Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for Monday Week 1 of Lent - February 22, 2021

MONDAY 22ND FEBRUARY 2021

FEAST OF THE CHAIR OF ST PETER

I Peter 5:1-4, Matthew 16:13-19

YOU ARE PETER AND IN THIS ROCK I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH

Today we celebrate the feast of the chair of St. Peter. Someone may ask why we are celebrating a common chair. The chair of St. Peter is not just a common chair, but the chair that stands for the foundation and unity of the church founded by Jesus Christ. Every day in our society, especially in our country Nigeria, we see new churches springing up and people are ordaining themselves ministers. In the gospel reading of today, we see how Jesus established his church here on earth and entrusted its leadership to St Peter his apostle. With that, Peter became the first pope of the church of Christ. Other popes have come after Peter till today that we have Pope Francis who is the 266th pope after St Peter. The Church therefore has its roots and foundation in the Apostles and ipso facto in Jesus Christ himself. It is therefore not a human invention and someone did not just wake up one day and feel called to open the church. The Church has passed through a lot of tribulations, but the promise of Jesus in the gospel reading of today that the gates of the underworld shall not overcome it is very true. It is also true that the church has the key to the kingdom of heaven as Jesus said, because Christ has given to the Church all the necessary means of salvation as seen in the sacraments and other activities of the Church.

This is why St Peter tells us in the gospel reading of today that God calls shepherds to lead his flock back to him. Ministers of the gospel should ask themselves today if they are really doing the work of God. It is not done for sordid money or personal gain as we see today, but in sincere love of God and humanity. Legend has it that the chair of pope St Peter given to him by Jesus, has some part of it in the same chair pope Francis uses today. The question you are to ask yourself today is whether you are being led to Christ in the right channel established by Christ himself, and how as a minister, you are committed to lead people back to God.

May we not be deceived by any self acclaimed person not appointed by God. God help us. Amen

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP

Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for the First Sunday of Lent Year B - February 21, 2021

FIRST SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR B

Genesis 9:8-15

Psalm 24:4-6,7-9

1 Peter 3:18-22

Mark 1:12-15

RENEW YOUR COVENANT WITH GOD

Today being the first Sunday in the season of Lent, we reflect from the first reading on the covenant God made with us from the very beginning after he had saved the family of Noah from the flood. God decided never to destroy the world again with water but to continue his plan for our salvation. This is why he called Abraham and his descendants and sent moses and the prophets to liberate the people of Israel.

St Paul tells us that the greatest covenant God has with us is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. The coming of Christ assures our salvation. We also have been baptized into Christ and our sins have been washed away not our bodily dirt. This is why St Paul tells us in the second reading that baptism now saves us from evil and sin.

In this lenten season, we are to try and keep our own part of the covenant. We are to avoid living as pagans who have no moral judgement and live lives of lack of self control, lies, anger that leads to sin, stealing, lack of generosity, empathy and sympathy, and an unforgiving heart (Ephesians 4:17-32). This is why we are called to fast, pray and give alms during this lenten season to boost our spiritual growth.

In the gospel reading, we see how Jesus was tempted by the devil, the same way we are tempted daily in different ways. We are tempted when we are most vulnerable just as Jesus was tempted when he was hungry. Many of us fall easily to temptations and are not able to fulfill our promises not to sin again.

We pray for the grace of God to keep our promises to be attuned to him and not to sin again. God help us. Amen.

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP

Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for Saturday After Ash Wednesday - February 20, 2021

SATURDAY 20TH FEBRUARY 2021

SATURDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY

Isaiah 58:9-14

Luke 5:27-32

HAPPINESS ONLY COMES FROM DOING GOOD

As human beings, we seek to be happy, we want things to go well for us. There is a big connection between happiness and the type of life we live. Many people who live terrible lives and gain material things through illegal and scrupulous ways may think that they have gained happiness, but it is a form of pseudo happiness because it does not last and they are alienated from God.

In the first reading of today, the prophet Isaiah tells us what to do to attain happiness. We must live according and do what is right, we must treat other people well and plan the best for them. Material things do not ensure happiness, only God can make us happy.

In the gospel reading, we see Matthew leave his work as tax collector to follow Jesus. There is no doubt that Matthew would have been more happy as an Apostle of Jesus than a tax collector, even though he had much money as a tax collector. Jesus is inviting us to true happiness today. Only by living rightly can we be happy.

May almighty God grant us the grace to seek the true happiness that comes from him. God help us. Amen.

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP

Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for Saturday Week 5 of Ordinary Time Year I - February 13, 2021

SATURDAY 13TH FEBRUARY 2021

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR I

Genesis 3:9-24

Mark 8:1-10

WHY ARE WE AFRAID TO ADMIT OUR SINS?

As children growing up, we found it very difficult to admit the wrong things we have done. In fact we run away and hide from our parents when we commit an offence. We hardly accept that we are wrong even when we are caught red handed.

This is the same attitude we see in our first parents in the  first reading of today. They had sinned against God by disobeying his instructions. That disobedience landed them and the whole of humanity in trouble. It was after they had eaten the fruit that they had their full senses back. They began to hide from God, not because they were naked, but because they could not relate with God any longer. It is the same way that we hide from God and are not able to pray when we have sinned.

When God inquired from them why they disobeyed him, Adam shifted the blame to Eve and Eve shifted the blame to the serpent. I'm sure if the serpent was given a room to speak, it would also have shifted the blame to another object (there will be a joke at the end of this reflection about the response of the serpent)

Despite all these, one striking thing about God in the first reading, is the fact that though he was very angry with our first parents and the serpent and he cursed them, he started forgiving us from that same moment; he made them clothes out of skin and continued to care for them even outside the garden of Eden, he sent prophets to them until he sent his Son Jesus Christ to call us back to him.

Whatever the sin that has made us feel ashamed of God to the extent that we are hiding from him, let us be conscious that God is not aiming to condemn us, he wants us to come back to him.

God help us to shun the voices that are not of him. Amen.

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP

Joke: God asked the serpent, what is this that you have done, why did you give her the fruit? The serpent replied: I was just relaxing on the tree when Eve was passing by. She asked me, anything for the girls?

Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for Friday Week 5 of Ordinary Time Year I - February 12, 2021

FRIDAY 12TH FEBRUARY 2021

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR II

Genesis 3:1-8

Mark 7:31-37

SIN CAUSED OUR DEPRIVATIONS

Since the beginning of this week, we have been reflecting on God's creation. We see the importance given to man among all other creatures. One of the greatest gifts God gave to man is freewill, which means that we can decide to do good or evil. No other creature has such abilities. Animals only live by instinct, they have no capacity to reason and take decisions.

In the first reading of today, we see how our first parents misused the gift of choice and freedom God gave to us. God had good plans for them in the garden of Eden,  but pride and pleasure did not allow them to enjoy what God had in place for them. They sinned and fell, and they dragged down all of creation with them.

If we reflect about our lives today, we see that we are not too different from our first parents. God has good plans for us all, but our pride and quest for pleasure have not allowed us to enjoy them. Our sins continue to alienate us from God.

Just as Eve was deceived by the devil in form of a serpent, that is how the devil waits for us to exploit our weaknesses whenever we are at right with God and are ready to enjoy his gifts. Let us always make efforts to shun the devil and obey the voice of God.

It is when we have finished committing sins that our minds and hearts begin to act rightly; we fail to listen to God before and during the moments of sin. May almighty God help us to listen and obey his voice. Amen.

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP

Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for Thursday Week 5 of Ordinary Time Year I - February 11, 2021

THURSDAY 11TH FEBRUARY 2021

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR II

Genesis 2:18-25

Mark 7:24-30

HE MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE

The human person is very complex and unique. When God created the various species, such as land and sea animals and all the birds of the air, no emphasis was made as to the fact that they were created male and female. As to the creation of the human person, an emphasis is made in the first reading of today, that God created Adam, and then Eve to complement him.

The beauty of a family is the complementarity of the male and female coming together to share their lives with one another. God himself made it that a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and they become one body. Husbands and wives are meant to complement and help each other. What one lacks, the other supplies.

The emphasis on the creation of Woman is not to be seen that women are a different creature from men. Humanity is a single specie. That women are created from the ribs from the side of men explains it all, that they both need each other to improve themselves. It is when this complementarity is not understood, that one begins to fight the other for irrelevant things.

We pray for families today, that parents will always compliment the efforts of one another, for the good of all creation. God help us. Amen.

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP.

Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for Wednesday Week 5 of Ordinary Time Year I - February 10, 2021

WEDNESDAY 10TH FEBRUARY 2021

FIFTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR II

MEMORIAL OF ST. SCHOLASTICA

Genesis 2:4-9,15-17

Mark 7:14-23

GOD LABOURED TO BRING US INTO BEING

For two days now, we have been reading about the creation story. We see how God from day one to six, created everything systematically by his word, and on the seventh day, he rested.

In the first reading of today, we see a different dimension in the second creation account. The order of creation in this account is not systematic, God is like the porter who makes everything and brings them to being, unlike that of the first creation account. God, in this account, first cultivated the garden of Eden, and created man to till it before other things were made.

The gospel reading supports the fact that all that God created, including the human person, is good. God is not the origin of evil, it is the misuse of the good things God has created that makes us to sin. Jesus therefore makes us to understand that nothing of what God has created can defile us, except what we think of and plan to do.

Let us think and do what is good, instead of pre occupying our minds with  fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, malice, deceit, indecency, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things are not created by God, they come from within and make a man unclean.

St Scholastica, just like her brother St Benedict, was abreast with good and evil. She preoccupied  her minds with the things of God, and she was able to attain holiness of life. God help us to contemplate him always. Amen.

Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP