The church as the people of God on her way to her blessed homeland. In
the Gospel, Jesus alludes several times to eternal life to which we are
destined. The reason for his coming into the world was to teach us
(reveal to us) about our destiny, which is to attain eternal life and offer us the means of reaching there. He says: I am going to prepare for you a place. Paradise or eternal life means to be with Christ, in perfect communion with him and God, the Father for ever, without any fear or danger of ever being separated from them. Paul expresses this idea as he writes: we shall all be with him forever; comfort one another with these words. (1 Thess 4,17-18). Jesus did not only reveal to us our destination, but also the way to it. He himself is the Way to
enter Paradise; he is the way to encounter God, the Father. There is no
other way; it is just enough to follow him as He is the Truth. It is sufficient to believe in Him for He is the Life. We need to be united to him, just as a branch of a tree is united to its trunk. Jesus reveals to us all these because he is One with
the Father.
The Father speaks through him, and through him God, the Father
accomplishes works (miracles), which no other person is capable of
achieving. Jesus himself said: If for no other reason, at least believe on account of the work, which I do. We
Christians are the people of God in a journey towards the blessed life
in Paradise and our way is the one which Jesus designates.
The Church is a community of service, which is called to serve. Every
baptized person is called to accomplish some work, some services. In
the Acts of the Apostles (1st reading) the young Church has already
division of service. The apostles dedicated themselves to the service of
prayer and preaching the word of God. The early
church had to choose other people who occupied themselves with the
material assistance to the widows and the needy. Later on, the apostles
instituted the services of presbyters and the deacons as their helpers.
Thus, three holy orders of services or ministries were delineated: the
bishopric, the presbyterate (the priests) and deaconate. However, it was
never meant that the services were to be restricted to the bishops, the
priests and the deacons. The laity, are also assigned areas of service
for the growth of the Christian community and the spread
of the Kingdom of God. The Vatican Council II makes the laity very
conscious of their mission and the possibilities of serving Christ and
his Kingdom by assigning to them various forms of services: like serving
as permanent deacons, as catechists who help prepare people for the
reception of the sacraments, and as lectors who proclaim the word of
God. This services
are ad intra, that is, within the Christian community itself and
for its growth. But there is another very important service which a
truly believing lay person should take as his/her prime duty to
accomplish: to colour with a Christian spirit whatever they are
doing and to sow and insert seeds of evangelization in the environment
of their human activities, some of which are: governance, politics,
judiciary, civil service, economy and business, different levels of
education, different forms of professions, family, buying and selling,
health care delivery in hospitals, sports, science and technology and
private sectors. To bring Christ into these ambients is the special
duty of all the baptized lay people. It is high time that our lay
Christians in Nigeria became fully conscious of their vocation and
mission and to work actively and
courageously as Christians in the world and in our country.
The Church is a priestly people. The
text of the 2nd reading gives the fundamental reason why all Christians
in the whole world, according to their particular situation and their
particular gifts are called to render services: ... set yourselves
close to him (Jesus 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. All Christians, in virtue of their baptism, make up a holy race, kingdom of priests, that
is to say, that they participate in the priesthood of Jesus Christ;
they have, therefore, the right and duty to the apostolate, and to
participate actively in the liturgical celebration especially the
Eucharist. The Vatican Council II, distinguishes ministerial priesthood
(those who receive the Holy Orders) from the universal (common)
priesthood of all the baptized. The Council also indicates how every
Christian should exercise the priesthood which is the participation of
the priesthood of Christ. Vatican Council holds: All the work of the
laity, prayer, initiative of apostolates, their conjugal life, daily
activities, spiritual and material comfort and even the difficulties of
life, if borne with patience, become spiritual sacrifices pleasing
to God through Jesus Christ; and all these, during the Holy Mass, are
offered to God the Father together with the oblation of the body of the
Lord (Lumen Gentium 34). We can then see how every Christian will have
to live out his
priesthood derived from baptism. He/she has to offer to God all his/her
life; joys, sorrows, stresses, hopes, ups and downs, etc. When all
these are done in faith and love, they become spiritual sacrifices that
are pleasing to God and which are united to the sacrifice of Jesus (and
of the Church) in the Holy Mass. May we in today’s Eucharistic
celebration ask for the graces to be good Christians, who by fulfilling
our daily duties in our homes and our places of work, will be exercising
our common priesthood of the baptized and at the same time will be
propagating the Kingdom of God on earth, a kingdom whose members we are
already on earth and, which will be our eternal patria, if we continue to remain united with Christ who is the Way, the Truth and Life!
+John I. Okoye
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