Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - October 27, 2019. Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary time year C

Homily of Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

A major part of last Sunday’s reflection was on prayer. Again this Sunday, the Church presents us with readings to help us to continue our reflection on prayer. This shows how important prayer is to our journey of faith. We hear it often said, “A prayer-less Christian is a powerless Christian.”

The first reading encourages us to cry to the Lord when we are oppressed by life’s events because “the prayer of the lowly pierces the clouds.” Our Psalm today says, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted; and those who are crushed in spirit he saves.”

In the second reading, St. Paul says of himself, “For I am already being poured out like a libation… I have competed well; I have finished the race; I have kept the faith. From now on the crown of righteousness awaits me…” We may not be able to, boldly, make these claims as St. Paul did. We pray to God to give us the grace to bring out our very best in our various callings; compete well, not lose faith, and finish our race. St. Paul also mentions in the reading the desertion he suffered, but was sustained and strengthened by the Lord. St. Paul’s experience reminds us that we might at some point, also, suffer desertion. We might at some point be brokenhearted and crushed in the spirit. When these happen, let us rely on the Lord who never deserts us. The Lord sustains and strengthens us.

Jesus gives us the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in the Gospel to help us examine how we pray and the motives of our prayers. The parable helps us to understand why some prayers “pierce the clouds,” and why some prayers do not. The parable: “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector. The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former…”

This parable reminds us of some passages in the Scripture: James 4:3, “You ask and do not receive because you ask with wrong motives…” This is very evident with the prayer of the Pharisee. He prayed to himself, glorified himself, and spoke uncharitably about others. He was arrogant and despised everyone else. But the tax collector prayed to God, and was humble and contrite of heart. Psalm 51:17, “A humble and contrite heart you will not spurn, O Lord.” Proverbs 14:21, “He who despises his neighbor sins…” James 4:6, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:6, “Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time.”

Some examples of when we pray with wrong motives:

We pray with wrong motives when we pray pretentiously and for show.

We pray with wrong motives when we pray with sin in our hearts.

We pray with wrong motives when we put God to test by our prayers.

We pray with wrong motives when we see prayer as magic.

We pray with wrong motives when we pray “not God’s will but our will.”

We pray with wrong motives when we have selfish and avaricious intentions.

There are, also, some spiritual indispositions that negatively affect our prayers:

We are indisposed to prayer when we lack faith.

We are indisposed to prayer when we surrender to any manner of discouragement.

We are indisposed to prayer when our prayers are not sustained with good works.

We are indisposed to prayer when we are plagued with uncontrolled distractions.

We are indisposed to prayer when we lack spiritual connectedness with the Divine.

We are indisposed to prayer when we give in to mind and body weakness.

We are, again, indisposed to prayer when we pray with sin in our hearts.

St. Augustine summarizes all the above as “praying in a fleshy, unspiritual manner.”

Jesus teaches us by his own prayer life that it is important to be in constant communication with God in prayer; of which without, we will be within the destructive arms of the Evil One. Jesus says that it is only by prayer that we can cast the Evil One out (Mark 9:29). Every saint we know and every saint we can think of was a person of prayer. Let us, therefore, always, try to dispose ourselves to prayer and let us, also, always, try to pray with good motives.

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - October 20, 2019. Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary time year C - World Mission Sunday

Homily of Twenty-Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Sunday, October 20, 2019 is World Mission Sunday. Pope Pius XI instituted World Mission Sunday in 1926 to be an annual day of prayers and expression of support for the Catholic Church missionary vision and character. In his message for World Mission Sunday 2019, Pope Francis re-emphasizes that while the Church is on mission in the world, the missionary mandate of the Church touches each of us personally. The pope states, “I am a mission, always; you are a mission, always; every baptized man and woman is a mission… Each of us is a mission to the world, for each of us is the fruit of God’s love.” He continues, “Today’s rampant secularism, when it becomes an aggressive cultural rejection of God’s active fatherhood in our history… the Church needs men and women who, by virtue of their baptism, respond generously to the call to leave behind home, family, country, language and local Church, and to be sent forth to the nations, to a world not yet transformed by the sacraments of Jesus Christ and his holy Church… No one ought to remain closed in self-absorption, in the self-referentiality of his or her own ethnic and religious affiliation.” Some go to the missions by going; some go to the missions by praying; and some go to the missions by giving. Through these expressions, we all possess the missionary vision and character of the Church.

The Chosen People of God’s mission when they left Egypt was to reach the Promised Land. It was a mission with many challenges and difficulties on the way. The first difficulty was the crossing of the Red Sea. Moses, a great man of prayer, cried to God in prayer. God commanded him, “You will raise your staff and stretch your hand over the sea and divide it to let the Israelites go dryfoot through the sea.” Moses did as he was commanded, “The waters divided and the Israelites went on dry ground through the middle of the sea, with the waters forming a wall to their right and left” (Exodus 14:15-23).

After crossing the Red Sea the Israelites continued their journey to the Promised Land. They were to pass through a place called Amalek. The Amalekites were hostile to the Israelites and waged war against them. While the Israelites fought the physical battle with the Amalekites, Moses, a great man of prayer, went to the top of the hill with the staff of God in his hand accompanied by Aaron and Hur to fight the spiritual battle. The first reading states, “As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. Moses’ hands, however, grew tired; so they took a rock and put it under him and he sat on it. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady until sunset” when Joshua and the Israelites defeated the Amalekites. The events narrated above speaks of the power of prayer, and the importance of persistent and enduring prayer. It speaks also of the importance of spiritual warfare to accompany physical engagements.

Like the Israelites, we will come across ‘Red Seas’ and ‘Amalekites’ on our missions. But like Moses, we are to go to God in prayer with the staff of God. The staff of God is the Eucharistic Celebration, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, the Bible, the Rosary, the prayer books, and so on. Someone says, “Work hard, but pray harder.” St. Augustine puts it this way, “Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” Pray as though everything depended on God (spiritual warfare). Work as though everything depended on you (physical warfare).

Jesus gave a parable in the Gospel to teach us the importance of persistent and enduring prayer. The widow never gave up appealing to the dishonest judge until she received justice. Jesus assures us, “Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.”

Jesus gave a similar parable in Luke 11:5-8, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.”

Sometimes we are discouraged after enduring and persistent prayers and God does not grant our prayers the way we have asked. The readings of today encourage us never to give up but to pray until something happens. However, as people of faith when we see God’s hand in an ‘unanswered prayer’, that becomes prayer answered. “In his will is our peace,” says Dante Alighier in The Divine Comedy.

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - October 13, 2019. Homily for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary time year C

Homily of Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

The readings of today invite us to reflect on the importance of gratitude. When Naaman bathed in the River Jordan as directed by Elisha, “he was cleansed of his leprosy.” He was grateful to God and returned to Elisha with a gift to express his gratitude. Naaman was Syrian. Syria, then, was considered a pagan territory because they were Baal worshippers. Naaman said to Elisha, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel. Please accept a gift from your servant.” Ironically, this happened during the last years of King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, and their children who led the Israelites to idolatry. While the Chosen People were ungrateful to God by worshipping pagan gods, Naaman the Syrian expressed gratitude to God and proclaimed, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel.”

In the Gospel, Jesus healed ten lepers. Nine were Jews, and one was a Samaritan. Again, the nine Jews who were healed did not return to Jesus to express gratitude. The Samaritan did. The Jews looked down on the Samaritans as pagans and foreigners. Yet, it was the ‘pagan’ (the foreigner) “who returned [to Jesus] to give thanks to God.” The Jews took their healing for granted. Many times, we take our blessings for granted by not showing appreciation.

There is a saying that ingratitude is the worst of vices. This is because every vice is rooted in ingratitude to God. For example, when I don’t forgive those who offend me, I am ungrateful to God who forgives me all the time. We are invited today to live life of gratitude: gratitude to God and gratitude to fellow human beings. We are invited to limit our complaints, fault finding, whining, and nagging, and to increase our gratefulness, appreciation and thanks.

St Paul urges us, “Give thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus to God the Father” (Ephesians 5:20).  “In all circumstances give thanks, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). The Gospel of today emphasizes the importance of gratitude: “And one of them, realizing he had been healed, returned, glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him. He was a Samaritan. Jesus said in reply, ‘Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?’ Then he said to him, ‘Stand up and go; your faith has saved you.’” The Psalmist says, “Those who offer praise as a sacrifice honor me.” Giving gratitude to God is a recognition that all we have is a gift from God (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Jesus spoke harshly to his people due to their ingratitude. He scolded them, “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would long ago have repented, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, ‘Will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to the netherworld.’”

Ingratitude can be very costly. In the Old Testament, the journey of forty days became forty years for the Israelites due to their ingratitude, and the ungrateful generations did not reach the Promised Land.

We can conclude with the following observations:

Expression of gratitude is a prayer in itself that God may give us more opportunities to thank him.

Expression of gratitude encourages, enlivens and empowers. Lack of gratitude discourages and diminishes.

Expression of gratitude is uplifting and promotes healthy environment. Ingratitude is sickening, and creates anxiety, stress, aches and pains.

Expression of gratitude is delightful. Ingratitude is repulsive.

Expression of gratitude brings more blessings. Ingratitude takes away blessings. The second reading says, “If we deny him, he will deny us.” May this not be our portion. Amen.

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP