Homilies (Page 53)

1 Kings 17:10-17; Hebrews 9:24-28; Mark 12:38-44 My God is Alive – I will give him my Widow’s Mite, my whole Life! Late Fr. Jerome Murphy-O’Connor said that each time one meets an Irish who needs to defend his Irish identity, such an Irish person must be living outside of Ireland. Analogously, to have a prophet whose name is Elijah: EL (God) – i (my) – Jah (Yahweh) – “my God is Yahweh,” there must be people or situations that contest the kind of God or the name of the God he worshipped. After his marriage to Jezebel (1 Kings 17:31-34), king Ahab became aRead More →

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14; 1 John 3:1-3; Matthew 5:1-12a I am a child of God: Heaven is my Home, I am called to be a Saint! In a kindergarten class, taught by a nun (reverend sister), the nun asks the kids to indicate by a show of hands how many among them would like to go to heaven. All, but one little girl raised up their hands. Curious, the nun asks the little girl whose hand was not up: my daughter, why do you not want to go to heaven? She replies: my Mom, on dropping me off at school this morning, asked me to stayRead More →

Ayodele Ayeni, The Antithesis “Neither Jew nor Greek” in Galatians 3:28a. Its Context, Application, Meaning and Origin, Frankfurt: Lambert Akademikerverlag, 2012,  13,5 x 21,5 cm, 306 p. — “‘You always have the Poor with you but you do not always have me’ (John 12:8): Charity as Worship of God,” African Journal of Contextual Theology 5, 2014, 53-77. — “Ni judío ni griego,” Anamnesis 25/50, 2015, 41-64.Read More →

Jeremiah 31:7-9; Hebrews 5:1-6; Mark 10:46-52 Not my Faithfulness, but God’s Mercy and Fidelity: God calls me to be a Christian! An Irish missionary priest to Nigeria has a very dedicated and faithful catechist (pastoral agent) working with him. In all ramifications of Christian life, the catechist is impeccable except one thing – he has two wives: one named Mercy, the other Grace. The priest decides to have a conversation with his catechist; after talking to his catechist about the Christian imperative to be monogamous, his catechist promises to straighten out that aspect of his Christian life. One faithful day, the catechist comes with both wivesRead More →

Isaiah 53:10-11; Hebrews 4:14-16; Mk 10:35-45 Hope, not despair – Our God Reigns over Sins! Quite often we forget the meanings of “Isaiah” and “Jesus” – both mean “God is salvation” or “God saves.” The meaning of “salvation” here is not that we are already promised heaven, but we are offered the opportunities to make heaven. This is the case because “sin” – any wrong doing – separates us from God and changes the course of our journey away from God and heaven. Thankfully, the first reading of today announces the good news that “sin” has a divine solution! Away in Babylon, on account ofRead More →

Wisdom 7:7-11; Hebrews 4:12-13; Mark 10:17-30 Theme: Wisdom versus Intelligence? Prayer is the Answer! Life is a journey, which needs a compass or guidance. Normally, the two poles of this journey are birth and death. The book of Wisdom sees it differently: there is an after-life, which needs attention as well! The journey of life speaks to virtues and vices as the determinants of what an after-life will look like – recompense or compensation for a good or bad life. A “compass” is a human machine, which helps navigate human journeys on different fronts – land, sea and air. Interestingly, human beings need to inputRead More →

Genesis 2:18-24; Hebrews 2:9-11; Mark 10:2-16 Theme: With love, just like with God, everything is Possible! There was a story told of little John, attaining school age, his parents sent him to a public school. At the end of the school year, John failed all his exams and came last in his class. His parents reasoned that John was not happy at his first school, so they sent him to a different public school. At the end of the school year, John failed all his exams and came last in this his second public school. At cross-roads, John’s parents decided to send him to aRead More →

Numbers 11:25-29; James 5:1-6; Mark 9:38-48 We are One, despite our differences – Let us Build our Oneness! One Hallowing night, a lady who thought she had had enough of her alcoholic husband, set out to teach him a lesson of his life. She wanted him to quit drinking by scaring him to death. So, she bought bright-shining dresses for Hallowing; and, on Hallowing night, she hid herself in the hedges by her home, waiting for her drunken husband to return from his usual drinking spree. In the dead of the night, behold he comes staggering home; and she jumps out of the bushes andRead More →

God’s Law, NOT Human Laws, lead to Wisdom! Wisdom 2:12, 17-20; James 3:16-4:3; Mark 9:30-37 In the West, for traveling purposes, GPS is a useful tool to have: it helps one to navigate one’s path. A humanly built machine circumvents the guidance of other human beings for directions, which is considered a dependence on other human beings, but increases individualism, called independence from others. A choice is made for a machine over human beings because human beings have abdicated from helping other human beings because it is now considered a discomfort! This is the death of the society – each person for themselves and GodRead More →