Homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Obedience And Deceit: The Parable Of The Two Sons

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, October 1, 2023

One thing that is so obvious when you read the Gospels is the attitude of the Pharisees, the chief priests, scribes and the elders of the people towards Jesus. They really do not like the Lord. They know that Jesus has mastery over the forces of nature; they know that he is a wonder-worker; they know that his teaching ministry is spreading like a wildfire, and masses of people are being drawn to hear Jesus teach. The rich, the poor, the strong, and the weak were flocking to hear the Lord teach. In the same vein, they also know that Jesus is not a temple priest and didn’t receive any formal training in a rabbinic school. So, every opportunity they get, they use it to express their opposition to his teaching and to question Jesus on the source of his authority to teach. Today’s Gospel is taken from the Twenty-first chapter of Matthew. It begins with the Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. After that, he makes his way into the Temple, and upon entering the Temple, he turns the tables of money changers upside down, cleanses the Temple and reminds the people of an age-long dictum, “My house shall be a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). After curing the blind and the lame in the temple area, he leaves. The next day, he returns to the Temple. This time, the chief priests and the elders of the people are in question mode. Approaching him, they ask, “By what authority are you doing these things?” And who gave you this authority?” Rather than provide a straightforward answer, Jesus tells them the parable of the two sons: A father has two sons. He goes to the first and says, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” The first son replies, “I will not.” But after a soul searching reflection, he changes his mind and goes in obedience to his father. Shortly after, the father goes to the second son  and gives the same instruction. The second son replies, “Yes, sir, I will go!” Right after, the second son changes his mind and refuses to go. Turning to these powerful religious leaders, Jesus asks, “Which of the two did his father’s will?” Surprisingly, they say: “The first.” 

Now, what do we make of this particular parable? The point Jesus makes in today’s Gospel passage (Matthew 21:28-32) is very simple, and that is why we often miss it. The obedient Son of God is underscoring something we all know: that action speaks louder than words. As the very incarnation of the true and living God, he is stating that God wants more than agreement, he wants obedience. Good words are noble, but God wants more than good words. He wants good work too. God wants us to have faith in him, but God also wants our faith in him to produce good deeds. God wants fidelity. If you want to run a faith-test, consider the following questions: during the past week, did you do anything that at first, you did not want to do, but you only did it because that is what God wanted you to do? Is there anything you feel like doing but just because God does not approve of it, you refused to indulge in it? If your answer to the two questions is yes, then you have biblical faith. Look at the great heroes of faith— Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, David, Samuel, the prophets and the martyrs. Their faith included their obedience to God. Their actions spoke louder than their words or thoughts. Faith means fidelity— fidelity to God, fidelity and obedience to his will. 

It is the reason why, after narrating the parable of the two sons, Jesus tells the chief priests and the elders that “tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of heaven before you.” I tell you, those words must have so infuriated these religious bigwigs. But why are these public sinners entering the kingdom of heaven before the religious leaders? Because they are surrendering to God’s way of ordering the world. What’s God’s way of ordering the world? Love. Mercy. Compassion. Fellowship. Forgiveness. Friendship. Relentless pursuit of the other, especially public sinners and those driven out from the community. But these religious leaders, who believed that they were the teachers of what was right religiously, were picking and choosing those who deserved to know the words of the Torah. They were basically discriminating in the house of God. As for Jesus, wherever he went, great crowds came to him. He taught the poor and the sinners— the very people the Pharisees discriminated against and considered beneath themselves. God’s way of ordering the world empowered and motivated the outcast to love God and to leave their sins behind. The Pharisees couldn’t understand how extending mercy to such vile, wicked sinners could possibly change their lives much less their behaviors. But figures like the woman caught in adultery, the prostitute who washed the feet of Jesus, Zacchaeus, the Apostles who abandoned the Lord in his time of great need, Paul as Saul who persecuted Jesus in his disciples etc. show us that forgiveness and mercy beget great love and faithfulness. God’s love is always more powerful than our greatest enemy—sin or death. This is precisely why, St. Paul, once he has seen the Risen Christ could say, “I am certain that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither heights nor depths, nor any other power can separate us from the love of God" (Romans 8:38-39). How does Paul know that? Because we kill God and God returns in forgiving love. 

Is Jesus minimizing the sins of tax collectors and prostitutes? Not in any way! When John the Baptist preached, tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners went to him and repented of their sins. As for the Pharisees, the chief priests, the elders etc. even though they too had sins to repent of, sins that were more dangerous because they were more hidden, did not repent. Rather they dismissed John as someone possessed by a demon. They rejected John the Baptist and rejected Jesus whom John introduced to everyone as the long expected Messiah, as the Lamb of God who has come to take away the sins of the world. One of the characteristics of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day was their obsession with pointing out the sins of people. Although they memorized the Torah, the first five books of the Bible written by Moses and had deep knowledge about other biblical books as well, they focused on keeping laws, rules etc. and missed the more important subject. They failed to pay attention to the reason behind those rules and laws. Even when Jesus said to them, “Go and learn the meaning of the words, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ I did not come to call the righteous but sinners,” (Matthew 9:13), they still didn’t get it. As for the tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers driven from the community, and many others, they were running to Jesus in droves, confessing their sins, repenting from them and following him. They got converted, became saved and became saints. But these religious heavyweights did not. Rather than become disciples, they chose to remain opponents. What’s one powerful lesson here? Beware of not falling into the trap of thinking that you are less sinful than other people whose sins are more spectacularly obvious. Second lesson, even if you are morally upright, your source of eternal salvation is in Jesus alone. We cannot earn salvation by being obedient; our obedience is rather an expression of gratitude for God’s boundless love, for Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection for our sake. 

God bless you! 

Homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

“For Me, To Live Is Christ, And To Die Is Gain”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, September 24, 2023

No matter what we accomplish in this life, we are all haunted by death. No matter how much we achieve in life, what you are able to produce and acquire, we know it is all going to be swallowed up in our own death. This reality led some philosophers and others to say that “life is just absurd.” “Life is meaningless.” “What is the point?” “Death has the final say.” I tell you, the fear of death hangs over the whole of life. As a result, death is continuously used as a weapon by authoritarian governments and by corrupt people to keep people quiet, to suppress, subjugate and force people to comply to their whims and caprices. 

How can we overcome the fear of death? Experts on mental health will tell us to exercise, meditate, seek professional support, talk to a therapist, get therapy, consider medication, change your habits, and change your thoughts about death etc. Now these experts’ counsel can be helpful, but the one that grabs my imagination and attention is that of changing one’s thoughts about death.” As Christians, what can really help us to cultivate a thought pattern about death, physical death? The most important book— the Bible! How does Jesus describe his death? He speaks about it as the hour of his glory: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). What about the first great Christian theologian, St. Paul? In our first reading for today, he says, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:20). I tell you, those words are counterintuitive and counter-cultural. To us, death is always a loss. A terrible loss. A terrible thing that should be avoided if possible. Think of all the advancement in the areas of science and medicine. Think of the number of people on Youtube, on health magazines, on television and radio stations telling us what to eat and avoid. It’s all aimed at being healthy, staying alive the longest and thereby postponing death as far as possible. And there is nothing wrong with it. Don’t get me wrong. Please, eat healthy and live healthy. I try to live healthy myself. But at the depth, the core reason for all of these healthy talks is delaying this reality that frightens us all— death. But St. Paul is not frightened by death and he does not consider it a loss, a terrible thing, and an enemy. He considers it a gain, as something good. 

But how come St. Paul was not frightened by death? Because the unum necessarium, the one thing necessary for Paul is Christ Jesus. “As for me, to live is Christ,” he says. When people speak about a brilliant athlete, they say that football is his life. When a woman laments about her absentee husband, she might say “business is his life; making money is his life.” When a family complains about a lazy member, they might say something like “playing video games or drinking or watching sports is his life.” As for St. Paul, rather than say that football, or money-making is his life, he says that Christ is his life. “To live is Christ” means that his entire life, private and public, is hinged upon Christ and spins around Christ. Does it mean that a Christian cannot have other interests? Not at all! Be interested in sports, in entertainment, in politics, in social issues, in science, in finance, in marketing, in designing things, in innovation, in friendships, family, religion etc. but all of those interests should be governed by your relationship with Jesus. The Lord of life has to be the governing principle of all your other interests. No other interests should be allowed to compete with him or to rank above him. It is finally Jesus who determines how I relate with those and other goods of the world. But if, for instance, football is your life, it means that your life, your thinking and interest are governed by football. It means that your time, your discipline and every aspect of your life is hinged on or spins around football. 

