Homily: Palm Sunday ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Homily: Palm Sunday ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

 Processional Readings ABC: Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10 and Luke 19:28-40.

Christ’s Humble Entrance into Jerusalem,

Every year the Church celebrates Palm Sunday which ends the Lenten Season and marks the beginning of the most Holy week in our Christian Liturgy.  It is a week our savior will be exalted on the Cross. It is a week of that hour of glory come to fulfillment. This  is the week Christ, our Lord and Savior will be betrayed, falsely accused, plotted against (John 11:45-53), arrested (Matt 26:47-56), interrogated by Annas, Caiaphas, and the Sanhedrin ( Matt 26:57-58), tried by Pilate ( Matt 27:1-14), denied by Peter( Matt 26:59-66), mocked and executed in a Roman way ( Matt 27:15-56).  It is a week Christ will draw all people to himself, Jews and the Gentiles, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea (John 12:32). It is a Holy and Salvific Week for us; a week of grace; a week of victory over death and injustice, lies and hatred; a week we see new life in the death of Christ. It is a teaching week for our religious communities, families and homes.

It is a week we also learn to resist evil not with violence, not by chopping off “Malchus’ ear,” but with prayer, endurance and through peaceful process of dialogue and reconciliation. A week we learn not to act like Pilate, remaining indifferent to truth nor being in a hurry to condemn our neighbors, brothers and sisters, friends and children. It is a week each of us is invited to the foot of the Cross, a week Mary will be handed over to us the faithful disciples of Christ (John 19:25ff). Our nations in unnecessary political divides can also learn from this week.

Usually before the principal Mass our palms which will be turned into ashes for “renewal” next year are blessed. A moment from now we shall reenact the Gospel story we have just heard from Matthew 21:1-11. Like those ordinary people, those pilgrims in the street of Jerusalem (those men, women and children) who gave Christ a royal welcome to Jerusalem for his paschal mystery we are also prepared in our pilgrimage  to embrace Christ with enthusiasm, to welcome him into our lives in the Eucharist we are about to celebrate today. Through the  “Hosanna” (Psalm 118:26; Mk 11:1-10 and Luke 19:28-40) we sing we shall be inviting Christ, Son of David, the King of Israel to “save” us, to come into our lives, into our homes, offices, parish communities and families.

Again from that Gospel (s) Reading (s), He is a humble King, a King of Peace, riding on a donkey instead of a horse. Remember at the time of David and Prophet Zechariah (cf 9:9) the donkey had been a sign of kingship, but later an animal for the poor, while the horses came to represent the might of the mighty. Christ today presents us the image of a King of peace arriving Jerusalem on a donkey not on a bullet and nuclear proof presidential Limousine.

With this we are reminded not only of Christ’s humility, his identification with the poor, but also his fearlessness, his prophetic courage to conquer death even death on a cross.

Let us now with enthusiasm go forth in peace, praising Jesus our Messiah, and welcoming him like the Jerusalem multitude!

 

 

Palm Sunday Homily at Mass ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Readings: Isa 50:4-7; Ps 22:8-9, 17-18,19-20,23-24; Phil 2: 6-11 and Matt 26:14–27:66 (A); Mk 14:1–15:47 (B) and Luke 22: 14–23:56

The Victory of Christ’s Death

After the blessings of the palms and the procession into the Church on Palm Sundays the readings especially the long passion narratives (from Matt 26-27; Mk 14-15; Lk 22-23 or John 18-19) are sometimes always very challenging to comment on, depending on the given worshiping community-dioceses, Seminaries, Schools and Religious Houses.

Some preachers would focus on Judas’ terrible behavior of betraying Jesus for thirty pieces of silver and his regret afterward (Matt 26:47-56; 27:3; Mk 14:43-50; Lk 22:47-53 and John 18:1-11), challenging us to be loyal and faithful to one another. Others might want to contemplate on the significance of Peter’s weaknesses, the denial of his Master, his reaction to Malchus, the misappropriation of power by the Jewish leaders and his opponents. Others still may want to reflect on the role of Pilate in Jesus’ trial; His indifferent to truth and justice. Pilate prefers to release Bandit Barabbas in instead of the innocent Jesus!

Whatever strikes your from today’s liturgy and scriptures we do not want to lose sight of the person and the figure of Christ and his  Love for us to the end (John 13:1), by going to the Cross to die for each and every one ( John 3:16). Going to the cross was not a defeat but a victory when we think of how Christ managed those false charges against him and his appearances before his enemies, Jewish authorities”; Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin and the Roman Tribunal, the soldiers, police officers, Gentile and Jews, secular and religious leaders. All along Christ is ironically in control of events.

Like the Isaiah’s Suffering Servant (Isa 50:4-7 cf. 42:1-4; 49:1-6 and 52:13–53:12), he handled it patiently with wisdom and humility, “he gave his back and cheek to those who slapped and plucked his beard. He withstood those spitting and mockery for his love for us.

He handled his persecution as a true and peaceful King, a Hero and true Messiah who knew his “hour” of glory was up. Christ would even forgive his persecutors (Lk 22: 14–23:56). Remember, in the garden before his arrest he did not resist his enemies. Rather when he asked the troops Judas had brought “whom they were looking for” they all staggered and fell to the ground’ (John 18:1-11). The divinity of Christ is insurmountable by satanic powers.

He taught Peter, at Malchus’ incidence; of course each and every one of us that violent, personal, or institutional, is never a dignified way to do things or to resolve our differences.  He said, “Peter put your sword back into its Sheath (cf Mk 14:47; Matt 26:51; Lk 22:50 and John 18:10). Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me”?; the cup of the Cross and the cup of the Resurrection (Mk 14:36;Matt 26:39; Lk 22:42 and John 18:11)

In the Praetorium before Judge Pilate, Jesus became the one Judging Pilate against his ignorance of the meaning of the Truth. Giving up his Spirit the veil of the Old Temple was torn from top to bottom, because the Christ the new Temple had not only cleanse the Temple at his entrance into Jerusalem but had divinely promised to destroy and rebuild it in three days (John 2:9).

This brings to mind what Pope Benedict XVI once said, in his Jesus of Nazareth, Holy Week: From Entrance into Jerusalem to the Resurrection, pp. 11-23); that, “the crucifixion of Jesus reminds us of the destruction of the old Temple, his resurrection a rebuilding of a new worship of God in the Spirit of truth, love, forgiveness and endurance.”

Similarly, Saint Paul notices Christ’s teaching endurance and His exalted cross when he says he says in the Second Reading,

“Christ Jesus though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God, something to be grasped…he became obedient to death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:6-11).

We do like Paul also notice the legacy of love Christ handed to us- the more reason we are not tired, but have come together, gathered in our parishes/seminaries and religious communities to celebrate this day. Thousands of people, men, women, seniors and children, attorneys and physicians, philosophers and theologians, factory workers and business men and women of diverse cultural and political background. Doesn’t it remind us of the women at foot of the Cross, the Beloved Disciples? What about the Gentile Roman Soldiers and other Jews like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea  who went asking for the body of Jesus for a kingly anointing and speedy royal burial in a new tomb that had been hewn in a rock (Matt 27:57-61; Mk 15:42-47; Lk 23:50-56 and John 19:38-42).  The tomb was never going to be the final destination of Christ. It all comes to fulfill the victory of the cross and what Christ had said that, when he will be lifted up on the cross he will draw everyone to himself (John 3:14; 8:28 and 12:31-32).

As we walk through this Holy Week may we see it as a Holy and a Saving Week; a Week of grace of victory of life over death? Let us not only focus on the weaknesses of Judas, Peter, Pilate and other disciples who betrayed, denied and  fled the suffering and the trial scenes of Christ. But with God’s grace we want to imitate the teaching endurance of the Kingly Christ, a King of Peace and Love with the faithful examples of those women, men, the Beloved Disciples at the foot of the Cross, by uniting our sufferings, our illnesses, our setbacks, the mockeries we experience in life with the Exalted Cross of Christ and with the victory of the Resurrection.

