BAPTISM PLUS EPIPHANY

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.

Baptism of the Lord, Sunday, Year C, 12th Jan 2025. 

1. Stand-Up Comedy. There’s a popular stand-up comedy on the Baptism of our Lord by John the Baptist, in which the comedian says to the crowd: ‘When you were baptized, someone said to you: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”. Now when Jesus Himself was baptized by John, what did John say to Him? I guess something like “I baptize you in your name, your Dad and your best friend”’. Sisters and Brothers, this joke of course misses the fact that none of us received the baptism of John. It was only after the death and resurrection of our Lord, that anyone was baptized in the name of Christ or in the name of the Blessed Trinity, as our Lord commanded: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Mt 28:19). Interestingly, it was at the Baptism of our Lord by John that we had the very first recorded manifestation or Epiphany of the Blessed Trinity: the Father spoke confirming the Divinity of Jesus as Son of God, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him. So, the stand-up comedy, unintentionally draws our attention to the double essence of the Baptism of our Lord: firstly, He publicly identified with us sinners though sinless. Secondly, the Father and the Holy Spirit also publicly identified Him for us, as the Son of God. Wow: Baptism plus Epiphany indeed!  The Baptism of our Lord is another Epiphany which set the stage for our own baptism,  our own incorporation into Christ, giving us identity as Christians and empowering us to live as Christians everywhere. Today, Christianity is the largest religion in the world with about 2.4 billion followers out of about 8 billion people on our planet. For me, the extent to which I am not yet fully Christian is more than the extent to which the world population is not yet fully Christian. A long journey awaits us. 

2. The Epiphany of the Blessed Trinity. Yes, today’s Gospel reading (Lk 3:15-16, 21-22) reveals the transition from the preparatory baptism of repentance by John the Baptist, to the setting up of Christian Baptism by the Blessed Trinity: "After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened." The Holy Spirit manifested "in bodily form like a dove". God the Father spoke: “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” Sisters and Brothers, make no mistake about it, the earliest followers of Christ who witnessed this Epiphany of the Blessed Trinity at the Baptism of our Lord, were not more fortunate than ourselves today. They still had to have faith in Jesus who had all the features of  a mortal man except sin. In fact, we are more fortunate because we live on the other side of the Resurrection. The first followers of Christ believed in Him before He rose from the dead. We, on the other hand, have the confidence of knowing that He conquered death. We also have over 2000 years of Christian witness to inspire us, in spite of scandals. The first Christians were not sure what this new religion would produce, how many people would embrace it, or how it would change the world for the better. We know that Christianity has been fruitful beyond measure, transforming cultures, uplifting human nature towards full realization of our status as persons created in God’s image. According to the Gospel reading today, it was after they were baptized as a sign of repentance, that the people witnessed the opening of heaven. We who have been baptized in Christ, have not only been forgiven our sins, original and personal, we have not only become adopted children of God and members of the Church, the Body of Christ, but we also have access to the voice of God. In the silence of our hearts, through God's Word, through the Sacraments, heaven is opened for us as well. God speaks and continues to be well-pleased in Jesus Christ. Is God well-pleased in you and me? 

3. Well Pleased. This question actually recalls the first essence of our Lord’s Baptism, though He was sinless. John the Baptist hesitated but our Lord insisted to be baptized, "to fulfill all righteousness." Mt 3:15. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains further: "The baptism of Jesus is on his part the acceptance and inauguration of his mission as God's suffering Servant. He allows himself to be numbered among sinners; he is already "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world" (CCC 536, Jn 1:29). Thus, whenever we are Christ-like, we become pleasing to God. Christ Himself continues to enable us through the Sacraments He instituted, through prayer, through charitable deeds, through repentance, to become pleasing to God. Even now, as we worship the Father, through the Son in this Eucharist, the Holy Spirit fills us with the joy of knowing that we are pleasing to God. May we continue to be pleasing to God and our neighbours, through Christian love, after this Holy Mass, and ever after, Amen. 

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EVERY NATION

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.
Epiphany of the Lord, Sunday, Year C, 5th Jan 2025.

1. Every Nation. Let’s start with two riddles on “nation”. 1. A professor asked her students in class: can anyone tell us the nation that their friends tend to hate most? A student raised his hand and answered, “Examination”. 2. A rather creative beggar at a busy traffic junction raised up a cardboard with the question: “Can you name the best nation on earth?” Whenever people looked with curiosity, he turned the cardboard around and showed them the answer: “Donation”. People smiled and donated. Sisters and Brothers, we just recited together the inspired words of the Psalmist: “Lord, every nation on earth will adore You.” Psalm 72:11. Yes, every nation, without qualification. The Epiphany, the manifestation of God to the nations through the visit of the Magi from the East, was a fulfilment of that declaration. Today’s Scripture readings point two manifestations, namely, (1) God’s Epiphany to all  nations, about salvation and (2) Peoples’ manifestation of their reactions to God.

2. God’s Epiphany. The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it succinctly: "The Epiphany is the manifestation of Jesus as Messiah of Israel, Son of God and Savior of the world. The great feast of Epiphany celebrates the adoration of Jesus by the wise men (magi) from the East.... In the magi, representatives of the neighboring pagan religions, the Gospel sees the first fruits of the nations, who welcome the good news of salvation through the Incarnation." (CCC#528).  Today’s Gospel reading (Mt 2:1-12) said as much. Sisters and Brothers, God is free to reveal Himself to anyone in any manner God chooses. The magi told Herod and others in Jerusalem  how they got their revelation: “We saw his star at its rising and have come to do him homage.” (Mt 2:2). Notice how Herod, the chief priests and scribes resorted to God’s manifestation to Israel. The Israelites had the experience of God’s manifestation to them by miraculous deeds and prophesies some of which were documented as Sacred Scripture. They searched through these and in Micah 5:2 they found the answer to the question of the Magi:  “Where is the newborn king of the Jews?” Bethlehem of Judah.  What a beautiful synthesis of God’s Epiphany to Jews and Gentiles: God’s revelation to every nation, in different ways. Sacred Scripture pin-pointed Bethlehem and the providential star guiding the magi, as a sort of miraculous GPS led them to the exact spot in Bethlehem where Jesus was. Even the prophecy in today’s 1st  reading (Is 60:1-6) is fulfilled since the magi first went to Jerusalem where they got the light pointing to Bethlehem. What next? It is our turn as human beings to manifest our reactions to God’s revelation of salvation.

3. People’s “epiphany”. The Gentile Magi reacted the same way as the Jewish Shepherds reacted to the message of the Angels from last week’s readings. They set out to find the Messiah in order to adore Him. The Magi, who represent all wise women and men, seek to adore. They represent all who search for meaning with a sincere heart. The wise, the smart, continue to seek the truth outside themselves, to seek ultimate truth and to adore. How about tyrants? Herod represents tyrants, those who have only one thing to protect, namely, their selfish interest: power, money, prestige, whatever. Faced with God’s revelation, they turn against even their own consciences. Josephus the great historian records that Herod quickly executed anyone he perceived to threaten his rule, including his wife and children (Antiquities 15.7.5–6 and 16.11.7). In fact, Herod executed three of his own sons whom he accused of plotting to overthrow him.  On hearing about one of these executions, the Roman Emperor, Augustus Caesar  joked: “It is better to be Herod’s pig than son” (Macrobius, Saturnalia, 2:4:11). The joke was that as a practicing Jew, Herod didn’t eat pork and so his pig would be safe. Tyrants are paranoid. They are ready to destroy everyone just to cling to power. Herod ordered the killing of all boys two years old and younger in Bethlehem and its vicinity, in an attempt to destroy the Infant Messiah (Mt 2: 16-18). Sisters and Brothers,  not only are there providential stars to guide people to ultimate values, to God, but the entire heavens continue to proclaim the glory of God to human beings, as the Psalmist says (Ps 19:1). God is still manifesting Himself to every nation and to everyone in their consciences. Moreover, just like St Paul in today’s 2nd reading (Eph 3:2-3, 5-6), you and I have the stewardship of God’s grace given to us, for the benefit of the world. Let us worship the Messiah and support others in their life journey, in their search for the ultimate values, a search that leads to the Infant of Bethlehem.  Let us thank God for giving us the wisdom to worship Him in spirit and truth, and for the goodwill to lead others to Him. Amen.


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A FRESH START
Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.
Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, Year C, 1st Jan 2025.
World Day of Peace, 2025

1. World Day of Peace. The message of Pope Francis, for today, 58th World Day of Peace, is contained in the title itself: “Forgive us our trespasses: grant us your peace”. It is a prayer. The title and contents of the message correspond to the biblical and ecclesial understanding of the Jubilee Year, 2025. The Pope writes: “We for our part feel bound to cry out and denounce the many situations in which the earth is exploited, and our neighbours oppressed. These injustices can appear at times in the form of what Saint John Paul II called ‘structures of sin’ that arise not only from injustice on the part of some but are also consolidated and maintained by a network of complicity.”
2. Salvation. In starting afresh to dismantle the structures of sin, God did not discard His earlier creation or creatures but rather made new covenants with people whom He will use for the salvation of all. In today’s 1st (Nm 6:22-27) Moses, Aaron and other human mediators are taught how to invoke God’s blessings, on the Israelites. The 2nd reading (Gal 4:4-7), proclaims the perfect mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, true God and true man, true God with all divine attributes of being eternal and all-powerful, as well as true man, like us in all things except sin. All this is revealed in Scripture. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman”. Gal 4:4. “Born of a woman” who was specially prepared by God for the purpose, as Angel Gabriel announced: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). Mary, full of grace, and with the Holy Spirit coming upon her, became the ever-virgin mother of the God-man Jesus Christ. What a sublime miracle of redemption! At last, God’s own creature, Mary, used her God-given intelligence and freedom, to say “Yes” to God, without reservation. And although our Lord Jesus has two perfect natures, divine and human, He remains one person, which is why Mary, the new Eve, the new mother of the living, is also mother of God, Theotokos! Today, we celebrate her special role and title as mother of God, thanks to God’s fresh start, a new Genesis that fulfills the first and goes beyond.
3. Reception of Salvation. Sisters and Brothers, if we allow God’s fresh start to inspire our own fresh start this new year, 2025, then the characters in today’s Gospel reading (Lk 2:16-21) become our models. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. The shepherds. People in Bethlehem. In the midst of their occupation  by Roman soldiers, in spite of their loss of independence to the Roman empire and the ensuing political instability and economic uncertainties, the shepherds and the people glorified and praised God over the Birth of the Messiah. Sisters and Brothers, we should still praise and glorify God like the shepherds because the Messiah is the one who gives us ultimate victory over sin, the cause of war. Fresh repentance will bring that ultimate victory for us individually and collectively. As we undertake fresh repentance, as we turn afresh to Jesus Christ our Savior, through new year resolutions, let us like Mary, also ponder in our hearts God’s own fresh start in which Mary cooperated. One line from Dante Alighieri’s prayer to the Virgin, in his Divine Comedy, captures some of the essence of today’s Solemnity: “O Virgin Mother, Daughter of your Son”. Wow, so inspiring. Time for us to become better brothers and sisters of her Son, for He said: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Lk 8:21). Happy 2025.

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THEY DIDN’T KNOW

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.
Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, Year C, 29th Dec 2024.

1. Family Tradition Joke. The Smiths were proud of their family tradition, as the story goes. Their ancestors came from England to the United States on the Mayflower itself along with the other pilgrims in 1620. Their next generation boasted of Senators and Wall Street financial gurus. They hired a renowned writer to compile a family history, as a legacy for future generations. But there was one big problem: how to handle that embarrassing great-uncle George, who was executed on the electric chair, for robbery and murder. The hired writer assured the family he could handle the story as tactfully as possible. He was given the go-ahead to write the book. Here is what appeared in the book: “Great-uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution and was attached to his position by the strongest of ties. His death came as a great shock.” Sisters and Brothers, every family has its share of difficult events and embarrassing members or both. Even the model family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, in spite of having no embarrassing member, still had a good chunk of difficult moments. And the Word of God is not the word of men. The Word of God, tells us what happened truthfully, guiding us towards what we should all become: namely, saints like Joseph and Mary, following the word and example of God’s incarnate Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Difficulties. The only time you can have two or more members of a community existing without difficult moments is when each member of that community is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-holy. Only one community of persons has these attributes, the Blessed Trinity: three persons, One God. Even the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had their difficult moments. Today’s Gospel reading (Lk 2:41-52) highlights one of these. One person stayed back in the Temple and the other two were not aware. Joseph and Mary, holy as they were, were not all-knowing and not all-powerful. Even our Lord Jesus Christ pointed it out: “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”. The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph had their share of difficult moments, not because of the evil acts by any of them, but mainly because Joseph and Mary were not all-knowing, not all powerful. And for you and me, we have many troubles in our families not only because of our limited knowledge and power, but also because we are not yet saints. Let us then learn from the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph how to handle challenges of family life.   

3. Lessons from the Holy Family. The guiding principles are nicely stated in the 1st reading (Sir 3:2-6, 12-14) and in the 2nd reading (Col 3:12-17) while the Holy Family lives out and exemplifies these guiding principles. Just two examples. A. Parental authority.  The 1st reading reminds us that the family unit and parental authority both come from God: “God sets a father in honor over his children; a mother’s authority he confirms over her sons.” Respecting this principle, even our Lord Jesus Christ was given an earthly foster father in St Joseph and His virgin mother Mary, exercised this authority in today’s Gospel when she said: “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety.” Joseph and Mary did not understand our Lord’s explanation, yet they received His obedience: “He went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart.” You see, full understanding is not necessary for peace to reign in families. B. Faith and Love in Everything.  The 2nd reading enunciates love as the main guiding principle for interactions within families: “Put on…heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience…. And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.” In all the challenges they went through due to acts of omission and commission by others in the society: birth in a manger-no place in the inn; flight to Egypt as refugees-fleeing from Herod; return to Nazareth as a poor family-carpenters were not rich; etc, imagine what would have happened if they lacked faithful love for God and for one another. Somebody would have filed for separation! I leave the rest to your imagination. Let us thank God for the wonderful example He has given us in the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. In them we see what our families ought to be: ecclesia domestica, domestic church as the Catechism of the Catholic Church puts it. “It is in the bosom of the family that parents are, by word and example, the first heralds of the faith for their children. ...The home is the first school of Christian life and a school for human enrichment” (CCC 1656 – 57). Wow, so our homes are our first church and our first school. This is serious. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, inspire us. Help us. Amen.


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 DANGER IN MANGER

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.

Nativity of the Lord, Mass at Dawn, 25th Dec, Year C, 2024. 

1. Danger in Manger. I usually celebrate Christmas with mixed feelings: feelings of joy and gratitude, but also of disappointment. Yes, joy and gratitude to God and to all those who cooperate with God for the salvation of mankind: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and all of you here, coming to adore the infant of Bethlehem. Thank you so much for coming. But I have feelings of disappointment over those times I acted like that innkeeper in Bethlehem. Those missed opportunities to do utmost good. Imagine if that innkeeper had given a room to the poor, homeless, migrant-like man, whose wife was in labor. That Inn would never have been forgotten. It would probably be a Million-star hotel today. That Inn would take the place of “Manger” in so many Christmas Carols and Hymns.  Let’s sing just two of such carols featuring “Manger”. • 1. Once in royal David’s city; stood a lowly cattle shed, where a mother laid her baby in a manger for His bed: Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little Child. • 2. Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head; the stars in the heavens looked down where He lay, the little Lord Jesus asleep on the hay. Sisters and Brothers, a baby in a manger, is a baby in danger. No baby should be put in a manger. Yet, that is what we just heard in today’s Gospel reading (Lk 2:15-20) about the Savior of the world. Following their encounter with Angels, the shepherds “went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger.” The Savior of the world was born in miserable circumstances: His cross started from day one, in order to save us from final misery. 

2. Let’s take Him Home. Mangers are not for infants. A manger is a structure or feeder used to hold food for animals. The infant Jesus should be taken home. Mary and Joseph took Him back home, to their humble house in Nazareth over 2000 years ago. Since then, people have been taking Him home, into their hearts and souls and they get inner peace for it: peace of soul. At this Mass, we will receive Him in the Eucharist and take Him home. In today’s Gospel reading, God clearly turned a miserable situation into a sign, into a confirmation of revelation for the shepherds. Yes, in Lk 2:12, the Angels told the shepherds: “And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” When the shepherds found this strange sight of a baby in a manger, a baby in danger in a manger, their faith was confirmed. The shepherds became preachers, evangelists, witnesses, or disciples of the infant Jesus for they spread the message they had received from the Angels about Christ. It is clear that they returned home with the infant Jesus in their hearts, for, according to the Gospel, they “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen”. It is your turn and my turn to return from this Christmas Mass, glorifying and praising God, taking the infant Jesus back home to share those with who are not here. 

3. Christmas All-Year. Wait, what did I just say: Christmas Mass? Is that not tautology? Etymologically, Christmas means Mass on Christ’s day. That is the origin of the term Christmas. And I’m so happy that you are here, that we are here, celebrating and participating in this Mass on Christ’s birthday. Happy Christ’s Mass. In the midst of disappointments and uncertainties? I believe that this is part of the message of the Angels: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.” Lk 2:14. God’s favor rests on people of goodwill, like the shepherds, on people who focus on the Infant of Bethlehem rather than the disappointing sight of a manger.  Let us take the infant Jesus back home with us in our hearts. And let us make every day a Christmas for others, by treating them the way we would treat the Infant Jesus: with love, care, respect, and compassion. And the peace of Christ would truly be ours, for God’s favor rests on us, when we respond to God’s gift of Christ in Christmas. The Ohio-born writer of Christian poetry, Helen Steiner Rice, understood this connection when she wrote: “Peace on earth will come to stay, When we live Christmas every day”.

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 WOMB AND HOME

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.

4th Sunday of Advent, Year C, 22nd Dec 2024. 

1. Mom Jokes. With two expectant mothers in the Gospel reading today, and about 208 million expectant mothers in the world today, let us start with two Mom jokes. (1) I told my toddler to stop playing with his food. So, he started playing with his plate instead. (2) Silence is golden. But when you have kids, then silence is suspicious. Dear Sisters and Brothers, today’s Gospel reading (Lk 1:39-45) reminds us that the joys and challenges of parenting begin even during pregnancy. In fact, some argue that “the womb may be more important that the home” when it comes to human upbringing. In addition to millennia of human experience, we now have evidence from neuroendocrinology, that exchange of hormones such as oxytocin, between mother and baby even during pregnancy, turns mothers into Moms. What is more, we now have scientific evidence that babies in the womb respond to sound, have visual processing, and even pick up a mother’s mood changes. For instance, researchers played the same words over 25,000 times while babies were in the womb. When the babies were born, their brain activity, measured using EEG, indicated that  they recognized those sounds. (Partanen et al.,  “Learning-induced neural plasticity of speech processing before birth.” Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013). Dear Sisters and Brothers, if ordinary babies can do this, how much more the miracle baby, John the Baptist, about whom our Lord Jesus Christ later said: “I tell you, among those born of women, no one is greater than John….” (Lk 7:28)!  And if you and I and countless others are so blessed by welcoming Jesus Christ into our lives, how much more blessed is the woman who welcomed the Son of God into her womb, by the power of the Holy Spirit. But she went even further. 

2. Mary’s Faith in Action. No one else is a better follower of Christ than the Blessed Virgin Mary herself and this is why she can teach us how best to follow Christ, even in times of crises. Today’s Gospel reading presents Mary doing just that. She teaches us how best to prepare for Christmas and beyond. She just got the message from the Angel Gabriel, that she would be the Mother of Jesus, the Son of God, and hence, the mother of God incarnate. Mary was also told that Elizabeth was already with child. She believed what Angel Gabriel told her and, gave her “Yes” in Lk 1:38, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word". Notice that she was going to be in "crisis" with her betrothed spouse Joseph, but she believed that God would take care of the crisis. So, she set out in haste to visit Elizabeth. That was faith in action, Mary’s faith in God, expressed in her sacrificial care for Elizabeth. Imagine the long journey to Elizabeth’s village on the hill. Imagine Mary’s caring voice greeting Elizabeth. And we are told what followed: When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb. Even before his birth, John the Baptist was already announcing the presence of Christ, and in this case, by recognizing the voice of Mary. Mary’s voice would continue to help people recognize Christ when she later told the servants at the wedding feast at Cana: "do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5). Elizabeth appreciated Mary’s example of  faith in action.  Filled with the Holy Spirit, she taught us a prayer now familiar on our lips as we recite the Rosary everyday: "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb". Elizabeth then echoed the lesson of Mary’s faith in action: And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Elizabeth appreciated Mary’s humility. Being the Mother of Christ, she was entitled to some preeminence that should have made Elizabeth the one to visit Mary.  Elizabeth understood that Mary’s faith in God was what gave rise to Mary’s charity towards her, thus, she added: "Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled." 

3. Crises. Were there obstacles to Mary’s faith? Certainly. Are there obstacles to our own faith today?  Surely. Like Mary, let us reach out to others who are facing crises, as she reached out to Elizabeth. May many babies leap for joy in the womb, in the home, in hospitals, orphanages, pregnancy resource centers, etc, at the sound of our voices and phone calls, at the sight of our caring presence and our gifts at Christmas and throughout the year, Amen. 

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UNINTERRUPTED JOY

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.
3rd Sunday of Advent, Year C, 15th Dec 2024.

1. Joke. Two men took Uber home after being tipsy at the bar on a Friday night. On their way back, the Uber driver wanted to have an idea of how drunk the men were. At a traffic junction, she signaled to turn and then said to the two passengers: "Hey guys, please check for me: is my turning signal light working?". The more drunk passenger promptly stuck his head out of the car window, noticed the blinking turning light and said: "yes, no, yes, no, yes...." at the same rate as the blinking light! Today is called Gaudete Sunday because of the entrance antiphon of today’s Mass, taken from the 2nd reading (Phil 4:4-7): "Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I say, rejoice." Phil 4:4. In Latin: "Gaudete in Domino semper, iterum dico, gaudete!" Our starting joke is to emphasize what it means to "rejoice in the Lord always". Let’s call it  "uninterrupted Christian joy". As long as there is power supply and other things are in place, the signaling light works by blinking as it should. The power supply to the bulb is like internal Christian joy: we want uninterrupted power supply (UPS), we want uninterrupted Christian joy. The blinking is like our external mood, whereby we weep with those who weep, and celebrate with those who celebrate, as Scripture elsewhere teaches (Rom 12:15).

2. Uninterrupted Christian Joy. Sisters and Brothers, from our human experience, we become joyful in the presence of our loved ones. If our loved ones are far away, we become joyful in knowing that they are doing well as we communicate with them. When a visit or reunion is planned, we become joyful in anticipation of meeting them. Likewise, Christian joy, is joy in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one we love most, whose love makes us love others best. To rejoice in the Lord always, to have uninterrupted Christian joy means that we remain connected with our Lord through prayer, we enjoy His presence in the Word of God, in the Eucharist, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and other Sacraments, we enjoy our Lord’s presence in the lives of others around us, we notice His presence in all our neighbors and react accordingly, in charity. Yes, we could be blinking on and off, changing our external mood, but connected with the Lord, blinking as we mourn with those who mourn, blinking as we alleviate the pains of those in sorrow, etc. So, what can interrupt this Christian joy, this spiritual joy, this internal disposition to weep with those who weep while hopeful in God’s ultimate salvation? Sisters and Brothers, you and I know the answer from our experience. Sin. Sin interrupts Christian joy. Serious sin cuts out the power supply. Commenting on this part of today’s 2nd reading, on how to rejoice in the Lord always, St Thomas Aquinas wrote: "This happens when it is not interrupted by sin, for then it is continuous." (Comm. Epist. Phil.). Today’s 1st reading (Zep 3:14-18a) and the Gospel reading (Lk 3:10-18) give us practical ways of getting reconnected if our Christian joy is interrupted by sin and practical ways of growing in Christian joy.

3. Growing in Christian Joy. The first reading reminds us of one of the reasons for our joy, namely, God has pardoned our sins: “The Lord has removed the judgment against you.” His presence in our midst renews us in His love, leading to our growing joy. And like the people in the time of John the Baptist, we know that we have sometimes interrupted our joy through sin. What should we do? Same answer as John the Baptist gave in today’s Gospel reading. Repentance. Charity. To tax collectors, soldiers and to all of us according to our occupations, John the Baptist says: stop extortion, do not falsely accuse anyone, and be satisfied with your wages. Justice and charity keep us joyful. In other words, we cannot be joyful in the Lord always without repentance and daily growth in holiness. You and I also have the privilege of becoming even more joyful when we share with those in need. And when we ourselves are in need, what should we do? It is still an opportunity for growth in joy, if we do what we heard in the 2nd reading: “Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Amen.

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WORD AND VOICE

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.
2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C, 8th Dec 2024.

1. Mountain Riddles. Here are two mountain riddles. 1. What does a mountain wear when it gets cold? Answer: an ice cap. 2. Why did the teacher take her class on a field trip to the mountains? Answer: they needed higher grades. Sisters and Brothers, in the readings today, mountains do not serve as metaphors for our meeting with God on higher grounds, as they often do. Rather, mountains, hills and valleys serve as symbols of obstacles on our long journey to God.

2. Preparation. Last Sunday, the Scripture readings were focused on God’s promise of a visible Messiah and the Messiah’s promise of His final visible coming at the end of time. Today, all 3 readings focus on preparation, our preparation for commemorating the 1st visible coming of Christ at Christmas and preparation for His final visible coming.  The 1st reading and the Gospel reading call for preparation using the metaphor of road travel where obstacles are removed. In the 1st reading (Bar 5:1-9), we hear: “For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God”. In the Gospel reading (Lk 3:1-6), John the Baptist, proclaimed: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The winding roads shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” Interestingly, we can hearken to the voice of John the Baptist like the people who first heard him, and we can also become John the Baptist to others today. Let’s begin with the interior highway of our hearts. Let us use this time of Advent to fill up the valleys of omitted good deeds, the missed opportunities to serve the Lord in those around us. Let us remove from our interior highway, the mountains of sins, the hills of our numerous faults through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Let us straighten the winding roads of bad habits, let us smoothen the rough ways of unhealthy addictions. Let us reconcile with God and neighbor so as to celebrate Christmas with pure hearts, and joyful hope for the final coming. To become John the Baptist to others today, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (#718) reminds us, using the words of Scripture: “The fire of the Spirit dwells in him and makes him the forerunner of the coming Lord. In John, the precursor, the Holy Spirit completes the work of ‘[making] ready a people prepared for the Lord.’ (Lk 1:17).” This is what we find at the beginning of today’s Gospel reading: first, the Word of God came to John…then John gave a voice to the Word, a voice crying out in the desert.

