WE ARE THE DOORKEEPERS!

 HOMILY FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT (YEAR B)

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Isaiah 63:16-17, 64:1, 3-8        1 Corinthians 1:3-9        Mark 13:33-37

This Sunday, the Church embarks upon a new liturgical season. Each liturgical season carries with it a particular message and particular graces for us. The season of Advent is a period of expectant waiting and of preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus. Here, in the Northern hemisphere, Advent is a winter-time liturgy which cries out like a herald into the cold, dark, dreary, and fruitless days of the soul’s experience the Good News of the coming of the Lord. Advent (from the Latin ‘Adventus’, a composite of ‘ad’ meaning ‘to’ and ‘venire’ meaning ‘to come’ or ‘to arrive’) brings us the grace of hope despite the earthly chills of Winter and the empty wastes of the winter of the spirit. In our scientifically-advanced era, most of us don’t have to endure the harshness of winter and its long dark days any more: at the flick of a switch, darkness can be flooded out with light and cold can be banished by warmth. Just think, though, how awful it would be to have to go through the depths of winter with no electric lighting and with no form of heating. It would be such a miserable, wretched experience, wouldn’t it? The season of Advent comes upon us just as the hours of daylight are diminishing and the longest night is approaching, and you might well be tempted to think that the descending physical gloom would be accompanied by a gloomy winter of the liturgy. Not so! While Advent is a penitential season, it is the season of preparation for the light of God - for God who is Himself the Light of the world - flooding into the world at Christmas. Advent ought to be a time of careful preparation on our part for the arrival of God, God whose birth was anticipated for nine months after His Incarnation, and God whose parousia will occur suddenly and without warning (Mt 24:27). We should not be alarmed at the thought of the Lord Jesus coming again suddenly to complete the work of uniting heaven and earth in the Kingdom of God. He tells us time and time again: “do not be afraid”. He reassures us that He is always with us in the present moment, no matter how deep the darkness and the chaos of the world seems to us to be.  

As we stumble our way through this life, it is essential for us to keep our gaze focused on Him and to be watchful. On this 1^st Sunday of Advent, the liturgical year opens with the very important themes of ‘watching’ and ‘staying awake’ during our earthly pilgrimage. In today’s Gospel, Jesus gives us the example of the doorkeeper to instruct us on the importance of cultivating a vigilant faith, of practising the Faith rather than being Catholic in name only. We have to use such time as is given to us well, because the days are evil (Eph 5:16). In other words, while we are waiting for Jesus’ return (like the faithful servants in today’s Gospel, and the young women waiting for the groom Mt 25:1-13), we have to watch, we have to be on guard, that we don’t lapse casually into sin. Night time features in both these teachings, and night time is naturally a period for rest and for sleep. At this time of year, the nights are long. Imagine being told to stay awake and be watchful throughout these long hours of darkness. That’s what we doorkeepers are being called to do spiritually …  to be alert and self-controlled (1Thess 5:6), to stay awake and be spiritually alert in the darkness of this world. Why? Because the Lord is near!

There are two reasons why we must say awake. 1) No one knows the time of the return of the Lord. In His humanity, Jesus Himself did not, because He emptied Himself (Phil 2:7) of His divine omniscience. 2) So that we may have the strength to be responsible doorkeepers, avoiding evil, and [to] stand before the Son of Man (Lk 21:36).

The doorkeeper is tasked by ‘the man travelling abroad’ (God) with double responsibilities. His first responsibility is to guard the property against intruders and unwanted visitors. In the spirit of Advent, the warning here is about neither opening our doors nor leaving them ajar to sin because it harms our souls. Many people get so despondent about earthly trials and tribulations (Rev 6:9ff and Rev 13:16f) that they give in; they let [their] hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life (Lk 21:34). Going down that route adversely affects their will (Eph 5:18) and their readiness to welcome God, the Creator of our souls and of all that exists, when He finally comes. That route is to be avoided by Christians.

The doorkeeper’s second responsibility is to open the door promptly to the One who has the right to enter the property. God has the right to enter our hearts, but He will only enter if we invite Him in. If there’s anyone who is worthy to be welcomed into our hearts, it is God, because He made us and He is continually remaking us in His image.  This penitential season offers us yet another opportunity to present ourselves to God in His mercy to be fashioned anew. God is the potter and we are the clay to be moulded and shaped by His hands. Isaiah uses this powerful image (v. 8) to drive home how God, our Father and Our Redeemer, is continually crafting our souls. We have to top up our hearts continually with prayer and worship in order to keep them filled to the brim with God.

As we set out upon our journey through Advent, let me encourage you to say to yourself, “I am the doorkeeper. I have been given the responsibility of being in charge: in charge, first and foremost, of my heart and of my soul, to nurture them and to guard them jealously for Christ’s sake; and secondly, in charge of my fellow servants - my fellow parishioners, friends and family - in the sense of taking an active interest in their welfare and of helping them to be faithful to God.  Let us all thank God, as did St. Paul in the Second reading, for all the graces we receive through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and especially for the grace of keeping watch in prayer for His advent in our hearts and souls.

Amen. God bless you!

 

THE MODELS OF THE KINGSHIP OF CHRIST

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, KING OF THE UNIVERSE

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17        1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28        Matthew 25:31-46

Christ is King! This is what we are celebrating today. In the face of the massive changes wrought in society via the rise of Communism, coincident with the rise of secularism during and after the First World War, the Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe was instituted by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to combat ways of living which reduce God to the perception of a grumpy old man on a cloud, mock Him as a ‘sky fairy’ or dismiss Him as non-existent. In 1970 the Solemnity was moved to the final Sunday in Ordinary Time, to take pride of place at the culmination of the Church’s liturgical year. The readings resonate with the majesty of the Kingship of Christ, with what the implication of His Kingship are, and with how His Kingship manifests both in the present moment and at the end of time. These readings present three models of the Kingship of Christ:

Christ the Shepherd King 

I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded… I shall be a true shepherd to them (cf. First Reading; Ezek 34:16). In response to the failure of the leaders of Israel to be true shepherds to His people, God steps in as the perfect Shepherd of His flock. God will take over the care of His flock, look after each one of His sheep, seek out those that have got lost, settle them on good pasture, bandage the wounded and nurture the weak ones. In the Parable of the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:1-21) we find the statement that we are like lost sheep, sick and injured, and must be found. The Shepherd King goes in search of His sheep, rather than leaving the sheep to seek Him out. As the true Shepherd, Christ seeks us out. He does not shepherd from a distance. He is ever-present and although He is Risen & Ascended, He is always with us (Mt 28:20). He brings us to good pasture and he guides us along the right path (cf. Ps 23). The true Shepherd will also judge us on our performance as sheep! Do we follow Him or do we not? It is our personal choice as to whether or not we follow the Shepherd King to heaven.  

Christ the victorious King

For he must be king until he has put all his enemies under his feet… (cf. Second Reading; 1 Cor 15:25). St. Paul provides us with the assurance that at the end of time, after the defeat of death, God will be all in all. There will be total triumph of goodness over evil. This triumph, however, can only be achieved in and through Christ the King. Contrary to the assertions of the Prince of Lies, the Kingship of Christ has already annihilated the kingdom of darkness – the kingdom of evil - and in due course Christ’s reign will bring about the ultimate reign of God the Father (v.28). Satan has already been defeated through the victory of the Cross. By the power of the Cross, Christ the King is already victorious even over death itself. Following His victory, we know for certain that death is not the end and that eternal life awaits us, either in heaven, or in purgatory in hope of heaven, or in hell. We have been given the gift of free will, and it is our choice as to whether or not we become followers of Christ the King and share in His victory.

Christ the just Judge

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, escorted by all the angels, then He will take His seat on his throne of glory. (cf. the Gospel; Mt 25:31). The pronouncement manifests gloriously the ultimate sovereignty of the Son of Man (as Jesus described Himself) ‘and His angels with him’ (cf. Zech 14:5) as God! In it, Jesus speaks of the end of time and of the final judgement by Himself as the eternal Judge. The consequences of our not listening to Christ the just Judge will be revealed at the time of our particular judgement immediately upon our death (cf. Heb 9:27) and at our final judgement at the end of time (Mt 25:31f, 46). Christ’s judgement will depend upon whether or not we are sons and daughters of God (Mt 12:49) with inheritance rights, and whether we loved Him enough to minister to Him primarily in our fellow believers, and by extension to our neighbour in our mutual relatedness to Adam and Eve created in the image of God (Gen 1:27).

