Homily For Monday Eighth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 3rd March, 2025

 

Readings: Sir. 17:24-29; Ps. 32; Mark: 10:17-27

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WHAT WILL YOU FIND VERY DIFFICULT TO LET GO FOR THE SAKE OF ETERNAL?

A critical observation of how humanity is so much attached to the things of this passing world with little or no attention to the things that edifice the human soul and lead to eternal life is quite alarming. People can go to any length to acquire properties, treasures, fame, influence and power that will last from the fourth to their tenth generation without thinking of how to acquire that which will lead them to eternal life.

This is exactly the mindset of most people today, and this is not different from the disposition of the rich man and some of the disciples of Jesus in our Gospel passage today, little wonder Peter asked Jesus a very important question about sacrificing everything for the sake of following him after the rich man walked away from Jesus because he could not let go of his riches and follow Jesus.

So, in response, Jesus draws his attention to the fundamental principle of our human existence, when he said to him: My children, ‘how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

Here, Jesus is not condemning human riches, so we should not think that he is asking or demanding that we should surrender all of our wealth and worldly possessions. No, that was not what he intended and we should not interpret the Gospel passage literally. Rather, what Jesus is saying is that we should learn to live a life of detachment in order to follow him wholeheartedly. That means we must put God first and above every other thing. We should not allow our worldly possessions, fame, wealth, influence and power to separate us from God and our salvation.

So, Jesus is reassuring us that all those who have given everything committed their time and efforts, and are making sacrifices for the sake of his kingdom would not be disappointed nor left without rewards. Their reward in the end will be truly great, for God remembers those who love him and have given themselves for his sake. He will guide them and remain with them throughout their journey no matter how tough it may be.

Thus, we should not depend on worldly possession and power for they will rob us of true wisdom. Little wonder, in our first reading today, we were told to return to the Lord and leave sin behind, plead before his face and lessen our offence. Come back to the Most High and turn away from iniquity, and hold in abhorrence all that is foul. How great is the mercy of the Lord, his pardon on all those who turn towards him!

Dear friends, what is the essence of our existence in this world? What does God really require from us in this life? Do you know that without God everything in life is vanity vanishing? So today Jesus addressed the very thing that most people are not ready to give up. Those things such as money, houses, credentials, love of power, pride and wealth. But, if we are honest enough, we will admit that we all have some things we would be very slow to let go of if Jesus should make the demand of them. Those things we so much attached ourselves with and would not like God to ask us to give them up for the sake of following him.

In fact, it might be a good thing today for us to ask ourselves what would be the most difficult thing for us to give up if Jesus should ask us to do so. It might be something we own, like our properties, treasures, fame, influence and power or wealth; it may be a relationship, our job, or our habits and attitudes.

So, whatever we possess that will separate us from our mission of following Jesus and loving our neighbours, today we are called to give them up and come follow the Lord because in leaving them for the sake of Jesus, we actually gain all in abundance. Therefore, let us not be carried away by the beauty of the things of this passing world, for nothing lasts forever. Rather, we should remain steadfast in our faith in God, who has called us to love him and to love one another, for that is all that the Lord has required from us in this life.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we are so much attached to things of this passing world, help us to know that excess attachment to our earthly possessions could be an obstacle on our way to your Kingdom. Give us the grace to let go of things that often separate us from you as we learn to share with our neighbours especially the poor. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed week. 

Homily For Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 2nd March, 2025

 

Readings: Sir. 27:4-7; Ps. 92; 1Cor.15:54-58; Luke 6:39-45

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LEARN TO REMOVE THE LOG OF PRIDE IN US BEFORE DELETING WITH THE SPECK OF WEAKNESS IN OTHERS

As humans, we are quick to always criticize and condemn other people. We are good at seeing people's faults and mistakes. But has it ever occurred to us that, while we were condemning other People’s faults, we suddenly realized that our own faults are just as many as theirs?

This ugly attitude is what Jesus is addressing in our Gospel passage today when he said: Why do you observe the speck in your brother’s eye and never notice the log in your own? How can you then say to your brother, “Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,” when you cannot see the log in your own eyes? Hypocrite! Take the log out of your own eye first, and then you will see clearly enough to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Here, Jesus is referring to that ugly attitude that the Pharisees and the Scribes, and indeed most of us and our so-called leaders today, have decided to embrace. For we have neglected the spirituality behind the natural human traditions and laws to follow the manyy ritual and routine traditions and laws we have created out of our own selfish desires.

Leaders who have the responsibility to lead, guide and teach the people have decided to embrace darkness and falsehood. And the greed, jealousy and wickedness in our hearts have blindfolded us and made us become blind leaders of the blind.

Hence, Jesus told us how we have failed to see the log in our eyes while seeking to remove the speck in other's. But what is this log in our eyes? It is the log of pride. Pride makes us forget who we are and claim who we are not. Pride makes us look down on people. Pride makes us blind. It makes us not look into our own lives to see how we can accommodate other people’s weaknesses. Little wonder pride is the first capital sin.

Therefore, we are called to humbly look into our lives and identify all those ugly attitudes of pride in us and get rid of them, so that we can humbly correct and accommodate other people’s speck of faults and weakness. Little wonder, in our first reading today, we are told that in a shaken sieve, the rubbish is left behind, and so, too, the defects of a man appear in his talk. For a man’s heart is known from his expressions and actions.

So we are called to look into our lives and examine our conscience before we begin to judge people. We must learn to accommodate other people’s weaknesses, opinions, and backgrounds. No doubt that this can be a very difficult thing to do, but this is what we are called to do and should be the right disposition for us to have. So, for this to be possible we must learn to avoid and die to the sin of pride and embrace humility.

This is what St. Paul is telling us in our second reading today when he said: When this perishable nature has put on imperishability, and when this mortal nature has put on immortality, then the words of scripture will come true: Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin, and sin gets its power from the Law. So, let us thank God for giving us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear friends, today we are called to die to the self to rise in humility; we are called to look into our lives and examine ourselves to see those ugly attitudes in us that need to be corrected. We need to know if we are in any way behaving like blind leaders of the blind. Are we such leaders who only see the errors and weaknesses of others without looking into our own lives? We are called today to constantly examine our conscience to know what kind of attitude and judgement we give to people.

Hence, in any capacity we find ourselves we must learn to accommodate other people’s weaknesses and opinions, knowing that we also have our own ugly attitude that people have to accommodate. Therefore, we are called to take away our log of pride to humbly remove and accommodate the speck of faults and weaknesses in others. So let us cultivate the right disposition of heart that will make us accommodating, loving, forgiving and tolerant in our relationship with others to lead those entrusted to us safely towards the path of truth and eternal life.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are often ignorant of our ugly attitude of pride, which makes us always see the faults of others without looking into our own. Help us to realize that we need to take away the log of pride that makes us blind in order to humbly remove, correct and accommodate the faults and weaknesses of others. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a glorious Sunday celebration.