Homily For Wednesday Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 19th June, 2024

 

Reading: 2 Kings 2:1.6-14; Ps. 31; Matt. 6:1-6.16-18

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

 

THE RIGHT ATTITUDE TOWARDS RELIGIOUS PIETY AND HUMANITARIAN SERVICES

 

There are three principle 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 service 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 warned 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 this, he instructed us regarding the secret practice of piety and promised us that God would reward us for any piety practised in secret.

 

Thus, Jesus calls us to carry out our religious pieties and obligations to humanity secretly, for when it is done in secret we will receive great rewards 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. And this is evident in the life of Elisha who patiently and faithfully served his master Elijah and received as his reward a double grace of the spirit of Elijah as we have it in our first reading today.

 

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 goodwill of humanity.

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, the strength of those who hope in you, graciously grant us the gift of humility and a 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. Do have a blessed day.

Homily For Tuesday Eleventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 18th June, 2024

Reading: 1 Kings 21:17-29; Ps.51 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 sorrow. That is why people naturally sacrifice for those whom they love in order to keep their friendship and companion. But it takes great love and sacrifice to do good to people who detest us and cause us sorrow 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 and calls us to a greater life of sacrificial love and virtue towards perfection. 

This is what God did in the case of Ahab in our first reading today, a king who was cut up in his wicked act of killing Naboth and taking his vineyard out of his selfish desires. But when his evil deeds were exposed, he tore his clothes, humbled himself before God and Elijah, His prophet, and showed great remorse over his evil actions which God forgave him. Such is God’s kindness, mercy, compassion and love to every one of us, without exception, even to the worst and most wicked of sinners.

Dear friends, with the situation in our societies today why should we still love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us? Why should we make them our friends? This is because we are called to a sacrificial life of love and perfection, we are called to choose love over hatred and forgiveness over vengeance. For 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 our 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 a 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 B, 17th June, 2024

 

Reading: 1Kings 21:1-16; Ps. 5; Matt. 5:38-42

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

 

CAN THE LAW: EYE FOR EYE AND TOOTH FOR TOOTH SOLVE THE PROBLEMS IN OUR FAMILIES AND SOCIETY?

 

The fragile and selfish nature of the human person, makes it seem natural and common for human beings to react positively or negatively to things that hurt them.  Little wonder one of our most influential scientists Isaac Newton, 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 why 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 law 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. 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 for 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, can retaliation solve the problems of killings, wickedness and persecution in our families and societies today? Think about it, for today we are called to embrace a life of deeper virtue. A life of sacrificial love, for when Jesus told his disciples to offer the other side of their checks to be struck, their cloak when asked for 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 of men like king Ahab and his wife Jezebel in our first reading, who killed Naboth for refusing to give them his vineyard which he inherited from his ancestors in obedience to the law.

 

Instead, 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 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. Do have a blessed week.

Homily For Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 16th June 2024

 

Reading: Ezek. 17:22-24; Ps.92; 2Cor 5:6-10; Mark 4:26-34

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

 

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF GOD’S KINGDOM

 

Using simple stories and parables to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson is one of the characteristics of Jesus in the Scriptures especially when addressing the people regarding very important things. So, by couching his teaching in parables, Jesus made certain points much clearer to his audience. This is evident in our Gospel passage today where he told us the parable of the mustard seed and used it to describe the nature of God’s kingdom which he came to establish in the hearts of humanity.

 

In this parable, Jesus said to the crowd:  “A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how he does not know”. Then he continued, “What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade”. In a similar way we heard the Lord in our first reading saying: “From the top of the cedar, from the highest branch I will take a shoot and plant it myself on a very high mountain. Every kind of bird will live beneath it, every winged creature rest in the shade of its branches”

 

Here, Jesus compared the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed growing from the Word of God spoken to the hearts of his few disciples which will grow and spread to the hearts of all humanity. This analogy focuses on the size of the seed that grows to become a mighty tree that gives shelter and salvation to all. Here also, Jesus is not just speaking of the size of the mustard seed, but the size of the faith of the people as that of a mustard seed. Telling us that just as the mustard seed responds to the word of God and grows into a mighty tree, so will the faith of the people grow into great vessels through hearing the word and doing the will of God.

 

More so, this analogy of the mustard seed symbolizes the humble beginnings of the Christian faith which is well watered by the Holy Spirit to grow and give life and hospitality to all the people of the world. However, God has given humanity the freedom to choose whether to hear his word and embrace the faith so as to bear the fruits of the kingdom or to reject it and perish. For God knows that there are many bad seeds present in this world to deceive people from listening to his word, seeds such as fear, regrets, doubt, jealousy, hatred, disrespect, greediness, lying, gossip, impurity, wickedness, unforgiveness and all others of sinful actions.

 

Those who embrace these bad seeds follow the dictates of their hardened hearts and will soon be thrown away as good for nothing because they have not listened to God’s words. Hence, we can hear St. Paul telling us in our second reading that whether we are living according to the will of God in the body or exiled from it, we must make it our highest priority to please God. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and each of us will get what he or she deserves for the things done in the body, good or bad.

 

Dear Friends, what is your understanding of the Kingdom of God? How best can you explain to people about the Kingdom of God? Today we are told that the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which is different from every other seed because of its unique nature. So we can model our life and faith like that of mustard seed. No doubt that in our world today, we have different kinds of seeds good and bad. But the question remains, what kind of seeds are we embracing and watering in our lives today?  So, are we watering the valuable mustard seeds of faith and love or weeds of fear, regrets, doubt, jealousy, hatred, disrespect, greediness, lying, gossip, impurity, wickedness, unforgiveness and all kinds of sinful deeds that will destroy us?

 

Remember, whatever healthy seed you water grows and the seed you quit watering will eventually die and go away.  So, 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 faith, love, holiness, hospitality, obedience, and charity and make them our values of life. When we feed and water such values, we will grow stronger like the mustard tree where people may find solace and so build up God’s kingdom.

 

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as you sow the seeds of your word in our hearts today, give us the grace to water and grow it into the mustard tree of faith, love, holiness and hospitality that will usher us into your kingdom, through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Sunday and do have a fruitful week ahead.

Homily For Saturday Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 15th June, 2024

 

Readings: 1Kings 19:19-21; Ps. 16; Matt. 5:33-37

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Onyia

 

WHY DO WE FIND IT DIFFICULT TO SAY “YES” OR “NO” WHEN WE MEAN IT?

 

I swear to say the truth nothing but the truth is the word we often hear people say in the courts, in the streets, in the market places 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 third 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 you mean yes, and no when you mean no, so as not to become hypocrites and liars. Let us learn to be sincere, and courageous and stand for what is right.  This wonderful attitude is what we see in the life of Elisha in our first reading today for when Elijah threw his cloak over him. Elisha left his oxen and ran after him and sincerely became his servant. He did not pretend rather he courageously followed Elijah.

 

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. Do have a peaceful weekend.

Homily For Friday Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 14th June 2024

 

Reading: Kings 19:9.11-16; Ps. 27; Matt.

5:27-32

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

UNDERSTANDING HUMAN SEXUALITY IN THE LIGHT OF THE SIXTH COMMANDMENT 

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

Here, Jesus emphasized that this sixth commandment forbids not only the acts of adultery and fornication but all appetites to them, all lusting after sexual objects, for this is the beginning of the 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 which drive or tempt 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.

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, by resisting 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.

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.

Homily For Thursday Tenth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 13th June, 2024. The Memorial of St. Anthony of Padua

 Reading: 1 Kings 18:41-46; Ps. 65; Matt.5:20-26

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

 

LIVING AN AUTHENTIC VIRTUOUS LIFE

 

Most of the time, we often find it difficult to understand the way God operates, especially as regards his relationship with humanity. This is because humanity has failed to understand how God’s mercy and justice are applicable in our relationship with him and with one another. Hence, Jesus in our Gospel passage today, calls us to a deeper virtue, when he said to his disciples, If your virtue goes no deeper than that of the Scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven.

 

This is because the Scribes and the Pharisees always enforced a strict interpretation and obedience to the Law, its rules and regulations, and yet, failed to truly practice nor understand and appreciate that the Law of God is meant to lead God’s people to him and to teach them to practice love in their lives.

 

Thus, we ought to be faithful and follow the Lord more faithfully than the Scribes and Pharisees for their religious piety is mainly superficial because their practising of the laws does not truly come from their heart. Their actions and obedience to the Law are motivated by what they want to gain in order to sustain their pride and desire for worldly glory and praise.

 

So, we should not be like them, we should rather get rid of our pride and excess desires for honorific positions. We should strive to deepen our virtue towards righteous deeds. We must become agents of peace and reconciliation. We must be symbols of God’s mercy and justice in a world full of corruption and greed, Just like Elijah showed to Ahab in our first reading today when he said: Go and say to Ahab, “Harness the chariot and go down before the rain stops you. This is because Elijah had said to Ahab that there would be no rain for years until he said so.

 

Dear friends, we are called today to embrace the virtue of humility and readiness to reconcile with those who have offered us, knowing that the mercy and justice of God regulate all things. We have to be vigilant always and strive to be righteous before God and man. Today, we must be ready to make a fundamental choice to live a holy life and never to return to our sinful ways of life.

 

This is the attitude and disposition of St. Anthony of Padua whose memorial we celebrate today. For he made us know that we can prove we are God’s servants by our courage, patience, holiness and kindness; though looking most miserable and poor, yet we make others rich, and even when it appears we have nothing, yet we have everything in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, we must struggle every day to grow in righteousness and never give up no matter the situation we are passing through now. We should strive every day to remain faithful to God’s commandment of love and peace. 

 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, as we struggle every day towards holiness and perfection, may we through the intercession of St Anthony of Padua be guided by the Holy Spirit and strive to remain towards the path of righteousness and ever to go back to our sinful and ugly ways of life. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Have a blessed day.