Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Year B

What It Means To Be Watchful And Alert

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, December 3, 2023

We’ve come to the beginning of the liturgical year in the life of the Church. We’ve come to Advent, Adventus in Latin, which means “coming” or “arrival.” As you already know, Advent is a time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Christ at Christmas and his return at the Second Coming. In our today’s Gospel (Mark 13:33-37), Jesus urges, “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come.”  What time? The time of his coming that is happening right now in the life of the Church and his definitive coming at the end of time, his Second Coming. What does it mean to be watchful and alert? First and foremost, to be watchful and alert is to love God with all your heart, mind, soul and being. It is to persistently and delightfully find rest and refuge in God. God is the Summum Bonum, the Highest Good. To stay awake therefore is to make God the greatest pursuit of your life. Nevertheless, this does not stop you from living your ordinary life. It does not prevent you from having interests in entertainment, in politics, in social issues, in science, in finance, in marketing, in innovation, in friendships, in family, in religion, in community organizing, in advocating for justice and peace etc. Christianity is not a sad and depressing journey. As human beings, we are definitely going to be interested in other things, but if the organizing principle of our life and activities is God alone, then we are spiritually alert and vigilant. If Jesus is at the center of everything we do, if he is the Governor and the commanding General of every sector of our life, then we are watchful disciples of Jesus.  

What else do we need to do to stay awake and be alert? The great St. Augustine said, “Keep awake with your heart, with faith, with charity, with good works.” What does that mean? Love others! Look upon others with affection and understanding, be aware of the needs of those around you, see Jesus in them and consider the help you render to them as part of preparing for the arrival of Jesus. Check this out! If you see Jesus in the needy, in those who live on the margins of the society, in the “unlovable,” we derogatorily call “losers” “bozos” “hobos” “bums” “tramps” etc. I tell you, you will never pass them by without doing something, or at least think of what you can do to help. We can give reasons why some people find themselves on the outer side of the society begging for charity. We can blame them. We can look the other way when we see them. We can conclude that they are irredeemable and can’t be helped. We can be overwhelmed by the fact that we can’t solve all their problems. And you may be right. But I don’t think we are called to solve all their problems. To think you can do so is actually problematic because you may have “messianic tendency.” Just be aware of the tears and needs of others, and if you are able to attend to it, move, act. Do something! Stop the blame game of “It is their fault” or “It is their problem.” In reality, it might actually be our fault. In fact, it is all of our problems. For the great civil rights icon, Dr. Matthew Luther King, Jr. “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” We are connected to one another the way organs in the body are connected. Although individualism has so affected us, the unyielding fact is that whatever society we have is by a social contract. As members of the Church, whether we like it or not, we are connected to all the saints, but not just the saints alone but the good, the bad, the ugly and the indifferent. The duty of an awakened Christian is not to apportion blame, but to do what he or she is able to do to make the life of another better. In John 3:17, Jesus says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” If God the Father did not send God the Son into the wicked world to judge and condemn the world, why are we judging and condemning people? The abject poverty in any society is an indication that all is not well with us and with the system we have in place. When you see someone on the margins of society, look at the person through a theological lens of “This is me, even if not in the material sense but in the spiritual and moral sense.” May the material poverty of others wake us up to reality— that I might be this poor spiritually.

What’s the enemy to being watchful and being alert? It is the bad sleep of negligence. It is the nightmare of indifference and clinging to one’s private egotistic needs. It is the horror of centering one’s life on one’s own ego, desires and concerns alone, while failing to pay any attention to others. Stoicism is not a Christian principle per se. Apathy or disinterestedness is not a Christian virtue. However, becoming an unproductive alarmist is also not the way to go. A watchful Christian is aware of the tears and the needs of our neighbors, and also realizes that it is in serving them that we serve the Lord. By doing this, the Christian counters the indifference and cruelty in the world and shines a spotlight in the goodness that still exists in people. The enemy to the Lord’s call to “Be watchful!” and to “Be alert” is discouragement, lack of hope, and disappointment. Keep this in mind: Jesus is coming into the world, not as a severe Judge who seeks to punish us, rather as a helpless and poor child who asks us to welcome him as he lays in the manger meant for animals. 

Homily on the Solemnity of Christ the King

Jesus Christ is King! But What Does It Mean?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Solemnity of Christ the King, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church

Sunday, November 26, 2023

At the end of every liturgical year, we celebrate something centrally important to our faith, and that is the stubborn fact that Jesus Christ is the King of the universe and the Lord of our lives. But what does it mean to say that Jesus is King? It means we totally belong to him. It means it is “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:27). In the words of the great Apostle, St. Paul, it means “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). If our professional life, business life, family life, religious life, entertainment life, social life etc. is not lived in him, if we don’t move and have our being in him, then we are messing around with Christianity. If we pay lip service to Jesus, and don’t submit completely to him, we are fooling around with Christianity and not taking him seriously. If we pay attention to Christ only a few minutes on Sunday, if Jesus matters more only on Sunday, if your religious life is the only place that Jesus matters, but when it comes to your professional, social, political and entertainment life, you keep him at bay, you are not making him your King. If we pretend that Jesus is just one religious figure among the many, that he is just another interesting philosopher, then we are playing around with Christianity. It means we are not treating Christ as King.

Concretely, what does it mean to say that Jesus Christ is King? If we are asked if Jesus is the King of our house where we live, everyone here will say yes. But what does it mean? It means that Jesus is welcome in every room of your house? If he is only welcome in one room and not in the rest, then He is not yet your King. When I was coming of age in Nigeria, I used to hear stories of wealthy men who belonged to secret cult. Stories had it that in their mansion, they would reserve a special room where an altar is erected and where they worshipped the prince of darkness, Satan. I also heard that that very room is never accessible by other members of the family. The wife, children, house-helps, etc were never allowed to enter that special room. Most of my African brothers and sisters have heard of this story too. Now, a Christian who indulges in such a practice is toying with Christianity; that person is not making Jesus his or her King. If we keep Jesus on the outer edge of our life, on the fringe of our society, and not declare him sovereign of every aspect of our society, we are sequestering him, and not treating him as King. That Jesus is King means he is the Lord of everything. He is Dominus— that is the Latin rendering of Kyrios, which means Lord. The word “Dominus” has the overtone of “domination.” Yes, Jesus is Dominus in every aspect of our life. He either dominates all sectors of our life or we are not treating him as King. 

If we are asked if Jesus is the King of your family life, everyone here will say yes. But what does it mean that Jesus is the King of your family life? It means you must treat everyone in your family as the end and never as the means. It means you will never use anyone in your family. As a priest for 16 years, I have heard and seen situations where parents use their children and children use their parents. Think of parents manipulating their children and wanting them to realize their own dreams and aspirations through their children. Think of adult brothers and sisters manipulating each other and using each other as means to an end and to get ahead. You want to accomplish something  and you use a family member to accomplish it. I hear stories of family members in Africa telling tall stories to their relatives that live overseas just to get money from them. I know of someone who lives in Europe. Members of his family in Africa were always “sick” and always asking him to send money for their medical treatment. He suspected that his brothers and sisters were using him. When he traveled to his country, he struck a deal with a hospital. He said to his relatives, “Whenever you are sick, go to this hospital, they will treat you and then bill me.” Guess what happened? None of them was sick again. When I was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, my parish paid the supposedly co-pay of a young man to refill his medicine every month. Towards the end of the month, he will come to my office, and I will hand him a $20 bill so that he can get his life-saving medicine. After almost four years of doing this, I discovered he gets that medicine totally free. The government pays for it. To make Christ the King of your family means treating everyone in your family and in your life as an end, and not as means. 

