Friday, August 28, 2020

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary time Year A - August 30, 2020

 

Homily of Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A, 2020

 

Jeremiah 20:7-9; Psalm 63:2-9; Roman's 12:1-2; Matthew 16:21-27

 

We begin our reflection with a story. A young man was at the end of his road, seeing no way out, he dropped to his knees in prayer.

“Lord, I can’t go on,” he said. “I have too heavy a cross to bear.” The Lord replied, “My son, if you can’t bear its weight, just place your cross inside this room. Then, open that other door and pick out any cross you wish.” The man was filled with relief and did as he was told.  Before he opened the other door, an angel of the Lord moved the cross he had dropped to the other room. Upon entering the room, he saw many crosses; some so large.  Then, he spotted a tiny cross leaning against a far wall. “I’d like that one, Lord,” he whispered. The Lord replied, “My son, that is the cross you just brought in.”

 

St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it.”

 

Our crosses are our afflictions, difficulties, trials, temptations, responsibilities, and keeping God’s commandments. In the first reading, Prophet Jeremiah’s crosses were his responsibility to prophesy to his people, the rejection, humiliation, and persecution he suffered in the hands of his people. In his frustration he wanted to stop prophesying. He said, “I say to myself, I will not mention him, I will speak in his name no more.” However, Jeremiah continued to prophesy to his people amid the rejection, humiliation, and persecution. Jeremiah leaves us a good example to follow.

 

In the Gospel, Jesus spoke about his cross, “[He] must go to Jerusalem and suffer greatly from the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed and on the third day be raised.” Peter put pressure on Jesus to refuse his cross. “God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you.” Peter became an obstacle to God’s plan for Jesus. Jesus rebuked Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me.” Jesus teaches us not to refuse or abandon our crosses. He says, “Take up your cross, and follow me.” The encounter between Jesus and Peter reveals to us the pressure we go through which at times make us refuse our crosses or make us abandon our crosses.  The pressures, sometimes, come from those very close to us.  We need to be watchful.

St. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” This is to say that God manifests his power in our crosses. Just as the event of the crucifixion of Jesus on the Cross concluded with the resurrection of Jesus from the grave; we believe that carrying our crosses and following Jesus bring us resurrection and glory.

 

The second reading, further, reveals to us the transformative power of the cross. If we truly take up our crosses and follow Jesus, we will no longer conform to this age, we will be spiritually renewed, and we will be able to do the will of God. We will be able to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

 

Here is another story.  God, according to his divine plan, gave a man a tall cross to carry and told him, “While on your journey, pray for anything, and I will give you.”  He set off on his journey. After a few miles he cried to God, “Lord, it is too heavy, please cut it down a little.” God threw a saw to him to cut the cross to the size he wanted. He was delighted and so continued his journey. After a few more miles, he cried to God again, “Lord, please cut it down a little more, I will be able to carry it better.” God threw a saw to him to cut the cross a little more according to his wish. He was glad. After a few more miles, he got to a gully. The easiest way he would have crossed over the gully would have been to place the cross across the gully and use the cross as a bridge. Unfortunately, the cross was, now, too short. Remember that God made him a promise, “While on your journey, pray for anything, and I will give you.” He did not pray for anything useful. Rather, his desire to have an easy journey ruined his journey. James 4:3 says, “You ask but do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

 

Let us take our crosses and follow Jesus. Through carrying our crosses, we will experience God’s power. Through carrying our crosses, we will experience resurrection and glory. Through carrying our crosses, we are pleasing to God. Through our crosses, God’s plan comes to fulfilment for us.  Amen.

 

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Friday, August 21, 2020

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for the Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary time Year A - August 23, 2020

 

Homily of Twenty-First Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A, 2020

 

Isaiah 22:19-23; Psalm 138:1-3, 6, 8; Roman 11:33-36; Matthew 6:16:13-20

 

A daughter always complained to the father about one problem or another. One day her father took her to the kitchen and put three pots on the stove; first pot, a potato; second pot, an egg; and third pot, coffee. The three pots were left to boil for a while. He removed the pots from the fire and put the potato in a plate, the egg in a plate, and the coffee into a cup. He asked the daughter, “Touch the potato and tell me what you observe?” She touched and said, “Before, the potato was hard, but now it is soft.” The father took off the shell of the egg and told her to touch the egg and say her observation. She touched and said, “Usually, the egg would have been in liquid form but it has hardened.” The father said, “What do you observe about the coffee?” She said, “I perceive the sweet aroma.” The father said to her, “The three faced the same challenge, the fire, the boiling water, but each came out of it differently. In Romans 5:3-4 St. Paul writes, “we also glory in our sufferings…..” What matters about life is not what happens to a person; it is what the person makes out of the experience. The challenges either refine a person or break the person.

 

The first and second readings remind me a line in Mary’s magnificat, “He has shown might with his arm, dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart. He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones but lifted up the lowly” (Luke 1:51-52).

 

In the first reading, Shebna, the chief steward of King Hezekiah, was a wicked, deceitful, and proud man. It was said that he conspired with Assyria in an attack against Jerusalem. God sent Isaiah to prophesy his removal from office and to be replaced by Eliakim, a faithful and trustworthy servant of God. Isaiah prophesied God’s blessings on Eliakim. He would take over the authority Shebna used to have. “He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the house of Judah. I will place the key of the house of David on [his] shoulder; when he opens, no one shall shut; when he shuts, no one shall open. I will fix him like a peg in a sure spot …”

 

The prophesy about Eliakim was, indeed, a prophesy about Jesus, “the Christ, the Son of the living God” as Peter professed. God replaced Shebna (the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Lawyers, the Scribes, the Chief Priests, and the old laws) with Jesus the Christ (the new Eliakim), and gave him the authority above all authorities. Jesus, then, passed the authority to Peter and the Catholic Church, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

 

The Gospel of today helps us to understand the origin of the Catholic Church and the papacy. Jesus is the founder, and St. Peter is the first pope. It is only the Catholic Church that has Jesus as her founder. Every other Church traces its founder to a human being. The declaration and prophecy of Jesus in today’s Gospel has kept the Catholic Church going for more than two thousand years of her existence, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail over her. From her very beginning, as early as the time of the apostles to our generation, the Church has gone through strong wind and storm, earthquake and fire; yet the Church has continued to survive. Jesus’ declaration and prophecy concerning the Church stand forever; which is to say, no matter what happens, the Catholic Church will remain till the end of time.

 

There is no doubt that the pandemic has caused so much loss and pain, and has tested and shaken our faith. Many times during this pandemic, we have reassured ourselves with the words of Jesus, “I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.” We know that the gate of Covid 19 Pandemic will not prevail against the Church, her leadership, and our faith. We pray that our faith may not fail or become weak as the pandemic drags on. We pray for the end of the virus, and the healing of those infected by it and other diseases. We pray that we will gather again in large numbers, and without fear, to glorify God. However, the loss and pain of the pandemic do not prevent us from seeing God’s handiwork in the life of many individuals and parishes. We are witnessing the development and growth of various apostolates and ministries in many parishes, through the use of modern technology and other means and avenues. God has used the pandemic to reveal to us what the Church of the future will look like.

 

Also, the Gospel reading and the story invite us, as individuals, to reflect and see where God has used the pandemic to do something new in our life and our relationship with him.

 

In many countries and in many places, there are rulers and leaders, like Shebna, who are wicked, deceitful, proud, and corrupt, and who conspire against their own people. We pray for the end of their regime and leadership. We pray for the fulfillment of the words of Mary, that God, through his “inscrutable judgement,” shows the might of his arm, disperses the arrogant of mind and heart, throws down those rulers and leaders from their thrones and positions, but lifts up the lowly. Amen.

 

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

 

 

Friday, August 14, 2020

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary time Year A - August 16, 2020

 

Homily of Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year A, 2020 

Isaiah 56:1, 6-7; Psalm 67:2-8; Romans 11:13-15, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28

 

The first reading took place when the Israelites had returned from the Babylonian captivity, and had rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem. Through Prophet Isaiah, God declared to the Israelites, “Foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ministering to him, loving the name of the Lord, and becoming his servants; all who keep the Sabbath free from profanation; and hold fast to my covenant; them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” This declaration brought to the attention of the Israelites that the sacrifices and offerings of non-Israelites who accepted Yahweh as their God and who kept his laws and covenants were acceptable to God; and they could worship in the temple like the Israelites. By this declaration, God communicated to the Israelites the universality of salvation and his rejection of the discrimination against the Gentiles.

 

In the second reading, St. Paul, although a Jew, was an apostle to the Gentiles. In Galatians 3:28, St. Paul writes, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Salvation is not a prerogative to any special group of people, but for all peoples.

 

In the Gospel, the Canaanite woman did not mind the enmity between the Canaanites and the Jews, and how the Jews disparaged the Canaanites. She made her way to see Jesus to present her case. Her daughter was tormented by a demon. Jesus did not say a word when the woman prayed to him. Although Jesus was testing the faith of the woman, but more importantly, Jesus wanted the event to be a teaching moment for his disciples and the Jews. The disciples reacted, “Send her away, for she is calling after us.” Jesus responded by repeating two Jewish derogatory sayings against the Gentiles. First: “I was sent only for the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” By this statement, Jesus reechoed the Jewish age old belief that the Messiah was going to come to save only the Jews. Jesus’ statement did not put the woman off. She persisted and “did homage to Jesus, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’” Second derogatory statement: “It is not right to take the food for children and throw it to the dogs.” The Jews also regarded the Gentiles as 'dogs' who live unclean lives, and do not know the law or keep the law. Again, the woman stood her ground and pleaded with the touching remark, “Please, Lord, for even dogs eat the scraps that fall from the table of their master.” Jesus, then, exclaimed, “O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” “And the woman’s daughter was healed from that hour.

 

Importantly, the Gospel’s episode maintains the theme in the first reading and second reading, that God is the creator and father of all, and that Jesus came to bring salvation to save the whole world. Jesus came to break down dividing walls of enmity between races (Ephesians 2:14).

The Canaanite woman has a few lessons to teach us. The first is her unwavering faith in Jesus, although she was non-Jew. She believed Jesus would heal her daughter. Nothing could discourage her. The second is she persisted in her prayer. She did not stop until her prayer was granted. The third is that she was not deterred by what people thought or said about her. She remained focused on her goal. The fourth is that she displayed great humility.

 

The disciples of Jesus said to him, “Send her away, for she is calling out after us.” We hear this same kind of hate cry against fellow human beings in our families, establishments, institutions, organizations, communities, religious bodies, countries, and the entire fabric of our society: “Send them away, they don’t look like us.” “Send them away, they don’t speak like us.” “Send them away, their religion is different.” “Send them away, they are taking our jobs.” “Send them away, they don’t belong to our party.” “Send they away, they will overtake us.” “Send them away, they don’t reason like us.” “Send them away, they don’t agree with us.” “Send them away, they don’t support us.”  This kind of hate is part of the cause of racism, segregation, tribalism, ethnicity, inequality, enslavement, discrimination, marginalization, preferentialism, superiority, favoritism, partialism, gangsterism, exclusionism, and persecution. Sadly, in political, social, economic, and religious history, this kind of hate has led to expulsions, xenophobia, killings, ethnic cleansings, genocides, pogroms, and massacres. We pray for the change of heart of the perpetrators of these evils.

 

Is there someone calling after us for help whom we have neglected or dismissed? Is there someone we disrespect or disdain because he or she is different, or because he or she does not belong? Is there someone we want to be sent away, or be displaced because we are envious, or jealous, or we just don’t like the person?  As individuals, let us take the message of today to heart, to our homes and to our relationships and interactions, and treat everyone with love, respect, and dignity. Indeed, we are invited to a change of heart.

 

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for Ordinary Time (A) February 19, 2023

  Leviticus 19:1-2, 17-18; Psalm 103:1-4, 8, 10, 12-13; 1 Corinthians 3:16-23; Matthew 5:38-48   First reading: Israelite community wa...