Love and you will be saved

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for 5^th Sunday of Easter, Year C

Holy Names Church

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Friends, I have two stories to tell you today. Four clergymen went to a park to sit, talk and rest after busy schedules. While they were sitting on the bench chatting freely, one of them said “You know, since we are all good friends, let us use this opportunity to discuss our personal struggles in life and I believe we will keep them secret.” The first one said, “Friends, my greatest struggle in life is drinking. I drink excessively.” There was a gasp from the other three. The second person said “Well, since you are bold to tell us your secret, I will tell you guys mine. My problem is gambling. I gamble a lot. The worst part of it is that it does not allow me to save money. Sometimes, I have even stolen money from the Collection basket just to gamble.” Again there was a gasp. The third person said “See, my problem is much worst. Do you know that I am in love with a woman in my church? To make the matter worst, she is a married woman.” Again there was a big gasp from his friends. After that, there was silence. The fourth one kept silence and refused to say what his main weakness is. The other three now said “Hey friend, we are waiting for you.” The fourth person now said “I really don’t know how to say this to you guys.” But his friends said “Don’t worry. Just say it. Your secret will remain a secret; as a matter of fact, it will die with us. No one will hear it.” After much persuasion from his friends, he now said “You see, my greatest weakness is gossip. I hardly keep secrets.” His friends were thrown in utter confusion.

The Second story is about a woman who was rushing to attend an event. She had spent so much time making up, painting up and looking up herself on the large mirror in her room. As a result of that, she was now running late for the event. Having entered her car, she sped off quickly. As she was driving out, she was praying for a free road. On nearing each traffic light, she prays the light remains green, and when it is red, that it turns green before she comes close. As if her prayer was being answered, she was driving past every traffic light before it turns red. One can hear her whispering, “thank you Jesus” as she drove past every traffic light. Eventually, one traffic light failed her. Before she could come close, the traffic light had changed to red, meaning she must stop. Moreover, there was a car before her, so she stopped, and was anxiously waiting for the green light. She was so in haste that as soon as the light turned green, she was ready to zoom off unfortunately the person in front of her was carried away and did not know it was time to go. He was apparently texting a message with his phone. The woman so desperate to keep moving started yelling and yelling at him loudly. She was shouting and hooting at the same time. But the man did not notice and did not hear. All of a sudden, the man zoomed off as the traffic light turns yellow. The woman, who cannot drive on because the light has already turned red before she could release her brake, started cursing. As she was cursing, she was also hooting at the same time. This attracted the policeman coming from behind. Immediately she was pulled aside the road and was arrested for car theft. The police accused her that she stole the car she was driving, and said to her “You are under arrest.” By the time she proved ownership of the car, one hour has passed. The policeman convinced that she actually owns the car, apologized to her for the delay and embarrassment. But the woman wanted to know why in the first place he pulled her aside the road and accused her of stealing the car she was driving. The policeman responded “You see I arrested you for car theft when I saw you yelling, cursing very loud and hooting at the same time because I saw the sticker at the back of your car with the inscription “I love Jesus, he is my friend” I concluded the car you are driving does not belong to you. I am sorry about that.” The woman got it. Her action and reaction in her car does not correspond with the sticker she pasted at the back of her car.

Christians have always had the problem of how to tell the world who they are. At some periods in history and still in some places in the world, uniforms have played a very important role in announcing our identity to the world. Think of the various uniforms of the various Christian societies of consecrated life, which distinguish consecrated people not only from ordinary Christians but also from one another according to their institutes. In the African Independent churches members usually wear uniforms to distinguish them from non-members. This usually takes the form of white flowing gowns, with headgear and sashes of different colors distinguishing members according to their various ranks. In the mainline churches, however, the use of uniforms or habits has become less popular. In these churches the words of Shakespeare in Measure for Measure, "the hood does not make a monk" have been taken more seriously.

The quest for uniforms, habits, badges, banners and pinups designed to distinguish believers from non-believers does indeed have its place in the celebration of who we are. We are symbolic beings who need to express our faith in symbolic ways. Jesus himself wrestled with the question of how to distinguish his followers from the non-believers around them. But his prescription goes much farther than external habits and uniforms.

For Jesus the essential mark of distinction between Christians and non-Christians is not in the way we dress but in the way we live.

I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-5).

Love is the Christian identity. Love is the Christian uniform. Love is the Christian habit. If you are wearing the habit of love, you are in. If you are not wearing love as a habit, you are out. Love is the essence of life. It is what keeps us together and keeps us going as children of God. Love is the summary of Christianity; it is the summary of life; it is the summary of our faith. Love is the reason for faith and hope. Our world stands on three things:

1. On the law
2. On worship
3. And on the works of love.

Love is the identity and the uniform of Christians. Jesus wants the world to recognize us as his followers not because we carry the Bible about, or wear the Rosary and other religious objects. Jesus does not want the world to recognize us as Christians simply by the stickers we have in our houses and in our cars. He wants the world to recognize us through the lens of love. He wants the world to recognize us by the language of love we speak. Love should be the lens through which we must see each other. Love should be the language we speak as sons and daughters of Jesus. And when the world sees how much we love each other with the love of Christ, they will know we are his disciples. Jesus wants the world to recognize us as Christians. Although Jesus wants us to “go to the whole world preaching the good news,” the most effective evangelization and witnessing has less to do with how fluent we speak and how powerful we preach; it is more to do with how much we love each other.

Love has been defined, explained and discussed in various ways. For me love is “I accept you the way you; you accept me the way I am. And together we can enrich each other, shape each other and recreate each other better in the image and likeness of God.” In accepting each other the way we are, we teach the world the virtue of tolerance and compassion. In enriching, shaping and recreating each other, we teach the world the virtue of charity, character formation and human development. A gospel preached is useless without a gospel lived. And the gospel is better lived in love. No member of a church stops coming to church because the people love each other genuinely. No one hates a church because members practice the love of Christ. The world does not hate us because we love each other. No one leaves the church because the priest is kind and compassionate. No one becomes an atheist because we, Jesus’ followers love him or her. Atheism is rather created by Christians because we do not act as Jesus directs us. Atheism is created because Christians do not practice what they preach; they do not practice the virtue of love. Genuine love is infectious.

Scripture says that God created us in his image. And this image is an image of love because God is love. At the very core of the human person is love. Our feelings and emotions incline us to act and not to act in relation to what is good or evil. The most fundamental of all these feelings and emotions is love. Love brings new things in our life and society. Love makes God live among us. Remember the song: “Where love and charity abide, there God is found.” Love enthrones the reign of God in our family and society. It wipes away tears from people’s eyes- tears of frustration, hunger and sickness, tears of hopelessness. Love makes the whole of creation new. Love removes mourning or sadness. Even in suffering, love from the brethren lightens the burdens. It really feels good to love and be loved.

Dearest beloved, love and you will be saved.

IN THE DARKNESS OF THE GRAVE, DEATH COULD NOT HOLD HIM

IN THE DARKNESS OF THE GRAVE,DEATH COULD NOT HOLD HIM

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Easter Homily

Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

April 11, 2010

When the Redeemer of man died, when the one who went about doing good, healing all those who were sick died, when the righteous One died, when the Prince of peace died, when the Lion of the tribe of Judah died, when the Son of God died, when Jesus who is, who was, and who is to come died, foolish people foolishly thought that God is dead. But if God died, how come we are still alive? The death of God wouldn’t be the death of man alone, but the extinction of all other created things. Foolish people wrongly and foolishly interpreted the death of the Redeemer of man as the death of God.

Brethren the cross is not the end of everything. If God had died, then there will be no more life on earth or anywhere. The paradox here is that the Son of God only conquered death by his death. By dying, Jesus conquered death, our death. By rising, Jesus restored our life. But the cross of Jesus to atheist and agnostics is foolishness. To the unbelievers, it is the utmost show of foolishness; it may be a reckless and irrational show of timidity. To an unbeliever, the cross is a manifestation of weakness and dullness of Jesus. To unbelievers and doubters, the cross signifies the end of a failure; the end of a disaster, the end of a woeful end. For them, the cross indicates the colossal and the maximal crash of a deceiver called Jesus Christ. This is why one of the thieves crucified with Jesus said to him, “Save yourself and us”. Others mocked him saying, “He saved others, let him save himself and come down from the cross so that we will believe in him.”

The ungrateful murderers of Jesus thought that they have killed him. But death could not hold him! The forces of evil could not stop him from rising. Satan and his malevolent followers could not hold him down in the grave. Jesus rose in glory. The cross is not a depiction of weakness. Rather it is a symbol of hope and power! The cross is a powerful tool. From the cross was born the new life of Saul; from the cross was born the conversion of erudite St. Augustine of Hippo; from the cross was born the joyful poverty of St. Francis of Assisi; from the cross was born the radiant goodness of Vincent de Paul; from the cross was born the great compassion of St. Alfonsus Ligouri; from the cross was born the heroism of Maximilian Kolbe; from the cross was born the amazing charity of Mother Teresa of Calcutta; from the cross was born the courage of John Paul II; from the cross was born the bravery of Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador; a man who rejected the comfort and protection of the country’s evil government and pitched his tent with the poor and abandoned- the special friends of Jesus. From the cross was born the courage and objectivity of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who challenged the nation to live out the true meaning of its creed, that all men and women are equal; from the cross was born the revolution of love; from the cross was born the profound manifestation of the love of Scholastica, a young girl from Nigeria who preferred death to blasphemy against God. So the cross is not the death of God, but the birth of his love in our world. It is cross that brought every one of us here.

The cross leads to victory and triumph in Christ. The cross points to Easter. Easter is the celebration of the celebration of Jesus Christ over death. It is a celebration of victory and triumph of Jesus. It is also our celebration and our own victory and triumph. Because he lives, we can face tomorrow. In Easter we celebrate and rejoice over our own new life. We are victorious! Let us claim the victory of Christ. His victory is our victory. Death was not powerful enough to keep him down in the grave. He rose! He rose!! He rose!!! Everybody shout, He Rose! He Rose! He Rose!

Easter tells us there is an end to pain and suffering. When walking on the rough road to Golgotha, Easter reminds us there is a corresponding celebration of triumph. When walking under the shadow of death, Easter comes to reassure us that “this too shall pass away.” When the accuser of the Brethren is roaring to kill and maim, be calm because victory is just round the corner. When the forces of hatred gang up against you, Easter tell you “Death could not hold him bound.” When the forces of envy and jealousy unite to frustrate and foil your progress, Easter tells you to be strong because massive victory awaits you. Death could not hold the Master of the universe in the grave. He conquered death and resurrected unto glory. There is indeed an end to suffering and discomfort.

When Jesus was dragging his already battered body to Golgotha, it seemed it is finished for him. On his way to Golgotha, remember, he fell thrice. Before them, he was severely scourged at the pillar, he was crown with painful thorns, and was brutally beaten and smashed by the soldiers. During this time, it seemed it is finished for Jesus. And when he finally cried, “It is finished”, his killers rejoiced and thought he has been finished. They thought they have finished him. But our Lord was not really finished. He came back triumphantly. When he said, “It is finished”, he meant our salvation and freedom is accomplished. In the silence of history, the Lord cried “It is finished”. But the Lord is saying, “I have given you everything. I have told you everything. I brought you the most beautiful message of all: God is love! God loves you! There is nothing left behind.” Jesus is saying to us “I have told you everything you need to know to gain salvation. I have given you everything you need to have for your redemption. The complete message of salvation has been preached completely.” When Jesus cried with a loud voice “It is finished”, he meant there is nothing left, and there is nothing I have not done or said for you to achieve salvation. I have emptied myself completely for you. My love has been poured out to you unreservedly; my entire life has been poured out completely for your liberty. Nothing remains! “It is finished” means the enmity between you and God is over. The sin that separates us from God is erased. It means the barrier is finally destroyed. “It is finished” means Satan’s power and victory over us is finished. He can no longer win battles against us. Jesus said, I have finished the evil one! Jesus was not finished, rather he finished his enemies and finished our enemies.

“It is finished” therefore does not mean our Savior’s life is finished; rather his life and love have been given out completely without reservation. Life was won! Love was poured out! But fools misunderstood expiration for extinction. They thought the Excellent One is finished forever. But our Lord is alive; He lives! Death could not hold him in the darkness of the grave. He rose to light and glory for our good. He has offered us everything- love, freedom, peace, joy, salvation, courage, life and everything. I mean everything! Nothing was left behind undone. Salvation has been accomplished. This therefore calls for a great celebration- a celebration of love, love at its peak.

The Redeemer of humanity crucified on Good Friday is risen. He is risen! He has risen to reign forever. He has risen in our life. He has risen to die no more.

Tonight, like we do at every Easter Vigil, we concluded the first part of our vigil with the chanting of the Exsultet- the Church’s Easter proclamation. This Easter chant has been appropriately described as “one of the finest jewels in the Church’s treasury” The first three stanzas of the Exsultet started with “Rejoice”. So tonight, let us rejoice because “Christ has ransomed us with his blood, and paid for us the price of Adam’s sin to our eternal Father. We rejoice because this is the night when Christians everywhere, washed clean of sin and freed from all defilements, are restored to grace and grow together in holiness. We rejoice because this is the night when Jesus Christ broke the chains of death and rose triumphant from the grave.

Tonight, I say to you brothers and sisters rejoice. Rejoice! Rejoice!! Rejoice!!! We are free! We are redeemed! We have been reconciled with God! We are have been made new! When Jesus raised Lazarus from death, he said to those who witnessed the great miracle, “untie him and let him go”. By his death and resurrection, Jesus speaks to Satan, “untie my people and let them go.” By his death, Jesus makes a bold statement, “My people, you are free”. Go in peace!