Homily For Friday Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 11th October, 2024

Readings: Gal 3:7-14, Ps. 111, Luke 11:15-26

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

A HOUSE THAT DIVIDES WITHIN ITSELF CAN NOT STAND

Discernment is one of the gifts of God, which enables us to know and distinguish between good and evil spirit. This gift is very important to the office of every leader. But it is sad and unacceptable when a leader decided to misused this gift out of envy and jealousy. This is the attitudes of some of the people in the crowd especially those who belong to the party of the Pharisee as we have it in our Gospel passage today.

For we heard how Jesus had delivered a man possessed by an evil spirit. The spirit had bound his tongue and made him mute. But when Jesus had cast out the demon from the man and the man spoke, some people in the crowd who belonged to the party of the Pharisees watched this great miracle as it happened said that it was through the power of Beelzebul the prince of demons that he was able to cast the devil out.

This is because they were adamant in their opposition against Jesus which were propelled by envy and jealousy. That is why they were unable to look beyond their narrow-mindedness and stubbornness in insisting that their way was the true way while others like our Lord Jesus were wrong. But Jesus as usual used the opportunity to correct them by pointing out the mistakes in their argument.

Thus, telling us that it does not make sense for the demons to be fighting one another and so be divided among themselves. Because any house that divides within itself can not stand, and as we know the evil ones are always united in their plans to bring about destruction in human activities.

Hence, in our first reading, St. Paul addressing the ugly divisions sowed by the devil in the community of the faithful in Galatia, made us to know that they will collapsed and fallen apart if all of their members continue to divide against each other. Thus they have to make sure that they overcome the divisions among them and seek true unity in Christ, so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might include the pagans, for through faith we all have received the promised Spirit.

Dear friends, we are called today not to be mischievous, rather we should make proper use of the gift of discernment which the Lord has given us. We must not let envy, jealousy and over ambition make us to deny the truth about the spiritual realities we experience from the Lord. We must not let the devil succeed in sowing the spirit of division among us. We should also ask God to endow us with the spirit of discernment and truth especially this period that we are faced with the ugly and sad attitude of human deception all over the world.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we struggle everyday with the manipulation of the evils ones, give us the grace to overcome them, may we never be misled by the devil and all of his forces, for they often sow divisions and dissensions among us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Peace be with you.

Homily For Thursday Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 10th October, 2024

Readings: Gal 3:1-5, Ps. Luke 1:69-75, Luke 11:5-13

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LEARN TO BE PATIENT AND PERSISTENT IN PRAYERS

Have you been truly in need of something from a friend who is capable of give you what you need but he is so busy to give you what you need now? Or have you been in a situation where you needed something from a friend but cannot get it because you can not reach him easily.

Such a situation can make one to be under serious pressure. Then the question that comes to mind is, are we going to give up or persevere in our struggles on waiting or reaching out to him? This kind of disposition is what we experience sometimes when we pray and our requests are yet to be granted.

And this kind of situation is what Jesus is addressing in the story in our Gospel passage today as he continue his teaching on prayer. Thus, telling us that we should approach God with confidence as a friend, persisting until we obtain what we need. We should keep on asking, seeking, and knocking in prayer until we obtain the answer we need.

Just like a boy asking his father for a fish or an egg, knowing that his the father would not give him a snake or a scorpion instead of the fish or egg he had requested. With this illustration Jesus emphasized that if we, who are prune to evil, know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more shall the heavenly Father give to those who ask him.

This is what the people of Galatia were lacking that made them to begin to quickly turn away from the faith and St. Paul in our first reading today chastised them for these ugly actions, in embracing the false teachings and ideas promoted by those who did not follow the true teachings of the Church but are quick to follow the ideas of the fractions of the Church who taught something different for the true faith. Therefore we should not be like them. Let us learn how to be patient and persevere in our prayers.

Dear friends, prayer requires asking, seeking and knocking at God’s door patiently and persistently. Though, one may say I have been praying for God’s intervention in some ugly situations but it seems as if no answer has been given. The fact is that God answers all our prayers if we are patient with him.

For he may not grant us what we want because as a caring Father, he gives us what we truly need, and not what we wanted. But are we willing to trust the Lord and be patient with him? Are we willing to seek the Lord and to make the effort to find him and to follow him wherever he leads us to? Do we have the courage and the love of God in our hearts.

No doubt we are full of energy, zeal and passion, ready to face the challenges and struggles of yet another day. But the question we need to ask ourselves is, what are we doing concerning the present situation in our lives, our family, societies and country?

It may seem as if all hope is gone, but the Lord is saying to us today, that we should ask, and it will be given to us; search, and we will find; knock, and the door will be opened to us. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. Let us all not be afraid to seek the Lord and ask him for blessings, protection and guidance.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are struggling with so many ugly situations in our lives, families, societies and the world at large, as we pour out our hearts to you in prayer seeking and knocking, may you grant our heart desires according to your will and guide our ways today and always. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.

Homily For Wednesday Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 9th October, 2024

Readings: Gal 2:1-2.7-14, Ps. 117, Luke 11:1-4

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE RIGHT DISPOSITION TOWARDS PRAYER

As human beings communication is part and parcel of our lives and prayer is one of the important means of communicating between God and humanity. It is a close link by which we reach God who dwells in our hearts. It is through prayer we discern the will of God for us.

Hence, if we have not been able to discern the will of God for our lives or have not had any personal relationship with God in prayers, then perhaps we should consider to examine our prayer life to know if we have been praying the right way. Thus we can learn the proper way to pray from the prayer Jesus taught his disciples as pattern of all prayers as we have it in our Gospel passage today.

In this prayer we have four traditional dimensions of prayer which includes: glorification of God, submission, justice and protection. Jesus begin by saying: “Father, hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come”, thereby teaching us that we begin any of our prayers by glorifying God. Following this is our total submission to God’s providence when we say: give us each day our daily bread.

Then, we acknowledge the justice and mercy of God when we say: for give us our sins as we for give those we have sinned against us. And finally we ask for God’s guidance and protection when we say: lead us not into temptation but deliver us from all evil.

This is important because it is the means by which we communicate with our God. But often time we treat prayer wrongly when we consider prayer as a means to only achieve what we desired without considering what God desires for us. Some of us end up spending lots of time reciting the prayers and yet we did not mean what we say.

THIS is because we have wrong disposition born from unforgiving heart which must be redirected before we can get a positive response from God. This is what St. Paul was emphasizing in our first reading today when he reminded the Galatians how he stood firm in defense of the Gentiles before Peter and the Jews.

Dear friends, as contingent being there are times when we asked and we received, sought and found, knocked and it was opened to us. But there were also times when we asked but did not receive, seek but did not find, knocked but the door remained shut. In such moments persistency and perseverance in prayer are what we are called to embrace. For they will help us to understand how to trust God knowing that he does not need to be informed of our needs, thereby encouraging us never to lose heart.

This is certainly one of the biggest challenges of our faith today. People are not just patient with God. We want to have everything right now as it is hot. Patient, persistency and perseverance are very difficult virtue for most people today.

Therefore, it is time for us to change our perspective and wrong disposition towards prayers. It is time for us to spend more quality moment in prayer and be connected with God. We must let our prayers also be meaningful and be 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 opportunities.

But some of us end up spending lots of time reciting the prayers and yet we did not mean what we say, because we have not learnt how to dialogue with God in prayer especially when we have wrong disposition born from unforgiving heart which must be redirected before we can get a positive response from God.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, oftentimes we are not patient with you in our prayers, because we don't know how to dialogue with you in prayers. Give us the grace to learn how to dialogue with you and to persevere and be persistent in our prayer life and in every other things we do in life, especially in our relationship with others. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.

Homily For Tuesday Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 8th October, 2024

 

Readings: Gal 1: 13-24, Ps. 139, Luke 10:28-24

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

ARE YOU TOO BUSY AND DISTRACTED LIKE MARTHA? LEARN TO LISTEN TO GOD LIKE MARY

Listening is one of the vital aspect of the human person, which is very much lacking in most of our communication this days. This is because, oftentimes, we worry about so many things in life, trying to let people hear us without taking time to listen to them.

There are people who are always trying to satisfy everyone without listening to the real thing that matters. I have also come across people who are often worried about how to make others feel more comfortable without minding their own discomfort. They are so concerned with pleasing others even when they are not pleased. What a great sacrificial virtue that is not common this days.

This sacrificial virtue is the attitude of Martha in our Gospel passage today were we have the story of how Martha was so busy trying to make Jesus comfortable when he visited them at their house in Bethany. But when Martha observed that her sister Mary was not helping out in the preparation, rather was busy listening to Jesus, she said to Jesus: “Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered: ‘Martha, Martha, you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her”.

Here, Jesus is not condemning this great sacrificial virtue nor condoning laziness. Rather, he is saying that busy without listening and listening without doing is worthless. Hence, he gently correct the impression of Martha who was too busy and distracted with so many things that she risks losing sight of what is really important, that is, listening to Jesus. This is because Martha gives the impression that Mary is just sitting there doing nothing. But, in fact, she was listening to Jesus.

However, Jesus is not telling us to be content with sitting down and listen to his word, for he always insists that listening to his word means putting it into practice. While his objection to Martha request is because she was too anxious and distracted by many things, that she was not able to really listen to him and for Jesus listening is the best option. So, are you more too busy and distracted like Martha? Learn to listen to God like Mary and it shall be well with you.

Dear friends, in our relationship with Jesus, are we more of listener or more of accommodating and caring? Are we more like Martha or like Mary, for they were both friends of Jesus? Today many of us are so busy and anxious of so many things that we have no time to listen to God speaking to us and addressing the situation we are actually busy trying to solve. Today we are called like Martha to pause and listen, so that we can hear God speaking to us and directing us towards the right path.

Remember, Martha who was known as a friend of Jesus, loved to welcome him into her home, let us learn from her, knowing that hospitality is perfected when we have a listening ear. For it is a great virtue to be hospitable and caring especially when we spend quality time to listen to God and letting him direct and guide us towards carrying out our daily tasks. Hence, let us learn how to listen to God just like St. Paul in our first reading who through listening to God changed from a persecutor to a preacher of the faith he had previously tried to destroy.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we are always so busy with the things of this passing world, that we often do not have time listen to you. Give us the grace like Mary to chose the better part which is to truly listen to your word and then be well disposed to be caring and hospitable just like Martha, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a blessed day.

Homily For Monday Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 7th October, 2024. The Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

 

Readings: Gal 1:6-12, Ps. 111, Luke 10:25-37

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

WHAT THE LORD REQUIRES OF US

As humans we are always desiring to know what life requires of us, especially when we are faced with the realities of life. We often want to know the things that should be our first priority. So we always ask questions that will help us in addressing most of the challenges we encounter. These questions are sometimes meant to test our ability towards understanding the realities of life.

This is the deposition of the lawyer in our Gospel passage today, who came to Jesus to test him by asked him question concerning the requirements for inheriting eternal life. This lawyer made reference to the 'Shema Israel' - שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל, the prayer that the people of Israel knew and recite from their earliest years, from which they learned that the most important thing in life is to love God with all their heart, and with all thy soul, and with all their mind and to love their neigbhour as well. In other words, loving God with all our heart, with all our understanding and strength, and to love our neighbour as ourselves. These are what the Lord requires of us and it is the foundation of all the things we have to do.

But this lawyer needed more clarification concerning these requirements, then he asked Jesus a second important question when he said: who is my neighbour? At this point Jesus did not just explained, he illustrated who a true neighbour should be with the famous story of the good Samaritan. In fact, from the story Jesus did not just answer the question: ‘who is my neighbor?’ He also demonstrate what a true and righteous neighbour should be like, thereby showing us that our neighbours are often those we least expect to be a neighbours. For our neighbour can be anyone even the ones we most despised or feared just like the good Samaritan and this tells us that a true neighbour shows compassion, love, care and makes sacrifice for others.

And St. Paul in our first reading addressing the people of Galatia concerning what it means to be a good neighbour spoke clearly against all those who misinterpreted the Scriptures and twist the truth for their own selfish purposes and by so doing sowed seed of divisions and confusions among the Christian communities. Thereby, warning us that if anyone should preached a version of the Good News different from the one they have already preached to us, whether it an angel from heaven, he is to be condemned for committing such sin against God and against his neighbours.

This is what the memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary we are celebrating today represents. An event where we recall the famous victory of the Christian faithful against the enemies of the Church in the battle of Lepanto, where through the prayers and intercessions of Our Blessed Mother Mary the Church became victorious when the situation of the Christian faith were in extreme danger and were bitterly divided by the various heresies and splinter groups appearing at the time due to the reformation movement.

Then, Pope Pius V called all of Christendom to pray the rosary fervently, sorting the intercession of Mary the Mother of God that her Son Jesus should be with the faithful fighting for the survival of the Christian faith which was under persecution and trials. And through the power of their love and dedication to praying the Rosary, God granted victory to his faithful people, and this is root of our October devotion.

Dear friends, love is the center of all the teachings of Jesus, for love is a gift from God to humanity. It is like the stream water, so innocent and pure. A true love is not hidden, it radiates from the innermost being of a person who experienced it. If we love God, then, we will see him in others and treat them justly and honourably. We will not hurt our neighbours but do our utmost best to live in peace with them.

The truth is that, the absence of love is the cause of all the problems in our world today as most families exist by grace and not by love. Imagine how wonderful the world would be if we all love one another. How I wish we can invest our time and resources in 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 community.

LET US PRAY: Almighty God, in you resides the fullness of love, grant that through the intercessions of Our Lady of the Rosary we may truly love you and our neighbours and so conquer the world full of hatred, self-centeredness, greed and corruption, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful week ahead.

Homily For Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time Year B, 6th October, 2024

 

Readings: Gen. 2:18-24; Ps. 128; Heb. 2:9-11; Matt. 10:2-16

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

GOD’S REAL INTENSION CONCERNING MARRIAGE AND FAMILY LIFE

The fragile nature of our society today has placed in the minds of the youths a distorted image of what marriage and family life truly represent in the society. This is because many young people today find themselves in a condition of radical instability and look for people to help them answer the fundamental questions of life. Today there are different notion and understanding of marriage especially among the youths. Marriage is seen as a business which anybody can engage or disengage at anytime.

Marriage among the youths of today is a thing of choice and contract which is suitable only when it serves their personal interest. But commitment, sacrifice and partnerships of a whole life are far from their understanding of what marriage truly represent. The fact remains that Marriage is the basis of every human family and indeed the basic cell of every community.

Little wonder in our first reading today, we heard the Lord God saying, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make a helpmate for him and in our Gospel passage today we heard how the Pharisees engaged Jesus on the notion of divorce in marriage and it’s controversy. Jesus refer them to the fundamental principle of marriage when he said, ‘It was because you were so unteachable that Moses wrote this commandment for you.

But from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. This is why a man must leave father and mother, and the two become one body. They are no longer two, therefore, but one body. So then, what God has united, man must not divide. And he said to them, ‘The man who divorces his wife and marries another is guilty of adultery against her. And if a woman divorces her husband and marries another she is guilty of adultery too.

Here, Jesus emphasized on the real intention of God about marriage. Though, there are two forms of life that help us to value human sexuality as a gift from God. This forms includes marriage and Celibate life. So, Jesus ruled out divorce by placing men and women on the same level; no longer could a man opt to divorce his wife. But today there are lots of problems in family due to lack of understanding of what marriage truly means.

It is quite interesting to realize that social, economic and political factors were major determinants that shapes the youth’s present understand of marriage, as we see the youths giving importance to changing trends in marriage such as: single parent, inter-caste marriage, living in relationship or cohabitation, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender marriages, etc. Hence, marriage for them is more of a social phenomenon than spiritual union and physical companionship.

This ugly behaviour must be corrected because marriage is much more than a social phenomenon. To understand what marriage truly means, we need to understand how the Church define marriage in Canon 1055 of code of Canon Law which states that: marriage is the matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring, has been raised by Christ the Lord to the dignity of a sacrament between the baptized.

Here, marriage is defined as a covenant between a man an a woman, that means marriage is sacrificial love not a social events between people or things with a particular selfish interest or ambition. It also talks about the partnership of the whole life which is made for the good of the spouses not for one person, not just for contract that you can abandoned at anytime you feel like. It tells us that marriage must be opened for procreation and education of offspring because most people today are not interested in the procreation and those who are open to procreation are not ready to educate their offspring. Finally since marriage between the baptized is raised to the dignity of sacrament, it must be sacred, enduring for the whole life time and uncontaminated.

Dear friends, we are having issues in marital life because we have chosen to abandoned God in our lives, we feel that God is so rigid, so we want to eliminate him from our activities. Thus, we have abandoned God and divorced him, by trusting on our own power and ability which he has given us. Yet God still remembers the covenant he made with us, he is not ashamed to identify with us.

All he wants is for us to come back to him now that we are still alive for he is a merciful and faithful husband who loves us as his bride. So, today we are called to embrace the will of God and his teaching concerning family life and the issue of divorce. We should not let the trending ideas of disordered personalities in our world mislead us. Rather, we should value and respect the sanctity marriage.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we have always failed to listen and follow you teaching, as a result, there are lots of problems in our families due to lack of understanding of what marriage truly means. As we listen to your teaching today, help us to value our vocation whether marriage or celibate life and to constantly struggle to fix the problems in our families, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Sunday

Homily For Saturday Twenty-Sixth Week in Ordinary Time Year B, 5th October, 2024

 

Readings: Job 42:1-3.5-6.12-17, Ps.119, Luke 10:17-24

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

DO NOT REJOICE BECAUSE THE DEVIL SUBMITS TO YOU; REJOICE RATHER THAT YOUR NAMES ARE WRITTEN IN HEAVEN

In the mission of Christ, there are so many things that can make us happy and oftentimes we hope to have more of them. But there is one goal that should be the bases for all our desires. And this is what Jesus is telling us in our Gospel passage today, for when his disciples came back rejoicing with the report of how they were victorious on the mission he sent them.

Jesus said to them: ‘I watched Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Yes, I have given you power to tread underfoot serpents and scorpions and the whole strength of the enemy; nothing shall ever hurt you. Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you; rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.

Here, Jesus made it clear that the true joy of our mission is to make heaven and he warns us to be careful, and make sure our priorities and motivations are found around this one goal of making it to heaven. Little wonder Jesus, filled with joy by the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Thus, if we are ready to open our heart in humility and simplicity, God himself will reveal many things to us about himself.

Dear friends, this is exactly what happened in the life of Job in our first reading, for when he opened his heart to God, Job realize his faults and he repented from his mistakes, and embraced the will of God for him as he remained faithful even in the most difficult times in his life. And God, blessed and restored him even much more than before, thereby telling us that those who hold onto God till the end despite the trials and persecutions of life, God will bless and restore us to his glory.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, today we are made to know that the true Joy of our mission is to make heaven, may we experience this true Joy of your heavenly kingdom. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful weekend.