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!