WHY MAKE EMPTY PROMISES?

HOMILY FOR THE 26^TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

An empty promise is a promise that was never intended to be carried out or kept. An empty promise is devoid of worth or meaning. Making promises and not keeping them are signs of unseriousness. The making of promises concerns saying, while the keeping of promises concerns action and doing. It is in action that we really know personalities. Actions speak louder than words. 

A good example of promises that are not kept is not far-fetched from us. During political campaigns, politicians promise heaven and hell just to win votes, and after they win do not remember that they made promises to the people who elected them. This is the current case in the Nigerian politics. Today, Nigeria celebrates herself at 57, but when we pay attention to details, we are most likely not to find anything worth celebrating. Yes, it is true that she is 57, but it is even truer that all these years her politicians have failed to keep to the promises of those who vote them in. If every promise in the manifestos is done, this country would have been all the more worth celebrating.

The Gospel of today (Mat. 21:28-32) unravels a clear picture of an empty promise. Jesus tells the story of two brothers who had a father. The father told the first one to go and work in his vineyard, and he disagreed to go, but afterwards went and did it. The same plea was made to the second who agreed to go, but later did not do the work. The second child made a promise to do the work but did not after all do it. Truly, the two examples are imperfect. What one did, the other did not do, and what the other did, one did not do. Neither of them actually brought full joy to the father.

The difference between the two can be read with the eye of change. We can most probably say that the first had a change of mind and attitude; that is why he later on went to do the father’s orders. This change is positive. It is a change from evil to good, a change from negative to positive. The second too changed, but his was one from good to evil, from positive to negative. In this sense, we can say that we are called to imitate the first; that is, to always make a change from evil to the good and not vice versa. It is also in this sense that we can understand the words of the first reading (Ezekiel 18:25-28). Someone virtuous must make effort to maintain his/her virtues, while someone vicious should try to change from his/her vices. The Lord says: if he turns from the wickedness he has committed, and does what is right and just, then he shall preserve his life. He will live for having repented. And so, we ought to make the promise of change for the better and keep it.

The ideal child is the one who says yes and does yes. It is one who accepts the father’s orders with obedience and carries them out judiciously. Promises we must say can never take the place of promise. We must make sure we make promises and keep them.  Broken promises may lead to broken relationships. We must know that making a promise involves making a commitment that God takes seriously. Deut. 23:21-23 says if you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin, but if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth.

Have you made some promises like these:

I will call you back later

I will supply the goods tomorrow

I will meet you tomorrow for lunch

I can finish the project next tomorrow

I will pray for you

I will marry you

I will sponsor your education

I will talk to him about it

I will buy you a gift, etc.

You need now to ask yourself why you made those promises without keeping them. Was it that you never took it seriously, or you thought it was just a manner of speaking? Every word you communicate matters to God. It is through our words that we can be set free, and it is also through them that we can be condemned (cf. Matt. 12:37). Remember the words of Ecclesiastes 5:5: it is better not to make promises and not keep them. Worse still is when we make a promise to God and not fulfilling it. The book of Ecclesiastes 5:2 tells us not to be quick with our mouth to utter anything before God; and in verse 4, we read: keep all the promises you make to God.

One of the major causes of empty promises is the inability to control our mouth. One who talks too much is likely to be breaking promises. One who talks before thinking about what he has said is likely to be releasing empty words. Prov. 10:19 says that sin is unavoidable when there is much talk, but whoever seals his lips is wise. We must therefore remember those empty promises we have made to our fellows and to God, and work to fulfil those promises. Only then has true conversion taken place. May God assist us to fulfil every promise we make now and always. Amen. God bless you.

“RISE, TAKE THE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER”

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY QUEEN OF NIGERIA

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Whenever God wants to acts, he prepares the ground. During the preparatory stage, things may go rough, tough and unbearable. But we must realize that the roughness, toughness and the unbearable state is to make the ground fertile, just as the tilling of the soil makes the land arable for farming. This is the situation we find in the Gospel of today (Matt. 2:13-15.19-23) whereby Joseph, Mary and the little Child Jesus witnessed some roughness with the society they found themselves. God was protecting the little Child Jesus for the singular purpose of salvation which he has come to accomplish. But this protection however must involve a divine mandate of rising and travelling to another country which actually would not be easy for the nursing mother and the man due to the stress and burden involved in having to relocate to another place. And so, there was a divine mandate to relocate. The action of God many a time comes with a mandate. This is the mandate of guidance and protection. It is a mandate that projects deliverance and safety. Rise, take the child and his mother. The child is Jesus, the mother is Mary and the receiver of the mandate is Joseph.

Joseph was wonderfully instructed. The family of Jesus noticed the first danger which was the plot to find and kill Jesus. Herod had become very upset when he heard that a child king was born. We can imagine how difficult it is harming a child, especially to kill it. Yet, it happens if we grow so wear the cloak of pride and envy. Joseph was then miraculously warned to flee into Egypt. God knows all and rules over all. He knew Herod’s plot when no one else knew. So, God moved to protect the life of his son and the mother. Egypt was a place to seek refuge. From the beginning of Jewish history, many had sought refuge in Egypt. For instance, the large city, Alexandria had over a million Jewish emigrants. God’s grace can be seen in the traumatic movement of Joseph and Mary into Egypt. He led them to flee into a country where they could easily settle down and find friends. And exegetes have made us to know that Jesus was in Egypt for six to seven years. The flight to Egypt prevented Herod from getting a hold on the child.

We must then work to identify the evil that rushes to strangulate the good in us. That evil knows that when the good is actually fully blown, it will become totally victorious. The evil in Herod knew that if the child Jesus is allowed to grow, he will destroy it totally. That evil was hiding under and playing on the selfishness and pride of Herod, but Herod never saw it. He was thinking in terms of political leadership. The fear of Herod was unfounded and really ridiculous; how can a child become a threat to a ruling king? Can the child initiate a coup d’état? And because of this singular fear of losing the grip of leadership, Herod slaughtered many children. What an abominable act; an infanticide that left many homes in agony for years. He did not comprehend the message of the First Reading of today (Isaiah 11:1-10) that the root of Jesse shall stand as an ensign to the peoples; him shall the nations seek and his dwellings shall be glorious. He never knew that the message had a spiritual connotation not political one.

 

Today, we celebrate Nigeria at 57. Is our country like a nursing mother to us just as Mary was to Jesus?  Can we really borrow a leaf from the situation in the Gospel and apply it to Nigeria? It is true that the plans of God may meet some opposition at the earlier stages of development due to the tendency of the devil to clamp down the good, more especially during the nascent stage. Can we really say that the roughness and toughness the citizens of Nigeria still experience after 57 years of existence enters this module? Can we regard Nigeria to still be at its nascent stage? Personally, I am inclined to allude that the founder fathers of this country, which can actually not be regarded as a nation did not work well to fight against the evil which came to destroy Nigeria when she was still nascent. That evil came to destroy, and none of them dictated it on time, and so, the patriotism which the citizens ought to have for the country was murdered in the hearts of even the unborn Nigeria. They did not listen to the voice of God that was calling them to rise, take the child and his mother and run to Egypt.

That call to run to Egypt was a call for protection, of deliverance, and of safety. It was barely few years after the Independence that the Country witnessed a civil war, the war which took the lives of millions of people. There was an accord which was meant to be followed; and that was the aburi accord. It was on the 4^th January 1967 that a two-day meeting of the supreme military council was held in Aburi –Accra Ghana which was summoned by the General Ankara of Ghana. This was held to resolve the tension and the crisis of confidence which had arisen in the Country.  There was conflicting interpretations of this accord by Colonel Ojukwu and by General Gowon. Ojukwu had claimed that it was agreed that the regions should move slightly apart adding that only by moving apart could the regions co-exist. He contended that Nigeria needed association not unity. Gowon on his part rejected Ojukwu’s interpretation adding that it would lead to the end of Nigeria as a country. Those leaders allowed their selfish desires to affect the interpretation of this accord.

That accord was the call of God to rise and take the child and his mother. It was the call to be on the alert as against the impending danger of the civil war. But since the hearts of the leaders were so filled up with unfounded fears of losing the grip of power (just as Herod had the fear), the devil made use of their vices and caused a civil war to erupt which took the lives of millions (just as the innocent babies lost their lives in Israel during the time of Herod). If they had listened to the divine mandate voiced out in the aburi accord, those lives would not have been lost. If they had sub-pedalled their selfish whims, caprices and aggrandisement, the lives of the millions would not have been lost.

The leaders then were unable to avert this homicide which was actually genocidal. They directly or indirectly allowed it to continue for some selfish reasons, without looking at the greater package of saving the lives of the people they were meant to protect. Ever since this war, ethnic rivalry was widened, patriotism became merely a concept, and nation building became ethnic building, to the extent now that the federal character of leadership emphasized in the constitution is no longer considered a guiding principle for appointments. The insecurity, lingering problems of ethnic wars and underdevelopment all can be linked to that war which would have been averted by dialogue and justice in nation building.   

After their stay in Egypt, another message came. Joseph and Mary needed again to rise now and return to their homeland because Herod had died. When we obey the mandate for protection, then we are placed on the pedestal of receiving another mandate of possession. They were patient, waiting for God’s direction, and in God’s time, He moved and directed them back to Israel. They possessed back their land. After the safety and protection already assured by the flight, there can now be possession. They lived to fight again, because the time for fighting back had not come yet. The child was still humanly unprepared and humanly powerless. They were protected because they had to listen to the divine mandate that called on them to protect themselves by the flight to Egypt. Matthew sees this flight as a fulfilment of the word spoken by Hosea in 11:1. Egypt became the place of safety and protection.  

How often have we failed to listen to the divine mandate that calls on us to rise and protect those realities that are dear to us; realities like our families, our Church, our businesses, our life with God, our life aspirations? Many times, we are called to the place of safety but because of disobedience, we allow ourselves to get killed. Many a time too we look unto the roughness of the travel involved in our rising for protection and do allow what we must actually have protected to be killed at the nascent stages. For instance, many crises witnessed today could have been prevented long ago if we had listened to the divine call.

Today, there is a call on all of us to rise and protect our families, our societies, our world, our life aspirations, and any other thing which has been entrusted into our care. We are called to toe the line of this family who struggled to protect the life of Jesus and to see that the divine will is not affected by any person or evil. We must protect others spiritually and physically. The spiritual protection is to ensure that we do not lead others astray or into sin or scandalize fellow Christians by the way we live our lives. We must pray for one another for liberation as against the devil’s possession. The physical protection is to work as our faith directs us for the presence of God’s kingdom on earth in the various spheres we find ourselves. And this is why we entrust Nigeria to the maternal care of Mary who together with Joseph protected Jesus when the devil was prowling round seeking for whom to kill (cf. 1 Pet. 5:8). In our days, may justice flourish and peace till the moon fails (cf. Ps 72:7). As the queen, we continually ask her to protect the lives of the people living in this country as she did the live of her son, Jesus. May we experience this protection now and always. Amen. God bless you.

  

GOD’S WAYS (GRACE) ARE NOT OUR WAYS (RACE)

HOMILY FOR THE 25^TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

 

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

God’s way is grace. All God gives us is of grace. No man can earn what God offers him/her; not anyone of us deserves it. What God gives to us is given out of the generosity of his heart, and not our merit. God does not give us a pay, but a gift. It is not a reward, but grace. It is all about grace. There is a difference between labour and favour. It is true that we can labour. But it is even truer that when God wills it, it is favour. In a labour that demands a pay, we are paid in consideration with the time input and the work done. We are rated in consideration with the amount of labour we are able to do. A perfect example will be the example of the bricklaying job. The number of bricks one is able to lay determines the amount he is going to be paid. And that is by counting. The world’s way of wages may be by counting, but God’s way of wages is by graciousness. In the world’s way, one can boast that he deserves his pay, but no one can actually boast of such in the divine realm. God’s way differs from our way.

We notice this different way of God from ours chiefly in the Gospel (Matt 20:1-16). Jesus told a parable to his disciples. The kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. He employed the first group in the morning, employed the second in the afternoon, and the third in the evening. When it was time to pay them, he paid all an equal amount. But the first group murmured against such equal pay. But he made them to understand that the way they are thinking is not the way he is thinking for he is allowed to do what he chooses with what belongs to him. And in this line, the last can be the first as the first can be the last. This means that anyone who considers himself first must be on alert to avoid becoming the last out of jealousy and greed. The First lesson to be drawn from this episode is that the grace of God cannot be affected or influenced by the whims and caprices of person’s around. This grace is one that provides work for us. The householder is God. God’s provides the field on which we work. He desires us to work and be enriched.  

The Second lesson is that God is one who goes out to seek and call men to work. It is not the workers who come to him. In the world’s way, workers seek for job and go to the masters, but in God’s way, God seeks out his workers. And this is marvellous grace; for the son of man has come to seek and to save what was lost (cf. Luke 19:10). He wants us to work and constantly calls us to work; the harvest is indeed great, but the labourers are few (Mat. 9:37-38). The Third lesson is that we are warned to remain steadfast when we receive great privilege of being called so early. Be you aware that in later days, others will be called, and you must not claim a special honour and place over them. There are people who think that because they have been members of the Church before others, and for that the Church belongs to them and can dictate its policy. Such people resent the rise of a new generation with somewhat different plans and ways of worship and organization. In Christendom, seniority does not necessarily mean honour.

The fourth lesson is the spirit with which we work for God. There was an agreement with the first group for a denarius. For the second group, there was no agreement but a word of trust that they would be given their due. For the third, there was no agreement neither was there any word of trust. The first were concerned with their pay; that is, what to get after their work. But in the case of those engaged later, they just needed to work. All they needed was an opportunity to work and not just for the pay. They willingly left the reward to the master’s choice. Our first concern is not in our pay. Some will ask: what do we get out of it? We work for the joy of service. This is exactly why the first will be the last for many a man who in our eyes worked so hard on earth may get a low place in the kingdom because rewards were his sole aim. Some who the world sees as poor will be great in heaven because they never thought in terms of reward but worked for the joy of serving. This is a paradox actually. For the world, the more we aim at earthly rewards, the more the material success. But for heaven, the more interest in the earthly reward, the less the recompense. He who aims at rewards looses it, but he who forgets it gains it. God’s way is not our way.

The First Reading (Isaiah 55:6-7) of today strikes the head at the nail when it says: for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. This is purely an invitation that urges us to make a leap out of the way we impose our thoughts on God, or think God to act the way we do. Anyone who desires to eat must work first. Anyone who desires to drink wine has to buy it; yes. But whenever God wills it, he can declare free feeding (as it happened in the feeding of the five thousand in Matt 14:13-21) and free drinking (as he did during the wedding at Cana in John 2:1-12). In fact, the 55^th chapter of the prophet Isaiah can be summarized as a call to grace. The beginning of the chapter makes a general invitation to all who are thirsty (v.1a) and have no money (v.1b) to come and drink and eat without cost. This invitation was made as an aftermath of a restored people. It is a call to a feast that invites the Israelites to a moment of restoration of their heritage. The exilic years may have made them hopeless and made people to ridicule them thinking of them as a failed nation and even wishing them stagnancy in nation building. But that was not the way God was thinking of them. God was planning freedom, restoration, happiness, joy and plenitude for them. This transformation was possible because God’s ways are not our ways.

The world may wish you remain a slave, you remain a spinster, you remain a bachelor, you remain a tenant, you remain a student, you remain a job seeker, you remain in tears, you remain in pains, you remain ignorant, you remain childless, you remain in prison, you remain poor, you remain degenerated, you remain in poverty, you remain in sin, you remain in darkness. But God will wish you become a master, you become a wife, you become a husband, you become a teacher or a graduate, you become a worker, you become happy, you gain, you become knowledgeable, you bear a child, you become a free person, you become rich, you become regenerated, you swim in plenty, you become holy, and you experience the light. And this is why the prophet would exclaim: the people walking in darkness have seen a great light (Isaiah 9:2, cf. Matt. 4:16) and the three wise men exclaimed that we have seen his star and we have come to pay him homage (Matt 2:2).

Every one of us wants to behold the light and to move out of darkness. Left for the world, many will remain in darkness. However, such intention is frustrated because God’s way is not our way. In conclusion and just as the Psalmist says the Lord is close to all who call him (Ps. 145:18a), and being aware of the difference of God’s way from humans, we must report every worry to God whose grace is bountiful and marvellous. Just make sure your manner of life is worthy of the Gospel as St. Paul admonishes in the Second Reading (Phil. 1:20c-24.27a). I wish you a blessed week ahead. God bless you.

FORGIVE!!! IT IS THE STRONGER YOU

HOMILY FOR THE 24^TH SUNDAY IN THE ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

 

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Holding a grudge does not make you strong. Swearing never to forgive the other does not make you a hard-liner. These make you bitter and weak. Forgiveness does not make you a weak person; it rather makes you better and stronger. Grudges are a waste of perfect happiness. Laugh when you can, apologize when you should. You must forgive those who hurt you, even when what they have done against you seems unforgiveable in your mind. Forgive them not actually because they deserve to be forgiven, but because you don’t want to suffer and hurt yourself any time you remember what they did to you. Forgiveness is your own mental healing. It is an act of sincere self-love. In his book, All men are brothers: Autobiographical Reflections, Mahatma Gandhi said in clear terms, the weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong.

It was on the 13^th day of May, 1981 that an assassination attempt was made on the life of St. Pope JohnPaul II the great by Mehmet Ali Agca. As the Pope was entering the St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican City, this man shot the Pope for not less than four times, and as a result the Pontiff suffered great blood loss. The assassin was apprehended immediately and was sentenced to life in prison by an Italian court. Following the shooting, the Pope asked people to “pray for my brother...whom I have sincerely forgiven.” In 1983, he had an audience with Agca, and ever since kept in touch with the mother and brother of the assassin, whom he described as his brother. In June 2000, he was pardoned of the life imprisonment by the Italian president, Carlo Ciampi at the request of the pope. The Pope was strong; and that’s why he was able to forgive.

In the Gospel (Matt. 18:21-35), the King was strong, and that was why he was able to forgive the servant the much he owed. However, the servant could not forgive a fellow servant the little he owed and that made him weak. As a result of such heart that does not pardon, he received a severe punishment from his master. This story was the consequence of the question Peter asked Jesus about how often an offender can be forgiven. In the opening chapters of the book of Amos (1:3013; 2:1-6), there is a series of condemnations on the various nations for three transgressions and for four. From this, it was thought that God’s forgiveness extends to three offences, and that he visits the sinner with punishment at the fourth.

 It was not then to be thought that a man could be more gracious than God; so forgiveness was limited to three times. Peter thought that he was even being generous with the number of times, and thus must have expected commendations from Christ. But Jesus’ answer was that the Christian has to forgive seventy times seven; and that is, limitlessly. That means that there is no reckonable limit to forgiveness. Jesus then told a story of a servant forgiven a great debt who went and dealt mercilessly with a fellow servant who owed him so little. The question comes, how do you expect God who pardons us great offences to react when we are unable to pardon our fellows? The development of a heart that does not forgive is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies. At last, it ends up killing you. We see this practical in the life of the unforgiving servant. He did not realize that forgiveness is the giving up of one’s right to return hurt for hurt.

The other servants were in grievance over such an act by the wicked servant. God’s true people are always grieved when they see people in suffering, mistreated, abused, and trampled upon. Cruel and mean treatment always troubles the Christian. It is true that the wicked servant was just in putting his fellow servant into prison, but the question is, was it a holy act? The man was just, very strict, legalistic, and rigid and mean, but he lacked holiness. Thus, his act was just but sinful.  Any act that is just but sinful is not to be seen as a good moral act. His strict justice causes more trouble and trouble, disturbance and oppression of people. The other servants had to do the only thing they could have done. They took the matter to the king. They were not silent. They must not allow the license of oppression and legalism to destroy a human spirit which must be enshrouded in mercy and compassion.

After he received pardon, he failed to pardon. And so he was thrown into prison and was given a more strict condition which he would not meet. If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God (Heb 10:26-27). And the First Reading (Sir 27:30 -28:7) was very clear about this. He that takes vengeance will suffer vengeance from the Lord, and he will firmly establish his sins. The moral lesson of all this is that we must forgive our neighbours their sins against us; then can ours be forgiven by God. We must forgive. We must distance ourselves from such philosophies that go in line with an eye for an eye. However, we must admit that forgiveness has many challenges. But these challenges have been conquered by the singular christological action of grace and salvation. The grace of God is sufficient for us.

What do you do when you find it challenging to forgive? 1) Be thankful of that experience. When someone has done something which challenges the virtue of forgiveness in you, simply develop some sense of thanksgiving as regards the experience which made you wiser. Oprah Winfrey had said: ‘true forgiveness is when you can say, thank you for that experience.’2) Try hard to wish the person well. You will be sure that true forgiveness has started in you when having recalled the hurts you still feel the power to sincerely wish the person well. When this is done, you will discover that you have set a prisoner free; that prisoner is you. 3) Work on your mind. It was Confucius who once told his followers that to be wronged is nothing unless you continue to remember it. If you continue to remind yourself of the hurts and pains you have experienced, you end up piling up grudges, but if you wave these aside, and allow fresh experiences to replace those ones, you end up forgiving and acquiring inner peace. 4) Don’t you want to move forward? Holding grudges is a sort of living in the past. The naked truth is that unless you let go, forgive yourself, forgive the situation, forgive the person and realize the situation is over, you cannot move forward. And finally, if you cannot forgive and forget, choose one. You will find yourself in the very act of forgiveness. Forgiveness is challenging; forgive anyway. I wish you a blessed week ahead. God bless you.