Homily 5th Sunday of Lent Year B: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Homily 5th Sunday of Lent Year B:  Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
Readings: Jer 31:31-34; Ps 51:3-4, 12-15; Heb 5:7-9 and John 12:20-33

“When I am lifted up from the earth I will draw everyone to myself” ( John 12:32 cf. 3:14-15).

Christ the Rallying point of Our Salvation:

This passage from John’s Gospel, captures the theme of  5^th Sunday of Lent, Sunday before Palm Sunday. Today's readings not only usher us into the Passion Week, but remind us what we celebrate today, and what we anticipate for tomorrow. We celebrate today Christ, the Gospel and the source of eternal life. We also anticipate his victory on the cross as the rallying point of our salvation history.

This salvation history goes back to creation, the call of Abraham, the covenant, the exodus, the sinaitic relationship and the experience of Israel in the wilderness, their rebellions and God’s acts of discipline, sometimes through “poisonous snakes” in history. In the book of Numbers chapter 21:9, our merciful God commands Moses to make a poisonous serpent of bronze and put it on the pole so that every covenant-breaker and sinners who are bitten and are repented to  look at it shall live;

“For just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so shall the son of man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15).

For Prophet Jeremiah persistence sin, idolatry, looking at the opposite direction, instead of looking at God, led to the covenant breaking. Yet a new covenant shall be established, still based on God’s Torah (Jer 31:33). With it God will once again gathers the house of Israel from north to south, the two sisters ( Jer: 3:4-11), whom Prophet Ezekiel calls Oholah and the Oholibah (Ezek 23). This new covenant will be written in the heart of believers without ink or paper. This is the clean and pure heart we pray in Psalm 51 “create a clean heart for me , O God.”

 Brothers and sisters, with this clean heart, we are invited to know, to feel God’s love, his affection and forgiving grace. It is a covenant of divine mercy, forgiveness and hope for salvation which God the Father offers us through his sojourn(sorjorno) in Christ, his missionary activities, miracles and signs, his passion, death, and resurrection.

The Letter to the Hebrews, the 2nd reading affirms  God's sojourn in Christ, God’s incarnate, as the rallying point or the source of salvation for all believers:

“In the days when Christ was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death… though he was Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered,…he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

Yes, at the foot of the cross shall stand those who rejected Christ (those who thought like Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin and friends of Pilate) and those who accepted our Lord. Those earlier bitten by “doubt” like the rebellious Israelite will look with repentance spirit upon the cross for salvation. Joseph of Arimathea will be there, women and Beloved Disciple will be there including the mother of Jesus.  Nichodemus, another crepto-believer will be there, Jews and Gentiles those Roman soldiers who persecuted Christ, who ironically put Christ on the cross, all will be drawn, some ironically to witness, to look upon the victory of the Cross(John 18-19).

As we look forward to  the Passion Week, and as Jesus is about to depart,  let us realize that,  obedience to God, his covenant and of willing sacrifices to serve him through our neighbors will never be in vain (Heb 5:7-9), the best way to follow Christ!

 It also would include, how we imitate his endurance, his heart, the heart of Jesus, his moral courage, his forgiving way of life, the way he has always lifted us up away from troubles and dangers. We can do this through how we forgive those who acts like Annas, Caiaphas, the Sanhedrin or Pilate towards us.  As Christ has lifted us up, may we empower and lift up others, particularly those we meet daily, the poor, the weak, the needy, the less-privileged, friends, colleagues and family members, through  our gentle words of encouragement, charity, mutual respect, and love that invites them to share in Christ, who is the source of eternal life and the rallying point of our salvation, "when I am lifted up I shall draw everyone to myself." 

Homily 4th Sunday of Lent Year B: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo@Shst Commnunity Mass

 

Homily 4th Sunday of Lent Year B: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo@Shst

 Readings: Readings

: 2 Chr 36:14-16, 19-23; Ps 137:1-6; Eph 2:4-10 and John 3:14-21

The Nature of God and the joy He brings!

God is light, God is love.  God judges, yet He is forgiving and merciful. He liberates us from all kinds of exiles and finally brings us joy! Four weeks ago, how time flies, on Ash Wednesday, we gathered in this chapel and in our various worshiping communities to mark the Beginning of Lent, which represent for us that special moment of prayers, that favorable time for acts of charity, spiritual renewal, fasting, mourning, preaching and listening very closely to the Word of God, especially as we celebrate the sacraments.

On this Fourth Sunday of Lent which we traditionally called Laetare Sunday, the Bible lessons are coated with liberating messages of joy.  Recall, that entrance antiphon, that prophecy of Isaiah 66:10-11 which we began this Mass with. We are invited to:

“Rejoice (rinna) with Jerusalem and be glad because of her,

All you who love here Exult, rejoice with her, all you who were mourning over her

…suck fully of the milk of her comfort.”

Some of us who visits our Dehon Seminary Library, you find this or similar inscription on the wall of the last corridor before you gets to the Library.  On the opposite wall, Prophet Zephaniah joins Isaiah and says,

“Rejoice the Lord has cancelled your judgment and misfortunes. The Lord your God is with you. He is a Mighty Savior. He rejoices over you with gladness. He will rejoice over you with a happy Song. He will renew you with His Love and Restores your Fortunes” (Zeph 3:14-20).

The next logical question would be why this joy?  We can say, Joy because of whom God is, the Light of the world, because of how he forgives, because of how he loves, because of how he intervenes in our lives.

This is well chronicled in the First Reading of today, 2 Chronicles chapter 36. Yes Israel had sinned which let them into the darkness and judgment of exile. But because of who God is He has liberated the poor, repentant remnant of Israel. Sin –Exile- Restoration!

St. Paul

confirms this in the Second Reading when he says,

“Brothers and Sisters, God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had love us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life in Christ- by grace you have been saved…”

The mixture of God’s Grace with His love since creation; He so much loved us, the world that God became man and flesh Carum factum est (John 1:14), in Christ (John 3:14-21), the Light of the world, in order to save us from the darkness of sins- Sins of selfishness, disobedience, and sometimes the darkness of lack of sensitivity or charity for our next door neighbor---.

 

As we look forward to the remaining week of Lent which ushers us into the Passion Week, let us allow ourselves to be forgiven. Don't be sad; Don't be beaten down by  the penitential tone of Lenten practices, but allow the joy of Christ to continuously register on your cheeks! And we want to continue to appreciate the joy of liberation Jesus has brought us.

Let us go out there to our families, classrooms, meeting places, communities, work places, and be disposed to share this smile, this joy of forgiveness and liberation from exile of sins with our neighbors.

HomilyThird Sunday of Lent Year B: Fr .Michael U. Udoekpo

Third Sunday of Lent Year B: Reflections- Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

 Readings: Exod 20:1-17; Ps 19:8-11; 1 Cor 1:22-25 and John 2: 13-25

Our Spiritual Cleansing - Christ the New Temple

Dear Friends in Christ,

There are some times in this life that we humans live within the boundaries of our own wisdom and subjective thinking.  Truth is only seen through the prism of our world-view. We reject objective norms and standards. There are moments we act, abuse, or misuse what God has given us to the extreme, all in the name of freedom. And sometimes we forget that God created each and every one of us for our neighbors with whom we are called to do His will.  In God’s Wisdom these objective norms are  important for our well-being and that of our society at large.

St. Paul in the 2^nd reading reminds us still, that Christ is the power of God and the Wisdom of God. And that the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom and what we might count the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

 God's strength is located still, in His covenant relationship with us. The Laws, the 10 commandment given to Israel through the “Old Moses” in the 1^st reading on Mount Sinai, God’s mountain, summarizes this Covenant relationship with us as individual and as a Church, the community of faith, the renewed Israel. It is the epitome of obedience, love, respect we owe our neighbors, God, and the society in all circumstances, recognizing what God has done for us, continued in Christ.

Christ, the “new Moses” sticks to the Wisdom of his Father in his ministry of love to all, the beatitude, obedience, liberating, healing, orderliness and cleansing including the Temple, the mountain, the dwelling place of God. Yes this Temple for Christ in today’s Gospel (John 2:13-25) must remain not only as a universal place of prayer, opened for all, but must be kept clean (Mk 11:17, Isa 56:7 and Jer 7:11), not restricted to the aristocratic ruling groups. It must not be turn into a market place for gambling and exchanging money of the ruling elites for profits. When destroyed it shall be raised in three days. In his spiritual wisdom found in all pages of the symbolic Johannine Scriptures, he was referring to his body, his death and the resurrection. He is referring of course, to the end of the era of the Temple and the beginning of a Temple not built with human hands. Christ is the new Temple for us.

As another Christ, the temple of the Holy Spirit, Lent continues to be a time we want to continue to reevaluate our observance of God’s precepts and of His Church; the respect we owe ourselves, and the dignity we give to other human persons of all cultures. It is a favorable time for our spiritual cleansing,  covenant renewal, purification and enlightenment in the laws and love of Christ in our neighbors.

Homily Second Sunday of Lent Year B: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Homily Second Sunday of Lent Year B: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Readings: Gen 22:1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18; Ps 116:10, 15,16-19; Rom 8:31b-34 and Mark 9:2-10

Sacrifice: listening, obedience and walking before the Lord

Listening or hearing is one of the exercises that all of us do when with the Grace of God we wake up each morning. We listen to our heart beats, to our bodies. We listen to the radio and the media, the news. We listen to one another, parents, children, teachers and neighbors. We listen to homilies and Sermons in all the liturgical seasons of the Year especially during the Season of Lent, a time of grace and a special moment for yearning and responding to God’s love, and listening to him in obedience.

What is striking to me in the Bible lessons of today,is not only the spiritual significance of the transfiguration narrative, but the listening and obedience virtues exhibited by Abraham in the story of  the sacrifice of his son Isaac. It reminds  us of the need to constantly pay attention to God’s plan of salvation and the glorious mystery of the Cross championed by Christ, who intercedes for us.

Remember in Genesis 12 Abraham listened to God and embarked on a faith journey. His only GPS was faith as he risked travelling to the land God would show him.  He is called today to sacrifice his only son from Sarah, Isaac (Gen 22). Abraham is able to listen through the testing period as directed by God. God called Abraham directed him step by step on what to do, with the child, not to lay his hands, what to do with the firewood, with the knife and with the ram, which he finally took and offered as a holocaust in place of his son, Isaac. The result of this is blessings upon Abraham and his descendants. We are all blessed through the obedience and sacrifice of Abraham.

Similarly, in the transfiguration episode, on mount Tabor, the disciples of Christ, Peter, James and John once saddened by Jesus prediction of his journey to the Cross (Mk 9:1) and the cost of discipleship ( Mk 8:34-38) are once shown; the glorious face of Jesus, his beauty. It is so glorious and comfortable up there such that Peter not realizing the mystery of the cross quickly proposed a tent’s construction, for Elijah, Moses and Christ. This proposal is once again met with advice from heaven, “this is my beloved son listen to him” (Mk 9:7b, Matt 17:5), a divine affirmation of Jesus, the new Moses, the new prophet and his ministry.

During this lent we want not only to be like Abraham, we want to sacrifice our patience by listening to Christ in a renewed way, his message of forgiveness; His message of change of heart and transformation (Luke 15, Rom 12:2). We want to reflect on the meaning of Christ’s baptism which we all share (John 3:5) and the mystery of his cross which anticipates the resurrection.

 Paul understood this mystery. He  shared this with us today when he says today,” If God is for us nothing can be against us” (Rom 8:31-34), and this we want to listen to. We want to see in our daily crosses the joy of the resurrection, the mount Tabor experience that awaits us at Easter.  We also want to listen to Christ’s message of Love (I Cor 7), of the sacrifice of charity, that the Church encourages us to incorporate into our Lenten discipline, those practical and spiritual works of mercy, for “whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers/sisters and neighbors (the poor, the needy, the aged, the sick, the oppressed and those affected by  recent global natural disasters and deprivations of political and religious freedom)  so you do unto me” (Matt 25:35-40).

 As we journey through the sacrifices and discipline of lent, let us pray for the listening Grace  of God to always recognize the voice and the glorious face of Christ in our lives’ events, knowing that if he is for us nothing can be against us.