Homilies of the Sacred Triduum- Fr. Michael Udoekpo
(1)Thursday of the Holy Week (Holy Thursday
Year ABC)
·
Exod
12:1-8, 11-14;
·
Ps
116:12-13, 15-16bc, 17-18;
·
1 Cor
11:23-26
·
John
13:1-15
Christ, Eucharist, Love and Service (CELS)
Chrism Mass
[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– held in many
other global dioceses, as appropriate. Chrism Mass/Liturgy is an expression and
a celebration of our faith in Christ, the High Priest, the unity of the Sacred
Priesthood and Christ’s one redeeming Sacrifice of Love. On this day when the Catholic Church
celebrates the meaning of priesthood, Oils of Catechumens, the Sick and of the
Chrism are blessed. Oils that the Holy Father, Pope Francis during his
Chrism Mass in Rome(few years ago)encouraged every priests to carry, go out
with, and prayerfully anoint the faithful with, especially the sick, the poor,
the afflicted, the terrorized and the needy( in Brussels) everywhere!
Mass of
the Last Supper
Tonight (even as the world prays for the victims of Brussels’ bombing attacks
2016) we begin the Sacred Triduum. These three solemn days encompass the
Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ. In this three days we are invited to remember
in a special way the significance of the saving and redeeming events of the passion,
death and resurrection and resurrection of Christ. You and I know the power of
memory, remembrance! Remembrance is powerful. It revitalizes, reactivates and
keeps past reality alive in us, as evident in tonight’s bible lessons Exodus
12, the Passover which memorialized divine freedom of Israel from Egypt, 1
Corinthian 11, the last supper, and John
13- Jesus’ washing the feet of his disciples.
In other words, on Holy Thursday, “Maundy Thursday”, which in Latin- “Mandatum Thursday, from the root " I give," which means “a Thursday of
gift,” of command, order or mandate. As captured in the readings, tonight we remember three important 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; love
that is stronger than the fear of the fleeing disciples, love that is stronger than the untruthfulness
of the power mongering Pilate and of the few “Jewish elites”; Christ’s love that
is stronger than the betrayal of Judas, the denials of Peter, the mockeries of
the Roman soldiers, the human selfishness, that shows up in different forms in
our today’ world.
Among the gifts we celebrate tonight, the
strongest, the common denominator is the Mandatum
of Christ, the Love of Christ, which he shares with us, and encourages us,
commands us to go out and share with our neighbors and wash our neighbors' feet.
Look at it this way. It was out of love that God the Father free
Israel tonight, from the clutches of Pharaoh in Egypt. God the Father’s gift of freedom to Israel is reenacted in the
story of the Passover, in the 1st
reading (Exod 12:1-8, 11-14) culminating in Exodus 12:14, which says, “this day [tonight]
shall be a memorial feast for you, which all your generations shall celebrate
with pilgrimage to the Lord, as perpetual institution.”
Like Father, like Son! The Eucharist of which
of which institution we reenact today, and of which Saint Paul speaks of in the
2nd reading (1 Cor 11:23-26) is a banquet of love, gratitude and
service. It provides us a particular opportunity to remember not only how God
the father freed ancient Israel, but how he has extended this love and freedom
to us through his son Jesus Christ
who loved his disciples to the
end, shown in his humble gestures of washing their feet in today’s Gospel
reading (John 13:1-15).
By
washing the feet of his disciple Jesus shows the depth of his love, a love
leading to the cross; a suffering love! 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 to wash our neighbors' feet. 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, the overpowered, 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.
By washing his disciples feet Christ is saying to us today, “enough of the kind of attack” seen in Brussels few days ago. Enough
of unnecessary wars, enough of terrorism, enough of ISISism and Bokoharamism,
enough of dysfunctional socio-economic structures in our world and nations’ politics,
enough of hatred, racisms and unforgiving spirit in our homes, families and societies,
enough of the ministers of the gospel who are not willing to reach out
generously, selflessly, to the poor, sick, aged and marginalized.
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. This is the
same message, our Holy Father, Pope Francis has continuously promoted in his
ministries!
As we celebrate this Last Super sharing in the bread and wine of
new covenant of love, gratitude and selfless service, Christ, and ready to
adore him at that Altar of Repose in that garden, let us know that Christ sees
us, in every nation, state, county, town, dioceses, villages and out-reach
stations. 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 joyfully love and
gratefully serve one another as Christ has first loved and served us.
2) Friday of the Holy Week (Good Friday Year
ABC)
·
Isa 52:
13–53:12;
·
Ps 31:2,6,12-13,15-16,17,25;
·
Heb
4:14-16;5:7-9;
·
John18:1–19:42
The Mystery of Redemptive Suffering
(Good Friday)
Today is the second day
of the Sacred Trduum, begun yesterday! Today’s liturgy rooted in the richness of
our wonderful bible readings, invites us to enter more deeply into the mystery
of Christ's redemptive passion, death and resurrection.
Mysteries and ironies, of course, surrounds
every section of today’s liturgy- that only faith can fully explain. On a day
like this one may legitimately ask: What makes today Good Friday when the Stations
of the Cross has just been re-enacted? What is good about the symbolic red
vestments priests and deacons, wear today, at the beginning of the liturgy?
What is good about the altars left completely bare, without crosses, candles and
without fanciful altar cloths? What is good that the Holy Mass, sacraments are
not celebrated today, except for penance and anointing of the sick– and many
more other questions that you may one to raise?
Answers to these questions are not single
dimensional. The meaning of “Good Friday” may be found when we deeply and
faithfully meditate on the crosses we shall soon venerate. Its meaning may be
revealed through our meditation on the Stations of the Cross re-enacted across
the global church.
That Good Friday is
redemptive and salvific is more revealing in the passages of today’s Scripture
Readings, beginning with Isaiah’s 4th Song of the suffering servant
of God (Isa 52:13–53:12)-- Ebed YHWH.
Written several hundreds of years before the birth Christ to console, comfort
and give hope to those exiled in Babylon. Isaiah says,
“He was spurned and avoided by people, a man
of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their
faces, spurned and we held him in no esteem. Yet it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that
he endured, while we thought of him as stricken, as one smitten by God and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him
was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed… he
shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses”( Isa
53:4-12).
Christians relate this image of the Ebed YHWH to Christ crucified on Good
Friday! The writer of the 2nd reading, the Letter to the Hebrews must have been
a Christian, familiar not only with the passages from Isaiah, familiar with the
Christ’s suffering, but whose aim was to reveals the salvific nature Good
Friday when it says, “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, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he
was he learned obedience from what he suffered, and when he was made perfect,
he became source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”
Today’s Friday is ironically good because
without it there would have been no resurrection, no salvation. This irony,
this mystery is also evident throughout that long passion narrative read from the
gospel of John (John 18:1–19:42). Throughout the Johannine Passion, Jesus “yet”
is control. He gives Judas Iscariot
instruction to do quickly what he is about to do (John 18:2). In the garden of
the Kidron Valley, Jesus asks whom they were looking for. As soon as he
declared himself- the “I AM”, they all felt helplessly to the ground. Here lies the Good Friday?
In all, the Jesus of John
is the Son of Man that came down from heaven to whom the Father has turned over
judgment. When he is interrogated by the
high priests, Jesus turns back the interrogation: “Why do you question me?” He
makes it clear to Pilate that he has no authority over him. In this ironic
trials of Jesus, Pilates is nervous and shuttles back and forth between the
Jews outside the Praetorium while ironically Jesus remains in the
Praetorium. The shuttling Pilates finds
no guilt in the innocent and steady Jesus, yet he had him scourged innocently. Yet
Pilate lacks the courage to speak the truth. In John, only Christ is the truth,
the life and the way!
In that passion read, Jesus dies kingly and
triumphantly in John “bowing his head he handed over his spirit.” On top of the cross, his title- “Jesus the
Nazorean, the King of the Jews,” is universally written in three languages
(Hebrew, Greek and Latin). It is a universal Good Friday! A Friday that saves
the world? Even though his garments are divided as foretold, his priestly
tunic, the alb is intact, a priest forever! As long foretold, that on being
lifted up he would draw many to himself, on the foot of the cross, came the
fulfilment (tetelestai): Mary his
mother, the sister, wife of Clopas, Mary Magdalene, the disciple whom he
love, Roman soldiers, Jews,
Gentiles, and secrete believers like
Nichodemus, Joseph of Arimathea were all
there! Jesus is also given a kingly burial and laid in a garden!
This is the mysterious
narrative that has really made Good Friday, good and redemptive. Today the
victim has become the conqueror! As Pope
Francis has repeated emphasized, it is a gospel of suffering endurance for all
who have in the course of history been persecuted and abused by those who are
politically, socially, religiously and economically powerful; those plagued by
diseases, natural tragedies, man-made violent structures, abuse of guns, ISIS,
BOKO Haram, religious extremists, poverty, ignorance, but who realize that God
is with them, and that the power of the oppressors are temporary.
May we on this Good
Friday (2016), continue to contemplate the mystery of the redemptive suffering of
Christ, remembering to bear our suffering patiently, as well as pray for our brothers
and sisters, who are victims of the recent Brussels’ bombing! And may we
together continue to build God’s kingdom through our lives of faithful witness
to the Cross and so help bring our neighbors to Christ with whom we shall one day
share eternal life in heaven!
(3) Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil Year ABC). Fr. Michael Udoekpo
·
(1)Gen1:1–2:2
or 1:1,26-31a; Ps 104:1-2,5-6,10-14,24,35or Ps 33:4-7,12-13,20-22;
·
(2) Gen
22:1-18 or22:1-2,9a,10-13,15-18; Ps 16:5,8,9-11
·
(3)
Exod 14:15–15:1; Ps Exod 15:1-6,17-18;
·
(4) Isa
54:5-14;Ps 30:2,4-6,11-13;
·
(5)
Isa55:1-11; Ps 12:2-3,4-6;
·
(6) Bar
3:9-15,32–4:4; Ps 19:8-11;
·
(7)
Ezek 36:16-17a, 18-28;Ps[a] 42:3,5;43:3-4;[b] Isa 12:2-3,4bcd,5-6[c]Ps
51:12-13,14-15,18-19;
·
(8) Rom 6:3-11; Ps 118:1-2,16-17,22-23;
·
(9)Gospel
[Year a] Matt 28:1-10; [Year b] Mark 16:1-7; [Year c] Luke 24:1-12.
Joy
and Newness in our Risen Lord and Savior!
On this
night of the Easter Vigil we gather as a Church of men and women, young and
old, saints and sinners at the tomb of Christ in prayer awaiting his resurrection.
Tonight’s gathering may be long, but joyful with 4 levels of beautiful liturgies.
Level one celebrates with exulting hymn and lighted candles the joy of Christ
as the Light and Savior of the world (soter
tou cosmou), the source of every good things we have, health, jobs, and our
families. It rejects and reject the darkness of sin, evil, hatred, racism, selfishness,
and dysfunctional socio-economic and political structures; hopelessness,
secularism, and even terrorism as currently
been experienced by our brothers and sisters in Brussels, and in other parts of
the world today!
Level
two is the Word of God with nine readings, seven from the OT and two from the
NT. Levels three and four come after this homily. They are the
baptism or renewal of our baptismal promises and the liturgy of the Eucharist.
The central
event of this 4 levels of liturgical vigil is the joy of Christ’s resurrection
rooted in the story of salvation discovered in the various readings heard
tonight. They are the stories of our relationship with God. In Genesis creation
stories and in the psalms God creates lovingly, he orders, he gives names, he
shows mercy, he is kind, and he also forgives. In spite of the brokennesses of
our first parents, Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and his generation God
calls and establishes a covenant with Abraham, who is also willing to
sacrifice, go through trials and give
back to God all that God had given him, including his only son Isaac (Gen 22:1-18)
Israel’s
story is our story. In this story our lives belongs to God, who can write on a
crooked line! While in the Egyptian exile he hardens Pharaoh’s heart and sees
Israel through the wilderness and the sea of reed (Exodus 14–15). God is Israel’s
divine warrior and redeemer! In the Babylonian exile he stood by them as
expressed in the prophecies of Isaiah, Baruch and Ezekiel tonight.
What
Prophets Isaiah, Baruch, and Ezekiel foretold– life, hope, freedom, salvation,
new life- has been fulfilled tonight in
the resurrection of Christ– witnessed by Paul in Roman 6:3-11. Paul says, “Are
you unaware that we who were baptized into Christ (as will be done tonight)
were baptized into his death? We were indeed buried with him through baptism
into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might live in newness of life.”
The experience
of the empty tomb must have been refreshing and amazing to those women- Mary
Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James and to others who accompanied
them. It must have been amazing to Peter and the rest of the eleven. An amazing
God! With the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, everything is possible! Creation
is possible. The orderliness of creation is possible. The hardening of pharaoh’s
heart is possible. The Crossing of the red sea without been hurt is possible.
Raising Jesus from the tomb is possible. Healing is possible! Success in life
is possible! Passing that examination is possible. True reconciliation is possible!
Transformation is possible! Good socio-political structure is possible!
Reaching out to the poor, the aged, and the needy more than before is possible!
Justice is possible!
As we
gather around Christ’s empty tomb tonight may we be reassured of the hope, the
transformation, and the new life that the resurrection of Christ brings us. May we be reassured of his presence in our
homes, families, churches, offices, journeys, and work places? As we pray for our brothers and sisters, victims of
terrorism in Brussels, and around the globe, may we continue to trust in his protective care? May we
as baptized and believers be joyful and be reassured of eternal life in heaven after our
pilgrimage here on earth!
Homily
Easter Sunday ABC: Michael U. Udoekpo
·
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 ;
Mark16:1-8;Luke24:13-35, and John 20:1-9
Christ is Risen,
Alleluia!!
Let me begin by saying, Happy Easter! In
the words of today’s Psalmist, and rightly so, “today is the day the Lord
has made let us rejoice and be glad” (Ps 118). We rejoice in Christ’s
resurrection, the good news, the highest point of our Christian faith, as
planned by God! Can you imagine what our Christian faith would be without the
resurrection, without Easter day; without this day of hope, without this day of
glory? Easter day, today, is the “Feast
of Feasts” a “Solemnity of Solemnities.” It is a day that death has not only
been annulled but defeated. By his Resurrection Christ guarantees us eternal
life. He guarantees us that the Tomb will never be our final destination nor
that of our loved ones. Faith in what we celebrate today, Christ’s
resurrection transforms us from darkness to light and from the feeling of
despair to hope. It brings us newness of life.
Of course, that mixed events of Palm Sunday
and of the Stations of the Cross of the 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 of that Good Friday! The passion
ironically seems humiliating, but the Resurrection glorifies. It is a
victorious combat divinely directed, since the tomb was never going to be
Christ’s final destination.
Commenting on how quickly
Christ’s resurrection was, Saint. Leo the Great said in his Sermon (71.2),
“That Jesus hastened to rise as soon as possible because He was in a hurry to
console His mother and the disciples.” The resurrection of Christ consoles us
of the temporary sadness of the Good Friday!
In the 1st reading (Acts10:34,
37-43) Evangelist Luke documents,
Peter’s personal life encounter with the Jesus of Nazareth. Born of Mary,
baptized by John the Baptist, commissioned and anointed by the Holy Spirit to
preach, heal, liberate the poor and the needy, visit those in prison and the
down trodden. Similar, accounts is heard in Luke 4, “the spirit of the
Lord is upon, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has
sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sights to the
blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19). In spite of Christ’s goodness and selflessness, they put Christ
to death on the tree, as we witnessed on Good Friday. But on the 3rd
day, “today” Peter says, God raised him from the dead.
Besides Peter, Saint Paul
in his various preaching ministries bore witness to the resurrection of Christ. In 1
Corinthian 15:3-8 Paul 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.”
In today’s 2nd
readings (Colossians or 1 Corinthians) Paul continues to speak of the resurrection
of Christ metaphorically, in a coated language. For Paul (Colossian 3:1-4) the risen
Christ is already at the right hand of his Father, waiting for us, who are
invited to constantly seek things that “are above”: holiness of life, those
virtues, hope, faith and love.
What is the significant
of “right hand side:? In this context, “right hand side” in ancient days,
represent a pre-eminent place, an important position. The resurrection of
Christ, puts us in a better position of joy, hope and union with the Lord. It has a transforming impact. The
resurrection of Christ, Paul says, is like
clearing the sorrow of the old yeast, old malice, old habits, especially the
bad ones, and making room for the joy of
the new yeast, the newness of life ( 1 Cor 5:6b-8).
The resurrection of Christ brings us out of the tombs of
sadness, selfishness, corruption into life of justice and generosity. It brings
us out of the tombs of malice, grudges into a new life of friendliness and
forgiveness. Through his resurrection God is calling us out of the tombs of
war, violence, terrorism into a new life of dialogue and peace! He is calling
out of the tomb of indifference into a new life of reaching out and actively
caring for one another, especially the poor, the aged and the voiceless.
The resurrection of
Christ transforms us as it did to Mary Magdalene and the Disciples of Christ who first
encountered the empty tomb (Matt 28, Mark 16, Luke 24 and John 20-21). John’s Gospel specifically states how Mary
Magdalene first got to the tomb very early in the morning, out of love and care
for Christ. When she found the stone removed from the tomb she ran back
to inform Peter, John and other disciples. They all came witnessing the
empty tomb and the burial cloths rolled up in a separate place. Christ has been
raised! They became a different people, a transformed people.
Though transformed, each
of these witnesses to Christ’s resurrection reacted differently in first place.
Mary ran back with amazement to inform
others. Peter and his fellow disciples hurried with Mary to the tomb, and
believed Mary’s testimony! Paul, on the other hand preached this testimony
throughout his ministry. Common among these witnesses, is a change, a reaction,
a transformation, from one point to another, from unbelief to belief, from lack
of understanding to understanding! Scripture says, they now understood, that
Christ “had to be raised from the dead.”
For us today, how do we
react to this joyful event? I think we need to be joyful, hopeful, faithful,
and truthful in sharing Christ with our neighbors– that God has not abandoned
us even in the face of terrorism currently experienced in Belgium and in different
parts of the world.
May the Resurrection of Christ brings us change in how we
see the Good Friday; how we handle sufferings, illness, failures and life
challenges. May it strengthen us in our baptismal promises to denounce sins,
selfishness, violent, terrorism, bokoharamism,
Isisism, for Peace. And may the transforming joy, blessings and newness of
the Risen Lord reach to our homes, schools, factories, offices, towns,
counties, villages, nations and work places as we celebrate the joy of Easter!
Happy Easter!
