Just a touch of him! Just a touch by him!!

(Homily 13^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. B)

     An in-depth and spiritual reading of the Word of God of this Sunday reveals that right from creation, God has desired the best for all he has created, especially for man, even to the extent of creating man that he might exist, and not to die. This original idea of God was so powerful that the infidelity of man didn’t thwart it, for God in and through the Person of His Son Jesus Christ, restored our life, and continues to give us life in abundance and to liberate us from all that do not allow us to enjoy that fullness of life. God is on the side of life, likewise His Son Jesus Christ. Our existential journey, so far, has brought to our consideration some of the actors and factors that tend to limit the action of God’s grace in us, ranging from sickness, diseases and death, but with a joyful hope we may well posit in Pauline words thus: “We come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us” (Rm. 8:37). For even though, death is an evident reality, in Jesus parlance, the evidence of death is an illusion, for He is the author of life. In Christ what conquers death is not life, but love.

     The first reading (Wis. 1:13-15; 2:23-24) from the book of Wisdom provides the Old Testament belief for man’s immortality. The world created by God was good (Wis. 1:14; cf. Gen. 1). Therein, man was created to be immortal, (even though Genesis 3 seems to assume that man was created mortal). However, the book of Wisdom must have deduced the idea from the fact of man’s creation in God’s image in Gen. 1:26. St. Paul as well seem to share the same opinion as in Wisdom 1:14, for when he was speaking about death, he says: “Well then, it was through one man that sin came into the world, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned” (2 Cor.11:3). Drawing the issue further, the view of death presented in this passage, seem to conflict with the age long self-evident truth of death as a biological fact. However, it could be argued that from the connection of immortality with righteousness in Wis.1:15, it does appear the author is alluding to moral and spiritual death, just like St. Paul in (Rm. 5). In that bid, the mystery of death is beyond the mere physical meaning, it is a sign of man’s alienation from God. In any case, on the basis of the facts of the Gospel, we believe in what is said by the writer of the book of wisdom, that “God did not create death, and does not delight in the death of the living, for he created all things that they might exist...for God created man for in-corruption, and made him in the image of His eternity”.

     In today’s gospel (Mk. 5:21-43), we see a common feature of Mark’s gospel, that is, the insertion of one episode into another. Thus, here the story of the woman with hemorrhage is inserted into the narrative of the raising of Jairus’ daughter. Even though, opinions vary as regards the purpose of this insertion, but the more convincing explanation is St. Mark’s intent to let one miracle interlace into and interpret the other. As such, the healing of the woman with hemorrhage and the raising of Jairus’ daughter can be interpreted as an act of cleansing and salvation (vv.28.34). Therefore, the two miracles prefigure Christ’s salvation of man from death. The whole gospel of St. Mark is centred on the question: who is Jesus? In the gospel of last Sunday, Mark already tried to present Jesus as one who has the prerogatives of God, and as such God; He has power over nature (calming the storm). Today’s gospel periscope presents two miracles, different in nature and similar in the ways that Jesus accomplished them, but they have a common element: the two miracles were rendered possible or rather provoked by FAITH. Mark also presents Jesus as the Lord of Life. He healed instantly a woman that was suffering from a sickness that no doctor was able to cure for twelve years. More interestingly, He raises the little girl of twelve years, Jairus’ daughter back to life. In some other biblical episodes Jesus’ demonstrated that he is the Lord of life with the resurrection of the son of the widow of Naim (Lk.7:11-17), of his friend Lazarus (Jn. 11:38-53), and finally with His own resurrection. As a matter of fact, Jesus told the woman with the issue of blood, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be healed of your disease” (v.34). And to Jairus, who received the news of his daughter’s death: “Do not fear, only believe” (v.36).

     The two figures of today’s gospel are very much distant from each other socially speaking (Jairus was a ruler of the Synagogue, while the woman was socially anonymous). And this teaches us the universality and the non-discriminatory nature of God’s salvation. Two of them teach us what it means to have faith. Faith as they have taught us is not a mere sentiment or emotion, it is a conviction, it entails going beyond the human horizon. To believe means to be certain that what is impossible in man’s parlance is possible in God’s. Mark confirms this in an emblematic manner when he says: “everything is possible for the person who has faith” (Mk 9:23).

     In that bid, our great teachers and spiritual facilitators today are Jairus and the socially anonymous woman with the issue of blood. Though their social status is far apart, but Faith in Jesus has brought them together. Let us have a glance at the two encounters:

● Jairus, a ruler of the Synagogue asked Jesus what is absolutely impossible humanly speaking: the return to life of his dead daughter. Let us observe the scene closely:  seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet, “my little daughter is at the point of death come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live” (a touch by Him). Immediately Jesus went with him, and on their way the popular unknown woman appeared. Later on, a message came that the little girl is dead. Some must have questioned the need of his coming. But on arriving to his house with the words “Talitha cumi”, Jesus brought her back to life.

● The woman with the issue of blood for twelve years manifested the magnitude of her faith, after so many years of suffering. She had reports about Jesus and was fully and deeply convinced “if I touch even His garments, I shall be made well” (a touch of Him). The story of this woman, her action of touching the garments of Jesus, reveals that she saw Jesus as an ‘extraordinary man’, a ‘great prophet’, a ‘divine man’. In fact, the evangelist Luke (8:46) drew the issue further, by adding that Jesus knew that power (dynamis) had gone out of him, when the woman touched him. However, in Mark we see the effort to transform the woman’s courageous gesture into an expression of faith, and as such, a personal encounter with the Saviour. She wanted to do this in a hidden way, because there was a popular believe at that time, that a woman suffering from the issue of blood is impure and also renders whatever she touches so. (But in the episode Jesus purified her imperfect faith). And she did succeed in the midst of the crowd. But Jesus immediately noticed a different type of touch, and He asked who touched my garments? But she presented herself in fear and trembling, she prostrated before Jesus and told Him the whole truth (v.33), and Jesus assured her: “daughter, your faith has saved you” (v.34). And as a premium to their faith they received miracles.

     Similarly, at the heart of the two miracles, one notices with ease that faith for them is not simply a probability or hypothesis, it is instead a certainty, certainty because it is founded on the Word of God that does not deceive at all. The words of Jesus to Jairus give credence to this, “do not fear, only believe”. The exercise of faith is not without difficulties. As someone would say, it is like a dark-light, dark because it requires adhesion to truths that surpass our human capacity (little wonder, is a supernatural gift); it is light, limpid and immune from error because it is founded on the Word of God.

     On the other hand, in our present age replete with all sorts of ideologies, especially of those who do not believe in God, and thus sees that as a form of weakness and folly. In their conception, faith is an act of infantilism and weakness, little wonder, some tend to manifest their faith with fear and in shame. Contrarily, faith is an act of humility and recognition of one’s limits, just as Jairus and the woman did in the gospel. To be faithful in God presupposes courageousness. In the passage, the stories therein bring to light the incomprehension and oppositions that are encountered in the bid to believe in Jesus Christ and his Good News of salvation. A wonderful example to follow is that of Jairus, a ruler of the synagogue, who notwithstanding his social position and prestige, humbled himself, without minding what could be the negative reaction of the crowd (criticisms, derision etc.), walked up to Jesus for something that seemed humanly impossible.

     Once again, as it is typical of the Marcan account, at the end of the raising event, Mark introduces the messianic secret: “And he gave them strict orders not to let anyone know about it” (v.43). And this order is better understood from the theological standpoint, for the true significance of the act of raising is not yet apparent. Indeed, it is only at the death and resurrection event that the veil of the messianic secrecy will be revealed. The injunction of Mark 9:9 explains this better: “As they were coming down from the mountain he warned them to tell no one what they has seen, until after the son of man had risen from the dead”. In all, while the raising of Jarius’ daughter prefigures Christ’s victory over death, the healing of the hemorrhage woman prefigures Christ’s death as a cleansing from sin.

     In our own existential experiences and situation, the Good news for us today is that the same Jesus who instantly healed the woman with the issue of blood, who for twelve years was craving and searching for cure, is the same Jesus that can heal our own sickness, especially the spiritual sickness called sin. The same Jesus that gave back life to the daughter of Jairus can deliver us and give us life in abundance (Jn. 10:10). But from us, Jesus just requires a humble, courageous and persevering faith as exemplified in today’s gospel passage. The faith that does not give up even when prayers seem not to be answered and when things are not working as desired. A wonderful example is the experience of Jairus when Jesus was on His way to His house, and later was ‘distracted’ by the woman that touched him. And again, while Jesus was still on the way a message came from Jairus house: “your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further”. As if the coming of Jesus is no longer useful. But Jesus ignored them and intervened with these words to Jairus: “do not fear, only believe”. What happened to “the some” who came with despondency to report the death of Jairus daughter and at the same time seeing Jesus visit to be unuseful can also happen to us, when we lose hope, and begin to doubt what God can do in our life. In moments like that the words of Jesus re-echoes again to us saying: “do not fear, only believe”. What are those things that are standing between us and our faith in Jesus? Is it sickness? It can become a bridge and not a wall for us to encounter Jesus. Is it the crowd? We should not be discouraged by them. Is it derision? Faith in Jesus conquers that. In the words of St. Paul, “In all these things we have complete victory through Him who loved us” (Rm. 8:37). In whatever situation we find ourselves a touch of Him or a touch by Him can raise us up! Let us put our voices together and invoke the power of the miracle Jesus to raise us up from our different situations of failure and limitations. Amen! And may the song of Josh Groban, “You raise me Up”, re-echo in our hearts and lips thus:

When I am down, and, oh, my soul, so weary

When troubles come, and my heart burdened be

Then, I am still and wait here in the silence

Until you come and sit awhile with me

You raise me up, so I can stand on mountains

You raise me up to walk on stormy seas

I am strong, when I am on your shoulders;

You raise me up… to more than I can be

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)

John The Baptist: The voice to The Word!

(Homily for the Solemnity of the Nativity of John the Baptist-Year B)

      Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of John the Baptist, the Precursor, Christ’s forerunner and the pioneer soul-winner (cf. Jn.1:7). Indeed, this is one of those special few solemnities we celebrate in the church that are not those of the Lord. No doubt, the celebration of this solemnity even on the day of the Lord, reveals its place of importance in the life and faith of the church. The reason for his importance is predicated upon the fact that his ministry is indeed intimately related to the ministry of Jesus. Indeed, as we celebrate him today, we cannot but rediscover his good examples and virtues. John the Baptist should and cannot be considered as one of those mere personages of the past, for his relevance in the church is still visible today. He continues to interrogate every authentic Christian with his cry of repentance, and the impending judgment. He continues to be the voice that cries in the desert, in the desert of the world, in the desert of our society and in the desert of our hearts. The whole Church needs to put her voice together to that of John the Baptist in crying for repentance, for without repentance, the Savior will not be known. For repentance, knowingly or unknowingly reawakens in us the consciousness of our “createdness”. It helps us to realize and accept that we cannot save ourselves, but God can, and He does, in and through His Son! We are called therefore to be a voice that cries, a voice that proclaims the Truth, the Good News, the advent of the Messiah.

     As we celebrate his birthday today, we cannot but recall the vital role he played in the immediate and imminent preparation for the advent of the Messiah. Indeed, to say it with John the evangelist, “A man came, sent by God. His name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness to the light, so that everyone might believe through him” (Jn. 1:6-7). John the Baptist's preparation for the coming of Jesus was not aesthetic or physical beautification. He calls for a spiritual preparation. And the people responded to his call for conversion with the confession of their sins. John further teaches us how to wait by what he wore and ate, and also by his Humility as a Voice, he is not the Word, and he was very much aware of it. In fact, in the second reading he says: “What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie” (Acts 13:25). A voice without the Word will only make empty noise. The Baptist role as a Voice could also be seen at the episode of his birth, when speech was restored to his dumb father, just in the effort to give him a name. Thus, immediately after his birth he became voice to the father and later voice to the Eternal Word of the Father. Interestingly, we could say that the question Isaac asked his father Abraham in the book of Genesis (22:7): “But where is the lamb?”, was answered by John the Baptist in the gospel of John: “Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world” (1:29). He is the voice of the Lamb. The preaching of John as a voice hinged on two aspects: ● His preaching of repentance and baptism and the forgiveness of sins. ● His declaration of the advent of One stronger than him, who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.

      In the same vein, even today, we need precursors, those who will continue to call the attention of all to the preparation for the continuous coming of Christ in our hearts and in our lives, through their words and actions. For us priests and religious we have more motives to become voices like John the Baptist, because our vocation, our consecration and our ordination call us to dedicate our lives completely for the service of the Lord. We are to become “Otimkpu Jisos”. And by extension, we are all called as Christians to be at the fore front in the preparation for the Savior’s coming. No doubt, to be precursors entails becoming agents of preparation for His coming, therefore ready and willing to remove all obstacles that can impede His coming into our lives and societies. Ceteris paribus, therefore, the central figure of the gospel is John the Baptist, who realized the prophecy of Isaiah: “A voice of one that cries in the desert, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his path” (Is.40:3).

     In the episode of the Lukan gospel (Lk. 1: 57-66.80) we are called to meditate on the event of the birth of John the Baptist, which represents the fulfilment of the message of the angel to Zechariah. In the account of the birth of John the Baptist the story revolves around the imposition of name and the reaction of the people, who were filled with awe before the wonders the Lord has wrought. The name John signifies “God is gracious”. The theme of grace is a recurrent one in the infancy gospel (both in Jesus and John the Baptist). Mary celebrated the grace of God in the Magnificat (v.50). And God himself magnified his grace with Elizabeth, by making her to be fruitful even in her old age (v.58). God still continues to manifest his merciful love with the actuation and fulfilment of the promises he made to the fathers, especially with the imminent birth of the rising Sun.

     As a matter of fact, between the two testaments, there exists a period of silence, and that is very much symbolized in the speech taking away from the priest (Zechariah), right in the temple. Zechariah doubted, and as such, he closed his ears before the Word of God, and from that moment he lost his word (that is the power to speak). He refused to listen, and now he has nothing to communicate. In all, one notices immediately that the doubts of the Old priest did not prevent God’s action. For what God says he will do, he will do! Indeed, John the Baptist is a Child of miracle.

     After his birth, on the eight day, that supposed to be the naming ceremony in their tradition, the kinsmen all gathered and they wanted to name him after his father Zechariah, but owing to the fact that he is a child of miracle, his name equally was revealed. At this moment the priest that should speak could not utter a word for he was dumb, then they asked the mother and she replied without hesitation: “He will be called John”, which means “God is gracious”, and this name indeed revealed the essence of his person. But on hearing the name the people there were astounded, and thus they proceeded to the dumb old priest and gave him pen to write the name to be given, and he wrote: “John” and the people were all astonished the more. Upon confirmation of the name John, as declared by his wife Elizabeth, Zechariah regained his speech and his first words were a hymn of thanksgiving to the Lord: the Benedictus.    

     In this passage, we see that wonderful coincidence between the will/desire of Elizabeth and that of Zechariah (v.63), however, it is not to be considered as a miracle, because there is the possibility that he communicated to Elizabeth prior to that moment the name that was revealed by the angel (v.13), for he was dumb. On the other hand, the feeling of bewilderment, fear and the spread of the event constitute in the gospel of Luke the common elements in the account of miracles. Above all, the most resounding prodigy consists in the birth of the Precursor. And all these, propelled those around to question thus: “What then will this child be?” This interrogation reveals in no small way, that this child has a wondrous mission to carry out for the salvation of the world. And he did manifest this as a Voice, the Precursor, and the Baptizer. In all, his person and his preaching have just a function: to render present the Other. The whole of his mission and greatness could be summarized in the following landmarks:

●He obeyed a divine commission (cf. Jn.1:33)

● He described a specific task (cf. Jn. 1:19-23)

● He ushered in the long awaited Messiah (cf. Jn. 1:24-27)

● He proclaimed a glorious message (cf. Jn. 1:29 & 36. 32 & 33)

● He procured a rich harvest (cf. Jn. 1:35-37, 40-42)

And as we celebrate him today, the relevance of this solemnity reminds us that we are all called to partake in the mission of the Baptist, as voice to the Word “otimkpu Jisos”. Lord Jesus help us to recognize our nothingness before You as John did! Help us to understand that without You our life will be meaningless, for without the Word, the voice produces meaningless sounds! Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)

God The Indefatigable Sower!

(Homily 11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. B)

     At the heart of today’s readings is the demonstration of the divine power and its force at work in the history of the chosen people and in the life of all believers in Christ Jesus. The image of God portrayed in the first reading and the gospel is that of a caring and provident God. In the prophecy of Ezekiel he assured his people, “From the top of the tall cedar tree, from the highest branch I shall take a shoot and I myself will plant it upon a high and lofty mountain; on the mountain height of Israel will I plant it that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit, and become a noble cedar” (Ez.17:22-23). He is presented as the one who gives life and growth to what is planted, He makes the seed scattered by a farmer in the gospel to sprout and grow beyond the knowledge of the farmer (Mk. 4:26-27). This is symbolic of God’s graciousness in giving new life to those who believe in him, a new life that is the prerequisite for entrance into the kingdom of Heaven. The context for today’s overriding theme is agrarian, where new life springs, grows and matures. Similarly, Jesus has sown his seed in our hearts and off he went, like the farmer of the parable, and like every other farmer, and the divine power shows its force always in assuring the growth of his seed/word in us and the expansion of the Kingdom. As the Kingdom of God is growing, we are invited to grow as well; to grow with the rest and the best!

     The first reading and the gospel remind us that like the plant, planted by God himself, and like the seed that God gives life and growth, we are in a state of becoming. And our state of becoming is two-dimensional: our becoming as in our growth and maturity in God and our becoming part of that great Kingdom, the second is predicated upon the first. Interestingly, the second reading, serves as a revelation of the climax of our becoming, for on the last day, we shall see the  type of person we have become, and that will give rise to a state of being, no longer becoming;  a state of being in and with God.

     The first reading (Ez. 17:22-24) is replete with menaingful symbolic images and equally in line with the teaching of the parables. Indeed, during the time of the fall of the Kingdom of Judah in 587 a.c., the dynasty of David, on which the divine promises hinged and the hope of the people of Israel were seemingly compromised. During this period the people of Israel were going through a very difficult period of their history. Jehoiakim, the last of the line of David, had been defeated and taken prisoner to Babylon. This national disaster weakened the faith of many in Yaweh. They questioned about God’s promise that David and his descendants would reign forever. Then, here begins our reading, the prophet makes assurance of what seemed humanly impossible, God will do it: from the top of the cedar (that symbolizes the dynasty of David) it will take a shoot (the Messiah), and he will plant it on Mount Zion (which repressents Jerusalem and the people of Israel), and “it will put out branches and bear fruit and grow into a noble cedar tree. Every kind of bird will live beneath it, every kind of winged creature will rest in the shade of its branches” (v.23). That stands to indicate that the Kingdom of the Messiah will be open to all peoples. All this will be possible, only through the power of God, because the history of the chosen people is in his hands. He is the Lord of history: “I am the Lord, I have spoken and I will do it” (v.24).   

     Truly, Jesus is David’s descendant par excellence, and he is kingdom personified (Auto-Basilea). The birds and the winged creatures represent the people of the earth who will find shade and dwelling in the Him and in the Christian community. In all, this reading invites us to keep on believing in God, mainly when our expectations seem to come to nothing and our hopes dashed. No doubt, prophet Ezekiel desires to transmit a strong message of trust and hope to the people of Israel exiled in Babylon. And to us today, it reminds us of the need to remain focused in God and his promises, even when trials and difficulties seem to uproot our root in God, even when the foundation of our faith is shaky, let us not rely on human means and possibilities, but on the power of God, who realizes his words.

     The Gospel of today (Mark 4: 26-34) invites us to reflect on the two popular parables of Jesus, drawn as usual from the agrarian context. He used the scene of the reality of everyday life experience, to explain transcendent truths: the parable of the seed that germinates and grows on its own and that of the musteard seed. He used them to explain some paradoxical aspects of the Kingdom of God. In the first parable Jesus shows the miracle of growth, which describes the dynamics of sowing. The seed is sown in the earth, then without the farmers knowledge and effort, it sprouts and grows by itself. The expereince of life in the field reveals that man does nothing but sowing and waiting. We are in front of the mystery of creation, God's action in history which we must contemplate in amazement. He is the Lord of the Kingdom, man is a humble collaborator contemplating and rejoicing of God's creative act and waiting for the harvest eager to participate in it. In the second parable Jesus speaks of the mustard seed, which is the smallest of all the seed, but when it grows it becomes a very large tree, and he likened it to the development and expansion of God’s kingdom. Irrespective of the fact that the mustard seed is the smallest seed, it has an unthinkable dynamism and power of life. The mustard seed becomes a high and robust shrub, able to give shelter in its branches to the birds. Similarly, the Kingdom of God, from a human point of view, may appear small, but it contains within itself the mystery of a prodigious divine force that is unimaginable. Extrapolating from this passage, it behooves us to affirm that the Gospel is a school that educates us to the value of waiting. As such, in the Gospel we can gather images of the value of waiting by which we can learn how to live the "already and not yet", the paradoxical waiting of the Christian life.

     Be that as it may, one could ask the reason behind the two parables? And from all indications it does appear at that point in time, the ministry of Jesus was encountering difficulties and incomprehension (cf. Mk. 3:22-30), with the consequence of exposing the apostles and the disciples to pessimism and discouragement. Jesus intended to hearten them, and thus with the parable of the seed that grows on its own he teaches that the Kingdom of God grows irrespective of many incomprehensions and difficulties. It is not man that gives success to the growth of God’s word and Kingdom. There is need to adopt the virtue of patience, for the word of God in its own time will produce good fruits (cf. Is. 55:11). The word of God is to be procalimed with trust, courage and perseverance, then it follows its course, and in accordance to God’s time too. With the parable of the Mustard seed, Jesus intends to teach us that the Kingdom of God, the work of salvation begins in a modest way, and later grows into a magnificent reality, such that it has the capacity to contain people from all walks of life. This is not as a result of human capacity or organisation, but through the power of God. Furthermore, the parable reawakens in us the consciousness to take serious the present time, the here and now. The parable thus, serves as an invitation to rediscover the value of trust in God, but also a reminder to remain committed to the Kingdom-cause. From the beginning  of his ministry, Jesus announced that this is the aim of his mission (Mk.1:14). He inaugurates and established the Kingdom, teaching also that the kingdom of God will grow and mature, but that it will reach full manifestation, only at the end, with his glorious coming (1Cor. 15:24).

     The second reading (2Cor. 5:6-10) is in conformity with the Gospel and the first reading. The central message is an invitation to a greater trust, in the words of St. Paul: “we are always filled with trust”, notwithstanding all the difficulties of the apostolic ministry. St. Paul was getting old, and beginning to feel weary, in fact, the many sufferings and persecutions he passed through had left their marks on him. Little wonder, at the beginning of the reading we see Paul’s famous spiritual saying delineating the Christian life as a journey “we walk by faith and not by sight” (v.7). It is a journey towards God, for this he talks about leaving the body.

     Drawing the issue further, as evident in the first reading and the gospel, it is God who takes a sprig from the cedar to plant it, it is he who makes the seed to germinate on its own and makes the mustard seed to grow, who gives growth and increase to his Kingdom. Be that as it may, this providential gesture of God, should serve as an invitation to a commitment for a coherent christian life, in the continuous effort to do what is pleasing to Him (v.9). It equally serves as a reminder to rediscover the sense of responsibility, with the consciousness that “at the judgement seat of Christ we are all to be seen for what we are, so that each of us may receive what he has deserved in the body, matched to whatever he has done, good or bad” (v.10). Indeed, at his judgement seat, our spiritual developmental journey of ‘becoming’ assumes the reality of ‘being’, being in and with Christ, for we shall see him face to face (cf. 1Cor. 13:12)

     In all, that God sees to the growth and expansion of his Kingdom does not mean that we have to be passive expectators. We are called to cooperate with the grace of God. If we love and live in a way pleasing to God, we will make the world a “Little Heaven”. Predicated upon that, the question we have to ask ourselves today is: how are mine contributing to the growth and expansion of God’s Kingdom, in our life and in the world around us? If you show love, respect others and desist from whatever is evil, infact, in few words, if you live in a way pleasing to God, then God is near to you, and the nearness of God is the nearness of his kingdom. God our Father, as you continue to ensure the growth of your kingdom, we pray you to sow the divine seed in us, so that we may grow to the full stature of perfection, worthy of your kingdom! Give us the grace to work for the growth and expansion of your Kingdom around us, so that our families and our societies will become “little heavens” at the imitation of your Eternal Kingdom! Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)

Choosing Between Satan’s Snares and God’s Will!

(Homily 10^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Yr. B)

     The readings of this Sunday are replete with many themes for reflection, ranging from the disobedience of the first parents, its consequences on Satan and man, the hope of eternal glory in all tribulations, to the blasphemy against Jesus and his preferential option for the will of God, which surpasses the power of human blood ties. In all, the point that dovetails into the three readings is the latent call to choose and prefer the will of God to the promptings of Satan. For indeed, there is an eloquent presence of the evil one in the existential journey of believers in Christ. But the Good News of today is that in both the ordinary and extraordinary works of the Devil, Satan has been defeated and in the midst of many tribulations, an incomparable eternal weight of glory awaits us. Therefore, it is upon this moral spiritual consciousness that we are called to choose God’s will against Satan’s snare.

     In the first reading (Gen. 3:9-15), we reckon with the emblematic reality of the Original sin, which marked the dramatic origin of humanity. The quest to be like God was the presumption of man at the beginning, the desire for an absolute autonomy from God, the dream to be without Him. But the whole drama turned against man, for he ended up as slave to Satan and thus, fell into the deceptive hands of the tempter, who entered into the world as the “prince of this world” (Jn. 14:30), in order to terrorize the children of God. Consequently, man came out of that dramatic situation divided and in struggle against each other. Adam accuses Eve, Eve accuses Adam and the snake, and later Cain accused and eliminated Abel. And unfortunately, this chain of accusation, hatred, division and envy has continues till today.

     In today’s gospel (Mk. 3:20-35) St. Mark presented the ugly encounter of Jesus with the scribes, who accused Jesus of being possessed by Beelzebul, and attributed his mighty works and miracles to the demon. “He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons” (Mk. 3:22). This biblically, is one of the heaviest blasphemy against Jesus.  The worst attack on Jesus is the consideration that he was possessed by a devil. For it is not only an attack on his works and the source of them, but regrettably on his ontology, on his person, as the Son of God. But to their illogical way of reasoning, Jesus sought to help to reason a bit: “How can Satan cast out Satan?” (Mk. 3:24). And consequently, he told them: “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemies against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilt of an eternal sin” (Mk. 3:28-29). This concept of ‘blasphemy against Holy Spirit’ is common in the synoptic gospel (cf. Mt. 12:22-32; Lk. 12:10). And one may ask, what are the sins against the Holy Spirit? There are basically six ways one can sin against the Holy Spirit: ●Despair: that is when one cease to hope for his/her personal salvation from God, and for help in attaining it or for forgiveness of one’s sins. ●Presumption of God’s mercy: the hope to save oneself without the help of God and the hope to obtain God’s forgiveness without conversion. ●Watering down the known truth: this has to do with attack on religious truths, by word or by argument, in order to resist and contradict it or even to oppose it. ●Envy the spiritual good of another: it has to do with envying the spiritual gifts of another, and it amounts to questioning the Divine judgment of the Holy Spirit in his distribution of spiritual gifts. ●Obstinacy in sin: this has to do with the resistance of the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit, stubborn and persistent in sin. ●Final impenitence: entails remaining unrepentant, hardened without regret or remorse for one’s sins

     In the second moment, Jesus demonstrates that family for him is not just by blood, but by adherence to the will and obedience to the Word of God. Jesus broke the ties and circle of physical human relations, he broke the circle of blood and race. He launched a new family, the family of God, the family of those who are brothers, and sisters and friends not because they are born out of the will of women or men, but because they are born out of God (cf. Jn.1:13). Indeed, those that brought Jesus the news that his mother and his relatives were looking for him to take him back to the house, gave Him the opportunity to point out that family for him is beyond natural blood ties. For he reacted immediately, “who are my mother and my brothers?’” (Mk.3:33). At first glance, the response of Jesus gives the impression that he is unconcerned and somewhat disrespectful towards his mother and relatives. In another passage Jesus reacted apparently in a harsh way to the mother thus: “Woman, what do you want from me? My hour has not come yet” (Jn. 2:4). But in reality he was neither disrespectful nor rude to them. For with the affirmation: “He who does the will of God is my brother, my sister and my mother” (Mk. 3:35), Jesus intends here, to communicate that the ties of faith is stronger than the blood ties. For the ties of faith is sealed by the blood of Christ. It is the exercise of obedience to God’s will that makes us closer to Him.

     Behold, Jesus is the perfect model of submission and the fulfilment of the will of the Father. In Jesus words: “Here I am, I am coming, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, God” (Heb. 10:7). His gaze was always fixed on the will of God, the fulfilment of the Father’s will is the pillar of his existential program. Little wonder, he affirmed: “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me, and to complete his work” (Jn.4:34). In fact, during the supreme moment of his trial, in the Garden of Olive, when his human nature reckoned with the pains of the Passion, he exclaimed: “Abba, Father! For you everything is possible. Take this cup away from me. But let it be as you, not I, would have it” (Mk. 14:36). Obedience to the Father, the fulfilment of the Father’s will synthesizes the life of Jesus. Indeed, St. Paul captured it vividly well, “He was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. And for this God raised him high, and gave him the name which is above all other names” (Phil. 2:8-9). This manner of adherence to the Father’s will is what Jesus demands from his disciples and from us too: “It is not anyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, who will enter the kingdom of Heaven, but the person who does the will of my Father in heaven” (Mt. 7:21).

     The most eloquent and perfect disciple of Jesus is the Mother, Mary, who is united to and with Christ by means of family blood and at the same time with the most profound tie of fulfilment of God’s will. She is the one very close to Jesus in a spiritual resemblance, not by somatic traits but by total disposition to do the will of God. Indeed, from the Annunciation to the Calvary, the life of Mary can be condensed in her fiat: “Mary Said, You see before you Lord’s servant, let it happen to me as you have said” (Lk. 1:38). ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord’, as such, Mary declared herself willing and ready to do the will of God.

     Be that as it may, by means of this perfect obedience to the Father, by Christ the Redeemer and Mary Co-Redemptrix, we are redeemed from the disobedience of Adam and Eve. Evil entered into the world when they rebelled against God, when they sought for their complete autonomy and independence, as it is evident in the first reading. Truly, contrary to the disobedience of Adam and Eve that brought us death; rehabilitation and redemption came through the obedience of Christ and Mary.

     As such, the road of obedience becomes the principal road that man has to follow, as a child of God and a disciple of Christ. For when man distances himself from the will of God, to follow other roads, he ends up in ruin. The abandonment of the will of God in search of other egoistic, seductive and individualistic projects leads man to his ruin, it takes him back to the road of slavery and not of freedom. It is of course, obvious that sometimes it is difficult and demanding to do the will of God (we cannot but find inspiration with Christ who paid with his life). Indeed, it is a sacrifice that redeems us, it is a fecund sacrifice.

     A gaze back to the first reading reveals that right from the beginning, God gives humanity a great message of salvation, a good news, which anticipates the Gospel: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; it will bruise your head and you will strike its heel” (Gen.3:15). This promise was realized in and with the coming of Christ, in particular with the event of his Passion, Death and Victorious Resurrection. Christ indeed, is the ‘most powerful Man’ that the Gospel talks about. Satan, the deceiver is by no means the Lord of the world, he has been blocked and caged by “the Man” more powerful than him, namely Christ. Sequel to this, Jesus posited at the imminence of his Passion: “Now sentence is being passed on this world; now the prince of this world is to be driven out” (Jn. 12:31). And we have been made participants of the victory of Christ over Satan. Our liberation was gained the day of our baptism, to say it with St. Paul: “It is he who has rescued us from the ruling force of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:13). However, the struggle with and against the evil one is not yet over, rather the fight is more arduous, the devil continues his devastating work and plot against the children of light.

     No doubt, the bible and the Gospel in particular, affirm clearly the existence of Satan, the tempter. Contrarily, he who says that Satan does not exist, is rendering him a service, and doing a disservice to his life of grace and salvation. In fact, the tendency of negating the existence of the devil is itself, a wonderful tactics of the Devil, so as to act undisturbed. On this, St. John categorically declared: “This was the purpose of the appearing of the Son of God, to undo the work of the Devil” (1Jn. 3:8). John traced the reason of the coming of Jesus to the fight against Satan. No doubt, with this in view, Jesus sternly alerted his apostles thus: “Look, Satan has got his wish to sift you all like wheat” (Lk.22:31). Therefore, we have to be vigilant and strong to resist him. St. Peter admonished us thus: “keep sober and alert, because your enemy the devil is on the prowl like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour” (1Pt. 5:8-9).We can protect ourselves against the works of the Devil with the armour of prayer and the sacraments. The battle against the Devil remains always open, and of course, it will end with our death, but we are consoled by the word of God in Romans 8:37, as St. Paul tells us “we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of Him who loved us”. And interestingly, in the words of the second reading, united with Christ, “the temporary, light burden of our hardships is earning us forever an utterly incomparable, eternal weight of glory” (2Cor. 4:17).

     The second reading (2Cor. 4:13-5:1) is a wonderful consideration of the hope of eternal glory that awaits God’s children, and “that is why we do not waver” (2Cor. 4:16). And as such, we are encouraged not to be weighed down by the present affliction that may come in form of the ordinary and extraordinary works of the devil. St. Paul gives us the reason to remain firm in the following words: “we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2Cor. 4:18). Indeed, the phrase “we believe, and so we speak” (2Cor. 4:13) is predicated upon the hope of what God will do for us in and through the resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ.

     In all, the readings of today brings to our consideration the fact that as far as we are in this world, we will encounter many afflictions and temptations by the temper. However, the word of God invites us to remain firm like Jesus to the Father’s will. For separated from Him we can do nothing (Jn.15:5). And this has to reflect in the choice we make, for or against God. To say it with the Vatican Exorcist of blessed memory, Fr. Gabriele Amorth: “We must choose between Satan’s snares and God’s promises. The first Adam chose Satan’s snare. The second Adam, Christ, chose obedience to God” (An Exorcist, More Stories, p.30). May God help us to choose his will and promises against the enticing snares of Satan. Amen!

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)

THE EUCHARIST: SYMBOL OF HIS CONTINUOUS INCARNATION

(Homily for Corpus Christi Sunday, Year B)

     Today the Holy Mother Church celebrates the most sublime Mystery: the Solemnity of the Corpus Christi, the Solemnity that recalls the Mystery of the real presence of Christ in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The aim of  this solemnity is three-fold: first, it serves an invitation for us to be always conscious of the greatness of this Gift; second, to make our faith always alife and convinced in It; third, to reawaken in us the sensibility always to render gratitude to Jesus who instituted It, “the very night he was to be betrayed”, as a sign of His extreme love for us. The Eucharist is the perpetuation of both his Love and his Presence. It is the Sacrament of Christ’s extreme love for humanity. It is a sign of his continuous Incarnation in human history. In the words of Giovanni Vannucci, “man is the only creature that has God in his blood”, we have in us a divine chromosome, for Jesus dwells in us! This Sacrament reminds us of the Jewish religious tradition of Berakah, which has to do with blessing, thanksgiving and praise to God for the wonders he has wrought.

     Going through history lane, we remember that in the Old Jewish tradition, when the family gathers for the Passover Meal, it was prescribed that the last born of the house, asks a question to the Father of the family, thus: What does this ritual mean? This was the question that someone (maybe John that was the youngest apostle) directed to Jesus, the evening they were at table for the Last Super. In response to the question Jesus might have explained to them how the whole celebration from the night of the Exodus, to the killing of the lamb and the Passover Meal, were not but a figure and a prophecy of Him; the Lamb of God (cf. Gen. 22:7; Jn. 1:29), that has to be slaughtered in order to take away the sins of the world, and to be food and drink for his friends. Indeed, “Christ loved us and handed himself over to us as an offering and a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God” (Eph. 5:2).

     Similarly, the same question can situate us well into the context of our present gathering, therefore, let us ask ourselves: What is the meaning of this ritual? Not because we do not know what we are about to do or the essence of our celebration, but for the Lord to explain it to us again, through his word and through the church,  always for a more profound understanding. To that question the readings of today have much in stock for us.

     In the first reading (Ex 24:3-8), prior to this wonderful gift, the people of Israel celebrated their covenant with God by means of the blood of sacrificed animals. This reading tells us how God one day at the foot of mount Sinai made a covenant with Israel. He promised to protect and defend them if they keep his commandments. Moses asked the people if they want to accept, and they all in one accord agreed. There Moses raised an altar representing God and the twelve tribes of Israel. Moses pours the blood of animal on the altar for sacrifice. This pouring of blood symbolizes that from that moment onward God and the people of Israel are one person (because of the blood). For this covenant to be effective, God demanded faithfulness from the people.

     The two readings from the New Testament throw more light to the awareness of the centrality of this passage to the understanding of the Christian redemption and its representation in the Eucharist. First, in Mark 14:24: “This is my blood of the Covenant”. Here, the covenant blood of Christ is contrasted with the blood that Moses sprinkled against the alter and over the people. Second, in Hebrew 9:15-21, with particular reference to verse 20, which cited Exodus 24:8, in a glaring manner. The basic question emanating from this passage goes thus: why was it necessary in the Scripture for a covenant to be ratified in and with blood? This boils down to the idea that the death of the victim has the finality of making the covenant irrevocable. More so, the sacrifice is an eloquent expression of the offerer’s total commitment to carry out the terms of the covenant. The passage from the book of Exodus is suggestive of a possible understanding and interpretation of the Eucharist from the view point of an atonement. In the Old Testament, before the covenant is completed, the people have to become participants. For instance, in the Sinai covenant, Moses sprinkled the people with half of the blood, after he must have applied the other half on the alter (which represents Yahweh). Be that as it may, in this parlance, the Eucharist becomes an integral part of the once and for all sacrifice of Calvary.

     The second reading (Heb 9:11-15), reminds us of the yearly celebration of the feast of Expiation by the people of Israel, to wipe their sins away. The High Priest enters the Holy of Holies where God was believed to be present and there he poured the blood of the covenant. The author of the letter to the Hebrews makes a comparison between what the High Priest of old did and the sacrifice of Christ. And he says that the new is greater than the old. Why? Because the old was offered with the blood of animals, while in the new Christ offers his own blood. Christ shed his blood once and for all (and commanded us to continue to do it in memory of Him). In todays readings we hear repeatedly of blood that purifies, and that is the blood of Christ. Jesus is the High Priest of the New Testament. He is not in opposition with the Jewish worship, rather he came for its fulfilment. The high priest of the Old covenant was entering into the Holy of Holies once a year and he sprinkled blood to offer atonement for sins. But Jesus entered the Holy of Holies offering his blood, and the sacrifice of and with his blood is effective at all times. Jesus is both Priest and Victim.    

     The Gospel (Mk 14:12-16.22-26), can be divided into two parts: preparation for the last supper and the institution of the Eucharist. It is in this passage that Mark identified the Last Super with the Passover meal. Mark in his account desires to affirm that the Eucharist is the Christian Passover meal. Little wonder, Jesus is depicted as the eschatological Prophet (Mk. 14:12-16), owing to his foreknowledge of the direction to which the disciples were to meet the man with the water jar. Therein, we need to pay attention to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which actually captures what we traditionally refer to as the institution of the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist: He took a loaf of bread and after blessing it gave it to them and said: take; this is my body. Here we pay attention to the fact that what he was having was a loaf of bread but after the blessing it became his body. After the blessing he no longer called what he had loaf of bread but My Body. The same thing is applicable to the cup of wine after giving thanks he said take, This is my Blood. At the end of this special meal he told them to do what he had done in memory or remembrance of him, as in (cf. 1Cor. 11:24.25).

     Extrapolating from the passage, we can identify three important elements in relation to this sublime mystery, namely: ●The substantial change of the bread to the body of our Lord Jesus Christ and the wine to his blood. This is what we refer to as transubstantiation, as opposed to transfiguration. ●The element of thanksgiving, which in Greek is “Eucharistia”. ●The phenomenon of remembrance or memorial. This serves as a reminder to the people of God not to forget the good deeds of the Lord.

     Drawing the issue further, the three readings of today propel us to consider the Holy Eucharist above all, from variegated points of view:

►The Eucharist as a Sacrifice: The Eucharist is above all, the sacrifice that renders the self-immolation of Christ actual and perenially present. It is the sacrifice of the New covenant ratified with the blood of Christ. ●As we read in the first reading, God through Moses made the chosen people to know of his laws and commands. And the people on their part, resolved to observe them, repeating it with an oath: “All the words Yahweh has spoken we will carry out” (Ex. 24:3). ●The letter to the Hebrews declares in a definitive manner the conclusion of the time of the Old law, which was to serve as a preparation for the coming of Christ and for salvation through faith in Him. The numerous sacrifices with animals gives way to the unique and perfect sacrifice of Christ, a sacrifice of infinite value. The blood of animals was replaced with the blood of the unique and immaculate victim: Jesus Christ. By means of the replacement with the blood of Christ, we are no longer talking about a provisory covenant, that has to do with the Israelites alone, but a definitive covenant. It is not just a ritual of external purification, rather the “purification of our conscience from the works of death to serve the living God” (Heb. 9:12-14). ●For this Jesus insitituted the Eucharist, according to Mark (14:22-23), with the pronouncement of the following words: “When he had said the blessing he broke it and gave it to them. Take it, he said, this is my body. Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them, and all drank from it”. On the other hand, Luke in his gospel (22:20) and St. Paul in 1Corinthians (11:25) speak explicitly of the “New Covenant”. The Eucharist, therefore, is the representation in a sacramental way under the signs of bread and wine, of the unique and perfect sacrifice of Christ, to the glory of the Father, for the expiation of sins.

►The Eucharist as a Banquet: The Eucharist is not only the sacrifice of Christ, but at the same time, it is a supper, a feast, to which everyone is invited. Jesus instituted it in the context of the Last Supper, with typical elements of a banquet: bread and wine, and he said clearly and distinctly: “Take, this is my body” (v.22). “Then he took the chalice and gave thanks and handed it to them and they all drank from it” (v.23). Indeed, the Eucharistic celebration is inseparably a sacrifice and a banquet.

►The Eucharist as a mystery which calls for commitment: The Eucharist is not a mere rite or a simple cultual act, that is repeated in a formal way. Above all, it is a mystery that requires a conscious and active participation. It is a mystery that demands fully the commitment of a believer. The Eucharist as a sacrifice requires those who participate in it the effort to make themselve a living sacrifice acceptable to God, to unite their daily sufferings to that of Christ. And as a banquet, it is a feast around which we gather as children of God, the Eucharist as such, invites us to live in communion, fraternity and love.

    Again to our earlier question: What does this ritual mean? Our Lord responds to us, first of all, with the words of St. Paul: “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Cor. 11:26). And at the moment of the Institution of the Eucharist Jesus said to his apostles: “Do this in memory of me”. But memorial of what? Of the death of the Lord, certainly, but not only of this, Jesus said: “In memory of me”, the Eucharist, therefore, remembers (brings to heart) Him, all his mystery; His prefiguration in the Old Testament and his actuation in the New Testament. In this sense, the Eucharist is a Remembrance/Memorial of the Lord and the Salvation he wrought, that culminates in his Death and Resurrection.

     Above all else, however, the people of God have their memorial, but it is a living memorial. Here stands the great difference, a living memorial, not the ashes of someone. The biblical remembrance is essentially different from the human, that makes one to relive the reality only intentionally in the memory. The biblical remembrance (zikkaron) rather makes one to relive the reality really; it is a remembrance and a presence at the same time!. The Death and Salvation of Christ, in the Eucharist, are not relived only in our memory, but they are relived really; there is a real presence on the alter (Along history lane some have doubted this, we recall the Eucharistic miracle of Lanciano in the year 700). It is the presence of the Risen Lord who says: “Touch me, it is really I” (Lk. 24:39). We remember him, his death, that is, we become witnesses to his death. We have gathered round the alter like Maria and John around the Cross, but there is also the sad possiblity that we are here like the soldiers, like the enemies and like the passer-bys were round the Cross (little wonder, today, there are many abuses of this Sacrament). May the Ever Present Emmanuel, the Eucharistic Jesus continue to nourish us physically and spiritually! May He make our presence before his Presence a transforming encounter. May we become more of Him and less of us. Amen!!!

Verbum caro factum est

Verbum panis factum est

Verbum caro factum est

Verbum panis factum est.

(Fr. Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)