Accept to the reign of God (HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 26TH WEEK IN THE ORDINARY TIE YEAR II (MARY QUEEN AND PATRONNESS OF NIGERIA

HOMILY FOR SATURDAY OF THE 26th WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR II 

(MARY QUEEN AND PATRONESS OF NIGERIA – OCTOBER 1, 2022)

Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 2:13-15.19-23

Accept to the reign of God

Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ, today is an outstanding day for us as a country. We are applauding 62 years of liberation. To be independent means to be free. While we may have varied opinions regarding the extent to which we can truly say we are free as a nation, the liturgy of today tells us that what ultimately amounts to true freedom is the establishment of the reign of God. When we allow God to reign over our hearts, then we are truly free. The responsorial psalm captures this as follows: “In his days shall justice flourish and great peace forever.

The gospel reading tells us that the reign of God means His triumph over evil in our lives. The devil will always aim at destroying the children of God as exemplified in Herod’s attempt to execute the baby Jesus so that God’s reign is never established. God is ever powerful against all evil forces; where the matter lies is whether we will be obedient like Joseph to follow God’s directive. It is only through obedience to God that we can connect ourselves to His established kingdom.

This is something worth reflecting on. As we celebrate 62 years anniversary of our political freedom, can we say we have gone so far too in our obedience to the commandments of God? We all know how someone else has caused our problems; yet we have refuse to accuse ourselves too of derailing from God’s commandments. I call this an Adamic attitude! Disobedience to God’s commandment surely attract negative consequences both spiritually and physically. If we are not obedient to God to allow His kingdom reign in our hearts and in our country, surely we wouldn’t be able to belong to that same kingdom thereafter.

The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria has entrusted our country to the maternal protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is an epitome of humility and obedience to God’s Word. Mary teaches us how to say YES to the Lord; Mary teaches us how to belong to the kingdom of God; Mary teaches us what we can do to savage our country Nigeria.

The second reading assures us of God’s love. We have been bought by Christ’s blood. If God did not spare his son for sake, neither will He ignore our prayers for our country Nigeria; neither too will He reject us when we come back to him with sorrow for our sins.

We are in dire need of the establishment of God’s kingdom in our hearts and in our country. The second reading tells us that in that kingdom, we are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. God’s kingdom heals the social inequality of our human world. It replaces social strives and evils with peace as shown in the first reading. God’s peace is one that honours justice. May Mary the Queen and Patroness of Nigeria continue to intercede for us as she did at the wedding feast at Cana so that despite our enormous sufferings and pains, the best wine of wine will come to cheer all hearts and balance our affliction for years we have known misfortune, amen. 

God Bless You!