Homily for Saturday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 24th September, 2022. Today Is My Priestly Anniversary (Do pray for me)

 Readings: Eccl. 11:9-12:8, Ps.90, Luke 9:43-45

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE EMPTINESS OF HUMAN LIFE IS SEEN WHEN OUR BODIES RETURN TO THE EARTH AND THE SPIRIT TO GOD

Reflecting on my personal experience of the emptiness of human life which happened on one occasion, when I was privileged to be among the people to visit a cemetery at Oke Are in Ibadan. On our way to the cemetery which is located on a hill in the heart of Ibadan, passing through the market and streets all I could see were people struggling, buying and selling, fighting and cursing each other. I saw a lot of beggars, sick and poor people, among this people were the rich, the educated, as well as their leaders both traditional and political. It was indeed an interesting community. 

But getting to the cemetery I saw in a wall names and dates of so many men and women who had passed on from this interesting community. Than I asked myself in my deep reflection, where are all these people whose names are listed in this wall? Where they like us before? Are we going to be like them later? Where will all of us in this beautiful community be in the next hundred years? 

With this in mind I realized that there is time for everything in this world, a time to be born, and a time to die. Then, the dust returns to the earth as it once came from it, and the spirit to God who gave it. For vanity of vanities, the Preacher says. All is vanity. Just the way the Book of Ecclesiastes in our first reading today tells us saying: Rejoice in your youth, you who are young; let your heart give you joy in your young days. Follow the promptings of your heart and the desires of your eyes. But this you must know: for all these things God will bring you to judgement. 

This is not different from what Jesus is reminding his disciples in our Gospel passage today where after his great miracles, when everyone was full of admiration for all he did, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘For your part, you must have these words constantly in your mind: that the Son of Man is going to be handed over into the power of men.’ But they did not understand him.

Dear friends, today we are reminded about the true reality of life, that we all are going to die one day and the dust of our flesh and bones will return to the earth while our Spirit retire to God, knowing that we will account for how we lived this life. We are going to give back to God the gift of life he has given us, because our life is a temporal assignment. So, why not start living this life according to the present reality since we do not know how and when we are going to account for it. Why not accept joyfully who we are now as we work hard to be better tomorrow. Remember, everything is in the hands of God, we brought nothing in this world and we are taking nothing out of it. 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, our life is meaningless without you. Grant that we may realize the shortness of this life and so prepare to give account on how we have lived our lives in this passing world. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing you a fruitful use of today's graces.

Homily for Friday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 23rd September, 2022. The Memorial of St. Pio of Pietrelcina

 Readings: Readings: Eccl. 3:1-11, Ps.144, Luke 9:8-22

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

HAVE YOU PERSONALLY IDENTIFIED THE PERSONALITY OF OUR LORD JESUS IN YOUR LIFE? 

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In life there is always a moment when we will want to examine and know if our friends can really be trusted, if they truly know and understand who we are and what we represent? This is because, as social beings, we often make friends who we can confide and entrust with our inner most thoughts and plans. But this friendship does not come automatically, it is developed gradually.

This is the situation between Jesus and his disciples in our Gospel passage today, when Jesus asked them saying: Who do people say I Am?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ ‘But you,’ he said ‘who do you say I am?’ Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ. But he gave them strict orders not to tell anyone anything about this. For the Son of Man is destined to suffer grievously, to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death, and to be raised up on the third day.

Here, we see how Peter expressed his personal conviction about who Jesus is. He did not have to quote any authority, because his response was a clear and sincere knowledge of who he professed Jesus to be. This is because Peter’s gift of faith comes from his personal identification of the person of Jesus. Thus, our faith requires that we give a personal answer to the question: who is Jesus to me personally? For it is not enough to quote the teachings and Catechism of the Church about our faith or the teachings of other theologians and preachers or to respond only from the head, but from the heart that is convinced of what it believes in. 

Today most people are following Jesus without knowing who Jesus truly represents. Some people find it very difficult to embrace the teaching of Jesus because they lack the faith and conviction about his personality, even when Jesus had revealed himself to us through his great miracles and teachings. The fact is that, Jesus wants us to develop a divine way of looking at things. He wants us to know him deep down our soul, so that we can profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction. This faith is necessary in order to accommodate and overcome the ugly event of persecutions, condemnation and blackmail that awaits us.

Little wonder, the Book of Ecclesiastes in our first reading today  tells us that there is time for everything, for every purpose, and everything will indeed happen as God wills it, and not up to us to decide what will happen to us, as there are indeed many things out there beyond our control and understanding. For what does a man gain for the efforts that he makes? All that he does is apt for its time; but though he has permitted man to consider time in its wholeness, but man on his own cannot comprehend the work of God from beginning to end.

This is what we have in the life of St. Pio, whose memorial we celebrate today. For he is a good example of a disciples who understood the sacrificial nature of the mission of Christ and lived by it. He remained faithful to Christ’s mission and committed himself wholeheartedly to what God has called him into. Being a pious and devoted disciple, he never ceases to ministering to the people and in being an exemplary person in faith. Many came to believe in God through him and many were strengthened in their faith through his works and piety. Though St. Pio experienced great difficulties in the cause of his mission, this was so serious that they almost have his faculty of hearing confessions taken from him because of his spiritual experiences and grace. 

Dear friends, having heard the teachings and great works of Jesus in the scriptures and traditions of the Church, the question remains: what can I say is my personal experience of Jesus? Have I personally identified our Lord Jesus in my life? How has my knowledge of Jesus helped other people to come to faith in Jesus? Today we are called to really examine our conscience to know where we are as regards to our faith as Christians. We are called today to develop a divine way of understanding the mysteries of God, but not rejecting them because we do not understand them. Therefore, let us turn towards God once again with all our hearts and devote our whole lives in seeking to know Him more and more.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, you revealed to Peter the true identity of Jesus your Son, help us through the intercessions of St. PIO to personally identify the personality of Jesus in our lives and so profess our faith with deeper meaning and conviction. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.

Homily for Thursday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 22nd September, 2022

 Readings: Eccl. 1:2-11, Ps.90, Luke 9:7-9

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE GUILTY CONSCIENCE AND THE VANITY OF HUMAN PRIDE AND SELFISHNESS 

Oftentimes, we hear people expressing the phrase: guilty conscience, which is used to express the ugly condition of human conscience, that part of our life that tells us whether what we are doing is right or wrong. For if you have a guilty conscience, you feel guilty about something because you know it was wrong. But if you have a clear conscience, you do not feel guilty because you know you have done nothing wrong. 

This is the situation Herod finds himself in our Gospel passage today who out of pride and selfishness had killed John the Baptist thinking that by that he could silence the voice of truth, but when he heard of the great works of Jesus and could not comprehend it, he perceived that John the Baptist, the voice of truth had returned to life again, when he said: John? I beheaded him. So who is this I hear such reports about?’ And he was anxious to see Jesus. 

Here, we see how the guilty conscience of Herod made him to wonder about the personality of Jesus in relation to John the Baptist. This is what happens to us whenever we tried to take the role God in our relationship with others. And this ugly attitude is what a lot of people are practicing today and as a result many people are suffering the consequences of guilty conscience. This is because most of us are so much attached to worldly things, we have not realized the emptiness of this passing world. We have let our pride, our ego and our selfish desires to blind fold us from the true realities of life.

 Little wonder our first reading today taken from the book of Ecclesiastes, tells us that vanity of vanities. All is vanity! For what does a man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun, today we are alive, tomorrow we are no more. Generation goes, and generation comes, but the earth remains forever. Acquiring wealth later to realize at death bed that all is vanity vanishing. Thus, we are meant to know that there are many things in this world that are beyond human comprehension and understanding, because God’s ways of doing things are beyond human capacity to understand fully his plan. All we need to do is to remain docile and faithfully follow his plans for us and not be like Herod and his guilty conscience.

Dear friends, what is the essence of our existence in this world? What does God really required from us in this life? Are you having guilty conscience of any kind? What are the things that make us have guilt conscience? Do you know that without God everything in life is vanity vanishing? Therefore, let us not be carried away by the beauty of the things of this passing world, for nothing last forever. So, we should remain steadfast in our faith in God, who has called us to love him and to love one another.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we have come to you with our guilty conscience, for we are so much attached to things of this passing world, with little or no attention to your teachings. Help us to realized that without you life and all we have is nothing but vanity. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a fruitful day.

Homily for Wednesday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 21st September, 2022. The Feast of St Matthew, AP& Evangelist

 Readings: Eph. 4:1:-7.11-13, Ps.19, Matt. 9:9-13

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE LORD COMES TO CALL SINNER FOR HE DESIRES  MERCY AND NOT SACRIFICE 

In life we make choices and the choices we make everyday communicate our inner most desire which also determine how meaningful, valuable, healthy and fruitful our lives and mission are going to be. This is not different in the life of Jesus who on account of his mission to save humanity had to make choices of people who will be his instruments of evangelizing in the world. For no doubt Jesus had been calling people from different works of life to be part of his mission, but today’s call and choice of Matthew a man identified with sinners because of his work as a tax collector, was quite strange to some people.

Little wonder in our Gospel passage today after Jesus had called Matthew to follow him, he had a dinner in his house and while at the dinner, it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’   

Here we heard the inner most desire of Jesus for sinful humanity in need of salvation. The call of Matthew is like the call of each of us, a choice that demonstrates Jesus' desire for sinners to repent. For all he desires is mercy and not sacrifices, repentance and not pride. Jesus is calling us to repentance, he is inviting us to make a fundamental choice for God just like St Matthew, who though sinner, stood up and followed Jesus at his call for repentance, we too are to respond to this invitation without delay. Let St. Matthew be an inspiration and hope for every one of us. Let him be an example that will remind us that there is no one beyond the reach of God’s mercy and love. For he is capable of transforming our ugly ways of life into a glorious instrument for human salvation.

Today we celebrate the Feast of St. Matthew, we are called to imitate him. For tradition has it that after his conversion, Matthew became a great evangelizer, who went about preaching the Good News to many people. It was told that he went to Ethiopia where he had a growing communities of Christ faithful. And according to tradition, he was martyred while celebrating the Holy Mass on the Altar, after he rebuked the local king in Ethiopia who lusted and desired to have his own niece who had dedicated herself in holy virginity to God. Here we see how Matthew, who was once a sinner was called and transformed into great saints and great instrument of evangelization. 

Dear friends, St Paul in our first reading tells us that each one of us, has been given our own share of grace in Christ mission. For some are called to be apostles and evangelist like Matthew; some prophets; some pastors and teachers; so that together we are united in the work of service, building up the body of Christ. But how are we contributing to this mission? What is our disposition towards the call of Jesus? Our choice in life is it reflecting our faith in the mission of Christ?

LET US PRAY: Lord God, despite our sinfulness,  you called and chose us to be instrument of your salvation to all humanity. Through the intercession of St Matthew, give us the grace to make good choices that will help us to respond positively to your call for repentance and evangelization. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing a blessed day.

Homily for Tuesday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 20tht September, The Memorial of St. Andrew Kim Taegon & Comp.

 Readings: Prov. 21:1-6.10-13, Ps.119, Luke 8:19-21

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

DO YOU BELONG TO THE TRUE FAMILY OF JESUS?

One of the psychological and spiritual needs of the human person is the sense of belonging, this need is just like the need for food, clothes and shelter. The feeling of belonging is fundamental to our sense of happiness and well-being, for it gives value to life and help us in coping with some painful emotions as it improves our motivation. Hence, we often want to belong and identify with one another, to our friends and families, to our culture and from one association and group to another.

However, one of the common and safest place to belong is our families, especially when it is rooted in the family of God. So today in our Gospel passage, Jesus speaks about belonging to his family and his relationship with members of his family. For when he was told that his mother and brothers were standing outside and want to see him’. He said : my mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and put it into practice.’ 

Here, Jesus speaks of two ways the people around him could be identified as members of his family. Firstly he talks about those who belong to the family of his birth that is, his mother, father and relations. Then his other family which is made up of those who do the will of God.

 This family he says, is his true family where doing the will of God is the only way of belonging to this family. This is not to say that Jesus is rejecting his biological family; to do so would be contradicting his own teaching about loving ones parents and loving ones neighbours. However, Jesus is using this opportunity to emphasize that our relationship with God is more important and should be based on our total commitment to doing the will of God through him. Surprisingly, Mary the mother of Jesus belongs to both sides of the family, for she gave birth to Jesus and also was the first to do the will of God when she  said, “let it be done unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). For this reason she is the first disciple of Jesus and a model for all Christians.

Thus, to be a Christian or a disciple is to enter into the family of Jesus and embrace a new relationship with God and with one another and this is the most important place to belong. All other bonds, including those of blood should be considered secondary. Because, belonging to God is fundamental to our basic relationships, prior to all human relations. 

For we belong first to God before belonging to our families, after which we all go back to God where we ultimately belong, which will be determined by how we have done the will of God here on earth. And our first reading taking from the book for proverbs tells us that a man’s conduct may strike him as upright, but the Lord, however, weighs the heart.

Dear friends, where do we ultimately and truly belong? Do you belong to the true family of Jesus? As Christians, we claimed to belong to God, do our attitudes and decisions show that we truly belong to God? Do we not often commit ourselves to things contrary to the faith we professed in God? So, today we are called Just like St Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions whose memorial we celebrate today, to  make the ultimate choice to belong to the family of Jesus. For they gave up their lives during the persecution of Christians  in Korea as light of faith for the people aa a good example of how to do the will of God. Therefore, we are called to do the will of God always in order to truly belong to that true family of Jesus where love of God and love of neighbour unites us together.

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we truly belong to you, give us the grace through the intercessions of  St Andrew Kim Taegon and Companions  to always do your will and as we carryout your activities today, grant success to the works of our hands, through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.

Homily for Monday Twenty-Fifth Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 19th September, 2022

  Reading: Prov. 3:27-34; Ps. 15; Luke 8:16-18

Rev.  Fr. Emmanuel Emenike  Onyia

DO NOT HIDE IN DARKNESS FOR YOU ARE THE LIGHT THAT HUMANITY DESIRES TO BEHOLD

Light is a very familiar words in the scriptures, light is a symbol that represents awareness, knowledge, and understanding. Light clarifies, illuminates, inspires, defeats darkness, shines fully and freely, it guides, stimulates and motivates, provokes action, it irritates those who like darkness, confirms truth, purifies, exposes sin, warms and assures us of safety and also facilitates progress.

 

Little wonder, Jesus in our Gospel passage today said: No one lights a lamp to cover it with a bowl or to put it under a bed. No, he puts it on a lamp-stand so that people may see the light when they come in. For nothing is hidden but it will be made clear, nothing secret but it will be known and brought to light.

So, as people who have been purified by the light of Christ through our baptism, we are entrusted with the mission of illuminating the darkness around us. For during our baptism, we were given candle light which we are to kept brightly burning as a flame of faith in our hearts as we journey with others towards our heavenly kingdom. This therefore, clearly defines our role in the mission of Christ, which is to illuminates darkness and reflects the glory of God in the darkness of the passing world. 

Hence, every Christian is called by God to influence the world positively through the light of our faith and goodness, as we heard in our first reading, the book of proverbs which says: My son, do not refuse a kindness to anyone who begs it, if it is in your power to perform it. Do not say to your neighbour, ‘Go away! Come another time! I will give it you tomorrow’, if you can do it now. Do not plot harm against your neighbour as he lives unsuspecting next door. This is necessary for it helps us to be true light to our neighbours and those we encounter in life.

Dear friends, the focus of today’s message is that all of us are called to positively influence the lives of humanity by our attitude and character which should be like that of purifying light. Where there is darkness we should let the light of Christ illuminate. Where pride, selfishness, corruption and greed have brought darkness, let the light of our good attitude and character illuminate it once again. Where sin and immorality have made humanity filthy and ugly, let our light of holiness purify. Therefore, we must not let our lights be hidden under the darkness of the passing world, rather we must let it shine anywhere we find ourselves for we are the light that humanity desires to behold.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we struggle everyday to truly carryout the mission entrusted to us, give us the grace and courage to dedicate ourselves, our time, our energy and effort to becoming true light  that illuminate our families, society and the world filled with darkness of sin and evil. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Wishing you a fruitful week.

Homily for Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 18th September, 2022

  Readings: Amos 8:4-7; Ps.113; 1Tim.2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia

THE DISHONEST STEWARD: A LESSON ABOUT WORLDLY CUNNING AND CHRISTIAN CLEVERNESS 

>The elements of good and bad seem inherent in human person, that is why  the world is made up of both good and bad people mixed together. This will help us to understand the reason for corruption, greediness, immoral and social decadence in our world today. For walking through the streets I observed how people are struggling with the things of this passing world, I can feel their passion, their determination and willingness even in the midst of corruption and challenges of life. How I wish we can put such energy in working towards the things that edifice our soul. But the questions we need to ask ourselves are: what is my attitude towards the things of this passing world? Can I be trusted with the things of this passing world no matter how little? As managers of God’s resources, how are we using the things of this passing world, knowing that we are expected to be wise and smart in managing them?

>Little wonder, in the Gospel passage today, Jesus tells us the parable of the dishonest steward who, having acted unjustly and having being exposed by his master, went to great lengths to make friends of his master’s debtors in order to secure his future. In this parable, Jesus is not telling us to be dishonest, but he wants us to learn a lesson about the danger of worldly cunning and the grace of Christian cleverness. For we can learn even from this dishonest servant how to prudently use the things of this  passing world to gain our salvation. Thus, Jesus points out that we too should be smart but not exactly like the dishonest steward, using dishonest wealth to exploit others as most people do today in our society. No, instead we his disciples are to use our wealth to win souls for the kingdom and safe guard our own souls. 

Hence, in this parable, the Lord speaks to us again about the spirit of worldliness: how this worldliness works and how dangerous it can be. And as we know worldliness is an enemy to human souls, and that is why the devil derives great pleasure in seeing us dwell in worldliness just like the dishonest steward. Though some of us may see nothing wrong with the attitude of this dishonest steward because he has only done what most people if not everyone does especially in our country today, where we condole bribery and corruption as a way of survival and success. This ugly attitude is extremely sinful and dehumanizing.

Little wonder Pope Francis,  while addressing this ugly kind of attitudes says that God commands us to live an honest life and bring back home bread for our children through honest means. But most of us like this dishonest steward have chosen to bring back dirty bread of dishonesty for our children and even train and bring them up through dishonest means. Perhaps, today we should pray for many children and adults who receive dirty bread of dishonesty from their parents, especially those who are now hungry for the dignity of honesty.  This is what St. Paul advice us to do in our second reading today when he said: first of all, there should be prayers offered for everyone – petitions, intercessions and thanksgiving – and especially for kings and others in authority, so that we may be able to live religious and reverent lives in peace and quiet. To do this is right, and will please God our saviour: for he wants everyone to be saved and reach full knowledge of the truth

>This is important because bribery and corruption are obvious in our society today and they are serious sins because they are against our human dignity. The dignity by which we are united to God and to one another through our honest labour and not through bribery and corruption. Little wonder God through prophet Amos in our first reading today said: Listen to this, you who trample on the needy and try to suppress the poor people of the country, who can buy up the poor for money, and the needy for a pair of sandal. Never will I forget a single thing you have done. So, we should be careful not to fall into the temptations of money and other worldly pleasures which are trying to lead us away from God and the salvation he has given us.

The fact remains that these corrupt and cunning ways of life dehumanize us, even though it seems to be common in our society today, it doesn’t really make it right. Though, we are not called to be foolish, rather we are meant to know that  there is another road, an alternative route to worldly cunning. It is the path of “Christian cleverness”. This path, Pope Francis says, “allows us to be cunning but not according to the spirit of the world but smartness of God’s wisdom and grace. For Jesus himself said: be wise as serpents, innocent as doves”. Uniting these two realities is the grace that the Lord gives to us when we ask for it.

>Dear friends, today,  we are called to live a life of integrity, to let go of worldly cunning and embrace Christian cleverness. For each and every one of us are called to be good managers and custodians of whatever blessings and resources God has given us. We are all reminded that we have been called to follow the Lord and to devote ourselves to Him wholeheartedly. We must learn to be trusted and ensure that we manage whatever that is entrusted to us. So, we are called to really examine our conscience to know where we are with regards to our vocation as Christians. How can we best harness the things entrusted to us so that they can be sources and means of safeguarding our souls surrounded by corruption and greediness. 

Therefore, we are called today to be wise and smart, for if the worldly minded people can be smart in their dealings, we too should be smarter in our struggles for the salvation of our souls and that of humanity at large. We should utilize the resources available to us and use them to secure our salvation. This is possible if we understand the principle that says that everything we own is a gift from God, then we will realize that God is the owner of everything and that we are His stewards. As such, we are to use the Master’s resources to further the Master’s work and not the contrary. In this contest, we are told to be generous with our resources and use it for the safety of our souls and the growth of God’s kingdom.

LET US PRAY: Heavenly Father, as we listened to your words today, may we not be carried away by the things of this passing world. Rather give us the grace to live a life of integrity and the skills to manage the resources entrusted to us and use them properly for the salvation of humanity and the development of our societies, we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Do have a grace filled Sunday celebration.