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.

 

WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM

 HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF ALL SAINTS

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Revelation 7:2-4, 9-14        1 John 3:1-3        Matthew 5:10-12

Today, we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints. Mother Teresa of Calcutta declared that “all you have to do to be a saint is to give God permission” – and that is the difficulty! St. Thomas Aquinas said that becoming a saint is the easiest thing in the world, because God wants it; but that it’s also the most difficult because we do not want it … we feel comfortable with the way we are. What’s the definition of a saint? A saint is someone with Christ in him: as St. Paul puts it, it is no longer I who live, but Christ in me (Gal 2:20). A saint is someone who repents of sin and loves Jesus. Having made sincere efforts to be pure and to love God and our neighbour on earth, God welcomes the saints to heaven. How do we know this? Because Our Lord tells us today to rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven (Mt 5:12).

In the Apostles’ Creed, we assert that we believe in the Communion of saints. The saints are part of our family of faith; they belong to the ‘Church Triumphant’ which comprises those in heaven who have been victorious  (who have ‘triumphed’) over the challenges of evil during their lives on earth. Now, our membership of this Faith family of God implies that we too are Children of God. St. John reminds us in the 2^nd Reading of the grace of God that raises us to the exalted status of being called Children of God in the present moment, this side of eternity.

We are creatures, in that we have been created by God. By God’s grace, we are even more than that: we are sons and daughters of God (Gal 4:6f) by adoption (2Cor 6:18). We are Children of God (Jn 1:12). In this familial relationship, God goes beyond being responsible for our physical existence as Creator to embrace us in a deep, loving relationship as Father. It is true that all people are literally children of God because He is their Creator, but people only become Children of God when they enter into a loving relationship with Him as Father. When we are living out our lives as Children of God in the here-and-now on earth, we are simultaneously participating in eternal life with God in heaven.

Recall that in Genesis 1:27, we are created in the image and likeness of God. It is the will of God that we should be like Him in love. It is our destiny to behold Him face to face. According to St. John, we shall see God as He is. There is, however, a problem here: fallen humanity has fallen short of the vocation to love God and to love each other. Just turn on the media reports or open the history books to see that we have allowed ourselves to be almost choked to death by our human frailty. When we turn off the media, turn to the Scriptures and listen out for the still small voice of God (cf. 1Ki 19:13) in the silence of our hearts, it will dawn on us that the issues we face (including those in the forefront of the media) boil down to the battle between Good and Evil.

In today’s Gospel, Our Lord is speaking to ordinary people. The state of blessedness is intended for ordinary people. Most saints do ordinary things to reach heaven, which is our ultimate destination. Only through living out the theological virtues (of faith, hope and charity) and the cardinal virtues (of prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice) to their full potential can we ourselves attain to that destiny.

All Saints Day celebrates all those people who, by their total submission to Christ, have attained to sainthood. The 1st Reading identifies the saints as those who have persevered in holiness while they were on earth. Today we honour each and every one of the saints, not only those who have been formally canonized, but all of them. We remember them in prayer, and we in turn ask for the prayers of those men and women, girls and boys, who came from all four corners of the earth to serve God as best they could in their lifetimes.

The media today label those who lose their lives for Christ as victims, but the reality is that they are martyrs for the Faith. Others’ heroic faith may or may not be conspicuous to the public, but Christ is present and active in each one of them. When Christ appears, we shall be like Him, says St. John (1Jn 3:2). The objective of all of our earthly labours as Christians is to see God. Beatific vision is the goal of our souls. The Father, transcendent God, cannot be perceived by the human mind, but we can encounter Christ – immanent God - in the Mass, in the Sacraments, in the scriptures, in our neighbour, in our hearts (in our innermost selves), and in that sense we can see Him. We in the ‘Church Militant’ on earth have to struggle against the world, the flesh and the devil and to be aware of our inner poverty in order to gain eternal blessedness. Blessed are the poor in spirit, said Jesus (Mt 5:3). The Beatitudes present us with realistic demands. ‘Poverty of spirit’ does not demand that we throw ourselves deliberately into other aspects of poverty, such as financial poverty. We have to be aware of our poverty  and our need of Christ, and to avoid the deadly sin of Pride. Blessedness is defined as attaining gladness for ever. Our instinct for gladness indicates that heaven is our real home.

