Homily for 3rd Sunday of Lent Year C By Fr. Munachi Ezeogu, CSSp

Exodus 3:1-8, 13-15, I Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12, Luke 13:1-9

On the Gospel – But for the Grace of God

There was an old man who maintained his subscription to the daily newspaper even though he had virtually stopped reading. His neighbour asked him why he maintained a subscription to a newspaper he never read. This was his reply. "Every morning, before any other thing, I look up the obituary section of the newspaper to see if my name is there. If I don't find my name there, I kneel down and thank God for the gift of another day. That is why I subscribe to the daily newspaper." 

Imagine today's gospel as giving us a rare glimpse into the obituary section of a Jerusalem daily newspaper one day in the lifetime of Jesus. That particular day, the story of the dead took up not only the obituary section but the front page headlines as well: "Blood Bath in the Temple, Pilate Slaughters Suspected Galilean Terrorists," "Tower of Siloam Collapses, 18 People Feared Dead." What was the common reaction of the religious people of Jerusalem to such news of human disaster and misfortune? About the Galileans they probably said, "Serves them right. Death to the terrorists!" About those crushed to death they would say, "Well, that is an act of God. God knows why those eighteen deserve to die at this time, in this manner." And they would flip the page for more interesting news, such as the survivor in the previous day's reality show of the amphitheatre gladiators. 

Homily for 2nd Sunday of Lent Year C By Fr. Munachi Ezeogu, CSSp

Genesis 15:5-12, 17-18,     Philippians 3:17-4:1,          Luke 9:28-36

On the Gospel – Lord, that we May See

In 2 Kings 6 we are told the story of how the Syrian army moved in by night and surrounded a city in which Elisha the prophet of God was staying. Their aim was to capture Elisha because he was using his prophetic powers to render intelligence services to the king of Israel. Elisha's servant Gehazi woke up in the morning to discover that they had been caged in by enemy forces and was naturally overtaken by fear and doubt. How would the man of God pull through this? When Elisha saw how Gehazi was panicking he tried to calm him down by saying to him “Fear not, for those who are on our side are more than those on their side” (2 Kings 6:16). But who would believe that? So Elisha prayed, “O Lord, please, open his eyes that he may see” (verse 17). And God opened the eyes of Gehazi and he saw that all the surrounding mountainside was full of horses and chariots of fire forming a protective wall around Elisha. His fears were allayed. That day Elisha had an easy victory over his enemies.

Reflection/Homily: Third (3rd) Sunday of Lent Year C

Theme: The Word of God: A Divine Catalyst

Those days in the secondary school, we were taught that a catalyst is a chemical substance that facilitates a chemical reaction and is itself unchanged during the chemical reaction. In other words, we can say that a catalyst is an unchanging substance that is capable of initiating a change in another substance. Under the field of science, we can find catalysts like Manganese dioxide which is used to decompose Hydrogen peroxide to oxygen and water, we can also find sulfuric acid which is used to dehydrate Ethanol to Ethylene, etc.

A more familiar example of a catalyst is heat. Heat is used to speed up a number of chemical reactions but at the end, it remains unchanged. Importing this idea into our context, we can also consider a spoken word as a catalyst in the sense that it goes from the speaker into the hearer to transform the hearer but in itself it remains just a spoken word. In this sense, we can then analogically talk about the Word of God as a Divine Catalyst. This Word comes to us as a gift from God to instruct and transform us into what God wants us to be, but this Word remains unchanged.

Reflection/Homily: Second (2nd) Sunday of Lent Year C

Theme: Listening to Jesus

In today’s Gospel reading (Luke 9:28-36) Jesus went up to the mountain to pray with three of his disciples. Within the course of the prayer, Moses and Elijah appeared and Jesus was bodily transfigured into glory as his face and clothe were as dazzling as the sun. Rapt in this glorious ecstasy, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He did not even consider their own accommodation. All he wanted was to remain there experiencing the glory of God.

But as Peter spoke, something dramatic happened before Jesus could reply. Suddenly, a cloud came and covered them with shadow and as the disciples were trying to understand what was going on, a voice spoke and said “This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him.” Immediately, the two guests (Moses and Elijah) left and Jesus was found alone. In other words, we can say that immediately the voice finished speaking, the whole glorious scene ended waiting for the time the disciples would experience this beatific vision permanently.

