5th Sunday of Easter; Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Acts 14,21-27;  Rev 21,1-5; John 13, 31-33. 34-35:  5th  Sunday of Easter; Year C  2016)

    The theme of the Church is discernible in the readings of today’s liturgy. The church emerged from the heart of the Risen Christ who mandated her to continue his mission in the world. The church is also the depository and dispenser of all the gifts and graces which Christ merited for us. By virtue of our baptism we are incorporated into Christ who is the head of the Church and ipso facto, we are members of the Church. It behoves us, therefore, to reflect on how each of today’s readings presents one aspect or the other of the church. This will surely enable us appreciate our membership in her as a loving privilege from God.

    The first reading from the Acts of the Apostle shows how some of the local churches were founded.  The Apostles, Paul and Barnabas, guided by the Spirit of the Risen Lord (as they proclaimed the good news of the Risen Christ from one place to the other) started establishing small communities of disciples in places like Listra, Iconium and Antioch. These communities are equivalent to our present parishes. Their usual custom was to preach first to the Jews who were familiar with the Scriptures, but whenever their proclamation was rejected, they turned to the Gentiles who eagerly received the good news with joy and as a privilege. Such ecclesial communities were characterized by their community prayer, fasting and trusting faith in God.  From time to time, the apostles visited the communities (as did Paul and Barnabas in today’s first reading). During their visits, they encouraged the members to remain firm in their faith so as to meet up with the challenges of persecution and tribulation that might arise on account of their faith. During such periodic visits, the apostles also appointed leaders for every community. What can we learn from such primitive ecclesial communities that were more or less structured like our present parishes, with our parish priests as leaders? Our present parish communities should be places where we are to be exhorted, encouraged and taught how to remain steadfast in faith. It should also be centres where we mutually share our common Christian burden and reciprocally put new spirits in our hearts. It should also be a community that is united under one parish priest, who represents the apostle (bishop) and who is truly a brother among brothers and sisters. The members of our parishes should take responsibility of the affairs of the ecclesial community and participate actively in its growth and development.

    The second reading from the book of Revelation reveals to us the profound mystery of the church, which is referred to as the holy city; new Jerusalem. The church descends from heaven. It is from God. On earth, it is where God and man dwell. In other words, the members of the church are the God’s own people, recreated, renewed by the Risen Lord, who makes all things new.The fact that the Church originates from God and is the dwelling place of God among men, is a mystery. It is, therefore, neither a community that is established by sheer will of men craving for association nor a social club of friends who come together. The mystery of the Church consists in God’s willingness to save people through the Risen Lord. The church is the presence and the realization of this divine will of salvation in human history. What a privilege that per virtue of our baptism we are members of this church! How do we respond to the love of God for this singular privilege? It is worthwhile to have at the back of our mind that this Church that is existing here and now today, that is, in this present and temporal life, of which we are members, has eschatological destiny. The book of Revelation offers us some allusion to this, when it holds that God will wipe the tears from their eyes (that is, the eyes of the people among whom he dwells), eliminate death, mourning and laments. Though, the church has earthly, temporal and visible dimension, she is being projected towards her final fulfillment or actualization. On this Vatican II holds: The church into which we all are called in Jesus Christ and in which and through the grace of God we acquire holiness, will not have her fulfillment if not in the glory of heaven (Lumen Gentium, 48).

    In her pilgrimage on earth, what are the fundamental laws of this new community, the Church, that believes in the Risen Jesus Christ? Jesus gave the law of love as the distinctive character of his disciples, the members of his church: I give you a new commandment: love one another; just as I have loved you … By this love you have for one another, everyone will know that you are my disciple. The novelty in the Jesus’ commandment does not lie in the bare fact of asking his disciples to love but in doing so, they have to love as he has loved. How has Jesus loved? First of all, they have to imitate the reciprocal love between Jesus and God the Father. The disciples will first imbibe how to enter into relationship with God the Father so as to always do the will of God just as Christ did, even unto death. Secondly, if we are to love our neighbours as Jesus loved us, we shall be prepared to give up our lives for the sake of our neighbours just as Jesus did by offering his life in sacrifice for the sake of fulfilling his Father’s wish to save us. It is when we, Christians of Nigeria, are prepared to love our neighbours, using the model of the reciprocal love between Christ and God the Father and also ready to love like Christ by suffering for our needy neighbours, can we hope to make the Church salt and light of the world, and a veritable instrument to bring to fulfillment God’s will and plan to save and transform humanity and our present society, thereby contributing to the final and eschatological glory of the church for which she and we her members are destined. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye 

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4th Sunday of Easter; Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND FAITH (Acts 13,14.43-52;  Rev 7,9.14-17; John 10, 27-30: 4th  Sunday of Easter; Year C  2016)

    The fourth Sunday of Easter is often called the Good Shepherd Sunday because all the gospel passages of the three cycle are taken from Chapter 10 of the Gospel according to John, which has the allegory of the good shepherd and the sheep as its main theme.  The short passage of  today’s gospel is the concluding part of this allegory of the shepherd where Jesus is being presented as the good and true shepherd, who takes his flock so much to heart that he is ready to give up his life for them. This is in contrast to the shepherd-mercenary who abandons the flock as soon as he notices danger.

    Yes, Jesus is ready to give up his life for the flock. But what is the essential quality of Christ’s flock? Were the Jewish people of Jesus time possible members of his flock? No! This can be seen from the preceding verses before today’s gospel passage. The Jewish people who were the interlocutors  with Jesus, were speaking, interrogating and replying to Jesus not to be illuminated in order to believe, but were rather looking for faults to accuse him of, so as to condemn him. They were not listening to the message of salvation he was proclaiming. Listening is an essential quality of Christ’s flock as he enunciated: The sheep that belong to me listen to my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life. Therefore, the sheep that belong to Jesus are these who listen to his voice, that is to say, those who accept his message with open mind, without prejudice. They are those who know him and follow him. On his part, Jesus is the good shepherd who knows his flock. Thus, there is reciprocity of knowledge between Jesus and his disciples. What is meant here is knowledge that is neither theoretical, nor on the level of the intellect, but one that shows an intimate relationship that is personal, profoundly experiential, involving the heart and the emotion of love.  In fact, Jesus is the good shepherd because he gives eternal life to his flock. This is to say that he communicates divine life to his disciples and in order to do so, he offers up his life as a gift to the extent of pouring his blood on the cross.
    In the Eucharist which we celebrate solemnly every Sunday, Jesus perpetuates the sacrifice of the cross (SC 47: Vatican II document on Liturgy) sacramentally and by participating in the Eucharistic banquet we enter into real communion with Christ. St. Leo the Great holds: The proper effect of the Eucharist is to make us become what we receive. That is why Jesus gave up himself for us so that we become gifts to others. Jesus himself directed: Do this in memory of me, that is to say, make yourself a gift to one another just as I do for you. Only in the sacrifice of self that the Eucharist, which we celebrate become an effective, lived and experienced Eucharist.
    Christians are called to continue, at every moment and place, to make that sacrifice of life to the world which still pertains to Christ's sacrifice of himself. Jesus continues to give himself to the world and people through the multiplicity of vocation he bestows on people. There are variety of gifts and vocations. Each person is enjoined, in the state of life into which Providence has put him/her, to burn himself/herself and sacrifice himself/herself for the salvation of his neighbor.  Paul in the first reading, speaking to the community of faithful in Antioch in Pisidia said: I have made you a light for the nations, so that my salvation may reach the end of the earth. Every Christian should be aware  and convinced that he/she should not be exempted from this task of participating actively in the salvation of the world nor should he/she delegate this important  task to priests, religious and  missionaries. Each Christian should be personally involved. We are, however, grateful to God that in the Church there are particular and special vocations of total dedication like the vocation to the priesthood and to religious life in its multiple forms of expression, etc. that are dedicated to the service of God and the faithful. These vocations require the sacrifice of self in a very radical and absolute way, as they are essential to the life and growth of the Church as well as to the building up of a world that confirms to the will of God.

    In Nigeria, especially, we thank God for the gift of vocation boom to the priesthood and the religious life. In Europe and North America, reverse is the case. These were continents that sent missionaries to all parts of world last century. Will the scarcity of vocation there become ours in the future? How can we prevent such situation? First of all, we have to follow the directives of Christ and pray for the gift of vocation (Matt, 9,36-38). Secondly, our Catholic Christian communities and families have the duty to increase the vocation to the priesthood and religious life especially through witness of perfect Christian life ( Optatam totius: Vatican II). It is to be noted that where there is faith, prayer, charity, apostolate, Christian life with favour, there is invariably the multiplication of the gift of God and there, vocation blossoms. Thirdly, in gratitude to the gifts of vocation we have now, what effort do we make as Catholic Christians to participate in the formation of the candidates to the priesthood and religious life? Do we offer spiritual, financial, moral support? The World Day of Vocation we celebrate today should challenge us to examine how far we have been engaged in promoting vocation in the church. It should also stimulate us to assume our responsibility in this regard. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

3rd Sunday of Easter; Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Acts 5, 27-32.40-41; Rev 5,11-14; John 21, 1-19: 3rd  Sunday of Easter; Year C  2016)

