Homily For Friday Fifth Week of Easter Year C, 23rd May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts 15:22-31; Ps.57; John 15:12-17

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU

Love is a gift from God to mankind, it is like the stream water, so innocent and pure. True love is not hidden; it radiates from the innermost being of a person who experiences it. Most of the problems in our families, societies and the world at large can be traced to one major challenge, which is the absence of sincere love for one another, as most families today exist by grace and not by love. Imagine how wonderful the world would have been if we all loved one another.

Little wonder, Jesus, knowing how important love is for the well-being of humanity, made it the centre of all his teachings. He presents the love of God and the love of neighbour as the summary of all the commandments. And in our Gospel passage today, he says: “This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you. A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you.”

So, as Jesus continues his teaching on love, today we heard more about the commandments of loving one another. There is no doubt that we all have experienced God’s love and favour in one way or another. God has done so much for us, giving us everything that we need, and He has shown us all this wonderful love so that we, too, may know what it truly means to love.

Today, Jesus is commanding us to also love one another in the same way that God has loved us, and this is exemplified by the Apostles in the decision they made concerning how the gentile believers should be treated as we have it in our first reading today.

Dear friends, love is what the Lord has offered us, love is what he is commanding us to offer one another. I know that it is not easy to bear the sacrificial nature of love, but that is what the world needs now. So let us be genuine with our actions and love towards one another.

Let us not just think about ourselves and our selfish desires, but consider the needs of others. Loving one another requires sacrifice, sacrifice of our comfort, resources, talent, gifts and pride. Loving one another requires forgiveness, mercy, care and humility.

How I wish that humanity could invest the amount of energy, time and resources used in producing heavy personnel and ammunitions of war into ensuring love and unity in our dealings with one another, believe me, we will not only be fulfilling the first and greatest commandments of God, but we will be building a happy family, a peaceful community and one united humanity build on love.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we make efforts to love one another, grant us the grace to experience true love in our lives, families, communities and the world at large. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed day.

Homily for Thursday, Fifth Week of Easter Year C, 22nd May, 2025

Readings: Acts 15:7-21; Ps.96;  John 15:9-11

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

AS THE FATHER HAS LOVED ME, SO HAVE I LOVED YOU ABIDE IN MY LOVE

The word “love” means a lot of things to different people. For some, love is one of the common words we use to express our deep feelings of affection for someone or something. But the fact remains that love is much more than that, why? Because it is something greater than the nature of the human person. 

For me, Love is God’s nature, which He shares with His creatures. It is that nature of God which we share with one another. Love is beyond human nature. When we love, we are actually acting out that very nature of God in us and this can be overwhelming and mysterious because it is the nature of God that we share. 

Therefore, love is God's greatest gift to humanity. A gift that shows how much He loves us by sending His Son, whose life-giving sacrifice means salvation for the world. So, the love that Jesus has for us is nothing less than the Divine love that unites the Persons of the Trinity, and Jesus presented this love as life that must continue among his disciples. 

That is why in our Gospel passage today, he said to his disciples: ‘As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 

Dear friends, let us keep the Lord’s commandments, let us embrace Jesus and the love he is offering us. Let us serve the Lord and his Church faithfully by spreading his love everywhere we find ourselves. The truth is that it actually feels right and awesome to experience and share the love of God. 

I don’t know if you have ever loved someone and you show it, or someone loves you and shows it? Or somebody loves you and you know it, it is something great and awesome, because love brings life, healing and wholeness into people’s lives. Thus, it is by loving God in our neighbours that we can share and experience this nature of God in us and by so doing, we will conquer the world full of hatred, self-centeredness, greed and sin.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we listened to your words today, may we resolve to keep your commandments and remain in your love. Help us to spread your love to the world and by so doing conquer the hatred, self-centeredness, greed and sin rooted in our families, societies and the world at large. Amen. Have a favourable day.

Homily for Wednesday in Fifth Week of Easter Year C, 21st May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts 15:1-6; Ps.122; John 15:1-8

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

DO NOT BE SEPARATED FROM JESUS THE TRUE VINE

Since Sunday, we have been listening to Jesus’ instructions to his disciples, especially as regards the relationship between him and those who wish to be his disciples. To drive this message down to the level they will understand him, he used the imagery of a Vine and branches.

The vine, as we know,, is the source of life for the branches. It provides the water and nutrients by which the grapes are produced. Without the vine, no fruit could ever be produced. And branches utterly dependent upon the vine.

