AND I WASHED AND I CAN SEE

HOMILY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR A

1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13        Ephesians 5:8-14        John 9:1-41

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Today we celebrate Laetare Sunday. Laetare means ‘rejoice!’. Laetare Sunday is so-called from the incipit “Rejoice, O Jerusalem” of the Introit of the Mass (cf. Is 66:10). The 4^th Sunday of Lent is traditionally a day of celebration within the austere period of Lent - a bright day of hope that Easter is at last within sight. It is also a day dedicated to mothers. There was a long-standing tradition that people in domestic service could go home on this particular Sunday to visit their mothers. That’s why we call it ‘Mothering Sunday’ (or “Mothers’ Day” if you’re in the States). Servants were given light relief from their duties in order to go and see their mothers.

Now we are in a position to understand why today’s readings are based around the prophetic challenge drawn from the symbolism of light - the light that shines, the light that facilitates visibility, hope and joy. In the Second Reading (Ephesians 5:8-14) St. Paul gives us guidance about how to be liberated from darkness. Living as children of light produces every kind of goodness and virtue within us. The First Reading (1 Samuel 16:1, 6-6, 10-13) tells of the anointing of David, of his formal anointing as king of Israel, which initiated his mission to restore the light of hope to the people of God. In the Gospel (John 9:1-41), Jesus declares Himself to be the Light of the world and restores the sight of a man born blind. In so doing, Jesus liberated the man from physical and spiritual blindness and brought him deep joy, a joy which is only to be found in life in Christ, the Light.

The man born blind is presented as a well-known local figure. The belief at the time was that illness was a punishment for sin. In affirming that the man’s blindness was not due to sin, either his own or his parents’ sin, Jesus gave the people to understand that this man was suffering from his affliction in order to give an opportunity to show the power of God. The blind man was ‘anointed’ with the paste and was ordered to wash himself clean in a specific place. He obeyed the instruction in full, and his sight was restored. The man’s perceptions of Jesus developed in three stages; he perceived Jesus initially as just a man, secondly as a prophet, and thirdly as the Son of Man, the Christ. In standing his ground regarding his evidence of his experience of Jesus, despite aggressive interrogation by local people, neighbours and Pharisees, his eyes were opened to who Jesus actually was. His reward was the gift of faith and the grace of eternal life. From Jesus he received new hope and strength in God. We too can receive these gifts when we remain steadfast and courageous in defence of the faith.

The gift of faith – having our eyes opened to who Jesus really is, instead of being spiritually blind like the unbelievers in the Gospel passage - is what St John the Evangelist wants to convey to us. In St. John’s Gospel, miracles are called ‘signs’. These ‘signs’ are the signs of the glory and power of God. Instances of suffering, sorrow, misery and pain are explained not as misfortunes but as opportunities for the demonstration of God’s grace and power. Our own fidelity to God and our trust in Him undergo severe testing when we encounter painful or difficult times in life. As people of faith, when we find ourselves blinded by worrying, even life-threatening situations such as we are going through now with the coronavirus, we should be comforted in the sense that such situations open our eyes to the omnipotence of God. Bad or challenging situations should not instil unhealthy fear of God in us but, rather, remind us of the comforting words of the Psalmist that ‘the Lord is our shepherd’ (cf. Ps 23:1).

The restoration of the sight of the blind man prompted split reactions from the people, the neighbours and the Pharisees. People took sides. Either they believed what the man said, or they didn’t. The man stuck to his story and didn’t waver in his evidence about what happened to him. He was passed from one group to another in an attempt to disprove the power of God in Christ. Those who did not accept the teaching of Christ (that the man’s physical blindness was not a result of being born in sin) became the blind ones. They remained in darkness, blind to Christ the Light of the world. They remained blind to the sign of who Jesus was, blind to the goodness of God’s miracle, and blind to the presence of the Messiah, the Christ. Entrenched in their positions, those who saw only with their physical eyes turned blind spiritually, and the one who was blind physically was given the gift to see both physically and spiritually. 

We need so much to come away today with our own ‘eyes’ opened and our sight restored by allowing the light of Christ to shine on us. The light of Christ will enable us to grow in our understanding of Him and to have our values in life made pure. Once our ‘eyesight’ has been restored, our perception of Jesus will change radically. This perception will heighten when we believe Jesus to be who He really is: The Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity. It’s sadly true that, in human relationships, the more we come to know about someone, the more we become aware of their shortcomings. In our relationship with Jesus, however, the more we learn about Him, the more we become aware of how great He really is; the more we grow in our knowledge of Him, the more we become aware of how glorious He is; and the more intimately we get to know Him, the more we become aware of our own unworthiness and our weaknesses, and we become even more determined to overcome them. We surrender our entire selves to Him with a view to having our eyes opened and having His light suffuse our lives with dazzling brilliance. During this Lent, may our fasting, prayers and almsgiving help to open our eyes wide so that our values may be aligned with His. Amen. God bless you.

'GIVE ME SOME OF THAT WATER'

HOMILY FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR A.

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Did you know that the average adult can survive for seven weeks without food, but cannot live for more than five days without water? Amazing but true! Water has lots of therapeutic uses. Perhaps you are familiar with the phrase ‘water therapy’ to describe the effects of water intake on the human biological and psychological make-up. Experts say that drinking at least a litre of water a day has an astonishing effect on your health. Drinking enough water makes you feel energetic. If you have a drink of water first thing in the morning, the water flushes out the body and makes it much more able to absorb nutrients from food. Drinking safe, purified water prevents the spread of a lot of diseases. It is claimed that water therapies may be helpful in alleviating arthritis, epilepsy, bronchitis, tuberculosis, throat problems, constipation, diabetes and hypertension. Whether that’s true or not, water is needed for the production of new blood cells and muscle, helps with weight loss, increases the efficiency of the immune system, and revs up the metabolism. Water, whether it’s tap water or bottled water, is not only good for us, it’s essential for life and health! Today Jesus, our Lord, introduces us to another type of water, just as essential, if not more so: the spiritual water, the ultimate water, which He calls ‘the spring of water that assures us of eternal life’.

