Homily on Ash Wednesday

Repent and believe in the Gospel

Homily on Ash Wednesday

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church

Baton Rouge, LA, USA

February 22, 2012

When I was growing up, Ash Wednesday was my least favorite. In fact, I did not like Ash Wednesday and the entire season of Lent. I did not like the season because of the impression I got at that time. As a young boy, I liked the joyful celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost. But during the season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday, Christians, especially Catholics walk around looking like they just had a hook warm treatment. At the time, I had seen Catholics who think that laughing during Lent was not proper. They therefore spend the 40 days of Lent feeling really bad about their sins. The only issues they talk about are death, the nothingness of life and how miserable we all are. These Christians move around looking gloomy and prohibiting laughter and smile.

Because of their attitude, I disliked Ash Wednesday and the entire period of Lent. I had even thought that some people should petition the Pope so that he can erase this season from the Church’s calendar. I had thought that it is time we showed the world that we are not a gloomy bunch of folks who manage to take the fun out of everything. This was the way I felt for sometime about Ash Wednesday and Lent until I started to read and study more about Ash Wednesday. I began to see what I never saw then, and I began to feel differently about it.

Ash Wednesday reminds us that life is a precious gift from God that we should cherish. It also reminds us that one day we must give up this life. As busy people, busy with the affairs of this world, we need to be reminded from time to time that we come from dust and one day we will return to dust. But that is not the end of the story. Ash Wednesday also comes each year to remind us that Easter is coming. “Lent” itself means “Spring”- that is, that time of the year after a long winter when new life begins to burst forth everywhere. Ash Wednesday begins with gloom and doom, but it ends with a mighty, world-shaking BOOM!

Ash Wednesday comes not just to remind us about our being miserable sinners in constant need of repentance, even though we are. But it seeks to prepare us anew to receive in our hearts the wonderful grace and forgiveness of God offered in Christ. As a boy living in maternal home with my grandmother, I remember trying to help my grandmother carry heavy buckets of water to her house from a stream. I had put a pole across my shoulders and put a bucket on each end of the pole. The house was a good distance away from the stream; and the first time I tried this, I just could not make it. The buckets were too heavy for me. And I have never forgotten my maternal uncle coming out, taking the pole and placing it on his strong shoulders and carry them for me. I felt good getting rid of those heavy buckets.

Now Ash Wednesday and Lent come along to remind us to look at our shoulders for the heavy burdens we may be carrying there- guilt, sin, unforgiving spirit, bitterness against another, hatred etc. and allow Jesus Christ take them onto his shoulders. This calls for joyful mood. There is no reason to be gloomy, is it? During this awesome Sacrifice of the Mass, we will all receive a mark of ashes on our foreheads. The priests will make a vertical line “I” on our foreheads which stands for us, the sinful self, that part of us that wants to rebel against God that hurts our relationships with God and others. But that is not the only mark we will receive. That “I” on our foreheads will be crossed meaning there will be another horizontal mark. At the end, what we will see on our foreheads will be a cross! It means the sinful self is crossed out. The ashes made in the form of a cross remind us of the cross of Christ by which our sins and the sins of the whole world are canceled out. Is this not a great reason for rejoicing?

Ash Wednesday reminds us that we belong to a world of sin and death, but we are not abandoned here. The very sign of the cross on our foreheads, though made with ashes to remind us of our sins, reminds us also of that same sign made in water on our foreheads when we were baptized. It is a sign of ownership. When you pick up a book and see someone’s name inside it, you know that it belongs to that person. When we and others see the sign of the cross on our foreheads, it is a reminder that we do not ultimately belong to a world of death and sin, but to a gracious and loving God who is our Father. Ash Wednesday is here again! It comes each year. I don’t know about you, but I need it. I want my sins to be taken away from me. The weight of it is weighing me down. After all, I belong to God through Jesus my Lord.

The Kingdom of God is here

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, LA, USA

February 26, 2012

To live a sinful life is to be unfaithful to God, and to be unfaithful to God is to refuse to be loved by God. Whenever people refuse to be loved by God they suffer painful consequences, not because God is punishing them, but because their refusal to be loved by God is itself a punishment which they have brought upon themselves. Whenever people refuse to be loved by God they experience untold poverty- sometimes spiritual, other times physical, another time psychological, and in some cases all at the same time. They suffer all these not because God has abandoned them, or rejected them. It is not because God thinks of them no more. Their refusal to be loved by the One who alone is good, who is Goodness himself, and who is Love is itself enough punishment which they have brought upon themselves.

Brethren, this is the season of Lent. This season, as you all know is a season of grace. Grace means God’s free gift to us. It is God’s benevolence. It means God’s compassion on humanity. It also means God’s favor and forgiveness. Today being the First Sunday of Lent, Jesus who had just emerged victorious after being tempted by the devil proclaims “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Having dealt a heavy blow to the bragging, despicable, ugly creature (the Devil) the Lord emerged victoriously with a powerful message “This is the time of fulfillment.” Before now, the devil was, as it were, holding sway. He seemed to be in control. He was doing whatever he wanted. He had thought that no one could resist his offer. But Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah knocked him out. The Lord disgraced him. He tempted Jesus with comfort, inviting him to provide bread for himself from the stones. The devil tempted Jesus with easy success, urging him to throw himself down from the temple and everybody would admire him. The devil tempted Jesus with power. He offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the earth if Jesus would give Himself over to him. But Jesus resisted all his enticements and suggestions. And soon after that, he proclaimed, “The time of fulfillment is here now”. The time of the enemy’s reign is over. The kingdom of darkness is over. It is indeed possible to resist the wandering Beast of wickedness. “The kingdom of God” is here now. And if we must enter into it, then, we must reject the suggestions of the devil and follow Jesus; we must reject the old way and follow the new way. We must “Repent and believe in the gospel.” Brethren, that Gospel is Jesus Christ; that New Way is Jesus Christ. If we must enter the kingdom of God, then we must repent from following the old way dictated by the devil, and embrace the New Way of life offered to us by the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

Dearest beloved, we all are tempted. We are all tempted by the wild beast like Jesus was in the wilderness. But this is a message we must take to the bank: Jesus will be with us in every step of the way as we strive to wrestle with the same kinds of temptations that he endured. Being a Catholic Christian means living the life of Jesus Christ. As we go through this Lent, the Church invites every one of us to live with Jesus in his desert experience, to undergo trials with him and to come out of the desert at the end, ready to share a time of fulfillment with him in the kingdom of God. Remember, the “Kingdom of God” is here!

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, our Mother of Perpetual Help, intercede for us as we walk into the Kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy and in the Holy Ghost. Amen.

In another note, we heartily welcome Fr. Tom Donaldson CSsR, our mission preacher, to our parish. We pray that through his preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ, we will be renewed, reenergized and reinvigorated to follow Jesus more closely. Fr. Tom, you are welcomed to St. Gerard!

“My child, God is not angry with you”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, LA

February 19, 2012

The Lord Jesus had completed the tour of the Synagogues and thereafter returned to Capernaum. Shortly after his arrival, news of his homecoming spread around. In no time, a crowd of people had filled the house to capacity and all were attentively listening to the wisdom and liberating words that were coming out from Jesus’ mouth.  The gospel says “Many gathered together so that there was no longer room for them, not even around the door.” 

As Jesus was preaching, four men came carrying on a stretcher a friend of theirs who was paralyzed. They tried to gain entrance through the front door, but there was no space. They tried the back door, but it was nearly impossible to go through it. They tried the side doors, but they could get through the crowd at all. With all the entrances blocked by people who came to listen to Jesus, these four men devised a desperate means of reaching Jesus. They refused to turn back. They were men of resource. Instead of turning back, they turned upwards. Climbing the roof of the house, they opened up the roof above him and lowered the paralyzed man right in front of Jesus. When the Lord saw their faith, a perfect faith, a faith that is never discouraged by any obstacle, he was thrilled. When Jesus saw their faith, a perfect faith, the kind of faith that laughs at barriers, he was flabbergasted; and he must have said, “What a faith! What a perfect faith!” Surely, the action of these four men was a distraction and an interruption. Remember, Jesus was preaching. But typical of Jesus, he compassionately looked at the paralyzed man and said to him, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”

You know, the expression “your sins are forgiven” seems an odd way to begin a cure. But then in the time of Jesus, it was important to emphasize that because the Jews linked sin and suffering. They argued that if a person is suffering he or she must have sinned. Remember Job. His friends accused him of wrongdoing hence his suffering. The Rabbis had a saying, “There is no sick man healed of his sickness until all his sins have been forgiven him.” To this day, there are still many people who attribute suffering to sin. If someone is suffering it means that he or she must have sinned. In Nigeria, if a woman is not able to conceive immediately after marriage, she is accused of wrongdoing: “Yes, she must have committed several abortions when she was single, and now God is punishing her;” or “She is a witch, she is eating up her babies;” or “She is married in the marine world and have given several births there, that is why she cannot conceive here.” And when a man is not doing well in life, the hardship is most times attributed to either what he has done wrongly or what his parents or grandparents had done in the past. So, from the time of Jesus to this day, suffering continues to be linked to sin.  

To the Jews, a sick person was someone that God is angry with because he or she had sinned. Now, it is true that some illnesses are due to sin, but not all illnesses and sufferings are due to the sin of the sufferer. It may be due to the sin of others. It is also true that not all illnesses and sufferings are as a result of one’s wrongdoing. But the man in today’s gospel’s story may have been paralyzed because consciously or unconsciously his conscience agreed that he was a sinner, and the thought of being a sinner brought the illness to him which he believed was the inevitable consequence of sin. But Jesus intervened. 

When his friends lowered him from the roof right in front of Jesus, the Lord saw a man paralyzed not only by his sin but also the thought of being punished by God. It is one thing to sin, and another thing to think that God will not show mercy. What may have paralyzed this man may not be the sin he had committed, but the thought of God being angry with him. And in the Jewish society of Jesus’ time, the anger of God brought the wrath of God. The thought of God being angry with someone is enough to cause paralysis. When Jesus saw the paralyzed man, he also knew the thought of his heart. So, the first thing he said to him was “Child, God is not angry with you. It’s all right now.” On hearing that, the burden of the terror of God was removed from his soul and he was completely healed. 

If there is anyone out there who thinks that God is punishing you due to sin, Jesus says to you today, “My child, God is not angry with you.” If you are carrying a burden of guilt thinking that God will never forgive you, Jesus says to you today, “My child, God is not angry with you.” I have met some persons who said to me, “Father Marcel, I think God is angry with me.” To those thinking that way, Jesus says to you all, “God is not angry with you.” Our good God may be disappointed with some of our actions, but he is never angry with us. Anger is a weakness. But God is an absolute perfect being. Psalm 145: 8 says, “The Lord  is merciful and compassionate, never angry and filled with unfailing love.” 

Jesus, the man of unbelievable compassion

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Parish

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA

In the time of Jesus, no disease was more dreaded and avoided than leprosy. Leprosy was considered repulsive and unclean. The fate of anyone with leprosy was very hard and disastrous. Even though it is not a disease that is easily passed on to others, the person who contracted it was excluded from his family, friends, and from his familiar environment. The person was considered unclean, unworthy and incapable of God’s holiness. As far as the Jewish people were concerned, leprosy was a punishment for sin. And the leper must be treated as an outcaste. A Leper was a very lonely person because he was forbidden from relating with others, not even the members of his family. He must live alone outside the camp; he must go on rented clothes and bared head. As he went about, he must give warning to those coming from the opposite direction and those coming behind him of his polluted presence with a cry, “Unclean, unclean!” A leper was a man already dead, though still alive. He did not only bear the physical pain of his disease, he also bore the mental anguish and the heartbreak of being completely banished and excluded from human society. The disease was painful; but being shunned and rejected by all was even more painful. 

In today’s gospel, one of such men met Jesus. He approached Jesus, knelt down and begged him: “If you wish, you can make me clean.” Looking at him, the Lord was moved with profound compassion, and out of compassion he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said: “I will do it. Be made clean.” Jesus was deeply moved with pity by, one, the number of years this man had suffered the physical pain of leprosy; two, the number of years he had been shunned and abandoned by all, that is, the lonely life he had lived. He had carried his pain all alone with no support from anyone. Three, coming to terms of how badly a child of God had been treated by all, he was moved with pity for him. After all, the leper too is a child of God. His disease had not stripped him of his dignity which is rooted in the image of God 

But do you know that the leper broke the law by coming close to Jesus? But he did not care about the law. In Jesus, he saw what he had not seen in any other man or woman. He knew that in his situation, it was only Jesus that would care. Jesus to him was compassion personified. Do you know that Jesus too broke the law by touching a leper? Jesus too did not care about keeping the law of segregation and separation. He refused to drive away a man who had broken the law. The leper had no right to come close to Jesus. He had no right to speak to him at all. But Jesus attended to his desperate request with an understanding compassion. What is the law compared to the life of a child of God. Any law that forbids us from reaching out and taking care of the least of our brothers and sisters should be broken. Any law that forbids love and charity in any way, form and shape to the most vulnerable in our society should be broken. Any law that hinders us from being humane especially to the weak among us should be broken without any after thought. Jesus broke such a law when he touched a leper, healed him, restored him to his human family, and also restored his human dignity, pride and self-worth. He showed him compassion that no one else was ready to show him. As far as Jesus was concerned, the man was not unclean. When he looked at him, he did not see uncleanness, rather, he saw a child of God in desperate need and he responded to him with desperate compassion. 

Having cleansed him, Jesus sent him to fulfill the prescribed ritual: “See that you tell no one anything, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.” Jesus obeyed the law only when it is necessary to do so. He did not recklessly break human law. With the leper healed, he sent him out with a don’t and a do. Don’t tell anyone. Go and show yourself to the priest and to offer the needed sacrifice. But as soon as the man left the sight of Jesus, he could not hold his excitement and joy. He could not hold to himself the mighty work that had been done for him. He just could not resist telling anyone about Jesus and what he did for him. And do you blame him? I don’t! He spread the word. His shout was no more, “I am unclean, I am unclean.” For the first time in a long time, he was able to scream, “I am clean, I am clean.” Who cleansed you? Jesus of Nazareth! For the first time in a long time, the former leper would sit among people, chat with them, eat with them, and make his residence among them. Who did it? Jesus of Nazareth! It’s possible he shouted, “I have seen a man who cured me and restored me; I have seen a man who allowed me to come close to him; I have seen a man who reached out and touched an unclean man with leprosy; I have seen a man who broke the law to make me clean. His name is Jesus of Nazareth.” 

Sisters and brothers, we are not lepers. We don’t have leprosy. But what leprosy does on the outside is what sin does in the inside. What leprosy does physically is what sin does spiritually. Leprosy isolates a man or woman from the human society. Sin isolates a person from God. Leprosy kills! Sin also kills. The leper needed Jesus to be healed, we also need Jesus to heal us. The leper needed Jesus for restoration, we also need Jesus for restoration. The leper went to Jesus with a prayer request, “If you want to, you can make me clean.” We too need to go to Jesus and ask him to make us clean and whole. Jesus sent the leper to the priest who will officiate the celebration of his restoration to the human family. We too must go to our priest who on behalf of Jesus officiates the sacramental celebration of our pardon by Jesus. 

Today’s gospel says one thing louder and clearer: that Jesus is the man of unbelievable compassion. In him compassion, wisdom and power meet!

Praise the Lord!

We are saved to serve

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Gerard Majella Catholic Church

Baton Rouge, LA

February 5, 2012

Last Sunday, we read of Jesus entering the Synagogue and preaching with authority to the astonishment of the people. In the Synagogue, he preached passionately the word of God and compassionately set a man possessed by an unclean spirit free. Jesus was a preacher with a difference. He did not only preach about the Kingdom of God, he made the Kingdom of God present. To Jesus, the Kingdom of God is not something that is coming, it is already present with the people. In the Synagogue, he demonstrated in words and in deeds that the Kingdom of God is already here with us. 

Today’s gospel reading is a continuation of last Sunday’s gospel. The Synagogue service has just ended, and Jesus, together with his friends arrive at Peter’s house. He wants to enjoy the Sabbath meal with Peter and also to rest. After all, it has been an exciting and also an exhausting day. Jesus needs some rest! And he truly deserves it. But once again, his compassion was appealed to. Simon’s mother-in-law was down with a fever: “They immediately told him about her. He approached her, grasped her hand and helped her up. Then the fever left her and she waited on them.” 

You know, Jesus has every right to claim the right to rest. Mind you, he has been in the Synagogue all day dealing with humans and evil spirits. Right now, he is exhausted. He just needs some rest. But here again, his attention is needed. In this situation, he  could have said, “No, I am tired; I need some rest” instead he stands up immediately they told him about the ill-health of Simon’s mother-in-law.  On getting to where she lay, Jesus picks her up. Yes, Jesus picks her up! That’s what the Lord does for his people. Remember those times you were down, it was the Lord that picked you up. And when you are up, it is also the Lord that keeps you up and running. Whenever you are knock down by ill-health, by misfortunes, and by the problems of life, remember to tell Jesus about it. Do not lay there on your bed and grieve about it, just tell it to Jesus. Take it to the Lord in prayer. I always say, “If you talk to him in the morning and he does not answer you, talk to him again about it in the noon. And if he does not answer you in the noon, tell him about it at night. If he does not answer you at night, tell him about it in the morning. Talk to him day after day and time after time.” Do not let up! Do not give up on God. Do not be tired of talking to him. Two friends in love never get tired of talking to each other. Peter’s mother-in-law was sick, they informed Jesus about it. Tell the Lord about your own case. 

Now, as soon as Peter’s mother-in-law was healed, she got up and attended to the needs of Jesus and his disciples. Her service was a way of saying, “Thank You!” She does not concern herself with personal things she has not been able to do for herself when she was sick. Instead she uses her renewed strength and recovered health to serve the Lord’s needs. 

But Peter’s mother-in-law was not the only person that Jesus healed today. Today’s gospel says that at sunset, people brought to Jesus sick people and people who were possessed by demons, and he cured many who were sick and also expelled demons that possessed many of them. 

Now, early in the morning of the next day, Jesus went to a deserted place where he prayed. The Lord loves going to a quiet and deserted place to pray. Do you know why? Because he knows that it is only in the silence of a deserted place that he can have a meaningful discussion and conversation with his Father without any interference. A deserted place can offer us silence and serenity. A deserted place can offer us peace and quiet. A deserted place can provide us the ample opportunity to hear God’s voice. In a deserted place, we can speak to God and God in turn can speak to us without any interference or interruption. In a deserted place, we are able to hear God clearer. In today’s noisy world, we can still make our homes “deserted places” by turning off the TV, radio, cell phones, iPad, computers etc and talk to God. 

As Jesus was praying, Simon and others who had been looking for him found him in a deserted place praying. Instead of joining him in prayer, they distracted him with a message, “Everyone is looking for you.” Yes, everyone is looking for Jesus but not everyone wants him. Everyone is looking for Jesus, but not everyone wants the message that Jesus brings. Everyone is looking for the good things that Jesus offers (miracles, healing, deliverance, signs and wonders), but not everyone is looking for the goodness that Jesus is. Everyone wants something out of Jesus, but not everyone loves him. Everyone is looking for Jesus, but not everyone is looking for him to worship him, to adore him, and to see the new vision he brings. They are looking for him to use him just like many people do today. In days of prosperity, very few prayers are said. But in the days of adversity, more and more prayers are said. There are many people who never prayed when the sun is shinning but would begin to pray when the cold sets in. God to such people is a crisis affair. It’s only when their life is in a mess or when the wind of life begins to blow against them that they remember God. Such people usually say to God, “God please show yourself a Father.” But they never bother to show themselves as his sons and daughters. We must go to Jesus in season and out of season; in good health and in ill-health, in prosperity and in poverty. God should not be used. He is not someone to be used in the days of misfortune. God should be loved and remembered all the days of our lives. God should be enjoyed and not used. St. Augustine makes a distinction between enjoyment and use: “Some things are to be enjoyed, others to be used....The things which are to be enjoyed make us blessed. Those things which are to be used sustain us as we move towards blessedness...To enjoy something is to cling to it with love, for its own sake. To use something, however, is to employ it in obtaining that which we love, provided it is worthy of love.” For St. Augustine, “The only “thing” to be enjoyed for its own sake is God.” Enjoy God! Don’t use God! If God has saved you, serve him and serve others! We are saved to serve!