4th Advent Sunday Year A, 2019/20

May the intercessions of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph obtain for us the graces we need in today's Eucharistic celebration to be watchful and attentive for the coming Lord through prayerful listening and obedience to the word of God.

Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Isaiaha 7,10-14; Psalm 23; Romans 1, 1-7; Matthew 1,18-24; 4^th Advent Sunday Year A, 2019/20

            The first reading from the prophet Isaiah first requires a historical reading. Around 734, Tiglath-Pilezer III, king of Assyria, dangerously threatens all the kingdoms of the Near East. The king of Damascus, Rezin, proposes to build a coalition in order to match them. But Ahaz, the king of Jerusalem, does not adhere. Then Rezin joined forces with the king of Samaria to march against Jerusalem. The terror takes hold of Ahaz, a hesitant, an opportunist, without coherence. (From the book of Kings (2 Kings 16,3), we learn that he made his son pass through the Fire, that is to say, that he offered him as a sacrifice like the pagans). Isaiah intervenes forcefully in the situation. He wants the king to put his trust in the one true God and promises him a sign, the most eloquent sign that there could be: the birth of a son filled with the presence of God; it will be the pious king Hezekiah who will know how to reject evil and choose good. He was merited to be protected at the time of the siege of Jerusalem in 701 (2 Kings 19,35-36). God's protection is expressed by the name given to him here: Emmanuel = God with us. In the context of the first reading, the word alma means young woman and designates both Abi, wife of Ahaz and mother of Hezekiah, and the Daughter of Zion of whom the prophet speaks elsewhere, that is, the people of God as a whole, from whom will be born the new king. The Greek translators, however, translate alma to mean parthenos, which means virgin in the strict sense. It was this interpretation that prepared what the Gospel makes of it three centuries before Christ. It designates the announcement of the virginal conception of the Messiah. In addition to this prophetic announcement, the spiritual reading of the text in Advent time sees a message of hope that highlights the divine initiative. Ahaz asks nothing, flaunts religious scruples, does not want to test the Lord; but, in reality, he does not know what he wants and in whom to place his trust. The Lord will then speak and give a sign, to show his will to save his people. The birth of Jesus is this sign of an initiative of God, free and gratuitous, to save humanity.

Psalm 23 is used liturgically to celebrate the entrance of a procession into the temple of God. The first part says that those who approach God must have innocent hands and a pure heart. Ahaz, divided between the true God and the idols, will see himself thus rejected. But the second part is more immediately suited to this time of Advent, because, together with the peoplel who enter the temple, is the king of glory, Emmanuel, about to enter the world.

The second reading, the prologue to the letter of Paul to the Romans, first presents a profession of faith, a creed concerning the person of Jesus. According to flesh, he is from the lineage of David but according to the Spirit he is constituted Son of God with power. In him there is the movement from flesh to Spirit; from birth to resurrection, from humanity to power and from humanity to divinity. Note that humanity is affirmed through the lineage of David, and this emphasises that Jesus is the fulfilment of the promises of the old covenant. The prologue then proceeds to present the Apostle, Paul and his mission. Paul is chosen, called by God, to announce the Gospel. This Gospel is the one promised by the prophets, but destined for all the people, for the pagans also and not only for the Jews. In this time of Advent, this announcement of universal salvation has a very current resonance.

The Gospels of childhood (according to Matthew and Luke) show that Jesus is the announced Messiah, the hope of Israel. Mathew puts Joseph at the centre of today's gospel pericope, a narrative one may designate as the Annunciation to Joseph. In Luke, Joseph has no face, was just the bridegroom of Mary. Here instead, he collects all the inheritance of God's promises from Abraham onwards. The genealogy of Matthew, which precedes this passage, goes from Abraham down to Joseph. Joseph inherits all the fragmentary missions of the patriarchs and the kings. For him, hope reaches fulfilment. In particular, Joseph is the son of David - (Luke says the same thing by affirming that he is of the house of David) so that Jesus may receive the throne of David his father. Above all, Joseph is spiritually, the heir of the patriarchs and of all biblical history. He is the just one who trusts in the word of God, even when events put him to the test. Thus, according to Matthew, Joseph is not a marginal figure. Was it already necessary to respond to ironic allusions about the husband overtaken by events?

This story testifies to the faith of the primitive Church in the virginal birth of Jesus. Joseph fully assumes the role of father that is delegated to him by God: he will have to give the name to the child. Finally the child's name means, the Lord saves, and in line with all the tradition in the Old Testament, God, above all, is the one who saves. This name shows that salvation has come. God with us - is therefore the first message of Matthew and also the last one: Behold, I am with you always, until the end of the world (Matt 28, 20).

The liturgy, through the responsorial psalm chants: Behold, the Lord comes, the king of glory. On the first Sunday of Advent, we asked for the grace to go out to meet Christ who is coming. Today the responsorial psalm announces to us that his coming is now imminent. The waiting becomes more solicitous and intense as the moment of the meeting approaches. But who is actually being expected? What does he bring us? How should we wait for it? Only the word of God can give us the answers. We will discern how to wait for the Lord by listening and hearing him speak to us through the readings we are offered on this last Sunday of Advent. Paul in the second reading tells us that the one who is coming is no less than Jesus Christ, born of the lineage of David ... Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God, born of the stock of David according to the flesh. Matthew and Luke, in weaving the genealogy of Jesus, agree in introducing Joseph, the father of Jesus according to the law, as son of David. St. Paul does not say anything else here, but in writing to the Philippians he will speak clearly of the divine nature, of equality with God, of Christ Jesus who stripped himself, assuming the condition of a servant and becoming like men; that appeared in human form, humbled himself by becoming obedient until death, death on a cross and for this God has exalted him (Phil 2,5-9). Writing to the Colossians, he presents Jesus as the beloved Son of God, the image of the invisible God, begotten before every creature, who is first of all things and all things subsist in him (Col 1,13-17). Who Jesus Christ is comes further in the symbol with which we profess our faith: God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God ... for us men and for the our salvation came down from heaven, and by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate in the womb of the Virgin Mary and became man. And he, the awaited one, has chosen Paul to give him the grace of the apostolate, sending him to announce the Gospel of God to all peoples, called by him, Jesus Christ, to faith and salvation. We too are among these called: it is right that we await him. But how? With what feelings? The Virgin Mother waited for him! Who better than she can teach us how to wait for him? Therefore on this Sunday, the Church presents us with the figure of Mary, implicitly in the collect, referring to the announcement of the angel. In the first reading the words of Isaiah could have alluded to the son, Hezekiah, who is born from the wife of the king Ahaz. It is still very probably that Isaiah himself or some of his disciples rethink later this prophecy in a messianic sense. Thus the Christian tradition constantly intends it, taking in Mary the virgin mother and Jesus in Emmanuel, God with us. The thought of the Church is clear in the head of Matthew, who sees in the message announced by the angel to Joseph the fulfilment of this prophecy. The Council cites this passage from those that show how a woman, the mother of the Redeemer ... is already prophetically overshadowed in the Old Testament (Lumen Gentium, 55). How did Mary wait for her? The preface holds: With ineffable love, the love of a mother, of the virgin mother of the Son of God made man. Isn't it a lesson for us? If Christmas reawakens even the least attentive and fervent Christians the feeling of family affection, if it is a call to goodness and love for all, it must first of all be a meeting with love to the one who only for love has wanted to make himself one of us. Love suggested by faith requires our obedience, in the docile listening to the word of God and in the will to put it into practice. This love emanating from faith must open up to all.  First of all, we show this love to the Lord of glory, who came to us as a weak, humble and poor child and who embodies in himself the image of innumerable ranks of the poor, the forgotten, the suffering, and the marginalised . The same love borne of faith should induce us work for the establishment of a more just and more conforming world for the message of Jesus. We wait for Jesus with Joseph, the just one. The Gospel story hinges on the appearance of the angel to Joseph. It is therefore,  logical, while we are waiting for Jesus, that we also turn our attention to this man called to collaborate, in humility and in silence (the Gospel does not bring us a single word out of his mouth) to the central event of history, to the encounter of God made man with men he wants to save, in an equally important and mysterious role. His figure is familiar to Christian piety; his example of a faithful spouse and fully available to the designs of God, a humble worker and dedicated to the service of Jesus and Mary, head of a family aware of a mission to which he awaits with absolute loyalty, attracts our admiration and stimulates us to imitate him; to his intercession we resort with confidence, mindful of the obedience with which the Son of God made man adhered to him. Meditating on the words of the angel: You will call him Jesus, we can ask ourselves if they do not sound like an invitation to exercise, towards the Son of God who is born of Mary, a paternal authority, representing the heavenly Father, by virtue of a legal capacity that authorises him to give the name to the child, exercising a right proper to the father. This simple consideration sheds an ever more vivid light on the greatness of Joseph and his power of intercession with the Son.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ! We want to exchange Christmas greetings with these words from Paul. It will come true to the extent that we will wait for the Lord who comes, following the example of Mary and Joseph. May we therefore at this point in this Advent Season solicit during todays Eucharistic Celebration for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary and that of St Joseph to obtain for us the graces we need for a profitable waiting for the coming Lord through prayerful listening and obedience to the word of God in faith and love.  I wish you: Happy 4th Sunday of Advent! Happy Christmas! and a Happy and Grace-full New Year, 2020! +John I. Okoye

(graphics  by chukwubike)

3rd Sunday of Advent; Year A, 2019/20

May we through today's Eucharistic celebration be renewed and transformed in the depth of our being so as to encounter Christ fruitfully and profitably at his coming at Christmas and at the end of our lives.

Happy Sunday!  

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Isaiah 35,1-6a.8a.l0; Psalm 145; James 5,7-10; Matthew 11,2-11; 3rd Sunday of Advent; Year A, 2019/20)

The movement of the message of the first reading, first of all, depicts brilliant images of a country that comes back to life. The deserted and dry land, are covered with wild flowers like the prosperous neighbouring countries: Lebanon, Carmel, Sharon. The human society also shares in the renewal: The eyes of the blind will open... Behind all this lies the marvellous intervention of the Lord: They will see the glory of the Lord... Behold your God… He comes to save you. Often, many prophetic oracles present the situation of the exiles as a punishment deserved by them. But here, God is in solidarity with the poor: Behold your God! He is with them, announces to them his revenge, the overthrow of the established disorder and the return to Jerusalem in joy. It is a reversal of situation. The healing of the sick is at the same time physical and moral. Joy returns not only to the crippled, but also to the lazy; it makes those who were resigned to be silent talkative. The blind, who refused to see God's action, must surrender to evidence. Those who stopped their ears end up feeling the Good News of salvation. Isaiah's prophecy serves as a reference to the Gospel of Matthew that is read today.

Psalm 145 compares the disappointing appeal for help to the powers of the earth, and the assuring trust placed in God. The verses proclaimed today echo the promises of Isaiah: God renders justice to all the oppressed. The habitual image of the Lord as the protector of Israel is replaced by that of the protector of the poor, the widow, the orphan and even the stranger. But also Israel is poor, hence, the Lord's protection over her.

Representing the communities of the primitive Church, the Apostle, St James holds, in the second reading, that the coming of the Lord and his final return ought to put an end to our trials and establish definitive justice. In the meantime, two suggestions are given: Be patient! The Apostle James suggests the example of patience given by farmers (see the parables of the tares and the mustard seed {Matt 13,24ff}). The second suggestion is: Don't complain about each other! Leave judgment to the Lord. Do not judge and you will not be judged (Luke 6,37; Cf 1 Cor 4, 3). To justify this advice, the Apostle states: The judge is at the gates. We still emphasise the continuity in this invitation to patience. James based his advice on the example of the prophets, that are regarded as the saints of the Old Testament and He thinks particularly of Job, who, although involved in all misfortunes, never lost hope.

The passage of the gospel refers to the interview that the disciples of John the Baptist have with Jesus.  The Precursor's mission ends in humility. He is not the bridegroom, but only his friend who is present and listens to him, and rejoices in hearing his ... He must grow up and I will diminish (John 3, 29-30). Perhaps, the Precursor’s attitude also portrays a certain uneasiness: that of the man who advances over the years and asks himself how his mission is accomplished. The pedagogy/strategy of John consists in letting his disciples in the presence of Jesus to ask the questions themselves. This resembles what he did when he showed Jesus to Andrew and John who later asked Jesus: Rabbi, where do you live?" (John1,38). John could easily have kept his disciples around him. In a certain way he made more impression on Jesus with his asceticism, better suited to the image of the prophet who whips and threatens. Jesus refers the disciples of John, simultaneously, to the facts and to the Word of God. He quotes (freely) Isaiah as he will do in the synagogue of Nazareth (Lk 4,21): Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled that you have heard with your ears. With the crowd, Jesus uses the circumstance, the actuality, to educate the witnesses of the scene. He brings them back to themselves: What have you gone to see! The intention, the meaning of having gone to listen to John needs to be purified. Probably, they had been driven by curiosity, but also by something more. Why did they go to see that poor man, dressed in camel skin? It was an opportunity to situate the mission of John the Baptist: he is the greatest of the prophets. But now, with Jesus, a new fact begins: the kingdom of heaven.

From the readings of today’s Sunday what theme can we reflect further on? One could take up the idea of preparing the way for the one who is to come. But who is? In the Gospel, preparation takes place in the desert; not because it is the place of happiness desired by God but because we must pass by them. It is the place of trial, temptation, thirst and therefore, of desire; and where the words of hope acquire a meaning. In this time of Advent, we must retire to the desert. You do not have to go so far from your home. You need only to take a bit of mental distance from your normal circumstances of daily life and retire into the recluse of your soul, into your inner life where you are alone with God. There, in this time of Advent, God will give us hope and encouragement:  We need to believe that renewal will be strengthened by God just as the blind recovered their sight, the cripple walked. Patience and impatience are the two ways in which men face problems, and each has its possibilities and risks. Patient people act slowly, resign themselves, and accept compromises too easily. The impatient ones want everything at once, are intransigent, and sometimes lack realism. During Advent, the Church finds in the Bible all the expressions of urgency and imminence of salvation. Here is your God, revenge comes! (1st reading). Here, the judge is at the door (2nd reading). Are you the one who must come (Gospel)? It shakes our apathy, enlivens our thirst, and makes us feel impatient. But the Gospel is very different from the revolution or the conquest of the world. It must heal in depth, truly change the world, and make the desert bloom again. The Church also preaches patience, such as Apostle James did, not out of fear, but out of respect for God's action, which acts over time and with time. Patience is not resignation. Already, today we must take courage and put ourselves at work; for as of now the blind see and the cripple walk. But the work of God is mysterious and only in eschatological times will it be fully accomplished. John the Baptist may have somehow exhibited be-wilderness as he sent message to Jesus asking: Are you the one who has to come? Our faith is lived and strengthened by facing the problems of life. The timid are upset about it; the reassuring certainties must not be questioned. The Messiah has come; let's not think about it anymore. But many men, many Christians wonder and ask: If this Messiah has not changed the world, he is not the true Messiah. Jesus agrees to be questioned, does not fear the trial of facts and invokes for himself the double testimony of Scripture and works. As in the time of the Gospel, the facts alone are not enough to convince everyone. It is necessary that the word highlights them. Together we seek the actual manifestation of the power of the Saviour and the testimony of the word that highlights it. From the foregoing, the Church during this advent season exhorts us to retire to the desert of our souls where we encounter God who will guide us in the requisite transformation and renewal of our hearts. He will bestow on us the gift of patience as we wait for his coming. He will help us discern His ways and we will follow him as he unfolds his plan before us. Aligned to him, he will make of us veritable instruments in making the blind see, the cripple walk, the dumb speak; he will make us witnesses of his marvellous deeds. He will confirm our faith in the Messiah and help us repose full confidence in him. We shall not only be privileged, like John the Baptist, to be precursors of the Messiah but also, and more so, the proclaimers  and apostles of the good News of the Kingdom which the Messiah has established and which will be fully manifest in eschatological times.

 +John I. Okoye

(graphics by charles)

2nd Sunday of Advent; Year 1, 2019/20

May we at today's Eucharistic celebration gain the grace to align our thought patterns to that of God and with transformed hearts and minds, fulfill God's minutest wish and will in our lives.

Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Isa 11,1-10; Psalm 71; Rom 15, 9-9; Matt 3, 1-12; 2nd Sunday of Advent; Year 1, 2019/20)

            The three readings lay more emphasis on the person and work of Christ than on his coming. Matthew presents Jesus as a judge, Paul, as a servant who welcomes all, Jews and pagans alike. lsaiah presents him in triple images as a descendant of David. He is the Messiah, the descendant of Jesse, father of David. As the stump of a tree that has developed over the years, the Messiah is linked to the ancient lineage of David; thus the continuity of God's design is guranteed. Springing up from the root of Jesse, indicates that the origin of the Messiah appears more humble than if it were directly connected to David, the glorious king. The shoot that comes from the roots and not from the trunk demonstrates that God often intervenes unexpectedly and disconcertingly. The Messiah is imbued with the Holy Spirit: On him rests the Spirit of the Lord. The Messiah receives the Spirit as the servant (Isaiah 42,1), and the prophet (Isaiah 61,1); he is filled with all his gifts that orient him towards God. Animated by the Spirit, he is connected to the long line of believers who have assumed a responsibility for the people. He will give proof of wisdom and intelligence like Solomon (1 Kings 3,9-12); he will have the spirit of counsel and strength proper to the leaders of the people, like Moses and David; he will be animated by the fear of the Lord like all those who, starting with the Patriarchs, lived in the faith. The work of the Messiah will include showing and reestablishing  justice. He will exercise justice according to God and his judgments will be true, since he is not influenced of anyone: he will show himself, particularly, benevolent towards the small and the poor; thus ending the reign of the wicked. He will also extend his kingdom to all the peoples. All men will be called to know the Lord.

By giving his final advice to the Christians of Rome, Paul presents the universal salvation as he did in all his letters. This passage is not a simple exhortation to mutual acceptance, but an invitation to imitate God's behaviour towards all men, to welcome and love like God. God is patient and Jesus the Messiah manifested this divine patience by welcoming to all. The Christian community must be open to all as its Master, and in this way, it becomes a sign of a humanity called to fraternity. God is faithful, merciful to all. To fulfil his promise, God first revealed himself to the Jews; but this loyalty does not limit his love for all men at all. In Jesus Christ and like him, the Church is a sign of God's mercy towards all; it is in the world, as a centre of universal love and remembers it in a very special way during these weeks of preparation for the feast of Christmas.

In the gospel, John the Baptist is presented as a prophet. He leads a hard, austere life. He lives in the desert. The desert is the place of trial and glory. The Sinai desert, in the Exodus, was the place where the people, influenced by Egyptian paganism, were put to the test. Before entering the promised land, this purification of an entire generation was necessary. This is the first symbolic meaning of the desert of Judah in which the Baptist preaches. God, through the voice of his prophet, calls his people to lead them to conversion of heart and to make the renewal of the covenant possible. I will draw her to me, I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart (Hosea 2,16). The desert is the place where God manifests his presence and glory. During the Exodus, he was present to his people (in the column of fire, through the guidance of angels, in the theophanies of Sinai, in the tents of meeting). The message of John the Baptist is prominently his appeal to conversion/repentance/ metanoia. Repent! It an urgent appeal and one should not be left behind. The kingdom of God is near. The axe is already at the root of the tree. John harshly rebukes the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and insists that true conversion should bear fruit. This conversion is signalled by a baptism of water, with the confession of sins and true reversal of the heart. John  also announces the coming of Christ and his works: He who comes after me is more powerful than me… he will also baptise, but in the Holy Spirit and fire. These two terms seem to designate two different realities: the Spirit and the gift that brings the believer into the new life, characteristic of Christian baptism; the fire announces the decisive judgment that Jesus exercises at the moment of his second coming, when he separates the wheat, which he collects, from the chaff that burns. This message of John the Baptist remains current. Those who want to welcome Christ must prepare his way. It is necessary to return, regularly, to the Gospel to penetrate it more deeply; the time of Advent offers us the opportunity.
            What would we consider as the challenges of this Advent season. One of them is to ask ourselves what are we supposed to do during these weeks of Advent to welcome the appeal of John the Baptist to conversion/repentance/metanoia He first denounces the complacency of the Pharisees and Sadducees who believed themselves to be members of the people of God and closed themselves in their sufficiency. John whips them violently. He also attacks their attachment to the past. Jesus Himself challenged these representatives of a fossilised tradition that is without life, while he the Lord wants people  alive, wants them to live, to revive. He knows that though the trunk may be dead, but the roots from which a vital shoot can come out remain (1st reading) and that even stones can become children of Abraham. John the Baptist indicates the way of conversion/repentance. According to him, the first step is to submit to Baptism. Many conversions are not accomplished because one remains hesitant, undecided and lacks the basic faith necessary for conversion. John also indicates that the outcome of effective conversion is to bear fruit of conversion. Jesus severely condemns those who say and do nothing. Conversion cannot be limited to an intellectual level; it must reach the heart to make a life change. It means, in fact, for us to open ourselves to the action of the Holy Spirit who can fill us with his gifts. Conversion manifests itself particularly in welcoming others. We are naturally selfish. We must be as welcoming as the Lord himself (2nd reading) who will judge the poor with justice and make fair decisions for the oppressed of the country (1st reading). We have to be like him, welcoming all, especially the simple and completely unnoticed ones.

The indications of repentance and conversion in the readings challenge us to add some more flesh to the concept. The term repentance (which is the translation of the Greek metanoia), means change of mind (meta – change; noia – mind). Thus, to repent means to completely change one’s mind about something. When a person repents, he must first admit that he was thinking wrongly and then he must change his whole way of thinking so that he begins to think rightly. In this sense, therefore, to repent means to think as God thinks and to see things just as God sees things. It is only in this way that such a change of mind will bring about a change of life. For if a man thinks right then he will live right. One who repents begins then to think as Christ would think and act as Christ would. Such a person would have undergone a radical transformation. Sometimes, we use the term repentance as synonymous, and even substitutive of the term conversion. Indeed, they are closely connected, such that the latter is a necessary consequence of the former. Whereas repentance involves a change of mind, conversion entails a change of direction. To be converted, means therefore, to turn, turn around, change direction. Literally, it means making a turn-around and facing a different direction. In conversion, therefore, there is a double movement: turning from, and turning unto. This means that when a person changes his direction, he must turn away from the way he was going unto a new direction. It entails, first and foremost, entering into prayer intimacy with Christ. It also involves giving up sins, mortal and venial, imperfections and loving and serving God and our neighbours perfectly. It is not, therefore, a question of change of behaviour. Because one can change his bad behaviour without experiencing conversion. True conversion would entail, therefore, leaving off one’s old ways of sin and entering into intimacy with the indwelling Trinity, such that the motivating principle of one’s thought and action becomes the impulse of the Holy Trinity. When, therefore, we talk about repentance, we mean in the first place, the change of our mindset so that we begin to think and act as Christ would. It also entails a turn around, change of direction, turn from the wrong way unto the right direction which is God’s way. That is why we cannot talk about repentance without talking about conversion because one complements the other. These two terms are therefore used almost interchangeably. To get converted means to experience transformation. It entails a fundamental change of the human will to move from bad to good, from good to better, and from better to best. Put in another way, conversion means a change from vice to virtue: from deceit and lying to honesty and truth, gluttony to temperance, vanity to humility, lust to love, avarice to generosity, discrimination to oneness in Christ, syncretism to true worship of God etc. It is only when we experience true conversion/repentance that we can really be preparing for the coming of the Messiah at Christmas, the end of our lives and, of the world. May we at the Eucharistic celebration of today gain the grace to align our thought pattern to that of God and with transformed heart and mind fulfil God’s minutest wish and will in our lives. + John I. Okoye

(graphics  by chukwubike)