..... Solemnity of Pentecost.

              

(Acts. 2:1-11; Gal. 5:16-25; John 15:26-27; 16:12-15: Solemnity of Pentecost, Year B)

“This is the day of Pentecost, Alleluia! Today the Holy Spirit appeared to the disciples in the form of fire and gave to them his special gifts; he sent them into the world to proclaim that whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, Alleluia!” These words taken from the Divine Office (Magnificat antiphon of the Vespers of Pentecost Sunday precisely) summarize the mystery we celebrate today.  For many biblical commentators, the feast of Pentecost marks the birth of the Church, the ‘formal’ inauguration of her mission.

In today’s first reading, we are presented with the account of the dramatic fulfillment of that promise for an advocate, which Jesus made to his disciples.  He made the necessity of the descent of the Holy Spirit very clear to them. As we see in today’s gospel: the Spirit will be with them forever, teach them everything and remind them of all he had said to them.  In other words, the Holy Spirit will be the sign of the perpetual presence of the Godhead among the faithful and a dynamic force that will bring them to perfect understanding of the meaning and demands of the Good News. 

Descending on the apostles, the Holy Spirit freed them from the clutches of timidity and fear.  The disciples who, prior to the unique Pentecost experience, lurked fearfully behind closed doors, came out boldly proclaiming Christ in different languages and made an unprecedented number of converts in just a day.  The same Peter who could not stand the questioning gaze of the young lady at the house of the High Priest, the night Jesus was arrested, was able to stand up to deliver a wonderful homily in perfect defense of the experience he and others had when the Holy Spirit descended on them.

The Holy Spirit continues to do in the Church today, what he did among the disciples on the day of Pentecost.  He continues to lead the members of Christ’s body that is the Church, into deeper understanding of their mission.  The Holy Spirit equally empowers the individual Christian to conquer self and grow in holiness.  St. Paul captures this work of empowerment vividly in today’s second reading:  “If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of yielding to self-indulgence….” 

Therefore, as we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit today, let us pray that we experience his full impact in our lives as the disciples did. Making the words of the Pentecost Sequence ours, we implore the Holy Spirit thus: “Heal our wounds, our strength renew; on our dryness pour thy dew; wash the stains of guilt away; bend the stubborn heart and will; melt the frozen, warm the chill; guide the steps that go astray”. I wish you many returns of God’s choicest blessings on this day, the solemnity of Pentecost. Happy Solemnity of Pentecost.

+John I. Okoye

4th Sun of Year: Year B

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Deut 18,15-20; ; 1Cor 7,32-35; Mark 1,21-28: 4th Sun of Year: Year B)

The first question one asks about today’s gospel passage is what does the Evangelist Mark wish to convey by this narrative? One of the remarkable points of the narrative is that the action of Jesus struck the observers as extraordinary. The gospel bears witness to this eloquently as we read: The people were astonished that they started asking each other what it all meant.  “Here is a teaching that is new”, they said “and with authority behind it. Therefore, Mark wishes to use Jesus first miracle at Capernaum to demonstrate that Jesus teaches with authority and to bring to fore the novelty of his teaching. 

One would ask in what consists this teaching authority of Christ? Listening to Jesus teach in the Synagogue, his audience must have noticed that he did not use the method of the Scribes, experts in Law, who supported their teaching by appealing to the interpretations of their learned predecessors. But Jesus appealed to neither present expert nor that of the past. He spoke in his name, appealing to his personal authority as the One sent by God, using such terms as I tell you solemnly; In truth I tell you; and you were told by your forefathers but I do tell you! Jesus’ speaking with authority would also mean that His words were coherent with his actions, he accompanied his words with corresponding way of life which was according to the mind and wish of God, the Father. He also confirmed his words by miracles or signs which demonstrated that God was with him. An example of this is the episode of today’s gospel reading. Jesus worked a miracle of liberation in favour of a man possessed by an unclean spirit, or in the language of those times, by an evil spirit that subjected the possessed to slavery. Jesus ordered the evil spirit to come out of the man and the evil spirit obeyed him. Thus the new teaching: the words of Jesus which expresses the authority of his personality liberates the man from the forces of evil, which kept him in slavery. His words restores both liberty and dignity to the possessed man. 

How can we internalize and actualize the message of the today’s gospel passage? Even today, human beings are kept in custody by the power of evil. This is manifest in various forms of human behavour like selfishness, greed, hatred, discrimination, intolerance, violence, bribery, corruption, exploitation of weak persons, election rigging etc. Satan is ever at work, he does not rest and is ever active in our time, in the society, in the public life, in our private lives and in our families. What will liberate us from the clw21utches of Satan? Firstly: Only the authoritative words of Christ and his divine person can liberate us. There is practically no other message that can liberate us other than the message of the life of Christ and there is no other Prophet other than Christ who can save us. Secondly: We are called as believers to continue Christ’s mission. Strengthened by his word and sustained by his grace, we have to perpetuate his mission of proclaiming the truth, condemning evil and rendering services of liberation and promotion of human dignity. In doing this, we are not to limit ourselves to words alone but like Jesus we have to accompany the words with good deeds and works. May we pray in this Sunday Eucharistic celebration that the good Lord may ever protect us from the clutches of the evil one and that we may participate in the liberating work of Christ through our words and especially, through our works of charity to needy neighbours.

 +John I. Okoye.

DOCTRINE AND FAITH: 2nd Sun of Year: Year B

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(1 Sam 3,3-10.19; 1Cor 6,13-15.17-20; John 1,35-42:  2nd Sun of Year: Year B)

The first reading presents to us the figure of Samuel as he was rendering cultic services in Silo’s sanctuary, where the ark of the Covenant was kept. The Lord was speaking to him but he was unable to discern the voice of the Lord and therefore missing the message. He needed Eli’s guidance to realize that it was the Lord who was calling him. As soon as he did so, he responded with all his soul disposition saying: Speak Lord, your servant is listening! As we participate in Holy Mass and other liturgical assemblies, we listen to God as he speaks and addresses us. With the guidance of the Priest and especially the assistance of the Holy Spirit we can then understand the message God is giving to us at any given moment. We should, like Samuel, follow the guidance of our Priests in order to discern the voice of God and the message being passed on. Young Samuel’s disposition should be our disposition and attitude at our prayer sessions. But often a time we seem to inundate God with all types of petitions, long lists of favours we want God to do for us. We deposit all of them in God’s ears without caring to listen to what He would want us to hear, know or do about our petitions. Prayer is a dialogue. God speaks to us and we speak to him. It should not be a one way traffic: our speaking to God only for he also has a lot to communicate to us on every single incident of our lives.  Such prayer dialogue between us and God will nurture in us the good disposition to do God’s will in our lives. This will enable us resolve with the Psalmist who composed the responsorial refrain: Here I am Lord! I come to do your will. 

One of the good news of today’s gospel reading is the revelation made by John the Baptist that Jesus was the Messiah, when he exclaimed as Jesus was passing by: Look, there is the lamb of God. Jesus was the true paschal lamb that would be immolated for the freedom and liberation of men from the slavery of sin. He is the faithful servant that was announced by Isaiah and who took upon himself the sins of the people. What John the Baptist said about Jesus made an impression on Andrew and John. Later on, Andrew declared to his brother Peter with joy: We have found the Messiah. It was in the ensuing encounter which Jesus had with Peter that He constituted him one of his disciples and the rock upon which He would build his Church.  God, through Christ, calls each one of us as his disciple, just as he called Samuel, Andrew, John and Peter. He does so in order to make us participate in the work of salvation, first of all by closely adhering to him in a rapport of friendship and then becoming messengers of his work of evangelization by bringing our neighbours in contact with Christ as John the Baptist did (who pointed Christ to John the Evangelist and Andrew) and also Andrew (who brought Peter to Jesus). 

Another good news of today’s gospel is that Jesus wishes to share his life with us, to have a deep rapport of friendship, based on deep knowledge and love. Jesus expressed his willingness to allow the disciples to experience him, and come to know his identity; a knowledge that could open a new vista for them, when in reply to their question, where do you live? he answered: Come and see.By this invitation to the disciples and by extension to us, Jesus wishes to make it clear that each of us can enter into intimate friendship with him any time we have a quiet time with him alone, at prayer, meditation and contemplation, when we encounter him in the Sacraments and when we strive to live always in the state of grace avoiding all sins that disconnect us from God. 

One of the obstacle to this intimacy and encounter with Christ and what weakens our bringing Christ to others is the sin of impurity, the sin against one’s body: fornication, adultery, masturbation, etc. Paul brings out theological points to illustrate the gravity of these sins by noting first of all, that our bodies are parts of Christ: It (our body) is for the Lord and the Lord for the body. This truth is the aftermath of baptism. At baptism we are inserted, as it were, into Christ and our bodies as such do not belong any longer to us but to Christ and as such we should not do anything we like with it. We are not, therefore, to abuse it. As we belong to Christ, we hope to rise with him. Our own bodies will also rise with him.  Another truth about our body that is consequent to our baptism is that we are temples of the Holy Spirit. We should neither defile the temple of the Holy Spirit nor grieve the Holy Spirit that abides in us. Another theological reason adduced by Paul for the avoidance of sins of impurity is that we were bought with great price. This price is nothing other than the blood of Christ.Christ redeemed us in toto, body and soul and we, therefore, should use our bodies for the glory of God. May we in today’s Eucharistic celebration ask the good Lord for the graces to be able to discern his voice and be ever willing to adhere to his will. May we also pray for the graces to know, love and be intimate with Christ, for this will enable us recognize our bodies really as the temples of the Holy Spirit redeemed with the great price of the Blood of Christ which we participate in today’s Eucharistic celebration. 

+John I. Okoye