7th Sunday of Easter: Year A, 2017

May Christ who glorified God the Father give you eternal life, that is to say, the true and authentic knowledge of God the Father and himself. Happy Sunday + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 1, 12-14;  1 Peter 4, 13-16; John 17, 1-11a; 7th Sunday of Easter: Year A,  2017)

            The gospel pericope of today is from the so called High Priestly prayer of Jesus. It is an intercessory prayer that has several themes. The focal theme is the nature of the relationship between Jesus and God. Jesus addresses God as Father and refers to himself as the Son: Father, the hour has come, glorify the Son that the Son may glorify you…It was from this Father that Jesus came (v. 3) and to this Father he returns (v. 11a). The glory for which Jesus prays is the glory he shared with his Father before the creation of the world (v. 5). Jesus’ authority came from the Father (v. 2), and he in turn delivered the Father’s word to his disciples (v. 8) and revealed the Father’s name to them (v. 6). Even though in some areas, Jesus appears to be subordinate to his Father, yet they share the same things (v. 10). All said and done the pericope brings to the fore the divine character of Jesus.

 The theme of glorification which Jesus request from the Father is not far afield from the theme of the relationship between them. Jesus possessed this glory before the creation of the world and, as it were, laid it aside temporary as he became man, and now the hour is ripe for him to take it up again. Just as the Father is to glorify the Son, Jesus Christ, the Son has the onus also to glorify the Father. It was by submitting himself to the will of the Father, undergoing his passion and dying on the cross, that Jesus was able to glorify his Father. It is by raising Jesus from death to new life that God the Father glorified Jesus Christ. While on earth, Jesus did not hide his relationship with his Father. He went on his way to reveal the name of the Father to his disciples through the life he lived and the ministry he performed. What is more, by means of the authority he received from God, he was empowered to grant them eternal life by imparting to them true and authentic knowledge about God the Father and about himself whom God sent into the world. Our gospel pericope identifies eternal life as knowledge of God and Jesus Christ. Still in the gospel reading, Jesus indicates that his disciples, though set apart from the world that is antagonistic to God and Christ, are still within the world and exposed to its hostility. He prays the Father, that as he faces death, his disciples should be empowered to continue the work he has begun in this life. The big question is: Will the disciples of Christ, the apostles then and we today’s Christians be able to continue the work Christ has begun? Will we be able to continue the work of glorifying God by following the example of Christ who gave himself up as a sacrifice in loving obedience to the Father? Are we in the position to be veritable witnesses to the life and work of Christ? The liturgy of today seems to answer in the positive, that the disciples of Jesus are equipped, then and now, to continue the work Jesus had started, difficulties, here and there, notwithstanding. They are able to do so on some two counts. One, is by virtue of the knowledge of the Father and the Son they have already, knowledge as Jesus indicates today, in the gospel reading, is tantamount to eternal life. This is not just mere intellectual knowledge but one that is experiential and borne out of mutual relationship. The second reason why the disciple of Jesus will be able to continue his work is on account of the mutual relationship between Jesus and the disciple. The disciple of Jesus time, entered into such relationship with Christ when he responded positively to the call of Jesus to follow him. Since then, the relationship matured and got nurtured day by day. The Christian of today entered into relationship with Christ at his baptism when he was inserted into Christ and thence has been nurturing the relationship by taking up his cross daily and following him. This relationship with Christ is expected to mature and resemble the mutual relationship between the Father and the Son, as Jesus tried to explain in the initial part of his prayer.  It is only when such mutual relationship between Jesus and the disciple is functional that much fruit, especially the glorification of the Father, will be expected therefrom.

The liturgy of today presents some hurdles the Christian/disciple of Christ will have to jump before the expected results. The first one is that the disciple will have to overcome the world that is antagonistic towards God and the things of God. It is in this hostile world of corruption, selfishness, idolatry, greed for money and what money can buy, oppression, etc that the Christian will have to spend some energy not only in working out his salvation but in  continuing the work of Christ. The second obstacle that faces the disciple/Christian is the issue of being ridiculed on account of one’s relationship with Christ. Peter, the Apostle, the author of the second reading holds that the Christians are either defamed for the name of Christ or harassed, even persecuted for being Christians. The passage of the second reading is one of the three instances in the Bible where the followers of Christ are called Christians (Acts 11, 26; 26, 28). While the term marks one as a supporter or follower of Christ, it may well have been intended as a name of scorn.  Although it might be interpreted Messiah follower, (the Christians claimed that the Messiah they followed was a man who has been executed as a felon). To call a person a Christian might have been comparable to calling him felon follower. In the face of this, Peter tells his addressees/audience and us to bear this name proudly and endure any misfortune that might befall them on account of it. What the Christians in Peter’s time suffered is still present in the Nigerian society today. There are parts of Nigeria where you do not get scot free just by indicating that you are a Christian. At least you earn a facial rebuke. Of course, there are parts of our country where you loose your right as a citizen by the mere fact of being a Christian. We take the advice of Peter and at the same time continue the work of Christ which is the enthronement of justice and sacrificial love in the world and in the society.

  But what will help us in the situation where the Christian is handicapped? The liturgy of today, through the first reading, indicates two approaches: authentic Christian witness and community prayer. After the Ascension into heaven the people who gathered in the Upper Room comprised: The eleven who were witnesses to Jesus public life and his resurrection; the women who witnessed his death, burial and resurrection; Mary, the Lord’s mother, the privileged witness of his infancy and hidden life; and other relatives of his. So the first community after the Ascension of Jesus is well qualified to witness to Christ with authority. (Just a pause: since the celebration of Easter some six weeks ago how many times have you borne authentic witness that Christ rose from the dead?) By witnessing as authentic Christians to the resurrection of Christ in our families, places of work and our environments we will be overcoming obstacles that obstruct and impede the glorification of God. What were they doing in the Upper Room: All these with one accord devoted themselves to prayer. The community of Upper Room gathered in prayer. We need community, but not only in the ordinary experiences of life. We need a community of believers with whom we can pray, who will understand our spiritual aspirations, support us in our Christian commitment, and challenge us when we stray from the right path. We need a community of believer with whom we shall continue Christ’s work of glorifying God the Father. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

6th Sunday of Easter: Year A, 2017

May God bestow on you the necessary graces to prepare for the coming of the Holy Spirit. HappySunday! + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Acts 8, 6-8.14-17; 1 Peter 3, 15-18; John 14, 15-21; 6th Sunday of Easter: Year A, 2017)

    The coming of the Holy Spirit is an important and focal event in the history of salvation and the raison d’etre of the work of Incarnation and Redemption.  At the discourse after the Last Supper, in today’s gospel reading, Jesus affirms: I will pray the Father and he will give you another Advocate who will stay with you forever, the Spirit of Truth. The Greek term parakletos,generally means helper. When Jesus said that he will send to his followers Another Paraclete he underlined his awareness of their weakness and how much they stood in need of divine empowerment. The Fall of Adam and Eve signalled rupture of friendship between man and God. By virtue of his incarnation, passion, death and resurrection, Jesus restored fallen humanity to the glory of divine friendship. Having paid the ultimate price to save man from damnation, Jesus promised a divine helper to the fallen but restored humanity- he Paraclete whose function it is, in the economy of salvation, to sanctify and empower. We need the Holy Spirit to help us speak to God and speak the truth to one another. We need him to help us to pray, witness to Christ, preach the gospel, resist evil, live holy lives, uproot and destroy wickedness in the world, build and plant kingdom values everywhere, love one another, administer the Church well, be patient in tribulation and worship God as it is fitting. Left on our own, we can really do nothing (John 15, 5). Jesus said that he would send us the Helper so that we would not be like orphans after his departure (John 14, 18). Orphans are people without help. His promise is that this Helper will be always with us. Nothing is consoling as this assurance of twenty-four-hours help of the Holy Spirit in all the moments and situations of our lives. The fact that the Holy Spirit comes to our help does not, in any way, imply that he has taken our freedom nor diminish our responsibility. We cannot fold our hands and wait for God to do our household chores, work in our farms and gardens, fix our political systems, eradicate corruption from our society, convert people by force, make us holy, train our children and make our marriages work. Unfortunately, it does not work that way. The Holy Spirit assists us to accomplish the will of God through the talents, abilities, gifts and powers he bestows on us. Therefore, our belief and reliance on the Holy Spirit should neither diminish nor destroy but enhance our readiness and willingness to work hard to improve our lives and make the world a better place.

    Jesus describes the Spirit as the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit has the competence to illumine the disciples to fully understand the teachings of Jesus Christ. It is this Spirit that enabled the Church and individuals not to remain on the superficial level of things but also led them into the full revelation and understanding of the message of Christ. In the gospel passage, Jesus also points to the fact that the world does not know the Holy Spirit but that the disciples know him, because he is with you and in you.Here Jesus alludes to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the disciples. We first note that Jesus is able to dwell in the disciples because He is a Person. The Holy Spirit is not just an aspect or attribute of God. Likewise, he is not an instrument which God uses to do things in the world, but He is a divine person in the same way as the Father and the Son. While he works in union with the Father and the Son, the Holy Spirit has a special role to play for the salvation of the world. It is important that we appreciate the personhood of the Holy Spirit because it is only then that we will be able to enter into personal relationship with him (the indwelling).  Being a person means that the Holy Spirit is capable of mutual relationship, loving and being loved, giving and receiving and other acts of a living subject. We should, therefore, go beyond the images we have of the Holy Spirit as dove, fire or cloud and begin to see the divine person represented by the images. May we also endeavour to begin cultivating intimate loving relationships with him.  The indwelling of the Spirit in the disciples is not exclusive. Jesus also indicates the mutual indwelling between him and the Father. This serves as a paradigm for the disciples to enter into relationship with him. But for this to be a reality, the disciples will have to demonstrate their love for Jesus by keeping his commandment. The keeping of the commandment is a sure sign of the love the disciples have for Jesus. Jesus assures the disciples that he will return to them. He will be in their presence again. He will be living the same divine life with his disciples that will dispose them to an interior and intimate life with Jesus. This interior and reciprocal living is mysterious, beautiful and expressive of perfect union with love. In simple practical terms it means: if one is docile to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will lead him into an intimate union with Christ (the indwelling of the Christian with Christ). What happens next? Because, Christ is intimately united with God the Father, there are the chances that Christ (as a result of his intimate union with the disciple) will eventually lead the disciple into an intimate union with the Blessed Trinity.

    The Acts of the Apostles, which supplies the first reading of today, is a narrative describing how the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirt, spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the then known world. She could not have done it without the power of the Holy Spirit, the Power of God. This divine power was promised by Jesus, shortly before he ascended into heaven:“It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1, 7-8; See also Luke 24,29).  These passages underline the role of the Holy Spirit as the giver of divine power. Philip, one of the deacons, moved by this divine power preached successfully in Samaria. The apostles Peter and John had to come down from Jerusalem. They imposed hand on the Samaritan Christians and they received the Holy Spirit. 

    We need divine power to be faithful followers of Christ and to accomplish the purpose of our creation and call. The Holy Spirit provides the power we need and he is the power himself. We are called to preach the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth, to make disciples of all nations, and to get the whole world reconciled to God. That is why Peter, the Apostle, calls upon us in the second reading of today to be ready to provide reasons for the cheerfulness of Christians in the midst of sorrows, our hope in the face of misery and joys in difficulties. None of these will be easy for us without the help of the Holy Spirit. We need power to bear active and courageous witness of faith, love and hope to Christ in our time and place. 

    We are already invited by the liturgy of this Sunday, to reflect on the feast of Pentecost that is almost at the corner. We therefore, hope that the good Lord will not only bestow on us the gifts of the Holy Spirit, endow us with the power of the Spirit but also make it possible that we be led into and participate in several levels of intimate relationship (in-dwellings) with the Persons of the Blessed Trinity. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

(graphics by blogger)

5th Sunday of Easter; Year A, 2017

May the risen Christ always accept your joys, sorrows, endevours and efforts of your life as spiritual sacrifices which he unites with his sufferings and passion as acceptable sacrifices pleasing to God the Father. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 6, 1-7;  1 Peter 2, 4-9; John 14, 1-12; 5th Sunday of Easter; Year A,  2017)

            One of the questions on the first page of the Igbo Catechism of the fifties is: Why did God create you? The answer goes this way: God created me to know him, love him, and adore him so as to live with him forever in the heavenly bliss. The big question now is: how often have we meditated on the implication of the above statement and consequently given it the serious thought it deserves? Or do we only give lip service to such statements on which our whole destiny depends? Perhaps, due to our paucity of faith, we do not even believe what we recite; that is to say, we do not believe in life after death. Jesus’ mission on earth is to make the assertion possible for us and that is why in today’s Gospel reading he says: I am now going to prepare a place for you and after I had gone to prepare you a place I shall return to take you with me. Jesus could not have expressed in a simpler and clearer way the existence of another world after this and the reality of Paradise, that is to say, a place of happiness without end which consists, essentially of always being with Christ in the house of the Father. It is to be borne in mind that Christ prepares a place for us through his suffering, passion and resurrection. The place he prepares for us is in his martyred and risen body and precisely his heart which he left open for us to enter. We admire the generosity and love of Christ, who paid costly for preparing a place for us. Christ has not only prepared a place for us, he is also, the one who will lead us into it as he affirms: I am the way, the truth and the life. Rephrasing it one could say: I am the Way because I am the Truth and the Life.  Jesus, the Word-made-flesh is by his nature Truth and Life. He is Truth because his coming into the world proves that God is true to his promises and because he teaches truth about God. He is Life because from eternity he shares in divine life with the Father (John 1,4), and because he allows us, through grace, to partake of that divine life. We see Jesus doing a lot for us. He is our destination and at the same time the way to reach there. Actually, we have to follow him just as we follow a path; we have to imitate him. We imitate and follow his example if we live in love as He did. His love is rare and generous. This type of love is not easy to realize. Love attracts but generous love brings fear for it is costly. However, Jesus gives the grace to advance in this type of generous love with the energy and force that emanate from his passion and resurrection. So there is no other way to go to the house of the Father and happiness of Paradise except through Jesus. Jesus is not only the way, but a unique way. As the unique way he has special rapport with the Father. Jesus himself affirms: To have seen me is to have seen the Father…I am in the Father and the Father is me. Note that the Father and Jesus are united not only in being but also in action. Thus, God’s presence is manifest where Christ is and in the works of Christ; it is the Father who speaks and acts in whatever Jesus does. Therefore, if we want to know God, we need to contemplate Jesus, listen to and follow him as his disciple. In this way we strengthen our relationship with God and gradually he will reveal himself to us in his glory of love.

 

Jesus goes on to deposit a surprising and challenging statement: Whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works because I am going to the Father. Yes, it can be argued that the disciples performed more extensive work than Jesus who limited his area of operation in Palestine. But let it be borne in mind that in reality the works of the Church are, basically, those of the risen Christ himself. As baptized Christians, bound for heaven we are called to realize the work of Christ in the world but more especially in our lives. Every Christian has the vocation to do the work of Christ, in union with him through prayer and active charity. In deed we need to have bold ambition in our lives: we have to do divine work in union with Christ. In our lives in our families, at our place of work and our relationship with others, we have to do divine work transforming our environments gradually and according to the design of the Father. We hope to achieve this, thanks to our confident prayer and union with Jesus in generous love.

            St. Peter in the second reading tried to give theological explanation why every Christian, according to the gift he/she has and according to the needs of the community, has to offer some services. He writes: Set yourself close to him (Christ) so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God may be living stones making a spiritual house. Our union with Christ has its origin at our Baptism when we not only enter into definitive and profound union with Christ but also through which we became members of the spiritual builders of the Church. Christians are living stones that must be united to Christ by faith and in grace. This unity will ensure that the building is solid, and a suitable place to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. The closer their union with Christ is, the stronger will the building be. In this holy people, there is only one priest, Jesus Christ,  and one sacrifice, that which he offered on the cross and which is renewed in the Holy Mass. But all Christians, through the sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation share in Christ’s priesthood and are, thereby, enabled to take active part in divine worship. This is what is called the priesthood of all the faithful as distinctive from the ministerial priesthood.

    The life of every Christian should be an offer to God, a priestly offer because it is made to God through Jesus Christ. Peter calls it spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God. Our vocation as Christians is to offer to God all we do during the day so that our lives would be united to that of Christ. There is another way we can make our spiritual sacrifices more active within the liturgy. This is to offer up ourselves in every Mass, ourselves as well as all our sorrows and joys since our last Mass during the offertory along with our gifts and those of the church calling on God almighty to unite our offerings with that of his Son, Jesus Christ through the ministry of celebrating priest.

    The church even further challenges all of us, especially our Christian Faithful to sanctify the world through their lives when she advocates: All their works, prayers, and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of mind and body, if they are accomplished in the Spirit—indeed even the hardship of life if patently borne —all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist they may most fittingly be offered to the Father along with the body of the Lord. Therefore,  worshipping everywhere by their holy actions, the laity consecrate the world itself to God (Vatican II, Lumen gentium, 34). Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

graphics  by chukwubike 

4th Sunday of Easter; Year A, 2017

May Christ Jesus, the good and true Shepherd, the Lord and Messiah, the Mediator through whom you go to God the Father guide, guard, pasture and nurture you now and throughout your life. HappySunday! + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FA  (Acts 2, 14. 36-41; 1 Peter 14, 7-9; John 10, 1-10; 4th Sunday of Easter; Year A,  2017)

            This fourth Sunday of the year is traditionally called the Good Shepherd Sunday (or to be more precise the True Shepherd Sunday) referring to Jesus who has all the qualities of a true pastor or guide of the soul. In his auto presentation in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus says: I am the gate of the sheepfold. As the gate/door of the sheepfold, he is the unique and safe way of getting to the sheepfold, thereby ensuring their safety and pasture. Whoever would tries to enter into the sheepfold without passing through the gate is a thief, robber whose intention is to steal, kill and destroy. How are we to interpret and apply the metaphor of the gate of the sheepfold which Jesus applied to himself. The first and second readings of today seem to proffer some ways.

              In the first reading, we see that those who listened to Peter’s explanation of the events of the Pentecost were cut in the heart. They were open and ready to follow Peter’s directives; they asked what they were to do? In response, Peter exhorted them to repent and be baptized. Repentance (metanoia) is a total change of heart, an interior disposition, that would result in a new way of life. Baptism was a recognized external rite that marks the inner change. It is to be recalled that John the Baptist, during his ministry, called for repentance and some form of Baptism of Gentile proselytes who wished to embrace Jewish faith. What was then novel in Peter’s directives was the name in which they were to be baptized and the gift they were to receive. They were told to be baptized in the name of Jesus, who was both Lord and Christ, and they were promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. Thus, the first reading indicates that the essential way of passing into the sheepfold is to be baptized, to become Christian. It is expected that the life of the Christian would be, henceforth, coherent with his baptism, that is to say, that he has to always pass through Jesus who is the gate of the sheepfold. 
            In the second reading, Peter tells us that: Christ suffered for you and left an example for you to follow the way he took. Following Christ’s example is a way of regarding him as the gate of the sheepfold. Passing through Christ as gate means that the Christians have the example of Christ after which they can pattern their behavior. They have Christ in whose footprints (steps) they can walk. The word for example (hypogrammos) refers to a child’s writing exercise. The letters of the alphabet from alpha to omega (A to Z) are copied stoke by stroke from a pattern. By using this image, the author is suggesting that, like the child, Christians can trace their own manner of suffering from the pattern set by Christ. Translating the word ichnos as foot-spring instead of footsteps would mean that when Christians follow Christ, they will not only go where he went, but they will also step into the prints made by his feet. Walking in the footprints, they follow Christ exactly as if they were tracing their lives after his pattern. Peter presents Christ’s innocence and avoidance of vengeance as pattern the Christians can trace from Christ’s life. The innocent suffering of Christ is described in terms that recall a passage of one of the Suffering Servants’s Songs of prophet Isaiah (53, 4-7). This is the pattern after which Christians are to model their lives. When they are persecuted for good they have done, they must be willing to bear the suffering, perhaps even for the sake of the very ones who have victimized them. Therefore, to pass through Christ who is the sheep-gate/door means to imitate him, live as he lived and in particular carrying the cross with love, just as he did. Instead of liberating ourselves or using violence we should always show goodness and generosity.

            The church passes through the sheep-gate/door because she concludes her prayers to God saying: Through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Saviour. All the prayers of the Church pass through Christ to reach God the Father; they are offered to Christ that He may present it to God the Father. The Church proclaims that Jesus Christ is the mediator. He is the mediator of a new covenant as the Letter to the Hebrews (9,15) indicates. The metaphor of sheep-gate/door brings out well Christ’s mediatory role. It is necessary to pass through him in order to gain salvation. Jesus says: If one goes in through me, he will be saved and then he added: He will go freely in and out and be sure of finding pasture. Jesus introduces us in the exterior and interior world. That is why it is necessary to be with him when we intend to deepen our interior life and enter into a profound and authentic rapport with God. Jesus said: No one goes to the Father, except through me (John 14,6). If we wish to encounter God and to have a personal rapport with him we have to pass through Christ, unite ourselves with him so that he presents us to God. All our offerings are presented to the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the mediator of the relationship with God the Father.

            Jesus is the universal mediator. He is the only one capable of establishing good rapport among men. He is the mediator between God and the people. We should be united to his heart in order to accomplish his work here on earth. Each one of us will have to bring to a finish a part of the work of Christ in union with him. In this way our life will become truly Christian, a life pleasing to God and fruitful for the life of the world. Jesus affirms: I am the sheep-gate/door, if any one enters through me, he shall be saved. If we do not enter through the sheep-gate/door, we are thieves and we would be doing things that are not proper. And what is more, instead of achieving positive results we would be moving on the opposite direction of dishonesty and selfishness and our whole life will be corrupt. But if we enter through Jesus, through his heart and his love, then we shall be saved and will be living our lives in its fullness. Jesus himself said that he came so that all will have life and have it in abundance.  In the Eucharist we receive the very life of Christ who gave himself up for us and we receive it so that we may be able to live in the fullness of divine charity. This is our vocation as Christians, of which we should be proud of and for which we should be grateful to God, through Jesus Christ, the sole and unique mediator. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

graphics  by chukwubike