Ash Wednesday: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

LENT: TIME FOR SPECIAL SPIRITUAL JOURNEY WITH JESUS

Readings: Joel 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2; Mt 6:1-6.16-18

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the period of Lent in the Church begins on Ash Wednesday and leads into Holy Week. It is a season of forty days, calling us to remember the forty days and nights Jesus spent in the desert fasting and praying.

The primary purpose of Lent is to prepare us for the celebration of Jesus’ Death and Resurrection. The Church seeks to guide us toward metanoia—true repentance—by helping us reorder our priorities and transform our values, ideals, and ambitions through fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and self‑control. These three practices form the traditional pillars of Lent, the tripod on which every Christian stands during this sacred season.

Through prayer, we make room for God in our lives and express our desire for a deeper relationship with Him. During this Lent, it is important to devote more time to prayer and remain faithful to our prayer commitments.

Through fasting, we deny ourselves certain things so that we may share with others, especially those in need. Fasting also helps us create more space for God, remembering that we do not live on bread alone but on the spiritual nourishment of God’s Word. Fasting disciplines the body and brings its desires under the guidance of the Spirit.

Through almsgiving, we share what we have received from the Lord in a spirit of solidarity and communion.

The readings of today reflect the themes of true repentance, returning to God, and the three traditional expectations of every Christian: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

In the first reading, the prophet Joel invites the people to return to God with their whole hearts—a call to genuine repentance. He urges them: “Tear your hearts and not your garments.” He calls for fasting, weeping, and mourning, reminding them that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in steadfast love. Dear friends, this same message is addressed to us today as we begin our Lenten journey. The Church reminds us that we have a loving and merciful God. Let us approach Him with repentant hearts. He waits for us with open arms, ready to forgive and receive us. Let us turn away from anything that leads us to reject His mercy. Let us avoid sin and do good. Let us change our evil ways and seek the ways of God. This is the moment.

In the Gospel, Jesus teaches His disciples—and all of us—how to pray, fast, and give alms. He warns us not to perform these acts to be seen or praised by others. We must avoid ostentation and pride in our Lenten observances. Humility should be our watchword. Dear friends, this is a time to pick up our rosaries and pray, a time to open the Bible and reflect on the eternal Word of God. Fasting from food is good, but the best fasting is fasting from sin. Let us fast from gossip, lies, immorality, hatred, discrimination, anger, and every form of wrongdoing.

In the second reading, St. Paul urges us to be reconciled with God—and also with our friends and families. He reminds us that now, during this Lent, is the acceptable time; this is the day of salvation.

The ashes that will be placed on our heads today signify our fragility and mortality. They remind us of our need for God’s mercy. They show that we are dust before God, and to dust we shall return. If our bodies will one day return to ashes, then we must not lose our souls in the process of caring for our bodies.

Dear friends in Christ, the liturgical colour of Lent is purple or violet. It represents the spirit of penance that marks this important season in the Church. With sincerity of heart, let us make the most of this sacred time through prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.

Peace be with you.

Fr Isaac Chinemerem Chima

 Wednesday of Holy Week: reflection

Reading: Mt 26:14-25

Did you notice the innocent appearance Judas put up at table in the gospel reading of today? He knew he was guilty of what Jesus was saying, but he sat at table calmly and pretended to be innocent. He even joined the other apostles in asking if he was the one who would betray Jesus, even though he had just returned from selling Jesus to His enemies for thirty silver coins. In his mind, he had successfully concealed his evil from everyone.

Yes, he successfully hid his sin from his fellow humans, the apostles, but not from Jesus, for nothing is hidden from God; He knows us more than we know ourselves and sees everything, including the ones we do in secret. It was for this reason that the Psalmist said: “You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you discern my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. (Ps 139:1-4)

Every time we commit a sin, we are tempted to behave like Judas. We are often tempted to hide our sins from people so that we will escape human judgement and condemnation. Most times, we are also tempted to think that since we have successfully hidden our sins from human beings, they are also hidden from God. In this way, we continue to wallow in sins believing that nobody is seeing us.

Dear friends, God sees the innermost part of our hearts and knows everything we have done, the ones we are doing and the ones we have planned to do. We can’t hide from him for a second. So, He keeps record of all we are doing and will hold us accountable for them. We are, therefore, advised to be careful what we do, we might successfully conceal our crimes from humans but not from God.

May your activities this Wednesday be abundantly blessed. Amen

Fr Isaac Chima

 Tuesday of Holy Week: reflection

Reading: Jn 13:21-33,36-38

As the Paschal Triduum draws near, the daily readings help us get into the right frame of mind for celebrating the Paschal mysteries by furnishing us with the last scenes of Jesus with His apostles, what He told them as well as His true state of mind as He approached His death.

According to today’s gospel reading, Jesus was deeply troubled when He was seated at table with His apostles. The betrayal he was about to experience from His closest allies and collaborators troubled Him more that the death He was about to accept for the sake of humanity, for it was already written that He will die to save mankind. Having spent three years with His apostles, His close circle of friends, He was expecting nothing from them other than love, friendship, intimate relationship, and mutual support, especially in difficult times. Unfortunately, the people who ought to support Him in times of trials and need were about to stab him at the back. He wondered why His closest friends must be the ones to betray, deny and abandon him. Thoughts of this kind weighed down his spirit.

Through our baptism, we have become close friends and family of Jesus, the people for whom He laid down his life and from whom He expects reciprocal actions. Great is the sorrow that afflict His heart anytime we fail to reciprocate His love and sacrifice for us by doing the bidding of that same person from whose wicked hands He delivered us. The paschal events of the Triduum always challenges us to do those things which the apostles could not do for Jesus on account of human weakness. Let us approach Jesus this Triduum, as Peter did, and beg Him for forgiveness for the many times we betrayed Him and our friends/family, for the many times we troubled His loving heart by our sins (our acts of betrayal of God’s love for us).

May God’s grace strengthen you and fill you with the resolve not to betray Christ again. Amen

Fr Isaac Chima

 

Monday of Holy Week: reflection

THEME: INVITATION TO LOOK BEYOND THE COMMONNESS OF CHURCH’S TRIDUUM ACTIVITIES

Reading: Jn12:1-11

 

Dear friends in Christ, the response of Jesus to Judas’ objection of Mary’s action in today’s gospel sets the tone for the Holy Week and invites us to look beyond what might appear as ‘ordinary or common activities’ of the Church during this Paschal Triduum in order to discover their spiritual significances and benefit from them as well.

Jesus went to the house of Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. As He was speaking with the people who had come to benefit from His wisdom, Mary took out a pound of expensive pure nard ointment and began anointing Jesus' feet with it, wiping them with her hair. The scent of that pricey ointment permeated the entire house. Judas thought Mary was squandering valuable resources and that the ointment should have been monetized. But Jesus looked beyond Mary's outward gestures; he rather saw her preparing him for burial and wished that others would do the same.

The Holy Week, is a week packed with intense activities aimed at reenacting the paschal mysteries of Christ; activities that take us through the stages of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. These will include the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday in which the feet of some people will be washed and the spending of at least one hour with Jesus after the Mass in adoration, Stations of the Cross, celebration of Christ’s passion and veneration of the Cross on Good Friday and the activities of Easter Virgil on the night of Holy Saturday.

As external, ordinary or common as Triduum’s activities might appear, they are very rich in spiritual significances and are spiritually enriching too. When these activities are actively and faithfully followed, they lead Christians to experience Christ’s passion, suffer, endure and ‘die’ with Him in order to rise and reign with Him in glory (2 Tim 2:11-12). These are activities that dispose Christians to fully benefit from the glory of Christ’s resurrection.

However, those who, like Judas, lack the spiritual insight to recognize the spiritual aspect and benefits of the activities of the Easter Triduum will see Christians who are participating in them as wasting their precious time and would rather suggest that such time be monetized by spending it on businesses. Jesus is inviting these people today to look beyond the commonness of the activities of the Church during the Paschal Triduum and discover the blessings that flow from them.

May your new week be filled with blessings. Amen

Fr Isaac Chima

 

 Palm Sunday, Year B: Homily by Fr Isaac Chima

Theme: A Call to be messengers of peace, hope and victory of Christ

Readings: Is 50:4-7; 2 Phil 2:6-11; Mk 14:1-15:47

Dearest brothers and sisters, Palm Sunday is a special Sunday in the liturgical year. It is a Sunday that opens the door to a great week – the Holy week – for us. It ushers us into a week that is rich with the reminiscence of the events that saved us from sin, the events that restored us to God’s friendship, and the events that restored us to life.

Today, we carry branches of Palms or olives and follow Jesus into our Churches, the New Jerusalem, the same way the people of Jerusalem cut branches of trees and spread them on the way as Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem. These branches of olive or palm that have been blessed have become sacramentals. They will be burnt on Ash Wednesday next year, and ashes from them will be used to usher us into another period of Lent.

Branches of olive or palm have wonderful significances in our world. They signify peace, victory and hope. These significances have their root from the culture of the Mediterranean basin, especially from the culture/customs of the ancient Egypt and ancient Greek, where olive branches represented peace or victory, particularly regarding supplication to both the gods and persons in power.

Therefore, dearest friends, today, we have the symbol of peace in our hands – the branches of palm or olive. These days, our world needs peace more than any other thing because she has been battered by problems and wars from all her quarters. We have seen the situation between Russia and Ukraine, and Israel and Palestine. Acts of terrorism are engulfing many countries of Africa. Many other parts of the world have also been engulfed by unreported crises and unrests. It is also known to everyone that Peace is the greatest gift we, as Christians, can give to our families and friends. With these branches of olive/palm, let us become messengers of peace to our world, our families, and friends. Indeed, it will be a contradiction if the bearer of olive/palm branches is not a promoter of peace in his/her neighbourhood.

The olive/palm branch also signifies victory. Today, we have recalled Christ’s triumphant entry into Jerusalem, where he became victorious over the forces of darkness and death. We have also read the Passion of Christ which showed us Christ’s journey to victory. We are witnesses to this victorious power of Christ over evil and death. Hence, as we carry these branches of palm/olive, a sign of victory, let us remind the world that our Saviour is a victorious king; let us be witnesses to the victorious power of Christ over sin and death in our society. Friends, we are children of victory. In fact, if anybody asks you why you have the branches of olive/palm in your hands today, tell that person that our victorious King is passing by today, and he has victoriously entered our neighbourhood to fight our battles of life and to give us victory. Thus, it will be a contradiction if children of victory are afraid to proclaim Christ to their friends. 

The olive/palm branch also signifies hope. This is evident in the book of Genesis when the dove that was sent out by Noah returned with an olive branch, a sign of the hope of a new beginning. The difficulties we have seen in our world have made many people to lose hope in life and in God. Many people are searching for where to anchor their hope.

Dear friends, today, we have the sign of the hope of a new beginning in our hands, which is the branches of olive/palm. Let us go out and spread this message of hope. Let us tell the world that in Jesus, there is the hope of a new beginning. The resurrection of Christ is a guarantee of a new beginning, it is an ensemble of hope. Let us be torch bearers of hope wherever we enter, starting from today.

Friends, we have the vocation to spread the message of peace and hope and of Christ’s victory in our world. As we do this, it is good to remember that Christ wants us to be true witnesses. Jesus needs those who will stay with Him both in good times and in bad times, those who will stay with Him when it is joyful and when it is sorrowful. Our witness to Christ should not be like that of the crowd who shouted Hosanna at the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem but did not come out to defend Him when he was unjustly tried and condemned to death. Many of them denied him and chose Barabbas in his place, as we read in the Passion narrative of today. Many of them shouted ‘crucify him, crucify him’ with the same intensity with which they shouted ‘Hosanna, Son of David’.

Dear friends, many concrete situations of our lives demand us to witness to the truths of the Gospel. We have all noticed that our world has been penetrated by many doctrines, ideologies and lifestyles that are contrary to the truth of the Gospel. These evil lifestyles and ideologies are promoted and advertised as fashionable models by many governments of the world and, especially, by our so-called celebrities and our culture industries. It is unfortunate that some of them go to the extent of forcing their ungodly views on others. Dear friends, we would be acting like the crowd in the Passion Narrative if we continue to keep quiet and watch our world being battered by these people. We deny Christ and our faith whenever we keep quiet in the presence of such teachings and lifestyles. We deny Christ any time we decide to play the card of indifference in the face of evil. We choose Barabbas any time we swim against the truth of the gospel. May we not remain indifferent and unconcerned in the face of the anti-life ideologies that have entered our societies. May we stop being politically correct in the face of evil. Let us speak out for Christ.

Finally, today ushers us into the Holy week. The wish of Christ and his Church is that all of us who will participate in the programmes of this Holy week should be holy too. Hence, let us set sin aside and focus on the Paschal Mysteries. Jesus invites us to open ourselves to be washed clean by His Precious Blood through the sacrament of reconciliation. Let us carry our cross and march with Christ to Calvary so that we will rise with him in glory.

Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima

 PALM SUNDAY, YEAR B: REFLECTION BY FR JULIAN EKEH

THEME: PASSION FOR CHRIST

(Mark 14:1-15:47)

The celebration of today is one that launches us liturgically into the Holy Week. The Holy Week is so called because of the important events in the life of Christ that are re-enacted from this Sunday to Holy Saturday.

In a special way, today is called the Palm Sunday or the Passion Sunday. It is the Sunday that precedes the Easter Sunday. It is called Palm Sunday because of the Blessing and distribution of palm branches representing the Palm branches the crowd waved as Jesus entered Jerusalem. These branches, after the blessings, become Sacramentals and are to be preserved to serve as ash for next Ash Wednesday. On the other hand, today is called the Passion Sunday because of the Passion Narratives that become the Gospel of today. Here, we hear about the story of Christ's condemnation, suffering, and death. We listen to it, not just as a story but to contemplate it as a reality in the life of Christ.

THE DIVISION OF TODAY'S CELEBRATION

Today's celebration is divided into two parts: THE TRIUMPHANT ENTRY OR THE PALM PART, THE HOSANNA PART, and THE PASSION PART, THE THORN CROWN PART or THE 'CRUCIFY HIM' PART.

In the first session, we saw the myriads of people singing and following Christ along, hailing Him as it were with their palms. We saw Jesus on the donkey riding in Majesty as the Messiah that is to come. The people chanted: Hosanna filio David. We do the same procession today, as we look up to Jesus as the only Messiah that comes in the name of the Lord for our salvation.

We are brought to a deeper reflection on the passion of Christ so as to appreciate all He went through to set us free. We are not just to hear it and get entertained but put ourselves in the number of the people who witnessed these great events and ask ourselves where we belong. Are we among the Hosanna people or the Crucify Him people? That's the question.

MESSAGE OF TODAY

The story of the Passion is the longest narration in the gospel we can think of in the Catholic Liturgy. We must stand to hear it all. It is worth it. We must give it our attention. That was the reason why Jesus came into the world. That was why Jesus emptied Himself and took up human nature. Let us go home with the message of this celebration so as to ever live in appreciation to Christ for His Holy Passion for our salvation.

ZEAL FOR CHRIST

In the passion narrative, we saw man in His crude, corrupt nature and God in His zeal to save man, which made Him become silent over all His Son endured for  Man's redemption.

The passion is a story of betrayal, of denial, of disappointment, of humiliation, of abandonment, of false judgment, of eclipse of godliness, of shame, of capital punishment, of man's inhumanity.

Jesus saw all these. He knew it even as the Hosanna chants were going on. In the Gospel today He nearly prayed that it should pass away. But He insisted on allowing not His human will, but the Divine will take place.

His passion for the souls of men urged Him on. His love for our freedom encouraged Him to ride on to die.

Let us confront life with passion for God and the love for God. Let us not allow the changes and chances of this life to weigh us down. Let us not allow our desires, sinful passions, lust, greed, and emotions to steal our attraction for God and the will of God for us. Do we really have the zeal to actualize our mission of knowing God and inheriting His kingdom at last?

BE TRUE

Falsehood reigned in the story of the Passion of Christ. The chief priests and the Pharisees cooked up their accusations against Jesus because they wanted Him dead. Pilate knew the truth and was not courageous enough to stand for it. The crowd knew that Barabbas was an evil man but chose to free Him and crucify Jesus. They used their passions wrongly. They were dishonest with the powers invested on them by God.

Are you a true Christian? Do you shout Hosanna in the noon and crucify Him in the night?  Do you like Peter declare before Church members, where you are known to follow Jesus till death and when you think no one sees you or knows your identity you deny Christ? Be true and tell yourself that truth on this.

Only Passion for Christ can make you stand up for Jesus in season and out of season.

BE HOLY AS YOU ENTER THE HOLY WEEK

With Christ's entry into His passion, the mood of His close pals changed. While the crowd rejected Christ His mother and the women were thrown into mournful prayers, and they were drawn more to Him. The beloved disciples kept following. They remained steadfast. Few bystanders repented. Some confessed their sins. Some declared that Jesus Christ is the Lord. All these took place within the context of the passion. People entered into communion with God.

Let us be among the few who brought consolation to Jesus as He endured His passion. Let us be among those who will prove to Jesus that His suffering and death on the Cross is not in vain. We can only do this by living a holy life by emptying ourselves for God to feel us with His grace by removing from our lives everything that will crucify Jesus the second time.

Let us accept like Christ, whatever cross that will come our way with perfect resignation and total abandonment. Let's look up to God, knowing that He will not allow us to be put to shame. May we move away from the noise in the world and embrace silence and, in the silence of our hearts, hear the voice that speaks of peace, reconciling us to God whose heart we have often wounded by sin. Let us not give up nor lose faith in the face of the many trials that come our way. Let's not be overwhelmed by the difficult times. They will all pass away. There's no crown without a cross. We shall overcome by the grace of God. God can never abandon us. Let's appreciate all the celebrations of this holy week and come out triumphantly victorious.

May God bless His word in our hearts.

LET US PRAY

We thank and worship You, Lord, for keeping us alive to celebrate this year's passion. As You continue to bless us, oh Lord, give us the grace to appreciate the great price Your Son paid to set us free. Give us the zeal to continue living according to Your holy will for us. May the passion of Christ strengthen us now and forever. Amen

Happy Passion Sunday (Yr B)

Rev FR Julian O Ekeh

 PALM SUNDAY, YEAR B; HOMILY BY FR. JUSTIN ADIELE

THEME: "DYING FOR THE LOVE OF MEN"

INTRODUCTION

During the liturgy of matrimony, during the exchange of marital vows, the couples vow “for better for worse…, till death do us part”. Christ the head and husband of the Church demonstrated his love for his bride the Church today; for better for worst. He was determined to give his life for his bride; not even in the face of death would he back down from his saving mission for his bride. Even death could not do us part nor separate us from His love; for he rose again.

 

THE FIRST READING (IS. 50: 4 – 7)

The first reading pointed to Jesus as the suffering servant of God who voluntarily gave into the suffering, spittle and shame of the Cross. He never took the option of running away from the burden of love of God his Father and the burden of love of the people. Initially, Jesus had tried walking privately, disappearing from danger, and slipping away from the Jewish authorities because his hour has not yet come. But today, he publicly embraced the hour of his passion for love of men.

 

THE SECOND READING (PHIL 2: 6 – 11)

The second reading presented a more radical testimony of Christ’s sacrificial love. For the love of men, Jesus emptied himself, humbled himself, and was born in the form/likeness of mortal men. He was not ashamed to share in our lowly human state/nature, in order to bring us to share in his divine/glorious nature. Driven by love for us and obedience to the father, he became obedient unto death, even death on a Cross. For doing this, he was exalted above all else; teaching us to also live and die in love and obedience to the Father and be also exalted in glory.

 

THE GOSPEL READING (MK. 14: 1 – 15: 47)

The passion narrative revealed to us in mystery and in reality, the burden Jesus bore for love of us and the price He paid for our salvation. Jesus our loving savior, after laboring to do/make all things well for us in the physical world; enters the spiritual domain by paying the ultimate price with his life, to also make all things well for us in the spirit world. After lavishing his love/compassion for us; healing us, teaching us, delivering us, feeding us, shepherding us, and comforting us; he still had to die for us. What else has he not done for us, and what else/more can he not do for us! In return for his love for us, let us never deny him, betray him, abuse him, or profane his name and his love by the type of life we live.

 

CONCLUSION

As we mark the Triumphant Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem today to die for us, let us vow for better for worst, to love and serve God more sincerely and genuinely. Let us cease to be indifferent to his love, his gospel and his righteous laws. Let us emulate Jesus by emptying ourselves (giving up our pride, position, comfort, and talents) for the love and good of others. Let us reciprocate Jesus’ undying love for us by living and dying for love of Him. Let us develop unwavering passion for holiness and righteousness of Christ. And we shall never live and die in vain like Jesus.

Happy Holy Week!

Rev. Fr. Justin.

 Friday of 5^th Week of Lent: reflection

THEME: YOUR PERSECUTORS WILL NOT OVERCOME YOU

Readings: Jer 20:10-13, Jn 10:31-42

As we draw closer to the Holy Week, the week of the passion of Christ, the daily gospel readings help us to feel the closeness of Christ’s passion by giving us scenes of intense attacks against Jesus and the attempts of the authorities to arrest and kill him. The first readings are also doing the same task by providing us stories of the persecution of the just and how God delivered them. These are to prepare our minds to see the victory of Christ on the cross as we head into the Holy Week.

In today’s first reading, the prophet Jeremiah fills us with the assurance that God will fight for us when we are persecuted for doing what is right; that God will foil the attacks of the enemy against us and cause the plotters of evil against us to stumble. Therefore, he challenges us to firmly cling to God in the face of persecutions, for God will fight our battle for us. He challenges us to commit our course to God with faith and allow Him to do the battle for us.  

Are you surrounded by people who are plotting evil against you or waiting for your downfall as it happened to Jeremiah? Are your trusted friends, colleagues and relatives even complicit in the whole evil plots against you as it happened to Jeremiah? Are those around you just waiting for you to slip so that they will attack and destroy you? Today, Jeremiah is assuring you that God is with you as a strong and mighty warrior, therefore, your persecutors will stumble, they will fail, they will not overcome you (Jer 20:11). Just commit your life and your course to Him with faith.   

May you be victorious in all the challenges of this Friday. Amen

Fr Isaac Chima

 

 4^th Sunday of Lent, Year B (LAETARE SUNDAY): Homily by Fr. Isaac Chima

Theme: Rejoice, God loves us

Reading: 2Chro. 36:14-16,19-23; Eph. 2:4-10; Jn 3:14-21

Dear brothers and sisters, the fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday. “Laetare” is a Latin word, the singular imperative of laetari: "to rejoice". On this Sunday, the church invites us to rejoice. This call to rejoice is seen in the opening antiphon of today’s liturgy, drawn from the Prophet Isaiah 60:10-11. It says: “Rejoice, Jerusalem, and all who love her. Be joyful, all who are mourning, exult and be satisfied.”  

The reason why we are invited to rejoice is because of what God has done for us in Christ. Saint Paul captured this in the second reading of today. He said: “He made us alive together with Christ, He saved us by grace, and raised us up with Him, and made us to sit in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Friends, through the death of Jesus, God gave us life. Hence, the church wants us to be joyful in anticipation of the great Paschal events that won salvation for us. The Paschal events are the demonstration of God’s love for us. So, we are to rejoice because God loves us. The Gospel and the second reading of this Sunday hinted on this love of God for us.

In the Gospel of today, Jesus told Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.” For the sake of humanity, God offered his only Son to be sacrificed. Dear friends, this is the highest form of love. Our God is love indeed, and His love for humanity is constant, generous, and self-sacrificing. The unique feature or nature of this love of God towards humanity is that it is simply heroic. It is a gratuitous love, an unmerited love, we actually did nothing to deserve it. It is unlike the love of human beings that usually rests on the qualities of the object of love.

The today’s second reading gave a beautiful illustration of the unmerited love of God for humanity. It said: “God is rich in mercy, out of great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead though our sins, He made us alive together with Christ.” Dear friends, the love of God searches for us to give us life and blessings even when we have merited death and condemnation by our sins. The love of God refuses to see us as failures even when we have been written off and condemned by fellow human beings. The love of God keeps sustaining us in a world that is full of sorrow, pain and hate. The love of God always fills us with the hope of survival in this world of uncertainty.

Dear friends, to whom much is given, much is also expected. Love is not a one-way movement. For love to grow and bear fruit, it must be reciprocated, it must be appreciated. Hence, if God loves us this much, what should be our response? Having shown love to his disciples, Jesus said to them: “A new commandment I give you, that you love one another as I have loved you.” Thus, the way to reciprocate the love of God is by loving our fellow human beings and by loving God also. Any form of oppression, hate, unnecessary anger, wickedness, injustice, lack of charity shown towards fellow beings is a betrayal of the love we receive from God. Any form of impurity, lack of faith, disrespect for holy things is against the love we should show God.

Jesus also expects us to reciprocate this love of God by loving the light and hating the works of darkness. But, unfortunately, we often spend our time loving the things of darkness and running away from the demands of the light of God. In today’s Gospel, Jesus said that the light has come into the world, but men loved darkness rather than the light. Are you among those who love the work of darkness and hate the light of God? Are you among those who support evil and clamp down on those who do good? Are you among those who condemn the voice of truth and praise those who lie? Are you among those who praise immoral standard as a model and, then, refer to holiness of life as non-progressive? Let us not love darkness; let us not hate God’s light, because there is a consequence for the betrayal of the love of God.

The first reading showed us how the people of Israel betrayed the gratuitous love of God for them by living sinful lives, by desecrating the holy places of worship, by despising the word of God and mocking the prophets, and by loving darkness instead of light. God punished them after a long run of patience. He allowed them to be conquered by their enemies and taken into slavery for many years in Babylon. Our God is a patient God, but He is also a God of Justice. He loves, He also punishes.

In fact, a good knowledge of the history of the people of Israel would show us that the Israelites were stripped of everything that made them a nation (the Temple, their King and their Land). And they were taken back empty handed to the land (Ur in Babylon) from which God called their ancestor, Abraham (Gen. 11:31). It was a return to square one. Non-repentance, arrogance in doing evil and betrayal of God’s love can reduce us to nothing, pulling us down from grace to grass.

The time of Lent offers us an ocean of God’s mercy, let us embrace it. This time, the church presents before us the greatest act of love - the death of Christ on the cross. Let us appreciate it by saying no to sin and by renewing our heart through the sacrament of reconciliation. We are also invited to appreciate this ultimate act of love by sacrificing our time, resources, and talents for the good of our neighbours and the entire society.

Fr. Isaac Chinemerem Chima