Update #26: Blessed be the Holy Face of Jesus
We wish you a Fruitful & Blessed Lent to Each of You!
3/13/20254 min read
+Blessed be the Holy Face of Jesus and the Mater Dolorosa!+
Dearest Faithful,
May the Precious Blood of Jesus Our Savior be Praised, Loved and Adored!
"That the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ." [2 Thessalonians 1:12]
We are so blessed by your good souls and amazing generosity! We thank each of you from the bottom of our hearts for every help you give us at the SSIH Mission!
Since our last update, I apologize for some typos due to converting between Naira and US dollars, which confused some numbers. For example, it is not $35,000 for desks for 35 seminarians but more like $2,000 for desks, chairs, and classroom necessities for the 35 seminarians.
We had two donors give us the amount needed for two boreholes! We had two donors provide the amount needed for two boreholes. We never thought we could afford even one, but we were overjoyed through their sponsorship to be able to drill two—what a blessing! The sisters and seminarians will have good water and more easily accessible, by the St. Gerard Majella Well and the Holy Family Well of Living Water!
The sisters were also able using the sewing machine that you helped purchase last year, to make their first chasuble! See image below.
And we are overjoyed to also have received the day after Ash Wednesday that 8 second-hand chalices and 8 ciboriums, as well as some travel Mass kits that were generously donated. Pictured below. Another donor also supplied us with most excellent books for the formation of our seminarians! See images below.
Again we can't thank you enough for each and every donation, as the average Nigerian only makes about 300 Naira a day, which only comes to about 43 cents in America.
Therefore, as you can see, every dollar you support us with goes a long way! With each $1 you send I can get about 1,530 Nigerian Naira! With our 35 seminarians and 15 nuns, it cost us ₦60,000–₦100,000 ($38–$63 USD) a day for food for everyone.
Like the early Missionaries, our seminarians and sisters are keeping their deep interests in the soul of the apostolate, which is the salvation of Souls. We are most grateful and we surely hope the Ordinations come to pass so that these young men will work like St. Francis Xavier and live like St. John Eudes; St. Alphonsus De Ligouri and St. John Maria Vianney. May all your reward know no boundaries and may eternity be in the Lord's Kingdom of Love. Please keep this intention in your prayers.
The SSIH Sisters are currently bring in their crops which you helped plant and the children are getting much needed catechism classes.
The Carmelites' Turkeys are really off to a good start but they are struggle with the feed and the space. Their spinach garden is growing beautifully.
The Land in Gbem -Vandeikya is being developed by the wonderful Masons are our very own Seminarians, who are prepared to restore God's Kingdom Spiritually and Structurally. The on going work is the re-structuring of the Gbem Chapel and a future proposed Dinning and Hall as we prepare for the Future Building of the Main Chapel.
I have been asked to layout what you can help with more simply. Currently, this is what your dollars could help us do:
$5 = Can provide gas to travel 50 miles in Nigeria to get to our various villages to teach catechism and give the Sacraments.
$25 = Can feed 10 people for 1 week.
$32 = Can get one desk and one chair.
$50 = Can get us 25 hardwood planks (2x4x12 feet) or 42 softwood planks (2x4x12 feet) to make Altars and pews.
$65 = Can purchase 10 Bags of Cement for 183 blocks for building.
$100 = Can purchase a Station of the Cross.
$300 = can purchase some basic books for the seven year programme and assist in some basics essential materials for formation of both the sisters and seminarians.
$500 = can get their basic requirements for Sacerdotal Orders, i.e. fabric for sewing vestments, and other essentials for offering all the Sacraments
$1000 = Can provide tuition and feeding for a whole year per seminarian. For those who wish to directly sponsor a seminarian or sisters here in Africa, can directly be a part of their lives in a unity of prayers, sacrifices and communication, (click here to sponsor a seminarian).
$2000 = can help us purchase a van for the mission.
My Faithful Friends in Christ Our Lord, remember Christ’s immense Love for your soul, during this time of Lent, for God's Love is our joyful strength in these diabolical times!
We are confident in the two Hearts of Pure Divine Love and I be assured that you are in our daily prayers and sacrifices before His Divine Goodness. Let's keep growing in His Love until God the Holy Ghost quiekeneth us unto His saints.
"Let us go therefore with confidence to the throne of grace: that we may obtain mercy, and find grace in seasonable aid."[Hebrews 4:16]
I keep you in my grateful prayers and Holy Sacrifices of the Mass before the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
Viva Christo Rey et Viva Immaculata Maria!
Fr. Abah Samuel Maria
Rector
SSIH Mission, Nigeria
Website: SSIHMission.org
Email: info@ssihmission.org
