Reflection/Homily: Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C (April 28 2013)

Reflection/Homily: Fifth Sunday of Easter Year C (April 28 2013)

Theme: Putting on an Behaviour of love

There was this story we were told at the minor seminary a few years ago. Three priests went to visit a sick male member of their parish in the hospital. After their visit, the little daughter was describing the priests to the mum. She told the mum that a priest, a gentleman and a “guy man” visited. She described the priest in Soutane as a priest, the one in clerical suit as a gentleman and the one in a good pair of jeans with a nice T-shirt with canvas to match as a “guy man”.

This little girl only gave a description of images she was popular with. Thus, she implemented an old rule which says: “You are addressed the way you dress”. This old rule is what Jesus is emphasizing in the gospel reading (John 13:31-33.34-35) but in a different dimension. Though we may be described and judged by our code of dressing, our code of conduct speaks more about us. In other words, it is our behaviour that defines us the more.

That is why in other to let the world identify and define his disciples, Jesus gave them a new commandment, a new code of conduct or we may say, he prescribed a new behaviour for them. This new behaviour would be for them, an identity card which they will not need to put on on request but which will be evident everywhere they go and in everything they do. This new commandment is nothing but love for one another just as God loved us.

What could be the basis of this love? In what sense could this love be new? When we consider the old commandment of loving only those who love us, we come to understand the basis of this love and how new it is to the Jews and even to us. Naturally, we are more inclined to receive and reciprocate love than to offer love. More still, there is always the tendency to love only those who have acquired the credentials to be qualified for our love. Such could be our family members and friends.

Reflection/Homily: Second (2nd) Sunday of Easter (April 15 2012)

Theme: Witnessing to the Gospel in Faith and Love

Pragmatism is an ideology that evaluates theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application. For instance, a pragmatist will only believe that one is a good cook not when he describes the process of preparing a particular dish but when he actually prepares it well.

Pragmatism has permeated every sector of our society and religion has not been spared. In times past, people believed a man of God by the authority with which he spoke, but today, by the signs and wonders he perform. The world wants every theory to be practiced and proved effective before it is accepted.

In the gospel reading (Jn. 20:19-31), we see Thomas as a core pragmatist. He did not believe in reasoning but in experience. He never wanted to listen to the event of Christ’s resurrection and appearance but wanted to experience it. He needed an empirical first-hand experience.

In our religious practices, many of us are like Thomas. We want God to show us everything, to reveal every mystery to us before we believe. We want to see the Eucharist turn into empirical flesh and blood. We want to see a candidate for anointing of the sick rise up immediately after receiving the sacrament. We want God’s blessings and promises to materialize immediately, etc.

But have we ever cared to compare our expectation from God and God’s expectations from us? We expect God to be pragmatic, to be practical, but are we also pragmatic in our relationship with God? Can our religious doctrines and beliefs be seen practically in our lives?

Reflection/Homily: Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Thursday) 2012

Theme: The Eucharist: A communion and Summit of Love

 

In this liturgy of the evening mass of the Lord’s Supper, the Holy Mother Church commemorates three principal mysteries; the institution of the Eucharist, the institution of the priesthood and Christ’s commandment of brotherly love. Our reflection this evening will be based on these mysteries.

The Institution of the Eucharist: The first reading (Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14) gives us a pre-figure of the institution of the Eucharist which is the Christian Passover meal. In the second reading (1 Cor. 11:23-26), St. Paul narrates the manner with which Christ instituted this great sacrament and gave his apostles the mandate to celebrate it in his memory.

The Eucharist is a topic that can never be exhausted because it is a theology about God which cannot be fully comprehended. For want of time and space, we shall concentrate on the Eucharist as a communion. 

Bishop John Okoye in his Lenten pastoral letter for 2012 describes the celebration of the Eucharist as the highest expression of the identity of the Church as a communion. This is because it maintains the communion between the Church and the Triune God, the communion between the Church and the faithful and the communion between the faithful themselves. 

Pope John Paul II points out that celebrating the Eucharist however, cannot be the starting point of this communion, it presupposes that communion already exists, a communion it seeks to consolidate and bring to perfection (Ecclesia de Euchariatia, no. 35).

Beloved brothers and sisters, today we experience rancor and discord not just among Christians but

Quote on Love

Love is nothing but the allegiance of Loyalty, Obedience, Value, and Endurance to somebody or something.