Martin Jumbam

Catholic Meditation - Seventh Sunday of Easter - Year A

 

By Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, June 01, 2014 as the Seventh Sunday of Easter – Year A. It is the last Sunday before Pentecost. It is also the 48^th World Communications Day, the day we are asked to reflect on the necessity to fulfil Christ's command to go out into the workd and preach the Good news of salvation. This is Pope Francis' first communication message which he entitles 'Communication at the service of an authentic Culture of Encounter'. In it, he urges us to use modern media technology to promote a real encounter with people and ideas that are often different from ours. The readings of this Sunday present us with an essential aspect of the Church’s life, that is, confident prayer that God’s Spirit may come upon his Church, and openness to that same Spirit. This is seen in the first reading in the apostolic assembly in the Upper Room that includes Mary, the Mother of our Lord.  In the second reading, Saint Peter tells us that if we are persecuted, it is because we carry Christ’s name. Rather than seeing this as a burden, we should view it as a thing of joy and thanksgiving. The Gospel reading is from Saint John’s Priestly Prayer in which Jesus consecrates his sacrificial death to his Father. With this prayer, Our Lord also consecrates his disciples and the Church they form. As we ponder on the readings of this day, let us pray for the grace to receive the Holy Spirit into our hearts, minds and souls so we can be true bearers of Christ’s love into our families, work places and society as a whole.

Fiftieth Anniversary of Cameroon's Reunification: The Summit Magazine Story

By Martin Jumbam

If there is one positive thing the recent celebration of Cameroon's reunification seems to have done, it is that it has awakened, for some, and re-awakened, for others, the desire to know more about what really happened in Foumban in June 1961. In that regard, I am impressed by the October-December 2013 issue of the Yaoundé-based Summit Magazine, 'the brainchild of CRTV journalist, William Wassaloko. The lead story is entitled ‘The Re-unification Story' with contributions coming from well-seasoned Anglophone minds – historians, for the most part!

 

It is almost entirely dedicated to the increasingly contentious issue of our 1961 reunification. Was Foumban really the Anglophone ‘Waterloo’ some say it was? The magazine was out on the stands before the recent celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of our union, which, ironically enough, came 53 years later. So we should in fact have been celebrating the fifty third, not the fiftieth anniversary. That said, let's move on! 

Catholic Meditation: Sixth Sunday of Easter - Year A.

By Martin Jumbam

Sunday, May 25, 2014, is the sixth Sunday of Easter – Year A. In the entrance antiphon we pray: Speak out with a voice of joy; let it be heard to the ends of the earth: The Lord has set his people free, alleluia! From now until Pentecost, our attention is focussed on that other aspect of the Easter mystery, that is, our Lord’s gift of his Spirit to his disciples.  The Holy Spirit strengthens them for the mission not only in Jerusalem but also through Judea and Samaria, pagan territory, and indeed to the ends of the world.. In the second reading, Saint Peter continues to encourage the Jewish converts in the Diaspora not to give up hope despite the persecution of which they are victims. “It is better,” he tells them, “to suffer for doing right than for doing wrong.” In John’s Gospel, Jesus continues from last Sunday to explain to his disciples what his relationship is with his Father and how he will send them an advocate, the Holy Spirit, to fortify their faith after his ascension into his Father’s glory. 

Catholic Meditation - Fifth Sunday of Easter – Year A

By Martin Jumbam

Mother Church invites us to celebrate Sunday, May 18, 2014 as the fifth Sunday of Easter – Year A. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “O sing a new song to the Lord, for he has worked wonders; in the sight of the nations he has shown his deliverance, alleluia.”  In the first reading, from Acts of the Apostles, the unified Christian community experiences its first friction over the distribution of food, which leads the Apostles to appoint deacons so they can devote themselves more fully to leading the prayers of the people and to the service of the word. In the second reading from his first letter, Saint Peter tells us that, as Christians, we are a chosen race, a chosen people, a holy nation consecrated to God. In the Gospel of John, Jesus tells us that he is the way, the truth and the life; without him, we cannot reach the eternity of his Father’s kingdom. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to follow Christ more closely, he who is the way, the truth and the life.

Catholic Meditation - Fourth Sunday of Easter – Year A (Good Shepherd Sunday)

By Martin Jumbam

Mother Church celebrates May 11, 2014 as the fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A. It is also called Good Shepherd Sunday. In the entrance antiphon we pray:  “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord; by the word of the Lord the heavens were made, alleluia!”   In the first reading from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter exhorts the Christians to turn to Christ and consolidate their relationship with him. He urges them: “You must repent and save yourselves from this perverse generation.”   In the second reading, Saint Peter asks us to look at Jesus who suffered and was victorious through his suffering and death. In the Gospel, Saint John shows us Jesus who is not only a good shepherd but also a guardian, the door through which anyone who enters will be saved. In the course of this Eucharist, we pray for the grace to recognize Christ as the true shepherd to whom we should turn at all times, especially in times of trouble.

Catholic Meditation - Third Sunday of Easter – Year A

By Martin Jumbam

Mother Church celebrates Sunday, May 04, 2014, as the third Sunday of Easter – Year A. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “Let all the earth cry out to God with joy; praise the glory of this name; proclaim his glorious praise, alleluia.”  All the earth is still crying out to God with joy, praising the glory of his name and proclaiming his glorious praise as we continue to celebrate the triumphal resurrection from the dead of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. In the First Reading, from Acts of the Apostles, Saint Luke presents Peter’s inaugural sermon of the Church, which stems from the fire of Pentecost. In it, Peter justifies the descent of the Holy Spirit and the reason God permitted his Son to die in order to raise him from the dead. In the Second Reading, from the First Letter of Peter, Peter describes Christian destiny and re-echoes Christ’s call to us to imitate the holiness of his Father. The Gospel recounts one of the most beautiful stories that follow Christ’s resurrection – Christ’s meeting with two of his dejected disciples on the road to Emmaus, how he teaches them the Scripture and how they recognise him at the breaking of the bread.  In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace of hospitality because the next stranger we welcome into our home may just turn out to be Christ who has come to set our hearts ablaze with love and break bread with us.

Africa, stand up and walk tall and proud into the third millennium!

By Martin Jumbam

This is the last of the three articles I wrote on the Holy Father's visit to Cameroon in 1995.

The culminating point of the Holy Father’s visit to Cameroon was definitely the promulgation session of the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Ecclesia in Africa, at the Our Lady of Victories Cathedral in downtown Yaoundé on Friday, 15 September 1995.

The Head of State, Mr. Paul Biya and his family arrived at 4:25 p.m. Exactly five minutes later, the Supreme Pontiff, Pope John Paul II, made his way into the packed-full cathedral to a truly euphoric reception. Banners were unfurled in the crowd and one of them announced in bold letters the love the pygmies of Mouloundou have for the Holy Father. Dispersed in the crowd were individuals waving the red and white flag of Poland, reminding the Holy Father that the people of his homeland are also among those who are spreading the Good News of our Lord’s salvation in our country.

 

Security men had quite a hard time fraying a passage for the Pope to the altar. This was all the more challenging as the Holy Father would not walk past any child that was presented to him. In fact, one woman literally threw her child into the Holy Father’s arms from behind a group of people blocking her way. As usual, the Pope paused long enough to embrace and bless the child, a gesture that sent his mother dancing with joy.

 

I walked beside a saint - Cameroon welcomes Pope John Paul II

 By Martin Jumbam

 On Thursday afternoon, September 14, 1995, one had the feeling that the people of Yaoundé were all moving, literally, towards one direction – the Nsimalen International Airport. Hours before the Holy Father arrived in Yaoundé, the streets through which he was to pass were already overflowing with people, many waving miniature flags of the Holy See and of Cameroon.

At the airport itself, no-nonsense security people, many of them in dark goggles, dressed in dark or black suits, frisked you thoroughly for hidden weapons: guns or knives. Occasionally, one of them would lift the lapel of his coat and screamed an order into it, or answered one from it. In their hands, walkie-talkies of various shapes and sizes incessantly blared out instructions to the bearers.