Fr Peter Ireorji MSP - Homily for 2nd Sunday of Lent year C, March 17, 2019

In Luke 9:28:36, Peter, James and John saw his glory as God; his face was brighter than the sun and his clothes dazzling white. And the voice of the heavenly Father was heard: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” This experience filled them with such an overwhelming and indescribable joy and all that Peter could say was: “Master, let us erect three booths here.” They had a glimpse and taste of heaven and they wished to remain there forever. There are times in our lives when things do not go the way we plan, when all that we plan goes awry, when the road seems steep and the going is difficult, when every step that we take is laboured and arduous, when we cannot see or understand and, when we feel like giving up and giving in. It is at times like these that we, like Peter, wish we had stayed on the mountain. It is at times like these when we, like Abram, might like some tangible proof, some sign. Yet, the Transfiguration of Jesus, and the attitude of Abram, teach that God continues to walk ahead of us and, though we may not be able to see him as clearly as we would like, God is there. This is why Paul calls the Christian community at Philippi to join him in imitating Christ. This means that they must be able, like Christ, to look beyond and not be weighed down by the trials and tribulations of the world. It means that they must continue to have faith and trust at all times since trials and tribulations are always temporary and passing. What is permanent is God’s unconditional love, manifested in his Son, Jesus Christ. Our confidence is not in our ability to overcome the challenges that come our way, but in God’s grace that we constantly receive in, and through, Jesus Christ. Shalom!

Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily Saturday, March 16, 2019

Our vocation as Christians, is to become perfect, in God’s image. Just as God loves us, each of us is called to respond “with all your heart and with all your soul. Being perfect means being loving to an extraordinary degree, loving our enemy, praying for those who persecute us, who make life difficult for us. Being perfect consists in loving in the way that God loves, which is with a love that doesn’t discriminate on the basis of how people relate to us. This is the pinnacle of Jesus’ teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. The fact that Jesus calls on us to love as God loves shows that he does not consider this call unrealistic. We may not be able to love in this divine way on our own, but we can do so with God’s help. Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Shalom!

Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily Friday, March 15, 2019

Jesus calls his disciples to a virtue deeper than the virtue of the scribes and Pharisees. A major commandment was “You shall not kill.” The call of Jesus goes deeper than that; it goes below the actual act of killing to the underlying attitudes and emotions which lead people to kill or injure each other. If we come to worship God and there are feelings of anger, revenge or hatred in our hearts, then our worship remains incomplete. It is only an external worship and not true worship. God does not need our adoration, but if want to adore him it must also come from within. We need to look below the surface of what people do, to cure the underlying passions. We need a renewal of the heart and mind, a true “repentance” Today as we endeavor to abide in the Lord and adhere to His word, let us always ask God that we are removed from any conflicting and hurtful relationships and that we may not be any man’s enemy, but instead remain a true friend of all, yet always faithful to a covenant relationship with God. Shalom!

Fr Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily Thursday, March 14, 2019

Today Jesus once more presents to us the requirements for discipleship. He said: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” Lk 9:23. Lent is traditionally a time for self-denial. We ask ourselves what it is we need to let go, to give up, in order to follow the Lord more closely. We all have something we need to let go off; it might be some excessive attachment that is holding us back, or some habit that is not serving us well. Self renunciation is more difficult today than in the past because we live in a culture which encourages us to indulge ourselves. We can easily think of self-renunciation as something negative. Yet, the giving up, the letting go, is always with a view to life, to living life to the full. A true disciple of Christ decides to do the will of God whatever the cost may be. When we do this for the Lord, we deny our old sinful drives and motivations but instead desire and choose to do God’s will for our lives. We effectively take up the cross at hand.  By doing such an act, we lose our old self and we begin to become the new person that God will enable us to be. Shalom!

Fr Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily Wednesday, March 13, 2019

You have to sympathize with Jonah. He has had some rough times before Jonah 3:1-10. First, God gave him an impossible mission: to convince the people of the world’s most sinful city to change their ways or risk having their city destroyed. He hopped on a boat heading in the opposite direction, hoping to escape God’s call. When a storm came up and raised such waves that the ship seemed doomed to sink, the sailors figured he was a jinx and tossed him overboard. He was swallowed by a gigantic fish, which finally spit him up on a beach. He decided maybe he would try it God’s way. He made his way to the wicked city of Nineveh where, with much trepidation, he preached God’s message: “Change your ways or my God will destroy your city.” He was certain that these folks were not about to listen to one of their enemies. But, as we heard in the first reading, they did indeed repent and God spared them. And was Jonah delighted? Not a bit! He went into a magnificent pout because God had made a fool of him by forgiving those wicked folks. A prophet’s life is a hard one! Our wickedness probably doesn’t rank with that of the Ninevites, but we are painfully aware of how short we fall of perfection. This season is our opportunity to pause and take stock, to heed the prophets God has sent to dwell among us. He calls us to seek him with true repentance, humility, and the honesty to see our sins for what they really are – a rejection of his love and will for our lives. God will transform us if we listen to his word and allow his Holy Spirit to work in our lives. Shalom!

Fr Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily Tuesday, March 12, 2019

The address of God as “Father” brings out the intimacy of the relationship that disciples and God share. The opening petitions indicate that prayer does not begin with one’s needs, but with the glory and honour due to God. God’s name is and will be honoured by all men and women, since God as revealed by Jesus is primarily a God of mercy, forgiveness and unconditional love. The kingdom of God has come in Jesus and is also in the future when God will be all and in all. This is a situation in which God will show himself to be king as he has done in the life, ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. As Jesus constantly did God’s will, so it will continue to be done both in heaven and on earth. It is only when God’s will is done rather than one’s own that there can be true and lasting peace and harmony. Despite petitioning God for something as stupendous as the kingdom, the disciple also acknowledges dependence on God for something as regular and ordinary as bread. God’s forgiveness is unconditional and without any merit our part however, in order to receive this forgiveness which God gives graciously and gratuitously, we must have to remove from our heart any unforgiveness, resentment or anger that might be present there. The prayer ends with a final petition that God, who always leads the people, will not bring them into a time of testing, when the pressure might be so great as to overcome faith itself, but that he will save them from the ultimate power of evil. While we must acknowledge our dependence on God for everything that we need and regard him always as the primary cause, our attitude to others must be one of acceptance and forgiveness. Shalom!

Fr Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily Monday, March 11, 2019

We serve the Lord when we serve a needy person. Jesus made this clear when He said that any kindness shown to the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the sick, the destitute, and the imprisoned will be judged as having been done directly to Him Matt 25:40,45. He identifies so closely with the oppressed that serving them in His name is the same as serving Him. Whenever we extend help in the name of Jesus through acts of caring, Jesus Himself is there even though we cannot see Him. At the final judgment, people will ask, ‘when did we ever see you in need of our help?’ God’s presence was not always obvious to Jesus’ contemporaries, and his presence is not always obvious to us either. It comes to us not in signs and wonders but in weakness, in the needs of others, whoever they are. And someday when we stand before Him, He will recall our deeds of love performed in His name and say, “Well done!” Let’s keep on serving Him by serving others. God’s service is more than mere preaching but by deeds. We serve Christ when we serve others in need. Shalom!