Homily For Tuesday Seventh Week of Eastertide Year C, 3rd June, 2025. The Memorial of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions

 

Readings: Acts 20:17-27; Ps.68; John 17:1-11

Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

UNDERSTANDING THE REALITY OF ETERNAL LIFE

The notion of eternal life is one of the things in the consciousness of most religious people and more especially Christians. Oftentimes, we hear people talking about eternal life as if it is like a movie that will soon begin. But the questions we need to ask ourselves are: what is eternal life? What does it really mean to have eternal life? How can we obtain it?

The answer to these questions is found in the High Priestly Prayer of Jesus which we have in our Gospel passage today. At the beginning of this prayer, Jesus said: ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all people, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”

From this prayer, we come to know that knowledge is very important to understanding the meaning of eternal life, and knowledge, as we are told, is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. So here, Jesus is saying that eternal life, which traditionally refers to the continued life after death, is only possible by the knowledge of the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.

The point here is that eternal life consists in the knowledge of the Father as the only Being answering to the ideal thought of God; and this knowledge is manifested in him, whom God anointed and sent into the world to declare his attributes and character for the sake of redeeming humanity which was possible through the incarnation, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Thus, eternal life, which has been achieved for humanity, has been given to believers who have been redeemed from sin and death. This is the sinful humanity's journey and process to eternal life, and when this knowledge has been made perfect, holiness and happiness will be fully achieved.

These holiness and happiness of the redeemed are exactly what the glory of Christ and of his Father signifies. Jesus endured the pain of the cross and death and so ended humanity's sorrows of sin and death, thereby obtaining the victory and glory of eternal life for humanity.

Thus, our glorifying God and his Son Jesus is needed as evidence of our interest in Christ, through whom eternal life is given to us as an act of mercy, forgiveness and love so that we become living souls with unspeakable joy. For his is the meaning of eternal life and the source and manner in which we can obtain it.

Dear friends, every day of our life, we struggle to know God through different means and in the Apostles' Creed, we often say: I believe in God and his Son Jesus; I believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. But the question is, do we really know God and his Son Jesus?

Do our attitudes, behaviour and decisions an evidence of us knowing Christ, through whom eternal life is given to us as an act of mercy, forgiveness and love? Therefore we are called today to sincerely seek to know God personally through his Son Jesus and so attain the eternal life which he has won for us.

This is what we have in the lives of St. Charles Lwanga and Companions, the Holy Martyrs of Uganda whose memorial we celebrate today, for they understood what it truly means to love God and have eternal life. For out of their deep love for God, hold on to their faith even in the midst of brutal persecutions and death. We also are called to remain faithful in our faith, even in the midst of all the difficulties and challenges of life.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, let us seek to know you more personally and so work hard to do Your will in order to attain eternal life which you have given us through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed day.