Homily Tuesday Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 28th September, 2021

 Homily Tuesday Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 28th September, 2021

Readings: Zec.8:20-23; Ps.87; Luke 9:51-56

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

AS A CHRISTIAN, WHAT WILL YOU DO WHEN FACED WITH STRONG OPPOSITIONS

Oftentimes when we find ourselves in difficult situations caused by our opponent, the first instinct that comes to our minds is to do away with the opponent and ensure that he or she does not exist anymore. Sometimes we feel like crushing anything that stands on the way towards our goal, especially when we think that we have the power and authority do so. 

This is the disposition of James and John in our Gospel passage today, when they said to Jesus: ‘Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?’ This is because the people of Samaritan village will not let Jesus and his disciples past through their town to Jerusalem. For opposing them the two disciples felt that they should be consumed by fire. But Jesus turned and rebuked his disciples, and then went off to another village.

Here, Jesus is showing us how to deal with opposition of life. For in life we must surely encounter oppositions, but what makes a difference is how we deal with it. In the Gospel the two disciples of Jesus feels that the best way to deal with such opposition is by calling down fire on the opponent, just like most of us will have done if we have the power and authority to do so. However, this is not the same with Jesus, who though had the absolute power and authority to command fire to consume anything he wishes, but in this case, he chooses to flee from the problem not because he was a coward, no, rather because he hoped to experiencing peace and teach us that sometimes the best way to deal with oppositions is to walk away.

This does not mean that he was weak, rather he wants us to understand that a change of location does  not make us weak or remove our enemies, it only changes where the battle takes place. And for Jesus the battlefield is not the Samaritan territory, but the heart of the human person who occupied the territory. Perhaps, Jesus did not come to destroy the people, if he had come for that purpose, he would have destroyed these Samaritans; but he came to save. And so he bears patiently the ignorance of the opposition and we too must learn to do the same, just as we heard prophet Zechariah in our first reading  saying: there will be other peoples yet, and citizens of great cities. And the inhabitants of one city will go to the next and say, “Come, let us go and entreat the favour of the Lord, and seek the Lord of Hosts.

Dear friends, we must learn from Jesus how to walk away from opposition for the sake of peace. We  should not be like James and John wanting to destroy those that opposed us. Rather we must learn to acquire the spirit of Lord Jesus; temper our zeal like his; seek to bear patiently with those who stands on our way. Let us seek peace, let us be patient, and forgiving. Let us not allow the feeling of revenge to consume us into hurting those with whom we feel we cannot resolve our differences.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, everyday we encounter oppositions that we feel like crushing and eliminating. Help us to learn from Jesus how to deal with opposition patiently for the sake of peace and harmony in our societies. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.

Homily for Monday Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 27th September, 2021. The Memorial of St Vincent de Paul

 Homily for Monday Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 27th September, 2021. The Memorial of St Vincent de Paul

Readings: Zec.8:1-8; Ps.102; Luke 9:46-50

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

TRUE GRETNES IS ACQUIRED THROUGH HUMBLE SERVICE TO OTHERS

As human beings, we always desire to be great and be recognized as great. This no doubt has made our lives more competitive and comparative in nature. This competitive and comparative way of life is what the disciples of Jesus displayed in our Gospel passage today, where we heard how they were arguing about who is the greatest among them. This is quite surprising for them to be arguing for such intention at this stage of the life. This shows that his disciples had not grasped his teaching completely.

Here,  Jesus knowing the intentions of his disciples, showed them the way to identify true greatness and one who has such quality using the images of a humble child. So, Jesus surprised his disciples by linking true greatness to that of humility and simplicity of a little child and also showed how  children can be the subject of a parable that reveals the vanity and deception found in some great persons. Because children are docile, humble, teachable, loving, forgiven and dependent.

Thus, Jesus explains that in the kingdom of heaven, true greatness is found in humility and children serve as a symbol of humility  for they are dependent on adult for everything just as we also are dependent on God. Little children serve as concrete symbol of the simplicity which is a condition for entering the kingdom of heaven. So, in children we see these great virtues of simplicity and humility being placed. Little wonder, in our first  reading we heard  the Lord saying:  I am going to save my people from the countries of the East and from the countries of the West. I will bring them back to live inside Jerusalem. They shall be my people and I will be their God in faithfulness and integrity.’

Dear friends, today we are called to learn how to embrace greatness because true greatness are found in humble service to others. But this is exactly what many of us are lacking. For we are so proud, greed and selfish, as we are deeply attached to the pleasurable things of this passing world which prevents us from seeking true greatness that leads to heavenly kingdom. Therefore, let us learn from St. Vincent De Paul, who understand that true greatness is humble service to the poor.

 LET US PRAY: Lord God, we have become so much engrossed with the competitive activities of this world, seeking to be great in things that are passing away, grant that, we may embrace true greatness rooted in the humble service of our neighbours, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed and fruitful week ahead.

Homily for Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 26th September, 2021. The World Day Remembrance of Migrants and Refugees.

 Homily for Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 26th September, 2021.  The World Day Remembrance of Migrants and Refugees.

Readings:  Num. 11:25-29; Ps. 19; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-43.47-48

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

OUR CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY MANDATE REQUIRES DISCIPLINE AND COLLABORATING WITH OTHERS

There is no doubt that the Christian faith can be very demanding and ambiguous for those who do not understand the sacrificial nature of our missionary life. To deal with these challenges, we must learn to discipline ourselves and collaborate with one another. So discipline and collaboration must be central to the Christian mission, since the Christian faith comes across different categories of people which requires that there should be room to accommodate one another in that single language of sacrificial love towards Christ missionary mandate. 

This very discipline and collaborative nature of our faith is what Jesus is addressing in our Gospel passage today when he said: Anyone who is not against us is for us. But anyone who is an obstacle to bring down one of these little ones who have faith, would be better thrown into the sea with a great millstone round his neck. And if your hand should cause you to sin, cut it off; it is better for you to enter into life crippled, than to have two hands and go to hell, into the fire that cannot be put out.

Here Jesus is speaking to his disciples and to the people about doing the works for the glory of God, saying that we should not stop people from doing the good works of God even if the people did not belong to the same group with us. This is because, the disciples of Jesus saw some people who were doing works in the name of Jesus, casting out demons and healing in his name, and they tried to stop them from doing so. Why? Because the disciples having received from Jesus the authority and power to perform miracle they wanted to keep these gift and authority exclusive to themselves. But Jesus rebuked such selfish attitude showed by the disciples, because Jesus desires that everyone who wishes to do the work of God should be accommodated regardless of their background and affiliations.

This was also the situation in our first reading today where we heard how Eldad and Medad also received the Spirit of God and began prophesying amongst the people, just like the seventy elders appointed to be the leaders of the people of Israel during their Exodus to the promise land. But some people complained and tried to stop them because they are not among the seventy elders. However, Moses rebuked them from complaining and wished that all God’s people should be able to prophecy. This desire of Moses no doubt was prophetic. For this in fact came true during the  Pentecost day, when God sent down His Holy Spirit on the disciples of Jesus in the upper room, about seventy of them a symbolic of the seventy elders of the Israelites.

Dear friends, by the virtue of our baptism and confirmation we have received the same Spirit of God, that gives us the authority to prophecy and do great works for God. Therefore,  we too have been entrusted with the missionary mandate of Christ. So, is our responsibility to make good use of the various gifts and opportunities God has given us by ensuring that we discipline ourselves for excess desires for the pleasurable things of this passing world which are distracting us from God and our mission. Little wonder St. James in our second reading today, point ways in which we have been distracted by the excess desires for riches of this passing world and as a result have misused and abused the various gifts and talents that God had been given us out  of our pride, envy, corruption, selfishness and immoral ways of life.

Therefore, we are called today to know that our Christian missionary mandate requires discipline and detachment from all the sinful actions that have corrupted some parts of our life as human  person, this ugly attitude we must cut off in our lives. We are also called to learn how to collaborate and accommodate other people who speak the one true language of Christ which is sacrificial love for one another especially as we celebrate the World Day for Migrants and Refugees all over the world.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who has always being our guide, help us to learn how to be more disciplined by doing away with those things that lead us to sin. Help us to be more accommodating and collaborating with one another as we carryout your missionary mandate of love for each another. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Sunday and God bless.

Homily for Saturday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 25th September, 2021

 Homily for Saturday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 25th September, 2021

Readings: Zech. 2:1-5.10-11; Ps. 31; Luke 9:43-45

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

HOW OFTEN DO YOU THINK  ABOUT THE INEVITABLE  EVENT OF DEATH

As customary in our seminary, every 2nd November some persons are selected to visit the cemetery. On one occasion, I was privileged to be among the people to visit a cemetery at Oke Are in Ibadan. On our way to the cemetery which is located on a hill in the heart of Ibadan, passing through the market and streets all I could see were people struggling, buying and selling, fighting and cursing each other. I saw a lot of beggars, sick and poor people, among this people were the rich, the educated, as well as their leaders both traditional and political. It was indeed an interesting community. 

But getting to the cemetery I saw in a wall names and dates of so many men and women who had passed on from this interesting community. Than I asked myself in my deep reflection, where are all these people whose names are listed in this wall? Where they like us before? Are we going to be like them later? Where will all of us in this beautiful community be in the next hundred years? The answer to these questions are difficult to understand because we don’t think about inevitable event of death

This is not different from what Jesus is reminding his disciples in our Gospel passage today, where after his great miracles, when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: that the Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.’ But they did not understand him. For the Lord says in  our first reading today: I will be a wall of fire for her all round her, and I will be her glory in the midst of her.”’

Dear friends, today we are reminded about the true reality of life, that we all are going to die one day and the dust of our flesh and bones will return to the earth while our Spirit retire to God knowing that we will account for how we lived this life. We are going to give back to God the gift of life he has given us, because our life is a temporal assignment. So, why not start living this life according to the present reality since we do not know how and when we are going to account for it. Why not accept joyfully who we are now as we work hard to be better tomorrow. Remember, everything is in the hands of God, we brought nothing in this world and we are taking nothing out of it. 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, our life is meaningless without you. Grant that we may realize the shortness of this life and so prepare to give account on how we have lived our lives in this passing world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing you a fruitful day.

Homily for Friday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 24th September, 2021

 Homily for Friday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 24th September, 2021

Readings: Haggai 2:1-9; Ps.43; Luke 9:18-22

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

HAVING BEEN A CHRISTIAN FOR A WHILE, WHAT CAN I SAY IS MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH JESUS 

In life there is always a moment when we will want to examine and know if our friends can really be trusted, if they truly know and understand who we are and what we represent? This is because, as social beings, we often make friends who we can confide and entrust with our inner most thoughts and plans. But the friendship does not come automatically, it is developed gradually.

This is the situation between Jesus and his disciples in our Gospel passage today, when Jesus asked them saying: Who do people say I Am?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this. For the Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.

 

Here, we see how Peter expressed his personal conviction about who Jesus is. He did not have to quote any authority, because his response was a clear and sincere knowledge of who he professed Jesus to be. This is because Peter’s gift of faith comes from his personal identification of the person of Jesus. Thus, our faith requires that we give a personal answer to the question: who is Jesus to me personally? For it is not enough to quote the teachings and Catechism of the Church about our faith or the teachings of other theologians and preachers or to respond only from the head, but from the heart that is convinced of what it believes in. 

Today most people are following Jesus without knowing who Jesus truly represents. Some people find it very difficult to embrace the teaching of Jesus because they lack the faith and conviction about his personality, even when Jesus has revealed himself to us through his great miracles and teachings. The fact is that, Jesus wants us to develop a divine way of looking at things. He wants us to know him deep down our soul, so that we can profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction. This faith is necessary in order to accommodate and overcome the ugly event of persecutions, condemnation and blackmail that awaits us.

And when that time comes the Lord says we should be courageous for a little while now, he is going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all the nations and the treasures of all the nations shall flow in, and he will fill his Temple with new glory that surpass the old, as we heard in our first reading today.

Dear friends, having heard the teachings and great works of Jesus in the scriptures and traditions of the Church, the question remains: what can I say is my personal experience of Jesus? Have I personally identified our Lord Jesus in our lives? How has my knowledge of Jesus helped other people to come to faith in Jesus?

Today we are called to really examine our conscience to know where we are with regards to our faith as Christians. We are called today to develop a divine way of understanding the mysteries of God, but not rejecting them because we do not understand them. Therefore, let us turn towards God once again with all our hearts and devote our whole lives in seeking to know Him more and more.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, you revealed to Peter the true identity of Jesus your Son, help us to personally identify the person of Jesus in our lives and so profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.

Homily for Thursday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 23rd September, 2021. The Memorial of St. Pio Pietrelcina

 Homily for Thursday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 23rd September, 2021. The Memorial of St. Pio Pietrelcina

Readings: Haggai 1:1-8; Ps. 149; Luke 9:7-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE GUILTY CONSCIENCE OF HEROD

Oftentimes, we hear people expressing the phrase: guilty conscience, which is used to express the ugly condition of human conscience which is that part of our life that tells us whether what we are doing is right or wrong. For if you have a guilty conscience, you feel guilty about something because you know it was wrong. But if you have a clear conscience, you do not feel guilty because you know you have done nothing wrong. 

This is the situation Herod finds himself in our Gospel passage today who out of pride and selfishness had killed John the Baptist thinking that by that he could silence the voice of truth, but when he heard of the great works of Jesus and could not comprehend it, he perceived that John the Baptist, the voice of truth had returned to life again, when he said: John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see Jesus. 

Here, we see how the guilty conscience of Herod made him to wonder about the personality of Jesus in relation to John the Baptist. This is what happens to us whenever we tried to take the role God in our relationship with others. And this ugly attitude is what a lot of people are practicing today and as a result many people are suffering the consequences of guilty conscience. This is because most of us are so much attached to worldly things. We have let our pride, our ego and our selfish desires to blind fold us from the true realities of life. Little wonder, the Lord in our first reading said: Reflect carefully how things have gone for you. You have sown much and harvested little; you eat but never have enough, drink but never have your fill, put on clothes but do not feel warm.

Dear friends, are you having guilty conscience of any kind? What are the things that makes us have guilt conscience? What is the essence of our existence in this world? What does God really required from us in this life? Do you know that without God everything in life is vanity vanishing? Therefore, let us not be carried away by the beauty of the things of this passing world, for nothing last forever. Hence we should remain steadfast in our faith in God, who has called us to love him and to love one another, just like St Pio whose memorial we celebrate today for he remained faithful to Christ’s mission and committed himself wholeheartedly to what God  has required from him.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we have come to you with our guilty conscience, for we are so much attached to things of this passing world, with little or no attention to your teachings. Through the intercessions of St. Pio make us to realized that without you life and all we have is nothing but vanity. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.

Homily for Wednesday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 22nd September, 2021

 Homily for Wednesday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 22nd September, 2021

Readings: Ezra 9:5-9; Ps.Tobit 13; Luke 9:1-6

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE SACRIFICIAL NATURE  OF OUR MISSIONARY JOURNEY

The way things are going in our world today, we really need to think twice about our faith as Christians, whether we are actually ready to live out our faith in the midst hostile environment. Because the hostility, persecution and the influential power of things of this world are not stopping soon rather, it will be getting tougher. Therefore, if we are really willing to live out our Christian faith and obligations towards the mission of Christ, then we need to make a radical decision towards our discipleship in a personal and radical way.

This is what Jesus is teaching his disciples in our Gospel passage today, when he called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. He said to them, ‘Take nothing for the journey: neither staff, nor haversack, nor bread, nor money; and let none of you take a spare tunic. Whatever house you enter, stay there; and when you leave, let it be from there. As for those who do not welcome you, when you leave their town shake the dust from your feet as a sign to them.’

Here, Jesus does not directly intend to cause tensions and divisions but he wants to expose the sacrificial nature of the mission. Hence, Jesus demands a total commitment towards the journey of discipleship once begun or not beginning it at all. Because, following Jesus demands the sacrifice of all that we have. For none of us can become his disciple if we do not give up our excess desire for worldly pleasures and possession, and pay our unreserved loyalty and allegiance to Jesus over all other competing loyalties in our lives including family, self-interest, and possessions, just like Ezra in our first reading who addressing the situation of his people said: My God, I am ashamed, I blush to lift my face to you, my God. For our crimes have increased, until they are higher than our heads, and our sin has piled up to heaven. But now, suddenly, the Lord our God by his favour has left us a remnant and granted us a refuge in his holy place.

Dear friends, we are called today to make a radical decision to sincerely and faithfully carryout the mission of Christ entrusted to us . But  how much are we willing to let go for the sake of the mission of Christ? Why are we finding it difficult to follow Jesus?  What is that habitual desires and possessions that are holding us for making this radical decision today? It is time for us to let them go in order to focus more on the mission  Christ has entrusted to us. Therefore, let us to follow the examples of all those who had given their time, effort and even lives for the salvation of many souls.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, today we are called to a sacrificial journey of Christ mission. Because our excess desire for the pleasurable things of this passing world have weakened our hearts towards our mission, give us courage and grace to let go of our ugly desires, so as to hold firm in our faith despite losing people and things that are dear to us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.