The Journey of His Passion: From Jerusalem to Calvary!

 (Homily of the Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, Year A)

     Today marks the beginning of the Holy Week or the “Great Week”, which will be crowned with the Pasqual Triduum, the culminating point of the whole liturgical year. In this WEEK, the Church celebrates in her Liturgy the great mysteries of her redemption (Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord). In the Holy Week God gives us an appointment of an existential and salvific REALITY-SHOW of the Man on the Cross. The Cross, therefore, is at the center of this week, but not just as an ordinary instrument, but because of the Man on it, who made it a sublime and salvific image. As such, we are called to ‘re-live’ with faith and love these events of our Salvation. In our Eucharistic celebration, we read the passion of the Lord, but prior to that, we celebrated his entrance into Jerusalem (His Triumphant entry), in the midst of acclamations by the people, the shouts of Hosanna that decorously accompanied Jesus, and the road that was decorated with palm fronts. In his triumphant entry we could imagine the presence of people of different calibers, the young and the old, the rich and the poor, all full of expectations, and yet they were not too sure of what was happening, they were pushing and pulling all around him, singing and dancing, shouting and ululating: “Hossana! Glory to God, hail the King, Son of God, Son of David, Alleluia”. On the other hand, there were also the scribes, friends and opponents who understood better than others where all this would lead to. Jesus took the path of suffering, he knew the road to suffering and he walked by it. As orchestrated in his Passion journey, it was a road of physical violence and torture, a road of rejection and betrayal, a road of physical and spiritual abandonment. But he knew how to journey on that road by means of humility, obedience and resilience.

     The disciples and the crowd proclaimed Jesus King and he was accompanied majestically, they hailed him as King who comes in the name of the Lord. They hailed Him with Hosanna, because in Jesus’ public ministry, he healed their sick, fed the hungry and performed so many miracles. These wonders he wrought in their midst aroused in them the desire to crown Him King, but afterwards the whole game changed from shouts of acclamation to shouts of elimination. Who would have imagined that the crowd which welcomed Jesus with such excitement and enthusiasm during his entrance into Jerusalem would turn against him with such hostility, as to demand for his elimination and death, from the ululation of Hossana to the demand of his crucifixion. It is now obvious that those shouts and ululations of Hossana were superficial.

     The readings of today unify two events: the commemoration of the triumphant entry of Jesus to Jerusalem and the “reality-show” of the Passion of Christ. The first event was remembered with the rite of entrance through the procession with palm fronts and the proclamation of the Gospel about the entrance of Jesus in the Holy City. And the second event that auspicates the reality of Jesus’ Passion. The essence of our reflection and of the events we are celebrating today is not as a result of the desire to remember just the past, but rather to render present and re-live today the Event of Christ through and in the liturgical celebration and in our lives. Hence, we are called to enter with Jesus into the drama of his Passion.

     In the first reading (Is. 50:4-7) here we see what could be termed the prophecy of Jesus’ Passion: “For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face. Against insult and spite” (Is. 50:5-6). Therein, we are called to reflect on the third song of the Servant of Yahweh, which serves as a prefiguration of the sufferings of the future Messiah. Even the psalm prefigures the Passion of Jesus in the following words, “All who see me deride me. They curl their lips, they toss their heads” (Ps. 22:7).

     The second reading (Phil. 2:6-11) presents the hymn of St. Paul in his letter to the Philipians, which in no small way illustrates the mystery of Christ’s self-emptying in his death and supreme exaltation. Already in the Incarnation, Jesus began the self-emptying process known as kenosis. And St. Paul speaks of the kenosis of Christ, “who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are; and being in every way like a human being” (Phil. 2:7). But then St. Paul points to his glorification thus: “And for this God raised him high, and gave him the name which is above all other names” (Phil. 2:9).  In this Christological presentation, the identity of Christ was revealed: Jesus is the Son of God, who in order to save man, became man, through an itinerary of suffering, humiliation and death. Indeed, the liturgy of the Palm / Passion Sunday presents to us a complete chart of the mystery of our salvation. Let us not forget, that we are at the center of the whole event, because it was for the sake of man and his salvation that the Son of God passed through this heroic adventure. As such, St. Paul sets out to propose a model we all have to imitate, if man is at the center of Jesus’s passion, he cannot remain only as a passive spectator. Little wonder, the apostle invites: “make your own the mind of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 2:5). We are invited therefore, to follow with faith and love the passion of the Lord.

     This year we are called to reflect on the Passion of Christ according to the Gospel narrative of St. Mathew (Mt. 26:14-27:66). In the account of the Passion according to Mathew, there is a latent emphasis on “freedom”, freedom with which Christ affronts death, he did not suffer passively or against his will, but he accepted suffering willingly, knowing that it was the will of the Father: “Oblatus est quia ipse voluit”. In Mathew’s account we notice a constant reference to the Sacred Scriptures: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him” (26:24); “but then, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say this is the way it must be?” (26:54); “all this happened to fulfil the prophecies in the Scripture” (26:56). Jesus through and with his Passion realizes the prophecies and the plan of salvation designed by the Father.

     In Mathew’s narrative, there is a constant repetition of the innocence of Jesus, and the guilt of man, from Pilate to the High Priests and the Pharisees, from Judas who betrayed Him, to Peter that denied Him, to all the disciples that abandoned him. Through the Gospel pericope of Mathew on the Passion, we are called to enter proper into the drama that Jesus passed through his physical and spiritual sufferings. As we enter into his Passion, let us remember those moments we have betrayed Him, like Judas through our sins. At times we have claimed not to know him like Peter in our brothers and sisters who suffer hunger and abandonement. The moments we failed to keep wake with Him, those moments we allowed ourselves to be carried away by the laziness of sleep, by spiritual inertia, like the apostles in the Garden of Olive.

     We can ask ourselves many questions in the light of Christ’s Passion and sufferings. Each one of us can read his own life in the light of the Passion, in order to discover those internal incongruences, contradictions and ingratitude towards God. Let us have a flash back to what transpired during his triumphant entry and during the Passion, here we see once again the power of the crowd. And the truth has to be said that sometimes we behave like the crowd that was ululating HOSSANA and afterwards demand for His death. It is easy to be part of the crowd that attend morning masses and Sunday masses, to take front seats and places of honour in the church, and when Jesus needs us most, we are no where to be found, we are like the crowd that turned against Him and refused to go with Him to the Cross. In all, let us not fail to recognize and appreciate Him for He died on the Cross for our salvation, and He is always ready to welcome us in his Mercy. The immensity of his mercy cannot but propel us to cry for our sins of betrayal, of denial and of abandonement of Him.

     In the Passion, Jesus prays to the Father: “If it is possible, remove this cup”, but “not what I will but what you will” (Mt. 26:29), the prayer of Jesus takes him closer to the Father, it raised him up, and he ascended from the desire “to remove the cup” to the desire of “what the Father wills and not what he wills”. This is what prayer does in our life too, it transcends us and takes us closer to God. Prayer helped him to stand his ground before his terrifying Passion and death. Prayer indeed, transforms our sufferings to avenues for blessing, through His sufferings every suffering of a Christian becomes a SPIRITUAL THERAPY, for through Him, suffering acquires a sublime meaning and signification. Even as we are plunged into this deadly and dreadful virus in the world today, let us unite our worries, our fears, our questions for meaning, our sufferings, in fact, our passion to His Passion. Indeed, humanity today is experiencing a passion, but it is only with the gaze fixed on the event of the Christ, precisely on His Passion that we will be able to come out of this pandemic. His Passion and Death give meaning to our life, our suffering and our death, and even our present passion.

     The Passion of Jesus should be for us an opportunity for repentance (the repentant thief), an occasion to affirm His identity (the Centurion) or just as an incident that arouses hostility and indifference in us. So, are we like Judas that betrayed him? Like Peter that denied him? Like Pilate that delivered him to death? Like the stubborn thief that insulted Him? Instead let’s cue in, in the line of Simon of Cyrene who helped him to carry his (our) Cross, of the women of Jerusalem that mourn for him, of the Centurion who strikes his chest and recognizes him as the Son of God, of the good thief that believed and entrusted himself to Jesus. Does His Passion still move us today? His Passion should move and touch us because our sins inflicted those pains and sufferings on him. Let it not be a momentary touch or feelings, rather His Passion should move us to flee from our sins and abandon our old ways, for through His wounds we are healed (Is. 53:5; 1Pt. 2:21) and made whole.

     In all, may His Passion lead us to the discovery of His real identity, and here the gesture and proclamation of the Centurion is superb! “Truly this man was the Son of God” (Mt. 27:54; Mk. 15:39; Lk. 23:47). The pagan Centurion did not recognize his Sonship because he saw the tomb empty, not because he saw shining light, but he discovered this at the heart of the event of Good Friday: Jesus on the Cross, the reality-show! But all does not end here, we can only read and understand this event if we start from the end. Indeed, the Scripture, the Passion of Christ like the Hebrew alphabet is to be read from the end! We pray that we may learn from the Passion of Christ how to be patient in adversity and build our hope in the Lord. Lord we unite our human existential passions to your redeeming Passion. Our hope is in You! Amen!!!

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

The Master Is Here!

(Homily for the 5^th Sunday of Lent Yr. A)

          The predominant theme around which revolve the three readings of today is God’s power, orchestrated in the resurrection to newness of life. This divine power is manifested in the first reading through the Israelites who were extremely humiliated, and were compared to open graves. Despite all odds, this people will rise again by God’s mighty deed and intervention. Again, in the Gospel, the power of God was manifested in an unprecedented manner in Christ who raised his friend Lazarus to life, who died for already four days and in the tomb.With the passage of this Gospel, the Liturgy of the word today inspires us to adhere to Jesus Chirst with a convinced and enthusiastic faith: Jesus is the Lord of life, He is the Son of God, and the promised Messiah. And by extention this divine power will be made manifest in all Christians. The divine power of God as St. Paul expressed in the second reading is and will be manifest in all the faithful through the Holy Spirit who will regenerate them into the life of God’s children, and at the end of time, he will vivify our mortal bodies, and enable it to partecipate in the glory of the risen Christ. Gradually, the lenten season is approaching its epilogue, that is, the celebration of the mystery of the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of Christ reveals the destiny of all humanity. For the resurrection of Christ is the beginning, the sign and the cause of our resurrection.

         In the first reading (Ez. 37:12-14) we see the conclusion and Ezekiel’s interpretation of the vision of the valley of dry bones, which was a battle field and later restored to life. The passage is full of symbols. The bones are identified with Israel in exile, and the resurrection of the bones points to Israel’s restoration from Babylonian exile to their land. Furthermore, the passage shifted from dry bones to graves: “I will open your graves, and raise you from your graves.” The reference to graves is suggestive of the fact that already at the time of Ezekiel there was a gradual emergence of the expectation of general resurrection at the last day (cf. Is. 26:19). This expectation was later developed by the apocalyptic literature. However, in our present passage the language of the future hope points to Israel’s return from exile. Indeed, it is likened to resurrection from the grave. At the heart of this figurative resurrection is God’s action, who will bring his people to newness of life and will put his Spirit in them. In all, therefore, in this passage we see the two levels of resurrection: the restoration of his people and the eschatological resurrection of the dead.

          The episode of today’s Gospel (Jn. 11:1-45) indeed, not only reveals the divinity of Jesus, but also his humanity, for he wept for the death of his dear friend Lazarus, and he manifested the sentiment of friendship to Martha and Mary. Through this miracle Jesus manifested himself as true God and true man. The symbol in the prophecy of Ezekiel became a reality in the case of Lazarus. He was a real man, who was living in Bethany, with his sisters (Mary and Martha). He felt sick and died. When Jesus arrived, Lazarus has stayed four days in the tomb, this period in the Jewish tradition and mentality is a period suggestive of a definitive end. But Jesus went to the tomb and called Lazarus out. Indeed, it is true that while the experience of Lazarus is a reality-show of the symbolic narrative of Ezekiel, more still, it refers to another superior reality: the Death and Resurrection of Christ. And connecting the first reading and the Gospel, we can say confidently that there is a transcendent process in the understanding of Resurrection. First, it was a symbol of liberation and participation to a joyful life in the Land God promised to his people. And again, it is a real and historical passage from death to life. This passage from death to life adopts new and insuperable consideration in Christ, who dying won victory over death and regained life for ever! With this miracle Jesus intends to anticipate the great event of his passion and death. Indeed, what happened in the case of Lazarus for himself alone, the Resurrection of Jesus accomplishes that for all humanity. His death overcomes the death of man, and his resurection is a pledge of the resurrection of man.

          The evangelist placed the event of the raising of Lazarus at a crucial position in the ministry of Jesus. In fact, it occasioned Jesus’ last journey to Judea and Jerusalem, and the raising of Lazarus sets in motion the events that will lead to the crucifixion of Jesus. The placing of this event at this time in the mission of Jesus reveals that Jesus goes to his death as the resurrection and the life. As such, through this miracle Jesus attracted the attention of the Jewish leaders who started planning for His execution. It is one of the main reason for the death of Jesus in the fourth Gospel (cf. Jn.11:45-53). Prior to this miracle, Jesus had raised the daughter of Jairus (Lk. 8:41-42, 49-56), and the son of the widow of Nain (Lk. 7:11-17). Though in the Old testament Elijah and Elisha raised people from the dead (1Kgs 17:17-24; 2Kgs 4:17-37). But no where has it been recorded that someone was raised after four days. This makes this miracle of today’s Gospel, extraordinary and unique. The miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus was a real EVENT. Furthermore, the miracle of the resurection of Lazarus is indeed a manifestation of the final destiny of every believer, for Jesus says: “whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live…he will not die forever.” This miracle confirms that faith triumphs over death. The evangelist on his part through this Gospel narrative, wants to lead us to adherence to Christ through a convinced and matured faith, as exemplified in the dialogue between Jesus and Martha.

          As we can see, faith requires generally a progressive development, a gradual maturity, it is a journey. And we can see this in the person of Martha, the sister of Lazarus who said to Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn. 11:21). Martha is still uncertain about the identity of Jesus. If she had known Jesus’ identity, she could have known that the miracle can be realized, with or without the physical presence of Jesus. Indeed, sometimes we are like Martha, that conjugate the verb of our faith and hope in the past: “if you had been here”. Jesus is always present. Not only that, even when he assures Martha that her brother “will rise again” (Jn. 11:23), she instead conjugated the verb of her faith in the remote future: “I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day” (Jn. 11:24). Once again she has not understood who Jesus is, except when Jesus declared vehemently: “I am the resurrection and the life” (Jn. 11:25), and he assured her that whoever believes in Him, even if he dies will live again. Then, Martha added “Yes Lord, … I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Jn.11:27). Afterwards, she ran and gave the message of hope to her sister, Mary: “The Master is here” (Jn. 11:28). These words are replete with hope, they not only affirm the name of Jesus as the Emmanuel, but also his identity and mission as the Ever-Present Saviour. And no doubt, the presence of the Master was felt. His presence changes everything. His presence restores hope and vivifies life!  Finally, Martha arrived at the understanding of who Jesus is, because faith is a step by step journey. However, we are called to embark on this journey, in order to avoid the risk of remaining in doubt or in uncertainty.

         Behold, when Lazarus was about to die, they informed Jesus: “The one whom you love is sick.” At that time Jesus was with his disciples in a serene place, because of the hatred of the Jews who have decided to kill him. For this, his disciples were surprised that he wanted to turn back to Judea in order to see his friend Lazarus. And they reminded him: “Master a little while ago the Jews wanted to kill you and now you want to go in their midst?”. Indeed, Jesus knew what awaits him in Jerusalem. Little wonder he said: “Now let’s go to Jerusalem, there the son of man will be handed over to his enemies.” Not minding the danger of meeting the Jews again, Jesus was moved by the love he has for his friend. And not only Lazarus, Jesus has continued to manifest his love towards man, even in his rebellion and spiritual death. Jesus’ love for humanity in this episode finds its most touching manifestation: he wept! He did not hide his emotions. And the people around exclaimed: “See how much he loved him” (Jn. 11:36).

          At the peak of that episode, after praying, Jesus said in a deep voice, “Lazarus come out!” (Jn.11:43), and in the same manner the same words of Jesus are ri-directed to each and everyone of us in our different situations, Jesus is saying to you: “come out! Come out of your tomb! Come out of your bondage!” From whatever that is keeping you in bondage, from whatever that is not allowing you to become who Jesus wants you to be. His words rechoes: “Unbind him, let him go free” (Jn.11:44). May you be unbound, so that you will celebrate your freedom as God’s children. If Jesus can heal and resurrect a decomposing body, there is no situation in the world, that He cannot change, for He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Heb. 13:8). The resurection of Lazarus above all, is a revelation of what happens presently, here and now, in the spiritual realm. In each and everyone of us there is a symbol of the new life of grace that conquers the death to sin. We are often times in the tomb of sin, and Jesus shouts at a loud voice: “come out”. At that point we feel free and alife once again. Through this episode, we are called to remove the stones at the tombs in which the man of today closed himself in: the tomb of immorality, of corruption, of injustice, of violence and of egoism. Therefore, in a sense, the raising of Lazarus points to our own resurrection, for Jesus calls us out of the tomb, to a new life that not even the corporal death can change. Lazarus is called by name, and you too in baptism have received a name, because salvation involves you personally: it is you who is coming out of the tomb today, who is moving from the slavery of sin to the dignity of the Son of God, from the domination of death to life arising from the resurrection of Christ.

          Similarly, in the second reading (Rm. 8:8-11) St. Paul expresses this in his concept of those “in the flesh” and those “in the spirit”. He talks about the works of the flesh as opposed to that of the spirit. He reintroduces the two levels of resurrection, that we talked about above. The first level has to do with resurrection from the dead, but here in reference to Christ. St. Paul advances his reflection in relation to Christians, thus, he maintained that Christians through Baptism have received the indwelling of the Spirit which raised Jesus from the dead. And here we see the second level of the imports of resurrection: “Your spirits are alive because of righteousness.” The second level has to do with the restoration of the people of God to newness of life. And again, the first level of resurrection is equally expected of Christians: “he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies”. Man ordinarily is mortal, thus, subject to death, but Christ has broken the bonds of death by means of his resurrection. By means of his death we enjoy newness of life here on earth and hope for the future resurrection.

          A thorough attention to today’s Gospel reveals that Jesus repeated or used the same word he used in response to his disciples in the episode of the miracle of the man born blind, when they questioned him, whose fault is this man’s blindness? He replied “is for the revelation of God’s work in him” (Jn. 9:3). And in this episode too, Jesus said a similar thing. He told his disciples that the sickness/death of Lazarus is for the glory of God, so that through it the Son of man may be glorified (Jn. 11:4). My dear brothers and sisters, no matter what you may be passing through now, no matter the intensity and the density of your problems, I can hear the assuring words of Jesus saying “it is for the glory of God”, which means a miracle is about to take place or has already taken place in your life. Do not conjugate the verb of your hope in the past, nor conjugate the verb of your faith to a remote future. For Christ is with you (The Master is here), He will call you out of that situation as He did to Lazarus.

          Jesus is the Lord of life, little wonder he called back his friend Lazarus to life from the grave. And today we invoke Him to have pity on humanity assumed and redeemed by Him, and may He make us to pass from death to life especially in this perilous times. Indeed, what happened at the grave of Lazarus is a sign, it was the beginning of a miracle that Jesus continues to accomplish even today in the Church and in the world. He is also moved with compassion for me and for us. The Good News is that we have a Saviour, there is Jesus Christ in our midst. Indeed, the Master is here! He is before us and he continues to call us with a loud voice: Come out! Come out from your indifference, from your egoism, from your relativism and subjectivism, from secularism, from your greed and insatiable desires, from your trust in science and technology at the expense of faith in God, from your panic and desperation. His voice and words resound now more than ever: “come out of your trust in material things, come out of your worship of idols, come out of that sickness and disease, come out of the evil mechanizations of the agents of darkness, come out of that financial and spiritual insecurity, come out of that bondage the enemies have subjected you to”. However, he asks us as he asked Martha: “Do you believe…” (Jn. 11:26b). And here, Martha did her profession of faith “Yes I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the God the one who was to come into this world” (Jn. 11:27). Jesus himself assured Martha: “Have I not told you that if you believe you will see the glory of God” (Jn, 11:40). Let us believe in Him through a matured and convinced faith, so that this promise will be fulfilled in our lives, that is, the manifestation of God’s glory in Us. May His glory manifest in us, in every situation and in every circumstance of our existence. May He who raised Lazarus raise our fallen world! May His voice continue to resound: “You too Come out! Be free!” Amen! Do not panic for the Master is still here!!!

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

Jesus The Light of The World!

 (Homily for the 4^th Sunday of Lent Yr. A)

     Christianity right from its inception has been presented with lots of paradoxes, and maybe that is the interpretative key of today’s readings. The Christian paradox should not be too strange to us, because we can say that it is even inherent in the revelation of God and his plan of salvation. The Christian God is both immanent and transcendent. He is the loving Father and the Just Judge. In the readings we encounter the paradoxes of appearance and reality, darkness and light etc. Thus, the theme that dovetails into the three readings is that of light and darkness. In the first reading, it is captured as a discernment process for the selection of a future king. Samaul serves as God’s agent, and it is from among the sons of Jesse that the king will be found. But the overriding question is: which one? In the Gospel Christ restored sight to the blind man, thus, the man passed from an existence in darkness to an existence in the light, both physically and spiritually. St. Paul equally captured this theme in the second reading, for the Ephesians who once lived in darkness have become light as opposed to the pagans who still live in darkness. As such, the spirituality of Lent calls us to be agents of light in order to sactter the darkness of sin in our hearts and in the world. Let his healing light shine and radiate in our world!