Homily for 1st Sunday of Lent Year C By Fr. Munachi Ezeogu, CSSp

Deuteronomy 26:4-10,      Romans 10:8-13,    Luke 4:1-13

On the Gospel – Temptation

In the heat of the President Bill Clinton and Miss Monica Lewinsky affair the head of a women's support group spoke on CNN. This is what she said, in essence: "Monica Lewinsky has done nothing wrong. In the world of corporate establishments and in the White House bureaucracy, women who want to advance must use everything at their disposal: power, connections and sex. If that is what she has done, we see absolutely nothing wrong with that." The name of the game is: use what you have to get what you want. I am sure you have heard that before. Many people indeed take it as their philosophy of life. In our Gospel reading today, however, Jesus shows us that the principle of using whatever you have to get whatever you want is not always right. In fact, when that principle is applied without putting God first, it becomes a philosophy of the world, the devil's own philosophy, a philosophy that should be rejected even as Jesus did.

Reflection/Homily: First (1st) Sunday of Lent Year C

Theme: The Temptations of Jesus

Lent is a special period of preparation for Easter. It is an opportunity to reflect on and share in the sufferings of Christ who gave up his life for our salvation. Within this period, in order to suffer with Christ, we are obliged to accept some of our dislikes and reject some of our likes. This is the goal of self-mortification; voluntarily accepting suffering and willingly rejecting pleasure. As we try to do this, we may encounter several temptations. The temptations of Jesus narrated to us in the gospel reading (Luke 4:1-13) presents us with the various tactics and means the devil may use to tempt us. Jesus’ responses to these temptations equally guide us on how to overcome these temptations. On this first Sunday of Lent, the Church reminds us that nobody is above temptation  and in fact, the closer we are to God, the more we are tempted; the moment we decide to do good, that’s when the devil tempts us to do bad. 

Reflection/Homily: Ash Wednesday

It was not long ago that it was announced in a parish that the diocesan bishop would be coming to the parish on a pastoral visit. This great event of the bishop’s visit once in four years due to the large size of the diocese was marked with a great preparation. There were renovations within the Church premises, decorations, clean ups, etc just to prepare for the great event of the bishop’s visit. This is an indication that most often, important and remarkable things do not just happen without serious preparations. For an ordination and profession to take place there must have been a period of formation, for graduation, a period of scholarly involvements, serious academic struggles and scholarship, for marriage, a period of courtship and even for Christmas, a period of advent.

Homily for 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C By Fr. Munachi Ezeogu, CSSp

Isaiah 6:1-8,                         1 Cor. 15:1-11,         Luke 5:1-11

On the Gospel – Unworthy Ministers 

In a certain church there was a man in the choir who couldn't sing very well. The choir director suggested that he should leave the choir. Others felt he should be given more time to improve. The choir director then decided to go to the pastor and complain. "You've got to get that man out of the choir or else I'm going to resign." So the pastor went to the man and said to him, "Perhaps you should leave the choir." "Why should I leave the choir?" the man asked. "Well," said the pastor, "four or five people have told me you can't sing." "That's nothing," the man replied, "forty or fifty people have told me you can't preach!" Today's readings show us how God can make use of the most unlikely people to fulfil the divine purpose.

Reflection/Homily: Fifth (5th) Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

Theme: Here I am Lord, Send Me

The word “mission” from its Latin origin “missio” means to send. From this point of view, a missionary could be described as a person sent by God to a people and a place to do the will of God among the people and make the place a better place. This missionary could be sent as a priest, a religious, a teacher, or even as a businessman, medical doctor, labourer, etc. 

In the first reading of last Sunday, we see God sending Jeremiah on mission as a prophet to the Israelites. In today’s first reading (Isaiah 6:1-8) we also see God calling Isaiah for a mission as a prophet to the Israelites. In the second reading (1 Cor. 15:1-11), St Paul discusses the mission he received from Christ as an Apostle to the nations. In the Gospel reading (Luke 5:1-11), we see Christ calling Peter and his companions for their mission as fishers of men.