The final judgement in the pronouncement of Christ the King is illustrated by the separation out of the sheep and the goats and the least of these brothers of mine as the followers of Christ, because they have done the will of God by following Him. These three groups of believers are homeless in this world (Lk 9:58) and are living the life to which Christ the King has called them. They know His voice and they follow Him (Jn 10:27f). The King rewards them with their inheritance of the Kingdom of heaven. They achieve this by conjoining their faith and their prayers with active service, loving and serving God by loving and serving Him in people He sends across their path. The ultimate sovereignty of the Son of Man, God (Mt 25:31) as the universal Judge brings the virtuous into His royal Kingdom. Good deeds must accompany faith. We love and serve God through loving and serving Him in each other and in the needy. The Church is far more than an adjunct to the social services. We can minister to Christ in the needy (cf. Lk 10:25-37) through the Corporal Works of Mercy, including giving food to the hungry, water to the thirsty, welcoming a stranger, consoling the sick, and visiting the prisoner. We undertake these works because we are sons and daughters of Christ, and it is Him whom we love and serve.

Those who choose to ignore Jesus and who, as a consequence, fail to love Him and serve Him in those who suffer (and everyone suffers in one way or another) are punished with eternal damnation. They are the ones who are separated permanently from God and thrown into the lake of fire (Rev 20:10) which represents a state of regret and anguish with no hope of relief.

On this Solemnity, then, as we declare to the world and to heaven that Christ the Lord is the Universal King, our Shepherd King and our just and victorious King, we pray that He will keep on searching for us throughout the course of our earthly lives, even if we stray into the darkest valley. Amen. God bless you.

 

HERE ARE FIVE MORE THAT I HAVE MADE

HOMILY FOR THE 33^RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31        1 Thessalonians 5:1-6        Matthew 25:14-30

Today, Jesus speaks to us in the Parable of the Talents which, like the Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins, stresses the need for us to be prepared for the coming of the Kingdom of heaven, to be prepared for the time of reckoning so as not to be caught unawares. Our Lord also teaches us never to allow ourselves to be distracted from putting to good use such talents as we possess, either out of fear of punishment if we muck things up or out of the misperception of our talents as being of lesser value than those that other people have. The parable features three individuals to whom their master entrusts the care of vast amounts of his wealth. The first receives five talents, the second receives two talents, and the third receives one talent. The first two individuals put their talents to work and they double their capital. The third man, however, does no work other than to keep his talent safe, and he produces no profit at all.

Let’s have a look at what a talent represented for Jesus’ listeners and at what it can mean for us. A single ‘talent’ was worth an almost unbelievable amount of money, comparable to a big Lottery win. A talent was a coin, a very weighty one, and its value depended on whether the coin was struck in gold, silver or copper. Each talent was worth a thousand gold (or silver or copper) pieces.

When we talk about ‘talents’ today, we think of those gifts, abilities, responsibilities and blessings with which we have been endowed by God. Seen in this light, the parable helps us to appreciate that whatever the talents we have been gifted with, they have been freely bestowed on us by Him and are not of our own making. Here we have a warning against falling prey to the mortal sin of Pride in misusing our talents. The talents with which we have been gifted are to be used as the Master expects - that is, we have to make a conscious decision to make use of them, to put them to work, and to make them productive on His behalf. The time will certainly come when God - the ‘master’ in the parable - will demand of us an account of what we have done with His talents, and we will have to be able to demonstrate that we have used them productively.

God doesn’t distribute His talents among us unjustly. He gives them to us according to our abilities, as did the master in the parable. He desires that we be industrious with the gifts he gives us and that we use them conscientiously in the way He intends them to be used. Our Lord trusts us to do so. See how the master himself trusted the servants: after distributing his talents, he did not hang around or look over their shoulders, continually giving them advice or showing displeasure if they were doing things differently from the way he would have done them. No, he went away and left them to get on with it. His absence gave the servants space to get on with what they were supposed to be doing. Upon his return, however,  there came a time of reckoning. The master ‘went through his accounts with them’. Upon receiving good reports from the two who had been faithful to his wishes and industrious, the master was happy and trusted each of them with more.

We stand to lose such talents as we have been given if we fail to use them. This was the case with the third man, who lost even the one talent he had. He was scared of his master, he was distrustful of his master even though the master had placed his trust in him, and he buried the talent. He didn’t make it work on behalf of his master, and he didn’t make the talent with which he had been entrusted work for him either. Whenever we are guilty of repeating that servant’s mistake by burying a God-given talent instead of putting it to good use, like him we fall well short of serving God as we should. When someone knows what the right thing to do is, but fails to do it, they commit a sin (Jas 4:17).

The First reading shows us a portrait of an ideal wife according to Israelite tradition. She is a perfect wife, not because she is beautiful and charming (she may be, or she may not be), but because she is an industrious wife who uses her God-given talents to the full with the right attitude: she does her work with eager hands (v.13). She serves the head of the household (cf. Is 54:5 For your husband is your Maker; cf. also Eph 5:22 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the Church), she is trustworthy, and she is the epitome of the virtues of Prudence and Wisdom.

Now, life teaches us that the more we use our skills, the more we are able to develop them and hone them. What talents has God given you? Are you putting them into practice? One way of discovering what talents you possess is not to wait for them to appear as if by magic … after all, you can’t know if you have got a talent for something if you don’t test it out. For instance, you won’t know if you have a talent for a particular sport if you don’t start playing it and learning the skills as you go along. If it turns out that you have an aptitude for it, you’ll put more and more effort into developing it in order to do yourself justice in the game. Similarly, you’ll learn to pray by praying, you’ll learn to sing by singing, and you’ll learn to preach by preaching. Practice makes perfect. Reinforce those things you’re good at, those things for which you have a natural flair, those things that come easily to you, by practising and doing them time and time again.

Each one of us has been gifted by God in accordance with our natural abilities. Using our God-given talents to the full requires dedication on our part. Remember that the only way to keep any gift or a talent is to work at it constantly and consistently instead of leaving it on the back burner. When it comes to using it successfully, what matters most is our being industrious and dogged in using it at whatever level we possess. Let us pray, then, to be in constant readiness as children of the light and children of the day (as St. Paul encourages us, in v.5 of the Second Reading) to use God’s gifts to us, so that the Day of the Lord will not come to us like a thief in the night (v.2). Amen. God bless you.

 

 

MY EXTRA OIL!

 HOMILY FOR THE 32^ND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Wisdom 6:12-16        Thessalonians 4:13-18        Matthew 25:1-13

“When you fail to plan, you plan to fail!”, as the old saying has it. In today’s Gospel, Jesus presents us with the Parable of the wise and foolish virgins to teach us the need for preparedness and perpetual readiness in welcoming Him. The Parable concerns how we react to the invitation to take our place in the Kingdom of God.

The ‘foolish’ young women were so-called because they failed to plan ahead for the arrival of the Bridegroom, Who is Christ. Nobody knew what time He would arrive. No time of arrival had been announced. Each of the ‘foolish’ young women brought just enough oil with them to keep their torches burning for the time they presumed it would take for the Bridegroom to arrive, but it didn’t occur to them to bring extra oil with them to keep them burning if their presumption turned out to be wrong. God’s love, however, is not miserly. He doesn’t give us “just enough” love; rather, His love for each one of us is extravagant. Our love for Him ought to be extravagant too.

Now, the ‘wise’ young women were so-called because, unlike the ‘foolish’ ones, they planned ahead for the arrival of the Bridegroom. Not knowing the time of His arrival, they ensured that they had plenty of oil with them. How about us? Have we got resources of “extra oil”? We know we have when we plunge our efforts into going the extra mile for God and our neighbour, working extra time for Church and family, making an extra offering in some form or another for the good of the Church and society … all these ‘extras’ are important for people’s spiritual and material security. In doing so, we are called upon to exercise wisdom and discipline. The ‘extra oil’ that the wise and disciplined young women brought with them became their admission ticket into the Bridegroom’s wedding feast. Whenever we go the extra mile in exercising the virtues, our ‘extra oil’ not only demonstrates our preparedness and our vigilance for the coming of Christ: it also admits us to an ever-deepening and increasingly fulfilling relationship with Christ.   

There are certain things which cannot be borrowed. We miss the point of the Parable if we conclude that the wise young women acted selfishly by not sharing their oil with the foolish ones. Let’s take a closer look at the lesson Our Lord is teaching us. The lesson is that we have only ourselves to blame if we decide to treat God’s invitation casually by not always being prepared to meet Him. Discovering too late that they had run out of oil, the foolish young women hit a wall when they begged for supplies from others who came prepared with plenty of oil. How come? Because the oil of a relationship with God is not something that is transferable. It must be a loyal, personal relationship that is cultivated and nurtured over time. No-one can transfer to themselves the spiritual capital that someone else has built up. In life, there are things we have to acquire on our own, through our own efforts, including skills, qualifications and sacramental conferments.

There are certain things which cannot be obtained at the last minute. The message of the Parable is that Christ requires us to develop an attitude of constant readiness for Him. We are mistaken if we consider that the punishment of having the door of the wedding hall closed in the faces of the foolish girls was inappropriate. Think of it instead in these terms: a student who has failed an examination because he didn’t bother to do the work is not going to have the disappointing result overturned. That was the case with Bobby. Laid-back Bobby had been physically present in class throughout the course, but he had gained only a superficial understanding of the subject because he hadn’t attempted the assignments. He failed the final examination and was told he had to repeat the course if he hoped to pass. He was very uncomfortable because he knew how upset his parents were going to be when he went home and told them about the result. 

Bobby remembered how his dad had explained to him patiently and carefully how important it was for Bobby to do himself justice by concentrating in tutorials and doing his assignments, and how both his parents had warned him that he was in danger of failing the course if he didn’t get a grip and apply himself to his work. His mum had had a quiet word with him about the need to do his best, explaining that poor results would adversely affect the family finances if fees for resits and a second batch of course fees had to be paid. So Bobby went to his tutor and pleaded tearfully for his result to be upgraded to a pass. He put on quite a theatrical performance, telling his tutor how distraught his family was going to be if he went home having failed the course.

The tutor was not impressed. He pointed to one of the diligent students who had obtained a pass with distinction, and said: you could try asking that student over there to exchange his result for yours. Bobby realized that there was nothing that the tutor could do either morally or in practical terms to help him; it was over. Bobby had wasted everyone’s time, and now he had to face up to the repercussions arising from his laziness and lack of commitment. Bobby was gifted with a good brain, but he had failed to use it.

You’ll be all too familiar with the saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it!” When we don’t prepare properly for something, things just don’t come together at the last minute, do they? How many of us will admit that we are guilty of putting-off the practice of the virtues in everyday life? Well, that’s a question for you to answer privately! (What are the virtues, I hear you ask? They are the Theological virtues of faith, hope and love, and the Cardinal virtues of prudence, justice, temperance and fortitude.) The thing is, that when God does decide to arrive, we need to be fully prepared and fully ready for Him. 

The parousia is going to happen without warning. It’ll be no good running round like headless chickens because we’re ill-equipped  to meet Him, or pleading with tears to be given another chance. If we fail to make maximum use of the time and the opportunities available to us to praise God, to develop a real relationship with Christ and to do His Will in our lifetime, then eventually what little we have achieved will not only not guarantee the reward of Beatific vision, but will also render our entire struggle fruitless. At the final judgement there will be division between the saved and the lost, between insiders and outsiders. Little wonder, them, that the Psalmist prayed: teach us Lord to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom (Ps 90:12).

The First Reading tells us of the qualities that make practical wisdom worthy of being sought after. Practical wisdom  - phronesis rather than sophia - involves good judgement, good habits and good character. Wisdom is found by those who seek her (Wis 6:12) and meets them with all solicitude (Prov 1:33). Wisdom comes from the throne of God (Wis 9:4,6 & 9). To God belong wisdom and understanding (Job 12:13). Employing wisdom means always being spiritually prepared, always equipping yourself with spiritual goods that cannot be bought or borrowed, and always being ready to meet the Lord. He wants us to emulate the wise young women in always having enough oil (so important in the Old Testament for divine anointing) in which to dip our torches (lampas, not earthenware oil containers with a wick) repeatedly in order to keep them lit with the Holy Spirit (cf. the torches in Rev 4:5 and the tongues of fire at Pentecost).

In their wisdom, the wise young women realised that the time of the arrival of the Bridegroom (Christ) had not been flagged up in advance. They prepared themselves so that they were ready for His arrival, whenever that was going to be. Let us pray that we may be granted this wisdom too, so as never to risk going through such earthly life as remains to us by merely scraping by with the minimum of holiness and of virtue. Amen. God bless you.