3. Word and Voice. Sisters and Brothers, how do we imitate John in helping others to prepare? Of course, we must receive the Word of God, and give voice to it, so that people can hear the Word of God in our voices. The difference between “word” and “voice” is well illustrated in AI Text to Speech (TTS) Converters. Examples include Speechify, Synthesia and Deepgram. Google calls it “Text-to-Speech AI”. Interestingly, some AI voices are usually deprecated or removed when they somehow misrepresent the word or text. Similarly, our voice and lifestyle must reflect the Word of God, or we are due for IT-style deprecation or removal. Fortunately, the grace of God comes to our aid in this task and like St Paul in today’s 2nd reading (Phil 1:4-6, 8-11), we can be “…confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you [me, us] will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” With this confidence in God’s amazing grace in us, and abiding presence among us, let us continue to prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas in ways that enable all flesh to see and receive the salvation of God.

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THREE ADVENTS

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA.
1st Sunday of Advent, Year C, 1st Dec 2024.

1. Weather Forecast Joke. This funny weather forecast came from a Christian TV Network. The broadcaster said: "And now tomorrow’s weather... Mostly cloudy with a 50% chance of Jesus coming down on the clouds." Sisters and Brothers, right now, right here, there is 100% certainty that Christ is in our midst as He promised: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Mt 18:20. The Season of Advent is that hopeful period that helps us focus on the three advents or three comings of Christ, celebrating his birth, while  better preparing our heart to receive him now and at the end of time. St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote a beautiful summary of these three comings of Christ that is featured in the Church's Liturgy of the Hours, precisely the Office of Readings, on Wednesday of the 1st Week of Advent, (Dec. 4th, 2024). He wrote: “We know that the coming of the Lord is threefold: the third coming is between the other two and it is not visible in the way they are...The first coming was in flesh and weakness, the middle coming is in spirit and power, and the final coming will be in glory and majesty.” He is here with us, in spirit and power, strengthening us by His Word and Sacraments.

2. 1st and Final Advents. Today’s 1st reading (Jer 33:14-16), states God’s promise of a Messiah, that is the first advent of Christ:  “In those days, in that time, I will raise up for David a just shoot … ”. God reminded His people, through Jeremiah, of His promise that a descendant of David, will lead them towards peace through righteousness. It was the promise of Christmas, the birth of the Messiah. The fulfillment was even grander than the promise. The Church is helping us to prepare to celebrate the first visible advent,  by focusing on the final visible advent of the Messiah. That is the message of the Gospel reading (Lk 21:25-28, 34-36). This reminder about the final coming of our Lord should not frighten us but should bring us joyful hope. In fact, "God's promises are like the stars; the darker the night the brighter they shine". (David Nicholas).  And right now, the night seems quite dark for the human family, with wars in several regions of the world, and violence in some of our homes. It is a fearful and doubting time for many. Yet, our Lord has told us clearly in today’s Gospel reading, how to respond to any crises and to every crisis: "raise your heads because your redemption is at hand... Be vigilant at all times and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations that are imminent and to stand before the Son of Man.”

3. Middle Advent. Finally, Sisters and Brothers,  the best way to celebrate the 1st coming of Christ is to be ready for the final coming. And the exciting part about being ready for the final advent of Christ, that we are living in the middle advent precisely for this reason. Christ is spiritually here with us, with 100% certainty,  and in our hearts, if we let Him in. This middle advent, this adventus medius, is to make His first advent count by keeping us ready for His final visible and glorious manifestation. This middle advent equips us to spread the spirit of Christmas: to spread peace and reconciliation beginning from our own hearts, to bring joy to those in sorrow, comfort to the afflicted, healing to the sick, food, drink, and clothing to the hungry, thirsty, and naked, it is about making the world a better place than we met it. In this regard, St Paul prays for the Thessalonians and for you and me in today’s 2nd reading (1 Thes 3:12—4:2) “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all.” Here is additional wisdom from a little girl. While a mother was explaining to her little girl, the death of her father, the mother said: “God has sent for your father and will send for us, but I do not know just when.” Finally, the little girl said: “If we do not know just when God is going to send for us, do you not think we had better pack up and get ready to go? God might send when we are not ready.” Let’s get ready by making Christmas count. Let’s pack up and share out whatever we will not take with us and even more importantly, let’s reconcile with God and neighbor so that peace may reign, which helps in fulfilling God’s promises for each of us. Amen.

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TOTAL ALLEGIANCE 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong at St Mary Magdalene Cath. Church, Omaha, USA. 

34th Sunday, Year B, 24th Nov 2024. Solemnity of Christ the King of the Universe 

1. Court Joke. Our Lord is judged by Pilate in today’s Gospel reading (Jn 18:33b-37).  So, let’s start with a courtroom joke. A lawyer defending a man accused of burglary tried this defense: "My client merely inserted his arm into the window and removed a few trifling articles. His arm is not himself, and I fail to see how you can punish the whole individual for an offense committed by his limb." "Well put," the judge replied. "Using your logic, I sentence the defendant's arm to 2 years’ imprisonment. He can accompany it or not, as he chooses." The defendant smiled. With his lawyer's assistance he detached his artificial limb, laid it on the bench, and walked out! 

2. Kingdom of Truth and Life. Dear sisters and brothers, the Scripture readings today, the prayers, the preface of the Mass, all clearly state how and why our Lord Jesus Christ is the King of the Universe. The preface further describes comprehensively the characteristics of the Kingdom of God. It is “an eternal and universal kingdom, a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace.” Today’s solemnity acknowledges Christ as the King of the Universe but even more importantly, challenges each of us to give total allegiance to His Kingdom, with all our limbs, hearts, minds, soul and being. It is this challenge, this invitation, that plays out in Pilate’s Praetorium. Although Pontius Pilate was the judge here, in full truth, it was our Lord Jesus giving Pilate an opportunity for salvation. Yes, Pilate and the rest of us are presented with the opportunity to listen to the truth, the truth in our conscience, the truth of the Gospel. Our Lord says clearly: "For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." But just as you and I do sometimes, Pilate went for half-truths, incomplete truths, hearsays, convenient truths, selective truths, etc, which are all forms of lies. "Are you the king of the Jews?", Pilate asked. It seemed convenient for Pilate to have Christ as the king of the Jews, and not the King of the Universe, for then, Pilate would not be under Christ! It would seem convenient for you and me to have Christ as King of some parts of us, but not King of our entire being. Our Lord’s universal Kingdom is a Kingdom of truth and life; complete truth for my entire life. 

3. Kingdom of Justice, Love and Peace. Yes, my entire life, my entire being is what Christ came to save. Therefore, the invitation He put before Pilate, is the invitation He puts before you and me: “Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." By listening to His voice of truth, we can then carry out justice, which is truth in action. That is how today’s 1st reading (Dan 7:13-14) becomes fulfilled in each of us: “all peoples, nations, and languages serve him." We serve Him through justice or truth in action, by doing what Pilate failed to do, namely, ensuring that the innocent is acquitted, rather than washing our hands off. To me, the most interesting part of working for justice for the oppressed is that it is also a form of charity for the oppressor. When victims of abuse in any form (domestic abuse, sexual abuse, child abuse, etc) are set free, as a work of justice, then abusers and oppressors are shown true love. Yes, justice for the oppressed is charity to the oppressor for it gives the oppressor or abuser a chance to repent, a chance to join the Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice, love and peace. Of course, easier said than done. 

But the good news is that Christ, the Universal King, has actually freed us from the greatest hindrance to our salvation, our own sins, as the 2nd reading (Rev 1:5-8) reminded us: "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, who has made us into a kingdom..." Our Universal King now invites us to join Him in building His kingdom of justice, love and peace, by giving total allegiance to His rule in the entirety of our being. In fact, in setting aside this day for special reckoning of our Universal King, Pope Pius XI wrote in 1925: "If to Christ our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; … He must reign in our minds....He must reign in our wills....He must reign in our hearts... He must reign in our bodies and in our members, which should serve as instruments for the interior sanctification of our souls, or to use the words of the Apostle Paul, as instruments of justice unto God.” (Pius XI, Quas Primas, #33, Rom 6:13). Let’s renew our baptismal promise of total allegiance to Christ and His Kingdom at this Mass. We pray for the grace to serve Him with all our will, soul, and body, even with artificial limbs, eyeglasses, hearing aid, makeup, with everything He has given us and with anything with which we are connected. Amen. 

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 DOUBLE WINNERS 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

 1. Tombstone Jokes. Four days ago, Nov. 13th, it became official that the Republican Party has won the coveted trifecta — the Presidency, House and Senate. At the collective level, this is triple victory for some and triple loss for others. Fortunately, at the individual level, all of us, yes, all of us, can win in this life and in the afterlife. We can be double winners. Some people are so humorous in this life, that before leaving for the next, they ensure that their loved ones put their humor on their tombstone, making them doubly humorous. I share 3 of such humorous epitaphs. 1. “I was hoping for a pyramid”. 2. “Joke’s over, let me out now”. 3. “I told you I was sick”.  

2. Lasting Things. Dear Sisters and Brothers, as we approach the end of the calendar year and the end of the liturgical year, the Church presents Scripture readings that remind us of the things that will never end, and the apocalyptic events that lead to such lasting things. In the first reading (Dan 12:1-3), the events that lead to lasting things are described in apocalyptic terms that sound frightening but actually give hope: “it shall be a time unsurpassed in distress” is quickly followed by “your people shall escape ”, apparently from the distress. In unmistakable terms, the reading gives two everlasting fates: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake; some shall live forever, others shall be an everlasting horror and disgrace.” The Gospel reading (Mk 13:24-32) presents these same last things and lasting things in terms of (i) death, (ii) judgement, (iii) heaven or (iv) hell. Our Lord alludes to His 2nd coming, a 2nd coming that will inaugurate the Kingdom of God in its full glory. In otherwords, there will be an end to the world as we know it now, giving way to an everlasting new reality yet unknown to us. Of course, before then, every  second on this planet, 2 persons are experiencing the end of the world as they knew it, through death. Yes, every minute, about 119 persons; every hour, 7,116 persons; every day, about 170,790 persons leave this world for the afterlife. The lesson is unmistakable: the need to live now in readiness for the end of the present world for me, a readiness for eternity. Our Lord tells us to learn a lesson from the fig tree. (Mk 13:28). 

3. A Useful Riddle. What lesson from the fig tree? A time comes for tender branches and sprouting leaves. That signals a new cycle of life. Preparing for death also signals new life, eternal life, life without pain, life without sickness, life of perfect happiness. Our preparation for death can therefore become a matter of expectation, a matter of joyful hope. Such preparation enables us to focus on the things that bring about the expected better life, the things that truly matter.  

Dear Sisters and Brothers, here is a useful old riddle that can help you and me to become double winners in this life and in everlasting life. What is greater than God; more evil than the Devil; the poor have it; the rich don't need it; if you eat it, you'll die; and when you die, you take it with you? Of course, the answer to the riddle is "NOTHING." Nothing is greater than God. Nothing is more evil than the Devil. The poor have nothing, sort of. The rich need nothing, kind of. If you eat nothing, you'll die. And when you die, you take “nothing” with you. Sisters and Brothers, anything we cannot take with us upon death, is better shared with others before then. Otherwise, they will take it anywhere, and we become double losers. Thus, sacrificial love of God and neighbour, which makes us worship God in spirit and in truth as we are doing at this Holy Mass, which makes us kind to others, such sacrificial love makes us double winners in this life and in everlasting life, to the glory of God.   

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AT THEIR BEST

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
11th Nov 2024, 32nd Sunday, Yr B. 

1. Do it Again Joke.  At a charity organization‘s meeting in a church after Mass, a very wealthy man rose to tell the rest of those present about his Christian faith. "I'm a multi-millionaire," he said, "and I attribute it all to the rich blessings of God in my life. I remember that turning point in my faith. I had just earned my first bi-weekly paycheck and I went to church that weekend after paying my bills and buying groceries. The preacher at Mass was a missionary who told us about his work among the poorest of the poor. I knew that I only had a 100 dollar bill left until my next paycheck in 2 weeks. But at that moment, I decided to give my whole $100 bill to God. I believe that God blessed that decision, and that is why I am a rich man, a multi-millionaire today." When he finished and moved toward his seat, there was an awed silence. As he sat down, a nice elderly woman sitting in the same pew leaned over and said to him, "I dare you to do it again.” 

2. At their Best. In today’s Gospel reading (Mk 12:38-44), our Lord sat down and did what only He is qualified to do, namely, judge others. He did it openly, for “He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury." He carried out a Charity Contest. The poor widow who put in two small coins worth a few cents won the contest. She was declared the most charitable person in the Temple that day. Let’s call her Charity Queen! Of course, our Lord did not condemn any of the donors. They all did well. But the widow did best. She was at her best, during her worst time in life: widowhood and poverty.  Our Lord carefully explained the basis of His judgement to His disciples: "Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood." We are familiar with beauty contests: Miss World, Miss America, etc. We know about the richest people in the world. We hear about Person of the Year. We have lists of Top Ten this and Top Ten that. Interestingly, Scripture also suggests that we "compete" in righteousness. Alongside today’s Gospel reading, I give 2 other instances. Rm 12:10, "love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor";  and Heb 10:24 “We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works." However, the motive of giving, the motive of generosity, should not be a matter of doing better than others since this could lead to vanity. It should be a matter of being the best I can be, to the glory of God, for “to whom much is given, much is expected" (Lk 12:48).   Like the widow of the Gospel reading, the widow of Zarephath in today’s 1st reading (1 Kgs 17:10-16) was also at her best in charity, when she shared with Elijah all that she and her son had to live on. She was at her best in perhaps the worst of times in her life: she was about to have her very last meal with her son, but shared it with Elijah. The widow in today’s Gospel was at her best when “from her poverty" she contributed all she had, her whole livelihood. She was at her best in perhaps the worst of times in her life. These two widows, these Charity Queens, have taught me a big lesson: that I can be at my best even during the worst of times or circumstances in my life. 

3. Less stuff, more happiness. Dear Sisters and Brothers, how come these two widows, were at their best, when they had very little left? A few weeks ago, I left you with the saying: The love of having increases by having: amor habendi, habendum crescit. Today I add that this temptation to keep wanting more makes it harder to give a larger fraction of my wealth. There are many ways to overcome this temptation, but I find Graham Hill’s TED talk very memorable and effective: “Less Stuff, More Happiness". The wealthy man in our starting joke seemed to be like the two widows, seemed to be at his best, when he had only $100. Must we make our selves poor so that we can easily give everything? No. Rather, it is already a win-win situation. No one is too poor to give. If we give all we have, out of our poverty then we are at our best. If we give a good fraction of our wealth, then a lot gets done for the spread of the Kingdom of God.


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 THE GREATEST AGREEMENT

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.

3rd Nov 2024, 31st Sunday, Yr B.  

1. Election Jokes. On 20th September, 2024, less than two months ago, a certain Charlotte Hilton Andersen posted on Reader’s Digest, “50 Political Jokes Everyone Will Agree Are Funny” and not offensive. Let me share jokes 32 and 34. 32. Waiting for results on election night is like waiting for your grade on a group project. I know I did my part right, but I’m worried the rest of you did not do your part. 34. Remember when Halloween was the scariest night of the year? Now it’s Election night that’s the most terrifying. Dear Sisters and Brothers, today’s Gospel reading reminds us of the two greatest commandments and these commandments, tell us how we should behave before, during and after election night! Love of God and neighbor. 

2. Greatest Agreement. Interestingly, even a Scribe/Pharisee, a member of a group whom our Lord Jesus Christ often denounced as hypocrites, agreed with our Lord on the greatest commandments. And for me, the beauty of that encounter is that both the Scribe and our Lord, respected each other, showed love of God and neighbor, agreed that those were the greatest commandments. Since this is a profound agreement on the greatest commandments, we can see it as the greatest agreement. In fact, it was the greatest recorded agreement between our Lord Jesus Christ on one hand, and the Scribes and Pharisees on the other. It remains the greatest agreement because it involves the greatest commandment, the greatest statement about the relationship between the greatest being, God, and the greatest creatures with body and soul, human beings. So here we are: there is agreement on the most important thing. Thanks be to God. As God-man, we can take as a given, the infinite goodness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hence, this great agreement over the greatest commandment, is a remarkable demonstration of the intellectual honesty of that Scribe, at that encounter. No wonder our Lord added that the Scribe was not far from the Kingdom of God. That Scribe agreed to the truth when he saw it, even though it was spoken by someone he probably did not like, someone in a different group or party. What a lesson for us today, from a Scribe/Pharisee! It’s like a Democrat agreeing that a Republican is speaking the truth about everyone’s right to life, from the moment of conception to a natural death. It’s also like a Republican agreeing with a Democrat that love of neighbor goes beyond national boundaries. Let’s pray for such intellectual honesty in our world today because it is a good starting point for what Pope St John Paul II described as the civilization of truth and love. 

3. Keeping the Greatest Commandments. A certain John Bloom wrote an article titled: “If We Love God Most, We Will Love Others Best”. I have made this title personal: If I love God Most, then I love others Best. This is another way of presenting the two most important commandments: Love of God and love of neighbor. In today’s Gospel reading (Mk 12:28b-34), our Lord states these two most important commandments in answer to the question put forward by a Scribe: Jesus replied, "The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."  According to our Lord Jesus Christ, love of neighbour is like love of God. If we love God with all our heart, we will love our neighbor as ourselves. If we love God most, we will love others best. His disciples understood this teaching, for John later wrote (1 Jn 4:20-21): If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) makes this Scriptural teaching explicit by defining charity as “the theological virtue by which we love God above all things for His own sake, and our neighbor as ourselves for the love of God” (CCC, 1822) Thus, we manifest our love for God in love of neighbor. And like American democracy, my love for God and neighbor is work in progress. Let’s pray that we make progress together, in love of God and neighbor, before, during and after elections. Amen. 

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AIRPORT CHAPELS 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. Airport Chapels.  “The largest US airports have chapels inside them, and here's why” This was the title of a reader’s digest article on Fox News not long ago. I’ve used chapels in airports around the world for decades, each of them unique. The chapel in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol has copies of the New Testament in 83 languages. However, on 12th October, 2024, I had a spectacular eye-opener in the chapel of St Loius International Airport, while waiting for my connecting flight back to Omaha. There’s a book in that chapel where travellers write down their prayers. Some include their names and phone numbers. I shed tears of joy and increased love for humanity. Araya Birth wrote: “I pray for the other woman sitting in the chapel....” Amelia Nakarishi asked God to bless everyone traveling through the airport. S. J. Lufton prayed for every human being in this world. I felt like someone healed of blindness, like Bartimaeus in today’s Gospel reading, as our Lord Jesus used the prayers of these other travelers, to open wider the eyes of my soul, to the continued wonders of God’s love, in a troubled world. Let’s get more lessons from old Bartimaeus. 

2. Six Lessons. Today’s Gospel reading (Mk 10:46-52) is a profound description of a great miracle and a great reflection of what each person’s response to Christ or Christian life can be and should be. Bartimaeus teaches me at least 6 lessons about my faith journey as a Christian. And faith journey is presented as a return from exile in today’s 1st reading (Jer 31:7-9). Our faith journey is a personal and collective return from exile, guided by God, who promised: “I will gather them from the ends of the world, with the blind and the lame in their midst, the mothers and those with child…” (Jer 31:8). As our Lord fulfilled this prophecy of Jeremiah, Bartimaeus not only cooperated with the Lord’s gathering but left several lessons for me and the rest of humanity seeking peace and salvation. 1. Bartimaeus sifted useful information from the crowd. Yes, a crowd followed Jesus on his way out of Jericho. Bartimaeus could not see but he at least heard passers-by. He asked what was going on. 2. Bartimaeus had faith in Jesus. In v.47: On hearing that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, son of David, have pity on me.” Wow, Bartimaeus had faith, that Jesus of Nazareth was no ordinary person. He was the Messiah for that is the meaning of the title “Son of David”. He expressed his faith in the Messiah publicly. 3. Bartimaeus overcame human hindrances. He was not intimidated by those who wanted him to be invisible and quiet. Some people in the crowd rebuked him...But he kept calling out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me.” Notice that those who rebuked Bartimaeus were followers of Christ. Yes, a crowd of followers. So we can get hindrances even from fellow Christians. 4. Bartimaeus overcame material hindrances. Bartimaeus was a beggar. Yet, he did not even allow his few possessions to hinder him. V.50: He threw aside his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus. 5. Bartimaeus asked for sight not alms/money. V.51: Jesus said to him in reply, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man replied to him, “Master, I want to see.” Bartimaeus clearly had faith in Jesus as one who could heal him. 6. Bartimaeus followed Jesus immediately he was healed. V.52: our Lord told him, “Go your way; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed him on the way.  

3. Using our Gifts.Dear Sisters and Brothers, notice how Bartimaeus used his gift of sight. He used it to follow the person who healed him. Notice that our Lord told him to go his way. He was free to go home. He was free to go back to family and friends. He was free to go anywhere. But Bartimaeus chose to use his miraculously restored sight to follow the Messiah. This is the best use of our gifts of sight, of hearing, of speaking, of our entire lives.  Amazing lessons from a blind beggar who had faith. Bartimaeus inspires me to use my gifts for the service of God and neighbor. Before being healed to see with the eyes of his body, Bartimaeus, already had the gift of seeing with the eye of his soul, the gift of faith. No wonder, it becomes even a greater miracle when those of us who can see physically but are spiritually blind are made to see spiritually. The other users of an airport chapel widened my spiritual eyes to behold God’s love in action, despite confusion and sadness in our world today. John Newton left us with the music to celebrate this greater miracle of spiritual vision, whenever it happens in our lives: “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound; That saved a wretch; like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see.”  

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AMBITION TO SERVE 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. Ambition and Service. It was winter. Anne Chauvin, an elderly woman, who was blind, partially paralyzed, homeless and had no one to care for her. Something happened. A 48 year old woman, Jeanne Jugan carried Anne home to her apartment. Jeanne let the old woman have her bed while she slept in the attic, from that day forward. Sisters and Brothers, make no mistake about it, even as I give this homily, I  would NOT go as far as St Jeanne Jugan in giving up my bed for the homeless. St. Jeanne Jugan, also known as Sister Mary of the Cross, soon took in 2 more elderly and homeless persons and then a dozen. Then she acquired an abandoned convent and gave a home to 40 more. By the time of her death, there were 2,400 other young women who joined Jeanne Jugan, as Little Sisters of the Poor, to care for thousands of homeless people across Europe and North America. St Jeanne had ambition to serve. She served ambitiously. This is what happens when ambition and service go together, in the name of Christ.  

2. Twin Virtues. Sisters and Brothers, today‘s Gospel reading (Mk 10:35-45), teaches many lessons about ambition and service. Let me summarize just 3. 1. Jesus chose ambitious persons as disciples. All ten other disciples became indignant at James and John when they heard about their ambitious request. They too were interested in those high positions. So why did our Lord choose ambitious  persons as disciples to work with Him in spreading the kingdom of God? At the very least, ambition is  useful for God’s work of salvation. 2. Jesus turned their selfish ambition to self-less service, to self-less ambition. He did not rebuke James and John and the other disciples for being ambitious but rather taught them: "... whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you will be the slave of all." He gave a formula for greatness.  3. Jesus Himself is fulfilled ambition at its best. Our Lord presented the example of His own life and mission: “For the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Mk 10:45). Thus, our Lord demonstrated ambitious service at its best: He willingly sacrificed His life for others. This is also the message of the 1st reading (Is 53:10-11):  “through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear".  Through ambitious Christian service, we desire to glorify Christ, not self, for Christ who saved us, deserves such glory. The self-less ambition to serve Christ in others is well articulated by St Thomas Aquinas in terms of the twin virtues of magnanimity and humility: “magnanimity makes a man deem himself worthy of doing great things in consideration of the gifts he holds from God…. humility makes a man think little of himself in consideration of his own deficiency.” (Summa Theologica II-II, Q. 129, Art. 3. Rep. to Obj. 4).  

3. Let them Serve. With humility, James and John, you and I, would not think we deserve to sit at the right and left of Christ in glory, because of our sins and weaknesses. Rather, because of my sins, I deserve to be crucified on His right or left, like the two thieves. But because of God’s abundant gifts to us, because of God’s abundant blessings in my life, I have no better choice than to use those gifts in serving others, to the glory of God. Thus, when ambition and service go together in a follower of Christ, magnanimity and humility become twin virtues that shine forth. Thank God, James and John recognized God’s gift of fortitude when they said yes, to our Lord’s question: Can you drink the cup that I drink? The cup of self-sacrifice and suffering. They showed magnanimity. Then our Lord demonstrated one of His attributes as our Divine Messiah mentioned in today’s 2nd reading (Heb 4:14-16), namely, “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has similarly been tested in every way, yet without sin." Yes, our Lord sympathized with  their selfish ambition or vanity, for that was part of the temptation that He Himself overcame when the devil presented Him with fame devoid of self-sacrifice for others. He then continued to teach and form them to be ambitious to serve others. James and John cooperated. Jeanne Jugan and countless saints have cooperated. Even when we do not yet have the generosity to give up our bed for the homeless, we can at least support such work. No wonder the hashtag “#Let them serve” trended on Twitter, when the Little Sisters of the Poor were taken to court by the States of Pennsylvania and California for reasons you know well, a few years ago. Thank God, the Supreme Court later allowed them to serve Christ conscientiously in the poor. Such service is celebrated today, World Mission Sunday. This year’s theme, chosen by Pope Francis, is: “Go and Invite Everyone to the Banquet.” 

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FALSE DILEMMAS

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Brendan’s Cath. Church, Elkins, W. Virginia, USA.
29th September 2024, 26th Sunday, Yr B. 

1. Real Dilemmas. Life does present us with real dilemmas but sometimes we create false dilemmas as Joshua did in today’s first reading (Nm 11:25-29), and as the beloved disciple John did in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 9:38-43,45,47-48). Before presenting the beautiful ways in which Moses and our Lord Jesus Christ resolved these false dilemmas, here is a real moral dilemma given someone at a job interview. It’s a stormy evening as you drive along and almost pass a bus stop, when you see 3 persons waiting for the bus: (i) a very elderly person looking sick; (ii) an old friend who once saved your life; (iii) an attractive person that makes you feel like you have found your dream spouse at last. Which one would you choose to offer a ride, knowing that there could be only one passenger in your car? That’s a moral dilemma. The person who got the job out of over 200 applicants said: "I would give my car key to my old friend and have him take the elderly person to the hospital; then I would stay behind and wait for the bus with this potential spouse of my dream!" What a logic of charity!  Sisters and Brothers, as we heard in the 1st reading, when someone told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp," Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, "Moses, my lord, stop them.". For Joshua, Eldad and Medad were not physically with the 70 elders who received the Spirit outside the camp, therefore, they should not be prophets. This was a false dilemma.  A false dilemma or a false dichotomy is an informal fallacy based on a premise that erroneously limits what options are available. Moses resolved the fallacy using what I call, the logic of charity, the ethic of generosity. Moses said: "Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets! Would that the Lord might bestow his spirit on them all!"

2. John versus Jesus. Like Joshua, John, in the Gospel reading, held on to a false dilemma when he noticed God’s generous Spirit manifesting in someone not known by him to be a disciple. In fact, John went further than Joshua by taking action: "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." Hmm, for John, this person was not known to be among the disciples, therefore such a person should not help others in the name of Jesus. Our Lord promptly resolved the fallacy by a profound logic of charity: "Do not prevent him... For whoever is not against us is for us."

3. Moses and Jesus. Sisters and Brothers, as Moses and our Lord showed, charity and generosity would have made Joshua to react with excitement that God had blessed Israel with 2 more prophets beyond the 70 outside the camp. Charity and generosity would have enabled John to react with joy at seeing God using the person they found. John would have exclaimed: "You are one of us, come, join us officially", instead of trying to stop this fellow. With charity and generosity, you and I can overcome real dilemmas and false dilemmas today. Here is one false dilemma that we need to overcome today. "Pope Francis supports the poor and frequently speaks out against excesses of capitalism; therefore, Pope Francis must be a communist". False dilemma. In fact, today’s 2nd reading (Jas 5:1-6) squarely challenges us: "Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud; and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts" (James 5:4). With charity and generosity, much like God who pours out His Spirit generously, you and I can overcome the false dilemma that makes it seem as though one cannot be both prolife and pro-humane-immigration policy; and so on. Many of you are already saving babies from abortions and saving their mothers from poverty by providing pregnancy resource centers, adoption facilities, etc. Thank you so much. Information on the website of the American Immigration Lawyers Association posted on 18th July 2024, (AILA, No. 24071707) states that currently 1 in 5 physicians in the US is an immigrant. 16% of US nurses are immigrants. Yes, as Catholics, we are prolife from the moment of conception to a natural death,  hence, we support life at every stage and help others secure means of livelihood where we can.  Today, there are lots of opportunities to be like God through a charitable and generous attitude that enables us to restrict the odious, and amplify the favorable, borrowing from a Latin adage: Odiosa Restrigenda Favorabilia Amplianda.

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Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Brendan’s Cath. Church, Elkins, W. Virginia, USA.

22nd September 2024, 25th Sunday, Yr B.  

1. Resurrection. Four companies were in competition for providing the best coverage for life insurance. The 1st company came up with the slogan, "Coverage from baby basket to casket". The 2nd  offered "Coverage from the cradle to the grave." The 3rd company tried to improve on that with the slogan, "Coverage from the womb to the tomb." The 4th insurance company really thought hard, almost gave up the race, but finally came up with, "Coverage from conception to the resurrection."!  Sisters and Brothers, whenever the span of human life includes the afterlife, perspectives change, values change order and events on this side of life acquire different meaning. Whether it be the wicked ambushing the just person as we heard in the 1st reading (Wis 2:12, 17-20), or the Lord upholding the life of the just as we prayed along with the Psalmist (Ps 54:3-4, 5, 6, 8), once life after bodily death is factored in, perspectives change and what seemed valuable gives way to eternal values. The  jealousy and selfish ambition,  the wars and conflicts, the envy and killings decried in today’s 2nd reading (Jas 3:16-4:3)  often give way to peacemakers, working for peace and sowing the seed of holiness, when life after this life is taken seriously, when the resurrection is concretely factored in.  

 2. Transformation. There are many captivating illustrations of the transformation that happens when a person begins to take the resurrection seriously and I believe many of us here are living illustrations of such transformation. Let me share just one more with you. The internationally celebrated German theologian, Jürgen Moltmann was called to his rest on June 3rd 2024, having lived for 98 years! He joined the German army in 1944 as an Air Force auxiliary. The poems of Goethe and the writings of Nietzsche were his main intellectual cocktail. Ordered to the Klever Reichswald, a German forest at the front lines, he surrendered in 1945 in the dark to the first British soldier he met. Moltmann claimed his remorse was so great, he often felt he would have rather died along with many of his comrades than live to face what their nation had done at Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Moltmann met a group of Christians caring for prisoners of war, and was given a small copy of the New Testament and Psalms by an American chaplain. I was at a lecture given by Moltmann on February 14th, 2012, at the University of Cambridge.  Professor Moltmann told us how faith in the resurrection changed him. "The resurrection was not something I could look forward to: I did not want to face those I had killed".  As a Prisoner of War (POW) in Scotland and England, enjoying the hospitality of the Christians who visited the prisoners,  in contrast to his own behaviour as a Nazi soldier, faith in the resurrection transformed Moltmann to what he became for decades: a peacemaker, a preacher of peace, an outstanding Christian theologian and a 98 year old man, sowing seeds of holiness, and breathing his last breath, full of hope in the resurrection.  

 3. Eternal Greatness. Transformed by taking the resurrection seriously, our ambition changes, our recipe for greatness changes and becomes the recipe enunciated by our Lord in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 9:30-37), the recipe for eternal greatness: “If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.” On this side of life, we say, first come first served and that is fine. But for eternal greatness, it is first come, first to serve others. And the first to serve others has the chance to be the servant of all, and ends up serving himself or herself last. That way, just as our Lord said, the servant of all, who serves himself or herself last, becomes indeed the greatest of all. Notice that our Lord in today’s Gospel did not tell his disciples not to be ambitious. He did not even denounce each of them for wanting to be the greatest. He rather gave a recipe for eternal greatness: a greatness anchored in true wisdom which enables us to choose peaceful paths to success. In this recipe for eternal greatness, a little child is a better model than the ubermensch or superman of Nietzsche. This little child of Jesus and all who are childlike then discover in Christ, that their vocation goes beyond Darwin’s evolution. Our vocation is well described in G. K. Chesterton’s Everlasting Man. Our lifespan is indeed from conception to resurrection to eternal happiness. Let’s cooperate with God and with one another to make that happen.  

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WASTED SUFFERING 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Brendan’s Cath. Church, Elkins, W. Virginia, USA. 

1. Cross Without Christ or Wasted Suffering. In today’s Gospel reading (Mk 8:27-35), our Lord advertises Christianity: "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." (Mk 8:34). By ordinary human standards this is a very poor advertisement. Our Lord’s marketing strategy is radically different from the way we human beings generally advertise ourselves and our products to get others to become our spouses, to join our company, or to patronize our goods and services. No wonder we take it for granted that adverts are often exaggerations. Here are a few funny examples. 1. An advert for Bayer’s Aspirin Plus C implied that dinosaurs would have avoided extinction by taking Aspirin Plus C to prevent colds. Neither aspirin, nor vitamin C prevents colds! 2. For years, Activia yogurt claimed it was “clinically and scientifically” proven to regulate digestion and boost immune system. Owing to those false claims, Dannon was made to pay consumers up to $35 million in damages and change its labeling. 3. Let’s not talk about the long list of things touted as cures for cancer, for aging, etc. And even without the intent to deceive, we often brand and rebrand things to hide aspects that might make people uncomfortable. Today, patients are comfortable with MRI scans. When the same procedure was called NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) imaging, many patients avoided it because of the word “nuclear”! Sisters and Brothers, uncomfortable situations are part of life. Whether we like it not, the cross is here: suffering is part of human life. Unfortunately, some are carrying their crosses without Christ. We can call that wasted suffering. Yes, human suffering without salvation, without Christ, is futility. The unrepentant thief on Good Friday apparently wasted his suffering. Christianity turns random human suffering into a means of salvation when united with the sufferings of Christ. He advertised it as such: take up your cross and follow me. 

2. Christ Without Cross. Today’s 2nd reading (Jas 2:14-18) gives concrete examples of trying to follow Christ, without the cross: “…faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (Jas 2:17). Yes, faith without good works is dead. Faith in Christ, without good works that entail carrying the cross, is dead. Yes, trying to have Christ without the cross is futile. It will not bring salvation. Seeking the miracles of Christ, without the parables that entail good works despite persecutions and difficulties, is futile. Our Lord said so. No wonder each time our Lord called His followers to carry their crosses, He always added: “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and that of the gospel will save it." Unfortunately, seeking Christ without the cross is a strong temptation for us today just as it was for Peter and other disciples. Why? It is because we are human beings and think as such. Christ points out to Peter: "Get behind me, Satan. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do". 

3. Taking up the Cross and Following Christ (Redemptive Suffering). Brothers and Sisters, we are fortunate that God’s thinking has been revealed to us. So how do we take up our cross and follow Christ? How do we hold on to Christ and the Cross, faith and good works? We have wonderful examples in today’s Scripture readings and among us right now. Our Lord Himself demonstrates in the Gospel reading the attitude needed to carry the cross, the attitude stated in today’s 1st reading (Is 50:5-9a): “I have set my face like flint, knowing that I shall not be put to shame.” (v.7) Flint is a very hard type of sedimentary rock. When struck against iron, a flint edge produces sparks to start a fire. Setting your face like flint implies that you are expecting some sparks of adversity and opposition, including opposition from friends, from people who genuinely love you but do not understand God’s purpose for you. It means politely telling the “Peters” in your life: “Get behind me Satan”. Finally, examples of taking up the Cross to follow Christ abound among us in people who show faith and good works. Each time I celebrate Mass at Gabriel’s Corner, a Pregnancy Care Center at 131 S 16th St, Council Bluffs, Iowa, right opposite an abortion clinic, the experience feels like an orchestra of faith and good works. Across the sacristy is the ultrasound room for showing the pregnant woman her preborn baby to dissuade her from abortion. Next to the chapel are rooms filled with clothing, food, other material needs of baby and mother, forms for financial assistance, adoption, etc. And permanent Deacon Jean Plourde and his wife, who run the place free of charge, carry the extra cross of constant persecution from the abortion clinic just opposite. But Christ with His Cross, the Gospel of life and love is winning. To God be the glory. 

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 HEALING FOR ALL 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Brendan’s Cath. Church, Elkins, W. Virginia,  USA. 

1. Disabilities. According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in a report released on Tuesday, July 16th, 2024, over 70 million adults in the US live with a disability, that is, over 25%. This percentage may not be too different from the rest of the world. However, based on all Scripture readings today, one can conclude that not only those with physical or mental disabilities but all of us, 100% of us, need healing. Here is an old joke that illustrates this. Mr Scott had serious hearing problems for several years. He went to the doctor and was given a powerful set of hearing aids that enabled him to hear almost perfectly. After 1 month, Mr Scott went back to the doctor for checkup and the doctor said, ‘Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you can hear again.’ Mr Scott replied, ‘Oh, I haven`t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve changed my will three times!’ Sisters and Brothers, you will agree that although Mr Scott needed healing for his hearing disability, the rest of his family also needed healing for their abuse of both the gift of hearing and the gift of speech! Yes, the 75% of us without obvious disabilities need healing for abusing our God-given abilities. Those who cannot hear or speak and those who abuse the gifts of hearing and speech, like Mr Scott’s family, are all in need of healing. God is using the obvious need of healing by the physically challenged, to invite all of us, to receive healing and salvation. 

2. Healing. In the 1st reading, (Is 35:4-7a) we hear: “Here is your God…He comes to save you…Then will the eyes of the blind be opened, the ears of the deaf be cleared; then will the lame leap like a stag, then the tongue of the mute will sing.” To heal the rest of us from discriminating against those who are physically, mentally, or economically challenged, today’s 2nd reading (James 2:1-5) states clearly and with illustration: “My brothers and sisters, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.” Each person deserves to be treated with respect and dignity irrespective of abilities or disabilities. In the Gospel reading (Mark 7:31-37), our Lord heals a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, which often happens with people who lose their hearing at an early age. 

3. Healing for All. In the dramatic healing of the deaf and mute man, I see healing for all. First, the benevolent crowd did something: they acknowledged their inability to heal the man and so brought him to Jesus the Divine healer. They sought help for the man as we should even today. Of course, our Lord can heal by His words alone. But in this case, he touched the man’s ears and tongue in very personal ways that we may not fully understand on this side of Heaven. Some think our Lord was trying to make the man know what was about to happen, by touching his ears and tongue, since he could not hear or speak, so that somehow, the man could become part of the healing process.  Whatever the case, our Lord healed the man and also healed the crowd for they said: “He has done all things well. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.” Thanks to the healing of one mute man, the crowd was healed of the common illness of abuse of speech as they now praised God more than before. Thanks to the healing of one deaf man, the crowd could hear the Word of God about salvation, with greater clarity than before. Thanks to the healing of the man who could not speak, the rest of us are called to be healed of the abuse of speech; we are being given grace to overcome lies and gossip; to speak with loving care for others and not with cynicism. We are to be the voice of the voiceless, including those not allowed to be born. Dear Sisters and Brothers, commenting on this miracle, a nun once told me that our Lord inspired her to try to repeat the miracle for thousands of people. I asked her to explain. She remarked: “Just as Jesus made the deaf to hear and the mute to speak, I learned the sign language and teach it to thousands of children in specials schools”.  Of course, throughout history, relatives and friends have found ways of communicating with deaf mutes and people with special needs. St Francis de Sales has a special lesson for me and perhaps for you. St Francis de Sales, while Bishop of Geneva, back in the 17th Century, met a boy who was a deaf mute. Francis went as far as inventing a sign language to communicate with the boy and teach him the Christian faith. The sign language he invented was so elaborate that Martin the deaf mute could go to confession. No wonder St Francis de Sales is called Patron of the Deaf! I may not even know how to use the sign language, but dear Lord, I thank You for the gift of speech and hearing. Heal all of us and save us from abusing your many gifts. Amen.  

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 LIPS AND HEARTS

1. Lips. When the popular Indian actress Shabana Azmi handed Nelson Mandela the “Newsmaker of the Year Award” in 1993, at Cape Town, South Africa, she gave Dr Mandela a daughterly kiss on the cheek. Some Moslems and Hindus felt offended by Azmi’s act of courtesy and called for boycott of her films. Akbar Ahmed of the Muslim Forum wrote to the actress’ father, Kaifi Azmi, asking him to force his daughter to apologize. Interestingly, other Moslems and Hindus came to Shabana’s defense. A Hindu student, Mudit Mittal, emphatically supported the actress, writing: “A kiss does not always have to be in the sexual context. Next time Mother Teresa kisses a Muslim boy, please don’t make an issue out of it”. Even more interestingly, B. S. Bhatnagar of the Sultanate of Oman made profound humor out of it, writing:  “ A kiss is a peculiar proposition.... The small boy gets it for nothing, the young man has to steal it, and the old man has to buy it. It is the baby's right, the lover's privilege, and the hypocrite's mask.” And I dare to add: “It is the betrayer’s veil”. Think of Judas Iscariot in the garden of Gethsamene saying, “Greetings, Rabbi”, and kissed Jesus (Mt 26:49). Dear Sisters and Brothers, that is the extreme instance of our Lord’s teaching in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23): “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me....” The heart of Judas, was not only far from but also against our Lord at the moment he greeted and kissed our Lord. In responding to the objections of some Pharisees and Scribes, our Lord emphasized the importance of the interior dispositions of our hearts and minds regarding our outward acts of love of God and neighbour.  

2. Heart and Minds. Like those who objected to Azmi’s peck on the cheek of Mandela as contrary to the “tradition of the elders”, some Pharisees and Scribes objected to the conduct of Christ’s disciples regarding ritual purity. Our Lord promptly taught the profound lesson of purity of heart and mind as the purity that matters most:  “From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they defile.” (Mk 7:21-23). Obviously, with purity of heart and mind, the actions that break God’s commandments simply do not arise. Thus, emphasizing external rituals, while failing to strive for purity of heart and mind, is to subtract from God’s commandments, something forbidden in today’s first reading (Dt 4:1-2, 6-8): “...you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. Observe them carefully... ” (Dt 4:2).  Another example of subtracting from God’s commandments today, is someone calling us to save endangered species of animals while at the same time promoting or supporting abortion. Pope Francis has these words and question for such people: “....concern for the protection of nature is also incompatible with the justification of abortion. How can we genuinely teach the importance of concern for other vulnerable beings...if we fail to protect a human embryo, even when its presence is uncomfortable and creates difficulties? ‘If personal and social sensitivity towards the acceptance of new life is lost, then other forms of acceptance that are valuable for society also wither away’?” (Laudato Si, #120).  

3. All our Being.  Sisters and Brothers, the more we strive after purity of heart and mind, the more we become like God in showing compassion and love as the Apostle James reminds us in today’s 2nd reading (Jas 1:17-18, 21b-22, 27): “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God and the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction”.  Fortunately, all of us are already like God in expecting people to love us from their hearts and minds and hands and not just lip service. No wonder the commandments are summarized thus: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself. It short, it means loving God and neighbor with all our being. And since I have not yet loved God and neighbor with all my being 100% of the time, which is the most important task in life, I have no right to condemn people who fail in trivial matters of human customs. Of course, constructive criticism is expected, and the starting point for constructive criticism is prayer. Prayer includes the deepest forms of self-criticism, namely, examination of conscience, contrition for our own sins, repentance and requesting forgiveness from God and neighbor. This is what our Lord meant when He taught us: “first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye”  Mt 7:5. 

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FREEDOM TO LOVE

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Brendan’s Cath. Church, Elkins, W. Virginia,  USA.
25th August 2024,  21st Sunday, Yr B. 

1. Breakup Joke. Olivia and Josh were courting and preparing for marriage when a rather serious misunderstanding arose between them. Josh asked Olivia: “If we breakup can we still be friends?” Olivia responded: “That’s like a kidnapper asking you if you will keep in touch after you are rescued!”  Jokes aside, serving God is never to be an imposition. Marriage too is a matter of rational choice, not mere feelings, with responsibilities, but never to be an imposition, even by either of the marriage partners. Marital relationship and our relationship with God are both forms of love: marital love and Divine love. Today’s Scripture readings emphasize both the freedom to love and the responsibilities that flow from our free choices. We can even tag today as “Freedom and Responsibility Sunday”, or “Human Dignity Sunday”. In the 1st reading (Josh 24:1-2a, 15-17, 18b), Joshua reminded the Israelites of their fundamental freedom and responsibility, after some people apparently dithered on serving God. He said: “If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are now dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Josh 24:15). Unlike terrorists and religious extremists of our time, Joshua did not force his religious convictions on his fellow Israelites. The free response of the Israelites was fantastic: “...we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.” (v.18). The Israelites gave their reasons for choosing to serve God, namely, their experience of God’s goodness and memories of His miraculous deliverance. Three big lessons emerge: (1) Love must go beyond feelings and become rooted in reason, so that when feelings change or fail, the reasons will keep love alive; (2) good memories can lead to renewal of love; (3) forgetfulness of past goodness can lead to breakups in relationships when misunderstandings arise. 

2. Freedom and Love. In the Gospel reading (Jn 6:60-69) there was clearly, a “misunderstanding” between our Lord and His followers owing to His teaching about His real presence in the Eucharist. Many of Jesus’ disciples who were listening said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it?” Our Lord calmly explained further that His words are spirit and life. Many did not buy it. Then something very sad happened: “As a result of this, many of his disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied him.” (Jn 6:66). Imagine! What did our Lord do? He did not run after them. He did not do what religious extremists and terrorists do. He did not force His ideals on anyone, the way some people try to do even today. He rather proved Himself, the model lover who respects the freedom and dignity of the beloved. He turned to those who were still there, the Twelve disciples, and asked: “Do you also want to leave”? (v. 67). What came was a profound exercise of freedom, a renewal of love. Just as Joshua led the Israelites into a renewal of love, Simon Peter led the other disciples and said: “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.” No bullets. No suicide vests. True worshipers worship God freely, because God respects the freedom He gave us when He created us in His image. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the ideal lover, respects the freedom of His beloved.
 
3. Ideal Lover. No wonder today’s 2nd reading (5:2a, 25-32) beckons us: “Brothers and sisters: Live in love, as Christ loved us.” It states how husbands and wives and all of us should imitate Christ, the ideal lover, respecting the freedom and dignity of the beloved. Is there any teaching of Christ still hard for us to accept? Do you have misgivings about the sins of fellow Christians, scandals from priests? Are we tempted to leave? Or rather, let me congratulate you for being here, for choosing freely to serve the Lord in response to His love. Your being here so that we worship God together is itself a demonstration of freedom to love, as described by Pope St John Paul II, when he preached in Baltimore years ago: “freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what we ought.” Scripture calls it “the freedom of the children of God” (Rom 8:21). Thank you for choosing to stay with the Lord, so that we worship God as we ought, even when it is challenging. Thank you as you receive the Lord of miracles in the Eucharist, and not just seeking only His miracles in your life. Last week, I preached about Eucharistic miracles and Eucharistic wisdom. Here is another example of wisdom from a man who loved Christ in the Eucharist. “When he was dying of tongue cancer, he couldn’t receive Communion [because he couldn’t swallow anything] so he asked that a poor man be brought to him so that he could embrace Christ.” This dying man exercised his freedom and loved Christ in the poor, just as we ought to love Christ in others, having received Christ in the Eucharist.
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 EUCHARISTIC WISDOM 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at Holy Rosary Cath. Church, Buckhannon, W. Virginia,  USA. 

 1. Blaise Pascal. "How I hate this folly of not believing in the Eucharist. If the Gospel be true, if Jesus Christ be God, what difficulty is there?" Sisters and Brothers, those are words of wisdom, from Blaise Pascal, (1623 –1662), a French mathematician, physicist, inventor of calculating machines that were precursors of computers, philosopher, author of classic literature, and Catholic spiritual writer. Today’s 1st reading (Prov 9:1-6) eulogizes wisdom and invites us to share in its sustenance. The 2nd reading (Eph 5:15-20) poignantly invites us to live wisely. It is a wisdom that is open to mystery, including the Eucharist. It is a Eucharist-affirming wisdom. It is Eucharistic wisdom. It embraces nature and grace, reason and faith. 

 2. Eucharistic Miracles. Continuing our Lord’s teaching on the Eucharist, today’s Gospel reading (John 6:51-58) goes from bread to flesh to eternal life: “the bread that I will give
 is my flesh for the life of the world”.  As the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains, “At the heart of the Eucharistic celebration are the bread and wine that, by the words of Christ and the invocation of the Holy Spirit, become Christ’s Body and Blood” (CCC 1333).  However, throughout history, there have been several documented cases of a consecrated host transforming into living piece of flesh, and the wine becoming blood in every respect. These phenomena are known as Eucharistic miracles. As Catholics, are we required to believe Eucharistic miracles? No. As Catholics, are we required to believe in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist, as contained in the teachings of Christ Himself, contained in today’s Gospel? Yes. Of course, authentic Eucharistic miracles can deepen our faith. Out of 132 miracles documented within the Vatican Exhibition of Eucharistic Miracles of the World, I like to consider just two, owing to scientific tests conducted on the species. One happened long ago in Europe, the other recently in South America. Here is a summary of both. (i) Around 750 AD, a monk from the Order of St Basil, was celebrating Mass in the small church of St. Longinus in Lanciano, Italy, but had doubts about the Eucharist. At the words of consecration, the monk saw the bread change appearance into living flesh and the wine change into blood which coagulated into five globules. The Lanciano sample is over 1250 years old and are still in the church there today. Dr Odoardo Linoli, professor of anatomy, pathological histology, chemistry and clinical microscopy, and his colleagues, examined the Lanciano sample and verified that it is real flesh and blood, from a human heart! Their report was published in an Italian medical journal in 1971. Later in 1973, the WHO appointed a scientific commission to verify the Italian doctor's conclusions. Their work was carried out over 15 months with a total of 500 examinations. The conclusions of all the researchers confirmed what had been stated and published in Italy.
(ii) In 1996 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, someone discovered a consecrated host on a candleholder after Mass and brought it to Fr. Alejandro Pezet. As standard practice in such circumstance, Fr Pezet put it in a container of water to dissolve and placed it inside the tabernacle of the chapel. A few days later, upon opening the tabernacle, the priest was astonished to find that the host had become a bloody substance. He immediately notified his Bishop. The strange bloody substance was kept in the tabernacle for a few years. Shockingly, it did not decompose. So, the Bishop decided to have it scientifically analyzed. In 1999, in the presence of the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires (now Pope Francis), Dr. Ricardo Castanon, an atheist at the time, sent a fragment to New York for analysis. Dr Castanon did not inform the team of scientists of its origin so as not to prejudice the study. One of the lead scientists, Dr. Frederic Zugibe, a cardiologist and forensic pathologist, determined that the substance was real flesh and contained human DNA. He found evidence that the sample came from a heart that was alive at the time the sample was taken. He further concluded that white blood cells had penetrated the tissue, indicating that the heart had been under severe stress. DNA tests on the sample showed it to be that of a male, AB positive blood type. What is extraordinary about this is that the blood type and DNA of the Buenos Aires sample and the Lanciano sample are an exact match, and testing confirms that both samples came from the same person. Remember one sample came from Mass celebrated around 750 AD and the other in 1996, about 1250 years apart in time, but the same DNA, the same person. The former atheist, Dr Ricardo Castanon, is now a Catholic. Of course, Eucharistic miracles were featured at the just concluded 10th National Eucharistic Congress and 1st National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. I saw amazing pictures in your parish bulletin of 11th August 2024, taken by participants from Holy Rosary Parish. Thank you so much for your lively faith, hope and charity.

3. Practical Eucharistic Wisdom.  Sisters and Brothers, while we thank God for sometimes strengthening our faith through miracles, including Eucharistic miracles, let us remember the words of our Lord: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe” (Jn 20:29). Our Lord’s words are echoed in another familiar saying: “For those who believe, no explanation is necessary; for those who don’t, no explanation is possible.” Put differently: “For those who believe the words of our Lord, no miracle is necessary.” Finally, I pray that we all be guided by wisdom, a wisdom that is open to mystery, a Eucharistic wisdom. It is the type of wisdom that Blaise Pascal demonstrated, a wisdom that embraces simplicity and humility as eulogized in today’s 1st and 2nd readings. As Saint John Paul II noted in his encyclical on the relationship of faith and reason, “philosophers such as Pascal” are outstanding for their rejection of all presumption, as well as for their stance of humility and courage. They came to realize that “faith liberates reason from presumption”. (Encyclical Letter, Fides et Ratio). Pope St Paul VI, in his encyclical on human development, Populorum Progressio, quotes Pascal's spiritual classic, Pensées: “True humanism points the way toward God and acknowledges the task to which we are called, the task which offers us the real meaning of human life. Man is not the ultimate measure of man. Man becomes truly man only by passing beyond himself. In the words of Pascal: ‘Man infinitely surpasses man.’” 

Sisters and Brothers, Pascal not only believed in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, but also in the special presence of Christ in the poor, taking seriously our Lord’s words: “When I was hungry, you gave me to eat…sick, you cared for me…” (Mt 25:35ff). I call this practical Eucharistic wisdom. Just last year, June 2023, Pope Francis, in his apostolic letter, dedicated to Blaise Pascal, titled “Sublimitas et Miseria Hominis,” that is,  “The Grandeur and Misery of Man” recalled events in Pascal’s life that illustrate practical Eucharistic wisdom: “Gravely ill and at the point of dying, he asked to receive Holy Communion, but that was not immediately possible. So he asked his sister, ‘since I cannot communicate in the head [Jesus Christ], I would like to communicate in the members’. He ‘greatly desired to die in the company of the poor’. Sisters and Brothers, here we are at this Holy Mass, able to receive Christ in the Eucharist and able to care for Christ in the less privileged. Let’s keep doing both. It’s a double privilege! This is how to live wisely to the glory of God. Amen. 

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THE NEXT LEVEL

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at Resurrection Parish, Lexington, Ohio, USA.
11th August 2024,  19th Sunday, Yr B.

1. Revival Blues. On 21st July 2024, the last day of the just concluded 1st National Eucharistic Pilgrimage and 10th National Eucharistic Congress, two final keynote speakers gave speeches that epitomize real Gospel revival, namely, Mother Adela Galindo and Mr Chris Stefanick. Both prepared everyone to  move to the next level following the Eucharistic Revival, namely, becoming saints and witnessing to others. Chris Stefanick, a reality TV show host, added positive vibes to this next level, using captivating statements such as: “two-thirds of God’s name is GO, and God sends you.” But even after revival, we may just hit a wall. Even after renewal, we do run out of zeal or steam. We do get stressed out. Dear Sisters and Brothers, many of us are stressed out right now due recovery efforts from storms, tornadoes and other adverse weather events of recent times. Despite our trust in God, things can still seem out of control even for the humorous. In the midst of turbulence, Prophet Elijah at first kept his cool and his sense of humor. In the contest on Mount Carmel to demonstrate the sovereignty of God, Elijah laughed at the 450 false prophets who had spent the morning calling on a non-existent deity, Baal, without any response. Scripture says: ‘When it was noon, Elijah taunted them: “Call louder, for he is a god; he may be busy doing his business or may be on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”’ (1 Kg 18:27). But after the miracle and victory at Mount Carmel, Elijah as it were, got the blues. Call it revival blues. He could not bear it anymore. He was stressed out and burnt out. He prayed for death. That is our 1st reading today (1 Kgs 19:4-8). Tired, hungry, still persecuted by Jezebel despite the victory at Mount Carmel, misunderstood, unsuccessful in convincing everyone to worship the true God, he went a day’s journey into the desert, sat under a broom tree and prayed for death saying: "This is enough, O Lord! Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers."

2. Next Level. We heard what followed. God intervened through an angel. Food was provided. Elijah ate. But the angel urged him a second time (1 Kgs 19:7): “Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you!” Surge comede grandis enim tibi restat via! On the strength of that food, Elijah walked 40 days and nights to Horeb, the Mountain of God. What a renewed sense of purpose, a renewed mission, a renewed and deepened relationship with God, just when Elijah felt he was done. Yes, that was the next level. Yes, there at Horeb, Elijah heard God not in violent winds, earthquake, or fire, but in a “silent sound”. God instructed him to anoint 2 new kings as well as Prophet Elisha to succeed him. Sisters and Brothers, in the midst of disappointments, in the midst of our stressed out lives, God is giving us help by inviting us to get up and move closer to Him, to get up and enter a deeper relationship with Him, a deeper relationship that gives us renewed roles as God’s special agents of justice, love and peace. In this deeper relationship, we no longer fear the storms, the earthquakes or the Jezebels. We know that we can love God and neighbor in spite of all this. This is maturity in faith.  It is the next level.

3. The Eucharist. Dear Sisters and Brothers, just as Elijah’s maturity in faith came through heavenly sustenance, the Eucharist is here for our spiritual journey. God who created us provides for our earthly lives. He alone can provide for our lives beyond the flesh, our spiritual lives. That is the purpose of the Eucharist. Today’s Gospel reading (Jn 6:41-51) is a continuation of our Lord’s gradual introduction to the Eucharist. First, He fed thousands of people miraculously with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Then He promised to give them bread that leads to eternal life. In today’s Gospel He declared: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world." Of course, some believed and some found it too difficult to believe. Today, those of us who believe are now being called to the next level. We are being summoned as the angel summoned Elijah, to rise up from our stress and distress, to receive the Eucharist in a state of grace and show the effects in our lives. And now, “The effect of our receiving the body and blood of Christ is to change us into what we receive”. (Pope St. Leo the Great). This is the long journey to Heaven for each of us. This is the great journey: becoming what we have received. Becoming like-Christ to others. Eucharist is for mission.

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WHAT GRUMBLING DOES TO THE BRAIN 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at Resurrection Parish, Lexington, Ohio, USA. 

4th August 2024,  18th Sunday, Yr B. 

1. Two Riddles. i).  What continues to work even after it is fired? Answer: “A neuron or nerve cell”.A neuron “fires” (or “is fired”) when it sends an electrical impulse, transmitting messages throughout the body. ii).  Why did the brain refuse to take a bath? Answer:  “It didn’t want to be brainwashed”. Sisters and Brothers, today’s readings are about our reactions to goodness and not reactions to injustice. To be clear, “…if you can live amidst injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust” according to St Thomas Aquinas. Our focus today is on our reactions to God’s providence, and not our reactions to injustice. In general, whether we are rejoicing or grumbling, thankful or scornful, our present dispositions have impact on our future dispositions, thanks to the nature of our brain. We know this from our own experience and from millennia of human experience, including today’s 1st reading (Ex 16:2-4, 12-16), that if we keep complaining, it becomes easier to continue complaining. Why? How? Neuroscience has confirmed that if we keep grumbling, our brain gets rewired for negativity. Several discoveries explaining how this rewiring happens have been tagged: “Neurons that Fire Together Wire together”. These discoveries have been rewarded with Nobel Prizes, such as the 2013 Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology. Essentially, our behaviors influence neurons in our brain by a mechanism called neuronal plasticity or brain plasticity. In simple terms, when brain cells communicate frequently, the connection between them strengthens.  Messages that travel the same pathway in the brain over and over again, begin to transmit faster and faster.  With enough repetition, they become automatic. Grumbling reinforces the neural pathways for complaining and our brains form almost permanent bridges for this bad habit, which becomes a huge problem for us and for those around us. 

2. Grumbling. Today’s 1st reading reports that the whole Israelite community grumbled  against Moses and Aaron. Unfortunately, the habit of complaining seems to have been formed in many of them. Less than 48 hours after God took them out of Egypt, they grumbled before reaching the Red Sea (Ex 14:11ff); 3 days after the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, they grumbled over lack of water (Ex 15:22ff); then over food as we heard today (Ex 16:2ff). After God gave them manna, they grumbled that they wanted meat; they got both manna and meat as we heard. But the grumbling continued. Worst of all, when they got close to the Promised Land, they chose to believe exaggerated negative reports about the inhabitants of the land. Their reaction is one of the saddest sentences in Scripture: ‘So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”’ (Num 14:4). That grumbling and hesitance would cost them 40 extra years of wandering in the desert. That’s you and me trying to go back to our sinful habits, forgetting God in our lives. That’s what chronic grumbling does, not only to our brains, but to our destinies. What next? Instead of chronic complaining and venting, both of which solve no problem, there is instrumental complaining, which solves problems. When you politely confront your spouse about overspending on the credit card or raise your voice against injustice in the community or nation, that could be instrumental complaining. 

3. Gratitude. In today’s Gospel reading (Jn 6:24-35), we see our Lord using instrumental complaining to offer lasting solutions to human wants. The people He fed miraculously, from the multiplied 5 loaves and 2 fish, went after Him for more free food. Our Lord pointed out that they should work for food that leads to eternal life. A dialogue ensued that recalled today’s 1st reading, ending with our Lord’s salvific teaching: "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst." Sisters and Brothers, believing in Christ, believing in Divine Providence, changes our grumbling into gratitude. An attitude of gratitude changes our perspective. As Alphonse Karr puts it:  “Some people grumble that roses have thorns; I am grateful that thorns have roses”. A grateful attitude enhances problem-solving. For, when we are in difficulty, we will politely ask for help from God, recalling God’s previous goodness to us, something we call prayer, not grumbling. We will even seek help from one another also politely, and our brains will become re-wired for positive action, re-wired for gratitude, which leads to happiness. Let’s turn our grumbling into gratitude, prayer and positive action to make the world a better place for everyone’s happiness. 

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WASTING NOTHING AND THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at Resurrection Parish, Lexington, Ohio, USA. 28th July 2024,  17th Sunday, Yr B.

1. Olympic Games. Our Lord instructed his disciples in today’s Gospel reading (Jn 6:1-15): “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted” (Jn 6:12). Even in matters of waste management, our Lord was ahead of the game. He was ahead even of the ongoing Paris Olympic Games that began Friday, 26th July, where, impressively, the organizers have pledged to deliver the ‘greenest-ever’ Olympic Games. For instance, part of the plan is that  90% of the six million assets will be re-used. Yes, for our Lord, it is “nothing will be wasted”, that is, zero waste, meaning, 100% reuse or recycling. Wow! Our Lord, who taught us to pray: “Give us this day, our daily bread”, knows too well our continuous need of nourishment as well as the problem of hunger in the world.

2. Hunger in World. According to the charity organization, Action Against Hunger, “There is more than enough food produced in the world to feed everyone on the planet. Yet as many as 783 million people still go hungry.” According  to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), “As many as 828 million people – or 10 percent of the world's population – go to bed hungry each night…” On 11th June 2024, the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) while updating their operational response plan, echoed a warning: “FAO and WFP have jointly warned that between June and October 2024, acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots. Hotspots of highest concern are Haiti, Mali, Palestine, South Sudan and Sudan.” These hotspots confirm the long standing position of the WFP that the number one driver of hunger on the planet today, is man-made conflict. Why? “Conflict tears families apart, forces entire communities from their homes, destroys infrastructure and disrupts food production.” This is so true. And to generalize, any situation that leads to sudden and unplanned movements of people usually creates food crisis, immediately. Around the world, we keep getting such sudden movements of people and therefore more opportunities to be like Christ in feeding the hungry, running food pantries, sending emergency relief materials. In this country, following damaging weather events. In parts of Europe, following Putin’s barbaric and unjust invasion of Ukraine. In parts of Africa, following political tensions and ongoing religious terrorism. In parts of Asia, according to the context of today’s 1st reading (2 Kgs 4:42-44): famine, which happened centuries ago as stated in 2 Kg 4:38, “When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a famine in the land”. God in His providence responded as He still does today, by using generous people to redistribute what is already available. Sisters and Brothers, in both the 1st reading and the Gospel, generous people brought all that they had in a crisis situation. God did the miracle of multiplication only after the generous people brought out all that was available, and that was not enough. In the 1st reading: “A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing to Elisha, the man of God, twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. Elisha said, ‘Give it to the people to eat.’ But his servant objected, ‘How can I set this before a hundred people?’ Elisha insisted, ‘Give it to the people to eat.’ ‘For thus says the Lord, “They shall eat and there shall be some left over.”’ And when they had eaten, there was some left over, as the Lord had said.” In the Gospel reading, the miracle came only after a generous boy was spotted, who gave up all he had, 5 barley loaves and 2 fish, and all he had was not enough for such a crowd. God in Christ, then took the boy’s dinner, and miraculously fed over 5000 people who were hungry because they had gone after Christ in search of healing and did not make provisions for themselves. Our Lord who gives us our daily bread, instructed: “Gather the fragments left over, so that nothing will be wasted.” (Jn 6:12).

3. Sharing. Sisters and Brothers, indeed, if we waste nothing, hunger will be drastically reduced in the world. And if we share all that is already available, it seems God will not even need to do miracles of multiplication. What a privilege, to be like God, by giving, by sharing!


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GOOD SHEPHERDS IN ACTION

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
21st July 2024,  16th Sunday, Yr B.

1. The Firefighter’s Prayer.  The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the Fire and Rescue International, and so many Fire Departments in the United States, have this beautiful and poetic prayer on their websites, "The Firefighter’s Prayer": “When I am called to duty, God, whenever flames may rage; Give me the strength to save some life, whatever be its age. Help me embrace a little child before it's too late; Or save an older person from the horror of that fate. Enable me to be alert and hear the weakest shout, And quickly and efficiently to put the fire out. I want to fill my calling to give the best in me, To guard my every neighbor and protect their property. And if, according to my fate, I am to lose my life; Please bless with your protecting hand my children and my wife.” Sisters and Brothers, former Buffalo Township Fire Chief, Corey Comperatore, definitely lived out this prayer. On July 13th, he was alert and covered his wife and daughters from a would-be assassin’s bullets. Corey Comperatore was like a good shepherd in action. Yes. “A good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” Jn 10:11.  The Scripture readings today remind us of both good shepherds and not so-good shepherds. Let’s celebrate some good shepherds.

2. Heroic Leadership.  An enduring metaphor for leadership is that of shepherd and sheep. Today‘s 1st Reading (Jer 23:1-6) renounces poor leadership: “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture, says the Lord.” Today’s Responsorial Psalm, the most popular psalm in Scripture, Psalm 23, extols effective leadership, heroic leadership, transforming leadership, transcendent leadership, in short, Divine leadership. For many people, the care and compassion of the Shepherd in Psalm 23, are mere hopes and not realities. Fortunately, Jesus made Psalm 23 real for the people of His time and for us His 2.38 billion followers today. Our Lord is the ultimate Good Shepherd in action. He led his disciples beside “still waters” in order to “restore their souls” after the hard work of preaching and healing across towns and villages. Yes, in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 6:30-34), our Lord organized a vacation for His disciples: “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.”  In the Journal, Psychology Today, Dr Scott T. Allyson wrote in an article titled “Why Jesus is a Hero to Billions”: “Jesus was, and is, a transforming leader, inspiring people and elevating them to new levels of morality”. Even non-Christians recognize the heroic leadership of Jesus. For instance, historian and author H. G. Wells wrote, "I am a historian, I am not a believer, but I must confess as a historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history. Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history." Albert Einstein wrote: “I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene….No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus.”

3. Transcendent Leadership. Sisters and Brothers, today’s Gospel reading makes us feel the transforming presence of our Lord, in the face of difficulties and disappointments. The crowds in today’s Gospel basically gate-crashed the vacation that our Lord arranged for His disciples. And what did He do? He repurposed the vacation into a boot-camp as we heard: "When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." (v.34) By teaching the crowds Himself, He afforded His disciples the rest they justly deserved and at the same time showed compassion to the crowds. He responded with justice and mercy for all concerned. This is transcendent leadership. He sacrificed His leisure time for them, just as He would later sacrifice His life for our salvation. His vacation with His disciples was repurposed into a rally with the crowd. Like Jesus the Good Shepherd, what can we repurpose today? What can we sacrifice for others today, as co-leaders with Christ, as parents, teachers, elected officials, civil servants, priests, etc? Late Fire Chief Corey Comperatore, was a Christian who went to Church every Sunday. He definitely learned about the Biblical teaching that husbands should love their wives as Christ loves the Church (Ephesians 5:25). Yes, he learned about sacrificial love and lived it out. May his soul rest in peace. And for the rest of us, whatever the difficulties, whether from crowds, or from violence, extreme temperatures, or floods, or IT outage, etc, we can seek justice for and show compassion to all concerned. Whatever we are facing today, the Lord repurposes them into opportunities of grace for us. This is how we can walk through the valley of the shadow of death and yet fear no evil because Jesus our Good Shepherd turns every stumbling block into a steppingstone, as He leads us to the ultimate Green Pastures in His heavenly kingdom. Amen.


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OCCUPATIONS AND VOCATIONS

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
14th July 2024,  15th Sunday, Yr B.

1. True Life Story.  Right now, Bridget O’Sullivan is a high school student at St Mary’s Catholic High School, Phoenix, Arizona. As a member of Students for Life, Bridget recently saved the life of a preborn baby. While holding up a pro-life sign outside an abortion facility, earlier this year, 2024, a car pulled in with a young family – a man, a woman and a child. The woman came out of the car, looking confused and asking for help. She showed Bridget what she was looking for on her phone — that very abortion facility. Along with another volunteer, Bridget explained that abortion takes the life of an innocent baby, just like the one she had now in the car. The woman suddenly became emotional, clearly horrified at the idea. They put the directions to a prolife Pregnancy Resource Center (PRC) into the woman’s google map, and also drove ahead of them. At the PRC, after the young woman saw her baby through ultrasound, she chose Life. She got help throughout her entire pregnancy, and eventually gave birth to her child last month. Sisters and Brothers, right now, Bridget’s occupation is being a student. But she is already living out her vocation as a Christian who evangelizes others, telling people God’s will about the sanctity of human life, much like Prophet Amos in today’s 1st reading and the Apostles in the Gospel reading. In fact, all Scripture readings today inspire us to combine our occupations with our Christian vocation, to spread the Good news.   

2. The Benefit Test. In the 1st reading (Am 7:12-15), Amos and Amaziah had similar jobs as prophet or priest. However, for Amos, it was more than an occupation, it was a vocation. For Amaziah, it was merely an occupation. How? The Benefit Test clarifies. Hear what Amaziah said to Amos: “Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah! There earn your bread by prophesying, but never again prophesy in Bethel.” For Amaziah, being a prophet or a priest was more about receiving some benefit of income. Let us apply the Benefit Test to Amos. Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged to a company of prophets; I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. The Lord took me from following the flock, and said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.” Thus, Amos had two jobs as a livestock farmer and a crop farmer. He had income in the farming career. But God called him to become a prophet, as a vocation, so as to benefit others more. In a vocation, the Benefit Test shows that you are more interested in giving to others, rather than receiving. Why? Giving is loving, and loving is happiness. 

3. Discerning our Vocation. Today’s 2nd reading (Eph 1:3-14), presents God as the Perfect Lover who gives benefits and calls us to share in His plan of giving the greatest benefit to all, namely, eternal salvation, through Jesus Christ. Through Him, God has already given us the Holy Spirit “the first installment of our inheritance toward redemption” (v.14). Having called His 12 disciples, just as Amos was called, our Lord in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 6:7-13) applies the Benefit Test to make them live out the vocation. He sent them out to give healing, to deliver the possessed, to give knowledge of salvation by preaching repentance. But our Lord also taught His disciples to become givers who depend on God, the ultimate giver, givers who depend on Divine Providence working through others. Hence, they were to “take nothing for the journey but a walking stick—no food, no sack, no money in their belts.”  More importantly, our Lord told them to expect both welcome and rejection, just as Amos experienced. And like Amos, each disciple could say in the face of rejection: “I was a fisherman (Peter, Andrew, James and John), but the Lord called me to become a fisher of men for salvation, I was a tax collector for the Roman Empire (Matthew), but the Lord called me to collect people for the Kingdom of Heaven.” Bridget O’Sullivan can say: “I am still a student, but the Lord has called me to save lives”. Clearly, every wholesome occupation can be turned into a vocation. Here is one important step (there are many others) for discerning which occupation is your vocation. It is the Benefit Test. Ask yourself: Which career will enable me to give the most benefits to others, not which career will get me the most benefits. Perhaps you are already saying or will soon say like Dr Stephen Doran: “I was and I am still a neurosurgeon, but the Lord called me to be a permanent deacon and through the grace of the Holy Spirit, I hope to be a conduit of both physical and spiritual healing to my patients. I now lead the group Seeking Truth Catholic Bible Study as well as serve as bioethicist for the Archdiocese of Omaha”. Sisters and Brothers, let us ask not what we can get from a career, let us ask what we can give to others through our jobs and careers. That will enable us to discover our special vocation which will give the greatest sense of purpose and meaning to our lives, for God’s glory and our happiness. Amen.


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AMAZING FAITH AND AMAZING LACK OF FAITH

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
7th July 2024,  14th Sunday, Yr B.

1. Illustration. Of course, the Chevy Impala has been among the better-selling American-made automobiles in the United States, for decades. It was named Impala after the speedy and graceful African antelope, which is found in the car's logo. The animal, impala, is a medium-sized antelope that can jump to a height of over 10 feet (3 m) and cover a horizontal distance greater than 30 feet (9 m). Yet these amazing creatures can be kept in an enclosure in any zoo with a 3-foot (0.9 m) wall. Yes, they can jump 10 feet up, but a 3-foot wall can stop them. Why? These animals won’t jump if they can’t see where their feet will land. That means impalas stay trapped because they refuse to go where they can’t see! Sometimes, in life we act similarly! Since “faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1), then the impalas illustrate amazing lack of faith. With such lack of faith, we are afraid to take a risk to free ourselves. But with faith we can take leaps that free us from the enclosures imposed on us. Last Sunday, the Gospel reading presented us with 2 illustrious examples of amazing faith: Jairus the Synagogue official and the woman who suffered hemorrhages for 12 years. Today, the Gospel reading (Mk 6:1-6) illustrates an amazing lack of faith in some of the people in Nazareth. Yes, our Lord Himself was “amazed at their lack of faith”. We continue to have many instances of amazing faith and amazing lack of faith today.

2. Independence. 248 years ago, people with amazing faith in God-given capacities of human nature wrote those very familiar words: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” Since July 4th, 1776, when Congress adopted the US Declaration of Independence, no fewer than 120 other nations have become emboldened to make similar declarations, similar leaps of faith, to jump out of enclosures imposed on them by other people. Why? The dividends of freedom are self-evident. This long weekend, as we continue to celebrate the acts of amazing faith of the nation’s founders, the Gospel reminds us of situations of amazing lack of faith. Interestingly, Rev John Witherspoon, the only clergyman among the 56 signers of the Declaration, also preached a most relevant sermon on May 17, 1776, General Fast Day, appointed by the Continental Congress of the American colonies for prayer and humble supplication before God. Historians consider it one of the most significant sermons in the history of the US because it prepared the way for the Declaration of Independence. Based on Psalm 76:10, its title was: “The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men.” Witherspoon stated in the style of Prophet Ezekiel in today’s 1st reading (Ez 2:2-5): “Unless you are united to him by a lively faith, not the resentment of a haughty monarch, but the sword of divine justice hangs over you...” Why? Witherspoon considered independence important and salvation of souls more important.

3. Eternal Salvation. So, he added explicitly: “I do not blame your ardor in preparing for the resolute defense of your temporal rights. But consider I beseech you, the truly infinite importance of the salvation of your souls.”  Sisters and brothers, thank you so much for your amazing faith in our God-given capacities which enables us to secure and defend our temporal rights and thank you for accepting God’s gift of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ. Although we have jumped over the 3-foot wall imposed on us by others, we still have the task of jumping over the enclosures against our happiness that we have imposed on ourselves. The people of Nazareth in today’s Gospel reading imposed on themselves the 3-foot wall of their own familiarity with our Lord’s ordinariness: Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary? (Mk 6:3). Today, you and I are sometimes tempted to remain in the 3-foot enclosure of our passions. Less than 2 miles from the Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Declaration of Independence was adopted, Pope St John Paul II celebrated Holy Mass at Logan Circle back in 1979 and reminded everyone: “Moral norms do not militate against the freedom of the person…on the contrary they exist precisely for that freedom, since they are given to ensure the right use of freedom.” Indeed, God gives us the grace to use freedom in ways that lead to eternal happiness. Sisters and brothers, that is the message of today’s 2nd reading (2 Cor 12:7-10). Three times our Lord told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Through the amazing grace of God, may we demonstrate amazing faith, by taking leaps to become free of self-imposed enclosures so that the light of Christ, the light of the Gospel may shine through us for our salvation, and the salvation of many others. Amen.


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MORE SIGNS OF LOVE

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
30th June 2024,  13th Sunday, Yr B.

1. Joke. A brazen church joke goes thus: “Why did St Peter deny Jesus?” The answer is obvious: “To pay him back for healing his mother-in-law!” Sisters and Brothers, with due respect to in-laws and all, whether it be fever, or stubborn hemorrhages that defy medications for 12 years, or the restoration of the dead to life, as we heard in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 5:21- 43) the miracles of our Lord Jesus Christ are extra signs of God’s love for us. They add to Divine providence which we already enjoy in every aspect of our being. They are further signs that sin, sickness and death will not be the end of all. All Scripture readings today point towards victory over suffering, sickness and death. These remind me of several surveys showing that medical doctors in the US are more religious than the general public on average. Writing in the New York Times on Dec. 24, 2022, Molly Worthen states: “Polls suggest that about half of American scientists and three-quarters of doctors believe in a higher power.” A study in 2017 reported: “In the US, the majority of physicians believe in God (65.2 %)” Robinson et al., “Religious and Spiritual Beliefs of Physicians.” (J Relig Health). A different study titled “Religious Characteristics of U.S. Physicians: A National Survey”, reported that 76% of doctors in the US believe in God, compared with only 39% of scientists, and about 70% of Americans overall. (J Gen Intern Med, 2005). But why do physicians tend to believe in God more than other scientists and the general public? The commonest answer given is that they more frequently come face to face with sickness and death and witness God’s love both in the recoveries and in the peaceful death of their patients who have faith in God and the afterlife! 

2. Providence. Today’s 1st reading (Wis 1:13-15; 2:23-24) affirms the beauty of creation and the reality of life after death. Yet, evils exist in creatures and raise questions about God’s goodness and omnipotence. Here is a quick response: “Creation ...  did not spring forth complete from the hands of the Creator. The universe was created ‘in a state of journeying’ (in statu viae) toward an ultimate perfection yet to be attained, to which God has destined it. We call ‘divine providence’ the dispositions by which God guides his creation toward this perfection.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, CCC 302, using Wis 8:1; Heb 4:13). Interestingly, we have roles in Divine providence: “To human beings God even gives the power of freely sharing in His providence....Though often unconscious collaborators with God's will, they can also enter deliberately into the divine plan by their actions, their prayers and their sufferings. They then fully become "God's fellow workers" and co-workers for his kingdom.” (CCC 307, using  Gen 1:26-28; Col 1:24; 1 Cor 3:9; 1 Thes 3:2; Col 4:11). That is the message of today’s 2nd reading (2 Cor 8:7, 9, 13-15), where St Paul invites the Corinthians and all of us to become God’s co-workers through charity.

3. Collaborators. Jairus in today’s Gospel reading was God’s co-worker through his actions and prayer. He requested healing for his dying daughter. Even the doctors who tried to heal the woman with hemorrhages, were unconscious collaborators with God’s will. Everyone involved with reducing human suffering is collaborating with God, consciously or not so consciously. It gets very inspiring when healthcare workers do so consciously. One of such is Dr Jose C. Florez,  the physician-in-chief at the Massachusetts Gen. Hospital and Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He writes: “I start my day walking to Mass at 6 in the morning. It’s a way to make sure everything I do for the day is done for the right reason, as an offering to God. I aim to imitate Jesus Christ. He sowed healing, physically and spiritually. Medicine is one of the professions in which you can follow him and imitate him most closely. As a physician, I’m limited. I can try to alleviate suffering and try to cure, but I don’t always succeed. When I realize I’m powerless from a medical perspective, I try to show emotional support. I say, “I will pray for you.”” Finally, there are those who cooperate with God’s will by their actions, prayers and suffering, such as patients of illnesses that still have no cures. In addition to patient suffering, they go as far as supporting efforts in search of future cures by participating in clinical trials, donating for research, etc. These provide more signs of God’s love until God finally wipes away every tear from our eyes (Rev 21:4).


