Do Not Be Afraid!

(Homily 12^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A)

    The liturgy of the Word today presents before us situations of anguish and terror. First it is seen in the prophecy of Jeremiah in the first reading, he was constrained to announce violence and oppression, and his enemies accused him of spreading terror around. And they threatened to speak out against him. As such, the prophet was living in fear. The second situation of anguish is that of the psalmist: “It is for you that I suffer taunts, that shame has covered my face. To my own kin I have become an outcast, a stranger to the children of my mother…and taunts against you fall on me” (Ps. 69:7-9). Furthermore, the first reading and the Gospel passages insist on two characteristics of the Christian existence: the difficulties and the persecutions; and trust in God, which dispels every fear. Prophet Jeremiah confessed, putting words in the mouth of God thus: “I have listened to the calumnies of the people” and at the same time he felt encouraged by God’s presence, “But the Lord is with me like a powerful hero” (Jer. 20:10a, 11a). In the same vein, in the Gospel we hear similar words: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul” (Mt. 10:28), these were the words of Jesus to his disciples and to us today. Why should we not be afraid? Because in the words of the second reading, “there is no comparison between the free gift and the offence” (Rm.5:15), between the powers of the persecutors and the power of God.  The effulgence of God’s grace surpasses all. Many of us need to hear these comforting and encouraging words of Jesus: Do not be afraid!

     The first reading (Jer. 20:10-13) presents the figure of prophet Jeremiah, who lived between 650 and 586 B.C., it was an epoch deeply tormented politically and religiously, which will culminate in the conquest of the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and in the deportation of the King and the major part of the citizens. Jeremiah remained in the destroyed city, with the poor that escaped from exile. More than the sufferings that were coming as a result of the destruction of the Holy City and the deportation of the citizens, he was object of hostility in the sight of the official representatives of religion and of the Jewish cult, who did not understand his prophetic message. When Jeremiah was deeply oppressed, facing suffering from all angles, prior to the passage of today’s reading, the prophet throw it to God on the face, the fact of being not only abandoned, but disappointed and deceived by God. “Why is my suffering continual, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Truly, for me you are a deceptive stream with uncertain waters!” (Jer. 15:18). And again, “You have seduced me, Yahweh, and I have let myself be seduced; you have overpowered me: you were the stronger. I am a laughing-stock all day long; they all make fun of me” (Jer. 20:7). Those were the words that he used to express his bitter experience.

     This passage from the prophecy of Jeremiah is clearly chosen to suit the Gospel passage, which speaks of the persecution the apostles are going to encounter in their mission. Jeremiah was majorly the prophet that suffered persecution severely on account of his prophetic activity. From his experience came the conception in the later Jewish view that rejection, persecution and martyrdom go hand in hand with the prophetic ministry; this idea appeared in the New Testament (cf. Lk. 11:51, 13:33-34; Mk. 12:1-9). In that perspective, to be a bearer of the word of God amounts to suffering, because the word of God encounters hostility and rejection. From the experience of Jeremiah we can decipher that a Christian is called not only to a prophetic mission of announcing the truth in the name of God, but also of a mission of suffering for the sake of the Good News of Salvation. Jeremiah prefigures the great moment of the revelation that will be fulfilled in Christ.

     In the Gospel (Mt. 10:26-33) Jesus says to his disciples “So do not be afraid of them. Everything now covered up will be uncovered, and everything now hidden will be made clear. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the daylight; what you hear in whispers, proclaim from housetops” (vv. 26-27). With these paradoxical expression Jesus entrusts to his disciples the task of announcing the word, of proclaiming the Good News, “without if and but”! This passage of the Gospel can be summed up in one sentence: “Be afraid, don't be afraid." Jesus says: "Fear not men... Fear not those who kill the body, but have no power to kill the soul; rather fear him who has power to destroy both soul and body...” Of men we should neither fear nor fear; of God we should fear, but not fear. So there is a difference between fear and fear and let’s try to understand what it is. Fear is a manifestation of our basic conservation instinct. It is the reaction to a threat brought to our lives, the response to a real or presumed danger: from the greatest danger of all, which is death, to particular hazards that threaten either our tranquility or our physical safety. Fears are like ghosts: they need darkness to act. Now let’s move on to considering the fear of God. The first difference from fear is this: the fear of God must be learned. "Come, children, listen to me, says a psalm; I will teach you the fear of the Lord" (Psalm 33:12). Fear, on the other hand, there is no need to go to school to learn it, it surges suddenly in the face of danger; things take charge of themselves to instill fear in us. The fear of God is a component of faith: it is born from knowing who God is. In the face of the miracle of the paralyzed who, at the word of Jesus, stands up and walks, the sacred author said that "everyone was amazed and gave praise to God; full of fear they said: Today we have seen miraculous things" (Lk. 5:26). Fear, as you can see, is another name for awe and praise. It is even one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit (cf. Is. 11:2).

     Jesus offers us some motivations for which we should not be afraid, he gives us some remedies to our fears. He says: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul…Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair of your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid” (vv. 28-31). Here, Jesus evokes the paternity of God as a reason for which we should not be afraid. As such, the revelation of the paternity of God and the revelation of a life after death sustain the invitation of Jesus. Not only that, the death and resurrection of Christ are also guarantee for us not to be afraid, for this St. Paul courageously affirmed that “If God is for us, who can be against us?... Who can bring any accusation against those that God has chosen? When God grants saving justice who can condemn?... Who can separate us from the love of Christ?... No, we come through all these things triumphantly victorious, by the power of him who loved us” (Rm. 8:31-39). With each of those words he alludes to an event that really happened to him. And then he looked at all these things in the light of the great certainty that God loves him and concludes triumphantly: “In all these things we overcome through Him who loved us.” We are invited to do the same.

     Extrapolating from this passage we see certain attitudes and behavior that we Christians are tempted to assume in our existential experience: ●First, the most immediate risk is the temptation to abandon the Christian commitment of living as a Christian and return to live according to the spirit of the world. ●Second, is the temptation to believe that with Christ we have arrived at a certain privileged position of living in serenity and quietude, a sort of exemption from suffering and tribulation. Jesus does not give us any guarantee to that effect, instead he encourages us not to be afraid. ●Third, is the sense of fear that can take over a Christian. The message of Christ will always be provocative, and before the world those who live and announce the message of Christ will be confronted, rejected and persecuted. Many a times, Jesus makes reference to this fundamental condition of the Christian existence. It is as if the Christian existence is always exposed to risk, opposition, and even the danger of losing one’s life. And from this situation fear can emerge, which can paralyze a Christian to the point of denying Christ or be ashamed of being called a Christian. It is incumbent upon this conviction that Jesus repeatedly exhorted his disciples thus: “do not be afraid”. The disciples of Christ are therefore, invited not be afraid of those that persecute them or of the world that gangs up against them because: No human power can stop the success of the Word of God; God assures them of his Providence, He promises to safeguard them as he takes care of the birds in the sky and the flowers in the field (cf. Mt. 6:26-30) and for them He knows how to draw something good from evil. And finally, because God is on our side, on the side of his disciples, as he was on the side of Jeremiah in the first reading.

     On the other hand, our Christian life has to be founded on a certain type of fear, a healthy fear. Not the fear of or for persecution and threats, rather the fear of God and the divine judgment. For we know, as the word of God has made us to understand that at the end of our life, we shall be judged. Healthy fear therefore, entails living coherently and adhering to the Gospel, reverence for God. A Christian is therefore, called to be courageous and strong in proclaiming his faith in Christ and in the Gospel, and always ready to confront dangers on account of this. St. Peter gives us the spiritual secret code thus: “Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for the people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have” (1Pt. 3:15).

     However, giving the foundation of our Christian faith, a convinced Christian does not fear men of this world, for Jesus in the passage of today’s Gospel repeated three good times: “So do not be afraid of them” (Mt. 10:26); “Do not be afraid of those…” (Mt. 10:28); “So there is no need to be afraid” (Mt. 10:31). The disciple of Christ should not be afraid of those who persecute them, because we know that God is always on our side, as in the case of Jeremiah in the first reading, he felt the presence of God at his side, notwithstanding the persecutions he was passing through. However, let us appropriate the word of God in the Gospel of John “I have told you all this so that you may find peace in me. In the world you will have hardship, but be courageous: I have conquered the world” (Jn. 16:33), yes our courage is founded on his victory. A Christian is therefore, called to be courageous and strong in proclaiming his faith in Christ and in the Gospel, and always ready to confront dangers on account of this. “Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for the people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have” (1Pt. 3:15). Therefore, if we are Christians we have to confess Christ openly in every situation, without fear and shame, like St. Paul who was glorying in the cross of Christ.

     Jesus warns us that if anyone disowns him in the presence of human beings, he will disown that person in the presence of his Father in heaven (v.33). Jesus is thus, calling us to proclaim his message of salvation with courage, with our lips and our lives. Our world today has distanced herself from Christ and his message, has many a times disowned him and relegated the Christian values to the background, there is need of a “re-evangelization”. Our world today needs to be re-evangelized, few years ago the discourse and the concern on “New Evangelization” was very strong and intense. Behold, I think there is need to return to that awareness, but now from a different standpoint, we need to deepen the consciousness of the necessity of a continuous evangelization, at the personal and collective levels.

     The second reading (Rm. 5:12-15) expounds the liberating power and effects of Christ’s redemption. It is freedom and emancipation from sin and death. St. Paul makes a sort of comparison between Adam and Christ while enunciating our liberation from sin and death. Disobedience, sin and death were prevalent in Adam, but through and in Christ obedience, free gift of grace and life were made manifest. However, we should jettison the idea that Adam sort of introduced a hereditary stain, which is somehow biologically transmittable; rather the fact is that all men sinned like Adam. Adam opened the door to sin and death. In the passage St. Paul affirmed that “There is no comparison between the free gift and the offence. For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many” (v.15). It therefore, entails that God’s grace is much greater than our sin. The grace of God abounds for all. That is the basis of our trust and confidence. In the face of persecutions, criticisms, rejections, indifference and incomprehension we neither rely on our strength, nor on our morals. The rock of our trust and confidence is the grace of God, manifested as a gratuitous Gift in Jesus Christ.

     No doubt, there are many things that threaten our internal peace, many things that frighten us. Many a times we are afraid of the future, afraid of sickness and death, but contrarily to all forms and manifestations of fear and anguish in our life, Jesus says: “do not be afraid”. In fact, the Bible is full of this hopeful reassurance of God “do not be afraid”. To Abram God says “do not be afraid” (Gen. 15:1; 26:24) even when He called him to leave his own country for an unknown country. To the prophets God says “do not be afraid” (Is. 41:10; 43:5; Jer. 1:8) for I am with you. Also to Mary God through his angel says “do not be afraid” (Lk. 1:30). When Jesus was sending his apostles on mission, he reminded them of the possibility of persecution, however, he says to them: “do not worry about how to speak or what to say” (Mt. 10:19). And to all his disciples Jesus says “do not be afraid, little flock” (Lk. 12:32). You too, do not be afraid!

     Today there are many things that threaten our life and well-being, many situations that make us be encapsulated by fear. Ranging from the current social and political upheaval, economic instability and moral decadence have plunged us more than ever in a long dark tunnel that we are desperately waiting and looking for rays of hope. Thus, in this dramatic situation of fear and uncertainty, Jesus’ words resound: “do not be afraid”. Jesus explains in the Gospel the inseparable connection between fear and trust in God. Can you not buy two sparrows for a penny? And yet not one falls to the ground without your Father knowing. Why, every hair of your head has been counted. So there is no need to be afraid” (vv. 28-31). God doesn't want us to create fear but trust. Indeed, Jesus’ words fall like a healing balm: Nonlite timere. It is like a refrain that resounds in the words of Jesus. Before anything else, it is worthwhile to allow these words and invitation of Jesus to inhabit in our hearts, “do not be afraid”. Today more than ever, we need these reassuring words of Jesus. We need not only someone, but ‘Someone’ who calms us, who reassures us that there is still hope. Truly, in our present situation of fear, anguish, hunger, desperation and sickness, we need to hear the voice of Jesus. Beloved in Christ, the most important revelation about God to emerge from the Gospels is that he is a caring God, a compassionate and forgiving God, and a God who is on our side. Therefore, no matter what we are facing or whatever is facing us, our attitude must be that of the psalmist when he says, “In God I trust I shall not fear” (Ps. 56:11).

(Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC)

 

 

 

 

Freely Received, Freely Give!

(Homily for the 11^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A)

     The readings of this Sunday present to our consideration the fact that God is not mute, but He speaks; He does not command, but He promises; He does not merely ask, but wants to give; He does not impose, but He invites: He chooses and elects. And that requires man to listen, to respond to His appeal, involving his own freedom and responsibility. The common thread that runs through the three readings of this Sunday is the divine election. The first reading presents a God who chooses a people among other peoples of the earth and constituted a special and privileged rapport with them. He made them his ally. The second reading goes further; it reveals the fundamental motive of this divine election, that is the gratuitous love of God, who reconciled us with himself when we were still sinners, through the Death of Christ. Meanwhile, the Gospel passage reveals the finality of this election and gratuitous love, the finality of God’s election is mission. As such, the people of God or the Christian community are called to become instruments of election of other peoples. Thus, having received freely, we are invited to give freely.

     In the first reading (Ex. 19:2-6a) we are presented with a message of election. Therein Moses played an intermediary role between God and the Israelites in receiving the commandment and the covenant. Moses went up and down the Mountain in patience and obedience. God established a Covenant on Mount Sinai with the people of Israel that just came out of Egypt. In that context, all the experience of exodus from Egypt was presented by God as an election. He brought his chosen people like a bird on its wings to freedom. Therein, God promised to count them as a kingdom of priests and a consecrated nation. These words were proclaimed to the chosen people in the Old Testament, but the Good News is that in the New Testament the same words are proclaimed and addressed to us. In the first letter of St. Peter, we are called “a holy priesthood” (1Pt. 2:5) and again “you are a chosen race, a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, a people to be a personal possession to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (1Pt. 2:9). In the book of Revelation too, he “made us a Kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father” (Rev. 1:6) and again he “made them a line of kings and priests for God, to rule the world” (Rev. 5:10). And the responsorial Psalm of today puts those words again in our mouth thus: “we are his people, the sheep of his flock” (Ps. 100:3). The covenant that God established with the chosen people in the Old Testament was ratified through the sacrifice of Christ, and that is what we celebrate each time we gather around the Eucharistic altar.

     In the long journey of relations between men and God, a new phase begins on Sinai: God's choice and constitution of a people. “You will be my people among all peoples.” With Jesus Christ, a new people of God is constituted in history, whose foundations are the Twelve: Jesus called his twelve disciples. In Egypt the different tribes descended from Jacob did not form a single people under the leadership of Yahweh. It is only on Sinai that God takes the initiative, and makes of the twelve tribes one people owned by him through the covenant in the blood of the lamb. In continuity with the people of Israel, Jesus constitutes a new people, electing twelve disciples to represent the twelve tribes of Israel and as the basis of the new Christian people. Neither the people of Israel, nor the Church, the new people of God, are constituted by themselves; if they exist, it is because God made them exist. Nevertheless, without these men who came out of Egypt or without the Twelve, God could not have made a people of his own. Men are needed to form the people and to fulfill their raison d'être in history.

     The second reading (Rm. 5:6-11) reminds us that this election did not come by out of our own making or out of our merit. Even in the Old Testament, while reflecting on the election of the chosen people Moses said: “Yahweh set his heart on you and chose you not because you were the most numerous of all peoples – for indeed you were the smallest of all- but because he loved you and meant to keep the oath which he swore to your ancestors…” (Deut. 7:7-8). Similarly, St. Paul reminded the Christians at that time and he is equally reminding us, that it is not out of our own merit that God has chosen us, rather he chose us out of his love. The prove that God loves us is that “when we were still sinners, at the appointed time, Christ died for us” (Rm. 5:6). As such, our election, call and belongingness to the Church ought to be a motive of responsibility and gratitude. In the words of the apostle: “who made you so important? What have you got that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, why are you boasting as though it were your own” (1Cor. 4:7).

     Indeed, the hit track of this passage of St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans is the fact that God out of his unconditional love chose the Jewish people, and later the Church as well. However, the fact that we are God’s chosen people does not make us to disregard others and close up in ourselves, instead today’s Gospel passage gives us a right existential approach revealed in the following words: “You received without charge, give without charge”.

     The passage of today’s Gospel (Mt. 9:36-10:8) presents the historicity of the mission of the disciples and thus the mission of the Church, as an apostolic Church, as such, a Church that is “sent out” to proclaim the message of salvation and to bring liberation to men and women. At the heart of the mandate of the Church is the last phrase of the Gospel passage: “You received without charge, give without charge”. Then the question could be, what is it, that has been received without charge? All you have received, all that you are. All we have and are gifts from above, they come from God to us and from us to the brothers and sisters. And then the second question is, freely give or give without charge, how? And here comes the overriding theme or word of today’s liturgy: Mission.

     Jesus chose twelve apostles and sent them on mission. With that gesture, Jesus demonstrated that once God chooses a person, he does so in order to send them to others. He sends them to the crowd like the one presented by Matthew at the beginning of this passage, a crowd like sheep without shepherd. He sends them therefore, to go and shepherd his flock. However, this is not a mission reserved only for priests and missionaries, but by extension to all of us Christians: “People should think of us as Christ’s servants, stewards entrusted with the mysteries of God” (1Cor. 4:1).

     Drawing the issue further, in this Gospel passage, we have the official presentation of the Apostolic College: “The names of the twelve apostles are: first Simon, called Peter...” There is a clear hint here to the primacy of Peter in the apostolic college. It does not actually say: “First Peter, second Andrew, third James...”, as if it were a simple serial number. Peter is said first in the strong sense that he is in charge of the others; he is their spokesman, who represents them. Later on, Jesus will specify, in the same gospel of Matthew, the meaning of that "first," when he will say: “You are Peter and on this stone I will build my church...”.

     Furthermore, I would like to dwell more on the reason that motivated Jesus to choose the twelve and send them. We see it in the passage thus: “When Jesus saw the crowds, he felt compassion for them, because they were tired and worn out, like sheep without a shepherd.” Compassion goes hand in hand with seeing, it occurs when I see your passion (suffering), when I see your passion that is compassion. It is a seeing that is connected to the heart, for he who truly sees in this context, feels. Do we have eyes that see? What do we see in others, their passion or their mistakes and inadequacies? How is our look or gaze on others? That of Jesus is compassionate and merciful. Christ has eyes that see the helplessness, needs and passion of others. The Good News is that He still sees us in our misery and brokenness, for we too many a times are like sheep without shepherd. Indeed, the high point is that Jesus saw the crowds, he sees. And upon seeing them he felt compassion for them: this led him to choose the twelve and send them to preach, heal, liberate. This indeed, is a wonderful indication. It means that the Church does not exist for itself; it exists for others, for the world, for people, especially for the afflicted and oppressed. Little wonder, the Vatican Council II dedicated an entire document, the Gaudium et Spes, to highlight this being "for the world" of the Church. The document began with the following words: “The joys and hopes, the sorrows and anguish of today’s men, of the poor above all, and of all those who suffer, are also the joys and hopes, sorrows and anguishes of Christ’s disciples, and there is nothing genuinely human that does not echo in their hearts" (GS. n.1).

     Above all else, however, we are reminded today that God’s invitation is free, it is the expression of His will to fellowship with man, to make him a partner in the work of salvation; He asks those who welcome Him the same gratuity for which every offer is not an imposition, but a free and liberating gift. Only in this way can we reach the extreme offering of self, in the image of Christ who, while we were still sinners, gave up his life for us. How many of us today are willing to put Jesus’ requirement into practice: “Freely you have received, freely you give”? Let us therefore, ask our Eucharistic Jesus to give us the vigor of faith and the love so that we will be enabled to give freely what we have received freely. Amen!

(Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC)

Jesus The Ever Present God!

(Homily for the Solemnity of the Corpus Christi Year A)

     Today the Holy Mother Church celebrates one of her most sublime Mysteries: the Eucharist, the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, the Solemnity that recalls the Mystery of the real presence of Christ in Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. The aim of  this solemnity is three-fold: first, it serves an invitation for us to be always conscious of the greatness of this Gift; second, to make our faith always alive and convinced in It; third, to reawaken in us the sensibility always to render gratitude to Jesus who instituted It, “the very night he was to be betrayed”, as a sign of His extreme and endless love for us. The Eucharist is the perpetuation of both his Love and Presence. It is the Sacrament of Christ’s extreme love for humanity. It is a sign of his continuous Incarnation in human history. In the words of Giovanni Vannucci, “man is the only creature that has God in his blood”, we have in us a divine chromosome, for Jesus dwells in us! The word Eucharist comes from the Greek word “eucharistia” which is a translation of the Hebrew word “berakah” and they all stand to signify thanksgiving or praise to God for his wonderful deeds. This Sacrament therefore, reminds us of the Jewish religious tradition of Berakah, which has to do with blessing, thanksgiving and praise to God for the wonders he has wrought, for this the first reading invites us to remember and not to forget his mighty deeds.

     Going through history lane, we remember that in the Old Jewish tradition, when the family gather for the Passover Meal, it was prescribed that the last born of the house, asks a question to the Father of the family, thus: What does this ritual mean? This was the question that someone (maybe John that was the youngest apostle) could have directed to Jesus, the evening they were at table for the Last Super. And maybe in response, Jesus might have explained to them how the whole celebration from the night of the Exodus on, with the killing of the lamb and the Passover Meal, were not but a figure and a prophecy of Him; the Lamb of God (cf. Gen. 22:7; Jn. 1:29), that has to be slaughtered in order to take away the sins of the world, and to be food and drink for his friends. Likewise, the same question can situate us well into the context of our present gathering, therefore, let us ask ourselves: What is the meaning of this ritual? Not because we do not know what we are about to do or the essence of our celebration, but for the Lord to explain it to us again, through his Word and Sacrament,  always for a more profound understanding. No doubt, to that question the readings of today have much in stock for us.

     In the first reading (Dt. 8:2-3. 14-16) Moses spoke to the people of Israel and today he is speaking to us calling our attention to two imperatives: Remember and Do not forget, What? Moses admonished the people to have always fresh in their minds all that the Lord has done for them. Remember how he laid you in the wilderness, do not forget that he led you out from Egypt and how their fathers were nourished with manna. And to us as well, his words resound in our heart: remember and do not forget. The people of Israel were not to forget all the good deeds of the Lord, in order to render gratitude to God, and to remain faithful to him. The imperative call of Moses is also extended to us, for we have to remember and not to forget all the wonderful works the Lord has worked for our Salvation, starting from his Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection to the perpetuation of his presence in the Eucharist; the Ever Present Emmanuel! Here the people were nourished by manna which they did not know, but Jesus feeds us with what we know: Himself.

     In this passage, the sacred author affirmed that God “humbled you, he made you feel hunger, he fed you with manna which neither you nor your ancestors had ever known, to make you understand that human beings live not on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of Yahweh” (v.3). This passage anticipates the real Bread (Eucharist), Jesus’ self-giving to humanity. In the words of Jesus: “This is the bread which has come down from heaven; it is not like the bread our ancestors ate: they are dead, but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever” (Jn. 6:58). The Eucharistic Jesus is not bread like the one eaten by the Jews in the desert, rather he is the real Bread that gives life, He is both Bread and Word of God. Jesus is the Word that became Flesh, not only Flesh but also Bread. It is indeed illuminating the word of God in John 6:63: “The words i have spoken to you are spirit and they are life”. Now, you can imagine, if the spoken words of Jesus give life, imagine Him the Word of God! Indeed, Jesus the Word and Bread of life gives life. For this, we are invited to live not on mere bread but on the Word that took Flesh, and later became Bread. In fact, we may well affirm that the Eucharist is the second and continuous Incarnation of Jesus on earth.

     In the Gospel (Jn. 6:51-59) St. John presents a wonderful teaching on the Eucharist, done by Jesus himself. Jesus says “I am the living bread”, “my body is true food and my blood real Drink”. What Jesus is offering is not just a mere sign, rather they are real food and real drink, yet more than that. Moreover, body and blood stand to indicate the totality of the person, therefore, He is giving us all Himself without reservation (Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity). Indeed, Jesus gives himself under the appearance of Bread and Wine. He says: “the bread I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” and his blood “will be poured for the remission of sins”, that is, he offers himself in his state of being a sacrificial victim, in obedience to the Father and for the remission of our sins. In the Incarnation the divinity of Christ is present in the fragility of a human body; in the Eucharist, the crucified, risen and glorified Christ is present in the fragility of bread and wine.

     During his great teaching on the Eucharist, Jesus makes an eschatological promise: “who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will have eternal life”: therefore, receiving Jesus in the Eucharist we participate already in this world in the divine life of God and eternal life in the world to come. He further expressed “who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I will raise him up on the last day”, he who nourishes himself with Jesus in the Eucharist will participate as Jesus promised in his mortal body the glory of the Risen Christ in the Final Resurrection. On hearing this teaching, the Jews questioned him saying: “how can he give us his flesh to eat?” Therefore, they intended very well the language of Jesus, it is not in metaphorical or symbolical sense that he invites them to eat his body, rather in the realistic sense, to eat and nourish themselves with his body. Jesus by no means minimized the intensity of his discourse, little wonder the disciples said “this language is strong, who will admit it?”. Some of the disciples stopped following him, and he turned and asked the apostles, “do you want to go away also?”.

     The reception of this Sacrament creates a wonderful intimacy and union between Jesus and the receiver, Jesus promised “who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, I will live in him and him in me”, that is, through the Eucharist a profound union is established between Christ and the faithful. Through this intimacy, there comes a sort of a progressive transformation of the faithful, until he is christified. It was the German philosopher Fuerback that said “we become what we eat”, this is true to some extent, that is why we are called to become WHAT or WHO we receive in the Eucharist. We are called to be christified and to become carriers of Jesus, living tabernacles: “Christophers”, Christ-bearers. In the words of St. Leo the great, one of the effects of the Eucharist is to make us become what or whom we eat. Thus, there are some existential implications, for Jesus in response to the argument of the Jews says “if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (Jn. 6:53), again he says: “so whoever eats me will also draw life from me” (Jn. 6:57b). St. Paul understood this vividly well when he said “it is no longer I that live but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Are we ready to live for Him? Are we ready to make a space in our life for Jesus? In the book of Revelation He says: “I am standing at your door and knocking if someone hears my voice and open to me, I will come in and eat with him” (Rev. 3:20). There He does not come to dwell in us by force, rather he waits for us to open the door of our heart to him. Child of God open your heart, for the Eucharistic Jesus is knocking.

     This great mystery is to be considered from different aspects: as a sacrifice, banquet and a mystery that calls for commitment. ►The Eucharist as a Sacrifice: The Eucharist is above all, the sacrifice that renders the self-immolation of Christ actual and perennially present. It is the sacrifice of the New covenant ratified with the blood of Christ. In the celebration of the Eucharist, Christ is present in the state of a victim for the expiation of our sins: in the bread it is his flesh that is given, his slain body, in the wine, his shed blood. In the Eucharist Jesus renders present, actualizes in a sacramental, unbloody but real manner, his sacrifice. As such, every eucharistic celebration represents and renders actual in all its redemptive efficacy the sacrifice of Calvary, unsurprisingly, we call it the holy sacrifice of the Mass. ►The Eucharist as a Banquet: The Eucharist is not only the sacrifice of Christ, but at the same time, it is a supper, a feast, to which everyone is invited. Jesus instituted it in the context of the Last Supper, with typical elements of a banquet: bread and wine, In the Eucharist Jesus makes himself present not only to represent or actualize his sacrifice of expiation, of propitiation and glorification of the Father, but also to become our food, our spiritual nourishment. We cannot but underline the insistence with which Jesus uses the words: eat and drink. During the moment of the Institution, at the event of the Last Supper, Jesus will say: “take and eat”, “drink all of you” (cf. Lk. 22:19-20; Mk. 14:22-25; Mt. 26: 26-29). The Eucharist is the divine banquet that every soul is invited to participate in order to be nourished of Christ. ►The Eucharist as a mystery which calls for commitment: The Eucharist is not a mere rite or a simple cultual act, that is repeated in a formal way. Above all, it is a mystery that requires a conscious and active participation. It is a mystery that demands fully the commitment of a believer. The Eucharist as a sacrifice requires those who participate in it the effort to make themselves a living sacrifice acceptable to God, to unite their daily sufferings to that of Christ. And as a banquet, it is a feast around which we gather as children of God, the Eucharist as such, invites us to live in communion, fraternity and love.

     Interestingly, in his Gospel narrative, John does not include the institution of the Eucharist in his account, rather, he narrated the event of the washing of the apostles’ feet by Jesus. Corollarily, the humble service of Jesus, demonstrates to us how the Eucharist should transform our lives from acts of self-centredness to acts of love, humble service to others. And again, before this unprecedented gesture of Jesus, one may ask: why does Jesus offer himself as our food and nourishment in the Eucharist? Extrapolating from the affirmations and promises of Jesus in this passage, we are urged to make threefold considerations: ●Jesus gives us himself in the Eucharist to unite us with him, to communicate to us his divine life and to transform us in him. ●To deposit in us seed of immortality, in his words: “who eats my flesh will live forever”. ● To make us one people, his Church, so that we will live in communion among us (cf. 1Cor.10:17).

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

     The second reading (1Cor. 10:16-17) delineates what should be the fruits of the Eucharist in us and its existential implications. St. Paul tells us clearly how the Eucharist puts us in union with Christ and with each other. The Chalice of blessing and the Bread will break are signs of communion with Christ. And this communion should not only be with Christ but among men, partakers in the one Cup and one Bread. The participation in one Bread bestows on us the grace of becoming one body even though many. In chapter 11 St. Paul admonishes us to receive the body of Christ worthily, if not the person eats and drinks his condemnation. The reception of the Eucharist is not to be seen as a daily routine. We are all invited to nourish ourselves with Christ, but worthily, it does not exclude anyone, except if one excludes himself by sin.

     Again to our earlier question: What does this ritual mean? Our Lord responds to us, first of all, with the words of St. Paul: “whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes” (1Cor. 11:26). And at the moment of the Institution of the Eucharist Jesus said to his apostles: “Do this in remembrance of me” (1Cor. 11:24). Indeed, it does appear the keyword for the understanding of the Eucharist is Memorial / Remembrance. But memorial of what? Of the death of the Lord, certainly, but not only of this, Jesus said: “In memory of me”, the Eucharist, therefore, remembers (brings to heart) Him, all his mysteries; His prefiguration in the Old Testament and his actualization in the New Testament. The Eucharist is a Remembrance / Memorial of the Lord and the Salvation he wrought, that culminates in his Death and Resurrection. Drawing the issue further, here remembrance entails something more than mere recollection. In the context of the Passover, it is God and not just the people who remembers. And as such, He makes present the great acts of redemption. Similarly, at each Eucharist, we do not just look back in remembrance of the Last Supper; instead the Last Supper is made present to us in order that we might experience the saving power of Jesus. In the Eucharist we both remember and relive what Jesus has done for us and this great gift of Himself in the Eucharist. It is worthy of note that in the biblical language, ‘remembrance’ (zikkaron) rather makes one to relive the reality really; it is a remembrance and a presence at the same time!. The Death and Salvation of Christ, in the Eucharist, are not relived only in our memory, but they are relived really even though in an unbloody manner; there is a real presence on the altar.

    Above all else, however, from what has been said it is clear that the participation in the Eucharist does not end with the final blessing, it is to be lived, it must permeate and influence all our actions. And here we want to consider a Eucharistic experience from three different but interconnected perspectives: before, during and after the celebration. In the ‘before’ of the celebration, there are numerous elements that predispose us to an ever more lively celebration of the sacrament. Before the celebration, the believer is invited to consider the gratuitousness of the gift that he goes to celebrate and to recognize himself as a sinner. The ‘during’ is the time of celebration, the space in which the encounters between one believer and another, the human and the divine take place. It is a moment of a very strong involvement, of feeling welcomed by God and the brethren. So, it is also a time of fraternity. It is a time to let ourselves be given the therapy by the Word of God. It is a time of confrontation with oneself and the Word, and this attitude holds the secret for constant growth in Christian maturity. Lastly, the ‘after’ of this encounter with God and with the brothers and sisters should instill in us a life of communion already anticipated during the celebration, as an element coming from the encounter with Jesus. What we celebrate must have moral and social values in our life or in our experience. After the example of self-donation, sharing and love given to us by Jesus, the ‘after’ celebration must therefore be a time of extension of the Eucharistic experience in our everyday life. And I would like to conclude with these profound and piercing words of Don Tonino Bello: “Unfortunately, flashy opulence makes us easily see the body of Christ in the Eucharist of our altars. But it prevents us from seeing the body of Christ in the uncomfortable tabernacles of misery, need, suffering, loneliness. (...) I believe that the feast of the Body and Blood of Christ demands our conversion. Not the altitude of our words. Nor the empty pomp of our liturgies.” Truly, Jesus in the Eucharist continues to demand for our conversion. May He make our presence before his Presence a transforming encounter. May we become more of Him and less of us. Amen!!!

Verbum caro factum est!

Verbum panis factum est!

Verbum caro factum est!

Verbum panis factum est!

(Fr. Vitus Chigozie, SC)