Homily For the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

The Spirit of Power, Love, And Self-Control

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily For the Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, October 5, 2025

Today’s second reading is from Paul’s second letter to Timothy (1:6-8, 13-14). Paul wrote to his spiritual son, Timothy, whom he personally converted to Christianity, while he was in prison. Christians who believe in Christianity without embracing the cross should take note: Paul often found himself imprisoned. Timothy traveled with Paul during one of his missionary journeys. He was half-Jewish and half-Gentile. Paul, an apostle to the Gentiles, converted Timothy, who represents Paul’s mission to both Jews and Gentiles. In this letter, you can sense the father-son relationship. It’s like hearing an old soldier advise a young soldier. Clearly, Paul loved Timothy and was mentoring him as a disciple. Paul's advice to Timothy is filled with military imagery. Why? Because Paul saw the Christian life and mission as a struggle. From prison, he used his letters to guide Timothy toward a meaningful life as a missionary. 

In our reading today, we come across a line that has been one of my favorite passages in the Epistles: “I remind you, to stir into flame the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” As a priest, I am moved by Paul's reference to laying on of hands. For that was the gesture by which he ordained Timothy to ministry, and that gesture continues today. When I was ordained a priest on June 30, 2007, the ordaining prelate, Bishop Gutemberg Regis, CSsR of Brazil, placed his hands on my head. It is the same gesture used by Paul, and as you can see, it is an ancient gesture. Whenever you attend an ordination Mass and see the Bishop imposing his hands on the candidates for ordination, remember Paul’s words to his young spiritual son, Timothy. The fearless, bold, and confrontational old soldier, Paul, is telling Timothy that the Spirit he received through the laying on of hands is not a Spirit of fear, but one that makes us strong, loving, and wise. 

Sisters and brothers, the Spirit of God is for fighting. And you see this truth echoed throughout the Bible. You see it in Abraham, Moses, Joshua, the prophets, Jesus, and in the lives of every first-century Christian. The Christian faith is a faith that fights. In his other letter written to the Ephesians, St. Paul says, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (6:12). We are fighting against a world of hatred, violence, exclusion, racism, division, family feuds, and marriage collapse. We are fighting against secularism, the world of a lack of a sense of God, and the flight of religious reverence. All of these, and many more, are rising against the Church of Jesus Christ, and we who proclaim it, embody it, and try to live the Christian faith must be fighters, full of the Spirit of courage and resistance. 

What is the weapon of this fight? How should we fight? St. Paul says, “We are not given the spirit of cowardice but rather of power and love and self-control.” We don’t fight with the weapons of the world. We don’t fight the world on its own terms and ground. We cannot fight hatred with more hatred. We cannot fight cruelty with more cruelty. We cannot fight darkness with more darkness. When we do that, we lose. Instead, we Christians fight with the Spirit of God, which empowers us to be strong, loving, and wise. Christianity is not a naive religion. Throughout the Christian centuries, Christians have known how to fight, but we fight with the weapon of love and self-control. As followers of the Crucified God, we should be ready for opposition. Jesus was put to death by the world, so we who follow him, who are marked by the sign of his cross, must be ready for a fight. That’s what Paul is saying to Timothy and to all of us today. 

The Spirit given to you at your baptism is a Spirit of power, love, and self-control. I have said it many times: fighting hatred with hatred is weakness. Fighting anger with more anger is weakness. Fighting violence with more violence is a weakness. Hatred, anger, violence, and aggression come from the world of darkness. You cannot overcome darkness with more darkness—only light can. The antidote to hatred is love. The saying, “Revenge is best served cold,” originates from a world of darkness and ugliness. The most disempowering weapon against hatred, cruelty, and meanness is love and self-control. Take this to the bank: how you react when you're angry reveals where you are in your spiritual life. In tense moments, does the spirit of self-control take hold? What do you do and say when your spouse hurts you with harsh words? Do you fight back verbally? Or do you allow the spirit of love and self-control to reign? When a colleague at work is cruel to you, how do you respond? Do you plan and carry out your own cruelty? When someone spreads a false story about you, how do you respond? Do you foment lies against that person? No matter what happens at home, at work, in church, etc., never forget who you are: a disciple of a crucified Man-God. You follow someone who experienced all that is ugly in the world. In the end, he was crucified naked outside Jerusalem like a common criminal. He has all the power and the right to revenge, but in the most dramatic and disempowering way, he uttered the words of mercy: “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). On the cross of Jesus Christ, we see the spirit of self-control. We experience divine mercy that completely cancels all the sins of the world. 

God bless you!