Homily for Monday of 1st Week in Ordinary Time Cycle II

Hear this!, every virgin is precious in the eyes of God. Her hymen is the tissue of blood – a membrane with which God sealed her womanhood from the molestation of irresponsible lovers. And so, whenever this hymen is broken, the male lover is forced to think twice and willy nilly, enter into a covenant of blood with his female counterpart. The woman will never forget him again because of the horrible painful experience only made sweet by the promises of love. And God himself never forgets that day, especially if there was a covenant because God keeps his covenant ever in mind, Ps 105 : 8. Liberalism started when ladies learnt to carelessly lose their virginity to irresponsible play boys. God abandoned them to the irremediable abuse of men. But let me come back to my story about polygamy; a situation that makes a man enter into double/ multiple covenants of love with more than one woman. It is often emotionally hazardous!

Elkanah was his name – the husband of Hannah and Penninah. He loved Hannah but Hannah had no children. Penninah therefore took advantage. You know women nah! You can imagine the kind of words with which she was insulting her ‘nwunye di’ (co wife). Permit me to use a vulgar statement that was used by one of my parishioners against her fellow woman : ‘I na – ara atu eshu’ (You are having sex in vain because you can’t conceive). This must have been the kind of insult Hannah was receiving from Penninah, her co – wife.

But Elkanah was a devout man. He feared God and often went to worship God at the sanctuary of Shiloh. He told his darling wife: ‘Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than 10 sons?’ He continued to make love to her until something happened. You know the rest of the story. I felt bad when a barren woman recently came to complain that her husband is tired of making love to her. The man’s hurting reply was: ‘What is sex for if I cannot get a child from it?’ It took me a chunk of counseling energy to convince him that there are two essential ends of marriage; 1st companionship, then procreation. But that is what ireligiousity has done to our society.

Before I talk too much, let me just remind every woman to guard her virginity and use it to enter into covenant with a man. It may even be more powerful than what you may ordinarily do on the altar on your wedding day. But if you have lost it for one reason or the other, don’t worry. Be faithful and reserve yourself henceforth for the right man. Men should also respect this divine arrangement. Marriage is too sacred to be entered in and out of. For me, sex is half marriage. Theologians input on marriage two essential integers: Ratus et consumatum (consent and consummation). A covenant must accompany every human sexual relationship for better for worse. The real man of God, ipso facto, must be a husband of one wife, 1 Tim 3 : 2.

May God bless you today!