advice or help. Everybody was important for him and his ministry. “Those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women.
In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him” (St. JP 11 Sermon
beatification Nigerian1998)
         He did not judge people easily. Judgment will come last when someone is curt, arrogant, or
downright mean. He first considered what difficulty the person may be facing and first offered him or her words of comfort, advice or prayer so as to dispose the person for his judgment. When life is difficult and brings excess lemon a person can be arrogant, curt or mean. The best he needs at that moment is compassion. As a priest, Fr. Tansi was devoted to his people. He was available. He catechized; he inspired catechists. He preached clear and incisive homilies which people recall even after 50 years. He was courageous in preaching the whole Gospel and all the commandments without discount or equivocation. Accepting peoples’ differences is for him a kind of compassion. In practical life we all come from different backgrounds, upbringing, life experiences, and levels of spiritual growth. In dealing with the people he was considerate of their differences. To some he could be harsh and to some very mild. This was very evident with his penitents and workers.
            He openly expressed compassion for others by giving them some of his time, talents, or
resources to those who need them and when they need them. God expects us to be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, and forgiving toward others. In his active apostolate he sought to conform to Christ in such a complete manner that he too might share in the sufferings of his master. Realizing that the vast majority of his flock had not known and loved Christ, he set himself a task of never refusing anything for the love of Christ. His response to the apostolate was total, a constantly repeated yes to the work which God was inviting him. We too can do the same in our various vocations and places of work. All we need is the courage to start and the grace of God will assist our human deficiency.            

                                                                    July 21, 2019

                                                            Power of Christian faith.
        With an act of living and unconditional faith, it seems to me that God himself does not know how to say no. I feel he considers Himself almost obliged to grant such request. “All things are possible to him that believeth” (Mk 9:22). Before any miracle Jesus asked for faith. “Do you believe that I can do this unto you?” (Matt. 9:28); and whenever such faith was sincere, the miracle took place. To the woman who was troubled with issue of blood, “Be of good heart, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole” (Matt. 9:22). Living faith is an indispensable condition to benefit from His omnipotence. Lack of living faith is reason he refused to perform many miracles in Nazareth. The more lively our faith, the more powerful it is with the very power of God. “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, ‘Remove from hence hither,’ and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you” (Matt. 17:19). These words are true, if they are not effectual for us, it is only because our faith is very weak. Blessed Iwene Tansi a true Nigerian who made it at his own time can be our model.
           Faith and the workings of Divine Providence have a special place in his life just as they are
supposed to have in the life of every Nigerian. Every age has its own spiritual condition. His early faith formation took place within the context of the early British Colonial era and slave trade, which led many suffering and families disintegrated and customs abused and the land desecrated. With great humility, developing confidence in the Lord and growing determination, he acted sincerely on what he believed the Lord wanted from him. Even today people still believed that the success of his mission at Dunukofia was an act of faith and trust in God just as his monastic adventure was a great manifestation of faith.
         He lived of course with the utmost simplicity in the midst of the multifarious problems of his
time. He understood the need to make every effort in the Christian life. That effort was not for him a 'four-letter word' and that growth in godliness required exertion on the part of the Christian. Growth in faith is not passive but proactive. By the Spirit the Christian must put to death the deeds of the flesh (Rom.8.13) and must also to put off the old self and put on the new (Eph.4.22). This process involves putting on the full armour of God and standing fast against the devil (Eph. 6.). What is earthly in the Christian must be put to death ( Col. 3,5) in order to fight the good fight ( 1 Timothy 6,12). It is true to say that most Nigerians, whether on the upper or lower echelon of our society or somewhere in between are instinctively drawn to goodness, to genuineness, to holiness, love and compassion. But many have not the courage to live this out or even to condemn the forces against them.
           Blessed Tansi relied much on the formidable power of prayer and through his prayers God
worked many wonders through his apostolate. Francis Cardinal Arinze who knew Blessed Tansi for many years has this to say about his faith: “Father Tansi had strong faith in the Holy Eucharist. He celebrated Mass in a way that inspired faith. His Eucharistic Benediction celebrations nourished faith. Even the way he genuflected showed his Eucharistic faith. He prayed for long hours in the Chapel by day and by night” His demonstration of the power of prayers left the people with a great amazement and admiration. It was at Umudioka in 1943, the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, People had gathered from every corner of the parish. The school church was too small for the congregation. Mass was said in the open air and the Corpus Christi procession was to follow after Mass. At the gospel reading the rain threatened seriously. It was likely that it was coming, it had already started in the neighbourhood, everybody lost hope. The congregation
had already started to scramble for shelter. Blessed Tansi advised everybody strongly that there would be no rainfall until evening. He asked all to pray to God to hold the rain until after their liturgical function. To everybody greatest surprise there was no rain until after the Corpus Christi procession and until everybody had reached their far-flung homes.
        The same seeming magic effect was produced in many individuals who prayed with Fr. Tansi
faith like the case of: “… a mission carpenter and his wife who were childless. They went from hospital to hospital, seeking help, without success. Finally Michael told them to stop their useless quest. He told the wife to come to the Chapel on nine consecutive days, and at the time of the noon Angelus, hold out her arms, and receive an imaginary baby from Our Lady. She did this and did indeed conceive” We meet with various difficulties in life which are for us real mountains to move. Difficulties in the spiritual life: faults we cannot overcome, virtues we cannot seem to acquire; difficulties in our everyday family life: insufficient means of support, duties which surpass our ability or our strength and the list may continue. We stop, discouraged, at the foot of these mountains: It is impossible, I cannot do it. It would take only a little faith like a grain of mustard seed, which is very tiny indeed. But provided that faith is living, capable of sprouting like the mustard seed, provided that faith is certain, resolute, supernatural, and that it counts only on God and trusts in His Name alone, this faith will confront every difficulty whatsoever with courage.

​                                                               July 14, 2019
                                 Blessed Iwene Tansi-Relevant to Nigerian Youths.
All we need is the tiniest bit of compassionate imagination to be able to see the problems posed by tribalism in Nigeria. The fact that so many in positions of authority along with those who put them there seem blind to the problem is the most devastating condemnation of our national identity. Nigeria is presently in crisis of youth welfare. Who will be brave enough to recognize that youths are our greatest treasure? Who will begin to embrace the mystery of youth development or at the very least, take the time to observe them in order to discover more human ways to respond to their needs for truth, peace, knowledge, integrity, meaning, and unity? And who will then dedicate and spend their lives in implementing the new and beautiful fruits that will grow from this embrace and observation. Do we dare to hope for the future of Nigerian youths? Think of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi.
      The Blessed Iwene Tansi was a man of hope and vision and this is precisely one of his greatest challenges of our time. His apostolate to the family had special bearing to the youth and the future. In his pastoral ministry wherever he went he promoted the status of women, insisting that betrothed girls should attend a six month marriage training centre where they were taught Catholic doctrine, home keeping, Christian family traditions, sewing, knitting and other wifely skills. He thus laid solid foundations for Christian families. He was doing this because he knew the important role of women in the family and the nation. He opposed the Igbo practice of men calling their wives "onye bem" (the person of my house) because this suggests inequality of the spouses. He promoted education of young girls and young boys in every senses of the word. In the mission schools where he was the manager he succeeded in inspiring his teachers to see their role not just as teachers but as formators of the growing and future population. The teachers and parents of these children must teach them dignity, respect, and love for life while they are young. Purity, piety and honesty have special emphasis in his schools. From their early stage the youth must be taught not to be afraid and must learn to control their emotions.
       At Dunukofia and other places, Father Tansi had boarding-houses for pupils in Standards five
and six, young people around age of eleven and twelve. The boys live in the mission compound from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon then they would return to their parents and help in the farms at the weekend. This was also an attempt to help poor parents feed their children and to pay their school fees. Only a man with a great concern for the future could do these things. He was a man of the divine word and of the sacred, a man of joy and hope. To people who could no longer conceive that God was pure love, he would always affirm that life was worth living and that Christ gave life its full meaning because he loved human being. His priestly ministry was always a living witness of the power of God at work in human weakness.
         He is a blue print for all Nigerians of good will who have for a long time searched for a coherent view which is not at loggerheads with what we have hitherto heard of making Nigeria a great nation, a direction Nigeria shall evolve herself in the coming time in order to be finally able to get out of the current absolutely poor form. Today Nigerian youths need his teaching, encouragement, and hope for the future in order to build a sane, safe, forgiving, and truth speaking Nigeria. We need Nigerian youths who are willing to roll up their sleeves, with or without masks and gloves, and wrap their arms around the emotionally and spiritually dying Nigeria. As it is, the old generation seem to have failed and disappointed us. We need the future generation who will rally around sane principles that preserve truth, justice, and our liberties. We do not need sinless youth; we need youths who are overcoming their propensity to fall short while learning that love is not a notion. It is a verb that requires proper application, not co-dependency.
          After the example of Blessed Tansi let the Nigerian youth say no to the disappointment the
present brings, the identity it tries to heap on them as a blood-bought son or daughter and walk boldly into their destiny. There is a place for them right now, right where they are. Do not isolate yourself. Isolation is the language of death. You have no other country than Nigeria. Blessed Iwene Tansi come to our assistance.

                                                                July 07, 2019
                                                          Nigerian Superhero...
The notion that Nigerians are pawns in an eternal conflict between forces greater than us has a long pedigree. I was raised up in the Nigerian colonial worldview, in which the nationalists and early missionaries were foot soldiers of Christ at war against satan and his host. Growing up in my village I had expected that at some point in my lifetime, the forces of divine goodness would conquer evil and darkness. I seem to be disillusioned. The situation is worse deteriorating. One Nigerian who fought headlong against the monster of hate, injustice and domination in all its ramifications was the Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi, a Christian, a Nigerian, one of the best faithful servants of the nation and the church in our land in the recent year. He lived out his professional and religious vocation to the fullest. Today he is known to thousands the world over for the extraordinary manner in which his disciplined life allows Jesus to relive in him, letting him be a messenger of the gospel, of healing people’s wounds and reconciliation. His untiring efforts to unite people of all classes, his long hours praying for his people, his charity to the poor and under privileged, his concern for marriage-family life and the youth-the Nigerians of tomorrow, his detachment from the material possession and his lifelong pursuit and ambition for an honest and truthful living are among the legacies he left future Nigerians to combat the evils of the society.
          As a professional teacher, a priest and a religious the Blessed Iwene Tansi followed the path
of integrity in his sound moral and social principles and his message today is his life-style which challenges and urges all Nigerians to redirect their lives to a totally committed love. It is a call which will save this country from a total collapse. Unless there is love by which Nigerians see one another as brothers and unless there is respect for one another irrespective of class, ethnic group and religion no amount of legislation will save this country. No amount of killing as a means of quieting a people will bring justice and peace. There is too much killing going on in this country. I am afraid this might be a prelude to another civil war-God forbid but there are hand writings on the wall. 

            Human life has always been a struggle between to be and to be free. It is in this setting in
which the conflicts between human freedom and the rational necessity of a unified personality is worked out. Let us live and let another live. Many young Nigerians are leaving this country. Take a moment and ask why. Many are dying in the process and nobody seems to be worried. Those who remain behind are extorted and brutalized every day on our roads and homes by the very police and the army who are employed and paid to protect them. Nobody seems to be worried. Sometime we mistakenly think that social, economic and moral wars are fought by might-these do not end, violence does not cease, and humanity is just as destructive as ever. The good and evil are not external forces battling over the hearts and minds of human beings, but rather are embedded in human nature itself. But we can be at our best and worst, our ugliness and our beauty, how the same thing can be both, contradictory human being-so much good, so much evil. We in addition to the violence and brutality embedded in our very nature are also certainly capable of self-sacrifice, love, compassion, and courage. Which way Nigeria-the way to peace-the life style and legacy of Blessed Iwene Tansi-the true Nigerian.

​                                                                 June 30, 2019
                                                    Prophet of love to Nigerians
It was twenty-one years ago on the 22nd of March 1998 when the Holy Father, now St. John Paul 11 announced this prophetic message to all Nigerians and to the Catholic world: “Today, one of Nigerian's own sons, Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi, has been proclaimed Blessed in the very land where he preached the Good News of salvation and sought to reconcile his fellow countrymen with God and with one another…” The life and witness of Father Tansi according to the Holy Father “is an inspiration to everyone in the Nigeria that he loved so much”. This is to say that he is a prophet of love for Nigerians.
        All around the world saints show their own people how to live in the world and become holy.
In our own case in Nigeria the lifestyle of Blessed Iwene Tansi, a true Nigerian is a torch for our actions and steps towards love and holiness. He is very important in both our private and national life. “He was first of all a man of God” the Holy Father, St. John Paul 11 continues to tell Nigerians, “his long hours before the Blessed Sacrament filled his heart with generous and courageous love”. His was a courageous love; I often ask myself what made Bl. Tansi to have this kind of love for his parishioners, the sick, the abandoned and the voiceless. He lived and devoted himself to promote common good of the society and helped all find love and sanctity among the duties of each day in life. Each day is given by God to love and to help the neighbour. One of his pastoral preferences is the care of the left alone, the separated, the abandoned, the sick and the aged. Throughout his ministry he went out of his way to respond to the needs of the community, individuals and the society. We read how he assisted the sick, the voiceless, the widows, the poor, the youth, the family and restored not only confidence in their lives but also friendship in the community where they lived. The Holy Father said that, “those who knew him testify to his great love of God. Everyone who met him was touched by his personal goodness. He was then a man of the people: he always put others before himself, and was especially attentive to the pastoral needs of families. He took great care to prepare couples well for Holy Matrimony and preached the importance of chastity. He tried in every way to promote the dignity of women. In a special way, the education of young people was precious to him”. Blessed Iwene Tansi was not imported into Nigeria, he is a prime example of the fruits of life and holiness which have grown and matured in the Church in Nigeria since the Gospel was first preached in our land. Why can’t we be like him, each one of us? Why do we continue killing ourselves, making mess of this good and great Nigeria. Many and nations are laughing at us and making mockery of what we have become over the years. The Holy Father, a Polish born Saint has this to say:
       “God, in fact, has blessed this land [Nigeria] with human and natural wealth, and it is everyone's duty to ensure that these resources are used for the good of the whole people. All Nigerians must work to rid society of everything that offends the dignity of the human person or violates human rights. This means reconciling differences, overcoming ethnic rivalries, and injecting honesty, efficiency and competence into the art of governing… there is a need for politicians both men and women who profoundly love their own people and wish to serve rather than be served. There can be no place for intimidation and domination of the poor and the weak, for arbitrary exclusion of individuals and groups from political life, for the misuse of authority or the abuse of power. In fact, the key to resolving economic, political, cultural and ideological conflicts is justice; and justice is not complete without love of neighbour, without an attitude of humble, generous service”. So my fellow Nigerians there is still much hope for this Nigeria if we can change our private and national lifestyle. Blessed Iwene Tansi – Pray for us.
[The quotations are from the words of the Holy Father – sermon at the beatification at Oba Nigeria 22nd March 1998]

                                                                 June 23, 2019
                                                         Sharing the image of love
        The month of June is traditionally dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the greatest human expression of divine love, the ultimate symbol of God’s mercy, the unique expression of love for precisely our times. During this month many Catholics in this country practise devotion to the Sacred Heart because of its extraordinary remedy for the extraordinary needs of our times. A country passing difficult times like ours needs the most efficacious means to contribute to the spiritual and moral, economic, political and social renewal of its citizens. A broken, hungry, lost Nigeria needs the Sacred Heart now more than ever. 

           I have read of many stories of saints who through their devotion to the Sacred Heart have ended up being changed, moved, and improved by their devotion and imitation the love of the Sacred Heart. We do not need words to understand Love. Love evangelizes and speaks without words. For example the crucifix shows us God’s love for humanity better than the greatest homily on love. God in Jesus has a heart that loves. The burning wounded heart of the God man tells us that holiness only comes through suffering. God in his Son offers his heart, inviting us to offer ours for our brothers and sisters. The human heart of Jesus is the ultimate display of an unabashed Christian identity for all times. The Blessed Iwene Tansi is an example of this love-identity of our modern Nigeria. In his priestly ministry he gave himself to witness love unconditionally. He loved every one for what that person is-a child of God. He had a preferential love for those in need and suffering. This kind of love identity drove him to give out his meals and scarce means to the poor and the weak. Not only did he offer them his meals but he brought them to his house to feed them and sometimes t care for them. It was this kind of love that moved him to ride on a push-bicycle from Nnewi to the hilly country of Awgu (a distance of over 40 miles on a rough hilly foot tracks) to collect drugs for his leprosy patients. It was suffering done out of love. It was rewarding for his sick and abandoned patients. It was also a double rewarding for him witnessing this kind of love
identity. Today the story is a legend in many parts of Igbo land. He is remembered for those unique sacrifices. It is said that he was like a burning fire and whoever met him will not go away unchanged. It was that love that pushed him to work beyond the normal human capacity in his pastoral ministry. It was love and justice for the poor that pushed him to denounce the traditional rulers and the wealthy who made unjust laws that exploit the poor. His was a burning zeal to give himself completely for the good of others, this zeal landed him in a very mortified penitential life style for his parishioners. This lifestyle is today telling Nigerians that sacrifice for love for others has a reward – heaven and indifference to the plight of the poor and needy has a punishment – hell.
          In this country Nigerians can overdo displays of their external identity. We can substitute the external sign for the internal reality this time LOVE of our fellow Nigerian irrespective of tribe, language or religion. Jesus loves you unconditionally. Your love for the Sacred Heart can not be complete unless it has a human face-love your fellow Nigerians irrespective of tribe and religion, give to the poor and do not take away from them. Make sacrifice for the common good of your family, town, state or nation. Promote more justice for the poor in this country. Let us adopt the lifestyle of Blessed Tansi and we will get the social, political and economic renewal this country needs. Blessed Iwene Tansi – Pray for us.

                                                                             June 16, 2019
                                                       Being a Christian in a collapsing Nigeria.
The greatest mystery of our faith, the Trinity, which we celebrate this weekend assures all Christians and indeed all Nigerians that no matter what happens in our social, economic and political life God has been in control and will always be in control. From before the earth and the sky were set in place to the crowning glory of his handiwork the human race, to the coming of Christ and the Spirit upon the new creation our loving Creator has taken care of his creation. You are a distinct part of that creation no one can take your place in God’s infinite plan. This is the reason for the Christian joy. Though along this salvation history the human race lost that glory through sin but thanks through Christ death we have gained grace and access through the Spirit to the Father who makes us once more his adopted children. By this he guides us to all truth, shows us the things that are coming, the things that were meant to be from before all ages that we will find peace and union in God, we will share the life of the Trinity, we will dwell in God as He dwells in us. If all accept this fact Nigeria will never collapse.
       The Blessed Iwene Tansi a true Nigerian Christian lived out this truth and hope. He is an example of Christian discipleship for our times. He was born into the poor local people of Anambra River basin and grew up farming and fishing with his parents. As a young man, he was important for his discipline, industry and honesty. These qualities unfortunately are often absent in some Nigerian youths of today. In 1912, when he was baptised and entered the Church, he embraced a different way of making impact on the community. Utilizing his abilities to memorize Scripture and speak persuasively, he became a disciple of love. He served as a teacher and catechist, which in his community functioned much like a permanent
deacon does today. As a seminarian and priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha he went on missions to neighbouring villages and farm reservations and taught and formed Catholic outstation which later grew up into churches and parishes. Like many saintly people, he suffered greatly. He experienced the deaths of his parents at a tender age. Some of his siblings at his later age endured debilitating illness and severe injury. In times of tragedy, sickness, epidemics, oppression and lack of basic human needs it can feel like one’s world is collapsing. Faith can dissipate, leaving emptiness in its wake. Yet He bore these trials with
hope and persevered in his Christian witness.
        It is here that Blessed Tansi Christian discipleship becomes especially relevant for us today. Albeit at a different point in history, we face the possibility of the world collapsing every day. Nigeria is filled with growing warnings. Corruption, tribal hatred and speech, injustice to the poor and the weak today expand unchecked in Nigeria. Youth violence continues seemingly without end. For many, possible collapse is paralyzing. Our patterns of destruction seem impervious to change. We despair that nothing can be done, that our actions do not matter. Worst of all is that some Christians live as if God has abandoned us and there is no future. That is why Blessed Tansi witness is important. He was not just a good teacher, but the key teacher showing us that his lifestyle is the answer to a collapsing Nigeria in which he lived a vibrant life of hope. With the skill of an artist, he wove seemingly different strands into one beautiful life. He preached the Gospel, worked to implant the Christian way of life and built bridges across artificial divisions that separate us into warring ethnic groups. He can help us find our way out of our tendency to despair. His witness can help us re-learn that the core of our faith is hope in a God that has power over all the destructive forces that threaten our Nigeria, that in a Nigeria under threat of collapse we are to be missionary disciples who live the message of Christ. “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev 21:5).

                                                              June 09, 2019
                              Blessed Tansi entire Life was guided by the Holy Spirit.
The giving of the Holy Spirit to all believers crowns the mighty work of the Father in salvation history. (Acts 1:14) God had promised his people through his covenants with them, through his prophets and lastly through his Son that He will give his Spirit to live in the hearts of all who believe in him. (Rom. 8:2) This Spirit is the life-giving breath of the Father to renew all mankind in the face of the earth. This was what the apostles got to carry the message of Christ which changed the destiny and social relation of humanity. Thanks to the out pouring is the Spirit on humanity and thanks to the fidelity of the apostles who first received this Spirit and who faithfully imparted Him on generations after them. (John 7: 37- 390) We receive that Spirit by which we are made new people and sons for the first time in Baptism and then other sacraments. (2 Cor. 5: 17)
       The Blessed Tansi also received the same Spirit as we do in his baptism at the age of 12 in
1912. He was already strong and courageous as a child due to the influence of his devout and
pious parents. His baptism marked a total change in his life. His baptismal vow became an irrevocable norm of his life style. As he grew up, he was constantly faced with a lot of helplessness in the face of this world’s needs. He knew suffering and various kinds of temptations to give up. He did not give up because the Spirit powerfully encouraged him to perseverance. That encouragement never left him. He was able to do so much for God and humanity.
“This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”(Joshua 1:9)
     You too have received the same gifts as the apostles, Joshua, the Saints especially the Blessed
Tansi of our own day. You have decided to serve God, despite your apprehensions in your vocation and life. Be sure, the Spirit and power of God is sufficient for you to move mountains on your way. What God gave to Blessed Tansi also applies to you, you who sometimes tremble before the face of worldly temptation and human weakness. Be strong because I know that the help will come. This is what it means to receive the Holy Spirit. You have no other choice but to strengthen yourself in the Lord and go forth on your baptismal vows. You are not alone and you will never be alone. Blessed Iwene Tansi –Pray for us.​

                                                             June 02, 2019
                                           Remember Jesus Request and Promise.
Imagine over 2,000 years of Jesus call for conversion and repentance his church is still populated with sinners, men and women who are no better than the first people that received the gospel from Christ himself. The fallen human nature is still at work in each of us. In spite of this Jesus still loves each one of us dearly and manifests clearly his love and mercy to each of us.  Before his Ascension Jesus asks us in fact begs us to do one thing for him: to be witnesses of his resurrection. Jesus makes himself further clear when he told the apostles “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature. Today Jesus is still asking the same thing from every one of us. He is inviting us to start with just the little things that improve the quality of our life and of those around us. ‘If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones.’(Luke 16:10). Little things matter to God. They have a purpose, not only for us, but also for God. By putting our daily little things together they will produce great results. They will increase our confidence, develop our compassion for others, sharpen our character and perfect our gifts and talents especially make us honest people. Peter and the other apostles fulfilled this request by proclaiming fearlessly the Resurrection in several different places and in several different ways. Their message revolutionized governments, societies and individuals. We too can do the same with our Christian witness.
      Jesus Promise: He knew the first apostles would need further support and supernatural instruction in the Faith before being able to fulfil His request “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”(Matthew 28:19).  40 days with them after the Resurrection, followed by the promise of the Holy Spirit, demonstrate a love that forms, nurtures and strengthens them to carry out his request. We, His modern disciples, also have the potential to do great things for Jesus. He promised us we shall not be left alone. “The Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” (John 14:26) In our mission to be his witnesses he will be with us to sustain us. The task of the Holy Spirit constantly present in us is to make us remember, understand fully and carry out concretely Jesus’ teachings. This presence does not mean that we shall longer face our daily problems, never feel pain or meet with setbacks in our particular vocation rather it means that he is always there for us to make us a better person to do our duty, to lead us to victory and prevent us from pitfalls.

                                                                 May 26, 2019
                                           God is Making all things new in Christ.
No one is left out in God’s Kingdom. His goodness and compassion reach to all who have faith, Jew or Gentile, good news for everybody. In the Church of Christ, God is making all
things new. The old order where some are the chosen ones has passed and now God is
making the whole human race His people. The Church under the guidance of bishops, the
successors of the apostles is God’s kingdom for humans of all ages. We are his faithful ones we live by the new commandment of Christ’s love. We love each other as Jesus loved us in suffering and dying for us.
    Do you know that in everyday life, if we are not careful, our minds and inner beings can
revolt making distinctions of whom we are and from where we come. Sometimes in Nigeria it is either an ethnic, tribal or religious sentiment. Sometimes it is dangerous to live under such constant pressure without risking burning out. The first Church council, the Council of Jerusalem we hear about is just to prevent this burning out. Some Jewish Christians had wanted Gentile converts to be circumcised and obey all the complex ritual and purity laws of the Jews. This council called this a heresy, again showing us that the Church in the divine plan is meant to be a worldwide family of God, no longer a covenant with just one nation.
   The Church is one, the bishops and the priests in agreement with the laity. The Church is
holy, taught and guided by the Spirit that Jesus promises the Apostles .The Church is
universal, making known God’s ways of salvation to all peoples, ruling all in equity. The
Church is the Lord’s, watched over and guarded by the Holy Spirit sent by the Father in the name of the Risen Lord. This should fill us with confidence, free us to worship with
exultation, inspire us to rededicate our lives to God’s service in his church.
   Remember that in real life situation like the apostles we can misread God’s handwriting in our life as the case of those who objected to the admission of the gentile converts. Our
blessing, our solution, our healing can be right in front of us, yet we are terrified. We argue
because they are coming from a source known to us, from people of different back ground
whom we had known as our tormenters. Yet it is the moment of our salvation and healing.
We are often like this, fearing the very Saviour sent to us. We are like children who scream in fright as the doctor approaches with the shot that will cure or prevent sickness. The whole world and you will always have a place in God’s heart full of love. Let us praise God together for His love.

                                                                  May 12, 2019
                                            Christian Victory is over Sin and Death
The Christian life is different now because the Tomb is empty. Christ is risen from the dead and with him all those who died to sin with him through their baptism. His victory over sin and death is also our own victory. By that victory we are capable of God’s grace to begin a new active life bringing goodness to ourselves, families, communities and the world around us and moving them towards their recreation in Christ. We are saying good-by to sin because it is the source of all hostility to life itself. The loss of our integrity and alienation that sin causes finds its full bodily expression in death. Death subjects all that is good, noble and true about our humanity to futility. Do not make mistakes; the power of sin and the depths of its mystery are great. But greater still however, is the Divine Mercy that has suffered and overthrown death for our sake. The Risen Christ has the power to forgive our sin because He wants us to have the antidote for death. When
we come to Him with our sins, He is always ready to forgive them. He has gone deeper into our misery than our own sin can know. He has contended against the powers that would try to hold us down, and none of them could separate us from His love.
         This is the Christians’ victory, the message that the church has been celebrating since 2000 years. The message we, like the apostles and those Christians gone before us have been announcing fearlessly to the world. “Go into the whole world and proclaim the Gospel to every creature,” the Lord makes his desire clear. The apostles could not help but convincingly tell others. Their message went far and wide and started a worldwide movement that outlasted the Roman Empire, the Sanhedrin, and the Pharisees who plotted against Jesus. We too have the divine mandate to not only live this message but to tell others in spite of all persecutions that might come. Be bold about your convictions that sin is evil and causes death. Live it boldly and say it boldly in all situations. Do not compromise with what is evil no matter the cost. The Blessed Iwene Tansi lived out his convictions about his faith against all odds. He denounced every action that is sinful no matter who was involved. The rich and powerful who exploited the weak and the poor were publicly denounced and asked to repent. The traditional customs that denied the rights of the poor and women received a deadly blow from which they never recovered. He was a Christian and lived out his Christian principles and convictions.
              Like the apostles and the Blessed Tansi let us create our own Easter messages in our families, communities and the world around you. Let us tell people that we believe in the power and victory of Christ over sin and death. Let us tell them the benefits of Mass and power of Confessions. Let us not hide our faith but be bold Christians, defending our faith always and
everywhere.

                                                                 May 05, 2019
                                                         The Power of God’s love.
Last Sunday we celebrated the feast of Divine Mercy. With that I have personally been exploring the multiple facets of the power of God’s love and mercy. I am thinking of God’s love manifested through Jesus. God is powerful in His love. He became flesh in the person of Jesus. His love is mighty. He offered His own Son, His only Son, as a sacrifice to reconcile us with Himself. This is real and absolute love. (cf. 1 John 3:16) There is no greater love possible than for Jesus Himself to die for unworthy sinners. “…while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person…” ( Rom. 5: 6) It was out of the abundance of his love that Jesus by his death paid the ultimate price to reconcile us with the Father.   Yet, in spite of our dogged sinfulness, our Lord continues to reach down to our fallen human state.  He continues to pursue us, in order to forgive and heal us, to restore our broken relationship, to deliver us, to comfort us and to give us eternal life. Is this not wonderful to think about? It makes tears of joy run down my eyes. God wants to intercept me with His love.
                This kind of love should not go without any responsibility on my part. The example of Christ is inviting me to give up my own life for my friends and brothers. Fortunately it is not about dying as Jesus did, because He already did that on the cross for every person. Jesus is my
model. He has always put others’ interests ahead of His own. I too must do the same. In this case giving up my life for others becomes here and now bringing hope to those around me, ministering with compassion to those in need, helping my brothers and sisters in trials, being generous, remaining faithful to God and my neighbour, forgiving and loving at all times. In this way acting like Jesus people shall through me see the power of Love and God’s Almightiness. This is a powerful witness of the power of LOVE that can change our world. God’s Saints have done this in the past and are still doing it today. The Blessed Iwene Tansi and his compassion to lepers comes immediately to my mind, Saint Mother Therese and her ministry to the poor and abandoned stood high in my mind. We are called to share this Good News of salvation in the name of our Risen Savour.
               Let me add immediately that living this way of life is not an option for anybody. It is a must because Jesus’ sinless life and death on the cross are where God’s judgment and mercy meet.
“God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess 15:9). But there is judgment for those who are practicing evil deeds which is only serving to store up more wrath against the Day of Judgment (Rom 2:5). So there will be a day when God “will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury”( Rom 2:6-8).                                                                       

                                                                         April, 28, 2019
                                                       Christ resurrection is a lasting Victory
Christ resurrection is God’s covert strike against Satan. Jesus being both God and man was able to defeat the devil and the last enemy of man - death through His passion, death, and resurrection. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hell, where is your victory? Christ is risen, and you are overthrown. Christ is risen, and the demons are fallen. Christ is risen, and the angels rejoice. Christ is risen, and life reigns. Christ is risen, and not one dead remains in the grave. For Christ, being risen from the dead, is become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep”. This victory could be hard to accept in times of division, tension, and
uncertainty as being felt in our country today where many have a great temptation of slipping into fear about the future. Our Christian faith assures us that the victory of Christ is for always and without end. Houses can collapse or burn, politicians can cause unrest and death for many and nation can rage, bad government and bad leaders can ruin our economy, spiritual leaders can plummet, but the Resurrection assures us of a love that can always restore vibrant life which our confused, troubled world needs badly.
           Resurrection means Christ defeating death to gain our redemption, glory, heaven, hope, eternity with our Creator, victory, joy, freedom now and for the rest of our lives. Without the Resurrection, our life would be pointless. Christ death on the cross would just be the death of an interesting and kind man. But with the Resurrection everything makes sense, everything falls into place. Even in our own history our Lord raised up saints like our Blessed Tansi to shine the light of God’s love on the tumult. The Blessed Tansi stood among us as a beacon, guiding lost souls back to holy shelter. By his life style he teaches that the glory of the world passes but Christ’s glory is for eternity. Our very mission is to make saints in our time. While that has been our mission for years, it is becoming even more necessary in this present time.
Let the incredible joy of the resurrection consume us and reverberate through every aspect of our lives until the end of our days. We keep this victory alive in us when love everyone we come in contact with by - talking to them, caring for them, investing in them, empathize with them and above all forgiving them. And this victory is dead in us when we ignore, belittle, scold, or manipulate any one. When we live for others more than we live for ourselves this victory grows and multiplies. May the Risen Christ slowly take over our lives, until it is no longer us who live, but He who lives in us. (Gal. 2:20)

​                                                                 April , 21, 2019
                                                   Resurrection and Christian Victory
The Resurrection is a victory for Christ followers. To appreciate better Christ’s resurrection
we must look back to what we lost in the Fall of Adam and the effects of redemption. When
Adam and Eve fell they were expelled from the Garden of Eden, a cherubim stood guard, a
sword of fire blocked its entrance, and paradise was lost. By this they not only forfeited
sanctifying grace, they also lost four special gifts from God, according to Church tradition:
the inability to suffer, immortality, freedom from disordered desires, and knowledge of God,
creation, and the moral law necessary for happiness. In other words, before the Fall, Adam
was more like Superman lacking absolutely nothing. The Old Testament gives us a clue of
what Eden was like – a place of Luxury, delight, and pleasure.
God’s justice requires satisfaction for the Fall of Adam. Man in his finite state alone could
not make the necessary satisfaction that could please an Infinite justice. The same God who
created man in love, condemned him in justice now redeemed him in mercy sent his Son,
Christ to become man and to make this satisfaction by his death and resurrection. This
satisfaction was made by Christ’s sufferings, death and resurrection. The gaining back of
God’s grace is the greatest victory human will ever know.
The resurrection of Christ undid the catastrophe of the crucifixion and death on the cross.
This Christ, who had died, is risen. The resurrection further validates and verifies the claims
Jesus has made about his own identity. The origin of Christianity rests solely on the fact that
Jesus Christ rose from the dead. For the Jews, Christ was viewed as a figure that would be
triumphant and rule on David’s throne, not a figure that would be crucified and die. The
resurrection changed everything and gave a new beginning to Christianity which started and
grew as a result of the resurrection – the victory for Christ and his mission. Reason we call
him the VCTORIOUS LORD.
It is one thing to call him our Victorious Lord but it is another to truly be under his authority.
“Why do you call me Lord, Lord and not do what I tell you” (Luke 6:46) Is Christ your
Lord? Imagine you are one of the thieves on the cross with him which thief are you? The
thief who asks Jesus to remember him manifests a kind of baptism of desire as well as
repentance and faith. As such he moves straight-way in the victor’s column. Jesus words,
“today you shall be with me in paradise” indicate a dramatic and sudden shift for the thief. In
other words Jesus says, “your faith has saved you”. You are now at my side, and I am your
saving Lord. For us to be on the side of Jesus is paradise. Sooner or later the heavens will be
opened as well, but the victory is now, and paradise begins now for me and for you. Our
choice must be clear and definite. There is no compromise. Jesus says, “whoever is not with
me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters”. (Matt 12:30) The choice
must be made not like the first apostles of the Lord when the going was good He was their
Lord but when the cross came the crowds that followed from Galilee disappeared, the crowds
at palm Sunday shouting Hosanna took to their heels, the first bishops all but John and Peter
who followed at a distance and then three times denied he knew the Lord, but the rest of
those bishops fled to God knows where.
As for me, I have decided to make Jesus my choice. Now I pray that he will truly be my
Victorious Lord in all things and that my choice will be more than lip service. Come
Victorious Jesus reign in my heart and my way of life. Let me begin to experience victory
and paradise even now.

​                                                              April , 14, 2019
                                                     The Power of Forgiveness
Forgiveness stands very tall in the Christian portfolio. Forgiveness lets us say more and do
more for ourselves and others. It puts us on a direct express high way to freedom – one of the
greatest prerogatives of a child of God. For many, forgiveness is both a touchy and difficult
subject. It often carries with it memories of hurtful things people have done to us. Sometimes
a feeling that some people simply do not deserve to be forgiven. With a feeling of hurt the
last thing our human nature can do is to forgive. There are some that do not deserve
forgiveness for what they have done but the Lord instructs us to forgive as he himself has for
given us. God has his own way He often likes to work things in what would seem a
backwards way to us, asking us to do something incredibly difficult in order to provide an
incredible blessing in our lives. ( like demanding Abraham to sacrifice his only son)
Forgiveness has more to do with us, than the person we are to forgive. You get more blessing
than the person you have forgiven. The common saying among Igbos ‘onye ji madu n’ala ji
onwe ya’ (he who keeps on holding somebody on the ground is at the same time holding
himself). Much are we blessed when we forgive others.
As part of our Lenten resolution let us forgive all with whom we are holding something
against no matter how small or how great. This will bring us closer to God and make us not
only stronger but very much like Christ who forgave the soldiers and the criminal crucified
with him on the cross. “Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Col.
3:13).
Anybody trying to make progress in the spiritual life must know that when we hold a grudge
against someone, that person and whatever pain was inflicted on us consume a large amount
of our thoughts and feelings, thereby leaving less room in our brain for God and His Word.
Those in religious houses must be clear about this otherwise a lot of their efforts in the
spiritual life shall be wasted. The virtue of forgiveness is difficult we cannot do it on our
own. We have to rely on God’s strength to do it.  And anytime we allow God’s strength to
work in our lives, wonderful things happen. When the power that raised Christ from the dead
is working in you there is no limit to how God can use you and bless you.
As devotees of Blessed Tansi let us imitate Tansi childlike humility and trust in the power of
God’s grace. While he was a parish priest in the Archdiocese of Onitsha he suffered a lot of
humiliation and distrust from his superiors but he never held it against anyone. He was more
preoccupied with the pastoral needs of his parish than what people were saying against him.
His own people Aguleri did not want him as their pastor; they preferred a white missionary
than him. When he was told he asked the bishop to send them a white priest. When we are
tempted with the vice of unforgiving let us ask for his heavenly assistance. Blessed Iwene
Tansi – pray for us.

                                                                April , 7, 2019
                                                           Persevere in prayers.
This life is both challenging and often difficult, frightening at times, and even risky. But you
can find peace in God. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.” (John 14.1)
 Prayer allows us to see the loving presence of God in our clouded life.  It also allows us to
see Jesus in our neighbour.  Prayer allows us to hear the voice of God specially through the
Holy Bible. It is true that the adversities of life can challenge us but many times we seek
instant solutions for our problems without God.  With listening to God we will be more calm
and patient and have more trust in God. God does not have an email address.  He is not as fast
as a microwave oven.  He does not work like instant telephone call.  God is different because
he is eternal. 
The power of prayer is shown throughout the Sacred Scripture. From the words of Jesus to
the letters of Paul the centrality of prayer to the Christian life is abundantly demonstrated
over and over again. Jesus taught the disciples to pray the Our Father, the perfect prayer
which offers praise to God and meets all our needs. Jesus also told the parable “about the
necessity for [us] to pray always without becoming weary” ( Lk. 18:1) In fact, prayer is the
most effective form of action for a Christian. Jesus prayed before he chose his apostles: "Jesus departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day
came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve”. (Luke 6: 12-19)
You may ask yourself how many nights you spend in prayer before making the important
decisions of your life. 
St. Paul exhorts the disciples to do everything “with all prayer and supplication {and} pray at
every opportunity in the spirit”( Eph. 6: 18) and to persevere in faith. “Rejoice always, pray
without ceasing” ( 1 Th 5:16-17).
Prayer must be a negotiation with God where we bring our arguments to God and listen to his
own view of our argument. It is possible we can convince God and God changes his mind.
But it is not God who changed. You are the one who has changed, because you believe that
the Lord would do what you are requesting for. We know vaguely that God can do everything
but in prayer we rediscover this fact in concrete reality. Prayer changes our heart, and helps
us understand God better. In the bible Moses spoke to God face to face. This is how our
prayer must be, free, insistent and with arguments. Even rebuking the Lord a little: "You
promised me this but you did not do it, just like talking with a friend. Open your heart to this
prayer.
The Blessed Iwene Tansi was a man who understood prayer because he lived in it. He really
prayed. He prayed throughout the entire day. Prayer was the real soul of his very fruitful
apostolate. By his prayerful mortified life he sanctified his apostolate. Like his master he
spent nights in prayer. He wanted us to find the same treasure because in his powerful
sermons to his parishioners he broke open the relationship between humans and their God in
a simple but profound way in order to teach them how to pray, and expose them to the entire
myriad of ways in which prayer can be expressed.
As devotees of Blessed Tansi we are called to pray in a special way for the canonisation of
our patron saint ad mentor. We receive benefits from his powerful intercession also from the
postulation for his cause including the weekly Mass on Mondays offered for our intentions at
the shrine in the basilica of the Most Hoy Trinity Onitsha and our regular novena prayers.
Having received so much we have a commitment to fulfil. That commitment is to pray for a
happy and quick conclusion of the cause now in progress in the Vatican. It is a perfect time
for you to storm heaven for the canonisation of this humble priest and monk who the church
has recognised twenty years ago the humble way he lived out his vocation. Blessed Iwene
Tansi- pray for us.

                                                             March , 31, 2019
                                                          Cross leads to Victory

We are almost four weeks into lent and with the resurrection the victory of the cross looms ahead. There can be no victory without a fight. Though we might wish that life had no struggles,the Lord intends a climb for us, for only the cross leads to true glory. Where would we be without some of the crosses in our life.  In real life experience sometimes we are up, at other times we are down almost to the ground but we need to see what the end shall be. That is what the Lord is doing. He is showing us what the end shall be. There is a cross to get through, but there is glory at the end of the tunnel. God uses trials to direct us.Sometimes God gives real heat to move us and to get us going. Trials often point us in new directions and motivate us to change. Sometimes it takes a painful situation to make us change our ways. In real life not everything that glitters is gold, yes a momentary pleasure, to be sure, can be followed by a life time regret and anguish. We humans have a craving for something good and pleasurable but this craving is literally insatiable with earthly realities. This insatiability is not a curse but a sign that our hearts are made for something infinitely greater than earthly realities. 
The more that our sin is rooted out, the more space there is in our lives for God, and in Him we will find joy. Humans cling to the old cloak because it has brought us earthly comfort; we wear out our sandals on the path to destruction because our clouded minds think it to be the road to freedom. By our cross and spiritual battle the scales of deception fall from our eyes. We can let go of the old cloak and allow God to robe us in fine linen so that we might gain admittance into the heavenly banquet. 
The Blessed Tansi detachment from material world and pleasure shows us the way to true freedom and victory. He calmly and willingly lost himself in the will of God. Detached from all material things he removed from himself all obstacle to love and victory.  The gravity of material world and self-occupation pull us into ourselves and fill us with fear every time God tries to pull us out of ourselves.   Rather the Blessed Tansi trusting God, looking to Him, relying on Him defeated the temptation to material attachment and pleasure. For this the Lord permitted him to suffer difficult losses and painful trials.  If God allows us to be tried all the way to the breaking point, being broken and humbled is not the end of the story.  It is simply a new beginning where we learn that deeper surrender that allows God to do great and wonderful things.  In such moment, it is by trusting Him that we live life to the full.  Blessed Tansi-Pray for us.




                                                       March 24, 2019
                                                    Courage not Shame:
A good journey through lent can help us discover our true self. As we come to know ourselves: who we are, what we are and what is our purpose. This knowledge is so vital for our spiritual growth.  Unless we come to know ourselves, unless we come to know and understand what we are, and what we are not, we will not find our way to true conversion necessary to live out our vocation.
         The most important signs of a man’s greatness is his capacity to be at home in himself. If we cannot be at home with ourselves alone we are not yet fully human.  The best way to get this knowledge is through pray which demands more listening than speaking. Unless the light of God shines through your soul you cannot see yourself as God sees you.  Friendship demands an intimacy that transcends words. Shame for sin can easily interrupt this intimacy. “I am ashamed of the wrong doings in my life.” Shame is unfortunately a very common feeling. Shame is a powerful emotion. It leads us to withdraw from those we love. Hide from the Lord. It is often accompanied by guilt and fear. These are the same feelings that led Adam and Eve to hide from God after they had sinned. Discovering the wrong doings in our life can produce a negative effect – shame. We can be ashamed for many different reasons: Addiction to pornography,  alcohol, drug, gambling, etc. Cheating in marriage in thoughts or actions, incest, our past sins, our failures in life, the list can continue. There are many reasons for being ashamed, and it is a feeling we all experience at some point. If you are feeling ashamed right now and are struggling to draw near to God, I encourage you not to turn away from God but rather to have the courage to stand as you are before him in humility. He is a merciful Father and no wrong doing is too great for him to forgive. Do not hide any longer. God sees you no matter what happens. He sees you as you are. He sees your situation. And He does not reject you. “… nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.”(Rom. 8:38) In reality, the only person who can take you away from God is you, when you deliberately choose to distance yourself from Him. Do not take a step back rather take two steps forward. Run into His arms, cry, confess your sins to Him, and go forward with Him. The way may not be too easy, but nobody ever said it would be. Remember the Blessed Tansi is a good heavenly helper in situations like this. He was a good listening confessor and could also read souls. He spent a lot of time in the confessional listening and reconciling souls. He understands what you may be going through. Confide in him and miracle will happen.
                                                       

                                                        March 17, 2019
                                                     God, where are you!
Most of us in this country are asking this question. You may have asked this question in your life or you may be asking it right now. There are certainly some good days and bad days  when it seems like clouds are gathering above our heads. The Christian life is not just a succession of moments of joy and victories. Since if you have victories, you also have battles. At such times, it can be easy to lose sight of the Lord. To no longer see His moving hand. To no longer hear His reassuring voice. Yet, He has not changed. He is still God with us, Emmanuel. You are never alone on this path. Jesus is always present, never far away. He is the One who understands you. In the difficult times, Jesus shows Himself to be a true Lord and friend.  Blessed Tansi is no exception he handled his clouded years with patience and trust.
In the forties Blessed Tansi in his priestly ministry was full of life, strong, active and vibrant. He was in high demand, opening new outstations, making converts and building new churches. His pastoral treks brought him much nearer to the villages and farm lands where he met with the poor, sick and hard working farmers who need the word of God. His teaching and preaching resulted in many towns and villages clamouring for His attention. They needed His help. He was moved with compassion for their plight - poor and hungry. At the pick of his pastoral fame he opted for the monastery to the disappointment of many.  He is doing important work, and yet even at moments when people are ready to receive that work, He withdraws away from them. To many that can seem strange, and perhaps even a mistake. The people need Him, and yet He leaves them with the hope of coming back soon to bring them the monastic spirituality. His decision to withdraw into solitude is virtuous. At Mount Saint Bernard abbey months and years pass without any hope of coming back to Nigeria. He waited and waited and prayed and questioned God who remains silent to his plea. Seemingly disappointed he kept faith and trusted in God. He never came back but today there are monasteries all over Nigeria.
God is faithful, patient, and loving. Today more than ever, in everything you are going through, He stands with you. Remember you are not alone in this trial, in this challenge you have to face. You are not alone, and you never will be again. Your God is faithful to the end, he does not condemn but loves. Abraham our father in faith had the same patient-trust waiting to God’s promise (Gen.15: 5-6) He waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. The length of time is immaterial Isaac was born when Abraham was a hundred years old. In whatever condition in life let us simply ask God for the grace of greater trust. Nothing fancy and nothing profound. Just ask and aim small, miss small. Maybe God wants to answer your prayer in stages. Maybe you are searching for immediate gratification in our requests. Instead of focusing on what God is not doing be attentive on the little things God is doing in your life. May the patient endurance of Blessed Tansi help us to truly receive God’s gifts this Lent. Amen.
                                                           March 10, 2019
                                             A Little of That Human Touch
My experience of lent has been a time when we engage in fasting and other penitential services, denying our material hunger and desires, it rarely calls to mind feeding our own priority desires. The most important desire in human life is hunger for God. It is a hunger from within. Buried deep within every human heart is a deep longing for God. It is a craving for the infinite, for joy without end, and for transcendent life that does not cease. We are frequently asleep to this deep hunger and it remains unconscious as we emphasis the externals of Lenten discipline. This desire has the ability of directing and controlling all other human hunger and desire. The saints give priority to this hunger. For many of us this cry of the heart is stifled or almost entirely extinguished by worldly desires: personal fulfilment, power, wealth, entertainment, doubt, and endless quest for pleasure. For all this, the hunger does not cease.
Could we, the devotees of Blessed Tansi make this year’s lent moments of reckoning with eternity.  Choose this day, death or life, time or eternity, the infinite or the finite, God or the world, momentary pleasure or triumphant joy.  The saints chose what has the greatest priority in their lives. The Blessed Tansi did it.  He had a deep longing for God from his childhood. He learnt faith and respect for the gods as he followed his pious parents to traditional feasts and sacrifices. He got it right from the early start and he made up his mind to seek what was most important in all human life – God and eternal life. When he come in contact with the catholic missionaries and got the true faith he never turned back again.  The choice he made for God and eternal life influenced the rest of his other choices and desires. He paid heed to this inner voice and allowed the longing to grow, he fed it even to the extent of looking for God in the solitude of the monastery. He allowed himself to feel the hunger for God, and then he made space for Him. With determination he stripped away all that was inessential in his life so he can find the one thing necessary. His life orientation which helped him to put a human face and touch in all he did was for God and eternal life. His priesthood and ministry had a human face and human touch - reason for the tremendous success he recorded in his apostolate.        
Could we listen to this call in our own time, this inner voice or will we numb its uncomfortable stirring by immersing ourselves again in the torrent of sensory stimulation. Could we turn to prayer and go deeper, or we will suppress the silent ache with addictions, with consumerism, with endless distractions.  Our answer is intertwined with our eternal destiny. Remember, a good human being is like virtue it does not come over night. It must be cultivated by the proper disciplines of prayer and the sacraments, hearing His voice, holding it fast, and bringing forth result in patience. Consider how you can be of service to your neighbour and give things up, not only the non-essentials, but also the essentials of life, recognizing the plight of those suffering among us such people could be the face of Christ himself. Can we make an extra act of kindness for our spouse, a brother/sister, an extra time with members of our family, live in such a way that the result of authentic love is borne in our lives.
                                                        March 3,2019
                                      Give Up this Bad Relationship Habit
In a few days will be Ash Wednesday the first day of lent for 2019.  Devotees of Bl. Tansi know what the holy period stands for all Christians and the spiritual value of the period.  Bl. Tansi all his life was a great ascetic. Those who know him well describe the hallmark of his holiness as ascetic charity. To be an ascetic you need some quiet time to yourself and God. Unfortunately, we are officially a culture that is opposed to spending quiet time inside our heads. In fact we love noise. All the noise helps us avoid thinking and examining our conscience. This Lent, rather than giving into the cacophony around us, how about we instead make time for quiet self-reflection, which will put us into the spirit of lent.  During lent Blessed Tansi spent more time in prayer, reaching out more to the company of his parishioners, giving more in solidarity and sharing the little he has with the poor and needy, spending more time visiting the sick and the elderly, more specially giving himself more to the demands of his apostolate which means more time to pastoral treks and visitations, more time spent at confessional, these meant for him a lot of sacrifice and penance. Can we make our lent this 2019 look like his, more charity to our neighbours specially to the needy, more openness and honesty in our work/business, a little more forgiving to others and a little more asking for forgiveness from others. Can we become more pleasant to the members of our house hold adding a little more to their comfort, confidence, trust and security/reliability?  As lent is explicitly calling Christians to make sacrifices that will bring them closer to God and help them become the people God is calling them to be. Make the sacrifice that matters. You may be asking what you have to give up for Lent. If you are looking for something a little different I give you a small suggestion that will not only be a great spiritual exercise, it will also improve your relationship in marriage/community/single life 100 fold.  What is it?  This Lent, I suggest that you give up loving your comfort zone more than you love your neighbour.  Your comfort zone excludes others and represents your preferred ways of being and acting. This is your sacred chamber, which only you know and have access to. May be your comfort zone keeps you on familiar ground and helps you feel safe. But the only problem is that true love and especially true, godly love in marriage and community life almost always demands a more openness, sincerity and fraternal sharing. It will be worse still when this comfort zone does not allow you to grow in fraternal charity or holiness. Do not be afraid the graces of lent will be your strength, just begin, and make a sincere and honest start. May the Blessed Tansi spirit of lent encourage us. Amen.

                                                        February 24,2019
                                              Staying Strong in the Lord
Very often in the midst of our daily life hustle we seem to forget that life itself is a gift from God, an extraordinary miracle which brings its daily share of joys, hopes, and victories. No matter how pleasant these may be they come with them their own battle: sickness and death, financial brokenness, fatigue, rejection, persecution, family wa-ha-la, fear, dejection, spiritual problems… Remember in all these you are not alone.
Nothing can separate you from God, the beginning and end of your life. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ. Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?” ( Rom. 8:35) Jesus Himself encourages us to remain strong in the face of difficulties. “...In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer. For I have overcome the world. (John 16:33). If there were no Good Friday, there would have been no Easter. Take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted even the present trial will also pass away. Jesus is with you every day until the end of the age. (Matt 28:20) From personal experience I have seen my impossibilities become possibilities with God. My end of the rope days becomes beginnings of thank you God.
There are many out there who passed what you are going through now and in the end trusting in God they made it. Even the Saints had their own portion of the world tribulation. In the end they made it. We shall also make it, do not give up. Blessed Tansi had a good share of this world battle and in the end God’s grace triumphed. May his heavenly protection help us to overcome our battles. Amen

                                                     February 17, 2019
                                           Seeking God in our daily duties.
We are not just ordinary Nigerians; we are Christians Nigerians and Blessed Tansi devotees. As Christians we remember always that Christ was and is compassionate. When he noticed his fellow men and women in need he responded with healing, forgiveness and teaching. He praised others who were a bit exceptional in living a good and admirable life. Certainly you have noticed around you people who live up to their chosen calling such as spouses, parents, workers, doctors, politicians, religious and priests. They have a strong faith immersed with love that gives foundation for such good­ness. Blessed Tansi, a good Nigerian was and is one of them and is their good heavenly mentor.
He with attention, action and grabbing words, tells all of us in so many ways of how to reach our challenges in the present day Nigeria. To become gen­uine-Nigerian disciples, be alert to hear God’s calling and then do something about it. That really means witnessing as baptized disciples what that baptism calls us to do - witness of our faith in all circumstances. This will be for me and you a true encoun­ter with Christ and Blessed Tansi. We can look forward to our Nigerian elections as another call for us to live and go out to show the Gospel. May we go out as Blessed Tansi did in our own good direction and conviction and live in a more influ­ential way as a follower of Christ. Many people learn from those they love and admire. We too, as devotes of Tansi are called to read and learn from the wonderful lifestyle he left us as a true Nigerian. May he continue to inspire us especially in this time of brokenness as a nation. Amen



                                                             February 3,2019
                                             Tansi devotee must be a Christian.
Christianity is not just a point of view it is the way of life. A Christian believes that the way of Jesus Christ is the right way to be human, the way that leads to the goal of a completely fulfilled and authentic humanity. Christians are known as followers of Christ. "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”( John .14:6) To be Christian is a way; or rather it is a pilgrimage, a journey with Jesus Christ. It is to go in the direction He showed us, and continues to show us. So we are all on a journey to the Father and Jesus is our roadmap and our companion. 
If Jesus is the way, then in order to find our way we must know Jesus, not just know about Him but live the kind of life he lives. Christian discipleship is growing in our knowledge of Jesus. To be imitators of Christ, to “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”(Rom.13:14). We do this by seeking the Lord in prayer, studying His Word, frequenting the Sacraments and sharing in the liturgical life of our Catholic parish community. There are other companions with us on this journey, parents, family, spouse, children, teachers and friends. They strengthen and encourage us along the way, but the full journey is ours alone and our only constant companion and guide is Jesus. The Blessed Tansi did just this. Christ was the centre of his life and ministry. He saw Christ in his neighbours, environments and he did what he considered to be the work of Christ. He followed, imitated, made decisions and judgments based on the mind of Christ and never losing sight of his goal and knowing that he will never be abandoned. Blessed Tansi as Christ was your roadmap for life, help all Christians especially the Nigerian Christians to make their Christianity the way of  life. Amen

                                                              Jan. 27,2019
                                                        Lord that I may see!
Prayer is needed in these difficult days. Nigeria is passing difficult times and so the Nigerians themselves. I tell you again we need prayers. The darkness and cold we feel are not merely physical realities related to the time of year and weather conditions. We have forgotten the Lord and we do not have time for him. Prayer can change all of this ... but we have not yet given God his place in our lives and answer this call to prayer. Homeless, the Lord Jesus travels this world now as He did some two thousand years past. Remember many of those he loved had the doors of their hearts shut against him so that he had no place to stay. He would be conceived in the minds of those to whom He has drawn close and born in their lives and actions, but His own would not receive Him. He has no place to lay His head. Our Lady is just as much part of this story now as she ever was. For she tirelessly journeys forward determine that Her Son shall come into Nigerians anew. She is not discouraged by indifference and rejection, but has confidence in the goodness of every heart she meets. She is not afraid to accept whatever space we give her Son, no matter how lowly for she sees it as a gift from the Father above. Even the most humble stable in our hearts will suffice for her - for she already knows manger in which her Son might be safely kept.
In the dark cold of these heartless times she is not discouraged by our failures but she hopes in us instead. She who gave her "fiat" to the angel understands the greatness of our collective responsibility and vocation. Similarly, as we celebrate the life of this true son of this great land, Fr. Iwene Tansi we remember that he too knows the courage that a prayerful life demands of us. He also knows the joy of trusting in what the Lord has said. He knows that this humble trust can change our lives and this country. Most of all, he longs for us to know the presence of Christ in our lives as he knows. And with brotherly passion and solicitude he prays for us. May the prayers of this powerful Advocate of Nigeria change this country. Amen…

                                                            Jan. 20,2019
                                           Feast of Blessed Iwene Tansi Jan.20
This year we celebrate the feast of Blessed Tansi with the Diocese of Nnewi. The venue is St. John Cross Uruagu Nnewi where Fr. Tansi exercised his pastoral ministry from 1937-1940. Saints are those persons in heaven, whether or not canonized, who lived lives of great charity and heroic virtue. They now live forever with God and share in his glory. Their status is what should motivate us in everything we say and do, because our goal is to be like them and to be with them in heaven. Each time we celebrate the feast of Blessed Tansi is an opportunity to reflect on our path to sanctity and to look to him for renewed inspiration. Celebrating at St. John Cross Uruagu in Nnewi Diocese this year is a wonderful opportunity to remind us all of his priestly witness and ministry some 80 years past when he ministered to us. It is also an opportunity to talk with younger generation about the saints and to share the story of the life of Blessed Tansi with them. In his living stories we will see what made him holy. This will remind the younger generation and ourselves who knew him when he was here that we are called to be saints. We live like saints, we die saints and we enter heaven to share the glory of our heavenly Father. There is much that we can do to share the Faith simply with those around us. It is so greatly needed. When we tell the story of Fr. Tansi we will be inspired to love more and to rededicate our lives for the service of others as he did. He loved us, he sort for our good, he shared his most precious gift with us without minding what it cost him. We are happy to remember him as the one champion for the liberation of the lepers. He gave them a status and a sense of belonging. A sign of it can still be seen today at St. Peter Damian’s leprosy centre Ndiakwu Otolo. We remember his inspiring catechism for the youth and the family, his untiring effort to prepare couples for marriage and his concern and devotion to the sick, the needy and widows. These memories speak eloquent words of his greatness and holiness. His coming to Nnewi in his mortal remains will light up our mediocrity to love God and our fellow men. Blessed Tansi may your coming to Nnewi this year in your mortal Remains bring peace to Nigeria in this election year. Amen.

                                                             Jan. 6, 2019
                                          Make 2019 your most profitable year!
You can make it because God’s love for you this year is incomparable, unshakable, and unstoppable. Though from mere human perspective it is difficult for us to understand that God is the source of all opportunities and life. The world acknowledges and elevates most often many self-made individuals. Many of these people bask in the glory that is given to them by the world. This was the reason why blessed Tansi detached himself from material things and pleasures. There are a few things I am sure the Lord is preparing for you this 2019. He is thinking about you today; something that reflects His heart of a Father for you; something that reminds you how powerful, unwavering, and unstoppable His love is for you. Even now as you read this he seems to be saying to you “I will never stop calling you and knocking on the door of your heart. I will never get tired of seeking you because I love spending time with you, my child. I love you today and forever. The love that I have for you will never run dry. It will never end. Nothing will destroy it” Remember that before God you are original, unique, matchless and without equal. Your gratefulness opens the door to God’s presence. Do not let your thankfulness run dry. There is always a reason to say thank you. Thank God for this new year that is like a fresh start, thank him for providing for you and your family. By choosing thankfulness, you allow your soul to be nourished in God’s presence, and you will become part of changing the atmosphere wherever you are. Be a blessing to others and share today's message with your friend.
Do not be afraid we are journeying with Blessed Tansi as we look forward to his feast day Jan. 20. The novena for the feast starts Jan. 10. The feast celebration for the Archdiocese of Onitsha shall be on Saturday Jan. 19. Uruagu Nnewi.