     In the first reading (1Sam. 16:1.4. 6-7.10-13) as King Saul failed to recognize God’s light and power to enlighten and save him from his enemies, God used David to replace him. Certainly, God saw in David what his father and brothers could not and did not see: “A man after God’s own heart who delighted in doing what was pleasing to the Lord” (1Sam. 13:14;  Acts 13:22). Under human category, when there is an important task or responsibility, is logical to choose a person that is more prepared with many capacities. But God in today’s first reading teaches us that his logic, his yardstick is different from man’s. Little wonder, he chose the little one, who does not count under human rating, not even in his own family. According to the Midrashim, David was not permitted to eat with the rest of his family, but was assigned a separate table in the corner. He was given the task of shepherding animals, with the hope that wide beasts would devour him, and for this reason he was sent to pasture in dangerous places full of lions and bears (cf. 1Sam. 17:34-36). In fact, when we go to Psalm 69, we see the peak of David’s plight, “I am a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to the sons of my mother” (Ps. 69:9). Indeed, it took twenty-eight good years for God to rescue David from the hatred of his father and brothers. And God reversed the order, from the least to the greatest, from a shepherd to a warrior, from a boy to a King! This is what God does, for his parlance is different from man’s. To God the essential is visible, because he looks at the heart and not on appearance. For this, he told Samuel, “take no notice of his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him” (1Sam. 16:7).

     Let us make Few considerations on David: ●He was marginalized and with little or  no consideration from the father and the brothers, for he was sent alone to shepherd the animals in the bush, the youngest who supposed to be in the house, but he was sent to the bush with animals. No body thought of him as king in his family, but God did. ●Even when the father was presenting his children he almost forgot him, because he was small and insignificant, but before God he matters a lot, He is Special and Chosen. The essential is indeed invisible to the human eyes. ●Even Samuel wanted to look at human categories and appearance, But God told him: “You should not look with favor on his face, nor on the height of his stature… For man sees those things that are apparent, but the Lord beholds the heart” (1Sam. 16:7). David was smallish in their eyes, but the heart of David in the sight of God is so big and great, not only that, David “had ruddy cheeks, with fine eyes and an attractive appearance” (1Sam. 16:12). ●Most probably their father Jesse had earlier organized his three eldest sons to follow Saul to war (1Sam. 17:13), may be with the hope of succession by one of them, David was left in the bush. Even when their father sent him to go and see how his brothers were fairing at the war front, and on arriving there he saw his people intimidated by the giant Goliath, when he was asking people what was going on, his eldest brother Eliab got angry and questioned him “why have you come down here?” (1Sam. 17:28). But God had a plan for him. Upon these considerations, we see that there is something similar and common between the story of David and the man born blind: their long-suffering, God’s intervention and the fact that God looks at the heart and not on appearance.

     This pericope of the Gospel of St. John (Jn. 9:1-41) is one of the most dramatic, full of vitality and replete with ideas. Symbolically, through the miracle of the man born blind Jesus wants to demonstrate that he can give sight not just to those that are physically blind, but spiritual sight through faith. By that he demonstrates to be the light of the world. In order to understand the miraculous episode of the ninth chapter of the gospel of St. John, we need to go back to the preceeding chapter where the evangelist made reference to two important factors: ►The solemn affirmation of Jesus: “I am the light of the world; who follows me does not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (Jn. 8:12). ►The long polemics where Jesus encountered the most hostile opposition of the Jews. The cause of closing themselves in the dark, the rejection of the light by the pharisees can be traced to: ●Prejuidice: in the measure Christ for them cannot be the Messiah, superior to Moses, Abraham and the prophets, it doesn’t correspond to their conception of Messiah. ●Personal interest: that’s the fear of being threatened in the positions of power and prestige. Christ was really for them an uncomfortable figure. ●Presumption: they believed to be seeing, they believed to be just, while they were “blind and blind guides.” In fact, the real blind person is one who thinks that he sees and that he knows all, one who doesn’t question himself and his ideas. These three factors (prejuidice, personal interest and presumption) are often the reasons of incredulity of the contemporary man, they are in connection with indifference, rejection of the light and obstinacy. This is self condemnation to spiritual darkness.

     In this contest therefore, the healing of the man born blind is a sign, a proof and a confirmation that Christ is truly the Light. He makes both the eyes and the spirit to see, he gives the eyes the capacity to see material things, and the spirit the capacity of penetrating the supernatural world with the light faith. The evangelist tells us that “Jesus saw the man that was born blind”, he saw a blind begger, an invisible and insignificant person, under social rating, yet Jesus sees him. Jesus sees, he sees our condition, he sees our difficulties, even those that are invisible to the eyes of man. Even though others have been seeing this man, and maybe have been passing by. There is something different in the seeing of Jesus. Jesus sees him and stops. Without being called or begged like the blind Bartimeus (Lk. 18:35-43), Jesus took the initiative. Jesus did not pass him by, for Jesus every encounter has a purpose. This is also true for us, he sees us as we are, he sees us in our misery and existential challenges, so no need to panic. He will not pass us by.

     In that encounter, as we have seen, the first sight of Jesus does not go towards sins, but always on the sufferings of the person. Again we see the human logic in action: the disciples that have been walking with Jesus, at first, search for the sins, and they asked: “Who sinned, him or his parents?” (Jn. 9:2). They search for the sin to justify the blindness. Jesus does not pass judgement, rather he goes close to him. And without being asked for anything by the blind man, he mixed his saliva with the mud and robbed it on his eyes. And told him to go and wash himself in the pool of Siloam. The blind man confided on his walking stick and on the words of this unknown man. He trusted even when the miracle has not taken place, when he was still seeing only darkness all around him. He went to the water and came back with his sight in tact. It was Julius Caesar that said the famous phrase “I came, I saw, I conquered”, but this trilogy changed in the case of the man born blind, when he was asked how his eyes were opened (Jn. 9:11), he answered “I WENT, I WASHED, I SAW.”

     This is the second time that Jesus is healing on a Sabbath, and instead of rejoicing, there is sadness. For the Pharisees the human person is not important, rather the law. They refused to care about the blind man that gained his sight, rather they are worried about their sound doctrine (Some of us are like the Pharisees at times). Several questions were asked: who healed him? Why? Why on a sabbath? Many are the actors: the crowd, the pharisees, his parents, the disciples etc. But he is the only protagonist, the blind man that regained his sight. First he described Jesus a man, later a prophet and at the end as the son of God. Faith indeed is a progressive illumination, step by step. At last, the blind man could see well with the eyes and with the heart. His neighbors and those that have seen him before where saying, is he not the one? Some where saying “Is he”, others are saying is one that resembles him. And he was saying “Is me”. He was taken to the pharisees and they questioned him, on how he gained his sight. He narrated the story of his healing to them. For God is public. We too, will recount God’s goodness and miracles even before our enemies. Fidelity to Jesus and his words have to become a public witness. Little wonder, my spiritual director back in the years once said that “God is public”. He is public in the measure we are always ready to bear witness to Christ, even when it means suffering marginalization and persecution. This courageous fidelity to Christ and perseverance in the faith is at the basis of the spirituality of lent.

     There and then, they began a trial for Heresy, and the man from a miracled man became an accused. But Jesus continued his proclamation of the Good news, he tries to unify the God of life and the God of doctrines. The trials coming from the Pharisees strenghtened the miracled blind man, we see this in the progress of his faith. At first he says “the man called Jesus…” (Jn. 9:11), then he calls him a prophet (Jn. 9:17), and later he says that Jesus is from God (Jn. 9:33). The interrogation of the pharisees became salutary for his faith. While his parents were afraid to witness for Jesus before the pharisees, “we do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him…(Jn. 9:21).  At the second time of meeting Jesus he proclaimed his faith in Christ (Jn. 9:38; cf Jn. 9:35-38). Let the question of Jesus re-echo and resound deep in our hearts: “Do you believe in the Son of man?” Personally, I believe and I worship Him, what of you?

     The recovery of sight by the blind man is in fact linked with his discovery of who Jesus is. In the beginning , for the blind mvan Jesus was just a man: “the man named Jesus made mud...” later to the question: “what do you say about him, from the moment he opened your eyes?” and he responded: “He is a prophet”. He took a step further, he understood that Jesus is a messenger of God. And finally meeting Jesus again, he shouted: “i believe Lord” and he prostrated before him to worship him, thereby recognizing him openly as his Lord and God. Indeed, faith is a progressive experience. Christian faith is not primarily believing something (maybe that God exists, that there is one beyond) but a believer in Someone. More importantly, Jesus in the Gospel doesn’t give us a list of things to believe, instead he says: “beleive in God and believe also in me” (Jn. 14:1).

     To help someone in need is to manifest the glory of God and that is what Jesus did. But for the Pharisees the glory of God is the observance of the law, this is unimaginable. Thus, we are invited to be sensitive to the needs of others. For the glory of God is manifested in a man that is freed and liberated, a begger that regains his dignity and freedom, a blind man that sees. Sometimes we are blind of our sinfulness and our need of God’s mercy. Every miracle of Jesus has some pedagogical imports for us, that is, it has something to teach us. This miracle teaches us that Jesus came to heal our spiritual blindness. Lent is indeed, a miraculous occasion for us to go to the pool of Siloam to wash off our infirmities and spiritual blindness and the Sacrament of Reconciliation is one of those occasions.

     In the second reading (Eph. 5:8-14) St. Paul reawakens in us the consciousness of what Christ did for us. He emphasizes that God through Christ, from darkness, he made us to become light, and gives us faith, so that all our life and existence will be immersed in Him. “For you were darkness, in times past, but now you are light, in the Lord. So then, walk as sons of the Light” (Eph. 5:8); this entails always in the words of St. Paul to work “with goodness, justice and truth” (Eph. 5:9), “to search for what pleases God” (Eph. 5:10), and not only, but also condemning openly “the unfruitful works of darkness” (Eph. 5:11), that is evil and sin. One is light, and is in the light, only when he acts uprightly, according to the exigencies of truth, justice and love; which are essential values of the kingdom of God. Interestingly, St. Paul invites us to denounce and condemn openly every form of evil and injustice that tempt to destroy our social, political, economical and christian life. Let us appropriate St. Paul’s advice to the Romans thus: “Let us give up all things we prefer to do under cover of the dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people do in the daytime” (Rom 13:12).

     In all, a christian has the special grace of being illuminated by the light of God, through faith. Baptism is the sacrament of that “illumination”, because infusing in the soul the virtue of faith, it renders it suitable for receiving the supernatural truth. However, it is worthy to note that even though faith is a supernatural gift, it requires a continous search, continous deepening. In the realm of faith one has to grow, mature and progress continuously, there is no final stage. More still, conversion, or turning to God, is an on-going event. Jesus is for ever on this earth saying to us, "Now is the time," and so there is no standing still. Faith however, does not exclude challenges, trials and moments of obscurity. Beloved friends no matter what your situation is now, an encounter with Jesus will change your story, David suffered in the hands of men and ferocious animals for twenty-eight years, before God’s plan for him manifested. The man born blind suffered in darkness for many years before he met Jesus. Child of God, no matter what your situation is at this present time, I have a message for you today: God has a plan for you! Jesus will not pass you by, He will see you and stop and your light will shine! May the Lord give us light and spiritual insight!! Amen!!!

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

Life Changing Encounter!

 (Homily for the 3^rd Sunday of Lent Yr. A)

          On our Lenten journey towards Easter, the Church through the readings guides us gradually to the understanding and the unveiling of Jesus’ identity, as the Messiah, a God with and in the midst of his people both in good and in hard times; a God who journeys along with his people even when he seems to be hidden; a Jesus often on movement in search of a sinner to encounter and change his or her life. On the other hand, drawing our reflection further, we can see that water seem to be one of the central themes of the readings of today, or the pivot around which the message of today revolves, especially in the first reading and in the Gospel. From the evangelical episode, we see that Christ is the Rock from which the water of eternal life gushes forth. In the words of Christ whoever drinks of the water He will give, will never be thirsty again, “the water will become in him source of eternal life”. In the first reading he became the solution water to the physiological and spiritual thirst of the Israelites. The second reading instead indicates the crucial moment in which Christ becomes the Rock from which gushes forth water for eternal life. “God shows his love to us because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”.

          The first reading (Ex.17:3-7) presents a people on a journey in the desert. The people of Israel left Egypt and were led by Moses towards the Promised Land, across the Sinai desert. At first, everything seemed glorious; they witnessed marvels (crossing of the red sea) which ought to have convinced them that God was with them. But not sooner than later, there arose difficulties: heat, tiredness, hunger, thirst and in the desert there is no water. On realizing that there was no water they thought they were going to die, as they began to doubt God. Is God with us or not? They felt abandoned by God. They murmured against Moses: “Why did you make us go out of Egypt only to die of thirst.” And Moses in turn cried to God: “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” Moses made an appeal and petition before God and God intervened, he told Moses to go with the miraculous rod which he used to struck the Nile, “I shall stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, that the people may drink.” God never forsakes his people, because “He remembers his covenant forever” (Ps. 105:8; 1Chro. 16:15). The question of whether God was with them or not is an existential question most of us ask in difficult moments. And God using Moses made water to flow from the rock, and this demonstrates once again to them that God is still with them. As a matter of fact, in the face of life challenges when we have a similar experience like that of Israelites; sometimes we are tempted to ask like them if God is with us. But the answer is in the affirmative: YES HE IS. The Good News of the first reading is that the Lord is in the midst of his people. He is with us!

         The Israelites murmured, hardened their hearts and doubted the presence of God in their midst. The responsorial psalm picks up the theme of Israel’s hardening of their hearts during the wandering through the wilderness: “Harden not your hearts as in Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness”, this recalls Exodus (17:7), Moses “gave the place the names Massah and Meribah because of the Israelites’ contentiousness and because they put Yahweh to the test by saying, “Is Yahweh with us or no?”. From a physiological challenge of thirst the problem of the Israelites metamorphosed into a spiritual problem of doubting God’s presence. Water is indeed life, as the Igbos say. Our need for drinking is obvious; without water we would quickly die. But many a times we fail to recognize easily the soul's thirst. We can be fully preoccupied with the surface of things, and quite neglect the obscure thirsting of the spirit for eternal life. Like the Israelites, we worry about our physical needs, but many a times are unmindful of God who supplies them. Today, Jesus offers us the refreshing water of eternal life, a power of faith and union-with-God which is our deepest need, and can satisfy the thirst of our souls and the thirst for enternity.

         In today’s Gospel (Jn. 4:5-42) at first we see a Jesus that was wearied and tired after the long walk under the sun, a Jesus that was thirsty, who like every other pilgrim ask for water to quench his thirst, certainly for the purpose of speaking his transforming words to the heart of the Samaritan. However, in this episode we see a Jesus who did not subject himself to the schemes of the common behaviour and customs of his people. He swam against the current of his time, he was not bound by discriminating customs. The pivot around which revolves the message of this passage is Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan woman. And in that encounter Jesus stooped low to talk to her, a Samaritan. In fact in the Old Testament, the conversation of a Rabbi with a woman is considered uncalled for. And because of the division amongst the Jews and the Samaritans, the woman at the beginning was responding to Jesus almost in an unfriendly way, trying to maintain the cultural gap. “How can you, who is a Jew, ask of drinking water from me a Samaritan woman?” The disciples too were surprised that Jesus was not just speaking with a woman, but a Samaritan woman. But Jesus did not allow himself to be conditioned by the current opinion of his time.

     More still, who could imagine a Jew chat with a Samaritan at that time? It is noteworthy that at the period in question there was enmity existing between the Jews and the Samaritans. The Jews considered the Samaritans to be schismatic, and as such, they have their separate place of worship, which is in contraposition to the one in Jerusalem. But Jesus ignores these divisions. On and on, the peak of this encounter is that Jesus stooped to talk not just with a woman, not just with a Samaritan, but with a woman of easy virtue, a woman of questionable character (she had five husbands, and the current one living with her is not her husband). Jesus concretized his mission statement that “It is not those that are well who need the doctor, but the sick. I have come to call not the upright but sinners to repentance” (Lk. 5:31-32).

     Interestingly, to Jesus the past life of this woman was unimportant. Jesus opened a new horizon, a new way for her. And in this encounter Jesus revealed himself to this Samaritan woman, as a Prophet. The woman declared “I can see you are a prophet”, after Jesus must have unveiled her past (5 husbands) and her present (the man she was presently living with). Openly to her Jesus declared to be the Messiah (that is Christ). For the woman said: “I know that the Messiah will come” (Jn. 4:25), you see sometimes like this woman our knowledge of the coming of the Messiah does not change our life. And Jesus answered her: “That is who I am, I who speak to you” (Jn. 4:26). Jesus disclosed his identity to this woman of questionable character, something that is uncommon in the scriptures. Jesus went ahead and disclosed to her the gift he came to bring on earth, not just ordinary water, but the Living water. Jesus says: “who drinks the water i will give will not thirst again, he will become fountain/source of living water.” Jesus is the living water. We too like the Samaritan woman are called to recognize and accept the Gift of God. God’s ultimate gift as we can see is Christ (Gospel), God’s gift is the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (second reading).

          In that encounter Jesus made pronouncements about the imminence of the Kingdom of God. In the words of Bultmann, “the revelation brought by Jesus gives life, and thus stills the desire which no earthly water can satisfy.” Already in his prophecy of Isaiah declared: “Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of salvation” (Is. 12:3). Jesus says: “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me” (Jn. 7:37) and St. John added: “From his heart shall flow streams of living water” (Jn. 7:38). And indeed, Jesus left these streams for us as an inheritance. Furthermore, Jesus announced to the woman that the favourable time has come to break every barrier, whether ethnic or religious, the time not to limit religious cult or worship to a determined place or to exterior rites, rather to adore God “in spirit and in truth”. Jesus wants his followers to be pure in heart and in mind. Henceforth, true adoration of God is that founded on the newness of life realized by the Holy Spirit. It is a call to the internalization of gospel values.

          Indeed, at the end, Jesus fulfils in her the most marvellous work: He transformed her; from a sinner to a convert, from a convert to an evangelizer / a preacher. St. Augustine sees in this woman the symbol of the church that receives the revelation from Christ and announces it. The woman left her water jar and ran to call others. “Come and see”. A similar phrase Andrew used when he discovered Jesus and went to call his brother Peter: “we have found the Messiah… and he took Simon to Jesus” (Jn. 1:41-42), it is indeed a phrase that denotes the stupor and marvel that the divine presence provokes in the human heart. It denotes the power of invitation before the divine presence. The Samaritan woman gradually discovered Jesus, from interacting with Him as a mere man, to a teacher, to a prophet and finally she realized that He is the Messiah, her discovery of Jesus was gradual, from a mere Jew (v.9); he then becomes Sir (v.11); later a Prophet (v.19); then Messiah (vv.25-26); and finally the other Samaritans recognized him as the Saviour of the world (v.42). Upon this breath-taking discovery, she left her water jar, the source of what she thought she needed, and ran back to the town, and eventually calling, inviting and leading others to Christ. When she discovered the living and eternal water, she left her jar of earthly water that cannot quench her thirst for God. She does not need it any longer. She left her jar to enable her run faster, to avoid any kind of distraction. This indeed, is symbolic of leaving behind anything that can distract us or slow down our spiritual movement. May be each and everyone us has encountered Christ in different ways, what have you left behind?

          Today, Jesus like to the Samaritan, is inviting us to take cognizance of him in our life “I am the one speaking to you”, the Promised Messiah, the Saviour. He wants us to recognize Him as our companion in the journey of life, as the eternal Word of God, who continues to speak to us. Even till today, He is still speaking to us. Therefore, let us in obedience to the words of the psalmist: “kneel to adore the Lord, He is our God, we are his people the sheep of His flock” (Ps. 94). Jesus invariably told that woman and he is telling us today not to search for our salvation in any other. Again Jesus repeats to us, I alone can give you the living water, do not search for the living water elsewhere. He repeats to us: I alone can give you the water that can quench your thirst for truth, for goodness, for happiness and for eternity. Like the Samaritan let us open our hearts to the Word, for the psalmist says “today if you here his words harden not your hearts” (Ps. 94). The Samaritan listened to Jesus, and faith indeed, comes by hearing (Rm. 10:17), by hearing what? God’s word! Faith is to be shared, and it is not a “hear say” but a personal experience with the God that loves each and every one of us not in a generic way but personally. And the conviction of faith comes from this personal experience of God; those called by the Samaritan woman were able to say: “it is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves...” (Jn. 4:42).

          In the second reading (Rm. 5:1-2.5-8) St. Paul expounded the redeeming act of God in Christ in terms of man’s justification. And he concludes thus: we have peace with God, we have access to grace and we have a joyful hope of sharing the glory of God. And the basis of all this is that the Holy Spirit has been poured into our hearts. Indeed, justification and the gift of the Spirit are the outcome of God’s love. Therefore, this expatiates the idea that love is not an abstract idea, but it was concretized on the cross. Thus, St. Paul reminded us that in the midst of life difficulties we may think that God has abandoned us or we may think that our hope has no solid foundation. We too, are on a journey towards our own promised land that is eternal life. And on this journey sometimes we pass through the desert, sometimes also we are overwhelmed by doubt and we may begin to question “Is God with us or not?” Here the Apostle assures us that the fact that God is with us is undoubtable because Jesus is the reality-proof. For Jesus gave his life for us, “God demonstrates his love for us, because while we are sinners Christ died for us”, this is the underlining message of the second reading. St. Paul further expressed that “the Love of God has been poured into our heart through the Holy Spirit…” For St. Paul, our hope is not founded on our good works, rather on the love of God. “While we were still sinners Christ died for us”. Therefore God’s love for us is not based on our merit or our good work. St. Paul assured us of God’s presence in our midst through his Son, and the fact that Jesus died for us sinners is a proof of both His presence and love. He reminded us why we should always trust God: because ‘our hope does not disappoint us’ (Rm. 5:5).

          In all, to encounter God in the person of His Son we need to embark on a journey, the Israelites were on a journey, the Samaritan woman was also on a journey, we are also called to embark on the journey of discovering God/Christ. A journey of discovering that irrespective of the many challenges, trials and difficulties God is always with us. Also to discover Jesus as the Messiah in our midst, our Companion in our earthly sojourn and journey. The encounter with Jesus is an encounter that leads to a mature faith, a mature faith emanating from the first hand and personal experience with Him, which eventually ends in a religious conviction and the profession of faith: “It is no longer because of your word that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Saviour of the world” (Jn.4:.42). We have become altogether new creatures and it is no longer a case of accepting Christ because that is what our parents brought us up to do or any other second-hand religion but as the Samaritans affirmed we believe in Him because we too have heard Him and we know that He is the Saviour. Behold, we pray that the certainty of this knowledge of Him will make the ravages of doubt, fear and sin yield to the new life of grace in Christ. Jesus help us to rediscover you as the Living Water, for temptations abound to go for earthly springs that do not last. There are many watering holes. Some of them are life-givng and others are toxic. Little wonder Yahweh decried: “For my people have committed two crimes: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug water-tanks for themselves, cracked water-tanks that hold no water” (Jer. 2:13). May we never wallow in search of unsatisfying earthly waters or go to places that cannot guarantee us the Living Water. Happy Sunday Friends!!!

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go! Do Not Be Afraid!

 (Homily for the 2^nd Sunday of Lent Yr. A)

        It will not be out of place to underline the theme of Vocation as the most evocative theme in today’s readings. The theme of God’s call, vocation dovetails into the three readings in different degrees. And by inference, we can equally say that this theme is in connection with the theme of faith, which is manifested in the human response to the divine call. Therefore, our message today revolves around the theme of God’s call and man’s response orchestrated by faith. And the locus of this as manifested in the first reading and the Gospel is an unknown land where Abraham goes for the realization of his divine mission and to the Mountain of Transfiguration, where Jesus called his three apostles the second time and on that mountain his divine salvific mission was revealed.  In the first reading, we see the episode of the call of Abraham, where God invited him to leave his country and go to an unknown land. In the Gospel passage, Jesus took three of his apostles to Mount Tabor and revealed himself to them in a unique and divine experience, his Mission as New Moses, New Elijah and the Son of God. Lastly, in the second reading St. Paul reminded his disciple Timothy and all Christians the holy call we received from God, which has to be the source of trust in the power of God, to the point of suffering for the Gospel.

        The first reading (Gen. 12:1-4a) evocates the acts of God in the history of mankind, for often theologians speak of the mighty acts of God in history. But many a times one may ask: how can we conceive today a God who acts in human history? Indeed, our passage from the book of Genesis is suggestive of one of the ways God acts in history. God intervenes and acts in human history by calling some vital individuals and establishing a covenant with them, and it is through these human responses that a channel for the execution of God’s designs is manifested in the world. At first, God tried with Adam and Eve, but it ended on a sad note (cf. Gen.3). Afterwards, He entered into covenant with Noah and his descendants (cf. Gen.9:9-11). Again, after Noah, there was need of establishing a new covenant and constituting a new people of God, for this God called Abraham to enter into covenant with him. In order to realize his will, many a times God enters into a close rapport with man, in a rapport characterized by call and response. It is under this interpretative key that we can understand better, God’s gesture and the obedient gesture of Abraham. Abraham in obedience left his country and set out for an unknown country, and it is as a result of that, that God made him, a great nation and a blessing to all the nations of the world. When the Lord calls, he attaches a promise. In Abraham we see an expression of an authentic human response to God’s call, a call that was addressed to a series of key individuals, starting from Abraham and culminating in and with the person of Jesus Christ and his apostles. It is on the basis of the above, that St. Paul used Abraham as the paradigm of faith. Faith in this panorama is conceived as an obedient response to the call of God, which opens up channels and avenues for the redemptive actions of God in the history of mankind.

      For Abraham the voice of the Lord was expressed with the words we heard in the first reading: “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house.” Abraham was at peace with his people, he was happily married with Sara and probably desiring to be surrounded by his own children and to enjoy his old age. But God wanted him out of that comfort zone! Behold, the mysterious voice of the Lord came to him: “Go from…” It is indeed humanly speaking a painful command, but on the part of God it is not for deception, because what God promised him is greater than what he asked of him (Abraham): “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed”, And we were told that “Abraham went as the Lord told him.” This movement in the life of Abraham is a maximum expression of faith, little wonder, so many years after that event, he is still considered as “Our father in faith.” God called him and sent him to an unknown destination, and he responded trusting in the Lord, even though he was unaware of what awaits him. He made a qualitative leap of faith! The call of God necessitates an “es tasis”, that is an exodus from oneself, it is a radical self-emptying. It is the abandonment of all the human securities: country, house, affection and material means. And the only security and guarantee given is God’s word, his faithfulness and his promises. A great lesson from Abraham is that: faith is all about trusting God even when you don’t comprehend his plans and where he is leading you to.

        The Gospel passage (Mt. 17:1-9) presents the event of Jesus’ transfiguration. And as a matter of fact, it is not by chance that we are called to reflect on this event at this particular time in the liturgical season of the church, because the transfiguration looks forward in anticipation to the Passion and subsequent glorification of Jesus at the Resurrection event. St. Mathew situates the event of the Transfiguration in the part of his Gospel where he speaks about the revelation of the Messiah (13:53-17:27); the solemn proclamation by Peter: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (16:13-20) and lastly after the proclamation of the Passion (16:21-28). The word transfiguration simply means change of figure, and symbolically, it is an anticipation of the resurrection. Put in another way, it means giving up the present figure and obtaining another one. Thus, he transfigured before them or he changed in appearance.  In the Transfiguration of Jesus we see rays of Jesus’ divinity, which was somewhat hidden by his humanity, he offered us an anticipation of his future glorification and demonstration that his death on Calvary will not be the end, there is the resurrection, death will not have the final word!

        In his narrative, Mathew provides a number of fascinating factors: ●Mathew and Luke unlike Mark mentioned about the change of Jesus’ face and countenance respectively, “his face shone like the sun” (v.2). ●Only Mathew compared the whiteness of Jesus’ garments to light (v.2). The splendour of his face and the whiteness of the garments indicate the glory of God manifested in Jesus. ●Moses and Elijah are the two of the most important figures in the Old Testament, Moses represents the law that Jesus has come to bring to fulfilment, while Elijah represents the prophecies that Jesus has come to realize. He is therefore the Promised Messiah. Jesus is the New legislator who will give men a unique commandment and the synthesis of all other commandments: love, and as the new prophet who will proclaim to men the secrets of the heart of his Father. Thus as the new Moses and new Elijah he will realize his vocation and manifest the love of the Father. ●What was the content of his discussion with Moses and Elijah? Only St. Luke opined that Moses and Elijah were speaking “of his exodus, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem” (Lk. 9:31), that is, his Passion. ●Mathew like the other synoptic reported the voice that came from the cloud saying: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased, listen to him.” The content of the message of the voice of the Father is a revelation that in terms of what Jesus does (his works) he can be compared to Moses and Elijah, but at the level of being he is more than them, because he is the Son of God! Secondly, we are all invited to listen to him, listening to him entails following his examples and threading the paths he has charted for us. And truly Abraham in the first reading shows us by an existential example what it means to listen to God, which is equivalent to trusting in his word and abandoning oneself in Him. The voice of the Father from the clouds reveals who Jesus is: “This is my Son.” God the Father reveals that Jesus is not only a man, He is also God. The context of the transfiguration event is a place where God declared the mission of the Son: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him”. After the Father’s voice, Jesus readily climbed down from the mountain of glory to the valley of human predicament and suffering. While he was coming down from the mountain Jesus ordered his disciples not to talk about the transfiguration until after his resurrection. ●In Mathew, there was a command of silence until after the resurrection. Mathew reported this command, Mark said: ‘he charged them”, but Luke omitted it. Why this command? It is because it will lack logicality, if the transfiguration is disclosed before the death and resurrection that would imply glory without the cross. At the heart of this narrative is the age-long assertion: “No cross, no crown”.

        Indeed, let us imagine the scenario at Tabor, before the apostles: Peter, James and John, and the vision of the transfigured Lord. It was indeed an atmosphere of glory and indescribable peace that made them to be bewildered and overwhelmed. Then out of bewilderment and fear, Peter spoke up: “It is wonderful for us to be here.” They wanted to remain there. Peter went as far as coming up with a concrete step on how to realize that dream or project: “I will make three booths.” At the heart of that event, Mathew tells us that the disciples were afraid, and Jesus intervened and calmed their fear with his reassuring touch and voice. As a matter fact, the Scriptures portray fear as man’s reaction to a theophany. “When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead, but he laid his right hand on me and said, Do not be afraid…” (Rev. 1:17). And this fear was conquered only by the encouraging word of Jesus (cf. Mt. 14:27; 28:5, 10). Jesus came and touched them, saying; “Rise, and have no fear”, and they began to walk down to plain ground. There is a human tendency to remain in a place considered to be a comfort zone, just like the three apostles, even though they were afraid, but the mountain at that point became a comfort zone and they wanted to remain there to enjoy the tranquillity of the mountain and the “divine display”. They wanted to remain in the mere vision of glory, but Jesus led them down to the plain ground where he has to face his destiny on the Cross, where they will see the real glory, not a vision. Many a times, we are also like the apostles who desired to remain on mount Tabor, without realizing the necessity of passing through Calvary.

     What are those places and environments in your life that you have declared: “it is wonderful to be here”, of course, with the desire to remain there? Examine those moments and places very well and see if they lead you to your destiny, to your goal, to your dreams and aspirations in life, or they will only cause a spiritual abortion to the realization of your dreams. It is really true that sometimes the Lord leaves us in such places or environments for sometimes and he comes later very close to us to say: “Rise, do not be afraid.” In fact, in the destiny of every man or woman, especially of every Christian, there is a Tabor, a place, a situation from which he or she has to climb down in order to climb the Calvary, to arrive at a real glory not a mere vision. Therefore, we all make this experience, but what makes the difference is the attitude of each person. Here, the disciple of Jesus has to distinguish himself or herself from a non-believer. How? By and through the response he or she gives to that invitation of Jesus: “Rise”, not just rise, but rise and move down towards the realization of your goal. Drawing the issue further, the transfiguration of Jesus is a sign and a prophecy of what will become of us one day. Our Christian life is tailored in being and becoming, between reality and hope, between the already and the not yet. Our being, our reality or our already is in Christ. Little wonder, the apostle reminds us: “You are in Christ Jesus” (1Cor. 1:30).

     In the second reading (2Tm. 1:8b-10) St. Paul picks up the theme of the divine call and narrowed it down to the Christian calling. He emphasized that the call is by no means based on human merits, instead upon God’s purpose and design. Interestingly, this age long divine purpose has now been fulfilled and manifested in the person of Jesus Christ, who brought life and immortality to light. This wonderful presentation of Jesus as one who brought life and immortality into light introduces us to and situates us well into the context of the Gospel passage on the theme of Transfiguration.

     Above all friends, the message of the today’s readings reminds us that we are pilgrims, like Abraham, moving toward the land of promise. But our own pilgrimage is an inward pilgrimage. Just as God called Abraham, so he has called each of us. Though he may not call us exactly like Abraham to “your country and your father’s house” but he calls us to leave behind our old ways, greed, insincerity and selfish desires. Indeed, the direction of this existential pilgrimage is not geographical but moral: is a journey towards love, kindness and obedient to God’s word. Our own Promise Land is Heaven. Thus, in this season of Lent, the Church reminds us of this journey and calls us to conversion, the Church calls us in reality to repent and appropriate the experience of Abraham and that of the apostles on Tabor. In concrete terms we are called to accomplish three symbolic tasks or movements: to go from, to go down and to go. ●To go from: from the daily routines of life, from our Ur of the Chaldeans, where we are comfortable and relaxed: our comfort zone. ●To go: towards the land that the Lord will indicate, that is, towards the future of faith, opening oneself to the promises of God. In that episode, the land that God indicated to Abraham was the Promised Land, Palestine. But for us our own Promise Land is the kingdom of God, not just the kingdom of God after death, but already here in our midst. ●To go down: from Tabor entails going courageously towards God’s will, following the Lamb wherever he goes (cf. Rev.14:4). We need to embark on this existential and spiritual movement. The three apostles wouldn’t have arrived at the joy of the Resurrection, if they had remained on Tabor. Likewise us we cannot experience the glory of the Lord if we do not follow Him courageously, even when it means sacrificing our comfort zones, the things and persons that make us feel good.

        We cannot but remember the experience of Joseph, if someone who loved him wanted to show him favour, the person would have taken Joseph back to his Father, and not to Pharaoh, but the throne would have been aborted, he would have died, Jacob would have died, and that would have been the end of Israel. But Joseph needed to go to Pharaoh for the realization of his mission and no longer back to his father. “Pharaoh said to Joseph, I hereby make you governor of the whole of Egypt” (Gen. 41:41). And at the end, through the names given to his children he vehemently discovered God’s blessings and favour in disguise: “Joseph named the first-born Manasseh, Because, he said, ‘God has made me completely forget my hardships and my father’s house’” (Gen. 41:51); “He named the second Ephraim, Because he said, ‘God has made me fruitful in the country of my misfortune’” (Gen. 41:52). The path way to favour and blessing is not always positive and pleasing, many a times it comports pains and sacrifice. Abraham had to leave his father’s land and family, the three apostles had to follow Jesus and go down from Tabor, even though it was a wonderful place for them. Therefore, you too need to make a move. Go! Do not be afraid!

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