Homily For Thursday Before Epiphany, 2nd January, 2025. The Memorials of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen, Bishops

Readings : 1 John 2:22-28 , Ps 98, John 1:19-28

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT IS YOUR IDENTITY?

 

Oftentimes, things happen in our lives that we can not explain how and why they happened. This is to tell us that we are unique and special, because, in our uniqueness, we come to realize that God has a special plan for everyone. Today, in our Gospel passage, we heard about the role and the personality of John the Baptist in the redemptive plan of God. 

This is obvious when John is questioned by the Pharisees. They asked him, who are you? This is a fundamental question we need to ask ourselves every day. John explained to them that he is just a voice and his role and purpose is to cry in the wilderness to make a straight way for the Lord.

 

This is a fundamental question because it points out the fundamental reality of who we are and what we have identified ourselves with. A lot of people do not know who they are or what they have identified themselves with. 

A lot of people today are suffering and struggling because they do not know who they are and the identity they bear. Some have misplaced their identity with something else, some are putting on an identity that doesn’t belong to them.

 

Dear friends, Who are you? What is your identity? What is the source of your identity? Whose identity are you putting on now? Why are you putting on someone else identity? Why have you misplaced your identity? 

John the Baptist was very clear about his identity, he was clear that he was not the Christ. He was clear that he was not Elijah. John was clear that he was not the prophet, he was only the voice of one crying in the wilderness, making straight the way of the Lord.

 

The fact remains that every human person has a special role to play in the master plan of God. Though some seem to have a more significant role than others. However, whether significant or not, the truth remains that we all have a role to play. 

But the question is, how are we playing this role? Are we playing according to the master plan or against it? Are we confused about who we are and our role in this master plan of God, or have we deviated from it?

 

As the year begins we must ask ourselves the fundamental question: who am I? What is my mission and purpose on this earth? To discover these, we must ensure that we cooperate with God's plan for us and do these three essential things. 

First, we must learn to pray the right way, secondly, we must have a convincing plan, nurture it and not deviate from it. Thirdly, we must be disciplined and strive to live a holy life. Remember, you are God's special child, and your goal in life is Salvation. We are playing our role in the salvation of mankind; our existence means a lot to future generations.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, our true identity is found only in you through Christ your son, as we rejoice and celebrate his birthday, may we be filled with the joy of his presence and through the intercession of Saints Basil the Great and Gregory Nazianzen,  grant us the grace to live out our purpose and mission in this life.  We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a fruitful day.

Homily For Wednesday The Octave of Christmas. 1st January, 2025. (Happy New Year). The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. And World Day Of Peace

Readings: Num 6:22-27, Ps 67, Gal. 4:4-7, Luke 2:16-21

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LEARN TO IDENTIFY YOUR PLANS AND PURPOSES THIS YEAR WITH THE UNIVERSAL PLAN OF GOD

It is the New Year 2025, so we join the whole human race in celebrating the goodness of God, who has made it possible for us to witness another New Year. So, we thank God. To portray the significance of this day the Holy Mother Church celebrates three great events. First, the Church joins the whole human race to celebrate the New Year, another gift of God to humanity.

Secondly, since this great gift comes as we are celebrating the birthday of our Lord Jesus, the Church reflecting on the role of Mary in the whole event of this season, dedicated today as the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God. Thirdly, following the ugly situation of war and crises in which humanity has found herself, Pope Paul VI chose and encouraged us to celebrate every 1st day of January as the World Day of Peace.

So we are called to pray for peace in our world and also commit our plans and purposes to God this year knowing that every year is a gift of God to humanity. We journey through it in hope, full of expectations, favour, grace and blessing, just like Mary, whom God in time endowed with the great responsibility of becoming the Mother of his Son Jesus Christ, thereby sharing greatly in the universal plan of God for humanity.

Hence, following the role of Mary in God’s plan for our salvation, the Church ascribes some special prerogatives or privileges to her. These prerogatives concern what the Faith of the Church affirms in connection with the Blessed Virgin Mary. They include her immaculate conception, her perpetual virginity, the assumption of Mary and the title Mary, the Holy Mother of God (Theotokos), which is the foundation of other prerogatives.

The solemnity of this prerogative is what we are celebrating today which shows her special role in the universal plan of God, of which our Gospel passage today gave us some details of how she cooperated with the will of God and treasured all the things that happened to her and pondered them in her heart.

This tells us that our success in life is determined by our disposition towards doing the will of God. Hence, we have to identify our plans and purposes this new year with the universal plan of God for humanity. But how can we identify the plan of God for us? Very simple, we were told in the Gospel of John 2:1-11, how the wedding couple invited Jesus and his disciples on the most important day of their lives.

When an embarrassing moment came up during the celebration, Mary, in her usual way of helping people, asked Jesus to save the couple from social embarrassment and even when her request was not granted by her son, she had strong faith that he would not refuse her request. So she said to the servants: “ Do whatever he tells you”

By this request, Mary, who represents the Church, reveals to us the key to a successful and happy Christian Life and the key to the success of whatever we have set out to achieve this year. That is to say that, the secret key that opens the treasure of a successful and happy Christian life is to do whatever he (Jesus) tells us. But what did Jesus say we should do?

Here, Jesus told the servants: Fill, Draw and Serve. Telling us to fill our lives with the water of salvation which he offers us every day through His words and Eucharist and when we have filled our lives with the fountain of his presence, then we should draw from the joy it offers and serve humanity who are really in need and thirsty for the word of God especially at this moment in our world when humanity really hope and seek for God’s intervention in families and societies.

Dear friends, let this principle guide all our activities this year for that is how to identify our plans and purposes with the will of God. So, we must learn to fill our minds with positive things so that we can draw from the abundance of our hearts and serve humanity.

Therefore, this year, we all are called to identify our plans and purposes with the universal plan of God. We are called to serve in any capacity we find ourselves, bearing in mind that one should not strive to be a leader but a servant because leadership is a gift given to one by God.

Remember, you don’t have to be great to get started but you have to get started in order to be great this year. All we need is to ask God to fill us with wisdom and show us what we can offer to humanity this New Year in accordance with his plan, for by so doing we will be successful in all we do this year.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of another New Year, grant that through the intercession of our Mother Mary, may we find strength to do your will always, especially in all our daily struggles. May your grace and favour be with us even to the last hour of this new year. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy New Year.

Homily Tuesday Within The Octave of Christmas, 31st December, 2024

Readings : 1 John 2:18-21, Ps 96, John 1:1-18
Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LET CHRIST THE LIGHT ILLUMINE OUR HEART AS WE END THE YEAR

As we mark the end of the year 2024 and look forward to the beginning of the new year 2025, we give thanks to God for his grace and favour in our lives. We also need to keep our focus steadily towards the goal of knowing Christ and his mission and purpose for us. Hence, our Gospel passagIllumin' presents to us the unchanging truth about our salvation in the Word of God, Who was with God since the beginning, and Who was God.

This same Word of God has become the Son of God, begotten not created. The Word which came down into the world and became Flesh. Through Him, we have seen the love of God for the salvation of humanity. This is what we celebrate this Christmas season: the manifestation of God’s love in the Flesh, in the person of Jesus Christ, the light that shines in the dark, light that darkness could not overpower.

However, many of us, despite what God has done in our lives, have not appreciated this love and the care that he has shown us. Instead, we chose to follow the falsehood of this world and dwell in sin and shame. To call our minds out of this ugly way of life, St. John, in our first reading today, spoke of the antichrists present all around us.

These antichrists are those who seek to cover up the truth of God with falsehoods and lies by committing all forms of evil against God and humanity. We are called today to be careful in order not to fall into their traps of lies and falsehoods. Thus, we must hold firmly to our faith in God with thanksgiving in our hearts no matter the situation we may find ourselves in this world.

Dear friends, we must learn to end this year with thanksgiving to God in our hearts, for it is not easy to pass through the challenges and overcome the obstacles of the year. This is important if we reflect deeply on the activities of the year. It will help us to understand better the ugly situation we faced this year so that we can be well-prepared to conquer and manage the situations of the coming year.

