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

• 
  

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.

THE LIGHT SHINES

HOMILY FOR THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Malachi 3:1-4       Hebrews 2:14-18       Luke 2:22-40

We have finally made it to Candlemas. With today’s feast, the Christmas festival of light officially comes to an end. As we process solemnly into church, we bear blessed and lighted candles. But what do these candles signify? The lighted candles are to welcome Christ, the Light to the Gentiles, the Glory of His people and our eternal Light. Jesus is to us both Son and Sun. Through the Gospel He is the illumination of the path of our existence and the light to the nations. In our hands today is fire - a mysterious element, an overpowering reality, a force, capable of blinding us with its light. The flame of just one candle has the capacity to ignite a destructive fire like a bush fire; the divine flame, however, ignites a purifying fire that prepares us for redemption.

Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament from which today’s 1^st Reading is taken, speaks of the great and terrible Day of the Lord, and compares this Day with the refiner’s fire and the fuller’s alkali. This ‘Day’ should be understood in terms of an overwhelming, awesome manifestation of God that will both refine and purify the world. Each of these substances - refiner’s fire and fuller’s alkali - possesses fearsome power. Fire is powerful enough to refine gold and silver, while alkali is powerful enough to bleach fabrics as white as snow. These are metaphors regarding the sheer power of God to purify us, and to transform us into the very best we can be. Moreover, these combine to describe the action of God upon us to remove comprehensively any power the devil wields over us. The description of refining and purifying is of the action of the Christ Himself! The 2^nd Reading reminds us of the extraordinary deliverance, already accomplished once-and-for-all, that was wrought for humanity by the self-offering and death of Jesus, the Lord.

Let’s unpack the 1^st Reading so that we can get to grips with it. It helps to realise that there are two messengers foretold in the 1^st Reading, not one. The first will be John the Baptist, who prepares the way. The second will be ‘the messenger of the Covenant” who is Jesus. (Not John the Baptist? No, because he is not divine.)

Jesus cleansed the Temple at the start of His ministry (Jn 2:13-15), and towards the end (according to the synoptic gospels). He said: “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up” (Jn 2:19-21). St John the Evangelist clarifies this: “but He spoke of the temple of His body”. Zechariah 9:9 prophesies the coming of the King of Peace, who comes riding to Jerusalem not on a warhorse but on a donkey. There is only one such King associated with the Temple, with purification for salvation, and with a Covenant for the people: the Messiah! Jesus is the ‘messenger of the Covenant’. Why? Because only God can be ‘the messenger of the [divine] Covenant’. So, the fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi is found in Christ. The Lord suddenly enters the Temple in order to offer the solely acceptable sacrifice for the purification and salvation of all mankind.

The ‘messenger of the Covenant’, the Christ, is shown at the Presentation as a 40-day-old infant, as vulnerable as the flickering flame of a candle. The candles we carry remind us of the fragility of the divine Infant. When lit, the wick can be snuffed out easily, as can our own flesh and blood. In accordance with the Law, Mary and Joseph went to the Temple to present the first-born male child to God. Here, God is presented to God: God the Son is presented to God the Father, in His own Temple, in fulfilment of His own Law. In accordance with the Law, Mary and Joseph made an offering of two pigeons. It was called a ‘sin offering’ (cf. Lev 12:8), although Mary was conceived without Original Sin, the fully divine and fully human Child was and is sinless, and Joseph in his purity was called by God to look after them both. In fulfilling the offering, Jesus allowed Himself to be integrally absorbed into our human condition from a tender age.

As tender as he was, Jesus manifested Himself as the Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of the people (cf. Is 49:6). Old Simeon, an upright and devout man who had waited all his life to witness the coming of the Messiah, was inspired by God to announce the great mission of the Child to the world. The elderly prophetess Anna, gifted with abundant wisdom and insight, spoke about the Child to those who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem. Imagine, if you will, how a single candle flame can defy the darkness of a place. In Christ, we see the divine flame defying and defeating every form of darkness, spreading all over the world, purifying, refining and transforming in very personal ways. Now each individual candle, signifying our personal redemption, will be taken into our homes and communities today to enkindle in us the fire of faith and love so that we may be filled with the wisdom and grace of God. Yes, while the purifying flame of God might well be perceived as something to be feared, it is also the flame of hope, love, deliverance, peace and joy. And so, Lord, we open the doors of our hearts to You in faith, that you may enter and enlighten us with your Light. Amen. God bless you.

LIVING IN GOD’S LIGHT

HOMILY FOR THE 3^RD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

In our technologically-advanced world, we have seen how the success of companies and markets are dependent upon how often their products are upgraded. For instance, every now and then the media companies produce upgrades for their applications and phones, and alert their customers to download them in order to upgrade them. Similarly, as human beings we desire upgrades whenever they become available. There is that innate urge in us to move up to something better, isn’t there? We are always praying for better days and for things to get better for us. Nobody enjoys living on an endless diet of doom and disaster. No one likes to risk repeating a disappointing or depressing experience. Everyone wants to have happiness and joy, peace and freedom rather than doom and gloom. Happiness and joy, peace and freedom were the great desires of the Israelites too at a time in their history when they were under oppression from the Assyrians. The Israelites dreamt of being redeemed, uplifted – ‘upgraded’ if you will - from their woes. Among the people there was hope and expectation of God’s deliverance.

The 1st Reading (Is 9:1-4) sets the scene in the North Eastern regions of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali (later Galilee). Because the North East was the most fertile part of Israel, the Assyrians subjugated it first. By Isaiah’s time, the land had been paganised by incomers, and the minority Jewish population was struggling to hold on to its traditions and the worship of God. Isaiah encouraged the indigenous Jews in their struggles, in their ‘walk in the darkness’, with prophecies of hope for the future and of the appearance of a great light to overcome that darkness. Isaiah foretold the coming of a King, a King infinitely more powerful than all other kings, a King who would lead them from darkness to light, from sadness to gladness, from wretchedness to rejoicing. This was a great Messianic prophecy that went beyond their current situation to the coming of Christ Himself. It is Christ who is the King. It is Christ who is the Light. It is Christ who alone is capable of dispersing darkness and despair.

It is no accident that the prophecy of the 1^st Reading is quoted in the Gospel (Mt 4:12-23). St. Matthew links Isaiah’s prophecy (that the people that lived in darkness has seen a great light) directly to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in Galilee. Jesus began His ministry with an urgent call to repentance: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand”. His next move was to call his first four disciples, two pairs of brothers (Peter and Andrew, James and John), who were fishermen on the Sea of Galilee. In their desire to live in the Light of the Messiah, these men responded promptly to the urgency of His call. We, in common with these apostles, have been called by the Lord. Even before we receive baptism into the family of faith, we are born into our biological families in their geographical and cultural situations. As followers of Christ, we have our families and our jobs to consider in tandem with our Christian vocation. Should we care less for our families and not do our jobs as well as we might, simply because we are Christians first and foremost? Are they supposed to take a back seat? Not at all! Our calling as Christians is to immerse ourselves in the message of light in order to bring the light of Christ with us into our family lives and our work lives. That these men left their nets behind to follow Jesus indicates to us that they purposely shunned every distraction inimical to their calling. In imitating these first four apostles, then, we too ought to leave our nets to follow the Lord; in other words, we ought to dispense with those distractions and values that clash with our Christian calling.

