Be Like The God You Worship: The Trinity Of Love!

 (Homily for the Holy Trinity Sunday Year A)

“Just… as the three angles of a triangle do not make three triangles but one, … so too in some much more mysterious way, there are three Persons in God and yet only one God” (Fulton J. Sheen, The Divine Romance) 

     After we have celebrated in Advent and Christmas the merciful love of the Father who sent his Son to, in and for the world; in lent and Easter we celebrated the infinite goodness of the Son, who gave his life for us, and also after celebrating the feast of the Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father and the Son, in order to bring to fulfillment the wonderful works of our salvation, in today’s liturgy we celebrate the three divine Persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit). Indeed, the reality of the three divine Persons is not a fairy tale, rather a certainty of what has been revealed to us. Even though it has been revealed, it still remains a mystery. The revelation of our God who in essence is One, and manifests Himself in three Persons is beyond human logic and calculations. The Holy Trinity is the mystery that distinguishes our religion from others (the Jews adored only one God: Yahweh, the pagans adore many divinities, without unity), but in ours there is unity in distinction. The Holy Trinity is not just the perception in three aspects (Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier) that we sometimes have of God, more than that, the Trinity does not only refer to human viewing, but to God himself, to His ways of being God. The Scriptures actually made us to understand that the Father is God (Phil. 1:2), the Son is “great God” (Titus 2:13; Jn. 1:1) and that the Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4). The God revealed by Jesus Christ is not a distant and inaccessible divinity, that has nothing to do with the contingent humanity. He does not sit impassible on His eternal throne, rather He condescends to mankind. Even though we may not understand God fully as Trinity, we do experience Him as Trinity daily (in the sign of the cross etc). God is not only believable, He can be experienced (Taste and See). In the words of Pope St. John Paul II, “God, in his deepest mystery, is not a solitude, but a family, since he has in himself fatherhood, sonship, and the essence of the family, which is love (the Holy Spirit).”

     In that bid, I would like to introduce the Holy Trinity in this reflection in two broad terms: economic and immanent Trinity, taking inspiration from some of the modern theologians. Economic is how God has revealed himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit (through His actions in the world). And many a times when we talk about the Holy Trinity, we tend to do so, limiting ourselves to the economic Trinity, as revealed to us. But more than that, the Holy Trinity is also to be considered from the point of view of how God is in Himself, God in his essence is One but manifests himself in three Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and that is immanent Trinity. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is a mystery beyond and above us, for it has to do with the ontological aspects of the Trinity (Immanent) and at the same time it is a mystery that has been revealed to us and it is our way of knowing that God is present in Human history (Economic). However, we cannot understand and explain fully how God is in himself, as St. Augustine opined "si comprehendis non est Deus". In another writing of his, St. Augustine exclaimed "if you see love, you have seen the Trinity". “God is love” (1Jn. 4:16) as revealed in the New Testament, and love cannot remain closed up in itself, and the God revealed by Jesus Christ is Trinity because is love. Jesus said to Philip, “I and the Father are one” (Jn.10:30) and no doubt the Holy Spirit is part of this oneness. Whether considered from the dimension of economy or immanency, the central word that dovetails into God’s essence and manifestation is LOVE. The central message of today's doctrine is that of Love (Father-Lover, Son-Loved and Holy Spirit-Love).

          The word Trinity (tri-unity) was coined by Tertullian about the third century in the bid to establish the distinct Persons in one God.  The Scriptures in no small way, buttress the reality of the Trinity with some biblical quotations: In Genesis 18: 1-2: God appeared to Abraham at the sacred tree of Mamre. As Abraham was sitting at the entrance during the hottest part of the day, he looked up and saw three men. God came to Abraham in the Trinitarian form. In Isaiah 6:8: “Whom shall I send and who will go for US?” Here we can discover God the Father making a representational request on behalf of the Son and the Holy Spirit. Likewise in Matthew 28:19: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  Jesus Christ, the Son undoubtedly is God: John 1:1: “In the beginning was the WORD, the WORD was with God and the WORD was God.” The Holy Spirit is equally God: Genesis 1:2: “The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” This was before God began active creation. The Holy Spirit has been with the Godhead from eternity. Hence the Holy Spirit is God. In John 14:26: “The Counsellor whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything”. The Greek word perichoresis (derived from the Greek traditional wedding dance) will help us to have a clue of how God is Trinity. It is the reciprocal com-penetration of being among the three divine Persons, it is like the bond that unites the three Persons in a mutual indwelling. For instance, in Jesus’ priestly prayer: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.” (Jn. 17:1); and again Jesus says referring to the Holy Spirit, “he will glorify me” (Jn.16:14). Thus, the Holy Spirit glorifies the Son, the Son glorifies the Father and the Father glorifies the Son.

     Similarly, no matter how hard we try, we remain limited in the endeavor to understand this mystery in toto, what is important for us is not even to understand Him, rather to recognize how he manifests Himself, what are the signs of His presence and actions? God is experienced as going out of himself in revelation and redemption. And it is against this backdrop, that the three readings of today proffer us some indications: The first reading from the book of Exodus reveals the name of God (Yahweh) and the compassionate heart of God, full of love and faithfulness. In the request of Moses: “My Lord, come with us”, here one can preempt the first step towards the Incarnation and the Revelation of the Son, “Enmanu-EI”- God with us. This mystery of Incarnation was revealed solemnly in the Gospel of John: “God so love the world, that he gave his only Begotten Son”. In the second reading St. Paul rediscovered a trinitarian formulae of the old Christian liturgy, culminating in grace, love and communion.

     In the first reading (Exodus 34: 4-6. 8-9) God revealed himself to Moses as “Merciful God and gracious,  slow to anger abounding in love and faithfulness.” This is our One and Triune God. And before his majesty we have to recognize our nothingness and so bow before Him. Moses recognized his nothingness and bowed on the ground. In this passage Moses shows us what should be the human attitude before this great and admirable mystery, it should be that of adoration and worship and an invocation of the Triune God to come and be in our midst. Let us appropriate the words of Moses, “If indeed I do enjoy your favour, please, my Lord, come with us” (v.9). The passage can be divided into two parts: the first part is a theophany, Yahweh revealed his name. And the second part is the response of Moses to this divine manifestation. In this passage, God we could say goes out of his own transcendent being in self-communication and he expects the human response. As such, in this encounter between God and Moses on Mount Sinai we see a threefold pattern: ●God in himself as the transcendent Being, ●God goes out of himself in self-communication, ●and He creates within the human heart (Moses) the response to his self-communication. Drawing the issue further, the passage talks about the “Name of God”, and for us it is the threefold name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As a matter of fact, Daniel in the responsorial psalm picked up this theme once again: “Blessed be your glorious and holy name” (Dan. 3:52b).

     In Gospel (John 3: 16-18) Jesus reveals the face of God, not just for what He is in himself, but for what He has done in favor of man; that God loved us so much, that He became one of us and one with us. Jesus came to save the world and not to condemn it. In this passage of the Gospel we see one of the most important verses (v.16) in the whole Gospel of St. John: “For this is how God loved the world: he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” This is the most glaring and precise affirmation of God’s love, as the true and ultimate cause of His Son’s presence in the world. But at first sight one might rightly question the choice of this passage that apparently talks about only the Father and the Son, without any mention of the Spirit, on this day. On the other hand, after a thoughtful reflection, we discover that it is as a matter of fact impossible to dissociate the gift of eternal life, from the Spirit who is the Giver of life. The first reading talks about God’s compassion, while the Gospel reveals his infinite love for man, little wonder St. Paul says “what proves that God loves us is that Christ died for us while we were still sinners” (Rm. 5:8). God sent his Son to the world in order to save the world (v. 17). Indeed, this mystery reveals to us our nothingness, and as such calls our attention to bow down in adoration to God.

     The second reading (2Cor 13: 11-13) begins with the admonition of St. Paul thus: “brethren, rejoice. Mend your ways, heed my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you” (v. 11). In a nutshell, is like St. Paul is telling us that a transformed way of living, living in harmony and love with each other are the criteria for enjoying the presence of the Trinitarian God, the Trinity of love and peace. Secondly, he offers us an explicit affirmation of the existence of the Holy Trinity, but also the fact that the Holy Trinity is present in us and at work in us, if we do not destroy our relationship with Him through sin. For St. Paul the presence of the Trinity becomes a wish for the Christians of Corinth and for us today: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all”. St. Paul employs three important words (Grace, Love and Communion). He speaks of the grace of Christ, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Thus, bringing to light the experience of grace, love and koinonia. The ordering of Son, Father and Spirit is quite fascinating, for it is in the Person of the Son through his gracious life and death that we encounter the love of God, and this encounter enables us to be incorporated as members of the redeemed community, where we are made sharers in the common life of the Spirit.

     Be that as it may, we have a number of virtues to learn from the mystery and divine manifestation we celebrate today: ●Unity in diversity, a call, therefore, to recognize all as brothers, despite our differences, and to live in love and communion as children of the same Father.  The revelation of God as Trinity is a revelation of love. The Trinity is ocean of Peace and communion; the Father always works with the Son and the Holy Spirit “let us” (cf Gen 1 & 2). It is thus an invitation to us to cultivate the spirituality of inclusion. ●We can as well reconsider the Holy Trinity in three dimensions: the Trinity of faith (of the past, when He revealed himself), the Trinity of Love (of the present, that lives and works in us), there is also the Trinity of Hope (of the future, we are on our journey towards the return to the Father). It is of a Hope that is certain (cf. Rm 5:5). ●The mystery of the Holy Trinity is a reality hidden in the heart of God. The mystery of the Holy Trinity is neither the work or the fruit of theological thoughts nor of mysticism. The Trinity is not a fruit of human invention, is not an idea, rather it is a reality, the most sublime reality, not a static reality but a process-reality; that the Father revealed through the Son and the Holy Spirit. The mystery of the Trinity was immensely revealed to us through the action and manifestations of God in human history. God revealed himself as Father by sending the Son. And Jesus Christ revealed himself to us in his perfect obedience to the Father, through his redemptive death and resurrection. And the Holy Spirit revealed himself to us as the “cement” of the love of the Father and the Son, as a gift of communion to man, so that they will live in the trinitarian image.

     What should be the attitude of man before this mystery? ►First, there is need for the attitude of adoration and submission to the Father that so much loves us, to our Brother Jesus who gave his life for us, and to the Holy Spirit who accompanies and sustains us in the course of our earthly existence. More important to reflecting, thinking and pondering on the mystery is to worship and render all adoration to the Triune God. ►Second, is the attitude of thanksgiving, thanking God for the fact that He is a mystery and continues to be a mystery even after the revelation. But not a mysterious and complicated mystery, for we are constantly involved in the life of the Blessed Trinity. Being a mystery, as such it cannot be manipulated or instrumentalized by man. ►Third, is the attitude of humble acceptance of the mystery, avoiding a rationalistic position and an irrationalistic position, that seeks to exclude it (because it does not comprehend it) or that seeks to succumb to its weight (because it is perceived to be cumbersome) respectively.

     Above all else, however, drawing the issue further, we see that the Holy Trinity is a mystery of Mission: the Father sends the Son, and both send the Holy Spirit, and in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the Church is sent by Christ to “go and make disciples of all nations”. You too, you are sent to be heralds of love, unity and communion. In the mystery of the Holy Trinity, there is love amongst the three Divine Persons (ad intra), but in the same vein the Trinitarian love is manifested externally (ad extra), love towards humanity, towards us. This Trinitarian love extended to us should be a prerogative for the extension of that same love to our fellow human beings. The Trinity is therefore a sign of a harmonious unity existent in God, which should equally be existent among God's children. The central message of today's doctrine is that of Love. The Holy Trinity is a mystery of interpersonal communion of love. It is a sign of communion and of love. As those called to live a Trinitarian life, is our life a sign of communion and of love, a reflex of the Trinitarian life? Drawing the issue further, we call the attention of our leaders and all, enough of all this religious, ethnic and political divides that create tension, hatred, violence and the massacre of human beings, especially in our country today. We condemn in all its forms and manifestations the barbarous warfare, persecution, endless massacre, kidnapping and plunder going on today in this nation. We need an urgent rediscovery of the sense of the sacredness and respect of the human life, created in the image and the imprint of the Trinitarian God. Let us pattern our lives according to the God we worship and teach others to do same. May Jesus in whom “in bodily form dwells all the fullness of divinity” (Col. 2:9), continue to reveal to us the God who is communion. Oh our Trinitarian God, help us to love You and to love one another! Enable us to recognize you in each other and in our world, so that we may be capable of living the Trinitarian existence of communion, love and a harmonious unity. Amen!

 (Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC) 

Come O Holy Spirit, O Fount of Life, Come!

 (Homily for Pentecost Sunday Year A)

Without the Holy Spirit, God is distant, Christ is merely a historical figure, the Gospel is a dead letter, the Church is just an organization, authority is domination, mission is propaganda, liturgy is only nostalgia, and the work of Christians is a slave morality. But with the Holy Spirit, Christ is risen and present, the Gospel is a living force, the Church is a communion in the life of the Trinity, authority is a service that sets the people free, mission is Pentecost, the liturgy is commemoration and anticipation, and the work of Christians is divinized (Ignatius of Laodecea).

     The aforementioned assertion of Ignatius of Laodicea sets in motion the vitality and the profundity of today’s Solemnity. Today as we are celebrating the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the word of God gives account of this Event, in four different ways, to demonstrate that the Holy Spirit, the breath of God, cannot be locked up in human schemes. The Gospel and the first reading complement each other, as they both talk about the descent of the Holy Spirit; although while in the first the Holy Spirit is a Gift of the Risen Christ to the Church for her mission, in the latter the Holy Spirit descended on the apostles as the life propelling force and opens new horizons for the mission. In the second reading He is the Giver of God’s gifts and the source of unity of the believers. And the fourth account is in today’s responsorial Psalm: “Send forth your Spirit, and renew the face of the earth” (Ps.104:30). All the earth, nothing and nobody is excluded. Indeed, what we are celebrating today is the fulfilment of the promise of the Risen Christ. Several times in his farewell speech, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to the apostles: “I will not leave you orphans… I will send you the Paraclete, the Spirit of truth… and you will receive the Holy Spirit” (Jn. 14). And 50 days after His Resurrection, Jesus maintains his promise, as St. Luke recounts in the Acts of the Apostles. St. John instead, in his Gospel collocates the coming of the Holy Spirit in the evening of the same day of Resurrection (cf. Jn. 20:19-23), as such, he intends to make us understand that the Holy Spirit is the most important Gift of the Risen Christ, the most precious fruit of his gesture of love and obedience to the Father. He is the Gift of God and the Giver of God’s gift to us. The Holy Spirit is a Person, the third Person of the Most Holy Trinity. In the Scripture he is presented with several symbols and images like: cloud (cf. Ex. 16:10); water (cf. Ez. 17:1-6; Jn. 7:37-39); wind or breath (cf. Gn.1:2; Acts. 2:2); fire (cf. Ex. 3:2; 13:21; Is. 4:4; Acts. 2:3); anointing oil (cf. Acts. 10:38); dove (cf. Mk. 1:10; Lk. 3:22); still small voice (cf. 1Kgs. 19:11-13) etc…

     The word Pentecost is from a Greek word “Pentēkostē”, which means fiftieth. The Pentecost was an old Jewish traditional feast that was celebrated 50 days after the Passover, namely the in-gathering of grains. Later on, Judaism transformed it into a feast of salvation history, for it commemorated the arrival of the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, and the giving of the law to Moses on Mount Sinai (cf. Ex. 34:28). This was later introduced into the Christian feast that marked the conclusion of the great fifty days after Christ’s Resurrection. It also refers to the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles and others who were present at the Upper room. The grain harvest and the law are now replaced by the gift of the Spirit, from the constitution of the old Israel to the constitution of the new Israel. A gaze into the Old Testament reveals the power and activity of God’s Spirit at work. For instance, God allowed His Spirit to rest on the seventy elders who were appointed to assist Moses (Num. 11:16-17; 25). After his anointing as King, Saul received the Spirit of God and prophesied (1 Sam. 10:10); and when he lost his connection with God the Spirit of God left him (1 Sam. 16:14). Therefore, obedience to God attracts the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life, for it can be seen that when Saul disobeyed God, the Spirit of God that was upon him departed from him (cf. 1Sam. 15:26; 16:14). The indwelling of the Holy Spirit is a mark of God’s presence in us. David was a man filled with God’s Spirit and when he sinned he begged God not to take the Holy Spirit away from him (Psalm 51:11). In the New Testament, the Holy Spirit is our great teacher and reminder (Jn. 14:26); He is the guarantor and witness of our divine filiation as sons and daughters (Rm. 8:16); he is the great intercessor (Rm. 8:26); He is the great explorer: “for the Spirit explores the depth of everything, even the depths of God” (1Cor. 2:10). He dwells in us, “Do you not realise that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you and whom you have received from God? (1Cor. 6:19). Particularly, in the book of Revelation the Holy Spirit is portrayed as capable of taking control of a person: “On the Lord’s day the Spirit took control of me” (Rev. 1:10) and again “At once the Spirit took control of me” (Rev. 4:2), The Holy Spirit can possess a person, and his is indeed is a dynamic presence, for whoever he possesses witnesses all round transformation. The Holy Spirit is a great teacher and proclaimer of the divine message. In the book of Revelation “who has ears listen, what the Spirit says to the Church” (Rev. 2:29; 3:6; 3:16; 3:22). His message to the Churches was a message of rediscovering their identity before God and the renewal of their rapport with God. Even for us today, his is a message of repentance, unity, liberation and a rediscovery of who we are before God.

     The Gospel passage (John 20:19-23) instead presents the eleven apostles in the cenacle in the evening of Easter, they were still hiding for fear of the Jews. Jesus on the Easter day, entered even though the doors were shut, he greeted them with peace, for he knows that they were troubled and as such in need of peace, peace that comes from Him. Let us take into consideration the two great gifts that the Risen Christ brought to the first Christian community of the apostles reunited in the cenacle: Jesus gave them the gift of peace: “Peace be with you”. Peace biblically embraces all the divine promises: grace, divine benevolence, interior serenity and salvation. And in order to calm their fear and to console them with his presence, He then: “showed them his hands and his side”, that is, to tell them that he is the Crucified-Risen Lord. And there he inaugurates the mission of the apostles: “as the Father sent me, even so I send you” and immediately after that he gave them the second gift. Secondly, he gave them the gift of the Holy Spirit: “He breathed on them and said: receive the Holy Spirit”. Behold, the Holy Spirit is the most important and precious Gift that the Risen Lord gives to his apostles and to his people.

     In this Gospel narrative the eleven apostles locked themselves up in the cenacle out of fear. Probably, they were thinking that all that was expected of them is to preserve the memory of their Master within themselves, living secluded from the world. But behold, there in the cenacle they experienced the irruption of the Holy Spirit through the presence of the risen Lord. He gave them the Gift of the Holy Spirit and sent them on mission, because the Holy Spirit will not allow the Church to remain only like a warehouse, closed in herself, but it wants her to be an “out-going Church”. The Holy Spirit was sent to the apostles and the Church so that they will continue the mission of Christ: “As the Father sent me, so I send you” (v.21), a mission without limits, neither of space nor of time. The mission is not only a mission of announcing the word, but also of liberating men from the slavery of sin and for the renewal of humanity. Upon this, he equally gave them a mandate: “to those you forgive their sins they are forgiven” (v.23). Through the Holy Spirit, the Church through her ministers receives the mandate of forgiving sins.

     In the first reading (Acts 2:1-11) St. Luke narrates the event of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, unlike in the Gospel, but fifty days after Easter. Therein, we see that the Holy Spirit is the principle of expansion of the Church and the life force. This account of the Pentecost permits us to discover another great thing that the Holy Spirit represents for the Church, the life force that nourishes her in her Mission. There are some vital elements to ponder upon in the passage, ●first, “they were all together”, this entails that the Holy Spirit comes where there is unity. ●Second, “A sound came from heaven like a mighty wind”, this lays credence that it is truly Ruah Adonai, for the Holy Spirit manifests Himself so many times through the wind. In the book of Genesis (1:2) we are told that at the first moment of creation, “The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” ●Third, “It rested on each one of them and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages.” This is suggestive that the Holy Spirit came on them individually; likewise his gifts are individually given but for the common purpose. The Spirit empowered them to speak different languages, however, other languages here might be considered symbolic. They symbolize a language of love that all understand. ●Fourth, “at this sound the multitude came together”, this gesture of gathering together is the beginning of the Church’s mission to evangelize, because they are gathered in order to be sent. ●Fifth, “we hear them telling in our tongues the mighty works of God”, indeed, the Holy Spirit urges us to proclaim the wonderful works God has wrought for us, and as such, it was the major content of the preaching of the apostles that very day. On the other hand, in the book of Genesis (11:1-9), we see a direct opposite of what happened today in the Acts of the Apostles, the tower of Babel, where people because of pride, presumption and distance from God, were divided and thrown into confusion and incomprehension, language became a source of confusion instead of unity and understanding. That indicates simply the absence of the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Spirit is the reversal of babel. Meanwhile, the responsorial psalm talks about the natural and cosmic dimensions of the Spirit’s work (Ps. 104:30). The presence and power of the Spirit creates, recreates and renews.

     In the second reading (1Cor 12:3b-7.12-13) St. Paul tells us that it is through an indwelling experience of the Holy Spirit that we are able to recognize and call Jesus Lord, “nobody is able to say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit” (v.3b). More so, the Holy Spirit brings unity to the Church, unity and continuity of the Church with Christ. The Holy Spirit is the principle of unity amongst Christians. The Holy Spirit makes the multitude of Christians into “one body”. The Spirit unites and makes us brothers and sisters because it is the Holy Spirit who awakens the consciousness of our filial dignity, and He puts on our lips the language of God’s children: “Abba Father” (Rm. 8:15). St. Paul brings the discourse of the Holy Spirit to an intimate and personal level. The coming of the Holy Spirit concerns not only the Church but every single Christian. The Holy Spirit enriches the single members with charisms, gifts (gratia gratis data). The Holy Spirit is the source of the multitude and inexhaustible riches of charisms in the Church. And these gifts even though individually given are for the benefit and edification of the community. We can as well, talk of the “democracy” of the Spirit, because it is not a gift for only leaders or outstanding persons in the community, neither is He confined to a particular privileged set of people, is for all sons and daughters of God.

     Dear beloved in Christ, the Pentecost experience still continues, like the first Christian community today we are gathered, but unlike the first Christian community we are not waiting for the absent Spirit to come, rather we have to reawaken ourselves to the Spirit who is already present and working in, for and through us since we received Him during our Baptism. We only need to wake up to His presence. We need the Holy Spirit in all that we do. The life of Jesus from conception, birth, public ministry, passion, death and resurrection was marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Little wonder, at the beginning of his mission Jesus declared: ‘The Spirit of God is upon me” (Lk. 4:18; cf. Is. 61:1). At the Incarnation, Mary conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, and at the Eucharist, Bread and Wine become the Body and Blood of Christ, by the power of the same Spirit (epiclesis). The Holy Spirit guarantees and realizes his continuous Incarnation. The Holy Spirit realizes the consecration of Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Christ. During consecration in Eucharistic Prayer II the Priest says: “Let your Spirit come upon these gifts to make them holy, so that they may become for us the Body and Blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ.” Above all, the Holy Spirit is at work in and through the Sacraments of the Church.    

     We too need Him in our existential sojourn and weaknesses, for this St. Paul said that “the Spirit comes to help in our weakness, for when we do not know how to pray properly, he intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words” (Rm. 8:26). It is the same Spirit that bears witness to our divine identity, as God’s children, “The Spirit himself joins our spirit to bear witness that we are children of God” (Rm. 8:16), He confirms our filial identity. Above all, St. Paul captured the essence of the Pentecost experience when he affirms that “our Hope does not disappoint us, for God has poured out His Love into our hearts by means of the Holy Spirit, who is God’s gift to us” (Rm. 5:5). Today as we receive this outpouring, we join our voices together with that of the Psalmist in saying “Send forth your Spirit Lord and renew the face of the earth” (Ps. 104:30). May He renew us and renew our world battered and engulfed in so many ills and evils. May He heal a world torn by bloodshed, war, and violence. We hereby declare freedom and liberty for all God’s children, because “where there is the Spirit of God there is freedom” (2Cor. 3:17). Come o Holy Spirit and fill our hearts with Love and with a hope that does not disappoint! Be renewed as we receive the outpouring! As we welcome Him today may the same Spirit liberate us from all that do not allow us to be free sons and daughters of God! May He chase away the powers of darkness in our hearts and in our world with His fire! Amen!!!

(Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC)

At Prayer With Mary For the Holy Spirit!

(Homily for the 7^th Sunday of Easter Year A)

     Truly, as we draw closer to the end of the Marian Month, we are like the apostles, praying together with Mary in the Upper room for the Father’s Gift on Pentecost. Indeed, this Sunday in-between Ascension and Pentecost is a special one, for it looks backward and forward into the Event of Christ and its implication for the disciples (the Church). Little wonder, the liturgy of the Word today is equally replete with the tonality of expectancy, orchestrated in the atmosphere of prayer. Therefore, it is a prayerful waiting and expectation, and we are not alone, we are with Mary the Mother of Jesus. Prayer indeed is the axis of our human existence as Christians, and with that consciousness we can explore the power and importance of prayer in our existential sojourn. As our body needs food to survive so our spirit needs prayer to be alive. Little wonder in Luke 18:1 our Lord asked us to pray and never lose heart. Prayer for Jesus is entering into a sublime intimacy with the Father, for us too prayer becomes a way of dwelling in that union, entering into intimacy with the Father through Jesus. In the words of St. Luigi Guanella, prayer is a heart to heart relation with God, prayer for him is like the breath of our life. Prayer is the way to become and remain part of Jesus’ mission, by drawing people to this intimacy. Prayer is indeed one of the major themes that run through the readings of this Sunday, especially in the first reading and the Gospel. But also in the second reading that is centered on bearing persecution for the sake of Christ’s name, it is equally through prayer that we are enabled to bear witness to his love and message in and out of season.

     The first reading (Acts 1:12-14) presents Luke’s literary scheme whereby, the Ascension, the Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit are distinct events. In fact, the Ascension and the Pentecost took place forty and fifty days respectively after the Resurrection. In this passage the context is the Upper room where the apostles, with some women and Mary the Mother of Jesus and some other brethren were at prayer in expectation of the Holy Spirit. After the Ascension event the apostles and some believers went back to Jerusalem as the Lord instructed them. They went to the Upper room to pray, the Upper room is a place of concentration, of isolation and of silence, and it is a place of prayer. Why were they praying? We can get the answer from the instruction of the Lord: “Do not leave Jerusalem until you receive the Holy Spirit” (Acts 1:4). This passage captured the time between the Ascension and the Pentecost, and it is indeed a time of waiting and praying. However, the Church and every single Christian have to continue to pray constantly for the coming of the Holy Spirit; because the gift of the Holy Spirit is not an assured possession once and for all, rather we have to beseech it constantly anew in and through prayer. So they were prayerfully waiting for the Holy Spirit. Here, prayer is seen as an expression of trust in God. Therefore, we are encouraged like them (the disciples, the women and the mother of Jesus) to pray the Holy Spirit in.

     As a matter of fact, in the list of names mentioned by St. Luke, the one of Mary the mother of Jesus stands out, because she was not mentioned or included in the other women as depicted by the author. The name of Mary the mother of Jesus, shows that right from the beginning of the Church, she is honoured. St. Luke decided to accord her an outstanding position in the life of the early Church. In fact, this marks the last appearance of Mary the mother of Jesus in the New Testament. Behold, it is fascinating that our last picture of her is within the context of a praying community, as a member of the community of believers engaged in a prayerful expectation of the Paraclete.

     The Gospel passage (Jn. 17:1-11a) is taken from the famous high Priestly prayer of Jesus, which took place within the context of the Last Supper. Although, some theologians prefer to call it the prayer of consecration, because in this prayer, Jesus consecrates himself in view of his redeeming death. On this seventh Sunday of Easter in the three liturgical years, we always read the passage of the Gospel from the 17^th chapter of St. John’s Gospel. Therein, Jesus is seen praying for different purposes: in the first part Jesus elevates his entreaties and presented his mission report to the Father (vv.1-8); in the second part Jesus prays for his disciples (vv.9-19) and in the third part Jesus prays for us and all future believers (vv.20-26). The prayer in question does not represent only the substance of Jesus prayer at the Last Super according to the fourth Gospel, more than that, it is the prayer that the ascended Christ continues to offer to the Father in heaven. The overriding theme or content of the prayer is “ut omnes unum sint” (that they may be one). The unity that Jesus prays for is a unity founded not on human effort but on the divine union and on the common sharing of the Word and Sacrament. The priestly prayer of Jesus was presented at the time of his departure from the world to the Father. It reveals our Lord’s deep concern for those he was leaving behind. First, we are told that Jesus raised his eyes up and raising his eyes up, was to establish a contact with His Father (we see a similar gesture in John 11:41 at the tomb of Lazarus, here Jesus called God Father). Whenever Jesus raises his eyes up to the Heavens, something great always happens. It is a gesture that is always accompanied with divine intervention, for it is a spiritual cable for divine connection.

     In this payer Jesus offers himself to the Father as a holocaustal sacrifice. In the fourth Gospel the concept of “hour” signifies the hour of his Passion. As Jesus prayed he expresses his obedient desire, that through his death the Father and the Son may be glorified, that is, that through his death the redemptive plan of the Father will be realized through and in the Son. In this passage, this redemptive plan of the Father is defined as the giving of eternal life to those whom the Father has given to the Son. And what is eternal life? The author describes eternal life as the knowledge of the Father and the Son: “eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (v.3). In St. John’s parlance, eternal life is not a matter of duration of life, rather it hinges on the idea of quality, the quality of life, a life in communion with the Father and the Son. Immediately after that emphasis on eternal life, Jesus continued his prayer with theme of glorification. Therein, Jesus brings in his earlier life, prior to the cross, and again he makes further allusion to the glory He received in his pre-existent state: “Now, Father, glorify me with that glory I had with you before the world existed” (v.5). In that bid, we see that the glory of the cross cannot be separated from the whole incarnate life and mission of the Son.

     Be that as it may, from the sixth verse the prayer looked back once again to the earthly work of the Son, with emphasis on the revelation that Jesus gave to his disciples. As a matter of fact, the major constituent of the revelation of Jesus is the word, “They have kept your word” (v.6c). The word(s) in question are the words of the Father, which He the Father gave to Him (the Son). As a matter of fact, in receiving those words as the words of Father the disciples demonstrated their faith in Jesus, as One sent by the Father. Thus, we may say that their positive response to the revelation made by Jesus stands out as a Christological confirmation and affirmation of who Jesus is: the One Sent by the Father, the Revelator of the Father (cf. v.8). Here Jesus made a claim on our behalf, that they have kept the word. But have we kept the word? In this episode, we see from afar the relation that co-exists between the Father and the Son. The Father is the Originator and the Initiator of the whole redemptive plan, He is the Sender of the Son, who comes to execute the Father’s will. It is indeed worth reaffirming that prayer of Jesus to the Father does not in any way obscure his divinity or Godliness, rather it reveals something of his divine nature, for as the divine Son He receives everything from the Father and returns everything to the Father.

     This prayer of Jesus is divine in nature and as such, cannot but be eternal. For us who are still here on earth, Jesus continues to pray to the Father on our behalf, for “he has taken his seat at the right of the Father” and there continues to intercede for us. By virtue of his priestly office Jesus is the mediator between God and man, and through his priestly office he sanctifies all that the Father has entrusted to him. Above all, through his obedient sacrifice his priestly ministry is perfected in one hand, and at the other hand, sustained in and through his intercessions, he is our Great Intercessor, the First Advocate of mankind (cf. Jn. 14:16). And this priestly ministry of Jesus does not stop with him, it continues, for along history lane, we see followers of Jesus assuming the priestly ministry in continuation of Jesus priestly work, they (we) continue to sanctify, intercede and offer sacrifices for His people. That is what happened in the first reading after the Ascension of Jesus, his disciples returned to Jerusalem and devoted themselves with one accord to prayer. They entered into prayer, not because the priestly prayer of Jesus is inadequate, but because it is the wish of Jesus for his disciples and followers to share in the divine life.

     And finally, the last part of Jesus’ priestly prayer as contained in this passage moves from the work that Jesus did, his ministry to the fate of his disciples after his departure. Jesus prays for them because the reception of the revelation of Jesus has made them to belong no longer to the world, even though they still live in it. As such, they belong to God’s kingdom. And little wonder, Jesus consecrated himself as he departs from them to enable them participate in the Kingdom of God. Thus the prayer ends with Jesus departure from the world and to the Father: “I am coming to you, Holy Father” (v.11a).

     In the second reading (1Pt.4:13-16) we see rather a warning of imminent persecution in a time when being a Christian was beginning to be considered a crime. At this historical period, Christianity has been recognized as a separate religion from Judaism, although not yet considered a legal religion. It was probably during the persecution of Nerus, when Christians were burnt alive. In this period, Christians have to suffer for the name of Christ. For sure, the participation in the sufferings of Christ leads to participation in his Glory. Here, the apostle advises us not to suffer like thieves or murderers, but for the Christian cause. However, in today’s liturgy, this reading appears to be like a square peg in a round hole as far as the theme of this Sunday is concerned, but on a second thought it is not. St. Peter tried to bring to our consciousness and consideration on how to live when we must have received the Holy Spirit. For we receive the Holy Spirit to become audacious witnesses of Christ. And it is within this framework that we can savour the present passage alongside the themes of expectation, prayer and the Holy Spirit. In fact, in the words of St. Peter: “If you are insulted for bearing Christ’s name, blessed are you, for on you rests the Spirit of God, the Spirit of glory” (v.14). Therefore, the persecution we may experience as witnesses of Christ is a confirmation that the Spirit dwells in us. Thus, there is a knit connection between the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, bearing witness for Christ and suffering persecution for the sake of his name. In Greek the words witness and martyrdom come from the same root word or even the same word: “Martureo.” As such, this passage serves as a reminder to us, that as we await and pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit, we should be ready also to bear witness to Christ by the power of the same Spirit, in and out of season, both in good and in bad times.

     In all, the readings of this Sunday could be seen from the light of a theological succession, for the first reading pictures the disciples in the upper room waiting for the outpouring of the Spirit, which as we have seen in the Gospel passage is the result of Jesus’ departure to the Father and his glorification. As a matter of fact, the events of his departure and that of the outpouring of the Spirit enable his disciples to be in the world, and yet not of the world, but in any case for the world; in the measure they (we) are called to bear witness to His name and even suffer persecutions as Jesus did in his earthly life. Therefore, it is upon consideration of our presence in the world, our belongingness not to the world but to God’s Kingdom and our witnessing in and for the world that we join our minds and hearts together with those of the believers in the Upper room in invoking: “Veni, Creator Spiritus”!

(Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC)

 

Send Down Your Spirit O Lord!

(Homily for the 6^th Sunday of Easter Year A)

     From this Sunday, attention moves from the risen Christ to the Holy Spirit, from the Risen Lord to His Gift. In fact, we can call it a brief advent in preparation for Pentecost. The departure of Jesus does not mean that he is now absent; rather it entails his ever renewed presence through the coming of the Spirit. Be that as it may, at the verge of the closing of the Easter season we move from the contemplation of the resurrection appearances to the meditation on the continued presence of the exalted Christ in and with his Church through the Spirit. The coming of Christ was prepared for ages, from the proclamation of the prophets and the voice of John the Baptist, the precursor of the Messiah. But for the advent of the Holy Spirit, Jesus himself announces it: “I shall ask the Father, and he will give you another Paraclete to be with you for ever” (v. 16), He is the ‘Precursor of the Paraclete’. Indeed, the first promise that Jesus made to his disciples was the gift of the Spirit, who comes as the Paraclete, the Advocate. As Jesus prepares to leave the scene, He prepares the minds of his disciples for the advent of the Paraclete. This indeed, is one of the greatest promises in the New Testament.

     As a matter of fact, the three readings of today are to prepare us to wait and to desire the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The readings serve as an anticipation of the Pentecost. The liturgy presents Jesus who promises the Holy Spirit to his disciples (Gospel). St. Luke presents Peter and John “praying for the newly baptized Christians of Samaria, so that they can receive the Holy Spirit” (First reading). And St. Peter in his first letter says “Christ as man suffered death, but was restored to life by the Holy Spirit” (Second reading). The readings help us to understand better the One whom we are expecting. And we may ask: who is the Holy Spirit? We usually say that He is the third Person of the Holy Trinity, and with that it does appear we have said all about Him. He is truly a Person, not simply the creating breath of God as presented in the Old Testament. He is not the breath of man, the divine principle in him. Christ says of Him: ‘whom the Father will send in my name’ (Jn.14:26) and ‘He dwells’ (v.17); and St. Paul pointed out that He prays in us with sighs too deep for words (cf. Rm. 8:26). The theologians identify Him as the love of the Father and the Son. The Spirit conveys the presence of the Son, who reveals the Father.  However, it is obvious that we cannot know fully who the Spirit is in se, but we can know who He is for us. As evident in today’s readings He is the Paraclete, He dwells in the life of the baptized and He is the Giver of life.

     In the Gospel of last Sunday the Lord Jesus promises that He was going to leave us, but it was not all about distancing himself from us, rather he precedes us: I am going to prepare a place for you, so that where I am you also will be (cf. Jn. 14:2-3). Therefore, the separation were to be a temporary one. But interestingly, today in the Gospel (Jn. 14:15-21) Jesus promises his disciples something more, not about the future, but about the present time characterized with trials. He promises the Holy Spirit and he presents Him as the “Paraclete” and the “Spirit of Truth”. He is the Paraclete, the Advocate, the Counsellor, the third Person of the Holy Trinity. ●Spirit Paraclete, because he has the mandate of sustaining the apostles and disciples in the difficulties they were to confront and comforts us in every tribulation. ●Spirit of Truth because he has the duty to illumine and enwisdomize the apostles and disciples so that they will understand better the Truth announced by Christ.

     In the history of salvation there is a harmonious succession in the manifestation of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, always for the benefit of man’s salvation. The Father is the origin and fount of every salvific initiative. In his love for man, he sent his Son to redeem and restore man to his filial condition, (as sons and daughters). As soon as the Son realized his mission, He sent the Holy Spirit, so that he accompanies man in his pilgrimage on earth towards the Father. Indeed, the liturgy of today presents the promise made by Jesus to his disciples, to send the Holy Spirit, so that he will remain always with them. Why did Jesus make this promise to them? So that the disciples will not feel abandoned like orphans, because Jesus was about to  return to the Father; and he says to them and to us: “I will not leave you orphans, I will return to be with you” (Jn. 14:18), but not personally, rather through the Holy Spirit. The Spirit as he promised is not going to be a momentary Gift, but a stable and permanent one: “I will pray to the Father and he will give you another Paraclete, to be with you forever” (Jn.14:16). The presence of the Paraclete is a real and continuous presence, even though invisible. From the Christological standpoint, we may say that this is a realization of Jesus’ promises not to leave us orphans, not to abandon us, else where He tells us: “I am with you, until the end of time” (Mt. 28:20).

     The promise of Jesus in the Last Supper is for the Church and for every single Christian, as such today’s gospel is also comforting for us. The Spirit that Jesus promises us  is a Spirit of Truth (who will guide us to the comprehension of the entire Truth revealed by Jesus himself), Spirit of divine power (who renders us capable of witnessing to the Gospel), Spirit of consolation (who comforts us in all our tribulations). Our God is a God of consolation, He spoke through the prophets inviting them to console His people, “Console, console my people” (Is. 40:1). St. Paul captured well this image of God when he invoked God thus: “the Father of mercy and the God of all consolation” (2 Cor. 1:3). This consolation of God was incarnated in Jesus Christ, for He went around consoling every form of suffering and preaching consolation: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be consoled” (Mt.5:5). “Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened, and i will give you rest” (Mt.11:28). And before leaving this world, Jesus prayed to the Father so that he will send the Holy Spirit, who will remain with us for ever. He is not going to be with or to console us from a distance or momentarily, Jesus says: “he is with you, he is in you” (Jn. 14:17). The Eucharist is the sacrament that renews this presence of the Holy Spirit in us, as the Spirit of the risen Christ. In the canon of the Mass, we pray: “to us who are nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ give the fullness of the Holy Spirit”, knowing that with the fullness of the Holy Spirit, he will give us also the fullness of his consolation. He equally wants us to become comforters to those who are in tribulation. The Father through his Son and the Holy Spirt comforts and consoles us; however, we are also called to console others in return: “God consoles us in all our tribulation, we are also to console others with the same consolation we have received from God” (2Cor. 1:4). But today we need to ask ourselves, what are we to do, to have this consolation of the Spirit? We need to stop going to other sources for consolation, in the words of Jeremiah, many a times we abandon the source of living water and go to “cracked water-tanks that hold no water” (Jer. 2:13), those sources maybe riches, pleasure, desires of the flesh and false spirits etc.

     Before this promise, Jesus called his apostles to a more serious commitment: “If you love me you would keep my commandment” (Jn. 14:15). As such, we may well affirm that loving Him and keeping his commandments are the criteria for receiving the Holy Spirit. He further expressed that in the last verse of our passage: “whoever holds to my commandment and keeps them, is the one who loves me; and whoever loves me will be loved by my Father and I shall love him and reveal myself to him” (Jn. 14:21). As we can see, Jesus started his speech to his apostles with the word “if” and ends with “whoever”, He says if you love me, whoever that loves me, He did not say you must love me, for God’s love is a humble, suggestive and a prepositive love, never by coercion or imposition, it is love in freedom. However, to love him is not easy, for you cannot love Him without paying the price, and the price is keeping his commandment. Thus, in the parlance of Jesus a Christian is a beloved, who becomes a lover. In this passage, we see for the first time Jesus asks to be loved, prior to this he says that the greatest commandment is: “You will love the Lord your God…, and your neighbour as yourself” (Mt. 22:37; Mk. 12:30-31; Lk. 10:27), in the previous chapter of this Gospel, Jesus gave his disciples a new commandment saying: “love one another as I have loved you” (Jn. 13:34). And today he adds himself in the objective of the Christian love. Jesus calls the attention of his apostles to proof that they love him by keeping the commandments. The proof of loving him, is keeping his commandments (“probatio amoris, exhibitio est operis”). The vital question we have to ask ourselves today is this: what does Jesus want from us? He wants us to love him not with words but with facts. That we love each other as he loved us (model and reason), He should be the reason and the model of our love.

     In the first reading (Acts 8:5-8.14-17) we listened to the narrative of the coming of the Holy Spirit on one of the first Christian communities, the one formed in Samaria through the preaching of the apostle Philip. The message therein points to the fact that in order to be the Church of Christ, we have to be in communion with the apostles, because they serve as guarantors of the authenticity of our faith. This is exemplified in this passage, when the apostles in Jerusalem learnt that those in Samaria have accepted the Word of God they sent Peter and John, this was to ascertain the authenticity of their faith and to confer on them the Holy Spirit. More than that, the Acts of the Apostles is organized in such a way that it traces the expansion of the mission of the Church from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth (cf. Acts 1:8). As such, one of the theological concerns of the Acts, as reflected in this passage, is to maintain the ties between the expanding mission of the Church and the mother Church at Jerusalem. However, in this passage we see something unfamiliar in the Acts of the Apostles, that is the fact that Baptism does not convey the gifts of the Spirit, as it has been the case in the Acts (cf. Acts 1:4-5; 11:15-16), but in this episode it has to wait for the arrival of Peter and John in order to lay hands on the converts. Peter and John prayed for the Christians of Samaria so that they will receive the Holy Spirit, they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. And we may ask: where does the Spirit come? The first reading tells us that He comes where the Word of God has already been accepted (with a visible sign of conversion).

          In the second reading (1Pt. 3:15-18) instead, this presence of the Holy Spirit in the Church nourishes our Christian and spiritual life with serenity, trust and hope. And this Hope in us, we have to know how to defend it, how to give the reason behind it. St. Peter tells us to do this through a courageous witness to the Word of God, especially through honest life, learning to suffer like Christ, with unconditional love and with works that conform to the will of God. Therefore we have to be ready always to give reason of the hope in us (v.15). We have to do this with sweetness and respect, with right conscience and good conduct. Behold, we have to understand that the hope we are talking about here, is not just ordinary hope, but hope personified in Jesus and in God. As such, giving reason for the hope in us is paramount to giving reason for the presence of God in us. St. Paul makes this clearer to us in his letter to the Romans where he called God: “God of Hope” (15:13), and in his first letter to Timothy where he proclaimed “Christ Jesus our hope” (1Tm. 1:1). On the other hand, our hope does not make us fold our arms to wait for when manner will fall from heaven, rather it is a hope that propels us to be active and operative, little wonder St. Paul sustained that “we toil and battle because we have put our hope in the living God” (1Tm. 4:10). But the hit track of this epistle reading is found in the last sentence of this passage: “In the body he was put to death, in the Spirit he was raised to life” (v.18). The Spirit, the Paraclete is the Giver of life, the restorer to life.

     Behold, in today’s readings especially in the Gospel passage we see the three divine Persons in action for our love, sanctification and restoration. It is not only that Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to those who love Him and keep his commandment, “whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him” (v.17), but equally promises to make us partakers in the trinitarian union, “you will know that I am in the Father and you are in me and I in you” (v.20). Moreover, the promised Paraclete gives life, it is the Spirit that restored Jesus to life (second reading), and vivifies the Christians like the inhabitants of Samaria (first reading). Above all, while the Gospel and the second reading give us indications on what we can do to in order to welcome the Holy Spirit, the first reading presents a practical example of His decent through imposition of hands. May we therefore, implore the Spirit, who gives life to continually restore us to life, to life in abundance (cf. Jn. 10:10). Let us not be overtaken by panic for Jesus assures us that we shall live because he lives, He is the living God, “you will see that I live and you also will live” (Jn.14:19). May the healing, sanctifying and restoring presence and power of the Holy Spirit renew the face of the earth, renew us as well, and console the sorrowful, the abandoned and the sick. May the Paraclete find a fitting abode in our hearts for His indwelling! Amen!!!

 (Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC)