THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 25/01/20326

Doctrine and Faith

THIRD SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

READINGS OF THE DAY: Is 8:23-9:3; Ps 26 (27); 1 Cor 1:10-13,17; and Mt 4:12-23

 The Gospel of Matthew begins the account of Jesus' public life (cf. 4:12-23) by reporting a seemingly simple fact, but which in reality constituted a great surprise, if not a scandal, for the religious expectations of the time: "Jesus withdrew to Galilee and went to live in Capernaum" (vv. 12-13). It was logical to expect that the messianic announcement would come from the heart of Judaism, that is, from Jerusalem, but instead it came from a region generally despised because it was contaminated by paganism ("Galilee of the Gentiles"). But precisely what is surprising for Matthew is the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy contained in the book of Isaiah (cf. 8:23b-9, 1-3).

 

The territory occupied by the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali was located in the far north of Palestine, near Sea of Tiberias: Galilee, also called "the district of the Gentiles." Isaiah's oracle was probably pronounced shortly after the Assyrian king Tiglath Pileser III occupied the northern regions of the kingdom of Israel in 732 BC. These were very harsh times. The darkness and the gloom express the anguish of a lost people; the heavy yoke, the rod upon their shoulders, and the rod of the oppressor evoke the plight of an oppressed people. It is therefore to a lost and oppressed people that the prophet addresses, reminding them of the certainty of liberation. Whatever happens, there is always, the certainty that the Lord is with his people. And in a poverty so absolute that the prophet speaks of oppression as if it were already a past event: "In Naphtali he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali" (v. 23). The subject is the Lord, and oppression is his punishment, a consequence of the people's idolatry.

 A situation, however, not definitive, since the prophet continues, announcing the passage from humiliation to glory, from darkness to light: the contrast is stark and the transition is sudden, like when a wayfarer lost in the darkness suddenly emerges into the light. The joy is uncontainable, so much so that the word occurs four times in a single verse, and the prophet's emotion is expressed with two images and a memory: the joy of a bountiful harvest and the division of the spoils - one peasant, the other warrior - and the allusion to the "time of Midian" that evokes Gideon, who with a handful of men crushed the arrogance of the Midianites (cf. Judg. 6-7). The lesson is clear: it is the Lord who saves his people, not the strength of armies. The essential thing is therefore always one thing: trust in God. Just as in the time of Midian: "The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord," the Book of Judges recounts, "and the Lord delivered them into the hands of Midian" (Judges 6:1). But liberation is also in His hands, and His hands are stronger than our sin.

 The ancient prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, therefore, in Jesus' choice to begin his mission from the geographical and religious periphery of Judaism, thus breaking with every form of particularism. His message - a habitual, repeated message (“from that Jesus began to preach," v. 17) - is summarized in an extremely concise formula: the arrival of the kingdom ("the kingdom of God is at hand," v. 17) and the moral imperative that it entails ("repent"). The episode of the calling of the first disciples is set on the shore of the lake, where Jesus was walking and where the men were intent on their work. God's call reaches men in their ordinary surroundings, in their workplace: no sacred setting, but the scenery of the lake and the backdrop of the harsh daily life. Let's try to highlight the essential features of this story, which are four.

 First: the centrality of Jesus. His is the initiative ("he saw [...], said to them [...],  called them," vv. 18, 19, 21): it is not man who self-generates a disciple, but Jesus who transforms man into a disciple. The disciple, then, is not called to take possession of a doctrine, nor even primarily to live a life project, but to solidarize with a person ("Come after me," v. 19): attachment to the person of Jesus comes first.

 Second: discipleship requires a profound detachment. James and John, Peter and Andrew leave their nets, the boat, and their father; they leave their trade and their family. The trade represents security and social identity, the father represents their roots: it is therefore a radical detachment.

 Third: starting from Jesus' call, discipleship is expressed with two movements - leaving and following - that indicate a shift in the center of life. Jesus' call does not place us in a state, but on a path.

Fourth: there are two coordinates of the disciple: communion with Christ ("follow me") and a race toward the world ("I will make you fishers of men"). The second follows the first: Jesus does not place his disciples in a separate, sectarian space; he sets them on the paths of men.

Happy Sunday! 

†John I. Okoye

5th Sunday of ordinary time, 9th February, 2025

 The encounter with Jesus is always personal and requires us to leave the anonymity of the crowd to meet him face to face. Happy Sunday!

Doctrine and Faith

(Is 6:1-2a.3-8; Ps 137 (138); 1Cor 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11; 5th Sunday of ordinary time, 9th February, 2025)

In Nazareth, the rejection of men is unable to stop the journey of the word of God which in Jesus continues to be fulfilled elsewhere. Luke's story, which we listen to today, describes to us the effective fulfillment of this word in the life of Peter and the other disciples, who, unlike the Nazarenes, welcome the word of Jesus and give it credit. In fact, they have the poor heart of those who recognize themselves not only with empty nets, but even as sinners, as Simon Peter does. Or as Isaiah does, who-encountering the holiness of God-cannot help but confess his own impurity: «Alas! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips" (Is 6:5). On the contrary, the Nazarenes, we remember, had revealed the hardness of a rich heart because it was full of demands towards Jesus. And those who demand do not know how to trust.

The text that Luke offers us this Sunday is not just a story of vocation; it is the dramatization of what happens when the word of God releases its transforming power in the lives of those who know how to welcome it with faith. We can in fact divide the passage into three small scenes, connected by a common thread whose protagonist is the word of God which becomes flesh in Jesus. In the first scene, Jesus announces the word of God and the crowds listen to it. People crowd around his word, because they understand that it is not like other words, but is capable of giving authentic meaning to life, redeeming it from any illusion or emptiness.

In the second painting the evangelist takes us deeper. From the anonymous and impersonal face of this crowd some faces and some names emerge. The encounter with Jesus is always personal and requires us to leave the anonymity of the crowd to meet him face to face, letting him call us by our name so that we in turn can call him by his name. In particular, for Peter this personal encounter takes place through a different relationship with the word of God. Until now he has listened to it, like the others, confused in the crowd; now this word demands from him a personal and responsible decision, which only him, in his freedom and in the first person, can and must make: "At your word I will cast the nets". Jesus had used a plural: "cast your nets"; Peter responds in the first person "I will cast the nets" (see Luke 5:4-5). Now for Peter it is no longer a question of listening to the word of Jesus like the crowds do; now this word involves him personally and asks him to become the ultimate criterion of his discernment, his judgement, his action. Peter decides to trust Jesus' word and in this way he will be able to see its effectiveness: the nets, previously empty, are filled with an immense quantity of fish. Our relationship with the Lord becomes personalised, and we emerge from the anonymity of the crowd to meet him face to face, every time his word becomes for us a criterion of judgment and action, the foundation of our life; in addition to listening to it, we decide on it, even when it appears useless, ineffective, contradicted by our experience. However, Peter's story does not end at this point, there is a third scene, very short, in which the words of Jesus still resonate, which take on a new and further aspect. From a criterion of judgment and action, it becomes a powerful word that transforms Peter's life, calls him to conversion, promises him a different future, for which it offers itself as the only guarantee: "from now on you will be a fisher of men" (v. 10). After having noted the effectiveness of Jesus' word in the sign of fishing, Peter will have to find it in his own life. Just as that word transformed empty nets into full nets, so it will transform Peter's life: from a fisherman he will become a fisherman of men.

What Peter experiences is an Easter passage. It is being born into a new life; it is the passage from night to day, from empty nets to full nets, from being a simple fisherman to becoming a fisherman of men. Luke also uses the Greek term zōgreus, which means "he who captures the living", and perhaps we can understand: "he who captures men to return them to life". In the Bible the sea is a symbol of death and of every other evil that threatens the life of man. Peter's mission will be to tear men away from this sea which evokes all that is darkness, anguish, negativity - to return them to that fullness of life and joy that only the encounter with the Lord can bring about in the existence of every person. Announcing to the Corinthians the resurrection of Jesus and his revelation to the disciples, Paul goes so far as to exclaim: "By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain" (1Cor 15:10). Meeting the Risen One, living the experience of Easter means precisely this: allowing his new life to transform our existence. The grace of Easter always fills our empty networks. We have the responsibility to welcome this gift and make it mature as disciples of Christ. The Christian life, as a vocation, is much more than the simple response to a word that calls us. It is welcoming and making effective in us the ever new grace of Easter. 

+ John I Okoye

FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR A, 30TH APRIL 2023

 
We pray through the fruits of this Holy Sacrifice, that we receive the grace to always fix the gaze of our mind and heart on Jesus, the good shepherd. It is He who will transform our life through the glory of his resurrection. Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 2,14a.36-41; Psalm 22 (23); 1 Peter 2,20b-25; John 10,1-10; 4th Sunday of Easter, Year A, April 30, 2023)

In the heart of the Easter season, the liturgy invites us, every year, to fix the gaze of our mind and heart on Jesus, the good shepherd. More exactly, he is the beautiful shepherd, as John defines him in his account. Beautiful in the sense of an exemplary shepherd, and therefore true, reliable, credible. In Greek - the word which the evangelist rendered - beautiful is kalos, a term built on the same root from which the verb “to call” (kaleo, in Greek) comes. It is a verb on which all of today's biblical readings seem to insist.

In the Gospel, John writes that the handsome\good shepherd calls his sheep, each one by his name, and leads them out (John 10,3). And the sheep, recognizing his voice, listen to him and follow him. They can do this because they recognize that it is not only the sound of his voice that calls them but also the beauty of the shepherd, the beauty of his life. The sheep know his voice not only in the sense that they know how to distinguish it from other voices - such as those of thieves, brigands, or mercenaries -, they also know it more deeply. They listen and understand that it springs from a beautiful\genuine life that it is totally delivered\donated, like gift, in love, so that all of them could have life, and have it in abundance. In the passage that we read this Sunday, the evangelist alludes to this, but he says it more clearly only in the verses that immediately follow: The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep (John 10,11; cf. also John 10, 15.17-18). This is the beautiful shepherd that calls the sheep and the sheep know how to listen to, recognize and follow and allow themselves to be attracted by him. He is no other than the one (as Peter recalls in his First Letter) who suffered for you and who bore our sins in his body, on the wood of the cross (1 Peter 2,21.24). By his wounds, we have been healed! Healed and transformed, this is so because letting oneself be attracted by the voice of this shepherd means, Peter insists, accepting his example and following in his footsteps. And here, in the context of this letter, the verb to call still resonates strongly: To this you were called (1 Peter 2,21), that is, to do good, even at the cost of having to bear with patience some unjust punishment (1 Peter 2,20). However, this is not just any kind of patience, much less painful or passive patience. It is rather the patience of love that continues, with perseverance, to love and to do good, even when faced with adversity, misunderstanding, and hostility, which often expose one to violence and rejection.

What are we to do, brothers? (Acts 2,37), the crowds of Jerusalem ask in the Acts. Repent … (replies Peter) for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, for the promise is for you and for your children and for all those whom the Lord our God is calling to himself (Acts 2,38-39). Converting doesn't mean adjusting one's life and behavior a little. There is a more radical transformation that is required of us: to truly believe in God's promise, which preserves his desire to make us, through the gift of the Spirit, more like his Son. Receiving baptism in the name of Jesus Christ in fact means, in addition to accepting the forgiveness of sins, allowing oneself to be clothed by him, so that the beauty of his life may radiate and shine through in our existence as well. Also in Acts, in Peter's words, the verb “to call” resounds brightly as the Lord calls people to himself. (Acts 2,39). The Lord calls us to believe in this promise: in the Spirit we are given through whom we are clothed with the very beauty of the handsome shepherd whose voice we recognize and whom we follow with trust. He, John reminds us, that Jesus is not only the shepherd but also the door. In the temple of Jerusalem, there was a door designated of the sheep, through which the animals were led to be sacrificed. Now, Jesus solemnly affirms that he is the true door, but a different door, because it does not lead inside, towards sacrifice, but outside, towards communion with the Father, interwoven no longer with observances, precepts, sacrifices, yokes, and heavy burdens to carry, but with mutual knowledge in love. The shepherd calls his sheep by his name, because he knows them one by one; the sheep follow him because they know his voice. Now, it is mutual knowledge (a sign of a profound communion in love) that becomes the sole foundation of the relationship with God. And the sheep must no longer be led to sacrifice, because it is the shepherd himself who gives them life, in abundance, through the gift of his own life. It is the shepherd (no longer the sheep) who passes through the door, making himself a lamb, and a sacrificed lamb. Among the negative figures to whom Jesus controversially contrasts himself, there are not only thieves and brigands but also strangers. Now, every extraneousness that could characterize our relationship with God is demolished: mutual knowledge and communion in love are possible and are implemented in the gift of himself. The shepherd comes to give us his life and this gift, which precedes us, allows us to listen to his voice and to let ourselves be called by him, in turn giving our lives to him and to our brothers and sisters. It is in this mutual exchange, of a gift that is accepted and paid for, that we can savor life, and life in abundance for that matter, letting the beauty of him shine through. 

+ John. I. Okoye.

(graphics  by Chukwubike OC)

Easter Sunday, Year C, April 9, 2023

We pray in this Eucharist, that the risen Lord gives us grace, so that as we have died with him through our Lenten observances, we may also rise with him at Easter. Happy Easter!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 10,34a.37-43; Psalm 117 (118); Col 3,1-4 (1 Cor 5,6-8); John 20,1-9; Easter Sunday, Year C, April 9, 2023)

The choice of the liturgy which offers us only the first nine verses of the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John is surprising. The account seems to stop at the most beautiful part because immediately after it, Evangelist John will recount the meeting of the Risen One with Mary of Magdala. And this is strange, all the more so, since the Sequence of the Mass, that is sung before the proclamation of the Gospel questions precisely Mary's experience: Tell us, Mary: who did you see on the way? What is the reason for this choice?  What sense can it have for us to listen to this page which tells us about the faith of the beloved disciple, who runs to the tomb together with Peter? Both enter the tomb and see the same things, but it is only of the other disciple, the beloved one, that it is stated that he saw and believed (John 20,8). And it is precisely on his experience of faith that the liturgy invites us today to pause our gaze. After all, this disciple's experience of faith is more similar to ours than that of the Magdalene. In fact, Mary heard herself called by name, she saw the Lord, she was able to hear him. Instead, what did this disciple see? Not the Lord, like Mary, but only signs: an empty sepulcher and cloths that had served to wrap the lifeless body of Jesus, left lying there (John 20,6), or rather collapsed there, because the body they had wrapped up was gone. The disciple sees only signs, yet they are enough for him to believe.

We are in the same condition as him: we believe not because, like Mary, we have heard and seen the Lord, but only because there are signs that make us pass from disbelief to faith. Precisely at the end of this chapter, Jesus will say it to Thomas, announcing to him the beatitude of faith: “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and have believed!”  (John 20,29). Such is the faith of the beloved disciple, which he believes even before personally meeting the Risen One. Signs are enough for him, as long as they are seen by listening to the word of God, opening his ear to the testimony of the Scriptures, of those Scriptures which, until then, he has not even understood and which, then, he is only beginning to understand in a new way. It is necessary to listen to see, and to see in a different way.

On this page of the gospel of  John, all the characters who enter the scene, see. But their seeing differ. Mary sees that the stone had been removed from the tomb. Her seeing, blepo in Greek is a verb that indicates bodily, physical, natural seeing; seeing with one's physical eyes. Peter too, a little later, sees or rather observes the clothes placed there (John 20,6). The verb used here is theorem from which the English term theory is derived. It is a more reflective way of seeing, in which one reasons, investigates, and questions itself. It is seeing not only with the eyes but also with the head. Peter sees and reasons, but does not come to understand. To believe it is not enough to see and reason.  Finally, it is the beloved disciple who sees and whose seeing gives rise to belief: He saw and believed (Jn 20,8). Here the verb changes again; this time and now, it is seeing not only with the eyes, like Mary, or with reason, like Peter, but it is a deeper seeing, with the heart one could say. The verb orao, used to indicate the seeing of John, is used of someone who has continued to dwell in the love of the Lord and to let himself be penetrated by this love as the entire narrative of the passion shows. It is the seeing of one who preserves the word of Jesus and lets himself be influenced by it, thus remaining in his love. Deep down, both Mary and Peter and this disciple see the same things: they see signs, but their way of looking is very different. It is, however, to be noted that these three verbs of seeing are not mutually exclusive, they should all necessarily be connected. One level of meaning should give rise to a better and more profound sense. What you see with your eyes must arouse a search, a reflection, it must lead to reason, to question, to investigate. This research must in turn go beyond itself; it cannot remain only in the horizon of reasoning. It must refract and resound in the depths of our interiority, in the deepest areas of our being, where there is not only our way of reasoning but where God himself lives; where the Spirit of him offers us a different perception of reality, attracts us, and convinces us. His is an inner persuasion that we don't know exactly where it comes from, but we still feel more convincing and reliable than any other truth to which we can come by trusting only in our efforts. And then, precisely at the intersection of these three verbs, of these three ways of seeing, faith is born: one sees and one believes.

Yes, Lord, we love you; but before that, we feel loved by you with a love without measure. And we remain in this love in which everything becomes a sign. The word we have heard, the bread we break in your memory, our being gathered in the joy of Easter, our friendship, the sun that illuminates this day just as the Paschal candle has illuminated our night: everything becomes a sign of your presence, alive and resurrected, among us. Yes, Lord, we love you. And by loving you, and knowing that we are loved by you, we too see and believe. + John I. Okoye

graphics  by Chukwubike OC

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C, 5th December 2021

 May the Eucharist we celebrate today help us to learn how to be committed in preaching the good news by our words and actions as we anticipate the coming of our Lord and saviour.

Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Baruch 5, 1-9; Fillipians 1, 4-6.8-11; Luke 3, 1-6; 2^nd Sunday of Advent, Year C, 5^th December 2021)

On this second Sunday of Advent the Church invites us to trust and commitment: to trust, because God promises abundance of graces, he promises the coming of his own Son; commitment, because this coming must be prepared.

The first reading, taken from the book of the prophet Baruch, is an invitation to trust. Foretells the wonders God wants to accomplish. Jerusalem is in mourning, because she was devastated and her children were led into exile. But the prophet invites us to put off the garment of mourning and affliction” and to put on the splendor of glory, because this splendor comes to her from God forever. This is a spiritual splendor. The prophet says: Wrap yourself in the mantle of God’s justice. God wants to communicate his justice, holiness, and perfection of love to Jerusalem. Therefore, we must prepare to receive these gifts from the Lord. The prophet also predicts the return of the exiles in Jerusalem: Arise, 0 Jerusalem, and stand on the high ground and look towards the east. Jerusalem must look towards Babylon, where the Jews had been led into exile. They walked away from you, pursued by the enemies. This is the miserable fate of prisoners of war, who are led to where they do not want to go. Now God brings them back to you in triumph as on a royal throne. Here we have a very consoling announcement, a reversal of the situation, which fills the heart desires of the Jews. The prophet then explains that God has prepared the ways for this prodigious intervention that he is about to carry out: God has established to smoothen every high mountain and secular cliffs, with the sea the valleys and level the earth. God prepares the way for exiled Israel to return to his land safely and happily. God will lead Israel with joy to the light of his glory, with the mercy and justice that come from him. All these predictions made by God inspire confidence; invite us to trust in his mercy and his generosity,

In the Gospel we see that the promises made by God are about to be fulfilled. Luke specifies the time of their fulfillment in a very solemn way. In fact, in the whole of the New Testament there is no passage that defines the historical framework of events as accurately as this one by Luke. The evangelist gives us, first of all, the temporal indication: In the fifteenth year of the empire of Tiberius Caesar. Then he defines the political situation of the moment in the Near East: Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod the tetrarch of Galilee, Philip, his brother, tetrarch of Iturea and Traconitide, and Lysania tetrarch of the Abilene. He also remembers that Anna and Caiaphas were high priests in Jerusalem at that time. The moment is solemn and decisive: God is about to intervene. How? The word of God came down on John, son of Zechariah, in the desert. John had the inspiration to go to the desert, to devote himself to prayer, contemplation, and to search for God’s will. The word of God descends on him and prompted him to preach a baptism throughout the Jordan region. It is a baptism of conversion for the forgiveness of sins. Hence, God’s intervention consists, at first, of a commitment of preparation. He says as it is written in the book of the oracles of the prophet Isaiah: The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight! Let every ravine be filled up, every mountain and every hill let down; the tortuous steps are to be straight; the impervious places leveled. It is only after this preparation will it be possible to see God’s salvation (Every man will see the salvation of God!).

According to the oracle of Isaiah, the voice of John the Baptist encourages serious commitment of preparation. And we ought to listen to it in the weeks leading up to Christmas. There are need to prepare the way of the Lord, straightening the paths, filling  the ravines, lowering the mountains and the hills, making straight the winding paths are all material realities, which in a way indicate a spiritual preparation. Make his paths straight! We must straighten our paths, which will later be God’s paths: in fact, God will come to meet us through the paths that we will have traced. And what does it mean to straighten our paths? It means making our conduct to conform to God’s will. Many a times, we trace the tortuous paths in our life, and then our encounter with God is not possible. Let every ravine be filled. When we are depressed and disheartened, we are like in a ravine, we are hopeless, then we must fill this ravine, putting ourselves in an attitude of confident expectation. The Lord is about to come: we must not be lacking in confidence. Every mountain and every hill be lowered. Here it is a question of assuming an attitude of sincere humility, distancing ourselves from pride and every form of self-sufficiency. We always depend on the goodness of the Lord; therefore, we must not have attitudes of pride and haughtiness. John the Baptist’s preaching invites us to make examination of conscience: what, in these weeks of Advent, can we correct in our attitudes? In personal attitudes, the way of the Lord must be prepared through prayer. Do we pray enough, or do we neglect prayer? In attitudes towards others, starting with our family, the way of the Lord must be prepared through love and service. Are we really full of affection, charity and concern for our family members? Do we also know how to dedicate ourselves and be ready to help others? In this season of Advent, what can we do to improve the situation of those around us?

In the second reading, Paul invites us to trust. To the Philippians, who are praised for their cooperation in the dissemination of the Gospel says: “I am convinced that he who has begun this good work in you will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Paul makes the Philipians aware that the good work was not begun by them, but by God. It is God who took the initiative in this work, and will also bring it to completion. Then the Apostle wishes the Philippians in particular the grace of spiritual discernment: I pray that your charity will be enriched more and more in knowledge and in every kind of discernment, so that you can always distinguish the best. In this time of Advent, the grace that we must ask of the Lord is that he opens our eyes and so that we can see what we can do for his service and the good of our brothers. In fact, we are often spiritually blind and do not see the good that we can do that would be a source of so much joy for us. Finally, Paul wishes the Philippians to be filled with those fruits of justice which are obtained through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. We must be aware that all our efforts and works are made possible by the grace of God. This awareness puts us, at the same time, in humility and trust. In humility, because we cannot attribute to ourselves those fruits of justice of which Paul speaks, we must attribute them to the grace of God. In trust, because we are guided and comforted by the grace of God. Therefore in this Sunday’s liturgy we are invited to understand our preparation for Christmas, living in trust and generous commitment. +John I Okoye

(graphics  by Chukwubike O  Charles)

First Sunday of Advent, Year C, 28th of November 2021

 May we in this Eucharistic celebration pray the good Lord to give us the grace to always be ready to welcome His coming in our daily lives.

Happy Sunday!

 DOCTRINE AND FAITH 

Jeremia 33, 14-16;Thessalonica 3, 12-4, 2; Luke 21, 25-28.34-36)

 First Sunday of Advent, Year C, 28th of November 2021)

 Advent begins today, the time of preparation for the coming of the Lord. It is a time for Christmas preparation, and also a time for preparation for the last coming of the Lord. In fact, the readings of this Sunday speak more of the second coming of the Lord than of the first.

In the first reading you can see an announcement of the Lord’s coming at Christmas. In fact, in an oracle of the prophet Jeremiah it is communicated that God will fulfill the promises of good that he made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, and that he will make a sprout of justice sprout from David. The term to sprout suggests the preparation of a birth: the birth of the Messiah, who comes to save. But he also comes to put justice everywhere, because without justice there is no salvation. Therefore, this Messiah will exercise judgment and righteousness on earth. And in those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in peace. Jerusalem will be transformed; it will be called Lord-our-justice. We have a wonderful prospect here, God’s gift of justice. God’s kingdom is nearby.

 The other readings deal with the second coming of the Lord. Speaking to the Thessalonians, Paul invites us to prepare ourselves for our Lord Jesus coming with all his saints; and in the Gospel Jesus makes predictions about the end times and gives advice on how to prepare for them. Even if the last day is not about to come immediately, we must always be prepared every day for the coming of Christ into our lives, and especially at the time of our death.

 In the Gospel Jesus announces terrible signs, a time of anguish: “There will be signs in the sun, in the moon and in the stars […] and men will die for fear and for the expectation of what will happen on earth. That is, there will be a time of tremendous upheaval: The powers of the heavens will be upset. In these circumstances, Jesus asks us not to be frightened, but be confident and full of hope. He says, when these things begin to happen, lift up your head, for your deliverance is near. It is, therefore a question of events that accompany liberation. We are not made to always live attached to the goods of the earth: we must be freed, to live in the freedom of love, and generous life. We Christians have every reason to be optimistic, even if things are bad. We know that in all circumstances Christ intervenes, in a mysterious but an effective way, for our salvation and liberation. Jesus then adds some important warnings: Be very careful that your hearts do not become heavy in dissipations, drunkenness and worries of life and that day does not fall upon you suddenly. It is necessary to be vigilant in order to be prepared.

 In today’s world there are many occasions for distractions, as well as excesses. There is the uncontrolled quest for materialism. There is also the pursuit of power, especially, political power where people think they can do whatever they want. The distraction of corruption stares one in the face in our society. There are other evils, which come from other excesses: for example, alcoholism, an evil that spreads throughout the world: the pursuit of sexual pleasure, which causes disorder in many lives and families. So, we have to be careful, avoid following wrong paths, which lead to perdition. We are loved by the Lord. For this we must respond to his love with gratitude and faithfulness. We must not have any reason for mistrust, or anxiety; on the contrary, we are certain of being able to escape every evil that could happen to us, because, united with Christ, we have the strength to overcome all the difficulties.

In the second reading, Paul presents us with a very positive perspective, based on God’s grace: the perspective of growth in love, of abounding in love.

 He addresses this wish to the Thessalonians, who have recently become Christians: May the Lord make you grow and abound in love for one another and for all, as is our love for you. This is the fundamental orientation of our life, to which we must always return. God’s commandment and the commandment of mutual love (Love one another as I have loved you), and grace impels us to grow in love, and abound in it. We must have the ambition to make love overflow. When we encounter difficulties, instead of retreating, we must go on and find ways to overcome them. We must also overcome hostilities by means of generous love, based on the grace of God. Love is above all mutual between children of God who became such in baptism and live from the Eucharist, which brings divine life into them. But, as Paul tells us, love must be directed to everyone, even to non-Christians, non-believers, and even to those who harm us. We must try to contribute to the salvation of all.

The time of Advent is a time of growth in universal and missionary love. Therefore, at this time it is good to pray for missions, because Christ must be born in mission countries, to fill the hearts of those who do not yet know him. So many people need Christ and they don’t know him yet. We must pray for them, and in so doing we thus manifest, our universal love. Love is universal. In fact, it comes from God, who has universal love. To imitate the universal love of God we will have to make our hearts steadfast and attuned to imitate the holiness of God and aim at his universal love. This is a very high ideal. We cannot be satisfied with a level of mediocre spiritual life, but we must try to reach perfection in holiness, which is a holiness of love. This means that our love is to be inspired and guided by God himself, in the way that pleases him, that is, in the way of selfless, generous, pure love. Then we will not have to be afraid, but will be calm in the moment of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Paul continues, asking the Thessalonians to progress on this stays away: We pray and beg in the Lord Jesus: you have partaken from us how to behave in a way that pleases God, and so on you already behave. Paul is not unaware that the Thessalonians are fervent Christians, behaving well, according to the instructions given to them by the apostles, but he says: Be sure to always act like this; distinguish yourself even more. There is always a movement towards being better. Moreover, Paul uses here, in Greek, the verb to abound: it is necessary to abound, to do better and better, with the grace of God.

We begin Advent with these very dynamic perspectives. The Lord comes, he comes to save; and will also come one day come with judgement, and we must always be ready, to get salvation from him rather than condemnation. We must be careful to truly live the Christian life, avoiding living a materialistic, consumerist life in which hearts are burdened in dissipation, and drunkenness. Instead, we must live, generously, in the love of the king, docile to the grace of God, which prompts us to abandon ourselves in mutual love (in the family, in the parish etc.) and in the love of the universal king. This will be possible, if we are united to Jesus heart, which is filled with universal love. Thus, we prepare very well for Christmas, which will bring us all great joy. +John I. Okoye.

(graphics  by Charles O Chukwubike)

27th Sunday of the Year A, 4th October 2020)

Aggiungi didascalia

May God bestow on us, in today's Eucharistic celebration, the graces to make good with the opportunities given to us in life.

Happy Sunday!

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Isaiah 5,1-7; Philippians 4,6-9; Matt 21,33-43: 27th Sunday of the Year A, 4th October 2020)

This Sunday's liturgy offers us a parable that refers to the Lord’s passion. Jesus foresees his passion and tells this parable to warn the authorities of his people who are about to take a wrong path. The content of this parable has as its background the first reading, a hymn of the Prophet Isaiah on the Lord’s vineyard. Thus, both the Gospel and the First readings speak to us of a vineyard, but with a difference: in the parable, God admonished the authorities of the people; in the song of Isaiah, God admonished all the people of Israel.

The song of Isaiah expresses God’s sadness. He is presented as the owner of a vineyard: My beloved owned a vineyard on a fertile hill. The owner gives full attention to his vineyard: he dug it, cleared it of stones and planted selected vines; he built a tower in the middle of the vineyard for proper surveillance, and he also dug a vat. Everything has been done with care; therefore, the vineyard should produce excellent grapes. But in reality, it produces inedible grapes, unripe grapes. The prophet then addresses his word to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all the Jews, to ask, in the name of God: What else was I to do to my vineyard that I did not do? He really did everything possible, he didn't leave out anything. For this reason, the negative reaction of the people of Israel deserves punishment, which God threatens to inflict: Here I want to let you know what I am about to do in my vineyard: I will remove its hedge and it will be transformed into pasture; I will demolish its wall and it will be trampled. I will make it a desert, it will not be pruned, nor be duged and brambles and thorns will grow; I commanded the clouds not to send rain. Thus, the vineyard will remain, completely, desolate. These threats were made to bring about a conversion, and therefore to avoid the punishment itself. The conversion, however, did not happen, and, therefore, the threats took place, as the responsorial Psalm says. In it, the psalmist complains to the Lord not only because he has abandoned his vineyard, but he has also caused it to be devastated (cf. Psalm 79). This was the situation of the Chosen People in the Old Testament: a situation that resulted in the capture of Jerusalem and exiling of the people. When the people are not docile to God, and do not accept his law, which is a law of love, given, precisely, to lead to happiness, then disgrace, and devastation occur.

Jesus' parable does not speak of all the people, but only the princes of the priests and elders of the people, that is, of the authorities. He is aware of their opposition, negative intentions and plans to eliminate him. He therefore, warns them, so as to realise their error and their wickedness and be converted. The parable Jesus narrates begins in a similar way the song of Isaiah begins: There was a master who planted a vineyard and surrounded it with a hedge, he dug an oil mill there, he built a tower. Then comes the decisive moment, in which the owner entrusts the vineyard to the winemakers and leaves. Here the loyalty of the winemakers is tested: the vineyard is entrusted to them; they must harvest and then hand over the harvest to the owner. At the time of the harvest, the master sends his servants to collect the harvest. But those winemakers have possessive attitude: they do not consider themselves, simple, administrators, but rather owners, and refuse to hand over the harvest. They maltreat the servants, indeed they even go as far as stone and even kill them. The master is patient: he sends back other servants more numerous than the first, but the result is the same. For Jesus, these servants represent the prophets sent by God. In the Book of Jeremiah the Lord says to the Israelites: I sent it to you all my servants, the prophets, with care and always; yet they did not listen to them and did not listen (Jeremiah 7,25-26; cf. 25,4; 26,5; 29,29; 35,15; 44,4).

In the end, the master thinks of sending his son to them, saying: They will respect my son! But those tenants, enchanted of their possessive attitude, as they see his son, they say: He is the heir; come, let's kill him, and we will have the inheritance. And, taking him, they drive him out of the vineyard and kill him. At the end of the story, Jesus asks this question to his interlocutors: So when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They answered him: He will make those wicked ones die miserably and give the vineyard to other tenants who will deliver the fruits to him in due time. At this point Jesus makes his interlocutors understand what he is talking about: You have never read in the Scriptures: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was made by the Lord and it is marvellous in our eyes?" Here Jesus quotes a verse from Ps. 118, which refers to the opposition of the builders, that is, of the authorities, to a stone that was to be received and placed in a place of honour; but they discarded it as an object of rejection. God, therefore, has turned the situation upside down, and this stone has become the cornerstone: This was done by the Lord. And Jesus concludes: The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will make it bear fruit. With these words he announces that the authorities of Israel will no longer be at the head of the people of God, who will have other authorities: the twelve apostles and their successors.

In the parable narrated by Jesus, there is, therefore, a prefiguration of his paschal mystery and its consequences. Jesus is aware of the destiny of his adversaries, but he tries to make them avoid, as far as possible, all the misfortunes and catastrophes that are threatened. This parable must also be a warning to us against possessive attitude. We all have responsibilities: some on a modest level, some on a higher level, some on a very high level. But for everyone, the attitude we take, with regard to these responsibilities, is decisive. The temptation is always that of assuming a possessive attitude, saying: God has given me gifts; I am the owner of it, I do what I want. I have received a post of authority, I take advantage of it for my own interest, to accumulate money, etc. So, we take possessive attitude instead of exercising authority for the good of all. The possessive attitude is at the root of many sins and many injustices. With it one would like to achieve happiness, but in reality, this does not happen. True happiness, in fact, is found only in a life of love and service. All the gifts that God has given to us are tools to be able to love and serve others. If we use them selfishly to seek our own interest, we are like the rebellious tenants in the parable. And the consequence will be disastrous for us, as well as for many other people. We must ask the Lord to give us the grace of assuming as he. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many (cf. Matt 20,28ff). He did not want to take advantage of the Father's gifts for his own advantage, as we clearly see in the episode of the temptations in the desert (cf. Matt 4,1-11ff). He has always followed the path of love and service. This is the way that Jesus proposes to us which he makes possible for us through the Eucharist, in which he offers himself to us in a total and complete way possible. In the Eucharist he assumes a completely un-possessive attitude-he takes the bread and gives it to the disciples, saying: This is my body given for you; he takes the cup of wine and gives it to the disciples, saying: This is my blood shed for you. We Christians are therefore, called to live generously with this spirit of love and service. In it we will find the perfect and divine joy, which the Lord wants to communicate to us. +John I. Okoye

graphics by chukwubike oc

12th Sunday of the Year, June 21, 2020

May we, in this Sunday's Eucharistic celebration, experience the ever presence of God in our lives who bestows on us the graces to remain steadfast in our faith, hope and charity during the daily challenges of our Christian lives.

Happy Sunday! 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Jeremiah 20,10-13; Rom 5,12-15; Matt 10,26-33: 12th Sunday of the Year, June 21, 2020)

 This Sunday, the liturgy presents us with a Gospel that has helped the martyrs all through the centuries to face martyrdom with great courage, fearlessness and faithfulness. Jesus says to his disciples: Do not fear men [... J. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul. Martyrdom kills the body, but makes the soul live. But, sin kills the soul. The Gospel of today is anticipated by a passage from Jeremiah, which expresses the Prophet’s fearlessness. The Prophet is the object of a conspiracy: Terror is at hand! But shows himself full of courage, because he is with the Lord, and the Lord is with him: The Lord is at my side as a brave valiant. Jeremiah knows that his persecutors cannot prevail, for men cannot prevail over God: My persecutors will fall and cannot prevail; they will be very confused, because they will not succeed; their shame will be eternal and indelible. The Prophet expects to be preserved from death, and will actually be so. The martyrs have the courage to even suffer death with a winning spirit: they knew that the death of the body is an opportunity for divine victory. 

The death of Jesus was the occasion of the greatest divine victory in all history, because, lovingly facing his death, he won and reversed its meaning: instead of being an event of rupture and defeat, death, thanks to the power of love, has become an opportunity to establish  the new covenant. In the Eucharist we celebrate the foundation of this new covenant in the death of Jesus. In fact, at the Last Supper he said: This is my blood of the covenant, paid for many, in remission of sins (Matt 26,28 ff .). The death of Jesus is, therefore, a victory over death, which then manifests itself, completely, in his resurrection. Christ risen from the dead no longer dies; death has no more power over him (Rom 6,9). The martyrs face death with the awareness of participating in Jesus’ passion, in order to also participate in his resurrection. Jesus says to the Christians: Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but do not have power to kill the soul; rather, fear the one who has the power to destroy both the soul and body in Gehenna (hell). Jesus makes us overcome a fear by means of a greater fear: he makes us overcome the fear of men, of persecutors that can kill the body, with the fear of God, who has the power to make the soul and the body perish in the Gehenna (hell). The fear of God helped a lot of martyrs. St. Justin, when he was tried and the judge threatened him with torments, said that he did not fear torments, but only God. It is the fear of God, the profound awareness of his majesty and holiness that gives strength to martyrs. Perhaps today, we do not have enough of this fear of God, that is, the sense of his power and holiness. There is, therefore, the need to rediscover it, because it is a great force against all temptations. The fear of God is the awareness that he is the greatest and most holy, that does not accept any infidelity and cowardice on our part. When persecution threatens a man, the temptation of cowardice is, usually, too much; spontaneously, everyone is tempted to flee, to avoid persecution, and the simplest way out is apostasy. But this behaviour causes the soul to perish; it breaks our filial relationship with God and our fraternal relationship with Christ. Therefore, it cannot be accepted. Jesus says:Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Also this statement gave the martyrs the strength to testify to their faith with courage, despite all the threats and sufferings they endured. The bond with Jesus is the most important thing, and must be defended with great courage. Jesus says: Whoever recognises me before men, I too will recognise him before my Father who is in heaven. The martyrs had the hope of being recognised by Jesus before the Heavenly Father; that is why they did not succumb to temptation, infidelity and cowardice. On the other hand, Jesus wants to instil confidence in the hearts of the martyrs by making them keep in mind that they are not alone. Just as Jeremiah was persuaded that he had the Lord at his side as a brave valiant, so martyrs know that the Heavenly Father cares for them. Jesus affirms: Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father wanting it. As for you, even hairs in your head are all counted; therefore do not be afraid: you are worth more than many sparrows! We must not be afraid, because trusting the Father frees us from all human fears. Thus, if fear of God is very useful to us, trust in him is even more useful. Martyrs counted on God's help to be victorious in their struggle; victorious, because despite the torments, sufferings and death itself, they did not succumb. With the help of God, they knew how to make their death a victory of faithfulness. In fact, the Father does not abandon, without help, those who witness to faith in him and in his Son Jesus Christ. The awareness that we are important in the eyes of God and that he cares for us gives us strength and great joy.

               In the first reading, Jeremiah entrusts his cause to the Lord and speaks of revenge on the persecutors: Lord of armies, who test the just and scrutinise the heart and mind, may I see your revenge on them; because to you I have entrusted my cause! Christian martyrs, on the other hand, do not speak of revenge, because they follow the example of Jesus, who, instead of invoking revenge on those who crucified him, invoked forgiveness; he said: Father, forgive them, because they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23,34). This is also the attitude of Christian martyrs. The first of them, Stephen, imitated Jesus and, instead of invoking revenge on those who stoned him, said: Lord, do not impute this sin on them! (Acts 7,60). The martyrs suffered death without giving vent to any feeling of hatred, rather, they exhibited/manifested feelings of charity, wishing the conversion of the persecutors. Jesus said: Pray for those who maltreat you (Luke 6,28), and the martyrs follow his invitation, praying for their persecutors. Martyrdom is a testimony of faith, hope and love. It is a testimony of faith, because the martyr refuses to apostatise and rather proclaims his faith in Christ the Saviour. It is a testimony of hope, because the martyr is confident of being rewarded by God with eternal happiness. And it is a testimony of love, because the martyr offers his life for the good of others, the Church, and also his persecutors. The message of today's liturgy is a message that deeply concerns us, frees us from the temptations to deny our faith and gives us the courage to witness to it, remaining faithful to the love of God. This is manifested in the death of Christ, which was precisely a victory of love. May the Eucharistic celebration of this Sunday, therefore, offer us the opportunity of encountering Christ from whom we hope to obtain the graces to be steadfast in our faith, hope and charity during the challenges of martyrdom we meet daily in our lives! +John I. Okoye

(GRAPHICS  BY CHUKWUBIKE)

5th Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 10, 2020

May God grant us, this Sunday, the grace to welcome our Christian vocation with enthusiasm, confidence and courage, so that contributing to the growth of the church, we may be worthy of the peace and joy of the risen Christ, and equally, of a place in God's house.

Happy Sunday! 

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Acts 6: 1-7; 1 Pt 2,4-9; Jn 14: 1-12; 5th Sunday of Easter, Year A, May 10, 2020)

On this Sunday the liturgy offers us very beautiful texts. In the Gospel, taken from the discourse after the Supper, Jesus tells us that he goes to prepare a place for us in the Father's house and reveals the Father to us. The first reading shows us the organisation of the early Church and the way they dealt with the problems that were then arising. The second reading tells us about building the spiritual home for a holy priesthood.

What we can admire, first of all, in the Gospel is Jesus’ delicacy. He wished that the disciples' hearts should not be disturbed. The Passion was close. Jesus knew that this event was going to cause a great upheaval for the disciples, but he took care to preserve them from a prolonged disturbance, and said: Let your hearts not be troubled. Have faith in God and have faith in me too. Then Jesus showed his delicacy in the way he spoke of his passion, of the paschal mystery. It is a tragic, shocking mystery, but he presented it with familiar, simple, attractive images: I am going to prepare you a place in the Father's house; when I have gone and I have prepared a place for you, I will return and take you with me, so that you too may be where I am. It is a nice thing for Jesus to prepare a place for the disciples. But how will he prepare it? He will prepare it, precisely, through his sufferings, passion and, of course, his resurrection. Here we can understand that the place that Jesus prepares for us is in his tortured and then resurrected body. By now we are all members of his body, because he has prepared a place for us in it. We can say that the place that Jesus prepared for us is his heart. He allowed his heart to be pierced, because, in a certain sense, we could enter it, because this heart of his was given to us. We can, therefore, admire the delicacy of Jesus' love and, at the same time, his generosity, because the preparation of the place was a very expensive action for him. But an action performed with immense love. John says: After having loved his that were in the world, he loved them to the end (John 13, 1), that is, to the point of preparing a place for them. On the other hand, Jesus presented himself as the way to reach the Father. He says: About the place where I go, you know the way." Thomas asks him: Lord, we do not know where you are going and how can we know the way? Jesus replies: I am the way, the truth and the life. Again, we see that Jesus is all for us: He is the destination of where we are going, and at the same time the way by which we can reach the place. Infact, we must follow him as we follow a path and imitate him. We imitate him if we live in love, because Jesus is the way for he loves us till the end. Jesus shows generous love. This type of love is not easy to achieve. Love attracts us, but generous love frighten us, because it is costly. However, Jesus gave us the grace to go forward on this path of generous love with all the strength that comes from his passion and resurrection. Then Jesus explained that through him we can know the Father. Philip tells him: Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. Just as Moses asked God to show him his face, so Philip asked Jesus to show the Father. God replied to Moses: You will see my back, but you cannot see my face (Exodus 33,23). Direct revelation of God is impossible for man. But now we can see the face of the Father in the face of Jesus: Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, says Jesus. If we want to know God, we must contemplate Jesus: contemplate him for a long time, listen to him, and then follow him. In that way we know God better, and so God is revealed to us in his glory, which is a glory of love. The greatness and goodness of God are revealed to us by Jesus’ paschal mystery and his face. Jesus then told us a very surprising thing: those who believe in me, will perform the works that I do and I will make them greater, because I go to the Father. To understand this statement, one must also read the continuation of the sentence. That is, the next two verses of the Gospel: ... and whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me something in my name, I will do it. It is true that the disciples did more great works than Jesus, because Jesus limited his ministry to Palestine. In fact, only rarely did he leave there. The apostles extended their ministry to many nations; therefore, they did a broader work than Jesus. And the work of the Church continues to be a work broader than that of Jesus, but in reality the work of the Church is the work of Jesus himself, of the risen Jesus. This is how Jesus' discourse in the Gospel continues: Whoever believes in me, will do the works that I do and will do greater works, because I am going to the Father and whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, for the Father to be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it (John 14, 12-14). Therefore, everything is the work of the risen Christ; the disciples are his instruments, provided that they pray. And all of us are called to carry out the work of Christ in a more modest but real way in our life. Every Christian has the vocation to do the work of Christ, in union with him through prayer and love. Therefore, we must have great ambitions in our lives; we must do divine works in union with Christ. In our life - family life, work life, human relationships - we must do a divine work and gradually transform the world according to the Father's plan, thanks to our prayer and union with Jesus in generous love.

All of these can be called priesthood, as Peter did in the second reading. He said to Christians:  hold on to Christ, a living stone, rejected by men, but chosen and precious before God, you too are used as living stones for the construction of a spiritual building, for a holy priesthood, to offer acceptable spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ. This is a splendid presentation of the Christian life! We are all called to cling to Christ, the living stone. The risen Christ is (as Ps 118,22 says) the stone rejected by men, which has become the cornerstone, because it was chosen, and precious before, God. In his paschal mystery he has become the living stone, which is the foundation of everything in the building. And whoever believes in Christ is also transformed into a living stone, for the construction of a spiritual temple, that is, a non-material temple, but animated by the Holy Spirit. The whole life of the Christian must become an offer to God, a priestly offer, because it is made to God through Christ. Peter calls these offerings spiritual sacrifices pleasing to God, through Jesus Christ. This is our Christian vocation: to offer spiritual sacrifices or, better still, to make spiritual offerings, because it is not about mostly painful, mortifying things, but about the normal activities of life, which are transformed thanks to our union with Christ who died but rose from the dead. The Apostolate of Prayer teaches its members to make the daily offering with this spirit, to be united with the paschal mystery of Christ. It is a question of offering our daily actions, so that our lives may be united to Christ, lived in divine charity. So, humbly, a splendid work was done, an inconspicuous work, that has a wonderful value before God.

In the first reading we saw how the spiritual building of which Peter spoke was built little by little. It is the Church. In the Acts of the Apostles we saw how difficult circumstances had helped to advance its construction. In the early Church there were Jews who spoke Hebrew or, rather, Aramaic - and other Jews who had been to the Hellenistic nations and spoke Greek. The latter are called the Hellenists. There were some rivalries between these two categories of Christians, and at some point discontentment arose among the Hellenists towards the Jews. Every day, there used to be a distribution of food for the widows, which at that time were numerous (men at the time did not have a long life). The discontentment was caused by the fact that, according to the Hellenists, their widows were neglected in this daily distribution.

Faced with this situation, the Twelve convene the group of disciples and established a division of apostolic work. They maintained for themselves the main responsibility, which is not the material one, but the spiritual one: It is not right that we neglect the word of God for the service of the canteens. The apostles must dedicate themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word, because this is the main task of the Church. However, there were also material things to be organised. And then the Twelve propose to choose seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom for the works of charity, Luke does not yet call them deacons, but they were, so to speak, the predecessors of the deacons in the Church. Thus this decision brought a solution to the problem that has arisen and constituted progress in building the Church. The text says: The word of God spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem multiplied greatly. God's grace is fruitful. Even in our day there are problems in the Church that need to be solved. The clergy cannot and should not do everything. It seems, increasingly, urgent to involve the lay faithful in the activities of the Church: not only in material things, but also in the works of charity and education. In this way, the building of the spiritual house will be able to erect and glorify God, gradually, transforming the world. All the texts of this Sunday invite us to welcome our Christian vocation with enthusiasm, confidence and courage. It is a splendid vocation. We all have our own vocation in the Church; we must do divine works in union with Christ. Everyone must make spiritual offerings pleasing to God; therefore, it must contribute to the building of the Church. Thus the peace and joy of the risen Christ will fill our hearts. +John I. Okoye

(pictures by chukwubike)