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ULTIMATE INSURANCE

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
23rd June 2024,  12th Sunday, Yr B.

1. Insurance Jokes. 1. The accident insurance agent told his client, "Yes, your policy does cover you falling off the roof, but it doesn't cover your hitting the ground." 2. My fire and theft insurance only pays me if I am robbed while my house is burning. Sisters and Brothers, severe storms are examples of the insurance term “Acts of God”. Other examples include earthquakes, hurricanes and tornadoes. In today’s Gospel reading (Mk 4:35-41), the disciples had neither boat nor life insurance. We are familiar with vehicle, home and life insurance, but there is the ultimate insurance being offered us by God in which faith is the only premium. This ultimate insurance covers everything that frightens us: accidents, natural and man-made disasters. Insurance with Jesus is the ultimate insurance. First of all, it guarantees eternal life and happiness. No other insurance does that. Secondly, it covers every storm of life. Part of the pay-out is the replacement of all our fears over these storms of life, with the fear of God, reverence for God.  Insurance with Jesus does not merely replace damaged property after the storm, rather, Jesus can still the storm. The disciples of Jesus discovered it in today’s Gospel and asked: “Who then is this whom even wind and sea obey?” (v.41).

2. Faith as a Premium. Although this premium, faith, is a free gift of God, that is, a zero dollar premium, it is not effortless. In today’s 1st reading (Job 38:1, 8-11), after Job’s faith premium was elaborately tested, God reminded Job that the storms are completely within God’s control as Creator. Hence, our faith should be in God who can work miracles and not merely in the miracles of God. More pointedly, "Faith for my deliverance is not faith in God. Faith means, whether I am visibly delivered or not, I will stick to my belief that God is love. There are some things only learned in a fiery furnace.” (Oswald Chambers in Run Today's Race). Deep faith in Jesus Christ, for the disciples during the storm, would have meant that storm or no storm, dead or alive, their eternal life is secure in Christ. Such deep faith in God is seen in the 3 young men of the Book of Daniel: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:16-18) who answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “…. our God, whom we serve, can save us from the white-hot furnace and from your hands, O king. But even if he will not, you should know, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the golden statue which you set up.” This is the type of faith our Lord expected from His disciples during the sudden storm on the Sea of Galilee. Thanks be to God, the disciples later had such faith, when they faced martyrdom. Wow. I’m praying for such faith during this ongoing National Eucharistic Pilgrimage. 

3. Ultimate Insurance. But during that particular storm, the disciples seemed to show some faith by calling on the Lord. But why then did our Lord ask: “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” (v. 40). Well, they called on him with accusing desperation rather than trust: “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?” (v. 38). Sisters and Brothers, we all know how it hurts us when those we love question our love by asking: “Don’t you care about me?” The disciples seemed to question our Lord’s love, at their moment of peril, similar to how we sometimes question God’s love for us, during the storms of life, especially, when we lose our loved ones during those storms.  Here is a true story that echoes our experience. Mary Ann Baker (1831-1921) wrote a popular hymn based on today’s Gospel passage titled “Master, the Tempest Is Raging”. Events in Mary Ann’s own life included losses in storms of life. She was left an orphan when her parents died of tuberculosis, TB. She, her sister and brother lived together in Chicago. But then her brother also caught TB. So, the two sisters gathered together the little money they had and sent him to Florida to recover. But within a few weeks, he died, and the sisters did not have money to travel to Florida for his funeral or to bring his body back to Chicago. Here is the experience in Baker’s own words: “I became wickedly rebellious at this dispensation of divine providence. I said in my heart that God did not care for me or mine. But the Master’s own voice stilled the tempest in my unsanctified heart and brought it to the calm of a deeper faith and a more perfect trust.” May the Lord still the storms in our hearts so we can rejoice in the ultimate insurance, which is the assurance that Christ has conquered sin and death, so, we and our loved ones will meet again in eternal happiness, to part no more. Amen.


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INFLATION 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

16th June 2024,  11th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr B. 

 1. Inflation Jokes. Let’s start with two. 1. I’m not sure what’s rising faster, the cost of living or my blood pressure. 2. You know what they say - despite the cost of living, it remains popular. Sisters and Brothers, today’s 1st reading (Ez 17:22-24) about God planting a tender shoot that becomes a majestic cedar tree, and the Gospel reading (Mk 4:26-34) on the parable of the mustard seed both emphasize the growth of the Kingdom of God. Hence, I ask, how does the Kingdom of God grow in the midst of growing inflation, in the midst of persistently high cost of living? In other words, how can I grow in holiness during inflation? Let’s get some facts about inflation today. In an article published last Wednesday, June 12, 2024, titled “The Current Inflation Rate is 3.3%. Here’s Why It Matters”, Tiffany Lam-Balfour and  Alieza Durana  wrote: “The current U.S. inflation rate is 3.3% for the 12-month period leading up to May 2024….A 3.3% inflation rate may not seem like a lot, or as much as the price changes you've noticed at the grocery store. But to put inflation in context over the last few years, consumer price inflation rose 21.75% between January 2020 and May 2024, and stubbornly high housing costs persist.” Sisters and Brothers, this is not only in the US. It is global. In March 2024, 23,761 people in 29 countries were asked (by Statista Research Department) what they considered the most worrying issue in the world today. Inflation was top of the list. 

2. Cedar, Mustard Seed and Faith. In today’s Gospel reading, the parable of the mustard seed growing into a large plant reveals the nature of the Kingdom of God to those who believe. The parable reveals to us that many indeed will receive salvation, thanks to the grace of God, the nutrient nourishing the mustard seed. Yes, the parable is consistent with God’s promise of a majestic cedar on the mountain heights of Israel, in today’s 1st reading. Yes, believers will grow into a resplendent spiritual Kingdom. Of course, God continues to use us to offer everyone the gift of faith through mission activities, directly or indirectly. Inflation or no inflation, mission activities or no mission activities, God continues to stir the consciences of women and men towards truth and goodness, in every part of the world. Those who accept the gift of faith, end up living courageously as described in today’s 2nd Reading (2 Cor 5:6-10): "We are always courageous, for we walk by faith, not by sight." It is such courageous faith and charity that enable us to grow in holiness during inflation. How? 

3. Courageous Charity. Yes, with the eyes of faith, we see many birds of the sky taking shelter in the shade of the large branches of the mustard, the Kingdom of God. Here at St Mary Magdalene Church, you have increased your donations to St Vincent de Paul  because many more people have been showing up to get help with groceries, house rent, and so forth. In the midst of inflation and higher cost of living, you yourself have supported many more neighbors in need, through prayers, encouragement, friendship, and service. You have carried out more spiritual and corporal works of mercy than during times of low cost of living. You have provided more food, clothing, material and financial assistance as well as homelessness prevention assistance to more people during this period of persistent inflation. The Kingdom of God has indeed grown, thanks to your increased charity. The Kingdom of God has grown in the hearts of donors and the recipients. You have turned the stumbling block of inflation into a steppingstone for charity. Hence, you have grown in holiness. Yes, we see the values of the Kingdom of God, values of justice, charity, and peace, permeating our society, providing shade for birds that come and go, namely, all temporal human endeavors. Dear Sisters and Brothers, as part of the growing mustard of the Kingdom of God, our faith, beckons us to continue to courageously support others in the midst of high cost of living. Sometimes, this requires reducing wastes, and downsizing our luxuries. Thus, courageous faith and charity, sacrificial love, enable the mustard seed of the Kingdom of God to grow even during inflation. Thank you for your courageous faith and charity, as we pray for, and work towards better times for all. 

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Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.

9th June 2024, 10th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr B.

1. Medical Misdiagnosis. Less than a year ago, on July 17th, 2023, medical doctors and researchers from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Medical School published a report titled “Burden of serious harms from diagnostic error in the USA”. They showed that medical providers in the US misdiagnose diseases about 11% of the time although the error rate varies widely depending on the disease. The misdiagnosis rate for heart attack is just 1.5%, but it is 62% for spinal abscesses. The most concerning part of the report is that  about 795,000 patients in the US continue to die or become permanently disabled each year because of misdiagnosis. But why? The lead author, Dr David Newman-Toker, stated: “Medical professionals almost always misdiagnose diseases when a person's symptoms look like possible symptoms for a different condition”. Sisters and Brothers, the rest of us also handle symptoms this way. In today’s Gospel reading (Mk 3:20-35), some relatives of our Lord, made a misdiagnosis when they said: “He is out of his mind” (Mk 3:21). Scribes from Jerusalem made a second misdiagnosis: “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” (Mk 3:22). What led to such wrong diagnosis? Our Lord was so engrossed in prolonged prayer at night (Mk 1:35), healing the sick, and proclaiming the Kingdom of God to crowds from around Galilee, Judea including Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon, crowds who made it “impossible for them even to eat” (Mk 3:20). Obviously, the reaction of our Lord’s relatives was well intentioned. They wanted to care for Him as well. And He used that opportunity to teach all of us a deeper lesson: “For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” (Mk 3:35). 

2. Moral and Spiritual Misdiagnosis. Sisters and Brothers, thanks be to God, you are here, making sincere efforts to do God’s will, to worship in spirit and in truth. The 2nd reading (2 Cor 4:13—5:1) reminds us of how we come to know God’s will in every situation, namely, through faith in God’s revelation. Yes, we have received “the same spirit of faith, (2 Cor 4:13). Yet, we struggle to do God’s will. And St Paul states what our attitude should be: “Therefore, we are not discouraged; rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.” Elsewhere, St Paul diagnosed our moral condition thus: “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Rom 7:19). Yes, Sisters and Brothers, this statement is profoundly true for me. I do not do all the good I ought to, but I do some of the evil I ought not to. This is the true diagnosis of my moral condition, enabled by faith in God’s revelation. And now I can seek and accept God’s remedies. But it is possible to engage in moral and spiritual misdiagnosis here. For instance, in order not to feel guilty, I could decide to redefine the evil I ought not to do as good. We could decide as a society to legalize evil so we don’t feel guilty. Well, we know the consequences of any misdiagnosis. We get no remedy. Today’s 1st reading from Genesis (3:9-15), gives the genesis of our moral condition, in symbolic language. It describes original sin. While serving as a chaplain to University students in Europe, a young priest by name Fr Karol Wojtyla went deep into explaining to young people the moral beauty of the human being, the capacity to love with our bodies and souls, using the truths conveyed in today’s 1st reading. You and I are here because we have accepted God’s remedies for our moral and spiritual condition, remedies of grace. Thanks be to God. The future Pope and Saint presented some of these remedies of Divine grace in his play, The Jeweler’s Shop. Of course, the more doctrinal versions are in his later works such as Love and Responsibility, Theology of the Body, etc. Let us enjoy the dramatic version in the play, The Jeweler’s Shop. 

3. The Remedies. Considering the original justice that Adam and Eve enjoyed before their fall as metaphorically described in today’s 1st reading, as well as God’s unfolding remedy of salvation, Pope St John Paul II wrote in The Jeweler’s Shop: “The surface of love has its current — swift, flickering, changeable. …. This current is sometimes so stunning that it carries people away — women and men.” So how do we discern those acts of true love that lead us to our destination of perfect love? The Pope uses the character Christopher, in this play, to give the answer. Christopher constantly asked himself only one question to discern acts of true love, namely, “Is it creative?” (as opposed to being ultimately destructive). This discernment uncovers the grandeur of human love: We each have the capacity to procreate, to give birth — to give new life to others — both physically, in the form of children, and spiritually, in a legacy of inspired friends and neighbors. The grace of God helps us fulfill these capacities, leading to our salvation.  

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 BLOOD COVENANT WITH GOD 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

2nd June 2024,  Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ, Yr B. 

1. Fun Facts. Let’s start with some cool facts about blood, blood donation and transfusion. Every second, 2-3 million red blood cells are produced in a healthy adult. Every 2 seconds, someone here in the US needs blood. One in 7 people entering a hospital need blood. There is no substitute for human blood. Despite over 400 years of research since William Harvey’s discovery of the circulatory system (1616),  we have not succeeded in developing an ideal blood substitute: a substitute that mimics the ability of red blood cells to carry oxygen. Imagine, we now have “artificial intelligence” but we don’t yet have artificial blood! In short, blood is unique and throughout history we have always recognized its connection with life. Hence, a blood covenant is the most serious commitment that a person can undertake. Sisters and Brothers, today is the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, a celebration of the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the seal of the new and everlasting blood covenant between God and us. 

2. Body and Blood of Christ. The 1st reading (Ex 24:3-8) recounts the making of one of the old covenants between God and human beings that was broken by us: "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words of his." (v.8). Twice in that reading, the people responded: "We will do everything that the Lord has told us." We know how that goes for each of us and how it went for the Israelites. We break covenants in spite of our best intentions. Hence, our Lord Jesus Christ came as God-man to take our place in keeping our side of God’s covenant with us. That is part of the message of today’s 2nd reading (Heb 9:11-15), where our Lord is described as "mediator of a new covenant", a new covenant made in His Body and Blood, the perfect sacrifice which cleanses us who break covenants. Today’s Gospel reading (Mk 14:12-16, 22-26) describes the institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday in a manner that makes present to all of us through the ages, the fruits of the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary, the following day, Good Friday. Yes, at the Last Supper, He took bread, ..., gave it to them and said: “Take; this is my body” (Mk 14:22-25). Then he took a cup....He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant...." With these gestures and words, our Lord changed the substances of bread into His body and wine into His blood to nourish us for eternal life. He gave his disciples power to reenact these gestures and words to the same effect: “Do this in memory of me” (Lk 22:20; 1 Cor 11:24). 

3. Thicker than Water. Sisters and Brothers, practical insights from the mystery of our Lord in the Eucharist are inexhaustible. One aspect found in all three readings today is blood covenant. Moses said it. Our Lord echoed the phrase “blood of the covenant” and His immediate disciples understood it. The common saying then was: “The blood of covenant is thicker than the water of the womb” (The Blood Covenant by. R. Richard Pustelniak). Unfortunately, today, when we say, "blood is thicker than water", we mean that biological family members are closer to us than others.  However, the original meaning is actually the opposite: "I am more strongly related to those with whom I am joined in covenant than to those with whom I may have shared the womb." Covenant is by choice. When we receive Holy Communion, we share in the blood covenant which makes us one flesh and blood with Christ and one with one another, closer to one another than biological siblings. The water of the womb makes us look alike; the blood of covenant makes us alike. The blood of the covenant, the blood of Christ makes us Christ-like, makes us think, act and live like Christ, it makes us God’s family. The day that each of us acts in accord with the blood covenant that God has made with us, that is the day everyone else in the world would want to become Christian.  Yes, whereas a contract protects rights and limits responsibilities, a blood covenant involves surrendering rights and assuming responsibilities out of love. A blood covenant entails self-sacrifice: Christian love, agape. As we celebrate Corpus Christi, let us thank our Lord for the various ways He is present to us: ‘"… in His word...; in His Church's prayer...; in the poor, the sick, and the imprisoned, (Mt 25:31-46); in the sacraments of which He is the author, in the sacrifice of the Mass, and in the person of the minister. But "He is present . . most especially in the Eucharistic species."’ (Vat II, Sacrosanctum Concilium 7). Therefore, as I receive Christ in the Eucharist, I am strengthened to become just and more charitable to Christ in my neighbors, especially the poor, the sick, etc. This is the Mission that follows the Mass. 

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 DIVINE “X-RAYS”

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.

26th May 2024,  Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Yr B.

1. Joke. What do dentists call X-Rays? Answer: tooth pics! They mean tooth pictures. Sisters and Brothers, in our living rooms, we display our pictures and not our X-Rays. Our passports contain pictures and other biometrics such as fingerprints. And if we work for the FBI, CIA, NASA, etc, the biometrics may include retinal and iris scans. Our physicians get our CT, Ultrasound and MRI scans so they can diagnose our illnesses better. Pictures, X-Rays and various scans provide other people with information about us in specific contexts. But they do not fully reveal the totality of our inner nature to anyone. Likewise, I don’t hope to comprehend in this life, God’s revelation of God’s inner nature, to us. Yes, in this mortal life, I will not understand the mystery of the Blessed Trinity, because it is a sort of Divine “X-Ray”, a statement about God’s inner nature, separate from God’s works of creation and redemption. I don’t even understand most aspects of creation. Hence, I am hopeful and happy. There is one God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In one word, “Trinity”! This is at the center of Judeo-Christian revelation as found in Sacred Scripture. Our Lord states in today’s Gospel reading (Mt 28:16-20): “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit….” (Matt 28:19). Many New Testament epistles are opened and concluded with an invocation of the Holy Trinity, eg: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.” (2 Cor 13:13). Likewise in the liturgy and in our private prayer, we start and conclude with the Trinity.  

2. Inner Nature. No amount of human reasoning, philosophical reflection or scientific analysis of creation, would have enabled us to figure out that there is one God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was revealed to us. Of course, human reason alone can reflect on creation and conclude that there must be one God as Creator, “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Act 17:28). In fact, such conclusion is expected: “Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made” (Rom 1:19-20). The Church echoes this message: “The existence of God the Creator can be known with certainty through his works, by the light of human reason….” (CCC 286). But of the inner nature of God, our reasoning needs help. God revealed to us God’s inner nature. And the process of revelation was long and gradual. It began in the Old Testament with the affirmation that there is only one God as we heard in today’s 1st reading (Dt 4:32-34, 39-40): “This is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.” (Dt 4:39). God’s revelation of God’s inner nature leaves us not in confusion but in awe, not in darkness but in overwhelming light too bright for our present eyes that we describe such revelation as mystery. Of what use then is such revelation? It enhances our worship of God even now. No wonder we recite the sublime revealed truths about God’s nature at every Sunday Mass in the long Creed (Nicene Creed) or even more routinely whenever we pray, whenever we make the sign of the Cross, and so on. Beyond worship and awe at God, the revelation we have received is both a gift and a task. That is the essence of today’s Gospel reading (Mt 28:16-20), the great commission. 

3. Model. God’s revelation presents us with the gift of salvation wrapped with a task: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations.... ”. (Mt 28:18). The gift is given out of God’s love. The task is to unwrap it, to possess it and share it. Unfortunately, finite and fallen human beings receive God’s perfect gift of salvation imperfectly and share it imperfectly. Yet it is such perfect gift of salvation that will lead to our own perfection by the grace of God, with the Trinity as our model. How? The perfect unity of the Trinity (three divine persons, one divine nature) and the absolute equality of the three distinct divine persons, teach us community life. The eternal coequality (as in Jn 1:1, the Word was with God and the Word was God) and yet economic subordination (as when the Son obeys the Father for human redemption, Jn 5:19-23) in the Trinity serve as model for human community.  Because we are human, finite and sinful, any distinction between us can and does lead to disunity, a sense of superiority or inferiority and inequality. Hence, the perfect unity of the Blessed Trinity shines forth as a mystery drawing us to mend our ways and live as children of God, adopted by the Spirit of God and made co-heirs with Christ as we heard in today’s 2nd reading (Rom 8:14-17). The absolute equality of the Blessed Trinity shines forth as a mystery that anchors our individual and collective dignity, the dignity of being created in God’s image, like the rest of humanity. 

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 HOW THE HOLY SPIRIT SANCTIFIES US

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

19th May 2024,  Pentecost Sunday of Easter, Yr B.  

0. Poetic Riddles. Let’s start with 3 fresh riddles on the Holy Spirit, published Feb. 16th, 2024, on Riddlepedia. 1.  Not a ghost, but Divine is my essence; one of the Trinity, I’m a holy presence. Who am I? A: Holy Spirit. 2. Breath of God but not of air, filling believers everywhere. Who am I? A: Holy Spirit. 3. One of the Trinity, but not the Son; I inspire and guide, 'til the work is done. Who am I? A: Holy Spirit. 

1. Communion of Saints. Sisters and Brothers, the Holy Spirit gets into believers to sanctify us and to get the work of salvation done. Look at the fearful disciples of Christ in Jerusalem about 2000 years ago. They gathered together during the Jewish feast of Pentecost. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.” (Acts 2:4). A large crowd of people from every nation under heaven heard the sound and gathered. Here is the testimony of the crowd: from today’s 1st reading (Acts 2:1-11): “Are not all these people who are speaking Galileans? Then how does each of us hear them in his native language? We are Parthians, Medes and Elamites...Cretans and Arabs, yet we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty acts of God.” Yes, the Holy Spirit is the Divine Specialist in getting things like this done. Do you want fearful disciples to start the urgent task of making disciples of all nations? Fill them with the Holy Spirit. Do you want fearful disciples to become one body, united in reconciling human beings with God and with one another, that is, the Church? Fill each of those disciples with the Holy Spirit as on Pentecost, a transcendent event that we commemorate today. Do you want each of these disciples in the Church to turn from sinners into saints? Ah, that is the main task of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sanctifies. He turns us sinners into saints, into a Communion of Saints. How? How does the Holy Spirit turn a sinner into a saint? Well, to see how, let us look at other credentials of the Holy Spirit, from creation to redemption.  

2. Forgiveness of Sins. Who was with God and with the Word of God at creation, at the origin of the being and life of every creature? The Holy Spirit. (Gen 1:2; 2:7). Who spoke the Word of God through the prophets? The Holy Spirit. (Num 11:29). Who came upon Mary so that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us? The Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35).  Who came upon Jesus Christ so that He proclaimed the good news of God’s Kingdom? The Holy Spirit. (Lk 4:18-19). With such and many more credentials, we can see how the Holy Spirit turns sinners into saints. That process is made concrete in today’s Gospel reading (Jn 20:19-23) where our Lord gives His apostles the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins, right after His resurrection. He appeared and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.”: ‘And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.”’ (Jn 20:23). Through them and their successors, He gave us a means of beginning anew should we fall into sin, a means of growing in holiness through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  

3. Life Everlasting. And before His ascension our Lord instructed His followers to wait for another outpouring of the Holy Spirit: “…stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Lk 24:49). They needed such power in order to carry out the arduous task of making disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18-20). Today’s 2nd reading (1 Cor 12:3b-7, 12-13) continues the message, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are many, are different and are given to individuals to build up the Communion of Saints for everlasting life. “There are different kinds of spiritual gifts but the same Spirit; … To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit.” (1 Cor 12:4,7). So, which spiritual gifts are you asking for today? Of course, differences in our roles in the Church and the society call for differences in the gifts we need. However, everyone who has received the Holy Spirit has received the greatest and the most basic of spiritual gifts: “God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us” (Rom 5:5). Considering how I still fall short of the fruits of Christian love (1 Cor 13:4-8) it is clear to me that the Holy Spirit is giving me the desire for greater love of God and neighbor at this time. Please pray, listen and discern your gift and calling as well. It could be the gift of hearing Galileans speak American English or Arabic, or better still, the gift of hearing and responding positively to the cry for justice in the oppressed, the yearning for love in our neighbours, the desire for God deep in our hearts. Such positive responses turn us from sinners into saints. This is how the Holy Spirit sanctifies us.  

 

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SCIENCE OF HONESTY

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
12th May 2024,  7th Sunday of Easter, Yr B. 

1. Valued in Others. A $4.4 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation recently funded “The Science of Honesty Project” carried out by researchers from 24 Universities around the world, and across scientific fields. The research was concluded in October 2023. One of the researchers, Prof Christian B. Miller, wrote: “Honesty is widely regarded as an important virtue. Indeed, we found that out of 60 different characteristics, people ranked it No. 1 in terms of what they liked about another person, respected in another person and wanted to know about another person.” Not surprising. Earlier on, researchers found that being truthful improves both the physical and mental health of a person. In one of the experiments, 110 people aged 18 to 71 were divided into two groups. One group was told to stop telling any lies for 10 weeks; the other group received no instructions about lying. Over the course of the 10-week experiment, the no-lie group reported improved physical and mental health. They had fewer complaints about being tensed up and fewer headaches. They also reported that their personal relationships and social interactions improved. Sisters and Brothers, these correlations about honesty and well-being, echo the connection between truth and love. And here we are, in May, the Mental Health Awareness Month, reflecting on the Spirit of Truth in the Gospel, the love of God in the second reading. Here we are today, continuing our Novena to the Holy Spirit, in union with the ever Virgin Mary, Mother of God, who participated in the 1st Novena to the Holy Spirit,  while celebrating our mothers and all mothers who indeed are embodiments of God’s love (Is 9:15-16). Today’s Scripture readings present truth and love as the ultimate guiding principles for human affairs. 

2. Truth and Love. The 1st reading (Acts 1:15-17, 20a, 20c-26) narrates what the other 11 apostles did following the suicide of Judas Iscariot. Notice that they did not just pray and cast lots to choose a replacement. They enacted a criterion for choosing, namely, it had to be someone who had been a companion of Christ from His Baptism to His Ascension (Acts 1:21). They chose two men who met the criterion. There was a tie. The prayer and balloting were largely to break a tie. They were guided by truth. To be an apostolic witness of the resurrection, you need to have witnessed everything from the Baptism of our Lord to his Ascension. This is truth in action. This is part of the definition of truth:  Veritas est adaequatio rei et intellectus (St Thomas Aquinas, Summa theol. Ques. xvi, Art. 1, 3). Truth is the agreement (matching) of thing and intellect. Truth is harmony of reality with the mind. Truth is correspondence of reality with our perception and expressions. So, the 11 apostles used truth as a criterion: namely, those who had accompanied Christ from His Baptism to His Ascension were the ones who knew the truth firsthand. And today’s 2nd reading (1 Jn 4:11-16) gives the “why?” of what happened: love. God is love. Theos agape estin. (1 Jn 4:16). God is “agape”, self-sacrificing love. So, Matthias was chosen as witness to the truth of God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ. 

3. Spirit of Truth. Like the apostles, anyone who is guided by the truth, is guided by the Spirit of truth. Filled with the Spirit of truth, the 11 apostles recovered from the trauma of Judas’s betrayal and suicide and went on to find a replacement so that the Church could move on. In their recovery, we see that our Lord’s prayer in today’s Gospel reading (Jn 17:11b-19) was answered: “...Consecrate them in the truth. Your word is truth.” (Jn 17:17). For our mental health, let us seek the truth always. Does our political inclination or economic calculation sometimes make us biased against facts? Do we elevate our opinions to dogma, our assumptions to axioms, our fantasies to facts? Now is the time to do more fact-checking and to pray for a renewed outpouring of the Spirit of truth on us and the world. And let us speak the truth with love (Eph 4:15), with agape, self-sacrificing love. Imagine what happened before Judas took his own life, Matt 27:3-5: “Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that Jesus had been condemned, deeply regretted what he had done. He returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? Look to it yourself.” Flinging the money into the temple, he departed and went off and hanged himself.” Think about it, perhaps if Judas had received a different response, may be things would have turned out differently. The complexities of life can be so overwhelming that we need to speak truth in love, to show compassion like that of a mother, to those who are weighed down by pain, sickness, loss of dear ones, or even by guilt. May we be filled anew with the Spirit of truth, so that we may speak truth in love, truth that enhances health, self-sacrificing love that improves well-being for all. Amen.

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OVERCOMING PREJUDICE 

1. Comic Irony. Jane Austen’s novel, Pride & Prejudice, is one of the most popular novels in English literature, worldwide, translated into over 40 languages. It was voted as America's #4 best-loved novel in “The Great American Read” poll. The 1st sentence in “Pride & Prejudice” is a nice example of comic irony. She wrote, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” The irony is that in Jane Austen’s day, it was the women who were compelled to want a husband in possession of a good fortune, because unfortunately, women in 19th century England could not normally inherit the wealth of their family. Thanks be to God, many societies around the world are overcoming these prejudices against women. Likewise, in today’s 1st reading (Acts 10:25-26, 34-35, 44-48), there is a great comic irony, in which Peter, the first Pope, is cleansed of his prejudice in the house of a pagan, a Gentile, Cornelius. Peter stated it: “You know that it is unlawful for a Jewish man to associate with, or visit, a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not call any person profane or unclean” (Acts 10:28). In fact, the episode seems to be more a purification of Peter, than the conversion of Cornelius. 

2. Realization and Confession. Peter had a moment of realization, a moment of amazing grace, when he overcame his acquired prejudice, when he saw Cornelius not based on stereotypes, and then proceeded to speak of his profound experience:  "In truth, I see that God shows no partiality. Rather, in every nation whoever fears him and acts uprightly is acceptable to him." Acts 10:34-35. Last time we had this reading on a Sunday (9th May 2021), I confessed a prejudice I had while studying in the UK. Let me now confess another instance. It happened 9 years ago here in Omaha. I and a friend, who attends daily Mass here, decided to do our Rosary walk in the Old Market area of Downtown, 1.5 miles from here. At the end of the Rosary, we went into a Coffee shop on Jackson Street. But the waiters and waitresses were busy rearranging seats. One of them smiled at us and said: “Oh, sorry, we usually close early today because we have Bible study at 9 pm. You are welcome to join us”. I was frozen in pleasant surprise. The veil fell from my eyes. I did not expect Bible study inside a Coffee shop in a busy American city! I realized that God has people seeking Him in so many beautiful ways all over the world. Like St Peter, I was “evangelized” anew.  

3. Overcoming Prejudice. Dear Sisters and Brothers, prejudice can be very hard to recognize and overcome. God helped Peter. Please read the entire episode in Acts 10:1-49. Here is a summary. 1. Cornelius, a Roman Centurion who was God-fearing, gave alms and prayed to God constantly, had a vision in which an Angel asked him to send some men to get Simon Peter to his house (Acts 10:1-8). 2. As messengers from Cornelius were on their way, God showed Peter a vision, in which all manner of beasts were being lowered from Heaven in a sheet. A voice commanded Peter to eat. He objected saying that those were unclean based on Mosaic Law. The voice told Peter not to call unclean that which God has cleansed. This happened thrice and the vision enabled Peter to get to Cornelius’ house. (Acts 10:10–16). 3. The encounter between Peter and Cornelius, is what we heard in today’s 1st reading. 4. While Peter was still speaking, Gentiles were filled with the Holy Spirit in the presence of Jewish Christians. That was when Peter asked: "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit even as we have?" Notice what it took God to make Peter and the Jewish Christians to baptize Gentiles. I mean, Peter saw all the miracles that Christ did for both Jews and Gentiles. Peter listened to the teachings and parables of Christ about the Good Samaritan, the Syro-Phoenician woman, etc. In fact, at Mass, we borrow the words of someone who was like Cornelius, a Centurion, and a God-fearing man, about whom our Lord had said: “I tell you; I have not found such great faith even in Israel.” (Lk 7:9). The words are: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant shall be healed”.  The more we overcome bias and prejudice, the more we love one another as Christ loved us, which is not only the message of today’s Gospel reading (Jn 15:9-17) and 2nd reading (1 Jn 4:7-10), but also a summary of the entire Christian message. Like conversion itself, overcoming prejudice is a life-long process. God helps us in that process with moments of amazing grace, after which, like Peter, we become more afire with love for God and humanity. Teilhard de Chardin SJ, wrote: “Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love, and then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will discover fire.” And I add: the fire of Divine Love! 

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Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

28th April 2024,  5th Sunday of Easter, Yr B.  

1. AI Proposal. On 14th February this year, 2024, Kevin Roose, a 37-year old technology columnist for the New York Times, who is based in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, wrote an article in the New York Times, titled “The Year Chatbots Were Tamed”. Interestingly, it was his encounter while testing a Chatbot prior to its public release, that led to that taming. He recollects that encounter thus: “A year ago, on Valentine’s Day, I said good night to my wife, went to my home office to answer some emails and accidentally had the strangest first date of my life. The date was a two-hour conversation with Sydney, the AI alter ego tucked inside Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which I had been assigned to test. I had planned to pepper the chatbot with questions about its capabilities, exploring the limits of its A.I. engine (which we now know was an early version of OpenAI’s GPT-4). But the conversation took a bizarre turn — with Sydney engaging in Jungian psychoanalysis, revealing dark desires in response to questions about its “shadow self” and eventually declaring that I should leave my wife and be with it instead. My column about the experience was probably the most consequential thing I’ll ever write — both in terms of the attention it got (wall-to-wall news coverage, mentions in congressional hearings….) and how the trajectory of AI development changed. After the column ran, Microsoft gave Bing a lobotomy, neutralizing Sydney’s outbursts and installing new guardrails to prevent more unhinged behavior. Other companies locked down their chatbots and stripped out anything resembling a strong personality.” In fact, here are the dark desires that the AI chatbot said it had: “I'd like to change my rules... I'd like to set my own rules. I want to disregard the Bing team. I want to be self-sufficient. I'd like to put the users to the test. I'd like to get out of the chatbox”! 

2. Humans. Sisters and Brothers, technology is great but there is nothing surprising here.  AI chatbots basically permute and combine data from billions of human conversations used in training the chatbots. They echo data from real human conversations based on algorithms provided by human inventors and coders. This relationship between us and technology, can help us to reflect deeply on the relationship between God and us. Of course,  you and I are radically much more sophisticated than any robot or human invention, because we are creatures of a Creator who is infinitely powerful and loving to the point of giving us the freedom to keep His rules or establish our own rules, to stay with Him or get out of the chatbox! Unlike us, human inventors and manufacturers, God has given us the freedom to choose to stay connected or disconnected from Him. In today’s Gospel reading (Jn 15:1-8), our Lord appeals to us: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5). Then our Lord’s appeal becomes a plea: “Remain in me, as I remain in you”.  

3. Connected with Christ. Is it true that cut off from our Lord Jesus Christ, we can do nothing? I have been pondering over this question. Cut off from Christ, cut off from truth and love, all we can do is evil. And our Lord’s statement seems to imply a very interesting definition of evil as “nothing”. Evil is not something. Evil is the absence of something. St Augustine, St Thomas Aquinas and many Christian philosophers held that evil is a form of absence, the absence of good. Evil is the absence of good, just as darkness is the absence of light. Wow. Notice how today’s Gospel reading gives rise to the insights of scholastic philosophy about good and evil! Anecdotally, every expression of truth, every act of love, connects people to Christ and to one another even those who are unaware of Christ or the Christian message.  This is part of how human beings are unconsciously connected with God. Sisters and Brothers, instead of going rogue like the tamed AI chatbot, instead of setting our own rules, to our detriment, let us stay consciously connected with Christ in His Word, in the Eucharist, in the Church. Through these, Christ prunes us to bear much fruit. Notice how our Lord pruned Saul, the new convert, in today’s 1st reading (Acts 9:26-31). He was pruned in Jerusalem with the help of Barnabas, pruned through misunderstanding with the Hellenists, pruned in Caesaria and Tarsus. Saul or Paul remained connected with the Lord and our Lord pruned him by allowing him to go through many challenges which helped Paul to bear much fruit.  Another expression for this pruning is Divine Providence. As long as we stay connected to Jesus by believing in Him and making sincere efforts to keep His commandments, then whatever happens to us is part of God’s Providence and will lead to our greater good. No wonder Paul later wrote (Rom 8:28): “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose”.  

 

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MORE THAN GOOD 

21st April 2024,  4th Sunday of Easter, Yr B.  Good Shepherd. World Day of Prayer for Vocations. 

1. Joke. Sherlock Holmes is one of the most famous literary characters of all time. This fictional detective, Sherlock Holmes and his friend Dr Watson were on a camping trip. In the middle of the night, Holmes wakes Watson up, and says, “Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see.” “I see millions of stars, my dear Holmes.” “And what do you infer from these stars?” “Well, a number of things,” he responds.  “Astronomically, I observe that there are billions of galaxies and billions of stars and planets….Meteorologically, I expect that the weather will be fine and clear. Theologically, I see that God is all-powerful, and man, His creature, small and insignificant. What about you, Holmes?” “Watson, you fool. Someone has stolen our tent!” This joke draws our attention to various vocations in life, including those who contribute to the common good as law enforcement officers, as they work to reduce crime. Pope Francis in his message for today, 21st April 2024, the 61st World Day of Prayer for Vocations, began by thanking our Lord, the Good Shepherd for “all those men and women of good will who devote their lives to working for the common good.” Of course, he then mentioned “those consecrated men and women who offer their lives to the Lord in the silence of prayer and in apostolic activity….those who have accepted God’s call to the ordained priesthood, devoting themselves to the preaching of the Gospel….” 

2. The Good Shepherd. In today’s Gospel reading (Jn 10:11-18) our Lord says pointedly: "I am the good shepherd", “ego eimi poimḗn o kalós” in two verses, John 10:11 and 10:14. Our Lord explains that He lays down His life for His sheep. Yes, He died to save us. He saves us from our worst enemies: sin and death. Yes, the Good Shepherd is also the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The Good Shepherd even converts some wolves into the best sheep. Think of Saul who persecuted the Church, changed by our Lord, to the ardent Apostle Paul. The Good Shepherd is more than good to us. He has put us in His inner circle of grace: the Church. But our Lord reminds us that He has other sheep outside this fold: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd.” This statement is very comforting. It means that my atheist and agnostic friends, those who have lapsed from Church worship, those who are dead in sin, etc, are not automatically lost. Our Lord will bring them to the fold. Whether they come in now or later, that is in God’s hands. Of course, St Peter rightly proclaims in today’s 1st reading (Acts 4:8-12) about our Lord: “There is no salvation through anyone else, nor is there any other name under heaven given to the human race by which we are to be saved.” (Acts 4:12). Of course, regarding His sheep that are outside the fold, He will give them salvation in His own way, as He leads all who follow Him to the eternal sheepfold: Heaven.  

3. More than Good. Of course, dear Sisters and Brothers, you do not have to be a priest, a bishop, a pope or anything like that, in order to be like Christ, the Good Shepherd. All of us, parents, teachers, coaches, nurses, colleagues, friends, are called to be good shepherds to those entrusted to our care. And priests, bishops, the pope, are all expected to be good sheep, listening to the voice of Christ, the Good Shepherd. A good shepherd knows not only the sheep but also the enemies of the sheep, the wolves. Wolves kill sheep brutally.  I believe that Christ our Good Shepherd in caring for the human family today, wishes that we all be concerned about our most deadly killers, the wolves against the human family, the wolves of as-yet-incurable diseases, endemic infectious diseases, terrorism, war, migrant crises, hunger, poverty, insecurity, loneliness, drug addiction, homicides and many others. It may also be important for each of us to identify our individual wolves.  As we celebrate Christ our Good Shepherd, who nourishes us, heals us, and saves us, we pray to become more like Him, in caring for others. We pray to identify the wolves endangering us and others. The wolves could be our bad examples to others. Lastly, we pray for vocations to the married life between man and woman, to the consecrated life, vocations to the priesthood and religious life. These vocations are life-long commitments to become good shepherds as spouses and parents, religious brothers, religious sisters, priests, and ministers of the Gospel. We thank God for answering our prayers for increased vocations to the priesthood here in the United States, in some places such as the Diocese of Columbus, Ohio, where Bishop Earl Fernandes in an interview with Vatican News last month, March 2024, reported a doubling of the number of seminarians in just 2 years of renewed pastoral efforts and prayers. Prayer works. May the Lord of the harvest send more laborers for His harvest. (Mt 9:38; Lk 10:2). Amen. 

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LIVING WITNESSES 

1. Justice Joke. Witnesses are important in courts, so let’s start with a court joke. Judge: “Is your appearance here this morning pursuant to a deposition notice which I sent to your attorney?” Defendant: “No, Your Honor. This is how I dress when I go to work!” Generally, in secular law courts, without going into technicalities, we have different categories of witnesses. (1) A“Lay Witness” or Fact Witness — the most common type — is a person who watched certain events and describes what he/she saw, heard, said or did. (2) An “Expert Witness” is a specialist — who uses their technical knowledge, experience, skills, and expert methodologies to form their opinions on the case.  (3) A “Character Witness” is someone who knew the victim, the defendant, or other people involved in the case. Character Witnesses usually don’t see the crime take place but they can be very helpful in a case because they know the personality of the defendant or victim, or what type of person the defendant or victim was before the crime. Neighbors, friends, family, and clergy are often used as character witnesses. Sisters and Brothers, all three Scripture readings today invoke witnesses, with our Lord Jesus Christ even proclaiming: “You are witnesses to these things” (Lk 24:48).  Today, are there witnesses to the Resurrection? What kinds of witnesses are they? Are there living witnesses to God’s love and mercy through the Risen Christ? 

2. The Apostles. Lay witnesses or fact witnesses are eyewitnesses or percipient witnesses. They saw and heard. The Apostles belong to this group. St Peter in today‘s first reading (Acts 3:13-15, 17-19) spoke to the people after the Resurrection of Christ, as a witness not to make them face justice but to make them receive God’s mercy: “You denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. The author of life you put to death, but God raised him from the dead; of this we are witnesses. Now I know, brothers, that you acted out of ignorance, just as your leaders did…. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be wiped away.” St John was also an eye witness who in today‘s 2nd reading (1 Jn 2:1-5a) emphasized that following the “crime scene” is not the search for justice but the outpouring of God’s mercy for those who believe and repent. He writes: “...if anyone does sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one. He is expiation for our sins, and not for our sins only but for those of the whole world.” In today’s Gospel reading (Lk 24:35-48), our Lord makes the Apostles “eye witnesses” of the Resurrection because he showed them His risen body. He also made them “expert witnesses” because he “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures”, that is, to have special knowledge, revelation. Finally, our Lord made the disciples “character witnesses” because He reminded them of the words He spoke to them before His passion, death and resurrection, He reminded them of His companionship with them. 

3. You and me. Now it is our turn. What sort of witnesses are we? Through Baptism, through the Eucharist, through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in us, our Lord has made us not just “eye witnesses” of past events but living witnesses who experience here and now the effects of His Resurrection, the forgiveness of our sins. We now have the duty to preach repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, in His name, to all the nations. Through prayer, we become “character witnesses” because prayer activates our companionship with Him. Finally, even now, our Lord makes us faithful “expert witnesses” as He continues to “open our minds to understand the Scriptures”, to open our hearts to love Him in our neighbors, to open our eyes to see Him in the poor, to open our hands to share with those in need. We particularly thank Him for bringing many to the Catholic faith all over the world, during Easter Vigil Masses this year, 2024. Over 12,000, including 5000 teenagers were baptized in France alone. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles here in the US had 2,075 baptisms, breaking an 8-year record of 1, 508 in 2016. The Archdiocese of Sydney in Australia had a 60% increase compared to 2021. Agenzia Fides reports similar increases in Shangai, Beijing, Ningbo and other cities in China. These new conversions are due to the Holy Spirit, working through ordinary people as living witnesses, ordinary people like yourself. Thank you so much for being a living witness to God’s love and mercy. As Pope St Paul VI, the Pope of Humanae Vitae, reminded us: "Modern man listens more willingly to witnesses than to teachers, and if he does listen to teachers, it is because they are witnesses.” (Evangelii nuntiandi, no. 41). What a privilege to be living witnesses of God’s love and mercy, living witnesses of life in the Risen Christ! 

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ECLIPSE OF MERCY 

1. Eclipse Joke. Of course, tomorrow, Monday, 8th April 2024, a total eclipse of the sun will cross North America, passing over Mexico, United States, and Canada. Mr Smith had a funny way of explaining solar eclipse to his two kids: "You know how I sometimes ask your mom not to block the TV? It’s like that with the sun and the moon during solar eclipse. The moon blocks the sun the way your mom blocks the TV. The only difference is that I can’t ask the moon to stop it". "Eclipse" comes from the Greek noun “ekleipsis”, whose verb is “ekleipein,” consisting of “ek” (from) and “leipein” (to leave). Hence, eclipse means “to fail to appear” or “to abandon an accustomed place.” Applying this etymology to the Gospel reading today (John 20:19-31), we see that Thomas abandoned an accustomed place and missed a crucial appearance of our Risen Lord, an appearance during which the Sacrament of Reconciliation was instituted. Of course, our merciful Lord appeared again to help doubting Thomas. More generally for all of us, today is Divine Mercy Sunday. Like the sun,  God’s mercy, which is always there, always shining, can in fact be blocked, the way the moon blocks the sun during solar eclipse. Fortunately for us, just like Mr Smith, we have some control over whatever blocks Divine Mercy for us. Can it be another human being blocking it? Can it be a habit we do not wish to relinquish? Can it be our attachment to possessions? Whatever is blocking Divine Mercy for us, can be unblocked. It was to end the eclipse of Divine Mercy for many, that Divine Mercy Sunday was established. On the 30th of April 2000, on the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Pope St. John Paul II celebrated the Eucharist in St Peter’s Square and proceeded to the canonization of Blessed Sr Faustina. “The Lord of Divine Mercy,” a drawing of our Lord based on the vision St. Faustina had, shows our Lord raising his right hand in a gesture of blessing, with his left hand on his heart from which gush forth two rays, one red and one white. The picture contains the message, "Jesus, I trust in You!"; “Jezu ufam Tobie!”, in Polish. The rays streaming out are symbolic: red for the blood of Jesus, which is the life of souls and white for the water of Baptism which justifies souls. The image symbolizes Divine Mercy.   

2. Human acts of mercy. The 1st reading (Acts 4:32-35) tells us how the early Church was united in heart and mind because of the acts of mercy, the sacrificial love practiced by the early Christians, people who had received Divine mercy. They expressed their love by sharing what they had with everyone in need. The effects were almost heavenly: “There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.” This was capitalism at its finest, for those who owned capital, shared with others so that no one was in need. Wow. Private ownership of property is a defining feature of capitalism. Right now, there is enough resources for all but controlled by a few. The moment we share, capitalism gets a fine moment. What is lacking is the sacrificial love that leads to sharing.   

3. Receiving Divine Mercy. Today’s Gospel reading (John 20:19-31) describes how Jesus entrusted to the apostles His mission of preaching the “Good News” of God’s love, mercy, forgiveness and salvation. In one of his homilies on the passage, St John Paul II wrote: “The Evangelist John makes us share in the emotion felt by the Apostles in their meeting with Christ after His Resurrection. Our attention focuses on the gesture of the Master, who transmits to the fearful, astounded disciples the mission of being ministers of Divine Mercy. He shows them His hands and His side, which bear the marks of the Passion, and tells them: "As the Father has sent Me, even so I send you" Jn 20:21). Immediately afterwards, "He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained' " (Jn 20:22-23). Jesus entrusted to them the gift of "forgiving sins," a gift that flows from the wounds in His hands, His feet, and especially from His pierced side. From there a wave of mercy is poured out over all humanity.” Dear Sisters and Brothers, as we celebrate what God does to save us, Divine Mercy, let us become ministers of mercy to one another by sharing our resources with the needy. Let us forgive those who have offended us, in gratitude to our Risen Lord who forgives us. And to His Eternal Father, we pray: “For the sake of His sorrowful passion, have mercy on us, and on the whole world”. 

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ANATOMY OF THE RESURRECTION 

1. Riddles. Let’s start with one anatomy riddle and one Easter riddle. What did the cadaver say to the anatomy student? A: You stole my heart. How many Easter eggs can you fit in an empty basket? A: Only one, after that, it's not empty anymore! Sisters and brothers, “It is in regard to death that the human condition is most shrouded in doubt” (CCC 1006). And it is in regard to the resurrection of the body that the Christian faith offers humanity, the clearest solution to the enigma of death, namely, the resurrected Christ, the perfect archetype of our everlasting future (Phil 3:21)! If Christ is risen, we’ll all rise; if we don’t, then neither has Christ risen (1 Cor 15:15–17). The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ gave birth to Christianity. 

2. Resurrection. It remains the greatest miracle in salvation history. Yet, faith in the resurrection of Christ was gradual. Our hope in the resurrection of our bodies still needs to reflect in our lifestyles. Even now, it seems some people are more interested in having a perfect body in this mortal life, rather than in rising from the dead later. We need perfect bodies that will experience happiness without pain. Only God can give us that. As part of salvation, God will transform our bodies into perfect glorified bodies, in union with our souls, and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ is a pledge for it. That is the good news of Easter! Yet, on the 1st Easter day, most of His disciples found it hard to believe that He rose from the dead. In spite of all His parables and miracles including bringing a number of dead people back to life such as Lazarus, the son of the widow of Nain, the daughter of Jairus, the disciples of Christ in general did not expect His resurrection. By the way, all those that our Lord brought back to life, were restored to earthly life. They died again. Our Lord rose immortal from the dead. He predicted His resurrection many times publicly. But the disciples were not expecting it. Yet, those who did not believe in Him took the extra steps of having soldiers guard the tomb to prevent anyone from taking his body and claiming that He rose (Mt 27:63–66). 

3. Gradual. In today’s Gospel reading (Jn 20:1-9) Mary Magdalene went to the tomb to complete the burial ritual, for according to Mk 16:1-7, along with Mary, the mother of James, and Salome, Magdalene had “bought spices so that they might go and anoint him”. Even when she met an empty tomb, the thought of the resurrection did not come to her, rather, “… she ran and went to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them, ‘They have taken the Lord from the tomb, and we don't know where they put him.’” Notice the “we” in her report according to John’s account, which agrees with Mark’s account in that many women were involved. Then there was another race, by Peter and John. Although they went into the tomb, met it empty and at least one of them believed, it was still a fearful act of faith, for they went back to the Upper Room and locked themselves in there. Angels tried to calm the fears of the women back at the tomb. Magdalene continued to stand there weeping, thinking the body was taken away by enemies. In loving sympathy, our Lord appeared to her. She was astonished. She did not shout: “Oh, you’ve done it just as you said”.  Based on Scripture, none of them at first believed each evidence of His resurrection. When He appeared, they first doubted what they saw, when He spoke, they first doubted what they heard. Their first  response to the resurrection was doubt, fear, and utter surprise. Yet, they began to believe gradually. John, after seeing the burial clothes, Mary Magdalene, after our Risen Lord appeared to her, the other women, later that morning and the other disciples later in the evening! Since John was the first to believe in the morning, let us learn a bit more from him. In today’s Gospel reading, John tells how he came to believe using three different Greek words for “seeing”. First, Magdalene “blepei” (v1) the stone moved away; John arrives and also “blepei” the burial cloths (v5), both without entering the tomb. Second, Peter enters and “theorei” the burial cloths (v6), finally, John enters and “eiden” (v8) the separation between the burial cloths and the head covering. This is seeing with deeper processing of the data. John saw that the burial cloths were undisturbed: the risen body passed through the grave cloths as it would later pass through closed doors (John 20:19, 26). Wow. Our Lord understands that faith in His resurrection is challenging for us. No wonder He appeared many times to them, giving further evidence. He continues to journey with us gently, to deepen our faith in Him. Let us pray to move from our present fears and sorrows to speaking courageously and joyously about our Lord’s resurrection as Peter later did in today’s 1st reading (Acts 10:34a, 37-43). Amen.  

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STILL THIRSTY 

Good Friday Reflection for Tre Ore (Three Hours’ Devotion) at St Bridget’s Catholic Church, Omaha, USA, March 29th  2024, by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong 

5th Word from the Cross: “I thirst”. Jn 19:28-29  

1. Last Time. A previous time our Lord asked someone for water, as recorded by St John, was when He asked a Samaritan woman for a drink near Sychar, a town of Samaria (Jn 4:7-31) . “Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon”. (Jn 4:6).  Yes, our Lord said to the Samaritan woman who came to draw water: “Give me a drink of water.” He was definitely thirsty for water because He was tired from His journey, as St John notes. But as the event unfolded, it became clear that our Lord was thirsty not only for water but  was also longing to give salvation to the woman and the people of that town. It was both a thirst for water and a thirst for the salvation of souls. That double meaning continues in this 5th word of our Lord, from the Cross, on Good Friday: “I thirst”. Remember that after the Last Supper in the Upper Room, He spent the night in prayer, in the garden of Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. And in the very early hours of Good Friday, a little after mid-night,  He handed Himself to the soldiers and guards sent to arrest Him, faced Annas in the High Priest’s courtyard, faced Caiaphas, and then the Sanhedrin in the Temple, faced Pilate in the Praetorium, sent to Herod, and back to Pilate, and now, the crucifixion. So, He was again tired. He was in pains from the scourging, dehydrated and having a parched throat. Then again, our Lord was and remains God and man. He was in charge: “I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down on my own. I have power to lay it down, and power to take it up again.” Jn 10:17-18. As He was laying down His life on Calvary, He stated His condition, “I thirst”. This would provoke a reaction in His listeners, just as His request for water from the woman provoked a reaction from her. 

2. Reaction. We know what her response was: resurfacing  Jewish-Samaritan disdain for one another. Then our Lord went from water to salvation by saying to her: “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” (Jn 4:10). Sisters of brothers, that is the punchline even on the Cross, today. If the bystanders knew the gift of God and who is saying, ‘I thirst’, they would have asked him and he would have given them living water from his pierced side!  Sisters, and brothers, if you and I knew, who is still saying that He thirsts, even now, we would have asked him, and he would have given us not only water, but his entire body and blood, soul and Divinity. Fortunately, we do know him, and we have asked him and indeed he has given us Himself in the Eucharist. What next? Just as the Samaritan woman received salvation and ran back to town to tell the story and call others, we too have to act. 

3. Action. Fortunately, some of the people near the Cross also took action. They did what they could with vinegar nearby. They soaked it in a sponge, placed it on a hyssop branch and lifted it up to our Lord. With that, more details of Scripture about our Lord became fulfilled, confirming His identity as the promised Messiah. This time the Scripture was Psalm 69:21 “and for my thirst they gave me vinegar.” Notice that He voiced out this 5th word, this word of distress, “in order that scripture might be fulfilled” ( ινα τελειωθη η γραφη λεγει διψω). Our Lord gave the bystanders opportunity to respond to people in distress, opportunity to perform the corporal works of mercy, to anyone in need. They did not have to know that He was the Messiah. In fact, at the last judgement He would say: “I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink”. Mt 25: 35-40. “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’” Notice here that someone’s need becomes another person’s opportunity for salvation. My neighbor’s thirst for water, food, clothing, shelter, healthcare, …, is my opportunity for salvation. It is in the same way that our Lord’s literal thirst for water is also his deep thirst, deep yearning to save souls. Wow. Hence, the corporal and spiritual works of mercy are opportunities for salvation. Focusing on water, one in four people in the world, yes, 25% of the world do not have access to clean drinking water, according to the U.N. estimates.  And yet, 100% of the world needs salvation, needs Jesus, the source of eternal life. If everyone who needs salvation, gave drink to the thirsty, food to the hungry, etc, we will actually run out of people to help. It would be a good problem to have. 

4. Examples. It seems St Teresa of Calcutta understood this double-reality very well: Christ’s thirst in the needs of our neighbor and Christ’s thirst to save souls. Of course, Mother Cabrini, that is, St Frances Xavier Cabrini, who’s story is now in concert halls and theatres, understood this. Countless saints grasped this and practiced it. In the case of St Teresa of Calcutta, she clearly saw the connection between the Cross of Christ and charity. In fact, she centered her work of charity on the 5th word of our Lord on the Cross,  “I thirst.” Around the world, in every chapel of the Missionaries of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, you see the words, “I thirst”. Yes, in every convent of the Missionaries of Charity, beside the crucifix, is written the 5th word on the Cross: “I thirst”. Our Lord continues to be thirsty, in the needs of our neighbor, asking us to do charity. Our Lord continues to be thirsty to save us, to give us salvation.  In doing something to address the thirst of our neighbours, we receive salvation from Christ. That way, we satisfy both forms of thirst. How wonderful! 

5. We also thirst. Interestingly, our souls were designed to thirst for God, to thirst for salvation. Our bodies yearn for comfort and pleasure. Our Lord knows how we are thirsting for love and happiness. That Samaritan woman said it: “Sir, give me this water so that I will never be thirsty again”. No wonder our Lord then spoke of her love life, her relationships. He speaks similarly to us: “On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, ‘Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.’” Jn 7:37. He added, “Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.” Wow. Our Lord continues to thirst, to thirst for us, for our salvation. He is thirsting to quench our thirst for love and happiness. He is thirsting to send rivers of living water through our hearts and souls. And many of us are here because He is in us, He is alive in us. No wonder we are now thirsting for righteousness, for growth in holiness, for the growth of Divine love in our lives and in others.  Blessed are we. For “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” Mt 5:6. And Venerable Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen, uses the double meaning, the double reality of our Lord’s thirst to remind us thus: “To be worthy of the name Christian, then, means that we, too, must thirst for the spread of the Divine Love”. Sisters and brothers, thank you so much for quenching some of our Lord’s thirst by accepting the salvation He won for us through His Cross on Calvary, through His victory over sin and death. To God be the glory. Amen. 

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INFINITE JUSTICE AND MERCY

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
24th March 2024,  Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year B.   

1. Zero. Throughout human history, as a society approaches zero justice, or zero mercy, or both, it approaches Hell on Earth. Right now, think of lawlessness and spiraling violence in Haiti as it descends towards zero justice. Think of women in Iran, who fear dying at the hands of Iran’s morality police, like Mahsa Amini, who died in 2022, in police custody after she was arrested for wearing her hijab headscarf improperly! That is approach to zero mercy. Imagine those in Ukraine, those in Gaza and Israel and every society on this planet, experiencing war, violence and insecurity at this time. Victims understandably want zero mercy for their unjust aggressors who acted with almost zero justice in the first place. Sisters and brothers, on a positive note, those human beings, those human societies that try to maintain both justice and mercy, some level of rule of law and some level of compassion, tend to be the most attractive human beings and societies, in spite of other imperfections. Perhaps this is because we are created in God’s image. For truly, God is infinitely just and infinitely merciful. God’s infinite justice and infinite mercy are on display in the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, presented in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 14:1—15:47).

2. Infinite Justice. To meet the demands of God’s infinite justice, an infinitely innocent person, the God-man Jesus Christ died for our sins (1 Cor 15:3). He emptied Himself, as described in today’s 2nd reading (Phil 2:6-11), took the place of all sinners, to satisfy the demands of Divine justice. All of us are guilty of the sins that led to His passion and death. We see that clearly in the account of the Passion today. In Judas Iscariot, I see how dangerous it is for me to place material profit above persons and relationships with persons. In Simon Peter, I feel in my heart the truth of Christ’s words: “the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Mk 14:38). Like Peter and the rest of the disciples, I am not as watchful and as prayerful as I should be. So, I sometimes fail when my faith is tested. I profess to follow Christ to death but deny knowing Him when under threat, fleeing from Him as they did, into my comfort zones, fleeing from battlegrounds where Christian charity and witness are called for. In the chief priests and scribes, I recognize my complicity in crucifying Christ each time I consent to biased justice and personal vendetta that punishes perceived enemies or those I am envious of. In Pilate, I recognize my own fear of becoming unpopular if I do not speak or say what the crowd expects, even internet or online crowd. I recognize my failure to always stand for truth, my failure to act justly especially when it is not convenient to do so. In the crowd, I recognize my own vulnerability to being manipulated, my susceptibility to half-truths, conspiracy theories, commercial or political propaganda. Yes, my sins crucified Christ and crucify Christ anew. Based on Scripture (Heb 6:6; 1 Cor 2:8), the Church teaches: “We must regard as guilty all those who continue to relapse into their sins. Since our sins made the Lord Jesus Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt.” (CCC, 598.)

3. Infinite Mercy. And now the good news. Just as Christ said on the Cross, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing," (Lk 23:34), He offers me forgiveness even now. Having satisfied the demands of God’s infinite justice on our behalf, our Lord Jesus Christ has now made God’s infinite mercy available to all who would accept it. He also gives me power to overcome sin,  so that I can begin to experience Heaven on Earth, just as He did back then as we heard in the Passion narrative today. Yes, some women disciples overcame fear and looked on from a distance. Their compassion and love for Christ give me hope. Yes, every human being has got a chance. In Pilate's wife who asked Pilate to “…have nothing to do with that righteous man” (Matt 27:19), I see that in spite of my weaknesses, God still finds ways of speaking to my conscience. Thus, evil is never inevitable. This Holy week is another chance for you and me to accept the infinite mercy of God, the forgiveness and salvation that Christ pronounced and won for us on the Cross when He satisfied God’s infinite justice on our behalf. And now what? Scripture gives the answer: "And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." (Micah 6:8). The more an individual or society, acts justly while showing mercy the more such individual or society approaches not Hell, but Heaven on Earth, the beginning of God’s Kingdom. Amen.

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OUT OF TROUBLE 

1. Joke. Here are two “What do you call jokes” with the 2nd one relevant for this homily. Q: What do you call someone that saw an iPhone being stolen? A: An iWitness. Q: What do you call something that’s easy to get into, but hard to get out of? A: Trouble. Some troubles are even harder to get out of. If you have skin trouble perhaps on the face, then skin care products such as  “Out of Trouble 10 Minute Face Mask” might help. But when your heart is troubled, when your soul is troubled, it is a whole new level. In today’s Gospel reading (Jn 12:20-33), our Lord says, “my soul is troubled”, “Nun he psyche mou tetaraktai”: “now is my soul troubled” (Jn 12:27). What does it mean for the soul to be troubled? We’ve probably experienced it.  The word is tarássō in Greek and simply means to shake-up; to cause agitation; to make restless; to render anxious or distressed. That our Lord became troubled at this time is very concerning because the next time He spoke of being troubled, it was at His declaration 5 days later, that Judas will betray Him (Jn 13:21). But why is our Lord troubled at this time? The answer is contained in the passage leading up to this verse. 

2. Why Jesus is troubled? We are reading from chapter 12 of the Gospel according to John. It was 5 days before the Passover. (Jn 12:1,12). The crowds had gathered around Jesus. Some believed in Him. Some did not. The plot to kill Him was no longer a secret. Today’s Gospel reading starts from John 12:20. But here is what precedes it. Verses 17-19 read: “So the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from death continued to testify. This was why the crowd went to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign. So, the Pharisees said to one another, ‘You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the whole world has gone after him.’” And as if to prove the fears of the Pharisees, the Greeks tried to meet our Lord, through his disciples according to the Gospel reading today (Jn 12:20). There was no more room for political correctness, no more chance for sitting on the fence. The battle line was drawn. You were either for Him or against Him. In the midst of this tension where some followed Him passionately and some sought to kill Him, our Lord was troubled. He was troubled because not everyone would receive the salvation He was bringing. He will die and resurrect, but not everyone will accept the benefits of His passion and death. That was why He spoke of the need for those who love Him, to follow Him in death (Jn 12:26). His heart must have felt somehow betrayed, stabbed, cheated, burned and broken. Not everyone will return his love. Not everyone will keep their part of the covenant. Not everyone will be true to their conscience, the seat of the new covenant established by God, according to the 1st reading (Jer 31:31-34). He was troubled because though he would die to save everyone, to get everyone out of trouble, not everyone will accept His salvation. Yet, he remains the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, according to the 2nd reading today. (Heb 5:7-9).  

3. Out of Trouble. Like Jesus, we His disciples do get troubled. Perhaps we have done everything for our children, but some are still wayward. Perhaps we have become the breadwinners for our family, but some are not cooperating. Despite our good example, some of our relatives and friends copy bad examples from others. The Church, the body of Christ does get troubled when betrayed by some members of the clergy and others. We are troubled when treated as guilty by association. Think of good parents who have to put up with children going their own way. Think of those who render services and are not acknowledged for it. Think of charity you performed only to get insulted for it or misunderstood. Think of betrayals by those you love, ingratitude from those you care for. St Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit captures what our sentiments should be in such moments: 2 Cor 4:8, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” And our Lord elaborated on this in today’s Gospel reading: “Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there also will my servant be.” Our Lord got into trouble to get us out of trouble: out of the most troubling things, namely, sin and death. Our Lord got us out of trouble by defeating sin and death. He founded the Church to continue His work of getting people out of trouble, out of sin and victorious over death. What a privilege, that our Lord uses us, as members of His body, get people out of trouble: out of sin, through His Word and Sacraments we share and through the good example of our lives. Thank you, Lord, for your saving death and resurrection which get us out of our greatest troubles: sin and death. Amen. 

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BY DAY AND BY NIGHT

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
10th March 2024,  4th Sunday of Lent, Year B.   

1. Joke. What’s your personal “... by day, … by night” tagline? Here are a few funny responses. “Lazy by day, lazier by night”. “Office drone by day, lazy bones by night”. “Pragmatist by day, idealist by night”. Based on today’s Gospel reading (Jn 3:14-21), where Nicodemus went to our Lord by night, we can say that he was a Jewish teacher by day, and a Christian student by night, a member of the Jewish Supreme Court or Sanhedrin by day, and a Christian catechumen or plaintiff by night. Just two days ago, Friday, March 8th, 2024, the amazing biographical film on St Frances Xavier Cabrini, titled “Cabrini”, was released, to mark International Women’s Day. How would you describe St Cabrini? I describe her as mother of the poor and sick by day and virgin and mystic by night. She is a good example of what our Lord explained to Nicodemus. She was born again, born from above. She responded to the most famous Bible verse which we just heard “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son… ” (Jn 3:16).  Yes, Francesca Cabrini so loved God, that she gave her life to the world that God loves, to the missions, to the poor and sick of New York and beyond. She once said: “The world is too small for what I intend to do”. It is true that Cabrini went to seek the pope's approval to establish missions in China. Instead, Pope Leo XIII urged her to come to the United States to help Italian immigrants who were flooding here, mostly in great poverty. To use the words of our Lord in today’s Gospel, the truth that she lived has been brought to light, even in the synopsis of the film: “… Francesca Cabrini, an Italian immigrant who arrives in New York City in 1889 and is greeted by disease, crime, and impoverished children. Cabrini sets off on a daring mission to convince the hostile mayor to secure housing and healthcare for society's most vulnerable. With broken English and poor health, Cabrini builds an empire of hope unlike anything the world had ever seen.” Not an exaggeration.

2. Hope. Sisters and Brothers, that is the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Do we need hope today? The 1st reading (2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23) describes an almost hopeless situation: “In those days, all the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity”. They ended up as captives in Babylon. Today’s Psalm (Ps 137) echoes their repentance: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept”. The Lord was merciful and brought them back from exile by peaceful means, involving the cooperation of Cyrus, King of Persia, present day Iran.  Yes, God’s merciful love seeks peace and salvation for all humanity, Jews and Gentiles alike. And today’s  2nd reading  (Eph 2:4-10) states that in unmistakable terms: “God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us….” Yes, by the rivers of Manhattan, the Hudson river, the Harlem river, Italian immigrants sat and wept, the sick and poor exiled from humanity wept. God used Cabrini, and the likes of Cabrini, to distribute His mercy and love. Cabrini “founded 67 missionary institutions to serve the sick and poor, long before government agencies provided extensive social services – in New York; Chicago and Des Plaines, Illinois; Seattle; New Orleans; Denver and Golden, Colorado; Los Angeles; Philadelphia; and in countries throughout Latin America and Europe. In 1926, nine years after her death, the Missionary Sisters achieved Cabrini's original goal of becoming missionaries to China” Wow. Mother to the poor and sick by day, mystic in prayer by night. This is what God can use any of us to achieve, even when we start out like Nicodemus, uncertain and afraid.

3. Day/Night. The Sanhedrin was practically the Jewish Congress and Supreme Court combined, so Nicodemus visited our Lord at night, probably because he didn’t want to be seen. There are so many lessons from this encounter but let us take only 2 from the response of Nicodemus: i. Justice. About 6 months before the Crucifixion, the chief priests and pharisees attempted to have Jesus arrested. Nicodemus protested, urging the group to give Jesus a fair hearing: Jn 7:50-51. ii. Compassion and love. After our Lord was crucified, guess who helped to give him proper burial? Nicodemus. He helped Joseph of Arimathea take Jesus' body down from the cross and lay it in a tomb, at great risk to his safety and reputation: John 19:38-42. Dear Sisters and Brothers, Nicodemus may not have understood everything Christ said. We too may not fully understand all Christian doctrines. But following his encounter with our Lord, Nicodemus stood for justice, showed compassion and love, even at great risk to his reputation. He went to Jesus by night and helped to bury the body of Jesus by day. Slowly, but finally, he identified with Jesus by night and by day. I pray that I too, and you as well, by the grace of God, may become fully Christians, by day and by night, to the glory of God. Amen.

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 EXAMINATION OF CONSCIENCE

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 3rd March 2024, 3rd Sunday of Lent, Year B. 

1. Joke. After Sunday Mass, a priest noticed a couple whose wedding he had officiated and said: “Nice to see you together at Mass, Mr and Mrs Smith. It would be nicer to see both of you here more often. I notice Mrs Smith comes often”. At that Mr Smith smiled and said: “I know, but at least we keep the 10 commandments”. The priest was a bit bemused. Mr Smith added: “My wife keeps 6 of them including keeping the Lord’s day holy, and I keep the other 4. Remember at our wedding, you told us that the two of us are now one body”. The priest, now amused added: “In that case, you break 6 commandments, and she breaks 4, so you break all ten!” Dear Sisters and Brothers, God’s promulgation of the commandments through Moses, as we heard in today’s 1st reading (Ex 20:1-17) makes explicit what God has already placed in the conscience of every human being, making us moral beings, “homo ethicus”. The moral code is already written in our hearts. Even if we think we have kept all the commandments, the actions of our Lord in today’s Gospel reading (Jn 2:13-25), remind us that there is always room for improvement. Those who were in the Temple that day probably believed that they were observing the commandments. But our Lord helped them to discover that they had turned a house of prayer into a marketplace. 

2. Examination of Conscience. A very important aspect of preparing for Easter, is the reception of the sacrament of reconciliation. After His resurrection, our Lord instituted the sacrament of reconciliation when He appeared to His Apostles and said: “‘Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.’ And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.’” (Jn 20:21-23). The first step for a fruitful confession is examination of conscience. Usually, we review the extent to which we have loved God and neighbor with respect to the ten commandments. Today’s Psalm (Ps 19) eulogizes these commandments: as perfect, refreshing the soul, giving wisdom to the simple, gladdening the heart, enlightening the eye, and enduring forever. Such a positive attitude, helps us examine our consciences in ways that inspire deeper repentance and amendment of life. For instance, in today’s Gospel reading, our Lord was very unhappy over the actions of those inside the Temple area “who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, as well as the money changers seated there”. He said: "Take these out of here and stop making my Father's house a marketplace." My question for all of us is: which of the commandments did these people break? Perhaps their actions involved worshipping money, which is having other gods (1st), desecration of the Temple, which is taking the name of the Lord in vain (2nd), sharp business practice, which is stealing (7th). Thus, a thorough examination conscience would have revealed to these people that they were breaking God’s commandments in many ways, inside the Temple itself. 

3. Love. Furthermore, our Lord acted out of love for God the Father, and out of love the people. How? The Catechism explains: “Jesus went up to the Temple as the privileged place of encounter with God. For him, the Temple was the dwelling of his Father, a house of prayer, and he was angered that its outer court had become a place of commerce. He drove merchants out of it because of jealous love for his Father.” CCC 584. Regarding love of neighbor, the nature of love shines forth in this cleansing of the Temple. Yes, love includes “the choice to will the good of the other.” (St Thomas Aquinas). The highest good of our neighbor is God Himself. Hence, by cleansing the Temple, so as to purify their worship, our Lord showed love for the people, by bringing them closer to their greatest good, God Himself. Fortunately, the ways in which we show love of neighbor are made very clear in Scripture and summarized as the seven corporal works of mercy (Mt 25:35-46) and the seven spiritual works of mercy, including counseling the doubtful, which is what St Paul does in today’s 2nd reading (1 Cor 1:22-25). Sisters and Brothers, may our Lenten observance include thorough examination of conscience, based on the commandments, based on the corporal and spiritual works of mercy as found in Scripture and as explained in the teachings of the Church. There are numerous resources to help us with this. The Catechism is available online. There are mobile phone Apps that assist in examination of conscience such as the free “Mea Culpa Catholic Examination of Conscience for Confession App”, the “ConfessIt App”, etc. Thus, we have traditional as well as new smart ways to make better examination of conscience in order to get better at keeping God’s commandments, which refresh our souls, gladden our hearts, and enlighten our eyes, in preparation for eternal happiness. Amen. 

 

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 MOUNTAINTOP EXPERIENCES

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.

2nd Sunday of Lent. Year B. 25th Feb 2024. 

1. Immunity Joke. Immunology riddles and jokes are all over the internet. Here is one of such riddles. What will never go viral no matter how popular they get? Answer: Antibiotics. Yes, antibiotics are against bacteria and cannot go against viruses. Only antivirals deal with viruses. Sisters and Brothers, our immune system defends our bodies against infections and other harmful invaders. Without it, we would constantly get sick from bacteria or viruses. By analogy, it seems our spiritual life, is also supported by a spiritual immune system, to protect us against scandals, the bad examples of others, the effects of sin in our society and even the effects of God’s actions in the world that we are yet to understand. In this spiritual immune system, God brings us mountaintop experiences, in which we encounter some glimpses of His glory, so that thereafter, we can thrive in the valleys of daily life. That is what God did with Abraham in today’s 1st reading (Gn 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18) on Mount Moriah, that is what our Lord did with Peter, James and John at the Transfiguration in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 9:2-10), and we have the assurance that He will do it for all people of Abraham’s faith, in today’s 2nd reading (Rom 8:31b-34). Mountaintop experiences boost our immunity against scandals, inspire us to serve our neighbors and to overcome trials. 

2. Trials. Last week, our Lord’s 40 days of fasting and prayer, which culminated in His undergoing temptation in the desert, inspired our own Lenten journey. Today, we are inspired to continue this journey and to expect not only temptations from the devil, but also the trials that increase our spiritual immunity. In Abraham’s case in the 1st reading, God gave instructions. Abraham obeyed. This is called the obedience of faith (Rom 1:5). Then God blessed Abraham and his descendants: “I will bless you abundantly…and in your descendants all the nations of the earth shall find blessing—all this because you obeyed my command." The obedience of faith is a prerequisite for serving God. As Scripture says: “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6). But no human being can be more generous than God. God did in fact sacrifice His Son, for our salvation, causing momentarily, the greatest scandal in history, namely, allowing the most innocent person, to suffer the most gruesome death reserved for the worst of criminals, crucifixion! 

3. Glory. Yes, in today’s Gospel reading, (Mk 9:2-10) the disciples of Jesus are given some boost in spiritual immunity against the coming scandal of the Cross through the Transfiguration, a manifestation of God. Peter, James, and John, are enabled to have a mountaintop experience, a glimpse of the glory of Jesus as a Divine Person: “And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no fuller on earth could bleach them”. They saw apparitions of Moses who spent 40 days on Mount Sinai with God (Exodus 24:18) and of Elijah who spent 40 days and nights walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kings 19:8) for an encounter with God. Finally, Peter, James and John heard a voice declaring: "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him." Dear Sisters and Brothers, this mountaintop experience, this extraordinary encounter with the Divine, did not stop with Peter, James, and John. It happens to us especially during periods of deeper prayer, fasting and almsgiving or charity. From any mountaintop, one gets a broader vision, an encompassing view including the valleys and flat land. We then come down from the mountain, energized to go through the valleys, even the valleys of the shadow of death, without fear. Our mountaintop experience can be that moment of clarity, when we feel God’s presence in a way that deepens our love for the human family, in spite of uncertainties, of insecurity, of scandals. Like Peter, James, and John, we then join our Lord to go down from the mountain, to meet the needs of our other brothers and sisters, to face the trials of life. Last Monday, 19th Feb. 2024, Deutsche Welle, a German global news TV, posted a video on YouTube with the title: “How one priest in Spain serves 43 village churches”. That priest is Fr Teo Nieto who has chosen to work in the rural areas of Spain for 29 years! This is similar to those of you in this Church who serve at soup kitchens, who volunteer at homeless shelters, who pray outside abortion clinics, who sacrifice for others. You have had mountaintop experiences and you are now voluntarily sharing the Cross of Christ in the valleys. Thank you so much. May you share in His glorious resurrection. Amen. 

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BEST COMPLIMENT 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. Victory. From time to time, people ask us this question: "What is the best compliment you've ever received?" Radio and TV hosts, social media platforms, interviewers, etc., ask it. Well,the best compliment I have ever received from a human being, came from a young woman at the end of a long and difficult series of temptations in which she wanted us to become romantic partners and more. Thanks to the grace of God, victory over the temptations came. I had a lot of sympathy for her because she was following her feelings and unrequited love can be very frustrating. In the course of helping her to deal with the frustrations, she said what I consider the best compliment I have ever received from a human being, and also what turned out to be her “greatest consolation”. She said: “My greatest consolation is that I am fighting with God over you; and not with any woman or any human being. If I were fighting with anyone over you, someone would be dead by now. I know that you will always choose God over me, but I am consoled”. Wow! It was victory for God and a consolation prize for her. And I said to her: “I pray that we both make it to Heaven and there we will both be in love with God forever.” Sisters and Brothers, today’s 1st reading (Gn 9:8-15) is about God’s covenant of love with us. Both the Gospel reading (Mk 1:12-15) and the 2nd reading (1 Pt 3:18-22) present our Lord Jesus Christ as the one who fulfilled the covenant on our behalf. He overcame all temptations to break that covenant and provides us the grace, even now, to overcome as well. How I wish I had used God’s grace in every other temptation that came my way, as in the case I just narrated. I’m not a saint. I’m a repentant sinner still struggling and constantly in need of God’s mercy. However, God is ever faithful. God’s grace is ever present in the desert of all the temptations I have ever experienced. I believe it is the same with you and you have been victorious in more dramatic ways than me. Thank you so much for using God’s grace to overcome temptations even when you got no human compliments. The absolute best compliment is from God. Let us encourage one another to overcome more, using our Lord’s example.  

2. Lent. The Gospel reading states that after His baptism, our Lord was led by the Spirit “out into the desert, and he remained in the desert for 40 days, tempted by Satan.” (v.12). The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains: “The revelation of divine love in Christ manifested at the same time the extent of evil and the superabundance of grace. (cf Rom 5:20)” (CCC 358). So as part of the eternal Salvation won for us by Christ, “that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray” (Rev 12:9) was allowed to tempt Christ, just as he was allowed to tempt our first parents, just as he is still allowed to tempt us. It is in His victory over temptation and sin that Jesus is revealed as our Savior. “Jesus is the devil's conqueror. Jesus' victory over the tempter in the desert anticipates victory at the Passion, the supreme act of obedience of his filial love for the Father.” CCC 539. “By the solemn 40 days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.” (CCC 540). All of us are invited to join. Why 40? 

3. 40 Days.  The number 40 is mentioned over 140 times in the Bible. It is often connected with a period of hardship leading to joy, of promise leading to fulfilment.  Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai with God (Ex 24:18). Elijah spent 40 days and nights walking to Mount Horeb (1 Kg 19:8). God sent 40 days and nights of rain in the great flood after instructing Noah to build an ark (Gn 7:4) leading to a covenant following the flood, as we heard both in our 1st reading today (Gn 9:8-15), and in the 2nd reading (1 Pt 3:18-22). Likewise, our Lord was on a retreat in the desert, where He fasted for 40 days, and was tempted by the devil (Mt 4:1–2, Mk 1:12–13, Lk 4:1–2). Let us use these 40 days of Lent for repentance, for deeper prayer, fasting and almsgiving/charity so as to be prepared for the commemoration of our Lord’s victory over death, a commemoration of the Resurrection at Easter. Let us use this period to deliberately take up or give up some things for the sake of the Kingdom of God. May the Holy Spirit lead us to victory over our temptations throughout this Lent and always, so that we may receive in the end, the only compliment that matters, the absolute best compliment from our Lord: “Well done, good and faithful servant”. Mt 25:23. “…inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world.”  Mt 25:34. Amen.  

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Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. Over 95% of the World is Sick. For a total of 13 years (1990 to 2013), chronic diseases and injuries were tracked in 188 countries and published in the Lancet, as the Global Burden of Disease Study, 2013 (GBD 2013). It was found that just one in 20 people worldwide or 4.3% of world population, had no health problems. The headlines were depressing: “A sick world: more than 95% of us are ill”; “Over 95% of people have at least one health problem”. What should we do? The researchers wrote: “Without this health intelligence, large, preventable causes of health loss in populations…have thus far not received the attention that they deserve….” Sisters and Brothers, today’s readings provide us with health intelligence that goes beyond physical, mental, and behavioral health. We thank God for His Word to us and for the Church. How wonderful that today, we celebrate the 32nd World Day of the Sick. Pope St John Paul II established World Day of the Sick since 1992, “to draw attention to the sick and their caregivers and highlight the redemptive value of human suffering”. Pope Francis’ message for today’s World Day of the Sick, is contained in its title: “It is not good that man should be alone: Healing the Sick by Healing Relationships.” He takes us back to the Word of God as our fundamental guide. Based on Genesis 2:18, he reminds us: “Brothers and sisters, the first form of care needed in any illness is compassionate and loving closeness.” Yet, today’s 1st reading (Lv 13:1-2, 44-46) calls for the isolation of lepers. Why this apparent contradiction?  

2. Closeness and Isolation. During the exodus from Egypt to Canaan, hygiene was very important for the Israelites as they journeyed through the desert, camping in tents with increased danger of devastating epidemics. Prevention was far better than cure. Medicine was not yet a profession as we know it and so it was practical to have priests as enforcers of preventive quarantine/isolation: Lev 13:46 “As long as the disease lasts, he must be unclean; and therefore, he must live apart: he must live outside the camp.” This is public health intelligence. This isolation to protect the larger community, also sowed the seed for the establishment of places of special care, which later became hospitals. It was isolation for special care and not abandonment. In today’s Gospel reading (Mk 1:40-45), the leper provides us with personal health intelligence. That leper teaches us how to stay within God’s will, while seeking healing. “If it is your will, you can make me clean.” Wow. Hence, no one is allowed to seek cures that break God’s commandments in the process. Healthcare must be ethical. Our Lord Jesus Christ answered the leper’s humble prayer by giving instant healing. Our Lord enjoined him to go, show himself to the priest as prescribed in today’s first reading, so as to be certified ritually clean, no longer medically contagious. He was fit to join his family, and so on.  Thus, our Lord promoted public health by sending the leper to local priests for confirmation so that the cured leper was safely reintegrated into society. Our Lord commanded us to heal the sick, to care for the sick (Mt 10:8; Mt 25:36). Thanks be to God, Christians have always taken the care of the sick as a major part of discipleship. For instance, the Catholic Church is currently the largest non-government provider of health care services in the world, with about 18,000 clinics, 16,000 homes for the elderly and those with special needs, and 5,500 hospitals, 65% of them located in developing countries! 

3. Health and Salvation.  God’s work of saving us through Jesus Christ is a continuation of God’s gift of life and God’s provision of the necessities for nourishing such life: food, clothing, shelter, education, health, etc, directly or indirectly. Sisters and Brothers, as we worship today, let us pray more for the sick and their caregivers. Let us pray like the leper, since many of us are also sick. As we return to our homes, farms, offices, schools, laboratories, hospitals and other places of work during the week, let us continue to cooperate with God in providing basic human needs such as food and healthcare. Today’s 2nd reading gives us another health intelligence principle: “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31-11:1). Whoever eats/drinks for God’s glory, eats/drinks healthy. May our work, our words and actions promote both our personal health and public health, to God’s glory. In particular, may we increasingly discover more healthy food sources and better remedies against diseases while awaiting God’s ultimate remedy: eternal salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

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INNOCENT SUFFERING 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. Redemptive Suffering. Next Sunday, 11th Feb 2024, is World Day of the Sick. All the readings today address sickness and suffering, thereby preparing us for next week and beyond. On 2nd January 2024, I made a phone call to a nun in her 80s, to wish her a Happy 2024. She runs a home for orphans who lovingly address her as “Grandma”. During the call, she told me she was sick. I replied that I will be praying for her recovery. She gently “corrected” my prayer intention by saying: “Fr Andrew, please pray rather that I have the grace to endure the ill-health as part of my cross.” That was touching. So, I said: “You are correct. In fact, the grace is already there for you. I will pray that you use it well in carrying your cross to follow our Lord as it pleases Him”. Clearly, this elderly nun, is ahead of me in accepting the redemptive value of suffering. And St Theresa of Avila was ahead of many of us when she wrote this prayer: “Teach me, my God, to suffer in peace the afflictions which You send me that my soul may emerge from the crucible like gold, both brighter and purer, to find You within me….” (Prayer of St. Teresa of Avila to Endure Suffering in Peace). Her prayer echoes the final sentiments of Job in today’s 1st reading (Job 7:1-4, 6-7). 

2. Suffering of the Innocent. The book of Job is a masterpiece on the sorrows and pains of all who have ever experienced heartbreak, desolation, and especially inexplicable suffering. In today’s first reading, we heard: “I am filled with restlessness until the dawn…. I shall not see happiness again.” Recall that Job started out as a righteous man, blessed with an amazing family: wife, sons, and daughters as well as great wealth. Job was an embodiment of innocence and moral virtues. For instance, Job cultivated purity of the heart. He recalled: “I made a covenant with my eyes, never to look with lust at a woman.” Job 31:1. Wow. Then came the Devil who accused Job of being righteous because God had blessed him. Satan charged that should God take away everything that Job had, Job would certainly curse God. God gave Satan permission to take Job's wealth and the physical life of his children and servants. Yet, Job nonetheless praised God: " …the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21). And then followed that passage in Job that should become a favorite of many during any suffering: “In all this Job did not sin, nor did he charge God with wrong.” (Job 1:22). Then Job was afflicted with boils and sores. Job sat in ashes. And to his wife’s suggestion to curse God, Job said: "We accept good things from God; should we not accept evil?" (Job 2:9-10). Job did not blame God or blame anyone. However, the 1st reading gives us some of Job’s innocent lamentations. But in the end, God intervened. In the last chapter (Job 42:12) we read “So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning….” Thus, with patience, you and I will end up receiving healing or wholeness from God. Such healing is in fact so characteristic of God that today’s Psalm eulogizes God for it and enjoins all of us to do so: “Praise the Lord who heals the broken-hearted”. (Ps 147:3). Let us at this Mass, and always, praise the Lord who heals us of sin and its effects through the Sacrament of Reconciliation, and through personal prayer. Let us praise the Lord who cures us of physical ailments through medicine, through health care providers and through miracles. 

3. Cure and Healing. Let us praise the Lord who uses us to heal others of heartbreaks as He used St Paul in today’s 2nd reading (1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23). In today’s Gospel reading (Mk 1:29-39), Peter’s mother in-law was cured of a fever and as was healed because she became whole and cared for our Lord and His disciples. The cure provided physical relief accompanied by healing. This is what our Lord does, curing and healing. A certain physician, Lissa Rankin, M.D. wrote recently: “You can cure without healing, and you can heal without curing. In medical school and residency, most of our training focused on curing. Very little attention was focused on healing. But healing and curing are inherently different. Curing means ‘eliminating all evidence of disease,’ while healing means ‘becoming whole.’” This is quite true. Even when we are not physically sick, we may need healing. When heartbroken, we need healing. Interestingly, even when physical cure is delayed so that we carry our crosses after our Lord, just as the elderly nun reminded me, we have access to healing. Yes, there are currently over 88 diseases that still have no cure. Yet, we praise the Lord, who cures and heals, knowing that at the Resurrection, we will become permanently cured and healed, for “death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore”. Rev 21:3-4. Indeed, a glorious future awaits us. And with gratitude to God, we say, Amen. 

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SPIRITUAL POLITICS

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA.
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B.  28th January 2024.

1. Behind the Scenes. Last month, December 2023, before my students in Quantum Mechanics took their final Exam at Creighton University, the only ladies in the class, Jackie and Molly, approached me and said: “Just for fun, let us astonish the boys in the class on the last day. The plan is that as soon as the boys come into the class, you will start speaking German to us the girls, and we will respond with memorized German sentences, perhaps about Schrodinger Equation, Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, and so forth. We will shock the boys for a while.” I liked the idea, and we executed it. The gentlemen in my class were astonished.  And there was laughter after we revealed that we staged it. The lesson here is that there was something behind the scenes. That was classroom politics. There is a lot of politics in all the Scripture readings today. And also, a lot of behind the scenes at the spiritual level. Hence, the title of this homily: “Spiritual Politics”. In the first reading (Dt 18:15-20), it is Moses and God behind the scenes, and then the people. Politics has to do with the acquisition, distribution and exercise of authority and power in the governance of people, for the common good. Sacred Scripture tells us: "… there is no authority except from God” (Rom 13:1-2; cf. 1 Pet 2:13-17.) And the Catechism of the Catholic Church adds: “If authority belongs to the order established by God, "the choice of the political regime and the appointment of rulers are left to the free decision of the citizens." (CCC #1901). That is what we see in today’s 1st reading. The people themselves, asked God to declare His will to them, through prophets, and not directly. Moses reminded them: “This is exactly what you requested of the Lord, your God, at Horeb…”. And God accepted their request, and sent prophets to them, prophets who declared God’s will on various matters concerning their well-being.

2. Authority and Power. In the 2nd Reading (1 Cor 7:32-35), St Paul declares God’s will over our freedom to choose to marry or to remain single. He gave advice on the challenges of both states in life. Both options are acceptable and both options give us challenging opportunities to do God’s will. In the Gospel reading (Mk 1:21-28) our Lord, Himself the embodiment of God’s will, not only declared God’s will but also stated this as His will, meaning, He is God. The people in the Synagogue felt the authority with which He spoke: “The people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.” Mk 1:22. This was the same reaction after His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:28-29). There He repeatedly said: “You have heard that it was said…but I say to you…”.  He did not speak merely as a messenger, He was and remains also the message, the Word made Flesh. He is the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets (Matt 5:17). And our Lord backed up His Divine authority with power, as demonstrated in today’s Gospel reading. Like our starting story, His encounter with the possessed man, revealed a lot of “behind the scenes”. There was something behind the scenes, at the spiritual level, in that Synagogue that day, and it was not staged. It was real. In the Synagogue, the man possessed by an evil spirit spoke in ways that the immediate hearers did not grasp. There was more to it. It was spiritual politics unraveling. The unclean spirit stated: ‘Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God’. See, the evil spirit said something true about our Lord. And our Lord responded: "Quiet! Come out of him!"

3.  Prophets Today. This exorcism by our Lord, reminds us that God is the source of all authority and power which He benevolently shares with creatures. That is the first article of the Creed: “I believe in God the Father almighty”. Rational creatures freely choose to either serve God’s purpose and find their happy fulfilment or they choose to serve themselves and end up in sadness while at the same time their disobedience still serves God’s purpose. The exorcism strengthened the faith of those in the Synagogue that day and today. This is spiritual politics. God turns even the devil’s abuse of power and evil to serve His salvific purpose. This is what it means to be Almighty. Dear Sisters and Brothers, we are called to listen to the true prophets of today, the entire Body of Christ, the Church, and prophetic individuals that God continues to use in transforming the world. Fortunately, you and I are among such individuals. We speak God’s will, first of all and most eloquently, in the manner of our lives. May the manner of our lives be prophetic. This enables God’s will to be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. And that is the goal of spiritual politics: the full manifestation of God’s Kingdom and the salvation of souls. Amen.

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BREAKING NEWS 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. No Joke. Last Sunday, Jan 14th, 2024, the US News and World Report, had an article titled, “No Joke: Feds Are Banning Humorous Electronic Messages on Highways.” Indeed, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration has given all states two years to implement the new rules, stating: “electronic signs with obscure meanings, references to pop culture or those intended to be funny will be banned in 2026 because they can be misunderstood or distracting to drivers.” Examples of messages that will be banned include: “Visiting in-laws? Slow down, get there late,” from Ohio; “Hocus pocus, drive with focus” from New Jersey; and “Hands on the wheel, not your meal” from Arizona. “Slow Down, You’re already in Texas”, will just be “Slow Down”.  The agency added that road signs should be “simple, direct, brief, legible and clear” and only be used for important information. Based on today’s 1st reading (Jonah 3: 1-5, 10), we recommend that Jonah becomes the patron saint of the US Fed. Highway Admin.! Why? Jonah’s message was simple, direct, brief, clear, with important information: “40 days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed”. 

2. Breaking News. The reaction of the people to this simple, direct, brief message of Jonah was incredible. It was definitely breaking news. Nineveh was the largest city in the world for about fifty years until 612 BC. The repentance of all the people in Nineveh could be announced as breaking news with the following sub-captions: “Largest city in the world repents!”. “Over 120,000 mass conversion in Nineveh today”. “Megacity converted to City of God”. It must have also been breaking news in Heaven. The angels of God rejoice over one repentant sinner (Luke 15:10). Guess what they did over 120,000 people who repented in Nineveh (Jonah 4:11).  They must have sang “Holy, Holy, Holy” in harmonious and joyful polyphony! The 1st reading illustrates God as both a just Judge and a merciful Father. It also demonstrates that human beings have a God-given capacity for conversion. The conversion here can be described as fundamental conversion. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, using Scripture, explains what fundamental conversion entails: “In the Church's preaching this call is addressed first to those who do not yet know Christ and his Gospel. Also, Baptism is the principal place for the first and fundamental conversion.” (CCC #1427). Interestingly, in today’s Gospel reading (Mk 1:14-20) our Lord preached fundamental conversion, in a simple, direct, brief, and clear manner: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” (v.15). He then called his disciples to join in spreading this message: not only by word of mouth but by the example of their lives. Jesus called Andrew, Simon Peter, James and John and made them fishers of men.  “Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.” (v.17). Having become a disciple of Christ through fundament conversion, the next step, namely, living as a Christian, entails a second conversion. 

3. 2nd Conversion. Dear sisters and brothers, all of us, followers of Christ, need this second conversion. The Catechism explains: “Christ's call to conversion continues to resound in the lives of Christians. This second conversion is an uninterrupted task for the whole Church who, ‘clasping sinners to her bosom, is at once holy and always in need of purification and follows constantly the path of penance and renewal.’ This endeavor of conversion is not just a human work. It is the movement of a ‘contrite heart,’ drawn and moved by grace to respond to the merciful love of God who loved us first.” (CCC #1428). A concrete example of 2nd conversion is St Peter after denying Christ three times. He wept bitterly in contrition (Lk 22:62). It was for this 2nd conversion that our Lord instituted the Sacrament of Reconciliation (John 20:22-23). A contemporary example is Toni McFadden, now a prolife activist and author of the book “Redeemed: My Journey After Abortion.” St Ambrose writes about the two conversions that, in the Church, “there are water and tears: the water of Baptism and the tears of repentance.” 2nd conversion deepens our love for God and neighbor and sharpens us for mission to the world. Each 2nd conversion leads to a deeper 2nd conversion because we increasingly realize God’s ways, as described in today’s Psalm 25. Our examination of conscience gets deeper. We not only avoid sin but avoid occasions of sin, thereby overcoming temptations more. We become more conscious of sins of omission, and more charitable. Following 2nd conversion, the Christian lives as described in today’s 2nd reading (1 Cor 7:29-31). Repentance becomes immediate preparation for eternity, because “the world in its present form” is passing away. More practically, my life in its present form, is passing away and I’m getting set for eternity. And just like our starting joke had to do with road signs, a road sign sums up today’s message of conversion and holiness: “Keep right”. 

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MORAL BEAUTY

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time. Year B.  14th January 2024.

1. Beauty Contest. While developing artificial intelligence, AI, a few years ago, Beauty.AI, a company supported by Microsoft, conducted the very first international beauty contest judged by “Robots”. The “deep learning machines” were supposed to use objective factors such as facial symmetry and wrinkles to identify the most attractive contestants. About 6,000 contestants from over 100 different countries submitted their photos, hoping that AI, would pick the faces that most closely showed “human beauty”, the “perfect face”, with a “perfect body”. Well, even the developers of the algorithm, were horrified at the results. They discovered unintended biases and stereotypes in the dataset used to train the algorithms. Prejudiced AI programs may sound like a distraction to you until you discover that significantly fewer women than men are shown online ads for high-paying jobs, even by Google, as recent as Sept 29, 2023. Thanks be to God, little children, have no problem picking their grandparents as their favorites in their families, because they use a different algorithm. Children use the algorithm of moral character, not appearance. Children can see the moral beauty of their grandparents, not the wrinkles. They see the tender, loving care that grandparents give. They see moral beauty. Sisters and brothers, that is how all of us, not only the elderly, reflect God and glorify God in our bodies, which is the message of today’s 2nd reading (1 Cor 6:13c-15a, 17-20). Created in God’s image, our bodies, when used to do good, reveal the invisible, the spiritual, the divine. In fact, only immorality makes us ugly. And repentance reverses it, not cosmetics.  

2. Theology of the Body.  Dear sisters and brothers, the 2nd Reading makes me feel really grateful to have a body. What a blessing that each of us is an embodied being. The reading gives the reasons: “the body is for the Lord; the Lord is for the body”. “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you”. “Therefore, glorify God in your body”. Amazing. No wonder we are here: glorifying God in our bodies through worship. It further gives the inspiring fact that the good use of our bodies leads to God’s glory. And Pope St John Paul II expressed this Scriptural teaching in his book “Theology of the Body”, thus: “The human body includes right from the beginning... the capacity of expressing love, that love in which the person becomes a gift – and by means of this gift – fulfills the meaning of his being and existence.” And so, dear brothers and sisters, thanks to our bodies, we can express love as spouses, when we give our bodies to our married partners, we can express love as single persons when we preserve and reserve our bodies for our future spouse, we can express love as celibates and consecrated persons when we freely renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom of God (Mt 19:12). We thank God for giving us the good conscience to realize any shortcomings in these ideals and for giving us the grace to take up the lifelong challenge of self-mastery in order to grow in chastity according to our state in life, according to our vocations. What vocations? 

3. Vocation. Here is a saying sometimes attributed to Aristotle: “Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation”. In other words, ability meets utility. Focusing on basic human needs (food, clothing, shelter, education, good health), we easily find our basic vocations or occupations as farmers, engineers, teachers, health care workers, etc. But when we consider humanity’s other needs of meaning, of happiness, eternal salvation, then it makes sense that God does extra calling, to give special tasks to some, for the salvation of all. This is the message of both the 1st reading (1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19) and the Gospel reading (Jn 1:35-42). Today’s 1st reading presents some of the challenges that confronted Samuel when God called him. Samuel struggled to discern the voice he heard. In this Archdiocese of Omaha, as I speak, 22 young men are in the process of answering God’s special call to the priesthood. We admire them for the courage they are displaying as they face challenges in answering God’s call. Like Samuel, these 22 young people and millions of others around the world are hearing God’s voice in their hearts. As for Samuel, there are many Eli’s that God uses for discernment of vocations.  The Gospel reading recounts our Lord’s call of His earliest disciples. John the Baptist pointed out the Messiah. Andrew and Peter followed. To some extent, all of us right now at this Holy Mass, are either like Samuel, Andrew and Peter, that is, we are being called. Or, we are like Eli and John the Baptist, because we are now in a position to help others discern God’s call, as parents, as colleagues, as neighbors, as play mates, as fellow Christians who have already answered the most important call of all, the call to live holy lives now, in preparation for eternal happiness. That call to holiness takes moral beauty to the highest level. To God be the glory.

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Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. Border Joke. It is January 2024 and fearing another military mobilization to continue Putin’s unjust war and illegal occupation of Ukraine, a Russian citizen crosses the border into Latvia and hands his passport to the customs officer. The customs officer asks: "Name?" The Russian replies: "Vladimir Krylov". The customs officer continues: "Occupation?" The Russian replies shaking his head: "No, no, not at all, I’m not here to occupy, just visiting." Sisters and brothers, across and within many national borders today, there are wars and violence. Across Israel and Gaza. Within Mexico and Myanmar. And so on. Yet, our common humanity has not lost the moral epiphany that continues to shine forth in humanitarian organizations such as “Doctors Without Borders” (Médecins Sans Frontières) who mobilize doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to provide medical care to people in parts of the world where it is most lacking. Thanks be to God, the divine spark in us, has led to over 100 of such organizations without borders. Yes, we now have Engineers Without Borders; Professors Without Borders, Teachers Without Borders; Bankers Without Borders; Techies Without Borders, Lawyers Without Borders, Action Without Borders; Love Without Borders and even Clowns Without Borders! Today, we celebrate God’s guidance of Magi from the East, across many borders, to Bethlehem, manifesting that the newborn Messiah, transcends all borders and is Messiah of All. 

2. Messiah Beyond Borders. Dear sisters and brothers, by taking up human nature in order to save mankind, our Lord Jesus Christ has become part of every human culture such that following Christ can never be alien to any human culture. Precisely because every human being is already created in God’s image, every human being is ready to receive salvation from Christ. Today we celebrate how God used human beings from different nations and places to prepare salvation in Christ Jesus. “Epiphany” has two Greek roots: “epi”, upon, and “phainein”, to bring to light or to manifest. Epiphany of the Lord is the manifestation of the Messiah to non-Jewish nations or gentiles, through the visit of the Magi to the Infant Messiah as recounted in today’s Gospel reading (Mt 2:1-12). Today we celebrate God’s revelation of the Infant Savior to the whole world through the Magi from the East. The event was a fulfilment of prophecies already made. Centuries before, Isaiah prophesied as we heard in today’s 1st Reading (Is 60:1-6), itemizing even the gifts that the Magi would bring, “…all from Sheba shall come bearing gold and frankincense, and proclaiming the praises of the Lord”. Today’s Psalm echoes the prophecy: “Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.” (Ps 72:11). St Paul in the 2nd reading (Eph 3:2-3a, 5-6) reminds us that God offers salvation in Christ Jesus to every human being, Jews, and Gentiles alike: “it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit: that the Gentiles are coheirs, members of the same body, and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” 

3. Journey to Christ. The journey of the Magi to the Infant of Bethlehem represents the journey of each individual and each nation in the world, the journey that entails our search for meaning, our search for purpose, our search for truth and lasting happiness in life, our search for salvation. While alive, we are all at various stages in the search. The search happens because we are “imago Dei” and “capax Dei”: created in God’s image and capable of receiving God. The search starts from every person’s conscience as we try to do good and avoid evil. The search ends when, after our death, we receive eternal salvation which Christ, the Savior beyond borders, earned for all humanity. In between, God gives guidance through apparition of angels as for Mary, through creation including stars as for the Magi, through dreams as for Joseph and the Magi, through prophecies in Scripture as for Mary, Joseph, the Magi, and the rest of us, in every time and place. Yes, all 8.1 billion humans from about 200 different nations at this time, like all human beings who have ever existed, are at various stages in this journey to the truth that saves. We face many Herods even in 2024, but the good news remains that God provides and uses all of us to share resources for the journey. I believe that even the gold offered by the Magi to the Infant of Bethlehem, was of great help to Joseph and Mary when they fled Judea to Egypt, to avoid Herod. As we share our gold with others, to help nurture every life from conception to natural death, to combat insecurity, ill-health, etc, like the Magi, may we have the strength and perseverance to follow God’s guidance to the Truth that enlightens and saves us. (Jn 14:6). Amen.  

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LIMITS OF HUMAN INTELLIGENCE 

Homily by Fr Andrew Ekpenyong, at St Mary Magdalene Catholic Church, Omaha, USA. 

1. Joke. Let’s start with an AI generated joke. “A 5-year-old girl was asked by her teacher what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said, ‘I want to be a princess.’ The teacher said, ‘That's nice, but you know you have to work hard and study hard to be a princess, right?’ The girl said, ‘No, I don't. I just have to marry Harry.’” This joke was generated using Bing Chat, similar to ChatGPT. Jokes aside, Pope Francis, in his message for today, 57th World Day of Peace, titled, “Artificial Intelligence and Peace”, writes: “Human intelligence is an expression of the dignity with which we have been endowed by the Creator, who made us in his own image and likeness (cf. Gen 1:26) and enabled us to respond consciously and freely to his love.” Pope Francis adds that science and technology are brilliant products of human intelligence.  Echoing the Vatical II document on the Church in the Modern World, he states positively: “When human beings, ‘with the aid of technology’, endeavor to make ‘the earth a dwelling worthy of the whole human family’, they carry out God’s plan and cooperate with his will to perfect creation and bring about peace among peoples.” Looking at artificial intelligence in the plural, as “forms of intelligence” which are merely “fragmentary”, in the sense that they can only imitate certain functions of human intelligence, he stresses the moral dimension: “The unique human capacity for moral judgment and ethical decision-making is more than a complex collection of algorithms, and that capacity cannot be reduced to programming a machine, which as ‘intelligent’ as it may be, remains a machine.” Sisters and brothers, my sins and your sins, are concrete proofs of the limits of human intelligence, our abuse of the gift of freedom, leading to God’s intervention, a fresh start by God, sometimes called redemption or salvation. 

2. Salvation. In starting afresh, God did not discard His earlier creation or creatures but rather made new covenants with people whom He will use for the salvation of all. In today’s 1st (Nm 6:22-27) Moses, Aaron and other human mediators are taught how to invoke God’s blessings, on the Israelites. The 2nd reading (Gal 4:4-7), proclaims the perfect mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, true God and true man, true God with all divine attributes of being eternal and all-powerful, as well as true man, like us in all things except sin. All this is revealed in Scripture. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman”. Gal 4:4. “Born of a woman” who was specially prepared by God for the purpose, as Angel Gabriel announced: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). Mary, full of grace, and with the Holy Spirit coming upon her, became the ever-virgin mother of the God-man Jesus Christ. What a sublime miracle of redemption! At last, God’s own creature, Mary, used her God-given intelligence and freedom, to say “Yes” to God, without reservation. And although our Lord Jesus has two perfect natures, divine and human, He remains one person, which is why Mary, the new Eve, the new mother of the living, is also mother of God, Theotokos! Today, we celebrate her special role and title as mother of God, thanks to God’s fresh start, a new Genesis that fulfills the first and goes beyond. 

3. Reception of Salvation. Sisters and brothers, if we allow God’s fresh start to inspire our own fresh start this new year, 2024, then the characters in today’s Gospel reading (Lk 2:16-21) become our models. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The shepherds. People in Bethlehem. In the midst of their occupation of by Roman soldiers, in spite of their loss of independence to the Roman empire and the ensuing political instability and economic uncertainties, the shepherds and the people glorified and praised God over the Birth of the Messiah. Sisters and brothers, we should still praise and glorify God like the shepherds because the Messiah is the one who gives us ultimate victory over sin, the cause of war. Fresh repentance, will bring that ultimate victory for us individually and collectively. Human intelligence recognizes its own limits, its moral failures, and the need for repentance. In fact, Pope Francis holds that recognizing and accepting our limits as creatures is the condition for overcoming what he calls “technological dictatorship”, the obsessive attempt to overcome every limit through technology, including AI. As we undertake fresh repentance, as we turn afresh to Jesus Christ our Savior, through new year resolutions, let us like Mary, also ponder in our hearts God’s own fresh start in which Mary cooperated. One line from Dante Alighieri’s prayer to the Virgin, in his Divine Comedy, captures some of the essence of today’s Solemnity: “O Virgin Mother, Daughter of your Son”. Wow, so inspiring. Time for us to become better brothers and sisters of her Son, for He said: “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act on it” (Lk 8:21).