Homily for Wednesday of the 25th Week in Ordinary Time Cycle II
Theme: THE 3 ‘D’S OF APOSTOLIC MINISTRY!
By: Fr. Benedict Agbo
Homily for Wednesday September 23 2020
* Prov 30: 5 – 9, Lk 9: 1 – 6.
An apostle is one who is sent by another on a mission. We are all apostles of Christ in a wider sense and so, it is necessary today to reflect on Christ’s expectations from us with regards to the ministry of spreading the gospel and the kingdom of Christ on earth. Looking at the gospel of today, I want to summarize its message under 3 points:
1. DELIVERANCE: Jesus gave us all power and authority to deliver people from the power of demons of ignorance, idolatry, lust, violence, injustice, poverty, pride, selfishness, bad leadership, etc. The healing ministry is the primary ministry of the Church no matter how we choose to understand this. The purpose for which the Son of Man came was to undo the works of Satan, 1 Jn 3: 8. We must all be busy undoing the works of Satan wherever we are in whatever capacity we can.
2. DETACHMENT: The greatest distraction from the apostolic ministry would be love of riches and fear of poverty. That’s why the 1st reading presents the golden rule of the apostolic ministry as: Desiring neither poverty to make us beggars nor riches to distract us from the gospel. Christ says: ‘Take nothing for your journey’ – means not literally to take nothing but to trust God for every necessary provisions.
3. DEDICATION: This means that every apostle of Christ must be focused on the business of the gospel. Christ wants us to stay there and not be perambulating about. This is where the celibate sacrifice helps a lot. Availability is the watchword in apostolic celibacy even outside the clerical state. I know some Opus Dei doctors and pharmacists who have chosen not to marry even as lay people just to remain fully available for the service of humanity.
We pray for a new generation of Christians that can embrace the apostolic ministry beyond the shores of clericalism so that whether a lay man or a cleric, whether in the schools or in the office or in the hospital or in politics, one sees himself or herself as an apostle of Christ on a special apostolic ministry in the world. Only this kind of universal commitment can destabilize the devil’s plan especially now that so much of the devil’s missiles have been launched against the clergy in so many parts of the world. There is nothing as dangerous as a team relying completely on only one player for her goals. When the player is incapacitated then the match is lost. The “Uka Fada mentality” is no longer helping us at all.
The 21st century Church must learn to spread out its apostolic ministry in a broader and wider perspective. The 21st century Church, especially here in Africa should help deliver the world from bad leadership; from our corrupt and consumerist minded politicians. They have started conspiring for 2023 and I bet you, it will be business as usual unless the Church intervenes!
May God bless you today!