Sunday, April 19, 2020

Fr. Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie, MSP - Homily for Monday Easter week 2- April 20, 2020


Monday 20th April 2020
Second week of Easter
Acts 4:23-31, John 3:1-8
Sometimes in our lives, we do good and think that it is not yielding any good effects. We get frustrated when things seem not to go the way we expected. You may have invested your life in doing what is good and the outcome is very poor. The gospel reading of today encourages us never to give up in whatever good we are doing.
I could remember going for apostolic work in one diocese in Nigeria, and during my visitation and evangelism to parishioners, I encountered someone of a different Christian denomination who argued everything Catholic from Holy Eucharist to Holy Rosary to the Blessed Virgin Mary and so on. I was surprised when the person came to my house on day to ask for clarification of the Catholic faith, started catechesis and was later baptized when I had left the parish.
It is the same scenario we see in the gospel reading of today. Nicodemus was a ruler of the Jews who heard the preaching of Jesus. The Jews were very hostile to Jesus and their leader was not expected  to be an exception. It could have been a disaster for the Jews if their ruler had decided to follow Jesus. We see therefore that Nicodemus was already converted at heart but decided not to make it known for fear of the Jews. This is why he decided to come to Jesus at night to get clarification on how he could be baptized and become a child of God.
Preaching the word of God as Jesus has called to do in Matt 28:19 may not yield immediate fruits, people may even insult us, mistreat and spite us and call us names, if we keep doing what is right and do not get discouraged, the Holy Spirit will continue to do his work in their hearts.
Let us therefore continue to pray for all those who are not able to accept the truth and embrace the authentic faith because of their situation and position in life, as well as for fear of those around them. God help us. Amen
Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP

No comments:

Post a Comment