Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for The Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C - October 9, 2022

Homily of Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 2022

2 Kings 5:14-17; Psalm 98:1, 2-4; 2 Timothy 2:8-13; Luke 17:11-19

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 today’s 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] glorifying God in a loud voice; and he fell at the feet of Jesus and thanked him.” Jesus emphasizes the importance of gratitude by asking, “Ten were cleansed, were they not? Where are the other nine? Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks to God?”

Some of us are like the nine Jews who took their healing for granted. Many times, we take our blessings for granted by not showing appreciation. We are invited to limit our complaints, fault finding, whining, and nagging, and to increase our gratefulness, appreciation and thanks.

A story is told of an 80 year-old man who recovered from Covid-19. In his bill was $5,000 per day for ventilator. The old man burst into tears. When the hospital staff inquired why he was crying, wondering whether it was because of the high bill. The man said, “I am not crying because of the bill. I can afford to pay. I am crying because I have been breathing God’s air for 80 years free of charge, but have to pay $5,000 per day for using a ventilator. I realize now how much I owe God.”

Those who are cry because they have no shoes need to remember that there are people who have no feet. Those who are extravagant and wasteful need to realize that there are hungry and disadvantaged people. Those who are unhappy with the little they have need to know that there are many people praying and wishing to have that much.

Ingratitude can bring dire consequences. For example, 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 (Numbers 14:34).

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 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).

There is power in the expression of gratitude:

Expression of gratitude is a prayer in itself that God gives 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 environments. Ingratitude is sickening, 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. If we are faithful, he remains faithful” (2 Timothy 2:13). This statement about the possibility of God denying us need not surprise anyone because ingratitude is the worst of vices. And according to St. Ignatius of Loyola, the cause and origin of all evils and sins is the sin of ingratitude.

O Lord, grant us a grateful heart. Amen.

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

 

 

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for The Twenty-FSixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C - September 25, 2022

Homily of Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 2022

Amos 6:1a, 4-7; Psalm 146:7-10; 1 Timothy 6:11-16; Luke 16:19-31

About 750 B.C., Amos denounced the rich and the leaders in Israel who in their extravagant life of luxury oppressed and neglected the suffering poor: “Those who lie on beds of ivory, and lounge upon their couches; eating lambs taken from the flock, and calves from the stall; … who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils, but are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph” (Amos 4:6-7).

The neglect of the poor by the rich and the leaders was not different during the time of Jesus, which was why Jesus gave the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: “There was a rich man who dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day. And lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. Dogs even used to come and lick his sores” (Luke 16:19-21).

The rich man did nothing wrong for being rich. His three sins were: lack of moderation (“dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day”), negligence, and lack of compassion (“lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table”). While the rich man did not show compassion to Lazarus, the rich man’s dogs did. The dogs, ordinarily, would have barked and driven Lazarus away from their master’s gate. Instead, the dogs showed him compassion by licking his sores. 

The neglect of the poor, despite the world’s rich resources, may be worse in our time than it was during the time of Amos and the time of Jesus. Some rich countries do not care about the plight of poor countries. Rather, some rich countries are recolonizing poor countries by offering them high interest loans and all kinds of Greek gifts instead of assisting in their development. Activities and operations of rich countries’ multinational companies in poor countries further impoverish the poor countries. It’s a fact that some corrupt rulers wine and dine excessively and do not care about the sufferings of the majority of the people who are poor. The funds that should have been used for the benefit of the poor is stolen and spent on life of vanity. The corrupt rulers “are not made ill by the collapse of Joseph” (Amos 4:7).

There is a story of a poor widow whose husband passed away. The widow went to a rich man in her village and requested for financial help to bury her husband. The rich man, who had so many lands, demanded that his financial help to her was only going to be on the condition that the widow transferred to him the ownership of the only piece of land that belonged to her and her children.

We may not be among the heartless rich people, or among the corrupt political and economic leaders and rulers who waste and squander the wealth that would have benefited the poor; but we are all called to be compassionate and caring; to open our eyes and see the ‘Lazarus’ lying at our door; and to open our hearts to help them.

The readings invite us to evaluate how we are performing our Christian duties of works of mercy. Corporal works of mercy are: feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprisoned (Matthew 25:35-36), and bury the dead (Tobit 1:17-18). Spiritual works of mercy are: instruct the ignorant (Romans 2:20), counsel the doubtful (1 Thessalonians 5:11), admonish sinners (1 Thessalonians 5:14), bear wrong patiently (Luke 6:27-28), forgive offences (Matthew 6:12), comfort the sorrowful (2 Corinthians 1:4), and pray for the living (1 Timothy 2:1), and the dead (2 Maccabees 12:46).

We conclude our reflection with the following passages:

“Whoever has two tunics should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise” (Luke 3:11).

“If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,’ but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also, faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-17).

“When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, … If the person is poor, you shall not sleep in the pledged garment, but shall definitely return it at sunset, so that your neighbor may sleep in the garment and bless you. … You shall not exploit a poor and needy hired servant, whether one of your own kindred or one of the resident aliens who live in your land, within your gates. On each day you shall pay the servant’s wages before the sun goes down, since the servant is poor and is counting on them. Otherwise, the servant will cry to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty” (Deuteronomy 24:11-15).

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP - Homily for The Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C - September 18, 2022

Homily of Twenty-Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C, 2022

Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113:1-2, 4-8; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13

Amos prophesied in Israel about the 8th century B.C. At that time, Israel enjoyed material prosperity. Unfortunately, with the material prosperity were corruption, injustice, oppression of the poor, and unfaithfulness to God. The unfortunate situation is captured by Amos’ words in the first reading, ‘“When will the new moon be over,’ you ask, ‘that we may sell our grain, and Sabbath, that we may display the wheat? We will diminish the ephah, and add to the shekel, and fix our scales for cheating! We will buy the lowly for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals, even the refuse of the wheat we will sell’” (Amos 8:5). This passage shows the dishonesty of political, economic, and religious leaders, and the decadence in the society. The dishonesty of rulers and leaders is a huge problem in our world today.

One of the priests, Amaziah, unable to take in Amos’ prophesies lied to King Jeroboam, “Amos has conspired against you within the house of Israel; the country cannot endure all his words. For this is what Amos says: ‘Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be exiled from its land.’” Then, the priest fumed at Amos, “Off with you, seer, flee to the land of Judah and there earn your bread by prophesying! But never again prophesy in Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary and a royal temple” (Amos 7:10-13). Here is a priest bearing false witness against God’s prophet and driving him away! Wow!!! Unfortunately, there are many ‘Amaziah’ religious leaders in our world. Let us pray for our religious leaders that they may lead a life worthy of their calling (Ephesians 4:1); and that they may be beacons of light in our dark world.

In the Gospel, Jesus shows that dishonesty and corruption are not only a problem with leaders but are a problem everywhere; to the extent that in many places, honesty is nowadays a surprise. In the parable, when the dishonest steward was about to be fired, he became even more dishonest and infested his dishonesty on more people (his master’s debtors). This shows the contaminating harmful effect of evil.

While we spend time and energy clamoring and lamenting about the dishonesty and corruption in our leaders, systems, and establishments; we, also, need to self-examine our performance in our various responsibilities. How honest are we to our responsibilities in our families? in our jobs? in our various relationships and transactions? How honest are we to God who has blessed us so much? Jesus says to us, “The person who is trustworthy in very small matters is also trustworthy in great ones; and the person who is dishonest in very small matters is also dishonest in great ones.” Jesus’ saying brings to mind a rule of caution that says that a person who testifies falsely about one matter is capable of testifying falsely about other matters. Dishonesty is at its worst when it is masked in hypocrisy; like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The master was amazed at the craftiness of the dishonest steward, which made Jesus to say, “The children of this world are more prudent in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.” This is to say that many times, honest people who are supposed to be “children of light” lack courage, firmness, and exuberance. If “children of this world” turn their energy and craftiness to doing good, hardship and suffering will disappear from our society.

St. Paul appeals to us in the second reading to pray that leaders and everyone may live honestly, since, as we reflected above, dishonesty is not only a problem with the leadership.  “I ask for supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgiving be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

Honesty opens many doors; while dishonesty closes many doors. Honesty guides; but dishonesty leads astray (Proverbs 11:3). Honesty creates positive energy that builds; but dishonesty creates negative energy that destroys. According to William Shakespeare, “No legacy is so rich as honesty.” O Lord, grant us the grace of honesty. Amen.

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP