Check Your Heart!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, August 29, 2021

In our first reading (Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-8), Moses reminds his people of God’s commandment and urges them to observe it in order to enter the Promised Land and live a prosperous life. He also warns them not to add or subtract from it. Disappointedly, Moses’ warning was ignored, because the Pharisees multiplied the Ten Commandments to six hundred and thirteen (613) legal codes. With these many laws and norms, the Pharisees made life practically and extremely hard for the people of God. They believed in self-salvation, convinced themselves and their followers that one can save oneself through heroic moral effort, that is, by the strict observance of the law. When Jesus presents himself as the hand that the Father stretches out to sinners and to those who are lost, the Pharisees resisted him in every step of the way, and plotted to kill him. Several times Jesus warns the Pharisees and scribes about their behavior and attitude. In one of those times, Jesus launches a blistering attack on them and said to them “woe to you.” He also calls them hypocrites, blind guides, blind fools, blind ones, children of Gehenna etc.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus is surrounded by the Pharisees and some scribes who came from Jerusalem to Galilee. Jerusalem is a long way from Galilee, but these men were willing to make the journey just to tell Jesus that he was not doing the right thing. They came to Jesus with no intention of listening, with no expectation of changing their lives, and no hope of surrendering to him. They came to watch and to find fault and then latch unto the fault they find and use it to discredit Jesus and his mission. As soon as they noticed that some of Jesus’ disciples ate their meals with unwashed hands, they pushed through the crowds, stood in the frontline up-close to Jesus and asked, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?” Their criticism is a very serious one for what they were alleging is that Jesus is not even a Hebrew. Their question was meant to delegitimize Jesus, make him a foreigner who is bent on destroying their religion, customs and traditions, and then use their allegation to turn people away from him. 

What did Jesus do in response to the Pharisees’ question? He pushes back forcefully, and repeats Isaiah’s prophesy many centuries ago that accurately depicts their attitude: “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts.” Jesus accuses them of disregarding God’s commands and clinging to human tradition. After that, Jesus turns to the crowd and says, “Hear me, all of you and understand. Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.” The things that can defile us according to our Lord is not the food we eat or what we drink. If the food or drink is poisoned, it can harm us but not defile us spiritually. What defiles are evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, and folly. Each of them come from within us and can defile us and ruin us now and eternally.  

Mosaic Law required priests to perform ritual washings before they celebrate Temple liturgies. But since all God’s people are commanded to “be holy” (Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7 etc.), that requirement was extended to everyone. However, with the passage of time, people forgot that the call to holiness means careful and continuous change. Religious leaders fell into the habit of operating as if their rules could replace God’s commandments. So, Jesus calls them hypocrites because even though they talk for God and talk about God, but inside of them they are “filled with hypocrisy and evildoing.” They say one thing and do another. They are preachers of the word only and never its doers. After rendering his judgment on the Pharisees and scribes, Jesus turns to the crowd and urges them to pay more attention to the content of their hearts. For biblical people, the heart also includes the mind. Whenever you come across the word “heart” in the bible, it is not talking about emotion, although emotion is part of it. It is also talking about the mind. The heart means a person’s whole being. Therefore, pay attention to the contents of your heart and mind. Pay attention to your behaviors, actions, and attitudes. 

Apostle James invites us in our second reading to “Be doers of the word and not hearers only…” Of course, the best way to accomplish this is to allow authentic Christianity find expressions in the way we live, move, love and treat one another. Once again, check the contents of your heart before they wreak you and those around you. Jesus says, “Blessed are the pure of heart for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Although the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, as prophet Jeremiah (17:9) says, but it can be redeemed. If we surrender our hearts to Jesus, he can mend our hearts, and make them more like his. He can soften the hardness that lies within. Only Jesus can save us!

