Personal Effort is Also Needed

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Thirty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

October 30, 2016

Jesus was on a journey which must take him through Jericho. Jericho was a wealthy and important city. It had a great palm forest and gardens of roses that were known far and wide then. Products from the city were taken to world-wide trade. It was a great city of commerce; so these made Jericho one of the greatest taxation centers in Palestine. Tax-collectors usually over-taxed the people, and after submitting the actual amount demanded by the Roman government, they shared the rest. This practice made them rich. Zacchaeus was one of them. But he wasn’t an ordinary tax-collector; he was a chief tax-collector who had reached the top of his profession. He was at the peak of his career. He had made lots of money and had become rich and wealthy. But despite his wealth, he was the most hated in the district. Why? Because he and many other tax-collectors were working for the Roman government- the Jews most hated enemy, and were also making illegal money from it. The people knew what they were doing. The system of checks and balances were not in place then. In the district and in the neighborhood, Zacchaeus and his households were hated, avoided, abused and cursed by people. He was the saddest man! 

One day, Zacchaeus heard about Jesus. He heard that Jesus does not discriminate against anyone. He heard that Jesus welcomes sinners, tax-collectors and even prostitutes. He also heard that Jesus was passing his way. He decided to cease the moment. Unloved by all, Zacchaeus decided to reach out to the Lover of all and to the love of God. When he got to the street, he was confronted by two obstacles: one, the crowd people who were following Jesus, and two, his height. He was a short man and if he throws himself in the crowd, he could be crushed. Many of his haters, no doubt, were there. But instead of being discouraged, he quickly sought for a solution. There was something much more important than the pain and suffering of the present age. What he did was remarkable. Sighting a sycamore tree along the path that Jesus would most certainly pass by, he ran ahead and climbed the tree. Things were not easy for him but the little man was determined to make it. He made a vigorous effort to see Jesus. He wanted to demonstrate both to Jesus and his community that he was a changed man. When Jesus came to the spot, he looked up and said to him: “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay at your house today.” Put differently, Jesus was saying to him: “Zacchaeus, I have seen your effort to be saved. You can now come down! What you are looking for from the top of that tree will be your guest tonight. What you longed for will not be given to you in bits and pieces, but in abundance.”

Scripture tells us that “In his riches man lacks wisdom (Psalm 49:20)” but not Zacchaeus. He was able to set aside his wealth and riches and sought after the REAL THING. Imagine a wealthy man climb a road-side tree just to see a carpenter’s son. But then, the carpenter’s son, Jesus, had something which all our education, money, good position, political connection, fancy looks, comfortable lifestyle cannot offer. He is Life and the Giver of the Real Life. 

The Christian Faith disturbs us! It demands something from us. It asks us do good and avoid evil. The Christian Faith asks us to forsake our evil and corrupt ways and to accept and embrace Jesus’ way of love, compassion, righteousness and goodness. The earliest call and invitation of Jesus was, “Repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15b). To repent is to turn the page of the past littered by sin, wrongdoing and wickedness and to accept the way of Jesus Christ. To do that successfully will require not only the grace of God, but also our willingness to cooperate with the grace of God. God’s grace has already been released to us. It’s now on us to cooperate and to use it. This is where our personal effort and discipline come in. To make heaven, we must make effort. Zacchaeus made effort to see the Lord and his effort was handsomely rewarded. If we make effort to look for the Lord, we will find him. We will see him in our lives and in the lives of others. In the house Zacchaeus Jesus declares “The Son of Man has come to seek and save the lost.” He came for the weak, and not the strong. He came for the sick, not the healthy. He came to call sinners, and not the righteous. He came to seek for me, you and all of us. Like me, I believe you are weak too. Like me, I believe you are not completely healthy. Like me, I believe you are a sinner too. He wants to find us, not some days, but every day. But to be found by the Lord is on us. He cannot force us to save us. He requires our willingness to be saved. If we let him, salvation too, will come into our house

