Homilies (Page 18)

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 →

Save the Last Kiss for God 1 Kings 19:16b, 19-21; Galatians 5:1, 13-18; Luke 9:51-62 At St. John of the Cross Minor Seminary, Nsukka, Bishop Godfrey Okoye kept changing the rectors of the seminary every year, so goes the story. After a few years, behold the bishop himself visited the seminary and the seminarians made an appeal, in their welcome speech to the bishop, that the appointment of rectors should take into cognizance stability instead of flux; that they hardly get to know and appreciate a rector before he is transferred. Bishop Okoye responded to the seminarians: “no single priest can show you all theRead More →

Corpus Christi Sunday: When Sharing Keeps Everybody Well-Fed! Genesis 14:18-20; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11b-17 When we look at the celebration of this Sunday – The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ – exclusively from the miraculous perspective, then we will have the excuse to do nothing about our brothers and sisters who are dying of starvation. On the contrary, today’s solemnity teaches us about the power of sharing in order to eradicate poverty both spiritually and physically/materially. It teaches us that prayer is not always done on our knees and addressed to God, but that prayer is at its best standingRead More →

Trinity or Living-with-God  Sunday Proverbs 8:22–31; Romans 5:1–5; John 16:12–15 Christians get discouraged about the Most Holy Trinity because it is called a mystery – something no one can understand! The good news is MYSTERY is NOT what we cannot understand, but a RELATIONSHIP with what God has revealed of Himself to human beings! After all, what do we actually know about ourselves or the world itself, yet we live our lives happily? If any thing, breathe God, speak God, hear God and feel God; then, living-with-God Sunday or Trinity Sunday will stop being a mystery to understand (with the brain) but a lifestyle toRead More →

Acts 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 12:3b–7, 12–13; John 20:19–23 Two characteristics of Lucan narratives today (Acts 2:1-11) mark him out as a historian: his desire for chronology and detail. In the previous chapter (chapter 1), Luke underscores the fact that Jesus told the apostles not to leave Jerusalem before they had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Luke also added that Jesus appeared to his apostles for forty days before his ascension. Now, at the mention of Pentecost, it makes chronological sense to understand that on the fiftieth day after the resurrection of Jesus, it was Pentecost day, and the Holy Spirit came upon theRead More →

Heaven is Our Home! Acts 1:1-11; Hebrews 9:24-28; Luke 24:46-53 As a seminarian in theology, in the 90s, the seminary rector saddled me with lots of responsibilities. For a while, I managed to discharge them as best as I could, but they began to weigh me down. One day, I went to the rector to complain about all the responsibilities given me, whether he could give other seminarians some of the functions I had to discharge. His response to my request was unexpected; he said: “Ayo, the reward for hard work is extra hard work!” Really! Our first reading and the gospel appear to beRead More →

Freedom and Reconciliation Sunday Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29 I once worked in a village called Mayerthorpe, in the Canadian province of Alberta. It was summer, 2009, at St. Agnes parish. One Sunday, during my homily, I observed a spectacle. At Mass, there was this young mother (name withheld), with two young daughters. It seemed her daughters intentionally took turns to run to the back of the church; and, each time that happened, their mother goes after the one behind the church to negotiate with her on why she should return to her seat, and listen quietly to my homily. This backRead More →

Acts 14:21-27; Revelation 21:1-5a; John 13:31-33a, 34-35 It all depends! At the end of the elementary or secondary school term, some of us couldn’t wait to get home to report that we  either came first, second or third in our class. The joy of a chicken that will be killed to celebrate our success animated us. Of course, returning home to face the music of either failure at the end of the school year or not being among the top 3 in our class dragged the feet of some of us. It really depends on the news we have to announce to determine the joyRead More →

Called to Imitate Christ: Christ our Shepherd and Model Acts 13:42-52; Revelation 7:9, 14b-17; John 10:27-30 If the resurrection saga of Jesus has stirred so much controversy because the Jews wanted to discredit it, this Sunday’s readings have decided to shift gears and attention. Instead of dwelling on Jewish opposition to the resurrection story, the search light is turned on how those who preach the resurrection should do their job: we move from opposition to witnessing to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as individual Christians. The fundamental question is how does one respond to opposition to what one stands for? Better put, how does oneRead More →