Homilies (Page 18)

    “United we stand, together we fall” Amos 8:4-7; 1 Timothy 2: 1-8; Luke 16:1-13 or 16:10-13 The prophet Amos is popularly know as the prophet who promoted social justice bringing to the fore the oppression and exploitation of the poor. Today’s first reading gives credence to this opinion, and Pope Francis lends support to the crusade for workers’ rights and the rights of poor people. Amos argues that the rich reduced the worth of the poor to mere objects: “We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals”. This state of affairs was what attracts God’s punishment,Read More →

Cross: God’s language of love Wisdom 9:13-18; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Luke 14:25-33 A Buddhist monk once offered this idea to a young person solicitous of making good progress in spirituality: “start out early, travel light, arrive safely”. In a more expatiated form, a person who desires something has to start out early in search of the desired object. In order for the search to be successful, unnecessary encumbrances have to be avoided, this is the meaning of “traveling light.” Having begun early and traveling light, the wayfarer will arrive safely. The advice given by the Buddhist monk shows that there is no culture and peopleRead More →

Charitable Deeds Sunday Sirach 3:17-18, 20, 28-29; Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24a; Luke 14:1, 7-14 Growing up in northern Nigeria, it was a taboo to be a debtor; my parents wouldn’t accept that. We, my siblings and myself, were taught contentment with whatever meager resources we had, especially finances. The implication of this lesson was that no one spent the money he didn’t earn or have. North America taught me a different lesson: here, everybody is a debtor, including self-acclaimed rich people like Donald Trump. In fact, being a debtor is a good thing out here, because one has a credit history and can even have goodRead More →

Strategies for Heaven Isaiah 66:18-21; Hebrews 12:5-7, 11-13; Luke 13:22-30 Make no mistake about it, the gate to life, to the kingdom of God, is not narrow! Am I challenging the gospel reading of today? Not at all! I am simply saying that adages and idiomatic expressions have more connotations than the denotations of the words in which they are crafted. Jesus’ admonition, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate,” leaves open the question of what and who make the “gate narrow”. Our common life experiences show that “gates” are made in the dimension and to the proportion of whatever is expected to go throughRead More →

There is always salvation for those who wait on the Lord! Jeremiah 38:4-6, 8-10; Hebrews 12:1-4; Luke 12:49-53 In an age of political correctness, the desire to say just what people want to hear and not to offend others, does the truth still have a place in our polity and religious life? What is the role of faith and religion in a secularized and modernized world? These are serious questions to be asked, if religion, particularly Christianity, will be relevant to our contemporary world. In the so-called first-world, issues like abortion, euthanasia, same-sex union, gun control and eugenics are considered no-go-area, especially for religious interventionRead More →

 Making Heaven Right Now Wisdom 18:6-9; Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-19; Luke 12:32-48 Knowledge and intelligence are generally associated with the human ability to conquer and dominate nature; they are mediums for the survival of the human specie on earth. But if our first reading comes from the book of wisdom, there is a stark distinction to be underscored between knowledge and wisdom. “Wisdom” is the secret of life, how life is to be lived, the meaning of life. This is the reason for the association of wisdom with experience, lived experience. So, what is wisdom and how do we acquire it? Of course, Solomon prayed forRead More →

The Power of Prayer! Genesis 18:20-32; Colossians 2:12-14; Luke 11:1-13 Sodomy or homosexuality, it boils down to the same thing – Sodom and Gomorrah, symbol and reality of sin, not just of yesteryears but of today as well. The destruction which awaits every sinner, gay, straight and every sexual activities without God’s approval. But it is unthinkable that Sodom and Gomorrah was exclusiveness a gay town, at least Lot and his wife and daughters were there. It follows that there were births and marriages, and conventional families living their. In fact, Lot’s wife did not turn into a pillar of salt for being a lesbian,Read More →

Hospitality: The Risk of Loving Genesis 18:1-10a; Colossians 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42 The world in which Abraham and Martha lived must be very different from ours! Three strangers walking together and Abraham runs to them and invites them to come and eat in his house: who does that today? Instead, we teach our children to call the police! According to the gospel of today, Jesus enters a village and a woman, Martha, welcomes him to her home: really, a stranger in a village who gets free lunch – is Martha running a restaurant because restaurant owners are those who seek out customers? Besides the outmoded behaviorsRead More →

The Power of Weakness Sunday Isaiah 66:10-14c; Galatians 6:14-18; Luke 10:1-12, 17-20 Isaiah 66 reminds us of God’s patience and strategy in the creation of a people, the people of God. Wars of hegemony and territorial expansion divided the Middle-East and Levant, when Isaiah 66 was written. The scramble for supremacy among the gods was a daily occurrence, part of which saw lots of exiles: Israel went to exile in Assyria and Judah to Babylon, just to mention two. The children of God killed one another and failed to love one another. This story is also true of the continents of Europe, Asia and Africa,Read More →