Homily Easter Sunday Year ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Homily Easter Sunday Year ABC:  Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo
Readings: Acts 10:34a, 37-43; Ps 118:1-2, 16-17,22-23; Col 3:1-4 or 1 Cor 5:6b-8; Matt 28:1-9; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:13-35 and John 20:1-9

Rejoice Christ is Risen!

My dear friends in Christ, Psalm 118 sets the tone for today’s celebration. This poet invites you and me to ‘Give thanks to the Lord for his steadfast love endures forever” (Ps 118:1). We are invited to shout Alleluia , to rejoice and be glad because Jesus has risen. This Day has been designed by the Lord (Ps 118:24) to wipe our tears; to calm our fears, doubts, sadness, and uncertainties and to place smiles and happiness on our cheeks. What a great joyful  Easter Day!

Easter Day! It is the highest point of our Christian faith.  Easter Day! It is a” Feast of Feasts” a “Solemnity of Solemnities.” It is a day that death has not only been annulled but defeated. It is a day that Jesus by his Resurrection guarantees us eternal life. He guarantees us that the Tomb is never the final destination of our loved ones.  The Resurrection of Christ reassures us that neither suffering nor the tomb will ever be our final destination. Faith in   the resurrection has a transforming effect on every believer from darkness to light, from despair to hope, and sadness to joy.

Of course that mixed events of Palm Sunday and of the Stations of the Cross of that Good Friday, humanly speaking, would have been thought of as a defeat, but divinely speaking the Resurrection is a victory which repairs this seeming defeat. The passion seems to have humiliated, but the Resurrection glorifies. It is a victorious combat divinely directed, since the tomb was never going to be the final destiny of Jesus.
St. Leo the Great in his Sermon (71, 2) once said, “That Jesus hastened to rise as soon as possible because He was in a hurry to console His mother and the disciples.” And the tomb was never going to be the final resting place of the one who is the Resurrection and the Life.

This is the key to interpreting Christ ministry, his whole life and the foundation of our faith. Without the victory of Christ over death our gathering here today, our preaching would be useless and our faith in vain (I Cor 15:14-17). I am sure none of us here would doubt this truth, this core value of our Christian faith- that Christ was raised from the death.

Even if there is anybody here who is not easily persuaded like the doubting Thomas in John 20:24-29 the good news is that, Thomas did not persist forever in his disbelief. Thomas will come back to believe, to say, “My Lord and My God” (John 20:28). If we dispose ourselves, faith can transform us and assist us even to handle some of the difficult doubts we may we face in life.

 Resurrection is a fact, not a fiction. Remember, there are several witnesses and testimonies to this truth beyond the scope of this liturgy.  St. Paul in 1 Corinthian 15:3-8 reliably says,

 “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried …raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…appeared to Cephas, then the Twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive… Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all…he also appeared to me.”

Cephas (Peter himself) in today’s first reading, Acts of the Apostles (10:34, 37-43) presents his personal sermon on Christ’s ministry of healing though rewarded with death on a tree which turns out to be the tree of life.  By eating and drinking with Christ after his Resurrection, we like the earlier Apostles are reassured and commissioned to preach about Christ constant refreshment and nourishment of us, especially at the table of the Eucharist.

Besides, Peter and Paul, the Four Evangelists Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20-21 have also testified to the Resurrection of Christ and his appearances. Sometimes walks with them, and in other occasion he eats fish with the disciples.  It is also important to remember that the truth recorded in these Gospels was not written before the Resurrection.  They were written after, by people who lived the “DARKNESS” of suffering and passion and had  the opportunity also to witness the ”LIGHT”, the “JOY” the “VICTORY”  and the transforming truth and power of the Resurrection.

 In all the gospel including the text of John 20:1-9 just read,  we share the  story of the witnesses of those women who came to empty tomb of the risen Jesus on the first day of the week. Mary Magdalene filled with loved for Christ went to the tomb very early when it was still dark. She found the stone rolled away. Note how she reacted. She reacted very quickly by running back to informed Peter and the other Disciple Christ, setting the tone for our personal reflection on how we react faithfully to the transforming power of the Resurrection of Christ.

She further said to Peter and others, “they have taken the Lord from the tomb and we don’t know where they have put him.”  She initially thought that the body was stolen, but ironically setting the stage for faith. Notice also the reaction of Peter. “Peter and the other disciple also ran to the tomb. Lots of running!  Quite unlike Peter who was initially running away from the “ugly” trial scene. The transformed Peter is now running to the triumphal scene of the Resurrection. Though the Beloved Disciple is the first to arrive Peter is the first to embrace the burial cloth in the empty tomb.  With this cloth they came to believe that Christ had actually risen to die no more. We have something to learn from each of these disciples.

I think Mary Magdalene could be seen as disciple who not only genuinely loved and search for Jesus, but was attached to Jesus, remember he is the truth, the light, the way, the bread of life and the source of  eternal salvation. Like Mary we are called not only to believe but to bear witnesses to our faith where ever we find ourselves each day. Peter had once stumbled but he made it to sainthood, Saint Peter!

 That you are sick today does not mean that you cannot get well tomorrow. That you have been laid off from a particular job does not mean that all labor doors are closed against you. That you have once in your life doubted the Resurrection or any aspect of our faith or stumble like Peter does not mean you cannot turn things around.

 As we rejoice today may our faith be strengthened by the transforming power of Christ's Resurrection and be reassured that suffering, illness, violence, failures and even death is never our destination. Rather, good health, success, peace, reconciliation, joy of Easter and eternal life in Christ Jesus.

Homily Mass (alternate) of the Last Super Year ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Homily Mass (alternate) of the Last Super Year ABC: Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

 Readings: Exod 12:1-8, 11-14; Ps 116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18; 1 Cor 11:23-26 and John 13:1-15

 Christ, Eucharist, Love and Service (CELS)

On Tuesday evening here in the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the Bishops, clergy, religious and the entire faithful gathered around the Archbishop at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist to celebrate the Chrism Mass. That evening liturgy was an expression of our faith in Christ, the High Priest, the unity of the Sacred Priesthood and appreciation of Christ’s one redeeming Sacrifice of Love. Oils of Catechumens, the Sick and of the Chrism were blessed. Oils that the Holy Pope Francis during his Chrism Mass in Rome has encouraged every priests to go out and anoint the faithful with- including the sick, the poor and the needy!

Tonight we begin the Sacred Triduum, three solemn days which encompass the Paschal Mystery of Jesus- Christ and draw each and every one of us into his passion, death and resurrection. You and I know the power of memory, remembrance! Remembering is so powerful. It revitalizes, reactivates and keeps past reality alive in us.  Holy Thursday brings to our minds three gifts:  the gifts of the Lord’s Super/the Holy Eucharist, the gift of the Sacred Priesthood and the gift of Christ redeeming love, love that is stronger than death, stronger than the fear of the fleeing disciples, stronger than the untruthfulness of the power mongering Pilate and of the few “Jewish elites”; a love stronger than the betrayal of Judas, the denials of Peter, the mockeries of the Roman soldiers and the human selfishness.  Christ, the High priest loves his own to the end- all of us, our pastor, our priests, deacons, s sisters, mom, dad, our children, friends, grandpa and grandma (Jn 13:1). Where ever you are located here in this Church tonight or standing out there in the narthex, know that Christ loves you!

The Eucharist is a banquet of love and service. It provides us a particular opportunity to remember not only how much God loves and would want to “wash our feet” but His ever living presence in our lives, in our homes and families. I remember growing up in a family of six children surrounded with many nieces and nephews. We ate together and served one another from the same plates and drink from the same cup. In sharing and serving I would feel the deep love, the friendship, the nourishment, the strength and the support of my family. We would laugh, joke and talk with trust about events in life, and some of them very important.

 I want to believe that when Christ gathered his disciple in that upper room for that Last Super, a night before his passion he knew the importance of a shared meal, a meal of love and sacrifice; a meal that nourishes and strengthen us in our weaknesses. He wanted this sacred meal, this new Passover to be remembered. He says “Do this in memory of me” (MK14:22ff; Matt 26:26ff, Lk 22:19ff and John 13:1-15), instituting also the Ministerial Priesthood.

 In the Second Reading Paul of today Paul says,

“ I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took break, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “this is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” With the cup Christ said, “this is cup is the new Covenant in my blood, do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me (1 Cor 11:23-26).”

Jesus will always remain really and substantially present with us in the Holy Eucharist. After this meal tonight Jesus would walk across to that garden of Gethsemane (in the daily chapel) from there he would be arrested, harshly interrogated by Annas, Caiaphas and brought to Pilates’ Praetorium for trial. Jesus as John will testify will be killed  on the cross sacrificially at the same hour the paschal lamb of the Jewish Passover is slaughtered (Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14), making Christ the new Passover Lamb, the cup of the new Covenant of love and Service. On the Cross his bones will not be broken and his priestly inner - seamless tunic will not be torn nor shared among soldiers. In this Jesus is protective of each and every one of us, our marriage and religious vows, family values, Christian unity (“May they be one” Jn 17), our priesthood, friendship and faith. He also knew the journey to that cross would be rough but his priestly dignity would remain intact, a tunic of love – challenging even the modern priesthood, in need of your prayers always.

In Exodus chapter 29:4 at the ordination ceremony of Priests, Aaron’s feet and those of his children were washed at the entrance of the tent as stipulated in the old laws (Lev 8:6), for a different reason, external purification.  But still in the context of this meal Christ gave us a sign of interior purification (John 13:1-15) by washing the feet of his disciples, something deeper than deeper than external ritual.

 By washing the feet of his disciple Jesus shows the depth of his love, a love leading to the cross. He teaches the hesitant Peter and all of us new way of sacrificial Love, a new way of service and friendship. Not a new way of “eye service.” He teaches us a new way of self-transcendence not a new way of self- aggrandizement. He teaches us a new way to serve not a new way to be served; a new way of humble friendship with all including the poor, the prisoners and the marginalized.  By washing his disciples feet Jesus overcome by love the inequality that existed by nature between himself and those whom he had chosen as friends. I always believe that how we treat one another publicly or in private is the true measure of the condition of our interior life, especially of our life of prayer.

As we celebrate this Last Super sharing in the bread and wine of new covenant of love and selfless service, Christ, and ready to adore him at that Altar of Repose in that garden, let us know that Christ sees us, he loves us and recognizes us. He sees the rich, the poor and the downtrodden.  Let us know that having been washed clean, we have been given the spiritual capacity and blessed with the divine strength of his examples (John 13:12-15) to love and serve one another as Christ has first loved us.

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!

 

 

Homily (at Mass) Palm Sunday Year 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(A) Matt 26:14–27:66 (B) Mk 14:1–15:47 (C) and Luke 22: 14–23:56

The Victory of Christ’s Death

Today begins our Holy Week. As we saw at the beginning of this Mass, it is mark with the blessings of our palms and then we solemnly process into the Church, singing “Hossanna to the Son of David…! This ushers us into the most Holy Week of Christian Liturgy.

From the readings we have just shared particularly that long Gospel, the Passion narrative of Christ, this year from Luke- it is clear that center of our focus is Jesus, and what he teaches us this week. 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). Even as a nation, parish and family, we can learn from Jesus this week, how to love, how to suffer and how to endure.

He is that same suffering Servant foreshadowed in that third song- Deutero- Isaiah (Isa 50:4-7), that first reading. The Lord God has given him, the servant, a well trained tongue that he might know how to speak to the weary, the weak, he poor and the powerless.. Sometimes we are weary, we are weak. How do we handle our weariness and weaknesses? 

The Suffering servant is a skilled counselor, because he himself has been trained by the Lord, how to endure and how to be humble, how to get up when you seem to be down. The suffering servant is a disciple, before anything else. He listens to the Lord, morning by morning. He does no rebel, like some Israelite in the desert. He does not say, “No I can’t make it to that cross, it is too rough”! He handles all the beatings, the insults and spiting with patience, wisdom and humility, “he gave his back and cheek to those who slapped and plucked his beard.”

He had every power to resist his arrest in the garden, but he did not. He taught Peter in the Malchus incidence to put back his sword, that violent was not necessary (Luke 22:50) - then. It is not necessary now. Rather, patience, wisdom, forgiveness, love, endurance and humility.

It is these same humble virtues of Christ that Saints emphasizes 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).

I believe,  we all come here today because we do like Paul recognize this legacy of limitless love Christ handed to us. Through out the whole world, in Rome with our new Pope, Francis 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., have all gathered to commemorate this mystery of Christ’s events. It reminds us of those 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 C: Michael U. Udoekpo

Homily 5^th Sunday of Lent Year C: Michael U. Udoekpo

 Readings: Isa 43:16-21; Ps 126:1-6; Phil 3:8-14 and John 8:1-11

The redeeming Power of Jesus

Each day, when we look around we cannot but notice the power of God in our lives and in the Church. Few weeks ago, precisely on February 28 2013, when we heard the news of the renunciation of his petrine office, by our beloved Benedict XVI, the Pope emeritus, we were on our knees praying for him and for the gift of a new Pope. On Wednesday as we were all anxiously following the Conclave, God provided us with a new Vicar of Christ, Pope Francis. This reminds us that the Lord will never abandon his Church, though made up of saints and sinners. He has always been renewably watching over us, from the beginnings.

Today’s first reading from Isaiah 43:16-21, takes us back to this beginnings.  Israel’s sacred tradition of the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 17:1-7) is alluded to in this prophecy of Deutero Isaiah.  Isaiah prophecies, “Thus says the Lord, “who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot an horse, army and warrior… I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” This testimony is nothing else, but that of a divine deliverance, of God’s people from Egypt and from the Babylonian exile. God is constantly watching over us, his people, and his church, at all times!

But these two events, the liberation of Israel from Egypt and from Babylonian exile have something in common. The destination of these freed people is towards the Promised Land, that Rest, which Katapusis, resurrection, eternal life, that God had promised his people, as for us, the resurrection which we anticipate at Easter.

The joy of this freedom is well expressed in the song of Psalm 126 that just flowed from our lips, few minutes:

“When the Lord brought back captives from Zion, it was like a dream, Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with great joy. Then they said among the nation, “the Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us; we were glad. Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the torrents in the southern desert. Those that sow in tears shall reap with joy. Although they go forth weeping, carrying the seed to be sown, they shall come back rejoicing, carrying their sheaves.”

What a great Psalm of joy. It acknowledges God’s watchfulness over us. It acknowledges God’s blessings and his acts of mercies both in the past, and a present. It appeals for the future, since we are pilgrims, sinners, who still have a long way to go!

Like the prodigal son in the last Sunday’s reading who found forgiveness and loving power of his father, in spite of the objection of his elder brother,  the woman in today’s gospel deserves not to be stoned to death, in spite of the insinuation of the Scribes and the Pharisees.. Though a sinner like us, she deserves forgiveness. She deserves to live, since there was not even a single fellow sinner (like us) who dared to throw a stone at her. Interestingly too, she acknowledges Jesus as the Sir, the Lord of love and the Master of forgiveness.

Paul also confesses how he considers everything a loss because of the supreme good of knowing this same Christ Jesus as his Lord of love and the source of eternal life. Paul also is still an imperfect pilgrim. He says,

“It is not that I have already taken hold of it (kingdom of God) or have already attained perfect maturity, but I continue my pursuit in hope that I may possess it… Just one thing, forgetting what lies  behind, but straining forward to what lies ahead, I continue my pursuit toward the ,goal, the prize of God’s upward calling, in Christ Jesus(Phil 3:8-14).

Each of us we are on a journey. We have not yet gotten there. We are on a metaphorical captivity in our own “Egypts” and “Babylons.” Our common goal is to journey back to God; to continue our pursuit back to Him. Whatever our own weaknesses and brokenness or captivities may be, we want to acknowledge the loving, the liberating, redeeming power of God in the events of the exodus and of the Babylonian exile. And we want to acknowledge the loving and forgiving gesture of Jesus, the type extended to the adulterous person in today’s Gospel. And if Jesus could forgive us, who are we then not to forgive our neighbors. If Jesus could be merciful to us, we want to be merciful to one another. If Jesus redeems us, we want to share this redemption with our neighbors.

 

Homily 4th Sunday of Lent Year C: Reflections by Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Homily 4^th Sunday of Lent Year C: Reflections by Fr. Michael U. Udoekpo

Jos 5: 9a, 10-12; Ps 34:2-7; 2 Cor 5:17-21 and Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Our Newness in Christ, Come Easter!

The Entrance antiphon of today’s Liturgy sets the tone for what we are celebrating today, called in Latin, Laetere Sunday, and a joyful or joyous Sunday. The text of the antiphon is from the Prophet Isaiah 66:10-11 says ‘Rejoice, Jerusalem, be glad for her…”.

Prophet Zephaniah 3:14-20, emphasizes similar joy, saying, “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).

We celebrate today the joy of God’s love and liberation in Christ; freedom and forgiveness, like the merciful and forgiving father in the parable of the prodigal son in today’s Gospel. Luke 15 which teaches us about God’s love and mercy.

It is a delight of many pastors and preachers and very popular. It is, easy to communicate to children, young and adult, and senior. It is widely use in reconciliation services and during EWTN homilies. Each of us can relate to this Gospel parable, and to similar parables in the Holy Scriptures.

Antecedence to this parable are not only  parables of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and  the lost coin (vv 8-10) but the particular critique of  Jesus by the Pharisees, namely that Christ welcomed sinners and tax collectors (vv 1-2). This critique prompted also the parable of the prodigal son.

Like the Pharisees most of the time we focus our energy on criticizing our leaders in the society and in the church or every other person around us except our selves. Some of these criticisms might be justified and sometimes they are not, like those of the Pharisees who did not like Christ so much. Our personal weaknesses or prodigality are usually the last ones we notice except with the grace of God. Like the prodigal son who was a heir to the father we are all God’s children constantly asking, enjoying or searching for our inheritance.  We are constantly on the way like the Israelite, with Moses and Joshua searching for that Promised Land (Josh 5:9a, 10-12).

Think of the abundance of inheritance God has blessed us with. We inherited our image from God, the gifts of all parts of our body; the gifts of our senses and intelligence, the gifts of roof over our heads, our jobs, positions of wealth and power, our families, healthy children, successful marriages, and good friends and neighbors. The fullness of these blessings of course is the attainment of the Kingdom of God, the ultimate inheritance.

Like the prodigal son sometimes we are tempted to walk away from our blessings and inheritance or use them wrongly. But there is always a joy when we realize that we are on the wrong track and long to return to God, like the prodigal son finally did.  This U- turn is the source of our joy, and that of Christ. Never mind what people might say or complain of as did the first son, come back to the newness of life in Christ.

For Paul, each of us depending on how this Gospel speaks to us can be recreated; re converted, reconciled and be renewed in Christ the Son of the Loving God and of the Forgiving Father. We can become a new creation (2 Cor 5:17-21) and enter into a renewed relationship with God, who like the father of the prodigal son, is joyfully waiting to receive us.

When we forgive, recognize our prodigality; be less jealous of one another, put our various inheritance to good use, God  our Father is ready for us with a new ring, a new rob and with a  sumptuous  Passover feast ( Jos 5:9-12) of eternal life in Christ – at Easter.

Reflections Wed 3rd Week of Lent C: Michael U. Udoekpo

Reflections Wed 3rd Week of Lent C: Michael U. Udoekpo

Readings: Deut 4; 1, 5-9; Ps 147:12-13, 15-16, 19-20 and Matt 5:17-19

Obedience and Fidelity as we Journey through Lent

Today we come together, again to celebrate our 1st Wednesday’s Mass after our Spring Break. And I hope we all took advantage of it to give ourselves a little time off, a little rest. Some of us actually rested. While some still had some travels to make, some meetings and theological conferences to attend. I some of us upstairs using that opportunity to tidy up their rooms and offices, or finish up their assignments and take home mid-term exams. Some of us may also have squeezed-in a little time to follow the events in the Vatican and Castel Gandolfo, or the economic sequestration arguments between our law makers and the rest of the nation. Whatever you were doing, I guess all were done in the in the spirit of Lent, “a time we consciousness reexamine or “reconscientize” our relationship with God, and with our neighbors. Or as the Russells would Ignatiantly put it the other day, on Ash Wednesday, “a time for reexamination of consciousness.”

As we journey through the discipline of Lent 2013, with all the scriptures we have read; with all the great homilies, sermons and reflections we have shared, our confidence in God continues to grow. We are confident in his presence. We are confident in his nearness to us. We are confident in his protection. We are confident in God’s provisions for us, his love, his mercy and forgiveness (‘erege payim), especially when we turn to him in repentance, fidelity and obedience.

It is this virtue of obedience that is at the heart of the two sermons of today’s bible readings. One is from Moses in the Book of Deuteronomy chapter 4, and the other from Jesus’ sermon on the mountain, in Matthew chapter 5.

Deuteronomy basically is a farewell address, a reflective speeches, or series of 3 sermons given by Moses in the land of Moab, on the themes of obedience and fidelity to the Covenant. In this first sermon (today’s first reading) Moses reviews Israel’s past history and what God has done for them, from creation through liberation in the wilderness.

Appealing to the Scriptures, Moses then preaches and encourages Israel to be obedient to the Lord’s precepts. He says, “Observes them carefully, for thus will you give evidence of your wisdom and intelligence to the nations, who will hear of all these statues, and say, “this is a great nation…., smart, intelligent people.”

 For Moses it is a wise thing for Israel to practice obedience and observe the Torah, the teachings of God. And the blessings that come with such wise response is the inheritance of that Land which God had promised Israel- that land, that rest, that covenant of peace, prosperity, that Katapausis (for those taking Epistle to the Hebrews with me), which God has promised them.

For Moses, obedience to God is not a contradiction to wisdom. It is not a sign of weakness. It does not contradict faith or our greatness, but rather it appeals to our human prides without ethics and righteousness. Obedience to God is nothing else, but recognition of God’s nearness in our homes, in our midst, his abiding presence with us, especially as we journey through Lent. 

In the context of the Gospel’s sermon on the mountain (Matt 5:17 Christ on the other hand affirms Moses’ exhortations, – the call to fidelity and obedience, which many of Israel’s prophets (Hosea 6:6, Amos 5, Micah, Jeremiah) , including the  Psalmist, have all stressed. For each of these prophets, “obedience is better than sacrifice.” Put, differently by the poet of Psalm 95 “O that today you would listen to his voice, harden not your heart…”   However, Christ, in Matthew 5:17, reminds his disciples that he did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but he came to bring them to a fulfillment/ perfection/telois. For Christ a good disciple of his will go beyond empty ritual and sacrifices will go beyond lip-services to teach, to love, to encourage one another, and to live scriptures as expressed in the tradition and magisterium of the Church.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan addressing this subject of obedience, in one of his writings, Priests for the Third Millennium defines Obedience, but at the same time acknowledges how difficult it could be to obey. He says,

“Obedience could be the easiest virtue to describe, but the toughest to live. Obedience is simply conforming our lives to the will of God, submitting ourselves to his dominion as expressed in the Bible, in the Tradition and magisterium of the Church, in natural law, in the directives of our legitimate superiors (our Rector, professors, administration), in the dictate of a well form conscience and in the prompting of the Holy Spirit interpreted prudently in discernment (cf.  p. 75).

The Cardinal, who is now in Rome, is right. None of these was going to be easy. My brothers and sisters, as we wake up each day, exit our homes  or rooms to our cars, offices, work places, meetings, shops,  class rooms,  shovel the snows, or run around this building, we are bound to be met with all kinds challenges, and frustrations. Challenges to love, to forgive, encourage one another, to work as a team, to teach and walk the faith. We are met with challenges, akin to those of the Israelite in the desert, who were gathered to listen to Moses’ sermon on mount Horeb, or those who listen to Christ’s sermon on the mountain, in Matt 5 on the perfect law of love.

 Lent is a time we want to re-acknowledge or "reconscientize" ourselves of how weak and broken we are, how vulnerable we are to these challenges, of the prides of our times, and of the desert of selfishness and individualism.  It is also a time we strive to acknowledge how great, how smart and how wise we could be, and how near God is to us, when we strive in our own little ways to be faithful to our callings, and practice the virtues of obedience and fidelity to God and his teachings.