Homily for the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ, Year C

Eucharist: The Fountain of Life

Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, California 

Sunday, May 29, 2016

When you are really hungry, a good meal is especially good because it settles you down. I don’t know about you, but when I am hungry, I become nervous and jittery. I become unsettled. But a good meal settles me down. After that, I am more relaxed and energized to carry out a function. Hunger can weaken a person. But a good meal does the opposite. But when it comes to the feeding and nourishing of our spiritual side, the best and finest meal we have is the Most Holy Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. 

The Gospel of Luke 9:11b-17 is about the story of hungry men, women and children numbered over five thousand. Their hunger was so deep, so huge that no human food or effort could satisfy it. In search of a good meal, a good food that no chef can prepare, no restaurant can serve, and no house-cook can ever make, they went to the Source of all good things. They went to the Fountain of life— Jesus Christ. The folks in this Gospel were not in search of grilled chicken, grilled Salmon, steamed broccoli and baked potatoes or fries. They were not in search of healthy and tasty food from some of our choicest and favorite restaurants. They were in search of the Real Meal, the Food for the Journey, the Bread of Life, the Bread of Angels, the amazing Food for the soul. They were in search of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, the Bread broken for our nourishment. And none of the food we eat at home or in a restaurant can offer such a nourishment. 

The central point of this Gospel passage (that appeared in all four Gospel) is about the abundance of God’s Kingdom. It is not about hungry bellies being filled. It is not so much about sharing with others (although it is a Christian virtue to share our resources with others, especially the less fortunate ones). It is about the power of God to overcome our lack and insufficiency, to fulfill our innermost and deepest yearnings, and to baffle and amaze us with plenty- plenty of grace, plenty of healing, plenty of mercy, plenty of joy, plenty of blessing, plenty of favor, and plenty of redemption. This Gospel exposes us to the kind of God we serve. That when God steps in, no matter how dire a situation may be, miracles happen. And God does perform beyond our expectation. He exceeds our wildest imagination. He gives us more than we ask for. He does not give in bits and pieces, he overwhelms us with his blessings. But before that can happen, we have to do our bit, our part, first. What is our part?

The crowd of people were spiritually hungry and starving. It’s possible they had been elsewhere in the past in search of solution. The Gospel did not indicate that. But what we know is that their spiritual hunger and starvation led them to Jesus. When they found him, they followed him with keen interest and listened to his message with rapt attention so much so that they forgot or neglected their hungry stomachs. To satisfy their hungry hearts, innermost longing, they forgot their hungry stomachs and other material desires. Jesus’ disciples recognized only their belly need, but did not see Jesus as someone who can satisfy it. So they asked Jesus to “dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms and find lodging and provisions…” But Jesus swung into action, and with five loaves of bread and two fish, he was able to feed and satisfy their belly needs. But before he filled up their empty bellies, he fed them spiritually with the message about the Kingdom of God. Their hunger was satisfied. Empty hearts were filled. And broken souls were mended.

To do our part, therefore, is to make seeking for Jesus a top priority. Hanging out with him on a daily basis should be our first choice. Like the crowd in the Gospel, our desire to seek him, find him, be intimate with him should topple every other desires. Jesus is not looking for admirers, but lovers, passionate lovers, and firebrand disciples. Our quest to please him must top every other aspirations. We serve a God who never stops thinking about us. His devotion to us is complete. Our devotion to him should be complete as well. He overwhelms us with his blessings. Let’s make him proud with the gift of our life. Every minute we stay in church should be seen as a time well spent. The Mass hardly goes beyond 1 hour, 15 minutes, yet, that is too much for some of us. They keep looking at their wrist watches, extremely longing to go home. The crowd in the Gospel were with Jesus all day. They forgot every other thing, including their belly hunger just to be with him. In the end, Jesus did not disappoint them. He satisfied all their yearnings— spiritual and physical, and blessed them exceedingly. When we are in the house of God for our common worship, keep your mind and heart here. Shut out every other things you want to do. Keep your attention and focus here. The same Jesus who multiplied a few loaves of bread and fish is still here present with us. During the proclamation of his word- (reading and homily), pay attention to what he is saying to us. During communion, receive his Body and Blood reverently. Instead of thinking of what you want to accomplish after Mass, think about what God is about to do for you. If anything is bothering you, talk to him about it. He listens! God listens! 

