THE DIVINE CHOICE

HOMILY FOR 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR C

THEME: THE DIVINE CHOICE

R1: Exodus 3:1-8.13-15

R2: 1 Cor. 10:1-6.10-12

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

Dear friends in Christ, today’s readings explain the choice God has made of us. He loves us so much and has called all of us to leave behind our past lives and our sinful state, and accept the new life of grace which he is offering us out of his love and mercy.  The readings explain this choice and the role we should play to make this choice of God realizable. We have the following lessons to learn:

*1. The Enduring Compassion of God:*

 In our first reading today we hear the call of Moses. God having heard the cry of His people called Moses to be their liberator. Here God is seen as a compassionate and ever loving Father. It is worthy of note that before now God had made a covenant with Israel, to bless his generation forever. Notwithstanding, this promise of God was interrupted by a temporary suffering in Egypt. The situation of the Israelites made them cry to God and He heard them.

We are sometimes faced with life challenging situations.These do not present the fact that God hates us. In our suffering or life experiences, many times God wants to use that to teach us a lesson and to demonstrate how much He loves us. In situations like this, there are two important things we are expected to do before God will respond. These are: i. we MUST cry to Him before He would respond. In the first reading God says, “I have heard the cry of my people” (Ex 13:9). Thus, there is always need for us to ask before we receive (Mt 7:7).  ii. We MUST be ready to cooperate with Him. The Israelites needed to listen to the voice of God through Moses. They needed to follow Moses’ instructions. In the same way, even though God has made choice of us, we must cooperate with His voice through the commandments, the Church, our good conscience and the advice of good friends. These would lead us to the desired goal and the eternal happiness we seek. 

*2. Sin and Punishment:*

In some cultures, when someone is suffering or having a health challenge or other negative experiences in life, it is common to say that the cause of that negative experience is one’s sin. However, in the Gospel reading of today, Jesus corrects that impression. We are not in any way better than those who are undergoing challenges in life. Their experience does not in any way suggest that God hates them.

People generally experience problems, sickness, accidents, disappointments, and pain because of the fragile nature of life and to teach us how helpless and weak we are and the limit of our human power. These can befall anyone, both good and bad, not for a specific reason per say. Hence, my difficulties are not punishment from God. There were many God’s elect that experienced same; Job, Jesus, Stephen, the apostles and many others.  In fact, it does seem that those who love God experience challenges more than others. Jesus maintains, “Blessed are you who hunger now, you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, you shall laugh” (Lk 6:25).

*3. The Limit we should not exceed:*

 It is very important for us to know that even though God loves us so much that He can and He is always ready to intervene in our situations, as Paul narrates in the second reading, there is a limit we must not exceed, and that is, the rejection of God’s love through sin.

Sin kills. Jesus in the Gospel reading states that “Unless we repent we must perish” (Lk13: 5). Repentance is the acceptance of God’s love. Sin is the rejection of God’s love. 

While God is always demonstrating His love towards us, we on our side must accept it before it becomes a reality. In the second reading Paul reminds us that those who rejected God’s love all died in the desert (1 Cor. 10:5) and so will it be on the last day for those who will not repent.

 Therefore Jesus is giving us a warning as well as an opportunity for second chance within this Lenten season. He is inviting us to dig round our spiritual roots and add manure so that we can bear fruits. The fruits we shall bear will be the evidence of our acceptance of God’s love and call. May God help us all, Amen.

Reflection by:

*Fr Vincent Chukwuemeka Livinus, SMMM.*

THE LENTEN GUIDE

REFLECTION FOR 2ND SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR C

R1 Gen 15:5-12; 17-18,

R2 Phil 3:17-4:1, 

Gospel Lk 9:28-36

THEME: THE LENTEN GUIDE

The season of Lent is a special time for Christians, a period we start up a journey with our focus fixed on Christ and our target to re-establish and make stronger our relationship with God. The readings of today suggest different practical steps we need to adopt as to meet our target.

*1. Sacrifice:*

The Lenten observance is incomplete without our readiness to offer up something and to let go of our excesses and addictions. This attitude of letting something out and cutting down our excesses prepares us for a deep and closer encounter of God, just like Abraham in the first reading, whose vision of God was unclear until after the sacrifice of the animals.

Dear friends, we may not be true Christians without the readiness to leave up those things that block our vision of Christ. Those things may include hatred, anger, love for power, injustice, lies, jealousy, worldly pleasures, addictions, bad company or friends whose intention is to distract our union with God. These and more are what the second reading refers to as enemies of the cross of Christ (Phil 3:18).

*2. Spiritual Modelling:*

 Modernity has always posed a challenge to Christianity. St John in 1 John 2:15, warns us against the love of the world as this would mean the absence of the love of God.

 In the second reading, St Paul opens our eyes to the consciousness that there are many people who are bent on teaching modernity and incite people to embrace a world of pleasures as against the Christian demand of love of the Christ, characterized by self-denial and the way of cross following after the example of Christ. This poses a challenge to Christianity, hence, St Paul advices us to have a sort of spiritual guide who will help us focus on where we are going. More importantly, we ourselves should be good examples of what we believe to others.

St Paul in the second reading advices, to associate more with those who would help us in our spiritual growth and not those who will destroy our spiritual vitality. Hence, let us pattern our lives on example of those who have a relationship with Christ (Phil 3:17).

*3. Pray:* 

There is a saying that “A prayerless Christian is a powerless Christian.” Our desired union with God cannot be attained without prayer since prayer moulds us, shapes us and it gives us form and direction. Prayer itself is a link to the divine (Jesus’ prayer led to the opened heaven, the voice of the Father and the appearance of two great figures of faith; Moses and Elijah. Lk 9:30)

In the gospel reading of today, Jesus went up to the mountain with Peter, James and John to pray and there he was transfigured. It is important to note that while Jesus was praying, his three disciples were asleep and this prevented them from enjoying the grace of the transfiguration immediately until when they were awake. This speaks to us about what happens when we pray; during prayer we are being transformed and we have a glorious experience of God. When we refusing to pray or sleep away, we miss having a divine encounter. 

Again, Jesus prayed on the mountain and he was transfigured, Abraham left his father’s house to the land that God showed him and he was blessed. In the same way, the challenged before us today is to leave the comfort our homes to the place of God, to the house of God and to identify with Christ and that is when we shall experience the change we need and the change that will unify us with God on the last day. 

*Fr Vincent Chukwuemeka Livinus, SMMM.*

OVERCOMING OUR TEMPTATION.

REFLECTION FOR FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR C

Theme: Overcoming Our Temptation.

R1: Deut 26:4-10

R2: Rom 10:8-13

Lk 4:1-13_

Dear friends in Christ, the Lenten season is a special time for all Christians and for Catholics in particular to draw closer to God, as we call to mind our sins and implore God’s mercy and forgiveness. Within this period, three important actions accompany us on our journey; prayer, fasting or abstinence and almsgiving. This period can be challenging and full of temptations hence, the readings of today tell us what to do when confronted by temptation. 

First, “Jesus filled with the Spirit was led into the wilderness and there was tempted” (Lk 4:1): There are two important things to be noted here: i. Jesus filled with Spirit, and ii. [Jesus] was tempted. It may be surprising that at the time he was filled with the Spirit, He was tempted. What could this mean?

Worthy of note is that Jesus was tempted immediately after his baptism, so also does temptation come to God’s elect (children of God) and it comes from the devil, to distract our relationship with God. While in the wilderness he was tempted and that is how we can be tempted while we are in the Church, or working in the Church or even working for the Church. We are most times tempted when we have decided to make a deep religious commitment. Temptation can take the following forms:

*1. Command This Stone to Become Bread (LK 4:3):* 

This temptation was targeted on Jesus to make him use his divine power to overcome the difficulties of our human experiences. It is just like saying to Jesus, since you are hungry; you have the power, why not command this stone to become bread for you to eat.

In life we experience hunger, we experience uninterrupted search for pleasure and the desire to become satisfied always by all means. When we are so concerned about ourselves alone without having a thought about the feeling of the next person, when we feel we can use our position, office and power anyhow, we are facing the first temptation. 

The response of Jesus, “Man does not leave on bread alone”, tells us what we must do when confronted by this temptation. Therefore, even though bread is important, we can live without it. That means, even though I have the power to change things for my own good and to satisfy myself to any extent, the good of another is also very important. 

*2. Worship Me, I Shall Give You All This Power and Glory, It Has Been Given To Me:*

 There are two things to be noted here: i. The devil that feels he has the power, ii. The command to worship the devil.

This is the temptation we face when we have too many possessions. Sometimes, the desire that those who are poorer or less wealthy are inferior will always manifest itself. Sometimes those who are not up to our standard of achievements and position are considered less important and may be treated in degrading manner or exploited for our selfish interests. On the other hand, we should be very careful in the pursuit of riches and wealth, relying only on the power of God to bless us at His time while we work hard, instead of doing what will offend God by going contrary to the law of the Lord just to be wealthy. Remember, no one leaves the world with his/her possessions. 

*3. Throw yourself Down, For the Scripture Say...:* 

The desire to rely on God’s promise and fulfilment is inherent in every Christian. However, to wait for God’s promise to be fulfilled before we can trust Him is a temptation.

Many times, some Christians think that God loves them only when things are moving fine for them. As long as things are going in their favour, they believe that God exits and God loves them. As soon as they encounter challenges, or they experience the other side of life which may not be in their favour they feel that God does not exist and their faith begins to fade away. In as much as we await God’s promise’s fulfilment, let this not be a condition for our believing in Him.

It becomes important then that we must trust God both in good times and in bad times remembering that our followership is a cross and we must carry that behind our Lord. God has loved us so much that He gave His Son to die for us and there is no greater love than this. We must return the same love to Him through being thankful for granting us salvation as Moses and the Israelites did in the first reading (Deut 6:10). Our thankfulness should be expressed by the profession of faith, not just by confessing with our lips but by believing in the heart that Jesus is Lord (Rom 10:10). The heart is the seat of love therefore, from our hearts we must express what we believe by our actions through almsgiving during this Lenten period.

*Fr Chukwuemeka V. Livinus, SMMM*

WHY ASH WEDNESDAY?

 *WHY ASH WEDNESDAY?*

It may be surprising that there is no mention of the Ash Wednesday in the Scripture.  The question one will be pushed to ask then is: Why this celebration, why apply ashes on your faces, what's the meaning of that?

Ash is the end product of everything that is subjected to fire or burning.  No matter how beautiful a thing is, when being burnt it  because ashes. So also does the application of ashes reminds us of the following:

*1. OUR MORTALITY:*  This is a reality that sometimes we don't want to hear, that one day we shall all die.  Thus, Ecclesiastes 3:20, *"All are from the dust, and to dust all return".* That we shall return to dust makes it necessary for us to cry to the Lord for mercy  and the desire to leave ours sins and return to the Lord with a broken heart (Joel 2:13).

*2. HOW MOURNFUL WE ARE:* We have all sinned and lawlessly departed from the way of the Lord. The application ashes shows sorry we are of our sins and we cry, "Have mercy on me O God for we have sinned" (Psalm 51:1)

*3. OUR  REPENTANCE:* Being aware of our sins, we throw ourselves to the dust just like Job who out of anger spoke against God in Job 42:6. And like the people of Nineveh, we feel sorry for sins and show a sign of repentace by casting ashes upon ourselves (Jonah 3:59).

These three attitudes accompy us through the Lenten season, which is a period of forty (40) days, like Jesus who went into the desert for prayers and fasting for 40days.

Within the Lenten season, we are expected to take up three actions:

*1. PRAYER:* We pray that we do not fall into temptation (Mt 26:41). This prayer should aim at seeking God's mercy and forgiveness, and we do not need to do that to create people's attention just as the Pharisees do (Mt 6:5).

*2. FASTING:* It is a time we fast not just from food but we abstain from those wordly pleasures and sinful dispositions. We fast also from excessive drinking, smoking,  eating etc with the target that the money we spend in getting those things will be saved for those in need. We need to do this fast because this is the acceptable time, the time of salvation (2 Cor 6:2).

*3. ALMS-GIVING:*  What we have saved from our fasting should be use for almsgiving. Charity is an unavoidable character of Christianity. Christianity without almsgiving is incomplete. We remember, "Whatsoever you do to the least of our brothers,  that you do unto me" (Mt 25:40).

Very important is that while we do charity, our left hand should not know what the right hand doing.  We should not sound our trumpet like the hypocrites. We should not announce that we are giving assistance or charity. It is only then that our sacrifice, our prayer and our fasting wil merit us a reward from God.

Wishing you a grace filled Lenten season. 

*Fr Livinus Chukwuemeka, SMMM.*