WE ARE INVITED TO THE GREAT FEAST

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

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Every great feast attracts great number of people. And as humans, we are very acquainted with celebrations and banquets. In our own human celebrations and merriments, the person inviting others does normally expect his invitees to honour his/her invitation; otherwise it becomes disappointing. On the part of the invitee, it is also a mark of a gentleman and a show of friendliness and affection to honour an invitation from a friend. If the invitation is dishonoured without any cogent reason, then somehow there is some disaffection and a rupture of trust. No one enjoys disappointments.Today, we are all invited by God himself to come for the great feast which he prepares for us, and He expects us to come in our wedding garments. Far be it from us that we shall reject such a divine invitation.

The message of the First Reading (Is. 25:6-10a) is so clear; and that is the image of the great banquet. This banquet has some features. 1) The banquet suggests a celebration after the victory is won. No reasonable man celebrates when the time has not come yet. 2) In this case, the banquet is situated on a mountain, most probably mount Zion. In the letter to the Hebrews 12, Mount Zion is the city of God where millions of Angels are gathered for festival (v.22). It is a place where the heavenly first born sons gather (v. 23). It is a place where the spirits of the righteous are made perfect (v. 23). It is a place of meeting with Jesus the great mediator of the new covenant. It is a place we encounter the strongest blood which pleads more insistently than the blood of Abel (v. 24). We remember how the blood of Abel cried to the Lord from the ground (Gen 4:10). This implies that it is a very strong blood. However, the blood of Christ is the strongest.

3) It is a feast for all peoples, in line with the tradition that all the nations would gather in Zion. It will be a total newness. 4) The feast reflects the desire of impoverished people for a bountiful meal. It is in this feast that Our Lord supplies whatever we need in accord with his glorious riches in Christ Jesus, as the Second Reading (Phil. 4:12-14;19-20). In it, God wipes every tear from our eyes. Thus, the feast reflects the intent of Rev. 21:1-4. 5. It does not end only in feasting; for in it God will destroy death forever (cf. Rev. 20:4.14). God will ultimately remove every threat hanging over humanity, every sorrow and humiliation. Hence, this feast insists on a lasting joy; that type of joy that is holistic and that does not admit of any pain.

In the Gospel Reading (Matt. 22:1-14), Jesus himself tells a parable of the nature of this great feast. The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast. This is in the context of a normal Jewish custom. When the invitations to a great feast were sent out, the time was not stated until everything was ready. When everything was ready, the servants were sent out with a final summons to inform the guests to come. So, this parable presumes that the king had already sent out invitations, but it was not till everything was prepared that the final summons was issued. The invited guests insultingly refused. This invited guests that refused to come stand for the Jews. They had long ago made a covenant with God to be God’s chosen people, but when the son of God, Jesus came, they rejected him with contempt. The result of this would be that the invitation went out to all and sundry. The people in the highways and the byways stand for the Gentiles and the sinners, who were not initially invited and were not in expectant of any invitation.

The king was angry with those who dishonoured the invitation, and had to send out troops to destroy them and to burn down their cities. They paid deaf ears to the invitation; one went to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized and shamefully killed the servants. It is very easy for a man to be so busy with the things of time that he forgets the things of eternity, to be so occupied with the things which are seen that he forgets the things which are unseen, to hear so easily the noise of the world that he cannot hear the gentle voice of God. We can be so busy making a living that we forget to make life. And when the forgetfulness of the salient things is stretched so much, we are led to commit more atrocities that creates bigger chasm between the unnecessary and the necessary. At a very critical look, this destruction seems out of place when viewed in the context of the invitation to a feast. We must therefore situate this verse on the period of composition of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew composed his Gospel between 80 and 90 AD. Historically, the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome occurred in 70 AD. The temple was sacked and burned and the city destroyed. Hence, Matthew tried to look unto history to narrate that destruction actually came on those who refused to recognize Jesus as the son of God when he came.

We are invited to a great wedding feast and not a funeral. Every event has its dress code. The invitation is to joy. To think of Christianity as a gloomy giving up of everything which brings laughter and sunshine and happy fellowship is to mistake its whole nature. We are invited to joy, and any who refuses the invitation refuses joy. The king had to scrutinize his new guests, and had to send out the one who was not on his wedding garment. It is true that the door is open to all, but when they come they must bring a life which seeks to fit the love which has been given to them. Grace is not only a gift. It evokes grave responsibility. One cannot go ahead living the life he was living before he met Christ. There must be a new clothing of purity, holiness and goodness. The door is open to all sinners, but not for the sinner to come and remain a sinner, but for the sinner to come and become a saint. It may be true that this parable has nothing to do with the clothes in which we go to Church, but it has everything to do with the spirit with which we go to God’s house. When one decides to visit a friend, the garment tells much. A reasonable friend knows the garment to put on at different occasions. There are ones for the market place, for the farm, for the Church and for entertainment.

It is sincerely true that church-going is never a fashion parade, but it is even truer that the garments of the mind, soul and heart reflect the garment of the body. Often, we go to Church unprepared to worship, with no petition, no self-examination, and no disposition to worship. In this case, we are not on our wedding garment. We come to church moody or to know the latest news among the members of the church that may constitute item for gossip. In this case still, we are not on our wedding garment. We must put on a new self for worship. If every one of us can be actually prepared for worship, with right intentions, dispositions, prayers and self-examination, then worship would be worship indeed. It will yield great benefits for the Church and the society in which we live. When we are called to enjoy this great feast, we must know that some who rejected the invitation in the past met their doom, and that the invitation requires particular garment, the garment of sincerity, honesty and true profession of the faith in Jesus Christ. That is the condition of being among the chosen ones of the Lord after having been called, for those with the lamb are called and chosen and faithful (Rev. 17:14). My prayer this week for everyone is to be among those who are in their wedding garment when the king comes to scrutinize his guests. Happy Sunday. God bless you.

USURPING THE VINEYARD OF GOD (They threw Him out and killed Him)

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

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

The inordinate desire for property acquisition that has enveloped the world is alarming. Mankind has failed to realize that she is not the actual owner of the mother earth. She has disregarded the owner of the earth, and has ascertained herself as the centre of the universe. We have moved towards anthropocentrism; that is seeing man as the ‘be all’ and ‘end all’ of the universe. Mankind has in various ways and manner tried to prove to herself that she are the highest being that exist. She makes effort to disprove the existence of the owner of the earth. We tend to bury the truthful words of the Psalmist that the earth belongs to the Lord, and everything in it; the world and those who dwell therein (Psalm 24:1). The disheartening aspect is that even when mankind claim to be the actual owner of the earth, she does not handle her with proper care and attention. Mankind exploits the globe, instead of exploring the natural resources put therein. The injunction of Genesis to fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28) is not one of exploitation but one of careful exploration. Our environment has been degraded so much that human beings have again started to cry over the effect of such depletion on human life. This explains the call to study ecology with an eco-spirituality that takes care of the world. We are labourers and should not be usurpers of God’s vineyard.   

In the Gospel of today (Matt 21:33-43), Jesus tells a parable of the tenants who went an extra mile in evil to possess and usurp a vineyard that was not theirs. The landlord sent his servants to get the fruits when the time for harvest reached, but they killed those servants and when he again thought that sending his own son would make them submit, they killed too his son. They took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him (Matt 21:31). And in fact, it is this that sentence forms the line of my reflection today. What/where is the vineyard? Who are the ‘they’ that killed? Who is that ‘him’ that was killed?

What is the Vineyard?

1. The vineyard agriculturally is a farmland. The Israelites of the time of Christ are familiar with the picture the Gospel presents concerning the vineyard. Vineyards have peculiar constructions. The hedge was a thick edge thorn hedge designed to protect the land against wild animals and thieves who might steal the grapes. Vineyards had winepress. The wine press is made of two troughs either hollowed out of the rock, or built of bricks. One was a little higher than the other, and was connected to the lower one by a channel. The vineyard was owned by landlords who usually left their estates in the hands of others, and were only interested in collecting the rental at the right time. It might be paid as a rental, or in percentage or a fixed number of the fruits. Due to the situation of the country then, the workers were normally discontented with the landlords that many times they grow rebellious.

2. The vineyard is Israel. The vineyard demands a lot of attention and fortification. Thus, it would be highly frustrating for the workers or the landlord to go through the hurdles and at the end of the day, the vines are unable to produce grapes, or worse still that the vines produce less number of grapes as would have expected, or they produce wild ones. This is the situation in the First Reading (Isaiah 5:1-7) of today whereby the Lord regards Israel as his vineyard. The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel. As his vineyard, the Lord expects Israel to produce adequate grapes, but instead the fruits ended up becoming wild. Hence, the dignity of the vineyard as a respectable agricultural venture will be withdrawn. It can only be wished what Christ wished for the Fig tree in John 13. And in John 15:2, he cuts every branch that bears no fruit. Those materials that make the vineyard honourable will be razed; if this happens, the vineyard loses its title and becomes like others. And this is how the dignity and respect of the Israelites would be held in check since they have failed to reciprocate to the divine love and care unto them.

3. The vineyard is the kingdom of God which we must look after. This is an understanding derived from the Gospel of today. Christ entrusts his kingdom to us and expects us to cultivate it, and render proper stewardship. We are like the tenants who take care of his vineyard. All of us have the rights to work in the Lord’s vineyard. God trust us so much; little wonder he totally gives us his vineyard to till and cultivate. Humans are the caretakers of this vineyard, not even the angels. In Psalm 8:6, we read: you made him ruler over the works of your hands, put all things under his feet. The world is this vineyard. It belongs to God. The Church too is this vineyard. How do we take care of the Church? How do we take care of the earth? Do our reactions portray the reaction of those tenants who killed the other servants? In fact, these questions link me to the second consideration. Many of us today have in one way or the other usurped the vineyard of God. Some of us see the Church as our property and as a place for enriching ourselves. Some of us hide under the cover of being Christians to commit atrocities. Some ministers have tried to convert the people of God to people of (a particular pastor or priest). This is usurpation. The vineyard belongs to God, and we are his labourers.

Who are the ‘they’?

1. They are the rebellious tenants who refuse to pay their master. They even went to the extent of eliminating the people he sent up to his only son. What a malice!!! The more he sent, the more they killed. They were over-ruled by material possession, and were bent on eliminating anyone to inordinately posses the land. They knew that the vineyard was not theirs. In the context of the parable of Christ, the cultivators are the religious leaders of Israel (which extends to our religious leaders today). Man deliberately rebels against God. He wants to rule and be in-charge of the vineyard himself, and not being a mere worker. He wants to be the ruler of the earth. He wants to be the head of the Church. For instance, some Church posters today are replacing the pictures of Jesus with the pictures of themselves, wives and children.

2. Those tenants wanted to take all the proceeds alone. They did not want their landlord to even share with them. What a protracted selfishness!!! Sometimes, we want to appropriate things for ourselves without considering others. We do not even want to listen to the language of sharing. We just need everything for ourselves. We claim everything. We claim to have made everybody around. Some have made themselves gods that they would not want to share their glories with anyone. We need everything for ourselves to the extent of killing, slandering and persecuting the servants of God. Thus, the servant of God is called to suffer.

3. The tenants will be put to miserable death. If we are not careful, the landlord of the vineyard would take back his vineyard and give it to another group of cultivators. The time of judgment comes. God is coming to destroy the wicked. The destruction will be terrible since he has manifested himself a very patient God. The tenants will be bundled and wretched to a miserable death. The vineyard will be cultivated by another person. God will raise up a new people to care of the vineyard. Since they refused to be accountable, they are meant to face their consequences of their actions. But lands that produce thorns and thistles are worthless and are in danger of being cursed. In the end, it will be burned (Heb 6:8). When we do not remain in Christ, we are thrown away and wither (John 15:6).

Who is the ‘Him’?

1. It is Jesus. The landlord finally sent his son. The era of sending servants were over. Perhaps, they would listen to His voice and respect him. He condescended and asked the son to leave the glory of the father’s palace in pursuance of the rebellious tenants. The son is Jesus Christ. God sent his only son. He condescended and asked his son to leave the glory of heaven and eternity so as to bring us good news; and in so doing speak face to face with man. The son was different from all the servants sent previously. Christ made this unique claim on himself. He is more than a servant.  

2. The tenants saw the son of God. There were many kinds of evidence that gave indications to the Jews that Christ was the Messiah: the Old Testament prophecies, the testimony of John the Baptist, the deeds and teachings of Jesus himself, the signs of the time (cf. Gal.4:4), etc. However, they tried to suppress these indications deliberately because of their sin and greed for position, esteem, power and security. This occurs among us today. Even though many of us may know the truth of what or whom our fellow is, we are inclined to suppressing those truthful indications out of jealousy and greed which always have the endpoint of perdition.

3. The tenants plotted to kill the son. They planned to seize his inheritance; an inheritance that was not actually theirs. Men desire to possess the kingdom, nation, property, power, rule, recognition and wealth. Whatever be the position, they are even ready to kill so as to have it. The tenants murdered the son. They committed the worst crime in human history. They killed the son of God. The extreme desire for material possession leads to doom. It makes us to disregard the most important things in our lives; to disregard the very foundation of our lives.

4. Jesus is the cornerstone. The Gospel ended with the picture of the stone. The STONE which the builders rejected has become the connerstone. Christ is that cornerstone. The symbolism of Christ as the connerstone has two things to tell us. The connerstone is the first stone to be laid. All other stones are placed after it. It is the preeminent stone in time; He is the firstborn of all creation. The connerstone is the supportive stone. All other stones placed upon it are held by it. Christ is the support and power; the foundation of God’s new creation. So, Christ is the only true foundation upon which a man can build. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 3:11). All who are not laid upon Christ simply crumbles. It may seem that the Jews rejected Christ as we do today, but they would find out that the Christ whom they rejected is the most important person in the world.

For us today, Christ remains the foundational stone of our lives. As the connerstone, we rely on him for support and strength. ‘Standing To Operate Notwithstanding Everything’ is the lot of anyone who has Christ as his/her connerstone. With Christ, we stand to operate regardless of anything that is on our way. If we make Jesus our connerstone, we shall defeat the temptation of seeing ourselves as the actual owners of the vineyard, and so will not usurp in any way. This is my prayer for all of us as I wish us a blessed week ahead. God bless you.

WHY MAKE EMPTY PROMISES?

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

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

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

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

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

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

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

Have you made some promises like these:

I will call you back later

I will supply the goods tomorrow

I will meet you tomorrow for lunch

I can finish the project next tomorrow

I will pray for you

I will marry you

I will sponsor your education

I will talk to him about it

I will buy you a gift, etc.

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

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

“RISE, TAKE THE CHILD AND HIS MOTHER”

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF OUR LADY QUEEN OF NIGERIA

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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