We live out the promises of the Beatitudes when we purposefully live as members of the family of the Faith. The Solemnity of All Saints is a family feast. The saints include those of our family and friends, relatives and neighbours, parishioners, community members and ancestors who accepted Jesus as Lord, lived according to His Will, shared their faith, their time and their goods with others whilst on earth, and are now rejoicing in heaven. We beg them to pray for us who are still on pilgrimage, that we may remain faithful to God and be blessed in due course to see Him as He is. Amen. God bless you.

 

 

 

GOD CARES ABOUT HOW WE TREAT OTHERS

 HOMILY FOR THE 30^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Exodus 22:20-26        1 Thessalonians 1:5-10        Matthew 22:34-40

Where was I before I was born? Well, the popular answer I’ve heard time and again since my childhood is this: I was in God’s mind. Here is a little story for you to give you some perspective on this. In her book entitled ‘Family Happiness’ a German psychotherapist, Elizabeth Lukas, tells a lovely story of a wee four year-old girl’s conversation with her grandmother. Granny was sitting on the sofa and sipping her tea, and her granddaughter was playing with her toys on her rug. Suddenly the little girl abandoned her toys, clambered up onto granny’s lap, looked up appealingly into her face and enquired: Granny, where was I before I was born? Enchanted by the question, granny beamed with pleasure, took her in her arms for a cuddle and replied: “my darling angel, before you were born, you were hidden and sheltered in love!” The little girl was delighted! She gave granny a smacker of a kiss, scrambled down and danced off making happy noises. Love envelops us; Love holds us; Love guides us, doesn’t it?

In the Gospel, Our Lord puts the two greatest Commandments side by side. These involve love of God and love of neighbour. These two relationships are like two sides of same coin:  you must love the Lord your God… you must love your neighbour as yourself. We need to pay attention to the pronouns in our Lord’s answer. As the Shema states (in Deut 6:5), you must love God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. The word ‘your’ indicates a personal relationship, not a distant relationship. Your relationship with God must be personal. Even though transcendent, He is always close to each one of us, and we are to relate to Him actively. Jesus supplied the answer about how we must go about relating actively to our neighbour – to other people created in the image of God: it is by loving them as much as we do ourselves (Lev 19:18). We’ve got to love them well, and we can’t do that unless we truly accept that we ourselves are worthy of love and so are dearly loved by God.

The love of God is channelled out into the world whenever we respond with love to those people who cross our paths (1Jn 4:20), whether we encounter them in the street, in the park, when we go shopping, in church, at work … you can think of plenty of places where you come across other people. The importance of love of neighbour is emphasized by Our Lord because it is through the people that we meet (especially on a daily basis) that God touches and nourishes our personal life. This is the Lord’s way. In the First Reading, Moses is told by God to inform the Israelites that the Law ensures the practical application of active and compassionate concern for the defenceless, the alien, the poor, the widow and the orphan because He, the Lord, Himself abounds in faithful love (Ps 103:8). Once we grasp that, then we have the answer to the question of ‘who our neighbour is’.

Loving God in other people (doing as you would be done by, Mt 7:12), and loving our neighbour as ourselves (accepting that we are as worthy of love as they are), are both important components in the objective of giving our hearts and minds to God. The major block to achieving this objective tends to be that loving other people is all very well in theory, but that putting it into practice is difficult. How difficult? Well, imagine situations that wind you up, perhaps when a passer-by repeatedly chucks litter into your garden, when your work colleague gets a kick out of getting on your nerves, when someone treads on your toes and finds it hilarious, when someone purposely humiliates you and walks away without a care in the world, or when someone in the pew takes pleasure in nipping you verbally. Ouch! These, and similar situations, can be extremely difficult for us to respond to pleasantly. But the truth is that it is in such situations as these that we ourselves encounter God personally (Deut 31:6). Take note and beware: our Christian practice of going to Church regularly and praying every day becomes merely escapism from the real world and our spirituality merely a lot of hot air IF we shut ourselves off from people around us including those with whom we offer worship under same roof. God cares about how we treat others, and it’s vital that we shoulder this burden willingly and respond in practical terms.

We can genuinely profess that we love God when we have accepted that it is our duty to imitate His example (cf. Micah 6:8) in the way we treat other people, and our duty to make sacrifices for Him (Rom 12:1). We are not being called upon to love everyone in a sentimental way, in a flood of feelings, but we do have a duty to love them by doing our duty! Rather than making us weak, love makes us strong, strong enough to benefit the lives of other people (Phil 2:4) and to influence the world positively. Examples of practical love include showing empathic interest in others, doing our best to promote peaceful relationships between people, being there for the broken-hearted, caring for the housebound, nursing the sick, and praying for others - all for the sake of Christ Who loves us so much!

In the light of God’s everlasting and unchanging love for us, we recommit ourselves to Him. Let us pray: O Lord, we entrust ourselves totally to Your tender care. May You, Who loved us from the beginning, send the Holy Spirit to help us to respond to and emulate Your great love for us by loving others as You would have us do. Amen. God bless you.

WHAT ACTUALLY DOES BELONG TO CAESAR?

 

  HOMILY FOR THE 29^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Isaiah 45:1, 4-6        1 Thessalonians 1:1-5        Matthew 22:15-21

Andrew was a little boy who was very fortunate in having loving parents who provided for his every need and spoiled him rotten! He had designer clothes, ‘must-have’ toys, and he was given pocket money every Saturday. At Christmas and for his birthdays, he got more gifts and more presents than any of his peers. Angus was a little boy who lived quite near Andrew, but he was treated very differently by his parents. Poor Angus had drawn the short straw in life. His parents couldn’t care less about him and left him to get by on whatever they could be bothered to give him. He had to wash and iron his tatty old clothes himself. Even at Christmas and on his birthdays, he didn’t receive any toys or pocket money. Now, these two little boys were friends and they used to play together. One day Angus broke one of Andrew’s toys by mistake. Andrew was so furious that he called Angus all sorts of nasty names, and deliberately demeaned him by saying that he couldn’t play with his expensive toys ever again  because there was no way Angus could afford to replace them.

Andrew’s mum happened to overhear him say this. She took her son to one side to have a word! What she said was, ‘Engage your brain, Andrew. Your dad has freely given you every single thing you have. Nothing was yours to start with. Can you name anything you have that he hasn’t given you because he loves you so much? Hey?’ She gave him one of her looks. Andrew hung his head in shame. Bullseye! Mum had got her message home. Andrew realised that all his possessions had been given to him as presents… that the nice home he was brought up in and the schooling he was having weren’t things he’d earned, things that were just his. He learnt very quickly to share his toys with Angus. Just like little Andrew, we don’t actually ‘own’ anything; nor did the mighty Caesar Tiberius in today’s Gospel reading.

In the Gospel, the Pharisees sent two parties to Jesus – the Pharisees’ disciples (rather than the leaders themselves) along with Herodians – to enquire whether or not it was permissible to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, the Caesar. Notice the identity of the parties they sent, which clearly suggests that both were in broad opposition to Jesus. The Pharisees (the parushi who adhered to the Mosaic laws of purity) were theologically against the payment of taxes to a ritually-impure Gentile monarch, and were opposed to compromise with the Roman occupiers who had been in control since the year 6 AD. The Herodians (the party of Herod Antipas, the ruling Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea) supported politically autonomous rule over against Roman rule, but were not themselves subject to Roman taxation because of Herod. Having plotted together against Jesus from the beginning of His mission (cf. Mk 3:6), these two parties came together to trap Jesus. The Greek verb in the text is pagideuo which means to trap or to entangle a hunted animal (cf. Eccl 9:12). Here we see conflicting parties uniting in order to entangle, to incriminate Him.

Jesus demanded to see a coin of the type used to pay taxes. Doesn’t it strike you as odd that the very people who were keen on political independence and ritual purity happened to have a coin symbolic of political collusion and spiritual compromise on them? He asked his questioners: ‘whose image [head] is this?’ It was Caesar’s. Then He said to them: ‘Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar - and to God what belongs to God’. Images of the Roman emperors were imprinted on the coins in circulation to certify who was in charge. The coins “took the face” ‘lambano prosopon’ of each new Caesar after the death of the previous one, and the coins with the former image were taken out of circulation. The image (the ‘eikon’) of the Caesar on the coin was only in circulation as long as that particular Caesar lived. Similarly, whatever belonged to the temporal and transient Caesar was itself temporal and transient.

Let’s make a comparison with what happens to what eternally belongs to God, i.e. the human soul. Even Caesar’s soul belongs to God, because the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it (Ps 24:1). Caesar had his head on a coin, but God gifted Caesar with his head, his mind, his body, his life, his soul, and with everything that he thought he owned, because God is his Creator. So, what do Caesars both ancient and modern actually own? Nothing! Nada! Zero! Zilch! Everything each Caesar ‘owns’ really belongs to God. Who, then, do you choose: God or Caesar? Do you choose the One to Whom everything belongs and is eternal, or do you choose someone who doesn’t actually ‘own’ anything and is passing, temporal? To put the question another way, would you rather choose a mass-produced product that functions but doesn’t last long, or a fine product that lasts and lasts and delivers? I’m sure you’d choose God, for everyone loves quality, longevity and performance.

Jesus refused to go down the political path in order to realise the Kingdom of God on earth, and He refused to become entangled in the ambitions of those who wanted to make him king (Jn 6:15). In the First Reading, God used Cyrus, a Persian King rather than an Israelite, to bring about the liberation and restoration of Israel. Cyrus was declared by the prophet Isaiah to be the anointed of the Lord to rebuild Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile. God chooses all sorts of people to accomplish His Will, including people from the bottom of the heap to the top, because everyone and everything belongs to Him (Deut 10:14). That is why ‘giv[ing] to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God’ means ‘giving to God that which is totally His in the first place’. Caesar actually owns nothing!

Every Christian has dual citizenship of earth and of heaven. Yes, we owe civil obedience to the government of our country (cf. Titus 3:1) unless it would be contradictory to the Faith to submit; but our obedience to God encompasses our religious, civil, political, economic and social duties (Ps 89:18-28)! The leaders of this world urgently need to be reminded that their authority and powers were given to them by God specifically to be used in service of His people. All people are loved dearly in the eyes of God (Mt 5:43ff), and they are due their just rights and privileges. In the same way as citizens owe their leaders obedience (cf. Rom 13:1), leaders owe their people respect and service (Ac 10:34f). And like little Andrew in our first story (the privileged boy who learned to share his toys through the realization that they were all presents), we ought to live out our lives in the full awareness that everything we have is gifted to us by our God our Maker. May the Lord help us to conform our lives in obedience to Him, and continually to be aware with deep gratitude that He is the be-all and end-all of our lives. Amen. God bless you.

 

THE WEDDING BANQUET IS READY… INVITE EVERYONE!

 

HOMILY FOR THE 28^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Isaiah 25:6-10        Philippians 4:12-14, 19-20        Matthew 22:1-14

“Parties are what I like most / lots to drink, dead things on toast” quipped the Christian poet John Betjeman. We all love extravagant celebrations with good company and good food, don’t we! Wedding breakfasts, “big birthday” bashes and formal dinners are part and parcel of life’s enjoyable occasions. Someone generously going to the massive effort and expense of organising a banquet expects to have a huge number of people accepting the invitation to attend because they all know it’s going to be a memorably happy occasion. The celebrant hopes people will be delighted to accept and attend, but how deeply disappointing it is if positive responses are not forthcoming. People can be extremely hurt if their invitation is declined, especially if no valid reason is given - or worse, if people say they are coming and then don’t bother to put in an appearance. Friendships can be undermined and trust in each other from then on can be ruptured. In the Bible, heaven is symbolized by a banquet (Is 54:5; cf. Lk 14:15; Lk 22:16,18; Mt 26:29) and blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb (cf. Rev 19:7-9). God doesn’t want us to disappoint Him by turning down His invitation to the great feast of heaven, the Messianic banquet.

Both the First Reading and the Gospel today mirror the final, eschatological banquet. In situating the banquet on a mountain (Mount Zion) the First Reading adds some hopeful notes regarding its image:

· it is a feast for all peoples. which brings great comfort and comes with total newness

· it reflects the desire of an impoverished people for a lavish meal  

· it wipes away all tears, destroys death (cf. Rev 20:4.14) and restores hope.

The banquet of heaven is a celebration of lasting joy and victory. In the Gospel, in which Our Lord tells the parable of the Wedding Feast of the King’s Son, the first thing we notice is the abundance of excellent food, the steaks and roasts long in the planning, plus the readiness of the host to welcome his guests. Then we note the fate of those who humiliated the king by publicly dishonouring the invitation, even to the extent of maltreating and murdering the king’s servants who went out to encourage them to attend. Finally, we observe how someone brought in from the highways and byways was punished and thrown out for not being appropriately dressed for the banquet.

Now, to understand this parable a bit better, we need to be aware that it is set in the context of a Jewish custom. In those days, whenever the invitations to a banquet or a big feast were sent out, the actual date and time of the feast were not set until all the preparations (based on the number of acceptances) had come together. When everything was finally ready, servants went out to let the guests know that it was time to come. So, the parable assumes that the king had already sent out invitations, but that it was not until everything was ready that the summons had been issued. In the parable, the human king represents God the Father, and the invited guests who deliberately dishonoured the king’s invitation represent the Jewish people. Long ago, God made a covenant with the Jews (Gen 17:7) to be God’s chosen people; but when the Son of God, Jesus, came to them in Person, they reacted to Him with contempt or disinterest. The upshot was that God’s invitation was extended to everyone: the people from the highways and byways represent both the Gentiles and sinners who honoured God’s invitation (cf. Is 25:6-8). The eschatological feast of God for all people and for all nations is the Wedding Banquet of Jesus (cf. 1Cor 15:54; Rev 7:17 & 31:4).

The initially-invited guests turned deaf ears to the invitation and instead deliberately involved themselves in long-term projects. They demonstrated that they never really intended to go to the feast; one went off to look after his farm, another concentrated on his business, while the rest seized, tortured and killed the servants. You know from personal experience how easy it can be for us to be so busy with the things of day-to-day living in chronological time that we forget the things of eternity, to be so occupied with the things which we can see that we forget the reality of things which we cannot see, to hear so easily the noise and babble of the world that we cannot hear the gentle voice of God. We can be so preoccupied with making a living that we forget to make a life in God. And when forgetfulness of these crucial things becomes habitual, the consequence is the creation of a chasm between us and God.

Let’s now consider the person who entered the feast without the proper attire. Jesus said: And the king noticed one man who was not wearing a wedding garment. When we want to go out on a visit, we pay attention to the dress code; don’t we? We apply appropriate dress codes according to the occasion, whether for shopping, working in the garden, going out for entertainment or for going to church. People don’t (normally) change the oil in a car in their best clothes, nor turn up for a dinner-dance in their tatty old gardening clothes. It is true that the door to the feast of the Holy Eucharist is open to everyone, of course; but when people accept the invitation and do come in, they need to bring with them a life which seeks to fit the supranatural love which has been shown to them. The door remains open to all sinners, of course, but not to sinners who deliberately continue in sin when they enter; rather, it is for the sinners to aspire to become saints and to change their lives (their wedding garments) accordingly. The grace of invitation brings with it serious responsibility. We must allow our encounter with Christ to transform us by receiving His invitation with great joy. Anyone who refuses to bring that joy in with them is, in practice, rejecting God’s invitation.