Jesus fed the crowd beyond their imagination. He continues to feed us likewise through his precious Body and Blood. The Eucharist is the Body of Christ. It is the most profound demonstration of God’s mercy. It’s the greatest showing off of God’s mercy and compassion. His desire to stay with us at all time, to be our Real Food and Drink is God’s mercy at its apogee. Let our hunger lead us to the Real Food. Let our thirst bring us to the Fountain, the Real Drink.  

Homily on the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

Lessons from the Holy and Undivided Trinity

Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity

St. Mary of Assumption, Whittier, California

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Before I settled down to write this homily, I had the excitement to centre it on the theology of the Trinity. I wanted to give a simple analysis of the mystery of the Trinity. That led me into studying the summary of St. Augustine’s and St. Thomas Aquinas’ Trinitarian theology I wrote when I was in the Major Seminary. After that, I picked up the Catechism of the Catholic Church and read the entire Part One, Paragraph 2, subtitled “The Father” (CCC 232-267). It is under this section that the mystery of the Trinity is explained. After all the reading, I was ready to write my homily. Suddenly, it occurred to me that doing a theological analysis of the mystery of the Trinity will appear too scholarly and abstract, that I may succeed in putting my parishioners to sleep. In the end, I decided to preach on what we can learn from the Trinity.  

Today, we celebrate one of the deepest mysteries of our faith: that God is a Trinity of persons. The solemnity of the Trinity is not meant to tie us in theological knots, but to teach us that we can find our roots in the divine love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and that we can also find our freedom there. The mystery of the Trinity invites us to imitate the unity, love and harmony that exists within the Trinity. The Trinity is a seamless unity of persons and a community of love. The Father is the Lover, the Son is the Beloved, the Holy Spirit is the Love. This reality, this mystery, teaches us three things: how to love, how to be loved and how to become love. Put differently, it teaches us how to give love, receive love and become love or lovely. It teaches us how we can love others, how to receive love from others, and how each of us can be an agent or instrument of love, that is, how we can be love and love-giving. It teaches us how to be a family and a community, just as God is a family and a community.

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is about the inner relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It teaches us that our God does not exist alone or in isolation. Our God is a community! Now, if we expected today’s readings to give us a clear and elaborate presentation of the doctrine of the Blessed Trinity, we have found out that they simply do not. But today’s Gospel (John 16:12-15) has Jesus talking to his disciples about the Holy Spirit. He called him, “the Spirit of Truth” who will come and guide them to all truth. Last Sunday, we celebrated his dramatic coming on the disciples (Pentecost). In same Gospel, Jesus talks about the Father, “Everything that the Father has is mine…” he says. So, the reality of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is already found in the Gospel reading. Now, we don’t have to dig deep to see, from the way Jesus talks about the Father and the Second Advocate, the Holy Spirit, that there is deep love, profound unity and perfect harmony among them. Those are the qualities that Christians everywhere should imbibe and promote. Therefore, any message that causes division in our family and society negates the very character of the Trinity. Any politics or policy that promotes hatred and disharmony in our society is anti-Christ. Any politician whose policies and politics would lead to a further division among us should be rejected. We can disagree without being disagreeable. Even though we belong to different political affiliations, certain virtues like love, unity, harmony etc should transcend politics. Whether you are a conservative or liberal Christian, traditional or progressive Christian, we all should be agents and promoters of  love, unity and harmony in the world. And we can learn these from the doctrine of the Trinity. 

We are made in the image of God. Experts in religion tell us that people always try to be like the god they worship. People who worship a warrior god tend to be war-mongering, people who worship a god of pleasure tend to be pleasure-seeking, people who worship a god of wrath tend to be vengeful, and people who worship a god of love tend to be loving. Like a god, so the worshippers. The doctrine of the Blessed Trinity teaches us, among other things the kind of God we worship and the kind of people we should be. God does not exist in solitary individualism but in a community of love, fellowship and sharing. God is not a loner. This means that a Christian in search of godliness must shun every tendency to isolationism and individualism. We become who God created us to be when we are in a relationship of love with God and with the people of God.

We begin and end the Mass by making the sign of the cross. The sign of the cross is a simple action that many of us have been doing since we were children. As we celebrate the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity, I want us to always remember that each time we make the sign of the cross, we sign ourselves with everything the Trinity is. Therefore, let’s live as such. We may not be able to comprehend the mystery of the Trinity, as such, may not be able to help others understand the theological intricacies of this amazing mystery, but we can certainly help them experience love. Since we all want love, let’s give love. Love makes us a family. It turns a house into a home, and turns a home into a family. It turns friendship into marriage. It turns a people into a nation, and a nation into a community. It turns a gathering of people into a church and a people of God. Loves transforms us from selfishness to selflessness. It makes us to think, not only about ourselves but also about others. Love makes us to live for a cause. It is the driver for making disciples for Christ Jesus.

The Divine GPS Is Here!

Rev. Marcel E. Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of Pentecost Sunday

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

Sunday May 15, 2016

After arriving in Memphis, Tennessee from Nigeria in 2007,  one of my parishioners, Dr. Ann Hinton, bought me a GPS. As she was giving me the brand new device, she said, “Father Marcel, you came to America to save souls, and as you do that, I do not want you to get lost. Take this GPS and use it. It will help you get around, and direct you to your destination, so that you don’t get lost.” I still use that GPS till today! It’s an amazing piece of technology. Once I type the address of where I want to go, it gives me a voice direction until I get to my destination. It never complains. It does not abuse me or get angry with me for failing to follow its direction. Even when I intentionally ignore what it is saying, it simply recalculates my route without yelling at me. My GPS, like all others has only one purpose: to guide me safely to my destination. 

Today is Pentecost Sunday! Today, we celebrate the birth of the Church, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the disciples, the dramatic outpouring of power and courage on the early church. Today, we celebrate the fulfillment of a promise, Jesus’ promise, “I will ask the Father, and he will you another Advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17). We celebrate the love of the Father and the Son among us. The Holy Spirit was first sent to the disciples to empower them to courageously and fearlessly preach the good news of Jesus Christ, to announce to the Jews and their neighbors that the crucified Jesus is risen, that he is the Lord and Savior and that salvation can only be possible by believing in his name. For those of us who believe in Jesus through the preaching of the Apostles, disciples and their successors, the same Holy Spirit was given to us at baptism and then stirred into action at confirmation. He comes to us as Comforter, Helper, Teacher and Advocate. In times of grief, hurt, and sorrow, the Holy Spirit provides comfort and consolation. His consolation assures us that we are not alone and have not been abandoned by the good God. His comfort supplies warmth, healing, and recovery and prevents ugly experiences of life from getting in our way and journey to God. God is our final refuge and destination, and anything that attempts to divert our journey to him is a distraction. The comfort of the Comforter soothes our pain and enables us to keep living and moving in the right direction. Extreme grief or sorrow is capable of hindering our journey to God. It’s capable of deafening us to hear the voice of the divine GPS. If that happens, we could miss our way and find ourselves on the wrong lane of depression. And if no comfort (help) comes, we could get lost. The Comforter comes, not only to comfort and heal us, but to recalculate our way back to God. The chief purpose of the Holy Spirit is to lead and guide us to the One who is the Truth, to bring us safely to our destination—our heavenly homeland. 

