Homily For The Sixth Sunday Of Easter, Year C.

 

Acts 15:1-2. 22-29; Psalm 67:2-3.5.6, 8; Apocalypse 21:10-14,22-23; John 14:23-29.

“THE ESSENTIALS OF CHRISTIAN FAITH!”

By: Rev. Fr. Charles Onyeka Ezejide

·       On this sixth Sunday of Easter, we continue to reflect on love as an essential element of the Christian faith, inspired by Saint John, popularly known as the apostle of love.

·       The greater number of the works of Saint John the Evangelist, especially the gospel and the epistles, is centred on love. He sees love as the essence of Christian living and Christian faith. Where there is true love, there is peace and harmony, where there is true love, there is no lack but abundance (Acts 4:32-35).

·       For Saint John, love is an act that is seen in what we do and how we relate with ourselves, our society, and our neighbours. And as a noun, love is also the name of God because God is love (1 Jn. 4:8; 1 Jn. 4:16).

·       The first reading gives us a picture of the community of believers who were once guided by love and mutual concern for each other, now threatened by false teachings and false prophets (Acts 15:24-25).

·       The church of God in every generation has its peculiar problems and challenges. In the first reading, the early Christian community suffered a lot of discrimination, false teaching, jealousy, and imposition of cultural norms as universal or religious norms. Some parties in the early Christian community believed that to be saved, you must first be a Jew, obeying the Law of Moses and other Jewish traditions (Acts 15:1). Thanks to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, they were able to resolve the matter amicably without tearing the church apart. If the church must remain the church of God and not the church of man, not of a particular tribe or culture, then the essentials of the faith must be emphasized over trivialities.

·       The community once bonded by love is now on the brink of division because of these non-essential matters. Dear friends, if every generation of believers has its peculiar problems, what will be ours in this generation? We, too, have found ourselves attached to the non-essentials of faith while neglecting the essentials.  We insist that people must pray like us, be like us, like the things we like, if they are to be saved. We make rules for worship over and against the divine rules. If people do not belong to our clique, pious groups, or spirituality, they are doomed and cannot be saved. The essentials of the Christian faith remain “love of God and love your neighbour”. Little wonder Saint Augustine once said, “Love God and do whatever you want”.

·       If we have a true love for God and ourselves, no issue will ever go unresolved, no quarrel will go beyond a day without reconciliation (Eph. 4:5). When brothers and sisters of the same faith keep malice for years, set traps for each other, and desire vengeance, one begins to imagine what true love we are practicing, we derail from the essentials of the faith and dwell on trivialities.

·       When two women in the same CWO Zone do not want to see eye to eye, yet they are expected to love each other. When many of us seated here have one or more persons we have sworn not to have anything to do with them because they offended us. We would rather practice avoidance than forgiveness. We say to ourselves, “I have forgiven you, but just go your way”. The essentials of the Christian faith, which are the love of God and neighbour, teach us that the way to true love is to discuss, understand ourselves, apologize, and truly forgive, as in the case of the resolutions of the first reading (Acts 15:28-29).

·       Friends in Christ, the gospel reading tells us that those who love God keep the essentials of Christian faith – the love of God and the love of neighbour. God dwells in the heart that truly loves. Do not fake ignorance; the Holy Spirit is constantly reminding you and me of our need to love sincerely. The Holy Spirit is that voice of conscience asking you to do good and avoid evil.

·       If we sincerely love each other and keep to the essentials of the Christian faith, our hearts will not be troubled, and we will not be anxious; we will have peace of soul.

·       Every good deed has a reward, and every insistence, and obedience to the essentials of the Christian faith above the emphasis on trivialities, every virtue will be rewarded. The second reading, using the earthly language, conveys to us the rewards of those who stand by the essentials. The reward is the beatific vision. A place of glory that has been prepared for those who remain committed to the true faith. The twelve gates and twelve tribes represent the whole of humanity, whose names are found in the book of life.

·       The invitation to heaven is for all, but entry is for only those who remain committed to the love of God and neighbour. In this place of reward, there will be no pain, no malice, no false teachings, no false prophets, no envy, no strive, etc, we will all be enwrapped in God’s protective love and care and like the psalmist we shall thunder “Let the peoples praise you, O God, let all the peoples praise you!” (Ps. 66:4).

·       May God give us the grace to love God and neighbour unconditionally and free our generation of conflicts that trouble our faith, Amen!

·       Happy Sunday!!!