If you are asked if Jesus is the King of your relationship, you are most likely going to say yes. But what does that mean? To make Jesus the King of your relationships means not looking at your friend or friends as means to an end. Let me use this example. You are a young woman, a young man approaches you, and you agree to go out with him. You are a young man and you notice a young woman with great potential, and you approached her and asked her out. With the passage of time, you realize he or she is not your  type. You realize the two of you are not compatible. Yet, a few months later, this utterly incompatible man proposes to marry you, and you accept. In the case of a man, even after realizing that this lady is not the one, you still went ahead and asked, “Will you marry me?” Why? Because there are some great material benefits to gain. You say to yourself, “I will marry him.” “I will marry her.” “I will tolerate until I get what I want.” You say to yourself, “Once I get what I want, I will leave.” Christians who do this are not making Jesus the King of their lives. They are treating the foremost sacrament, the sacrament of marriage as means and not as an end. If Jesus is the Lord of your life, if he is the King of all your activities, you will not engage in this kind of cruel venture. 

More to it, if you are asked if Jesus is the King of your professional life, a lot of people would say yes. But what does it mean to say such? If Jesus is the King of your professional life, you will not take up a job that is fundamentally immoral in its purpose and orientation no matter how much you are going to earn. If in your place of work, you are asked to indulge in an activity that is morally problematic, that will haunt your conscience for a very long time, you cannot get yourself involved if Christ is your King. Yes, you may make a lot of money, but then at what cost? If your company is pursuing policies and strategies that are immoral, you should at least raise your voice in protest and opposition. Don’t isolate religion as a private matter. Don’t convince yourself that your religious faith is in the heart alone and that this is your public and professional matter. If you do,  Jesus is not the King of your whole life. 

Finally, if you are asked whether Christ is the King of your body? You are mostly certainly going to answer in the affirmative. But what does it mean? It means you treat your body with respect. You won’t abuse it through alcohol, drugs, excessive eating and sex. It means you practice self-control. It means you are physically committed as much as you can to carry out the mission given to you by the Lord. It means you take the resurrection of the body seriously. Don’t forget this fact: Jesus Christ is the King of everything— soul, spirit, mind and body too. Put this in mind: spiritual life is not like democracy. In democracy, you can vote a politician in and can also vote him or her out. But not so in spiritual life. Don’t think you can vote Jesus in and out. We  don’t surround him with checks and balances. We don’t subject him according to our whims and moods. Jesus is not like the president or the prime minister or the secretary. He is King! He wants to reign even in the life of presidents, prime ministers, and secretaries.

To make Christ the King of your life is to bring Christ into everything you do— private and public. It is to bring your Christian faith into everything you are involved within the church and outside the church. Don’t play the public and private dichotomy thing. If your organization, your society, be it the Men’s Group, Women’s Group, the Choir, the Knights, or any group in the church is pursuing an agenda you know would harm someone or some people and you believe that Jesus Christ is your King, you will raise your voice in opposition. If Christ is your King, use every opportunity you get to evangelize. Do not be ashamed of witnessing for the Lord. Jesus says, “Whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this faithless and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of when he comes in his Father’s glory with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38). The Responsorial Psalm on Monday, November 20, 2023 was “Give me life, O Lord, and I will do your commands.” The implication is that the life that God has given to us is for us to propagate his name, his will and purposes in our office, at home, wherever we are. Do the people who know you know that you are Christian? Do they know you are a Catholic? Have you ever shared with anyone the joy you found in Christ? If you have, when was the last time you did that? If Jesus is your King, when was the last time you announced it? Are you ashamed of being his mouthpiece? If Jesus is your King, how often are you in contact with him through prayer? If you claim that God is your friend and the most important person in your life, how often do you talk to him? If you say that Jesus is your best friend, do you talk to him often? Everyday? Every hour? Every time? Or only when you come to Mass? In prayer, we talk to God. We lift up our minds and hearts to him. We commune with him. And we let him talk to us as well. But if you talk to Jesus once a week on Sunday, or once a month or occasionally, then he is not your best friend. For us Catholics, what’s the great prayer? The Mass! At every Mass, the Word of God is proclaimed to us. We hear it in the reading, and hopefully in the sermon. So, we are fed with the Word of God. But only that. We are also fed with the Eucharist, which is the source and summit of the Christian life. Sadly, 75% of Catholics stay away from the Mass. If Christ is your King, you won’t miss the Mass unless you are ill or looking after someone who is ill. If Christ is your King, you will participate regularly in the Sacraments of the Church especially Confession and the Eucharist.

Homily for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Parable Of The Talents

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, November 19, 2023

From the lips of Jesus we hear the Parable of the Talents. Jesus tells of a man who is going on a journey. But before leaving, he entrusts his money to three of his servants. To one he gives five talents, to the second two, and to the third, one. He gives to each one according to their ability. After distributing his money to his servants, the man went away. It is worth noting that in the ancient world, a talent was a large amount of money. That the third servant received just one talent does not mean he received a trivial and insignificant amount. While the man was away, the first servant immediately risked the five talents in the open market by trading with it. The second servant does the same. Many of you know the danger of investing your money in the stock market. It is always a risk to do it, but if you don’t, your money won’t grow in value. It is similar to what the first two servants did. In the end, both of them received a rich return on their investments. They doubled their money. As for the third man, out of caution, he buries his talent with the hope of returning it to his master. When the master finally returns, he commends the first and the second servants, and gives them greater responsibilities. For the third man, he rebukes and calls him wicked and lazy. 

What is the meaning and purpose of this parable?  Consider the Parable of the Talents as everything we receive from God— life, breath, being, powers of the mind and will, material goods, spiritual goods etc. Because they come from God, they are meant to become gifts. With this parable, Jesus teaches that no person is born ungifted. You are endowed in some ways by our Creator. You are endowed with certain spiritual and material goods. What are you supposed to do now? Use them for the furtherance of God's Kingdom.  As children of light, we are to build a kingdom of light, life and love. We are to use God’s endowments to build a kingdom of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation. Our nation today needs people of faith to rise up and be counted. For racial and political healing to happen in this great nation, men and women of faith must desire it, preach it, practice it and be involved in making it happen. 

Is the sharing of faith easy? Not at all! The popular attitude today towards religious faith is that of indifference. Religious people are constantly told to make their faith a private matter. Keep it to yourself. Don’t talk about it in the public forum, we are often reminded. If you cave in, it becomes a short road to losing your faith. People would prefer to talk about sports and other things they agree on. From the time of Jesus to the present day, the more you make your faith public, the more you put it at risk. Some people who like you and associate with you, may no longer be comfortable with you. They might call you “weird” and consider your good counsel “a religious jibber jabber. The propagation of the faith is always a dangerous venture. Look at Jesus! Look at the Apostles! Look at the saints! The great Pope John Paul II almost lost his life to gunshot because of his fearless preaching in defense of Christ, Christianity, life and against the horrors of communism. Should that make us withdraw from the preaching of the gospel? Not at all! The Christian faith will not grow unless we give it away, that is, unless we share it. So, I ask you to find some concrete ways to share your faith. You can begin from your home. Find the time, call it “God’s time” to share your faith with your household. Sharing your faith is like risking your money. But Jesus assures that it will pay off eventually. If your faith is of great importance to you, share it with others and it will definitely grow. A lot of people are struggling with unbelief or weakened faith in our society today. As secularism increases, so also is the attack on our faith from different angles. Attack on religion and on God is today widespread. The fear of God is disappearing that people now say the most disrespectful thing to God and about God. But as we share our faith, and announce even from the rooftop that Jesus is Lord, our faith and the faith of the weakened ones among us is strengthened and deepened. 

God bless you!

Homily for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Paradox Of The Law Of The Gift

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, November 19, 2023

From the lips of Jesus we hear the Parable of the Talents. Jesus tells of a man who is going on a journey. But before leaving, he entrusts his money to three of his servants. To one he gives five talents, to the second two, and to the third, one. He gives to each one according to their ability. After distributing his money to his servants, the man went away. It is worth noting that in the ancient world, a talent was a large amount of money. That the third servant received just one talent does not mean he received a trivial and insignificant amount. While the man was away, the first servant immediately risked the five talents in the open market by trading with it. The second servant does the same. Many of you know the danger of investing your money in the stock market. It is always a risk to do it, but if you don’t, your money won’t grow in value. It is similar to what the first two servants did. In the end, both of them received a rich return on their investments. They doubled their money. As for the third man, out of caution, he buries his talent with the hope of returning it to his master. When the master finally returns, he commends the first and the second servants, and gives them greater responsibilities. For the third man, he rebukes and calls him wicked and lazy.

What is the meaning and purpose of this parable? In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus uses the dynamics of investments, risks and profits as a model for spiritual life. The reason for this is very clear. God exists in gift form. God is the Cheerful Giver. Therefore if you want God’s life in you, you must conform to his own way of being. You must learn how to give if you want to have God. Consider the Parable of the Talents as everything we receive from God— life, breath, being, powers of the mind and will etc. Because they come from God, they are meant to become gifts. If you cling to them just like the third servant, they don’t grow, rather, they wither away. Everything in us came from God and are therefore meant to be in gift form. If you cling to them and use them for your private egotistic needs, they will fade away. The first two servants received more. Why? Because they risked what they have been given. They were willing to give it away, and thereby doubled their wealth. This is the reason why the paradoxical principle we hear at the end of the parable makes a whole lot of sense: “To everyone who has, more will be given and he will grow rich.” If you look at this paradox purely from a worldly and secularistic view, it makes no sense at all. From a worldly standpoint, it is not fair! It is the one who has little or nothing that more should be given, and not the one who already has. Right? But what it means is that the one who truly has the divine life, and knows how to make it a gift, in the end, the original wealth will increase. If you have the divine life, you know it is a gift, and you give it away, that divine life which you have will eventually increase, not diminish. This is the paradox of the law of the gift. 

More to it, Jesus also says, “From the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.” Again, in our worldly calculation, this is quite unfair. Isn’t it? If someone does not have a lot, the little he has will be taken away. Again, this is a paradox. But what does it mean? If you try to cling to the divine life, you will in a short distant time, lose it. The divine life cannot be clung to because the divine life exists in a gift form. Once you receive it, you give it away and as you give it away, it does not decrease, rather, it increases. But if you cling to it, you will lose it. The problem is that we sinners sometimes get into a bad rhythm. We try to fill ourselves up when in spiritual reality, we should be emptying ourselves out. As sinners, we are a consumerist people, but saints are giving people. Rather than live and move according to the philosophy of “go-getters,” let’s live according to the principle of “go-givers.” This is the general principle that guides the spiritual life. 

With this in mind, let us now apply it to a particular case, to evangelization. That is, the sharing of the faith. Life will grow in the measure that you give it away. Your being will increase in the measure that you give it away. So, your faith will increase in the measure that you share it. In our society today, a lot of people struggle with unbelief or weakened faith. As secularism increases, so also is the attack on our faith from different angles. Attack on religion and on God is today widespread. The fear of God has so disappeared today that people say the most disrespectful thing to God and about God. The spreading of lies, relativism and subjectivism attack our faith too. They make us doubt God’s love, God’s providential care, and God’s involvement in our everyday ordinary life. The propagation of “your view is your truth,” “my view is my truth,” “their view is their truth” and “our view is our God” poses the starkest danger to our faith, they weaken our faith in the reality of God, who creates and sustains the cosmos. If anyone has gone through the loss of a loved one through sickness, or has experienced financial reversal or some sort of a tragedy, it is very tempting to say, “There is no God,” or “God doesn’t care.” In the face of these difficulties and attacks, do not forget the law of the gift. Your faith will get stronger, it will increase in the measure that you give it away. Is this counterintuitive? You betcha! When you don’t have enough, when you lose something of great importance to you, the tendency is to say, “This is not the right time to share my things because I am really short, I have to conserve, to save and to cling to the little I have.” That’s the natural tendency! But in the spiritual order, the right attitude is to do the opposite. It is in the act of sharing that your faith increases and becomes stronger. When it appears that God has disappointed you, do not wait around for your faith in God in return. Start sharing your faith nevertheless, and as you do that, your faith will increase and become more intensified. In the economic context of the parable of the talent, money won’t grow unless it is risked. The conservative strategy is in fact self defeating. Your faith has to be risked, that is, putting it out there. 

What’s the popular attitude today? Privatization of the faith! Make your faith a private matter. Keep it to yourself. Don’t talk about it in the public forum. I tell you, that’s a short road to losing your faith. To some degree, you have to put your faith in danger. You have to put it out there for the haters of faith to mock it, to ridicule it, to question it or to be indifferent to it. Is the sharing of faith easy? Not at all! People would prefer to talk about sports and other things they agree on. From the time of Jesus to the present day, the more you make your faith public, the more you put it at risk. Some people who like you and associate with you, may no longer be comfortable with you. They might call you “weird” and consider your good counsel “religious jibber jabber. The propagation of the faith is always a dangerous venture. Look at Jesus! Look at the Apostles! Look at the saints! The great Pope John Paul II almost lost his life to gunshot because of his fearless preaching in defense of Christ, Christianity, life and against the horrors of communism. Should that make us withdraw from the preaching of the gospel? Not at all! The Christian faith will not grow unless we give it away, that is, unless we share it. So, I ask you to find some concrete ways to share your faith. You can begin it from your home. Find the time, call it “God’s time” to share your faith with your household. Sharing your faith is like risking your money. But Jesus assures that it will pay off eventually. If your faith is of great importance to you, share it with others and it will definitely grow. 

Veni Sancte Spiritus!

Homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Wise And Foolish Virgins

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, November 12, 2023

Towards the end of his public life, just before the Passion, Jesus narrates the Parable of the Ten Virgins. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.” By the way, this image is borrowed from the practices and customs of Jesus’ time. At that time, weddings were extravagantly celebrated. It was a special event that brought relatives, friends and an entire community together to share in the joys of the bride and the bridegroom. The highlight of the wedding happened at night when the bridegroom, in the company of his guests, leaves his parents’ house, goes over to the bride’s parents’ house, and takes her to their new home. Since this happened at night, at a time when there was no electricity, bridesmaids would hold their oil lambs and accompany them. This is the image that Jesus used in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. In the story, we are told that five of the virgins are foolish, and five are wise. The wise ones have plenty of oil in their lambs. The five foolish ones are not well prepared. After a long wait, the bridesmaid fell asleep. Suddenly the bridegroom arrived and they had to wake up to attend to him. The five wise virgins with sufficient oil were ready to go, but the other five with no oil, could not light their lambs. They are not ready. Who is admitted into the wedding party? The wise ones who are well stocked and ready! Who does not get in? The foolish ones! They are not prepared and not well stocked. 

Like the bridesmaids, we are all waiting. We know the Bridegroom is coming. Jesus is the Bridegroom, and the Church is the Bride. We know the marriage of the Lamb has come and his Bride, the Church must be ready. We know he is coming to consummate this relationship with us. We are waiting for it,  but in joyful hope. But how do we wait? From the Parable of the Ten Virgins we know that some are waiting wisely and others unwisely. Some have their lamps stocked with oil, while others don’t. What does this oil stand for? It stands for that divine life that was given to us in baptism that we are meant to keep alive as we wait. More precisely, it stands for prayer, sacraments, Eucharist, curiosity to know and share our faith. It stands for good works, life of love, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Who are the wise virgins, wise bridesmaid and wise waiters? Those who practice these things, who keep the light of faith burning brightly in them. Who are the foolish ones? Those of us who allow that light to dim and die. Although they are in attendance for the wedding or in our own case, they attend Mass, nevertheless, they don’t produce the fruits of Christianity. To keep the light of faith burning brightly, we must pray every day and consciously too. We must be hearers and doers of the word, and users of the sacraments. The sacraments are extraordinary and tangible ways we are meant to encounter Jesus. In the sacrament of the Eucharist, the Lord feeds us; in the sacrament of confession, we sinners are forgiven etc. How often do we use these sacraments? Have we swallowed hook, line and sinker the secularist ideology of “I’m okay and you’re okay?” and “I am beautiful in every single way?” 

Look at the sacrament of confession this way: in our ordinary life, if you commit a crime and you are caught, you would be arrested, tried in court, and jailed. If it is a state crime you committed, the governor of the State can pardon you, and if it is a federal offense, the president can pardon you if you show enough remorse. In a similar fashion, if we commit sin, we need someone else to pronounce us forgiven. Just as you cannot pronounce yourself pardoned if you break state or federal law, so also you cannot pronounce yourself forgiven if you break God’s law. In the Catholic Church, God’s forgiveness is obtained in the sacrament of confession. That the number of Catholics who use this sacrament has fallen is something that continues to baffle me. The Parable of the Ten Virgins is meant to challenge us to stock up on things that matters to God, not to stock up on our sins and iniquities. It is meant to wake us up from spiritual indifference and staleness and sterile Christianity. How strong is your faith? Authentic faith always seeks understanding, so said St. Anselm. If your faith does not seek understanding, how would you be “ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope?” (1 Peter 3:15) Do we love everyday in a concrete way? In the words of Dorothy Day, “Everything a baptized person does every day should be directly or indirectly related to the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy.” Doing these is the way to keep oil stocked in the land. It is the way to prevent the divine life given to us in baptism from fading and dying. The divine life can go out if we don’t attend to it. And if we continuously attend to it, we will be ready when the Bridegroom, Jesus the Lord comes. 

One more point, were the five wise virgins mean and unkind for not sharing their oil with the five foolish virgins? Not at all! In the spiritual level, there are some thing we cannot borrow. If you spend your entire life not cultivating and practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy, not living a life of love, not praying, and not using the sacraments continuously etc. you cannot reasonably expect someone at the last minute to give you fruits of their cultivation. It just doesn’t work that way. We can borrow material things from our neighbors, relatives or friends, but cannot possibly borrow relationships with God. No one can borrow good character; we just have to cultivate it.  You cannot make heaven simply by knowing someone in heaven. You have to work out your own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12b). 

Homily for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

A Challenge To The Shepherds Of The Church

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, November 5, 2023

The words we hear today from the prophet Malachi (1:14b-2:2b, 8-10) about corrupt religious leadership makes me nervous. Through Malachi, God speaks and faults and accuses his own priests of two things: first, “You… have caused many to falter by your instructions,” and, second, “You have made void the covenant,” you made with God and with the people of God. God is accusing ancient Israelite priests for not teaching the whole truth, and for disobeying God’s commandment. Since the Word of God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, the same accusation can be extended to the priests of today. I tell you, the prophet Malachi’s prophetic message troubled me a great deal and it is still troubling me. One promise I made to God on June 30, 2007—the day of my ordination, is to always teach the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of the faith, even when it is not safe to do so and no matter whose interests are affected. I’ve been a priest for 16 years and have served in four different parishes in the USA. Have I always kept this promise? As my community was having our lunch last week (Friday, October 27, 2023), I said to Fr. Gary Lauenstein, “I have mastered the art of saying no to certain food and drink I know are not healthy for me. No matter the pressure from those around me, once I know it is not good for me, I don’t cave in. Now, I am praying to God to give me the same resistance, the same grace and ability to say no to any attitude and behavior I know is not good for my spiritual life. If I can achieve that, I will be a saint. I don’t know why God hasn’t answered me yet.” Looking at me with a smile, Fr. Gary said, “May be, God wants to keep you humble. He wants to prevent you from falling into another sin, the sin of pride.” 

Now, why is it important to teach the whole truth, and nothing but the truth of faith? The objective truth provides the framework for all of us to live a saintly life. Teaching the truth is like showing someone the right path to his or her destination. A priest is a teacher of the faith; he is a custodian of the faith; he is a sign, a messenger and not the message. The Message is Jesus Christ. The role of the priest is to be a sign that points to Jesus. Using the Scripture and the Traditions of the Church, the priest shows us, among many other paths, the right path to Jesus. Jesus himself said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one can come to the Father except through me.” A priest, a bishop or a pope who teaches heresy and gives false instruction does the following: makes a mockery of the faith, sows confusion, makes himself the message, that is, the founder of Christianity, points to the wrong direction, misleads people and sadly jeopardizes their salvation and his as well. This is the reason why St. Paul, in many of his Letters, warns us of false teaching, false teachers and the errors they foster. I believe with my whole heart, soul and mind that the whole Gospel should be preached and taught with clarity and charity. The twelve Jewish disciples of Jesus converted the obstinate Roman Empire by teaching the truth and living holy lives. If priests, bishops and religious do the same today, lots of people will be flocking back to the Church. Imagine what would happen if we preach the whole Gospel of Jesus and live a life of love and not lust. If the shepherds of the Church had been good shepherds and cared for the sheep rather than molesting them, people would believe us and trust us. But this does not let you, the laity off the hook. By your baptism, you are also a priest, a royal priest. You are baptized into Christ and are also called to witness for him. Do you realize that your family is the domestic church? Parents, do you realize that in your domestic church, in your family, you are the pastorcito, little shepherds in Spanish. Are you teaching your children the truth of faith by words and example? If you teach them one thing, and then do the opposite, you are like an unholy priest, a bad pastor. If you are constantly arguing, quarreling, and fighting before their children, and refusing to forgive each other, you are like a bad priest. On your wedding day, you promise fidelity to each other. But if after months and years, you start cheating on your spouse, you are like that priest who promised celibacy and chastity on his ordination day. But after that, betrays the oat. Today, let’s re-commit ourselves to the truth in words and deeds. Truth cannot be a lie, and a lie cannot be a truth. Goodness cannot be bad, and badness cannot be good. Good people can be a little bad and bad people can be a little good, but goodness is not a little bad and badness is not a little good. 

With this in mind, let’s touch on the Gospel. In today’s Gospel (Matthew 23:1-12), Jesus says, “Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.” Call no one on earth ‘father’? Including our biological dads and priests? What’s the Lord talking about? Jesus is using a method of teaching called hyperbole. What is hyperbole? It is a pedagogical tool or method of using exaggerated narratives, description, emotions, images etc in order to make a point. One classic example among the many of Jesus using hyperbole is the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:29:30 where he says, “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body be thrown into Gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better. for you to lose one of your members than to have your whole body go into Gehenna.” In those words, Jesus is using exaggeration in order to make a point. He is not expecting his disciples to mutilate their bodies to avoid yielding to sin. He is talking about the radical nature of commitment to the Kingdom of God, meaning that we must root out sin wherever we find it. If you are a teacher, a parent, you know that sometimes you use exaggeration to teach your students and kids because sometimes, they get tired, bored and distracted. And one of the ways to help them remember what you are teaching is to exaggerate and use hyperbole as a technique for teaching. Even though I am called ‘father’ I am not the Father, the Source and Paternity of all reality and truth. As people who love honor and titles, we should be careful not to use names and titles that exclusively belong to God. If you are given such a title as a way of honoring you, do not accept it. You are not “Agu n’eche mba.” You are not “Owa na etiri oha.” You are a mere mortal, meaning that one day, you will pass away. No matter how significant you are, do not behave as if you are the alpha and omega. If you are not there, life will move on, life will continue. But if God is not there, all things and all beings will dangerously come to an end.