1st Sunday of Lent; Year B ....2018

As you participate in this Sunday’s Eucharistic celebration, may the good Lord nourish you with graces enough to sustain your baptismal vows and also maintain a rapport of filia love and profound friendship with him. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Genesis 9, 8-15; 1 Peter 3, 18-22; Mark 1, 12-15:  1st Sunday of Lent; Year B)

Each year Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Lent which dates back to the 4th century after Christ is the period devoted to an intensive preparation for the great feast of Easter (the celebration of the Paschal Mysteries of death and resurrection of Christ), the Mother of all Liturgical Feasts. Lent was instituted for two purposes: firstly to prepare catechumens (persons who are receiving instructions in preparation for Christian baptism or confirmation) that is conferred on Easter Vigil of Holy Saturday Night. Secondly, Lent is instituted to prepare all the faithful to celebrate worthily the paschal mystery by remembering their baptism whose vows and commitments they renew on Easter Vigil. The Church through the liturgy of the Easter Vigil brings us to live anew our belongingness /adherence and allegiance to Christ because it is through baptism we are grafted into Christ and made to participate in the mystery of his death and resurrection.

Peter makes an explicit reference to Baptism in the second reading of today. He sees in the flood water of Genesis the figure and symbol of baptism. He reasons that just as the water of the flood served as purification for the sinful humanity and the beginning of a new covenant between God and his people, in the same way baptism signals the beginning of a new humanity redeemed by Christ who died once and forever for our sins and rose from the dead. This is a new humanity purified in his blood with which he ratified not only a new but also eternal and definitive/irrevocable covenant between God and the people. For Peter, Baptism is not merely a simple cleansing. Rather it is a transformative experience, just as the resurrection was a transformative experience for Christ. It would be very opportune to refresh our minds on the depth of the significance of baptism on this Sunday in order to be in tune with the spirit of Lent in order to live this period in baptismal dimension. 

All the sacraments, as we know, draw their efficacy of sanctifying the souls of people from the merits of Christ especially from his passion, death and resurrection. The efficacy proper to baptism is the conferring of the sanctifying grace to the soul, the greatest of all gifts God could give his creature. In fact, sanctifying grace is the divine life as lived by a soul. It is a divine engraftation in the substance of the soul which elevates it to the supernatural level; it is a regeneration, it is precisely a new birth to supernatural life. In a nutshell, it is the same as eternal life as St. Thomas explains: Grace is nothing else than the beginning of glory in us. He goes on to expatiate: The minimal grade of sanctifying grace (supernatural life) worths more than all the goods of the entire universe. Elevating us to divine and supernatural life baptism makes us really the children of God. As John asserts: we are already up to this time children of God and we are really so (1 John 3,2). We are adopted children of God through our participation in the divine life. God the Father bestows on us this supreme good and makes us his children through his only Son, the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, because in his holy humanity united in his divine person we have the plenitude of divinity and from this fullness we have received grace after grace (John 1,16). In baptism we are immersed in the paschal mystery of the dead and resurrected Christ to the extent that the sinful body is destroyed and we can rise and walk in a new life (Romans 6, 4-11). With the Sacrament of Baptism, we are united with Christ just as a branch of vine is grafted to the stem of the vine and we receive from him divine nourishment. United all in Christ, baptism makes us members of his Mystical Body. He as head and we as members become like a Church or the People of God, like the family of the children of God, like the community of brothers and sisters who share the same life of grace, the same mission in the world and the same final destiny.

From the above as premises we derive very important and practical conclusions and consequences.

(a) If baptism communicates life of grace and is the highest good, a treasure which is more precious than all the ones we have, then we have to do all that is possible to preserve it and if unfortunately we momentary loose it through grave sin, we have to do all that is possible and, as soon as possible, to regain it through the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

(b) If baptism makes us children of God it means that we have to make effort to live out this supreme dignity, and manifest in our conduct the comportment of the Father and maintain a rapport of filial love and profound friendship with him. If God is the Father of all of us why do we regard and threat our brothers and sisters as outcasts (Osu, Ohu etc), discriminate against them as non indigene or marginalise them and refer to the as underdeveloped?

(c) If baptism has engrafted us to Christ and has made us members of his Mystical Body, the Church, this means that we have to faithfully follow him who is the perfect image of the Father and our way to the Father; we have to always draw from him, his Word and his Sacraments the vital sap of grace. It is in the Church, particularly in the parish ambient that we have to make effort to be active members who are deeply inserted in her human and divine realities, where we participate in her mission of salvation. It is in the parish environment that we shall involve ourselves in the initiatives of doing good and not simply stay there as spectators who live in the margins of the community of faith who wait to enjoy the services of the community.

(d) As we have heard from the Gospel of Mark that it was after Jesus has stayed 40 days in the desert, continually, tempted by Satan that he began his public ministry proclaiming the gospel of God, that is, the Good-news, that God loves his people and that he would bring all to salvation. The Evangelist Mark condensed his proclamation in three brief affirmations: The time is fulfilled and the reign of God is near; repent and believe the gospel. The church our mother and teacher repeats to us today, at the beginning of Lent, this urgent invitation to pay attention to the words of Jesus because the reign of God not only that it is near, but that is already in us. This is because from our Baptism, as we saw above, God is already reigning in us with his grace in the intimacy of our hearts. The exhortation, repent which the Church directs to us in the name of Jesus means that we have to be coherent with our baptism to become in a more perfect manner that what we are radically are by virtue of our baptism, developing those potentialities of graces we are gifted with.  Our Lent should, therefore, be a spiritual exercise of 40 days, a period of training specially of the soul through more intense prayer, more docile reading of and listening to the word of God, the practice of mortifications, doing works of charity so as to celebrate with renewed spirit and heart the holy feast of Easter and make our lives become a continual conversion to God. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

pictures  by chukwubike

16th Sunday of Year A-2017

May the Spirit of the good, loving and patient God always explain to you the real and interior meaning of his word so as to enable you remain the wheat of his field and enter into his barn at the end of your life. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye 

   DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Wisdom 12,13, 16-19; Romans 8, 26-27; Matthew 13, 24-43: 16th Sunday of Year A-2017)

            There is often the tendency to think of God as a human being. Insofar as God can only be comprehended in the light of human reasoning, one should be able to understand that God is not human and cannot be expected to act as humans do. Contrary to normal expectation, he is patient and forbearing with everybody. He gives every person ample opportunity for a change of heart. The book of Wisdom, the passage of the first reading of today, presents such characteristics of God. The principal theme of the first verse of this passage is an acknowledgement of the total and exclusive providence of God. Only the God of Israel exercises care and he does so over all. God’s might is the second characteristic discussed in this passage. Divine justice springs from this might; justice requires that righteousness be rewarded and wickedness punished. In spite of God’s infinite power, and precisely because of it, he is mild in judgment and lenient in his actions. In fact, his sovereignty over all things makes him more caring and lenient in his dealings with his creatures. The reading went on to say that God acts thus, not only due to his own nature, but also to teach mortal mankind to be tolerant to one another and less judgmental in their dealings with one another. The reading exhorts people to pattern their treatment of others after God’s treatment of them, to temper their own might with leniency, to regulate their own justice with kindness. God’s kindness in the past gives them reason to hope for mercy in the future. Thus, they are expected to act in the same manner toward others.  
            The psalm of today’s liturgy, Psalm 86, continues the excellent perception of God. God is described as abounding in loving-kindness (hesed), the kind of steadfast love associated with the covenant. The psalmist calls God good and forgiving, most likely because of the way the psalmist has experienced God in the past.  God is recognized as Creator of all and, for this reason receives the homage of all the nations. The psalmist further describes God with the same confessional faith as is found in the account of Moses’s encounter of God at Sinai: compassionate (rahim) and gracious (hannun), slow to anger and filled with kindness (hesed).            Today’s gospel reading presents us three parables about the kingdom of heaven. Those of the mustard seed and the yeast address the unimpressive beginnings of the kingdom of heaven, its gradual and imperceptible growth and the extraordinary yield it will ultimately produce. In the parable on the wheat and the darnel Jesus teaches us the infinite mercy of God and his open-heartedness towards all sinners. In line with the usual human tendency, the servants wanted the master to, immediately, order the darnels be rooted out in order to allow the wheat grow without hindrance. But the master thinks otherwise. The darnel should be given a fair chance for them to prove that they are actually darnels. Moreover, the wheat should also be able to prove their worthiness to enter the master’s barn by their ability to remain untainted, even in midst of the darnels.

    In both the first and gospel readings, especially, the parable of the wheat and the darnel we are meant to understand that the good, merciful and loving God (first reading and the Psalm)  is ever ready to give a chance for repentance, even to the most hardened of sinners. He continues to call us all to turn away from evil deeds. He also expects that we cooperate with him in such opportunities for repentance. Let the sinner see whatever opportunity he has and the good things he enjoys, in spite of himself, as avenues God opens for him to turn away from sin. The virtuous should also not look down on any person, but should rather strive to help the sinner turn back to God. Turning back to God may not be so easy for us mortals or flesh and blood. We, therefore, need the power of the Spirit of God who will not only pray with us and present our prayer to God but will also show us how to relate with the good, loving and merciful God. Jesus explained the parables of the kingdom to his disciples; we have the Spirit to enlighten us about them. It is the Spirit that will help us interpret Jesus’ teachings and will help us be receptive/open to challenges they pose. May we, therefore, pray in today’s Eucharistic liturgy for this Spirit of God. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye.

3rd Sunday of the Year A, 2017

May God help us realize that in order to be apostles who preach that the reign of God is hand and who are fishers of Men, we are to be completely converted to God. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 
(Isaiah 8, 23b-9.1-3; 1 Cor 1, 10-13; Matt 4, 12-23: 3rd Sunday of the Year A, 2017)

 The gospel reading tells us that having received the news of John the Baptist’s arrest, Jesus went to Galilee and stayed in the remotest part, the area called the Galilee of the pagans. Here the population was mixed and in this much despised area, he begins his ministry. It is quite significant and shows the orientation of his ministry: Jesus always went to the small, humble and the most needy ones of our society. Furthermore, the evangelist Matthew sees the beginning of Jesus’ ministry in this region as the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah who prophesied that the towns of Zebulon and Naphtali that had been dwelling in the shadow of death would see great light. Jesus is the great light that sprang up for all humanity as he himself says: I am the light of the world. The Evangelist, John in the prologue of his gospel holds: He (Jesus) is the light who illumines all who come into the world. The designation that Jesus is the light of the world means that he is the Way and the Truth. He not only accompanies us in our journey towards God the Father, but also makes assurance double sure that we reach God, our life destination. Jesus as light of the world also means that he is the Life, that is to say, the one who will ransom our soul from death confirming what he says: He who follows me will have the light of life. Jesus as light would also mean that he is also the source of joy. His birth was regarded as a great joy for the world (Luke 2,10). 
            Jesus begins his ministry with these words: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The invitation to conversion is based on the good news: The kingdom of God is near. The Jews were expecting the kingdom of God that would change the face of the world, ushering in justice, peace and joy. Jesus affirms that the reign of God is near but adds that conversion is needed to have access to it. By this Jesus clearly indicates that the kingdom of God is not something outside the person but something that has to take root in the very heart of the person, through conversion. Conversion here means a total dedication of the heart, mind and being to and towards God. Nothing is to be hidden from God or kept outside the influence of God. There has to be the total surrender of oneself to God. It is people with such attitude of mind that welcome and admit the reign of God.

In the gospel story of today, we also see the call of the first apostles of Jesus. It is quiet significant that from the onset of his ministry, Jesus did not want to go alone. He called some people to be associates in his ministry of salvation for the world. The first associates he called were two sets of brothers: Simon and Andrew, James and John. They were called away from their occupation. They were casting their nets to catch fish but henceforth they would be casting a different kind of net to be catching people/followers. They left what they were doing and followed Jesus. The radical nature of their response should not be overlooked or oversimplified. They were not poor beggars. They were meaningfully and gainfully employed in one of the most stable occupation of the area. They had a lot to lose by following him and yet they dropped everything and followed Jesus. James and John even left their father. This was an unusual and unacceptable move in a society where kinship ties were very strong and loyalty to one’s father was of paramount importance. Let it also be borne in mind that these men were called and that they did not initiate their own discipleship as follows of rabbis normally did.

            The call of the first apostles of Jesus today should remind us of our own call to be his disciples and fishers of people. What are we expected to do as the disciples of Jesus? We are called to preach that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, whether in public ministry or in our private lives. We are to break the yoke that weighs people down and the rod that oppresses people. We are also to bring our brothers and sisters to Jesus, the source of joy. We are to usher in the light of Christ that would remove all shadows of darkness. Like St. Paul we are to work for unity, both in the Christian community and outside it.  But above all the disciple of Jesus will have to maintain a good relationship with the Master, Jesus, through continuous conversion. Continued conversion is facilitated by our nearness to the word of God and the sacrament of Eucharist. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye  

GRAPHICS  BY   chukwubike oc )

31st Sunday of the Year C 2016

May the good Lord give you the grace to always have the burning desire to encounter Him and to be open to him just as Zacchaeus did in the gospel reading of today. Happy Sunday! + John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE  AND  FAITH

(Wisdom 11, 22-12,2; 1 Thess 1,11-2,2; Luke 19, 1-10: 31st Sunday of the Year C 2016)

                                                                                       
    The author of the book of Wisdom, sometimes referred to as the Pseudo Solomon, presents to us some of the aspects/attributes of God. He speaks of the immensity of God. The entire expanse of the cosmos is as nothing when compared to God. This powerful  and immense God is a lover of what exists as he does not despise anything he created. His love for his creation is manifest through his mercy. God is merciful as well  as he is powerful. In our world that glorifies strength, mercy could appear to be a weak virtue. This passage dispels the false perception. Only the one with power can move beyond the strict rules of retribution, and if divine power is boundless, then it is possible that divine mercy has no limits. This idea may have led the author to indicate that the imperishable spirit of God is in all things. What could sound like pantheism (a doctrine which identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God) might be better understood as panentheism (the belief or doctrine that God is greater than the universe and includes and interpenetrates it). The implications of such incarnational concept are noteworthy. First it provides the clue to the reason God so loves creation. Second, it throws more  light on the intrinsic value of the natural world both human and non human. Pseudo Solomon was not oblivion of human weakness. He knew that people sin and he knew that there was suffering because of it. This in no way nullified his claims about the mercy of God. Instead, that mercy explained the way God dealt with sinners. They were rebuked more as a correction than as a punishment and this was done in order to bring them to greater insight, deeper commitment and trust in God.
    The responsorial psalm, (Psalm 144) partly a hymn of praise, expanded the attribute of God (which Pseudo Solomon started in the first reading) using covenant language: The Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness. God is described as gracious, compassionate and filled with loving kindness. It is to be noted that this divine goodness was not reserved for Israel alone but was extended to all God’s works. This includes all people and nations and also all  natural creation. Thus, the covenant has been expanded to a universal embrace.  The final section of the psalm extols God’s reign and God’s care for those who are burdened. God’s reign, unlike the reign of other gods, is resplendent, eternal and universal. In this light, the covenantal faithful ones were called not only to praise God for wonders God had accomplished in and for them but also to announce the glory of God’s rule to the entire human race, to all children of Adam. It was not enough that they enjoyed the privilege of belonging to God’s kingdom. Through them, God invited the entire universe to participate as well.

    The passage of the book of Wisdom finds its full verification in  today’s gospel passage. Jesus, the revelation of the image of God the Father, manifested the divine power of showing mercy and forgiveness in his mission to seek and save what is lost. We are not to forget that the Jews prided themselves as the people whom God saved from bondage and with whom he entered into a covenant. Therefore, any kind of servitude was repugnant to them. Zacchaeus belonged to the hated class of those who kept the servitude on, as he was a tax collector and a principal one, for that matter. This means that he probably benefited from both the taxes paid and  the fees the tax collectors themselves exacted of the people. He conducted his business in Jericho, a prominent city on the east-west trade route. His repute as tax collector, notwithstanding, Zacchaeus was described as possessing several honourable qualities. The interest in seeing Jesus overrode any shame he may have experienced in having to climb a tree. He responded immediately as Jesus has instructed and he extended  the fullness of customary hospitality to him. The extent of his transformation was seen in the extent of his restitution. The law prescribed the return of the money extorted along with twenty percent of that amount (Lev 6,5). Zacchaeus was extravagant in his compensation, repaying fourfold whatever he must  have owed and he did this in addition to giving half his possession to the poor. Such prodigality was his response to having been called by the Lord and honoured with his presence.

    Jesus not only accepted Zacchaeus’ hospitality but boldly invited himself to the man’s home. In a sense he became the host, inviting Zacchaeus into his life, into the intimacy of his friendship. By this act he displayed the unrestricted nature of his love. He established a bond with a man of questionable character, and he thereby transformed him into a man who repented and radically reformed his life. Although the home belonged to Zacchaeus, the real home into which Jesus invited him was the reign of God and there Jesus was the host. The hospitality Jesus offered dissolved all constraints. Sinners become friends; the lost are found; all are restored to their rightful place, as children not merely of Abraham but of God. The creativity of the Creator is matched by compassion of the re-Creator. 
    In accepting Zacchaeus’ hospitality of, the people murmured against Jesus and condemned him for eating with sinners. In his bid to save what is lost, Jesus saw the utmost need and urgency of going into Zacchaeus home that day: Zacchaeus, come down. Hurry, because I must stay at your house today. Jesus had to enter the house of Zacchaeus so that salvation would come into the house. Jesus was only passing through Jericho and if they did not seize the moment, the opportunity could be lost. The urgency of the moment demanded that religious and social customs had to be set aside. Zacchaeus, might well have been a sinner. His decision for restitution implied that he knew he was. Jesus did not even challenge the criticism of those who accused him of associating with a sinner. Instead he insisted that only those who were lost can be found, only those who were perishing can be saved. Those who revered themselves as righteous seldom understood this and as a result missed opportunities for their own salvation.

    The compassion of God was manifest in the fact that God promised us a future. In that future all the blessings of salvation will be brought to fulfillment.  Like Zacchaeus, we have been called; we have been invited to open ourselves to the Lord who is coming so that he can extend to us the riches of his own hospitality. Therefore as we have a future, our past will not hold us back, division will be dissolved. We have a future; this is the reason to cry out in praise and thanksgiving to the immense, powerful, compassionate and gracious God who is of loving kindness:  I will praise your name forever, let all your works give you thanks! Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT YEAR C

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Zephania 3, 14-18; Phil 4, 4-7; Luke 3, 10-18: 3RD SUNDAY- Year C)

    Joy is the dominant theme of this third Sunday of Advent. The first reading takes up this theme, which the entrance antiphon started. It runs through the responsorial psalm and we will still see it in the second reading. The liturgy, therefore, exhorts us to be joyful. But the social environment which we live in, with all its manifold social, financial, security and health problems, seems to dampen this clarion call to be joyful. However, the type of joy we are invited to have is an interior and spiritual one. It is not superficial, artificial or external joy that is motivated by human consideration but spiritual and interior joy that is rather motivated by deep religious faith. 

    In the first reading, Jerusalem is called upon to rejoice, exult with all your heart. She is to rejoice because the Lord is present. God is in the midst of his people and offers them security and assurance. The presence of God is surely a legitimate motive for joy. But the ultimate reason for joy is the knowledge that God loves his people as he would like to renew you by his love. The profound motive for us to have joy should be the conviction that God loves us. If God loves us, no matter how difficult we find things, God will be able to bring us out from any type of difficulties or mess. The highest point of God’s love for us was concretized by sending His beloved Son to save the world. He offered His son to be immolated for our salvation. Jesus, completed the gesture of love, which God the Father started by his death and resurrection. In addition, Jesus promised an abiding presence and protection through the presence of the Holy Spirit.