So, today being the last day of this year, it is a good time for us to take stock and evaluate carefully how our activities this year have been. We have to spend time evaluating what our relationship with God has been. We must resolve and make an effort to be faithful to God and dedicate more time to his works and mission.

Hence, as we prepare to welcome the new year, we should look back and see in what way we can do better, especially as Christians, so as to live our lives ever more sincerely and genuinely in faith. Therefore, let us remain focused and determined in our faith by making firm resolutions that will guide us through the struggle of the coming year.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we thank you for being with us in all the struggles of this year, as we step into the New year, may the light of your presence drive away all darkness of falsehood and confusion in our lives, families, society and the world, let your peace, favour and blessings remain always with us, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.

Homily For Monday Sixth Day of the Octave of Christmas, 30th December 2024

 

Readings : 1 John 2:12-17, Ps 96, Luke:2:36-40

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WHAT IS YOUR PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH THE LORD JESUS AT THE TEMPLE?

It’s always the desire of humanity to have an encounter with God especially when we are passing through difficult situations. This had always been the desire and disposition of the people of Israel as they awaited the coming of the Messiah as prophesied by the prophets. Hence, our Gospel passage today presents to us the experience of Anna with Jesus at the temple.

Anna was a deeply spiritual person who spent her working hours in the Temple, praying and fasting. She came on the scene just as Jesus and his parents were in the Temple. She, too, must have realized the true identity of the Child and gave thanks to God. She then began to speak about Jesus to everyone, especially those awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

This passage says much about our experience with the divine, showing that our social status is of no consequence in our relationship with God. If we want to be close to God, we have to make prayer a very important part of our lives.

In prayer, we come to know Jesus and to love God more and once we truly come to know Jesus, we cannot keep it to ourselves but must share the experience with the people around us, especially those who are looking for some meaning in their lives, just like Anna in the Gospel.

 Little wonder St. John, in our first reading, admonished us to embrace the love God is offering us through his Son Jesus and not give in to the love of this passing world because the love of God cannot be in any man who loves the world. For the world has nothing to offer us except the pleasure of the sensual body, the lustful eye, pride of sin and greed which finally lead us to destruction.

Dear friends, what is our relationship with God like as regards the things of this passing world? How have we personally experienced the Lord Jesus who has been born for us? How have we been able to share our experience of God with others? If we have not experienced the Lord personally in our lives, the right time to do that is now.

But we need to ask ourselves what is our disposition towards prayers and pleasurable things of this passing world. To experience the Lord, we must love him above all other things and truly desire to encounter him just like Anna.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are living in a world where materialism and pleasurable things are seriously distracting us from experiencing your presence in our midst, help us to conquer our inordinate desire for the things of this world in order to embrace the heavenly things. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. As the year comes to an end, may the joy, favour and grace of God lead us into the new year.

Homily For Sunday Within The Octave of Christmas, 29th December, 2024. The Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth, Year C

 

Readings : 1Samuel 1:20-22.24-28; Ps 84; 1John 3:1-2.22-24; Luke 2:41-52

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LEARN TO UPHOLD YOUR FAMILY'S CHRISTIAN VALUES AND PRACTICE LIKE THE HOLY FAMILY

The family has been described as the nucleus of life and the seed of every human society. The word "nucleus" is often used to describe the core of something. In the context of family according to asocial anthropology Bronisław Malinowski, the nuclear family is considered the core or basis of all family structures.

Family is a domestic church, a place of faith, a place of prayer and a place of loving concern for the good of one another. Little wonder, every last Sunday of the year that falls within the octave of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Feast of the Holy Family of Nazareth as a way of addressing with joy all the families of the world, wishing them the peace and love that Jesus brought among us this Christmas.

The Lord Jesus was born and grew up In a human family. In this way, he consecrated the family as the first and ordinary means of his encounter with humanity. Jesus was born in a stable and had a manger as his first home, but the love of Mary and Joseph made him feel the tenderness and beauty of being loved. Children need this kind of love from their father and mother. It is this that gives them security and, as they grow, enables them to discover the meaning of human life.

The Holy Family of Nazareth went through many trials, beginning from the event of the annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the presentation at the temple, the flight to Egypt, the massacre of the innocents, the finding of Jesus at the temple just as we have it in the Gospel passage today. Telling us that whatever we are passing through as a family, we can draw strength and grace from the Holy Family, who, trusting in divine providence, found their stability and guaranteed Jesus a serene childhood and a sound upbringing.

Thus, our first reading talks about the relationships in the family by reminding us about Hannah and how God helped her resolve the problems in her family. Today, she came to thank God, saying: This is the child I prayed for, and the Lord granted me what I asked him. Now I hand him over to the Lord for the whole of his life. He is handed over to the Lord.’

And our second reading reminds us that love is the source of harmony in the family. So today, demand is made of us and our families to do the will of God at different stages of our lives and ensure the peaceful existence of our families.

Dear friends, in our societies today, family life and values are no longer guaranteed, as the powerful influence of secularism and materialism are fast destroying all the great values and virtues that sustain the family and society.

Today, the only hope we have is the family and our religious practice, which are under serious threat as they stand against the agenda of the secular world. Thus, we must uphold our family values and practices, with fraternal love as the hallmark of sustaining our Christian virtues and values in the family and community.

Also, we must hold on to the virtues and practice of our faith and not give in to the pressure of secularism and materialism. Let the Holy Family of Jesus be a model for us to follow. And as we struggle to build a holy and lovely family, let us entrust all families to Our Lady and St Joseph, so that we do not lose heart in the face of trials and difficulties but always cultivate conjugal love and devote ourselves with trust to the service and protection of life which is a product of the family.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, a lot of families in our world today are struggling to survive as a result of secularism and materialism, which has taken away the sacrificial love that sustains the family. As we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family, may you restore all the families of the world with your love and peace. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing you a joyful and glorious Sunday Celebration.

Homily For Saturday The Octave of Christmas, 28th December, 2024. The Feast of The Holy Innocents

 

Readings : 1 John 1:5-2:2, Ps 124, Matt.2:13-18

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE HOLY INNOCENTS: A REFLECTION OF THE SIDE EFFECTS OF OUR UGLY ATTITUDE TOWARDS HUMAN LIFE 

As we continue the celebration of the birth of Christ, the Holy Mother Church today, calls our attention to one of the ugly events that occurred in Bethlehem as a result of King Herod’s love of power and fear of losing his power to the newborn baby our Lord Jesus Christ. 

So out of envy, pride and greed, he ordered the killing of all the male children from two years down. The Greek Liturgy states that Herod killed 14,000 boys, the Syrians speak of 64,000, and many medieval authors also suggested 144,000, according to the book of Revelation 14:3. However, modern writers reduce the number since Bethlehem was a rather small town.

 Nevertheless, this ugly event illustrates our ugly attitude towards human life, showing us that every human life begins with birth and ends with death.  See how the presence of the baby Jesus made the King of this world tremble, frenzy, mad with rage that he ordered the killing of innocent children. 

He did not have any pity for sorrowing mothers, no sympathy for weeping fathers, no compassion for the crying voice of the little innocent. Just as we heard in our Gospel passage: a voice crying in Ramah, sobbing and loudly lamenting: it was Rachel weeping for her children because they were no more. They were slaughtered out of fear for the Prince of Life.

Dear friends, this outrageous event is still happening in our societies today. For how often do we kill the innocents out of our selfish ambitions? Is this not obvious when we see and hear what people do for the sake of obtaining powers and retaining them? When we engaged in all forms of atrocities just for the sake of our political positions and other ambitions? We are not far from Herod when we kill people because of position, power and comfort.

We are the same as Herod when we prevent others from living out their potential. We are not far from Herod when we kill the young fetus through abortion and every other means of terminating pregnancy. We are like Herod when we refuse to submit to the will of God out of pride. We are like Herod when we let envy, jealousy and greed get hold of us and blindfold us into doing evil against other people.

Therefore, we are called today to reflect on the side effects of our ugly attitude towards people, especially children, we are called not to be like Herod who out of fear, envy and love of power seeks to murder Life itself, rather we are called to clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience and truth in following and doing the will of God.

Little wonder, St. John, in our first reading today, said: If we say that we are in union with God while we are living in darkness, we are lying because we are not living the truth. But if we live our lives in the light, as he is in the light, we are in union with one another, and the blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin. 

However, if we say we have no sin in us, we are deceiving ourselves and refusing to admit the truth. But if we acknowledge our sins, then God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and purify us From everything wrong.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we reflect on the life and death of the Holy Innocents, grant us the grace to embrace your will over our worldly ambitions. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. As the year comes to an end, hope in the Lord, be faithful, and be steadfast for you are so special to the Lord. Have a fruitful day.

Homily For Friday The Octave of Christmas, 27th December, 2024 The Feast of St John the Apostle and Evangelist

Readings : 1 John 1:1-4; Ps 97; John 20:2-8

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

BEARING AUTHENTIC WITNESS LIKE ST. JOHN

As we continue the octave of Christmas, today the Church celebrates the Feast of St John the Apostle and Evangelist. St. John, as we know, is one of the Twelve Apostles, one of the three inner circles of Jesus Christ, and no doubt one of the four great Evangelists of the Church. As one of the three inner circles of our Lord, John, together with St. Peter and St. James, his brother, were often brought to the most important events in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ.

St. John, as we know, was present in great events such as the resurrection of the synagogue official’s dead daughter, the Transfiguration of the Lord at Mount Tabor, and also at the agony of the Lord at the Gardens of Gethsemane before the time of the Lord’s Passion. He witnessed the great works and miracles of Jesus.

We will recall that St. John was one of those who remained and followed the Lord at the moments of his Passion, suffering and death on the Cross. He also remained with Mary at the foot of the cross and it was John that the Lord Jesus entrusted Mary his Mother, and also John to Mary as well. This no doubt shows the important role St. John played in the life and mission of the Lord Jesus.

The fruit of this great privilege is evident in the missionary activities of St. John. For he spent all his life in spreading the truth of God all over the world. He also wrote several letters and Epistles and the fourth Gospel is attributed to him. He also received the great vision of the end time event when he was in exile as a result of the persecution of Christians, this vision he recorded in the book of Revelations as we have it today.

So today as we celebrate the Feast of this great Apostle, we heard the readings of his first letter and his Gospel passage. In this letter, as we have it in our first reading today, St John wrote about Christ the Word of Life that has come into this world. Concerning this Word he said: this is what we have heard from him, and the message that we are announcing to you: that God is light; there is no darkness in him at all. If we say that we are in union with God while we are living in darkness, we are lying because we are not living the truth. It is this Word of truth that we are celebrating this Christmas.

However, this Christmas celebration will not be complete if we do not let the Lord be born in our hearts or if we do not have a personal experience of the Lord Jesus in our lives such as the one we heard in our Gospel passage today. Here, we were told about the personal experience of John and Peter, who having heard about the resurrection of the Lord, ran towards the empty tomb with open hearts to encounter Christ, who had died and is risen to save us and remove us from our hearts the guilty of sin and death, so that we can embrace his divine and eternal life.

Dear friends, this is the fundamental core of our Christian faith; this is the victory that transforms us and unites us with our Lord. Hence, if Jesus, who was born for us, was crucified, died, buried, risen, and is alive, who will ever be able to separate us from him? Who will ever be able to deprive us of the love of him who has conquered hatred and overcomes death?

Friends, I don’t know what has been your experience in this world, especially this Christmas season. I don’t know how you woke up today. I don’t know what troubles you mind? But all I know is that today is another gift of God to humanity, a day of joy, a day of victory. I am excited, and hopeful and am going to live it with all joy, not trying to change things that I could not be able to change or try to fix things that do not want to be fixed.

I will not let the ugly situation in our world today or any ugly event of the past distract me today or steal my joy. I will focus on the blessings that come with the joy of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will follow the directives of the Lord, for his ways are right and the upright walk in them, but the transgressors stumble in them. Thus, let us proclaim the message of this season and spread it throughout the world with the joyful song of this Holy Season.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we celebrate the great event of Christmas, may your joy fill our hearts and through the intercessions of St John, may we spread this joy all over the world, especially to people and places where this joy is lacking. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed day.