It’s Time To Make Up Your Mind!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, August 22, 2021

In the first reading (Joshua 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b), Joshua, the successor of Moses and leader of the Jews takes us straight to Shechem. At Shechem, he gathers all the tribes of Israel. He invites their elders, leaders, judges, and officers. During the leadership of Moses, Joshua had seen his people serve the Lord one day and the next day turn to the gods their new neighbors serve. He had seen them switch back and forth. He’s fed up with it. He’s no longer going to tolerate their spiritual and religious inconsistencies. As they were about to finally enter the Promised Land, Joshua addresses the people with these famous words: “If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” At the end of his riveting and inspiring sermon, the people respond that they will not leave the Lord. Why? Because it is the Lord who brought them out of the land of slavery in Egypt, who performed great miracles for them, who provided food and water for them in the desert, and continued to protect and defend them against nations that tried to attack them. Due to the Lord’s goodness and faithfulness to them, they like Joshua declare, “…we will also serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

In the Gospel (John 6:60-69), John takes us to Capernaum, the city of Jesus. Today’s Gospel is the continuation of the Eucharistic Discourse of John 6. In the preceding passage, Jesus insists that unless his disciples eat his flesh and drink his blood, they have no life within them. When Jesus sees that they were struggling to accept his teaching, he raises the temperature: “What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?” After laying down this new teaching, this new marker, many of his followers turned back and will not go with him anymore. They said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” (John 6:60). After they left, Jesus turns to the Twelve and asks, “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67). Speaking on behalf of the Twelve, Peter replied, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” 

What is the spiritual lesson? It does not take much to see that both the first reading and the Gospel is about decision. It is about making up our mind. People who are spiritually attentive know that at some point or another, we all have served different gods. We have served the various gods of where we live and where we work. For instance, there are some immigrants from Africa who were deeply godly when they were back in Africa. Back in Africa, they loved and served God sincerely and wholeheartedly. But upon settling in Europe or America, they become less and less godly. They adopt and worship the gods that their new neighbors and coworkers serve which are money, power, vain-glory and good opinion of those who have what they want. Last year, I came across a very sad but true post on social media that asked, “Why do Nigerians become less religious when they travel overseas?” Let’s face the fact, at some point in our lives or even presently, we have served or are serving other gods. For some of us, politics, tribe/race, organization or group we belong to etc. are our gods. Now, participation in politics is a good and necessary thing. But then even good things can be turned into idols. When we become absorbed and enslaved by things that were once good and sensible, we lose touch with the Lord. I have said before that the only “addiction” that is permitted is addiction to the Lord, which means loving and serving him firmly, wholeheartedly and unreservedly. Believing in a particular politician is okay. However, as Christians, we must know that no particular political party completely defines us. None of the political parties is flawless. Each of them has something we like and something we despise. They have something that Jesus upholds and something that Jesus condemns. As such, our deeper identity and loyalty should be something else. Our deeper allegiance, over and over gain should be something else— the Lord. 

Today, Joshua invites us to choose whom we serve. I believe that our presence here means we have chosen the Lord. But we also know that our choice hasn’t always determine all the decisions we have made over the years. So, we are being invited to choose again whom we serve. The choice you make today should determine your decisions going forward. It should determine where you will go, where you will be today, tomorrow and next week, next month and next year. When we choose God, God will set the direction. When we choose God, that helps us choose our life-work. For those who are still single, it will help you choose your husband or wife. When we choose God, it helps us decide how to raise our children. And when we choose God, God will bless us. According to C. S. Lewis, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done; and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” If we say to God, “Thy will be done,” there is sweet and juicy fruits to reap. But if God says to us, “Thy will be done” that is have it your own way, there is price to pay. Like Joshua, Jesus is also asking us, “Do you also want to leave?” Do you believe that Jesus is uniquely present Body, Soul and Divinity in the Sacramental Bread? Do you believe that the Eucharist is not a mere sign or symbol, rather, Jesus of Nazareth? Do you believe that the same Jesus who was born by Mary, who went about doing good, who was strongly opposed by the Pharisees and chief priests, who healed the sick, raised the dead, preached powerfully God’s love and plan for the human race, the same Jesus who was crucified, who died and is now risen is supremely present in the Eucharist? Do you believe that he is personally and actively present in what we receive at Mass? During consecration, the substance of the bread and wine changes and become the Body and Blood of the Lord. Believe this strongly because Jesus said so. The choice you make today will determine your tomorrow and potentially your eternal destiny. 

God bless you!

Mary, the Warrior Queen

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary 

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, August 15, 2021

It is important I believe, that since the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother for this year falls on a Sunday, that we  reflect more deeply on this great feast. In the first reading (Rev. 11:192a; 12:1-6a, 10ab) John takes us right into the heavenly court, the realm of God. As the celestial temple is opened, we see the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant may be unfamiliar to us, but for the first century Jews, it was not at all. The Ark was the box that contained the remnants of the Ten Commandments. It was the raison d’être for the Temple. The reason why the Temple existed is to house the Ark of the Covenant. Within the Temple, the Ark is the most sacred relic of the Israelites. It conveyed divine presence to Israel. Before the Temple was built, the Ark was carried to battle by Israelite armies when they went out against their enemies. Why? Because it symbolized and bore God’s presence and power. A couple of times when Israel lost the Ark, it lost its way, and when it conclusively lost it during the Babylonian invasion, the heart of Israel was broken. 

Although the Israelite Ark was lost during the Babylonian invasion, the Book of Revelation says it is back in its proper place. It is now in the heavenly Temple. But the difference is that the Ark seen in the heavenly Temple is associated with a Woman who is about to give birth. The Book of Revelation says, “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.” The Early Church saw Mary the Mother of Jesus as the new Ark. Why? Because she carried within her, not just the remnant of the Ten Commandments, but the very incarnation of Yahweh. Despite the difference between the new Ark— Mary and the old Ark, there is also a similarity between the two. The new Ark, Mary, just like the old Ark is also associated with battle. What does that mean? The Book of Revelation says that as she was about to give birth, a huge red dragon with seven heads and seven horns appeared to devour her child. What does the dragon stand for? You can say it stands for Rome and all the descendants of Rome because at the time the book was written, Rome was the most powerful nation on earth. It stands for all forms of worldly power from ancient time to this present day that relies upon violence, threat of violence and oppression. The message of the Book of Revelation is that even though Mary was confronted by the beast, she triumphantly gave birth to a Son, a male child that will rule all nations. For shortly after the child was delivered, her child was taken to God and she was taken to a place of safety. So, this fierce dragon, this monstrous scary beast is powerless before the Mother and her Child. What point am I making? The Ark of the new Covenant, Mary, is still effective in battle today as the old Ark was in Israel. When the new Israel— the Church does battle with its enemies, the Ark of the new Covenant, Mary, is still extremely powerful.   

With all these in mind, we come to the Gospel of today. The Gospel takes us, not to the heavenly court, but to worldly struggle. It takes us to a little town in the hill country of Judah, where a woman is greeting her cousin. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant in her womb leaped and Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit cried aloud and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” In her response to Mary’s greeting, Elizabeth acknowledged that the Ark of the Covenant has come into her house and has blessed it. The infant John the Baptist leaping in her mother’s womb reminds us of King David who also leaped and danced in the presence of the Ark of the covenant as it was brought into Jerusalem. As this was taking place, Mary confirms the victorious mission of her Son: “He has shown the strength of his arm, and has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.” In her prayers famously called Magnifat, she declares that her child will confront the powers of the world, oppose the proud who sit in high places and lord it over the humble. She announces that her baby will lift up the lowly and feed those who have been exploited. She also announces herself as the Ark that the new Israel—the Church, will successfully carry into battles. The words of her prayers are actually fighting words. 

If you are asking yourself what these have to do with the feast of the Assumption of Mary, go back to the first reading. The Assumption is Mary’s relocation into the realm of God. It is her elevation body and soul into heaven where she now is. Now, don’t think of this in a platonic sense. For Plato, the highpoint of life is the escape of the soul from the body. But for us, biblical people, it is the resurrection of the body. At the resurrection, we look to the restoration of the whole self in heaven. The Assumption is Mary’s translation into this realm where she now reigns as the Queen. As the Queen of heaven, she is now in a higher realm of existence where she can exercise immensely greater power than she exercised while she walked the hills of Judea. Mary was indeed a first century Jew who lived in our world, but now through the Assumption, she is the Ark of the Covenant in the heavenly Temple. And this makes her a very powerful Warrior indeed. In all the authentic apparitions like Lourdes, Guadalupe, Fatima, Mary consistently presents herself not a sentimental figure, rather a warrior. She habitually announces a new stage in the great struggle. At the beginning of the 20th century, Mary announced in Fatima that the great war that would preoccupy the people of 20th century is the war against the Russian communist. She also announced her involvement in the struggle and gave us the weapon to fight, namely fasting, prayer, penitence, the rosary. If you speak to the worldly power that you are going to battle it with fasting, prayer, penitence and rosary, they will laugh. But those weapons given to us by the Blessed Mother brought down Lenin and Stalin. That’s why the Feast of the Assumption is both the celebration of Mary’s translation into heaven and also an encouragement to do battle. The biggest battle we face today is secularism and secularist ideology which insists that you don’t need God to be perfectly happy. That all you need is more wealth, more power, more pleasure and more honor (esteem of others). Secularism does great violence to the human heart because our heart is wired to God, our heart is restless until it rest in God, as St. Augustine tells us. Nothing on earth can finally satisfy the longing of the heart. This is why the secularist ideology is a destructive ideology. It’s leading so many into the sea of sadness, unhappiness, and emptiness. We need Mary, the Queen of heaven and earth to help us fight this battle and win. 

The Eucharist: The Necessary Antidote For Spiritual Exhaustion

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Church of Ascension, Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Is there anyone here who does not know what it means to hit the wall? I think everyone including children knows what that means. When I was the pastor of St. Gerard Majella Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I used to frequent the Independence Park to play soccer. The Park has multiple soccer fields for people of different ages. I played with young men in their thirties and early forties because I was in my thirties at the time. Since we were all within the same age bracket, we would play for about two hours or more as our strength can carry us. Playing soccer was fun for me and also my own way of exercising and staying healthy. But one evening, I joined a group of younger men in their early twenties because my group did not show up for that day. After about an hour and a few minutes of playing with this group of younger men, I realized I could not just go on. Because they were much younger, they ran faster, and moved the ball much faster than my group. As such, they made me run so much and gasped for breath the whole time I was playing with them. I wasn't necessarily tired and worn out, I was simply unable to keep moving and keep going on. It was purely the case of hitting the wall. What did I do? I stepped out of the field, looked for bag, opened it and brought out my cold water bottle and drank. After sitting out for about fifteen minutes, I was able to return to the field. 

Today’s first reading (1 Kings 19:4-8) reminds me of my soccer experience with younger men in their early twenties. Elijah the prophet has hit the wall. What precedes today’s reading is the famous story of the battle between Elijah and the priests of Baal. You can find the story in 1 Kings 18. Elijah challenges the priests of Baal to call upon their gods to see if they would answer. After calling on their gods for half a day with no response from them, Elijah called upon Yahweh and Yahweh sent down fire to consume Elijah’s sacrifice. After that, Elijah put to death the 450 pagan priests of Baal. And after that, Queen Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab who was herself a worshipper of Baal was infuriated with Elijah. She sent the army after Elijah. So for days, Elijah is on the run. He is in the desert away from the cities to avoid being captured by an army of trained killers. While in the desert alone, exhausted, and terrified, he lamented, “This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” Now, can you recall when you felt that way when spiritually and psychologically speaking, you were unable to go on, when you had just hit the wall? By this I don’t mean when you feel depressed or sad or simply having a bad day. I mean when you were unable to go on and prayed for death. 

Now, the beautiful side of the story is that an angel appeared to Elijah— help from heaven, touched him and ordered him to get up and eat and drink. Elijah does so, and lays down again. For the second time, the angel of the Lord persists and says, “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” The prophet gets up, eats and drinks some more. And only then he is able to make it to Horeb, the mountain of God. In this event, you can see the symbolic communion between divinity and humanity. We all want communion with God. We are on a journey to complete communion with God, but at times we hit the wall. As a result we are not able to go on unless we eat and drink food from heaven. 

Sisters and brothers, what we are dealing with here is a metaphor for spiritual exhaustion and spiritual eating. But what can cause spiritual exhaustion? What can cause the spiritual hitting of the wall? The first cause is religious indifference. People who have been influenced by secularism make caricature of religion and religious people. They speak and live as if God does not matter. Sometimes when I celebrate funeral Mass, where some of the secularistic minded people attend for the sake of their departed loved ones, I do see their body language and facial countenance communicate that they don’t care what God says. Such lack of interest in God leads to the hitting of the wall. If become alienated from God the Source of life, we just can’t move because we are cutting ourselves off from the Source of life. Another cause of spiritual exhaustion and the hitting of the wall is habitual sin. For those who are stuck in a pattern of life of pride, envy and resentment, these sins, with time can build up and cut them off from the Source of life. The same goes for those who are caught in addiction of pornography or adultery, or any other habitual sin. The Church says that habitual sin can wear out the divine life in us. It can kill the contact with God we need to live. Being angry with God can also lead to the hitting of the wall spiritually. I have encountered people who for different reasons are angry with God. Something happened to them, may be some suffering, some terrible loss, may be their own failure in life, they are angry with God. The anger towards God leads to a fracture from the Source of life and leads to the hitting of the walls spiritually. There are a lot of people who are spiritually exhausted and don’t even know it. In terms of business, work, relationship etc. they are going on with their lives but aren’t going on spiritually. In the world, they are doing well but not heading towards the mountain of God like Elijah. Yet they wonder why they are so lost and so unhappy. They wonder why even though they are so successful in other things they do, but their lives are not going anywhere. They seem stuck. That’s what it feels like to hit the wall and to be as exhausted spiritually as Elijah was. If that’s your problem,  what’s the answer? 

As the reading suggests, it is indeed a matter of eating and drinking. Read the first reading symbolically because it is not ordinary food and water that we need to go on spiritually. It is a matter of eating and drinking Him— Christ Jesus the Lord! The Elijah passage is meant to prepare us for the stunning Gospel today taken from John 6:41-51. Jesus is speaking of himself as the Bread of life, which means the necessary source of sustenance. Here he is not talking about candy or ice cream or cookies. He is talking about something that is so basic and elemental that we need to survive. The food that he is is deeply and profoundly relevant and essential to our spiritual success. It is not a matter of “it’s nice if we can get it,” rather it is required for life. In today Gospel Jesus says, “…whoever eats this bread will live forever.” Physical food allows us to live for a time and indeed for a very short time. That’s why we eat three times a day, and I know some people eat more than three times a day. Yes, physical food sustains life but in a very restrictive way. However, the Bread that Jesus gives which is identical to his very life and substance gives life in the fullest sense. Why? Because it links us to the Source of life. Jesus speaks of eternal life, the life you need to God. Here is the bottomline, if we want that life, the eternal life, we have to eat this Bread. And the truth is that deep down, everyone of us wants that life, we want communion with God, we want to live forever and have eternal life. 

Now going back to the scene of hitting the wall, if you want to go on, if you want to make it all the way to the mountain of God, you have to eat something— the Eucharistic Bread. It is not an option here. You have to eat the Bread and drink the cup that Jesus proposed is himself. You can say all you want, you can complain that we have to eat bread and meat in order to sustain our biological life. But there’s nothing you can do about it. That’s just how the body is structured. You might even say in a similar way,  “it is unfair and bizarre that Eucharistic Bread is required for eternal life. But again, it is just the way the spiritual life is structured. Jesus is like a field of force; he is like a river; he is like energy source. It is not just his teaching or his example that matters. He matters! It is so tragic that so many Catholics blithely stay away from the Eucharist as if he doesn’t particularly matter. People who stay away from the Eucharistic bread do not understand what it means and do not understand the spiritual dilemma they are in. The Eucharist is the necessary antidote for spiritual exhaustion. We all need the Body of Christ to nourish our souls and keep us in communion with God.