At the judgment, the men of Nineveh will arise with this generation and condemn it, because they REPENTED at the preaching of Jonah; and there is something greater than Jonah here (Matthew 12:41)

If I were given the opportunity to go around the country, visit various communities and speak to folks, the central message I would deliver is that we all need to repent. We need a personal repentance and a national repentance on how we view each other, think about each other, talk about each other, and relate with each other. I will say it over and over again that each of us needs to repent from our overall attitudes towards each other. We need to repent from those hidden biases we have in our minds and hearts about each other. We need to remind each other that we are a family. Of course, we belong to the same family—the American family. We belong to one race—the human race. We are one people— God’s people. We need not only to remember always the words of our Constitution “All men and women are created equal,” but be willing, at all times, to allow those words to impact the way we see and treat each other. 

Sisters and brothers, this is America— America the beautiful; the light that shines on the hill; the beacon of hope for the rest of the world. This is the greatest nation on earth. What makes this nation great is not just the amount of wealth that lies here, but the amount of care, love and respect we have for each other. In America, we are each other’s neighbor. In America, we have each other’s back. That’s what makes this nation great. That’s why people across the world want to come to this country. But in the past few weeks, it seems we are sliding back to our nation’s original sin. The killing of two African American men in Baton Rouge and Minnesota by police officers, which appears to have led to the killing of seven police officers in Dallas and three in Baton Rouge, seem to be unleashing the worst in us. These unfortunate events have surely touched some nerves. Some of us are beginning to wonder if we are still a family. Mutual suspicion has taken the center stage. Distrust of those who don’t look like us has risen. Some politicians, instead of helping to unite us, are taking advantage of these ugly situations to score cheap political points. But history has shown us that whenever we turn against each other, travel on the path of bitterness and hatred towards one another, we have regretted it. This is not the time to turn against one another. This is not the time to highlight the worst in us. This is not the time to suspect one another. This is not the time to listen to those who want to divide us. This is the time to remember the words of Jesus that, “If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand” (Mark 3:25). This is the time to appeal to what we share in common—our humanity. Instead of fighting against each other, let’s fight together to root out the things that divide us. Instead of rising up against each other, let’s rise up together and condemn what is dividing the American family and hurting us all. Instead of pointing an accusing finger at each other, let’s together point out those ills in our society that harm everyone of us, then work together to root them out. The moment we stop caring for one another, feeling for one another, fighting for one another, looking after one another is the moment we lose our humanity. And once we lose our humanity, we lose that which makes us different from lower animals. If turn on each other and tear each other apart, then we may have succeeded in doing to our American family what our haters out other, such as ISIS and other terrorist groups, have failed to do to us. In this trying and most challenging time, we have to stay together as one family and one nation. 

The men of Nineveh will not rise up and condemn our generation if only each of us will repent. We need a personal repentance and a national repentance. We really need to repent from how we see each other. We need to repent from those bias and divisive private conversations we do have with our friends and families about others who don’t look like us. We need to repent from hidden animosity against others who are of a different heritage. The other day I preached about being mindful of the contents of our hearts and minds. I said to all of us that we need to be careful and watchful of the things we harbor and entertain in our hearts and minds. Jesus tells us that, “From the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). And what the mouth of a person frequently talks about is most likely what he or she is going to do. What we think about others and say about others behind their backs, will without a doubt, have an impact on the way we relate with them. Let’s strive to purge from our hearts and minds all forms of hatred, racism, bigotry, division, hateful name calling etc. Divided we are weaker. United, we are stronger. Let’s endeavor to entertain those thoughts that our children would be proud of if they know about them. Let’s become better each day. Becoming better each day is what repentance is all about. Let every day we live be a step closer to the good God and a step closer to each of us. 

Rev. Marcel Emeka Divine Okwara, CSsR

Morning Mass Reflection

Monday, July 18, 2016