Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

The Ethical And Spiritual Program Of Jesus

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, February 1, 2026

Today, we hear one of the most beautiful and important passages in the Gospel of Matthew, the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, also known as the Beatitudes. In this segment of Matthew, the Lord lays out his ethical and spiritual program. In the past, I said jovially that in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preaches like a Baptist preacher, for it is a long sermon. It’s composed of three chapters: 5, 6, and 7. Some scholars say these three chapters probably summarize what Jesus said, preached, and taught as he traveled through various towns and villages. How does it begin? Matthew says, “When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain…” Jesus going up the mountain indicates he is the New Moses. Moses went up a mountain to receive the Law; Jesus, as the New Moses, has gone up a mountain to give a new Law. Furthermore, Matthew says, “After he sat down, his disciples came to him.” In the ancient world, that was the posture of authority and of a teacher. When a teacher takes his seat, his disciples sit at his feet. Jesus, the very incarnation of Yahweh, is now teaching us his vision and rule of life, and we should listen very carefully to what he is about to say. Lastly, Matthew says, “He began to teach them.”

What’s the first teaching? “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Greek word for “blessed” is “markarios,” meaning “lucky,” “fortunate,” or “happy.” So it means, “You are lucky, fortunate, and happy if you are poor in spirit.” Why is that the first beatitude? Because pride is the first capital sin. Pride is the greatest sin. Pride makes me the center of my life; my life is all about me; I set the tone; I set the project. How many times in our culture do we hear expressions like, “I am a self-fulfilling person?” If you don’t know, it is the voice of sin. But who is poor in spirit? It is someone who is not proud, who empties himself, and concentrates on God. It is someone who says, “It’s all about you, Jesus.” To be poor in spirit is to let Jesus reign in your life. It means, “All I want is what God wants for me.” That’s being poor in spirit. Do you want to be happy? Allow Jesus to be your Lord and Savior. Submit and surrender to his will and purposes. Forget about your desires and focus on what God wants for you. 

The second beatitude is, “Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.” On the surface, it seems strange, puzzling, unnerving, and counterintuitive. Most people believe the good life is a happy life. We want to feel good, right? But sometimes doing the right thing, the best thing, and what God wants means we have everything but good feelings. Look at all the saints. I don’t know any saint whose life is devoid of suffering. And by the way, this is not some form of masochistic idea. When you walk the way of love, it’s going to cost you something. But you are lucky and fortunate if you are not addicted to good feelings. 

In the third beatitude, Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.” Again, this is completely counterintuitive. On the surface, it seems absurd. How can the meek and lowly inherit the earth? One lesson from history is that it is the powerful, the ruthless, the bold, etc., who inherit the earth. From the Roman emperors to the present day, it is the ruthless who inherit the earth. Do we have meek politicians? Maybe we do, but they are not in abundance. People who inherit the earth are generally very bold, gutsy, and ruthless. Yet Jesus says you are lucky and fortunate if you are meek and lowly, for you will inherit the earth. How do we read this? There is a counterargument to make. Outwardly, it appears the ruthless are the ones inheriting the earth, but throughout the ages, the poets, novelists, and historians from Shakespeare to Bob Woodward teach us that these powerful people suffer enormous psychological and spiritual debility. This teaches us that when we are hooked on the goods and values of this world and become ruthless in their pursuit, we become internally miserable. In the third beatitude, the greatest Teacher of all time says, “You are lucky, fortunate, and happy if you are detached from earthly power, earthly glory, earthly honor, for you will inherit the land.” That detachment truly frees you to enjoy the land and its goods. 

The fourth beatitude is, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.” In the third beatitude, you might get the impression that all you need is to be passive, mild, without great ambition, and not a worldly person. Jesus urges us to eschew worldly values in order to desire righteousness. Every physical, psychological, and spiritual energy in us should be focused on God’s righteousness, holiness, and justice. These are the things we should hunger for, and then we will be full of beatitude. There is no great saint who was passive. Every one of them hungered and thirsted for righteousness. They knew where to spend their energies, and so should we. 

