Wake up! Keep your eyes open!

Father Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR, the Servant of God

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, 2010

Holy Names of Jesus & Mary Catholic Church

Memphis, Tennessee, USA

Dearest beloved, today is the first Sunday of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the Church’s liturgical Calendar. As you already know, the Catholic Church has her own unique calendar, and through this liturgical calendar, the Church presents the unchanging history of our salvation beginning from creation to the Second coming of Jesus, together with the entire life of our Redeemer Jesus Christ. Through this liturgical calendar, the Church teaches and forms her children in the things of God; her children learn about faith, hope and love. We learn about God’s will for us and how to do God’s will. Each Sunday or Feast presents us a special lesson for our daily living.

The season of Advent precisely emphasizes the Parousia, that is, the Second Coming of Jesus. It reminds us that our days on earth are numbered. Advent tells us that just as the sun rises, it also sets. The Church during this season reminds us, in case we have forgotten that the Redeemer of humanity will some day come back. The Church reminds us that someday we meet him. It is either we meet him here on earth during lifetime or we meet him in heaven after our earthly life. But unfortunately, not every one will meet the Lord in heaven. Some will not. Do you know why? Because they did not keep their eyes open. They did not wake up from their slumber; they did not stay wake. Advent reminds us that human life does not go on unceasingly. Advent therefore offers us a new beginning. The First Sunday of Advent is the Church’s New Year Day. So, I say to you all, “Happy New Year.” And do not forget that Advent begins the Christmas cycle.

The word “Advent” means “arrival” or “coming.” It indicates the arrival or the coming of the Lord. It teaches that Jesus Christ, our Brother in our humanity, and our God in his divinity is coming. Baby! Jesus is about to come. The Lord comes to us in different ways: First, the whole Gospel of Luke chapter 2 tells us that at a specific time in history in Bethlehem, more than 2000 years ago, the infant Jesus was born. The first entrance of Jesus into our world is what we celebrate at Christmas. At Christmas, we celebrate the migration of the King of kings from heaven to earth. On Christmas, we rejoice for the Good Neighbor, Jesus Christ for moving into our neighborhood. From being a Landlord, a house owner, he became a tenant with us in our neighborhood because of us. With him living with us we are covered. We are no longer afraid of the Hoodlum- the Devil who terrorizes our streets.

Secondly, the gospel of Matthew 24: 29-31 also speaks of the Lord’s arrival at the end of time to judge the living and the dead. His Second Coming is going to be a time of reward and recompense. Friends, never forget that our Rewarder is coming. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says “behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with the person, and the person with me.” Thirdly, Jesus comes to us in the Eucharist and in the Word of God proclaimed and preached. In John 6:25-59, the Lord tells us he is more than the manna the people of Israel ate in the desert, that he is the Bread of life. And in Matthew 26: 26-29, the Lord commands “Take and eat…Do this in remembrance of me.” Finally, Jesus comes to us in the needy persons, in the poor, the most vulnerable, the suffering and the oppressed. The face of the poor, the needy and vulnerable is the face of Jesus Christ. Once I saw a band of lepers along a major road in Nigeria begging for alms, and I said to myself “There, over there is Jesus.” Remember in Matthew 25:40, Jesus says “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you did unto me.”

Baby, advent is a period of great expectation. It is a wonderful expectation of the coming of our Savior and our salvation. Mind you, if there is no Savior, there will be no Salvation. The Savior brings salvation; the salvation is for those who keep their eyes open. Salvation is for those who stay awake. This salvation is for those who are ready to receive it. Sacred Scripture says that “The salvation of the just comes from the Lord.” Baby, this salvation is free, but not cheap!

We may be asking ourselves now, “What shall we do to be saved?” “What shall we do then to be part of this salvation and to belong to the redeemed people?” My best friend Jesus Christ provides the answer in today’s Gospel reading when he said “Therefore, stay awake! For you do not know on which day your Lord will come.” In the area of coming when people are not expecting his arrival, the Lord compares himself to a thief. When a thief breaks into a home, he steals money and other material goods. But Jesus does not come to steal your money or your material goods; he wants to “steal” your soul. He wants to have you. Like the thief, he will gate-crash into the house of your soul; and if your eyes are open, and you are readily awake, he will take you along. When a “smart” thief breaks into a home, and finds the owner deeply asleep and snoring, he would not bother to wake her up. He may carry her laptops, phones, TV, iPad, iPod; credit cards etc. if there is money in the drawer, he will take it and secretly leave before you wake up to dial 911 or recognize him. It is almost the same thing with Jesus. When he comes and finds you deeply asleep, asleep in faith, moral and virtues, unlike the thief, he will not take any of your material goods, because he does not need them; but like the thief, he may not bother to wake you up. He will simply walk out in disappointment.

Dearest beloved, Jesus says in today’s Gospel that we do not know the day our Lord will come. We don’t know when the appointed time will come. This appointed time may be when we die individually. Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed unto humans to die once, and then be judged.” The appointed time may be when Jesus comes again. The entire chapter 24 of Matthew’s gospel tells of the Lord’s second coming and how it’s going to look like.

Sons, daughters and children of God, let’s keep our eyes open watching and waiting in prayer and in upright living. Stay awake! Wake up from the sleep of the soul. The sleep of the soul is the neglect of God and God’s matters. It is the neglect of spiritual duties like coming to Church on Sunday and letting the church come to you everyday. Some people come to Church always, but always leave worship unchanged. Letting the church come to you means “being a church person every time and in everywhere.” The sleep of the soul is the neglect of one’s state of life; it is the neglect of virtues.

Some Christians are asleep, even though they are walking around. And in their deep slumber, they are overtaken by the deeds of darkness, and driven back to Sodom. In their deep sleep, their dreams are all about Egypt instead of dreaming about the Promised Land. Sleeping Christians believe in past glory. In their slumber, they fail to remember that our salvation is nearer then when we first believed. Today, the Lord urges us to wake up, to keep our eyes open because we do not know when he will come. Arise and shine in this crooked and pervert world.

In the book of Revelation 3: 1, the Church in Sardis was described by the Lord as follows, “I know your deeds, you have a reputation of being alive but you are dead.” Baby, divine view is different from human view. This is why 1 Samuel 16:7 says “The Lord does not look at the things human beings look at.” Human beings look at outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.

The church in Sardis was deceived by their reputation; she was deceived by human applause. When weighed on human scales, they were found perfect. They were justified by men. When they sing, pray, clap hands, and dance in their church, onlookers nod their heads in great admiration and say “Yes, their church is alive and moving forward.” In their church, they prayed like Elijah; in their church, they danced like David; in their church, they preached like St. Paul; in their church, miracles were performed like Elisha; in their church, they sang like the angels; in their church, they prophesied like Ezekiel; in their church, they preach social justice like Amos; in their church they claim to be like Jesus. Because of these, people believed they were alive. But when weighed spiritually, they were simply empty. Jesus scanned their hearts and found that what they had was outward show of piety.

Dearest beloved, Jesus tells us today to keep our eyes open, and be watching in prayer and in good deeds. He wants us to come down from our bed of sleep. The Lord wants us to hearken to the words of Prophet Isaiah 2: 3 “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob so that he may teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths…” St. Paul in 1 Thessalonica 5:6-8 says “So then, let us not be like others who are asleep, but let us be alert and self-controlled…putting on faith and love as breastplate, and hope of salvation as helmet.” But if we do nothing about our spiritual life and our life generally, we may be found wanting when the Lord comes. Revelation 3:3 warns us as follows, “But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”

Do you know what? Only those whose eyes are open, who stay awake, will sing with the Psalmist in Psalm 122: 1, “I rejoice when I heard them say, “let us go to the house of God.”

Perseverance for the sake of the kingdom

Perseverance for the sake of the kingdom

Father Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the 33^rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, 2010

Holy Names Church

Memphis, Tennessee

Today Jesus speaks to us about wisdom and witness. He was coming to the end of his earthly ministry. The setting of this gospel is the Temple in Jerusalem. The gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus was standing in one of the courtyards watching people as they come and go. Then he overheard some people marveling at the beauty of the Temple. They were not talking to God; they were rather talking to themselves about the costly stones and votive offering in the Temple. They were not praising God; they were praising the Temple. They were not glorifying God; they were glorifying the Temple. They did not marvel at God’s beauty and majesty, but that of the Temple. Jesus released the bombshell- all earthly things including the Temple are vanity unless they lead us to God. He then prophesied the destruction of the Temple: “All that you see here, the days will come when there will not be left a stone upon another stone that will not be thrown down.”

Jesus’ listeners must have been baffled at what he said. The Temple was huge; and a magnificent sight to behold. Remember, it took the Jewish people many years to complete it. But Jesus was right. In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed the Temple, and leveled the city of Jerusalem.

In today’s gospel, Jesus also speaks of other calamities like wars, famine and earthquakes: “Nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be powerful earthquakes, famines, and plagues from place to place; and awesome sights and mighty signs will come from the sky.” To those who believe in him, Jesus says “they will seize and persecute you, they will hand you over to the synagogues and to prisons, and they will have you led before kings and governors because of my name.” Again, these prophecies of Jesus came to pass like his prophesy of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem. So many early Christians were persecuted, tortured, and killed by some Roman emperors. Emperor Nero, for instance, destroyed the lives of so many Christians. He was so ruthless to Christians that the Christian writer, Tertullian accused him of the being the first to persecute the Christians. When it rained in Rome, Nero accused the Christians for praying to their God to send the rain, and he would order for their killing. Peter and Paul, like many other disciples of Jesus were killed. Remember, Stephen too. He was regarded as the first Christian martyr. But in all these tribulations, the early Christians did not give up their faith. They believed in the promise of Jesus to be with them till the end of time. The early Christians believed they were not alone. In fact, in today’s gospel, Jesus promised “Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you wisdom in speaking that your adversaries will be powerless to resist or refute.” In that expression, the Lord assured of his ever constant presence.

Dearest in Christ, I don’t want to dwell on the end time. I don’t want to dwell so much on the signs of the end time. Everything that Jesus said in today’s gospel has come to past, and some of them are still happening today. We still witness wars; nation still rise up against nation; hunger and famine have devastated life; earthquake still happen; this year alone, it has occurred in Haiti, Chile, China, and Indonesia. Awesome sights like hurricane, volcanic eruption, and human bodies littering the streets of wars are still being seen. In some Islamic and communist countries, Christians are still prime targets for persecution and death. So everything the Lord said in today’s gospel has either occurred or still occurring.

But in the face of all these calamities, Jesus tells us “Do not be terrified” (Luke 21:9). Do not be afraid because Jesus is always with us. We should not give in to life’s troubles. We should not surrender to life’s misfortune. Jesus says “By your perseverance you will secure your lives.” By your perseverance, you will inherit the Kingdom. Quitters do not win; quitters cannot run the race; quitters do not get to the finish line; quitters are never praised both by God and by humans. Quitters give up before morning. The Bible says “there may be mourning in the night, but joy comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Those who do not persevere do not see the morning when joy is enjoyed. Those who do not persevere all through the night till morning do not see the joy of a new day.

Jesus has not promised us a crossless life. He never promised us a rosy life without thorns. He is actually telling us that opting to follow him is opting for persecution, arrest, betrayal, imprisonment, backstabbing, and public ridicule. But the Lord has made a promise “By your perseverance you will secure your lives” meaning, “if you persevere till the very end, you will be saved.” If you continue to be faithful to me even when it is very difficult to do, you will be saved. If you continue to be my arm in the world, even when it is not encouraging to do so, you will be saved. If you continue to be my voice in the world, speaking truth, peace and justice, even when you are not being appreciated, you will be saved. If you continue to be my hand reaching out to my people, even when those you are reaching out your hand to try to cut off your hand, you will be saved.

Brethren, we have heard it today from our Lord. No one likes misfortune. I do not like it either. I want my life to be free of any problem and trouble. Incidentally, such a path is not the path that leads to life. If there is no cross, there will be no crown. For those of us who have golden jewelries, think of the painful process a piece of gold will have to go through before it is finally purified. That’s the life of a Christian. All the troubles we experience in our lifetime are our passing through purification. Like gold, we must be heated before we become the shinning piece of God’s ornaments. If you persevere, you will be saved. But if you quit, you may be lost.

Sisters and brothers, the wind will blow; sickness may come; insecurity and threat to life may heighten; advancement in age may weaken out movement; our good actions may not be appreciated; what you ask for in prayer may not exactly be given to you; life may be really hard; the once joyful marriage may end up being a nightmare; your children may not appreciate all you are doing for them; you may be invisible to others; things you never expected to happen to you may happen to you; you may be on the brink of loosing your house; the night may be long; the journey may be far; the mountain of life may be high, but Jesus tells us “Do not be afraid.” When Jesus says “Remember, you are not to prepare your defense beforehand, for I myself shall give you wisdom in speaking…” he was simply saying “I will be with you all the time.” I will be with you all the time to grant you wisdom. I will be with you all the time to lighten the loud. I will be with you all the time to ease your pains. I will be with you all the time to comfort you. Do not give up. May your desire for the kingdom never let you give up. By your perseverance, your life will be saved.

May God bless you today, bless you tomorrow, and bless you always.