1st Sunday of Advent Year 2, 29 November, 2020

May God in today's Eucharistic celebration, grant us the graces to be watchful and ready at all times to welcome Christ's coming, by turning away from our sins, welcoming and fulfilling his will and desires and being docile in our spiritual life. 

Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Isaiah  63,16-17.19; 64,1.3-7; 1 Cor. 1, 3-9; Mark 13,33-37: 1st Sunday of Advent Year 2, 29 November, 2020)

               
Advent is the time of waiting: we prepare ourselves for the Lord's coming. He will come back to us during Christmas, and we must be ready for his coming. Today's three readings speak to us, precisely, of this expectation. In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah expresses an ardent desire for the coming of the Lord: Return for the love of your servants, for the love of the tribe, your inheritance. Oh that you would tear the skies apart and come down! Before you the mountains would tremble. In the second reading Paul invites us to await the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. In the Gospel, Jesus encouraged us to be vigilant, and ready to welcome him in the moment of his return. We were called to watch. Jesus tells us in the Gospel: Be careful, keep watch, because you don't know when the precise moment will be […]. Be vigilant, since you do not know when the master will return, whether in the evening or at midnight or at the cockcrow or in the morning. Therefore, we must always be ready. We cannot be asleep Christians, we must always be awake, watchful and eagerly awaiting for the coming of the Lord. Unfortunately, we are too often sleepy. Our spiritual life, instead of being fiery is weak. So, we are not waiting for the Lord, and ready to welcome his wills, and desires; we do not correspond to what he asks of us. We must then awake, to go out to meet the Lord who comes with good works, as today's Collect (opening prayer) of the Mass holds.

 

The first reading strongly expresses the desire for the return of the Lord. The prophet makes us understand that the people find themselves in a painful situation: God seems to have abandoned them and let them wander away far from his ways. The desire for the Lord's return is increased by the memory of his past manifestations: Before you the peoples trembled, when you did terrible things that we did not expect, which we have not heard of from distant times. The Lord is powerful and good, and we await the manifestation of his power and goodness. This desire arouses pain in the faithful for their infidelities. If we truly desire an encounter with the Lord, the awareness of our sins becomes very much alive in us and causes sorrow in our hearts. Isaiah says: You are angry because we have sinned against you for a long time and have been rebellious. We always find ourselves in this painful situation of unfaithfulness at the Lord’s call. He shows us the good ways, the way of faith and love, but we look elsewhere for our happiness. Therefore, as the prophet says, we have become as an impure thing, and as an unclean cloth are our acts of righteousness: we are all withered like leaves, our iniquities have carried us away like the wind. But, despite the suffering caused by sin, we can continue to trust, because the Lord is our Father. The prophet reiterates this concept twice, at the beginning and at the end of the passage: Lord, you are our Father, you have always been called our redeemer; Lord, you are our Father; we are clay and you are the one who gives us form, we are all the work of your hands. Always God is our redeemer. Therefore, sins cannot be a real obstacle to our meeting with him. As soon as we turn away from them, we are helped by the Lord and can move forward with confidence. But prayer is necessary, as Isaiah reminds us: No one invoked your name, no one stirred up to cling to you. If the name of the Lord is not invoked, his coming is not prepared, the Lord cannot grant us the graces of preparation, which are so important for our encounter with him.

In the second reading, Paul finds himself faced with a situation (that of the Christians of Corinth) most positive and demands constant thanksgiving. It says: I continually thank my God for you, because of the grace of God that was given to you in Christ Jesus, since you have been enriched with all the gifts, those of the word and those of knowledge. The Christian situation is a situation of abundance grace. The Apostle rejoices in noting that the preaching of the Gospel has borne abundant fruits in Corinth: The testimony of Christ is so firmly established among you that no gift of grace is missing anymore. This abundance of graces arouses an even stronger expectation of the definitive manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must, therefore, commit ourselves and be irrepressible/unstoppable, to go out to meet the Lord who comes. But this commitment that is required of us must not frighten us, because the Lord will also grant us the grace to fulfil it. Paul affirms: He will confirm you to the end, irrepressible in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful: he has called us, and he will not let us lack anything to correspond to our Christian vocation to become holy and immaculate in love (Ephesians 1, 4). Therefore, with great confidence we can go to meet the Lord who comes. The word of God that we hear today must arouse in us the attitudes necessary to truly welcome the Lord, to meet him, so that our whole life may be transformed by this decisive encounter. +John I. Okoye

(graphics  by  Charles)

34 Sunday of the Year, Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe: 22 November, 2020)

May God bestow on us in today's Eucharistic celebration, the graces to eschew our individual selfishness and then realise that we need to show love to those who seems least important, as we hope to join the eternal king in his glory.

Aggiungi didascalia

Happy Solemnity of Christ the King! Happy Sunday!

 

                                                       DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Ezekiel 34, 11-12.15-17; 1 Cor. 15, 20-26.28; Matthew 25, 31-46: 34 Sunday of the Year, Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe: 22 November, 2020)

On this last Sunday of the liturgical year we celebrate the solemnity of Christ the King of the universe. In Christ the whole world will find its fullness, on the part of men, he deserves everybody’s obedience. Even though, he is owed obedience allegiance, he is a king who cares about the good of all. The first reading, taken from the prophet Ezekiel, presents God as a shepherd who goes in search of his sheep and takes care of them, but also shows him as a judge who will judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. The Gospel takes up and deepens these perspectives. In the second reading, taken from the First Letter to the Corinthians, Paul says: Christ must reign until he has placed all enemies under his feet.

The Gospel opens with a grandiose vision. Jesus is certain of his authority, and power, because he says: When the Son of man comes in his glory with all his angels, he will sit on the throne of his glory. This is a solemn introduction. The Son of man, who was humbled in his earthly existence, but who in reality is the Son of God and has right over the highest glory, comes in his glory with all his angels, because his is a heavenly, divine glory. He sits on the throne of his glory. We can contemplate this scene. After suffering the Passion, Jesus was glorified and invited to sit at the right hand of the Father. The psalmist says: 

The Lord's oracle to my Lord:" Sit at my right hand (Psalm 110, 1; Matt 22, 42-45). Christ now sits at the right of the Father, as we recite in the Creed. This power of the glorious Christ manifests itself in his authority to bring about the Last Judgment, which puts an end to all human history. All the peoples are gathered before him, and here again we have a universal vision. Jesus exercises his authority by separating one from the other, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. But what follows shows that Jesus puts his power at the service of the humblest, the most suffering and the needy. And this is the revelation of the kingdom of Christ. Jesus identifies himself with all those who are in need, who suffer, and those in difficulties of life, to also encourage us to pay attention and be dedicated to all these people. The power of Christ therefore, should not be conceived as an oppressive power, but as a power of service. It is a truly extraordinary fact that the glorious king identifies himself with the most humble and needy people. The king said to those on his right: Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Again in this solemn phrase, all the authority of Jesus is manifested. Then comes the most surprising thing. Jesus says: I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you dressed me, sick and you visited me, imprisoned and you came to see me. The righteous were surprised, they do not remember haven been this generous to Jesus, having met him in such situations of need, and then they ask: Lord, when have we ever seen you hungry and given you to eat, thirsty and have given you to drink? Jesus' answer is simple: Every time you did these things to one of these least of my brothers, you did it to me. Thus he shows his great goodness, and attention to all people who are in difficulty.

Aggiungi didascalia

In the first reading God, through the prophet Ezekiel, promises to look for his sheep, and take care of them:  I, myself will lead my sheep to pasture and I will make them rest. In this way, all his goodness is manifested. This goodness, which was promised, has become a reality with the coming of Jesus and by identifying himself with the people who are in difficulty and in need. Again through Ezekiel God promises: I will go in search of the lost sheep and I will bring back the lost one to the fold; I will bandage that wound and heal the sick one, I will take care of the fat and the strong. Jesus fulfills God’s promise by being concerned for the smallest, weakest and most despised people. He says Whenever you did these things to one of these least of my brothers, you did it to me. 

Then we witness, in the Gospel, the other part of the Judgment wrought by the king: Go away from me, cursed ones, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Because I was hungry and you did not give me to eat. Also in this case the men are surprised and say: Lord, when have we ever seen you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and we did not assist you?." But the king will answer: Truly I say to you, Whenever you did not do these things to one of these little brothers of mine, you did not do it to me. At the end of the world, we will be judged on love, the love for Jesus manifested in his brothers and sisters, who are all human persons. The kingdom of Jesus is a kingdom of love, a kingdom that wants to spread love everywhere: effective love, not sentimental or superficial love; the love that truly puts itself at the service of people in need; the love which in every way transforms the world thanks to these initiatives of generous service.

In the second reading Paul says: He must reign until he has placed all enemies under his feet. The main enemy is human selfishness, which is opposed to Christ's reign of love. And Christ acts continuously, in human history, to free us from selfishness and fill us with love. He truly reigns in hearts only when they are freed from selfishness and live in effective love, a love that drives us to serve the most needy. The reign of Christ will also manifest itself with his definitive victory over death. Paul affirms: The last enemy to be annihilated will be death. The victory over death has already been achieved with his personal resurrection. But the resurrection of Christ is, as Paul says (cf. 1 Cor. 15,20), the first fruits, the first step, which opens the way to the universal resurrection. This will reveal Christ's full victory over death. And when everything has been subjected to him, he too, the Son, will be subjected to the One who subjected everything to him. Christ does not want the kingdom for himself, but for the glory of the Father. He is not greedy for power, but eager to give his life and spread love for the glory of God the Father. Thus, by means of this propagation of love, God will be all in all. God's plan will be completed; thanks to the action of the glorious Christ. May we therefore, on this solemnity of Christ the King declare our allegiance to him, first of all, by fighting our individual selfishness and showing authentic love and hearty service to many of our needy neighbours. +John I. Okoye

(graphics  by Chukwubike OC)

33 Sunday of the Year, 15th November 2020

May God grant us in today's Eucharistic celebration, the graces to always have good perspective of God and to make appropriate use of the gifts he has given to us for the good of others. 

Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Proverb 31,10-13.19-20.30-31; 1 Thessalonians 5,1-6; Matthew 25, 14-30: 33 Sunday of the Year, 15th November 2020)

On this penultimate Sunday of the liturgical year, the Church prepares us for the coming of the Lord. The second reading speaks of it, explicitly, and the Gospel implicitly.

In the second reading, Paul proposes to the Thessalonians the teaching that comes from Jesus: no one knows when the day of the Lord will come; it will come like a thief in the night. The apostles had asked Jesus when his day would come, and he had replied by not indicating a fixed date, but saying that one must always be ready (cf. Matt 24ff ). And Paul says: When it is said: Peace and security, then suddenly ruin will come. The Apostle then encourages the Thessalonians, stating that they are not in darkness. Even if the night comes, Christians are not in darkness and cannot be surprised by the day of the Lord that will come like a thief that comes in darkness, because they are children of the light and children of the day. As children of the light, they don't sleep like others, but always stay awake and sober. In the Second Letter to the Thessalonians, Paul advises them to work; he invites them to be neither idle nor busy without, actually, achieving anything, but to work with commitment. In this way they will be ready for the Lord’s coming (cf. 2 Thessalonians 3,6-13).

Today's Gospel also speaks of the return of the master, and, therefore, implicitly on the day of the Lord. Jesus tells the parable of the talents. A man goes on a journey and gives the servants talents. A talent in antiquity represented a huge sum of money. The master gives to one five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability, and he leaves. The servant who has received five talents does not remain inert, idle, but gets busy and tries to employ them; so he earns another five. And, likewise, the servant who has received two earns two more. However, the servant who has received one, goes to make a hole in the ground and hides his master's money. In contrast to the attitude of the latter servant, the first reading shows us an exemplary, very active woman. In the book of Proverbs there is a magnificent eulogy of a perfect wife, who gives her husband happiness and not displeasure for all the days of his life. She procures wool and linen and willingly works with her hands. He spreads his hands to the distaff and turns the spindle with his fingers. This woman is also generous: she does not work only for her own interests, but opens her hands to the poor. She is, therefore, a model for us. The author observes that external beauty is fallacious and vain: Inner beauty is what counts. The woman who fears God, and who is deeply Godly in her life, is of great value. External beauty is not a true value, but ephemeral. It gives a passing satisfaction, but is not possible to base one's life on it. The servant who has received only one talent does not go to employ the talent, but hides it; why? He explains it at the return of the master: Lord, I know that you are a hard man, that you reap where you have not sown and you reap where you have not scattered; for fear I went to hide your talent in the ground. This servant lacked trust in his master, he had a very negative idea of him. Fear paralyses. To take initiatives and move forward, you need to have confidence. Those who live in fear neither dare to take initiatives, seek refuge nor security, and thus achieve nothing.

In the words of the third servant, he has a negative idea of the master and the fear that derives from it. This fear makes the servant take the wrong solution: to hide the talent, in order to be able to find it and return it to the master. The master, however, did not give his talents to the servants to be preserved, but to be used profitably. Therefore, the third servant is called a wicked and slothful servant. The master shows him that his conduct is inconsistent. The servant says: I know that you are a hard man, who reap where you have not sown and reap where you have not scattered, and the master points out: So you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered? Well, then you should have deposited my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have recovered my capital with interest. This is the least the servant could have done. This parable gives us important lessons. First of all it makes us understand that we must have a beautiful, and positive idea of God. We must not think of him as a bad boss, a hard and severe person, who only tries to catch the wrongdoers in order to punish them. If we have a bad idea of God, then our life will not be fruitful: we will live in fear and this will not inspire in us any positive thing. We must examine ourselves to see what our idea of God is. He manifested himself, especially in the Gospel, but already in the Old Testament, as a God full of generosity, mercy and a father. And Jesus insisted on showing us that God is not a severe master, but a father full of love and generosity. So we need to have tremendous confidence in him. Undoubtedly, as a father, God has needs towards us, but it is a question of needs of love. Usually a father has ambitious plans for his children, he does not want their lives be empty existence, which does not accomplish any valid thing. On the contrary, he has the ambition that his children live a beautiful life, that reveal that they are truly gifted and worthy people. Again, God has an ambitious project for us, he has strong demands on us. But these are needs that come from love and must not inspire fear, but rather trust, because God is always ready to help us. He is not a terrible judge, who tries to discover the fault of people, but a father, always ready to welcome his son, even when he made a mistake, and give him another chance of a beautiful and generous life truly worthy of man and God. We must welcome this message from Jesus about the Father. He manifests the Father's generosity to us in every way: with his word, actions, welcoming attitude towards everyone, especially sinners, and also his warnings, which show his interest so that we do not waste our lives. We must have a correct perspective of God, and above all a deep love for the Father, in union with Jesus, his Son, who has always shown a very great love for the Father and absolute trust in him. At the same time we must be aware of our responsibilities. They should not be burdens for us, but stimulus. It is a sign that God has great esteem for us; therefore, he entrusts us with important things. Above all, parents have great responsibilities: God entrusts their children to them, who are an inestimable treasure. This task must not be a cause for sadness for them, but for pride. Parents are usually proud of their children, and do everything they can to make their lives turn out well. But all the other responsibilities of life must also be accepted as a gift of God's love, who always prepares new gifts. God wants to help us in every way so that the talents he has entrusted to us are truly used well and bear wonderful fruits. Thus, we can move forward in our lives with the right perspective of God, with sincere love of our Father who is in heaven, and the desire to always do something better with his help, for his glory. +John I. Okoye

(graphics  by Chukwubike OC)

32nd Sunday of the Year, Nov. 8, 2020

   .

 May God in today's Eucharistic celebration, grant us the graces to be vigilant and prepared at all times, by             showing our faith in good deeds, so that we may be welcomed on the last day into the heavenly marriage feast

Happy Sunday!

 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Wisdom 6, 12-16; 1 Thessalonians 4,13-18; Matthew 25, 1-13; 32nd Sunday of the Year, Nov. 8, 2020)

On this Sunday the second reading speaks to us of the dead, therefore, corresponds to this time of the year when we think more about our dead. The Gospel speaks of the condition for entering the kingdom of heaven, and is prepared by the first reading, taken from the book of Wisdom.

The Christians of Thessalonia worry about their dead. They await the coming of Jesus, consider it imminent and they think that it is necessary for them to still be alive in order to be introduced by Jesus into heaven. Paul wants to dispel these worries, and explains that death is not an obstacle to rediscovering Christ, because the Lord, when he comes, will make us rise again. Therefore everyone will be able to go to meet the Lord, and to be always with him. These words gave us hope. The awareness that death is not an obstacle for the Lord must console us when we think of our dead, but also when we think of our destiny, because in all probability we too may still be alive when the Lord manifests himself in his definitive glory.

The Gospel indicates the condition for entering into celestial glory with Jesus. The Lord compares the kingdom of heaven to a group of girls preparing for the wedding celebration. Five of them are wise, and five foolish, that is, imprudent, unable to foresee the future.

In Jesus' time it was customary for weddings to be celebrated at night. Therefore, the procession had to proceed with the lamps lit. Foolish girls take their lamps, but they don't take oil with them; the wise ones, however, together with the lamps also take some oil. The bridegroom is late in coming, and they all doze off. At midnight a cry is heard: Here is the bridegroom, go to meet him! The foolish realise that they have no oil for their lamps; they ask the wise, but they point out that the oil will not be enough for everyone, and that then, everyone will be in trouble. While the foolish go to buy oil, the bridegroom arrives. The wise girls enter the banquet hall with him, and the door is closed. The other girls arrive too late and cannot enter. What teaching does Jesus want to give us with this parable? He wants to tell us that we must always prepare ourselves for the encounter with him: for the final encounter, but also for our day to day life. Often Jesus invites us to keep watch in the Gospel, and also at the end of this passage he repeats it: Watch, therefore, because you know neither the day nor the hour. But with this parable he wants us to understand that it is not enough to be awake: we also need to be prepared. Watching is not just about resisting sleep. And in fact in this parable all the girls are asleep when the bridegroom arrives. The important thing, therefore, is not to be physically awake, but to be prepared. Jesus does not specify what he means by that reserve oil that the wise girls took with the lamps. Therefore, various interpretations can be given. However, it is probable that with it Jesus wants to understand the good deeds done in correspondence with his grace. Being prudent means not waiting for the last moment to correspond to the grace of God, but actively correspond to it right now. If we want to be ready at the moment of the encounter with the Lord, we must from now on collaborate with his grace and carry out good deeds inspired by his love. It is not enough to have the lamp. This can be compared to faith, which illuminates our life. But faith alone is not enough; the faith that is valid, as Paul says, is the faith that works through charity (Gal 5,6). In this way, the Apostle makes us understand what condition to be ready for the encounter with the Lord should be: not only faith, but the Christian life, which is a life of love, full of good works. If we let ourselves to be guided by our human inclinations, what we consider interesting, and the pursuit of our interest, then our lives are sterile, and we do not accumulate any reserves of oil for our lamp. This will be extinguished at the time of the Lord's coming, or even before. If, on the other hand, we are vigilant and do good to correspond to God's grace, then we can be calm: the Lord will be able to come even while we sleep; this doesn't matter, because we have the reserve accumulated with the good works of every day. Faith that operates through charity is what is worthwhile, that is what truly unites us to the Lord. It is an illusion to think that it is enough to believe in God in order to be truly united with Christ. As James says, idle, inactive, and dead faith is useless. To be authentic, faith must be active. Another way of presenting this requirement of the Lord is what is indicated by Paul in the Letter to the Romans, when he says that we must offer our bodies to the Lord, that is, to put our whole person at his disposal, to do his will, which is a will of love. We must always seek the will of God and correspond to it in various circumstances. This is another way to be vigilant: to seek to correspond to the will of the Lord. The Lord is good; his will is not a heavy yoke. He said that his yoke is sweet and his burden is light (cf. Matt 11,30). So we can move forward with him with confidence. Guided by him, we will become capable of discerning his will and carrying it out day by day. Then we will be truly wise.

 Old Testament holds wisdom in great esteem. The first reading praises her, as radiant and unswerving/unfailing, and full of attention for those who are concerned about finding her. Indeed, she moves forward to make herself known to those who wish to be acquainted with her: Who gets up for her early in the morning, will find her sitting at his door. Therefore, it is not difficult to obtain wisdom: only to be vigilant is enough to seek her and to welcome her. Wisdom is a way to speak of an aspect of God's grace. This illuminates our lives, shows us the sure path and enables us to always welcome Christ when he appears in our lives. Every day he presents himself to us, and we must welcome him with vigilance and love. Otherwise we will be like the foolish girls of the Gospel parable, who do not foresee the necessities of life and in the end, when the definitive encounter with the Lord takes place, they find themselves in a desperate situation. +John I. Okoye

(graphics  by Charles)