Homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

When God Puts You In A Position Of Lifting Up A Broken Spirit, Just Do It

Fr. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Gerard Majella Church

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Today’s parable has two characters in it: a rich man and a poor man. The rich man was not named but the poor man has a name- Lazarus. The name “Lazarus” is derived from the Hebrew name “Eleazar” which means “God is my help.” Like so many rich people, the rich man in today’s gospel (Luke 16:19-31) lived, ate and dressed luxuriously. He was extremely comfortable and exceedingly elegant. He dressed in expensive purple garments and fine linen. He dined sumptuously every day, i.e. he feasted expensively and luxuriously every day. 

In a region where many folks considered themselves fortunate if only they ate a small piece of meat once in a week, and where they labored and toiled for six days of the week, this rich man indulged himself in a lavished, flamboyant and extravagant living. Meanwhile, not far from him was a poor man, Lazarus who sat and waited for the crumbs that fell from his table. Lazarus was a beggar and it seems he was also homeless because the gospel says “...lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus...” His body was covered with sores. He was so helpless and so weak that he could not even ward off the street dogs that hovered around him and licked his sores. 

Our Faith teaches us that life does not end here. After this earthly life, there is another life that awaits each of us. Earthly life is temporary, but afterlife is everlasting. Therefore, we should spend our earthly life securing a better and happier future in heaven. So, after an earthly life of untold suffering, Lazarus died. He was carried away by angels to the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died after an earthly life of extreme luxury, but he went to a place of torment- hell. Now, the rich man did not go to the place of torment simply because he was rich. Then what was his sin? After all he did not order Lazarus to be thrown out of his house and sight; he did not stop Lazarus from picking the scraps of food that fell from his dinning table; he did not scold or hit Lazarus. He was not deliberately cruel to him. He did not hold his nose to avoid smelling the poor man’s sores. He did not call the police to report that an intruder was around him. He did not look at Lazarus with scorn and contempt. What then was the sin of the rich man? His sin was that he never noticed Lazarus. The poor man was invisible to him. As far as he was concerned, Lazarus was part of the landscape. As far as he was concerned, it was perfectly alright for Lazarus to live a life of deep pain and hunger while he wallow in extravagant feasting. What took the rich man to the place of torment is not what he did but what he did not do. His sin was that he could look at a man ravaged by disease, a child of God, a human being like himself, saw his dire need for help but felt no sense of grief and pity in his heart. He saw a man covered with sores, a helplessly homeless beggar, a desperately hungry man, a man being plundered by deep pain, and did nothing about it. He does not lack the resources to help and to change the life of Lazarus, but he turned a blind eye. He was punished for refusing to notice the presence of a needy man. 

From the place of torment, he looked up and saw Lazarus and pleaded for a drop of water from him. But he was quickly reminded that he was reaping what he sowed while on earth. And when he asked that Lazarus be sent to his brothers to warn them to change their lifestyles to avoid ending where he ended, Abraham told him that there are priests and prophets on earth already doing what he wanted Lazarus to go and do. 

Some of us will look at today’s gospel as a condemnation of riches and an elevation of poverty. Jesus never condemned the wealthy for being wealthy. I want to say here that this kind of poverty is evil and sinful. This type of poverty is an offense against charity and compassion. Abject poverty of this kind should be fought and be defeated. It gives no glory to God; it gives no commendation to humanity. No human being should be allowed to experience it. It debases the dignity of the human person, and makes mockery the very idea of humanity and community. Jesus is not anti-riches or rich people. Riches are God’s blessings too. The rich man did not end up in hell simply because he was rich; and Lazarus was not carried to the bosom of Abraham simply because he was poor. The rich man went to hell because he was deeply selfish and self-centered. He lacked the virtue of love, charity and compassion. Lazarus on the other hand, went to heaven because like his name suggests, he totally leaned on God as his help. In his poverty, he was not jealous of the rich man. In his poverty, he did not turn away from God. In his poverty, he was not upset with God or with anyone. Despite his poverty, he still had faith in God. He loved God and sought help from him. In the end, he got the relief and salvation he sought for.

 If you are able to help someone, if you are able to put a smile on someone’s face, if you are able to make an impact in someone’s life, an impact rooted in love and compassion, try and do it. In the end, you will realize that you have stored so much treasure for yourself in heaven. The Lord has not called us to do nothing. Each of us has been called to do something- something good. Each of us has been called to be active Christians. Dormant and inactive Christians produce nothing. Dormant and inactive Christianity is worthless. Doing nothing is not a virtue. Do not be a Christian who does nothing. Every day of our lives, God puts us in a position of doing something worthwhile, of wiping away tears from the eyes of someone, of lending a helping hand, of speaking to a lonely person, of visiting the sick and the shut-in, of changing a life, of making a difference in the life someone, of making others see Jesus in us. When that opportunity comes, don’t act like the rich man in today’s gospel. Do something! Christianity is a religion of action- compassionate action. It is a way of life for those who love Jesus!

What life are we planning to secure?  

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Gerard Majella Church

Baton Rouge, Louisiana 

Sunday, September 22, 2013

Prophet Amos was the third among the twelve Old Testament prophets. He was a shepherd and a Sycamore trees tender. He spent the greater part of his life in the rural area. Before he came to the city of Samaria, he had never been exposed to a luxurious standard of living and comfort and that of great wealth. So, when he came in contact with the city luxurious life, he quickly realized that something was wrong with God’s people. The prophecy of Amos happened during the period of great wealth and prosperity in Israel. But despite the bumper harvest and buoyant economic situation of Israel, it was indeed a rotten and sick nation. Social oppression based on class inequalities was at its peak. The poor were victimized by the rich. Religion was in serious decay and ruin, and this was the root cause of these social crimes. The worship of God was no longer practiced in the pure form and was in danger of deteriorating into paganism. The oppression of the poor was against the commandment of God of Israel. So, Prophet Amos condemned these social injustices as the antithesis of the covenant spirit. Israel’s covenant with God allowed no class distinction; the brotherhood and the sisterhood of Israelites was the norm. 

In today’s first reading taking from Amos 8:4-7, he warned those “who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land” that the Lord has sworn “Never will I forget a thing they have done.” Amos was shocked to see that materialism had become the order of the day in Israel. Wealth was considered the greatest thing in life, and only people with money were seen to be important. The rights of the poor were not defended in the courts, and many judges and officials took bribes. Any poor farmer who borrows money and could not pay on time looses his farmland and most times is forced to cultivate it for the new owner. During harvest time, the rich lender reaps the best from the land leaving the remnant for the poor borrower. This attitude opened the way for land-grabbing. Injustice and many other social crimes were high in Israel. Even the smallest bribe- a pair of shoes is enough to secure a verdict against a poor man. Now because the nation was very prosperous, there was optimism everywhere in the minds of the people. Only few people like Prophet Amos could see that behind the prosperity that the nation is morally and spiritually sick. Amos wanted more justice in the land. The presence of injustice in the land is a prove that they were not living as God’s people.

The world has changed considerably since then, but in many ways, human nature has remained the same. Despite all the scientific and technological development and advancement, humanity has remain virtually the same. Greed still rules! The poor are still oppressed! The rich still get richer! There is still a great injustice in the world. But those who perpetrate and perpetuate injustice should consider the warning of Prophet Amos: That God will not forget their wickedness. If they escape human punishment, they will surely not escape divine recompense. 

In today’s gospel taken from Luke 16:1-13, Jesus speaks of the need to be clever in planning for a secure future for ourselves, and it is not just for the few years we spend on earth that we have to plan for, but also for our time in eternity. When the servant in today’s gospel realized that in few days or weeks, he would be out of work, he used earthly astuteness to plan for his future. He was accused by his master for financial misappropriation and was given few days to prepare a full report of his stewardship. He knew he would be sacked. So, he decided to reach out to his master’s customers and had them reduce the amount of money and goods they were owing his master. His master did praise him for his cleverness. Now, Jesus wasn’t promoting dishonesty and stealing here. Whether the steward was stealing from his rich master or not isn’t the main point in this gospel. Whether reducing the various debt that various people owned his master was honest or dishonest is not the main point of this parable either. The chief point of his gospel is that the steward was clever and wasted no time in planning for a secure future for himself. Have we started planning for life after life? What life are we planning to secure? What future are we planning to secure? Is it this earthly life alone? As we plan to secure our future earthly life, Jesus reminds us today not to forget to plan for the most important life- eternal life, the most important future, life after death.  

Material things have their place in making our lives on earth more comfortable but over-reliance on them can make us feel so secure in this life that we forget about what is most important- eternal life. That was the point Amos noted in the first reading. The economic prosperity and boom that the Israelites were enjoying 750 years Before Christ led them to forget about God who had blessed them so abundantly. When they lost touch with God, this led to the moral decline of the nation and its eventual collapse. Silver and gold belongs to God (Haggai 2: 8); all good things come from the Lord. Wealth is not despised by God. Jesus is not anti-wealth or anti-comfort. Abundant riches are God’s blessings too. But we should never forget that our life in this world is only but temporary; but eternity is forever. Therefore, we should use all our riches and all the blessings God has given us to draw close to him. We should possess our possessions and not let our possessions possess us. When our possessions possess us, they become our gods. 

The Good News of the Lord for the Lost and for the saved

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Gerard Majella Church

Sunday, September 15, 2015

Dearest in Jesus, today’s gospel can rightly be called “the good news of hope for the lost sheep and for the saved.” It is the good news for the lost because the lost still have a chance of being saved. It is the good news for the lost because the Father through Jesus is still going after them, searching for them in order to bring them into the fold of the saved. It is the good news for the lost because Jesus will do anything to save them. It is also the good news for the saved because if they ever strayed, the one who loves them will go in search of them to bring them back to the fold.

 The three parables in today’s gospel arose out of definite situations. For the Pharisees and Scribes, Jesus had committed a great offense to associate himself with men and women who by their orthodox label were sinners. They created a big wall between them and such people. There was no relationship, no interaction, no inter-marriage between the children of the Pharisees and the sinners. The Pharisees had no iota of respect for the Sinners. A Pharisee was forbidden to be the guest of any such man or to have him as his guest. He was forbidden to have any business dealings with him. The Pharisees made deliberate effort to avoid every contact with the people who did not observe the petty details of the law. So they were shocked to to see Jesus surrounded by people who were not only ranked outsiders, but sinners. They were shocked because while they taught that “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner that is destroyed before God” Jesus taught the opposite: “There will be great joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” While they did not look forward to the redemption of sinners, Jesus the merciful Savior was teaching about God first as a Shepherd who goes in search of the lost sheep; then as a woman who bends low even under the bed searching for a lost coin. And when the sinner comes back to his or her senses and returns home, the Father is presented by Jesus as one who does not recount or remember or turn back the returning sinner. Unlike us, the Father does not say “You wayward daughter (son), why are you here? What are you doing here? Who asked you to come here? If you know where you are coming from, you better return there.” Instead, the Father runs to meet us while we are still halfway home. The Father does not wait for us to begin to list the litany of our sins; he already knows that we are deeply sorry and repentant for our transgressions. He welcomes us with an open arm, and crowns it all with a big party. God is pleased when a lost sinner is found just as a shepherd is when a strayed sheep is brought home. As a saint once said, “God, too, knows the joy of finding things that have gone lost.”

The three images of the lost sheep, lost coin and lost son teach us important truths, both about God and about ourselves. Jesus told the parables to help us understand God’s searching undying love for everyone, especially for the lost. The first parable of the lost sheep reminds us that God cares about individuals. Like the shepherd in today’s gospel, God does not give up on one person just because it is the minority. Every single person is important to God. God so desires while keeping the obedient majority safe, to go after the lost minority. In God the majority does not come between God and God’s frantic and tireless search for the missing or strayed minority. God does not say “Well, it is only the minority, I still got the majority.” God does not say, “It is only one sheep, I still have ninety-nine left.” He continues to search for that one lost sheep in order to bring it home. This is why Jesus says in the gospel of Luke 19: 10 “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost.” Again in the gospel of John 10:11, the Lord describes himself as the good shepherd: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” Jesus goes in search of even one single sheep because “God wants all humans to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Timothy 2:4). God wants to save every one because in Ezekiel 33:11, the God of Israel declares “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather they turn from their evil ways and live. And when the missing sheep is found, it is not punished by the shepherd. Rather, the shepherd joyfully lifts the sheep high on his shoulders, raising the one who was lost to a new dignity. The lost sheep’s diminished dignity is restored by the shepherd.

In the second parable, God is like the woman searching out a missing coin. Like the woman, God does not say “I still got some money in the bank.” God continues to search for the lost one even in the dark places of the world. The parable of the lost coin tells us the extent God can go searching for us. It tells us of God’s urgent longing that no one should be lost. The woman in the parable stops at nothing; God does not stop until God finds the lost.

The last parable in today’s gospel is usually called “the parable of prodigal son.” It is about an arrogant son who rejects all the comfort and the security his father provides in order to do things his own way. It was after he had squandered the portion of his inheritance that he remembers how different things had been, how different they would have been if he had remained at home. Having lost everything and almost loosing himself, he decided to go home. The action of his father describes the action of God to us when we return home from the loneliness of sin and sinfulness. In the parable, the father was looking forward to the homeward journey of his son. The father’s passionate merciful embrace and his restoration of his child to his rightful place reveal something about our God. God’s love for us knows no limit.

In these parables, Jesus reveals God’s passionate longing that those who are lost, those who have sinned, those who are in the church but far away from God, those who praise God from the lips only, those who despise and look down on others, those who profess God with their mouth but in their actions deny him return home. But where is home? Home is the place of God. Home is where God is and where godly things are done. Home is the place where love and charity are found. Home is the place where forgiveness is given to offenders. Home is where none of God’s children is excluded. Home is where all God’s children are equal. Home is where there is no immorality of any kind. Home is where the good news for the poor is proclaimed. Home is where even sinners are welcomed. That is home!

Dearest beloved, Jesus is the good shepherd who searches for us far more intensely than a shepherd seeks a lost sheep; he looks for us more than a woman searches for a lost coin. Jesus looks forward to our homeward journey more than the father of the prodigal son. Our heavenly Father will not rest until we all are back close to God’s heart where we belong, and when we return, there is great celebration and rejoicing in heaven.

Now allowing ourselves to be found by God is not a one-off event. It is not a one-time event, it’s lifelong process. It is something we should do from time to time. We can make a fundamental decision to follow Jesus Christ, this we did especially at our baptism and confirmation. But then, none of us is beyond the need for repentance. We must constantly allow ourselves to be found by God. We must constantly pray that others who are far away from God are found by God. We must give those who are far away a chance to be found by God. This is why I called today’s gospel “the good news of the Lord for the lost.”

For us Catholics, the sacrament of reconciliation is a beautiful means of making these parables come to life in our personal discipleship. Each time we go to confession, God like the shepherd in the first parable, lifts us up again and places us on the shoulders of the Good Shepherd. Whenever we humbly and sincerely confess our sins, like the woman who “lights a lamp and sweep the house” in order to find the missing coin, the light of Christ begins to shine on us; the house of our heart is once again swept clean. And when we receive absolution from the priest, like the father of the prodigal son who ran to embrace his homebound son, our good God embraces us anew as his precious daughter or son. Since there is rejoicing in heaven when a sinner repents and returns home, why not give the angels something to celebrate about?

Why Does He Ask So Much?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Gerard Majella Church 

Sunday, September 8, 2013

St. Luke tells us in today’s gospel reading (14:25-33) that “great crowds were traveling with Jesus” when he turned around and said to them: “If anyone comes to me without hating his father, and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he (or she) cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.” Did I hear Jesus say hate? 

The Jews, which includes Jesus’ disciples were anticipating a great change- that is freedom from the oppressive Roman government, freedom from being subjects to a foreign king, freedom to own their land, have their own king and determine their destiny. The messiah was expected to form a large and powerful army and engage in a military operation with the Romans, conquer them and secure freedom for the Jews. The messiah, which of course is Jesus would be the king and with miraculous powers he would turn the page of slavery, suffering and oppression, and he would make life beautiful again for them. 

Jesus knew the anticipation of his people. But he did not want to deceive them. He always tell the truth, so he told the truth of his mission: no one can follow me unless he or she takes up the cross and follow me. Again, unless one hates father, mother, sisters, brothers, wife and even his or her very life, he or she cannot be my disciple. Shocking, isn’t it? That’s a strong word! Why is Jesus, the great preacher of love, forgiveness, and compassion talking about hate? Must I hate those dearest to me before I can become his disciple? Can’t l love them and love Jesus as well? Is it not possible to follow Jesus and at the same time love my mom, dad, and siblings? 

Of course the great teacher of love is not asking us to hate anyone, let alone our parents, brothers, sisters, spouses. He is not even asking us to hate our life. Life is God’s gift. He is simply asking us to love him more. In the Gospel of Matthew 10:37, he says: “Whoever loves his father or mother, brother or sister, more than me is not worthy of me.” We must love our fathers, but not more than Jesus. We must love our mothers, but not more than Jesus. We must love our brothers, but not more than Jesus. We must love our sisters, but not more than Jesus. We must love our spouses, but not more than Jesus. We must love our friends, neighbors, colleagues, everyone, but not more than Jesus. We must value, cherish and love our lives, but not more than we value, cherish and love Jesus. I believe that everyone of us already understands that. But the big question today is this: Why does he, Jesus asks so much from us? Why does he demand so much from us? He also says in today’s Gospel that “...anyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.” Jesus asks a lot from us; but why does he demand so much from us? 

The answer is simple! He asks a lot because he gave a lot. He asks so much from us because he gave us a lot. In fact, he gave much more to us than we can ever give to him. He asks so much because he gave so much more. All the sacrifices we make for being his disciples are a drop of water in an ocean when compared to the one he offered on our behalf. The good we do for being his disciples is only but a pinch of salt when compared to the good he did for us. Jesus did not only die on the cross for us and afterwards went back to heaven and does not have anything to do with us again. Even in heaven, he is still our advocate before the Father. The sacrifice of his blood is everlasting and eternal. Because of him, we are now called sons and daughters of God. Because of him, we have access to the Father. Because of him, we have victory and continue to have victory over the devil. Because of Jesus, we have hope. It may not be all too well now, but because of him, we know it would at the end of the day work out well. Romans 8:28 tells us that “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” 

Again, Jesus asks so much from us because that is the nature of love. Joy comes when two people truly give themselves to one another. None is merely using the other. God has created us for joy, that is eternal joy. And in the gift of his Son, God has given himself fully to us; and he continues to give himself to us especially in the Eucharist. All he asks from us is to give ourselves fully to him so that our joy may be complete.