Homilies (Page 38)

Turning “Hearing” into “Listening: Don’t Hear God, Listen to Him! Joshua 5:9a, 10-12; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 It is impossible not admit that our times suffer from noise-pollution. The number of headsets one sees people wearing testify to the human desire to separate “hearing” from “listening,” a determination to pick and choose what one listens to and shut out what one hears. When we “hear,” we mean we are not in control, but when we “listen,” we filter out information from noises. When we listen, we learn and take instruction. In fact, some think that the noises of contemporary society lead to anRead More →

We Are the Problem, Not God!  Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9 I was disappointed in God for many years; not because of what he did, but for what he failed to do: a nun/sister was raped by armed robbers, and I couldn’t understand how God could sit by and watch that happen to a person who had consecrated her life to him! I was just 12 years-old at the time. In my mind, I questioned God’s omnipotence and love, at least, for that nun/sister. Today, all is coming back to me, because of our gospel reading. But I now know thatRead More →

A Christian Lesson on Naturalization Strategy Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18; Philippians 3:17-4:1 or 3:20-4:1; Luke 9:28b-36 A novice, a nun in training, goes to her spiritual director to complain to him that she was convinced God was not calling her to be a nun because she had lost three members of her family since she (began her formation) went to the novitiate. Her spiritual director asked her to produce the contract paper she signed with God that no one will die in her family because she wanted to become a nun/sister. She answered that there was no such contract signed with God. Her spiritual director encouragedRead More →

Here is Why I Worship God and Practice Lenten Observances: I am a Child of God! Deuteronomy 26:4-10; Rom 10:8-13; Lk 4:1-13 Selfishness comes from those who believe they have nothing and have received nothing. Such persons are characterized by the desire to receive and are full of arguments why they need to receive and never to give. There is a hollowness in them that blinds them to what they have and are receiving. Satan is a typical example of people like that, he forgets that he was created by God, empowered by God and loved by God. Yes, God loves Satan and awaits hisRead More →

Ash Wednesday: Starting a Journey [to God] of Remembrance Joel 2:12-18; 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 Life is a journey that starts in maternal womb and ends in the womb of the earth, but with a guarantee of resurrection for the children of God. The journey of life takes two vehicles, the body and the spirit-soul. To keep the vehicle of the body going, we need to work and eat everyday. We study hard in schools to obtain degrees, and our degrees obtain us jobs which require hard work in order to be paid salaries and all forms of remunerations. Neither money nor foodRead More →

It is Possible to be a Christian, Christ’s Victory Over Sin is Yours too Ben Sirach 27:4-7; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-42 The many adjectives (blind, good, superior, rotten and evil) of today can serve as distractions and sources of confusion, when we do not ask the simple question: what is an adjective? Behind and before any adjective is a noun or substantive which the adjective describes. We waste our time, should we pay attention to the adjectives rather than what they qualify – a Christian. Who is a Christian and what are the expectations of God vis-à-vis a Christian? is the focus of today.Read More →

Cemetery of the Living: Dying in Order to Live, that is the only Way  1 Samuel 26:2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-231 Corinthians 15:45-49; Luke 6:27-38 Driving by a cemetery with a friend, he said to me: “look over there, what do you see?” I replied, “that is a cemetery”; and he said to me, “they are dying to enter there”! The the pun dawned on me that one needs to die to be an inmate of a cemetery – dying to get in there, indeed! However, the challenge today, from our readings, is: how does one become a child of God? The answer is simple: dyingRead More →

It is All About Freedom, the Clashes between Wisdom and Intelligence, Curse versus Blessing! Jeremiah 17:5-8; 1 Corinthians 15:12, 16-20; Luke 6:17, 20-27  How did curses come about, since the very first chapter of the first book of the Bible begins with creation and the exclusive presence of God’s “blessings” for his creatures? An enemy didn’t cause it, we did – you and I! How difficult is it to realize how blessed our countries are, especially Nigeria, yet we are incapable of enjoying peace and harmony; worse still, we couldn’t even pull off an election yesterday, Saturday, February 16, 2019! How annoying that building aRead More →

When Losers are also Called: This is Sinners’ Sunday – The Vocation to Holiness of Life Isaiah 6:1-2a, 3-8; 1 Corinthians 15:1-22; Luke 5:1-11 Last Sunday, the call of Jeremiah tells us that God has a mission for every human being. To be called from one’s mother’s womb confirms God’s eternal destiny for every life on earth; at least, we are clearly no products of chance and co-incidence. The Roman Catholic Church got it right to baptism infants, to claim every life for God because God has a plan for his children, as he proves to us in the call of Jeremiah. Even when theyRead More →