4th Sunday of the Year A, 2017

May the almighty God give you the special grace to live out the beatitudes every moment of your life. Happy Sunday!
+ John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Zephaniah 2,3; 3,12-13; 1 Cor 1, 26-31 ; Matt 5,1-12,: 4th Sunday of the Year A,  2017)

 In the gospel reading of today, Jesus proclaims in a very solemn manner the beatitudes. Proclaiming this from a mountain, Mathew presents Jesus as the new Moses who proclaims the new law, the statutes of the new people of God, the people of the new covenant, which is the Church. The beatitudes which he proclaims are not abstract precepts, nor theoretical enunciations but rather true characteristics of Jesus himself which are verifiable in his life as we see in the Gospel narratives. He is per excellence the poor in spirit, the afflicted, the meek, the one who thirst for justice, the merciful, the pure in heart, the operator of peace and the persecuted.   

            The disciple of Jesus, the true Christian, is the one who follows the master and incarnates the beatitudes in his life after the Christ’s example. The first beatitude which Jesus enunciates is: How happy are the poor in spirit; theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is a typical example of this beatitude. He was born, lived and died poor. Poverty in spirit does not only mean interior detachment from material things but also connotes the idea that it is chosen and willed and that it is not endured out of necessity or undertaken on account of circumstances. The one who is poor in spirit is one who refrains from the accumulation of the goods of the world, one who chooses to live not paying any iota of attention to money, power or career. He is also one who refuses to get involved in the worship of money or power. The poor of the beatitudes are like the poor about which both Zephaniah and Paul speak. These are people who, in engaging themselves in life, repose their hope especially on God. They are free from selfishness and ambition for power, from avidity for wealth. They are people who, no matter how badly the world treats them, remain attached to God, repose all their confidence in him and entrust themselves into his hands, assured that God will never disappoint them and for this reason they are very happy.

  What one finds a bit jolting in the proclamation of the beatitudes is that Jesus declares blessed or happy the category of people whom the world considers unhappy: the poor, afflicted, the persecuted, etc. It is not to be understood that Jesus exalts and beatifies any situation of suffering and sorrow as such; this would be some special type of masochism. The situation of suffering remains what it is. But the reaction of the Christian about it should be different from that of the world. The world anchors the foundation of her joy and happiness in the possession of the goods of this world, in wealth, success, pleasure or something of this kind. However, the gospel invites one to set the foundation of his joy on the love of God, a love that promises unfailing security in the midst of any crisis in which one may find himself. The joy of the beatitudes is based on the certainty of a happy future which will be the gift of God. It is also based on the joyful realization that right now, it is possible to have a foretaste of the joy, on account of the spiritual disposition which the beatitudes make possible. This spiritual disposition as well as the moral attitudes emanating from the beatitudes should not remain interior, individualistic and abstract; neither should it be left to be passive. It should not have a private but rather a public and concrete aspect. The spiritual disposition should lead to a very courageous undertaking for justice and peace, from individual faithful as well as the entire Christian community. What is expected from the Christian is not passive surrender but concrete and active task in favour of peace and justice.

 We mentioned above that true follower of Christ is the one who incarnates the beatitudes in himself/herself especially in his/her heart, where the reign of God has its root. It is, therefore, opportune that we ask ourselves if our moral profile corresponds to those traced by the beatitudes, that is to say, if we are truly people who do not run after the goods of the world considering it as the mirage of happiness. We examine ourselves to find out if we trust in God and confide in him. We need to ask if we are people that are humble and simple and sincere in heart, who are not ambitious and full of the arrogant air of one who has arrived. Are we people who do not believe in violence but desirous to work for justice and peace with the force of love, also capable to suffer and bear persecution for the cause of good. Are we merciful? It is necessary that we Christians assume and imitate this evangelical mentality and believe that through them to be happy, already in this world as far as it is possible to human condition, but hopefully to be permanently happy in the next life.

 Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

graphics  by chukwubike 

3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A, 2016

May you experience the powerful presence of God in your life that not only fills you with joy and gladness but also makes you an instrument in the hand of Jesus Christ in his messianic, salvific, and redemptive work. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye

                                     DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Isaiah 35,1-6a,8a-10; ,1-5; James 5,7-10; Matt 11,2-11; 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year A, 2016)

The third Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of joy and happiness. The liturgy invites us to rejoice. The entrance antiphon, citing a verse of Paul’s letter to the Philippians reads: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. Why? This is because the Lord is near. This invitation to be joyous is further advocated in the first reading, where Isaiah bases the call for the joy he proposes on the transforming presence of God. To the humiliated and anguished people of Israel, who were languishing in exile in Babylon, without any hope of returning to their homeland, Isaiah addressed the message of God’s intervention: Look your God is coming …he is coming to save. This oracle of salvation would manifest in two levels: natural and human. The salvation promised will be seen first in the regeneration of the natural world. Creation will be transformed and renewed. The promised renewal would be characterised by images of wastelands bursting forth with life. Thus the unproductive deserts, parched-lands and the steppes, all around Jordan’s rift valley would be blessed with the kind of fertility and productivity for which areas around Lebanon and the Plain of Sharon, in the northern part of the country were renowned. What was lifeless will now be abundantly fruitful, a sign of God’s blessing. On the restoration on the human plain, the oracle describes the transforming power of God in four healing situations: eyes, ears, legs and tongue. The healing was regarded as a testimony of God’s presence in the world and his victory over evil. God had re-established the original order of creation, and all life began again to flourish. What would be the reaction of the beneficiaries of God’s benevolent intervention those who return to their patria to whom Isaiah addressed the oracle of salvation? Regarding their release/ransom as unearned and unmerited, they would return home in joy and gladness. They will come to Zion shouting for joy, everlasting joy in their faces; joy and gladness will go with them and sorrow and lament be ended. The release from slavery was something absolutely unbelievable for the people who had suffered greatly and for a long period. It was a mirage! However, what seemed impossible was realised by God’s action

This prodigious intervention of God, the liberator of his people from their slavery and political servitude, is nothing less than a sign, a prefiguration of another intervention that is even more prodigious. This was the liberation from slavery of sin which God accomplished through his Son, Jesus Christ. Christ himself referred to the messianic signs of this intervention in his reply to the enquiry of John the Baptist about his messianic identity. Addressing the disciples of John the Baptist, Jesus said: Go back and tell John what you hear and see: the blind see again, and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised to life. At the end of his citation of Isaiah’s he added: and the Good News is proclaimed to the poor… Good News, the Gospel, is fundamentally an announcement of an event that gives rise to joy and happiness. The Son of God, made the Good News available even to the marginalised poor of the society, bereft of the slightest idea of what joy and happiness signified. By citing Isaiah, Jesus was simply implying that he was fulfilling the prophecy which Isaiah proclaimed many centuries before. He was not responding to John the Baptist in a theoretical, abstract manner but in a concrete way and with facts which represented the transformation of the situation realised through his ministry. Thus, Jesus presented the signs of his messiahship, the signs that signalled God’s intervention in our world which brought remedy to sorrowful and painful situations. He was actually affirming: In me is the God who came to save you. In me, is manifest to you the glory and the magnificence of God.

Nowadays we Christians sometimes find ourselves in seemingly similar spiritual situation that the people of God of the Old Testament were: We are sometimes anguished because our faith is being attacked and belittled; or we fell completely lost on account of the increasing and expansion of evil forces and we are then hopeless, as it seems to us, that we are incapable of doing anything. In such situations the exhortation of Isaiah comes to be helpful, for it was not addressed only to the people of Israel of old but also to us: Have courage! Do not fear! Look your God is coming …to save you. By these words, Isaiah encouraged the fainthearted exiles in Babylonian servitude to patiently wait for God’s message of salvation through which he would usher new life. In our case and situation, God has already come. He is already in our midst and with us and will never abandon us. It is in this certitude of his transforming presence that we have to rediscover our confidence and serenity, no matter how bad the situation seems to be. Conscious fully and appreciative of God’s transforming presence in our midst, the full import of Paul’s exhortation in the entrance antiphon should become the refrain of our daily life. Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say rejoice. What is more, we are obliged then to let the refrain of joy and happiness we feel and enjoy radiate in our society. How? By joining Christ in the messianic campaign of making the blind see again, the lame walk, lepers be cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead be raised to life and the Good News be proclaimed to the poor…Any act of love and kindness shown to any needy neighbour (such needy neighbours abound in our midst) will be transformed by the power of God as source or joy and happiness to the recipient of such kind gestures. Blessed are you (surely, you will continue to be joyous and glad) that through you our needy neighbours will feel and enjoy the assuring presence of God in their lives. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye  

(pictures by chukwubike)

29th Sunday of the Year C 2016

May the intimate relationship between God and the Christian, which is the purpose of prayer, be yours in its fullness this Sunday and all through your life! Happy Sunday! +John I.Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Exodus 17, 8-13; 2 Tim 3, 14-4, 2; Luke 18, 1-8: 29th Sunday of the Year C 2016)

The gospel reading focuses on the theme of prayer and highlights the aspect of perseverance in prayer. The other readings of this Sunday take up other aspects of prayer. To effectively bring home the teaching of the necessity of persistent prayer, Jesus gave a parable of an unjust judge and a widow.  The judge is described as fearing neither God nor human beings. The fear of God is the quintessential characteristic of the pious person. By his own admission, the judge is devoid of such devotion. This is a way of saying that he does not hold in regard the pivotal commandments of love of God and neighbor . He was unjust not because he was an active adversary against another but because he failed to ensure that justice was served in the lives of all. This is an extraordinary serous charge against a judge, whose very function is to secure justice for all, especially for the most vulnerable of society. Sins of omission can be as devastating as sins of commission. The woman, on the other hand, was a widow, a member of one of the most oppressed classes in Israel. It would seems that she is not only widowed but also alone in the world, for it would have been customary for a male member of her family to appear before the judge to plead her cause. Though vulnerable, this woman was bold. She was already the victim of injustice, but she appears here, before the judge, pressing him for a hearing. As indifferent as the judge seems to be towards her case, so is she persistent in her demands of him. He will not give in; she will not give up. How long this standoff lasted we are not told, but it was long enough to wear down the judge. He finally relents. At this point in his narrative instruction, Jesus introduces an a fortiori argument: If the judge who was unjust  will finally vindicate those who have been mistreated, how much more will God vindicate those who are the chosen ones.            We, Christians, the disciples of Jesus today, are admonished to persevere in prayer. Perseverance does not mean multiplying our words (verbosity) or our requests, but rather the constancy and the patience of the one who confides hopes and knows how to wait for God. Perseverance manifests also itself in the attitude of dependency and abandoning oneself in God. Perseverance also means having confidence in God, be it the time he listens to our prayer or the time it seems he does not. Perseverance can also mean the interior assurance and conviction that our prayer would be answered. The attitude of perseverance can be compared to the unshakable assurance of the child on the benevolence  and good disposition towards him/her on the part of his parents and also the conviction a friend has in the faithfulness of his/her  friend. The disciples of Jesus are admonished to be persistent in prayer, day and night regardless of how closed God might seem to their pleas. Jesus parable shows them that in God’s regard, it is not a question of disinterest but of timing. God will answer in His own time.

In the parable, the woman’s persistence, finally, opened the door of the judge. This story only captures one facet of prayer, namely: God’s opens to us. In reality, prayer develops a mutual openness: God is open to our desire for Him and we are open to God’s desire for us. In the gospel account it was the woman who was persistent; in reality it is God who prevails on us to open ourselves. The gospel only hints at this particular aspect of prayer. It states that the Son of Man will come seeking faith.

 There is an intimate connection between faith and prayer. Even one theological axiom holds: Lex credendi, lex orandi (The Law of belief is seen in the law of prayer). Prayer, in fact, should be an expression of faith, otherwise it cannot be a true prayer. If one does not believe in God, he cannot pray to God. If one does not believe in the goodness and benevolence of God he cannot pray in an adequate manner. Faith is an essential basis for the correct attitude in prayer. 

 We hinted above that there are others aspects of prayer that are highlighted by the other readings of today. One can see the communal aspect of prayer in the first reading. The Israelites would not have been able to prevail on the Amelekites without the prayerful action of Moses, but Moses would not have been able to persevere is his action of entreaty had not Aaron and Hur supported him. This teaches us that we should find ways of praying for and with our community. After all, God brought us salvation through Christ as a community, even though sometimes we benefit from it individually. Charity begins at home. May we begin this communal dimension of prayer by starting afresh, from this Sunday, the family communal prayer. To develop a communal sense of prayer may be one of the most challenging aspects of our discipleship for many of us today, but we have to develop it.

Paul admonishes Timothy in the second reading to keep preaching the gospel, to keep spreading the good news, to allow the Scriptures to continue to be source of wisdom for himself and through him for all the people who hear him. To have this kind of facility with Scriptures requires that one enter into deep meaning of the Scriptures and make them the basis of his /her  prayers. To be able to do this one will have to engage oneself with the lectio divine; this is prayerful, reflective reading of the Scriptures. This practice, or spiritual discipline gives us access to God and it also gives God access to us. It moves us out of our penchant towards isolated devotion into ministerial commitment. It gives us the courage and the gentleness to teach, refute, and correct. When our ministerial action flows from prayer, it also flows from and strengthens right relationship with God, with the society and with the Christian community. When this becomes a reality, the son of man will indeed find faith on earth. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

graphics  by  chukwubike 

24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B......DOCTRINE AND FAITH

                                (Isaiah 50, 5-9a; James 2, 14-18; Mark 8, 27-35; 24^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B)

The first reading from the prophet Isaiah deals on the suffering servant of God who endured much suffering in the hands of his persecutors. He willingly offered his back to those who flogged him and his beard to those who pulled at it. He did not hide his face from those who poured out insults on him.  He was indeed humiliated. His pains and humiliation notwithstanding, the servant still had great trust and confidence in God in whom he firmly hoped would assist and deliver him.

 The Person of the suffering servant is given various interpretations. The New Testament writers see in him the Person of Jesus Christ. As Jesus did his ministry and worked miracles among his people he was conscious of his identity as the Messiah but did not want this to be divulged among the people. One day, he wanted to find out from his disciples whom the people took him for. Some thought he was either John the Baptist or any of the Old Testament prophets. When Jesus wanted the opinion of his own disciples, Peter confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah. Christ then took the opportunity to inform the disciples on the type of messiah he was. He was not, as they all expected, the triumphant political messiah. Rather he was the type of messiah who would be humiliated, suffer and die on the cross. This idea of suffering did not go down well with the disciples, especially Peter. But Jesus reprimanded him and corrected the notion of the type of messiah he thought Jesus was. Thereafter, Jesus went on to teach about discipleship: If anyone wishes to follow me, let him renounce himself, take up his cross and follow me. By this statement, it was clear that Jesus’ messiah-ship was that of the cross and whoever was following Jesus for material gain was backing the wrong horse. The disciple after the heart of Jesus will have to adhere to three standards. First, he has to renounce himself. This means that he has to stop thinking of himself, making himself, selfishly, the centre of the world forgetting every other person completely. If one is to be a good disciple of Jesus, he has to do away with all forms of selfishness. The second duty the intending disciple of Jesus would undertake is to take up his cross. To take up the cross does not mean just accepting the difficulties of life with equanimity, rather, it means to give oneself, completely, to the service of the other person just as Christ himself shed his last blood on the cross in the spirit of total self-giving for the salvation of mankind. To carry the cross is, therefore, to share in this type of total love for others. The would-be disciples also should be ready to follow Christ. This does not just mean taking Christ as model. It rather means, following him by sharing in his choice and participating in his plan and programme. What this means in practical terms is living one’s life for love of others in Christ. Jesus further went on to teach: Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake and that of the kingdom will gain it. This principle reminds us that the vocation of man is to love God who, out of love, created man in order to communicate to him his love and render him capable of living in love.

In the second reading, James indicates that true faith has to manifest itself in good works. It means then that our faith is to be concretised in practical help we render to our needy neighbours. Our love for them should not end in wishing them well, but in practical gestures that alleviate their pains and suffering. This teaching of James, in a way, corresponds to Jesus’ in today’s gospel. Our faith in, and profession of Jesus as the Messiah should set us free from our selfishness and enable us to participate in Christ’s heroic, selfless and total self-giving in  love for the salvation of mankind. We celebrate this maximum sacrifice of love of Christ in the Eucharist. May the Eucharist, mystery of faith, we celebrate, therefore, make us grow in the knowledge and experience of Jesus, the suffering Messiah. May the Eucharist, mystery of incredible love of Jesus and the sacrament of his total gift of self, also make us grow in love towards God and our brothers and sisters. Happy Sunday!+John I. Okoye

16th Sunday of Ordinary Time; Year B 2015

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Jeremiah 23,1-6; Ephesians 2,13-18; 

Mark 6,30-34: 16^th Sunday of Ordinary Time; Year B 2015)

