Homily For Monday Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 30th September, 2024. The Memorial of St Jerome

 

Readings: Job 1:6-22, Ps.17, Luke 9:46-50

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

TRUE GREATNESS IS FOUND IN HUMBLE SERVICE TO OTHERS 

As human beings we often desire to be great and to do whatever that will make us feel great. Hence our lives become competitive and comparative in nature because greatness gives more ego to our status. 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 just after Jesus had told them that he was going to be betrayed. This shows that his disciples had not grasped his teaching thereby exposing the danger between the mission of Christ and human ambition as a result of ignorance.

For 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. Here, 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.

And these act of simplicity and humility are what characterized the life of Job in our first reading today where Satan said to God that Job’s faith was only strong because he was so blessed and protected by God, but if he should lose them all, then he would surely abandon God and curse him. This is while God allowed Satan to attacked Job and took away everything he had, his great possessions and his  family. But job in simplicity and humility remained faithful to God saying: naked I came from my mother’s womb naked I shall return. The Lord gave, the Lord has taken back. Blessed be the name of the Lord!’

Dear friends, today we see in the lives of the disciples the danger between human ambition and the mission of Christ especially in the midst of ignorance and pride. Therefore we are reminded that true greatness and ambition 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, for we are deeply attached to the pleasurable things of this passing world which prevents us from seeking true greatness that leads to heavenly kingdom. 

This is not with St. Jerome whose memorial we celebrate today for he involved and experiencing all sorts of worldly pleasures as a young student of philosophy. But later his conscience led him to conversion into the Christian faith as he renounced all of his past sinful ways of life and devoted himself deeply into the study of the Scriptures, from which comes all his great works we are still studying today.

 LET US PRAY: Lord God, amidst the danger of human ambition in relation to your mission, 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, 29th September, 2024

 

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE SACRIFICIAL AND COLLABORATIVE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY MANDATE

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 symbol 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 to us by ensuring that we discipline ourselves from 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 has 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 beings, these ugly attitudes we must cut off from 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. 

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, 28th September, 2024

 

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Readings: Eccl. 11:9-12:8, Ps.90, Luke 9:43-45

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

HUMAN LIFE IS VANITY VANISHING WITHOUT GOD

Reflecting on my personal experience about the emptiness of human life. This happened on one occasion as a seminarian, when 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 also 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? 

With this in mind I realized that there is time for everything in this world, a time to be born, and a time to die. Then, the dust returns to the earth as it once came from it, and the spirit to God who gave it. For vanity of vanities, the Preacher says. All is vanity. Just the way the Book of Ecclesiastes in our first reading today tells us saying: Rejoice in your youth, you who are young; let your heart give you joy in your young days. Follow the promptings of your heart and the desires of your eyes. But this you must know: for all these things God will bring you to judgement. 

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. They did not remember that there is a time for everything. 

Dear friends, human life is vanity vanishing without God. So, 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 use of today's graces.

Homily For Friday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 27th September, 2024. The Memorial of St. Vincent De Paul

 

Readings: Readings: Eccl. 3:1-11, Ps.144, Luke 9:18-22

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE AND CONVICTION ABOUT THE LORD 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 this 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 encounter with 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 had 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 we encounter everyday.

 

Little wonder, the book of Ecclesiastes in our first reading today  tells us that there is time for everything, for every purpose, and everything will indeed happen as God wills it, and not up to us to decide what will happen to us, as there are indeed many things out there beyond our control and understanding. For what does a man gain for the efforts that he makes? All that he does is apt for its time; but though he has permitted man to consider time in its wholeness, but man on his own cannot comprehend the work of God from beginning to end.

 

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 encountered and identified our Lord Jesus in my life? 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 as 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 through the intercessions of St. Vincent to personally identify the personality 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, 26th September, 2024

 

Readings: Eccl. 1:2-11, Ps.90, Luke 9:7-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

THE MAN WHO IS ANXIOUS TO SEE JESUS

 

Oftentimes, we hear people expressing the phrase: guilty conscience, which is used to express the ugly condition of human conscience, 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 the guilty conscience of a man who is anxious to see Jesus because of his ugly role in the death of 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 not realized the emptiness of this passing world. We have let our pride, our ego and our selfish desires to blind fold us from the true realities of life.

 

Little wonder our first reading today taken from the book of Ecclesiastes, tells us that vanity of vanities. All is vanity! For what does a man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun, today we are alive, tomorrow we are no more. Generation goes, and generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Acquiring wealth later to realize at death bed that all is vanity vanishing.

Thus, we are meant to know that there are many things in this world that are beyond human comprehension and understanding, because God’s ways of doing things are beyond human capacity to understand fully his plan. All we need to do is to remain docile and faithfully follow his plans for us and not be like Herod and his guilty conscience. 

Dear friends, what is the essence of our existence in this world? What does God really required from us in this life? Are you having guilty conscience of any kind? What are the things that make us have guilt conscience? 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. So, we should remain steadfast in our faith in God, who has called us to love him and to love one another.

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. Help 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, 25th September, 2024

 

Readings: Prov. 30:5-9, Ps.119, Luke 9:1-6

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

THE SACRIFICIAL NATURE OF OUR MISSION AS CHRISTIANS

 

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 seems as if they are not stopping soon for they are 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 our 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.

 

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 in the examples all the other great disciple who had given their time, energy 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.

Homily For Tuesday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 24th September, 2024. Today Is My 5th Priestly Anniversary (Do Pray For Me)

 

Readings: Prov. 21:1-6.10-13, Ps.119, Luke 8:19-21

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

 

WHERE DO YOU ULTIMATELY BELONG?

 

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 and identify 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. For when he was told that his mother and brothers were standing outside and want to see him’. He said: my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.’

 

Here, Jesus speaks of two ways the people around him could be identified as members of his family. First, he talked 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 belonging to this family. This is not to say that Jesus is rejecting his biological 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 our relationship with God is more important and should be 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 was 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.

 

For we belong first to God before belonging to our families, after which we all go back to God where we ultimately belong, which will be determined by how we have done the will of God here on earth. And our first reading taking from the book for proverbs tells us that a man’s conduct may strike him as upright, but the Lord, however, weighs the heart.

 

Dear friends, where do we ultimately and truly belong? Do you belong to the true family of Jesus? As Christians, we claimed to belong to God, do our attitudes and decisions show that we truly belong to God? Do we not often commit ourselves to things contrary to the faith we professed in God? So, today 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 you, 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.