St. Paul was not afraid of death and did not see death as a loss. Why? Because he knows that Jesus Christ, the center of his life, the governing principle of his life, the one thing necessary conquered death with his own death on the cross. He also knows that Jesus promised eternal life to those who believe in him: “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live” (John 11:25). St. Paul is  convinced that since his entire life is hinged upon Christ and spins around Christ, his very death would lead to a complete union with the Lord. He believes that when death comes, the Redeemer Jesus will honor his promises. St. Paul believes that in life and in death, his life is in God’s hands. That’s why he was not frightened by the reality of dying. As my mother was coming to the end of her life, she said to my eldest sister, “My daughter, you know that nothing lasts forever. I know you are saddened that I am talking about death. But don’t forget that I named my first son, God’s Will. We are created to do God’s will. And it is God’s will that will always prevail. I am dying, but I am returning to Jesus.” We are all haunted by death. The fear of death broods over the whole of life. But do not forget this reality: death does not have the final say. It might seem a loss, but it is finally a gain. No matter how final we think death is, God is more powerful. No matter how crushing death seems to us, it is nothing for God. The true and living God, the God of Israel has lordship over all the fields of death. Death does not have the final say. It does not have the final word. The final word is Resurrection! 

God bless you!

Homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Stop Hugging Your Anger And Resentment 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, September 17, 2023

The central themes that run through the readings today are anger, vengeance, and forgiveness. From the marvelous book of Sirach we read, “Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.” Even though we know that holding grudges is so self-destructive, we hold them tight anyway. We hang on to them. Someone harmed you or insulted you decades ago, you are still not over with it. In my pastoral ministry, I have found out that the people who are closest to us, the people we love the most— that is members of our families, are often those we hold grudges the longest. In 2022, a poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College showed that one in five American voters (19%) said that politics had hurt their friendships or family relationships. Some Christian brothers and sisters are not in talking terms due to politics. When I was in California, a woman that usually takes me out once a month stopped inviting me, and stopped talking to me. Why? Because I am not a fan of her favorite politician. And she is a pious Catholic. Resentment is such a terrible vice. And when it comes to holding resentment tight, everyone is a distinguished expert. 

But what is anger? For the angelic scholar, St. Thomas Aquinas, anger is a passion for revenge that goes beyond the control of reason. Thomas knew there is something called the justified anger or righteous anger, which is the passion to set things right. Jesus entering the temple and overturning the tables of moneychangers is an example of righteous anger. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. calling on this nation to rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed that all men and women are created equal is another example of righteous anger. He was angry at social injustice in the nation and wanted to set it right. That kind of anger is not what St. Thomas Aquinas was talking about. The deadly sin of anger is always a passion for revenge: you hurt me in some ways and I am going to get back at you. It is not a desire to set things right or to reestablish justice, rather a desire to hurt you and punish you. 

What’s the antidote? How do we stop hugging tight our resentment? The classic antidote is called forgiveness. In the preaching of Jesus, forgiveness was so central. In our Gospel for today (Matthew 18:21-35), Peter approaches Jesus and asks, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus shocks him, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Meaning, again and again and again without limit. But what is forgiveness precisely? If two people who are meant to be in union are separated from each other because some injustice was done, we naturally expect each, in justice to do their part to come together. I make a move towards my bother, he also makes a move towards me and we come back together. We are reconciled by equal move to the center. If this happens, that’s great! Glory be to God! That’s the reestablishment of justice. I do my part, you do your part. But what is forgiveness? It is bearing the burden of another: I will do my part even though you don’t bend. I will bear your burden. I will go the extra mile. I will do what you should have done. Even if you continue to run away, I will continue to do my part. And how often should I do this? Jesus says “seventy-seven times.” If you do your part, and your opponent refuses to do his, and you say, “I am not going to take one more step towards your direction,” you are hugging your resentment tightly. Forgiveness is going an extra mile seventy-seven times. It is doing what he should have done. Is this hard! Absolutely! 

