The Homily for Friday in Second Week of Easter, 29th April, 2022. The Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena

 The Homily for Friday in Second Week of Easter, 29th April, 2022. The Memorial of St. Catherine of Siena

Readings: Acts.5:34-42; Ps.27; John 6:1-15

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

LEARN TO JOYFULLY SUFFER HUMILIATION AND PERSECUTIONS FOR THE SEEK OF CHRIST

As the persecution of the early Church continues, today the members of the Sanhedrin call for council meeting to decide what to do with the apostles. At this council as we heard in our first reading, Gamaliel a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin, suggested that the apostles should be left alone on the basis of past experiences of those who claimed to be great but were letter perished when their leader had died, that what is happening now with the apostles might be the same. He advice them to have nothing to do with the apostle, that if their purpose or activity is from human origins it will soon perish. If not, they will not be able to destroy them without fighting God Himself. So they had the apostles beaten and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus.

However, instead of being depressed, the apostles left the court full of joy that they had been judged worthy of beaten for the sake of the Name of Jesus. Here, they experienced the blessedness that Jesus had spoken of in the Sermon on the Mount when he said: “blessed are those who are persecuted in the cause of right: theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people abuse you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven” (Matt 5:10-12). And in our Gospel passage today, we heard how Jesus out of love and compassion fed the crowd.

This feeding of the crowd refers back to the journey of the people of God in the desert from Mount Sinai to the promised land which in a special way signifies the event of our Eucharistic celebrate. The Eucharist has the same characteristics of this miracle: Where the community gathered together and then, the transformation of humble elements into a glorified body of Christ take place to satisfy our spiritual hunger which is an abundant gifts of God to humanity. In fact, because of the link to the Eucharist, this is the only miracle that is reported by all the four gospels. 

However, we can interpret this miracle of feeding the crowd in two ways. First, we can simply interpret it as a miraculous event, pointing to the divine origin and mission of Jesus. Secondly, we can interpret the miracle as the fruit of sharing with one another, for it is possible that once the disciples began to share the little food they had with those around, others also who had actually brought some food with them started sharing what they have and indeed grace multiplied what they have to the point of having left over. This show how much God cares for us and he will never abandoned us no matter the situation.

 

Dear friends, God loves us so much, so we must learn to joyfully suffer humiliation and persecution of his seek. Hence, in any situation we find ourselves, we are called to remind firm and faithful to God. We must learn to bear witness to our faith in Christ, though this mandate may seem difficult in our world at this moment, but just like in the time of the apostles the grace of God is sufficient for us. 

Therefore, let us not be afraid of witnessing our faith to the world, for God will surely protect us as He protected the apostles. Let us learn from St. Catherine of Siena whose memorial we celebrate today. Catherine was a lay member of the Dominican Order. She was a mystic and one of the female doctors of the Church known for her holiness, asceticism, and spiritual visions and she was influential in religious and political affairs of the Church.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we proclaim your name to the world especially in this difficult times, give us through the intercessions of St. Catherine of Siena the grace to rejoice even in the midst of persecution, suffering, sickness or death. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.

The Homily for Thursday in Second Week of Easter, 28th April, 2022

 The Homily for Thursday in Second Week of Easter, 28th April, 2022

Readings: Acts.5:27-33; Ps.33; John 3:31-36

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

HAVING THE COURAGE TO OBEY GOD ABOVE ANY HUMAN AUTHORITY

As the persecution of the apostles continued, the authorities of the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin forbade them from preaching in the name of Jesus as we have it in our first reading today. But the apostles spoke out boldly saying: It is better for us to obey God than men. They stood firm and witness to all what they had experienced. Their testimony was directed by the Holy Spirit, who is given to all those who responded to God with the obedience that comes from faith. 

So, they continued to preach in name of Jesus and their accusers could not stop them even though they had been strictly forbidden to do so. Such are the grace and courage we receive when we experience the power of the risen Lord. We will not be afraid to witness because we are convinced that Jesus is the One who comes from above, the One whom God has sent to speaks the words of God. He is the Word of God who came to bear testimony to what he has seen and heard just as we heard him telling Nicodemus in our Gospel passage, that anyone who believes in the Son has eternal life, but anyone who refuses to believe in the Son will never see life: the anger of God stays on him.

Dear friends, as Christians living in a world where our faith is being challenged every moment especially with the ugly situation we are facing everyday. We still have to make costly choices of choosing to obey God rather than men and not give in because of persecution, hunger, poverty or our worldly ambition. Everywhere we find ourselves be it in  business, relationship, politics and in family life we have to make decisions about remaining honest, truthful, faithful to our faith and commitments God above that of any human authorities. 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, give us grace and courage to constantly obey You above any human authority, especially in times of difficulty, hunger, strive, sickness, and persecution. Never let us deny You because of worldly pressures and difficulties or be put to shame, as we place all our hope in You. Amen. It’s a new day, be strong be focused for the Lord has promised to be with us till the end of time.

The Homily for Wednesdays in Second Week of Easter, 27th April, 2022

 The Homily for Wednesdays in Second Week of Easter, 27th April, 2022

Readings: Acts. 5:17-26; Ps.33; John 3:16-21

Rev  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

WE ARE THE FACE OF GOD’S LOVE FOR HUMANITY

Today’s Gospel passage talks about the relationship between God and humanity that inhabits the world.  Telling us that God loves the world and the humanity living in it. He loves it so much that He gave His only Son, who died a shameful and terrible death on a cross for the seek of His love.  God loves the whole world, His love is total and unconditional for everyone of his creatures. 

This love is what the apostles bears witness to in our first reading today and for this, they were persecuted by the authorities. We are told that the main motive for their displeasure was jealousy. The apostles were witnessing what they have experienced and this attracted large crowds to the group. So the authorities out of jealousy had the apostles arrested and thrown into the public jail. But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates for them and told them to go back and continue preaching in the temple and bearing witness of God’s love for humility.

Dear friends, today we are the face of God’s love for humanity, for we have in one way or another experienced the love of God so greatly and personally in our lives. It’s now time to bear authentic witness of this love to all humanity. We are to tell the world how deep God loves them. We are to demonstrate this love to the world and let this love be felt by those who have lost hope in God especially at this time when humanity is struggling with different ugly situations . 

We are the face of God’s love now, we are the channels of His love now. Therefore, let us extend this love in any form, gestures or manner possible to everywhere that it is lacking. A kind word, a single phone call, a text message, an act of forgiveness, a single prayer, sacrifice, patience and any form of generous act shown to anyone around you or as many people you can reach out today, reflect this love of God for humanity through you.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we have come to know and experienced Your love for humanity, give us the grace to reciprocate this love in the world by our ways of life using the gifts, talents and resources you have given us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.

The Homily for Tuesday in Second Week of Easter, 26th April, 2022

 The Homily for Tuesday in Second Week of Easter, 26th April, 2022

Readings: Acts.4:32-37; Ps.92; John 3:7-15

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

EMBRACING THE COMMUNAL AND FRATERNAL LOVE OF EARLY CHRISTIANS 

One of the major problems in our world today is individualism, this no doubt is the cause of disunity, greediness and corruption that is really destroying humanity today. To overcome this ugly attitude we need to learn from the early Christian community as recorded in our first reading today, which gives us an account of how the company of believers were of one heart and soul deeply united with each other. They bear witness to the central element of their faith, that is, loving God with all their hearts and with all their soul and loving their neighbours as themselves. Thereby bearing witness to the teachings of Jesus. They sold their belongs and brought the proceeds together and distributed them to each according to their need. 

This great gesture demonstrate what fraternal love really means. No one claimed anything as belonging to him/herself; everything was held in common. This shows us the social life of the early Church. But the question is, do we still have such sharing communities in our Church today? Perhaps we may find such communal sharing in some different communities of religious life with vows of poverty and total sharing of resources coupled with a life of material simplicity.  Also, there may be other groups of lay people and some families who try to implement this Christian vision and value. 

Dear friends, let us embrace the communal and fraternal love of the early Church, for how many families are practicing this great Christian fraternal living? How many societies in our churches are willing to maintain this tradition. This should be encouraged especially at this moment when the world is passing through difficult times, and we are fast losing this our great Christian values of communal and fraternal living. There is need for us to also extend it to the societies were these fraternal Communion and charity have been taken over by individualism, selfishness, corruption and greed. How I wish humanity will learn how to live in fraternal charity like the early Christian, then we will see that the world resources will be enough for everyone. Therefore, let us unite again as one family.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we reflect on the attitudes and virtues of the early Church, give us the grace to imitate them as we cultivate the attitude of sharing our material blessings with those in genuine need in our community especially in this difficult moment in our societies, country and the world at large. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a grace filled day.

The Homily for Monday of the Second Sunday of Easter, 25th April, 2022. Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

 The Homily for Monday of the Second Sunday of Easter, 25th April, 2022. Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

Readings: 1 Peter 5:5-14; Ps.89; Mark 16:15-20

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

FULFILLING THE MISSIONARY MANDATE OF CHRIST LIKE ST. MARK 

Today as we Celebrate the Feast of Saint Mark the Evangelist, the Church calls our attention to the mission and mandate of Christ to his disciples. It is truly a feast which is meant for all of us who are followers of Christ to recount our commitment to Jesus which we made at our baptism. The commitment to bear authentic witness to the faith we profess just as St. Mark recounts in his Gospel passage we read today, which tells us the stories of how Jesus called his disciples and commissioned them to go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News to all creation. We are also called by Jesus, not only as disciples, but also as evangelists. 

Therefore evangelization is the very nature and essence of the Church. Jesus gives us the mandate and the commission to evangelize, that is, to announce the Good News to all the nations and to spread the Gospel to every creature. This commission is shared by all those who are baptized both priests and lay faithful. Everyone has a particular responsibility to share in the work of proclamation of the gospel.

Today, we should ask ourselves, how have we proclaimed the Gospel to the world? What efforts are we making to ensure that the mandate Christ entrusted to us is carried out effectively in our generation.  This Easter season, how have we proclaimed the Risen Lord to the world?

Dear friends, at this moment when the world is confused, because we have removed God out of our daily lives, at this time when we have placed our hope in the activities of the human person who seems to have taken the place of God, at this time when our governments, scientists, doctors, lawyers, professors and even pastors assumed the place of God which is the cause of the ugly situation we are passing through in our societies today. Thus, it’s time to recall what Jesus says in the Gospel of John (15:1-8), l am the true Vine you are the branches, anyone who remains with me will bear fruit in plenty, but cut off from me you can do nothing but only to perish. We have cut ourselves off from the true Vine and now we can do little or nothing about the situation we find ourselves. 

Therefore, let us come back to God our true Vine, for our help comes from Him alone. He has commanded us to go into the whole world and preach this Gospel, let us take this mandate very seriously for it is our responsibility to fulfil our promises to God and ensure that the Christian faith is preached and sustained in the world and by so doing save humanity once again from sin and death.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are lost in this world, we are confused because we have cut ourselves off from You our true Vine, as we come back to you once again, please give us the grace to preach the Gospel following the example of St Mark the Evangelist, grant that we may learn from his teaching and walk faithfully in the footsteps of Christ and by so doing draw humanity back to You once again. Amen. Do have a grace filled week.

The Homily for Second Sunday of Easter, the Divine Mercy Sunday, 24th April, 2022

 The Homily for Second Sunday of Easter, the Divine Mercy Sunday, 24th April, 2022

Readings: Acts.5:12-16; Ps.118; Rev. 1:9-11.12-13.17-19; John 20:19-31

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

ARE YOU STILL DOUBTING LIKE THOMAS? IT’S TIME TO BELIEVE IN THE RISEN LORD

The event we celebrate today is meant for us to focus our attention once again on the Lord, to ask Jesus for his mercy on us and the whole world especially through his glorious and wondrous passion, which stands as a perfect offering for the redemption of humanity. Little wonder Pope St. John Paul II in the Jubilee Year of 2000, instituted the Divine Mercy Sunday, which is to be celebrated every second Sunday of Easter to remind us that the joyful celebration of Easter season is also a time for us to appreciate once again that our Lord Jesus passed through the worst of sufferings and humiliations in his Passion, Death and Resurrection, and so won eternal life for humanity. 

Hence, we need to have faith in the Lord and believe that through him there is hope for our salvation. This truly explains the words of Jesus to his disciples when he said: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”.  This statement could be a central theme in our Gospel passage today. 

Here, Jesus said to Thomas: “ Do not doubt but believe… for blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”  This is because Thomas was lacking in faith and so was doubtful of the Lord’s resurrection but only to be humbled when the Lord himself appeared right before him. Thomas believed and said to the Lord, ‘My Lord and My God’. And the Gospel ended by saying that these are written that you may believe in Jesus and that believing you may have life in his name.

This also, is repeated in our second reading today, where we heard the Lord saying through St. John “do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One, I was dead and now I am to live for ever and ever, and I hold the keys of death and of the underworld. Now write down all that you see of present happenings and things that are still to come.’ Here we are told that through our faith we have victory over the world. So, the purpose of this Gospel is for us, the readers to believe and so enjoy the promised blessing. Today no doubt, Millions of Christians have been strengthened in their faith by reading this Gospel, and millions of others have been brought to faith through it. 

But, what about you and I who today have experienced the Lord, having journeyed with Jesus as long as we have come to embrace the Christian faith. What can we say about our personal encounter and experience of the person of Jesus. Are we really convinced about the faith we profess? Are we still at the level of faith that is based on what we hear or read about Jesus? Or have we really and truly encounter the person of Jesus in such a way that our faith has no doubt anymore, such that we can truly say like St. Thomas "My Lord and My God"? 

Dear friends, are we still doubting like Thomas, today we are encouraged to believe without even seeing like Thomas. But this can really be very difficult in a world of empiricism, yet we are still called to truly embrace this faith without doubting despite all the ugly human attitudes that are kicking against our faith. That is why, sometimes in our lives we behave like Thomas, in fact Thomas represent all of us who in one way or the other have been doubtful of the presence of God in our lives. No doubt that there are many of us with different experiences at different levels of faith and devotion. But at some point, we may have grown weak in our commitment to the Lord and begin to doubt his presence with us, based on our own experiences, or when we are distracted and tempted by many ugly desire for worldly things that will turn us away from the Lord. 

More so, we have often placed God aside and forgotten about him, by prioritizing more on other things in our lives. We have often treated him or thing related to him as something not significant. There are times when we doubt the presence of God in our families, societies and even the Church. There are times when we have doubted the presence of God in the Eucharist, in the sacraments and even in the activities of his ministers. Oftentimes, we are doubtful of the mercy of God, his love for us, his power to safe, heal and protect us, as we go seeking for help from other “sources” which will only worsen our situation.

Brethren, to be a believer in our world today can be really difficult, so we need to support each other. We need to strengthen our community life especially during this difficult moment in our country and world at large. The first Christians supported one another by praying, worshipping and sharing their resources and the word of God together, as we heard in our first reading today. For the people were loud in their praise and the numbers of men and women who came to believe in the Lord increased steadily. And so many signs and wonders were worked among the people at the hands of the apostles.

Therefore, let us unite together as believers, and bear authentic witness to our faith. As we struggle in this dark moment in our lives when God seems far away from the world, let us ask him to help us to remove all forms of doubt, especially in this time when the Gospel is under all kinds of threats by faithless and ignorant people.  Nevertheless, let us ask God for his Divine mercy in our live, our families, societies and the world at large. Remember, the Lord is indeed merciful, he forgives us freely and generously but we should not take his mercy for granted by dwelling perpetually in sin.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, today we are encouraged to believe without seeing, this can really be very difficult in a world of empiricism, help us especially this trial moment in our world, never to doubt whatever you have revealed through your son, may we rather be steadfast in faith, joyful in hope and untiring in loving you and our neighbours, as the world hope to experience your Divine Mercy once again, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Divine Mercy Sunday to you and your house hold.

The Homily for Saturday in Octave of Easter, 23rd April, 2022

 The Homily for Saturday in Octave of Easter, 23rd April, 2022

Readings: Acts.14:13-21; Ps.118; Mark 16:9-15

Rev  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

LET US GO OUT AND BEAR AUTHENTIC WITNESS OF THE GOSPEL TO THE WHOLE WORLD

After the resurrection of Jesus, he has appeared to his disciples in different occasions. Today in our Gospel passage, he appeared to the eleven apostles and commissioned them to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to the whole creation. This is what Peter and John exercised in our first reading today. Here the rulers, elders and scribes were astonished at the great witness shown by Peter and John, so, they tried to prevent them and other disciples from spreading any further the Good News about the risen Lord, by attempting to suppress them through fear and intimidation. 

However, the disciples  were not ready to give in to fear or pressure, for they were encouraged and strengthened by the Lord through the Holy Spirit as they were no longer the same people who hide in the fear of the authorities. Instead they openly defied the orders from the Sanhedrin and continued to carry out the missions which God had entrusted to them. Hence, the mandate of this mission has been repeated in our liturgy throughout this octave of Easter, in order to remind us our mission as Christians. It also gives us the opportunity to review our Easter experience, so as to examine ourselves about the impact the week has made on us. 

Dear friends, to what extent have we been able to bear witness to the world about the risen Lord? As disciples of Christ, we are mandated to share the Good News of salvation provided by Christ Jesus to all creation. We are to do so not just in silence, but in words and actions which is seen in our ways of life. 

So, friends, what can we do to ensure that the Gospel reach out to all creation? How best can we spread this Good News, especially in this time of difficulty when the world is looking for an answers to the fundamental reality of human life?

 The answer to this fundamental question is rooted in the Gospel of Christ and the best way to preach the Gospel today is witnessing by our way of life. Today there are many voices preaching the Good News, but only few are bearing authentic witness to the Gospel. Therefore, let our lives bear authentic witness to the Gospel of the Lord.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, give us the grace and courage to bear authentic witness of your Gospel in a world where people are confused and no longer pay attention to your word. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a peaceful weekend.