​                                                               Dec. 30,2018
                                                        Family God’s Greatest Gift.
Blessed Tansi had a very strong devotion to his family apostolate because he understood the importance and role of the family. Jesus chose to become a baby born of a mother and to spend all but His last years living in an ordinary human family. In part, to reveal God’s plan to make all people live as one holy family in His Church. (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:16–18) We are to live as His children, “chosen ones, holy and beloved,” Happy homes are the fruits of our faithfulness to God. The family of God on earth cannot become a reality unless we make our families what it should. For Blessed Tansi the church cannot fulfil her mission on earth-heralds of God’s family unless we have faithful families. In the church through her sacraments every family finds its true meaning and purpose (cf. Ephesians 3:15)   How is your family? Can you compare it to the Holy family of Nazareth? Remember your family is unique and important. It has a definite role and mission to the world. Now as the festive periods are getting over their effects will usher you into another new beginning-new year. Success is the word and opportunity is the means. Preparation to meet the opportunity is important. God will offer the opportunity. Make adequate preparation. I am looking forward to 2019 transform you into a person who is going to see real, over-the-top, success of your life and family.“Do all that you can to live in peace with every one.”And “in your anger do not sin” Again“…do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” I pray you an opportunity- grace –filled 2019.

                                                            Dec. 23,2018
                       “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel”
We have journeyed together to deepen our faith this Advent season. We have also prepared ourselves for celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Can you believe we will celebrate Christmas in just a few days? I am very excited. I hope you are as well. Jesus Christ has come, He is coming… and He will come again!  Everywhere, in our towns and villages there is festive mood, festive lights illuminate the streets, the fragrance of pine fills the air, masquerades soon will return to the streets and for several days, Christmas carols have returned to the radio and TV. Each of these carols seems more beautiful than the last, and this week, I like these lyrics that magnify the person of Jesus, our Savior. Perhaps you know these verses: “O come, O come, EmmanuelAnd ransom captive IsraelThat mourns in lonely exile here” Many names are given to Jesus in the bible. These names will help you understand who is in our midst and why he has to come. Here are a few of them: Alpha and Omega, Good Shepherd, Almighty God, Son of God, Lamb of God, Light of the world, Prince of Peace, Morning Star…. Jesus also bears the beautiful name “Emmanuel”: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).” ( Matthew 1:23,) What an unfathomable mystery, what infinite grace! Through Jesus, God is with us! He ransoms us, delivers us from everything holding us captive. He destroys the dominions that attempt to keep us pinned to the ground. Our lives, unified with Emmanuel, are no longer lives of loneliness! We are not alone and never will be because He is with us, every day, until the end of the world when we join him in eternity. Whatever worries may await you today, Jesus is there, and nothing and no one could ever separate you from His love! Cast your cares on Him, and you will see how He takes care of you. Our thoughts shall meet at his Eucharistic table and the crib. Merry Christmas.

                                                       Dec. 16, 2018
                           You can put a smile on somebody’s face this period.
It is not how much you have or how much you give that matters but the spirit of love that moves your concern for another. It is said that the Blessed Iwene Tansi gives freely to the poor and needy. He has a great concern and a soft heart for those in need. At Dunukofia he feeds the poor from his poor resources. As an assistant priest to Fr. John Cross Anyogu [ latter bishop] in Nnwei parish in 1938 the lepers share his meals with him. In this way he puts a smile on the faces of the needy. He may not have satisfied their hunger for food but he made them feel accepted and belonging. No one knows what this lifestyle cost him but one thing is certain he felt fulfilled giving some help to another. This touches me because:
God’s power is made manifest in the weak and needy. Jesus said, “Whatever you do to the least of your brother you did it to me”  Blessed Tansi sees Jesus in these sick and hungry people. Have a simple faith. It is enough to touch the Father’s heart.
Everything is a gift and grace. We do not deserve anything, but God, our Father, wants to provide for all our needs. “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”(Philippians 4:19) I believe that God wants to and will provide for all our needs.
Generosity is a key that opens the door of blessing. You may not have much but the Lord is able to feed the five thousand out of a few loaves and fish.  The apostles Paul encourages his son Timothy to “do good...be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.”(1 Timothy 6:18)
Our little gift can be a miracle in the lives of others. Through you, someone can find hope and a smile again.
Think of being God’s ambassador  of love wherever you are.
Blessed Iwene Tansi, please help me to understand that it is not how much I have but the spirit of generosity in me. Amen.

​                                                             Dec. 09, 2018
                                     Your life consists in drawing nearer to God.
Bl. Tansi spent his whole life seeking the face of God in doing what he was convinced to be the will of God for him at any time of his life. In order to achieve this, he endeavoured to detach himself from visible material things knowing that they are transient and in a short time will all be taken from him. We too must do the same if we want drew nearer to God. With this in mind let us this advent practice: 
More spiritual reading and prayer.
Going to confession and Holy Communion more often; 
Letting the one object of our life be to serve God in the men and women we see.
Trying to bear patiently with things contrary to our will.
 Being most tender in our love for God and our neighbour; 
Acting in a charitable way as much as possible to others,
Being firm as a rock in bearing the trials sent us by Divine Providence.
Remembering that good works are of no use unless we bear the cross as well, nor do sufferings profit us unless we lead a Christian life. 
Jesus wanted his follower to be where he was in this same way the devotees of Bl. Tansi will also use the means adopted by their mentor in order to reach the kind of holy life which he lived. Blessed Tansi is an ever timely model. He teaches us that there is a culture of the spirit from which flow the serenity and far-sightedness required to face the most complicated personal situations. Please dear Bl. Tansi help us especially when we flatter in this journey…Amen.

                                                             Dec. 02, 2018
                    ADVENT TIME TO SEEK ANSWERS FOR WORLD PROBLEMS.
When Pilate questioned Jesus, 'So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice'" (Jn 18:37).
Since Christ came to bear witness to the truth, it follows that the truth is needed in my life and the world around me. In fact, humanity is a truth-thirsty people. Whether admitted or not, everyone desires truth, since it is one of the primary goals of the human intellect. Throughout  all of history man has always been a religious being in search of the truth that both applies to himself and transcends himself. Humankind wishes to know its origin, purpose and destiny, including what it means to be a human person.
Advent is a sacred season in which the faithful prepare for Christ who is come, is coming, and will come again. A time in which we open our hearts to the grace and truth of Jesus Christ in order to enter more deeply into the saving mysteries of the life of the Savior of the world (cf. Jn 3:17). That we desire Christ presupposes that we, too, desire to belong to the truth, for the Lord is Truth. Advent is, therefore, a time of seeking Truth in the hope that its full light will penetrate our minds and hearts and how life is to be lived in order to attain its fullest possible dimension. Consequently, you and I must unceasingly search for not only the truth about ourselves but the truth about the reality in which they live. The answers we seek are found in Christ who is himself "the way and the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6).
Blessed Tansi, an ever timely model you teach us that there is a culture of the spirit from which flow the serenity and far-sightedness required to face the most complicated personal situations. Please dear Bl. Tansi help us especially when we flatter on this journey…Amen.

                                                                Nov. 25,2018
                                                       Christ, the Universal King
Christ received from his Father authority to rule all creation. It is the truth that in Jesus, God keeps the promise He made to David of an everlasting kingdom, of an heir who would be His Son, “the first born, highest of the kings of the earth”. In Jesus God the Father is renewing His “everlasting covenant” with David. Jesus calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega,” the first and last’ the One who calls forth all generations. He has made the world, and His dominion is over all creation..
Christ is King and His kingdom, while not of this world, exists in this world in the Church. We are  this church and a royal people. We know we have been loved by Him and freed by His blood and transformed into a kingdom, priests for his God and Father. As a priestly people, we share in His sacrifice and in His witness to God’s everlasting covenant. We belong to His truth and listen to His voice, waiting for Him to come again amid the clouds.
Father, through the Bl. Tansi you teach us to live and to witness to your rule over all creation. Help us to be a part of this kingdom all the days of our live. AmenKnights & Ladies Tansi Weekly Meditation

                                                            Nov. 18, 2018
                                    Making each day the best asset of your life.
Withdraw your heart from the material world before God takes your body from it. Keep your mind in perfect peace with everyone however much it is occupied in the things of the world. Time passes whether you know it or not. Each time God offers to you is a golden opportunity for something better. Think of how much time you give to mundane matters.  Stop a moment and think how you are being led captive to the end; what is this world to you if it is holding you captive?  You are going to God; you do not wish to entangle yourself in earthly things.
If, in spite of all your efforts, you often find your attention distracted from religious matters, what would it be if you took no pains to be recollected? Consider that you are only beginning a new relationship; remember your former good resolutions, and beg God to assist you in carrying them out, for you have more experience as to the best means of keeping them now than you had before. 
When faced with spiritually bankrupt and lax faithful of his own town Aguleri, Blessed Tansi did not give up. When vast regions of his parish lapsed into spiritual indifference, he spent night and day storming the villages with his instructions in order to reignite the Faith. He remained in constant prayer for his flock. He fearlessly denounced decadent leaders and withstood their subsequent oppositions with perfect charity, winning over skeptics and melting the hearts of sinners. Blessed Tansi, help us in our spiritual struggles. Amen

​                                                              Nov. 11, 2018                  
                                                       Begin Saving Your Soul
A thought most reasonable and most worthy of all. With the use of our reason, we know that death is coming. We should begin so to regulate our life that when death comes, our days may all have been spent in preparation for worthily receiving the crown of glory. Begin this preparation with reconciliation, repentance and amendments for any past negligence. This is the time to renew our courage and to exert ourselves to remedy the weaknesses of our youth and to devote ourselves with fervour to making ready for passing unto eternity. This preparation consists not only in setting ourselves free from both debts and mortal sin, but in doing penance for our past faults, so that when our good and evil deeds are put into the balance of justice, with the divine mercy added to the right side of the scale, our attachment to God’s service may weigh as much as our former attachment to the world. As Blessed Tansi devotee, be charitable, devout, patient, and humble, in order to compensate for your former defects in these virtues.  Be ever busy with a holy fervour, seek to get nearer and nearer to God.  Remember these later years are especial gift mercifully given for this purpose. Therefore, care less for temporal things and attend instead to those which are more important.
Beloved Blessed Tansi, in your case you spent your whole life preparing for eternity, help me to spend these later years of my earthly life doing what I ought to do to be with you in eternity. Amen.

                                                               Nov. 4,2018

 A few days ago we Catholics around the world gratefully commemorated all the faithful departed as part of our faith in the communion of saints. We devote a special time of prayer and concern during the month of November for all the faithful departed especially those among our family, relatives, friends, benefactors and those who have died in the service of others. Our faith is expressed so well in the Preface for Christian Death:
“In Him who rose from the dead our hope of resurrection dawned. The sadness of death gives way to the bright promise of immortality”. 
As we struggle to live our own Catholic life we are privileged to offer petitions for our faithful departed.
“All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death, they undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of Heaven”.  ( CCC. 1030)
This can help us to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ and to understand better that God has wonderful plans for us and that we one day look forward to joining our loved ones in the fullness of joy in the presence of a loving God who cares so much for us. 
Blessed Iwene Tansi you taught us to pray for the faithful departed and at the same time prayed with us , hear our prayers and console us as we renew our faith in Christ Jesus, who rose from the dead, help to strengthen our hope that all our departed brothers and sisters will share in Christ resurrection. Amen.  




 June 6, 2018


Saintly Solution to Nigeria’s problems

The blessed Iwene Tansi (1903 – 1964) was a leading figure in the early Catholic Evangelisation in Nigeria, possessed brilliant understanding of the Ibo culture/religion and practical abilities to conversion and enculturation. His pastoral approach in the Archdiocese of Onitsha (1937 – 1950), are considered by many the best pastoral approach to Catholic Evangelisation in Nigeria, and had a profound influence on the religious life not only of Christians but of the whole community. “ … it may be high claim to make, but it is hard to think of any other indigenous priest who has left a deeper imprint upon the Nigerian church in the last fifty years than Fr. Cyprian Michael Tansi. He was cast in a heroic mould and his life was short with suffering”. (Bp. A. Nwaedo, Sermon – reburial mass of Iwene Tansi, Basilica Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, October 17, 1986)

Blessed Iwene Tansi as we know was the first Nigerian Trappist Monk (June 1950 – January 20, 1964) who lived the Monastic life with great zeal, faith, humility and absolute tenacity in his love for God and humanity. His beatification by John Paul 11 on March 22, 1998 is a gift from God to Nigeria, a country that is in need of the wisdom contained in his lifestyle. The trials that Nigerian face today are different from those that confronted Blessed Tansi. Nonetheless, his life approach and sermons have much to say about how to respond to abuses of trust and power, to the pressures of life within a secular Nigeria. It is hard to describe the power that his words have to move the heart and the mind if only Nigerians will listen.

Twenty three years after his beatification the church is earnestly praying for his canonisation which will come after a successful recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. We know that one of the most common type of miracles considered by the Vatican is a sudden healing of someone.  The cure to be considered miraculous, the disease must be serious and impossible to cure by human means. The healing must be spontaneous, complete and permanent. One such miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Tansi has been recorded. The Church to recognize a miracle, a thorough process must first take place. The first diocesan process has been successfully concluded in the Archdiocese of Onitsha and the second and last process is now taking place in the Vatican. We all need to pray hard for a positive judgment of the church on this matter. The medical experts involved in the investigation are humans and therefore there could be human errors. This is the reason for prayer.

The present problem of Nigeria is rooted in love. There is an absence of love in our social, political and religious life. Blessed Tansi knows love, and shares that love to his people. He knows far more of the truth by experience than what can be learned through study, which is why his wisdom exceeds the wisdom of the scholars and politicians. We all want our lives to matter — to have some sort of lasting significance. But this can prove elusive, even for those who have the best of intentions. Trusting God means believing in His care for us and loving others even when evil seems to be gaining the upper hand — a point understood and rooted in Blessed Tansi lifestyle.

 




March 13, 2022

Blessed Tansi lived against the current

 

 Sometimes his actions looked like going against the current of natural behaviour. But for him it was a matter of justice and self conviction. For an average Nigerian who was naturally pushy it was a hard tiring task which could be accomplished only by strength of will. Blessed Tansi opposed all inclination of nature. This was a sweet task for a soul in love with God;  a soul which knew that everything it refused to self was given to God and that when it had reached the point of renouncing self in everything God Himself will give it the precious pearl of divine union. He was united with God’s will in all his actions. Because he surrendered completely to God’s providence and living in God there was nothing left in his self, nothing was provided for the future, no road was mapped out, but like a child was lead wherever God pleased. Even though he often felt unworthy and of no use God knew well what he was worth before him and effectively using him to preach the Good News of the Gospel. God gave his silence, his quietness, his self-forgetfulness, his words and his gestures a certain virtue, which unknown to himself, worked in the hearts of those around him. This may be the reason why everyone who came in contact with him was touched by his goodness. No one remained indifferent after meeting Blessed Tansi.

His love for poverty and detachment did not mean that he was hostile to people who did not follow his life style. His two assisting priests at Akpu, Fathers Panaki and Emerenini were allowed their own life-style. He did not despise the innocent joys of this world. In appearance he looked at least ten years more than his actual age. Toil had thickened his figure from slimness to a broad sturdiness. He was very generous to people especially to the poor and the sick. But his spirit of poverty and sense of justice prevented him from helping materially his own relations. He wanted them to work for what they needed. He consistently resisted the financial and other material pressures coming from his immediate family. While parish priest at Dunukofia his brother came from Aguleri asked him for money to buy seed yams for the planting season. He refused and made him to understand that the mission fund did not belong to the parish priest.On another occasion his cousin brought Aguleri fresh fish to sell in the market at Akpu but was not able to sell all the fish before some went bad. He was stranded, he had no money to travel back home. When he learnt that his cousin Fr.Tansi was around, with every hope of rescue he went to him for help. To his greatest embarrassment, Fr. Tansi gave him a knife and asked him to cut grass in the field in order to earn his return fare. His brother Vincent might never forget the day when he visited him at Dunukofia and Fr. Tansi asked him to split stones in order to pay for the food he ate.

Even though hardship and rigorous self-discipline have exacted an inevitable toll on his face yet his friendship with people did not change. Gray was beginning to temper his hair. His eyes already weakened through excessive reading with poor light especially during student days were beginning to tell on his sight. The body stress from the continued unrest and long treks under hot afternoons of equatorial region had very little mercy on the ascetic young man. And with all these his sober mannerisms were normal and cordial. 

Sunday May 1, 2022.

Turn to Blessed Tansi when life gets messy.

We considered some weeks ago the benefits of knowing Blessed Iwene Tansi. Part of knowing him is to be able to learn from the way he himself managed the difficult stations in his life time and to be able to run to his patronage when we are in difficulty. When the Blessed Tansi in 1949 arrived to become the first indigenous parish priest of Aguleri he found almost everything upside down: his own people did not want him as their pastor, the mission and the schools were bankrupt, the teachers and other church workers were owed salaries for months. At this embarrassing situation he reassured his assistant priest Rev. Mark Uluogu that they have two most important things they needed to begin their mission; there is God for them and there is a roof over their heads. We all know that when life gives us too much lemon the best thing to do is to make lemonade instead of wasting the lemon. But what should you do when the lemons come in multiples and so quickly that there isn’t time to look for the juicer? This was that sort of situation for the parish priest and his assistant in Aguleri 1949

What happens in real life situation when all of our best plans and preparations get thrown out of the window at a moment’s notice by factors beyond our control? It could be difficult and trying if you have ever had such a situation. Like the Blessed Tansi at Aguleri incident be optimist and trust in God with hope that things will get better. Sometimes one feels it is hard to be optimistic in the midst of stressful situations. But often this is due to a misunderstanding of what true optimism really means. Authentic optimism is not wishing our problems away or telling ourselves pretty lies that things are not really as bad as they seem.  Rather it is a true belief that at the beginning of time, God had a plan for the world and that–in spite of sin thwarting that plan in the present–God’s plan will be restored through grace at the end of time.  It is another way of saying that all things work to good for those who love God and earnestly work hard for that good. Be positive and act positively. Do what is humanly possible and wait for God’s action. You can change the situation; you have the means available to you. Recall your past blessings, your strengths, and your skills as a reminder of what you have to work with in responding to life’s challenges. God has not changed, has not forgotten you and has not finished with you. Keep the big picture of God’s blessings in mind – this requires us to be able to step out of the chaos of everyday life and remember who we are and what is important. This requires us to stay connected to God–to be able to see things from his point of view. People who look at Blessed Tansi thirteen years of monastic experience from outside may think that it was the most difficult station in his life. It may be or may not but surely it was the most fulfilling station of his life because he found God where he could relate most intimately with him. Like him if we find ways to bring the present moment to God no matter how crazy it is. God will take over and we find joy in managing the situation. Often we forget the positive thing to do and look on the negative side – coming up with wrong questions – who has done this to me, my enemies are on me. Forget such thoughts and focus on little ways to be a gift to others all day long.  As you go about your day, consciously ask yourself: how you can make a difference in this moment? Is there something I can do to make this person’s day even a little easier or more pleasant? Is there something you can do to take down the tension in this situation? 

You don’t have to be a martyr about it.  Just look for those little ways to be a gift or create caring connection while you are passing by or passing through.  These little acts of kindness increase your joy by helping you see all the ways you are making a positive difference in your world and in the lives of those around you. Then have you prayed to God with Blessed Tansi : O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me! The Blessed Tansi said this prayer many time in his life time. When you repeat it with him the difference will be clear. As you do these things remember that at the different and difficult stations in his life he persevered trusting God will not abandon him.

Sunday .June 26, 2022

BLESSED TANSI PENITENTIAL MORTIFIED LIFE.
 

 Christians learnt from the early church that it is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. The Church has not changed her apostolic and highly organized structures and traditions. The cross is still an integral part of Christianity.Jesus the founder of Christianity announced the cross without ambiguity. He himself endured hostility, hardship, and the horrors of the cross yet triumphed and showed that the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. He caught the wise in their craftiness and shown that the thoughts of the wise of this world are futile (1 Cor 3:20).The soft Christianity of many today, who remove the cross and replace it with a pillow and who insist upon inclusion and affirmation to the exclusion of all else, is strangely absent in this early setting. Christ himself was emphatic: if you want to follow me carry your cross daily and follow me. We are Catholics sent to proclaim the gospel: that God has loved the world and sent His Son, who by dying and rising from the dead has purchased for us a whole new life, free from sin and the rebellious obsessions of this world. He is victorious over all the death-directed drives of this present evil age. Simply put, He has triumphed over these forces and enabled us to walk in newness of life. To walk in that newness of life is not easy but some have done it and left us an example to follow.

The Blessed Tansi is an example of those who discover the easy way to succeed and carry the crown. Let us follow him and see the secret of his success. He accepted his vocation and remained faithful to his mission. He went forth announcing the Gospel as good news, with joy and confidence, admonishing his converts specially those obsessed with pleasures to embrace the cross as our only hope, appointing catechists and teachers in every out station he opened to teach and follow after him. Because these and all his faithful have to look up to him for example and model he remained accountable to them by his way of conduct. He suffered in his mission, long and endless treks under the equatorial heat- sometimes going without food.  Everybody knew he was working beyond normal human capacity. His labours and happiness were linked to his harvest. He knew he was to announce a new life, set free from the bondage of sin, rebellion, sensuality, greed, lust, domination, and revenge. His was to announce a life of joy, confidence, purity, chastity, generosity, and devotion to the truth rooted in love. He has to live that himself in order to make an effective proclamation. For this reason he had to be extra hard to himself. There is no doubt some—indeed many—were offended and sought to convict him and his Christians as disturbers of native tradition and then of peace. Some evil men who benefit from certain unjust customs don’t like him and his mission and don’t want to change their way of life. They prefer darkness to light, immorality to holiness and slavery to freedom.

He suffered and as a weapon to fight back he resorted to a life penance and mortification, long hours before the Eucharistic Lord all for his flock and for his enemies. The saying “It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the kingdom of God” made sense to him and he sought to put it into practise. He announces and teaches that “If you’re not willing to endure the cross, no crown will come your way. If you can’t stand a little disappointment, if you can’t stand being talked about sometimes, if you think you should always be up and never down, I have come to remind you: no cross, no crown.” Our glory is through the cross. There is a test in every testimony, a trial in every triumph. There are demands of discipleship, requirements for renewal, laws of love, and sufferings set forth for those who want the glory.

The Blessed Tansi left us an example to follow. Through his penitential and mortified life the cross becomes not a suffering but life, power, and love. Because of his mortified life it is possible for him to live without sin, learn to forgive, to live the truth in love and to overcome rebellion, pride, lust, and greed. Many today insist that the Church soft-pedal the cross, that we use honey, not vinegar. We joyfully announce and uphold the paradox of the cross and must be willing to be a sign of contradiction to this world, which sees only pleasure and the indulgence of sinful drives as the way forward that exalts freedom without truth or obedience, and calls good what God calls sinful.

Sunday, July 10, 2022

Blessed Tansi detachment is union with God.

 

Last week we saw that Blessed Tansi started to practice detachment early in his life. From the time he accepted God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ his attitude towards material thing changed. His former interest for traditional feasts and dances changed, he began to focus more on God, the church, the Blessed Sacrament and the activities of the parish. Even after school classes he is either found busy with house work in his master house or in the church before the Blessed Sacrament. When he became a teacher after his elementary school the salary he received was used for the up keep of his widowed mother, his poor siblings and poor children in the village. It is said that he kept nothing for himself and that often he went to school without shoes even though he could afford one. His interest was not on what he wore but on his duty and responsibilities. His decision to leave his lucrative teaching profession for the diocesan junior seminary in 1925 was a practical demonstration of his detachment from the world. Similarly, his leaving the very flourishing parish apostolate in 1950 for a total life of enclosure in Mount Saint Bernard Abbey Leicester, where he became the last in the community speaks eloquently of total spiritual detachment. Again from the Abbey, was his novice master, Fr. Gregory Wareign, a man who stood by him in the dramatic and extraordinary vicissitudes which characterized his life in the Abbey. He was an accurate annotator of Fr. Tansi spiritual itinerary, especially in the Abbey, he has this to say:

           

“Here we meet one of the outstanding lessons of Fr. Cyprian’s Monastic life at Mt. St. Bernard ― the deep conviction of the over-riding value of the contemplative life and its worldwide apostolate. His high esteem for it impelled him to sacrifice so much willing to obtain its blessings for himself and for his own dear people. He left an extremely active and very blessed apostolate in the Onitsha Archdiocese, including his determined drive to foster vocations, sanctifying marriages, care for the poor and sick, spending himself in the confessional, and in answering sick calls to travel to a foreign land and a severe climate purely in order to learn in the school of the Lord’s service how to love and serve his fellow monks under a rule and an Abbot, to praise God night and day in choir, to study the Bible and other holy reading so that in the end his soul could be liberated from all earthly ties and cling fully to God in Divine love. He was asked to forgo many things during his thirteen years as a Cistercian monk. His faith and his ideal held fast to the end ― even to realizing that he would fulfill his vow of stability perfectly by dying here in England far away from his own people and land and be buried happily in the monastic cemetery of Mount St. Bernard Abbey ― where he rested while the pioneer band went off without him to make the longed foundation in Bemenda and not in Nigeria.”

 

These testimonies hold primacy of place not only because they were fundamental in revealing the religious personality of Fr. Tansi but also because they constituted a unique and precious revelation of his inner life and disposition. They revealed candidly and openly all the warmth and feeling of a life that was completely wrapped up in a love affair with God and detached from the world. By these Blessed Tansi was opting for his union with God and personal spiritual growth hence denying himself of anything that could hinder progress - material goods and relationships. It is vital to note that the detachment of the soul from worldly attachments must never be divorced from either faith in or love of God. God created human beings with desire, especially with the desire for God. Detachment and self-denial are a means to an end by which one properly orders one’s desires to obtain spiritual perfection or union with God. For us Christians, the goal of detachment is union with God. To be in union with God requires that we have adequate knowledge of God which is often difficult for natural humans. Fortunately, natural human knowledge is not the only way of knowing. God can infuse the intellect with supernatural knowledge - the theological virtues; faith, hope, and love. Having faith in God means man freely commits his entire self to God (CCC 1814) willing and able to deny and detach himself from those desires that interfere with his commitment.

 

Like Blessed Tansi we too could become spiritually detached from any worldly thing that impedes our spiritual growth. It is quite simple and quite difficult. It involves denying one’s own will in favour of the will of God which can be simple and at the same time difficult. With grace and human effort one can overcome the natural inclination to put one’s own desires and needs first and achieve detachment. The human effort must include prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. The purpose of these spiritual practices is to take the focus off of oneself and onto the love of neighbour by which we love God frees us from sinful desires.

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Blessed Tansi: A Saint for Our Times


Blessed Tansi is often described by many who know him as a reformer of our times; however, he did not seek to change the Church’s institutions or teachings, but instead to reform himself. Through his preaching and example, he showed people how to faithfully follow Jesus, which brought about many conversions. His life and legacy are familiar to most Catholics in Nigeria. “It is interesting to record that the life of Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi has inspired and encouraged not only individuals but also groups to pray. In this connection, the Blessed Father Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement deserves special mention ...This prayer movement is inspired by the Trappist spirituality. Members gather periodically in the parishes to pray and to meditate on the life and writings of Blessed Cyprian.” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ P. 242) The friends and devotees of Blessed Tansi from across Nigeria visit every day on pilgrimage the Relic of the Blessed in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Every Monday friends, spiritual sons and daughters and devotees gather from 9am to about 12 noon to celebrate the cult of the Blessed and to pray especially for the happy conclusion of his cause. The growth of the monastic apostolate in Nigeria today is by God’s grace the inspiration and labours of Blessed Tansi who left Nigeria to Mount St Bernard England with Fr, Mark Ulogu in 1950 to bring the monastic way of life to Nigeria. This way of apostolate is a heritage left Nigeria by Blessed Tansi and it owes a lot to these early pioneers who suffered a lot in their first monastic adventure. Today there are over 21 monasteries flourishing in Nigeria.

The Catholic bishops’ Conference of Nigeria had in 1982 supported the promotion of his worthy cause because it would bring many spiritual benefits to the local church. “We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982, after considering the life of Reverend Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OSCO, thinks that the promotion of the cause of his Beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favour of the promotion of his cause” (in the Catholic Leader Owerri, August 15, 1982). The same conference that hoped for a good result to come from the promotion of the cause met again 28 years after on June 3rd, 2010 after a grand celebration to close the year of Priests’ proclaimed by Pope Benedict XV1 adopted Blessed Tansi the Patron of Nigerian Priests. “We, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, having prayerfully considered the matter, unanimously and with one voice choose and as a result of this declare Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi the Patron of Nigerian Priests. We make this declaration on this 3rd day of June in the year 2010 on the tomb of the Blessed, in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, Nigeria” (in the National brochure-conclusion of Year for Priests June 24, 2010. P. 14)

Iwene Tansi was born in 1903. His father Tabansi Odatu and his mother, Ejikwevi Muoba were peasant farmers and practised the prevailing African Traditional Religion which Europeans improperly call paganism. It was the religion of their ancestors before the advent of the Christian religion. At a very early age in his life, he was sent to live with a cousin's teacher who gave him the opportunity to attend Catholic school and to receive Catholic education. Baptised at 9, he devoted himself completely to his new religion and never turned back until death. As a school pupil, a teacher, a seminarian, a priest and a monk he served God and his neighbour with undivided mind and attention. All his life he dedicated himself to prayer, penance, and giving the poor food, money, and clothing.  He was delighted to see himself as the best friend of the poor, lepers and the abandoned. He regarded meeting with lepers as an important opportunity for conversion and for doing good. Recall that in his time in almost all Igbo land lepers were abandoned and feared, At first he had to overcome the initial traditional fear, gave them food and money and kept their company. He spent a lot of time praying for a change in the traditional attitude towards lepers. The Blessed found a way of life for himself in the following passages of the Gospels: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matt 19:21). “Take nothing for your journey… “(Luke 9:3). “Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24 – 28). His example so inspired many people at Nnewi that the community offered a portion of land to him at Ndi akwu Nnewi to house his lepers and be able to attend to them. For those who may not remember that is the origin of the Catholic leper colony at Nnewi. 

One aspect of his idea of reform is to be faithful to what the Church teaches and to bring people to real holiness - to firmly believe and simply profess the true faith as held and taught by the Holy Roman Church. He sought to go further than the teachings and to imitate Jesus as much as possible. He celebrated Mass reverently and used clean, beautiful altar linens and sacred vessels, and wanted everyone to show great love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. From him, we learn that the only way to sanctify the Church is for its members to reform their lives with God’s help. He began with the family and sanctification of marriages. He did not preach a complicated way of life for his parishioners but one that is faithful to the teachings of the Gospel and uses the means the Church has given us to grow in holiness, such as prayer and the sacraments - we should confess all our sins to a priest and receive from him the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He contributed much to the evangelization of the local church in her very early primary evangelization when the local church was in a transition from the traditional religion to Christianity. He was a real pastor, who with his deep knowledge of Igbo customs, idioms and use of slang and lack of pomposity, was more accessible to everybody. One thing that is notable in his life and legacy is his passion for the Truth - that he was willing to make an enormous sacrifice for it.

Sunday, June 25, 2023

Blessed Tansi: A Saint for Our Times


Blessed Tansi is often described by many who know him as a reformer of our times; however, he did not seek to change the Church’s institutions or teachings, but instead to reform himself. Through his preaching and example, he showed people how to faithfully follow Jesus, which brought about many conversions. His life and legacy are familiar to most Catholics in Nigeria. “It is interesting to record that the life of Blessed Cyprian Michael Tansi has inspired and encouraged not only individuals but also groups to pray. In this connection, the Blessed Father Tansi Solidarity Prayer Movement deserves special mention ...This prayer movement is inspired by the Trappist spirituality. Members gather periodically in the parishes to pray and to meditate on the life and writings of Blessed Cyprian.” (Cardinal Arinze in ‘Total Response’ P. 242) The friends and devotees of Blessed Tansi from across Nigeria visit every day on pilgrimage the Relic of the Blessed in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha. Every Monday friends, spiritual sons and daughters and devotees gather from 9am to about 12 noon to celebrate the cult of the Blessed and to pray especially for the happy conclusion of his cause. The growth of the monastic apostolate in Nigeria today is by God’s grace the inspiration and labours of Blessed Tansi who left Nigeria to Mount St Bernard England with Fr, Mark Ulogu in 1950 to bring the monastic way of life to Nigeria. This way of apostolate is a heritage left Nigeria by Blessed Tansi and it owes a lot to these early pioneers who suffered a lot in their first monastic adventure. Today there are over 21 monasteries flourishing in Nigeria.

The Catholic bishops’ Conference of Nigeria had in 1982 supported the promotion of his worthy cause because it would bring many spiritual benefits to the local church. “We hereby certify that the National Episcopal Conference of Nigeria sitting in Lagos on 22nd April 1982, after considering the life of Reverend Father Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi OSCO, thinks that the promotion of the cause of his Beatification will bring good results to our country, especially in the area of priestly spirituality. Our conference is therefore in favour of the promotion of his cause” (in the Catholic Leader Owerri, August 15, 1982). The same conference that hoped for a good result to come from the promotion of the cause met again 28 years after on June 3rd, 2010 after a grand celebration to close the year of Priests’ proclaimed by Pope Benedict XV1 adopted Blessed Tansi the Patron of Nigerian Priests. “We, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria, having prayerfully considered the matter, unanimously and with one voice choose and as a result of this declare Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi the Patron of Nigerian Priests. We make this declaration on this 3rd day of June in the year 2010 on the tomb of the Blessed, in the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity Onitsha, Nigeria” (in the National brochure-conclusion of Year for Priests June 24, 2010. P. 14)

Iwene Tansi was born in 1903. His father Tabansi Odatu and his mother, Ejikwevi Muoba were peasant farmers and practised the prevailing African Traditional Religion which Europeans improperly call paganism. It was the religion of their ancestors before the advent of the Christian religion. At a very early age in his life, he was sent to live with a cousin's teacher who gave him the opportunity to attend Catholic school and to receive Catholic education. Baptised at 9, he devoted himself completely to his new religion and never turned back until death. As a school pupil, a teacher, a seminarian, a priest and a monk he served God and his neighbour with undivided mind and attention. All his life he dedicated himself to prayer, penance, and giving the poor food, money, and clothing.  He was delighted to see himself as the best friend of the poor, lepers and the abandoned. He regarded meeting with lepers as an important opportunity for conversion and for doing good. Recall that in his time in almost all Igbo land lepers were abandoned and feared, At first he had to overcome the initial traditional fear, gave them food and money and kept their company. He spent a lot of time praying for a change in the traditional attitude towards lepers. The Blessed found a way of life for himself in the following passages of the Gospels: “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven” (Matt 19:21). “Take nothing for your journey… “(Luke 9:3). “Whoever wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Matt 16:24 – 28). His example so inspired many people at Nnewi that the community offered a portion of land to him at Ndi akwu Nnewi to house his lepers and be able to attend to them. For those who may not remember that is the origin of the Catholic leper colony at Nnewi. 

One aspect of his idea of reform is to be faithful to what the Church teaches and to bring people to real holiness - to firmly believe and simply profess the true faith as held and taught by the Holy Roman Church. He sought to go further than the teachings and to imitate Jesus as much as possible. He celebrated Mass reverently and used clean, beautiful altar linens and sacred vessels, and wanted everyone to show great love for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. From him, we learn that the only way to sanctify the Church is for its members to reform their lives with God’s help. He began with the family and sanctification of marriages. He did not preach a complicated way of life for his parishioners but one that is faithful to the teachings of the Gospel and uses the means the Church has given us to grow in holiness, such as prayer and the sacraments - we should confess all our sins to a priest and receive from him the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ. He contributed much to the evangelization of the local church in her very early primary evangelization when the local church was in a transition from the traditional religion to Christianity. He was a real pastor, who with his deep knowledge of Igbo customs, idioms and use of slang and lack of pomposity, was more accessible to everybody. One thing that is notable in his life and legacy is his passion for the Truth - that he was willing to make an enormous sacrifice for it.

Tel: +2348030958350
Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity 
Onitsha Archdiocese
Anambra State of 
Nigeria

​BLESSED CYPRIan IWENE TANSI​