1. 25th Sunday_Year C
    Amos 8: 4-7
    Psalm 113
    I Tm 2:1-8
    Luke 16:1-13

    To be a Christian is to Carry God’s People and His Glory in Your Heart!

    Beloved in Christ, as the Year of Mercy gradually comes to an end, God invites us, in our readings today, to reflect on the impacts our worship at Mass has on our lives and those of our families, friends, and community. In our first reading, God is not happy with the people of Israel not because they failed to offer sacrifices to God in the temple, but because their worship did not translate in practical works of mercy. The Prophet of social justice, Amos, reminds us that to seek the glory of God, to be truly grateful to God, is to seek the good of his people.
    In our second reading, St. Paul reminds us that the God we have gathered here today to serve, is the God who gives himself as ransom for all people; and our Christian calling is to continue this mission in the world. As St. Paul tells us, we are called to pray and live in a way that will help all people appreciate and embrace the truth that peace, justice, and joy in life come only from giving our lives as a ransom for others. Can you imagine how the world would be if all our political and religious leaders, and indeed all of us, truly lived our lives as a ransom for others?
    In our gospel today, Jesus condemns the greed and corruption of the steward; but praises him for his concern and sensitivity towards the pain, struggles, burdens, and the sufferings of others. Jesus praises this steward for his intention to be a friend to others and calls on his disciples to use all we have to turn the world into a community of friends. In order to appreciate what Jesus means, we need to understand how he defines friendship. For Jesus, a true friend is one who lays down his/her life for others the way God lays down his life for us. He carries our burdens and lays down his life for us on the Cross because we are his friends. All he ever wants from his disciples is for us to invite others into this friendship (John 15:12-17).
    Beloved, what do you do when your friend is hungry, homeless, naked, sick, poor, imprisoned, or dead?  You feed, shelter, clothe, give alms, visit, and you bury your friend. What do you do when destroying the environment will harm your friend? You stop! This is what we call the Corporal Works of Mercy in Catholic theology. What do you do when your friend makes wrong choices in life or, when your friend is sad? You correct, advise, and help him/her come back to the right path; you console, comfort, forgive, and bear whatever wrongs your friend does against you patiently! (In Catholic theology, we call this the Spiritual Works of Mercy).
        As I reflect on these readings today, I make one prayer: “Lord, help me to be the shoulder that somebody can lean on. Help me to hold your people and your glory in my heart”! Beloved, many are thirsting for God. Our world is thirsting for love! Our world is thirsting for peace! Our world is thirsting for forgiveness! Our world is thirsting for unity. God has heard the cry of his people; He has felt their pain; He wants to save them! He is asking you and me: Whom shall I send?  What is your response?

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  2. 24th Sunday- Year C
    Ex.32: 7-11, 11-14
    Psalm 51
    1 Tm 1:12-17
    Luke 15: 1-32

    Every human being can get lost; but every human being can also be found:
    Will you Search for your lost coin, will you search for your lost sheep?

    My Dear People of God, our readings today are full of covenants that are broken. But what is striking in all the readings is that these covenant do not remain broken, they are renewed. In the first reading, the people hurt God and break the covenant, but God renews it. In the gospel, a coin is lost but is found; a sheep is lost, but is found, a son is lost, but is found. In the gospel, Jesus uses the metaphor of a coin and a sheep to represent a lost relationship and calls on us not to give up on those relationships.  We look for a lost coin because regardless of the fact that it is lost, the coin is not useless. There is still something good in the coin. It still has value. We look for a lost sheep because regardless of the fact that it is lost, the sheep is not useless. It still has value. Can you imagine what Christianity would have missed if God did not search for St. Paul, who tells us in the second reading that he is the first among all sinner? God searched for St. Paul because he knew that regardless of the fact that Paul was a lost coin, a lost sheep, Paul still had something beautiful in him that was yet to come out.
    The parable of the prodigal son, in addition to revealing the unconditional love that God has for all his sons and daughters, teaches us that no human being is totally sinful and no human being is totally righteous. I think, in some sense, each one of us has some characteristics of both the elder child and the prodigal son. There are times we are like the prodigal son, but there other times that we are also like the elder son, we listen and do as God wants us to do. God’s love for us does not depend on what we do or fail to do. When you are at your best, God loves you, when you are at your worst, God loves you. We are the lost sheep that is found. This means every human being can be lost but every human being can also be found. If that is the case why do we give up on people? The question I ask myself today is “do I love people only when they are at their best? Does my love fail when people hurt me?
    Beloved in Christ, it's those who are closest to us that will offend us. It is your husband who will offend you. It is your wife who will offend you, it is your children who will offend you, it's your parents who will offend you, it's your family and friends, your teachers, your students, co-workers, parishioners etc, who will offend you. But it is also these people that we find most difficult to forgive because we have given all our lives to them. When they offend us, it hurts so badly. Maybe you have tried to forgive and the person does not change so you have given up. Forgiveness is like searching for something. It calls for persistent.  My brother, my Sister, true Love is not possible without forgiveness. Has anyone hurt you? Have you given up on anybody? Are you about to? Then you have a lost sheep; you have a lost coin. God is asking you to search for them. Will you do it?
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  3. 23rd Sunday-Year C

    Wisdom 9:13-18
    Psalm 90
    Philemon 9-10, 12-17
    Luke 14: 25-33

    The Cross is the Wisdom of God
    Beloved in Christ, our first reading tells us that we might not know the mind and the plans of God; but if we follow the wisdom and the spirit of God, we will fulfill our mission in life and help make life better for our families, friends, and society. The wisdom and spirit of God that the writer of the book of Wisdom talks about, find it’s deepest meaning in the Cross. That explains why Jesus embraced it and invites all of us to embrace it too. In our gospel today, Jesus invites us to take up our crosses and follow him. 
    What does Jesus mean? Usually when we hear “take up your cross and follow me”, our minds go to some sinful habit or personal suffering we might be going through. That is all true; but the invitation to take up our cross means more than that. Beloved, the Cross Jesus carried was not only the wood of the Cross; that was the ultimate symbol of all the problems of the people he had made his own as he interacted with them daily to share in their hunger, thirst, and pain. He even took our sin upon himself so he could help us walk out of it. So, take up your cross and follow me means do not be afraid to enter into people’s life and walk through their pain and suffering with them; do not be afraid to sacrifice your life to make life better for others.
    That Wisdom and Spirit God is what Mother Teresa of Kolkata, who will be canonized this weekend, embraced in her life. She did not always understand God’s plan; but she always responded to the call of Jesus to enter into people’s life and help walk through their suffering in other to help them experience the peace and love of God. In her diary, she wrote a very simple but profound prayer: “Lord, give me the strength to be the light of their lives so that I may lead them to you”. She was not afraid to suffer with others!
    Beloved, many people are thirsting for God. Our world is thirsting for love! Our world is thirsting for peace! Our world is thirsting for forgiveness! Our world is thirsting for unity. St. Paul, in the second reading, tells us when we look at life from a Christian perspective, we will begin to see people as Jesus sees them. We will begin to see that what affects one affects us all; and respond to their suffering the way Jesus would do!
    Beloved, the Lord has heard his people’s cry; He has felt their pain; He wants to save them! Just he asked Mother Teresa and all the saints, he is asking you and me: Whom shall I send?  What is your response?     
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  4. 21st Sunday Year C 
    Is 66:18-21
    Ps 117:1, 2
    Heb 12:5-7, 11-13
    Lk 13:22-30

    Entering through the narrow gate involves falling and rising!
    Beloved in Christ, I been traveling a lot this summer in different parts of the US making appeals for my Archdiocese in Ghana that’s why you have not seen me for some time now; and I actually miss you! Somebody told me that he had forgotten how I look like and he had to Google meJ. I hope you have not forgotten how I look likeJ I hope nobody else had to Google meJ!
    Beloved, the gospel reading today invites us to enter life through the narrow gates. As I was preparing this homily I spent some time to reflect on what it means to walk through the narrow gates and how to succeed in doing so. Saint Faustina Kowalska (1905-1938) in her diary “Divine Mercy in my Soul” describes a vision she saw of how the saints succeeded in entering tthe narrow gate. St. Faustina writes that the people who walked along the narrow gate had tears in their eyes, and had to go through all kinds of suffering. One thing in her description strikes me most is that some of those who succeeded fell down many times, but stood up immediately and kept going (Diary 153). When I think about the lives of the saints, this is very true! They made it not because they never sinned, but because anytime they fell, they responded to the grace of God, got up, and kept going! They knew how to fall but they also knew how to rise.
    What Sr. Faustina saw is true about the experience of the people of Israel in our first reading. They had fallen into sin and gone through untold suffering in exile; however, they decided not to remain in their fallen state, but to put their faith in the promises of God, rise again, and return to their state of glory. In this reading we come to realize that the life of faith involves falling and rising, as Sr. Fuastina saw it. This is the kind of discipline that the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews talks about as essential for the Christian life. The writer reminds us that the life of discipleship, which is walking from sin to righteousness, a state where your life becomes a means of salvation for others and glory of God, requires discipline.
    Another thing that stands out in the lives of the Saints, who have succeeded in entering the narrow gate, is that they did not do it alone. They were not “lone rangers”. They had people who kept them accountable. Isaiah was one of those people for the Israelite in exile. If you are like me, then you need somebody to help you be disciplined. I cannot do it all by myself! I need somebody to keep me accountable! Beloved, that is why we need the church to guide us. We need each other. On my journey of faith, I need you to help me rise again when I fall. You also need somebody to help you rise again when you fall. I want to suggest that, as a parish, we form small groups this year to help each other attain God’s promises for our lives. Get together with three or four people at the parish to read scriptures and pray together so that we will help each other walk through the narrow gate.
    Beloved, what is lacking in our world today is people who will keep one another accountable. To correct somebody is taken as judging and so many Christians are walking alone even through we gather to worship. We worship as a community; but we are not entering the narrow gate as a community. I believe that each of us has some gifts that can help this community as we strive to walk through the narrow gate. Are you ready to help somebody walk through the narrow gate?


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