32nd Sunday of the Year C 2016

May our good God grant you strong belief in the future life with him after death, equip you also with all you need to prepare for it through a transformed Christian living, here and now, that is nurtured by the word of God and the Eucharist. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE  AND  FAITH

(2 Macc 7, 1-2.9-14; 2 Thess 2,16-3,5; Luke 20, 27,34-38–10: 32^nd  Sunday of the Year C 2016)

        The mystery of death and what follows have been occupying and tormenting human intelligence. Human intelligence, with all its resources has succeeded in giving us some intuition, some feeble information that is neither certain nor secure, but such that only satisfies our desire and curiosity. Every year, in the liturgy of the Church we celebrate the Solemnity of All Saints and the day after the Commemoration of all the Dead. It all means that the mystery beyond death is proposed annually for our reflection as Christians. What is more is that through these celebrations our faith in a future life is solemnly reaffirmed. Even the liturgy of this Sunday takes up this reflection.
    The word of God and especially the revelation of Jesus Christ give us a clear answer: Not only that there is life after beyond this earthly life but also our bodies will rise to new life one day. It is in 2nd Maccabees that we find for the first time, in the Old Testament an explicit affirmation of faith in the resurrection of the body. In the liturgy of today and precisely   the first reading of today we come to  know that seven sons and their mother were ready and decisive to undergo martyrdom and to sacrifice their young lives instead of contravening the law of God. Where did these young people find the strength and courage for their resolve? This is from the certainty that after their death, on account of observing the law of the Lord, God will raise them to a new and eternal life. In other words, it is good to die from the hands of men at the same time expecting from God the fulfillment of the hope to be with him in the new life of the resurrection.

  In the gospel reading of today, Jesus gives an answer that is clearer, authoritative and convincing. The Sadducees (a sect of intellectual Jews) who were in opposition of the Pharisees (a more popular sect) negate the resurrection of the dead. In order to ridicule those who believe in it, the Sadducees trumped up a hypothetical question about the resurrection that was absurd and detached from reality. They presented a woman in fulfillment of the law of levirate (a custom of the ancient Hebrews and some other peoples by which a man may be obliged to marry his brother's widow to raise children in the name of the dead brother) who was married to seven brothers and they asked Jesus:  At the resurrection whose wife will she be? In his reaction, Jesus indicated that their problem was a misunderstanding of the issue, because in the future life there will be no need to marry husbands or wives. The error of the Sadducees is from the fact that they imagine the future life is a continuation of the present one, with the same conditioning, exigencies and relationships; but it is not so. Resurrection rather signifies, the entrance into a new condition of life, for the risen will be similar to the angels and the sons of God. This is to say, that they will be in perfect union with God, participate in the fullness of divine life. It is a condition we cannot imagine or define with our finite human mind. In answering the Sadducees, Jesus further searched out from the Scriptures argument in favour of the resurrection. The passage he referred to, was from one of the books attributed to the authority of Moses which the Sadducees recognized: And Moses himself implies that the dead rise again in the passage about the burning bush where he calls God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. Now he is God, not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all men are in fact alive.  The great Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were united to God through faith and love and God made a covenant with them and promised them protection and salvation.  Through this covenant God established a relationship with humans. The issue here is whether the relationship is severed by death. Is death powerful enough to break the ties that bind us to God? But it is God’s desire that the covenant endure. The later traditions of the Bible, in places where this issue is addressed, clearly state that God’s desire to be united with us is stronger than death. That is why, God is faithful in his promises; God who is lover of life cannot abandon his friends as victim of death and he cannot be impotent before death, otherwise he would not be God. He is not the God of the dead but of the living: all those who are worthy of the future life live by God.

    There are circumstances in which Jesus better explains the resurrection: I am the resurrection and life:  whoever believes in me even though he is dead will live and who is living and believes in me will never die (John  11,25;  See also John 5, 28; 6,40; and 1 Cor 15,14.20). The unique condition that Jesus gives for the resurrection of life is to believe in him and be united to him as a branch is united to the stem of the vine. Another condition is to feed on him who is present in the word of God (Scriptures) and the Eucharist:  I am the bread of life, whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life and I will raise him on the last day.

    If we Christians, who have entered a new relationship with Blessed Trinity through our incorporation into Christ at Baptism, are assured of future life, how are we to live it until it dawns? Indeed the future life has dawned. This is the eschatological hope in which we live by the grace given to us from God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Our future is already present and we are therefore called upon to conduct lives that are radically transformed. However, the future is not completely dawned and we find ourselves living both in this age and in the age to come. Thus we live proleptically; we anticipate future lives but we live them in the present. We are supposed to live like angels and sons and daughters of God who are already in the future life. As difficult as this may be, we have the eternal encouragement of Christ. We have the promise that God will strengthen and guard us. We have the instructions of our religious traditions and our present teachers of faith that direct our mind and hearts. When we live life of the future, we truly enable the future to dawn in the present. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

graphics added by chukwubike

15th Sunday of the Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Deut 30,10-14; Colossians 1,15-20; Luke 10, 25-37: 15th Sunday of the Year C  2016)

  

 

In today’s gospel story, a lawyer asks Jesus: Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus asked him what were written in the Law on the subject matter. Answering, the lawyer quoted two passages in the Scripture that encompass one’s responsibilities. We must love God with all the powers of our beings (Deut 6,5) and we must love our neighbour (originally interpreted as another Jew) as we love ourselves (Lev19,13). Jesus told him that if he fulfilled the content of the two commandments he quoted, he would live. Looking at the gospel story so far, one can, safely, say that the practice of both vertical and horizontal dimensions of love leads to eternal life. Jesus, however, recasts the lawyer’s second question, who is my neighbour? and tells a story to demonstrate what neighbourhood means.

    One of the protagonists, the victim of brigands in Jesus’ story was simply a man: who was he? and what was he? without further qualification or characteristics: just a man. Put this way, Jesus means here that every person, every human being, whoever he/she could be, is my neighbour. His claim to be my neighbour doubles, if he is in anyway in some difficulties or in need of help, just as the unfortunate victim of Jesus’ story. Jesus goes on to show two opposing attitudes to the victim of the story. Jesus criticized the indifferent and insensitive comportment of the Priest and the Levite who avoided any contact with the victim as they passed by and continued their journey. The compassionate attitude of the Samaritan, who took care of him, was regarded as charitable and, therefore, commendable. When Jesus asks the lawyer who became really a neighbour to the victim, he responded that it was the one who had compassion for him. Jesus then added: Go and do the same yourself.

    It is to be noted that the lawyer had put a question to Jesus: Who is my neighbour? Jesus implicitly answered the question: It is that person, everyone especially if he/she has need of your help. But for Jesus, what is important is not knowing whom my neighbour could be. Rather, the important issue is to make oneself a neighbour, make yourself a brother and a sister to all. It is in having this type of attitude and comportment that we realize, concretely, the love of our neighbour.

    Apart from the main lessons of this parable, one wonders what other purpose does religion serve if not to show and lead to love? In what other ways do we express our faith if not in the expression of love and charity. We lament the lack of love in certain quarters of our society, and the indifference attitude of some of us who live as if they have completely forgotten the law of God, especially the fundamental law that upholds the practice of love within the society. But think of the gravity of the scandal when it is we, practicing and communicant Catholics, who are guilty of insensitivity and selfishness in the face of the needs of our needy neighbours. Such attitudes and comportments are condemned. Unfortunately, they disfigure in an irreparable manner the image of the Church and Christianity. On the other hand, it is to be noted with pride and admiration when some of us who put some efforts to alleviate the sufferings and difficulties of our neighbours even in little things. Jesus indicates the attitude and comportment of the good Samaritan as worthwhile example to be imitated. Therefore, may the solemn and active participation in the Eucharistic liturgy enkindle in us the desire to make ourselves neighbours to people as we encounter Jesus, the first good Samaritan, that made us his neighbours through his incarnation and the Paschal mystery of his passion, death and resurrection. +John I. Okoye

5th Sunday of Lent: Year C 2016

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Isaiah 43,16-21; Philippians 3,8-14; John 8,1-11; 5th Sunday of Lent:  Year C  2016).

In the first reading, God, through the mouth of prophet Isaiah, promises to perform a new exodus and a new liberation in favour of the exiled Jews in Babylon. The new liberation will be as prodigious and marvelous as the first one during which he rescued his people from Egypt. God does extraordinary and even seeming impossible things for those He loves.  What is required of the beneficiaries of God’s new exodus is trust in, dependence on and collaboration with Him. The new exodus and new liberation, which God performed for his people in the OT, serve as anticipation of the real newness of life which God wishes to bring about in every soul through his Son, Jesus Christ. What is precisely being referred to as the newness of life is First of all, God’s wish to bring man out from the slavery of sin into the liberty of the son of God. Secondly, it is God’s desire to cause to spring up streams of living waters of grace from souls killed by sin. These aspects of the newness of life were realized concretely, in Paul’s experience and in the life of the adulterous woman of the gospel reading of today.

Paul was caught up by Christ, he was conquered by Christ. After his encounter with Christ on the way to Damascus, his life changed radically. He was no more interested in the privileges of his past life as a rigorous pursuant of righteousness derivable from the observance of the law of Moses. He was rather interested in the salvation or justification that came as gift from God through faith in Jesus Christ. All other privileges he had or whatever he regarded as important were regarded as loss in comparison with the knowledge of Christ. Everything else was like refused to him and he was disposed to lose it in order to gain Christ, have experience of him, know the power of his resurrection, participate in his suffering and become like him in death in order to rise with him. In the face of all these, Paul did not, however, relax his effort as if he had achieved the goal, reward and perfection of his life. Rather he tried to forget the past and put all his energy in what lay in the future. Like an athlete, he ran towards the goal, in order to obtain the extraordinary recompense which God calls him to receive in Christ Jesus. In the apostle Paul, we see how the infinite mercy of God, through Jesus Christ liberates, redeems and saves man. God manifested his divine omnipotence that changed human person from the interior and made him a new creature, putting him in the condition of newness of life. 
   

 In today’s gospel story, we have another instance where God, through his Son Jesus Christ, changed an adulterous woman into a new creature. The scribes and the Pharisees wanted to stone her to death following the prescription of the Law of Moses. But Jesus told them: He who has no sin, let him be the first to throw the stone. By this, he challenged them to look inside themselves in order to understand that they had no right to arrogate themselves the authority to judge and condemn others, while their interior were full of hypocrisy and wickedness. Alone with the adulteress, Jesus gives his sentence: No one has condemned you, woman? I do not condemn you either. This is a sentence of divine mercy.  He then added: Go and from now, do not sin again! These words of Jesus have two meanings. It is a command that she should not sin again. At the same time, it is a gift (I give you the power not to sin again). God’s pardon, does not only cancel the past, but also creates a new and better future, opens new possibilities and new ways, even for a soul that sin has irremediably rendered useless.

On this 5th Sunday of Lent, when the preparation for the great feast of Easter is taking final shape, we should, seriously, ask ourselves: What does God want from us today and what does he want us to learn from the Sacred Scriptures? Our reply could be: First, He wishes that we should believe in his vast, or rather his quasi prodigal (scandalous) goodness; he is always disposed to pardon our faults. He wishes us to seriously believe in his omnipotent (infinite) mercy by which, through his son, He wishes to make us new creatures, by radically transforming our situation of sin, degradation and death into that of life, grace and salvation. Secondly, God wishes that we should not arrogate to ourselves the authority to judge our brothers and sisters, talk less of condemning them, but rather look into ourselves to discover that we ourselves are in dire need of the mercy of God. Finally, God desires, that following Paul’s example, we are to strive with all the power and forces in us, to arrive at the sanctification of our lives and obtaining the reward of eternal life.  Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

6th Sun of Year B....(Leviticus 13,1-2,45-46; 1Cor 10, 31-11,1; Mark 1,40-45: )

                                DOCTRINE AND FAITH

                      (Leviticus 13,1-2,45-46; 1Cor 10, 31-11,1; Mark 1,40-45: 6th Sun of Year B)

          

  When we read the first reading and today’s gospel reading together we will easily appreciate how innovative Jesus’ encounter and consequent healing of the leper was. A leper, as can be seen from the first reading, was marginalized and segregated from the religious and civil societies. The people of Israel followed the other nations around them in imposing complete isolation on lepers, constraining them to live far away from the village and town settlements, among themselves. In addition to the inhuman social segregation, the people of Israel added yet another burden on the shoulders of the lepers: religious segregation. Leprosy was thus, interpreted as a sign of divine disapproval and curse. A leper was regarded impure, unclean, a sick person before God, and one who was struck by divine retribution on account of his sins. He was a sick-sinner; sick because he sinned. This was why the leper was under the authority of the priest and in the case of any sign of healing had to present himself to the priest for verification and authentication. This was the situation before the coming of Jesus Christ.
            Jesus allowed the leper to come near him as we read in today’s gospel. Moved by pity, Jesus touched him. Through this, Jesus clearly showed that the law of segregation in the code of Moses’ law was thus abolished. For it was not true that leprosy was a punishment from God, just as it was not true that physical sickness was a sure sign of spiritual impurity and sin, or the idea that whoever was suffering was paying for his sins. This false impression is very much diffused among us Christians of today as we hear people sometimes exclaim: What evil have I done to be so punished by God? This is false notion, that Jesus openly repudiates. Even when one comes in contact with people whose sins are publicly known, those so called public sinners should not be avoided or segregated against. Our attitude and action should follow Jesus example of who was found in sinners company; publicans and prostitutes. In God’s eyes, there are no marginalized, segregated, rejected persons; all are God’s creatures, made in his image and likeness and loved and redeemed by the blood of Christ.
            Even though there are thousands of years between the people of Israel of Old Testament and us in the contemporary times, lepers are still in one way or the other marginalized. They are no more considered as sinners, but they are somehow forgotten and abandoned, neglected and condemned in isolation for years or throughout their lifetime. We are horrified by the stipulations of the law of Moses about lepers, but we should be even be more ashamed and horrified by insensitivity and disinterest of most of us in coming to the aid of those who are still pining under the stigma of leprosy diseases. The society and especially, the government have the onus to provide succor to our brothers and sisters that are in this condition. We should not shy away from our duties. Our consideration for help for the needy should not be limited to the lepers. There are many of our other brothers and sisters who suffer other types of ailments, for which we stigmatize them: people living with HIV/ AIDS; the poor, sick beggars that roam our streets, young people with problem of drugs, homeless people, abandoned aged and sick people, prisoners and ex-prisoners. We have responsibilities towards these people. It looks very easy and convenient to argue away our responsibilities for them, washing our hands clean by implying that they could be responsible for their situations, through careless immoral living or through laziness. Every Christian, especially the ones who have public responsibilities, should, like Jesus, literally touch with his/her hands the situations of our brothers and sisters in order to alleviate their suffering through one way or the other. Often times, a good gesture of compassion, like Jesus showed to the leper can do wonders. Also contemplate also that, were it not for the grace of God, we could be in the circumstances of these our indigent brothers and sisters, situations in which every drop of ONE NAIRA into our begging plate would have sent thrills of joy in our body and heart and hope of surviving hunger for day!

            We appreciate the ardent faith and confidence of the leper in Jesus in today’s gospel reading. He showed it by the gesture, begging on his knees and by his simple and spontaneous prayer, If you want, you can heal me. By this expression, he shows that he has no doubt of Jesus’ power to heal, he believes Jesus could heal him. But still, he left it at Jesus’ discretion: if you want to! Jesus rewarded his faith by his words, I want to, be healed! Immediately, the leprosy vanished. When we really desire to be freed from our physical, moral and spiritual ailments, we should have the type of faith the leper exhibited in saying some prayers like this:  Jesus, I believe that you can cure me, because nothing is impossible to you, it is enough that you want it. I would want it so much, however, do what you consider most useful to me. Such courageous request together with confidence in God’s benevolence is the best way to demonstrate the authenticity and depth of our faith. It is the best disposition of the soul to obtain what it desires. When it does not obtain it, we should consider the situation best for us and regard it as the will of God for us. Let us in this Eucharistic celebration pray that God may remove from us the most deadly forms of leprosy which are sins and the loss of the sense or smell of sin, and may we also have the graces to come to the succor of our needy neighbours in all their disadvantageous positions.  

+John I. Okoye.