But why should I embark on this very difficult project? Why should I forgive seventy-seven times? Two reasons. One, because God’s forgiveness of us is contingent on our forgiveness of others. Sirach says, “Forgive your neighbors injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven” (Sirach 28:2) Jesus himself says? “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” (Matthew 6:12). Two, because we have been forgiven that way. God has forgiven us uncountable times. How often do we confess our sins and promise not to sin again? Beyond numbers! And when we run away from God, God runs towards us. Think of the shepherd looking for the lost sheep! That’s how God goes in search of us. So, we should forgive each other in the same measure. Is this difficult? Yes, very difficult! But Jesus said, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus is not calling us to spiritual mediocrity, rather to spiritual heroism. Writing to the Christians in Galatia, St. Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (2:20). If Christ lives in you, if the same Christ who forgives you seventy-seven times lives in you, then you must forgive your brother and sisters the same way.

Now, if you have been hugging tight your anger and resentment, and want to bring that to an end, send the person a nice letter, a greeting card, a phone call and if possible, a face to face conversation. Tell the person you have come in peace. Reach out and try to resume that relationship. Do something concrete to repair the broken relationship. More to it, if you have been hurt, seek reconciliation quickly. Forgive quickly! If what happened is left unattended to, it festers. More importantly, let us stop talking behind people’s backs. It is a spiritual poison that accomplishes nothing. It might fulfill some psychological need, and that is why we do it. But spiritually, it is deadly. It just feeds resentment. Let us criticize another only in the measure we want to be criticized. If what you are about to say about another person is said about you, and you know you won’t like it, then keep your mouth shut. The late South-African reggae musician, Lucky Dube sang, “If you can’t say something good about somebody, just shut up.” Lots of gossip, backbiting, destructive criticism etc will end if we live by these principles. 

What is the great sign of forgiveness for Christians? Jesus on the cross! From the cross he prayed, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” If there is anyone who will be justified in his anger, it is Jesus, the sinless Son of God nailed to the cross by cruel people. Yet, the words that come from his mouth are words of forgiving love. When he comes back to his disciples after the resurrection, to those who betray him, deny him, abandon him in his moment of greatest need, the word on his lips is “shalom!” (peace). That’s the word of forgiveness and reconciliation. Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet we hug them tight. I urge you now to let go and walk the path of forgiving love. 

God bless you!

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

Judging Within The Bounds Of Love

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

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

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, September 10, 2023

In our secular culture, there is a hyper-stress on tolerance and non-judgmentalism. To critique someone is regarded as an attack, arrogance and imposition of your idea on another. Judgmentalism is accused of creating the feeling of inadequacy, self-reproach, and the thought of self-harm and suicide. To mitigate this, tolerance is super-promoted and celebrated as the best way to go in the news media and social media. In lots of movies we watch today, the culture of “do not judge” and “everyone has a right to determine what their life is all about” is celebrated. More to it, attempts are made to use Jesus’ famous saying, “judge not and you will not be judged” to defend this viewpoint. Advocates of this theory point to Jesus’ practice of open table fellowship as a radical way of being, and as a way that Christians should behave. Because Jesus was a friend of both saints and sinners, they argue we should cultivate a non-judgmental inclusive attitude. Did Jesus say we should not judge others? Yes! But does it mean that we should not point out moral failures? No! Why do I think so? Because Jesus himself did it severally during his public ministry. His sermon on the mount has plenty of words of moral judgment in it. Again, in his interactions with the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus launched a blistering attack on them: “Woe to you…” In one incident, he said of them, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of filth” (Matt. 23:27). 

When Jesus said, “Judge not and you will not be judged,” did he really mean tolerance and non-judgmentalism as many understand it today? I don’t think so! But how do we interpret his words in the light of the secular culture’s preoccupation with non-judgmentalism? This is where I love to make a distinction between a judgment of assessment and a judgment of condemnation. In a judgment of assessment, we talk about moral failures, we talk about what has happened, but never assume moral superiority posture. We don’t use our moral rectitude to belittle, demean and dehumanize a fellow sinner. We don’t speak to them as if we are the lord of their life. Judgment of assessment is not about using the law to put someone down or to engage in gossip. It is an honest conversation from the standpoint of love. But in a judgment of condemnation, we gossip, take the higher ground posture and declare ourselves better people. We inaudibly say to ourselves, “I don’t do these things that other people do.” We also use the law as the weapon of aggression. We say to people, “I know what the law says. I know the Church’s teachings, moral laws and canon law, and I can tell you you are terrible and don’t deserve to live or be forgiven.” When we engage in a judgment of condemnation, we are not helping the struggling brother or sister. It is simply to present our moral superiority over them. I think this is what Jesus meant when he says, “Judge not.” It can’t mean, “Oh, everything is fine.” “There is no problem.” “Whatever a person does or believes is fine by me.” It can’t mean, “Everyone has a right to his or her own self-determination. Who am I to judge others?” No! No! No! We can talk about certain moral choices we make. We can talk about how those choices are affecting us— good or bad. If “Judge not” is applied absolutely, then abolish all the laws and all the courts. And I can tell you, we all would be in really hot soup. Are fellow sinners welcome to church? Yes! Does this welcome mean we approve of all moral collapse? Not at all! Jesus welcomed sinners too, but never approved their sin. To the woman caught in the act of adultery, Jesus said “Go, and do not sin again” (John 8:11b). He never said to her, “Don’t worry. I accept you the way you are, after all, you have to make a living.” To the tax collector, Zacchaeus, Jesus said, “Today, salvation has come into your house” (Lk 19:9). Why? Because Zacchaeus realized he had been living in error, “Behold, half of possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor, and if I have extorted anything from anyone, I shall repay it four times over” (Luke 19:8). 

If parents are extremely concerned about hurting their children’s feelings, and they don’t intervene with drug abuse or reckless driving or keeping company with the wrong people, what’s going to happen eventually? Your guess is as good as mine. To judge is to intervene and to say, “this is wrong and it has to stop.” As a teenager, I followed some boys in my community. As soon as my mother found that, she put her foot down and ensured that I never hung out with those boys. At that time, I did not like my mother’s conclusion, but years later, I thanked God that she made the right judgment. Take it from me, that kind of judgment is an act of love. That’s what we call “tough love” today. So, Jesus’ “Judge not and you will not be judged” is not this modern “anything goes” morality. 

With this in mind, let’s look at today’s Gospel. How can we correct another, judge, if you want, and stay within the bounds of love? Remarkably, Jesus has something to say about it. In today’s Gospel (Matthew 18:15-20), he proposes a step by step approach; a process known in the Catholic Social Teaching as subsidiarity. It means that problems must be adjudicated first at the local level, and only when it cannot be adjudicated there, it should be moved to the next level of authority. Speaking to his disciples, Jesus says, If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. In a broader sense, if your brother or sister is doing something you really believe is self-destructive or something that is harming the family’s name and reputation or something that will hurt someone else, go to him, and tell him his fault between you and him alone. Honestly, this sounds very simple, yet very difficult to do. It is much easier to complain to others, to gossip, to publish it on Facebook. And we all have a PhD in doing this. But the Lord’s way is to go to the person first. To love is to will the good of the other. If you will another’s good, bring the matter to their attention. 

But if the person does not listen, Jesus does not recommend bad-mouthing tourism on the social media and in private conversations with your friends. He does not say, “Give up!” Rather he encourages us to go to the next level with the same attitude of love: “take one or two others along with you;” take people who believe in reconciliation, who are willing to help and have been involved in family intervention or in helping friends sort out their differences. But if this move does not work, again, Jesus does not say you should congratulate yourself and say “Well, I tried” and then give up. He says, go to the next level: “If he refuses to listen, tell the church.”  The church is the community who, in Christ, cares about other people. But if he refuses to listen to the church, Jesus says, “treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector.” What does that mean? Love him, anyway! Continue to love him, nevertheless. Why? Because Jesus says, “But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you” (Luke 6:27-28. This Gospel allows us to judge moral behaviors in an appropriate way without ever becoming judgmental. It allows us to intervene in a way that highlights the true meaning of the law of love. I tell you, many broken relationships could have been saved if we followed this rule. So many heartaches could have been avoided only if we followed these steps. 

God bless you!

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

Threefold Movement Of Discipleship

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

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

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, September 3, 2023

We Christians love the juicy and delicious aspect of Christianity. We love to hear about Jesus’ mastery over the forces of nature. As I was coming of age, his great miracles of healing and deliverance were hyper-stressed in sermons. As you would expect, this hyper-emphasis on the miracles of Jesus gave birth to a new teaching that presents Jesus as a wealth creator, an investment banker, as someone you must go to if you want to be rich. Do you want to be wealthy? Come to Jesus, prosperity preachers will say. And when you come, sow hefty seeds and hefty tithing. Embarrass God with your large donations. Shake the kingdom of God with your offering and then watch as God opens the heaven and allows wealth to rain on you. This deviant theology teaches that God rewards faith and hefty tithing with financial blessings and riches. Two American televangelists, Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker are the fathers of this kind of theology. Till date, prosperity gospel is still part and parcel of many charismatic movements in Christianity. What’s wrong with prosperity theology and preaching? Among other things, the idea of self-denial and the cross is hardly talked about. It over-emphasizes financial blessing, worldly comfort and physical wellbeing. Material riches and wealth are seen as proof of a person’s uprightness. If you are wealthy, it means you are upright and God is blessing you. But if you are not, something must be wrong with you. 

But in today’s Gospel, Jesus says something that counters the central claim of prosperity theologians and preachers, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” Prosperity theology is not about denying oneself, rather about gaining everything. Prosperity preaching is not about carrying the cross, rather it is about avoiding it, and going after the crown, cheap crown as I call it. It is about using hefty tithing and seed sowing to avoid the cross. I get it! The issue of denying oneself is almost a foreign term to us. We don’t think in terms of denying ourself. We think in terms of denying ourself of something. That means, I can’t have candy, I can’t have drink etc. But to deny oneself is to make God, and not self, the absolute center of one’s life. Jesus is not asking us to deny “what we are,” but “what we have become.” Each of us is an image of God, that means we are something very good, as God himself said immediately after creation. We are wired for God, so said St. Augustine. We are created for God. God created us to know him, love him and serve him in this world and live with him forever. Sadly, we live as if we are created for pleasure, prestige, wealth, power, and fame. Our human dignity is contingent in the very fact that we are created by God. Unfortunately, we are resting our dignity on worldly goods. Therefore, what we must deny is not “what we are,” but “what we have become.” We are not to deny that which God has made, but that which we ourselves have made by misusing our freedom— the evil tendencies like pride, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, envy and sloth. St. Paul calls this disfigured image, “the earthly image,” in contrast to the “heavenly image” which is the resemblance of Christ. 

Denying ourselves is not a work of death, but one of life, of beauty and of joy. It is also a learning of the language of true love. Think of two young people who love each other. But they belong to different world views, two different nations, and speak completely different languages. If their love has any chance of growing and surviving, one of them must learn the language of the other. Otherwise, they will not be able to communicate and their love is most likely not going to last. This is how it is with us and God. We speak the language of the flesh, God speaks that of the Spirit. He speaks the language of love, and we speak the language of selfishness. For us to truly live, we must speak God’s language of love. Denying oneself is learning the language of God so that we can communicate with him and communicate with each other. You won’t be able to say yes to the other unless you are willing to say no to yourself. You lose nothing good denying yourself. Your being increases in the measure that you give it all away. 

What does it mean to take up one’s cross? Believe me, we have a very cosmetic view of the cross because we have seen it for so long as a religious symbol. But for the first nine centuries of the Christian dispensation, artists couldn’t depict the cross, because it was so gross, so gory, and too brutal. The extreme violence we see in Mel Gibson’s movie titled, “Passion of the Christ” only came close to the actual nature of the cross and crucifixion, but never the accurate depiction of a Roman crucifixion. Oftentimes people likened the cross to an illness, or to a bad marriage, or financial problems or to any difficult situation they are into. They attribute any heavy burden they are carrying as the cross. But that’s not what Jesus meant. The way of the cross is the way of death. It is to die to that image of yourself you have invented. It is to die to that image that is not the image of God. It is to die of that image you have become— selfishness, pride, arrogance, hatefulness, divisiveness, unforgiving soul, morally bankruptcy, larger-than-life-view of the self etc. and rising up with Jesus, through Jesus and in Jesus our Lord. Your cross is not about things; we are not talking about hurts and pains. We are talking about the willingness to die to self in order to find life again in service of God and others. At the Gethsemane, Jesus prayed, “…not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). Carrying your cross is letting the will of God be done in your life. What do you think is God’s will? What does God want from us? Relationship! But not for God’s benefit but ours. God does not need anything. 

Far from seeking power and position— I’m going to be the head and not the tail; far from pursuing wealth— I will be the giver and not the beggar; far from running after honor— let my enemies live long and see what I will be in the future; far from seeking the reward of pleasure— I am made for divine health and will never suffer; far from chasing after a destiny changer, discipleship involves a threefold movement: denial of self, taking up the cross, and following after Jesus.

God bless you!

Homily forThursday, August 31, 2023

“Stay Awake!”

In his book, Confessions, Saint Augustine wrote what is indisputably considered as one of the most quoted phrases in our Christian tradition, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” I tell you, I have read this quote in Catholic and non-Catholic literature. Why is this St. Augustine’s prayer so famous? Every Christian and I add non-Christians understand the stubborn fact that we are wired for God. Our hearts are truly restless until they finally find rest in God. Whether we know it or not, whether we realize it or not, God is the deepest hunger of the human heart. Nothing can finally satisfy this hunger but God alone. But if for whatever reason someone finds a phony rest in what St. Thomas Aquinas called the four false substitutes for God—wealth, power, pleasure and honor, the person is in the condition of what the Bible calls spiritual sleep or spiritual slumber. Spiritual slumber is dangerous; the cost is often abject spiritual poverty. When you are spiritually asleep, your ability to produce and yield the fruits of Christianity and be useful is significantly tarnished and diminished. 

In our Gospel for today, Jesus says, “Stay awake!” (Matthew 24:42) What does it mean to stay away? It is to persistently and relentlessly find rest and refuge in God. It is to form the habit of resting in God. It is to see God as the Summum Bonum, the highest Good and the greatest pursuit of one’s life. Now, this does not stop you from living your ordinary life. This does not prevent you from having other interests like getting married, raising your family, going to work, going to the grocery store, shopping, going out with friends and colleagues for lunch or dinner, hanging out with others and playing Bingo game, being interested in entertainments (sports and movies), in politics, in community organizing, in advocating for justice and peace etc. Christianity is not a sad and depressing journey. As humans, we are definitely going to be interested in other things aside from going to church, but if the organizing principle of your life and activities is God alone, then you are spiritually awake. You are staying awake. If Jesus is at the center of everything you do, if he is the Governor and the commanding General of every aspect of your life, then you are an awakened disciple. 

Is it possible to find happiness in the goods of the world? Sure! Worldly goods can give some excitement, some comfort, some ease, some pleasure, some confidence. But it will eventually wear off. With the passage of time, it will fade away. They are fleeting and transient items. There is no permanent rest in the goods of this world. Check this out! In the opening prayer of the Mass, for the Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary time, we hear, “O God, who cause the minds of the faithful to unite in a single purpose, grant your people to love what you command and to desire what you promise, that, amid the uncertainties of this world, our hearts may be fixed on that place where true gladness is found. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.” Honestly, this prayer summarizes what it means to “stay awake!” Staying awake, therefore, is to finally realize that the true and lasting happiness is in God alone. It is to habitually fix your heart, mind, soul and being in that place and in God where true gladness is found. 

What can help us stay awake? Forming the habit of going to Mass at least every weekend, making personal prayer the fulcrum of your daily life, using the sacraments, studying the Bible, reading pious, spiritual and theological articles and books, joining a society in your parish that can help deepen your relationship with Jesus, being a hearer and doer of the Word of God, surrounding your life with discipline etc. If something is so important to you, if fixing your heart on that place where true gladness is found is of great importance to you, if you really want to stay awake as the Lord exhorts us, you will surround your life with discipline. What does that mean? It means the formation of good character and habits. Even when you are tired of praying, you will endeavor to pray. When you are emotionally not in the right place, and it is Sunday, you will get up and go to Mass. If some friends are inviting you to an event that may jeopardize your faith, expose you to an intense temptation, or that may scandalize another, you say no. When you eat, drink and dance, you do them with moderation. Even your speech and thought-patterns will be trained in the Christian way. You will control the words of your mouth and the meditations of your mind and heart. Making these the habit of your daily life and having your eyes fixed on our Jesus Christ is what it means to stay awake. 

