Fr Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily from 1st Sunday of Advent year C, December 2, 2018

There’s something compelling about a promise. When you promise something to someone, you’re giving part of yourself. When someone you trust promises that they will come through for you, you don’t feel alone. The Bible is filled with God’s promises to us. What does God promise? Not wealth or success or a life free from suffering. He promises us a person. “The days are coming says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made…  I will raise up for David a just shoot; he will do what is right and just in the land. In those days Judah shall be safe…” Jer 33:14-15. God is promising us his personal presence that we can see and touch. In Lk 21:25-36, we see the fulfillment of God’s promise in a person, Jesus Christ. Jesus is God among us. God has come through for us. God is with us. Do we really believe this? Sometimes our hearts can get drowsy. Jesus warns us about this. When our hearts grow drowsy we lose sight of the promise. We can get caught up in cares of this life, and forget God’s promise. We can lose sight of the fact that being a Christian means a living relationship with a person, Jesus Christ, who fills our hearts with joy. That’s why the Church gives us Advent. Advent is a gentle wake-up call, a 4 week period to prepare our heart for Christmas. It’s a time to believe in God’s promise to give us true purpose and joy in Jesus Christ. God will never give up on us. He is the same patient and compassionate God yesterday and today. Shalom!

Fr Peter Ireorji, MSP - Homily from Saturday, December 1, 2018

Is there anything which holds you back from the joy and freedom of the Lord? God wants our hearts for him and for his kingdom. But our hearts can be weighed down by many anxious cares and fearful concerns, or by harmful addictions and sinful habits. Jesus offers us true freedom – freedom from the power of sin and a wasted life – wasting ourselves on harmful or useless things which keep us distant from God. Jesus offers us freedom from our disordered passions and unruly desires – such as making food, drink or other things our master rather than our servant. And Jesus offers us freedom from the power of crippling anxieties and needless, cares, and being overwhelmed by fear or doubt. Jesus wants our hearts to be ruled by one thing only – his love which has power to undo any sin and trouble in our lives. Let’s examine ourselves and pray, "Maranatha! Come, Lord Jesus" (I Cor 16:22).
As we joyfully begin the Golden Month of December, filled with the happy expectation of the celebration of the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus, may the Lord Jesus Christ come into you and your family anew. Shalom!

Fr Martin Eke, MSP - Homily from 1st Sunday of Advent year C, December 2, 2018

Homily of First Sunday of Advent Year C

The meaning of Advent Wreath: Circle symbolizes eternity of God. Green wreath symbolizes life everlasting. Candle light symbolizes Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Four candles in circle symbolize the four weeks of Advent. 1^st purple candle symbolizes hope. 2^nd purple candle symbolizes peace. 3^rd pink candle symbolizes joy. 4^th purple candle symbolizes love. Purple color foreshadows the royalty of Jesus. For Advent, purple is not a sign of suffering and mourning as in Lent. The 5^th white candle in the middle represents the birth of Christ.

This Sunday marks the beginning of the Advent Season and a new liturgical year. We are, now, in Cycle C. Advent is observed in the Catholic Church as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Ordinarily, almost everybody, Christians and non-Christians alike, prepare for the celebration of Christmas. Business establishments started their preparation for Christmas business deals months ago. There is, usually, so much external preparation. For us Catholics, spiritual preparation is more important. When you are expecting a visitor, you will get your house in order, you will get food and drink ready, and you will also be clean and well dressed. If the house is in order, and food and drink well prepared and arranged, but the host appears unkempt and shabby, the visitor will be embarrassed and may not stay for the meal. That is why spiritual preparation is necessary, so that there will be an inn for Jesus in our life this Christmas. Spiritual preparation makes every Christmas become the first Christmas. As part of the spiritual preparation, there will be an Advent Penitential Service on Monday, December 17, 2017, at 6:30pm.

The theme of the first week of Advent is hope. Hope means trust, faith, and confidence for a desire to happen. Our ultimate hope and desire is that through our spiritual preparations during the Advent we will experience the blessings of the commemoration of the birth of Christ. St. Paul tells us that this type of hope does not disappoint (Romans 5:5).

A lesson Jesus teaches about waiting in Luke 12:37-38 comes to mind, “Gird your loins and light your lamps and be like servants who await their master’s return from a wedding, ready to open immediately when he comes and knocks. Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have them recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second or third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.” In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us that while waiting, our hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life. Rather, we should be vigilant at all times and pray for strength.

In our hopeful waiting, St. Paul prays for us in the second reading, “May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all… so as to strengthen your hearts, to be blameless in holiness before God and Father…”

While we are waiting in hope for a new experience of the birth of Christ, the first week of Advent requires us to become instruments of hope to others. We are to share love with them and strengthen their hearts as St. Paul prays in the second reading. As Jesus is the hope for humanity, we, his followers, are to be signs of hope to our brothers and sisters. It is by so doing that the season of Advent properly begins. The prayer of St. Francis says, “Where there is despair, let me sow hope.” This is our prayer and action point this week.

Fr. Martin Eke, MSP