Freely Receive, 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 the 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 M.C. Unegbu, SC)

The Heart of Jesus is A Heart of Love!

(Reflection on the Sacred Heart of Jesus)

     Today we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, for us we are celebrating it from two major dimensions: from the ecclesial dimension (as solemnity of and in the Church) and from the Congregational dimension (as an intrinsic part of the Guanellian spirituality). The devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is one of the sources of Don Guanella’s inspiration of charity. Prof. Carlo Laudazi evidenced in his reflections on the ‘Pillars of the Guanellian Spirituality’ that the theological justification of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Christ, singled out in the context of the mystery of the Incarnate Word as a full manifestation of God’s love for man, helps us to comprehend why Don Guanella found in the Heart of Christ the concretization of his spiritual conception of the universal paternity of God[1].  In his work, “Caritas Christi Urget Nos”, C. Obiagba noted: “According Guanella we are called to the charity of the heart of Jesus…It is an inalienable conviction in Guanella that we cannot but unite ourselves to the Heart of Jesus in order to make the work prosper”[2].

     When we have to reflect or meditate on the Sacred Heart of Jesus as spiritual sons and daughters of St. Luigi Guanella, the literary piece that easily comes to mind is Don L. Guanella’s book dedicated to the Sacred Heart: “In the month of fervor”. This book was written by Don Guanella for the purpose of spreading and nourishing the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He perceived June as a special month of grace, a month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In the book, Don Guanella traced the effulgent grace of the Heart of Jesus from the mysteries of his Incarnation, his Birth, his Life, his Passion and Death, his Glorious Resurrection, his Ascension into heaven and lastly, to the Sacred Heart in the Most Holy Sacrament. In his daily sermon on the Sacred Heart which he was beginning always with a biblical quotation, he was bent on demonstrating the tenderness of the divine Heart towards us.

     For those of us who were graced to read in these days of the month of June, Don Guanella’s daily reflections and admonitions on the Sacred Heart, we cannot but confess the immensity of the inexhaustible spiritual patrimony our Founder left for us, his passionate love for the Sacred Heart of Jesus and his creative charity that emerges from that conviction. In fact, Don Attilio Beria in “Pagine Spirituali e Preghiere”, reaffirmed succinctly that “Il cuore di Gesὺ è il cuore di padre” (The heart of Jesus is the heart of a father)[3]. To say it with Don Guanella, the Heart of Jesus is the heart of a father who cannot leave his children in want, but He desires to bless them[4]. In his book, In the month of fervor, the expression “the Heart of Jesus is the heart of a father” reoccurred several times. This affirmation attributes to the Heart of Christ a more profound significance; it expresses a strong realism not about a generic love of God, but a salvific aspect of his love. As a matter of fact, the Heart of Christ in the thought of Don Guanella is not a mere symbol above, that refers only to the mystery of God’s love in itself, but it is a symbol that represents a more concrete reality, that is, it demonstrates that the human heart has become the heart of God, heart with which God loves as Father, participates, rejoices and cries[5]. The Heart of Jesus is a heart of a loving father, full of tenderness and affection[6].

     As such, the characteristic of the divine Heart invites us to the commitment of fraternal charity to the point of becoming generous victims, because the only thing necessary is to sanctify oneself in order to be able to sanctify others. For Don Guanella as C. Obiagba asserts, the Sacred Heart is the instrument of motivation for the actions of mercy towards the little ones. We ought to draw strength and inspiration from the Heart of Jesus in order to offer love and mercy to the poor and the abandoned[7].

     Interestingly, many a times when Don Guanella speaks of the Sacred Heart, he links it to the Eucharist, or rather sees it present in the Eucharist, we see this connection in our Constitutions: “In the Heart of Christ pierced on the cross and present in the Eucharist we contemplate the supreme revelation of the love of God, and are able to comprehend how true it is that we are children loved and saved. Since its foundation, the Institute is consecrated to Christ, its Lord and teacher, receiving from Him continuous proofs of assistance and blessing”[8]. Drawing the issue further, for Don Guanella to talk the Sacred Heart is to talk about the love of God towards us, and the Sacred Heart is our source of unstoppable blessing.

      In the immense thought and spirituality of Don Guanella, we discovered a great affinity and correlation between the Heart of Jesus, the Priesthood and the Eucharist. Don Guanella was able to make a synthesis of these three elements in his spirituality. In that bid, when we talk about the Sacred Heart two important moments in the life of Jesus come to mind: the Last Supper and the Good Friday. At the Last Supper Jesus makes a gift to the Church of the Eucharist and the Priesthood. Then Good Friday, is when that love is actually realized and brought to fulfillment. Here, we contemplate the pierced Heart of the Lord, as the most sublime manifestation of his love, as the source that gives new life to his disciples. Don Guanella like many other saints was inspired by these two moments in his spirituality, which takes two complementary strands: the mystical contemplation of these mysteries, which made him capable of intimate union with the Lord, and active charity that makes him a witness to the most needy, of the charity and merciful goodness of the Heart of Christ. The Heart of Jesus, like the heart of the priest, is the Father's Heart. The Heart of Christ, like that of the priest, is the Eucharistic Heart. The Heart of Christ, like that of the priest, is the Heart which pours out its spirit on the world.  

     Above all else, however, the celebration of this Solemnity for us, should not just be a matter of chronicle, as a periodical celebration, rather the tenderness of the love of the divine Heart as revealed by Don Guanella should propel us to ask ourselves various questions: does our heart resemble the Heart of Jesus? Do we imitate the merciful and loving heart of Jesus? Do we behave as recipients of graces from this Heart? Maybe like John the beloved, we need to lean on the Heart of Jesus- to discover the truth about ourselves, about others and the truth about the future (cf. Jn. 13:25). We need to lean on His Sacred Heart to listen, to contemplate and to be transformed by the Heart of Jesus. Probably, John the Beloved is trying to teach us that as sons and daughters of Sacred Heart, in order to be in the Heart of Jesus, we need to establish an intimate connection and link with the Heart of our Saviour that is beating every minute for love of us! At the beginning of his Gospel St. John tells us that Jesus is close to the Father’s heart (Jn. 1:18) and later John the Beloved leaned on the Heart of Jesus, a wonderful sign of intimacy (Father and Jesus, Jesus and John), and when we too lean on this Heart we enter into the economy of this intimacy, it becomes ‘Cor ad cor loquitur’. For this Don Guanella proposes and our Constitutions suggest to us thus: “Nothing therefore, can be preferred to the love of Christ. With ever greater resolve, each one of us should learn to draw inspiration from him, the meek and humble one, striving to have the Redeemer enter everyone’s heart to awaken in him the clear sense of his divine calling”[9]. As don F. Bordoni rightly puts in his book, Lo Specifico Guanelliano: “Don Guanella has received from the Holy spirit, from birth, a heart that is particularly filial and merciful, heart that resembles that of Christ. His devotion to the Heart of Jesus was pushing him to make his heart a “photocopy” of the Heart of Christ”[10]. We too are called to make our hearts a “photocopy” of the Heart of Christ, a loving and merciful Heart.

     As we celebrate the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we remember also the World Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests and particularly for us guanellians, a gracious opportunity offered us, to devotionally renew our vows as desired by our Founder. Remember, the first name given to us by our Founder was Sons of Sacred Heart, even though the name was later changed, we are still sons of the Sacred Heart because of the strong affinity and unwavering devotion of Fr. Luigi to the Sacred Heart. As we renew our consecration today, we ask Jesus to fill our hearts with joy, peace and love. May the affection, the love and the tenderness oozing out of the Sacred Heart of Jesus renew us and make us whole. Amen!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus draw all men to your Heart!!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus heal our continent Africa and transform hatred and violence to love and peace!!

Most Sacred Heart of Jesus renew in us our commitment to You and to the poor!!!

O Merciful Saviour, open to us the effulgent grace and treasures of your Sacred Heart!!!

Happy Feast to Us all!!!

 

Fr. Vitus Unegbu

From the Guanellian Study Centre

(House of Providence, Yemetu Ibadan)

 

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[1] Alejandro Dieguez, La spiritualità di Don Luigi Guanella, p. 98.

[2] Christopher I. Obiagba, Caritas Christi Urget Nos. L’esigenza di ispirazione Cristiana del servizio della carità. P. 35.

[3] Attilio Beria, Pagine Spirituali e Preghiere, p. 39.

[4] Don Luigi Guanella, In the month of fervor, p.44.

[5] Alejandro Dieguez, La spiritualità di Don Luigi Guanella, p. 98.

[6] Ibidem

[7] Christopher I. Obiagba, Caritas Christi Urget Nos. L’esigenza di ispirazione Cristiana del servizio della carità. P. 38.

[8] Constitutions, n. 11

[9] Constitutions, n. 11

[10] Don Felice Bordoni, Lo Specifico Guanelliano. Quardeni di formazione, p. 9.

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 alife and convinced in It; third, to reawaken in us the sensibility always to render gratitude to Jesus who instituted It, “the very night he was to be betrayed”, as a sign of His extreme 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?” Therfore, 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 perenially 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 themselve a living sacrifice acceptable to God, to unite their daily sufferings to that of Christ. And as a banquet, it is a feast around which we gather as children of God, the Eucharist as such, invites us to live in communion, fraternity and love.

     Interestingly, in his Gosple 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 particpation 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 M.C. Unegbu, SC)

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 brought 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 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 sent the Son, and the Son revealed the Father 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 in imitation of 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 M.C. Unegbu, SC)