God bless you! 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Thursday, August 31, 2023

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church

Brooklyn Center, Minnesota

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

Who Do You Say That I am?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

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

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, August 27, 2023

The practice of conducting opinion polls in political, economic and socio-cultural fields can really help us understand the Gospel of Matthew 16:13-20. In this Gospel passage, we are told that after his emergence at the public scene, Jesus travels with his disciples to the region of Caesarea Philippi. There, he conducts an opinion poll about himself. Turning to his disciples, he asks, “Who do people say that I am?” The disciples say, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” Like any celebrity, Jesus had generated a buzz of interest. People are wondering “Who is this man?” There are many opinions and interpretations being bandied around about him just like in our culture today. But what all these popular opinions had in common is that they are dead wrong. 

Having heard the results of his opinion poll, Jesus turns to his inner circle, the Twelve, and asks, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter speaks, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Peter could have said, “Your are the Messiah,” that is, “the anointed one” who would gather the tribes of Israel, cleanse the temple and defeat Israel’s enemies; but he added that astonishing phrase, “Son of the living God.” So, even at the early stage of Jesus’ public ministry, Peter knew that Jesus was much more than a prophet or rabbi or seer. He knew there is something qualitatively different about his Master. Responding to Peter’s amazing confession, Jesus makes one of the most extraordinary declarations in the New Testament: “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” Neither the crowds nor the aristocrats knew who Jesus was— only Peter knew. And Peter knew not so much from his intelligence or from the great education he had. Peter wasn’t well educated. He was a small business owner and fisherman. His knowledge of Jesus is purely a gift from God, a special charism of the Holy Spirit.

Now, it is important to note that Jesus did not ask what people think of his teaching or what impression he is making. His question is about his true identity— Who do people say that I am? By the way, no other religious figure focused on himself. Buddha said there is a way that I discovered and I want you to know it. Muhammad did not focus on himself. He said there is a revelation I received and I want you to know it. Confucius did not talk about himself, but about the path he found. As for Jesus, he asks, “Who do people say that I am?” and “Who do you say that I am?” To answer Jesus’ first question is easy. It does not require a personal experience of Jesus to answer it. The reading of the Bible, the hearing of the good news, meditation, prayers, Mass attendance, participating in the sacraments, membership of the Church, lively faith, pursuit of holiness, working for peace and justice, practicing the corporal and spiritual works of mercy etc. are not needed to answer it. A person does not necessarily need to have an ongoing relationship with Jesus to attempt to answer it. To answer it, what a person needs is to simply look around and listen to public opinion, to gossip, to what people are saying about Jesus. But to be able to answer the second question, one must look inward, listen to a completely different voice, a voice that is not of flesh and blood but that of the heavenly Father. The answer we give to Jesus’ second question will be determined by how each of us relates to him. Is Jesus someone you make out time to visit and speak to in prayer? Is he worth your time on Sunday, on Holy Days of Obligations, and even during the week? Is he someone you can trust? Does he deserve your love? Is Jesus worth falling in love with? Do you see him as someone whose love and compassion for you is exceedingly profound and whose forgiveness for you is matchless? Do you see Jesus as someone who has the authority to tell you how to live, what to do, what not to do, how to relate with others, and how to honor God? Is Jesus your numero uno? Is he someone you are enthusiastically looking forward to spending eternity with? If you haven’t been in touch with him, do you miss him? And do you think he misses you?

Like the Apostles, we could also tell what the crowds are saying about Jesus. That’s alright! There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s the starting point. Our relationship with him most probably started with what others told us about him. But we have to move beyond that. We have to move beyond what others have told us about him in order to know him more personally and more intimately. How can a person know Jesus personally and intimately? The same way we get to know a person personally. If you want someone to be your friend, you have to meet the person and talk to the person. After that, the two of you must continue to talk either face to face or via the telephone. The conversation must be ongoing. You are also going to spend time together. Now, talking and spending time with God and with Jesus is called prayer. There is no other way to personally know Jesus except by prayer. There is no shortcut! As Catholic Christians, we should not be satisfied knowing what others have said about Jesus, we must know and encounter him personally. An encounter with Jesus changes and transforms lives. It was such an encounter that prompted St. Augustine to declare: “Late have I loved you O Ancient Beauty. Late have I loved you. You were with me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you…I have tasted you, now I hunger and thirst more.” The Psalmist felt so comfortable in the presence of the Lord that he proclaimed: “How lovely is your dwelling place, Lord God of host” (Psalm 84:1).

God bless you!