This parable is not delivering a fashion statement about the way we ought to dress when we go to Church, although modesty is certainly appropriate; rather, it has everything to do with the spirit in which we go into God’s house. The garments of the mind, heart and soul reflect the garment of the body. Are we sometimes guilty of going to Church in a bad mood, unprepared, without having carried out an examination of conscience, lacking petitions for anybody other than ourselves, and with a faulty disposition to worship Almighty God, the Creator and sustainer of the universe? Do we sometimes go to church just to socialize and catch-up on the latest news and gossip? Faults such as these indicate that we are not properly dressed in our wedding garment for the feast. Think about the atmosphere of joy and the spiritual abundance we would all enjoy if we all were to put on the proper garments and the right disposition for worship of God!

God expects us to wear the proper attire of the fruits of the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal 5:22f). He also expects us to come with the right character and backbone, like St. Paul’s disposition in the Second Reading, sharing our time and our possessions in one another’s hardship and supplying one another’s needs in a way worthy of our Christian calling. Like St. Paul, we should not be ashamed to ask for what we truly need, and it is actually a privilege for us to share what we possess. May we pray for the zeal to continue to acquire and wear the proper attire needed for the great feast in heaven. May the Lord hear and grant this petition. Amen. God bless you.

GOD’S VINEYARD IS SALVATION HISTORY

                         HOMILY FOR THE 27^TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (YEAR A)

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Isaiah 5:1-7 Philippians 4:6-9 Matthew 21:33-43

Here’s a question for you. How far has humanity failed to realize that human beings are only the caretakers of the earth?

Well, the simple answer is that whenever someone has ambitions to be the leader of the planet or to position himself at the centre of the universe, what follows in his wake is disorder due to a disregard of God, the creator, sustainer and owner of the earth. The Psalmist was correct when he said that the earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it; the world and those who dwell therein (Ps 24:1). Yes, in every generation, we are only the caretakers, and in many ways, we have failed in our duty to handle the resources of the earth with proper care and attention. Our mandate from God to fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28) should be understood not in the exploitative sense of kabash but, rather, in terms of harnessing and managing the earth fruitfully. Today, the cries of how our common home has been degraded remind us of our role as carers of the earth. We have to imbue our responsibility as labourers for the kingdom of heaven on earth with an ecological spirituality that acknowledges people as vines in God’s vineyard.   

In today’s Gospel, Our Lord tells the parable of how some wicked tenants planned to usurp the vineyard that was not theirs, and ultimately to possess it. According to the custom of the times, a vineyard was usually planted on tenanted land owned by a landlord. By agreement, the landlord left the cultivation of his vineyard in the sole care of the tenant(s) until harvest time, when a percentage or a fixed amount of the fruit became due to him. It is in this context that our Lord tells a story of a landlord who sent his servants in two batches to get the agreed produce from his property, but were all killed by the tenants. Believing that his only son would command their respect and get them to pay up, he sent him, but they killed him too. This situation was used by Christ to demonstrate the stubbornness manifested by the tenants (the Jewish leaders) to God (the landlord) who never stopped sending messengers to them, even His only Son, Jesus the Christ. The lesson is that no matter how often human beings try to play God, reject Him, destroy His messengers or even His own Son, God remains the rightful Landlord of the vineyard, and retains the power to end any contract with unjust tenants and install others.

Every tenant of a vineyard knows at first hand the never-ending amount of attention and fortification it requires. It is the individual tenant’s function to care for the vineyard in order to ensure that the vines produce good grapes in good numbers rather than a harvest of sour grapes. In the First Reading, Yahweh regards Israel as his vineyard - the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel (cf. the Responsorial Psalm). He wills Israel, his own planting, to produce at least adequate grapes, but instead the harvest is of wild grapes. As punishment for the tenants’ failure to accomplish the will of God and to reciprocate His love, Israel’s dignity and respect will be diminished, just as a vineyard loses much of its value when it fails to produce good grapes. For us today, the site of ‘the vineyard’ covers three areas: first and foremost, our hearts; secondly, the kingdom of God (the Church) here on earth; and thirdly, the society in which we live. Christ entrusts us with these sites of the ‘vineyard’ and expects us to cultivate them, to care for them and to render proper stewardship to Him at the end of the day. We must be very careful to avoid emulating the attitudes and actions of the unjust tenants. There’s nothing new under the sun (Eccles 1:9) … there’s always a worm of greed busily burrowing away! Over time, these sitting tenants were tempted to assume proprietary legacy, placing themselves on a par with the unseen landlord. The tenants’ myopic opinion of their truth over against God’s truth appeared to them to be identical, which is why punishment was imposed.  

The wicked tenants were malicious in refusing to pay their landlord what they owed, in eliminating all his servants and in killing the only son, the heir to the father’s property. They tried to usurp an inheritance that was not theirs. They were driven by malicious greed to have all the produce for themselves and greed caused them to destroy anyone in their way. Today we see on our televisions and online a procession of people possessed by an uncontrollable desire to possess kingdoms, nations, property, power, recognition and wealth, and who are ready to take out anyone standing in their way of achieving their material goals. On a much smaller scale, we too can be guilty of malicious greed, greed which leads us both to neglect the very foundation of our lives Who is God, and also to our justifiable judgement by God (cf. Mt 7:2). The context of the parable is the judgement of God. Universal salvation is not what Our Lord preached. He used the language of judgement throughout the Gospels. Christ is the cornerstone of the heavenly Kingdom, and rejection of Him brought its magnificent earthly edifice down upon the heads of the wicked tenants after His death, resurrection and ascension. While we have confidence that God’s mercy is always open to us, faith without actions is dead, and genuine trust in Jesus is evidenced through the fruit of repentance. The tenants selfishly breached their agreement with the landlord in refusing to give Him his due. Furthermore, they failed to repent of their behaviour. We might sometimes find ourselves wanting, claiming and hoarding the good things of life for ourselves without considering the needs of others. In hoarding material items for ourselves and (by extension) for our families, we can lose sight of the many who suffer as a direct result of our selfishness and/or ill-will, and incur God’s ire.  

Credible ways of helping ourselves to overcome undesirable attitudes include following St. Paul’s admonition (in the Second Reading) to fill our minds with everything virtuous or worthy of praise. Purposefully directing the mind that way will help to develop our spirit of solidarity with, and empathy for, those around us. It is vital for us to recognize that we are accountable to God for the way in which we use His specific gifts to us (1Peter 4:10f), and that whatever we have is only given to us for not just our own good but for the good of the many whose lives we should touch positively (Rom 12:6-8). We do not want to take the patience of God for granted (2Pet 3:15) or be caught up with His holy anger (Rom 1:18ff). So we pray to Jesus, our cornerstone (Eph 2:20): the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (Ps 118:22). The cornerstone is the first stone to be laid, the foundation stone, the primary support of all the other stones which are placed upon it and held firm by it. Jesus is the Word of God, spoken for the purpose of creation, and the Foundation of God’s new creation to help us to continually build upon Him for no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (1Cor 3:11). Keep relying on Him for every support (Ps 46:1ff) and for victory over every temptation (1Cor 10:13). Amen. God bless you.

 

OUR ‘YES’ TO GOD

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

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Ezekiel 18:25-28        Philippians 2:1-11        Matthew 21:28-32

What is the best way to say ‘yes’ to God? Today’s readings clarify the relationships between what we say and what we do, and between what we promise God and what we actually do to carry out those promises. In the Gospel, Jesus used the parabolic story of a father and his two sons in order to teach about the importance of keeping promises made to God and to other people. Using the content to critique the religious leaders of His day, Jesus revealed that they were failing in their service to God while outwardly being perceived as carrying it out. The leaders weren’t listening to God, and consequently their faith was stagnant. Through the story, in which actions speak louder than words, Jesus underlined how worthless are empty promises made to God and man, and how vital it is that promises are kept.

One by one, the sons were instructed by their father to go out and work in his vineyard. The first son refused to do his father’s will, but changed his mind and complied. The second son agreed to do the father’s will, but reneged on his promise and didn’t go. Of the two, the first actually did the father’s will because he was the one that did the work. Had there been a third son in that story who promised to do the father’s will and fulfilled it, he would have been the ideal example of faith, because the models of the sons are both flawed. Neither of the sons brought their father complete joy. However, Christ only needed the examples of the two sons to remind the Jewish religious leaders of the greater readiness of those at the bottom of the heap to accept the message of repentance; ‘for tax-collectors and prostitutes are making their way into the kingdom of heaven before you.’  

Let’s take a closer look at the contrasting reactions of the two sons in the context of ‘change’ to see how a mixture of the personalities is evident in each one of us. Why did the first son change his mind and do what his father wanted? He did it because he made a positive change from verbal disobedience to active obedience. As sinners, we need to make a daily examination of conscience to discern when we have (mistakenly or deliberately) offended God, and if change is necessary in order to do His will. The second son changed his mind too, but he made a negative change from verbal obedience to active disobedience. That kind of change is to be studiously avoided. In the first reading, the Lord encourages positive change, and defends his ways as fair, condemning the virtuous person who turns from His ways towards iniquity, and forgiving the wicked person who turns to Him to do what is right: 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. Whenever we are going to make changes in life, they had better be positive ones.

Everyone who has a personal relationship with God ought to be someone who says yes and does yes. God’s Commandments ought to be observed and His Will carried out judiciously. The right thing to do is to ensure that promises made are promises kept: keep all the promises you make to God (Eccl 5:2). To make a promise is to make a commitment. 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 (Deut 23:23). Each one of us is guilty at some time in life of making a promise and failing to keep it. Our sacramental life challenges us to keep the promises we make to God. Remember that our Baptismal promises are to be kept! Couples to be joined in Holy Matrimony have no problems in saying ‘yes’ to take each other ‘for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health’ on their wedding day, but may find it increasingly difficult to keep their promises to each other through the ups and downs of life. Priests have no problem with saying ‘yes’ to God at Ordination, but may find it increasingly challenging to observe the incessant demands of their vocation as the years roll by.

Living out the Christian life consistently well is admittedly a struggle. Broken promises lead to broken relationships. People are left with broken hearts when marriages fail and promises are broken. When promised prayers for people going through a hard time fail to be offered, heaven is not stormed. We all know people who have promised to walk alongside us through thick and thin, only to see them melt into the mist when we need a leg up. Equally, we all know that there have been times when we ourselves are guilty of having let people down. Those feelings of remorse should move us to start keeping our promises Big Time!

The trail of broken promises that we leave behind adversely affects both our personal relationship with God and our everyday dealings with one another. One of the major causes of making empty or unfulfilled promises is the lack of the virtue of self-control, and specifically the mastery of what comes out of our mouths: sin is unavoidable when there is much talk, but whoever seals his lips is wise (Prov 10:19). One way of ensuring that our promises are credible is to resolve to think through carefully what we mean to say before we speak, because it is better not to make promises than not to keep them (cf. Eccl 5:5). To achieve this end, we constantly require the gift of God’s grace to guide us. Let us pray for the grace of obedience to God in all things, and for the grace of discernment when it’s better to keep our own counsel than to speak. Amen. God bless you.