Homily For Thursday Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 19th June, 2025

 

Reading: 2Cor 11:1-11 ; Ps. 111; Matt. 6:7-15

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

PRAYING ACCORDING TO THE MIND OF CHRIST OUR LORD

The key to success is rooted in the understanding of the principles that guide any project or things that one embraces in life. Without a good understanding of the principles guiding any project, one will struggle with little or no success. Hence, it is important to struggle to understand the principles guiding anything we do in order to be successful. 

Little wonder, Jesus knowing how important the act of prayer is to humanity, taught his disciples the principle and pattern of all prayers as we have it in our Gospel passage today, when he said: “Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 

Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we also have forgiven all who trespassed against us. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one”.

Here, Jesus, knowing that prayer is an essential part of our faith through which we grow in our relationship with God and become more connected to Him, gave us seven principles that should guide all our prayers. 

This prayer contains a series of statements and petitions in which we affirm our relationship with God, with the people around us and with the world in general. In it contains a statement of faith, obligations and commitment as the foundation through which these seven principles are fulfilled.

The first principle is to acknowledge God as “Our Father”. A call for unity that requires faith, obligation and commitment. Here we acknowledge God not just as my Father, but as Our Father and the ‘our’ includes every single person who lives or has ever lived on this earth. 

The second principle calls us to reverence the name of the Lord as we say: “Hallowed be thy name “Yes, God’s name is holy, no matter what we say or think. However, we make this prayer for our sake more than for His. Because from the holiness of His name comes the root of our faith and strength, we are praying that God’s name be held in deepest respect by people everywhere. 

The third principle calls us to have the vision of God’s kingdom, hence we pray saying: “Your kingdom come”, that is, we pray that humanity should consciously and willingly embrace the love and kingship of God which He is offering us. 

The fourth principle invites us to dispose ourselves to embrace the will of God as we pray, saying: “Your will be done on earth, as in heaven”. This is very important for it helps us to discern and be disposed to pray and live in accordance with the will of God.

The fifth principle calls us to learn how to be contented with what we have against all forms of selfishness and greed as we say: “Give us today our daily bread,” of which God surely provides. The sixth principle calls us to make an examination of conscience and to seek reconciliation, knowing how weak we are; hence, we pray, saying: “And forgive us our trespasses, as we have forgiven those who trespassed against us”. 

Here we make a serious commitment and obligation, asking that the condition for God’s forgiveness of our sins should be based on our readiness to forgive those who have offended us. Finally the seventh principle calls us to have total confidence in God’s providence, protection and guidance as we pray saying: “And do not put us to the test, but save us from evil”, here we acknowledge our weaknesses and our total dependence on God’s help against all the evil forces of this world. 

Dear friends, I have no doubt that we know our Lords prayer, but knowing it is not enough, we have to pray it devotedly, but praying it is not enough, we have to believe in what we pray for, but believing is not enough, we must put it into practice in our daily lives. 

This is because, often, we treat prayer wrongly when we consider prayer as a means to only achieve what we desire, without considering what God desires for us. Some of us spend lots of time reciting the prayers, and yet we do not mean what we say because we have a wrong disposition born from an unforgiving heart, which must be redirected before we can get a positive response from God.  

Therefore, it’s time for us to embrace these seven principles and change our perspective and wrong disposition towards prayers. It is time for us to spend more quality moments in prayer and be connected with God, especially with the ugly situation in our country. We must let our prayers be meaningful and genuine from our hearts. It is time for us to improve the quality of our prayer life by imitating Jesus, who always prayed to his heavenly Father at every possible opportunity. 

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, in prayer we communicate more closely with you, please teach us how to pray for we really do not know how to pray as we ought, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a favourable day.

Homily For Wednesday Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 18th June, 2025

 

Reading: 2Cor 9:6-11 ; Ps. 112; Matt. 6:1-6.16-18

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

WHAT IS YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGIOUS PIETY AND HUMANITARIAN SERVICES?

There are three principal disciplines that guide all our religious pieties, these disciplines include: almsgiving, prayer and fasting. They can be rightly extended to every act of righteousness and services rendered to humanity. These disciplines have not been properly understood or implemented by people, for most people see these disciplines as an opportunity to display their piety in order to gain cheap human popularity and admiration.

The negative attitude towards these religious disciplines has been greatly adopted by many people, including religious leaders who should know better. Therefore, it is this ugly and negative attitude that Jesus is addressing in our Gospel passage today, when he warns his disciples not to indulge in any form of outward display of their religious pieties so as to attract the admiration of others. Here Jesus presents how we should properly carry out our religious pieties and obligations, and any service we render for the sake of humanity.

Using each of these three spiritual disciplines, he gave us the basic formula, saying that we should not blow trumpets in the streets to draw the attention of everyone when we give alms to the poor. We should not say our prayers in the most conspicuous places so that people will marvel at our holiness and when fasting, we should not put on gloomy and drawn looks so that everyone will know that we are fasting.

Then he calls us not to be like the hypocrites who display their charitable deeds, for they have received their reward. After which he instructs us regarding the secret practice of piety and promises us that God will reward us for any piety practised in secret.

Thus, Jesus calls us to carryout our religious pieties and obligations to humanity secretly, for when it is done in the secret we will receive great reward from God and as recipients of these rewards, we will be surprised, because we have no idea that we did anything remarkable or that anyone noticed our charitable acts. For we certainly did not perform the charity to gain rewards.

Rather, it is the combination of our selfless, sacrificial and unassuming attitudes that opens the channel by which God dispenses His blessings upon us. Little wonder St. Paul tells us in our first reading today saying: “Do not forget: thin sowing means thin reaping; the more you sow, the more you reap. Each one should give what he has decided in his own mind, not grudgingly or because he is made to, for God loves a cheerful giver”.

Dear friends, we are called to cultivate the right attitude towards our religious pieties and carry them out with the right intention and purpose, and not just for any selfish purpose. Therefore, we must have the right disposition and direction towards our religious pieties and shun all forms of worldly interest or rewards, so as not to be distracted by the vanity of the things of this passing world. Let humility, faithfulness, and sacrificial love be the driving force towards all our religious pieties and every other thing we do for the good of humanity.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, strength of those who hope in you, graciously grant us the gift of humility and sacrificial attitude towards our family, religious and societal obligations and responsibilities. May we carry them out faithfully and selflessly with the right attitude and good intentions. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed day.

Homily For Tuesday Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 17th June, 2025

 

Reading: 2Cor 8:1-9; Ps. 146; Matt. 5:43-48

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

WHY SHOULD WE LOVE OUR ENEMIES AND PRAY FOR THOSE WHO PERSECUTE US?

Naturally, people desire to love and be loved, to relate and be in the company of those whom they love. Nobody enjoys being among those who detest them and cause them pain and sorrows.

This is why people naturally sacrifice for those whom they love in order to keep their friendship and companionship. But it takes great love and sacrifice to do good to people who detest us and cause us sorrows and pain, since it is difficult and unnatural to sacrifice for such people.

This sacrificial life of love is what Jesus calls us to embrace in pursuit of the life of perfection. Little wonder he says in our Gospel passage today: “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. If you love those who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect”.

Here Jesus emphasises that though it is natural and universal for human beings to love those who love them. But what makes his disciples different from other people is the ability to love not just everyone, but to love their enemies and not take vengeance or bear grudges against one another. For by so doing, they will be imitating the perfection of God our heavenly Father, who shows equal love to all, calling us to a greater life of sacrificial love and virtue towards perfection.

Hence, St Paul in our first reading today says: “It is not an order that I am giving you; I am just testing the genuineness of your love against the keenness of others. Remember how generous the Lord Jesus was: he was rich, but he became poor for your sake, to make you rich out of his poverty”. Such is God’s kindness, mercy, compassion and love to each and every one of us, without exception, even to the worst and most wicked of sinners.

Dear friends, today we are called to a sacrificial life of love and perfection, we are called to choose love over hatred and forgiveness over vengeance. Hatred breeds violence and other things that weaken the human soul, but love unites and heals.

The fact is that, God desires peace for humanity and this peace is what Jesus came to bring in the world, to restore the peace that God intended for all creation from the first day of creation Today all of us are called to offer this peace to the world full of hatred, greed and violence. This we are called to accept and live out day by day in every way we can.

Therefore, it’s time for us to stretch out the hands of friendship and peace to everyone, both friends and enemies alike, by investing more resources in things that bring about peace and friendship with one another, rather than building nuclear weapon that breeds more violence and hatred in the world. For by so doing the world will become more peaceful and loving.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, the cross of sacrificial life of love is so heavy, give us the grace to truly forgive our enemies and strive towards the life of perfection that offers peace, mercy, compassion and love to distressed humanity through Christ our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.

Homily For Monday Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 16th June, 2025

 

Reading: 2Cor 6:1-10; Ps.97 ; Matt. 5:38-42

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

HOW CAN WE START LIVING A LIFE OF NON-RETALIATION IN A WORLD FULL OF WICKEDNESS

Isaac Newton, one of the most influential scientists, states in his third law of motion that: "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." This law describes what happens to a body when it exerts a force on another body. Forces, as we know, always occur in pairs, so when one body pushes against another, the second body pushes back just as hard and in equal magnitude.

This law truly explains the fragile and selfish nature of the human person, which makes it natural and common for human beings to react positively or negatively to things that hurt them. A hot slap given to anyone whether out of anger for the bad thing he/ she has done or just as an act of wickedness and intimidation will naturally trigger in our consciousness an equal magnitude of retaliation and this has been the force behind the law that says: ‘ an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’

This principle was the basis for justice in the Ancient Near East. It was put in place to restrain unlimited blood vengeance. It limited what damages one could expect to what was considered proportional, equal and fair to any unjust act. However, in our Gospel passage today, Jesus offers a new dimension that calls for deeper virtue towards this law when he says: “You have learnt how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth.

But I say this to you: offer the wicked man no resistance. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if a man takes you to court and would have your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone orders you to go one mile, go two miles with him.”

Here, Jesus declares that the law had no reference to private revenge, that it was given only to regulate natural human conduct, but the Jews had extended it to private conduct and made it the rule by which revenge is taken. They considered themselves justified by this rule to inflict the same injury on others just the way they had received it. Jesus then showed another aspect of the law which is more sacrificial and requires a deeper virtue, in which the old interpretation of the Law will no longer be valid.

 So Jesus reversed the attitude of conniving to see one’s adversary suffer, with the sacrificial attitude of love for enemies. An attitude that does not seek what one can get in retaliation but what one can sacrifice for the sake of peace and love. This attitude makes the disciples of Jesus different from other people since they will have to love not just everyone but also their enemies and not take vengeance or bear grudges against one another. And by so doing, they will be imitating God, their heavenly Father, who shows equal love to both the good and the bad, because his love knows no bounds.

Dear friends, today we are called to embrace a life of deeper virtue. A life of sacrificial love, for when Jesus told his disciples to offer their other cheek to be struck, their cloak when asked for a tunic and to go even one mile further, he is calling us all to a new life of sacrificial love, one that is filled not with revenge or selfishness.

Little wonder St. Paul in our first reading says: We do nothing that people might object to, so as not to bring discredit on our function as God’s servants. Instead, we prove we are servants of God by great fortitude in times of suffering: in times of hardship and distress; when we are flogged, or sent to prison, or mobbed; labouring, sleepless and starving.

Yes, we prove we are God’s servants by our purity, knowledge, patience, holiness and kindness; though looking most miserable and poor, yet we make others rich, and even when it appears we are having nothing, yet we have everything in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Therefore, we are to reject all forms of violence, retaliation and vengeance, but focus all our attention on forgiveness, mercy and peace in a sacrificial way so that through our sacrificial love the world will become more peaceful and loving.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, it is really difficult to live a life of non-retaliation in a world full of wickedness, persecution, and violence. Give us the grace to resist all forms of violence but focus all our attention on the sacrificial love of forgiveness, mercy and peace. This we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed week.

Homily for Sunday the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity Year C, 15th June, 2025

 

Reading: Prov. 8:22-31; Ps. 8; Rom. 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S REVELATION OF HIMSELF TO HUMANITY 

Every Sunday that follows Pentecost the Holy Mother Church celebrates the solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, an event that marks the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So, today our attention is turned to the mysteries of heaven, where we gaze with an eye of faith into the mystery of God’s revelation of himself to humanity.

Therefore, today’s celebration is a special feast that gives us the opportunity to reflect and understand how God has revealed himself to humanity. Hence, today we gaze into the communitarian life of God as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, who live in a communion of love and call us to participate in this love. Thereby reminding us of the marvellous plan of our salvation. 

This, of course, finds its origin in the Trinitarian love of the Father, who sent the Son and the Holy Spirit for the redemption of humanity, of which we have been called to share in this family of love. This family of love is God’s nature that he shares with humanity through the Son Jesus, the Word Made Flesh and the Holy Spirit the promised Paraclete. 

This solemnity reveals to us that “God is love not in the oneness of a single Person, but in the Trinity of one substance”, as we have it in the Preface of today’s celebration. Telling us that God is the creator and merciful Father; he is the Only-Begotten Son, the eternal Word of Wisdom incarnate, who died and rose for us; he is also the Holy Spirit the Paraclete, who moves all things in history, toward their final and full recapitulation. 

That is, three Persons who are ONE GOD by the nature of His Being and Substance as Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. For the Father is love, the Son is love made Flesh and dwelt among us, and the Spirit is love in Action. So, there is wholly ONE purest, infinite and eternal LOVE which is God. The same LOVE is God himself in Revelation to humanity and LOVE which is God in Action with and in humanity. This, of course, is always a mystery, a reality that surpasses human reason without contradiction. 

Thus, in this Sunday’s solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we celebrate the summary of God’s revelation which was brought about through the paschal mysteries of Christ’s Death, Resurrection and Ascension to the right hand of the Father, and the gracious outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This great mystery of the Triune God can not be totally comprehended by the human mind and language; hence, the Church has called us to live it with deep faith and apply it in our daily lives. 

Little wonder that our readings today tell us about this Trinitarian nature of God in human history. In the First Reading, we heard about the revelation of how God’s wisdom actively participated in the history of creation. For we heard how the Wisdom of God cries aloud saying: The Lord created me when his purpose first unfolded, before the oldest of his works. From everlasting I was firmly set, from the beginning, before earth came into being.

Therefore, Jesus, who is wisdom personified in human nature after his resurrection, instructed his disciples in our Gospel passage today, saying: ‘I still have many things to say to you, but they would be too much for you now. But when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking as from himself but will say only what he has learnt; and he will tell you of the things to come.

Here, his disciples are being incorporated into the life of the Trinity; we are to go and introduce humanity into this New Life. This is a great act of love which shows us God’s love in action, illustrating that God is not closed or satisfied with his own self-sufficiency, but he is that life of love that wants to communicate itself with his fragile creatures in an open and deep relationship. 

Hence St Paul talking about this new relationship in our second reading, encouraged and invited us to share and participate actively in the communitarian family of love in the Trinity that is now open for all humanity when he said: through our Lord Jesus Christ, by faith we are judged righteous and at peace with God, since it is by faith and through Jesus that we have entered this state of grace in which we can boast about looking forward to God’s glory. Because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us. 

  

Dear friends, today’s solemnity invites us to embrace the new life we have found in the Trinity, that new life that calls us to the reality of love that is contained in the mystery of our faith. The One love of the Father, that is made Flesh in the Person of Christ Jesus the Son, and in Action in the Person of the Holy Spirit, in a purely physical unity of which humanity is called to participate. 

Hence Jesus has revealed to us that we are essentially “God’s children”, creatures who live in relationship with the Creator God the Father, and are called to share this relationship with one another. Thereby reaching out to God and to our fellow mankind, in whose life we discover the image of our common love in the Father. 

Thus, in this love comes the model of the human community, originating from the Triune Family to our individual human families down to the society and the world at large, pointing to us that humanity are one, related in the love of God our common Father, through His Son Jesus in the active power of the Holy Spirit. 

This is the faith we have embraced and are called to share with all humility. Therefore, we are called to grow in this mission, knowing that, the Trinity is at the same time unity in love and in mission, the more deep this love dwells in us, the stronger the urge to pour it out and spread it to all, beginning from our families, down to the society and to the ends of the Earth.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as you reveal the mystery of your nature which is love and calls us to share and participate in it, grant that humanity may come to embrace this loving kindness, and so be united as one family sharing one common Father in love and truth, we ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever. Amen. Have a fruitful Sunday celebration.

Homily For Saturday Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 14th June, 2025

 

Reading: 2 Cor. 5:14-21; Ps. 103; Mt. 5:33-37

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

LEARN TO SAY “YES” OR “NO” WHEN WE MEAN IT

I swear to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, is the word we often hear people say in the courts, in the streets, in the marketplaces and even in the Church to express and affirm what they want to do or what they want to say. But I wonder why we don’t really mean what we say or fulfil what we promised. 

This very ugly attitude is what Jesus is addressing in our Gospel reading today, when he said: do not swear at all, either by heaven, since that is God’s throne; or by the earth, since that is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great king. Do not swear by your head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. All you need say is “Yes” if you mean yes, “No” if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one.’ 

Here, Jesus is referring to the ceremonious way in which the Pharisees took oaths. It was one of the things in the culture of their time. That is, people swear oaths with impressive-sounding words before the congregations without fulfilling them. 

But what are the words of these oaths anyway? They were forms of words designed to impress people. They were not indications that the person swearing the oath had any power over the things that the oath mentioned. It was just using words to impress and so gain the acceptance of things in relation to the oath, when in fact this is completely fraudulent because the persons taking the oath, do not intend to keep the promises or commitments that they were confirming by taking that oath. 

They were just fooling the people. And Jesus is saying in essence, that we should not let this foolery ever be part of us because it is hypocrisy and Jesus is against hypocrisy in all its forms, especially when it has to do with taking the name of God in vain. 

To take the name of God in vain means to invoke His name unnecessarily or profanely, to use it without humbly acknowledging the holy character of the One whose name we are invoking. To invoke the name of God in an oath or vow when our statement is false, inconsequential or when we do not intend to honour our words is a direct violation of the second commandment of God. 

Therefore, the issue Jesus is addressing here goes to the very core of our character as Christians, to the heart of what it means to live as a child of God, especially in a society like ours, where deception and falsehood are the order of the day.

Dear friends, Jesus calls us today to be sincere in everything we do or say. That is why he commanded us not to swear an oath; rather, we should say yes when we mean yes, and no when we mean no, so as not to become hypocrites and liars. Let us learn to be sincere, courageous and stand for what is right.  

LET US PRAY: Lord God, give us the courage and a firm faith to say no when we mean no, and yes when we mean yes, and by so doing, change our society positively through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a peaceful weekend.

Homily For Friday, Tenth Week in Ordinary Time, Year C, 13th June 2025. The Memorial of St Anthony of Padua

 

Reading: 2 Cork. 4:7-15; Ps. 116; Matt. 5:27-32

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

THE CONSEQUENCES OF HUMAN SEXUAL IRRESPONSIBILITY

There is no doubt that humanity has lost the dignity of the gift of human sexuality as a result of our sexual irresponsibility at different stages of human development. Human sexuality, as we know, encompasses all the physical and integral attributes of our sexual identity as male or female. It includes all our thinking, feeling, acting and interaction that emanate from our maleness and femaleness.

It is a very important aspect of humanity that must not be neglected. Because it enriches human relationships in ways that are basic to God's nature and plans as it offers humanity the grace to participate in the works of creation in partnership with God. Little wonder, sexuality is one of the first human attributes to be identified when scriptures say in Gen.1:27: God created man in his image… Male and female God created them.

So as a result of this great privilege in relation to human sexuality and procreation, humanity is to be truly responsible with the gift of their sexuality. This responsibility is guided by two fundamental principles that is, love and covenant. Hence, any intimate expression of sexuality, especially in the form of sexual intercourse, which is the most bonding of all human relationships, must be guided by these two fundamental principles of love and covenant in a marital act.

Therefore, to emphasise the importance of this sexual responsibility, the sixth commandment of God states that thou shalt not commit adultery. This reveals to us that God wants us to live chastely, justly and charitably in our relationships with one another, and this is exactly what Jesus is addressing in our Gospel passage today.

Here, Jesus emphasised that this sixth commandment forbids not only the acts of adultery and fornication but all appetites for them, all lusting after sexual objects, for this is the beginning of sin. The lust of conceiving it is a bad step towards the sin, for as far as the heart can do it, there is nothing but a convenient opportunity for the sin itself to be carried out.

So all approaches toward the gratification of this sexual appetite, such as touching and feeding the eye with the sight of it, where further satisfaction can be obtained, are forbidden. Because such looks and behaviour are very dangerous and destructive to the soul Jesus said that it is better to lose the eye or the hand than to give way to this sin and perish eternally for it.

Dear friends, today there are so many things that are leading us into this sin and we are so much attached to them because the world has sexualized almost everything around us. The television, the social media, the internet, the music, movies, cartoons, and even our social and religious activities are corrupted by these sexualization motives.

This, of course, drives or tempts us to commit the sins of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism and masturbation. Because we have lost control of our responsibility towards our sexuality, which of course is the cause of the increase in rape, incest, divorce and all forms of gender transformation going on in our society today. These and many other activities are the consequences of human sexual irresponsibility.

The main point here is for us not to indulge in sins that will ruin our souls. Rather, we should strive for perfection by living a life of mortification and keeping a constant watch over our hearts against the rising of lust and corruption in and out of our conscience, by avoiding the occasions of sin as much as we can.

We should resist it from the beginning and reject the company of those and things that expose us to this sin. Anything at all that leads us to this sin must be cut off in our lives and environment, if not we will keep on falling into it. It is a radical decision we must make today no matter who is involved and the cost or sacrifice that may be required.

This is what we see in the life of St. Anthony of Padua, whose memorial we celebrate today. For he stood firm and courageously preached the gospel of holiness and sacrificially helped the poor.

LET US PRAY: Almighty God, our human sexuality is your great gift to humanity, give us the grace to be responsible with our sexuality, especially in this time when the world has lost the true meaning and value of human sexuality, and as a result so many lives and families are being destroyed, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.