23rd Sunday of the Year C 2016

May Christ the uncreated Wisdom, the Incarnate Wisdom of the Father bestow you with all the graces you need to be an authentic, coherent and wholehearted disciple of Christ. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Wisdom 9, 13-18; Philemon, 9-10.12-17; Luke 14, 25-33: 23^rd Sunday of the Year C 2016)

The first reading taken from the Book of  Wisdom is clear in stating that human beings, with all their resources, are incapable of fathoming the thought of God or knowing his will. This means that human beings lack the supreme wisdom that should guide them in life. They can come to such knowledge only when God so reveals it to them, as the text of the prayer of Solomon has it: As for your intention, who could have learnt it, had you not granted Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from above? Yet in the past and in our present generation some human beings wish to interfere with God’s plan, and sometimes would wish God to be according to their own image and likeness. They sometimes wish to have a God whose primary duty would be to lead them out of difficulties and load them with all types of goodies in the name of miracles. Who knows if some would not even be thinking on how to send God to do some errands, like seeing to it that their enemies get a good share of vengeance, for them.
            In the Scriptures especially in the Gospels we discover the mind of God; what he wants from us and what is pleasing to him. If we are docile and assiduous in meditating on the Scriptures, the Word of God, and if we pray in humility, we shall receive the Holy Spirit that comes from above and will acquire the true wisdom which will enable us perceive things through the eyes of God and comport ourselves according to his will. In the light of the New Testament, Christ is the uncreated Wisdom, the incarnate Wisdom of the Father through whom and also through the benevolence of the Father the Holy Spirit is abundantly diffused in our hearts. In order to be saved, it is necessary to follow Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom of God and to adhere totally to his teachings, such as we have in the gospel reading of today, whose main theme is the cost of discipleship. The conditions for discipleship are three: subordination of everything to commitment to Jesus, acceptance of the cross, and relinquishment of all possessions. The first condition, subordination of everything to commitment to Jesus means, being disposed to renounce everything that is dear to us, even members of our nuclear family, if they constitute obstacle to our faith in Christ Jesus. If any man comes to me without hating his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, he cannot be my disciple. The hard expression, to hate, used by the Evangelist St. Luke means to love less. Jesus insists that nothing, neither the closest family ties, nor love of one’s own life, can be placed in conflict with commitment to him. Whoever cannot make this sacrifice cannot be his disciple. Jesus has to take the primacy of place in the hierarchy of values. The second condition for discipleship is willingness to carry one’s cross. Jesus’ total commitment to his mission resulted in his own suffering and death on the cross. The commitment of those who would follow him can be no less. The demands that this will exact, will differ from person to person but the requirement will be the same: wholehearted commitment. Realizing that initial enthusiasm often wanes; Jesus insists that potential disciples should first take stock of their recourses before they commit themselves to him. They should not rush into discipleship without first examining what is involved. On one hand, they must be aware of the cost that may be exacted of them; on the other, they should have some sense of their own ability to meet that cost. They should not step forward unless they are willing and able to expend all they have to carry through with their decision. Whoever cannot make such a wholehearted commitment cannot be his disciple. Finally, would be disciples of Jesus must be willing to relinquish all their possessions in order to possess and to be possessed by Christ. To give up one’s possessions also means not making selfish use of them but using them to reach out to the poor and the most needy of our society and community.

In choosing to be the disciples of Jesus, we choose other things as well. We choose new ways of relating with the very people to whom we have already been committed. Our relationship with them takes on different dimension. Our choice of Christ forges us into new relationships as we see in the second reading of today, where Paul’s discipleship led him to Rome and in prison opened a new vista for him. There he met a slave, Onesimus, who escaped from his master, Philemon. Paul evangelised and converted him. Now he pleads with his master, Philemon, to accept Onesimus back, not as slave any more but something much better than a slave, a dear brother especially dear to me, but how much more to you, as a blood-brother as well as a brother in the Lord. It can be seen how the choice to be a disciple of Jesus has changed Paul’s mentality and attitude as regards the institution of slavery at that time. It was his continued contact with Christ as his disciple that enabled him to manifest the generosity of Christ. We therefore, pray that our choice to be disciples of Christ will enable us embrace the Christ of Calvary and that of the resurrection, not choosing for ourselves a Christ devoid of the Cross, on whom we impose the awkward duty of working miracles for us. Christ died for us on the cross and leads all his disciples through the same experience of death and resurrection with the added mission to spread the message of salvation through witnessing to his death and resurrection in their daily lives. May Jesus in today's Eucharistic celebration give us all the graces we need to be authentic, coherent and wholehearted disciple of Jesus Christ. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

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