    The call in today’s liturgy to be joyful (as we tried to analyze above) was repeated by Paul in the second reading. He was making this call even when he was in prison, in physical confinement. It was neither easy for him nor his flock. Nevertheless, he and his flock were to be joyful. This was because the Lord was near. The Lord does not abandon us; he is always near us, and ready to get us out of our difficulties. Paul used the opportunity of the nearness of the Lord to enjoin the Philippians and us to pray, that is to say, to enter into loving relationship with this Lord. It is a relationship in which God will guide us in seeking and doing His will. By so doing we will grow in intimacy with Him and our joy will abound and over flow.

    It is when we are in such good relationship with the Lord that we will be in the position to perceive what concrete things to do in our lives for the preparation of Christmas, as John the Baptist indicates in today’s gospel reading. We would, then better understand his instruction: If anyone has two tunics he must share with the man who has none, and anyone who has something to eat must do the same. By this he holds that whatever we have in excess belongs to our neighbour who is in need of it. Furthermore, we have to share what we have with one another and even to deprive ourselves of legitimate rights in order to make our neighbours happy and joyful. It is when we are in prayer relationship with God that we will be able to use our positions of power for the service of our neighbours judiciously and profitably and not for selfish purposes. Our loving relationship with God in prayer will make it possible for us to respect the dignity of every person and eschew from our lives all sorts of expression of violence and little terrorist-like insinuations towards our neighbours. Let us joyfully prepare for the coming of the Lord in our lives especially at Christmas through intensive loving relationship with God in prayer and active charity to our needy neighbours. 

 Happy Sunday! +John I.Okoye

2nd Sunday of Advent, Year C.... DOCTRINE AND FAITH

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Baruch 5, 1-9; Phil. 1, 3-6.8-11; Luke 3, 1-6: 2^nd Sunday of Advent, Year C)

  

 Advent is a season in which we celebrate the salvific intervention of God in human history and our hope for the culmination of the salvation plan in the world to come.  In today’s first reading, the prophet Baruch proclaims the message of hope to the house of Israel within the context of their bondage.  To every nation, God intends to show Israel’s splendour and for this, God has decreed the flattening of every high mountain and the filling of the valleys.  It is this same hopeful expectation that the evangelist Luke dwells on in the gospel.  Re-echoing the prophecy of Isaiah, the evangelist makes allusions to the event in which all mankind shall see the salvation of God, prior to which every hill shall be levelled and every mountain filled

In these passages, we see not only joyful messages of God’s saving liberation but also an urgent invitation to us to be collaborators in bringing about the salvation promised us.  In Jesus, God has wrought once and for all, the long expected salvation and liberation for man.  The second coming of Christ to which we direct our gaze in a special way this season of Advent is meant to be the culmination of this salvation and liberation. The note of waiting and expectancy that characterize the advent season do not negate the fact that, objectively, man’s salvation has been obtained by Jesus on the cross.  Rather, this season brings us to a deeper consciousness of the need to appropriate and make ours, the salvation obtained on the cross in order to be prepared to meet Christ when he comes again. 

    Writing to the Philippians in the second reading today, St. Paul underscores the need for this idea of preparation.  For St. Paul, waiting for the Lord’s Day must, necessarily, make the Christian to strive to be pure and blameless.  Herein lies the basic message and the challenge placed before us this holy season of advent- preparation of the way for the Lord’s coming by levelling the hills and filling the valley of our lives which sin and imperfection have created in us.

    An effective word that depicts the attitude just mentioned above is John the Baptist’s call for repentance, the call of transformation that results in a change of heart.  The readings are filled with other examples of reversals that characterize such transformation: the robe of mourning is replaced by the splendour of glory, tears are turned into rejoicing; those in exile are brought back by God, etc. Advent is a time of yearning for such transformation. It is a time for preparing for His arrival. It is a time we open ourselves so that, as in the past, God can accomplish through ordinary human beings the necessary reversals that are part of this hoped-for transformation. It is also the time of bringing the promise for the future, made in the past, to fruition in the present. Moreover, the transformation or repentance of heart, takes place within human life, relationship of justice, and in genuine unselfish live. It produces the fruits of righteousness of which Paul speaks. May we, therefore, fix our mind on the spiritual benefits of the Advent season and make effort to confront whatever stands between us and perfect peace with God and our neighbour.  It is only by so doing that we can be ready to welcome the Lord whose coming we are joyfully anticipating as we chant- Maranatha, come Lord Jesus! +John I.Okoye (graphics by blogger)

3rd Sunday of Lent:...DOCTRINE AND FAITH

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Exodus 20, 1-17; 1 Cor 1,22-25; John 2, 13-25;  3rd Sunday of Lent:  Year B)

The readings of today, especially the second reading and the gospel, concentrate much on the person of Jesus Christ. This calls for a strong faith relationship on our part towards him. Jesus’ energetic expulsion of the profaners of the temple shows him to be fully human, who has emotions and feelings. One recollects how tired and thirsty he was at the well of Jacob (John 4,6-8); how he wept at the death of Lazarus (John 11, 33-35) and today, how angry he was with the profaners of the temple: ... and in the temple he found people selling cattle and sheep and pigeons, and the money changers sitting at their counters there. Making a whip out of some cord, he drove them out of the Temple, cattle and sheep as well, scattered the money changers’ coin and knocked their table over. Through his courageous action Jesus restores the sacredness of the temple as a place of prayer and union with God. For Jesus the temple and its precincts were not places, like market places, where money is made. Jesus’ gesture had even more symbolic significance and importance. By turning over the tables of the money changers in the temple, Jesus, thereby, declares the end of the worship of God that is linked to material and external places and announces the beginning of a new way of worship that will be much more spiritual and interior, and which will, of necessity, have the event of his resurrection as the centre point. It is this line of thought that Jesus communicated to the Samaritan woman: Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain not in Jerusalem...But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth... (John 4,21-23). In today’s gospel episode, by sending away the merchants from the temple and through his speech (Destroy this sanctuary and in three days I will raise it up) Jesus was indicating the inauguration of the New Era or Way of worship. The new temple or place of worship is his divine body. It is the privileged place to experience the presence of God, the place of meeting with God, because as St. Paul holds, the whole fullness of Deity (Divinity) dwells bodily in him (Col 2,9). In this same vein, it could be recalled how Jesus retorted to Phillip who wanted him to show him the Father, he said: Whoever has seen me has seen the Father (John 14, 8-9). He also told Thomas: I am the way, the truth and life: no one comes to the Father, except through me (John 14,6). In fact, one can say that Jesus is the centre of the universe, the medium of our communication with God and the very presence of God in our midst. What is my relationship with this Jesus? Does he mediate God’s presence to me at every moment of my daily chores and activities? These are ernest questions about our relationship that we will have to reckon with and put in order today and in this Lenten period as we prepare for the great feast of Easter.

 

Paul, as it were, took up this line of thought when in today’s second reading and in reference to Christ mentions that the Jews look for miracles while the Greeks seek for human wisdom. The Jews took Jesus as the Messiah but were disappointed when he did not turn out to be the triumphant Messiah that was expected to liberate them from the Romans who occupied their land. They also could not reconcile with the idea that the Messiah would suffer and die. The Greeks in the other hand did not accept Jesus because they could not conceive a God that was made man, suffered and died. What was the opinion of the Christians of Paul’s time and our present day Christians about Jesus? We preach Christ who was crucified, power and wisdom of God.  What does this mean in practical terms? It means that we should fix our gaze on God who allowed his Son to be crucified and on Jesus our norm of life.  It also means that Jesus is all and all for us. It means entering into faith relationship with God and Christ. That is following Jesus even to his passion and death.  

If Jesus mediates the presence of God, and is the power and wisdom of God, what rapport has he with the Ten Commandment of the Old Testament? Jesus did not abolish them. He rather confirmed and perfected them. He did so by bringing out highlights that were the centre and core message of the Ten Commandment: Love of God and love of neighbour (Matt 22, 37-40; See also Rom 13,8-10). He showed by his teaching, that we should love even our enemies who stand in need of our care and concern. By the end of his life, he demonstrated it practically by giving up his life on the cross where he shed the last drop of his blood as a sign of maximum sacrificial love for us. It can also be said that Jesus came into the world in order to communicate to his graces and Spirit of love to us so that we would be enabled to live out the commandments of God in the spirit of interior liberty towards the full integral development of the individual Christian and the Christian Community as a whole. What is important is that we do so following the example of Christ and in union of love and faith with him. May we, in this Eucharistic assembly, pray that we may enter into a fruitful faith and love rapport with Jesus Christ, the power and wisdom of God, the perfecter of the Old Testament Commandments and the medium of God’s presence for us. Happy Sunday! +John Okoye.

(graphics  by blogger)

DOCTRINE AND FAITH 3rd Sun of Year: Year B

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Jonah 3,1-5,10; 1Cor 7,29-31; Mark 1,14-20: 3rd Sun of Year: Year B)

The first reading presents to us a part of the narrative of the call and mission of the prophet Jonah who was called to go to Nineveh and proclaim that God’s punishment on the people of Nineveh was imminent. At the first instance Jonah refused to embark on this mission, his reasons then were that Nineveh was a pagan city, immersed in wealth, a symbol of power and corruption. However, at the second mandate to go to Nineveh, the prophet obeyed, preached and, surprisingly, the city welcomed the message and repented of their sins and got converted. On his on part, the Lord pardoned them and relented from the punishment he had planned to mete on them. The message of this passage is very simple: The God of the Bible is not a vindictive God who is ever poised to punish but a God who is  kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in grace and faithfulness (See Exodus 34,5-6). Even the same prophet Jonah had to admit this point as he noted  in Jonah 4,2: I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishment. 

The second message of the passage is that God does not limit his graces, benevolence and salvation only to Israel but offers it to all. God calls all, welcomes all and pardons all, so that they may be converted and listen to His voice. St. Peter alludes to this attribute of God when he enunciates: God has no preferences, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. (Acts 10,34-35).

In today’s gospel, Jesus begins his preaching with the call to conversion: The time has come and the kingdom of God is close at hand (literally present). Repent and believe the Good News! The term, the time has come, means that it is no more time of prophecies and promises but the time of realization. It also means that the time has arrived for God to act as the King of the universe, to establish justice and bring about the salvation of man. By saying that the kingdom of God is present among the people the passage is referring to the presence of Christ who brings the prophecies to fulfillment and inaugurates the reign of salvation. It is no longer the time of uncertainty or vacillation. But rather, a time of decision, and make choice. What is to be done? Conversion! This means changing one’s conduct and way of life. To be able to do so one has to change the way one thinks and reasons. He has to change his thoughts for the principle has it that action follows thought.  The next thing one has to do is to believe the Good News. In practical terms this would mean welcoming and internalizing the message of salvation which Jesus brings to us and allowing it to transform our hearts from where all our thoughts and subsequently our actions spring up. Thus, believing in Jesus does not merely mean accepting the truth of salvation which Jesus came to proclaim but to live in conformity with his message. It also means using the gospel as the yardstick of ones conduct. One can actually say that repenting and believing in the Good News means having Jesus Christ as our model, following his examples, sharing in his thoughts, choices, style of life and destiny, just as his first four disciples did--Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John. These disciples even followed him physically along the streets of Palestine and they decided as soon as they were called, lost no time in vacillation/indecision and followed him. We can only follow him mentally and spiritually but we have to do so immediately, without procrastination, single-mindedly without ambiguity, but with fidelity and coherence. 

It seems that Paul in the second reading follows the line of thought we have seen above as he writes: ... our time is growing short...: the world as we know it is passing away. Paul does not mean that we should despise the things of this world. This is because they are real goods and gifts of God. The meaning of the passage from Paul is that we are to give in neither to fatalism nor indifference. We should not even resign to fate, thinking that there is nothing to be done and just sit and see things go on as they want. Paul rather wishes us to consider the things of the world as relative (not absolute), as means to an end and not an end itself. They are never to be considered as the alternative to eternal and definitive goods.  We need to be converted from the idols of the world and face the only living God. In doing so we have to have Jesus Christ as our foundation and in his words in the Bible and to invest, as much as possible, our lives in good works in order to gain the supreme good which is eternal life. May we in this Eucharistic celebration ask the good Lord for the graces of true and deep conversion that would manifest itself in a life of deep faith and charity to our needy neighbours. 

+John I. Okoye.