Homily For Tuesday After the Epiphany of the Lord, 6th January 2026

 

Readings: 1 John 4:7-10, Ps.72, Mark 6:34-44

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

YOU ARE SPECIAL BECAUSE GOD LOVES FOR YOU SHARE IN HIS NATURE

One of the common words we use to express our feelings is the word “love” and this word means a lot of things to different people. But what is love? For me, love is God’s nature which he shares with us. That is why love is beyond human nature.

When we love, we are acting out that very nature of God in us. Love is greater than human nature because it is the nature of God that we share. Therefore, to understand the depth of God's love for us, there is a principle that we need to abide by, that is, the principle that says that every day is a gift from God to us.

A gift that shows how much He loves us by sending His Son, whose life-giving sacrifice means salvation for all humanity. But the world prefers darkness to light, life, and death, and these have made the world a difficult place to live in.

Today, in our first reading, we are told that God loves us so much that he sent his Son Jesus to be the expiation for our sins. And the event of feeding of the five thousand as we have in our Gospel passage today, speaks of the generosity of God and his kindness towards us.

Telling us that when God gives, he gives abundantly. He gives us more than we need for ourselves so that we can share with those who lack. In fact, we can interpret this miracle as the fruit of sharing with one another, for it is possible that once the disciples began to share the little food they had with those around, others also who had brought some food with them started sharing what they have and indeed grace multiplied what they have to the point of having left over.

Dear friends, God loves us so much, that he is willing and ready to satisfy our unquenchable hunger for physical and spiritual things. How I wish humanity could give up greed, selfishness, hatred, and embezzlement of our common resources in order to embrace true love for one another.

Let us learn to share our resources with one another for the purpose for which they are meant; believe me, the world will witness another miracle of the multiplication of resources that will be enough for everyone with left over for future generations.

But we have failed to embrace this love, we have failed to share this love with one another or give up greed and our other ugly attitudes. Therefore, let us embrace Jesus and the love he is offering us. Let us, like Jesus, have compassion and love for everyone, for that is the very nature of God which he shares with us.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, we are really hungry and in need of your love and satisfaction both physically and spiritually; feed us once again with your heavenly grace and multiply the little bread and fish we share with others and provide for us the basic needs of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a lovely day.

Homily For Monday After the Epiphany of the Lord, 5th January, 2026

 

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

WHY WE MUST 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, 4th January, 2026

 

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LET THE STAR OF YOUR FAITH GUIDE YOU TO JESUS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

As we continue to contemplate and celebrate the mystery of the birth of Jesus. Today the Holy Mother Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Epiphany of our Lord. The word “Epiphany” means manifestation or revelation. So it is the solemnity of the manifestation of the Lord. Epiphany was first celebrated in Africa, Egypt precisely, where it was used to replace a pagan feast where they celebrate the victory of light over darkness. For Christ is the True Light that dispels darkness

Little wonder in our Gospel passage we see how the Wise Men being led by a star journeyed a long distance in search of the new born King, the True Light of the world. They were probably sages in search of something more about life, in search of the true light that could point out the path to true meaning of life.

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

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. Thus, just as they were guided by the light of a star so we are guided by the light of faith.

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. However, we should draw inspiration from their courage and perseverance.

Also, we can learn some thing about Herod. As the Wise Men journeyed above the great city of Bethlehem the star disappears, they could no longer see it. For them, it was logical to seek the new king in the royal palace, where they believe 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 anyway 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 life 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 traveled 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 illuminate 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 The Octave of Christmas, 3rd January, 2026

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD 

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 the most gentle, harmless and loving creature 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, and in fact, 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 Friday The Octave of Christmas, 2nd January, 2026.

 

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.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR PURPOSE AND MISSION IN THE ECONOMY OF LIFE

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's in redemptive plan of God.

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

This is a fundamental question because it points out to the fundamental reality of who we are and what we have identified ourselves to with. A lot of people do not know who they are or what they have identified themselves with. A lot of people today are sufferings and struggling because they do not know who they are and the identity they bear. Some have misplaced their identity with some thing 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 a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.

The fact remains that every human person has a special role to play in the Masters plan of God. Though some seem to have more significant role than others. However, whether significant or not, the truth still 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 confuse about who we are and our role in this master plan of God or have deviated from it.

As the year begins we must ask ourselves the fundamental question: who am I? what is my purpose on this earth? To discover these, we must ensure that we cooperate with God's plan for us and to do these, three things are very essential. 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, we are playing our own role in the salvation of mankind, our existence means a lot to future generation.

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 in this life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day

Homily For Thursday The Octave of Christmas. Happy New Year 1st January, 2026

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.

“DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU”: THE SECRET TO UNDERSTANDING GOD’S PLAN AND PURPOSES OF YOU THIS YEAR

In a special way this morning, the whole human race celebrates the goodness of God who has made it possible for us to witness another New Year. So, every first day of January 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. And thirdly, following the ugly situation of war and crises 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.

Therefore, 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 Mary’s 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 God. Hence, we have to identify our plans and purposes this year with the universal plan of God for humanity. But how can we identify the plan of God? Very simple, we were told in Gospel of John 2:1-11, how the wedding couple invited Jesus and his disciples in the most important day of their lives.

Unfortunately, when an embarrassing moment came up during the course of 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 will 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 life especially as a Christian. 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? He told the servants: Empty, Fill, Draw and Serve.

Telling us to Empty ourselves from distractions of this passing world and Fill our life 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.

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, we must know that whatever healthy seed you water grows and the seed you quit watering will eventually die and go away.

But the question is, what kind of seed are you going to be watering in your life this year? Are you going to be watering valuable seeds or weeds? Because nature has made it clear that not all the seeds are good for us and so any unwanted seed is a potential weed. Then, the question you need to ask yourself is: are you watering weeds that you do not need? There are so many weeds in our lives, such as: weeds of fear, regrets, doubt, jealousy, hatred, disrespect, greediness, lying, gossip, impurity, wickedness, procrastination etc they are good for nothing.

Today we are called to quit watering these weeds because that's what the enemies want and we must not fall into their traps. Rather we are called to water those valuable mustard seeds of goodness, honestly, faithfulness, love, holiness, obedience, charity and make them our values of life. For when you feed and water your value, your value will grow stronger like the mustard tree that all the people of the world may find solace on it.

However, we must know that true greatness is found in service and not in domination or subjection of others. Good leaders serve the community, they subdue arguments and divisions, they maintain unity in times of distress and act as role models for the young. 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 For Wednesday Within The Octave of Christmas, 31st December, 2025

 

Readings : 1 John 2:18-21, Ps 96, John 1:1-18

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LET US END THE YEAR WITH PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING TO GOD

Today marks the end of the year 2025, as we look forward to the beginning of the new year, we have to keep our focus steadily towards the goal of knowing Christ and his mission and purpose for us. Hence, our Gospel passage today 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.

And 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 person of Jesus Christ.

However, many of us despite what God has done in our lives, we have not appreciated this love and this 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 ways of life, St. John in our first reading today spoke of the antichrists present all around us.

For 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 through the activities of the year. For 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 had been. We have to spent time to evaluate what our relationship with God has been. We must resolve and make effort to be faithful to God and dedicate more time for 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 world, let your peace, favour and blessings remain always with us, 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.