SERMON: BISHOP AJAKAYE ON EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY (C)

Theme: To Serve God In Our Fellow Human Beings Is The Best

Last Sunday, we reflected on Persistence In Prayer. This is very important in maintaining our constant relationship with God. To pray without ceasing is to continue to discuss, to communicate with God. Prayer is our discussion, our communication, with God and it strengthens our relationship with God. Prayer is having quality time with God and it is either spoken or unspoken, verbal or non-verbal. Prayer is not a one-sided affair, one-way traffic. It is a two-way action. That is, prayer is not a monologue, but a dialogue. Prayer is both horizontal and vertical. Firstly, we are to look inward, we are to speak with ourselves, conjuring the words to present humbly to God, our loving Father and Creator, in prayer. Secondly, on our part too, with patience, we must listen to God having presented our supplications, our petitions, to Him. This is why Mary, our Queen and Mother, states; ‘Do whatever he tells you’ (John 2:5), in any situation we find ourselves. My Brothers, Sisters and Friends, having reminded ourselves how we must create quality time for God in prayer constantly without wavering, today, the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C, I am focusing on the theme that the best way to serve God with our God-given gifts, talents, is through our fellow human beings. In fact, it is through this that we can live a meaningful life. To Serve God In Our Fellow Human Beings Is The Best. In his ‘Daily Meditations For Ordinary Time’ (2002:223), Emeric A. Lawrence, OSB, gives a story: ‘The story is told about a wealthy man who was dying. The priest at his bedside urged him to be sorry for the sins of his life, especially the sin of avarice (greed for wealth, an unreasonably strong desire to obtain and keep money). The priest told him that he didn’t have long to live. Was he prepared to meet his God? Thinking he could soften the man’s heart and move him to sorrow, he held a beautiful silver crucifix before the man’s eyes.’ ‘For a moment the man’s expression softened, and the priest thought he had been touched by the image of Christ crucified. But too long the man had been accustomed to evaluating things by their material value. He asked the priest, “Father, how much do you think that crucifix is worth?” And then, he died.’Indeed, ‘vanity of vanities’. Certainly, life makes sense only if we can relate it to lasting values. If persons seek only values that perish, definitely, they will never be satisfied. For example, money and all that it can buy cannot impart lasting happiness, lasting joy, fulfillment. Life is meaningful so far as it is related to others: fellow human beings and ultimately God in Christ Jesus. My Brothers, Sisters and Friends, pause for a moment, and think of people who have meant something to you in the past. These people, parents, relatives, neighbours, teachers, brothers, sisters, friends, partners in marriage, even your children, and finally, Jesus Christ himself, have all contributed to whatever you are now as a person. Remove one person from your list and you would be different, perhaps less fortunate. No person is an island. As God’s children and human beings, we are relational people and God has created us to be helpers to one another. We have been created by God to relate and identify with ourselves, people in our Parishes, Churches, people in our neighbourhoods, people in our workplaces. Life is not lived in isolation. Any life lived alone does not last. The same thing is applicable to Christianity. The Church is God’s own Community, a united Family of God from different places and individual families. Christians who isolate themselves and their churches in comfortable exclusive neighbourhoods must know that the Church is inclusive, and not exclusive. We, Christ’s followers, need one another’s inspiration and encouragement. Small Christian Communities need to be introduced and promoted for the practice of the Faith. This will keep promoting communion, love, unity. My Brothers, Sisters and Friends, I urge you to go on building communication with other people. Never grow tired of doing this. In love, friendship and dedication, continue to relate to other people, and do not overlook your direct relationship with God (Jesus Christ) through prayerful Bible Reading and regular worship with fellow Christians and other people as well. In the First Reading – Ecclesiastes 1:2; 2:21-23, we are told that without God all is vanity, vainglory. When we read the Bible, we expect ‘Gospel’, which means ‘Good News’. However, initially, reading this passage, we would be inclined to describe it ‘bad news’ ‘All is vanity.’ Then, if life is an absurdity, why go on living in the first place? Actually, this passage is a very strong statement of what human life is without God. A godless life is a meaningless and lifeless life. Notably, it is only when we relate life to God directly in prayer and worship and indirectly in meeting Him in other human beings does existence make sense. My Brothers, Sisters and Friends, in faith, we are called to follow the path of God’s spiritual journey everyday without wavering in our daily sojourn here on earth, instead of focusing primarily on the worldly things. It is the spiritual that will strengthen the physical and that will guide us in the use of the gifts given to us by God for the good of all. We must not allow our insatiable search for the material in life to distract us from our spiritual journey. Excess luggage hampers smoothness. It leads to delay or total miss. The Book of Ecclesiastes vividly captures this presentation – those who place their treasure here in this world, rather than heaven. “It is vanity to desire a long life and to take no heed of a good life.”(Thomas Kempis) ‘Sheer futility, Qoheleth says. Sheer futility: everything is futile! What profit can we show for all our toil, toiling under the sun? A generation goes, a generation comes, yet the earth stands firm for ever. The sun rises, the sun sets; then to its place it speeds and there it rises.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:1-5) ‘To trust God in the light is nothing, but to trust him in the dark – that is faith.’ (C. H. Spurgeon) In life, even when one’s spirit is low and all hope seems lost, the best step to take in such dark moment, situation, is to humble oneself before God and say courageously and sincerely: Into your hands O Lord, I commend my spirit. My Brothers, Sisters and Friends, just like we were reminded of the importance of appreciating company in last Sunday’s Second Reading, Colossians 2:12-14, we are being enjoined in today’s Second Reading, Colossians 3:1-5.9-11, to remain in company with Christ daily. Obviously, our friends and the people with whom we socialise can have a great effect on us, either for good or for evil. It is believed that good friends will have an uplifting impact. Here in the Second Reading, Paul expects a similar effect from our being in company with Christ. Therefore, he states: ‘If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth’ (Colossians 2:2). As a reminder, in Baptism, you and I have died to selfishness and sin. Let us note that this dying to evil is an on-going process which results in growing into the image of the Creator, God. As pointed out in today’s First Reading and Gospel, remaining in Christ’s company makes life meaningful and lively. In the Gospel – Luke 12:13-21, Jesus Christ himself instructs us on the repercussions of hoarding possessions, results of carefree lifestyle. The rich fool in this passage left out the Lord of the harvest and he believed it was by his power that he got his achievement. He lived his life without any reference to God. Definitely, a life without reference to God is absurdity. My Brothers, Sisters and Friends, concern for the future is good stewardship. It portrays good planning. But if concern becomes greed, egotism, keeping up with the neighbours, inspired by the philosophy that ‘we live only once’, then, you are in trouble. We must continue to remind ourselves that we are only God’s stewards of all that we possess. Thus, God should always be at the centre of our lives, not on the fringes, edges. In addition, we must feel responsible for the less fortunate people.God would like us, His children, no matter our status and position, to do good and be concerned about our fellow human beings, our neighbours, who are in the grip of suffering and evil (such as corruption, engaging in criminal acts, killing one another as if human life means nothing). To Serve God In Our Fellow Human Beings Is The Best. My Brothers, Sisters and Friends, we are to use our God-given gifts, talents, to help one another to grow, both physically and spiritually. We must not use our God-given talents to oppress other people. To mock the poor is to insult the Creator, no one who laughs at distress will go unpunished. (Proverbs 17:5).My brothers, Sisters and Friends, yesterday, Saturday, 30 July, 2022, was celebration of the 50th Erection of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti. To God be all the glory for everything. God bless the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti, Our Benefactors and Benefactresses, Friends and well-wishers. May God continue to renew us and may He help us to see Him in ourselves and our fellow human Beings. We ask this through Christ, our Lord. With confidence in God and Christ being our strength, wherever God leads us, we FOLLOW with joy, commitment and happiness. Most Rev. Felix Femi AjakayeBishop of Ekiti.