The Holy Spirit was sent as the Helper. He is to help us in every aspect of our lives, to realize our dreams, aspirations and to fulfill our destiny. He is to help us get saved. In times of weakness when we do not know how to pray, he prays on our behalf (Romans 8:26-27). He reveals the will of God to us (1 Corinthians 2:10-11), helps us to build our faith and to live a victorious Christian life. He also helps us to boldly and courageous declare on whose side we are. In this day and age when people are no longer shy or ashamed of declaring who they are, what they are, what they do, what they believe in, and on whose side they belong, the Holy Spirit helps Christians not to shy away from declaring to the world: “I believe in God!” “I belong to Jesus!” “I am a churchgoing person, and it is nothing to be ashamed of.” I have met some Christians who tell me that when they are in the midst of their unbelieving friends and colleagues who take pride in bashing our Christian belief and any belief in God, that they are usually intimidated or ashamed to say, “I believe in God.” Recently I quoted to a young man what Jesus said about those who are ashamed of him: “If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in this adulterous and sinful world, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven” (Matthew 32-33). As the Teacher, the Holy Spirit teaches us the truth of God—that God is greater than what we say he is; that God is a wonderful Daddy, that he is the Father of the prodigal son, that he is full of love, mercy and compassion; that God is not a cop, but a loving Daddy who is deeply interested in each of us. He teaches us that God is not someone we should be afraid of or run away from, even if we have fallen into sin, rather, someone we should long to approach, yearn for just as a deer yearns for running streams. The Holy Spirit reminds us that each of us, like a sick person, needs God’s healing. A sick person who avoids seeing a doctor, going to hospital or taking a medicine cannot get well. We need God just as a sick person needs a doctor or medicine. The Holy Spirit is also our Advocate. An advocate is someone who looks after one’s interests in a court of law, speaks and answers on the person’s behalf. The Holy Spirit is our Advocate in heaven. He looks after our interests in the heavenly court. He does not attempt to provide evidence or proof of our innocence. He knows that every accusation of the law of God against us is true, but he pleads on our behalf by pointing at the wounds on Jesus’ side and hands and begs the Father for mercy, clemency and leniency for us.

Sisters and brothers, everything the Holy Spirit does for us demonstrates among other things, that we are not alone. In the gospel of John 14:16-17 & 18, Jesus made a promise: “I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, who will stay with you forever. He is the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God.” “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.” None of us is alone. In this journey of faith, we are not alone. As we walk to our homeland, we are not alone. In the struggles of this earthly life, we are not alone. Even when we think we are alone, we are not really alone. We cannot walk alone. We have a Companion from the Father and the Son. 

Reward For Saying Yes! 

Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Ascension of the Lord & Mother’s Day 

St. Mary’s Assumption Church, Whittier, Ca

May 5, 2016

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of Ascension. On this day, we commemorate the Ascension of Jesus Christ into heaven, according to the Gospel of Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51, and Acts 1:2. His Ascension into heaven reminds us of the destiny of his followers. A Christian is a pilgrim. We are on a journey, and when someone begins a journey, he or she wants to get to the destination. The hope of the Christian pilgrim is the destination of heaven. Heaven is our destination. Discussions about heaven, some say, are oftentimes shrouded in mystery; that since no living person can say with certitude how heaven is like, there’s no point talking about it. 

Beloved in Christ, even though our knowledge of heaven is imperfect, it is perfect to say that heaven is the reward of righteousness. It is the reward of compassion. It is the reward of love- love of God and neighbor. It is the reward for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, welcoming the strangers, attending to the sick and the imprisoned for the sake of Jesus. It is the reward of not getting tired of doing what is good. Heaven is the reward for those who said yes to God. As we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, we remember in a special way, the awesome women in our lives who particularly said yes to God by agreeing with him to allow us be born and to see the light of the day. Today, we celebrate our moms!

This morning I am going to share with you a Youtube video forwarded to me by my Nigerian friend Lydia Valch. It’s titled “The world’s most toughest job.” It is about a group of guys who created a fake job and posted it online and in newspapers. After several young men and women had applied for the job,  a real interview was conducted via webcam. (The names of the candidates that applied for this job were not given, but I assigned names to each of the applicants for a better understanding and appreciation of the story). This is how the interview went:

Interviewer: The job you are applying for is not just a job, but probably the most important job. The title of this job is Director of Operations, but it’s really so much more than that. The responsibilities and requirements are so much extensive. Now, the first requirement for the job is mobility. This job requires that you do your work standing up most or really all the time, you must be constantly on your feet, constantly bending over, constantly exerting yourself, high level of stamina is required. 

When he said this, Chris said, “Oh, Oh okay!” with his mouth wide open and still speechless. 

Mary said, “That’s a lot.” 

Laura asked, “For how many hours?” 

Interviewer replied, “135 hours, unlimited hours a week, basically, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” 

George asked, “I am sure one will have the chance to sit down from time to time?” 

Interviewer said, “You mean like a break?” 

George said: “Yeah!” 

Interviewer said: “Oh No, there are no breaks available.” 

Gabby asked: “Is that even legal?” 

Interviewer:  “Of course, yeah.” 

Esperanza asked: “Does it mean there will be no lunch?” 

Interviewer said:  “You can have your lunch, but it is only when your associate is done eating their lunch.” 

After that, there was a deep pause. 

Rodriguez broke the silence and said: “Men, I think that’s a little intense.” 

Sophia replied: “No, that’s crazy!” 

After that, one of the interviewer shocked the candidates even further by announcing: 

Interviewer: “Along with excellent negotiation and interpersonal skills, you must also have a degree and expertise in medicine, finance and culinary arts. You must be able to wear several hats. Your associate needs constant attention. Sometimes, you may have to stay with the associate all through the night. You must be able to work in a chaotic environment, if you had a life, we ask you to give it up. No vacation! In fact, during Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year, and other Holidays, the workload will go up and we demand that. And you must do all these with a happy disposition.” 

Mary said, “Ah, that’s almost cruel, that’s a very very sick twisted joke.” 

Francis then asked: “Uumh, what happens during the time to sleep?” 

Interviewer quickly replied, “Oh! No time to sleep. But if you must sleep, you must sleep like a dog, ready to get up as quickly as possible to attend to your associate.” 

Luke said: “That’s encompassing.”

Interviewer replied, “That’s exactly right.” 

Esperanza asked, (So one will do this) “for 365 days a year?” 

Interviewer: “Yeah.” 

Everyone was Shocked and baffled. 

Esperanza said again: “No, that’s inhumane.” 

Sophia said while scratching her neck: “That’s insane.” 

Interviewer said: “The meaningful connections you make, the feelings you get helping your associate are immeasurable.” 

Then another Interviewer announced:  “By the way, this position is going to pay absolutely nothing. There will be no pay for this job.”

Taken aback, one of the male candidates, Luke said:  “Excuse me..?” 

Mia (with grief and  shaking her head added): “No oh! No body is gonna do that for free, No oh! Absolutely no!”

Interviewer asked them: “What if I tell you that someone currently holds this position right now.” 

All candidates shouted: “Who?” 

Interviewer said: “There are billions of people, actually holding this position.” 

Alicia asked: “Who?” “Give me a name.” “You guys are not serious. Name one person who is doing this unrewarded job?”

The Interviewer said:  “Moms! Moms!”  They meet every requirements, don’t they?”

Then each of the candidates started saying: “That’s awesome.” “Mothers are the best. “Now, I am thinking about my mom.” Some of them started shedding tears.  

Mothers, thank you so much for everything you do. Some children may not appreciate you and your work, but remember that your job is the most important job in the world. Thank you mothers for everything you have done and for everything you are doing. We love you. You're awesome! You do the world’s toughest and yet the world’s most important job.