Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ: Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Gen 14, 18-20; I Cor 11,23-26; Luke 9,11-17: Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ: Year C  2016)

    The Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ celebrates the living presence of Christ which we know is the gift of his Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist. The Church, during Vatican Council II reaffirmed, in a clear and solemn way, her faith in the mystery of the Holy Eucharist. In the Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests we have: For in the most blessed Eucharist is contained the whole spiritual good of the Church, namely Christ himself our Pasch and the living bread which gives life to men through his flesh …For this reason the Eucharist appears as the source and summit of all preaching of the gospel… (PO. no. 5. See also the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, SC. no. 10). Pope Paul VI further echoes this teaching in the encyclicalMysterium fidei: If the sacred Liturgy takes the primary post in the life of the Church, the Mystery of the Eucharist is like theheart and centre of liturgy in as much as it is the font of life which purifies and strengthens us.

    This mystery we celebrate today can be approached from several portals: the portal of Melchizedek, sacrifice, banquet and death of Jesus. None of these portals exhausts the meaning of the mystery. Drawing from Jesus tradition Paul, in the 2nd Reading, narrates the institution of the Eucharist in the context of the Jewish Passover. Passover meal was celebrated annually torecall the event of Exodus by which God delivered the Jewish people from Egypt. As a Passover of the New Covenant, the Eucharistic celebration is also a recall of the passion and death of Christ, and thus, a fulfillment of the ancient Passover. It is precisely because the Eucharist is the memorial of Christ’s Passover that it is also a sacrifice. This sacrificial character of the Eucharist is seen in the very words used by Christ while instituting the Sacrament. According to Paul’s narrative: …the Lord Jesus took some bread and thanked God for it and broke it and he said: This is my body, which is for you; do this as a memorial of me. Over the cup He said: This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Whenever you drink it, do it as a memorial of me. Thus in the Eucharist, Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins (See CCC 1367). Pope John Paul II notes: by virtue of its close relationship to the sacrifice of Golgotha, the Eucharist is a sacrifice in the strict sense, and not only in a general way, as if it were simply a matter of Christ offering himself to the faithful as their spiritual food (Ecclesia De Eucharistia, 13).  When our Lord Jesus Christ offered bread and wine to his apostles at the Last Supper, he was indeed anticipating the offering of his body and pouring out of his blood on the cross of Calvary. The Holy Father Benedict XVI has it thus: …in instituting the sacrament of the Eucharist, Jesus anticipates and makes present the sacrifice of the Cross and the victory of the resurrection. At the same time he reveals that he himself is the true sacrificial lamb, destined in the Father’s plan from the foundation of the world (The Sacrament of Charity, 10). In the Eucharistic celebration, therefore, it is the same sacrifice of the cross that is being offered on the altar. Christ is the victim of the sacrifice both on the cross and on the altar. The only difference lies in the manner of offering: on the cross it is a bloody sacrifice, unlike the sacrifice on the altar where it is un-bloody. Christ is both the victim and the One who offers the one single sacrifice both on the cross and on the altar. This explains the propitiatory nature of the sacrifice.

    What are the challenges of the Eucharist as a sacrifice for us? First of all, it challenges us to victimhood. As baptized Christians we share in the priesthood of Christ, and, therefore, have the privilege of co-offering the Eucharist. Jesus even mandated us: Do this in memory of me. The implication is that we do what he did and become what he became. He broke himself for our sake to be victim. We are to break ourselves for others to become victims.  Breaking ourselves for God and neighbours implies shedding off all forms of pride, selfishness, rebellion, and disobedience and follow Jesus who humbled himself and became obedience to the point of death, even death on the cross, for the sake of sinners (Philippians 2,8). This was Christ’s concrete demonstration of love for us. Pope Benedict XVI put it succinctly in Deus Caritas Est: A Eucharist that does not pass over into concrete practice of love is intrinsically fragmented. Therefore, the authentic celebration of the Eucharist is tantamount to victimhood and service to others. St. John the Evangelist situates the washing of feet in place of the narrative of the Last Supper to stress the practical implication of the offering of Christ’s body and blood. That is to say, that the bread and wine offered must be broken and poured out for the lives of many. When we receive the Eucharist we should be ready to be ground like grains that form the bread for the sake of others. Hence, it becomes scandalous when communicants lord it over those put under their charge, (those whose feet they should be washing) or scramble for unwarranted positions in the Church or society. It is also offensive to the spirit of the Eucharist when people wallow in affluence while remaining unconcerned about the lot of the abject poor around them.

