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]

Grace to you!
 
Saint Thérèse of Lisieux(Theresa of the Child Jesus) left the modern time a rich example of religious tenderness and divine love lived in everyday life. From her autobiography, The Story of a Soul, I learn a simple, but profound, experience of a personal encounter with God’s Word. 
 
Just like many struggling to figure out their vocation or unique mission in life, Saint Theresa, popularly known as The Little Flower, was constantly searching. Finding one’s niche in the world isn’t an easy task. 
 
Like many, The Little Flower was torn between identifying her unique mission in life and following the paths of others no matter how praiseworthy those may be. She tried to practice the asceticism of mystics such as Saint Catherine of Sienna, but her weak health wouldn’t carry her through. The erudite examples of great masters of theology such as Saints Augustine, Bonaventure and Aquinas were not an option either. Theresa wasn’t equipped for such, having had very little formal education. She tried everything she could. The harder she tried, the more frustrated she became. 
 
One day, she came across a particular text in Scripture, the famous line from Saint Paul’s Letter to the Corinthians, chapter thirteen, whose theme is on love. As she read the text, it lit like fire in her heart. God was speaking to her personally, addressing her specific concerns. It was the right time and the right place in her spiritual journey. “I have found it: my vocation is to love,” she exclaimed. 
 
Encounter with God’s word is ever revealing. Its piercing impact in the deepest part of our being is unequalled. Knowledge of God’s word reveals our true self. It sheds light upon our path in life. 
 
Scripture says, “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account” (Heb 4:12-13, NRSV). 
 
God’s Word is first and foremost a person, “Before him no creature is hidden.” God’s Word is the Eternal Logos, Christ, who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). Isn’t it why the metaphor used here in The Letter to the Hebrews is spot-on? No one who meets Jesus remains the same. In him, we find divine insights and better understanding of our inner struggles. In whose ever house Jesus comes, everything comes alive. He is alive forever. The Lord is the light of the world and following him lights up our life (Jn 8:12) and makes clear our ways. 
 
Similarly, God’s words are divine messages spoken to humanity, some of which are documented in Scripture. When you read the bible, don’t you see how, from time to time, a particular text you may have read over and over again, comes at you with a fresh idea and piercing impact, validating the good you do and stirring your heart for a change if you are heading in the wrong direction. 
 
Or consider when we are participants at the Eucharistic celebration; a divine whisper through the entire event uncovers the hidden realities deep within our soul. Those moments are precious. Sometimes we witness that goose-pimple impact of an encounter with God’s Word at Sacred Worship. 
 
God’s Word is alive and effective. If we encounter God’s Word, we come alive too. 
​
Lord, grant us the grace to hear as you continue to speak. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
[Saturday week 1 Ordinary Time: Heb 4:12-16; Mk 2:13-17]

 Grace to you!
 
Consider how you feel after long hours of deep, uninterrupted sleep. You awake feeling well rested. You’re refreshed and rejuvenated; aren’t you?  
 
Rest is a powerful human experience. Rest after work or rest from worries is refreshing. We’re wired to rest after work. 
 
Rest points to peace or it’s aligned to it. Using the deep sleep analogy above, you would notice that if you aren’t at peace with your situation or a particular event of the day, it could affect your rest. Many times, it affects your sleep as well. It is difficult for a troubled heart to have a refreshing rest. We need peace to rest well. We need peace for a joyful life. 
 
Rest also happens in the spirit. When the joy of the Lord fills our heart, we experience in small ways the heavenly happiness, joy and peace. We feel at rest. As St. Augustine says, “our hearts find rest in the Lord.” This rest is a preview of the fulness of joy and peace the believer will experience during our final homecoming in heaven. 
 
In our day to day activities as believers, we see that such peace manifests in joyful life and expressions. It is the joy of the Lord. For those who experience this rest, they know it’s far more than any pleasure or refreshment worldly things could offer. 
 
The Letter to the Hebrews (4:1-5) speaks of rest. As I pointed out yesterday, that rest or “place of rest” or “God’s rest” as adapted by the text, uses Moses’ typology of the journey of Israel in the wilderness in the Book of Exodus, and points us to eternal rest through faith in Christ. It points to when we will see God face to face. 
 
The Letter to the Hebrews presents faith and fidelity to God through grace as the access code to this rest. It is faith in the Christ, whose life is the rest and in whom one has that eternal sabbath (rest). The 19th century Christian poet, Margaret Mackay, in her 1832 lyrics, “Asleep in Jesus! Blessed Sleep” captures in poetic verses, some of the qualities of this sleep for those who pass in the Lord. Beautiful old hymn.
 
There is a temporal dimension to this rest too. The rest isn’t simply something we have to achieve in the final homecoming. We begin it now. We begin to experience it now too. 
 
For the believer, we have deep within our heart and soul the peace and rest that go with faith in the risen Lord. We are content. Such contentment is a sign of that rest. We have peace of soul, the kind granted to those whose ways are pleasing to the Lord. As the Lord says, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). 
 
What we are to witness in the eternal sabbath we already witness and see in the here and now, though, as St. Paul says, “In a mirror dimly” (1 Cor 13:12). 
 
In other words, the rest is a process whose final fulfilment is when we will see the Lord face to face, having kept faith lived in charity. 
 
I pray for you in a special way today: May God grant you the grace of inner peace; remove from you, obstacles to inner peace and joy; and grant you the grace to overcome. Bless you with peace and contentment, so your present moment will be a taste of the joy to come. Amen. 
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
 
[Friday Week 1 Ordinary Time: Heb 4:1-5, 11; Mk 2:1-12] 
 
 
 
 

Grace to you!
 
One of the wisest sayings of Saint Thomas Aquinas with regard to virtue is: “Virtue stands in the mean of two extremes.” 
 
We say in our common language that too much of anything is bad. Sleep is good. Too much sleep is terribly bad. It’s laziness. Another example: Generosity is a wonderful virtue. However, when generosity to the poor means enabling the poor not to do for themselves what they should, then that generosity isn’t good either. It makes the poor not own their unique identity and self-image as people capable of working and earning their living. 
 
In Saint Paul’s Letter to the Philippians, we see this measured language of the balance between extremes. He writes: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:12-13).
 
We are who we are in Christ by the grace of God. This grace, God’s life in us, which enables us “to will and to work for his good pleasure” is not our making or merit. Yet, we are not to presume this grace, never to take it for granted. Saint Paul uses a strong language to remind us of the need to do our bit in the grace work “obey” and “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12). 
 
This is similar to what Saint Augustine tells us that the “God who created you without you cannot save you without you.” 
 
Nothing in life comes easy. Nothing we ever get comes to us on a platter of gold. God gives grace, but we have to accept the grace and work with the grace for it to bring about salvation and fulfilment in our lives of God’s plan. 
 
Some will say, but the Psalmist tells us that the Lord promised, God gives blessings to people while they sleep (Ps 127:2). But that Psalm was to remind us of the need to cooperate with God and not to go it alone. In that Psalm, we see the same balance between grace and work, inspiration and perspiration. 
 
God isn’t going to do for you what you must do for yourself. God isn’t going to make your bed or tie your shoes. God isn’t going to research the information for you to have a better future. He gives you the inner strength and grace and directs you with intuitions and answers. Did you listen when God spoke? Did you obey when God inspired? 
 
Blessings flow to those who know that in life and in the spiritual life, when we cooperate with God and do our bit, we become the best we have been called to be. It is in doing so, we become great. 

​As the old saying attributed to St. Ignatius (though it is contested if he indeed said it) advises us to keep working as if everything depended on you and praying as if everything depended on God. Such a balance is key to faithfulness and success. 
 
God love you. God bless you.,
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
 
[Wednesday Week 31 Ordinary Time B: Phil 2:12-18; Lk 14:25-33]

Grace to you!
 
A man became very apprehensive of his mom’s calls, especially when the calls became more frequent. When the mom called in that manner, often, the man is under the weather, dealing with one crisis situation or another. Though he tried to downplay what was going on with him, his mom was not convinced. Mom has a way of sensing something isn’t right. Some call it a kind of telepathy. I call it a unique love intuition. 
 
Parent-child relationship is a unique intimacy that goes beyond mere physical likeness. It’s profoundly spiritual. Parents generally know their children much better than the children may be aware of or acknowledge. They pay attention. The change of facial tone, tone of voice, sleeping habit, dress code, eating habit and walkout schedule, etc., are not ignored. Parents pay attention to small details and often correctly guess what may be going on. 
 
Did you know that with God, the creator who loves us with an everlasting love, nothing about us is ignored? The all-knowing and all-loving God sees us through and through. As the Psalmist says, God knows us and our innermost thoughts (Ps 139:1-3). God pays attention to the minutest details about us and God sees even the insignificant events or circumstances that worry us. Not only does God see, God also cares.
 
Sometimes we fear about out life, our future, our family and our career. Fear is a natural human phenomenon. It’s important we know that in our fears, God is closest to us. 
 
The Lord Jesus reassures us that even the fear of persecution should not deter us from loving God and glorifying God. 
 
“Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God. Even the hairs of your head have all been counted. Do not be afraid. You are worth more than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7). 

Think about this God’s message: nothing, no matter how insignificant, could escape God’s knowledge and providence. In the same way, no suffering you endure, and no persecution you experience would ever be ignored by the Lord Jesus Christ. Every good you do has a reward and every witness of faith is pleasant to God. 

If you were to know the impact of your endurance and witness of faith in the communion of the heavenly, flowing like a stream of graces for many thousands and thousands of years after you, you would probably want more and more opportunities to bear witness to your faith in God and in the Church. No persecution is without enduring value. No suffering is in vain. 

Be not afraid of those who can destroy the body or utter all sorts of calumny against you, call you names because you are a Christian, a believer, a Catholic. Smile and say with the apostles, “we are privileged to suffer for Christ” (Acts 5:41; Phil 1:29).  I am glad to be on your team O Lord Jesus. Your team is the true love team, the grace team and the team of the redeemed. 

Be bold. Be resolute. Be courageous. 

God love you. God bless you.
​ 
Fr. Maurice Emelu
 
[Friday Week 28, Ordinary Time: Eph 1:11-14; Lk 12:1-7]
 
 
 
 

Grace to you!
 
It could be a challenging task to clear the reading desk of a senior academic. You are not certain what is important and what isn’t; and though the table is very messy, for the academic, every little piece of paper on that desk is very important.
 
This scenario isn’t the case only with scholars; many of us have messy desks and untidy rooms. We have gotten used to keeping things in a particular way that any attempt by a cleaner to place them in another place, perhaps more appropriate spot, is uncomfortable. 
 
The above analogy, though simple, has huge implication on the way we look at things. Many times, we get used to a certain way of living and thinking, so much so we ignore the core, what really matters. Finding a routine is good, easier and less stressful. However, in many other cases, it could be a barrier to the Spirit. 
 
Consider the legalism in many of our cultures, some of which may not necessarily be in line with our Christian faith. Coming from Africa where traditional culture is key, I know this first hand. 
 
On a number of occasions, Jesus confronted legalism among his followers and his brethren. One case is when a Pharisee invited him for dinner. See the setting as documented in Scripture: “The Pharisee was amazed to seethat he [Jesus] did not observe the prescribed washing before the meal.The Lord said to him, “Oh you Pharisees! Although you cleanse the outside of the cup and the dish, inside you are filled with plunder and evil. You fools! Did not the maker of the outside also make the inside? But as to what is within, give alms, and behold, everything will be clean for you” (Luke 11:38-41).
 
Harsh as this may sound; Jesus was hitting home his objection to hypocrisy and legalism; practices that ignore the essentials of true holiness under the guise of external observances. 
 
The problem of the Pharisee in this above story wasn’t because of hygienic concerns. It was because of a broader rite of ritual impurities. The presumption was that because many of the things the hands touch could have been contaminated, one must be ritually washed—even if the hand has been thoroughly washed—before one could eat. 
 
Ritual washing is a religious ceremony and follows a strict format. It includes pouring water out from a cup or jar, first twice over the right hand, and then twice over the left hand; making sure the unpurified hands do not touch the water used for the ritual before it is poured. While this is going on, a prayer/benediction is recited: “Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with Thy commandments and has commanded us concerning the washing of the hands.” Then the hands are dried with a towel before the meal is taken. 
 
This ritual seems pleasant and the prayer is even beautiful. However, the belief that if the hands were not ritually washed, any food taken with them would contaminate the entire person was erroneous. It makes purity or holiness a matter of physical things rather than inner transformation and virtue. 
 
Remember when Jesus stated that it is not what goes into a man that makes him unclean, but what comes out of him (Matthew 15:11). It’s all in line with his teaching here.
 
May we always realize that external observances are useless without interior transformation—the practice of virtue. May we be inspired to keep, not simply the letters of the law, but the spirit, and thereby open our hearts to the love of God and one another. Amen.
 
God love you. God bless you.
 
Fr. Maurice Emelu 
 
[Tuesday Week 28, Ordinary Time: Gal 5:1-6; Lk 11:37-41]