So as Jesus and his disciples were passing through the vineyards that surround the city after they had concluded their meeting in the upper room in Jerusalem where they celebrated the Passover, Jesus told them the parable of the Vine and the branches as we have it in our Gospel passage today saying: ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, with me in him, bears fruit in plenty; for cut off from me, you can do nothing.’

Here, Jesus is emphasising the need to remain faithful in our relationship with God, as we know in the scriptures, Israel is pictured as a vine which is to produce good fruit. But has failed. Thus, Jesus made them know that he is the true, genuine and authentic Vine. But in the Old Testament, God’s vine was Israel. He used them to accomplish his purpose in the world. However, he is the true Vine through whom we have life in us.

So, the major purpose of this parable is for us to remain faithful in our relationship with God and also to be fruitful in our Christian faith. Because as God’s chosen people, we are expected to produce great, sweet, beautiful, rich fruits of righteousness, holiness, justice, peace and joy to the world. But most of us, just like the Israelites, have failed as we produced sour, rotten, stinking, tasteless fruit of sin, corruption, greed, cruelty, exploitation and hatred in the world.

Dear friends, as branches of the Vine which is Christ, our fruit should be the natural outflow of the life of the Vine. For when we are united and identified with Jesus, we produce from his Vine the fruit of the Holy Spirit, that sweet and rich wine of love, joy, peace, gentleness, goodness, self-control, holiness, courage and faith which is lacking in our world today.

But the questions we need to ask ourselves today are: are we still connected with Jesus, the true Vine? What kind of fruit are we producing in this world? What is stopping us from producing good fruit? Do we need to be purged of our ugly habitual sins? Remember, God prunes a branch so that it may bear more fruit, and this pruning is not done only once, for it is a constant process.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we are so much attached to so many things in this passing world, as we find delight in Jesus our true Vine, prune us where we need to be pruned, so that we may remain faithful in our relationship with you and so bear good fruit of your love and peace in our families, societies and the world at large. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do remain blessed.

Homily for Tuesday, Fifth Week of Eastertide Year C, 20th May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts 14:19-28; Ps.145;  John 14:27-31

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia.

PEACE I LEAVE WITH YOU; MY PEACE I GIVE TO YOU 

The ugly events we hear and experience on daily basis especially the cases of killings, hatred, betrayals, greed; social and economic injustice, bloodshed, kidnapping, banditry and the massacre of innocent people all over the globe is a clear sign that the world has lost a treasure which she enjoys in the presence of God before the fall of man.

By original sin, man has lost the peace he enjoyed with God. But God, who is compassionate and gracious, wills to restore this peace. Hence Jesus who is the fulfillment of God’s plan in time, offers peace to the world as his first gift after his resurrection, when he said to his disciples in our Gospel passage today,  “peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”. 

The word Peace from the Hebrew word shalom means more than an absence of conflict, disturbance, or war. Rather, it signifies a state of complete integration of unity between God and Man, between man and neighbours, also between man and his environment. 

It thus implies everything that Jesus came to achieve in this world. It is the legacy of his life, death and resurrection. Little wonder these words of Jesus are repeated at every Eucharistic celebration, where Jesus offers us his peace again and again. 

But the questions we need to ask ourselves are: Have we really embraced this peace in our lives? Do we experience this peace at the Eucharistic banquet every time we participate in the Holy Mass? Am I an instrument of peace to my neighbour, my family and the society at large? Am I ready to sacrifice my possessions, my ambition and my life for the sake of peace? Am I ready to forgive those who offended me and seek reconciliation for the sake of peace?

 St Paul, in our first reading today, was stoned and dragged out of the city because he offered the word of peace to the people who rejected it. Should we give up because our peace has been rejected by people? Should we stop being peace-loving because of persecution? Will I be courageous enough to let peace be known in the world? Will I use the peace I have found in Jesus to reshape the world around me? Will I let this peace reign supreme in my heart? 

Dear friends, at every Eucharistic celebration, Jesus is offering us his peace again. He is searching for true and available instruments of peace. He wants to use us as his instruments of peace in the world. Are we available? Can we be those instruments?  Can his peace reign in our hearts, so that we extend this peace in our families, societies, country and the world at large? Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, in the midst of the chaos, tribulations, hatred, betrayals, greed, violence, banditry and kidnapping in our world today, grant we pray the grace to be true instruments of your peace in our homes, societies, country and the world at large, so that our world may be restored back to its original harmony and the face of the earth be renewed. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.