God Knows Already!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

October 16, 2016

In the past one year I have been in this parish, I have preached severally about prayer, talked about the meaning of prayer, the importance of prayer, the role of prayer in the life of a Christian and the indispensability of prayer. I have encouraged us all to be people of prayer. My steady emphasis on prayer is rooted deeply in Jesus’ teaching about prayer. Jesus did not only talk about prayer, he did pray. He was deeply prayerful. A song has it that “Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer.” The initial words of today’s Gospel from Luke 18:1-8 buttresses my point, “Jesus told his disciples a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary.” The parable is about a widow who wouldn’t accept no for an answer from an ungodly judge. She had suffered a loss of land from land-grabbers and was powerless to face them. So, she went to a judge and pleaded with him to “Render a just decision “ against her adversary. “For a long time the judge was unwilling” to attend to her. The woman too, was unwilling to give up on pressing charges against her enemy. She refused to surrender to a bully. She refused to yield to injustice. One day, her persistence paid off when the godless judge became worried that his refusal to deliver justice to her may provoke her so much that she may resort to violence against him. 

Jesus wants us to pay attention to the fact that the judge, although godless and dishonest, was still able to yield to the persistent demand of the widow. If this judge, who neither feared God nor respected any human being was able to succumb to the petition of a helpless widow, our God who is awesomely good and faithful will definitely secure the rights of his children who call out to him day and night. If the widow’s persistence was able to secure her justice from a wicked judge, our persistence in prayer to our gracious Father in heaven can even do far more. The means to God is prayer. The traveling road to divine favor is prayer. The pathway to countless blessings is prayer. The access to divine hospital, divine bank, divine drugstore, divine food store, divine protection, divine shelter is prayer. The Fountain of Life can only be approached through prayer. And according to Jesus, prayer must be said “day and night.” One of the greatest Fathers of prayer, St. Alphonsus Liguori, the Founder of my religious Congregation once said, “If you pray, you will certainly be saved, if you do not pray, you will certainly be lost.” Make prayer, he said “our most delightful occupation” and “the exercise of our whole life.”

Today’s parable does not liken God to an unjust judge; it rather contrasts God to such a person: “If in the end, an unjust judge can yield to a widow’s persistence, then our compassionate and loving God can do far more for his children. The image of God portrayed in today’s gospel by Jesus is that of a Father who answers every prayer. Yes, God answers every prayer. But God’s answer to our prayers may not necessarily be exactly what we asked for. When we pray, his response may be “yes;” or “not yet; or “no, I have something else better for you.” We should not expect to get whatever we pray for. Sometimes, a loving and caring father will refuse the request of his child because he knows that what the child asks for would in the end hurt rather than help. That is how God is like. God knows yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He knows the past, the present and the future. Only God knows what is good for us in the long run. That is why Jesus urged us not to be discouraged in prayer, especially when we don’t receive what we asked for. That is why he wondered if he will find faith in us when our petition is not granted the way we want it.

Prayer is not an information. When we pray, we are not informing God about what he doesn’t know already. We serve an all-knowing God. When we are ill, God knows we need healing. God knows that we need a roof over our heads. God knows we need good jobs. God knows we need safe journey when we travel. God knows we need his strength and protection when we are vulnerable. God knows that that single mother needs some help. He knows that that widow needs some love and companion. God knows that we need to start putting money away for our retirement. God knows and understands our fears. He knows about them all and expects us to lean on him for solution and survival. Prayer is not about getting the Lord to change his plans. It’s about opening ourselves up to see the world through God’s eyes, from God’s perspective. When we pray, we open ourselves more to the Fountain of life, and see through his light; as the Psalmist says, “For with you is the fountain of life; in your light we see light” (Psalm 36:9).

Making requests is part of prayer but not all about prayer. We also pray to know God  more and more, to encounter him everyday and everywhere and to form a deep friendship with him. It is in prayer that we know Jesus personally. It is in prayer that we encounter him in a special way. It is in prayer that our friendship with him is deepened. Prayer strengthens us too. It enhances our relationship with him and moves us into intimacy with him. Even when we make requests in prayer, we should do so bearing in mind that God would only give us what’s best for us. And guess what? We will never be tired in prayer and our faith will never wobble if, after we have made our request to God, we add the beautiful prayer of Jesus, “Thy will be done.” In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, let your will be done, not mine.” His prayer was persistent and also trusting. Although it did not save Jesus from the cross, but it did lead to resurrection. If we can pray with Jesus’ faith, we will never lose heart. If God’s will is done, then it is victory for us because God’s will is the best for us. With that we can say that our prayer is surely answered.

Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Give Thanks to the Lord Always!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Mary of Assumption Church, Whittier, CA

October 9, 2016

During the time of Jesus, lepers were seen as persons under a sentence of death. They were regarded as sinful, unclean and impure to be part of the human society. Leprosy was regarded as a punishment from God. As such, lepers were ostracized from their families, friends and the rest of the society. No one dared come near to them; and no one would touch them or handle anything they had touched. The rule laid down in the Old Testament is that: “The leprous person shall wear torn clothes, and let the hair of his head hang loose, he must cover the lower part of his face and cry out, ‘Unclean, Unclean.’ He must also live outside the camp away from others” (Leviticus 13:45-46). Lepers were not allowed to enter the synagogue or Temple for worship. They were forbidden to work, so they begged. They were the most lonely, rejected, discriminated, and dejected people. This was the condition and situation that the ten lepers in today’s gospel found themselves before they met the Life Changer, Jesus Christ. 

Jesus was traveling through Samaria and Galilee. As soon as he entered a village, ten lepers ran after him, but still maintained the legal distance they must keep between them and others, and shouted: “Jesus, Master! Have pity on us!” Folks, these lepers were dead men walking. They were dead physically and socially, but not spiritually. When they saw Jesus, they saw hope. When they saw Jesus, they saw the end of their affliction, the turning point of their lives, the restoration of their locust years and the reaffirmation of their dignity. Because of leprosy, which was not fault of theirs, they lost so much. But in Jesus, they found the restoration of all they had lost. In Jesus, they found God and found a new beginning. Their greatest desire was healing, restoration, a return back home to a normal life, and a chance to just be like other people. That was all they wanted.  

Before their healing and restoration, they were shunned and avoided by all. When “healthy” people looked at them, they saw sinful people. But when Jesus saw them, he saw something else. He saw their pain, not only physical pain but also psychological pain of being isolated from their families, friends, neighbor and familiar environment. He saw their pain of being shunned and avoided by everyone. He saw their anguish, loneliness, and homelessness. He saw human beings’ inhumanity and injustice against their fellow human beings. He saw that those who needed more help from the society weren’t getting it and he decided to do something about it: “Go show yourself to the priests,” he said to them. 

On their way home, they were cleansed and healed. Nine of them went away, but “One of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” The nine that did not come back to thank Jesus were all too ready to accept what their priests would offer them: their old lives. The priests would certify the cure, and then they would return home and have their old lives back.

When we are confronted by tragic events, sudden reversal of fortune, loss of jobs or homes, sickness or advancing years, we yearn to have our old lives back. But this one Samaritan who was healed from leprosy perceived that with Jesus, something more beautiful, something better, something new, which is far more important and far greater than simply having his old life back is going to be given to him. He realized that his old life is not sufficient for the life of discipleship, so he returned to do two things: to thank Jesus and to accept him as his Lord and Savior. The gospel says, “…he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” That’s a symbolic act of surrender to Jesus.

Jesus was surprised that he was the only one that returned to give thanks. Our society is more like this scene where, not a whole lot of people come to the Eucharist, which means “Thanksgiving” every week to give God thanks. Our prayer is mostly about asking and asking without giving thanks to God for the blessings we have already received. In times of need, we passionately pray for God’s help. But as time passes by, we also pass God by and forget God. God has given us so much. He gave us his Son Jesus Christ, and often we never even give him a word of thanks. Psalm 103:2 says: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and never forget all his benefits.” Psalm 107:1 also says, “Give thanks to the Lord for his good, for his love endures forever.” Thanksgiving is not an added extra. It’s absolutely central to the life of a Christian. Showing gratitude helps us to persevere in our faith journey. A thankful Christian may not be a lukewarm disciple. Gratitude can lead to faithfulness. Gratitude is a product of reflection. Counting our blessings and naming them one after another can only come from reflection. Such a reflection opens our eyes to see all that the good Lord has done for us. And a realization of what he has done is capable of launching someone into shouts of thanks and dance-steps of gratitude. Let’s therefore learn to thank the Lord at all times. In season and out of season, thank him for blessings received and blessings yet to receive. Grateful people are positive and happy people. A grateful heart is a colony of joy and hope.