4TH SUNDAY YEAR C.....BISHOP JOHN I. OKOYE,

DOCTRINE AND FAITH (Jeremiah 1,4-5.17-19;  1 Cor 12,31-13,13; Luke 4,21-30: 4th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C)     The gospel episode narrating the preaching Jesus delivered in his town tends to show that he was a sign of contradiction as was prophesied by Simeon on the day of his presentation in the temple (Luke 2,34). There were two reactions to his preaching. On one hand, there was the admiration and enthusiasm for the content of his message and for the authority with which he delivered them. On the other hand, there was reaction of hatred against him and rejection of his message, to the extent of planning to kill him. Why? His people were not happy that Jesus did not satisfy their desire and interest, for he did not work many miracles among them as they heard he did elsewhere. Another reason was that Jesus dared to assert that God was not limited by territory and was free to work miracles even outside Israel and in favour of non Israelites, like Naaman, the Syrian and the widow of Zerepath.  Jesus was able to escape their murderous intent. The episode leaves us with a lot of lessons. It is not God who will change his plans to suit ours. It is rather ours that should yield to his. We pray in the Our Father: Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The implication of this request is that just as God’s will sways absolutely in heaven, so should it be on earth. What it boils down to, is that in presenting my request to God in prayer, I should be telling God to give me the grace to accept his design, plan and decision on the issue and that I should not be expecting God to change his plans in order to accommodate my request. Another lesson from the episode is that we should not construct the image of Christ according to our own human schemes and preferences but to accept the Messiah as God the Father has presented him to us.  We should also not be his followers only when things go well with us and show him our back when we have difficulties. Our adherence to Christ should not be motivated by desire and quest of physical miracles (We Nigerian Catholics are very guilty of this particular fault) but rather by the content of the message of salvation he came to preach.

The connection between the gospel and the first reading can be seen in the common fate of the two prophets, Jeremiah and Jesus who are the protagonists of the two passages respectively. They suffered from the hands of their very people. The treatment given to Jesus in today’s gospel made him declare: I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country. Their unsuccessful attempt to throw him down the cliff was only a prelude to what eventually happened at Calvary, where he could not escape and had to pay the bitter price of having been the mouthpiece/prophet of God. Jeremiah, though consecrated in the mother’s womb in view of the work of a prophet, did not find it easy as God’s spokesman. His messages from God were often refuted and rejected. He suffered even physically from his adversaries. What sustained Jeremiah in his difficult mission was the consciousness that it was God who sent him on mission and who would sustain him with his divine presence. God assured him: They will fight against you but shall not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you. By virtue of our baptism and our spiritual unction from the Sacrament of Confirmation we share in the prophetic mission of Christ and God sends us into the world as prophets to perform the following: to proclaim the arrival of the kingdom of God through Christ; to be spokesmen/spokeswomen of God and his message of salvation and to be the executors of God’s design of love. In playing our prophetic role, which is a participation in that of Christ, we Christians should be aware that the lot of Christ and that of the prophets will be ours also. We are bound to meet opposition, rejection and persecution. This is because the way of God, that inspires our actions, is diverse from that of the world, indeed oftentimes opposed to it. It means that if we are faithful to our mission as prophets we may not be expecting praises and adulation but misunderstanding and hostility, from the part of the world. But, unfortunately, our life as Christians do not challenge our neighbours because we are too accommodating and our manner of living does not show anything new as we drift on as baptized but not converted Christians.  Our reflection on the prophetic mission of the Christian brings us now to consider charity/love, the queen of all virtues. Charity is an infused supernatural virtue through which we have the capacity to love God as he is and to love ourselves and our neighbours in God and for God. It is a divine, gratuitous gift as Paul so attests: Charity is poured into our souls through the Holy Spirit that is given to us (Romans 5,5). Charity or the capacity to love in the supernatural and divine way does not nullify but rather presupposes the natural capacity to love, from where it has its roots. Therefore, Christian love is a natural and supernatural one, human and divine, just as the love of Christ is. St Paul in his letter to the Corinthians (the second reading of today) has more to say about this queen-virtue, charity. We recommend a reflective and meditative reading of it, using it as an examination of conscience to verify the consistency and coherence of our being authentic Christians. Perhaps, we will be able to remove the illusion from our eyes to realize that our little or great acts of selfishness keep us still too far from practicing charity as Paul presents it to us and as Christ manifested through his teachings and the example of his life. Love of God and neighbour is a sine qua non for any prophet who continues to proclaim the salvific mission of Jesus Christ in the world of today.  Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Isaiah 62, 1-5; 1 Cor. 12, 4-11; John 2, 1-11 2nd Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year C)

    Today’s gospel reading on the weeding at Cana, leads one to marvel at Jesus’ benevolent question towards the wedded couple who could have been very embarrassed by the shortage of wine during the wedding; an essential commodity in a wedding feast. Jesus’ first sign (miracle), demonstration of divine power in changing water into wine, through which his glory was manifest, is also remarkable. In addition to the above general remarks, reflection on some aspects of the text, symbols and style of the language of the narrative, yields a dense and profound theological thought of the Evangelist John.
    First of all, it was very indicative that the first miracle of Jesus took place in the context of a marriage feast. In the OT, marriage (see the first reading of today that is replete with marriage symbols) was used as a symbol to depict the close relationship between God and the people of Israel. By casting the scene of the first miracle of Jesus within a marriage feast, the evangelist wishes to express the intricate union of love between Jesus and people, the marriage of Christ with humanity brought about by the singular act of the incarnation through which man is intricately and profoundly united with Christ. Indeed Christ, being the groom of the Church, had to make the supreme sacrifice of dying for the survival of his bride, the Church (this is the mainstay of Paul’s theology on marriage).

    Another significant point in the gospel narrative is the response of Jesus to his mother’s request to help the newly wedded who lacked wine for their wedding feast. Jesus said: Woman, why turn to me? My hour, has not come yet. The reply of Jesus to his mother’s request, in its face value, could sound disrespectful. But, it was not so. The mother did not understand it that way, as she went on to instruct the servants to do whatever Jesus would instruct them do. But for the evangelist, John, the hour to which Jesus referred to was the hour of his passion on the cross. It was the hour in which he was to manifest his glory, the hour of his exaltation. It would be the hour in which Jesus would have to celebrate the true wedding of love and would have to offer to the world the true messianic banquet of his body and blood for the salvation of all. This hour of his passion was expected to be followed by his glorious resurrection. Jesus notified the mother that the hour had not yet come. However, he acceded to her request.

    Another factor that is very indicative in the gospel narrative is that, besides the miracle of changing water into wine, the wine itself was not only abundant but also the best wine presented in that wedding feast. It is pertinent to recall that the messianic times announced by the prophets were to be characterized by an abundance of fruits of the earth and all types of choice wine. According to the evangelist John, Jesus was notifying, by this miracle of the wedding feast that the time for the Messiah had arrived and, therefore, the old ways of Jewish worship had to give way to the new proposals of salvation, which Jesus had brought with him and which was better than the old method of salvation.  
    In this miracle at wedding feast one can see an allusion to the Eucharistic banquet. In the narrative there was a change of water into wine. Further, towards the end of Jesus’ life, before his passion, there was the further transformation of wine into the blood of Jesus, during the institution of the Sacrament of the Eucharist. This took place, as the gospel narratives indicates, a day before he suffered. It was on the following day that he offered himself at Calvary, shedding his blood on the cross for the salvation of the world. Thus from the wedding at Cana, the first sign that manifested the glory of Christ was programmed to culminate in the last manifestation of his glory, the resurrection.     
    We cannot conclude our reflection on this nuptial passage without appreciating the presence and role of Mary, the mother of Jesus whose presence the evangelist noted: The mother of Jesus was there…. Mary was not only bodily present; she participated actively and played important roles. It was she who noticed the lack of wine. She imagines herself in the embarrassing situation of the newly wedded couple. She, therefore, intervened and directly asked for a miracle (the first one) from Jesus. Her comportment tells much of the gentility of her person. Her heart was full of love and absolute trust in his son, Jesus, such confidence was derived from a lucid faith she has of him.  One can say that the narrative of the wedding in Cana has much to do with Mary as with Jesus. From the narrative, what she is comes out very clearly: she is a believer, the first and most perfect of all the believers; that is all who have confidence in Jesus and trust him. Also, it is obvious that Mary is in rapport with the mystery of the Church: she is the mother of the Church, the Mediatrix of all graces.  It is moreover, obvious that Mary is in rapport with every believer; every one of us: she is a model and teacher of faith, a secure guide in the encounter with Christ. As a tender mother, she repeats to us what she told the servants at the marriage feast: Do whatever he (Jesus) tells you. In effect it means: Trust him, remain in his words and follow his instructions. We, therefore, need to listen to her words just as it is normal and convenient for a son or daughter to listen to the admonition of a good mother especially when this Mama is the Blessed Virgin Mary. Happy New Year! Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s Sermon on the Occasion of the Thanksgiving of Chief Jim Nwobodo at Holy Ghost Cathedral Enugu on January 10, 2016

Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah’s Sermon on the Occasion of the Thanksgiving of Chief Jim Nwobodo at Holy Ghost Cathedral Enugu on January 10, 2016

When I saw two missed calls from Jim Nwobodo over a week ago, I decided to return the call immediately. He sounded quite excited when he answered the call and then went straight to the point. I have good news for you, he said.

I have decided to join the Catholic Church and I want to specially invite you to be at the Mass in Enugu on January 10th. I congratulated him and said I would check with my Diary to see if I had a window. I used the chance to first call the Bishop of Enugu, His Lordship, Bishop Onaga to intimate him of the invitation. He too sounded quite excited and went on to tell me some of the good things that Chief Nwobodo had done for the Catholic Church during his tenure as Governor of Anambra State. 

He added his voice to the invitation and by the time we had ended, he asked if I could take the Sermon for the day. Two days later, I again saw two missed calls or so from His Eminence, Antony Cardinal Okogie, the emeritus Archbishop of Lagos. I returned his call immediately. After the pleasantries, he confirmed enthusiastically that Chief Nwobodo had also invited him. He said despite his health, he would see if he can make the trip. Two days ago, I again saw two missed calls from him.

I returned the call and he said he did not think his health would permit him to make the trip. Please, he said, try and go there to support him and also use the opportunity to represent me too. Cardinal Onaiyekan also said he had been invited but he could not make it. A combination of these star studded invitations left me little room to manouvre and that is why I am here.Understandably, this Cathedral is having one of the biggest crowds it has ever had barring either priestly ordinations or Sisters making their final vows. 

Many people would be tempted to wonder why a simple event of this nature should attract so much attention. Well, I recall what happened in Kano some time in the 80s when most of the prominent Muslims across Nigeria trooped to Kano to formally receive Chief Nzeribe who was alleged to have converted to Islam. Those who remember will recall that the huge crowd finally dispersed because Chief Nzeribe finally did not show up!Our presence here will naturally elicit curiosity among friends and foes. 

There are former and current political and business associates, family friends, school mates and so on. Whatever may be your reasons for being here, we are glad that the Nwobodo family has brought us here to rejoice with them. We are gathered not to judge for as Pope Francis has warned us: Human beings, whenever they judge, look no further than the surface while the father looks into the very depth of the soul. How much harm words do when they are motivated by jealousy and envy. 

To speak ill of others puts them in bad light, undermines their reputation and leaves them prey to whims of gossip. As pastors, we judge no one who approaches God’s door of Mercy to which we are mere gatekeepers. So I am here to encourage Chief Nwobodo to kneel before God and in the words of the publican say, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner (Lk.18:13).Please do not be mistaken. We are not here to celebrate what for some might be a big catch. We are not celebrating a victory, nor should anyone feel a sense of loss or defeat. 

The Catholic Church has not gone out fishing to find Chief Nwobodo. To the extent that we are all Christians, children of God, his decision to come to the Catholic Church is at best a return home. I say return home for reasons that all of us who are Christians already know.

I do not need to bore you, but at least we know that before 1517, every Christian was Catholic. As such, today we know that:

If you are Lutheran the your Church was founded by Fr Martin Luther in Germany in 1517
If you are Menonite, your Church was founded by Grebel, Mantz and Blaurock, in 1525
If you are Anglican, then your Church was founded by King Henry XIII in 1534
If you are a Presbyterian, then your Church was founded by John Knox in 1560
If you are a Congregationalist, then your Church was founded by Robert Brown, in Holland in 1583
If you are Baptist, then your Church was founded by John Smith in Amsterdam, in 1606 If you are a Methodist, then your Church was founded by John Murray in New Jersey, in 1770
If you are a Mormon or Latter Day Saint, then your church was founded by Joseph Smith in New York, in 1829
If you are a Seven Day Adventist, your Church was founded by William Miller in 1831
If you are Salvation Army, then know that your Church was founded by William Booth in 1865
If you are Jehovah Witness, then know that your Church was founded by Charles Russell in 1872Here at home,

if you are Redeemed Christian Church of God, then you know that you were founded in 1952 by Josiah Akindayomi

If you are a member of Deeper Life Bible Church, then you were founded by Pastor William Kumuyi in Lagos in 1973

If you are Mountain of Fire, then you were founded by Dr. Daniel Olukoya in 1989. We can go on and on. 

I am listing this not to denigrate anyone but just to set the records straight. The Catholic Church has remained where it has been since Christ instituted the Eucharist, called the Last Supper. 

We continue to do over and over what He commanded when He uttered those holy words over the bread and cup, take and eat, take and drink and ordered them to do this in His Memory until He comes again (Mt. 26:26). So, we were founded by Jesus Christ, beginning with that gathering at Pentecost (Acts 2:1) over two thousand years ago led by 266 successors of the Chair of St. Peter. 

That is who we are and what we represent.We must give thanks and praise to God our Father Almighty for the gift of the Holy Spirit which has inspired and continues to inspire thousands of men and women to give glory to His name. it is not in our place to judge anyone except that we both as Christians or citizens have a duty to listen to St. John who has enjoined us not to believe everyone who claims to be guided by the spirit. John calls on us to; test every spirit to see if they are from God because many false prophets have gone into the world (1 Jn. 4:1). 

There is no gainsaying that a highly criminalized and fraudulent society has continued to answer the calls of various kinds of spirits and prophets who produce prophesies to suit the social, economic and political fraud of the moment. In a dysfunctional society such as ours, where the corruption of the moment his produced a culture of relativity, we now have a society whose moral compass is constantly shifting to adjust to the expectations of the moment. 

The Nigerian economy and political systems are merely paying lip service to international norms of scientific conduct and relations. Economic prosperity or political processes and outcomes are neither the result of sound economic policies but the magic of spiritual entrepreneurs who prey the political landscape prowling on the unwary with the greed of lions looking for whom to devour (1 Pet 5:8). 

It is not clear whether winners of elections should praise and trust the efficacy of Electoral machinery or the efficacy of prophets and prayer warriors. This moral ambiguity has placed religion under scrutiny. 

What impact has Christianity made in our society? If the illiterate men that Jesus called and finally handed His Gospel to were able to take it to the ends of the earth, how come we are seemingly unable to make the world feel the impact of Christianity? Jesus told His successors to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, but warned them to drop all earthly means of support and power: Carry no clothes, money, sandals and so on ( Lk. 9:3, 10:4).

Today, it seems the burden of wealth, power and position have become obstacles to the impact of Christianity. On a day like this, we must seek to return to the true message of our Lord and Saviour.Since the election of Pope Francis, the 266th Pontiff on March 13th, 2013, the entire world has had to sit up and see the Catholic Church completely differently. A Church that had been vilified and become morally demoralized has suddenly leapt into public life, re-igniting the world with curiosity, enthusiasm and excitement among non-Catholics, non-Christians and non-believers. 

Today the Catholic Church is enjoying a re-awakening and vitality that was unthinkable barely four years ago. Indeed, on January 4, this year, Deepak Chopra wrote an article which was published on the Yahoo website titled, Will Pope Francis become a Holy Man for the world? The article from a non-Christian was a song of praise for how Pope Francis has brought freshness and simplicity into the Catholic Church leading to a new awakening around the world. 

Chief Nwobodo has responded to this new voice and all we can say is: This is the Lord’s doing, we rejoice and it is marvelous in our eyes (Ps 118: 23, Mk. 12:11).In confronting these realities, Pope Francis has literally set out to re-awaken our consciousness of our understanding of the faith itself and our challenge as evangelisers.

He was barely six months a Pope when he published his Apostolic Exhortation titled, Evangelii Gaudium, the Joy of the Gospel on November 24th, 2014. Central to his message has been the need to re-enkindle the spirit of the joys of the good news brought to us by our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. He called on Christians not to behave or look like men and women coming back from a funeral but to become joyful. He called on priests not to turn the confessional into torture chambers where penitents experience psychological crisis and pain instead of the liberating message of Christ our Redeemer.Indeed, Pope Francis in the same Document warned Christians of six types of robberies that they must look out against. In order not to be robbed of the joy of the gospel, the Pope enjoins Christians to imbibe the fragrance of the Gospel. Then, he proceeded to warn Christians against being robbed of the Joy of Evangelisation, joy of Hope, joy of a sense of Community, joy of the Gospel, joy of fraternal love, and joy of Missionary vigour. It is against this background that the Holy Father enjoined Consecrated Men and Women to wake up the world to the realities of the joys of being a Christian today.

Another key component of the preoccupation of Pope Francis has been the message of what I will call the Gospel of Mercy. At a time when Nigeria is writhen in the pain and convulsion of corruption, a disease that has ravaged every artery of our body, we must hear this message. Today our disfigured country is paying the price for the affliction of corruption. We now have a country that is more divided than almost at any time in our history, a society largely socially and culturally disoriented, a country where a substantial percentage of office holders are far less competent and motivated towards doing good, than those they lead, a country whose growth has been arrested and stunted. We are paying for the years and years of outrageous and gargantuan corruption perpetuated by the insatiable and irresponsible appetite of its elite. 

Today, with wide oceans of inequality between public officers and the rest of Nigeria, violence and anger are the identity cards carried by the victims.Our leaders say that we cannot develop in an environment of violence and instability. What they fail to accept is that the violence in society is the reaction of the victims. The Pope said: The poor and the poorer peoples are accused of violence, yet without equal opportunities the different forms of aggression and conflict will find a fertile terrain for growth and eventually explode. 

When a society – whether local, national or global – is willing to leave a part of itself on the fringes, no political programmes or resources spent on law enforcement or surveillance systems can indefinitely guarantee tranquility.I want to appeal to the Igbo political and religious elite to close ranks and take charge of the future of the people of this area.

Please learn from the mistakes of the elites elsewhere when politics was allowed to trump the urgent task of community building. You must take charge and by negotiation and using back room channels, improve on the quality of the sound of the music produced by your Youth. Do not ignore them but in patience, process and improve on the quality of their sound. You enjoy ethnic, moral and cultural harmony to a large degree since you loosely speak one tongue and are predominantly Christians. So, as St. Paul said to the Colossians, Let the message of Christ in all its riches fill your hearts, use it to teach and admonish one another (Col 3:16). You have lessons from the tragedy of the war and you have lessons from within and outside Nigeria of allowing youth frustration and restiveness to gestate. 

There is a saying in Hausa: If you see your brother’s beard on fire, put water on your own. Let men and women of courage become peacemakers. The time is now and the place to start is here. May the Lord inspire you. We Catholics, nay Christians, must turn our Religion into a force for good. Today, neo-paganism and Voodooism have combined to poison the message of Christianity. It is a tragedy that while calling themselves Christians, many of our political and economic elite continue to traverse the length and breathe of Nigeria seeking for prophets, priests, to compel God to answer their wishes. The central message of Christ was not miracles or prophesies or even healings, at least not in the dramatic way we now see them as they are calculated to call attention the powerful men of God. While our so called men of God are putting out posters and selling all kinds of dubious wares, they must ask how this compares with Jesus simply went about doing good, Jesus who went into hiding when they were about to take him and make him King by force(Acts 10:30, Jn. 6:15). 

My dear friends, brothers and sisters, this gathering should remind us of the need to remake a broken world such as ours. It is a time for us to recall the father of love and compassion. We are being called by a Merciful God who does not keep record of our sins but asks us to forgive seventy times seven times (Mt. 18:22), the one who overlooked the scandalous lives of men and women unacceptable to society but welcomed by him as in the call of Matthew(Mt. 9:9, or Zacheus, Lk.19:1ff, ate with sinners(Mt. 9:11, or allowed the woman with a bad name and reputation to anoint him and kiss his feet (Lk. 7: 36ff). 

The challenge for us Christians is to ask how we allowed Mercy to slip out of the grammar of Christianity. How did raw power and the quest for vengeance take centre stage in the daily grammar of our lives as we have today? We hear such sayings as Do me I do you, God no go vex, Return to Sender, Holy Ghost fire, all as metaphors for vengeance and the quest for afflictions of our enemies, all in sharp contrast to what Jesus Himself has taught us. We Christians can and must change our world. Again, Pope Francis has said, Do not fall into the terrible trap of thinking that life depends on money and power.So on this day of the baptism of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, may the Lord of mercy let His blessing come down upon us. To our friend and brother Chief Nwobodo, we commit you and your entire family to God asking for mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation. We thank the Anglican Church for nurturing you all these years. Those who think that their loss is our gain are mistaken. We are not building empires or playing politics. We are working in the Lord’s vineyard as His servants. We have a duty to show the light to the rest of our society. So, there is neither room for sulking nor triumphalism, let us close ranks as leaders of Christ’s faithful. 

We should thank Patricia, his wife whose dutiful commitment to the Church must have served as an inspiration both to her husband and children. God bless your family. In the end, we are a family of God’s children and doing His work in faithfulness defies the boundaries of our denominations. So, in prayer, let us close ranks. May God bless the people of Enugu State, may He bless and give peace to Nigeria.

 

 

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