Further, in the fifth beatitude, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.” God is mercy. The late Pope Francis said the name of God is mercy, “hesed” in Hebrew. That God is merciful is evident throughout the Bible, which shows God’s compassion. The word “compassion” in Latin is “Cumpati,” meaning “to suffer with.” You are full of compassion if you enter into another’s suffering. It means feeling someone else’s joys, anguish, and pain. That’s the meaning of compassion, and that is what God is. By nature, God is compassion and love. In this beatitude, our Lord and Savior says, “You are blessed and happy if you live like God as a person of mercy.” Take this to the bank: if you are unhappy, sad, or worried and anxious, engage in a simple act of love. No matter where you are or what stage of life you are in, if you are unhappy, practice acts of compassionate love. I assure you, it will lift your spirit. 

In the sixth beatitude, our Lord says, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.” When you are single-hearted and your life is about one thing, Jesus Christ, everything else you do will fall into harmony around it. But when there is division within you, like the Capernaum demoniac who asked Jesus, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?” you will lose your anchor and center, and your life will be a mess. But you are happy and lucky if your life is about one thing, the Redeemer of the human race, Jesus Christ. This is what singleheartedness is about. 

In the seventh beatitude, Jesus says, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” The first word the Lord speaks to his disciples in his post-resurrection appearance is “shalom,” meaning peace. What does it mean? It signifies friendship with God and full flourishing. Our God is a God of peace. Creation is a non-violent act. God brought the world into being through his generous act of love. Redemption, too, is a non-violent act. After the terrible violence of the cross, Jesus returns with the word “shalom” on his lips. In this beatitude, the Prince of Peace says, “We are happy and blessed when we become peacemakers, not just peace lovers.” Don’t just wait for peace to break out. We must be peacemakers. Peace doesn’t happen by chance. In the 1972 World Day of Peace, St. Pope Paul VI redefined peace not merely as the absence of war but as the fruit of justice. He aptly declared, “If you want peace, work for justice.” Be a Catholic Christian who, in all your gestures, words, and actions, creates the conditions for peace. This is the Christian life, everybody. If you know how to live it in deed, the Lord says you are blessed. 

Last one, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” Will you be opposed if you walk the way of Christ? Yes indeed! The world that opposes the ways of God will rise up to oppose you. The more you walk the path of Jesus, the more you will be opposed. If you want to measure how you are doing in your spiritual life, one of the tools is the level of opposition you face. If you are going through life without anyone opposing you, you are not walking the path of Jesus. Look at the saints! Every one of them was persecuted. If you are opposed in any way, don’t be discouraged. Think about the prize. It is the greatest treasure to be worn—the kingdom of heaven. 

Sisters and brothers, all the beatitudes describe Jesus and Jesus crucified: poor in spirit, think of Jesus on the cross. Mourning, think of Jesus crucified. Lowly, think of Jesus on the cross. Thirsty for righteousness, think of Christ on the cross. Merciful, single-hearted, peacemaker, persecuted for the sake of righteousness, think of Jesus on the cross. Be like Jesus, and you will be happy when you do.

God bless you!

Homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Decisive Call And Decisive Response

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, January 25, 2026

In our first reading, Isaiah speaks about the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali. He describes it as a land degraded by the Lord, where “anguish has taken wing.” At that time, the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali were most threatened by the Assyrian empire, Israel's great enemy. Assyria was breathing heavily on this northern territory. But despite his negative prophecy regarding the two cities, Isaiah was optimistic when he said, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; upon those who dwelt in the land of gloom, a light has shone.” When was this prophecy fulfilled? Seven hundred years later, when Jesus, the Messiah, emerged in the lands of Zebulun and Naphtali at the beginning of his public ministry. There are several specific prophecies about the Messiah, the “anointed one,” in the Old Testament, and Jesus fulfilled every one of them in every detail. I tell you, no other religious founder ever fulfilled so many specific prophecies. Today’s first reading from Isaiah is one of them, and Matthew quotes it in today’s Gospel.

John the Baptist has been arrested and imprisoned. Jesus hears of it and withdraws to Galilee. Eventually, he leaves Nazareth and goes to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali. Matthew says it is in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, which says: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen.” The Messiah appears in the land overshadowed by death, i.e., in our world. Not hovering above it. He appears in our dangerous world. May Jesus, the Messiah, appear in every sector of your life that is threatened, not in the right place, that has gone off kilter. Amen.