The gospel story narrates the third encounter of the Risen Lord with his disciples, this time, as they were fishing in the sea of Tiberias. As things stand at that moment, the reality of the resurrection was gradually dawning on them. On a certain day, they fished all night and caught nothing, but when Jesus said to them: Throw the net out to starboard and you will find something, they got so much fish that they had difficulty in hauling the net in. This is when the Apostle John intuited: It is the Lord! Peter then dived into the sea to swim to meet him at the sea shore. But earlier in the story, the narrator had remarked: It was light by now and there stood Jesus on the shore, though the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. But why was it so? Was it because of the cloudiness of the early morning or because of the distance of the sea from the shore? Probably neither of them. But, most likely what happened to Mary Magdalene on the resurrection day was also the case here. She could not recognize Jesus only by mere looking at Him. Jesus had to call her name before she was able to recognize him. The meaning of this is that, though, the features of the body of the Risen Lord was identical with the features of the body of Jesus who suffered and died, there was a great difference between them. The Risen Christ appeared new to the eyes that saw him, therefore, there was the need for new eyes to recognize him. There is need for the new eyes of faith to see and recognize him. Encounter with the Risen Lord was not a continuation of the former experience before the passion; there was need to establish new relationship in faith with him. Here at the sea of Tiberias, the disciples needed only to hear his command to cast the net to starboard which they did and had a great catch. With the apostles, doubt about the Risen Lord was waning and there, at the shore, it could not have been any other person than the Risen Lord himself. Any doubt about his identity was vanishing as they, readily, participated in the breakfast he invited them to and in which he handed some bread and fish to them. The gesture was becoming very familiar and reminiscent. The narrator added: None of the disciples was bold enough to ask, “who are you?”; they knew quite well it was the Lord.

    The direct experiences of the apostles of the reality of the resurrection of Christ explain certain things. We note, first of all, the decisive and courageous attitude of the apostles before the leaders of the people and religious authorities as we read in today’s first reading. The prohibition to teach in the name of Jesus did not stop the activities of the apostles. Rather, it gave them further opportunity to make solemn proclamation of the mystery and message of the paschal mystery as we hear Peter and John say: … it was God of our ancestors who raised up Jesus, but it was you who had him executed by hanging on a tree. They went on to explain: By his own right hand God has now raised him up to be leader and saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins through him to Israel. Peter ended his speech by noting:We are witnesses to all this, we and the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. The disciples were witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus, whom they encountered, saw, listened to and ate with after his resurrection. Another consequence of the Risen Jesus’ several encounters with the disciples after his resurrection was their unperturbed serenity during persecutions and their joy to suffer shame for the love of Christ. One can attribute the joy and serenity of the apostles as gifts of the Holy Spirit, but they are also the direct positive result of their absolute certainty of the resurrection of Christ. The apostles encountered the Risen Christ and there were change in their lives, actions and in their discipleship of Jesus. We encountered the Risen Christ through faith (blessed are those who have not seen but yet believe). Has this any positive implication in our lives as Christians, who are to be witnesses to his resurrection, in the society where we live?

    There are two lessons from today’s first reading which we need to internalize and allow them to influence our actions. The first is that we have to obey God rather than man. This was the affirmation of Peter before the leaders of the people who prohibited from preaching in the name of Jesus. Peter says in effect: God’s will is supreme. In case of conflict between the orders and directives given by men and the command of God, there should not be any hesitation on the part of the faithful. He should obey the command of God. However, this should not be used as pretence to disobey any just directive of a legitimate and constituted civil authority. The next lesson of today's first reading is the example of the apostles who took on the courage to profess our faith without inferiority complex and human respect. We are often ashamed to show that we are Catholics and do not even speak up when the church is maligned and injustice perpetuated before us. Does this show us as matured Catholics? Are we in this way, witnesses to the Risen Christ? We recommend a change in attitude, a fundamental conversion to God and the Risen Christ; and at the same time allowing the Holy Spirit to direct our Christian living. Do we shy away from witnessing to Christ as good Catholic Christians on account of suffering? If so, then it is very unfortunate. For we affirm that suffering on account of our faith, being object of derision or persecution in witnessing to the Christian faith and life are signs of authentic rapport with Christ and a guarantee of future glory as Peter assures us: If we truly participate in the suffering of Christ, we shall participate in his glory (Rom 8,17). We should, therefore, in today’s Eucharistic celebration, ask the Risen Christ to give us the courage like the apostles to witness to him without fear or favour.  Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

2nd Sunday of Easter; Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Acts 5, 12-16;  Rev 1,9-11.12-13.17-19; John 20, 19-31: 2nd  Sunday of Easter; Year C  2016)

    It is remarkable to note that the passage of today’s gospel reading is the same for all the gospel readings of the second Sunday of Easter for the three year cycle. This is an indication of its importance in our faith. We note double apparitions of the risen Jesus in the gospel story. The first one took place on the day of the resurrection and the second one eight days later. In the first apparition, Thomas was not there. He would not believe that Jesus rose from the dead and his doubt led him to affirm: Unless I see the holes that the nails made in his hands…and unless I put my hand into his side, I refuse to believe. In his second apparition, Jesus fulfilled Thomas’ wish when he said to him: Put your finger here…give me your hand, put into my side. Thus Thomas’ doubt was cleared and certainly those of many others too. But what does this gospel passage teach us? Primarily, it teaches that Christ rose from the dead. His showing himself to the disciples and the drama with Thomas are proofs thereof. Thus, the resurrection of Jesus was not a fantasy, nor hallucination. It was not an illusion nor infatuation and certainly not an auto-exaltation of the apostles. It was a lived and documented reality. Peter holds: … Let the whole house of Israel know for certain that God has made him (Jesus) both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified (Acts 2,36). What it boils down to, is that there is no need seeking sensible proofs or experimental confirmation of the resurrection of Jesus. At the end of Jesus’ encounter with Thomas, Jesus said to him: You believe because you can see me. Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe. 

    Indications of witnesses to the resurrection of Jesus abound. We reckon with those of the apostles whom God chose before hand, as we have in Acts of the Apostles in 2,3; 3,15; 5,32; 10, 41. Note also the testimony of Sacred Scriptures that was brought about by the encounter of the Risen Jesus with two of his disciples on their way to Emmaus: O how foolish you are…Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and enter into his glory? Then starting with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them what referred to him in all the Scriptures (Luke 24, 25-27). We also noted Jesus’ words, where severally he predicted that he would rise from the dead after three days (Matt 17,22-23; 20,19; Mark 8,31; 9,31; Luke 9,22). We have Jesus witnessing to his resurrection in the message He sends to us today in the second reading from the book of Revelation: Do not be afraid; it is I, the First and the Last; I am the Living One. I was dead and now I live forever and I hold the keys of death and the underworld.
    As indicated above the gospel story with its two apparitions, has some messages to convey.  One is that the resurrected body of Christ defied all normal physical laws. There was a profound difference between his mode of being before the resurrection and after the resurrection. That was why he was able to enter their midst in closed doors. The second issue is that his presence and connection with his disciples does not cease. He continues to be with them in a manner not perceptible to the senses, but however, very real. It is a presence that is active and effective, but recognizable only through faith and it is only through faith that we can have experience of him.

    How and where can one have experience with the Risen Christ? Such experience, in the first place, will have to take place in the liturgical community of disciples of Jesus assembled particularly on the Day of the Lord. Note also that the apparition of the Risen Jesus to the favoured servant, John the Apostle, took place on a Sunday, on the Day of the Lord as we see in the 2nd reading from the book of Revelation. We note that absenting ourselves from Sunday Eucharistic assembly we lose, each time, the opportunity to encounter the Risen Christ. The Risen Christ is present in the community of the disciples assembled in his name: For where two or three are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them (Matt 18,18). The Risen Christ is present in the community of the disciples who listens to His Word: It is His Word which reverberates in our ears; it is still He who speaks when in the Church the Sacred Scriptures are read (Sacrosantum Concilium, no. 7). The risen Christ is present in the community of disciples that celebrates the sacraments, because the sacraments are the actions of Christ himself. Vatican Council has it thus: Christ is present with his power in the sacraments to the extent that when someone baptizes, it is Christ himself that baptizes (Sacrosantum Concilium, no. 7). Again the risen Christ is present in the community of his disciples that celebrates the Eucharist in so far it is He (Risen Christ) himself who celebrates through the ministry of the priest ((Sacrosantum Concilium, no. 7). The Risen Christ is also present in the community that frees someone from the burden of his/her sins through the power of the Holy Spirit which was donated to the Church by the Risen Christ himself: Receive the Holy Spirit; whose sins you forgive are forgiven them … (John 20,23). The Risen Lord is present in the community of disciples that dedicates itself in the healing and mitigating all types of human infirmity, be it physical or spiritual and in his name (Risen Christ) work miracles and wonders as we have in the first reading. The Risen Christ also resides in the community of disciples that lives in harmony and love as is witnessed in the Acts of the Apostles: The community of believers were of one heart and mind and  no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common (Acts 4, 32). We Christians of Nigeria are challenged to have a strong and lively experience of the multiple form of the presence of the Risen Christ in the community of the disciples, that is to say, in the Church. We do so particularly every Sunday when we gather for the Sunday Eucharist. We should be grateful to God for this. However we are even further challenged to witness and make transparent in our civil communities through the witness of our lives the lively and effective presence of the Risen Christ. This involves much work. Let us, therefore, ask from the Risen Lord, the grace to witness effectively his presence in our midst. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

 

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