1st Sun of Advent: Year B....Isaiah 63,16b-17.19b; 64,2-7; 1Cor 1,3-9; Mark 13,33-37

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Isaiah 63,16b-17.19b; 64,2-7; 1Cor 1,3-9; Mark 13,33-37: 1st Sun of Advent: Year B)

The Season of Advent commences this Sunday and the liturgy of this period shows immediate and future perspectives. The immediate one is to dispose us to celebrate worthily and solemnly the feast of Christmas that commemorates the historical coming of Christ, the incarnate Son of God into the world. The future perspective looks forward to the time when Christ will come again in his glory at the end of time. The Church may be considered as a community of believers marching towards God, a community in expectation. The Christian can be described as one who is living in time between. He can be described as one who is anxiously waiting for the return of the Lord. We exclaim after Consecration: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.  Indeed, Jesus wishes to return to us at any given moment, today, now. He wishes to come to me in order to remove from me what remains as attachment to sin and things that do not conform to the desires of his heart. He wishes to come to the Church to make her his spouse, ever beautiful and without stain or wrinkles. He wishes to make his presence felt in the fabric of society through the purifying effect of his Gospel.  

It is, perhaps, because Jesus is the Lord who comes and who is to come that the gospel reading of today insistently calls up the theme of vigilance, thereby implying that we should be vigilant. Vigilance is to be seen as an interior attitude of attention, waiting and desire for the coming of the Lord and meeting with him, because no one knows the precise time the Lord will come, when the master of the house will return, vigilance means also constant solicitude to welcome the Lord. Even though, the future perspective of the coming of Christ looks into the future when Christ will be manifested in his glory, and we with him, vigilance does not mean that the Christian should show disinterest in the affairs of the world and present realities; it is not evasion of our daily duties. On the contrary, it means showing a high sense of responsibility in the duties assigned to each of us as Christians in our various states and vocations of life, just as the master of the house assigned specific duties to the servants according to their capabilities. It also means developing, enhancing and bringing to fruition the talents God has allotted to us and for which we must render account. Vigilance in the evangelical sense, implies struggle against the insinuations and ramified temptations of Satan. Vigilance in relation to Christ’s coming into our souls and our lives indicates attention and promptness in welcoming him as we encounter him in His Words (the Scriptures), the Sacraments, the teaching voice of the Church, his ministers and the good inspirations that come to us. Evangelical vigilance also include welcoming Jesus in the poor that needs help, the sick, the marginalized and the downtrodden. It also means seeing Jesus in my wife, husband, children, parents in the family. As a member of the society I am supposed to serve as civil servant or as politician. Vigilance means teaching Jesus well as the pupil or student in the school; not cheating Jesus who comes to buy from me or sell to me in the market. In short, vigilance include seeing Jesus in every human being we encounter and heartily loving him by making sacrifices on his/her behalf as if we were doing it directly to Christ himself (Recall the reading of last Sunday: the scene of the last judgment, Matt 25,31-46).

    This invitation to vigilance is not to be postponed. It is rather urgent, for the time is short and the Christian do not know at what time Christ will come. The Christian does not know when the opportune time, kairos, would break in upon him/her. The time of Advent helps us to prepare for this most important time. Advent period in itself also kairotic, being a period fraught with special and abundance graces. It is therefore, a period of prayer, charity, reconciliation with one another, purification of our souls through the Sacrament of Confession and by frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist. All these will make us march together with the Church in confidence towards the great feast of the birth of Christ at Christmas and also towards his definitive second coming. May we pray to the good Lord that He may  grant us the graces of spiritual vigilance, pour his abundant blessings on all of us in this Liturgical Year and grant us a grace-full Advent. 

Happy Advent Season! Happy Sunday! 

+John I. Okoye.