When he first appeared publicly, the first word from his mouth was “Repent!” I have spoken out strongly in the past against the domestication of Jesus. The secular-influenced culture wants to tame, sanitize, and minimize Jesus’ radical teachings and demanding call. It wants to reduce them to a comfortable, culturally palatable version that fits personal preferences, political views, or a lifestyle. The culture wants to remove the Lord’s challenging teaching and make it safe, self-fulfilling, and less transformative. But that’s not the biblical perspective. The first challenging word from the lips of Jesus was “Repent,” Change!” Stop being violent. Stop being self-absorbed. Stop allowing your sensual and emotional desires to dominate you. Stop ignoring the poor, the hungry, and the homeless. Change your life. I tell you, if Jesus is in your life, you will hear his voice  say, “Repent.” You can engage in self-praise as much as you want. You can gratify yourself with words like, “I am a good religious person, and I make Jesus the most important person in my life,” but if nothing in your life changes, if you are stuck in your old, sinful habits, you have not really changed. It is still you, not the Lord. When St. Paul embraced Jesus’ call to repent and change, he said, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.” And if Jesus is really active in your life, the persistent word you will hear is “Repent.”

As Jesus walked along the Sea of Galilee, he watched two brothers, Simon and Andrew, casting a net into the sea. They were fishermen. When he finally spoke to them, he said, “Come after me.” He was not primarily saying, “believe my doctrine,” “join my political party,” or “adopt my ideas.” What he said was more personal and existential: “Come after me,” meaning, “conform your life to mine. Walk as I walk. Think as I think. Behave as I behave. Get in line behind me.” God wants to be our friend. The great St. Thomas Aquinas said that the essence of the spiritual life is cultivating friendship with God. Sin, from Adam to the present day, is a rupture and suspension of that friendship. 

What are they coming after him to do? Jesus says, “I will make you fishers of men.” The two brothers were fishermen. They spent long hours at sea catching fish. Now, Jesus uses their trade as an allegory of what he wants them to be. What happens when we choose our will instead of God’s will? What happens when we travel the path of hatred, violence, and cruelty instead of the path of love, nonviolence, and compassion? We rupture our friendship with God. And when that happens, we rupture our relationship with everyone else and everything else in the cosmos. When we align with God, the creative source of everything that exists, we are necessarily aligned with everything else in the universe. But when that relationship with God is ruptured, we rupture our relationship with everything else, which is why sin is a scattering force. In the words of Origen, where there is division, there is sin. The name for the evil one is the Devil, from the Greek word “diabolos.” Diabolos means “one who throws things apart,” “the great scatterer.” So Jesus is saying to Simon, Andrew, and by extension all of us, “Come after me,” be conformed to me. Walk behind me. And I will make you gatherers again, fishers of men who will gather and bring people back to me. We are meant to draw people together in love. This is the beginning of evangelization. Previously, I said that proclaiming Christ to others is not an option. It is an obligation for all of us. 

What was Simon and Andrew’s response? Matthew says, “At once they left their nets and followed him.” A decisive call was met with a decisive response. What is keeping you from making this same response? Just as Jesus called Simon, Andrew, James, and John, so he calls us. What are you willing to leave behind to follow him wholeheartedly? Remember, it does not mean you have to be a priest or a nun. It means letting go of all those things that preoccupy you: money, power, who is in, who is out, who is up, and who is down, fame, etc. Today, you can drop all that and follow Jesus. No matter the state of your life, you can be a faithful and effective disciple of the Lord.

God bless you!

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

We Are Called And Sent Like Saint Paul

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

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

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, January 18, 2026

Almost everything in our culture calls us to be self-reliant, be in control, and be our own boss. We are told to be strong and not let anyone push us around. We are urged to be leaders, not followers. Even in some Christian circles, you hear prayers like, “I will be the head and not the tail,” “I will be the first and not last,” “I will lead and not follow.” The culture motivates us to set the tone of our lives and go wherever we want. After settling into my first parish in Memphis in 2007, one of the first things I noticed was this language: “I am the first person in my family to attend college.” “I am the first person in my family to attain so and so position.” I wondered why they were trumpeting their own achievements. It did not take me long to realize that the language of self-assertion is part of the American story. The display of the ego is part of everyday life. When I go to Nigeria now, I hear similar language, too. As nice as these sound, they come from the ideology of self-assertion, self-affirmation, and freedom without restrictions. It produces a kind of egotistic religion that says, “I believe in God, but I am not a religious fanatic. I cannot remember the last time I went to church.” And when you ask people who believe in such an ideology what takes them through life, they say, “The faith that takes me through life is my own little voice.” They will tell you their religion is to try to love, be yourself, and be gentle with yourself. On the face of it, it looks good. But it is individualism on steroids. Sadly, this worldview has filtered into people’s economic, political, social, and even religious lives. Everything now is a matter of what I want and what I decide. This very attitude leads people to pick and choose from the world's religions what they like and want to practice. They pick and combine elements from Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, and that becomes their religion. 

Why am I talking about these issues? Because the Bible is firmly against such a move, especially in matters of religion. With everything I have said so far, listen to the opening line of St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians (1:1-3), “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Paul identifies himself primarily as someone called, not by himself or by a powerful ruler, but by Christ Jesus. He is not the one doing the calling or making the decisions. He is not setting the agenda. He is in the passive voice. Paul identifies himself as someone called by another, as someone chosen by another. I tell you, that little opening line defines who Paul is. The anthropology of our culture is a wilful anthropology. It insists on what an individual wants, with no regard for what God wants for that individual. It charges people to reject anything or anybody that will decide the course of their lives. 

The voice of modernity tells us that “It belongs to the very nature of freedom to determine the meaning of one’s own life.” But long before the clamor to reject authority, tradition, religion, etc., we have Paul, who identified himself as someone “called,” meaning his life does not belong to him. As Saul, he tried to set the agenda for his own life. But when Christ met him and transformed him, he realized his life is not his own. He surrendered his will to the divine will. The Christian voice found in the book of Psalms says, “In you, O Lord, I have found my peace.” What does modernity say? “In your will, you find peace.” The Biblical standpoint is that we find our peace and deepest identity in God. That’s the same thing St. Paul is saying, too. 

What is God’s will for Paul? What did God call Paul to be? An apostle of Christ Jesus! Who is an apostle? The Greek word for apostle is “apostelein,” meaning “to send.” Paul describes himself as someone sent by Christ Jesus. Again, he is not sending himself. He is not determining. He has been determined. He is not setting his own path; his path is set for him. Paul is an apostle; he has been sent. He is like a letter, a message sent by Christ Jesus. Today, many in our culture are a million miles away from how Paul defined himself. In his writings, Paul often regards himself as “Doulos Jesu Christo,” meaning “a slave of Jesus Christ.” Imagine someone today in our culture delighting in the fact that he or she is a slave? But Paul says he is a slave of Jesus Christ. The Risen Jesus is the beginning, the middle, and the end of Paul’s life. The Risen Jesus is the reason he gets up in the morning. He is the reason he does everything. The Risen Jesus is the one who gave him a mission. And Paul is on a mission for Christ Jesus. 

It is important to know that the message is not Paul’s. It is not Paul's bright and profound ideas. Paul is not a guru or a spiritual master who has reached some understanding. He is a messenger, sent by another according to the will of God. In Paul's life, everything about self-assertion, self-determination, self-glorification, and an overemphasis on freedom has been reversed. In Paul, everything about this trendy new age religion has been reversed. In the first reading from Isaiah, we hear, “The Lord said to me: You are my servant, Israel, through whom I show my glory” (Isaiah 49:3). That’s who we are. We are the servants of the Lord. No matter what you have achieved in life, never forget that you are primarily a servant of God. No matter where you are, do not forget that you are a servant of God. By virtue of our baptism, we, like Paul, have also been called and sent by God. 

God bless you!

Homily on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

The Shocking Baptism of Jesus

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, January 11, 2026

The baptism of Jesus is both significant and embarrassing. How come? The first Christians believed and maintained that Jesus is the Savior, the Son of God, the spotless Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. If Jesus were all of those, why would he seek the baptism of repentance? John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the prophets, was baptizing people in the River Jordan. He was offering them the baptism of repentance. He was inviting sinners to come to him, repent of their sins, enter the water, and be baptized so their sins would be washed away. And Jesus too came to him. So Jesus began his public ministry by seeking the baptism of repentance. What’s going on? By the way, Jesus’ baptism is described in all four canonical Gospels, so there is no doubt about its occurrence. Why did the authors of the Gospels include this story?

Indeed, the Gospel writers insist that Jesus is the sinless Son of God. They maintain that he is the Word made flesh, the one who takes away the sins of the world. There is no ambiguity about this reality. But they also want to show us how strange God operates. God sets aside his glory and sneaks quietly into the muddy waters of Jordan. More than that, he stands side by side with sinners in that water. Imagine the kind of people who came to John. I believe some came with venial sins, while others came with grave, mortal sins, in search of mercy and peace. That is the space Jesus quietly enters, without fanfare, stands with sinners, and humbly submits himself to John’s baptism. For some of us who like to make a public spectacle of everything we do, look at our Savior. The first move in His public life is to look like a sinner and stand shoulder to shoulder with sinners. This is Christianity in full display. 

In Greek philosophy, God is considered the supreme good who moves the world by attraction from a distance. But no Greek philosopher would think it possible that God would pay attention to the filthy and sinful world or come down and stand with the wicked. In the Jewish context, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others reveal the great holiness of God and the offense of our sin. They speak of how offensive we are to God, who is pure, holy, and good. That this extremely holy, pure, good, and spotless God would come down and enter into our condition, identify with us to the point of appearing as a sinner, was unheard of before. Yet that is how the public life of Jesus begins. The sinless one, at the beginning of his public ministry, identifies with us sinners to bring God’s love and mercy even into that place of sin. 

In the course of his public ministry, John the Baptist spoke in the language of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, “I am baptizing you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is mightier than I… His winnowing fan is in his hand. He will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire” (Matthew 3:11-12). This is the language of God’s justice, typically found in the Old Testament prophets. John is the last of them. So when Jesus came to him, John, with his prophetic insight, recognized who he was and was shocked: “You should baptize me, and you are coming to me?” (John 3:14). In John’s calculation, that is not how God behaves. But that is how our God behaves. God humbles himself by becoming a human being; he stands with us sinners, even identifying with us in the muddy waters of our sin, just to share his love with us. This is the surprising way God breaks into the scene. 

Sisters and brothers, in Jesus, God has come to forgive our sins. Is he a teacher? Yes! Is he a healer? Yes! But at the heart of the matter, which reaches its height on the cross, is that he has come to forgive our sins. From his own lips, we hear, “I have come not for the righteous, but sinners. I have come not for the healthy, but the sick.” At the Last Supper, he said, “This is the cup of my Blood, the Blood of the new and everlasting covenant, which will be shed for you and for many.” Why? “So that sins may be forgiven.” That’s why he comes! And it is signaled here in his baptism. He has come to stand humbly and salvifically with us sinners. In the first reading from Isaiah, we hear, “a bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench.” A bruised reed is already cracked and broken. The temptation is always to say, “Well, it is cracked; let’s cut it off and throw it away.” But the prophet says that when the Messiah comes, he will repair the cracked and bruised reed rather than cut it off completely. He has not come to cast aside those of us who are offensive to God and not spiritually strong. He has come to heal and repair the broken reed. Isaiah also says, “A smoldering wick he shall not quench.” A smoldering wick is a wick with a flickering flame on a candle. Again, the temptation is to say, “This candle is not good. Its wick is weak. Blow it out and throw it away.” The Messiah, Jesus, has not come to do that; he has instead come to take the time to cultivate even that little flame and bring it to life. We are meant to be on fire with the divine life, but in sin we are like a bruised reed and a smoldering wick. Christ has come to enter into that experience and to nurture that life back. 

When Jesus presents himself for baptism, John the Baptist balks. He hesitates and says, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” But Jesus replies, “Allow it now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” The word “righteousness” appears throughout the Bible. What does it mean? It means “setting right.” Sin is a loss of righteousness, which means our relationship with God is broken. It is not primarily our task but God’s. The great revelation of the New Testament is that it is primarily God’s task. It is the grace of God that sets us right. It is done through the gracious humility of Jesus Christ. He comes into our sin to set us right. After his baptism, Jesus emerged from the water. Suddenly, the sky opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descend like a dove and hover over him. Then a voice from heaven resounds, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). This is the first great manifestation of the Blessed Trinity to the human race. In this event, the Trinity is fully displayed. For what purpose? God wants to share his life with us. 

Praise The Lord!