Monday, 13th October, 2025.
Theme:Repent and be opened to the Word of God
( ROM 1:1-7,Ps 98, Lk 11:29-32)
Jesus in the gospel of today was condemning the Jewish leaders and their people who did not accept and appreciate his message.In Matthew’s version of the same text, it was the Pharisees who asked Jesus for a sign in order to believe in him (Mat 12:38-42). This was a man who had done a lot among them, hence he needed no other signs to prove himself as the Messiah. They simply refused to accept him, therefore they had to give all forms of excuses. Jesus was comparing them to the gentiles who received his message wholeheartedly. The Ninevites and the Queen of the South were all gentiles, but they accepted the message of God and changed from their sinful ways. The Jews who heard first of his message rejected it. Meanwhile they were supposed to be the heralds of the good news. Jesus was pointing out to them that if they don’t repent from their sins, they will perish.
Beloved in Christ, the word of God call on us to be docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Jesus is pointing out the fact that some of us are blinded and deaf to his word. Sin has blinded us, so we are not able to live according to the demands of the gospel message. Until we repent and always listen to his words and put it into practice, we shall perish in hell. Some of us think that we are true Christians than others. We are holier than others as believers. Meanwhile what we are doing in secret only God knows. We better repent if not we would regret it one day when we die. You will be surprised to see the armed robber, prostitute, fetish priests and the others whom we consider to be hardened sinners in heaven and we would be gnashing our teeth in hell. This is a hard truth so don’t deceive yourself.
We are not different from the Jews. Our society have become full of vices without any fear of God. Our consciences are dead to these sinful acts. We don’t call them sin anymore but mistakes . Sin has become something normal to all of us. Something which we felt shy to do, now it is easily done without any shame or shyness.
If we don’t repent, my brother or sister, we shall also perish like them. The message of repentance is preached to us everyday, but we turn deaf ear to it. Time is not there for us. You don’t know when the Lord will call you, therefore prepare at all time.
We worship God with our lips, but our hearts are far away from God. We have only become lip-service Christians. Some of us have hardened our heart to the extent that, we don’t seem to hear any message of caution. We are so comfortable in our sinful acts.This posture was not different from that of the Pharisees, the people of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum, who refused to accept the message of salvation brought by Jesus.
Brethren in Christ, life they say is so short, hence the need to make amends and repent now. We have only the now but not the future. Because anything can happen at any point in time. Don’t be like the rich man who was looking for second chance after his death(Lk 16:19-21). Like I know they say is always at last . Ask yourself whether the life you are living when you die right now, you can be with God in heaven. Don’t deceive yourself that there is no hell. Heaven and hell are real. Therefore, repent now and be saved.
The word of God always has a new message for us and we have the opportunity to listen to it everyday and every moment. In fact, the word of God has been brought so close to us than ever. So you have no excuse to give to God when you face your judgement.But because we have become so familiar with his word, we fail to accept and live it.” Oh that today when you listen to his voice, harden not your hearts” Ps 95:7b-8a
May we allow the word of God to transform our lives always. Amen
Have a Blessed Week.
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
Tuesday, 14th October, 2025.
Theme::Don’t be an external Christian
( Rom 1:16-25,Ps 19, Lk 11:37-41)
Beloved, Jesus is teaching us today that Christianity is not all about following rules but serving him from our hearts. The Pharisees and Scribes were only following rules but their hearts were very far away from God. In today’s gospel, the Pharisee who invited Jesus for a dinner in his house observed that he didn’t follow their ritual of cleansing before meals. This was not just about washing of ones hands before eating,but a full ritual of cleansing. So for them what matters is doing those external things.Instead of following the spirit of the law, they were rather interested in the letter of the law. Religiosity was their way of life, meanwhile they had no personal relationship with God. He compares them to whitewashed tomb, which has a beautiful outward appearance but dirty inside. A hypocrite is one who portrays what he or she is not. They presented themselves to the people to be holy religious leaders, but in reality they were very sinful. They were not what they claimed to be. They were living lives of deception.
Our case is not different from these people. Don’t be a Pharisee or a Scribe of our time. A life of deception is disaster. By the way, whom are you deceiving? Of course, you are deceiving yourself. Because if you present yourself to be a prayerful person but in reality you are not, then you are doing yourself no good. When you die without repenting you will have no place in God’s kingdom. It is your own soul that you are destroying.
Being a Christian is not about being punctual at church, paying your dues, going for communion always, giving offering and offertory always, and the list continue. Some of us are so strict with following rules by the church, but we don’t have any personal relationship with Jesus. Such a Christian is only being religious but not spiritual. To be spiritual goes beyond just following rules.
In a deeper sense, the Lord Jesus invites us to worship Him from our hearts and not with lip service. Hypocrites worship God with their lips but not their hearts. Most of us are only lip service Christians. We do things to please people, but our hearts are very far from God. It is one thing to be religious and another to be spiritual. You can be religious by following rules and regulations strictly, but you might not be doing it with your heart. We are called to be authentic Christians not hypocrites.
Most of us Christians of today are becoming more hypocrites than ever. We are external Christians who are superficial with our religiosity. In fact, we can be called fake Christians, because we are not authentic.We can’t win souls with this kind of living. But the question is: Where do you belong? Are you worshipping God with your lips or from your hearts? The decision is yours.
May God help us to be authentic Christians. Amen.
Have a blessed day.
Shalom 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
Wednesday,15th October ,2025.
Memorial of St. Theresa of Avila
Theme: Stop Judging Others and Focus on Yourself
(Roms 2:1-11, Ps 62, Lk 11:42-46)
St. Paul in the first reading is warning us against passing judgements on others. And at the end of the day, we end up doing the very things we were condemning. In other words, we must be slow in condemning or judging.
Most of us easily points fingers at others, declaring them as the most sinful people on this earth. This was the character of the Pharisees and the Scribes. They classified some people as the most sinful people, whiles in actual fact they are in that category. The evil things that we do which is in secret is worst than those whom we are judging and condemning. Sometimes we are only projecting what we are on others. Stop parading your self-righteousness before others and accept that you are a sinner who needs God’s mercy.
Beloved,no one is righteous before God. Our righteousness is like a filthy rag before God. When we are talking about the sins of others we should ask ourselves, what about me? We are not better than those we are broadcasting as public sinners. May be your bad life has not come to light. That is why I always say we are not better than those in prison. It is just that we have not been caught.
You are also a sinner,so sit down and reflect on your life to detect the areas which you need to work on. It is only by doing this that we can mature as Christians.
Jesus is not by this saying that we can’t correct people when they go wrong. Not at all. We have a duty to remain the conscience of our societies. But we have to always do so without leaving our self out. Even as I share the word of God with you, I shouldn’t think that I am left out of the message. It is equally also my message. In fact, the message must first of all speak to me as the preacher before thinking about the others. Unfortunately, we mostly leave ourselves out as if we are above the message.
Very often some of the things we say about people are false accusations.
Hence we condemn them innocently, leaving some people with bitterness in life. God will definitely hear the cry of such people and we must be careful not to face the wrath of God. Stop spreading false news about people. What you have not seen, don’t say you have seen it. Some of us our lies have killed people, have put people in prison, have made people to be mad, and you think you will go free like that?
We better change from these bad characters. Always verify information about people before you comment on it. Most of us don’t do that, we depend too much on hearsay which mostly is not true.
We have used our mouths to kill people in so many ways. God will ask us one day. Yes, you have a duty to correct others to make them better people, but this must be done with love and care.
Remember that there some people, no matter how you correct them they will have issues with you. Sometimes just pray for them, but don’t give up on them. Jesus never gave up on the Pharisees and the Scribes, because he wanted them to be saved.
May God help us to acknowledge our sinful nature and work on them.Amen.
Have a Blessed day.
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr Akakpo Matthew.
Thursday, 16th October, 2025.
Theme: Say the Truth Always
( Rom 3:21-30,Ps 130,Lk 11:47-54)
Jesus was not afraid to condemn the behavior of the Pharisees and the Scribes. He pointed out to them that they were living a hypocritical live. They rather hated him for pointing out their evil lives in the society.
In the preceding verses, a lawyer came to Jesus to kind of warn him to stop chastising them. ” Teacher, when you talk like this, you insult us too…” Lk 11:45-46. But Jesus didn’t mince his words in addressing them. He wasn’t afraid to correct anybody who deserved to be corrected. He pointed out the wrongs of the people, even including their leaders.
The people of our age don’t like to be told the truth to their face. They hate people who are truthful in life.When you allow truthfulness to lead you, you challenge them in the society. Something they don’t like to see and hear. Hence, you become their enemy. But this shouldn’t deter us from pointing out the wrongs of people in the society. Don’t allow anybody to intimate you. What is wrong is wrong and there shouldn’t be any compromise.
Some of us have allowed lies to control our lives. There is no integrity in us anymore. Don’t allow the spirit of lies to become your daily bread. It is dangerous to grow and mature in lies. We become children of the devil, because Jesus said that he is the father of all liars. Don’t compromise with the truth at your work place, in the church, at your neighborhood, and in the society in general. People will give you all sorts of names because of your integrity of truthfulness. But never give up and join the masses because of the frustrations that people will put you through. It is better to be hated by people to have your integrity than to compromise and lose your integrity. Some of us still cherish people who are truthful in life. Some of these people who want you to compromise the truth deep within their hearts cherish truthful people. Mostly you will hear some of them saying ” as for this man or woman, he or she is very truthful, he hate lies”. They will always let people know the kind of person you are.
As Jesus said ” we should say the truth and the truth shall set us free “. Let truthfulness be your hallmark no matter the opposition you will face from people. It is better to have only God on your side because of your truthfulness than having the whole world behind you because of lies and corrupt practices.
May the holy spirit burn every spirit of lies in us and make us instruments of truthfulness all the time. Amen.
Have a Blessed Day.
Shalom.🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew.
Memorial of St. Ignatius of Loyola
Friday, 17th October, 2025.
Theme: Nothing can be hidden forever
(Rom 4:1-8, Ps 32, Lk 12: 1-7)
Jesus is pointing out in the gospel of today that, we can’t hide anything forever. The Pharisees and the Scribes were living double lives. They pretended to be holy people, meanwhile they were doing evils secretly. People saw them to be righteous leaders, but in reality they were wolves in sheep skin. No wonder Jesus called them hypocrites, who were like white-washed tombs.
Friends in Christ, a number of us are the Pharisees and the Scribes of our time. In fact, our lives are full of hypocrisy. We pretend to be holy people in the sight of society, but in secret we are doing evils. If people should get to know the kind of things that you and I get involve in secret, some may be shocked or even collapse. Because they can’t imagine that we are capable of doing such evils. May be you engaged in certain bad behavior and you think that it will remain secret forever. One day your cup will be full, and it will be a huge embarrassment for you and your love ones.
Please don’t disappoint your love ones and those who trust you. Some people hold you in high esteem and believe in you so much. They can never and will never associate you with such bad deeds. For your own good image and for the sake of your fans, please repent from such behavior. Don’t think you are a smart person and can keep such secrets forever. Some people are more smart than you, but today their bad secrets are out and this has brought huge shame to them, their families and love ones. We are all culprits in this and there is no need to be pointing fingers at any body. We all have our dark secrets which we need to change from.
Again, Jesus is inviting us to live good lives. People will know us by our deeds. By our fruits, they will know where we belong. We can never pretend to be good people, whiles in reality it is not the case. If you are a good person, your good works will speak for you. Your way of life will tell the world where you belong.
May the Holy Spirit help us always not to live double lives. Amen .
Have a Blessed Day. Shalom.
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
Saturday,18th October,2025.
Feast of St. Luke, the Evangelist.
Theme: Be the Apostles of our Time
( 2 Tim 4:10-17,Ps 145, Lk 10: 1-9)
The apostles were the closest companions of Jesus. He specifically chose them to train them, so that they can continue his mission as ministers to his people. Before his Ascension, he charged them to carry his message to the entire world, of course that included the disciples. Truly, most of them had to die for their faith. The blood of the martyrs truly is the seed of the church . The apostles didn’t joke with the mission entrusted to them. Even in the face of persecutions, they still went ahead courageously to spread the good news.
Because of their hard work the message of Christ was able to reach most parts of the world, which includes our part of the world. They preached Christ both in word and in deed. They truly witnessed to Christ in power. This is what they are inviting you and I to follow.
The great commission has also reached our tend to continue (Matt 28:19-20). One thing we should understand is that, the work of God can’t be exhausted by one person or few groups of people. The work is so huge that it demands the efforts of all of us. It is not only for our priests or pastors, our catechists, our elders or in short our religious leaders. Each Christian is called to spread the message of Christ.
In fact, if we have the zeal of the apostles and for that matter the early Christians, we could change the world within a second. As the scripture says, ” zeal for my father’s house consumes me”. Their primary preoccupation was to spread the word of God. But frankly speaking, I don’t think you and I can boast of this zeal. Come to think of the early missionaries, who walked miles and travelled for long distances to preach Christ to others. Today we have the means but we are not ready to go. I could remember two missionaries were taking care of over 60 outstations, and I mean churches in my parish in Afram Plains. These people were able to reach out to all of them in less than two months.
Today some even have less than 10 outstations, but they can’t manage them well. The comfort is becoming too much in the ministry. We need to burn ourselves for the work of God. We can’t sit in our comfort zones and expect the message of Christ to spread. We need to go out and reach out to those yet to receive Christ and those who have backslided. Some people need to be re-evangelised, because they have either lost the faith or it is dying of. We are the legs, the hands, and the other parts of the body that Jesus needs to spread his word. Let’s avail ourselves and we shall truly be the apostles and the early missionaries of our time.
May the power of God touch us today so that we can truly become his messengers and instruments in this world. Amen . Happy feast and have a Blessed weekend.
Shalom. 🙏🏼🙏🏼
Rev. Fr. Akakpo Matthew