One such distraction is highlighted by St. Paul in the 2nd  Reading (1 Cor 1:10-13,17) where he called on the faithful of the Church at Corinth to move out of the darkness of division into the light of Christian unity. In the Church at Corinth there were four parties. The 1st group allied itself with Paul. This group consisted of Gentiles who lived Christianity with an exaggerated sense of freedom, mistakenly thinking that the Gospel of Christian freedom implied freedom to sin rather than the freedom that comes from not sinning. The 2nd  group affiliated itself with Apollos. Apollos was a Jewish academic from Alexandria, an eloquent man who had a deep knowledge of the Scriptures. This group comprised intellectuals who were fast turning the fulfilment of Religion into Philosophy. The 3^rd group aligned itself with Cephas. ‘Cephas’ in Aramaic (the language that Jesus spoke) means ‘rock’. St. Peter was the ‘rock’ (Mt 16:18) upon whom the Church would be founded. Jews, who sought to teach adherence to specifically Jewish norms, made up this particular group. As legalists, they exalted the Law and belittled the working of grace. The allegiance of the 4^th group was to Christ. This group was made up of the peasants and people at the bottom of the social strata, who, in their poverty, laid claim to being the only genuine Christians. Their real fault lay not in saying that they belonged to Christ – which of course they did - but in the intolerance and self-righteousness they displayed in claiming that Christ belonged only to them. Paul invited these four groups to come down from their perches and embrace unity in belief and practice. 

The same goes for us today. We have just concluded the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. To kick off that week of prayer, Pope Francis stated that: “the community of the baptised is not a mere ‘standing beside one another’, and certainly not a ‘standing against one another’, but wants to become an ever fuller ‘standing together’”. This must be our aim as Christians. Week on week, we come together, bringing with us our rich and varied talents and offering them for the purpose of building up the body of Christ, the Church. And on September 30, 2019, Pope Francis also announced in his Aperuit Illis, that the third Sunday in Ordinary Time would be celebrated as the Sunday of the Word of God henceforth. The Word of God unifies and offers us a great light for our paths. 'Your Word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path' (cf. Psalm 119:105), declares the Psalmist. ‘Walking in God’s light’ would then mean an enthronement of the Word of God - the Scripture - in our lives, praying with it, and standing together to build up the Community of faith with it. As we walk in God’s light, so we live in it. ‘Living in God’s light’ means that our skills and strengths have been given to us to enhance the unity that exists among us. Let us pray: Loving Father, we thank you for sending your Son to be one of us and for letting us be called by Him. We also thank you for providing us with your Word daily to nourish and to guide us. Look upon your people with mercy, for we are divided in so many ways; and grant us the spirit of your Christ to make us one in love. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen. God bless you.

LOOK, THERE’S THE LAMB OF GOD

HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

According to the Gospel (John 1:29-34), when John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, he identified Jesus as ‘The Lamb of God’. John declared: Look, there is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Let’s explore what he meant when he described Jesus as ‘the Lamb’. The description would have been understood by every Jew present. Lambs were a vital element in Jewish religious practices outlined in the Torah and the Jewish books that Christians know as the Old Testament. In the lead-up to the time of Jesus, the life-blood offering of animals (and especially of unblemished lambs) took place in the Temple in Jerusalem, which was the place of ritual sacrifice in Jewish worship of the One God. From this Jewish religious practice, we get the expression ‘the sacrificial lamb’. The sheep and their lambs in the fields around Bethlehem when Jesus was born were almost certainly destined for sacrifice rather than for consumption. The Bethlehem shepherds were Levitical shepherds meaning that their lambs were raised to be used for sacrifice. As such, they had to be without blemish or they would be worthless; so the shepherds wrapped them in cloths when they were born to keep them from injury. Thus, when the shepherds visited Jesus, and saw him wrapped in swaddling clothes, they recognised a lamb without blemish, set aside for sacrifice.

In Judaism, lambs were sacrificed in two major religious rituals. The first of these was in the historical commemoration of the event of the Passover. The second was in the practice of sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem every morning and evening. The Lamb was used not only as a sacrificial offering, but also for ritual cleansing and sanctification.  In declaring to the world that Jesus is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world, John flagged up a specific message to his contemporaries and to us.

The Passover is still celebrated by Jews today. The earliest book of the Bible (cf. Exodus 12:11-13) records that the Passover Lamb was slain, and its blood was sprinkled and smeared on the doors and lintels of the houses of the Israelites. The blood identified the Chosen People of God and delivered them from destruction. In pointing out Jesus as ‘the Lamb’, John prophesied that by Jesus’ precious blood, His chosen people would be identified, delivered from death and saved. There were great prophecies about the Messiah in terms of a sacrificial lamb: Christ is like a lamb led to the slaughter house (cf. Jeremiah 11:19 and Isaiah 53:7); St. Paul identifies Christ as the Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7), and St. Peter spoke about Jesus as the spotless and unblemished lamb who ransomed men from sin (1 Pet. 1:18-19). The final book of the Bible, Revelation, uses the title ‘Lamb of God’ with reference to the Christ (e.g. Rev. 5:7.13) no less than 27 times. 

The longing of the Jewish people for purification from their sins in order to be reconciled with the perfection of God, perfection that could not tolerate imperfection, culminated in the practice of sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem every morning and evening. The intention of the ritual sacrifice was to plead for the remission of the sins of the people of God, and to plead for the sanctification of the priests and the place of worship (cf. Exodus 29:38-42). The daily Temple sacrifice assured the Jewish people throughout the known world of God’s presence among them. From here we deduce seamlessly that John’s pointing out of Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world indicated that He (Jesus) would be sacrificed daily, both for the remission of the sins of His people in His Kingdom, and also for the sanctification of His priests and the universal Church. Jesus is the perfect sacrifice offered to God the Father for the remission of our sins. This is what we have been re-enacting in the daily sacrifice of the Holy Mass for two thousand years. In the Holy Mass and in the Eucharistic offering, the Church is constantly sanctified, and her members participating in the unbloody sacrifice of the altar are cleansed of all venial sins. 

Granted that the idea of animal sacrifice may be somewhat repulsive to our generation, it might be helpful for us to think instead of the notion of ‘bail’ or of ‘restitution’ when considering what Christ stands for as the sacrificial Lamb. A guilty criminal may be remanded in custody before he is sentenced. The law may set bail too high for him to afford, and so he has to stay in gaol. He cannot pay enough to liberate himself from prison. To achieve freedom, he requires the help of another person to pay his bail. Similarly, as prisoners of our sins (our personal deliberate wrongdoing, our imperfections), we require the help of someone else to bail us out. That someone else is Jesus the Christ. He is the Lamb of God. His bailing-out is final. He puts our sins behind His back so that no one can convict us of them again. He made the perfect restitution for each one of us with the sacrifice of His life. Have you noticed that there’s something spectacular with regard to the day our Lord died for us on the cross? St, John the Evangelist states (cf. John 19:31) that Jesus died on same day that lambs were being sacrificed in the Temple in readiness for the Passover. With that, Jesus’ offering of Himself, His  sacrifice on the cross, replaced and completed once and for all any offering and sacrifice that has been made, that is being made, and that ever will be made, for the remission of sins.

Every Christian, then, is called to be a lamb. We are called to imitate Christ the Lamb in conquering sin, saving ourselves and others, and going the extra mile for the sake of our fellow human beings. Just as the blood of the unblemished lamb became a protective sign for the Israelites in captivity in Egypt, the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, became the power that totally crushed the intimidation and torments of the evil one. So too, the Christian lifestyle has to be that which serves to protect the interests of every single human being, born or unborn, especially in a world riddled with discrimination and intimidation of every sort. Why? Because we all share the same Lord: God is God, the One God that the genius of the Jews discerned. Jesus is the Lord of all the saints everywhere, as St. Paul writes in the Second Reading (1Cor 1:1-3). In striving to be lambs for the world, we gain the graces of innocence and meekness, and are armed with no more than the spirit of service and humility. We are the servants of the Lord. We are stewards, called and appointed by Our Lord. As the Psalmist says, we have come to do His will (Ps 39:9). It is in this light that the First Reading (Is 49:3, 5-6), addresses the chosen people of God as servants, who have been called to restore the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the survivors of Israel. This is our mission as servants, to restore/uplift and to bring back / preserve. May the Lord guide us as we labour in our calling. Amen. God bless you.