Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity,

DOCTRINE AND FAITH (Deut, 4,32-34.39-40; Rom, 8,14-17; Matthew 28,16-20; Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Year B )

    The solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity which we celebrate today gives us the opportunity to reflect on the profundity of the central tenet of our Christian faith: One God, Three Persons.  It is a mystery that defies human comprehension; a truism that belongs to that realm of faith where reason becomes grossly deficient to lead the way. 
    The words of Christ in today’s gospel reading bring out, in a very simple manner, the reality of our belief in the Trinity.  He commanded his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. This underlines the equality of the three persons.  The Godhead is one and indivisible, yet the three persons are distinct and not confused.  It is a perfect love that binds the three persons together in an inseparable unity.  It is from the abundant overflow of this same love that each of the Persons of the Trinity performs his distinct function in the economy of salvation: creation is a function of the love of God the Father; out of inestimable love, God the Son laid down his life for man; the Holy Spirit brings to perfection the salvific work of Christ by pouring into our hearts his many gifts and fire of love that enable us as sons and daughters of God to cry out, ‘Abba, Father’ as St. Paul tells us in the second reading today.
    In the alternative Collect for today’s liturgy, the church prays thus: “Father all-powerful, Christ Lord and Saviour, Spirit of Love, you reveal yourself in the depths of our being, drawing us to share in your life and your love”.  The Trinitarian bond of love is such that though the three Persons are distinct, they are not divided.  God the Father, in revealing himself to us, through the salvific mission of the Son and the gifts of the Holy Spirit, intends to draw us into the same kind of union of love, which binds the Godhead together.
    What we celebrate today, therefore, is the mystery of love.  The Trinitarian love challenges us, in the midst of our differences and diversities, to cherish and strive towards a loving unity.  We are called to share in the Trinitarian love not in abstract but rather in practical loving attitude and cordial relationship with the other, in spite of his or her race, religious affiliation, gender or other individual differences.  Therefore, the confession of our belief in the Trinity will become more meaningful when we are able to emulate and live out the Trinitarian unity of love in our relationship with our fellow human being. 
 Happy Celebration of the Solemnity of the Holy Trinity!  
+John I. Okoye

..... Solemnity of Pentecost.

              

(Acts. 2:1-11; Gal. 5:16-25; John 15:26-27; 16:12-15: Solemnity of Pentecost, Year B)

“This is the day of Pentecost, Alleluia! Today the Holy Spirit appeared to the disciples in the form of fire and gave to them his special gifts; he sent them into the world to proclaim that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, Alleluia!” These words taken from the Divine Office (Magnificat antiphon of the Vespers of Pentecost Sunday precisely) summarize the mystery we celebrate today.  For many biblical commentators, the feast of Pentecost marks the birth of the Church, the ‘formal’ inauguration of her mission.

In today’s first reading, we are presented with the account of the dramatic fulfillment of that promise for an advocate, which Jesus made to his disciples.  He made the necessity of the descent of the Holy Spirit very clear to them. As we see in today’s gospel: the Spirit will be with them forever, teach them everything and remind them of all he had said to them.  In other words, the Holy Spirit will be the sign of the perpetual presence of the Godhead among the faithful and a dynamic force that will bring them to perfect understanding of the meaning and demands of the Good News. 

Descending on the apostles, the Holy Spirit freed them from the clutches of timidity and fear.  The disciples who, prior to the unique Pentecost experience, lurked fearfully behind closed doors, came out boldly proclaiming Christ in different languages and made an unprecedented number of converts in just a day.  The same Peter who could not stand the questioning gaze of the young lady at the house of the High Priest, the night Jesus was arrested, was able to stand up to deliver a wonderful homily in perfect defense of the experience he and others had when the Holy Spirit descended on them.

The Holy Spirit continues to do in the Church today, what he did among the disciples on the day of Pentecost.  He continues to lead the members of Christ’s body that is the Church, into deeper understanding of their mission.  The Holy Spirit equally empowers the individual Christian to conquer self and grow in holiness.  St. Paul captures this work of empowerment vividly in today’s second reading:  “If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence….” 

Therefore, as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit today, let us pray that we experience his full impact in our lives as the disciples did. Making the words of the Pentecost Sequence ours, we implore the Holy Spirit thus: “Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour thy dew; wash the stains of guilt away; bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray”. I wish you many returns of God’s choicest blessings on this day, the solemnity of Pentecost. Happy Solemnity of Pentecost.

+John I. Okoye

7th Sunday of Easter, Year B (Acts. 1,15-17. 20-26; 1 John. 4,11-16; John 17,11-19: )

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts. 1,15-17. 20-26; 1 John. 4,11-16; John 17,11-19: 7th Sunday of Easter, Year B)

Our human powers and capability are finite and limited.  Consequently, the human person remains a being ever dependent on forces that are superhuman.  Somewhere along the line, our rationality, our ingenuity, our tactful sense of judgment; all these are bound to reach some point of exhaustion.  To go further, we need something that is supernatural and superhuman.  Looking up to heaven for assistance is, therefore, not an option but an imperative arising from the fact of man’s limitedness. 

In today’s first reading, the disciples felt the need to find a replacement for Judas.  Having outlined the qualities such a person must have, it was clear to them that their human judgment would not be able to make the right choice.  How would they be able to penetrate the hidden places of human heart to be able to find out which of the elect would be able to act with them as a witness to the resurrection?  Nomination was the farthest their human sense of judgment could go.  To make the right choice, they needed to look to heaven for assistance and that was why they prayed thus: “Lord, you can read everyone’s heart; show us therefore which of these two you have chosen….”

We see in Jesus’ life and ministry some practical examples of the practice of seeking for heavenly intervention and assistance.  He shares the same divine nature with God, no doubt, yet we see Him always relying on the Father, seeking his will and submitting all to him in prayer.  The Gospel reading today began with the statement: “Jesus raised his eyes to heaven….”  He did not just teach the disciples the need for prayer, he himself prayed.  He has taught them the mysteries of God’s kingdom and done so much to build up their faith.  However, for the sustenance of all he has implanted in them and the assurance of its perfection and perpetuity, Jesus raised his eyes to heaven and prayed for them.

In our daily lives as Christians, our struggles to oppose the forces of darkness and evil, our daily confrontation with injustice, oppression, exploitation and man’s inhumanity to fellow man, we need something more than our human powers and capability.   We need power from above and must always raise our eyes to heaven for it.  We need the empowerment, discernment, enlightenment and motivation that the Spirit of God bestows.  As we prepare to celebrate the feast of Pentecost, we pray that God may open our eyes to the dire need we have of the Holy Spirit and teach us the best way to prepare to receive him. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

6th Sunday of Easter.....DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts, 10,25-26.34-35.44-48; 1John, 4,7-10; John 15,9-17)

 

There is no limit to God’s love for man and the ways He expresses this love.  The readings of today offer us abundant insight into the profundity of divine love and its unlimited manifestation.  In this love, divinity opens its arms wide indiscriminately to man.  It is holistic a love.  It is the love that lifted humanity from the state of being a guilty servant to an acquitted friend.

The Holy Spirit’s action in today’s first reading is a strong indication of the absence of discrimination in the manifestation of divine love.  Peter could not have learnt the lesson in a better way: God sets no limit to his love.  Compelled by the vision he had, Peter boldly visited Cornelius the pagan household, in spite of his personal reservations.  He must have outlined in his mind the rigorous process of initiation his pagan audience must pass through before being qualified to receive the grace of baptism.  However, divine love could not be limited by human regulation.  Salvation remains a gratuitous gift and not some meritorious achievement.  These were the lessons Peter and the other disciples had to learn in a dramatic way.  Thus while Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit descended on all the pagan listeners.  Peter had no option than to baptize them since God himself in his love that knows no discrimination had already baptized them with the Holy Spirit!

Both the second reading and the Gospel of St. John read to us today celebrate the profundity of God’s love.  Jesus himself reveals the depth of this love and how it changed the status of humanity: “A man can have no greater love than to lay down his life for his friends”.  Again he says, “I shall not call you servants any more…I call you friends.” It was all an act of love! that is total, unconditional and boundless.  This is the gift God gave to us in Christ.  It is also the very demand Jesus is making of us: “Love one another as I have loved you”.  The discrimination we propagate in different ways; the selective attention and preferential treatment we give to people; the practice of attaching conditions to the help we render to others; all these go contrary to the spirit of Christ who gave us a love that is total, unconditional and boundless and commanded us to love others exactly as he has loved us. May we therefore, pray in today’s Eucharistic celebration that the Almighty God may bestow on us the Risen Lord’s type of the heart so that we can love our neighbours with the same profound and sacrificial love as our Redeemer did. Happy Sunday +John I. Okoye

5th SUNDAYOF EASTER

(Acts 9, 26-31; 1 John 3, 18-24; John 15,1-8)

Spiritual fruitfulness can never be a result of the individual Christian’s human effort alone, no matter how intense it may be.  It is true that sustained human effort is indispensable for the acquisition of moral virtues, fruitfulness in Christian life, however, has a deeper meaning and implication than just moral virtues.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church offers us a clue here.  It says, “The moral virtues are acquired by human effort.  They are the fruit and seed of morally good acts; they dispose all the powers of the human being for communion with divine love”.  (CCC 1804). Spiritual fruitfulness has to do with the whole issue of communion with divine love.  

Jesus in today’s gospel makes this fact abundantly clear.  The only condition under which one can bear fruit is to be grafted into Christ who is the vine and whose branches we are.  The allegory of the vine, vinedresser and the branches we see in today’s gospel helps us to understand the dire need we have of sharing in the very life of Christ, the sole precondition for fruitfulness. It is possible that one may observe all the moral virtues and yet not live a life of communion with divine love.  At the level of this communion, one’s life becomes an intimate sharing in Christ’s life.  Such a person lives in God and God lives in him as St. John puts it in Today’s second reading.

Sharing in the divine life has practical implications for us in our day to day lives as Christians.  The picture the Psalmist painted about a tree planted beside the waters in the first psalm captures what happens when one’s life is grafted in Christ the vine.  Such a person, says the Psalmist, is like a tree planted near streams; it bears fruit in season and its leaves never wither.  One who shares the life of Christ and lives in intimate communion with him is ruled by love not by law; he finds deeper meaning in the commandments as rule of life to be joyfully lived and not some tasking statutes to be grudgingly adhered to; he finds enormous joy in serving others and enjoys an inner joy and serenity accessible only to one led by the Spirit.  

Our world needs the fruitfulness that comes from intimate communion with Christ in order to become a better place.  How different indeed the human society will be if half of those who occupy the pews every Sunday have their lives grafted deeply into Christ and strive to live a life of intimate communion with him! May we therefore, during the Eucharistic celebration of this Sunday, ask the Almighty God to make our being grafted into Christ his risen Son at our Baptism active and effective. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

(pictures and graphics added  by blogger )

DEVOTION TO MARY

May is Mary's month, but why?

The practice of dedicating the month of May to our Lady was popularized especially by the Rosary Encyclicals of Leo XIII – beginning in 1883 and concluding in 1889, the Pontiff wrote twelve encyclicals and five apostolic letters on the Rosary. The Catholic Encyclopedia discusses the rather recent origin of Mary Month:

“The May devotion [to our Lady] in its present form originated at Rome where Father Latomia of the Roman College of the Society of Jesus, to counteract infidelity and immorality among the students, made a vow at the end of the eighteenth century to devote the month of May to Mary. From Rome the practice spread to the other Jesuit colleges and thence to nearly every Catholic church of the Latin rite (Albers, "Bluethenkranze", IV, 531 sq.). This practice is the oldest instance of a devotion extending over an entire month.” (Catholic Encyclopedia, “Special Devotions for Months”)

Yet, although many Catholics know that May is dedicated to the Mother of God, it may be a bit of a puzzle as to why May was chosen for this special honor. What is it about May that makes it suited to be the Month of Mary?

Mary Month – Why May?

Some have pointed to the fact that, in classic western culture (both Greek and Roman), May was recognized as the season of the beginning of new life. In the Greek world, May was dedicated to the goddess Artemis and associated with fecundity. Roman culture linked the month of May to Flora, the goddess of bloom and blossoms – this led to the custom of ludi florales (or floral games) which took place at the very end of April as a preparation for entering into the month of May.

It seems that this ancient tradition of connecting May with new life and fecundity, led to a realization that May is very much the month of motherhood – this may be the reason why Mother’s Day is celebrated during May not only in the United States but in many countries and cultures of both the East and the West. In the month of May, the winter comes to an end and the spring season begins (this was the official beginning of spring in Roman culture). This new beginning and new birth is a testimony to the motherhood of Mother Earth.

The connection between motherhood and May led Christians eventually to adopt May as Mary Month. May is the Month of our Lady precisely as the Mother of God. So wrote the priest-poet Fr. Gerard Manley Hopkins, sj in his marian classic “May Magnificat.”

May Magnificat

MAY is Mary’s month, and I  

Muse at that and wonder why:          

    Her feasts follow reason,    

    Dated due to season—         

Candlemas, Lady Day;                                                  

But the Lady Month, May,     

    Why fasten that upon her,  

    With a feasting in her honour?     

Is it only its being brighter     

Than the most are must delight her?                                 

    Is it opportunest       

    And flowers finds soonest?

Ask of her, the mighty mother:         

Her reply puts this other        

    Question: What is Spring?—                                              

    Growth in every thing—     

Flesh and fleece, fur and feather,      

Grass and greenworld all together;  

    Star-eyed strawberry-breasted      

    Throstle above her nested                                       

Cluster of bugle blue eggs thin          

Forms and warms the life within;    

    And bird and blossom swell           

    In sod or sheath or shell.    

All things rising, all things sizing                              

Mary sees, sympathising         

    With that world of good,     

    Nature’s motherhood.         

Their magnifying of each its kind     

With delight calls to mind                                          

    How she did in her stored  

    Magnify the Lord.     

Well but there was more than this: 

Spring’s universal bliss           

    Much, had much to say                                            

    To offering Mary May.         

When drop-of-blood-and-foam-dapple        

Bloom lights the orchard-apple         

    And thicket and thorp are merry  

    With silver-surfèd cherry                                        

And azuring-over greybell makes     

Wood banks and brakes wash wet like lakes          

    And magic cuckoocall          

    Caps, clears, and clinches all—       

This ecstasy all through mothering earth                

Tells Mary her mirth till Christ’s birth       

    To remember and exultation         

    In God who was her salvation.

 http://newtheologicalmovement.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/may-is-marys-month-but-why.html