Grace to you!
 
In today’s reflection, I shed some light on the nature of Christian discipleship and its requirement for unconditional commitment to Christ. 
 
As a believer, do you sometimes read a text in Scripture and pause to think deeply about its meaning? This happens to me quite often. I may have read a particular text over and over again. Yet, whenever I pray over the same text, I realize it uncovers more meaning. 
 
Such is the nature of God’s words in Scripture. They are new every morning. They are news, revealing fresh insight to a willing heart. They speak to our needs and changing times. They are divine whispers for our well-being. 
 
Consider, for instance, the encounter between Jesus and three individuals as recorded in the Gospel of Luke 9:57-62 (please read it). It’s centered on discipleship.  
 
A number of things spoke to me in new light in the text. First was the fact that the Lord and his other disciples were “going along the road” (Lk 9:57, when these conversations began. Going along the road could be read to mean they were journeying. Christian life is journeying with Christ. The Church on Earth is described as a pilgrim Church. Faith life in Christ is a journey. This ties to a second, crucial aspect of the interactions as follows. 
 
The first person says to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go” (v. 57). He is making a firm promise to follow the Lord. He is not yet vested. The Lord replies that “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head” (v. 58). 
 
This response doesn’t mean the Lord and his disciples have no place to rest. Rather, it seems to me that the Lord was pointing to the fact that Christian discipleship is a nonstop, non-vacationing commitment. Though “I will follow you” is a firm promise, it isn’t yet acted upon. The Lord requires, “I’m following you right away.” Any good decision maker jumps unto a treasure once it is found. You don’t procrastinate. 
 
About the Lord’s response regarding not having “nowhere to lay his head,” one has to remember that on earth, there is no rest from discipleship. The rest of the Christian, the true sabbath of which the book of creation (Genesis 2:2-3) hinted, is a pointer to the eternal sabbath. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XV), in his The Spirit of the Liturgy, rightly wrote about how the Old Testament concept of sabbath is a pointer to the eternal sabbath. He emphasized that the Christian concept of rest is heaven (the beatific vision). 
 
There is no rest from discipleship. One cannot say, ‘I’m a believer today,’ and then take leave of being a disciple in order to attend to domestic, family, business, or political needs. In Christian discipleship, there is no leave, no transfer. It is a life-long commitment. The question in determining apt time for your commitment is measured by NOW. It’s now not then or the future.Nowis the key. Am I committed to Christ now? 
 
The second individual was a different case scenario. The Lord was the one who invited him to come follow him. But the man replied: “Lord, let me first go and bury my father” (v. 59). The Lord retorted: “Leave the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God” (v. 60). Here again, we see one who delays his commitment due to legitimate family needs. I will return to this shortly. 
 
The third person who says to the Lord, “I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home” (v. 61), supports what I have been saying. This scenario is similar to the case of the call of Elisha by the prophet Elijah (1 Kgs 19:19-21). But in the case of Elisha, he accepted the invitation right away (“Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah” (v. 20),before asking Elijah to go say goodbye to family. He was already a disciple and then started to put his house in order. 
 
This lesson could be applied to the second case scenario where the need to bury a dad was an excuse. You don’t wait to put your house in order before you follow the Lord. Follow the Lord first, then you will be better equipped to put your house in order. One led by God’s grace has better spiritual resources to put the house in order. You want to be led by Christ because it is more fruitful to do so. 
 
The Lord’s response is crucial. “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (v. 62).
 
It all ties together. The central message I draw from all these conversations is that the Lord is reminding me as his disciple to always remember that nothing is as important as following him. Nothing is a priority as doing his will. Even now, at this very moment, amidst my various legitimate commitments, nothing on my list of values or bucket list should displace the prime place of Christ. 
 
I don’t take leave of obedience to him. All things may be good. Only one thing matters the most. It is following the Lord. It is absolute loyalty to God. This is the highest in the hierarchy of values. Other values, no matter how necessary, are subjected to this. A true believer lives life in that manner. 
 
Lord, give me the grace to love you with all my heart, all my mind, all my strength and all the commitments of my will. Amen.
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
 
[13thSunday Ordinary Time C: 1 Kgs 19:16B, 19-21; Gal 5:1, 13-18; Rom 6:3-4, 8-11; Lk 9:51-62]

Grace to you!
 
There are many things unique about you and about everyone else. Your color, your voice, the choices you make, your thought process, your family and your lineage are unique. All of us carry our uniqueness everywhere we go. It is our identity. 
 
From a sociological point of view, those who connect with your story connect with your uniqueness. Erase that uniqueness and you erase some memory of you in the minds of people.
 
Suppose you don’t have any identity, any uniqueness or any history? Although this is impossible, if it were to happen, you would be gone like the wind in history and no one would ever remember you. Such would be appalling. 
 
Observe what’s happening in the territories decimated by ISIS. Why do those heartless terrorists knock down sacred images, icons and statues? Why bulldoze churches and temples? 
 
What ISIS is currently doing by destroying sacred places, was what many leaders did in the past against a conquered nation. They pulled down their iconic buildings or architecture and by so doing they destroyed some of the physical reminders of a people’s history. Probably, the intent was to destroy their history, their memory and their identity.
 
There is a strategic relevance to destroying a people’s history. When a history is twisted or ruptured, the succeeding generations wouldn’t know their history or from where they come. When this is effectively done, the people of those generations wouldn’t have a full sense of their identity. This is a travesty of justice and truth. 
 
When God delivered the people of Israel from the land of captivity, we read that God commanded them to do an annual “ceremony of remembrance.” Deuteronomy 26 documents how this feast was to be done. 
 
Essentially, they were to narrate their history as a people. “And you shall make response before the Lordyour God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous” (Deuteronomy 26:5).
 
Tradition is memory. Sacred Tradition is the memory of God’s special relationship with His people revealed in Christ and witnessed by the apostles and their successors. This memory is constantly alive years even after the resurrection of the Lord. Erasing that memory by discontinuity with the past, as some theologians and philosophers want many to do, is discontinuing with the identity of God’s people. Such a discontinuity isn’t right. 
Know this: Whenever we celebrate the lives of the saints, we celebrate an aspect of our history as God’s holy people redeemed in Christ. Today is an example of that memory. We celebrate the lives of two of the apostles of the Lord who are called the princes of the Church, Saints Peter and Paul. Their stories are fascinating. 
 
The Lord Jesus Christ called each of them in different ways. Peter by the Sea of Galilee and Paul on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians. They were two different personalities who drank the cup of martyrdom in Rome—Peter by crucifixion upside down (AD 64), and Paul by beheading (AD 67).
 
We keep the memory of their life and testimony of faith alive. We constantly celebrate the lives of our leaders, the lives of the saints, models in faith, because we believe that we are in communion with them. Those who die in Christ live on as the Scripture says (see Romans 6:8; 2 Timothy 2:11). It’s our memory. Let’s not destroy this memory. Never destroy your identity. 
 
Saints Pater and Paul, pray for us.
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu. 
 
[June 29, Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul]
 
 

Grace to you! 
 
On this special day as we celebrate the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, we make a prayerful reflection, a devotion to this Heart, which has loved us so tenderly with unimaginable love, and in whom we are sanctified. 
 
A prayerful contemplation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus draws one to see inside that Heart what all hearts desire— pure and immeasurable love. As the center of affection and life, the heart reminds me of the great tenderness of Divine Love. 
 
When I look at the Sacred Heart of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I hear the words: “Come to me all you who labor and are burdened and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). As I’m drawn to feel the pulse and hear the heartbeat of my Blessed Savior, I hear those invitations of hope and blessings: Come to the river of life for from my heart shall flow streams of living water for you (Jn 7:38). Come and find peace for your heart. I see love as never has been and never will be except in the Sacred Heart of Our Savior. 
 
A feast day like this means so much for the Church. It’s very special to me and I hope to many too. It’s a special day for the sanctification of priests. 
 
On this day, we are reminded of the everlasting love of God for which the Son came so that sons and daughters of his may have life in abundance. I’m reminded that the name of God is love, the love from eternity in the Trinity of love, the love Incarnate. It is the love which binds us in the Lover and for which we are reborn in him, Christ, who loves us. 
 
A day like this reminds me that despite the world’s lack of love, there stands beyond the cage of worldly hate and unkindness, enduring agape (love) trumping them all. Sacred Heart of Jesus also reminds me: “No greater love shall a man have than to lay down his life for his friends (Jn 15:13).” To that love, therefore, are invited all who feel unloved and all who are thirsty for true love and peace. 
 
Today the Church in a special way prays for the sanctification of priests. What a symbolic way to show that the heart of the priest should equally be aligned to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. We ask the Sacred Heart of Jesus to tuck his priests, the priests of the Holy Mother Church, in his Most Sacred Heart so we continue to choose what is true, good and beautiful. May this heart strengthen the will of priests who are struggling with addiction, all sorts of attachment that do not glorify God, and grant them healing. 
 
Today as we pray for priestly sanctity, we also pray in reparation for those priests whose life and actions make the love of Christ dull in the hearts of others; those who caused wound to the heart of the Church by their actions against the vulnerable; and those who fail to show Christ’s love in a wounded world. 
 
May the Sacred Heart of Jesus mold our hearts in the likeness of His. Amen 
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 

Grace to you!
 
One of the scariest warnings of the Lord to believers is recorded in Matthew 7:21-23. Jesus said: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
 
If anyone has doubts as to the limits of faith-alone claims, this very word of Jesus settles it. Profession in Christ is another way of saying faith in Christ. One may profess in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but this, the Lord Jesus says, isn’t enough. 
 
In order for us not to make light what the Lord meant, he doubles down by re-emphasizing: “On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name? And then will I declare to them, I never knew you; depart from me, you evildoers” (Matthew 7:22-23).
 
This statement has a lot of implications. Faith has to be matched with action. The Letter of James was spot-on when it writes: “So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith” (James 2:17-18). 
 
It can’t be stated clearer. 
 
Secondly, the Lord’s warning is a clear message to many who have been gifted to do “mighty” works in the name of God. Often, we get carried away by our so-called successes in the ministry. We begin to ignore our personal spiritual life and the call to holiness. We ignore sound spiritual and moral life basking in the euphoria of, “After all, God is doing his work in spite of me.”
 
The scandals that destroy the innocence of many churches and cause bad public image for the Body of Christ, the Church, is often due to the neglect of the commitment to holiness of life that should follow the use of our gifts. We become dulled in conscience and ignore the need to practice what we preach. 
 
That God blesses his people with healings, miracles, growth of church membership and finances, massive infrastructure and thousands of followers on social media do not equate the life of holiness. God blesses his people not because of us but in spite of us. In doing God’s work, may we not be mere conduits. May we benefit too from the graces of our ministry. May we be sanctified too as we lead others. 
 
We have to be vigilant not to get carried away so as to lose sight of our primary vocation to holiness and love, another way of saying, “Doing the will of God.” Be doers of the word and not only hearers, so we don’t deceive ourselves, Scripture says (Jas 1:22).
 
Who does not want his or her house built on a solid foundation? Become that wise person whom the Lord said, “built his house on the rock” (Matthew 7:24).
 
Praying for the grace to practice what we profess. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
[Thursday, Week 12, Ordinary Time:  Gn 16:1-12, 15-16; Matthew 7:21-29] 

Grace to you! 
 
Drawing from Genesis 15:6, I reflect on Abraham’s faith example and use it to relate to our faith life. 
 
I noticed sometime that has a significant meaning to me in understanding the life of Abraham, the father of faith. It is the report about him in Genesis 15:6. Scripture notes: “He (Abram) believed the Lord, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness.” 
 
Earlier, from Genesis chapters 12 to 14, God had spoken to Abraham three different times. During those times, God directed him what to do. Abraham didn’t make any request from the Lord who had spoken to him. He simply obeyed and did as God directed. 
 
I was wondering if I were Abraham, and I had the opportunity to be visited by God in that manner, what my response would be? Well, I see God every day in a special way during the Eucharistic celebration. What is my response? I encounter God during my prayerful moments too. During those moments, am I engaged in listening conversation or is it a one-way download of my petitions? Do I pray to get things from God or to become Godly? 
 
It is striking to note that Abraham didn't make any request to the Lord who had spoken to him, though he was in dire need. He simply obeyed God and followed God’s directives. It was in Genesis 15:3 that Abraham made a personal request for the first time, saying that he has no offspring. 
 
This is a fascinating example from a man who had personal needs but chose not to place his personal concerns before the need to obey the Lord. God sees a heart that is obedient amidst personal burdens. Let not our personal needs be an obstacle to listening to the voice of God and doing God’s will. Do God’s will first, and other things will fall in their right place. 
 
Observe, too, that Abraham’s justification was based on his believing in the word of God. Yet he produced fruits by doing what God, in whom he believed, commanded. 
 
The Lord Jesus Christ, warning against the deceit of counterfeits, false prophets, tells us that we can know the true prophets by their fruits: “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will know them by their fruits. (Mt 7:16-20)
 
Faith or true belief or confession must be authenticated by fruitful faith-life. Saint Paul calls it faith working through charity (Gal 5:6). 
 
Often when people assess believers, the litmus test isn't whether they profess their faith. It is that they live their faith. They bear fruits of the Holy Spirit. 
 
Scripture gives us some list of those fruits. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law” (Gal 2:22-23). 
 
To possess these fruits is to live a blessed, fruitful faith-life. The deepening of our faith is fruitfulness because it is those fruits that make our faith a vehicle for divine praise. As the Lord admonishes us, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16). 
 
Praying that our faith will mature in charity, shining like brilliant light in the dark. Amen 
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
[Wednesday Week 12: Gn 15:1-12, 17-18; Mt 7:15-20]

Grace to you!
 
Drawing from the Lord’s message in Matthew 7:12-14, I reflect on the blessings of not taking shortcuts in life. 
 
Standardized tests are tricky. In my opinion, they are the best, as well as the worst of assessments. One could easily have a perfect score or score a zero. A careless mistake, an opportunity for an A is blown. Completely.
 
I recall when I was preparing for the GRE exam. One of the caveats in taking the Math part of the exam was being careful not to jump to conclusions and choose a particular answer that seems correct at face value.
 
Those who design the tests are shrewd. They throw in answers that, at face value, look like the correct answers, but they aren’t. So, my instructor advised, “The first answer that jumps out at you, even before you start solving the problem, is likely wrong.” 
 
There is wisdom in the old English idiom: “Not all that glitters is gold.”  
 
You see that glittering opportunity. It’s irresistible. Very inviting. Tantalizing. It seems you have it before you even worked for it. Be cautious.  
 
Did it come too easy? Ironically, it’s often unsustainable. Things that come by hard work endure. 
 
When they say, inventors stumble into a discovery, it doesn’t mean they while away time as the discovery shows up right at their door. It’s in the process of hours of research, thinking, hard work; series of trials and errors, that the surprising discovery emerges. 
 
You wouldn’t presume the so-called 10,000-hour rule for a world-class level of performance popularized by Malcolm Gladwell is easy. Despite objections to this rule, it’s pretty common sense that in life, nothing comes on the sofa of comfort except momentary satisfaction. Solid accomplishment comes through sacrifices and hard work. 
 
This principle isn’t simply social, cultural and educational. It is, more importantly, spiritual. In reality, it is ingrained in the DNA of nature by the Creator that what one sows shapes what one reaps. Speaking of the ultimate blessing, heaven, the Lord Jesus said, “Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Matthew 7:13-14).
 
The closer one is to the cross, the closer to blessedness. Farther away one is from the cross, the closer to ruined opportunities. So, get up and get to work. Or rather, keep working. Keep sacrificing. Invest in time and time will invest in you. 
 
Praying that God will give us the grace of smart and hard work plus commitment to follow through. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
 
[Tuesday, Week 12, Ordinary Time:  Gn 13:2, 5-18; Matthew 7:6, 12-14] 
 

Grace to you and Happy Solemnity of the Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ!
 
On this special day, I reflect on the Eucharist as the best gift to us. 
 
You may have received gifts from people. You were probably excited about the gifts. You noticed this one gift was special in many ways. It may not be because it was more expensive than others. It may not even be because it was stunning. Rather, the gift seemed to communicate to you a weird feeling that the giver gave an aspect of himself or herself to you. The person went all out to pour themselves into the gift. In strange ways, the gift conveyed one aspect or another of the giver. Such a gesture gripped you with unusual delight. 
 
There are gifts. There is gift. Gift, true gift, is an extension of the giver. In a true gift, there is heartfelt intentionality. There is sacrifice too. It isn’t a handout. It is a pouring of an aspect of self. That is why such gift grips. It’s a treasure. 
 
When gifts communicate the giver or some qualities of the giver, they are a delight. Less of the giver in the gift, is less of the preciousness of the gift. More of the giver in the gift is more of the worth of the gift. 
 
In the Eucharist, we have the most excellent of gifts. It is the gift. The Lord Jesus Christ, the giver of the gift, didn’t leave us texts and paintings on the parchment of wood. He didn’t send or message us our favorite emojis or greet our morning with fun tweets. The Lord didn’t just provide us perishable food to eat, such as when he fed thousands (Lk 9:11-17; Jn 6:1-21). Certainly, he didn’t bequeath us with gifts borrowed from others or bought outside of himself. Instead he gave us the most precious of gifts—himself.
 
This gift isn’t a mere mental process or astral experience. It isn’t a spiritual enlightenment or a mystic encounter with the force of nature. Rather, the Lord makes himself present to us in a manner in which we can consume him as food and drink him as wine. By so doing, he lives in us and we live in him. We become the new person having been permeated by the Lord’s being himself. 
 
As God who creates things out of nothing, Christ gives himself to us in the manner he knows best for us to be saved. It is in this manner we become intimate with him. 
 
He promised to give us his body and blood for food. This food, Bread of Life, is ultimate satisfaction for the soul. It wells unto eternal life. The Lord used many metaphors to let us understand he means business. You may read the incredible promise in the Gospel of John 6:22-71. 
 
The Lord did as he said he would. This gift is the Eucharist, “the source and summit of the Christian life” (Lumen Gentium,11. See also Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1324). What an excellent gift to receive. 
 
I unite with the Church in saying, THANK YOU LORD for giving us your life as food.
 
Today, you may want to take a few moments of your time to thank the Lord for giving you the best gift—the gift of himself in the form of bread and wine. Let your heart lift up in praise and adoration to the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament. 
 
Thank you, Jesus, for loving me and giving yourself to me as food and life. May my life be a constant praise, gratitude and thanksgiving (Eucharistic) to you who love and gave yourself to me as gift. May I also follow in your footsteps in making myself a gift to others. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
[Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ. Readings: Gn 14:18-20; 1 Cor 11:23-26; Lk 9:11-17]