Homily for Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 24th July, 2022. The World Day For Grandparents and the Elderly

 Reading: Gen. 18:20-32; Ps. 138; Col. 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

HOW TO DIALOGUE WITH GOD IN PRAYER 

As contingent being, it is common for human beings to reach out to other people when we are in need of something. And oftentimes we seek the intervention God especially in some difficult needs and situations.  No doubt that a good number of us have in one way or the other looked up to God or people for help. 

I don’t know if you have ever been truly in need of something from a friend who is capable of giving you what you needed but he is so busy to give you what you need now? Or have you been in a situation where you needed something from a friend but cannot get it because you can not reach him easily? Such a situation can make one to be under serious pressure. Then the question that comes to mind is, are we going to give up or persevere in our struggles on waiting or reaching out to him? This kind of disposition is what we experience sometimes when we pray and our requests are yet to be granted because we don’t really know how to dialogue with God in prayer.

Hence, the disciples of Jesus knowing how important prayer is, and having watched Jesus prayed, asked him to teach them how to pray as we have it in our Gospel passage today as our Lord’s Prayer. And prayer as we know is a means of communication between God and humanity. It is a close link by which we reach God who dwells in our hearts. It is through prayer we discern the will of God for us.  Thus we can learn how to dialogue with God in prayer  from this prayer Jesus taught his disciples as pattern of all prayers 

In this prayer we have four traditional dimensions of prayer which includes: glorification of God, submission, justice and protection. Jesus begins by saying: Father, hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come, thereby teaching us that we begin any of our prayers by glorifying God. Following this is our total submission to God’s providence when we say: give us each day our daily bread. Then, we acknowledge the justice and mercy of God when we say: forgive us our sins as we for give those we have sinned against us. And finally we ask for God’s guidance and protection when we say: lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil.

This tells us that we should approach God with confidence as a friend, persisting until we obtain what we need as Jesus illustrated with the story of  a father and his son and  a man who had a visitor and needed the help of his neighbours. With this illustration Jesus emphasized that if we, who are prune to evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more shall the heavenly Father give to those who ask him. So, we should learn how to  keep on asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer until we obtain the answer we need. Just like a boy asking his father for a fish or an egg, knowing that his father would not give him a snake or a scorpion instead of the fish or egg he had requested. 

This is what Abraham demonstrated in our first reading  when he kept asking for God’s mercy on behalf of the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. But more than Abraham interceded for Sodom and Gomorrah, the Lord Jesus sacrificed his life for the redemption of humanity and this is what St. Paul in our second reading today made us to know when he said: the Lord has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins. He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay; he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross. This of course, shows us how God is willing to hear us whenever we call on him in prayer.

 Dear friends, as contingent being there are times when we asked and we received, sought and found, knocked and it was opened to us. But there were also times when we asked but did not receive, seek but did not find, knocked but the door remained shut. In such moments persistency and perseverance in prayer are what we are called to embrace. For they will help us to understand how to trust God knowing  that he does not need to be informed of our needs, thereby encouraging us never to lose heart. This is certainly one of the biggest challenges of our faith today. People are not just patient with God. We want to have everything right now as it is hot. Patient, persistency and perseverance are very difficult virtue for most people today.

Therefore, it is time for us to change our perspective and wrong disposition towards prayers. It is time for us to spend more quality moment in prayer and be connected with God. We must let our prayers also be meaningful and be genuine from our hearts. It is time  for us to improve the quality of our prayer life by imitating Jesus, who always prayed to his heavenly Father at every possible opportunities. But some of us end up spending lots of time reciting the prayers and yet we did not mean what we say, because we have not learnt how to dialogue with God in prayer especially when we have wrong disposition born from unforgiving heart which must be redirected before we can get a positive response from God.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, oftentimes we are not patient with you in our prayers, because we don't know how to dialogue with you in prayers. Give us the grace to learn how to dialogue with you and to persevere and be persistent in our prayer life and in every other things we do in life, especially in our relationship with others. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Sunday.

Homily for Saturday Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 23rd July, 2022

 Readings: Jer. 7:1-11; Ps.84; Matt. 13:24-30

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

HOW TO DEAL WITH THE  EVIL WEEDS AND DARNEL OF THIS PASSING WORLD 

Often times when we reflect on the ugly events that happens around us, we wonder why God who is so good and all powerful permit the evil we see and experience in the world He created. And sometimes, the evil ones are so cruel that we wish that God should just wipe them away from the face of the earth and when this is not coming forth, we complain and even doubt the power of God over this evil. 

The answer to this ugly phenomenon is found in the parable of today's Gospel passage. Here the sower has sown good seed in his field for a healthy wheat harvest. But in the dark of night an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. What Matthew most likely refers to as weed is darnel or cockle, a harmful weed that closely resembles wheat and is common in Israel. The difference between darnel and real wheat is evident only when the plants mature and the ears appear. 

So, when the servants notice the weeds, their first response is to question the quality of the seed. Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from? When the master replies that an enemy has sown the weeds, the slaves are anxious to take care of the problem, to root those nasty weeds immediately. But the master restrains his servants, saying that in gathering the weeds they would uproot the wheat along with them. He orders them to let both grow together until the harvest. Then he will send out his reapers to collect and burn the weeds and to gather the wheat into his barn.

 

In this parable the one who sows the good seed is Jesus, the field is the world, and the good seeds are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Jesus does not, however, say whom the servants represent. Perhaps they represent the disciples or anyone who has questioned why God allows evil to grow and thrive, and wished to take matters into his or her own hands and root out the evil around. But this will not be easy, because, it is not so easy to tell the weeds from the wheat as their roots are intertwined below the ground. Thus, rooting out the weeds would uproot the wheat as well, doing more damage to the crop than leaving the weeds to grow. 

Dear friends, most of us are victims of the evil weeds and darnels of this passing world. Today as we wish to remove these weeds in our lives, Jesus wants us to learn how to be patient and trust God in times of trouble and tribulations for he alone knows the best time and how best to deal with the evil ones. For when that time comes He will gather all evildoers and throw them into the furnace of fire. 

But the problem is that we are not patient with the Lord, we often behave like the Israelites in our first reading today, who have failed to listen to God, for we have chosen to dwell in sin and are intertwined with the sinful weeds of this world. Thus, we heard prophet Jeremiah saying:  Amend your behaviour and your actions. Put no trust in delusive words. Yet here you are, trusting in delusive words, to no purpose! Stop doing evil and learn to do good so that you will be saved . Therefore, we must learn to be patient with the Lord especially as we struggle with the troubles and tribulations of this passing world.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, our hearts are full of weeds of different corruptions and evil planted by the evil ones. As we wait on you, may you guide and protect us from the malice of the evil ones. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Do have a fruitful weekend.

Homily for Friday sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 22nd July, 2022. The Feast of St. Mary Magdalene

 Readings: 2Cor. 5:14-17, Ps. 63, John 20:1-2.11-18

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

LET GO OF YOUR OLD SINFUL WAY OF LIFE AND EMBRACE THE NEW LIFE OF GRACE AND HOPE JUST LIKE MARY MAGDALENE

Every human person has a past and a future, the past is gone we cannot change it, but the future bring hope alive, for in both past and future we make our history a reality that can change the world. Today we celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, a woman whose life history gives hope to sinners and sense of the past for saints. 

Often Mary Magdalene is referred to as the woman from whom Jesus had cast out seven demons or the repentant prostitute, whichever one, scriptures and history point out that Mary Magdalene had been greatly transformed by her faith in Jesus and her life was changed after her first encounter with Jesus for she abandoned her past life of sin. May Magdalene was a great sinner who ought to had been condemned to die by those who were also unworthy and sinful before God. But grace of God brought about the encounter that transformed her life and she was privileged to be the first to know about the resurrection of Jesus and to also encounter the risen Lord. 

This is evident in our Gospel passage today, which presents to us the encounter of Mary Magdalene with the risen Lord. When the apostles have left the tomb, Mary stayed outside the tomb weeping. In her devotion to Jesus, Mary seeks to learn where she might find Jesus’ body so that she might take him away, a task that would be difficult both emotionally and physically. But she was not even concerned with how she would convey the body from one place to another. She only believes that Jesus’ body has been dishonored, and she is determined to see that he is accorded the honor that it deserves. 

So, she remained by the tomb, weeping. Her heart was in earnest to find Jesus. The angels asked her: why are you weeping? she was just busy trying to find the corpse of Jesus. But when she turned around and saw Jesus, her heart was filled with joy and peace. This courageous act of faith brought about her encounter with the risen Lord. Thus, in Mary Magdalene we see a heart that is determined to find Jesus. A heart that truly loves Jesus, a heart that cannot give up the search for Jesus, a heart that listened and remembered the words of Jesus about his resurrection. 

Dear friends, as we celebrate the feast of St. Mary Magdalene, we must learn to let go of our old sinful way of life and embrace the new life of grace and hope God is offering us. So, today we are called to imitate her virtues, knowing that God can use anyone as His instruments if we are ready to embrace Him irrespective of our past ways of life. For St. Paul tells us in our first reading that anyone who is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old creation has passed away, behold the new has come. For Christ died for all so that living men should live no longer for themselves, but for him who died and was raised to life for our sake. 

Therefore, today, we are called to forget our past sinful life and embrace the Lord. We are called to seek the Lord with affection and tears. But often times the clouds and darkness of our sins blind us from recognizing the Lord who is always very close to us. The truth is that, the Lord’s way of making himself known to his people is by his word; his word appeals to our souls, speaking to us in particular way that is unique to us. Are we ready to embrace the Lord once again and make our history a reality that will change this sinful world?

 LET US PRAY: Lord God, like Mary Magdalene our souls seek to encounter you personally once again, give us the grace and strength to always be ready to turn away from sin and embrace your word, that we may personally experience, fill and recognize your presence once again in our lives. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed day

Homily for Thursday Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 21st July, 2022

 Readings: Jer.2:1-3.7-8.12-13, Ps. 36, Matt 13:10-17

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WITHOUT THE  LORD IN OUR LIVES WE WILL BE  A LEAKY CISTERN THAT CAN NOT HOLD WATER

Reflecting on the present situation of our country, I must say that it is obvious that we are like sheep desperately in need of shepherd, as the present leaders have shown that they are not and cannot be the Messiah we are looking for, since we have continually involved in doing evil. We have abandoned the God who has blessed us with all the good things of life in order to embrace the gods of money, wealth and have made ourselves gods to others. What we have in our country today are corrupt, greedy and selfish people who are like a leaky cistern that can not hold water. 

This is the ugly situation God through Prophet Jeremiah is addressing in our first reading today when He said to the people: “I brought you to a fertile country to enjoy its produce and good things; but no sooner had you entered than you defiled my land, and made my heritage detestable. The priests have never asked, “Where is the Lord?” Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of me. The shepherds have rebelled against me; the prophets have prophesied in the name of Baal, following things with no power in them. it is the Lord who speaks. Since my people have committed a double crime: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, only to dig cisterns for themselves, leaky cisterns that hold no water”.

 And in our Gospel passage we heard Jesus saying: “The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding. So, you will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, for fear they should see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me”.

Here, we see the Lord’s sadness and anger at us for our selfishness, greed and ingratitude. For we are constantly disobeying God through our sinful, rebellious and unwilling attitudes to embrace and properly utilize what God has given us for the good of all. Thus, we constantly take God’s patience and kindness for granted. We have taken His mercy and compassion for granted. Today, we are called to come back to God with all our hearts so that He will respond to our needs. For he will restore the fortune of the poor and put our enemies to shame as they will come quaking and trembling in fear of the Lord because of all the evil they have committed. 

Dear friends, without God in our lives we will be a leaky cistern that can not hold water. So, it will never be business as usual, for the righteous God will send good shepherd to His people, who will shepherd us with his staff of justice, mercy, forgiveness and fidelity. Though not in the manner we expect. He will not lead us in any campaign against our corrupt and selfish leaders. 

But he will lead us in campaign against an even more formidable foe, the devil and his agents. And when he has succeeded in overcoming them, our leaders and their corruption and selfish way of life will be taking care of. Then, his kingdom of peace and justice will be established and it will last forever. All we need to do is to trust in the Lord, ask him for directions and be docile to his words.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we have abandoned your ways out of selfishness and greed, in order to build a leaky cistern of corruption and greediness that can not do us any good. Help us to change this ugly way of life, so as to embrace your word and become vessel of love. May Christ our good shepherd guide our paths and lead us into his own dwelling place forever and ever. Amen. Do have a blessed day.

Homily for Wednesday sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 20th July, 2022

 Readings: Jer. 1:1.4-10; Ps. 71; Matt:13:1-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LET THE SEED OF GOD’S WORD BLOSSOM IN YOUR HEART SO THAT WE CAN BEAR FRUIT ABUNTANTLY 

Those who are into farming understands very well how a healthy seed blossoms on a fertile soil. Little wonder Jesus in the parable of the sower decided to use this great farming mechanism to explain the relationship between the Word of God and the human heart. Because the Word of God is to the human heart what a healthy seed is to the soil. 

In this parable Jesus said to the crowd, ‘Imagine a sower going out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell on the edge of the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Others fell on patches of rock where they found little soil and sprang up straight away, because there was no depth of earth; but as soon as the sun came up they were scorched and, not having any roots, they withered away. Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on rich soil and produced their crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

Here, Jesus used the parable of the sower to describe different kind of response to God's Word for there are four obstacles that can distract us from making our hearts a fertile soil. These obstacles include: shallow mindedness, hardened heart, worldly desires and finally, trails and persecutions. Most people fall in some, if not in all of these obstacles. But what about the good soil? These are those who made their hearts a fertile soil through love and purity of heart which helped them to hear the Word of God and understands it, and indeed bears fruit and yield an abundant harvest of hundred, sixty and thirty folds. Our Mother Mary is a good example of such people. 

Therefore, the different kinds of ground on which the seed falls represent the different ways in which we receive the Word of God, just like prophet Jeremiah in our first reading today who made his heart a fertile soil for the word of God. Hence, we heard the Lord saying to him: I am putting my words into your mouth. Look, today I am setting you over nations and over kingdoms, to tear up and to knock down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant

Dear friends, today Jesus Christ gives us all the wonderful and beautiful Words of life, wooing us to heaven, are we disposed to letting his word blossom in our souls? Remember, our hearts are the fields in which the Word of God is scattered, to which do our hearts belong: the path way, the rocky ground, the thorns or the good soil. Whichever one, we are called to pay attention and take some time to appreciate and dispose our hearts more, so that God’s Word may find a root in us. 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, each and every one of us have received the seeds of your Words, give us grace to remain open to receiving your Word, so that it will blossom in our souls and bear fruit abundantly. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.

Homily for Tuesday Sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 19th July, 2022

 Readings: Micah 7:14-15.18-20, Ps. 85, Matt 12:46-50

Rev  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

ARE YOU PART OF THE TRUE FAMILY OF JESUS?

One of the psychological and spiritual needs of the human person is the sense of belonging, this need is just like the need for food, clothes and shelter. The feeling of belonging is fundamental to our sense of happiness and well-being, for it gives value to life and help us in coping with some painful emotions as it improves our motivation. Hence, we often want to belong with one another, to our friends and families, to our culture and from one association and group to another.

However, one of the common and safest place to belong is our families, especially when it is rooted in the family of God. So today in our Gospel passage, Jesus speaks about belonging to his family and his relationship with members of his family when he said: Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my brother and sister and mother.’ From the Gospel, Jesus speaks of two ways the people around him could be identified as members of his family. Firstly he talks about those who belong to the family of his birth that is, his mother, father and relations. Then his other family which is made up of those who do the will of God.

 This family he says, is his true family where doing the will of God is the only way of becoming part of this family. This is not to say that Jesus is rejecting his family; to do so would be contradicting his own teaching about loving ones parents and loving ones neighbours. However, Jesus is using this opportunity to emphasize that relationship with God is more important and this is based on our total commitment to doing the will of God through him. Surprisingly, Mary the mother of Jesus belongs to both sides of the family, for she gave birth to Jesus and also the first to do the will of God when she  said, “let it be done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). For this reason she is the first disciple of Jesus and a model for all Christians.

Thus, to be a Christian or a disciple is to enter into the family of Jesus and embrace a new relationship with God and with one another and this is the most important place to belong. All other bonds, including those of blood should be considered secondary. Because, belonging to God is fundamental to our basic relationships, prior to all human relations. Since we belong first to God before belonging to our families, after which we all go back to God where we ultimately belongs, which will be determined by our attitude towards doing the will of God here on earth.

Dear friends, are you part of the true family of Jesus? Where do we ultimately and truly belong? As Christians, we claimed to be part of God’s family, but do our attitudes and decisions show that we truly belong to God’s family? Do we not often commit ourselves to things contrary to the faith we professed in God? 

Today prophet Micah in our first reading prayers for God’s mercy, asking God to show kindness to His people and forgive our trespasses for the times we have failed to be committed in doing His will, as he called us to turn back to God once again for it is in Him that we truly belong. Therefore, today like Mary and the disciples of Jesus, we are called to do the will of God always in order to truly belong to that true family of Jesus where love of God and love of neighbour unites us together.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we truly belong to your family, give us the grace to always do your will and as we carryout our activities today, grant success to the works of our hands, through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.

Homily for Monday sixteenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 18th July, 2022

 Readings: Micah 6:14.6-8, Ps.50; Matt 12:38-42

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WE DON’T NEED TO SEEK FOR SIGNS, RATHER WE MUST LEARN TO ACT JUSTLY, LOVE TENDERLY AND WALK HUMBLY WITH THE LORD 

Listening to the conversation between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees in our Gospel passage today as they asked Jesus for signs. He  said to them, ‘It is an evil and unfaithful generation that asks for a sign! The only sign it will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah, telling us that, on Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here with us, that is, Jesus himself. 

Hence, Jesus in this Gospel, presents to us the final recommendations of the end time, he insists that we should pay rapt attention to the signs nature is giving us concerning the end time events, that these signs will make us to have hope founded firmly on the word of God which drives away fear and despair, knowing that the kingdom of God is very near to us. He also warns us about following those who claim to know when the end is coming. For we may see many of the signs written in Scripture happening already in our time and people are terrified looking for someone to show them the way. We should know that Jesus is the only Way, the Truth and the Life. 

Reflecting on this, the question that comes to my mind is: where will you and I and the beautiful things of this world be in the next ten, twenty, forty, eighty and hundred years for those who are strong? The deep silence in my soul could not offer me any answer to this question rather, it exposed me to the foolishness of human greediness and selfishness. Hence, I asked myself what does God really requires from us in this world? I found the answer to this question in our first reading where God through prophet Micah says: my people, what have I done to you, how have I been a burden to you? Answer me. For what is good has been explained to you, oh man; and this is what the Lord requires of you: only this, to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with your God.

Dear friends, what signs are we seeing around us today? How can we interpret the signs of this times, the signs that tell us that this world is passing away? Do these signs make us to dread the second coming of the Lord or do we joyfully embrace it in anticipation? Today, Jesus warns us not to waste our time seeking for signs, rather we should be prepared, we should remain firm in faith. He reminds us that he is not just the sign of Jonah, but something far greater than Jonah, and without him in our lives, we will be lost, because the future lies in his hands and nothing can destroy or hurt us as long as we remain faithful to his commands. Nonetheless, what he requires of us in this world is not to seek for signs, but to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with our God.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we embrace your word today give us the grace to act justly, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with you and as we carryout our task this week, may your favour be with us now and always. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed week.