The gospel of today portrays two traits of Jesus that demonstrate his nearness to us human beings. The first is his compassion: So as he (Jesus) stepped ashore he saw a large crowd and he took pity on them... Compassion means to suffer with, to be able to feel in one’s heart the suffering of the other. Why was Jesus moved to pity? This was because the crowd was like a herd of sheep without a shepherd; that is, like animals without a guide. What did he do next? He set himself to teach them many things. This passage is not the only instance in his ministry where Jesus felt pity in the face of human suffering and sorrow and showed compassion to the sufferers. He had pity on the crowd that followed him for long and had to multiply bread so that they could assuage their hunger (Mark 7, 35). Out of compassion, he had for the widow of Naim, he brought her dead son who was then about to be buried to life (Luke 7,11). He was also moved to pity at the tomb of Lazarus, his friend (John 11,38). These examples stand to show that in all difficult situations of need and suffering, be it material or spiritual, the heart of Jesus is moved to pity and compassion. We should never think that he is indifferent or insensitive to our situations of suffering. Certainly, we would want him to free us from all situations of suffering and sorrow. This would be expecting too much and might not be very plausible. We know for sure that He is near us and suffers with us; he counts every drop of tears from our eyes and sustains us with his grace. We are not to forget that it is the same Jesus who, out of compassion for us, shed the last drop of His blood for us. The important corollary or consequence of Jesus pity and compassion for us is that we have to be compassionate to our neighbours who are in different type of distresses.

The other trait of Jesus noticeable in today’s gospel is his tenderness and loving solicitude towards his disciples. They just returned from their first apostolic mission to which he sent them out, in pairs. Jesus like a good papa or mama (who is benevolent towards his/her children) brought them together and patiently listened to all they had done and how they had conducted themselves in their first mission apostolate. At the end of their narration, Jesus invited them to have a quiet time of rest and peace: You must some time go away to a lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while. Jesus extends the same invitation to us today. We all need to withdraw ourselves to a lonely place to rest a while. This would mean taking some time off our daily work and seek some quiet moment and silence, otherwise we burn ourselves out and begin to act like beasts in our attitude or work like automated machines. It all means that we would lose contact with God and swerve from direction and orientation of our very lives. To maintain contact with God, we should recall the importance of Sunday rest and the sanctification of Sunday. By going to Holy Mass on Sunday and abstaining from work we sanctify the Sunday, we keep it holy. That is not all; we have further gains: we recover our physical strength, redirect our minds to spiritual things, remove our minds from mundane things and focus them on the things of heaven. Such Sunday rest will also give the parents opportunity to stay with their children and to evaluate their human, spiritual and intellectual growth and development.  Having quiet moment is not limited to Sundays alone. Indeed, we need to take time off, for some quiet moments, every day, in order to contemplate God, speak to Him, listen to Him and discuss even the problems we meet in our daily lives and duties. Jesus shows tenderness to his disciples by listening to them and offering them opportunity to rest and have some peace. Do we extend such tenderness and care to our neighbours, including those of them who are members of our families and who share our household with us?

The liturgy of today also gives us the opportunity to contemplate two aspects of the personality of Jesus. In the first place, Jesus is the true prophet and pastor (guide) of our souls. He is not the type of shepherds whom Jeremiah, in the first reading of today, condemned and denounced. This was because they scattered the sheep and did not take care of them. Jesus, as the good shepherd, rather nurtures our souls with his words and teaching, gives us his very self and life and offers himself as food and nutriment in the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

The second trait of the personality of Christ is brought out in the second reading of today where Paul writes: Christ is our peace! He is our peace, first and foremost, by the fact of reconciling us with God the Father through shedding his blood. By reconciling us with God, he made us sons and daughters of God. In the second place, he has reconciled us with one another, Jews and Gentile and has made us see ourselves as brothers and sisters. In addition, he has liberated us from the slavery of Satan and from the entanglement of sin.

Thus Christ is our master, he is our peace. There is problem of lack of true peace everywhere in the world, in our own country Nigeria, our towns and villages, our families and even our parishes and ecclesiastical families. As Christ is our peace, if we can put into practice his teachings of true and sacrificial love for one another, he will send his peace that is stable and durable (not provisional). This peace will be found within us, in our families, our society, the church and the whole world.  And we, who were once far away from God but now are near, by virtue of the blood of Christ, should endeavour never to cut ourselves away from Jesus but should rather follow the path of sacrificial love which he has indicated. May we, therefore, pray in this Eucharistic celebration for the graces to follow the portraits of Jesus that are manifest in today’s liturgy: compassion, tender care of our neighbours, medium of reconciliation and source of holistic peace.  Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye