Sunday June 1, 2008: Deuteronomy 11:18, 26-28, 32; Rom 3:21-25, 28; Mathew 7:21-27

In today’s readings, we are presented with a choice: a choice between doing the will of God and doing our own will. At the heart of this is an expectation from God that we his people will chose to do his will rather than our own will. God expects us his own chosen people to be obedient to him. In the Gospel of today, as Jesus concludes his sermon on the mountain, he reminds all of us his followers to choose to do the will of God. At the end of day, it is not enough to profess that we are Christians, it isn’t even enough to do many good works in the name of Jesus. As St. Paul tells us in the second reading of today, we are not justified by the works we do, we are justified by our faith, doing the will of the Father.

To choose to do the will of God comes with many blessings and to choose to do our own will comes with curses. God will expect us to choose his will over us because he believes that if we look at history, it is more rational to choose his will. Throughout history, he has always been faithful to us even when we were not faithful. He has always been present to us in the most difficult circumstances when all our hopes were lost. At the moments we felt that we had hit the rock, God was there to lift us up and change our lives. In Deuteronomy 11, he reminded the people of Israel how he saved them from the hands of Pharaoh and his army. He also reminded them how he sustained them at the desert and how he conquered the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram and the ground opened and swallowed them. Beneath these stories is also the consequences of disobediences. When Pharaoh refused to obey the command of the Lord to let his people go, he was severely punished; When the Reubenites Dathan and Abiram opposed the rule of Moses, a man placed in their midst by God in Numbers 16, God punished them severely, the ground opened and swallowed them. The historical lessons of God’s goodness and faithfulness to the people of Israel should be enough to make them accept the commands of the Lord.

God doesn’t ask much from us. He only asks three things from us. In Deuteronomy 10: 12-22, he tells us what these three commands are:

1. Fear the Lord your God and follow his ways exactly. Fear here does not mean being afraid to approach him. Fear here means a deep reverence and respect for him. We must acknowledge God for who he is and give him the respect that is due to him. This is recognizing him as the author and finisher of life. If we know this, then we must follow his ways and not our own way. To follow our way is to make God our equal, is to deny him the respect and honor that he deserves and at the same time elevating ourselves to the rank of God.

2. Love and serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. We have been first loved by God. He should have our first love. Our first love shouldn’t go to ourselves, not our spouse or even our children but to God. This is because he is love himself and our love is only a generous gift from God. If we love him, then we must serve him with all our hearts and souls. He deserves all that we have. This means we must put him first in our list of priorities. Sunday worship of God is not one of those things I have to do in order not to incur a mortal sin, but it is part of my being – it is a place I love God in return for all his love for me.

3. Hold fast to him. In and out of season, we must hold fast to the Lord. In the story of the people of Israel, every now and then we see some of them let go of him and beginning to make their own gods. When things became rough and challenging in the desert, they begin to complain and try to abandon God for other Gods. This is repeated again and again through the Old Testament history of the people of Israel. Letting go of God signifies our lack of trust in him. We must hold on to him when things are difficult, we must never let go. God will always be faithful to us.

If we do these things, God promises his blessings. I want to share with you four of those blessings.

Ø God will look after your land. He will take charge of your home and be the head of your household. He will make his peace reign in your home and there will be happiness in your home.

Ø He will provide rain to water our crops and for grass to grow so that our animals will feed on them and we will not lack food. The promise here is that we will not lack anything. He gives this same promise in Deuteronomy 28: 12, The Lord will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings so that you will lend to many people and not borrow from anyone. You will be at the head and not at the tail and you will always go higher and not decline.

Ø There is nothing that shall stand on your way. You will dispossess mightier and greater nations and people. You will dispossess those problems in your life that will try to crush you. You will overcome disease, financial problems, family problems, etc. In Exodus 23: 25 he tells us that our reward for obedience is that, he will bless our food and drink and he will remove all diseases from our midst and he will give us a full span of life.

Ø The last promise is the one I love the most. The Lord will spread fear and dread of us in any land were we set our foot. Even before we approach the place, God will dispossess those who wish us evil. Before you begin that new job, God is ahead of you to prepare the place for your arrival. That meeting in which some people were going to be against you, God will dispossess their attacks even before you enter into the meeting. In Deuteronomy 1: 29-30, he tells us, “have no dread or fear of them. The Lord, your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you.”

When you obey the commands of the Lord, it means you have God on your side. What better person can you have on your side? That is the reason Jesus Christ tells us in the gospel of today that when you do the will of God, when you keep to his commandments, it is like you have built your house on a solid rock. When you keep to the commands of the Lord, you have built your life on a solid rock and as we heard in the Psalm today, God is our rock of safety. There is no need to be afraid because God will always be there to save you.

MAY 26, 2008: MEMORIAL DAY HOMILY

In my culture, the dead are very much part of our lives. Even though we grief their passing away, continue to keep their memories fresh in our lives. We do this by giving their names to newly born children in the family; we bury them in our compounds to signify their ever presence with them. Whenever we look at their graves, we remember the time they spent with us and the wonderful influences they had in our lives.

Our celebration of Memorial Day is a reminder of the lives of the many men and women who gave their lives for our freedom. We also remember our loved ones who have died. In many parts of the world today, millions of people are living under political and economic bondage. There are people who are still enslaved today and there are those who have been denied the choice to make decisions for themselves. The government decides for them and usually this is not good for them. We have been so privileged in this country to have freedom. Our freedom did not come easy, it came at a great cost. It came about because many persons in this country decided to offer their whole lives for the service of country. We have our freedom because many men and women chose that fundamental principle “I am my neighbors keeper” and they were ready and willing to die that we might live in freedom. We must respect their generosity to our country. Their actions show the depth of their love for every one of us. Jesus Christ tells us, “no greater love than one has for his friend than to lay down his life for him.” This is what our men and women in the military did in the past for us and are continuing to do for us.

Our freedom is not freedom from God, but it is freedom for God. It should lead us to build a civilization of love around the world. President George Bush told us in 2003, “Freedom is not America’s gift to the world, it is God’s gift to the world.” It is the will of God that everyone in the world should live in freedom and peace. While most times we have to employ our military might to protect ourselves from our enemies or those who wish us harm, it is not always the answer. The answer is building a civilization of love everywhere in the world, so that in all the continents, the people may know the peace and freedom that has been offered by Jesus Christ.

The primary cause of the wars, ethnic violence and unrest in many parts of the world is as a result of poverty, illiteracy and disease. The rich dictators and political Lords in these regions use the most vulnerable members of the society to cause unrest for their own political or economic benefits. In order to live, the poor do all that they are led to do. It is very unfortunate because most of the victims are young people who should be the light into the future of these countries. The insecurity in these regions of the world, affects our own security. No amount of military power will bring us the security that we need. If we can build peace through a civilization of love throughout the world by aggressively ending poverty, disease and illiteracy, we can then enjoy the freedom that Christ has given to us.