Homily for Saturday Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 8th October, 2022

 Readings: Gal 3:22-29, Ps. 105, Luke 11:27-28

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

THE TRUE FAMILY OF JESUS ARE THOSE HEAR AND KEEP HIS WORD

In our relationship with God, family and neighours, which one do we think comes first, because all seem to be important? This is very vital  when we relate it to the response of Jesus to a woman in our Gospel passage today, who when Jesus was speaking to the crowd, raised her voice and said, ‘Happy the womb that bore you and the breasts you sucked!’ But Jesus replied, ‘Still happier those who hear the word of God and keep it!’

Here, Jesus highlights that our primary relationship in life is to God and this is obtained by doing his will. For even the deepest and most natural bonds are created within this primary love of doing the will of God. Mother and family were important in the life of Jesus and even at his death; but his real family is centered around the new family relationship that is built among those who hear and keep the word of God. Therefore, our relationship with our family and neighours is actually rooted in our relationship with God whose word is the light that guided our steps.

But the questions remain:  What have we been doing with the word of God we hear everyday? What kind of fruit are we bearing in our family and society? How has the word of God changed our life and disposition towards our family? How has the word of God challenged and propelled us to love God and neighours? The answers to these questions are blowing in the wind. 

Therefore, today we are called to be more practical and attentive towards listening to the word of God. We are called to put into action the word we hear everyday. And concerning this new family of Jesus made up of those who hear the word of God and keep it, St  Paul in our first reading tells us that all of us who belong to this family are baptized in Christ and have all clothed yourselves in Christ, and there are no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, but all of us are one in Christ Jesus.  

Dear friends, whatever we feed grows and whatever we quit feeding dies and feds away. So what are we feeding our soul with? How are we feeding on the word of God? Our society have enough hearers of the word, what we need now is doers of the word of God, men and women who will feed their lives with the word of God and from the abundance of their heart live a life that will influence the society positively. Thus, when we hear the word of God we must apply it to our daily lives, because that's the only way we can feed our soul. And by so doing we become blessed brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, we thank you for the gift of your words we hear everyday, grant that we may cultivate the habit of hearing and keeping your words, so as to become living instruments of your words in our families, societies and the world at large. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen Do have a blessed and fruitful weekend.

Homily for Friday Twenty-Seventh Week in Ordinary Time Year C, 7th October, 2022. The Memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

DOT NOT BE MISCHIEVOUS, RATHER MAKE PROPER USE OF GOD’S  GIFT OF DISCERNMENT

One of the gifts of God to us is the gift of discernment, 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 often faced with the ugly and sad attitude of human deception all over the world.

So let us learn to call on our Mother Mary to continue interceding for us especially as we celebrate the memorial of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary. 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 dedication to praying the Rosary, God granted victory to his faithful people, and this is root of our October devotion. 

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, as they often attempted to 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 C, 6th October, 2022.

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

PRAYER REQUIRES ASKING, SEEKING AND KNOCKING AT GOD’S DOOR PATIENTLY AND PERSISTENTLY

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 their 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 factions 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 C, 5th October, 2022.

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LORD TEACH US HOW TO PRAY FOR WE DO NOT KNOW HOW TO PRAY PROPERLY

Prayer is a means of communication 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 begins 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, 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 C, 4th October, 2022. The Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

DON’T BE TOO BUSY AND DISTRACTED WITH SO MANY THINGS OF THIS PASSING WORLD RATHER LEARN TO LISTEN TO GOD

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. Little wonder, St. Francis of Assisi, whose memorial we celebrate today, was known for his deep spiritual towards listening to the Word of God and his humble act of charity to the poor and needy. He once said we must not be wise and prudent according to the flesh. Rather we must be simple, humble and pure. We should never desire to be over others.

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 C, 3rd October, 2022. The Memorial of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus

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

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia.

LOVING GOD AND NEIGHBOURS ARE 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 backing up his question with his knowledge of the ten commandment, 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 is what is required of us and it is the foundation of all the things we have to do. 

But this lawyer needed more clarification concerning this 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. 

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 just like St. Theresa of the child Jesus whose memorial we celebrate today.

LET US PRAY: Almighty God, in you resides the fullness of love, grant that through the intercessions of St. Theresa of the child Jesus, 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 C, 2nd October, 2022

  Readings: Habak.1:2-3;2:2-4; Ps.95; 2Tim.1:6-8.13-14; Luke 17:5-10

Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Emenike Onyia 

HAVING THE FAITH THAT MOVES MOUNTAIN REQUIRES PUTTING INTO POSITIVE USE THE GIFT GOD HAS GIVEN US

Using a simple story to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson has always been one of the characteristics of Jesus when addressing the people regarding things that are very important. 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  used an analogy of mustard seed to illustrate the important of faith. This is very important for oftentimes, we think that we have faith enough to face whatever challenges that come our way.

 

But the fact remains that we can only know the level and capacity of our faith when we are truly faced with  situations that overwhelm our physical, mental and spiritual abilities. Then we will realize that what we think we have as faith is nothing but a shadow of the reality. That is why Jesus exposed the sacrificial nature of discipleship as regards to forgiveness, when he let them know that they must learn to forgive as often as some offered them. Realizing our difficult this may be his apostles said to him Lord increase our faith and Jesus using the analogy of the mustard seed said: “ if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this sycamore tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you”

Here, Jesus decided to use the analogy of a mustard seeds to give us lecture about having a perfect and complete faith that moves mountain. And mustard seed as we know is the smallest of all seeds which grows to produce the largest of all shrubs. So with the analogy of the mustard seed in relation to faith, Jesus emphasized that If we have the smallest faith that is genuine, we can do all things. Just like the mustard seed, so small but produces the largest of all trees. Therefore, If we begin to nurture our faith to grow and strengthened from small humble beginning, it will grow to the point that it can help us to perform and achieve greater things and conquer most difficult situations that at first would appear impossible. So faith moving mountains, implies that spiritual ability to make all difficult and stumbling situations to vanish. 

Little wonder prophet Habakkuk encouraging us in our first reading today says: that God will never abandon his people, for everything will happen in due time for those who have faith, if it comes slowly, wait, for come it will, without delay. For behold, he whose soul is not upright in God shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. That is why we are told that faith is a supernatural gift of God, which enables us to believe without doubting whatever God has revealed. But  when a precious gift is given to us and we failed to put it into use, whose fault is it? They fault of the person that gave us the gift? No. The fault of the gift itself? No. Or the fault of the receiver who has failed to put the gift into positive use? Yes.

So, this gift must be nurtured and put into use if we want to gain from it. Hence, St. Paul in our second reading today said: Beloved, I am reminding you to fan into a flame the gift that God gave you when I laid my hands on you. God’s gift was not a spirit of timidity, but the Spirit of power, and love, and self-control. He continues: Keep as your pattern the sound teaching you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. For you have been trusted to look after something precious; guard it with the help of the Holy Spirit who lives in you. 

Dear friends, we must learn to put into positive use the gift of faith God has given us before it can move mountains . And if we want to grow in faith, we must cultivate the humble habit of a mustard seed, which though small but has the potential of becoming great when exposed to a fertile environment. For us to have the faith that moves mountain, we must be well deposed to embrace the power of God in our lives, we must desire to have a personal experience of the power of God at work in the world and acknowledge that in him comes our victory over every situation we encounter.

Therefore, we are called to let every moment of difficulties and trials lead us to grow in faith and knowledgment of God’s power and authority. So, I don’t know what you are passing through now especially as regards your faith in Jesus, I don’t know what you are asking God to do for you. I don’t know how ugly the situation in your life has been, I don’t know whatever sickness your are passing through or how abandoned and rejected you feel right now. I don’t know how stubborn and impossible your situation have been. All I have to let you know is that Jesus has not stopped thinking and caring about you. All you have to do is to be confident and put into positive use the gift of faith God has given you the day you were baptized. Do not let that precious gift waste while you suffer for nothing. 

LET US PRAY: Lord God, faith is your supernatural gift to humanity, grant that we may embrace this gift even as little as that of a mustard seed, in order to move out of our lives the tough mountains that are crushing us on our daily lives. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. Happy Sunday, wishing you a blessed Month.