The First Reading (Exod. 17:3-7) underlines the importance of drinking water, and how the lack of it can lead both to individual misery and to communal unrest. In the Reading, the people of Israel murmured and grumbled about Moses because they were so thirsty. Due to their longing - their desperation - to slake their thirst, they became aggressive at Massah and Meribah. They wanted to stone Moses. They even proposed to turn back to the land of Egypt, the land of their captivity from which they escaped. If only the Israelites had been willing to thirst for the spring of life, which is God Himself, then they would not have murmured, grumbled and rebelled. The same is true for us today: if only we could continually thirst for God in the same way as we thirst for the physical necessities of life, then we would continually experience the presence of God among us. Despite the Israelites’ rebellion, the Lord provided them with the water for which they begged. The Gospel serves to remind us, however, that there is a supernatural – or rather, a ‘supra-natural’ - spring of water that never runs dry, supra-natural water that can satisfy that craving of our souls and spirits for God.

The scene of the Gospel (John 4:5-42) shows Jesus, a Jew, tired and having to sit down beside the historic Jacob’s well. A Samaritan woman comes to draw water from the well at Sychar, and a discussion ensues. The setting is unusual in several ways because several boundaries are crossed. A man and a woman who are strangers to each other, speak to each other; a Jew and a Samaritan speak to each other; the God-Man and His beloved creature speak to each other. Jesus ask her to get him a drink, even though He has been sitting beside the well in advance of the woman’s arrival. The woman reminds Him of His cultural origin and of the longstanding rift (cf. 2Kings 17:1ff) that has existed between Jews and Samaritans. Jesus, who did not draw water from the well even though he was sitting beside it, promises her LIVING WATER. The woman reminds him of the historical importance of the well. Jesus expands on what He means by LIVING WATER. Then the woman asks for that water, both so that she won’t be thirsty again and also that she won’t have to keep coming to the well to draw water. So, Jesus helps her to understand what he actually means by the expression LIVING WATER by engaging her in deep spiritual discussion rather than in personable chit-chat. Having discovered to her joy that Jesus is indeed the long-awaited Messiah, the woman runs to tell her fellow people and encourages them to come and listen to Jesus for themselves. The Samaritans allow Him, a Jew, to be with them for two days, and the result is that some of them come to believe that Jesus is indeed the Saviour.

What is the significance of living water? For the Jews, living water was the oxygenated water of a running stream over against the murky, undrinkable, unmoving water of a stagnant pool. Think for a moment about the water in the well of Jacob: that water wouldn’t be classed as ‘living water’ since it didn’t come from a spring. Rainwater percolated into it through the ground. This Jewish notion of ‘living water’ in a physical sense acts as a springboard for us to understand what ‘living water’ is in a spiritual sense. It’s the water of life in its absolute fullness. The Living Water that Christ offers us has the following features:

The LIVING WATER of God is barrier-breaking and universal. It tears down every form of aggression between people and groups. The Israelites drank the water at Massah and Meribah, yet they were riven by unrest and kept on quarrelling (which is what ‘Meribah’ means). By contrast, what effect did the living water of Christ have on the Samaritan community? It did away with the aggression that the Samaritans felt towards Jews. Jesus’ offer disposed them towards a spirit of peace and acceptance. The boundary between dissenting people was breached. Remember too that the water at Massah and Meribah was given only to the Jews. The living water of Christ, however, is freely available to each and every person who is thirsting for God. ‘To anybody that is thirsty, I will give water without price from the fountain of the water of life’ (Rev. 21:6). From this, we learn how the demarcations of our boundary-ridden world can be eliminated simply by drinking the living water of Christ. During this season of Lent, our prayers ought to be for all people as well as for ourselves, our abstinence ought to be for the sake of others as well as for ourselves, and our almsgiving ought to be to benefit the wider community as well as our own.

The LIVING WATER is spiritual and quenches the thirst to sin. Our Lord created a new spirit in the Samaritan woman when He exposed her sinful lifestyle to her so that she had to face up to it and change the way she was living. She listened, and the more she listened, the more she desired the teaching of our Lord. Her whole life was changed. The living water of Christ calls us to repentance and offers us the beautiful taste of new life in Christ. This is yet another important message for us during this season of Lent: the message of repentance and of a fresh beginning in Christ. True worshippers of Our Lord, the Son of God, must worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Temple in Jerusalem is no longer the focus and centre of Jewish worship of God; similarly, the Samaritans of this Gospel passage no longer needed to go to Mount Gerizim to encounter the Saviour. The Lord was present to them! The Lord can be sought and found everywhere in spirit and in truth. Only those souls that thirst for the Lord (cf. Psalm 42:1) can encounter Christ, the Living Water. This Living Water has been given to each one of us, just as the love of God which has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Second Reading; Romans 5:1-2, 5-8). God loves us so much, that those of us who love Him and do His will to the utmost of our ability are rewarded even this side of eternity with justification and peace. Just as natural water brings health and strength and is essential for our earthly existence, the Living Water of Jesus heals our brokenness, supernaturally strengthens us and assures our eternal life. With the Lord is the fountain of life (Psalm 36:9). In this season of Lent, let us ask the Lord to re-energize us physically, mentally and spiritually with His Living Water in our earthly struggles. Amen. God bless you.

LET US MAKE THREE TENTS

HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR A.

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

The Transfigurationof the Lord involved life-changing, positive, spirit-filled experiences which impacted on the witnesses to that event. The initial impact was transformative, a transformation that only God is capable of effecting. The beauty of such a transformation is heavenly; it is a beauty that is not only visible on the outside but shines from within. When Jesus was transfigured, the whole point was that the light came from Him, not from outside Him. The light did not shine upon Him or around Him, it shone from within Him. He is the Light, and the light comes from Him. For us, the miracle of the Transfiguration of the Lord gives us the divine assurance of the constant and enduring presence of God.

When we reflect carefully upon the Transfiguration, and upon the impact it had on Peter, James and John and their mission thereafter, we too are assured that Jesus is indeed The Son of God, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Word of God. He is God! Jesus was transfigured in His humanity, so when we in our humanity encounter divinity in the story of the Transfiguration, the way is opened for our own personal transformation. The Transfiguration of Our Lord involved a direct encounter of humanity with the divine presence. It showed Peter, James and John who Jesus was and is, beyond all shadow of a doubt, and changed their perception of Him. This is true for each one of us, when our eyes are opened and we see who Jesus really is! Our lives and our attitudes are changed, transformed … and we go on and on being transformed for the rest of our lives. St. Paul reminds us of this phenomenon: And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).

In the Gospel (Mt 17:1-8), Our Lord sets out for Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration, which for Him was a physically high point away from earthly life to communicate with the Father who is above all and in all. Jesus ascended a mountain peak in a spiritual as well as in a physical sense, a peak where he went to reflect upon His salvific mission that was to culminate with the Cross. On that mountain, at the Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah were seen to be present with Our Lord. Moses, you will remember, was the Lawgiver, and Elijah the great Prophet. Moses and Elijah represent the two aspects of the Jewish Bible which we Christians know as the Old Testament: Moses stands for the Law of the Old Testament, and Elijah stands for the Prophets of the Old Testament. Jesus, Moses and Elijah are seen together at the Transfiguration to underline in visible terms Jesus’ declaration that He has come to fulfil both the Law and the Prophets (Mt 5:17). The voice of God the Father (experienced aurally by Peter, James and John) confirms His abiding presence with Jesus the beloved Son of God. This experience served to energize the Apostles in their mission following the Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord. It was not there to energize Jesus on His mission to the Cross, because the Transfiguration demonstrated that He already knew who He was. During the season of Lent, we too are climbing the Mount of Transfiguration metaphorically in order to reflect upon our lives and the challenges that we face, and to allow ourselves to be re-energized by an encounter with the Divine. 

Six days after Peter had affirmed God the Father’s revelation of Jesus as the Christ (cf. Mt 16:13-28) at Caesarea Philippi, Our Lord took His three trusted followers up the Mount of Transfiguration. It could be argued that it was on the seventh day that the Transfiguration took place. If so, the timing of the event mirrors Moses’ transfiguration on Mount Sinai. It was on the seventh day after the six days that Moses had spent on the Mount of Covenant (Ex 24:16) that the Lord spoke to Moses and transfigured him. This six-day period can also be understood in spiritual terms. The six days can signify a period of preparation for the seventh day. In the first of the Genesis Creation stories, God rested after six days, having seen how His Word effected the whole of creation. And who is the Word of God? Our Lord Jesus!

When Our Lord was transfigured His face shone like the sun (cf. Rev 1:16b, 10:1b), and His clothes became as white as the light. This is a parallel with the face of Moses shining following his encounter with God after receiving the Decalogue (cf. Ex 34:29.35). From the First Reading (Gen 12:1-4a) we gather that Abram’s life was transformed and blessed because of his obedience to God. Abram set out, trusting  that God would lead him to his destination. When we too are obedient, the Lord blesses and transforms us. From the Second Reading (2 Tim 1:8-10).we understand that it was the Lord Jesus who transfigured the course of humanity: He abolished death, and he has proclaimed life and immortality through the Good News.

Overwhelmed by his experience of the Transfiguration (cf. Mark 9:6), Peter burbled: Lord, it is wonderful for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. He didn’t know what to say under the circumstances, did he? Who would? Would you? A tent (or a ‘booth’) was a makeshift shelter traditionally constructed out of branches and leaves for the celebration of the feast of tabernacles (or the feast of ‘booths’). A tent for short-term use could also be made by driving posts into the ground and securing a cloth over them with guy ropes. 

In offering to make three tents, Peter failed to make the connection that the Christ he had confessed at Caesarea Philippi seven days previously was the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets. The fulfilment of the Jewish belief that the Messiah would come only after Elijah had reappeared had occurred before his very eyes. Only the erection of the tent of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah,  was appropriate from that moment on; and that protective ‘tent’ would be a spiritual one in the heart of each one of Jesus’ disciples throughout the ages. 

Peter also failed to remember the Sacrifice of which Jesus had spoken: that the Christ must undergo suffering and death in order to liberate humanity from sin and restore the relationship with God that Man had broken by sin. With hindsight, after the triumph of the Resurrection, Peter finally discerned what the revelation of Jesus at the Transfiguration was really all about: that Jesus was simultaneously fully Man and fully God. In addressing Jesus reverently as ‘Lord’, Peter conveys to us the proper title of Jesus and, by extension, the manner in which Almighty God should be addressed. 

It was no wonder that Peter’s mind was churning and he was reduced to talking scribble at the Transfiguration, overwhelmed as he was at finding himself in the presence of God. The appearance of the sudden bright cloud was a shekinah, a manifestation of the presence of God, whose voice urged Peter, James and John to shut up and listen to His Son, Jesus Christ. 

Perhaps we can understand the outburst of St. Peter as one that emanated from a selfless heart. His sole concern at that moment in time was for others. We can appreciate the human reaction of a man setting his own needs and comfort aside. He set aside his family responsibilities and business worries to offer tents to others, while not making a tent for himself. His desire was to live and to serve in the divine presence. The world today desperately needs similarly selfless outbursts from those who love God, outbursts that go beyond the self, outbursts that put other people first, outbursts stemming from perpetual consciousness of the presence of God, outbursts that flow from joyful hearts that adore the goodness of God. Let each one of us offer to make three tents today: one for adoring and serving God Himself, one for bringing about divine peace & order in society, and one for permeating the world with divine love and justice. 

A precedent for Peter’s impulse to make tents or booths is seen in  the reaction of the people of Jerusalem when Nehemiah exhorted them to be happy and to have the joy of the Lord as their strength (Neh 8:10). Having been assured of the divine presence, the people joyfully started constructing booths. In His presence, there is fullness of joy (Ps 16:11); our worries are dispersed, our hope is restored, and our fears are eliminated. God stands us on our own two feet. Peter wanted to remain on that mountain of glory after his experience of the Divine on the Mount of Transfiguration. Like him, we long to prolong our time in the divine presence, in contrast to the time we have to spend in the turbulent world, among the throngs and multitudes of needy people, where misery, disorder and distress run rampant. The Mount of Transfiguration is where the Lord Jesus speaks gently to our soul: take heart, it is I, do not be afraid (cf. Mt 14:27). After the shekinah, when the Apostles were engulfed in fear, Jesus touched them and said: stand up [and] do not be afraid. His touch dispelled their fear. We pray that His presence and His gentle touch may prompt within us an outburst of desire to make three tents, one each for the three things that last: one for Faith, one for Hope, and one for Love. Amen. God bless you.

ARE WE IMMUNE FROM TEMPTATION?

HOMILY FOR THE FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

May I begin this reflection today by welcoming each one of you as we embark upon the liturgical season of Lent. Lent offers us the opportunity to ‘retreat and surrender’ to the Lord. It’s a period of introspection and self-examination. We have just observed Ash Wednesday, a day on which we are reminded of three key actions - Prayer, Abstinence and Almsgiving – which we need to carry out during the 40 days in order to grow physically, mentally and spiritually in the Christian life. When I was a little boy, my friends and I looked forward eagerly to Ash Wednesday and to having a cross of ashes imposed on our foreheads. I remember how we used to make every effort to preserve those ashes on our foreheads, and how careful we were not to allow our little hands to rub them off by mistake. Now that I’m grown-up, you and I recognise and affirm that cross of ashes as a sign of repentance in Christ, as well as a solemn reminder of the dust from which we were made by God and to which we will physically return. 

It was dust from which Adam (‘adama’ means ‘earth’ in Hebrew) was made. The First Reading (Genesis 2:7-9, 3:1-7) declares that The Lord God fashioned man of dust from the soil. The Lord God placed the first human parents to have souls and spirits into the Garden of Eden, a paradise with everything they needed to live and be happy. Satan (symbolized by the serpent) slithered into the Garden, tempted them and they sinned. The serpent tempted the woman to take and eat the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. She shared the fruit with Adam, and they both fell from grace. And what a Fall it was. From this we gather that humanity is subject to demonic temptation to which it is so easy to fall prey. That forbidden fruit had been in the Garden all along … but it was not until the smooth-talking serpent used his wiles to make it so appealing to Eve that it wasn’t long until she took a bite out of it. This is the thing about temptation, in whatever form we encounter it: at first glance, it is always immensely appealing! The episode of the Fall can depress us, or it can serve to strengthen our resolve to resist temptation. How come? Because the episode clarifies for us how a seed of evil sprouts and grows from lies and deceit. It demonstrates how temptation afflicts us in our weak moments, stalks us as we go through life, and torments us over things that are precious to us.

Of course, modern man comes across talking serpents only as cartoon characters in movies. The biblical episode is there for a reason, to teach us a spiritual truth. Like magic tricks, temptations attempt to deceive the mind and the eyes by distracting our attention from the mechanics and making them look real. How easy it is to be taken in by a spectacular magic trick (that is, until we know how the trick is performed). Temptation can come to us through many channels, including the media, work colleagues, associates, friends, family members, and through our own thoughts. We think: “If I did that, wouldn’t it be great?” “No one’s here, I’m sure I can get away with it just this once!” “No one will ever know about it but me!” and “I’m sure nothing will happen if I do!” The trick of temptation is that it disguises itself as our own thinking so that we won’t recognize it as an intrusion upon our goodness, peace and sanctity.

It’s no coincidence that the season of Lent begins with a Sunday that reminds us of the reality of temptation. Every person on this earth is subject to temptation. It’s part of being human. There’s no getting away from it, but to be tempted is not in itself sinful. To be tempted does not equate with committing a sin. To be tempted simply means ‘to be tested’ and ‘to be put to the test’. In the dynamic of temptation, there are three realities: (1) the tempter, (2) the person tempted, and (3) the object of interest (the attractive object or objective). The tempter (which is either a desirable thing or a desirable person) works by creating in us (the person tempted) a split in the will, a duality in the will, a sort of “shall I / shan’t I?” internal conversation which is partly-negative and partly-positive. Tending towards the negative leads the person suffering from temptation into sin, while tending towards the positive leads that same person to sanctity and to victory over temptation. Temptation confronts us with split choice between negativity and positivity, between negative behaviour and positive behaviour. 

We can take comfort from the fact that Our Lord, after His Baptism and just before the start of his public ministry, underwent temptation just as we do now. He was, after all, fully human as well as fully divine. In the Gospel (Mt 4:1-11), Jesus went out into the wilderness, which is a lonely, empty place, and was tempted at the end of his 40-day retreat. What does this mean for us? It means that no serious project should go ahead without serious consideration, reflection and solitude. There was no better environment for these than the wilderness. Jesus’ task lay ahead of Him, and He had to prepare Himself to accomplish the divine mandate. There are occasions when we too need to retreat for self-examination and recollection in order to see clearly the way ahead in our physical, mental and spiritual life. ‘An unexamined life’ said Socrates, ‘is not worth living’. He was correct: there are times in life when we have to slow right down, sit tight, and put on our thinking caps. 

What a conundrum it is then that, when we are alone, we are at our most vulnerable to temptation. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop’ (Prov 16:27). As the devil worked his wiles on Eve when she was on her own, he works on us when we are alone or lonely or unoccupied. Satan’s tactics only have the capacity to deceive us when our minds and hearts are disengaged from God. As Christians we are never lonely even when we are by ourselves, because our being alone with God drives away loneliness. We feel lonely only when we abandon God, look into ourselves and find nobody at home in our heart. 

The devil used the same tactics and wiles on Our Lord as he did on Eve. The devil went to Jesus after He had been fasting for 40 days, when he had almost completed his ‘desert experience’. Three times the devil tried - and failed. God always comes out on top.

There was the temptation to turn stones into bread. That was the temptation for Jesus to use His power, not only to change the use of what he had created (stone) in order to satisfy His physical hunger, but also to win people’s devotion by filling their stomachs. Jesus answered Satan: man does not live by bread alone, but by words that proceed from the mouth of God (cf. Deut 8:3). He does satisfy us literally with His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Holy Eucharist, and also with the word of God in the Liturgy of the Word. By his victory over the first temptation, Jesus shows us that no matter what the powers and gifts we have been given by God may be, they ought to be used for the specific purpose for which they are intended. The lesson for us is that only a life of genuine dependence on God concerning the use of our gifts will satisfy Him and us. The question arises: how do we personally use our gifts, talents and powers? The answer lies in using each one of them selflessly. Freely you have received, freely you shall give (Mt 10:8). 

There was the temptation to jump down from the pinnacle of the temple. That was the temptation to Jesus to show off His relationship to his Father as a spectacle to the applause of the world. ‘A gospel founded on sensation-mongering’ said William Barclay, ‘is foredoomed to failure’. By his victory over the second temptation, Jesus shows us that the relationship we have with God should be used neither to tug on other people’s sentiments, nor to be employed to boost our personal vanity. Experience shows us time and again that people can so easily be diverted to follow earthly leaders instead of Christ, always with deeply unhappy consequences. Jesus replied to Satan: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test (cf. Deut. 6:16). All glory belongs to God, not to any man. Jesus’ reply shows us that recklessly putting the Lord to the test is an indication of one’s belittling and distrust of God. God the Father is vastly beyond the reach and imagination of the limited human mind, and is fully deserving of our entire belief and trust in Him. It is our choice whether or not to do that; but whether we do or whether we don’t, God is not Someone with Whom to mess about. Let me put to you a personal question for you to ponder: ‘How am I myself guilty of putting the Lord to the test today?’.

There was the temptation to bow down so as to be ‘given’ the world. That was the temptation to embrace worldly power, worldly domination and worldly goods. Satan is the prince of this world, the prince of darkness and the prince of lies. He is not the King of heaven. He did not create everything from nothing: but God did. When we see the devil’s offer for what it was, to exchange temporal power for eternal power, it is laughable. Time after time, men have fallen prey to the temptation to exchange temporal power for their own soul. Satan overcomes them with temptation, but he failed to overcome Jesus. The world is in the grip of the devil, but it was not created by the devil and it does not belong to the devil. No one can give what he does not have: nemo dat quod non habet. So, this temptation is a deceptive tactic to undermine Jesus’ authority, a temptation to lure Jesus to compromise with evil. Jesus replied: you shall fear the Lord your God; only Him shall you serve (Deut. 6:13). Evil is never defeated by compromising with it. By his victory over the third temptation, Jesus shows us that we cannot change the world by aligning ourselves with the ambitions of the world. 

By his victory over temptation, and ultimately over death, Jesus overturned the defeat suffered by our first parents. Just as original sin entered the created world through the disobedience of one man, we have all been made righteous through the obedience of one man (cf. the Second Reading: Rom 5:12-19). Adam and Eve gave in to the lie that they were on a par with God, capable of declaring what is good and what is evil, and of following their own wills and egos accordingly. Jesus, being God Incarnate, did not fall for the lie. By His victory, He underlined that there is only One will that is good, only One power that is triumphant and only One authority that is genuine. The temptations presented by St. Matthew are representative of the primary ways of sinning against the great commandment of the Shema (Deut 6:5); You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. To love the Lord with all your heart involves always being conscious of God’s presence (Prayer), and of opting for good over evil. To love the Lord with all your soul involves always sacrificing yourself and your appetites to make room for the work of God in your life (Abstinence). To love the Lord with all your might involves being charitable with your wealth, property and material possessions (Almsgiving). The punchline is, of course,  that prayer, abstinence and almsgiving are the three demands of Lenten observance! 

Finally, it is possible to see the three temptations of Jesus reflected in the serpent’s temptation of Eve. She saw that the fruit was good to eat (He was urged to turn stones into bread), pleasing to the eyes (He was prompted to have a desire for worldly things), and desirable for gaining wisdom (He was encouraged to show off a special relationship with God). Had Eve loved the Lord with all her heart, with all her soul and with all her might, in accordance with the Shema, she would not have perceived the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as irresistibly attractive, and been tempted as a consequence to have it. To sum up, the victory of Jesus over these three species of temptation encourages us to partake in His victory over similar temptations against which we struggle today. Our task, especially during this Lenten season, is to participate in His victory by making purposeful use of prayer, abstinence and almsgiving as weapons against those temptations that torment us. 

Since Ash Wednesday we have set out into the wilderness, as Jesus did, on a journey lasting 40 days. His experience was prefigured by those of Moses, who spent 40 days in the shekinah of the Lord on the Mountain of YHWH (identified as Mount Sinai in Ex 24:18 and as Mount Horeb in Deut 5:2) , and by Elijah on Mount Horeb (1 Ki 19:8). Those Israelites who wouldn’t listen to God wandered aimlessly in the wilderness for 40 years. It was their children who finally made it to the Promised Land (Josh 5:6), while those who rebelled against God and worshipped the golden calf never made it. This Lenten period of 40 days should be for us a fruitful time spent with and for God: a time of contrition, of purgation and of preparation for glory. May this Lent prove to be a fruitful season for each one of us. Amen. God bless you.

AN EYE FOR AN EYE, & A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH / REVISITED

HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A.

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

If you take a close look at this Sunday’s Readings, you will notice the connection between the First Reading (Lev 19:1-2, 17-18) and the Gospel (Mt 4:38-48). What is the connection? It’s the call to perfection through love and forgiveness. In the Gospel, Jesus continues to enhance the teachings of the Old Testament Commandments (the Law) which we looked at last Sunday. Jesus continues to distinguish between the letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law. To point us in the direction of perfection in holiness, he expands upon the demands of forgiveness and of love. Let’s unpack these demands so that we can employ them in our own lives.

Echoing the message of the First Reading ‘Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy’, the Gospel concludes with these beautiful words: You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect. If we take the three readings as a whole, recognizing that the readings begin and end on the same theme, we see that the message of the day is incorporated in an inclusio. In Biblical exegesis, an inclusio is a literary device that repeats in the conclusion words similar to those in the introduction. This device is used by some exegetes to showcase a particular theme, or as a vehicle to make a particular point. In this Sunday’s Readings, the theme showcased is that of the search for perfection through love and forgiveness.

Let’s begin by looking through the eyes of the First Reading at the DOs and the DON’Ts about how to progress in holiness. The passage starts with the DON’Ts and proceeds to the DOs!

1. The DON’T is: You must not bear hatred for your brother in your heart. The DO is: you must openly tell him...what his offence is – in other words, you must actually tell him what he has done wrong. He doesn’t read minds, so tell him. Your own desire for peace and love must be rooted in the depths of your heart. The Psalmist prays create in me a pure heart and put your right spirit within me (Ps. 51:10).

2. The next DON’T is: You must not exact vengeance nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. The DO is: you must love your neighbour as yourself. Theology tells us (and history and experience demonstrate) that love is the only way to crush a vengeful spirit and to stop ourselves bearing grudges.

These notions are tackled in the Gospel. Our Lord refers to a Jewish law  – the Lex talionis (Exodus 21:23-25) – which states that if any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and so on. In his mission to fulfil the Law, Christ harked back to the original reason that lay behind that law, which was to place a limit on the extent of vengeance that could be enacted. If someone poked your eye out, whether on purpose or by accident, you could no longer lawfully murder the offender and his family and appropriate his land to yourself. The Law said you could have his eye poked out too, and then you were all square. So there is no doubt that the primary intention of the Lex talionis was to limit violence, limit vengeance, and to promote peace. It didn’t allow people to take the Law into their own hands. Only a court of law could hand down punishment and penalties (cf. Deut. 19:18). In his supranatural wisdom, because he is God, Jesus fulfils the Law by upgrading it “but I say this to you”. Instead of merely limiting vengeance and bringing about an absence of war through deterrents (as laid out in the Lex talionis), Christ exhorts us to bring about genuine peace through exercising the law of love. Only love serves both as an antidote to vengeance and also as a route to perfection.

To love everyone made in the image of God, it is not necessary to like them as well. Real love is not soft and sentimental. There are plenty of people we don’t like, and there are plenty of people for whom we feel warmth and affection. The real love we are talking about here – Christian love expressed in response to God’s love for us - is how we treat absolutely everybody we encounter. In our daily lives, love can manifest itself in many ways. These include:

1. Our ability to forgive, and not to retaliate when someone winds us up. 

2. Our ability to make personal sacrifices in order to help those in need. 

3. Our ability to pray for our enemies (including people who don’t like us, for no good reason that we can see), and never to wish evil upon anyone.

4. Our ability to accept and reach out to everyone, regardless of their physical characteristics, geographical background, educational background, accomplishments (or lack of) and horrible habits.

If we press on with loving people day in, day out, year in, year out, eventually that love reshapes us to mirror our heavenly Father Who is compassion and love (Ps. 102). We progress along the path towards the perfection of our heavenly Father, but we cannot make it on our own, saddled as we are with flawed human nature. We travel in the company of the angels and saints, in the power of the Lord Jesus, confident that our prayers for God’s assistance will be answered. He blesses us with his strength, and He graces us with his supernatural wisdom. We need the grace of God to continue to make perfect that which is already good in us, and to help us to be rid of everything in us which is not good. The degree to which we are open to divine grace is an indicator of the depth of wisdom within us.

Wisdom – ‘being wise’ – doesn’t lie in the acquisition of worldly power, worldly wealth or worldly knowledge. These are merely temporal, and we leave them behind - we lose the lot! - when we die physically. Genuine wisdom lies in the acquisition of divinely-given powers, in the riches of spirituality and in the keeping of God’s word and commandments while we have the God-given time to do so. The Second Reading (1 Cor 3:16-23) presents us with a challenge: if any one of you thinks of himself as wise … then he must learn to be a fool before he really can be wise. Why? Because the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. Wisdom lies in being with God, in doing His will and in loving our neighbours. All of our neighbours, not just a select few – not just the ones we like. Open your eyes! The one thing everyone here can do to reflect God’s love for us, is to demonstrate that same inclusive love and care for each and every person whom God sends to cross our path. When we genuinely forgive and forget, as God does, and when we genuinely love, as God does, we are conduits of the wisdom of God to the world.