Solemnity of Christ the King (Ezek 34,11-12.15-17; 1 Cor 15,20-26.28; Matt 25,31-46: )

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Ezek 34,11-12.15-17; 1 Cor 15,20-26.28; Matt 25,31-46: )

Today the Church rejoices at the Solemnity of Christ the King, this Sunday, marks the beginning of the week that ends this Liturgical Year. The mystery of Christ is the major and central theme of our contemplation in the Liturgical Year. The mysteries which we contemplate include: His coming to the world and hidden life in Nazareth; His public life and works of salvation; His passion and death on the cross; and finally the victory of his resurrection and ascension into heaven from where he sent the Holy Spirit which he had promised. 

Today, the liturgy presents Jesus as a king of the universe and the readings help us understand the type of king he actually is. Jesus is a shepherd  king as prophet Ezekiel pre-announced in the first reading. Jesus affirms this when he said: I am the good shepherd. Jesus is a guide-king of his people, a king that shows the way of salvation, walks in front of his people showing them good example. Jesus is also a king that leads his sheep to pasture, who feeds his sheep, provides rest for them and does not take advantage of his flock. Jesus is also a king who goes in search of the lost sheep of his fold with love and affection in order to lead it back to the fold and does not abandon it to its destiny. He is the shepherd who treats the wound of the wounded sheep and takes care of the sick ones among his flock. He does not abandon any of them but rather spends fortune in order to cure them. The royalty of Christ presented in this perspective indicates a royalty that is based on tender and deep love, a love that enable the shepherd to be prepared even to lay down his life for the sheep as Jesus himself enunciated: The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep (John 10,11).

Paul sees in Christ’s resurrection a sort of sovereign regality as he became king for defeating death, subjecting death under him and destroying the grip of Satan on the world and men. The risen Christ associates us in his regal victory over death and brings us into his kingdom of light through his victory over sin and the life of grace which he communicates to us in view and expectation for the full participation in his triumph over death that will be ours at the final resurrection. 

In the scene presented to us in the Gospel reading, Jesus appears in his regal prerogative as supreme judge of humanity as God the Father has entrusted him with all powers including that of judgement. This scene could cause one to faint on account of hearing words of condemnation coming from Christ: Go away you who are cursed, into the eternal fire.However, we are to bear in mind that Christ as judge is, at the same time, loving and merciful endless. However, no one should abuse the mercy of God. He will judge us with the criterion of love. We will not be asked if we have done wonderful and miraculous things but if we have loved in a concrete way, the most needy of our neighbours. He will certainly ask if we have recognised him in those his most humble and lowly ones and if we have come to their help as if we were rendering help to him. But who are these humble and lowly ones of Jesus? They are the poor, the needy in all circumstances of life, the sick; the prisoners, the homeless, the jobless and the hungry, etc. Whatever concrete acts of kindness, comfort, help shown to them are directly done for Jesus. We have also to bear in mind that what we fail to do to them is what we fail to do for Jesus himself. This should help us reflect on our many attitudes of indifference and indisposition of being of help towards our needy neighbours. 

Celebrating today Christ as King, means to us: 

(a) that Jesus is our King, that we recognise and admit his sovereignty over us and that we would want him to reign in our hearts 

(b) That we put all efforts to follow Christ the King especially, in serving our brothers in love, for this is the best way to participate in his sovereign regality. 

(c) That we desire to be able to co-operate and work that the reign of Christ stands firmly and spreads more and more in the world. May we therefore pray the almighty God in today’s Eucharist celebration for the graces to be true followers of Christ, the King, and also ask for the graces to show real gratitude to God for his very many blessings of this Liturgical Year, which will end in the afternoon of Saturday 29, November 2014 and the new Liturgical Year begins with the First Vespers of the first Week of Advent in the evening of the same Saturday. Happy Solemnity of Christ, the King! Happy Sunday

DOCTRINE AND FAITH.....33rd Sunday of Year A

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Proverbs 31,10-13.19-20.30-31; 1Thess 5,1-6; Matt 25,14-30: 33rd Sunday of Year A)

1.    Today’s gospel reading of the parable of the talents underlines the necessity of making the gifts which God has given us fruitful. These gifts could be natural like intelligence, strength of will, capacity to show affection and love or supernatural ones like faith, hope, love and grace. The gifts of God are like capital, which one invests, and as such, it is expected to yield interest. Any capital that does not bring in profit is wasted. At the end of our lives, it is expected that we are to give account of both the capital and the interest of the gifts God bestowed on us. 

2.    That is why we should neither waste nor carefully guard our talents and return them to the master without fruits. We need to make them yield interest for our own benefits and for that of others, especially for the urgent needs of the body and soul. The gospel warns that if we selfishly hold on to the gifts given to us and not use them for works of faith, hope and charity especially for the benefit of the others, we run the risk of even losing the meagre benefits we expect to accrue to us from the gifts. The gospel also condemns the attitude of auto-sufficiency, and thinking that one’s merits come from oneself, forgetting that all one has, comes from God.

The gospel reading, in a way, makes it clear that we are at the service of a master that is exigent. The entire gospel message continuously keeps us uncomfortable with this idea. The seemly stern and jealous God of the Old Testament is, in the New Testament, presented by Christ with a name and image of a Father. Yes it is true, but not as a Father like Father Christmas who dishes out gifts here and there without  asking for accountability. Though He is generous and magnanimous, he also expects and demands correspondent work and accountability on our part. We need to be reminded that there is a time to render accounts of our actions and dealings. The gospel does not let this reality slip off our hands. It always reminds us of this fact. We should not be wallowing in the illusion that at the end of our lives there will be a general amnesty. As Paul holds: For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, so that each one will receive recompense according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil. (2nd Cor 5,10). 

The subject matters of our judgement (our final examination) will be: 

• (a) how we have put into work the talents/gifts God has given us 
• (b) what we have done with our lives, faith and the word of God which has been made available to us, 
• (c) and what use we have made of the many occasions of good work God puts in our disposal. 
  

We should, indeed, avoid what one of the servants in the parable did. Instead of putting the piece of talent given to him to work, the third servant in the parable hid the talent and consequently the talent bore no profit. He probably represented the people of Israel and  especially their religious leaders, who instead of utilising the wonderful opportunities and privileges offered to them in relation to Christ’s coming, rather wasted them and lost the golden opportunity of turning them into advantage for themselves. This third servant can also stand for any Christian who does not know how to make the gift of God he/she receives fruitful. At the end of life, such a Christian may be excluded or rather will exclude himself/herself from the Kingdom of God. At any rate, we are not to forget that to whom much is given, much “fruit” will be expected. And we Catholics have received from God much more than other Christians or people. What it means is that much will be expected from us.  

The word of God in today’s liturgy challenges us to examine ourselves in several ways. Supposing God calls me today to give account of the talents he bestowed on me, will I be ready to furnish positive answers to the following questions? How do I utilise the gifts given to me? Do I even recognise all of them? Do I not waste them? Do I not leave a good part of them undeveloped and unfruitful? Do I utilise all the opportunity given to me to do good? Very important, do I faithfully fulfill the duties of my state in life, for example my duties as a husband, wife, father, mother, teacher, civil servant, politician, etc. or do I neglect them?

Finally we are not to forget the theme of vigilance in today’s reading, a regular theme in the gospels. The Lord, Jesus is certainly coming for the day of reckoning, but we do not know the time. What is more, it can come very suddenly. Paul reminds us of this in the 2nd reading of today: You will not be expecting us to write anything to you, brothers, about times and seasons since you know well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief in the night. This day of the Lord may not come to us unprepared if we walk in the light of the Lord and if we always behave ourselves like the sons and daughters of light, which we really are through the supernatural virtues of faith and love which have been bestowed on us at our Baptism. The day of the Lord will not catch us unprepared if we are spiritually awake and live sober and honest lives. May we in this Eucharistic celebration pray to the good Lord for the graces we need to put the talents He bestows on us into good use so that they may bring abundant spiritual benefits for us and other people. Amen! Happy Sunday! 

+John I. Okoye

(IMAGES BY BLOGGER)

(1 Kings 8,22-23.27-30; 1 Peter 2,4-9; John 4,19-24: Dedication of the Lateran Basilica: Year A)

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

The theme of the temple of God is frequent and central in the Bible. This theme deals with the presence of God among his people and his union with them. The presence of God is also the theme of today’s gospel reading from the gospel of St. John. The ancient people thought that the heights were the places where God manifested his presence. The Samaritans held that God manifested himself in a especial way at Mount Garizim, while for the Jews, the place of God’s manifestation per excellence was Mount Zion: The Holy mountain, fairest of heights, the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, the heights of Zaphon, the city of the great King (See also Isaiah 2,2). Jesus explains to the Samaritan woman that God neither adored in a material place, nor is the place of meeting between God and man a physical space. God cannot be enclosed in a material space. God is rather met in a spiritual plain; he is met in spirit and truth. To meet God, therefore, one needs to put oneself in a spiritual plane or mood. The gospel according to John makes us understand that what is referred to as in spirit and truth, is nothing other than Jesus Christ, himself. Jesus even affirmed: I am the truth... It is also Jesus who gives the Spirit and He gives it during His sacrifice. In John 7,39, we have: There is not yet the Holy Spirit because Jesus has not yet been glorified. Therefore, it is in the person of the crucified and glorified Christ that we meet God. We are no more talking simply about the mere presence of God among us but rather our meeting God in an active way, which is different from how the ancients perceived God’s meeting with people. In fact in the old times, one needed to approach the temple of God where God manifested his divine presence. But in our time we meet God in Christ. Now, the sacrifice of Christ brings about the meeting of God and man. Now, it is not just a meeting where God manifests his presence to man, but a meeting where the person is transformed as a result of the encounter. 

We are called to walk towards Jesus but this is not just walking materially or physically but spiritually, that is to say, trying to be of the same mind and spirit with Jesus. Jesus is the chosen and precious stone which the builders rejected, discarded, and as it were, destroyed, but whom God chose. (Here we have the evocation of the sacrifice and the glorification of Christ). God chose Jesus because he undertook to suffer out of filial love for God the Father through his obedience to the Father, and compassionate love for us sinners whom he redeemed with his blood. To meet God, we have to unite ourselves with Christ in his sacrifice, thereby become living stones for the construction of the spiritual temple, where the spiritual offerings are presented and offered. 

In fact, it is the sacrifice that makes a temple or church what it is and not the other way round. In the Old Testament, it was thought that it was the temple that constituted an action a sacrifice. This was shown in the fact that slaughtering an animal outside the temple was not regarded as sacrifice. But if the slaughtering was done in the precincts of the temple and accompanied by certain rites, it was automatically regarded as sacrifice. But for us, what constitutes the temple or church is the sacrifice of the Mass. The Lateran Basilica is a temple/church, where God and man encounter each other, because Holy Mass is celebrated there. A building will not be regarded as a church if Mass is not celebrated there. Thus, the four walls of a building are not indispensable for any place to be the house of God where spiritual sacrifices can be offered. What is important or indispensable for there to be a church/temple is the sacrifice of Mass, where God and man meet. It is participating in this sacrifice of Christ that renders us temples of God and at the same time, makes our offerings pleasing to God. By participating in the Holy Mass we fulfil the advise of Paul to the Romans: I urge you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, your spiritual worship (Romans 12,1). 

The sacrifice of Christ is the most important and central event in the New Testament and it is on it that every other thing revolves. This Christ event is re-enacted in the Holy Mass everyday. In the sacrifice of the Mass there is union between God and man; it is during Mass that the presence of God becomes effective in and among us. It is never static but a dynamic presence. In the Holy Mass there is movement of man towards God and God towards man which results in a union that affects all aspects of our life, transforming our life into spiritual sacrifice and making us day after day and more and more the house or temple of God.  May we therefore, pray that through participating in this Eucharistic celebration and commemoration of the dedication of the Lateran Basilica, we may unite ourselves in an intimate way with Christ so as to become living stones powered by the Spirit of Christ himself and be enabled thereby to actively contribute in the construction of the spiritual temple for a dynamic and transformative encounter between God and man. 

I wish you Happy Feast of the Dedication of Lateran Basilica and Happy Sunday!

 +John I. Okoye

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(graphics from blogger)

DOCTRINE AND FAITH: Commemoration of All Souls: Year A....(Job 19,1.23-27; Romans 5,5-11; John 6,37-40: )

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

On this day, the commemoration of the faithful departed the liturgy offers us several readings. The first reading is from the book of Job in which is already inserted a strong hope of the resurrection. The second reading shows how Christ has, through his death and resurrection, attained this resurrection, total victory over death.  The gospel reading is a passage of Jesus’ discussion on the bread of life, a passage in which he announces that his mission is that of offering resurrection to all those people whom the Father sends to him as his disciples. 

There was not a clear faith in the resurrection, during the Old Testament, even though there was the strong desire to escape from death. This desire to escape death motivated a lot of the authors of various psalms in asking to be kept alive and be delivered from the sickness that was threatening their lives. It was such motivation that made Job to express the hope that he had a redeemer who would keep him in life and whom his mortal flesh and mortal eyes hoped to see. This expression of hope to see God and to live beyond this life was an inspiration. In the OT, the victory over death was regarded as the work of God himself. God was the God of life and was not the author of death (Wisdom 1,13); He does not want the death of the sinner, but that a sinner repents and lives (Ezek 18,23). God wishes, from the onset, to communicate the fullness of life to people. This is our consolation. As we think of our dead ones, especially today, we have the blessed assurance that God will continue to give life to their souls and that on the last day he will also grant eternal life to their mortal bodies. 

In the gospel reading, Jesus clearly affirms that the Father gave him the power to communicate life. He maintains that he did not come to the world to do his will but to do the will of the one who sent him. And the primary will of the one who sent him was that he would not lose any of the people that had been entrusted to him, and that he would raise them up on the last day. The implication of this is that Jesus will bestow the fullness of the life of resurrection to all the people who have been given to him by God the Father. Therefore, God’s will is that of communicating life as Jesus affirms in these words: The will of my Father is that whoever sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. This is our hope for our dear brothers and sisters who have passed on to the Lord and it is also what we hope for ourselves. We have the hope of meeting with them alive, not only in life that is similar to what we have now but one that is more beautiful and full. We should be filled with the hope of having this life, even though the death of any of our beloved ones causes sorrow. We have to have it clear in our mind that what death causes is a temporal separation and not a permanent one, for we are still united to our brothers and sisters, thanks to our union with Christ. We shall unite with them permanently in the fullness of life one day. This is God’s will for us all.  

In the second reading, Paul explains that our hope does not delude us. This is because the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. The love of Jesus has vanquished death. This is the basis of our hope. The death of Christ is victory over death. Jesus died for us when we were still sinners. This was what demonstrates concretely the love he has for us. This death of Christ, which is victory over death, gives us the assurance that we have been permanently saved. We are, therefore, reconciled to God the Father, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is why we should have a very strong hope that our dead brothers and sisters are enjoying the new life that comes from the victory over death, a victory, wrought through the death and resurrection of Jesus. We who are still alive should also have the hope of new life for ourselves. 

For us Christians, this day of the commemoration of the souls of our dead brothers and sisters should not be a sad one; rather it should be a day of hope, in which we anticipate the joys of everlasting life. May we pray assiduously in this Eucharistic celebration that the good Lord may grant, through the victory of Jesus over death, eternal life to our dead brothers and sisters and to bestow those of us still alive the graces to so co-operate with the graces of God as to enable us enjoy eternal life as soon as we pass on to the Lord. 

Happy Commemoration of the Holy souls and Happy Sunday! 

+John I. Okoye

(graphics and pictures by blogger)