Homily/Reflection: Nineteenth (19th) Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B (August 9 2015)

Homily/Reflection: Nineteenth (19^th) Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B (August 9 2015)

Theme: “The Eucharist: Food for Pilgrims”.

Stella and Sandra were two sisters who fell in love with two brothers Dickson and Thomas. All were from poor homes and were orphans. The two brothers decided to assist the two sisters who were more helpless, with the intention of having them as life partners afterwards. Dickson was a sales boy and used his salary to send Stella who was blind to a special school for the blind. Thomas was a truck pusher and used his daily wages to pay Sandra’s school fees. After some years, both girls graduated from school and became comfortable with good jobs. When the brothers initiated their marriage proposal, Stella wished she could see if only for a day, the face of the guy who changed her life and destiny. 

Eventually, one day, someone donated a pair of eyes to Stella and after the eye transplant, she saw. She saw Dickson but was disappointed to realize that he was also blind. She refused to marry him because she couldn’t afford to marry a blind man. Dickson later sent her a note which read: “I caused you joy but you caused me sorrow. Please take good care of my eyes because I sacrificed them that you may see me”. Sandra also refused to marry Thomas because he was a truck pusher. She couldn’t imagine herself as a graduate marrying a truck pusher. She appreciated Thomas’ sacrifices but preferred to marry a graduate. Both brothers were tired of life and thought it was better to have died than experience this.

Homily/Reflection: Eighteenth (18th) Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B (August 01 2015)

Homily/Reflection: Eighteenth (18^th) Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B (August 01 2015)

Theme: “I am the Bread of Life”.

Recently, I attended a function organized by the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in which so many invited less privileged people were fed and empowered. My experience at the event brought to light the extent of poverty, hunger and disease that have enveloped the masses. When it was time to feed them, none of them wanted to be starved and so they were scrambling for food. Most of them hadn’t eaten for days and some even had no hope of the next meal, but they were thankful they had something for that day. But the funny part of the story was that the next day, a greater number of them stormed the scene of the event presuming there would be another feast for them only to be disappointed with the empty spaces. 

Reflection/Homily: Seventeenth (17th) Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B (July 26 2015)

Reflection/Homily: Seventeenth (17^th) Sunday of Ordinary Time Year B (July 26 2015)

Theme: What is your Loaf of Bread?

Recently, I once attended a function that lasted more than it was necessary. I didn’t take my breakfast before setting out for the event and when the event was unnecessarily being prolonged, I became very hungry and looked forward to the light refreshment. Unfortunately, the organizers of the event didn’t anticipate a very large guest that the provisions they made were obviously insufficient for all that so many persons including myself went home disappointed, hungry, and angry. In the first reading (2 Kings 4:42-44), we see a different scenario. Elisha’s servant was asked to distribut twenty barley loaves among a crowd containing about a hundred men and he wondered if the loaves would ever be enough for all but at the end of the story, the crowd all ate and there were some left over. In the gospel reading (John 6:1-15) too, the disciples wondered about the sufficiency of the five loaves of bread and two fish which were to be used to feed a crowd containing about five thousand men. At the end of the story, when Jesus blessed the loaves and fish, the crowds all ate and there were twelve baskets filled with left overs. 

Reflection/Homily: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ Year B (June 7 2015)

Reflection/Homily: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ Year B (June 7 2015)

Theme: The Cleansing Power of the Eucharist

Some foreigners in a certain land disobeyed the laws of the land and were put into prison before they would be executed. They requested to see the king to plead for amnesty. On hearing their request, the king decided to visit them in prison. In his simplicity, he wore ordinary clothes but unfortunately the foreigners could not recognize him because they had not known him previously. They ignored him when he introduced himself to them as the king because they expected to see a man in royal outfit. Unfortunately, the king left them without any favour because they could not value him. He seemed to be too casual but he preferred simplicity so as to be approachable. Often times, we experience this kind of situation when we meet important people, at other times something of value before us because we are familiar with it or because it in presented in ordinary form. That is why today, the church wants us to re-evaluate our value for the Holy Eucharist through this solemnity of the body and blood of Christ. Unlike on Holy Thursday when we reflect on the Eucharist, priesthood and love, today our attention will be focused only on the Eucharist precisely on its cleansing power.

Reflection/Homily: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ – Corpus Christi (June 2 2013)

Reflection/Homily: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ – Corpus Christi (June 2 2013)

Theme: “The Second Transubstantiation”

Today’s celebration of the solemnity of the Most Holy Eucharist is a celebration that is at the center of the Church’s liturgical life and worship. It is the source and summit of our Christian life and faith. The Council of Trent and the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC 1376) make it clear that by the consecration of the bread and wine, there takes place a change of the whole substance of bread into the Body of Christ and the whole substance of wine into the Blood of Christ. This change, the Council of Trent calls Transubstantiation.  

For us to understand this dogma of transubstantiation better, it is important to look into what it is not first. There are two heretical theories opposed to the theory of transubstantiation. The first, the heretical theory of Annihilation claims that at consecration, the bread and wine cease to exist and the body and blood of Christ is created ex nihilo (out of nothing) to take the place of the former bread and wine. The error here is the assumption that the ordinary elements of life are annihilated and supplanted by grace. Thus, grace does not build on nature and in fact destroys nature. This makes divine transformation a magic without the aid of the agent.

Reflection/Homily: Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper Year C (March 28 2013)

Reflection/Homily: Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper Year C (March 28 2013)

Theme: The Holy Eucharist: A Communion and Summit of Love

In this liturgy of the evening mass of the Lord ’s Supper, the Holy Mother Church commemorates three principal mysteries; the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the institution of the Catholic Priesthood and Christ’s commandment of brotherly love. Our reflection this evening will be based on these mysteries.

The Institution of the Holy Eucharist: The idea of the Holy Eucharist is dominant in the readings of today. The first reading (Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14) gives us a pre-figure of the institution of the Holy Eucharist which is the Christian Passover meal. In the second reading (1 Cor. 11:23-26), St. Paul narrates the manner in which Christ instituted this great sacrament and gave his apostles the mandate to celebrate it in his memory.

As we know, the Holy Eucharist is a topic that can never be exhausted because it is God Himself who cannot be fully comprehended. Based on this, we shall reflect on the Eucharist as a sacrament of communion.

Bishop John Okoye in his Lenten pastoral letter for 2012 describes the celebration of the Eucharist as the highest expression of the identity of the Church as a communion. This is because it maintains the communion between the Church and the Triune God, the communion between the Church and the faithful and the communion between the faithful themselves.