Homily For Monday After the Epiphany of the Lord, 6th January, 2025

 

Readings: 1 John 3:22-4:6, Ps.2, Matt. 4:12-17.23-25

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

DO NOT BE DECEIVED LEARN TO DISCERN THE TRUE SPIRIT OF GOD

In our societies today, many influential powers have deep effects on our lives, coming from various sources under the guise of good, but some are, in fact, evil, leading us astray. So, there is a need for us to examine this false and deceptive spirit.

For the Holy Spirit will lead us to learn how to distinguish clearly where and in whom is the Spirit of truth from the Spirit of Falsehood and darkness. Little wonder we are told in our Gospel passage that the people that lived in darkness have seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death, a light has dawned.’

As long as we are of God and in Christ, we have nothing to fear. We do not belong any more to this present world, full of sin, hate and greed, corruption, deceit and violence. Thus, we must let ourselves be guided by the Lord against embracing, too readily, any doctrine proposed to us.

We must guide ourselves against attaching ourselves, without due consideration, to any teacher that may pretend to have a divine inspiration; because many false teachers are increasing every day to deceive the people.

Dear friends, we must not let ourselves be deceived by the evil power of this world. John, in our first reading, gives us a special sign for distinguishing true doctrine or true teachers from false ones. For him, any spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ had come in the flesh is of God.

Therefore, we must be very wise for many false prophets are operating under the power of the devil who are deceiving humanity and turning our attention from God.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we thank you for the gift of Your Holy Spirit, who guides us against the deception of this world. Give us the grace of discernment in order to distinguish between good and false Spirit. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a fruitful week ahead.

Homily For Sunday, the Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord, 5th January, 2025

Readings: Isaiah 60:1-6, Ps. 72, Eph 3:2-3.5-6, Matt.2:1-12

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LET THE STARLIGHT OF OUR FAITH GUIDE US IN OUR JOURNEY TO ENCOUNTER THE LORD

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord, an occasion where we continue to contemplate and celebrate the mystery of the birth of Jesus. Epiphany was first celebrated in Africa, Egypt precisely, where it was used to replace a pagan feast, where the people celebrate the victory of light over darkness.

However, the word “Epiphany” means manifestation or revelation. So it is the solemnity of the manifestation of the Lord the Light of our faith. Thus in our first reading, we heard the prophet Isaiah saying: Arise, shine out, Jerusalem, for your light has come, the glory of the Lord is rising on you, all are assembling and coming towards you. Your sons from far away and your daughters being tenderly carried in the arms.

 In our Gospel passage, we see how the Wise Men, being led by a star, journeyed a long distance in search of the newborn king. They were probably sages in search of something more about life, in search of the true light that could point out the path to the true meaning of life.

This journey of the Wise Men was bold, courageous and imaginative. For some persons, they may appear to be foolish, even a little crazy. No doubt that they encountered many difficulties and experienced some moments of doubt and danger. Yet despite the difficulties, doubt and dangers they preserved in their search and were joyful when they finally found the baby Jesus.

Thus, today the Wise Men find, crying in a manger, the one they have followed as he shone in the sky. They saw, in swaddling clothes, the one they had long awaited as he lay hidden among the stars. Today, the Wise Men gaze in deep wonder at what they see: heaven on earth, earth in heaven, man in God, God in man, one whom the whole universe cannot contain now enclosed in a tiny body.

As they look, they believe and do not question anymore, as their symbolic gifts bear witness: incense for God, gold for a king, myrrh for one who is to die. In this journey, the light of a star guided them; they did not know where the star was leading them. Hence, their journey was very much a journey of faith, knowing that the star was a means by which a great mystery was to be revealed.

The journey of these Wise Men symbolizes our journey of faith and it can serve as a model for us as we struggle on our journey of faith. For the faith of the Wise Men is the first fruit of the belief of the Gentiles, so the Gentiles, who were the last, became the first. The same is our journey, for just as they were guided by the light of a star so we are guided by the light of faith.

Little wonder in our second reading we heard St Paul saying: This mystery that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to all, in Jesus Christ, through the Gospel.

Dear friends, we can learn something great from these Wise Men. First, their journey was one of searching and questioning, of fear and hope, of pain and joy. It is not an easy journey. Our journey of faith contains all of these elements. Like the Wise Men, we can expect to encounter difficulties and experience doubts. But, we can draw inspiration from their courage and perseverance.

Also, we can learn something about Herod. As the Wise Men journeyed through the great city of Bethlehem, the star disappeared; they could no longer see it. For them, it was logical to seek the new king in the royal palace, where they believed that wise men were to be found. But to their amazement, the newborn child was not found in the places of power and culture. Hence, King Herod, in anger, seeks to kill the child.

Here, perhaps, we should ask ourselves: is there something of Herod in us? Have we in any way seen God as a sort of rival? Have we been blind to the signs God is offering us or pay deaf ears to his words because we think he is setting limits on our lives and does not allow us to live as we wish?

Another thing we can learn from the Wise Men is that they did not travel alone; they travelled in a little community of three believers. We, then, must not try to make the journey of our faith alone; we need to journey with our brothers and sisters in our community. We need to support one another. However, we have one great advantage over these Wise Men. At the start of their journey, they knew nothing about Christ. We already know Christ and have encountered him in faith.

Nevertheless, the fact that we have not seen him face-to-face means we have not yet arrived at our final destination. So we are still searching, still journeying to encounter Jesus the light of the world. Thus the journey of faith is the journey of a lifetime. The goal of this journey is to arrive at the heavenly Bethlehem where we can see Jesus and experience his glory.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we celebrate the manifestation of your Son Jesus today, let the light of his presence dispel the darkness in our lives, in our families, societies and so illumine our paths as we struggle and journey in faith towards achieving our goals and purposes in life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.

Homily For Saturday Before Epiphany, 4th January, 2025

 

Readings : 1 John 3:7-10 , Ps 98, John 1:35-42

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

AN ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS THE LAMB OF GOD

Every day is an opportunity to encounter God through different events that occur in our lives. Sometimes, we have memorable and remarkable events in our lives, but often, we have insignificant ones. I don’t know if you have ever had an experience that made you realize the emptiness of the things of this passing world, a kind of experience that turns pride into humility, sinfulness into righteousness. Weaknesses into strength.

This is the kind of experience the two disciples of John had when he showed them Jesus the Lamb of God. They followed him and remained with him. They encountered Jesus and their lives never remained the same again. This very encounter brought about their true vocation and destiny from John’s disciples to disciples of Christ.

We heard that one of these two who became followers of Jesus after hearing what John had said was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. Early next morning, Andrew met his brother Simon and brought him to Jesus, who looked hard at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John; you are to be called Cephas’ meaning Rock

Dear friends, like these two disciples of John the Baptist, we are called to reflect on our personal experience with God. How have we experienced God? When was your spiritual turning point? Have you experienced God personally? Can we share confidently our convictions about God with others? In case we don’t even know if we have any personal experience of God, all we need to do is to sincerely seek God in those common events in our lives and we will realize how much God is willing to reveal himself to us.

The problem with why it often seems as if we are far away from God is because we are so attached to things of this world, such as greed, guilty passion, evil desires, fornication, and impurity, which is the same thing as worshipping a false god. It is these kinds of behaviour that make us stay far away from God, and it gets worse when one is surrounded by people who are doing the same thing.

Little wonder St John, in our first reading today, said: my children, do not let anyone lead you astray: to live a holy life is to be holy just as he is holy; to lead a sinful life is to belong to the devil since the devil was a sinner from the beginning.

Therefore this new year, we must give up all our ugly attitudes of getting unnecessarily angry, being bad-tempered, spitefulness, the use of abusive language and dirty talk and telling of lies. Thus, we must put off our old behaviour and put on a new self which looks up towards encountering Jesus the Lamb of God.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, you often wish that we should know you. As we go about our daily activities, may we experience You in a unique way and, through this experience, discover our true vocation in life? We ask this through Christ our Lord. Peace be with you.

Homily For Friday Before Epiphany, 3rd January, 2025

 

Readings : 1 John 2:29-3:6 , Ps 98, John 1:29-34

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

A CALL TO BEAR AUTHENTIC WITNESS OF CHRIST THE LAMB OF GOD

As Christians, our duty is to teach and bear sincere witness to God’s commandments by our ways of life. This, of course, points out the mission of the Church in proclaiming the word of God and our part in this mission.

Little wonder the Gospel passage today reminds us of how God has called us all to follow Christ, the Lamb of God and Saviour of the world. For when John the Baptist saw Jesus passing by he declared: ‘this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world... Yes, I have seen and I am the witness that he is the Chosen One of God.’

Here John is pointing out the essence of Jesus’ mission, whose coming was foretold by the prophet Isaiah (49:3.5-6), telling us about that great Servant of God, whose mission was to bring sinners back to God. Considering this great task of Jesus, John introduced him as a Lamb of God and not a Lion and also described the Holy Spirit as a dove, not a hawk which is more powerful.

Why? Because the Lamb is one of the most gentle, harmless and loving creatures of God, while the dove is a gentle bird, a symbol of peace and goodwill. So these images tell us about the person of Jesus and the approach by which he will carry out his mission.

Consequently, Jesus, the gentle Lamb of God, gently died for our sins, so that we could live in joy and freedom of God’s children, teaching us to bear authentic witness of this great event in our relationship with one another.

This is our vocation and mission, for John said in our first reading: You know that God is righteous, then you must recognize that everyone whose life is righteous has been begotten by him.

So, to all of us Christians, who have been called to follow Christ and have been sanctified and blessed to be God’s people, who are reunited and brought together from the world to bear the fruit of love and holiness of life. So that we can be true and living witnesses of our faith in God, to proclaim His salvation among the nations and the peoples of the earth.

Dear friends, like John, we can say: I have seen, and I am a witness. For we have been entrusted with the great task of witnessing. We are commissioned as Christ's disciples to go forth and make disciples of all the nations, making all peoples God’s children through His Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. We are called to bear authentic witness of our experience of God.

 But how can we achieve this task? The approach is given to us by John the Baptist, who tells us to follow the way of the Lamb and the dove. That is, we are to be the most gentle, harmless and loving children of God, we must be a symbol of peace, compassion and goodwill. We are not to force people to believe in God by the use of intimidation or force, and neither should we use any forms of tricks or false persuasions.

All these methods do not usually lead to true faith and love for God. They may cause people to turn away from God and the Christian faith. Instead, we should love people and do our best to live our lives with faith and holiness each moment of our lives.

Because, if our actions and way of life do not match what we profess to believe in, how can we then expect people to believe in us or the Lord? Instead of bringing others closer to God, we will only end up sending them further away from God.

Therefore, as the year unfolds, we are all challenged to live our lives as the Lord has taught us. We should put our trust in the Lord and make him the centre of our lives in every action. We should show love, care, compassion and concern for our fellow brothers and sisters just as the Lord has loved us.

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. Have a peaceful day.

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.