27th April 2020

Readings:

ACTS 6:8-15

Jn 6:22-29 

Homily by Rev. Deacon. Samuel Muhanji Nyonje 

Shalom people of God. Today's Mass readings reminds me of past time when the Catholic Church was vocal in promoting and safeguarding human life, moral issues, religious and economic issues through various encyclicals ( Pope's official documents). Though I don't mean this has changed, but compared to today, even the voice of faithful members of the Church is changing rapidly in the world. What brought this change?

To regain this we ought to live a blameless life, both Clergy and laity, we must shun from double life and rise to defend what we teach. Saint Stephen is a model for living a blameless life in the first reading.

Because of his sincerity in doing the will of God, the Lord made use of him powerfully for the proclamation of the Kingdom both in word and deed.  He was also granted the wisdom to refute the arguments of those who were opposed to the gospel. 

Stephen defended the faith not just with brilliant arguments and words.  More importantly, he defended the faith with his life.  Indeed, it was his integrity and honesty that eventually won over Saul who was responsible for Stephen being stoned to death.  It was his calm demeanor before the Sanhedrin.  He spoke with utter conviction and fearlessly.  He was not afraid to speak the truth.

Is this lost today? If so why? Could it be because we go to Jesus with other ulterior motives? Maybe to even us Clergy and religious, why do we join this life? Is it because we want a,b,c,d...? To the laity as well?

It happens that we often come to look for Jesus to get something from Him, like the Jews in the gospel.  They pretended to look for Jesus after seeing Him multiply the loaves for the five thousand.  In fact, they thought that Jesus would liberate them from the Romans and so they wanted to make Him king.  Jesus knew their ulterior motives and exposed them accordingly. 

How true, many of us profess our faith in Christ only because Jesus has helped us to be rich, successful, famous and powerful.  We want Jesus to do our will and fulfill our vain desires, not because we love the Lord.  The moment we get what we want, we forget about Jesus and become arrogant, thinking that we arrived at where we are by our ingenuity and hard work.  We forget that without God’s help, we would not be where we are today. We shouldn't wait him to expose us and te Church.

Fellow members of Christ, the Lord wants us to seek the real thing, which is Himself.  The real bread is not the loaves that He multiplied but Him who is the bread of life.

May God help us to seek him in truth amidst our human weaknesses. This we shall attain when we choose to life uptly to what he's taught us in the Good News handed down to us by the Apostles. Peace be with you.

( Rev. Deacon. Samuel Muhanji Nyonje. +254708607911 : email . nyonjes146@gmail.com)