And finally, let’s have a look at forgiveness. Sometimes forgiveness is easy: someone does something to you by mistake, is upset and says ‘sorry’ and means it. Sometimes forgiveness is hard-to-impossible: someone does something terrible to you on purpose, and mumbles what you hope might be an apology under their breath. Real forgiveness implies that you are ready to accept an action and to forgive it even before forgiveness is asked for. A good way of helping ourselves to embrace forgiveness and love is to see deeper inside those people who annoy us, irritate us, are totally alien to us, or who intend us harm. What we often fail to see is that, privately, they feel disappointed with themselves. Sometimes they go home tearful, regretting that they lost control and hurt us. Whenever we think of these people as enemies, we fail to see them as human beings, flesh and bone with individual personalities like ourselves, human beings who are struggling just as much as we are to be better as the days and years go by. Even after his bad life, the Good Thief on the cross (St Dismas) had a heart that went out to his innocent Lord in His suffering. Even St. Augustine of Hippo, after his bad start, searched for God and became a saint who was highly regarded for his love. As we begin to see others the way God sees them, forgiveness becomes easier and easier. On the cross, Jesus prayed to His Father: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. The Christ has taught us by his words and actions how to love and to forgive. Wherever we are in life, let’s try to emulate Jesus’ words and deeds by accepting others for who they are, and by loving them for His sake. Amen. God bless you.

OPENNESS TO NEW TEACHINGS

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HOMILY FOR THE 6TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A.

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Many a time we complain about the way things are today and compare them with a fanciful golden era of the past. Many people tend to talk about ‘the good old days’ without necessarily being open to the exciting times in which we live. In our nostalgic daydreams, we may forget to focus upon the positives, novelties and fresh perspectives of the present moment. Yes, some of the old times were good - no one doubts that - but the present-day also has many pluses for us to appreciate and enjoy.

Today’s Gospel (Matt. 5:17-37) is a very long one, isn’t it. It can be understood as a single unit only when we realize that Christ was upgrading teachings that did not blot out the original teachings of the Law but, rather, made them more relevant to his contemporaries and better understood and applied by them. People initially viewed Jesus as someone teaching the opposite of what their forefathers believed, taught and lived-out. They mistakenly thought he taught in order to abolish the Law and the Prophets, and to inaugurate his own totally new teachings. Jesus corrects this false impression. He states unequivocally: do not think that I have come to abolish the Law and the Prophets. I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them. This fulfilment entails a righteousness that goes even deeper than that of the law-abiding Pharisees. Jesus exalted the importance of adhering to God’s Law. Why? Because God’s Law makes for order and for peace. Anyone who works sincerely to create order and peace in the world is considered great in heaven.  What Jesus was emphasising was the spirit of the Law that was already in operation. In his teachings, Christ distinguished meticulously between the letter of the Law and the spirit of the Law. He was certainly not advocating that the Law be abolished or superseded. 

1. It was said to the men of old: you will not kill... (letter, v.21). I now say to you: anyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgement... (spirit; vv. 22-26). This teaching warns us against the sin of Anger. Unjustifiable anger is a Deadly Sin that has the capacity to lead us all the way to murder. Whenever we place ourselves under the upgraded teaching of Jesus, we purposefully quench anger before it can overwhelm us, and we make a leap to a mature sense of peace and order.

2. You have heard that it was said: do not commit adultery (letter; v.27). I now say to you: everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart... (spirit; vv. 28-30). This warns us against the sin of Lust. Lust is a Deadly Sin that has the capacity to lead us to commit adultery and to fornicate. Whenever we place ourselves under the upgraded teaching of Jesus, we purposefully quench all impure thoughts, and make a leap to genuine love and community spirit.

3. Again, you have heard that it was said to the men of old: you shall not swear falsely... (letter; v.33). I now say to you: do not swear at all... (spirit; vv. 34-37). This warns us against the sin of Pride. Pride is a Deadly Sin that has the capacity to lead us deeply into lying, repeated dishonesty and cultivated insincerity. Whenever we place ourselves under the upgraded teaching of Jesus, we purposefully quench the cause of these prideful sins, and make a leap to truthfulness, honesty and sincerity.

The First Reading (Sirach 15:15-20) represents a call to those of us who desire salvation to keep the Commandments of the Lord. Keeping the dictates of the Lord satisfactorily involves us in gaining a proper understanding of the Law, and in living by it both in letter and in spirit. We have to shed the old skin of sin in order to reveal the new one of grace. Jesus, who is the Way, has released us from the chains of the unwieldy and burdensome written law so that we live now in the new life of the spirit (cf. Romans 7:6). In the Second Reading (1 Cor 2: 6-10) St. Paul deals with his vision of God. What God has in store for each one of us surpasses the capacity of ordinary human intelligence. To appreciate it requires a hidden wisdom communicated only through the gift of the Spirit. What a consoling message for us that is!

Let us try to explore a good way of correcting the errors of Jesus’ contemporaries regarding their super-stringent approach to the Law as handed down to them by their forefathers. A good way of personalizing and appreciating these upgraded teachings of Christ is by being open to new ways forward and positive ideas, rather than allowing ourselves to become so enslaved by our current mode of thinking that we lose sight of those perspectives of others that are valid. Whenever we bring to the light particular issues we have with other people, if we are guilty of blanking our minds from appreciating any good points they make, then we make the mistake of being a stick-in-the-mud. Being stuck doesn’t help either of us to move on; besides, it trivializes any sincere efforts on either side to resolve situations. Open-mindedness promotes understanding between people, and prevents people from taking sides and becoming entrenched. May God grant each one of us the grace of a mindset that perceives and rejoices in the teachings of Jesus, and in the ideas of our fellow-men. Amen. God bless you.

SALT AND LIGHT

HOMILY FOR THE 5^th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Isaiah 58:7-10       1 Cor 2:1-5       Mt 5:13-16

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus tells His disciples: ‘You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world’. Let’s have a look at why it was that Jesus chose ‘salt’ and ‘light’ to describe the way His disciples should be and act.

In Jewish practice, sacrifices are offered with salt to ensure their purity. In the Old Testament, during the early days of the prophet Elisha, he purified water by adding salt to it (cf. 2 Kings 2:19-22). Here we see the prefiguration of the Christian rite of the blessing of Holy Water, of which salt is an essential component. The water of the Dead Sea, which has a high salt content, is in demand for its alleged healing powers. Salt, as the compound NaCl, is known for its power to purify. Christians are called to become agents of purity, so that whenever we find ourselves in challenging situations we can make them significantly less toxic, we can bring healing and we can infuse sanctity.

Salt is a preservative. In the days before freezers were invented, salt was used to keep meat from ‘going off’. We can understand ‘saltiness’ (in the best possible sense, not in a vulgar sense) in a Christian as being ‘preserved from sin’. We are called to ‘be salt’ so that whenever we find ourselves coming up against corrupting agents in our society, we can act as preserving agents, putting the brakes on decay and corruption. A ‘salty’ Christian aims to be pure by resisting selfishness and the temptation to put himself/herself first. When a Christian is strong in self-mastery and strong in virtue, that ‘salty’ person will be able to accomplish an awful lot of good in his/her life.

Salt is a seasoning agent too. Imagine the bland taste of a meal without any salt. Now, go on to imagine the taste of life devoid of Christian love and sacrifice. William Barclay famously said that ‘Christianity is to life what salt is to food’. Christians are tasked with the duty of giving flavour to life. So, a ‘salty’ Christian will do much to make the world a better place for others because of his/her capacity to carry out good deeds. But let’s also bear in mind that our being ‘salty’ depends on our becoming one with Jesus! It is simply not possible for us to preserve ourselves from sin. Only Jesus can preserve us from sin, and we have to ask Him to do it. Furthermore, it is only by His grace that we can bear Christ to others … that we can become ‘the salt of the earth’.

So, our being ‘salty’, being good, being Christlike, demonstrates to the world that it is Christ who is at work in us. This phenomenon cannot be hidden. And because Christ is at work in us, our good deeds become as ‘light’ that attracts others to Christ because the Lord can be seen in us and through us. Light illumines and clarifies. Lightbulbs are designed to give out light and dispel darkness. This reflects our calling as Christians: to dispel the darkness of evil that has enshrouded the world.

And light guides, helping us to find our way in the dark. Can you imagine how difficult and dangerous it would be if someone were to try to drive their car at night without putting on the headlights? When we come to the realization that God really exists, that God really is a personal God Who loves us, we see everything in a new light - as if the sun has come out - and we become agents of light that allow God to be seen through us. Our vocation is to convince people of the relevance of God’s grace and holiness. Light can dazzle: no one is able to look directly into the sun (and nor should they try) without being dazzled. A beam of light can start a fire: no one is able to put their hands into a fire without getting burnt. The Christian life stands as a light, a beacon, that dazzles the eyes of those who glory in evil, and as a burning furnace against the wiles of the devil. It is the duty of each Christian to overcome darkness by making a stand against injustice, bad government policies and abuses of human rights including the denial of the right to worship God.

Christians become salt when we love. Just as the importance of salt is revealed by what it does – when salt is dissolved in water, the water’s purified; when salt is added to food, the food’s seasoned; when salt is rubbed into meat, the meat’s preserved - the importance of living the Christian life is revealed by what we do regarding the immersion of our saltiness in love and sacrifice. We become salt whenever we give people a sense of belonging, rather than discriminating against them; whenever we forgive rather than retaliating; whenever we listen, rather than gossiping; whenever we try to understand rather than judging; whenever we bring peace rather than frustration, and whenever we show to the world our joy in the gift of life in the here-and-now and in eternity over against its erroneous conviction that man dies like an animal.  

We Christians become light to the world when we serve. Just as the importance of light is revealed in its beam – when we put the light on in darkness, the light shines; it has the capacity to guide, dazzle and start a fire - the importance of living the Christian life is revealed by what we do regarding our mission to be light to others. We become light whenever we are selfless rather than selfish; whenever we lead others to God rather than leading them down the wrong path; whenever the world sees us turning outwards towards our neighbour rather than turning inwards towards ourselves. The call to be light is a call to us to evangelize in these ways every single day of our lives.

What salt and light have in common is that, in doing what they’re supposed to do, they operate in the background. They become almost invisible. Salt is invisible in food, yet the taste of the food is enhanced. Light makes something visible or brighter while the source of light becomes subservient. So, if we really do become salt and light to the world – if we love and serve as disciples of Jesus – the spotlight is not on ourselves but on Jesus Christ. This was the testimony of St. Paul in the 2^nd Reading: during my stay with you, the only knowledge I claimed to have was about Jesus, and only about him as the crucified Christ. Like St. Paul, we do this by the witness of our lives, loving and serving in good works as proposed by Isaiah to the people of Israel in the 1^st Reading: share your bread with the hungry, and shelter the homeless poor, clothe the man you see to be naked and turn not from your own kin, then will your light shine like the dawn and your wound be quickly healed over. Let me conclude with the words of St. Francis de Sales, who lived his life in total service to God and in love for the people. In his wide experience as a bishop, he said “So many have come to me that I might serve them, leaving me no time to think of myself. However, I assure you that I do feel deep-down- within-me, God be praised. For the truth is that this kind of work is infinitely profitable to me.” Yes, it is indeed profitable to us to serve and to love. If we love to live, then we must live to love. Amen. God bless you.