CHRISTIANS AND THE COURAGE TO SPEAK AND ACT THE TRUTH
20TH SUNDAY, YEAR C, HOLY GHOST PASTORAL AREA, GUDABA, FCT, 17.08.2025,
HOMILY BY ARCHBISHOP I. A. KAIGAMA
READINGS: JER 38:4-6.8-10; HEB 12:1-4; LK 12:49-53
THEME: CHRISTIANS AND THE COURAGE TO SPEAK AND ACT THE TRUTH.
Dear beloved people of Holy Ghost Pastoral Area, Gudaba, dear hard-working priest-in-charge, Fr. Henry Obi, dear catechists, dear pastoral council members, dear members of various church organizations, and indeed, dear parishioners, peace be with you.
I am happy to make another visit to your pastoral area, and this time, 75 of your parishioners will receive the sacrament of Confirmation, 32 will receive First Holy Communion, and we will bless your new parish house. All these are signs that you are truly growing.
As one among the 66 created pastoral areas, this growth both in numbers and in quality is a positive sign. May your church continue to mature and become more solid, with all parishioners truly united as one family. Though tribe and tongue may differ, we have “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in us all. (Eph 4:5-6).
It is not by chance that your pastoral area is named after the Holy Spirit. Each of you, therefore, should live as a temple of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1Cor 6:19) and manifest the fruit of the Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance, etc.
While commending you, the parishioners, I must single out Architect Ikenna Ude, who kindly built your three-bedroom parish house and helped in renovating your church, too. As he was busy helping you with the building of the father’s house in Gudaba, God was busy helping him too, as he recently acquired a PhD. in Architecture from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. Thank you, Arc. Ude for quietly doing this work as a way of supporting one of the new pastoral areas, which are still not viable financially. I also learnt that you anonymously do similar kinds of work in some of our parishes and pastoral areas. May God bless you and your family and raise up more people like you who would be part of building such pastoral areas. May, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, your endeavours meet with greater success. We equally thank all those who have supported the growth of your church and those who are still supporting it. May God bless them abundantly. Amen
Dear friends in Christ, our world needs people who can stand up for the truth and the rights of the people. Jeremiah, as we read from the first reading, bravely fought against evil and suffered for it. He stood for the truth even when his life was at stake. His message brought discomfort to King Zedekiah and the army leaders. To this effect, the princes of Judah asked King Zedekiah to execute Jeremiah. So, their best option was to conspire to get rid of him.
Some people suffer just for saying the truth and avoiding evil. The second reading from the letter to the Hebrews encourages us to emulate Christ during difficult moments in life, as Heb 12:3-4 says: “Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.…” Therefore, run with perseverance the race that is set before you, keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus.
In this Sunday’s Gospel, what does Christ mean when He asked His disciples: “Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division?” And he adds: “Henceforth in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three; they will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Lk 12: 51-53). What was the Lord referring to when He said He had come, according to St Luke’s version – to bring “division” or – the “sword” according to Matthew (Mt 10: 34)? Christ’s words mean that the peace he came to bring us is not synonymous with the mere absence of conflicts. On the contrary, Jesus’ peace is the result of a constant battle against evil. The fight that Jesus is determined to support is not against human beings or human powers, but against Satan, the enemy of God and man. Anyone who desires to resist this enemy by remaining faithful to God and good must necessarily confront misunderstandings and sometimes real persecutions. A person who burns with Christ’s fire will challenge corruption, dishonesty, injustice, and immorality. That will inevitably disturb those who benefit from such evils.
All, therefore, who intend to follow Jesus and commit themselves without compromise to the truth, must know that they will encounter opposition; they will become a sign of division between people, even in their own families. Love for one’s parents, friends, neighbours, no matter how deep, can come into conflict with what Christ prescribes. For instance, Christ says, “turn the other cheek.” When we do this, don’t be surprised if your friends or family will tell you that you are not man enough to allow the person who spoiled your name or even physically assaulted you to get away free. They may urge you on to take revenge. Who do you choose to obey? Christ or your family? Christ teaches His followers to overcome evil with good (cf. Rom 12: 21).
The fire which Jesus spoke about refers to the spread of the good news. It is also the fire of love; the purifying and transformative power of the Holy Spirit, burning away what is false. Such fire will consume every injustice, immorality, and vice. It will burn all fears and enable us to bear witness to the truth.
When we denounce evil and do good, we are sure to rock the boat, cause division, suffer gossip, hatred, malicious accusations, character assassination, and even endanger our own lives, but we are sure that God will come to our aid, giving us courage.
In our country, bedeviled by a lot of evils, injustice, and oppression, we need courageous individuals who stand up for just principles. We must individually and collectively oppose those who oppress and exploit the poor and the weak. They may triumph for now, but in the long run, they will crumble like high-rise buildings built on the foundations of sand.
The Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, affirms that all the baptized are called to proclaim Christ by their words and the testimony of their lives (Lumen Gentium, 35). If you refuse bribes, remain faithful in marriage, speak the truth in your dealings, or stand against injustice, you may face resistance, even from family members. But this is the cost of discipleship.
Let us learn to say the truth, even as our politics seems to be one of sycophancy. Political leaders are very comfortable with you only when you praise them, even if it is obvious they are not doing well. Tell them either in the news or face to face that they are under-performing, you become an object of persecution; some can go all out and use the powers of government either in the security, judiciary, or institutions set up to sanitize irresponsible behavior to hunt you down or paralyze your political career or rubbish you in the eyes of people. This is called the politics of immorality.
For those who expect the Church to be silent, the Church must be the John the Baptist of our time, a voice crying out in the wilderness, calling church members, political leaders, and citizens to repent and turn to God in holiness. We should not be afraid to be in the bad books of people as long as we stand for the right cause. May God help us to be courageous enough to speak the truth with gentleness in all circumstances.
For those who will receive Jesus for the first time, those who will be anointed with the Chrism at confirmation, the Holy Spirit will stir up in you the same fire that burned in the Apostles at Pentecost. You are all being sent into the world as witnesses. The Spirit will give you courage to speak the truth like Jeremiah, even when it is not popular. There is no comfortable way to be a follower of Christ.
Taking a principled stand on certain things sets us in opposition to other people. But it is precisely this opposition that makes it possible for us to give the kind of witness Jesus talked about in the Sermon on the Mount: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden” (Matt 5:14).
May our Mother Mary Queen of Peace, assumed into heaven, continue to intercede for us to be courageous in speaking the truth and promoting justice and peace in the troubled areas of our nation. Amen.
