DOCTRINE AND FAITH 17th Sunday of Year A

(1 Kings, 3, 5.7-12; Romans 8, 28-30; Matt 13, 44-52, 17th Sunday of Year A)

Two Sundays ago, we mentioned that the Kingdom of God can be understood as the offer of salvation, which God makes to mankind through his Son, Jesus Christ. It is an opportunity given to man (as a gift) to uncover and appreciate the benevolence of God and to enter into, and be a part of, God’s project of salvation. The Kingdom of God or Kingdom of heaven becomes a reality when the Good News is preached to, and accepted by, people. It exists in the measure this Good News is welcomed by people. 

The welcoming of the Gospel or the Good News is the means through which God wishes to save humanity and for that reason has sent his Son so that people may become his adopted sons and daughters, in and through Christ, is illustrated in the parables of today. The kingdom of God is compared to a treasure hidden in a farm land, which a farmer discovers and sells all he has, out of joy, to buy and possess the land. Similarly, the Kingdom of God is compared to a costly pearl, which a business man who trades in precious stones finds and sells all he has to buy and own the pearl.

The meaning of these two parables are clear. To know Christ and welcome his words are gratuitous wealth, gifts, which God offers us freely. We only discover that. They are gift that are priceless, and has incomparable and absolute value. They are wealth that are worthwhile sacrificing everything one has for in order to possess; they are so precious that the most costly thing ranks second to them; every other thing is considered relative. It is therefore necessary to decide, without any delay and without giving in to any obstacle, to take possession of these supreme good. 

Why is the acceptance of Christ and his message of salvation a supreme goodand an absolute value? This is because it is not something that is purely human like adhering to an idea in philosophy or following a political ideology which one can drop as he wants. It is a fact or an event that changes the whole life of a person; it does so radically, ontologically (in the persons inner being or interior life) and in the depth of his soul. Indeed, to accept Christ and his Gospel of salvation would mean (a) entering into vital communion with the Blessed Trinity by means of grace (b) entering into the providential design/plan of God the Father who according to Paul has predestined that we conform to the image of his Son (c) having God’s optics, that is to say, seeing things as He sees them, by means of faith.  In this way, ones life acquires a different depth, and meaning (d) entering in the cycle of love that unites all people, where one sees others as brothers and sisters and loves them as such. We have to pray so that we do not disregard the gift of salivation, which God the Father has offered us through his Son, Jesus Christ. We have to seriously examine ourselves to find out if we have, in any way, devalued the treasure and the pearl of the Kingdom of God or if we have left ourselves to be deceived by the fake/counterfeit peals and treasures of this world.

The third parable of today’s gospel indicates that the Kingdom of heaven is similar to a fishing net that is cast into the sea which catches all types of fish, good and bad. The separation of the good from the bad fish does not occur as the fishermen were still fishing in the high sea, but later, when the net is pulled to the shore. This parable is very similar to the parable of the wheat and darnel of last Sunday. Here the separation of the wheat and the darnel took place at the harvest time. The parable of the net cast into the sea also underlines the patience of God who welcomes those who follow His will and at the same time awaits the wicked ones, who has not accepted his plans, to eventually open their hearts to His divine gift. Besides, the parable underscores the fact, like the parable of the wheat and the darnel,  that at the end of time there is going to be judgement, separation of the good people from the bad ones and that there will be great reward for the good ones and punishment for the wicked ones. Therefore, the occasion in which God offers salvation should not be left to slip off our hands in vain, but rather should be promptly and vigorously utilised.

Let us with Solomon (in the first reading) ask for a listening heart to be disposed always to welcome the word of God, the wisdom to understand what is good and what is evil, what is useful and what is not, in life; the humility and simplicity because it is to the little ones  that the mysteries of the kingdom are revealed (Matt 11,25). Let us pray to be able to say with the Psalmist: The decrees from your mouth, O Lord, are more precious than many pieces of gold and silver; I love your commandments more than gold, than pure gold; I hold your precepts with respect and I hate all sorts of deceit. Amen! (May it be so!).

+John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH ....14th Sunday of Year A)

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Zechariah; 9,9-10; Romans 8,9.11-13; Matt 11, 25-30: 14th  Sunday of Year A)

 

          I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.

To begin with, it is necessary to establish to whom Jesus in today’s gospel refers to as the learned (wise) and the clever (intelligent), on the one hand, and the mere children (the little ones)on the other hand. Jesus glorifies and praises God, the Father, for hiding certain realities from the wise and revealing them to simple people. In fact, divine revelation is destined to all. Christ brought the message of salivation to all, but the so called wise and intelligent people shut themselves off from the divine revelation and thereby, making the word of God impossible to penetrate them. The wise and intelligent, in the milieu in which Jesus spoke were the teachers of religion of his time: the Pharisees, scribes and doctors of the Law. Their incorrect interpretation of the Law, presumption, sense of security and false sense of independence rendered them indisposed to welcome the new revelation which was being actualised in Jesus. On the other hand, the simple and humble ones were the poor subsistent farmers, fishermen, illiterates, marginalised and despised people who, nevertheless, put all their hope in God and the expected Messiah; these were the people who willingly accepted the new revelation of God in Jesus. The disciples of Jesus belonged to this category of humble and oppressed, but yet hopeful people. 

          If we want to actualize today’s gospel reading, we need to pose some questions to ourselves: who are the wise and intelligent people of our time and who are the little and humbleones, according to today’s the gospel. We can hold that the so-called wise and intelligent are those people who seem to be sure of themselves, self-sufficient, well established in position of power or prestige; they include all those who presume to be able to judge all things and everybody according to their human thought and standard and those who root their happiness on self affirmation and use every-other person as instrument of their success. Thel ittle and the simple mentioned in the gospel are not necessarily the poor in material possessions, illiterates, or those who grew up from poor  background, even though, it can be shown that among them one can easily find some. The little and simple of the gospel are those who sense the needs in all aspects of their life, not to hope on any earthly help to assuage the needs but who put all their confidence in God who comes to their aid. We note that in this measure one belongs to one category or the other, in the same measure is one open or closed to the revelation which Jesus Christ came into the world to make. 

          One may want to know the things that are hidden from thewise and the intelligent and revealed to the humble? It is the knowledge of the Father, through the revelation of the Son. Jesus himself said: No one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. This knowledge in the biblical meaning is not only the abstract intellectual knowledge but includes love, experience of life in general as well as  interpersonal relationship. This type of knowledge between God the Father and the Son, is what Jesus makes available in some measures to the innocent and simple according to the gospel. This knowledge enables them, through grace (participation in the divine life) to becomesons and daughters of God. Thus, through  Jesus, a new image of God is being imparted to the Christian: God the Father, is seen as one who loves his people, sacrifices for them his only begotten Son for them and communicates his very life to them. And it is from this new image of God that a new image of the human person is being proposed: He or she is a son or daughter of God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, possessing a supernatural dignity and destined to a life and happiness without end. 

          In today’s gospel reading, Jesus further said: Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and I will give you rest.Those who labour and overburdened to which Jesus alludes, are the poor people of  his time upon whom the burden of the law was imposed,   and who were gravely frustrated by the infinite  and minute interpretations of law that emphasised  external observations and practices. Jesus calls unto himself those who were oppressed by the legalism of Judaism to give them some rest and peace of the spirit. The yoke of Jesus is light, he affirms. This does not mean that the morality of Jesus is less exigent, but rather that Jesus himself makes his demands of love very light and pleasant by his closeness and solidarity. He is poor and humble in heart. He submits himself to the will of God, the Father and through his life of obedience even unto death taught us how to bear the burden of doing God’s will in our circumstances of life. He is always near us in our difficulties inspiring us through the Holy Spirit with that close relationship with God the Father. He is close to us with his strength, constant help and comfort. Besides, he teaches that our rapport with God does not consist in the multiplication of external observances but essentially in loving God and our neighbour, in joy and trust in God. Let us in today’s Eucharistic celebration ask Jesus for the graces to be one of his simple and humble ones and the courage to take upon our shoulders his yoke of love towards the Blessed Trinity and to our neighbours.

 +John I. Okoye

Solemnity of SS Peter and Paul ......Year A

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts, 12,1-11; 2 Tim 4,6-8.17-18; Matt 18,13-19: Solemnity of SS Peter and Paul Year A)

      

     The church this Sunday celebrates the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, two great apostles and martyrs of the Church. The solemnity is so important that it supersedes  the usual Sunday celebration (the weekly Easter), which in effect is the celebration of the paschal mystery, the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. However, on closer look, the Solemnity of SS Peter and Paul shows how the effect of the paschal mystery was effective in the lives of these two saints, how they were able to carry on the of mission of Christ, in spite of their weaknesses and limitations as human beings. St. Peter had so many faults. Even though, he confessed Jesus as the Messiah, immediately after his confession, he did not want Jesus to  fulfill the demands of the Messiahship. He later denied Jesus three times.  Paul he had his own troubles. He kept on reminding every one of his weakness: he knew what he ought to do but he kept on doing the opposite; he had a thorn in his flesh, which God absolutely refused to take away. Inspite of all these weaknesses and failures in their lives, God used them in spreading the message that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the Son of God, whom God sent into the world to redeem mankind.  

            In Today’s gospel, we see the endowment which God made to Peter. He inspired him to recognize Jesus as the Messiah. After several answers to the question Jesus asked his disciples, whom people thought he was and also who they (the disciples) thought he was, Simon Peter answered: You are Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter’s answer goes beyond what the people thought he was. Jesus was not only a prophet, he was and also the greatest of them all. Nevertheless, he was  the Messiah, the king sent into the world to bring salvation to Israel and become light and of the nations. The oracle of Nathan indicated that the Messiah would be a descendant of David, and also noted that the Messiah would be a Son to God. Jesus showed himself as the Son of God in various ways: in his prayers, teachings, and kindness. In the gospel reading, seeing that Peter’s response was not from human calculation but God’s inspiration, Jesus said Peter: Simon, son of Jonah, you are a happy man! Because it was not flesh and blood that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven. Jesus is affirming that Peter’s response of faith is a revelation of God the Father. For no matter how exalted human reason is, it cannot produce an iota of faith. Faith is a gift of God and very profound. In Peter’s, he was able to perceive the divinity and messiahship of Christ hidden in the human form, similar to any other. It was on account of his faith that Christ choose him to be the rock on which he would build his church: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church. Jesus further bestowed on Peter an extraordinary mission, authority, privilege and exaltation when he told Peter: I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven: whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. 

            This mission of Peter was to be accomplished under difficulties and through sufferings. The first reading already indicates what awaited Peter. He was arrested by king Herod, condemned to death, and awaited trial under close watch and tight security. If the wish of the Jewish people that Peter should be executed was eventually carried out, the mission to spread the salvation wrought by Christ would have come to nothing. But the Church was at prayer; she held vigil for Peter. God was not asleep either. He sent his angel to Peter’s aid, who miraculously released him from the prison to continue the mission entrusted to him by Christ. But we know that was not all. Peter had to face death through martyrdom in Rome. 

            The second reading gives us insight on Paul’s life, towards the end of Paul’s life.  But we know how it all began as he journeyed to Damascus to arrest Christians there and to drag them to Jerusalem. The Lord met him on the way and indicated that Paul would be an instrument of propagating his mission of salvation to the utmost ends of the world. Paul in this passage of the second reading is thankful to God for standing by him and for giving him power to proclaim the message of the gospel for all the pagans to hear. Paul did proclaim the message of the gospel by words of mouth as we can be attested in his missionary journeys as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. He also spread the gospel message through writings as can be seen in his numerous letters in the New Testament. This was also how he helped the message of Christ to spread to all parts of the world. In making the gospel spread, he was not spared suffering of all kinds. He  equally died a martyr in Rome. 

            These two apostles and martyrs were singled and sent out to spread the gospel message. They were privileged. And so are we. Through our baptism we are also apostles who are to further spread the message of salvation. Let us therefore, start doing so in our immediate environments: in our families, zones, stations, parishes, offices, and anywhere we may find ourselves. Let us do so through our actions, faith and love rather than by words or mere profession that we are Christians, the followers of Jesus who is the Messiah and the Son of God.  

 +John I. Okoye

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