The 3rd fall & Jesus stripped of His garments

9th station:
This fall of Jesus was agony to me. Not only had he fallen on the rocky ground again, but now he was almost at the top of the hill of crucifixion. The soldiers screamed at him and abused him, almost dragging him the last few steps. My heart pounded as I imagined what they would do to him next. But, I knew this had to be, so I climbed the hill silently behind him.
 Prayer:
My loving Jesus, I know that many times I have offered my hand to help people but when it became inconvenient or painful to me I left them, making excuses for myself. Help me, Lord, to be like your mother, Mary, and never take my supporting hand away from those who need it. 
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10th station

With my son finally relieved of the weight of the cross, I thought he would have a chance to rest. But the guards immediately started to rip his clothes off his blood-clotted skin. The sight of my son in such pain was unbearable. Yet, since I knew this had to be, I stood by and cried silently.

Prayer:

Lord, in my own way I too have stripped you. I have taken away the good name of another by foolish talk, and have stripped people of human dignity by my prejudice. Jesus, there are so many ways I have offended you through the hurt I have caused others. Help me to see you in all people. 

4th Sunday of Lent

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(2 Chronicles 36,14-16.19-23; Ephesians 2,4-10;  John 3, 14-21;  4th Sunday of Lent:  Year B)
All the three readings of today treat one central theme: God’s love for us. Each of them brings out one aspect or the other of God’s love. The first reading shows that God’s love for the people of Israel was marked with steadfast love and patience. Even when the people of Israel were multiplying sins and acts of infidelity, imitating their pagan neighbours in worshiping idols, committing abominations and desecrating the temple, God was still steadfast in his love for them. He sent messengers to warn them, for he wished to spare his people and his house. But they ridiculed the messenger of God, they despised his words... Then came the tragedy of the deportation to Babylon, the exile and the slavery, which the author of the book of Chronicles interpreted as punishment for their infidelity. Yet, God still intervened in a very mysterious way, through the pagan king of Persia, Cyrus, for the people to reclaim their liberty, return to their fatherland and reconstruct the temple of Jerusalem. We can see the story of the entire humanity in the history of the people of Israel. Humanity has in several ways and times offended God by its inhumanity to fellow humans, through carrying genocidal wars, maltreatment and oppression. Often times one thinks the world would break up, sink and disappear completely, but providentially God proffers one solution or the other and directs events to conform to his loving design for humanity.  We should also, in the story of the people of Israel, read and interpret our own personal history of infidelity and ingratitude to God. But God in his infinite love continues to call us back from wandering far away from him and welcomes us with warm embrace.
In his gospel, the Evangelist John attests to the revelation of God’s love for us in Jesus Christ.  God loved the world so much that he gave his only son... It is because he loves us that God did not send his son to judge (condemn) the world but rather that the world might gain salvation by his coming. God did not leave any stone unturned for our salvation. His love for us led him to give up his Son in order to sacrifice himself for our sake by dying on the cross.
Paul in his letter to the Ephesians brings two other characteristics of God’s love: merciful and gratuitous. The merciful love of God comes out in the tenderness and compassion with which God deals with us. He is involved in every miserable situation of our lives and pardons our sins with utmost generosity. The gratuitousness of God’s love shines out when one considers that God does not pardon us because of our merits (not by anything that you have done) but out of his divine benevolence. One can possibly affirm that the Good News of Christ consists essentially in the following: God loves people with an incredible love, with a love that is infinitely patient and merciful, with a love that is absolutely gratuitous and with a love that leads to salvation and eternal life for all his daughters and sons. It behooves every one of us, by his/her free choice to welcome the offer and the gift of the divine love.  We need to acknowledge and believe in the love, which God has for us. (1 John 4,16). God does not condemn anyone. It is we, who condemn or not condemn ourselves. Condemnation of oneself or not, depends on what one prefers: darkness or light. To prefer darkness would mean to embrace the error of sin, and is tantamount to rejecting the light (truth and love). It further means hating the light and not willing to get near to it, lest our bad deeds and actions be exposed. In concluding we pose some questions to ourselves: Do we really believe firmly in God’s love for us? Why is it then that we are not filled with wonder and joy, but are rather lukewarm about it? Why are we not emotionally moved to the point of shedding tears? Why is it that we do not desire really to pay back his love for us? Why is it that we do not deeply trust God as we continuously show traces of doubting him? Let us pray that the good Lord will touch our hearts with his grace and cure them of their hardness and aridity. May we also verify our faith! John in his gospel states that God the Father sent his Son into the world that we may believe in him and in believing in him we have eternal life. We believe in Christ, yes, but with some reserve! In fact we prefer darkness (sins) many times to light (grace). Do we not prefer to follow Christ form some distance (as Peter did and then disappear after the betrayal of Judas) so that we would not be directly involved, or compromised in his situation? We shun getting involved in the passion of Jesus when we run away from the suffering of our needy neighbours. We need to take Paul’s warning in the letter to the Romans serous: Do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Rom 2, 4). This season of Lent in which we participate in now is one of the recent signs of God’s love for you and me, may the good Lord help us to utilize the remaining part of it as a sign of gratitude to Him for his love that is gracious, merciful, steadfast and gratuitous. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

3rd Sunday of Lent:...DOCTRINE AND FAITH

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Exodus 20, 1-17; 1 Cor 1,22-25; John 2, 13-25;  3rd Sunday of Lent:  Year B)

The readings of today, especially the second reading and the gospel, concentrate much on the person of Jesus Christ. This calls for a strong faith relationship on our part towards him. Jesus’ energetic expulsion of the profaners of the temple shows him to be fully human, who has emotions and feelings. One recollects how tired and thirsty he was at the well of Jacob (John 4,6-8); how he wept at the death of Lazarus (John 11, 33-35) and today, how angry he was with the profaners of the temple: ... and in the temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coin and knocked their table over. Through his courageous action Jesus restores the sacredness of the temple as a place of prayer and union with God. For Jesus the temple and its precincts were not places, like market places, where money is made. Jesus’ gesture had even more symbolic significance and importance. By turning over the tables of the money changers in the temple, Jesus, thereby, declares the end of the worship of God that is linked to material and external places and announces the beginning of a new way of worship that will be much more spiritual and interior, and which will, of necessity, have the event of his resurrection as the centre point. It is this line of thought that Jesus communicated to the Samaritan woman: Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain not in Jerusalem...But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth... (John 4,21-23). In today’s gospel episode, by sending away the merchants from the temple and through his speech (Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up) Jesus was indicating the inauguration of the New Era or Way of worship. The new temple or place of worship is his divine body. It is the privileged place to experience the presence of God, the place of meeting with God, because as St. Paul holds, the whole fullness of Deity (Divinity) dwells bodily in him (Col 2,9). In this same vein, it could be recalled how Jesus retorted to Phillip who wanted him to show him the Father, he said: Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14, 8-9). He also told Thomas: I am the way, the truth and life: no one comes to the Father, except through me (John 14,6). In fact, one can say that Jesus is the centre of the universe, the medium of our communication with God and the very presence of God in our midst. What is my relationship with this Jesus? Does he mediate God’s presence to me at every moment of my daily chores and activities? These are ernest questions about our relationship that we will have to reckon with and put in order today and in this Lenten period as we prepare for the great feast of Easter.

 

Paul, as it were, took up this line of thought when in today’s second reading and in reference to Christ mentions that the Jews look for miracles while the Greeks seek for human wisdom. The Jews took Jesus as the Messiah but were disappointed when he did not turn out to be the triumphant Messiah that was expected to liberate them from the Romans who occupied their land. They also could not reconcile with the idea that the Messiah would suffer and die. The Greeks in the other hand did not accept Jesus because they could not conceive a God that was made man, suffered and died. What was the opinion of the Christians of Paul’s time and our present day Christians about Jesus? We preach Christ who was crucified, power and wisdom of God.  What does this mean in practical terms? It means that we should fix our gaze on God who allowed his Son to be crucified and on Jesus our norm of life.  It also means that Jesus is all and all for us. It means entering into faith relationship with God and Christ. That is following Jesus even to his passion and death.  

If Jesus mediates the presence of God, and is the power and wisdom of God, what rapport has he with the Ten Commandment of the Old Testament? Jesus did not abolish them. He rather confirmed and perfected them. He did so by bringing out highlights that were the centre and core message of the Ten Commandment: Love of God and love of neighbour (Matt 22, 37-40; See also Rom 13,8-10). He showed by his teaching, that we should love even our enemies who stand in need of our care and concern. By the end of his life, he demonstrated it practically by giving up his life on the cross where he shed the last drop of his blood as a sign of maximum sacrificial love for us. It can also be said that Jesus came into the world in order to communicate to his graces and Spirit of love to us so that we would be enabled to live out the commandments of God in the spirit of interior liberty towards the full integral development of the individual Christian and the Christian Community as a whole. What is important is that we do so following the example of Christ and in union of love and faith with him. May we, in this Eucharistic assembly, pray that we may enter into a fruitful faith and love rapport with Jesus Christ, the power and wisdom of God, the perfecter of the Old Testament Commandments and the medium of God’s presence for us. Happy Sunday! +John Okoye.

(graphics  by blogger)

VIA CRUCIS 7 & 8

7  THE  SECOND FALL Again my son fell, and again my grief was overwhelming at the thought that he might die. I started to move toward him, but the soldiers prevented me. He rose and stumbled ahead slowly. Seeing my son fall, get up again, and continue on, was bitter anguish to me. But, since I knew this had to be, I walked on silently. Prayer: Lord, of all people Mary was your most faithful follower, never stopping in spite of all the pain she felt for you. I have many times turned away from you by my sins and have caused others to turn away from you. I beg you to have mercy on me. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory Be...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  8. THE HOLY WOMEN I was walking a few steps behind Jesus when I saw him stop. Some women were there crying for him and pitying him. He told them not to shed tears for him. They had the opportunity to accept him as the messiah; like many others, they rejected him instead. He told them to shed tears for themselves, tears that would bring their conversion. They did not see the connection between that and his walk to death. I did, and as he walked on, I followed silently. Prayer: My savior, many times have I acted like these women, always seeing the faults in others and pitying them. Yet, very rarely have I seen my own sinfulness and asked your pardon. Lord, you have taught me through these women. Forgive me, Lord, for my blindness. Our Father...Hail Mary...Glory Be...

