Homilies (Page 10)

Stop that Prayer, Become the Prayer itself! Acts 1:15-26; 1 John 4:11-16; Jn 17:11b-19 This is Prayer Sunday, the Sunday between Ascension and Pentecost! Interestingly, it is not only human beings alone who pray, as it is evidently the case in the first reading of today, where the apostles pray and show us the importance of prayers in order to know the will of God, God’s choice in an election context; but, in today’s gospel, God also prays, through Jesus Christ his Son, the so-called Priestly Prayer of Jesus Christ – the prayer for oneness/unity. Earlier in his ministry, Jesus taught us how to pray,Read More →

Heaven is our Home, Jesus is our GPS Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 4; Mark 16:15-20. Do not ask scientists about Heaven because they do not know where to find it. Of all the places they have been able to locate, Heaven is not one of them. The closest they have come to Heaven is the statement, “Heaven doesn’t exist”. Come to think of it, how does science get its knowledge – by discovery! For instance, America didn’t exist, up until Christopher Columbus “discovered” it; River Niger didn’t exist before Mungo Park “discovered” it. My friends, beware of those who “discover things,” because they are yet toRead More →

Anti-Racism Sunday: When God Denounces our Divisions! Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48; 1 John 4:7-10; John 15:9-17 In our divided world, we have coined several words to name our divisions. One such word is racism. We have also pointed accusing fingers at those we consider racist. Going through our readings of today, racism did not begin with the Euro-Americans: it is as old as humanity! The Greek statement of the 8th century B.C. “Greeks and Barbarians” entrenched linguistic racism — those who did not speak Greek were considered inferior to the Greeks. The Jewish statement, “Jews and Gentiles” or “Jews and Foreigners”, enshrined ethnic and territorialRead More →

“The Only Thing to Fear is Fear itself”: Breaking our Enslavement to Fear Acts 9:26-31; 1 Jn 3:18-24; John 15:1-8 Tuesday, April 24, 2018, started out just like any other day. Many woke up from sleep, and to give thanks to the author of life, God himself, they went for morning Mass. At Mass, in the house of God, the day turned out to be a blood-bath-day; the house of God was turned into an execution arena; AK 47 rang out, and dead bodies tell the tale of what happened. A double tragedy – the temples of God, human beings, were destroyed, and the houseRead More →

Putting Human Life First, When the Defense of Life is the Measure of a Good Shepherd Acts 4:8-12;1 Jn 3:1-2; Jn 10:11-18 The notoriety of the cattle-herdsmen in Nigeria has given a bad name to all the shepherds of Nigeria. The Nigerian experience is one that shows that the lives of animals, especially cattle, are of more worth than human beings. The fear of cattle-herdsmen has become the nightmare of rural and urban dwellers; their presence smells death. In this scenario, can anything good come from shepherds and shepherding? Of all identifications possible, why would Jesus compare himself to a shepherd? If cattle-herdsmen specialized inRead More →

I am a Christian Gossip, When Gossiping turns into Salvation Story and Good news Acts 3:13-15, 17-19; 1 Jn 2:1-5a; Lk 24:35-48 Do you know that “god-sibb” is the forefather of “gossip”? Just google the etymology of “gossip” or look up that word in old English dictionaries or dictionary of etymology. “God” is included in the word “gossip”. God-talk was gossip, and in the nations where freedom of religion is unacceptable, it remains a gossip. For us Christians, Easter fever has gone viral, and the salvation virus has gone nuclear. The fever and virus in town is GOSSIPING! The trending gossip, you know, is theRead More →

“Thank you Sunday” because Jesus died for my sins Acts 4:32-35; 1 John 5:1-6; John 20:19-31 A story was told of a man who died and went to Hell. While in Hell, he decided to review his life on earth to ascertain that he really deserved to be in Hell. In his retrospections, he consoled himself for being in Hell because he began to enumerate his sins to himself, and his conclusion was that Hell was where he belonged, on account of his wrong doings on earth. However, he lifted up his gaze, and to his utmost surprise, he saw his pastor/parish priest in Hell.Read More →

Day Time Forever: The Meaning of Holy Saturday! Human history has experienced moments of darkness, too long to enumerate. In recent years, all sorts of genocides, ethnic cleansing, wars, slaveries and exploitations continue to cast darkness upon the earth. The darkness of evil and sin is simply ubiquitous. There are serious doubts, in all quarters, whether it will ever be day time, day time forever more! Two areas of doubt are the possibility of nuclear extermination of the earth and its inhabitants; the other doubt is whether the human person can be any good besides the evil and sin that inhabits him and her. Tonight,Read More →

When Good Friday is Just a Bus Stop, Easter Sunday is the Destination Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9; John 18: 1-19: 42 When morning after morning someone greets you “good morning,” “bonjour” or “buenas dias,” you need to ask: what makes the day good? Even when one did not sleep well, the greeting is still “good morning.” A hungry person with rumbling stomach and an employee whose salary has not been paid, they are all greeted “good morning”. Those sent to hospital at night and battling for their lives in the hospital receive the same greeting – good morning! Why not greet people on theRead More →