Homily for Fifth Monday of Easter Year C, 19th May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts.14:5-18; Ps115; John 14:21-26

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WAITING ON THE HOLY SPIRIT, THE TEACHER AND REMINDER OF ALL THE LORD HAS TAUGHT US

As the time for Jesus to accomplish his mission drew near, he had taught his disciples a lot of things which they had not yet fully understood, and there was more to teach them. So, as Jesus continues to teach the disciples about knowing and observing the commandments as a sign of love of him and his Father, as we have it in our Gospel passage today.

So, one of his disciples who could not understand this teaching said to him, ‘Lord, what is all this about? Do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world? And Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him. ' But as this becomes more difficult for them to comprehend, Jesus said to them: ‘the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you.’

Here, Jesus, who has been the only teacher of his disciples, promised them the indwelling of the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will take up the task to inspire them and deepen their understanding of the words and actions of Jesus. However, Jesus emphasised that the condition for obtaining all that he has promised is the love expressed in our faith in the Father through him.

Thus, today, we are called to renew our faith and devotion to God, to renew our love and focus once again on Him with all our hearts, to be faithful in all things and at all times. Let us be inspired by the courage and faith of the Apostles, and strive to dedicate ourselves ever more to God. Just like Paul and Barnabas in our first reading, who had the right focus and emphasis in their minds and hearts with unwavering faith and commitment to God as they resisted the temptation of being treated like gods.

 Hence, they shouted at the people who wanted to offer sacrifice to them, they said to them: ‘Friends, what do you think you are doing? We are only human beings like you. We have come with good news to make you turn from these empty idols to the living God who made heaven and earth. Here we see how they faithfully kept the commandments of God and remained faithful to Him, as Jesus mentioned in our Gospel passage today.

Dear friends, let us resist the temptations of pride, greed, selfishness and corruption present in this world, and do our very best to follow Jesus with all our hearts and with all our strength, putting him at the very center of our existence and lives knowing that the holy Spirit, the Advocate will surely teach and reveals to us the deep mysteries of our faith and also help us to over come the temptations of this world and lead to God our loving Father.

LET US PRAY: Almighty ever-living God, there are lots of things we need to know and understand about the faith we have found in you, grant we pray that the Holy Spirit may guide our ways, teach us what we need to know and what to do, how to do it, when to do it and grace do it properly. Amen. It's a new week, may the Holy Spirit guide and bless all your efforts.

Homily for Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C, 18 May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts.14:21-27; Ps145; Rev. 21:1-5; John 13:31-33.34-35

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LOVE IS WHAT GOD HAS GIVEN US. LOVE IS WHAT GOD RQUIRES FROM US

As we celebrate today, the fifth Sunday in the Holy season of Easter, our readings today have love as their central theme. In our Gospel passage, Jesus said to his disciples: “My little children, I shall not be with you much longer. I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you, you also must love one another. By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciples”.

Here, our attention is focused on love. But what kind of love are we talking about? Is it the type of love we have in our world today, the love that is based on feelings for selfish gain and lustful desires? I don’t think so, for Jesus didn’t say, I love you as a mother loves her baby or I love you as husband loves his wife or wife to her husband, or I love you as children love their parents or I love you the way a girlfriend loves her boyfriend, nor the way people love their worldly possessions.

No, the love Jesus is talking about is the sacrificial love that comes from the heart and soul of one who is rooted in the life of the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. So, Jesus is talking about the love of the Father towards the Son, and of the Son towards his disciples, and of his disciples towards God and their neighbour. This love is joined together with an inseparable seal of heavenly joy.

Thus, Jesus is speaking of the power of love, that life-giving passion that transforms and unites the disciples with the master in a relationship that portrays their new status. For they are no longer to be seen as “servants” but as “friends.” It was by the effects of the cross and resurrection of Jesus that they have come to know what this sacrificial love has accomplished in them through their unity and abiding relationship with Jesus in God the Father.

So, today we are called to embrace the true love of God in our hearts. This is possible only when we understand the true meaning of love and sacrifice. This is exactly what is really lacking in our relationship with God and our neighbours. In fact, a critical look at what is happening in our world today, it is obvious that humanity has lost the true meaning of love. This present generation has failed to understand the true meaning and source of love, and this can be seen in the kind of fruit we bear.

The fruit of love in this generation is so complicated: love has become a tool for selfishness, deception, greed, and emotional and sexual satisfaction. This is because we have abandoned God, who is the source and power of love, and created for ourselves a mirage in the name of love. Hence, this action now makes it further clear that the need to respond to God’s command to love one another sacrificially is very necessary in our societies today.

Dear friends, love is what has been given to us,, and love is all that he requires from us. So, love is the hard way, and love is the only way to solve the problems of humanity. Hence, today, we are called to learn how to love one another as God has loved us. We are called to come back to the source of love. For God himself teaches us that love is an attitude that seeks the good of others, despite how we feel about them.

Love teaches us to be merciful, just as our Father in heaven is merciful. Love is a sacrificial attitude, an attitude that forgives, an attitude that accommodates, perseveres, preserves, heals and builds up when every other thing fails. This is the kind of attitude the world needs now, the attitude that comes from the pure love of God and our neighbours.

Therefore, what God demands from us is love, sacrificial love. For love is all he has offered us, love is all he is demanding from us. He is not asking us to offer what he has not given us. He is rather asking us to offer that which he has offered us in abundance. I know that it is not easy to bear the sacrificial nature of love in our world today, but that is what the world needs now. Loving one another requires sacrifice. Sacrifice of our comfort, resources, talent, gifts and pride.

Loving one another requires forgiveness, mercy, care and humility and not the life of I, I, I, Me, Me, Me that we practice these days. So. Let us not just think about ourselves and our selfish desires, but consider the needs of others and bear that sacrificial aspect of love. How I wish that humanity could embrace this command of our Lord Jesus, by investing more in the things that ensue love and unity in our societies, rather than spending our energy, time and resources in producing heavy ammunition for a war that breeds hatred and division in our world.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, love is what you have offered us, love is all you demand from us. As we listened to your words today, may we embrace your love in our hearts and share it with one another even in the midst of persecution and hatred in our world. Let your love reign supreme in our hearts, in our families, societies, countries and the world at large. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a spirit-filled Sunday.

Homily for Saturday, Fourth Week of Easter Year C, 17th May, 2025

 

Readings: Acts. 13:44-52; Ps.98; John 14:7-14

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

UNDERSTANDING THE PERSON OF GOD THE FATHER THROUGH JESUS THE SON

The use of the imagery of Father and Son by Jesus is one of the means Jesus used to explain his relationship with God the Father. But oftentimes, the people and even his disciples find it difficult to understand the systematic fashion of this relationship. 

So in our Gospel passage today, Jesus tried to explain this relationship to his disciples when he said to them: If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment, you know him and have seen him.

Curiously, Philip said, ‘Lord, let us see the Father and then we shall be satisfied'. But Jesus said: you must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father and whatever you ask for in my name I will do it. 

Here Jesus is saying that if we want to know God and understand his ways in relation to humanity, all we need to do is to look at him (Jesus) as the Son of the Father who has come to reveal the true image of God to humanity. 

We are to observe what he does, listen to what he teaches, watch how he behaves, what and who he loves, and what he rejects or defends. For by so doing, we will discover God in him because as the Son, he is the true human image of God. He is one with the Father in unity of existence and life, and this is evidenced in the Words he spoke and the works he performed. 

Consequently,  those who believe in him are endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit and will do greater works than he has done. For he has gone to the Father and whatever they ask in his name he will do it, because they will be asking in accordance with the Holy Spirit in union with the name of the very person of Jesus, whose request the Father will always grant.

Dear friends, the questions we need to ask ourselves today are: what is my relationship with Jesus and God the Father? Do we really believe in God as our Father? Do we personally and truly know and believe in Jesus? Do we have any personal experience of the power of the Holy Spirit? 

The truth is that we can only do great work in his name when we have a personal experience and encounter with the risen Lord, just like the disciples who where filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit and spoke out boldly to the people about the good news of Jesus and when they where rejected out of jealousy by the Jews as we have it in our first reading, they turned to the gentiles who embraced the good news with joy. 

Therefore, I don’t know what you want God to do for you, I don’t know the prayer points you recite every day, I don’t know how deep your requests are. All I know is that if we truly have a personal relationship with Jesus and believe in him, we are going to be endowed with the power of the Holy Spirit and will do greater works than he has done, for he has gone to the Father. 

And whatever we ask in his name, he will do it, because we will be asking in accordance with the Holy Spirit in union with the name of the very person of Jesus, whose request the Father will always grant.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, in the celebration of Easter, you graciously give to the world the gift of heavenly remedies, grant that we, your children, may have a personal experience of your presence in our lives, so that, presenting our needs before you, we may find favour in your presence. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing you a fruitful and peaceful weekend.