2nd Sunday of Lent: Year B.......DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Genesis 22,1-2.9.10-13.15-18; Rom 8,31-34;  Mark 9,2-10;  2nd Sunday of Lent:  Year B)

On every second Sunday of Lent, the gospel is always the episode of Jesus transfiguration. Mark places this episode very close to other significant ones: 
 (i) Peter’s profession of faith in Jesus as the Messiah;
 (ii) The necessary conditions of entering into the kingdom of God: If any one wishes to follow me, he has to deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.  
(iii) Christ’s first prediction of his destiny. Through the event of the transfiguration Jesus wishes to convey two points: First, looking at his appearance, one would take Jesus just as an ordinary person, as a gifted and extraordinary person. However, in reality he is a God -Man. His humanity hid his divinity. Now the passion and death he was to meet in Jerusalem was the way God the Father established that he would redeem the world. The eventual final end was not to be the blow of death he was subjected to, but the triumph of his divinity through his resurrection. The event of the transfiguration threw more light to his identity as the beloved Son of God. The second lesson from the transfiguration episode is that to follow Christ means to take up one’s cross, in denial of self, and in union with him. This will lead one to share in his destiny of glory. However, one does not wait till after death to begin to share Christ glory with Him, because participating in the glory of Christ already begins in this world. It begins with our sharing in the sanctifying grace at our baptism by which we have a share in the divine life which elevates, transfigures and divinizes us. Dazed by the well being he experienced at the transfiguration scene, for example, Jesus splendid look, his amiable conversation with Elijah and Moses, Peter wanted to prolong the experience when he said: Rabbi, it is wonderful for us to be here; so let us make three tents, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. However, the three disciples, Peter, James and John had to come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and return to their ordinary daily duties, still following Jesus on the road that leads to Jerusalem and eventually to Calvary. It is to be noted here, that we, Christians of today, resemble Peter. We prefer being Jesus’ disciples, following and staying with him, when things are going on well, in the monotony and difficulties of daily life, times of temptation and in any other type of hardship, we are tempted to abandon him. But it must be borne in mind that it is the difficulties of following him, struggle and sufferings about it that are the price we must pay in order to enjoy the reward which St. Paul talks of in Romans 8,17: if we truly participate in his suffering, we shall surely share his glory (Rom 8,17).  

In the second reading, Paul in an effort to show the love God has for man enunciates:  He did not even spare his Son but gave him up for all of us. Paul went on to elucidate conclusions from it, thus: 

(i)  If God is on our side, no one will be able to harm us; 

(ii) If God gave us the greatest of all possible gifts, “his beloved Son”, he will surely give us all that is necessary for our salvation; 

(iii) There is no type of difficulty, or adversity, not even any created thing or any power that will be able to take away from us, Christians, the love, which God has manifested in his Son, Jesus Christ.

It is still on account of this love that the Christian will be victorious in all the temptations that surround him. We have, therefore, from the teaching of St Paul had more than enough motives not to fear but to repose full confidence and hope in God. 

A wonderful example of the aforementioned type of confidence and hope in God is offered to us from the first reading in the figure of Abraham, whom the Lord put to test. It was a test by which Abraham was to show his love and faith in God. It was then a difficult test for Abraham for two motives: The first was that God wanted him to offer as holocaust, his only son, Isaac. The second seemed to be a contradiction on the part of God, who had earlier promised Abraham multitude of descendants from an only son and God was again demanding that this son should be sacrificed. This seeming contradictions notwithstanding, Abraham had full confidence in God and was ready to obey the order he did not understand. It was precisely on account of this his absolute trust in God that he was rewarded. God gave him back his son and reconfirmed his blessings on him and on his descendants: ... because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower blessings on you, I will make your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the seashore. 

For us to have success in this life where it seems God sometimes abandons us, withdraws his love from us, leaves us to pass through times of darkness and spiritual aridity, anguish or even sometimes allows that we loose someone dear to us and makes our endeavors seem nonsense and fruitless, we need to repose absolute and unconditional trust and confidence in God. These are moments of test and temptation when God demands that we should repose maximum and absolute confidence in him and never doubt his love for us. If we would know how to follow the example of our Father Abraham in faith, we will be able to affirm like him that God does not contradict himself, nor does he delude our expectations. All the saints and elect of God who passed through various and dolorous tests without loosing confidence in God anytime, had had this experience and can confirm this truth important and also stimulating. May we, therefore, pray in the Eucharistic celebration that we may have the grace to appreciate the identity of Christ who was transfigured. May we also appreciate the depth of God’s love for us by sending his beloved Son to redeem us and may our confidence in this love of God never wane but grow stronger and stronger and be constant  as the trust and confidence which Abraham reposed on God. Happy Sunday!  

+John Okoye.
(GRAPHICS/PICTURES BY BLOGGER)