Grace to you!
 
One of the results of the revelation of God through us who are born in Christ is that we become agents of divine reconciliation. This is spurred by the love of Christ. As Saint Paul says, "the love of Christ urges us on" (2 Cor 5:14).
 
For that love, we open our hearts to love the unlovable, and our hands with the palms of peace. 
 
Reconciliation is both horizontal and vertical. It flows from Christ to us and from us to others, building a web of sons and daughters who are born of God in Christ. 
 
If, as a believer, you look around your house, your street, your neighborhood and the wider society, and you don't feel a burden to be an agent of peace and reconciliation in your own little way, you may not have realized this crucial aspect of your call as a believer. 
 
It is not because of social justice that we want a just world, but because of a just and loving God that we are obligated to fight for social justice. Our active involvement in social justice is equally inspired by our true love for one another—we’re brothers and sisters. It isn’t about good PR. It isn’t about showing off a posture of moral superiority or a façade of social responsibility. It is because we want to love as we are loved in our Creator. We walk in the footsteps of Christ. We believe in true love of one another. 
 
For instance, as a Catholic coming out of the confessional, that sacrament of reconciliation, aren't you inspired to be an instrument of reconciliation yourself? If we hear those words from the Lord, “I forgive you,” aren’t we to speak the same words to others who offended us? 
 
A man who avoided going to Confession shared how he discovered inner peace. “At the confessional,” he said, “I was reminded through the clear voice of conscience that I too should bring others to my reconciled heart.” For years, he avoided Confession because he was not ready to forgive some people who terribly hurt him. This deprived him of inner peace. After many years of painful struggles with the inner voice, he finally decided to get back to true reconciliation sacrament. He made the best confession of his life. And having being fully reconciled, he became an activist of true reconciliation for others. “The peace I feel within is unrivaled,” he said. 
 
Once healed, aren't we to facilitate the healing of our brothers and sisters who are living under the shackles of division, resentment, hate, unforgiveness and social injustice? Aren’t we called to be agents of divine reconciliation, to make the world a garden of reconciled and forgiving persons? More blessed is the heart that loves and forgives than the heart that is pregnant with bitter resentment and hate.  
 
Shout it out, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation" (2 Cor 17-19). 
 
If you are hurting, prayers offered for healing. If you are causing others pain, prayers for repentance. For both, prayers for a loving and reconciling heart. Amen
 
God love you. God bless you. 
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
[Saturday Week 10 A:  2 Cor 5:14-21; Mt 5:33-37]

 Grace to you! 
 
Watching parents gaze on the face of their newborn baby conveys a mood of aesthetic elation. Even for the most straight-faced parents, the excitement of having a new babe is as loud as cymbals. "She looks like me." "Not really, she looks more like me." Dad and mom cue back and forth as if a better semblance means more share of the joyous moment.  
 
There is a proverb from my native Igbo language that says, "To have seen the child is to have seen the parent." How true. The child is truly the "glory" of his or her parents because the child reveals the signature of both parents’ genetics. 
 
Consider being born of God, a birth that is of Spirit because God is Spirit. Consider also being “deified” in such a way that the perfection you long for is in some measure born within you. Such would be a splendor, glowing all over you. Won’t it?
 
When God gave us the law and spoke through the prophets, God was preparing us through the Word in text for the glory to come. As the Word of God, Christ himself came among us, we see the fullness of that glory. 
 
And if Jesus Christ dwells in us through the power of his spirit granting us new life (2 Cor 3:6), we realize a new code is configured in our mortal body, the seed of eternal life. We can then move from one degree of glory, the imperfect, to another, Christ Himself, the perfect glory, who is Spirit (2 Cor 3:18).
 
The splendor of believers is Christ. The permanent splendor of the human race is Christ (2 Cor 3: 10-11). To be born of Christ and live the life of Christ is to be in splendor. It's this splendor that theologians call the ultimate beauty. 
 
Hence, when people see us, they see the glory because to have seen the true believer is to have noticed that face of Christ in whom he or she is born. Isn’t the Christian’s call to be like Christ, and live the life of Christ? Isn’t this life our salvation? Now I know why the first systematic Church theologian Saint Irenaeus said, "The glory of God is living man." 
 
A question for us to ponder: "Do people see Christ in me, my words and actions and/or inactions?" 
 
We are God's glory. Let the splendor shine. Could it be why Jesus reminds the believers that our righteousness must exceed those who have not received the full splendor, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets? (Mtt 5:17-20) 
 
Those begotten of God must therefore show the splendor of truth, the splendor of goodness and beauty, which should set the precedence for the world. If the world needs heavenly splendor, should they not be able to find in the life of those who claim to be believers the mirror of that splendor? 
 
Lord, make us your true mirrors on earth so that in seeing our good works, many will glorify your name. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
[Wednesday Ordinary Time Week 10: Readings: 2 Cor 3:4-11; Mtt 5:17-19]

 
Grace to you!
 
Our conversation yesterday centered on how to find eternal life. We said it’s in the “Come, follow me” Jesus’ invitation. You may want to go back to that discussion because it’s like an introduction to our reflection today.
 
Holiness. How does this word sound to you? A cliché? A never-realistic word? A special reserve for those in the monastery? 
 
Growing up, I used to identity holiness with only the monks and nuns wearing impeccable and solemn-looking cassocks or habits. This was the imagery from popular literatures on holiness. I thought it wasn’t for anyone. I was wrong.
 
Holiness is for everyone. It’s indeed, the universal call for everyone. These are not simply my words. The Church’s official documents and the Bible state so. Nonetheless, understanding what it means to be holy can be foggy, many times.
 
Sometimes, we suppose it’s in keeping the disciplines of our faith, all the requirements of the law, like the rich young man in the Bible (Mark 10:17-27). I discussed this issue yesterday. We fail to see that morality is a necessary first step to holiness, but not the end. Holiness is a journey towards something, towards somebody. We detach from what takes our gaze from the Lord and attach to the Lord and the Lord’s ways. 
 
Only God is holy, just like only God is good. Holiness belongs to God. If we must be holy, it has to be a journey to God who is holiness itself. It is being immersed in God's life. It is encountering, witnessing as well as living God's saving grace. 
 
Consider visiting the entertainment capital of the USA, Los Angeles, and wanting to spend all day going to the movies. You are in Hollywood and have a taxi head east of Hollywood to go to the movies miles away. Wouldn’t it sound ridiculous that you came to Hollywood Universal Studios but drove farther away from it to go see movies?
 
Holiness has a hub and a circle. Closer to it, and indeed, within it, we find what it means to be holy.
 
God is holy (see Leviticus 11:44-45; 1 Peter 1:16). To be holy is to be in God and to grow in holiness is to walk in the rings of divine circle. It requires leaving everything behind and following the Lord who is all that the soul is searching for (see Mark 10:28-30). In doing so, we are detaching ourselves from all that stand in the way of the Lord. 
 
Fortunately, just like we need a vehicle to get to the movies, we need the grace of God to become more intimate in the heart of holiness. We need the grace of God to be able to leave our comfort zone in order to give ourselves to the Lord in service. We realize that it is in doing so we become truly free to serve the Lord and also love and serve one another in the way that is pleasing to God.
 
In effect, if we want to be holy and grow in holiness, let’s avail ourselves of the opportunity to come closer to God. All our activities, relationships, and services for the common good should draw us closer to God. It is then that all we do is sanctified. Walking in the footsteps of the Lord wherever we are and in whatever we think and do, all by God’s grace, is living a holy life. 

You know where to find God in the most unique way. You know where God has made himself perpetually present in such a way that you can see him, touch him, and be with him—the Church in worship; more importantly, in the Eucharist.
 
Praying for the grace of holiness of life. Amen. 

God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu

[Tuesday Week 8 Ordinary Time of the Year: Readings Sir 35:1-12; Mark 10:28-33]
 
 

 
Grace to you!
 
In today’s reflection, drawing from the Lord’s message in Luke 6:39-45, I share what I consider three ideas for effective, credible witnessing to Christ. They include honest self-examination, producing fruits of righteousness, and speaking words that flow from grace. 
 
True and honest self-examination.The good witness of the Lord is one who is thoroughly self-aware. The person listens to the Lord and intentionally examines himself or herself so as to constantly align to the core values of the Lord’s mission. This self-examination would help us to pay attention to how to improve ourselves and be less judgmental of others. The more judgmental we are of others may mean we are not seriously paying attention to our own weaknesses. Often, we tend to focus on the faults of others while giving ourselves a pass for our own misdeeds. 
 