    Another challenge from the fact that the Eucharist is a sacrifice is to eschew violence. The death of Jesus on the cross shows the injustice of violence of this world. Jesus could have resisted the violence that led to his death. But he did not. He even forgave his executioners. The resurrection has shown that God sided with the Victim. The Eucharist is a participation in the once for all sacrifice of Christ on behalf of the victims of this world. If the Eucharist is a sacrament of non violence, then we who are frequent participants both in the celebration and reception of the Eucharist need to do serious soul-searching. What can we make of the escalating violence: violence within the family, violence along the road, political violence, ethnic inspired violence, as well as violence inspired or perpetrated in the name of religion. Therefore if the Eucharist is truly a sacrament of non-violence, it follows that we who partake of the Eucharist and are forged into community by it should not be perpetrators of violence. Rather, we should be absorbers of violence. Happy Sunday! Happy Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ!

  +John I. Okoye

Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity; Year C 2016

                                          DOCTRINE  AND  FAITH
(Proverbs 8, 22-31; Romans 5,1-5; John 16, 12-15: Solemnity of the Most Blessed Trinity;   Year C  2016)

   Glory be to the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Today the church celebrates the solemnity of the Blessed Trinity: the mystery of Three Persons in One God: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, all having the same Nature but three distinctive Persons. The existence of such Godhead is the summit of the revelation which our Lord Jesus made and the focal point of our salvation. This feast glorifies the central mystery of our faith, a mystery based on the way the three divine persons relate to one another, ad intra. The readings of the solemnity can shed much light on the way each of the divine persons relates to us, ad extra.
     The first reading from the book of Proverbs presents to us the mysterious figure of the Woman Wisdom. She is not human, and one is not sure that she is divine. She was at the beginning of creation, was named the first of God’s ways, the one before all of the other deeds of God. She was present and active during God’s wondrous acts of creation. Was she there as a craftsperson/architect or simply as a nursling? (depending on how one understands  the Hebrew word amon). Even if she was active in the primordial events of creation, it was God who really did the creation. During God’s creating activities there were not the usual traces of cosmic battle as used to be associated with some ancient creation myths. The only contender was God who effortlessly established order, harmony and tranquility in the entire universe. The would be contenders such as the heavens, stars, and the seas have been tamed to cooperate and given boundaries they were not to trespass. If the Wisdom Woman acted as craftsperson or an architect for this magnificent project, then the principles of wisdom are woven into the very fabric of creation. This would explain the order that can be discerned within its working. The realisation of this harmonious universe evokes joy and delight.  God delights in the Wisdom Woman and the Wisdom Woman rejoices before God in praise. But the attention of the Wisdom Woman is not focused on God only. She takes delight in the inhabited part of the earth and in the human race, thereby showing interest in us. This reading (as well as the responsorial psalm) celebrates the marvels of creation and by inference, the marvellous creator who brought them into being. Contemplating the order, beauty and harmony in creation should always lead us to sing songs of praise to God. Such contemplation of God’s work should lead to religious experiences that bring us nearer to our Creator, God the Father, day by day. The Wisdom Woman delights in God’s works of creation. We are not only to delight in it but also to be co-responsible with God the Father for its sustenance, renewal, just as our Holy Father, Pope Francis,  exhorts us in the Laudatosi.
    God had delight in the world he created for it was marvellous and good! In the creation narrative of the book of Genesis (Chapter One), the result of God’s creative activity each day was described as good. Unfortunately, this goodness did not last, sin entered not only to mar God’s creation, but also to cause the separation of God from man, to establish conflict among men and to give rise to suffering, pain and eventual death. God did not abandon man in his helplessness after sinning but in the fullness of time came into the scene with his work of redemption and reconciliation. God who created and ruled the world started this mission of reconciliation by pitching his tent among men, through the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Blessed Trinity. The initiative of the incarnation was culminated in the redemptive mission of the paschal mystery: death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By dying for us on the cross, Jesus removed the obstacle between us and God and reinstated us in good standing with God. Paul writing to the Romans and to us the Christians of today (2nd reading) holds: Justified by faith we are at peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Even though the initiative of the reconciliation comes from God the Father, it is the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity that is the protagonist. The full implication of reconciliation with God is that our guilt has been already forgiven. We are now in the right relationship with God, and though God is really the author of our justification, it has been accomplished through our faith in Jesus Christ.  Again and again Paul emphasizes the role Christ plays in this transformation. Jesus is the one who, through his death and resurrection has reconciled all people with God; he is the mediator of the new covenant of peace. It is important to note the Trinitarian nature of Paul’s faith and teaching. It is faith in Christ that justifies us with God; it is faith in Christ that gives us peace with God; it is faith in Christ that grants us access to the grace of God. Because of the reconciliation won for us by Christ, the love of God is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit. In other words, Christ brings us to God, and the Spirit comes to us from the same God. God, Christ, and the Spirit are all involved in our ultimate union with God. But in this our very singular union with the Godhead, the Blessed Trinity, God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity is the protagonist.
    God the Father created the marvelous universe and human beings. When man separated himself from him, on account of sin, God the Father initiated the reconciliation between God and man through the death and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. It is also God the Father who through the Holy Spirit who prolongs and bring to fulfillment the redemptive work of his Son in his disciples and in the church of every time and place: Jesus himself so enunciates: But when the Spirit of truth comes, he will lead you to complete truth. This means that the Holy Spirit will throw more light on the person, life, teaching death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit will also make known in the future new information and teaching that will be relevant to the mission of the Church in the light of the gospel. Thus, the mission of the Spirit whom Jesus promises to the disciples seems to be the guidance of the disciples into the deep meaning and radical implications of the teaching of Jesus. The truth the Spirit reveals is grounded in the teachings of Jesus, but it goes far beyond. In this way, there is continuity but not repetition. The Spirit glorifies Jesus by bringing to light the deeper truth of his teaching that also belongs to God. We see the role of the third Person of the Trinity, in the deepening within the fold of the disciples and the Church, the work of redemption and reconciliation initiated by God but brought about by the death and resurrection of Christ.
    In our effort to understand the liturgy of today that celebrates the Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity, we rather concentrate on the readings of the day and tried to meditate on all the ways our triune God, in their distinctive roles as Persons has made us, delight in the marvelous world He created,  became beneficiaries of His work of reconciliation  in Jesus Christ, and the benefits of His enlightening teaching through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, May this Eucharistic celebration dispose us to cry out with the Psalmist: O Lord, our God, how wonderful is your name in all the earth! Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit!
 Happy Sunday! Happy Solemnity of the Blessed Trinity!    
+John I. Okoye

  (graphics by chukwubke)

Happy Solemnity of the Pentecost! Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH (Acts 2,1-11; Romans 8,8-17; John 14, 15-16.23-26:  Solemnity of Pentecost: Year C  2016

  Today we celebrate the solemnity of Pentecost, the great feast that falls on the 50th day of Easter, when we celebrate the gift of Holy Spirit to the Apostles and to the Church.  The Holy Spirit is a gift by the Risen Christ to his people. Indeed as the gospel of today shows, it is Jesus who: promises the Holy Spirit, requests God the Father to send the Holy Spirit, and in whose name the Father will send the Holy Spirit: I shall ask the Father and He will give you another  Advocate … the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name. 
    The first duty of the Holy Spirit is to be and act as an Advocate, a defender. He is to defend and sustain the Apostles and the Christians in difficulties. He is to make them capable to bear witness to their faith. Jesus speaks of another Advocate or defender because He was the first one, as long as He was with them. The second duty of the Holy Spirit is expressed in these words of Jesus: (He) will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to you. In other words, the Holy Spirit will be a master, teacher and adviser in matters pertaining to the interior life, a great spiritual director, so to say, who will propose new ways of understanding the truth already taught by Christ, as well as, deepening and fully interpreting the words of Jesus in the light of His resurrection. The main characteristic of this gift is that, it is not a temporal or passing, but a permanent and continuous one as Jesus indicates: … (an Advocate) to be with you for ever…). Thus, the community of believers, the very nascent Church as well as that of later times are guaranteed that this presence and assistance of the Holy Spirit will never be lacking. (This is vividly expressed by the Vatican II document Lumen Gentium, see no. 8).

    The first coming of the promised Holy Spirit, the most important, extraordinary and solemn one  took place on the day of Pentecost, that is, the fiftieth day of Easter. The Evangelist, Luke in Acts of the Apostles (first reading) describes the event in terms that were proper to theophanies of the Old Testament: peals of thunder, robust wind and consuming fire. The coming of the Holy Spirit had some prodigious effect on the Apostles. The first effect was that the Apostles had the capacity to express and praise God for the marvels He had wrought. They did it in such a way that all who were there understood them, even though they were of diverse nationalities speaking diverse languages. Being filled with the Holy Spirit, they (the Apostles) began to speak foreign languages as the Spirit gave them the gift of speech. …and each one (of the assembly from all the then known nations then in Jerusalem) bewildered to hear these men speaking his own language.  Thus we have the prefigure of the universality of the Church. In the Church and through her, God will be recognized, praised and thanked by all the people of the world who would be speaking the same language of faith and love. The second effect the Holy Spirit would produce is the reconstruction of the unity of mankind. It is hoped that the lack of unity among people, symbolized in the story of the Tower of Babel, will be reversed when all the people assemble as a unique people of God. All mankind, through the work of the Holy Spirit will speak the same language, be able to understand one another and recognize one another as brothers and sisters in the Church, the unique people of God. The Holy Spirit is the principal realiser of unity of the Church.
    In the second reading, Apostle Paul brings out the multiple effects of the action of the Holy Spirit in the soul of the faithful. The Holy Spirit makes us belong to Christ: In fact, unless you possessed the Spirit of Christ you would not belong to him. The presence of the Holy Spirit makes us belong to Christ, be his true disciples and members of his body. Another effect of the Holy Spirit is that He salvages us from the dominion of the flesh, that is to say, from the dominion of selfishness and sin. The egoism which Paul calls flesh and sin, includes every false value that negatively influences our life and leads to death. The Spirit is life. In virtue of this, the Holy Spirit makes us alive, just as he, Christ keeps us truly alive. Another effect, according to Paul, is that the Holy Spirit who lives in us is the guarantee of our final resurrection: just as He made Jesus rise from the dead, in the same way, He will make us rise from the dead. Possessing the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, we have at this moment, the power that makes us alive for ever. Paul goes on to indicate that another effect of the Holy Spirit is that He makes us participate in the divine sonship of Christ. He renders us adopted sons and daughters of the heavenly Father, in such a way that we can cry, as Jesus did, with confidence and abandon, Abba Father. And if we are sons, we are also heirs: heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ who are destined to participate in his glory in heaven.

    The Holy Spirit continues to do, in the Church today, what he did among the disciples on the day of Pentecost and in the nascent Church. He continues to lead the members of Christ’s body, the Church into deeper understanding of their mission.  As the giver of gifts, He empowers the faithful to stand up to the challenges of being a true witness. As we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit today, let us pray that we experience his full impact in our lives as the disciples did.  Making ours the words of the Pentecost Sequence may we implore the Holy Spirit thus: “Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour thy dew; wash the stains of guilt away; bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray”. Let us, therefore, conclude with the invocation which comes up often during our liturgical and devotional prayers: Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the Faithful and enkindle in us the fire of your Love! Amen! Happy Sunday! Happy Solemnity of Pentecost! +John I. Okoye

7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER DOCTRINE & FAITH

Some aspects of today’s readings offer us some insights into the glory or honour which the resurrection conferred on the Risen Lord. The first reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows how Stephen emulated Jesus Christ. He prayed that the sins of his executioners should not be held against them (Luke 23,34) and at death that his spirit would be welcomed in heaven. The difference between the prayers of Christ and that of Stephen is, while Jesus directed his prayer to God, the Father, Stephen prayed to the risen Lord: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. This shows that according to Luke, the author of the Acts of the Apostles, the risen Lord was now identified with God.

    In the second reading from the book of Revelation, it is the Risen Lord himself, not an angelic messenger, who announces to John his immediate return. Then the risen Lord goes further to list, in two self-descriptive statements, five characteristics that describe himself. The first is:  I am the Alpha and Omega, (thus, Jesus encompasses any word, that describes any reality that is composed with letters within the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet), the First and the Last (this expression includes what in time sequence is between the First and the Last), the Beginning and the End (implies the entire action). Here the risen Jesus claims to be both origin and end of all things. By appropriating to himself attributes that belongs to God, Jesus is claiming intimate unity with God. The second self-presentative statement is: I am of David’s Line, the root of David and the bright star of the morning. This certainly refers to his role as the Messiah and rightly so after his glorification at the resurrection.

    In today’s gospel, Jesus prays for the unity of the believers, that they may be one. He prays for his immediate disciples, as well as would be disciples through their missionary activities. The unity which he prays for, is not a superficial unity, for it has to resemble the unity that exists between him and his Father. According to the letter to the Hebrews, Jesus is the refulgence of his (God’s) glory, the very imprint of his (God’s) being (Heb 1,3). In the context, this verse means that Jesus Christ is neither just a prophet, an angel, nor any created being, but the perfect image of God himself. Christ is of God’s image by nature, because he proceeds from God directly. So there is perfect unity between God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. What is more, Jesus as a man confirmed his will to that of his Father. So the unity between Jesus and his Father flows from both divine nature and human obedience.

    The unity of his disciples for which Jesus prays for should not only resemble the divine unity but should participate in it. It is in faith that Christians are intimately united with Jesus. Therefore, it will be through Jesus that they will be brought into the divine union, where the Father dwells in the Son and the Son in the Father.

    There is another way the disciple of Jesus share in the divine life, through participation in the glory of Christ. The glory of Jesus was believed to have been manifested through his death, resurrection and exaltation by God. Joined to Jesus in faith and through Baptism, believers share in this glory because in a very real sense they share in his person (at Baptism the baptized Christian is incorporated into the person of Christ). In this way they enter into the very life of God and share in the union of Jesus and his Father.

    In his prayer, Jesus mentions that the world does not know the Father: Father, Righteous One, the world has not known you… In the mind of John the Evangelist, the world is even hostile to Jesus and his disciples. It is Jesus’ prayer that the situation should be changed, and this will be accomplished through the witness given by the union that exists among and within the believers. That means that, to the world that does not yet know God, they are to manifest the divine union in which they participate. Through this manifestation the world will see not only that God sent Jesus but also that God loves believers with the same love with which Jesus is loved. 
    In some ways, we, the Christians of today, are challenged by the readings of today. Stephen challenges us to emulate Jesus by forgiving our neighbours who offend us in any way. Jesus challenges us to open our minds and hearts to him so that we may enter into true and intimate friendship with him and through him with God the Father and the Blessed Trinity. Therefore, the friendship that we make with Christ should be the model of our union with other Christians.  Thus, we Christians are enjoined to manifest the unity among us so as to convert our non-believing neighbours to the faith. 

Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

graphics by chukwubike