May They All Be One.

Homily for June 1, 2017.

In today’s first reading, we see Paul appearing before a tribunal for trial wherein he noticed there was division among his accusers and he decided to take advantage of this division.

All he had to say was to introduce himself as a Pharisee and declare that he was standing trial simply because of the issue of the resurrection of the dead. Immediately there was an uproar in the assembly.

Paul could not be tried any longer simply because of the deep seated division between the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

Disunity is not exclusive to Christianity alone. In all the religions of the world, there are different camps whereby people are divided on matters of doctrine, leadership or certain moral standings.

Wherever it occurs, disunity prevents people from facing a common enemy. Think about this, if only the Pharisees were united in thought and doctrine with the Sadducees, perhaps they would have been able to put an end to the missionary enterprise of Paul but they couldn’t stop him.

In our Gospel passage, Jesus is praying for unity among his followers. Even in the prayer, Jesus highlights the scandal of disunity when he says “. . . MAY THEY ALL BE ONE . . . SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU HAVE SENT ME.”

In other words, the very fact of our disunity as Christians prevents the world from receiving the message of God. Let us stop seeing ourselves as Catholics, Pentecostals, Jehovah witnesses, and so on and so on. We all are one.

Today, we remember a martyr, who though neither a priest nor a religious was willing to die for the sake of the faith. As the Catholic-Online-Website describes Justin, “this layman became the first great apologist for Christianity and opened the gates of light for so many others….”

“Just before the Roman Prefect, Rusticus sentenced Justin and his companions to death, he asked Justin, "If you are killed do you suppose you will go to heaven?" Justin said, "I do not suppose it, but I know and am fully persuaded of it.” Justin and his fellow martyrs were beheaded in the year 165.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, give me courage to bear you witness by my life. Amen.

*Happy New Month. Welcome to June. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (St. Justin, Martyr. Bible Study: Acts 22:30; 23:6-11 and John 17:20-26.).*

Fr. Abu. 

My Soul Magnifies the Lord.

Homily for May 31, 2017.

As we finally come the end of the Month of May, our attention is drawn once again to the greatest woman that ever lived as we celebrate the feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

When the Angel Gabriel told Mary that her kinswoman, Elizabeth, the one who people called barren was now in her sixth month, Mary went with haste in the hill country to visit and stay with Elizabeth for three months. This visit is what we celebrate today.

There are many reasons why this visit is so significant:

One, it tells us the kind of woman Mary is. As soon as she heard that Elizabeth was heavy with child, she quickly ran to help her out. How often have you heard that people are sick and refused to visit them? How often have you heard about your close relatives and even your friends who are in trouble and just sat down to laugh about their condition?

Two, this visit explains why we are devoted to Mary. Mary forgot about herself, she forgot about her own needs, she put herself in the shoes of an old woman having to go through the pains of pregnancy and she went to help.

Now, if Mary is an expert in putting herself in the shoes of others and helping them when in need, we believe that if we ask for her intercession, she would gladly pray to God on our behalf.

Thirdly, from this visit we get to see the words of the Rosary. Anyone who wants to know why we pray, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb,” should read today’s Gospel passage from Luke 1:39-56.

Fourthly, from this visit, we learn that life begins from the womb and not on the day of birth. “For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for Joy.”

In the visitation, John the Baptist in the womb of Elizabeth gives a salute to Jesus Christ who at this time is already flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Dear friends, the baby in the womb is not a potential human being but a human being with potentials. If John the Baptist salutes Jesus still in the womb, why do we kill our unborn babies in the name of abortion?

Fifthly, from this visit, we get to see the humility of Mary. In her Magnificat, Mary sang: “My soul glorifies the Lord… for he has regarded the LOW ESTATE OF HIS HANDMAIDEN. For behold all generations shall call be blessed, for he who is mighty has done great things for me and holy is his name.”

C. S. Lewis would say: “Humility is not a matter of thinking less of yourself, it is thinking of yourself less.” In Mary’s Magnificat, we see a truly humble woman. She sang praises to God fully acknowledging what God has done in her.

When we honour Mary, when we venerate her statutes, when we ask for her intercession, it is God that we worship. God alone receives the glory for whatever honour we give to Mary. We respect Mary because God himself gave her that honour.

We call Mary blessed because she herself prophesied about it and the bible recorded it. She never stopped seeing herself as a lowly handmaid but at the same time, she knew who she had become to God.

Finally, in the visitation, we see how God works. To shame the strong, God chooses the weak. “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree; he has filled the hungry with good things and the rich he has sent away empty.”

Dear friends, as we conclude our May Devotion today, let this day not pass you by without saying the rosary and I pray that just as Mary visited Elizabeth who was in need of a helper, Mary would visit you and become your helper today.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may your Mother pray for me. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Bible Study: Zephaniah 3:14-18 and Luke 1:39-56).

The Purpose of Life is to Glorify God.

Homily for May 30, 2017.

Both our first reading and Gospel passage this morning are set in a rather sad tone of departure. Paul is departing the region of Asia after spending some time planting the Gospel there and Jesus is praying saying that “I am no more in the world… and I am coming to you.”

As the saying goes, whatever has a beginning must also have an end. The departure of Paul and Jesus reminds us of the fact that we shall also bid farewell to this very world one day.

Nothing is as painful as reaching your departure time only to realize that you forgot certain vital and important things. That is why preparing for a journey is more important than the journey itself.

Since this world is not our own, how do we properly prepare ourselves for the world beyond? By living in a manner that brings glory to God. “This is eternal life; that they know you the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” John 17:3.

What does it mean to Know God? Is it by getting a Ph.D in theology? Far from it! Knowing a person is different from gathering facts about the person, arguing if those facts are correct or finding out what scholars have said about him.

Knowing a person is being able to step into that person’s world. It is having a relationship with that person. We need an encounter with God; a life changing encounter such as that which Paul had on his way to Damascus.

To know God is to reach a point that you can say with St. Paul, “To be alive is meaningless if my life does not give glory to God.” You would know if you have encountered God if you stop pursuing material and perishable things such as money, prestige, latest cars, houses, power etc. but consider all of such as secondary, not important.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may the Holy Spirit find in me a welcome guest. Amen.

*Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 7^th week of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 20:17-27 and John 17:1-11).*

Fr. Abu. 

Be of Good Cheer, I have Overcome the World.

Homily for May 29, 2017.

It is not God’s will that we should be sad and miserable in life. Jesus today concludes his message by asking us to cheer up and be happy because he has overcome the world. Rejoice, be of good cheer. Troubles may come, but remember that the battle we are fighting is one that has been won already on the Cross of Calvary. And so, we do not fight as victims but as victors.

Jesus wants us to be happy because being in a state of joy makes us more healthy and makes living itself more worthwhile. To happy when everything is going on well with you is normal. But to be happy when things are not going so well is extraordinary.

And the happiness Jesus is referring to is that which we can have despite the tribulations we face. It is happiness that does not depend on money, clothes, food or anything that this world has to offer. It is happiness from above.

No wonder, one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is joy. You cannot have the Holy Spirit in you and remain sad and miserable because the Holy Spirit must bear fruit in you. The joy the Holy Spirit gives is that which remains regardless of whatever trial or tribulations we may encounter in life.

Let us pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon our lives that he may fill us with supernatural joy and bless us with a kind of peace that this world cannot provide.

In our first reading, we encounter another fruit of the Holy Spirit which is the ability to speak in tongues. We are told that as soon as Paul laid his hands on the people of Ephesus, the Holy Spirit came upon them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.

When it comes to speaking in tongues, let us allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us rather than simply try to utter words that we don’t understand just to give people the impression of holiness.

The gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit are very many, and the Holy Spirit being God is the one who decides what particular gift or talent he is to bestow upon us. All we have to do is to be prepared.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may the Holy Spirit find in me a welcome guest. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Monday of the 7^th week of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 19:1-8 and John 16:29-33). 

They Gathered at the Upper Room; Devoted themselves to Prayer.

Homily for May 28, 2017.

Not too long ago, our President made a statement regarding not knowing which political party his wife belongs, but that he knew she belonged to the kitchen, the living room and the other room. And trust Nigerians, many people made a lot of insinuations about this statement, comedians twisted it to suit their laughing audiences, some even produced songs and acted movies titled “The Other Room.”

Dear friends, today, we are not going to talk about the President’s other room, rather there is a special room where the Apostles gathered just after the Ascension of Jesus which is called the UPPER ROOM. This is the room we need to be right now.

As we read in the Acts of the Apostles: “(After Jesus was taken up into heaven,) the Apostles returned to Jerusalem … and when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, … all these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” Acts 1:12-14.

The Upper Room is not any kind of room, it is a special room; special not because of its height but because of what this room was used for. The upper room was a room of Prayer; and given that they were staying there, this upper room must have been some sort of monastery – a place free from distractions solely dedicated to prayer.

When we consider the fact that next Sunday is Pentecost Day, and it was on this day of Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles gathered in this very upper room, because they remained there in prayer, we can now see that this Upper Room played a very significant role as far as Christianity is concerned.

Indeed, we may say that the Upper Room is the first Catholic Parish. It is the place where the Church itself was born, the place the Holy Spirit came upon the Apostles in tongues of fire empowering them with gifts and fruits to go out and spread the message. Had it been they did not gather in this upper room to devote themselves to prayer and live in one accord, do you think the Holy Spirit would have come mightily upon them?

Dear friends, I consider the time they spent in the upper room as a time of deep spiritual preparation, a time of devotion and prayer thereby putting themselves in a state of grace to receive the Holy Spirit. The church teaches us that in other for us to worthily receive any sacrament, we must be in a state of grace. If we are not prepared inwardly, our reception of the sacrament becomes null and void.

So the question before us today is: “Have I positioned myself in the Upper Room?” or maybe we should start by asking: Do I have an upper room? Do I have at least a space or a corner in my house solely dedicated to prayer and nothing else? And if I have, when last did I really use it?

As we prepare for Pentecost next Sunday, this is a time for us to lock up ourselves in our Upper Rooms and like the Apostles prepare our hearts for the Holy Spirit by prayer. Prayer is a relationship, it is our key to happiness, prayer draws us closer to God, prayer is all important.

A prayerful Christian is a powerful Christian. Prayer is the key! Jesus started with prayer and ended with prayer. In fact, our Gospel passage today contains one of the prayers of Jesus, a prayer he said towards the end of his public ministry. If Jesus being God prayed, who are we not to pray?

And was Jesus praying only for himself? No! He prayed for us. “I have given them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from thee; and they have believed that thou didst send me. I am praying for them; I am not praying for the world but for those whom thou hast given me, for they are thine.” John 17:8-9. We too should pray for one another.

Yes, we can pray anywhere but that the Bible mentions an upper room shows that prayer deserves respect, prayer should not be done in the bedroom. Why? Because, just as cooking needs its own special room called the Kitchen, prayer needs a special room; an Upper Room; a room that helps us raise our minds to God above.

Why can’t we just dedicate one room to prayer? Is God too small or so unimportant that he cannot get one room in your house? Some of us have altars at the corners of our sitting room but as you and I know, these altars are never used, they are just there to for sightseeing – to give impression to the visitors that we are holy. Repent!

Get an upper room today! And start using it. And it is my prayer that the Holy Spirit will meet you in the upper room when he comes next Sunday.

Lastly as we celebrate the world communications day today, let us be committed to using every channel of communication we have to spread God’s message. Your phone is not meant only for making friends, entertainment, games or pornography, use it as your pulpit! Use your writing skills or speaking prowess to talk about Jesus. Even your dressing, your carriage and your behaviour should communicate God to the world.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may I be fully prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Happy Sunday. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (7^th Sunday of Easter. Year A. Bible Study: Acts 1:12-14, 1 Peter 4:13-16 and John 17:1-11). 

Prayer is a Relationship.

Homily for May 27, 2017.

Recently, I saw a video of a guy who knelt beside his bed to pray in pidgin English. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to entertain his audience or if he was actually talking to Jesus.

Nevertheless one striking characteristic about the way he prayed was that he spoke to Jesus so informally and freely as though Jesus was his immediate elder brother. Dear friends, prayer is more than merely asking. Prayer is relationship.

To pray well is to be in good talking terms with God, it is an act of love. it is not something we run to do each time we are in trouble. Prayer should not be a once in a while affair. We should pray without season.

When we pray, God loves us the more. This is because my bringing ourselves to pray, we prove to God that we believe in him. As Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel passage: “In that day you will ask in my name; and I do not say to you that I shall pray the Father for you; or the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from the Father.” John 16:26-27 

Again, the main purpose of prayer is for us to have an increase of joy. When we pray, it is for our own happiness. “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father, he will give it to you in my name. Hitherto you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:23-24.

It is surprising to me how we go in search of happiness everywhere yet we ignore prayer. How do we hope to be happy when we do not have time for prayer? If Jesus himself could promise that prayer would make our joy complete, where else can be find complete happiness if not right on our knees?

Let us rethink our prayer life today. Let us begin to devote more time to prayer because it is more than asking. Prayer is a relationship.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may I be fully prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Saturday after the Ascension of the Lord. Bible Study: Acts 18:23-28 and John 16:23-28). 

Sorrow May Last in the Night but Joy comes in the Morning

Homily for May 26, 2017.

Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy.

When a woman is in travail she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she is delivered of the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a child is born into the world.

So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day, you will ask nothing of me. John 16:20-23.

Our short time on earth is like the nine-month period of carrying a pregnancy. It could be tough at times but when we are successful in carrying it to the end, the joy we shall eventually experience shall be so much as to make up for the sorrow of this present life.

However, Jesus does not say that there will be no moments of joy right here on earth. Rather, what he intends to say is that despite our righteousness and diligent obedience of his commandments, we are not to assume that there will never be some dull moments. So long as we live on earth, we are constantly going to be oscillating between moments of joy and moments of sorrow.

This was the experience of Paul in the first reading today. For a whole year and six months, Paul went about the city of Corinth preaching the Good News of salvation freely. God told him in a vision “Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent, for I am with you, and no man shall attack you to harm you.”

It is not God’s will that we should live in perpetual misery simply because we do not belong to the world as Christians. No! God ensured that Paul enjoyed a time of joy while proclaiming the message. But this time was limited.

Happiness on earth may be limited but happiness above is totally unlimited. So if we do not experience happiness as we so desire, let us not give up on God nor attempt to seek happiness from the world because the happiness which the world gives only amounts to perpetual sorrow in the life to come.

Yes, for the child of God, sorrow may last in the night but joy comes in the morning. Never Give up!

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may I be fully prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Friday After the Ascension of the Lord. Bible Study: Acts 18:9-18 and John 16:20-23).

God Goes Up With Shouts of Joy.

Homily for May 25, 2017.

Today makes it forty days since the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The last forty days have been a time of great spiritual rejuvenation. During this period, we have heard some of the most consoling words of Jesus; words he spoke knowing fully well that he would not be around with them physically any longer.

One of the words of Jesus I consider quite unforgettable is this: “Do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in God and believe also in me.” Just last Sunday, Jesus said: “I will not leave you desolate.” That is, to say, I will not abandon you.

During the week, we heard Jesus justify his departure saying: “If I do not go, the Holy Spirit will not come to you.” Today, exactly forty days after Easter Sunday, we recall and celebrate the “departure” of Jesus.

In a sense, it is not really a departure in that Jesus is still with us. As God, Jesus is everywhere. And he himself said in our Gospel passage this morning: “I am with you always, to the close of the age.” Matthew 28:20. We may refer to the ascension as a departure in the sense that Jesus is no longer walking on the streets of Nazareth.

I tried to imagine if Jesus did not ascend to heaven. He would have been very old by now, perhaps he would have been about 2,049 years old and I wonder the millions of people that would be trooping to Israel to see him. Since He is God, Jesus would never have died, maybe he would have been going on world tour preaching from country to country.

But then, it dawned on me that what Jesus would have been doing if he were still physically around is exactly what he instructed us to do. Check out the last words of Jesus as he ascended (departed):

“It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and YOU SHALL BE MY WITNESSES in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:7-8.

Even in Matthew’s Gospel we read the last words of Jesus as:

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” Matthew 28:18-20.

Do you see how Matthew’s Gospel corroborates with the Acts of the Apostles? Jesus’ parting words to you and I was simply to go and preach and this preaching is not only with words but with our life styles and actions.

To preach even without words is to witness for Jesus, to preach without words is to practice what your words would have preached. Witnessing is an aspect of preaching but preaching without witnessing (living it out) is useless.

And it takes wisdom to witness with one’s life while preaching. No wonder St. Paul prays for us in our second reading that God should give us a Spirit of Wisdom so that having come to know Christ, our eyes may be enlightened and our hope would be based on the riches of heaven.

By going up to heaven, Jesus does not intend to create a distance between himself and us, rather his ascension is a meant to confirm in us the truth that we all have a final destination that is not here on earth.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may I be fully prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. Amen.

*Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (The Ascension of the Lord. Year A. Bible Study: Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:17-23 and Matthew 28:16-20).*

Fr. Abu.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.

Homily for May 24, 2017.

In a few days from now, we shall be celebrating the Solemnity of Pentecost. Hence, our Gospel passage recalls how Jesus prepared the minds of his disciples to receive the Holy Spirit.

As we reflect on Jesus’ words, we get to a deeper and clearer understanding of who the Holy Spirit is. In yesterday’s Gospel passage, Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit as a Counsellor; someone who gives us advice and offers direction when we are troubled, confused or depressed.

Today, Jesus calls the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth. Jesus had many things to say but he could not say them because the disciples did not have the capacity to bear them. But the Holy Spirit would explain those things to them.

Put simply, to have the Holy Spirit is to become aware of certain truths that are not often within the reach of the ordinary man. The Holy Spirit is indeed a teacher; he exposes certain deep spiritual realities and enables us to understand scriptures better.

Dear friends, the question is: If the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth, why then do we Christians tell lies? Can I possibly have the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Lies inside me at the same time? Is the habit of telling lies not an indication that I do not have the Holy Spirit?

Jesus even added that the Holy Spirit would glorify him. If I really possess the Holy Spirit, how come I am not able to bring glory to God by my thoughts, weeds and deeds? Does telling lies give glory to God? Why don’t I shame the devil by saying the truth at all times?

Paul preached to the Athenians laying his foundation on the altar they built to an unknown God but his message fell on deaf ears; many people tuned off the moment he talked about Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. They couldn’t fathom the resurrection because they lacked the Holy Spirit.

Let us pray for a fresh outpouring the Holy Spirit daily in our lives so as to cast away from ourselves the spirit of telling lies. Let us strive to remain always filled with the Holy Spirit that our very lives may glorify God.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may I be fully prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Wednesday of the 6^th week of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 17:15.22-18:1 and John 16:12-15).

Even in Prison, just keep Singing and Praying.

Homily for May 23, 2017.

In our Gospel passage yesterday, Jesus describes us as his witnesses and at the same time declared that as his witnesses, we are bound to face persecution. “A time will come when anyone who kills you will think that he is doing a favour to God.” John 16:2.

This was exactly the experience of Paul and Silas who were beaten and thrown into Prison in our first reading today. The book of Sirach reminds us: “My son, if you want to serve the Lord, be prepared for an ordeal.” Sir. 2:1

Let us pause for a while and ask ourselves: “Since I became a Christian, have I ever experienced persecution before?” And the next question is: “how did I react to it?” “Did I apply the method of Paul and Silas in today’s reading?” or “Did I go about narrating my story before everyone who cares to listen?”

In the face of persecution, the nature of our response matters. Paul and Silas did not go questioning God when they were viciously attacked. They did not become depressed when they were inflicted with blows, beaten with rods and thrown into prison.

They did not begin to cry like babies; they were firm in their spirit. They found a way to sing as they were praying. No matter how tough life becomes, we all have to learn from Paul and Silas to sing even in the midst of fire.

As we see here, singing and praying are not ordinary activities, they are great spiritual weapons. God who did not prevent them from being beaten and thrown in prison became moved when he heard them pray and sing and he not only freed them from prison, he brought about the conversion of the chief jailer.

The Christian life is not easy but there is always a way out; singing and praying are two things we can do anytime and our situation will definitely change for the better. Do not be sorrowful. The steadfast love the Lord never ceases. This is what Jesus reminds us of in the Gospel passage.

Let us pray: Lord Jesus, may I be fully prepared to receive the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. God bless you. (Tuesday of the 6^th week of Easter. Bible Study: Acts 16:22-34 and John 16:5-11).