The Lord asks us: “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck thatis in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye” (Lk 6:41-42).”
 
Producing fruits of righteousness.Sometimes, we tend to believe that how we live our lives matters less than what we say. Actually, true credibility isn’t just a matter of what we say or preach. Rather our entire person, words, nonverbals plus actions, reveal so much about who we are. You can be sure that people’s actions, especially when they are in their relaxed, unguarded mood, reveal so much about what is happening inside. If the inside is deeply rooted in God’s Word, if the inside of us is truly renewed and pure, our actions would be consistent with those holy qualities. 
 
Saint Paul reminds us that anyone led by the Spirit of God, that is, a person converted from within and transformed by the Holy Spirit, necessarily produces fruits of righteousness (see Gal 5:22-23). Those fruits are virtuous qualities or skills such as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22-23).So, if you want to know what is inside of you and to what extent your heart has been transformed by the Lord, see if your behavior is consistent with these qualities. 
 
Also, in addition to these fruits are others which flow from the authentic life of Christ. It is being able to draw others to Christ through our lifestyle. When people can see us, hear us, observe our actions, and give glory to God because of us (Mt 5:16), then that is a sign of living the life of Christ. Our lives bear fruit if they draw others to the Lord. 
 
Gracious Words.The Lord says: “…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Lk 6:45). What we say reveals what is locked deep in our hearts. Some say, it doesn’t matter what we say. What matters is whether we mean it or not. Actually, for me, I believe what we say matters whether we mean it or not. 
 
Why would a child of God say something that does not glorify God while knowing he or she doesn’t mean it? Why tell lies or use foul words when we know we don’t mean it? It actually leaves a bad taste to do so. Doesn’t it?  
 
Moreover, we forget that the words we speak are the extension of ourselves. Our words carry with them some aspects of our thoughts. They convey our deep thoughts in different ways. We may give excuses about how little they represent us. Yet, those excuses are simply evading the reality that manifests itself from our unconscious. Our words reveal us. Scripture says, “the expression of a thought discloses the cultivation of a man’s mind” (Sir 27:6). The best way to know a person is through what they say, write, and do. Those are the keys to getting to the hidden mind. Those are all we have got to assess anyone. Only God sees the inside and we are not God. 
 
Hence, the credible witness of the Lord is the one whose words and actions are consistent with their claimed encounter with the Lord. This is the message the Lord wants us to bear in mind today. 
 
Praying that the Good Lord will give us the grace to speak and act in ways that manifest what we believe as those born anew in Christ. I also pray with Saint Paul that we may“be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord our labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58). Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.  
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
[8thSunday Ordinary Time: Sir 27:4-7; 1 Cor 15:54-57; Lk 6:39-45]

Grace to you!
 
You walk past a classmate or someone you know from childhood. The person looks younger and well nourished. Perhaps you work hard to be in shape and the person doesn’t. Here the person is looking like what you would’ve dreamed for yourself. You wonder: What is the secret? 
 
From time to time, we ask this sort of question. We see a senior citizen who looks like we would love to look when we are aging. We ask, what is the secret? 
 
Borderline, everyone wants to look younger and refreshed. Everyone wants to be like a leafy greenish garden. Everyone wants to blossom wherever they are, wherever they are planted. Anti-aging industries exploit this desire of ours. For good or for bad, they do. 
 
God’s Word in Scripture has an incredible message for us today. It is delivered in a way that leaves us with an either-or-situation. It leaves us with a choice to make, a life-long commitment to consider. It proposes the secret of fruitiness, and spiritual blossoming. It offers the answer to lasting happiness as well as its opposite. 
 
Prophet Jeremiah, announcing the word of God, declares it in a way that may be shocking to our modern sensitivities. Yet he doesn’t leave us to second guess concerning the meaning of the challenge. 
 
He places absolute trust in people for our happiness and overall blessings as putting ourselves in the way of a cause (Jer 17:5). In other words, it is setting ourselves up for a colossal disappointment and failure. 
 
One may quibble about how daring is the claim of the prophet. Or how archaic it may sound. Just like some laugh out loud concerning Jesus’ model of messiahship—the scandal of the cross and God’s forsakenness. Yet we know through life experiences that no one would ignore the reality of human slipperiness. 
 
The issue isn’t only about the question of the variable quality of human reliability. It’s also a question of the unpredictability of human nature as a temporal being, as it is about how uncertain is the future. You may believe that your dad, mom, spouse, friend or relative, who has all the resources, would set you up on a road to incredible success. Such is naively presumptuous. Even if they mean well, they don’t have control over the future. One unforeseen change in their life could alter everything. Not to talk of how frail human beings can be and how many times their promises are disappointing. We tend to over promise and under perform. 
 
Contrast this with the proposal of the prophet: “Blessed is the man (person) who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He (the person) is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit” (Jer 17:7-8).
 
Such a person shares a common quality with the poor (Lk 6:20), in spirit, as the Gospel of Matthew specifies (Mt 5:3); whose hope, confidence is the Lord. 
 
I love the metaphor of a tree planted by the water that sends its roots by the stream. In their commentary on this text, Barclay M. Newman Jr. and Philip C. Stine (2003), suggest that the stream could be better understood as a canal (p.403). You do not need to travel far to see how trees planted by the canal or aqueduct blossom. They have enough water to get rooted, flourish and produce plenty. 
 
This biblical message corelates to the promise in Psalm 1. The Psalmist talks about the incredible blessings of trusting in the Lord, delighting in God’s law, and meditating on it. In other words, the person is walking in the light of God’s word and promises. Such a person, the Psalmist says, is “like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Ps 1:1-3).  
 
Saint Thomas Aquinas was spot on when he identified this stream of water with the grace of God which reaches us in Christ (Aquinas, Commentary on Psalm 1). It is the Spirit of the Christ. As the Lord Jesus speaking of himself declares: “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:38-39). 
 
The Lord Jesus, from whom this “rivers of living water flows”, offers us an uncommon path to flourish. The plan mapped for us contrasts with the ways we tend to imagine success. As usual, the Lord offers a revolutionary and yet absolutely true and reliable blueprint for blessedness. Blessings are tied to God’s kingdom and enduring value. Lack of blessings isn’t in being materially poor, or unpopular or rejected by people. It is much more. (Read the message in Luke 6:20-26). Ultimately, the Lord sheds light on the blessing of anchorage in God and blessings rooted in God’s reign and grace. 
 
Trusting in God is being solidly rooted in the canal of grace. It is being guaranteed of true happiness and joy and peace and blessing. People change. Life changes. Our physical health and body may give way. Friends and family may flounder. The Lord never fails. God’s grace abides. 
 
Blessed is anyone who trusts in the Lord. Trust in the Lord is our flourishing.
 
May God gives us the grace of being rooted in Divine Word and promises. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
 
[6th Sunday Ordinary Time C: Jer 17:5-8; I Cor 15:12, 16-20; Lk 6:17, 20-26]
 
 

Grace to you!
 
In today’s reflection, I share one of the most encouraging truths about God’s relationship with us. God chooses and commissions the sinner, the imperfect like you and me, for the incredible work of grace. 
 
You may have met people who have had a special encounter with the Lord. It could be the devout woman who is your next-door neighbor, the pastor of your church who is living an exemplary spiritual life or your friend whose commitment to the Lord is amiable. Listening to their story is fascinating. Yet we notice that in their story, we may find one aspect or another of ourselves.
 
You will notice that the closer one is to the Lord, the more evident one’s weaknesses become. The called and chosen of the Lord aren’t people who fall from the skies and are dotted with the perfection of the angels. They aren’t individuals who never indulged or used bad language. Neither are they people who never had the temptation to exaggerate, play pranks or deal with lustful and prideful passions. They aren’t people who never missed their prayers and always behaved in a way that is and is seen as complete integrity. In fact, some of them were a mess just like many of us are. They were mired with the mud of human brokenness and smelled the dirt of imperfections smeared all over their body through their indiscretions.  
 
Once I told someone that when your weaknesses as a person become more evident to you, you know you are truly making headway in your spiritual life. Our weaknesses are evident to us when God is closest. The farther away we are from God, the more we assume we are perfect. 
 
On earth, God’s best friends are sinners. The Lord came to call the sinner not the righteous (Mk 2:17; Lk 5:32). In the same way, the Lord calls and chooses those who are attuned to his redeeming grace. It is those who recognize that God is holy, and I am not. God is perfect, I am not perfect. 
 
This reality is evident in the biblical stories of the call of the prophets to the call of the apostles. Indeed, those called and chosen are people who realize that it is by the grace of God that we can have a relationship with God. From the call of Isaiah, to the call of Peter and Paul, the story is consistent. 
 
Isaiah saw a glimpse of the Lord’s glory and holiness. This is a sharp contrast to his own weaknesses, for the light of the glory of the Lord shines upon us and we see our own dark spots.  Fully aware of his own weaknesses, Isaiah cried: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lordof hosts!” (Is 6:5). 
 
Same with the call of Simon the fisherman. Simon (Peter), the one called and chosen to be the leader of the Church, wasn’t perfect either. When he met Jesus by the Sea of Galilee, he saw his unworthiness, fell at the knees of Jesus and said: “Depart from me Lord, for I am a sinful man” (Lk 5:8).
 
St. Paul’s recount of his call by the Lord Jesus in 1Cor 15 equally acknowledges his weakness and the supremacy of God’s grace in his calling. “By the grace of God” he said, “I am what I am” (1Cor 15:10). He was referring to the choice made of him by the Lord to be an apostle though he was unworthy of it.
 
There are numerous examples like these in the Bible. So, don’t suppose that because of your weaknesses God can’t use you to bless his people. In fact, you are the right candidate for God’s call. Always remember the saying “God does not call the perfect but perfects the called.”
 
Praying that we will be attuned to the call of God’s grace as it stirs our hearts to respond to the invitation to follow the Lord in the way of righteousness. Amen.
 
God love you.  God bless you.
 
[Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Is 6: 1-2a, 3-8; 1Cor 15:1-11 or15:3-8, 11; Lk 5:1-11]

Grace to you!
 
Many look up to church leaders for spiritual guidance. When they are in doubt, they want a word that will inspire and guide them. More often than not, when they ask a priest, for instance, to clarify certain issues regarding the faith, it’s because they feel something isn’t right. Or rather, they are in a situation of moral and/or ethical dilemma and want to make the right choice. The sense of faith of God’s people, which is an ongoing gift of discernment granted by the Holy Spirit, is well and alive, from generation to generation. One doesn’t need be a theologian before one could perceive what is right or wrong in their relationship with God. 
 
Take for instance, a person who comes to a priest and asks if masturbation is sinful. The person is probably already tacitly convinced about the sin of masturbation but needed an affirmation. Or it could be the person’s well-formed conscience is indicating such an action isn’t in line with Godly life. The priest would be misleading the person if he made light of what the person already senses is sinful. 
 
From time to time, we hear heart-breaking stories of religious leaders who mislead the people. It’s scandalous to do so. I pray God to help us not to mislead God’s people. 
 
As I read the Letter to the Hebrews(13:17-18), I am more drawn to the aspect of the role of the Christian leader. “Obey your leaders and submit to them; for they are keeping watch over your souls, as men who will have to give account. Let them do this joyfully, and not sadly, for that would be of no advantage to you” (Heb 13:17).  
 
While the writer of the letter was admonishing the believers to make the works of ministers easier, by their docility of faith to the truth and their leaders’ guidance, he was indirectly speaking to the scary and unworthy responsibility of religious leaders in being accountable for the spiritual growth of the flock entrusted to them. 
 
To watch over the soul of any person is a scary task. Could it be one of the reasons a holy man like Saint Bernard refused to be a priest? It was said he insisted he was unworthy to offer the sacraments, especially Mass and Confession. Watching over souls sounds to me like more humbling and scarier than any adventure. 
 
It implies we should approach this with utter respect and reverence. As stewards, unworthy of it, may we always reflect on the sacred duty entrusted to us. 
 
A soul, a heart, a person is more valuable than anything. May cheap popularity not be a tradeoff for proper guidance of souls. 
 
I am reminded as a priest that my calling and responsibility is to lead people to Christ, not away from him. Lead people to the truth, not away from the truth. Lead people to grace, not make them abhor grace. Lead people to divine mercy and divine love. 
 
May God give ordained ministers the grace to approach our responsibilities with the reverence due to it. Amen
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
[Saturday Week 5 Ordinary Time: Heb 13:15-17, 20-21; Mk 6:30-34]