4th Sun of Advent December 24, 2017 Year B

As you draw near to Christmas, may you in this Eucharist be endowed with the grace to always say yes to the will of God. Happy Sunday!Merry Christmas and prosperous Year 2018.

+ John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(2 Samuel 7,1-5.8-12.14; Romans 16,25-27; Luke 1,26-38: 4th Sun of Advent December 24, 2017 Year B)

 In the Advent season there are some personalities that are outstanding and around whom the messages of the period are woven. One cannot have followed the atmosphere of Advent without taking into consideration the contribution of some oracles in the book of Prophet Isaiah. Likewise, the witness of John the Baptist, add colour to the season. Today, the last Sunday of Advent, the church contemplates Mary and her role in the work of salivation. It was to her that the Archangel Gabriel was sent to solicit her cooperation in the Incarnation of the Son of God. She was to be the mother of Jesus, the Saviour. Mary exclaimed: “Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum”. (Let it happen to me as you have said)  These were the very words of submission to God’s will with which Mary gave her priceless consent to the divine plan for the restoration of humanity in harmony with God.  These words which ended the encounter between Mary and the Archangel as narrated in today’s gospel marked the high point in the events leading to the actualisation of the mystery of incarnation.  Mary bowed to God’s demand even when the modality of its realisation was not perfectly comprehensible. In unequalled obedience to God’s will, she freely gave her word, permitting the Word of God to take flesh in her womb. By So doing, Mary became the most important collaborator with God in the work of salvation.   Humble submission to God’s will is an act of faith and an indication of the depth of one’s love and trust in God.  Mary exemplified all these.  The message the angel brought her was like a jigsaw puzzle and she did not hide her candid worry.  The thrill she must have felt about the thought of conceiving the Son of the Most High did not diminish her pious desire and resolution to remain a virgin.  “But how can this come about, since I have no knowledge of man”, she asked.  The response the archangel gave her made it clear that God had the answer.  All that was required of her was just to make a humble submission and watch God do the rest.  That she did.  No doubt she valued her virginity and was intent on keeping it.  Yet she was ready to allow God’s will be done even when it looked incomprehensible.

 What does the mother Church want us to learn from Mary in this last Sunday of Advent? The church wants us to learn that it is important for us to learn from Mary to leave some space for God and to renounce all pretences to independence and autonomy so that God will have the freedom to direct our future. Again it is important  to learn from Mary how to be totally open to the love and initiative of God who is willing to sanctify our lives. It is also important to respond, like Mary, unalloyed, “here I am” and ready to do God’s will. This is not always easy because such response implies adhesion to God’s will at all times, places and circumstances. To respond, here I am, I am your servant obliges one to renounce ones pride and egoism and urges one to make the constant effort to eliminate vices and negative influences in our lives.

 The mystery of incarnation is one big act of saying yes to God.  Jesus said yes to the Father and came down to share in our humanity.  Mary said yes to God and offered her body that the Word of God may take flesh in her womb.  As we draw closer to the season of Christmas, one lesson we need to draw from the mystery of incarnation, which will make our celebration more meaningful, is the need to be ready always to say yes to God. This implies unconditional submission to God’s will especially when it tends to go contrary to our human desire and strategies no matter how noble or pious they may seem. Therefore best worship we can offer to God is to let his will, not ours be done. Happy Sunday! Merry Christmas and prosperous Year 2018! + John I. Okoye.  

(pictures by chukwubike)

Dec. 9, 2017 Year B

May you at the Eucharistic celebration of today’s Mass receive the grace that will enable you forget

your past life that is comparable to life in the wilderness of sins and imperfections; make you contrite of heart in order to receive God’s blessing in the future. Happy Sunday!  +John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; 2 Peter 3:8-14;Mark 1:1-8, Dec. 9, 2017 Year B)

The imminence of the second coming of the Lord and the need to prepare for it are recurring themes in the Advent season.  Living in constant consciousness of this coming challenges one to cultivate the right attitude of preparedness.  For all who wait for his coming with the right conduct, it will bring immense consolation.  On the other hand, for those who choose to live as they want, without striving to set their lives right, it will come like a thief.

 In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah paints a very consoling and heart-warming picture of the Lord’s coming: with power, he is coming to subdue all things and liberate his people; he brings prize of victory for his people and would tenderly feed and lead them to rest as a shepherd would his flock. But for this to happen the people are directed to act their deliverance even before they see its evidence. Some are told to prepare for the coming of  their God by removing any obstacle that might prevent God’s approach so that the onlookers might enjoy it. The picture sketched here resembles that carefully repaired highway on which the victorious kings or generals travelled in triumphant procession on their return home. The people who had suffered so long are told here to prepare such a road, and upon its completion they will behold the glory of their triumphant God. There is an element of universalism here. Not only they, but all humankind, will see the glory of their God. This wondrous display will be the first proof that they have finally been delivered from their suffering. A second directive is given to people within Jerusalem itself. The city broken and depleted, is told to announce to the other vanquished cities of Judah the approach of this triumphant procession. The message they are to proclaim is not theirs; it is dictated to them. They are to be heralds of good news. They are to announce that the mighty victorious God is coming. This is the good news of deliverance, and the people are urged to believe that this message is true. In both cases of directives seen above, the people are directed to act their release even before they have tangible evidence of it. What they have is the word of  the prophet, whose message employs verbs forms that suggest that future events are already accomplished in the present. The people’s faith in the word is itself  the strongest evidence of their deliverance. 

In this second reading, St. Peter takes up this same theme of the right manner of living that befits those waiting for the Lord’s coming. He insists that, despite what seems to many to be a very long delay, the Day of the Lord will indeed come. Paraphrasing Psalm 90, 4, he argues that what appears to be interminable to short-lived human beings is  as nothing to God who is from eternity and who lives in eternity. Moreover, God is faithful and keeps the promise made to humankind. The promise referred to here, probably, has something to do with merciful forbearance. The author indicates that the Lord delays in coming precisely because of the promise of salvation to all. God’s goodness here is, giving enough time for all to come to repentance. Such a notion is found repeatedly in the Scriptures (eg., Exodus 34,6-7; Psalm 86,15; Romans 2,4; 9,22). Though delayed, the end time will surely come. Its timing, like that of a thief in the night, is unpredictable (cf. Matt 24, 43-44; Luke 12,39; 1 Thess5,2; Rev 3,3; 16,15. Therefore, Christians should not grow weary of waiting, nor become careless in their waiting. As God has been patient in the face of sinfulness, so they must also be patient in the face of God’s apparent delay. St. Peter takes up another theme that talks about the newness of things. First apocalyptic judgement will purge the world of sin, and then righteousness will dwell within the new heavens and earth. The only behaviour befitting such a transformation is a life of holiness and goodies, a life without spot or blemish. According to St. Peter such holiness actually hastens the Day of the Lord’s coming. Thus the best reply to any challenge to the Lords coming is a life of patient hope.

The need to prepare for the coming of the Lord with the right conduct also comes to light in today’s gospel. Attired like Elijah, John the Baptist proclaimed a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Unlike the ritual washings of the Essenes of Qumran , another Jewish group that went out to the desert to await the promised one, John’s baptism is open to all, not merely to a select group. Everything is attire as the people of the whole Judean countryside and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem came out to him to be baptised. They made their way to him, and as they were baptised in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. John got the attention of the crowds, but he quickly turned it away. He pointed out that one who is mightier than he. One who was coming after him. John was a messenger of God and he knew his role as an agent of God’s good news. He was not the long awaited one; he was the one who prepared the way. Though clearly idiosyncratic; in him there was no spirit of self-aggrandisement. He did not even consider himself worthy of performing a servant’s task for this mighty one that is coming. Rather, he taught that his own deeply spiritual baptism of water and repentance would be supplanted by the other’s baptism of the Spirit, effecting total transformation through the action power of God. John’s appearance, his message and his baptism all heralded the good news of salvation.

This time of Advent is a season of future, conversion and repentance. It is a time for the contrition of heart and a new beginning and transformation. God’s future comes through the wilderness into the broken city and inspires a broken hearted people. This is the meaning of contrite. The contrite heart is an emptied-out heart, a hope-filled heart. It is a heart that is unencumbered by the past and lives currently in the passing of time and fragility of being alive. The contrite broken heart can be filled only by what is promised in the future. In this readiness, the contrite heart is transformed into a new creation. Here again is the paradox of Advent. In the middle of wilderness God works the impossible in those whose hearts are ready for the surprise of hope. God shapes a community  of compassion and praise, a community transformed into a future humanity, a community that know that only good things come from God’s future. Are you already a member of this community? If not, make effort to be one this Advent season. Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

pictures  by chukwubike 

1st Sun of Advent: Year B, Dec 3, 2017

May you in this Sunday Eucharist be endowed with the graces you need to wait vigilantly by not only remaining resolute against the insinuations and ramified temptations of Satan, but also by having love for justice, and compassion for the poor, sick and the marginalised. Happy Sunday! 

+John I. Okoye

DOCTRINE AND FAITH

(Isaiah 63,16b-17.19b; 64,2-7; 1Cor 1,3-9; Mark 13,33-37: 1st Sun of Advent: Year B, Dec 3, 2017)

    The Season of Advent commences this Sunday; advent season shows immediate and future perspectives. The immediate perspective is to dispose us to celebrate worthily and solemnly the feast of Christmas that commemorates the historical coming of Christ, the incarnate Son of God into the world. The future perspective looks forward to the time when Christ will come again in his glory at the end of time. The Church may be considered as a community of believers marching towards God, a community in expectation, a community that waits vigilantly. The Christian, therefore, can be described as one who is anxiously waiting for the return of the Lord. We exclaim after Consecration: We proclaim your Death, O Lord, and profess your Resurrection until you come again.  Waiting is the prominent theme of today’s Sunday.

    The people of Israel of the first reading waited to be released of their sufferings. This reading from the book of Isaiah comes from the part written during the darkest days of Israel’s hope. In the last centuries before Christ, they returned to the Holy Land from Exile in Babylon full of hope and expectancy. They were hoping that the past glories of Israel would be restored and a second Eden would flourish in their favour. But they found a land depressed and impoverished, and constantly harassed by neighbouring tribes. Everything went wrong, and they at once came to a crushing sense of their own guilt and failure and a more tranquil hope in God’s care. Their adversity made them call God, Father, an appellative to God, which Jesus often used in the Gospels. If they waited patiently, in the end their ancient redeemer would tear the heavens open and come down in order to set them free. The hope in God’s transformation of their reality is vividly expressed in the words of the composer of this passage: And yet Lord, you are our Father; we the clay, you the potter, we are all the work of your hand.

    At the beginning of his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul showed how he  hope in Christ’s future coming. All the gifts and talents showered on the Christian community were but a pledge and a trust while they were waiting for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. So the Corinthians were waiting for the second coming of Christ. In the gospel narrative, we still have people waiting for the return of the householder. Being vigilant while waiting was so important to Mark, the Evangelist, that he has to emphasise this theme with a parable. The protagonist of this parable was Jesus whose return was put in the present tense and not in the future: so stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming…

    The readings, therefore, suggest that we should wait with patient expectation for the day of fulfilment and peace, the Day of the Lord; we should wait in joyful hope that what will come will come soon. While we wait, we should faithfully fulfil our responsibilities. Hopeful believers do not wait idly. In the gospel story, the servants are for the work of his household. Paul reminds the Christian community that they have all the gifts and talents they need to live faithfully in this world, awaiting the coming of the Day of the Lord. We too, pregnant with expectation, should  do everything in preparation for the day of release, the day of return and the day of fulfilment. We must wait for that day, in partnership with others who wait. That we wait, does not mean showing disinterest in the affairs of the world and present realities; it is not evasion of our daily duties. On the contrary, it means showing a high sense of responsibility in the duties assigned to each of us as Christians in our various states and vocations of life, just as the master of the house assigned specific duties to the servants according to their capabilities. It also means developing, enhancing and bringing to fruition the talents God has allotted to us and for which we must render account. Vigilant waiting in the evangelical sense, implies struggle against the insinuations and ramified temptations of Satan. 

Vigilant waiting in relation to Christ’s coming to our souls and in our lives indicates attention and promptness in welcoming him as we encounter him in His Words (the Scriptures), the Sacraments, the teaching voice of the Church, in his ministers and in the good inspirations that come to us. It also means that we have to be vigilant for justice, and compassionate to the poor, the sick, the marginalised and the downtrodden that need help and succour. In short, vigilant waiting includes perceiving, welcoming and sincerely showing love to Jesus that is hidden in every human being we encounter, making sacrifices on his/her behalf, as if we were doing it directly to Christ himself (Recall the reading of last Sunday: the scene of the last judgment, Matt 25,31-46).  Happy Sunday! +John I. Okoye

(PICTURES BY CHUKWUBIKE)

Solemnity of Christ the King: Year A Nov. 26, 2017

DOCTRINE AND FAITH
(Ezek 34,11-12.15-17; 1 Cor 15,20-26.28; Matt 25,31-46: Solemnity of Christ the King: Year A 2017)

Today, the universal Church celebrates the solemnity of Christ the King. The liturgy of today presents as the theme of our meditation, the image of God as the Good Shepherd. Further reflection will make us see Jesus as a shepherd-king and judge-king. He affirms: I am the Good Shepherd and in the gospel today, he sits in judgement to judge all people. The metaphor Good Shepherd aptly characterises both God’s concern and God’s personal intervention in shepherding his flock, the people of Israel. The first reading describes how God fulfils the role of shepherd primarily, in two ways by caring for the sheep and by separating the good from the bad. God’s first words are self-proclamation: I will tend my sheep. There is no intermediary here; God is immediately involved. Since the flock is described as scattered, he will carefully look for  the sheep, implying that they must first be found before they can be cared for. Once the scattered sheep have been rescued and brought together the attentive shepherd feeds the flock and provides them with the security and rest they need. He appears to be particularly interested in the most vulnerable sheep of the flock, those that were lost or strayed and, those that are injured or sick. Even though, the sheep was formerly neglected, now the sheep is under the supervision of the owner, who is a good shepherd.

The image of God as the Shepherd is taken up by the responsorial Psalm. In order to fulfil this role well, God as the shepherd will discharge the following responsibilities: to find pasture that will provide enough grazing and abundant water for the flock, to lead them without allowing any of the sheep to stray and be lost, to guard them from predators and dangers of any kind, and to attend to their every need. The personal dimension of the psalm shifts the care given to the entire flock to concern for one individual, making God’s care a very intimate matter. Not only are the physical needs of the psalmist satisfied, but the soul, the very life force of the person, is renewed. The guidance of the shepherd is more than provident, it is moral as well. The psalmist is led in the paths of righteousness and this is done for the sake of the Lord’s name. This righteousness, because it stems from the covenant kindness (hesed), is enduring and not a passing sentiment. In addition, the Lord spreads a banquet in honour of the psalmist where even his foes are entertained. This feast, not only provides nourishment but is also a public witness to God’s high regard for the psalmist who will continue to enjoy God’s favour in God’s house.

The metaphor of the Good Shepherd elaborated above from the first reading and the responsorial psalm fits the garb of Jesus Christ, who in the gospel of John, affirmed: I am the good shepherd (Chapter 10 of the gospel of John). His coming into the world was to continue shepherding the people of God for whose sake he died on the cross. He put into practice what he enunciated in John 10,11:  The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. Jesus is, therefore, the shepherd-king who is victorious over death which is the last of the enemies to be conquered as today’s second reading puts it: The last  enemy to be conquered is death. The victory over death is realised by his resurrection by which Christ is the first fruit of all those who rise from the death. As the first-fruit of the dead, the risen Christ is the most forceful expression of life after death, and his resurrection contains the promise of resurrection for all who are joined to him. Christ is not king unto himself. His earthly life was a submission to God and when all things must have come under him as the king of the universe, he himself will still submit himself to God who put every thing under him. Christ does not desire the kingship for himself but for the glory and honour of the Father. He was not covetous for kingly power but had only desired to offer his life and make love take root in people’s heart for the glory of God, the Father. 

Christ is a king who came into the world to inaugurate  the kingdom or reign of God with his blood. Even though this kingdom has its roots in  the election of Israel as the people and flock of God, the kingdom Christ founded was an inclusive kingdom. Its embrace is as comprehensive as God’s embrace. Criteria for membership are not merely based on obedience  to the commandments or on conformity to ritual obligation, but also on the covenantal bonds that unite us to one another. These are bonds of love and concern, bonds that reach deep into the human heart. The gospel story lays bare the genuineness of such concern. Assistance is given whenever and wherever there is need. It is given on ordinary acts: in giving food and drink, shelter and clothing, spending time with someone who might be lonely or afraid, hospitalised or imprisoned, in thanking people for their services, in greeting and cheering up one who is depressed, in showing kindness to beggars and street children and nowadays street men and women, etc. The kingdom of God is established, brick by brick, through these simple acts of kindness. If this is the kingdom we establish during our lifetime, this will be the kingdom into which we shall be welcomed at its end.

What we do for others we do for Christ because Christ is identified with those in need. We seldom see the face of the glorified Christ in the faces of the needy. We often make the mistake of picking and choosing those whom we help, those who fit into the standards we have set. The rest we consider the refuse of the earth, the unavoidable flotsam (people or things that have been rejected or discarded as worthless) of life’s misfortune.   These are precisely the ones with whom Christ is identified. He looks out to us through their eyes. It is his hands that reaches out for assistance. He is the one who tests our patience and generosity. It is through them that we enter the kingdom of God which Christ came to establish and whose eternal king he is.

 In the end, Christ will have conquered all. Having entered into the frailty of human nature, having identified himself with the needy of the world, having handed himself over to death and having risen from the dead, Christ would have conquered all. It is a curious kingdom he has won. It is not a kingdom of the strong but of the weak. Hence he has turned the standards of the world upside down. He has shown that it does not take strength to ignore or to exploit the needy, but it does take strength to overcome our own selfishness in order to serve them. The kingdom Christ hands over to God is a kingdom of love and care. The one in whose hands the kingdom resides and who will act as judge, is characterised as a shepherd. These readings which contain hard themes such a Christ’s death and punishment in eternal fires, depict God as a tender and loving shepherd. The shepherd does not punish those who are lost but instead seeks them and lovingly carries them to safety. Jesus who is our king and judge, is the shepherd who has given himself for his sheep.   Therefore in this Eucharistic celebration let us ask God for the grace, like Christ, to be ready always to show love and kindness to our neighbours. Happy Solemnity of Christ, the King! Happy Sunday. +John I. Okoye