THEME: Personal gains betray friendship.
Today is Passion Sunday and it begins the Holy Week. The Liturgy reminds us that at the centre of our faith stands a man who died for love of us. It also re-affirms our faith in the Paschal Mystery. The Lamb of God is slaughtered for our sake. For the first time Jesus makes a public proclamation of who he is as he triumphantly enters Jerusalem. All along, Jesus will warn his disciples not to tell people who he is until scripture is fulfilled (Zechariah 9:9).
The first reading from the prophet Isaiah is the third of four servant songs found in the book of Isaiah (Is 42: 1-4, 49:1-6, 50:4-9, and 52: 13-53:12). These servant songs are found in Chapters 40 -55 of Isaiah often called the book of consolation because the prophet offers no judgment and condemnation of Israel, but only trust and confident hope that God is about to end the exile. The situation presupposed is that life in exile has become burdensome for the Israelites. In their dejection, it was the Word of God, spoken through the prophet that sustained them. The word of God sustains the weary. As he puts it, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher so that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word” (Isaiah 50:4a).
Indeed, God never grows tired of speaking through the prophet; giving him words of encouragement. And so the prophet says “Morning by morning he wakens – wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught” (Isaiah 50:4b).
The determination of the prophet to deliver the Word of God to wearied hearts brings him suffering. Yet, he must deliver it at the cost of his personal suffering. So he says “The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting’ (Isaiah 50:5-6). People who proclaim the word of God face stiff opposition. They must not be deterred under any circumstances.
However, the prophet is confident that God will eventually prove him right; that God will vindicate him someday. Therefore, the Servant firmly relies on God. Thus he puts it beautifully “The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore, I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame” (Isaiah 50:7).
In the same way, Jesus’ passion was the outcome of his obedience to His father in the face of rejection and his constant reliance on his Father to prove him right. Therefore, the Church is right to associate the Servant song with the passion and death of Jesus.
The Gospel reading of today identifies the Suffering Servant with Jesus. From his triumphant entry into Jerusalem through to his passion and death, Jesus demonstrates true love. The Gospel of our Lord's Passion which we have just heard brings out clearly the theme of betrayal: “One of the Twelve, the man called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said: What are you prepared to give me if I hand him over to you”?
It all begins with a betrayal. It has to begin with a betrayal. Jesus has done nothing wrong so the only way to get him is to betray him. And so he is betrayed, and by one of his own. What could Judas have been thinking? And all for thirty pieces of silver. What could he have been thinking? What drove him to betray the Master? He probably imagined he had some cause, some reason, but he does not seem to have thought it through.
No one knows better how to betray than a disciple, one of the trusted inner persons. No one knows how to hurt the Church better than an ex-Catholic. He gave up everything so that humanity can draw from the fountain of mercy. Jesus freely underwent suffering and death so that all might attain salvation. Indeed, what others taught was evil turned out as a blessing for humanity. Jesus did it just for love of us.
The story of the suffering and death of Jesus which we heard in the Passion is basically a story of love – God’s love for us. Our response should be gratitude. Gratitude to Jesus should make us turn a new leaf and never go back to a life of sin. We would be the most ungrateful people if we should continue living the sort of life that made Jesus die. Gratitude should make us keep the memory of Jesus alive. No day should pass that we should not remember the love God has for us. Finally, God expects from us today gratitude – gratitude strong enough to make us hate sin of every shade and colour.
Everyone who turns away from Christ loses much more than he can ever hope to win. When Judas realised what he had done all his so-called 'reasons' came to nothing and he went out and hanged himself. What unkindness from a priest, what hurt, real or imagined, from a fellow Catholic, could ever justify walking away from Christ? When they handed him that money, from that moment he became a traitor; from that moment he looked for a way of handing him over. Judas was bought and paid for; no longer free. He had sold himself. He was a slave.
The betrayal of Judas is a betrayal of the Eucharist. Every bad Catholic betrays the Eucharist. Jesus speaks of Judas' betrayal in terms of the Scriptures and now, after supper, he speaks of his disciples' loss of faith 'in accordance with the Scriptures'. Peter and the rest of the disciples contradict him; they claim they will never lose faith. They contradict not only Jesus but also the Scriptures! But let us hasten to acknowledge that every betrayal is redeemable. No one ever needs to be lost. The road back to Christ is open to all - to Peter, to the other disciples, and even to Judas.
Jesus must have felt very lonely at that table. On the one hand sits Judas who would betray him and on the other hand sit the disciples who would desert him. Even now they reject his prophetic word which is, even though they do not realise it, essentially a rejection of Jesus himself, the Word of God. Judas has now left the community of the disciples. He has become the first bad Catholic. He has betrayed the fellowship, the community of the Lord, the Church.
The second reading also brings out clearly the characteristics of the Suffering Servant namely humility, self-emptying (Kenosis), obedience, service and the like. Jesus thought of others and became a servant. He emptied himself, laying aside the independent use of his own attributes as God; he permanently became man, in a sinless physical body; he took that body to the cross and willingly died. “ …Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God… but emptied himself taking the form of a slave and being born in human likeness…”(Philippians 2:6-7). Such was the grace he bestowed on humanity: from heaven to earth, from glory to shame, from master to servant, from life to death, even death on the cross.
Many people are willing to serve others if it does not cost them anything. But if there is a price to pay, they suddenly lose interest. “Jesus became obedient unto death, death on the cross” (Philippians 2:8). When love is the motive, sacrifice is never measured or mentioned. Is it costing you anything to be a Christian? It cost Jesus his life.
Just as the Servant of God was vindicated in the first reading, so was Christ exalted by his Father. The whole purpose of Christ’s humiliation and exaltation, therefore, is the glory of God. “Therefore, God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name…to the glory of God the father” (Philippians 2:9-11). As preachers, teachers, and parents, we have to guard against the possibility of transmitting prejudice or false interpretation of scripture as we celebrate the important feasts during the Holy Week. We have a responsibility to enlighten our minds and that of our little children to accept that in humility lies our victory; in the cross lies our glory.
In conclusion, Love is our identity. Love demands sacrifice. Where there is no sacrifice, there can hardly be any genuine love. This is because it is love that made us Christians. It cost Jesus his life for our sake. What are we also sacrificing for the glory of God? The celebration of the Paschal Mystery this week can only be meaningful if we show genuine love for God and one another. Jesus has a work to complete. He heads off to the Garden of Gethsemane, followed by his dazed and disheartened disciples. Let us go too, in all our weakness and hesitation. Perhaps we will, with the Eleven, learn what he wishes to teach us; to become what he wants us to become.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Saturday, March 24, 2012
HOMILY FOR THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B Jeremiah 31:31-34/ Psalm 51/ Hebrews 5:7-9/ John 12:20-33.
THEME: obedience of faith and life
All three Readings are linked by offering us, each in its own way, the underlying theological explanation of the Paschal mystery of Jesus´ suffering, death and resurrection. It is no historical accident, but the key element of God´s great plan of salvation. By this sacrifice God will create in his people a new heart, free from sin and ready to embrace his law ("a willing spirit", Psalm) not as something foreign and imposed, but as the law of the heart itself (First Reading and Psalm). Obedience to God´s plan, expressed in his law or otherwise, is a source of suffering for man – even for Christ - but it is simultaneously the source of our salvation, which follows the paradoxical law of life springing from death (Second Reading and Gospel). Like Christ, the one who freely gives up his "life" in obedience to God´s will recovers it in all its fullness.
The first reading is from Jeremiah and is again written while the Jews were in captivity in Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah felt that the Jews had broken the covenant with God that was made by Moses on Mount Sinai and that was why they were in captivity. He was looking forward to a new covenant that God would establish where God would write his law, not on tablets of stone but in the hearts of His people.
I am overwhelmed at the humility of God to condescend so low to establish His covenant with sinful humanity. Covenants or contracts are entered into usually between equals, but in our case, it is between God (Superior) and man (Inferior). This tells us that it not the desire of God that anyone should perish but that all may be saved. It is, therefore, always God’s initiative to reconcile sinful man to himself because he knows that we have never been faithful to the covenant. Jesus becomes the concrete expression of what the prophet Jeremiah prophesied.
The Gospel reading of today can only make meaning when we place it within the wider context of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (cf John 12:12-19). Jesus´ words for some who wanted to see him appear astonishing: "unless a grain of wheat dies…” In reality, he is repeating the message he has constantly tried to transmit to the people: if you are looking for a triumphant Messiah, you will not find him, because the real Messiah is a man who must suffer and die in lacerating obedience to the will of the Father.
If there were any doubt about the value of obedience, the life and death of Christ could be said to be designed just to dissipate our doubts. Whatever about others, any Christian for whom obedience is a non-value is either hopelessly superficial, or stupidly proud (perhaps all of us have to admit to both). St Paul´s implication, as the Fathers of the Church understood it, is that since Christ saved us by his obedience not only did he become "the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Second Reading) but that all who obey like him become with him a source of salvation for others.
The grain of wheat that wants to "save itself" remains completely sterile. Only the grain –and the person- that is willing to come undone, and rot in the ground to produce a shoot of new wheat, will be fruitful. Suffering in and of itself has no value. It is human to flee from it. But from the moment God used the suffering of Jesus in his passion and on the cross to redeem us from sin, suffering united to Christ is of incalculable value: what it achieves –salvation- is so far out of proportion to "how much it hurts" that the person who believes sees it as much more of a good than an evil.
St. Paul in the second reading sets the tone for a fruitful relationship with God. For him we owe God a double "obedience": of faith and of life. The second is really an application of the first. Both can be a struggle; Jesus himself was only able to obey after "loud cries and tears". By "the obedience of faith", "man completely submits his intellect and his will to God" and what he reveals (Catechism 143). What is it you have difficulty accepting? Well, Jesus had difficulty accepting that his Father actually wanted him to give up his life in such a horrendous form. Try some serious conversation with him during these next two weeks; offer him one thing in which you are going to "submit your mind and your will to God". Make a change in your life that expresses that. Ask him for the strength to do it.
Like the Greeks who spoke to Philip, we too "would like to see Jesus". But how can we if we only want to know a Christ without the cross? Of course, it is not just his cross we have a problem with: we realize it implies our cross and our own readiness to "lose our life" (Gospel). "Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified", St. Paul said, "a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1Corinthians 1:22-24; 2:1-2). You could wonder if, when he wrote that bit about the "stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles", he thought of saying something about a lot of us Christians too. Would not sound as good, I suppose. At any rate, between now and Easter, we all need to reflect on the real gospel, and develop a completely new attitude towards the cross.
Finally as we begin Holy Week next Sunday, let us not only be fascinated by what we experience but like the Greeks, we also need to see Jesus, love and serve him in all those whose cross is particularly heavy and painful today.
All three Readings are linked by offering us, each in its own way, the underlying theological explanation of the Paschal mystery of Jesus´ suffering, death and resurrection. It is no historical accident, but the key element of God´s great plan of salvation. By this sacrifice God will create in his people a new heart, free from sin and ready to embrace his law ("a willing spirit", Psalm) not as something foreign and imposed, but as the law of the heart itself (First Reading and Psalm). Obedience to God´s plan, expressed in his law or otherwise, is a source of suffering for man – even for Christ - but it is simultaneously the source of our salvation, which follows the paradoxical law of life springing from death (Second Reading and Gospel). Like Christ, the one who freely gives up his "life" in obedience to God´s will recovers it in all its fullness.
The first reading is from Jeremiah and is again written while the Jews were in captivity in Babylon. The prophet Jeremiah felt that the Jews had broken the covenant with God that was made by Moses on Mount Sinai and that was why they were in captivity. He was looking forward to a new covenant that God would establish where God would write his law, not on tablets of stone but in the hearts of His people.
I am overwhelmed at the humility of God to condescend so low to establish His covenant with sinful humanity. Covenants or contracts are entered into usually between equals, but in our case, it is between God (Superior) and man (Inferior). This tells us that it not the desire of God that anyone should perish but that all may be saved. It is, therefore, always God’s initiative to reconcile sinful man to himself because he knows that we have never been faithful to the covenant. Jesus becomes the concrete expression of what the prophet Jeremiah prophesied.
The Gospel reading of today can only make meaning when we place it within the wider context of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem (cf John 12:12-19). Jesus´ words for some who wanted to see him appear astonishing: "unless a grain of wheat dies…” In reality, he is repeating the message he has constantly tried to transmit to the people: if you are looking for a triumphant Messiah, you will not find him, because the real Messiah is a man who must suffer and die in lacerating obedience to the will of the Father.
If there were any doubt about the value of obedience, the life and death of Christ could be said to be designed just to dissipate our doubts. Whatever about others, any Christian for whom obedience is a non-value is either hopelessly superficial, or stupidly proud (perhaps all of us have to admit to both). St Paul´s implication, as the Fathers of the Church understood it, is that since Christ saved us by his obedience not only did he become "the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him" (Second Reading) but that all who obey like him become with him a source of salvation for others.
The grain of wheat that wants to "save itself" remains completely sterile. Only the grain –and the person- that is willing to come undone, and rot in the ground to produce a shoot of new wheat, will be fruitful. Suffering in and of itself has no value. It is human to flee from it. But from the moment God used the suffering of Jesus in his passion and on the cross to redeem us from sin, suffering united to Christ is of incalculable value: what it achieves –salvation- is so far out of proportion to "how much it hurts" that the person who believes sees it as much more of a good than an evil.
St. Paul in the second reading sets the tone for a fruitful relationship with God. For him we owe God a double "obedience": of faith and of life. The second is really an application of the first. Both can be a struggle; Jesus himself was only able to obey after "loud cries and tears". By "the obedience of faith", "man completely submits his intellect and his will to God" and what he reveals (Catechism 143). What is it you have difficulty accepting? Well, Jesus had difficulty accepting that his Father actually wanted him to give up his life in such a horrendous form. Try some serious conversation with him during these next two weeks; offer him one thing in which you are going to "submit your mind and your will to God". Make a change in your life that expresses that. Ask him for the strength to do it.
Like the Greeks who spoke to Philip, we too "would like to see Jesus". But how can we if we only want to know a Christ without the cross? Of course, it is not just his cross we have a problem with: we realize it implies our cross and our own readiness to "lose our life" (Gospel). "Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified", St. Paul said, "a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1Corinthians 1:22-24; 2:1-2). You could wonder if, when he wrote that bit about the "stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles", he thought of saying something about a lot of us Christians too. Would not sound as good, I suppose. At any rate, between now and Easter, we all need to reflect on the real gospel, and develop a completely new attitude towards the cross.
Finally as we begin Holy Week next Sunday, let us not only be fascinated by what we experience but like the Greeks, we also need to see Jesus, love and serve him in all those whose cross is particularly heavy and painful today.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
HOMILY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B 2 Chronicles 36:14-16, 19-23/ Psalm 137/ Ephesians 2:4-10 /John 3:14-21
Theme: Be opened to God’s Love
Lent is preparation for Easter, but our journey towards Easter must of necessity pass over the hill of Calvary. As the Passion approaches, we are invited to look to the cross. Sinfulness and human contempt for God´s plan leads irremediably to massive personal and collective catastrophe. Whereas the Israelites, like other ancient peoples, saw this reflected in history (First Reading), Jesus reveals that the disaster attendant on our rejection of God is even greater. This is because it involves a death worse than death itself and the loss of eternal life (Gospel). In his great mercy, God has sent his Son, not to condemn the world but to save it. Only our own obstinate refusal of his grace can condemn us to eternal loss (Second Reading and Gospel). Jesus was raised up on the cross of suffering as the final effort of God´s surpassing mercy to save us from that awful eventuality (Second Reading).
How can we reconcile the "angry" God of certain Old Testament passages with the God of mercy preached by Jesus is the question that lingers on our minds readily when one reads the first reading. Some early Christians did created a heresy that believed in a vengeful Old Testament God and a merciful God of the New Testament. In much more recent times, some Christians have, in practice at least, believed in a God whose righteous anger was more prominent than his merciful love.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church has always maintained the divine inspiration and the harmony of the two Testaments, which cannot contradict one another. The revelation they contain come from God; it is his word, we may not pick and choose passages we ´approve´, and reject others. It is gradual and reaches its perfection with Christ; God´s ways are so different from ours that we cannot grasp them in a moment; they dawn on us through the centuries and we should not expect the Old Testament to offer us a finished revelation.
In fact, the first Reading is affected by both an idea that attributes to God human emotions, and a primitive conception of God´s intervention in the world that attributes to his direct will and action all events, and in particular all calamities. Thus the Hebrew people attributed their national disasters to God´s anger; in their view, it was a wholly justified anger, provoked by the sins and constant unfaithfulness of his chosen people. anger lasts but a moment; divine favor lasts a lifetime" (Psalm 30:6).
However, in the New Testament readings, the accent is on God´s mercy and on his positive will that everyone be saved. He condemns no one. How could he? "He so loves the world that he gave his only Son" up to death to save us.
We want to know fulfillment, we want to experience joy, to be lifted out of ourselves into endless ecstasy and to share our completion with others. The only drink that can slake our burning inner thirst is the living water of Uncreated Love. It is only under the influence of this intoxicating draught, that we will be able to see ourselves, not only as the psychiatrist sees us as we are, but as true selves from the ruins that we are now. Then we will be able to reach out to ‘other’ with genuine hand of brotherhood, to give of ourselves totally in love to the neighbor in need, because we have love to give, not just dreams to share.
Sometimes when reflect on the love of God as presented to us in the gospel reading of today, we are tempted to present Jesus as a ‘superman’ by showing how he was so uncompromisingly available to all men. We often fail to realise that he was only able to open to all men, because he was first of all, open to God. It was only because he had exposed himself without restrain to God’s love that he was able to be filled with the fullness that he could communicate to others. Without the hidden years, the desert experience (His Temptations), the lonely garden (Gethsemane), or the inner room, there could be no compassion for the needy, no love for the loveless, no healing for the sick.
To put it another way, Jesus was absolutely sure that he had parental love. He knew by experience that his Father loved him because that love was tangibly present to him day after day. The only way to be shown to love is to be loved. Jesus experienced it and he gives it out to us daily in the celebration of the Eucharist. How can you claim to love God when you have not opened yourself to his unrequited love? For many of us our love of God has never been genuine because we do not even know that God loves us personally. In our family set up, many have never experienced true love and so the vicious cycle continuous in our future relationships. Are you aware that God’s love is tangible? Open your heart to receive it because He gives it daily.
This is the fourth Sunday of Lent and we are half way to Easter. For the next few weeks, as we continue our Lenten Journey, I encourage you to focus on the Cross – the Cross that saves, the Cross of Hope, the Cross of Love, the Cross of Eternal Life, the Cross of Christ.
We are in the midst of Lent. Through this season of grace we hear again and again the words Jesus spoke on the first Sunday of Lent, “Repent and believe in the gospel (Mk 1: 15).” And that is what we are trying our best to do – to turn away from our sin and turn more fully to the grace God is offering us in Christ. To prevent us from thinking that this work of conversion is ours to do on our own, Paul reminds us today that it is by God’s grace we have been saved and are being saved. If you have any doubts about God’s intentions and how much God is reaching out to you in love, you have only to look up at the procession and recession of today’s Mass – it is being led by the cross held high.
In conclusion, if you understood God´s love, and how you separate yourself from it by sin, you would weep as bitterly as the exiles in Babylon (Psalm). God cannot oblige you to seek the light, for he cannot simultaneously create you as creatures who are free and not free (your creation is not something that happened in the past, it is ongoing). But he does not want you to weep; Christ raised up on the cross before us constitutes the ultimate effort of his love; his ultimate appeal to our free response to his love. The vision of Jesus crucified for your sins is the antidote that, like the Israelites bitten by the serpents (Numbers 21:4-9), every generation of Christians has found to the poison of selfishness and sin. Praying the Stations of the Cross – every day or at least once or twice a week until Easter – would be a great way to apply this remedy.
Lent is preparation for Easter, but our journey towards Easter must of necessity pass over the hill of Calvary. As the Passion approaches, we are invited to look to the cross. Sinfulness and human contempt for God´s plan leads irremediably to massive personal and collective catastrophe. Whereas the Israelites, like other ancient peoples, saw this reflected in history (First Reading), Jesus reveals that the disaster attendant on our rejection of God is even greater. This is because it involves a death worse than death itself and the loss of eternal life (Gospel). In his great mercy, God has sent his Son, not to condemn the world but to save it. Only our own obstinate refusal of his grace can condemn us to eternal loss (Second Reading and Gospel). Jesus was raised up on the cross of suffering as the final effort of God´s surpassing mercy to save us from that awful eventuality (Second Reading).
How can we reconcile the "angry" God of certain Old Testament passages with the God of mercy preached by Jesus is the question that lingers on our minds readily when one reads the first reading. Some early Christians did created a heresy that believed in a vengeful Old Testament God and a merciful God of the New Testament. In much more recent times, some Christians have, in practice at least, believed in a God whose righteous anger was more prominent than his merciful love.
Guided by the Holy Spirit, the Church has always maintained the divine inspiration and the harmony of the two Testaments, which cannot contradict one another. The revelation they contain come from God; it is his word, we may not pick and choose passages we ´approve´, and reject others. It is gradual and reaches its perfection with Christ; God´s ways are so different from ours that we cannot grasp them in a moment; they dawn on us through the centuries and we should not expect the Old Testament to offer us a finished revelation.
In fact, the first Reading is affected by both an idea that attributes to God human emotions, and a primitive conception of God´s intervention in the world that attributes to his direct will and action all events, and in particular all calamities. Thus the Hebrew people attributed their national disasters to God´s anger; in their view, it was a wholly justified anger, provoked by the sins and constant unfaithfulness of his chosen people. anger lasts but a moment; divine favor lasts a lifetime" (Psalm 30:6).
However, in the New Testament readings, the accent is on God´s mercy and on his positive will that everyone be saved. He condemns no one. How could he? "He so loves the world that he gave his only Son" up to death to save us.
We want to know fulfillment, we want to experience joy, to be lifted out of ourselves into endless ecstasy and to share our completion with others. The only drink that can slake our burning inner thirst is the living water of Uncreated Love. It is only under the influence of this intoxicating draught, that we will be able to see ourselves, not only as the psychiatrist sees us as we are, but as true selves from the ruins that we are now. Then we will be able to reach out to ‘other’ with genuine hand of brotherhood, to give of ourselves totally in love to the neighbor in need, because we have love to give, not just dreams to share.
Sometimes when reflect on the love of God as presented to us in the gospel reading of today, we are tempted to present Jesus as a ‘superman’ by showing how he was so uncompromisingly available to all men. We often fail to realise that he was only able to open to all men, because he was first of all, open to God. It was only because he had exposed himself without restrain to God’s love that he was able to be filled with the fullness that he could communicate to others. Without the hidden years, the desert experience (His Temptations), the lonely garden (Gethsemane), or the inner room, there could be no compassion for the needy, no love for the loveless, no healing for the sick.
To put it another way, Jesus was absolutely sure that he had parental love. He knew by experience that his Father loved him because that love was tangibly present to him day after day. The only way to be shown to love is to be loved. Jesus experienced it and he gives it out to us daily in the celebration of the Eucharist. How can you claim to love God when you have not opened yourself to his unrequited love? For many of us our love of God has never been genuine because we do not even know that God loves us personally. In our family set up, many have never experienced true love and so the vicious cycle continuous in our future relationships. Are you aware that God’s love is tangible? Open your heart to receive it because He gives it daily.
This is the fourth Sunday of Lent and we are half way to Easter. For the next few weeks, as we continue our Lenten Journey, I encourage you to focus on the Cross – the Cross that saves, the Cross of Hope, the Cross of Love, the Cross of Eternal Life, the Cross of Christ.
We are in the midst of Lent. Through this season of grace we hear again and again the words Jesus spoke on the first Sunday of Lent, “Repent and believe in the gospel (Mk 1: 15).” And that is what we are trying our best to do – to turn away from our sin and turn more fully to the grace God is offering us in Christ. To prevent us from thinking that this work of conversion is ours to do on our own, Paul reminds us today that it is by God’s grace we have been saved and are being saved. If you have any doubts about God’s intentions and how much God is reaching out to you in love, you have only to look up at the procession and recession of today’s Mass – it is being led by the cross held high.
In conclusion, if you understood God´s love, and how you separate yourself from it by sin, you would weep as bitterly as the exiles in Babylon (Psalm). God cannot oblige you to seek the light, for he cannot simultaneously create you as creatures who are free and not free (your creation is not something that happened in the past, it is ongoing). But he does not want you to weep; Christ raised up on the cross before us constitutes the ultimate effort of his love; his ultimate appeal to our free response to his love. The vision of Jesus crucified for your sins is the antidote that, like the Israelites bitten by the serpents (Numbers 21:4-9), every generation of Christians has found to the poison of selfishness and sin. Praying the Stations of the Cross – every day or at least once or twice a week until Easter – would be a great way to apply this remedy.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
HOMILY FOR THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B Exodus 20:1-17/ Psalm 19/ 1 Corinthians 1:22-25 /John 2: 13-25
Theme: The Cross: our victory
A young Nigerian priest wrote a small book entitled, “Selling God at a Discount”. The book is a sharp criticism of the so-called prosperity gospel which dominates much of the preaching in the new religious movements in Christianity. According to these modern-day preachers, immediate personal prosperity, good health and wealth, are signs of true faith. “God has promised to bless those who come to Him and this blessing always and invariably takes the form of visible, material prosperity” they say. Even though this teaching is found more in newfound churches and ministries than in traditional, mainline ones, there is actually nothing new in prosperity theology. Prosperity theology was found among the Jews of old. St Paul in today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians condemns religious thinking which does not recognize the cross as an essential part of the true Christian faith.
For Paul the Christian message, far from being a prosperity gospel is the message of the cross. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Paul recognizes that this message, which for true believers is the power of God, is perceived as nothing but foolishness by non-believers. The theology of the cross, unlike prosperity theology, recognizes that hardships and contradictions can, and often do, go along with true belief in the crucified and risen Lord. Ultimately, the reward for true faith is out of this world. Believing that the reward for righteousness is always found in this life is nothing but materialism in religious garb.
Paul recognizes that true Christian teaching, the theology of the cross, does not make sense by human standards. The cross represents the weakness and the foolishness of God. But as Paul says, “God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Paul finds examples of human thinking in the response of the Jews and Greeks of his time to the preaching of the Christian message. “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).
Jews demanded signs. According to their belief, the Messiah, the Son of God would have to prove it by signs and wonders. But Jesus fundamentally said no to a life of signs and wonders. When the devil tempted him to jump down from the pinnacle of the temple and amaze the people into believing, he turned it down. When the onlookers at the crucifixion taunted him, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42) did he act up to their expectations? No. Jesus challenged the dominant prosperity theology of the Jews at every point. As if this were not enough, Jesus gave them a negative sign. The cross was a negative sign. The Hebrew Scriptures have it that “Anyone that is hanged is accursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21:23). To the Jews the fact that Jesus was hanged on the cross, far from proving that Jesus was the Son of God, disproved it. The Jews looked for signs and wonders. What they got instead was the cross, a negative sign.
The Greeks, on the other hand, demanded wisdom. They had developed a logical philosophy of God and expected God to act in accordance with their philosophy. For example, they believed that God cannot suffer. So anyone who suffers and dies on the cross cannot claim to be divine. Here again, the crucifixion of Christ becomes an obstacle in accepting the Christian message.
The cross was an obstacle to true Christian faith to the Jews and the Greeks of Paul’s time. What about us today? It still is a problem. Do we still believe in the prosperity gospel? We worship and praise God when things are going well for us. But will we still worship and praise Him when things are hard for us? May God give us true faith such that we can love and serve Him unconditionally, to continue believing in the sun even when it is not shining, to keep believing, loving and serving God, even when we are hanging on the cross apparently abandoned by God.
Jesus in the gospel reading of today revealed his zeal for God, first of all, by cleansing the temple (John 2:13-17). The priests have established a lucrative business of exchanging foreign money for Jewish currency and also selling the animals needed for the sacrifices. No doubt this “religious market began as a convenience for the Jews who came long distances to worship in the temple but in due time the “convenience” became a business not a ministry.
Jesus am sure was so angry because this business was carried on in the court of the gentiles, in the temple, a place where the Jews should have been meeting the Gentiles and telling them about the one true God. This is because the gentiles who were considered unclean by the Jews, could not mix up with the Jews for worship. For Jesus, this was a tragedy. Any Gentile searching for truth would not likely find it among religious merchants in the temple.
Jesus reminds us that we are that living temple not made by human hands but by the creator himself. He tells us not turn this living temple into a market place. While the Jews authorities sold pigeons, changed coins and traded in all kinds of things, we in our day have turned this body into a cosmetic shop to the extent that we have no regard for God’s temple. We have turned our Churches into a commercial centre. Jesus challenges us about the need to keep his temple clean at all times and used for the purpose for which it was built namely worship.
If Jesus got furious about the misuse of the temple built by human hands, then he will be more angry with us who use our bodies anyhow, a body he redeemed with his precious blood. We are told that “Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them” (John 2:24-25). Indeed, they killed him to confirm his assertion about them. Today Jesus’ statement is more relevant to us because every day, we crucify him with the way we conduct ourselves.
In conclusion, already on the third Sunday of Lent, the Church anticipates the Paschal Mystery. The cross of Jesus is, therefore, the glory of the Church. The cross is the only way to salvation. All are called to true devotion to the cross and Christ crucified. The Church invites all to embrace the cross with reverence, respect, love and devotion.
A young Nigerian priest wrote a small book entitled, “Selling God at a Discount”. The book is a sharp criticism of the so-called prosperity gospel which dominates much of the preaching in the new religious movements in Christianity. According to these modern-day preachers, immediate personal prosperity, good health and wealth, are signs of true faith. “God has promised to bless those who come to Him and this blessing always and invariably takes the form of visible, material prosperity” they say. Even though this teaching is found more in newfound churches and ministries than in traditional, mainline ones, there is actually nothing new in prosperity theology. Prosperity theology was found among the Jews of old. St Paul in today’s second reading from 1 Corinthians condemns religious thinking which does not recognize the cross as an essential part of the true Christian faith.
For Paul the Christian message, far from being a prosperity gospel is the message of the cross. “For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). Paul recognizes that this message, which for true believers is the power of God, is perceived as nothing but foolishness by non-believers. The theology of the cross, unlike prosperity theology, recognizes that hardships and contradictions can, and often do, go along with true belief in the crucified and risen Lord. Ultimately, the reward for true faith is out of this world. Believing that the reward for righteousness is always found in this life is nothing but materialism in religious garb.
Paul recognizes that true Christian teaching, the theology of the cross, does not make sense by human standards. The cross represents the weakness and the foolishness of God. But as Paul says, “God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength” (1 Corinthians 1:25).
Paul finds examples of human thinking in the response of the Jews and Greeks of his time to the preaching of the Christian message. “For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).
Jews demanded signs. According to their belief, the Messiah, the Son of God would have to prove it by signs and wonders. But Jesus fundamentally said no to a life of signs and wonders. When the devil tempted him to jump down from the pinnacle of the temple and amaze the people into believing, he turned it down. When the onlookers at the crucifixion taunted him, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him” (Matthew 27:42) did he act up to their expectations? No. Jesus challenged the dominant prosperity theology of the Jews at every point. As if this were not enough, Jesus gave them a negative sign. The cross was a negative sign. The Hebrew Scriptures have it that “Anyone that is hanged is accursed by God” (Deuteronomy 21:23). To the Jews the fact that Jesus was hanged on the cross, far from proving that Jesus was the Son of God, disproved it. The Jews looked for signs and wonders. What they got instead was the cross, a negative sign.
The Greeks, on the other hand, demanded wisdom. They had developed a logical philosophy of God and expected God to act in accordance with their philosophy. For example, they believed that God cannot suffer. So anyone who suffers and dies on the cross cannot claim to be divine. Here again, the crucifixion of Christ becomes an obstacle in accepting the Christian message.
The cross was an obstacle to true Christian faith to the Jews and the Greeks of Paul’s time. What about us today? It still is a problem. Do we still believe in the prosperity gospel? We worship and praise God when things are going well for us. But will we still worship and praise Him when things are hard for us? May God give us true faith such that we can love and serve Him unconditionally, to continue believing in the sun even when it is not shining, to keep believing, loving and serving God, even when we are hanging on the cross apparently abandoned by God.
Jesus in the gospel reading of today revealed his zeal for God, first of all, by cleansing the temple (John 2:13-17). The priests have established a lucrative business of exchanging foreign money for Jewish currency and also selling the animals needed for the sacrifices. No doubt this “religious market began as a convenience for the Jews who came long distances to worship in the temple but in due time the “convenience” became a business not a ministry.
Jesus am sure was so angry because this business was carried on in the court of the gentiles, in the temple, a place where the Jews should have been meeting the Gentiles and telling them about the one true God. This is because the gentiles who were considered unclean by the Jews, could not mix up with the Jews for worship. For Jesus, this was a tragedy. Any Gentile searching for truth would not likely find it among religious merchants in the temple.
Jesus reminds us that we are that living temple not made by human hands but by the creator himself. He tells us not turn this living temple into a market place. While the Jews authorities sold pigeons, changed coins and traded in all kinds of things, we in our day have turned this body into a cosmetic shop to the extent that we have no regard for God’s temple. We have turned our Churches into a commercial centre. Jesus challenges us about the need to keep his temple clean at all times and used for the purpose for which it was built namely worship.
If Jesus got furious about the misuse of the temple built by human hands, then he will be more angry with us who use our bodies anyhow, a body he redeemed with his precious blood. We are told that “Jesus knew them all and did not trust himself to them” (John 2:24-25). Indeed, they killed him to confirm his assertion about them. Today Jesus’ statement is more relevant to us because every day, we crucify him with the way we conduct ourselves.
In conclusion, already on the third Sunday of Lent, the Church anticipates the Paschal Mystery. The cross of Jesus is, therefore, the glory of the Church. The cross is the only way to salvation. All are called to true devotion to the cross and Christ crucified. The Church invites all to embrace the cross with reverence, respect, love and devotion.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B Genesis 22:1-2, 9a,10-13,15-18/ Psalm 116/ Romans 8: 31b-34/ Mark 9:2-10
Theme: understand the demands of your faith
Last week, God enters a covenant with Noah and assured him of the sustenance of that covenant for many generations to come. Today, Abraham becomes a beneficiary of this covenant. Each one of us is invited to a covenantal relationship with God throughout this season of Lent; a covenantal relationship in which God is at the service of humanity and in which he writes his laws on our heart and mind (cf Jeremiah 31:33).
The most extraordinary faith of the Old Testament introduces us to the most extraordinary love of the New Testament. Abraham´s sacrifice of his son, Isaac, inspiring and admirable as it is (First Reading), is only a pale shadow of what it prefigures: God´s sacrifice of his only-begotten Son (Second Reading). On Mount Tabor, God wanted to reveal to the leaders of the apostles Jesus´ true identity, not only so that their faith could survive the scandal of the passion, but also so that they might understand the depth of his love for us (Gospel).
The liturgy is dominated today by two father – son relationships, both characterized by an inexpressibly great heroism. Each father loves his son like no one has ever loved. Abraham lives for his son Isaac; the inspired writer makes a point of underlining just how deeply he loves the young boy. It appears as an unsurpassable paternal love. Yet when God speaks of his Beloved Son, he is expressing a love that is beyond all the paternal and maternal love in the history of the universe a million times over. And each of them is prepared to offer the beloved one in sacrifice: Abraham in the obedience of faith to a God whose mystery and whose thoughts surpass him; God the Father in obedience to his own faithful love for human creatures: and being the same love, it too is infinitely greater than the deepest and purest human love ever known.
In the first reading, the book of Genesis recounts to us the condition for sustaining the covenantal relationship that God had with Abraham. God’s call to Abraham was an imperative or a command “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you” (Genesis 22:2). One of the conditions of remaining in the covenantal relationship is to respond to God’s invitation urgently because His calling is urgent. Again, it was as if God was reminding Abraham about his past (his search for a son). Thus the covenantal relationship demands of us sacrifice of that which is so dear to us. Abraham demonstrates total trust and faith in God. He did not question God why such a demand. Faith must underline keeping our part of the covenant otherwise it makes no sense to us. Finally, the fear of the Lord underlines everything.
If sacrifice underpins our relationship with God, it brings rewards. Abraham was rewarded with the title “Friend of God” and “a father of many nations”. If by nearly sacrificing his only son, Abraham became the friend of God and a father of many nations, then someone greater than Abraham (God) and Isaac (Jesus Christ) has come. Those who will obey Jesus have greater blessings.
Jesus in the gospel reading of today is presented to us as he who seals the covenantal relationship with his blood; otherwise we cannot on our own remain faithful to the covenant. Jesus assures us that faithfulness to the covenant will lead to our own transfiguration. We will see God face to face and like Peter, we will exclaim, “It is wonderful for us to be here.” Indeed, in this season of Lent and in our daily encounter with the Lord should lead us to say that “It is wonderful for us to be there”. Our daily celebration of the Eucharist should be joyful and a wonderful encounter with our God because in it our sins are forgiven. St Peter puts it beautifully when he says “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake” (1Peter 1:18-20).
Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anybody about what they have experienced until his resurrection. Indeed, Jesus has resurrected and we are not to keep quiet. We are supposed to tell people about the mercy of God and bring them to the fold especially by sharing with them what we have experienced. Why are we quiet? In this season of Lent, we are reminded of the unceasing mercy of God. We are asked to listen to the voice of Jesus because in it lies our salvation. Indeed, he is our mercy and reconciliation.
God instructs Abraham to substitute a ram for Isaac, but Jesus himself is the Lamb who is substituted for all God´s other sons and daughters. He did it under no obligation but that of love, "he did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all". After this, nothing else can ever really be called generous in the same sense. That he gives up the Son for whom his love is limitless means that his love is also limitless for those in whose favor the sacrifice is offered. This is what St. Paul emphasises in the second reading.
In conclusion, the obedience of faith, sacrifice and reverence for God are demanded from us all. Sometimes faith has to bow its head in uncomprehending obedience. This was certainly Abraham´s case: what could he possibly make of God´s command to sacrifice his son through whom God himself had pledged to make him the father of innumerable descendants? Yet he obeys, and this is what enables God to make visible for all time his exceedingly great love. What would have happened if Abraham had been like us, and taken the "logical" or "reasonable" path? If he had preferred to defend his "legitimate self-interests" instead of following God´s strange paths? We should all try, certainly, to understand our faith as best we can. But faith calls first of all to obedience to God´s plan and his will, whether we understand or not. If we only did what "made sense" to us, we would be our own little god.
Last week, God enters a covenant with Noah and assured him of the sustenance of that covenant for many generations to come. Today, Abraham becomes a beneficiary of this covenant. Each one of us is invited to a covenantal relationship with God throughout this season of Lent; a covenantal relationship in which God is at the service of humanity and in which he writes his laws on our heart and mind (cf Jeremiah 31:33).
The most extraordinary faith of the Old Testament introduces us to the most extraordinary love of the New Testament. Abraham´s sacrifice of his son, Isaac, inspiring and admirable as it is (First Reading), is only a pale shadow of what it prefigures: God´s sacrifice of his only-begotten Son (Second Reading). On Mount Tabor, God wanted to reveal to the leaders of the apostles Jesus´ true identity, not only so that their faith could survive the scandal of the passion, but also so that they might understand the depth of his love for us (Gospel).
The liturgy is dominated today by two father – son relationships, both characterized by an inexpressibly great heroism. Each father loves his son like no one has ever loved. Abraham lives for his son Isaac; the inspired writer makes a point of underlining just how deeply he loves the young boy. It appears as an unsurpassable paternal love. Yet when God speaks of his Beloved Son, he is expressing a love that is beyond all the paternal and maternal love in the history of the universe a million times over. And each of them is prepared to offer the beloved one in sacrifice: Abraham in the obedience of faith to a God whose mystery and whose thoughts surpass him; God the Father in obedience to his own faithful love for human creatures: and being the same love, it too is infinitely greater than the deepest and purest human love ever known.
In the first reading, the book of Genesis recounts to us the condition for sustaining the covenantal relationship that God had with Abraham. God’s call to Abraham was an imperative or a command “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you” (Genesis 22:2). One of the conditions of remaining in the covenantal relationship is to respond to God’s invitation urgently because His calling is urgent. Again, it was as if God was reminding Abraham about his past (his search for a son). Thus the covenantal relationship demands of us sacrifice of that which is so dear to us. Abraham demonstrates total trust and faith in God. He did not question God why such a demand. Faith must underline keeping our part of the covenant otherwise it makes no sense to us. Finally, the fear of the Lord underlines everything.
If sacrifice underpins our relationship with God, it brings rewards. Abraham was rewarded with the title “Friend of God” and “a father of many nations”. If by nearly sacrificing his only son, Abraham became the friend of God and a father of many nations, then someone greater than Abraham (God) and Isaac (Jesus Christ) has come. Those who will obey Jesus have greater blessings.
Jesus in the gospel reading of today is presented to us as he who seals the covenantal relationship with his blood; otherwise we cannot on our own remain faithful to the covenant. Jesus assures us that faithfulness to the covenant will lead to our own transfiguration. We will see God face to face and like Peter, we will exclaim, “It is wonderful for us to be here.” Indeed, in this season of Lent and in our daily encounter with the Lord should lead us to say that “It is wonderful for us to be there”. Our daily celebration of the Eucharist should be joyful and a wonderful encounter with our God because in it our sins are forgiven. St Peter puts it beautifully when he says “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake” (1Peter 1:18-20).
Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anybody about what they have experienced until his resurrection. Indeed, Jesus has resurrected and we are not to keep quiet. We are supposed to tell people about the mercy of God and bring them to the fold especially by sharing with them what we have experienced. Why are we quiet? In this season of Lent, we are reminded of the unceasing mercy of God. We are asked to listen to the voice of Jesus because in it lies our salvation. Indeed, he is our mercy and reconciliation.
God instructs Abraham to substitute a ram for Isaac, but Jesus himself is the Lamb who is substituted for all God´s other sons and daughters. He did it under no obligation but that of love, "he did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all". After this, nothing else can ever really be called generous in the same sense. That he gives up the Son for whom his love is limitless means that his love is also limitless for those in whose favor the sacrifice is offered. This is what St. Paul emphasises in the second reading.
In conclusion, the obedience of faith, sacrifice and reverence for God are demanded from us all. Sometimes faith has to bow its head in uncomprehending obedience. This was certainly Abraham´s case: what could he possibly make of God´s command to sacrifice his son through whom God himself had pledged to make him the father of innumerable descendants? Yet he obeys, and this is what enables God to make visible for all time his exceedingly great love. What would have happened if Abraham had been like us, and taken the "logical" or "reasonable" path? If he had preferred to defend his "legitimate self-interests" instead of following God´s strange paths? We should all try, certainly, to understand our faith as best we can. But faith calls first of all to obedience to God´s plan and his will, whether we understand or not. If we only did what "made sense" to us, we would be our own little god.
HOMILY FOR THE SECOND SUNDAY OF LENT, YEAR B Genesis 22:1-2, 9a,10-13,15-18/ Psalm 116/ Romans 8: 31b-34/ Mark 9:2-10
Theme: understand the demands of your faith
Last week, God enters a covenant with Noah and assured him of the sustenance of that covenant for many generations to come. Today, Abraham becomes a beneficiary of this covenant. Each one of us is invited to a covenantal relationship with God throughout this season of Lent; a covenantal relationship in which God is at the service of humanity and in which he writes his laws on our heart and mind (cf Jeremiah 31:33).
The most extraordinary faith of the Old Testament introduces us to the most extraordinary love of the New Testament. Abraham´s sacrifice of his son, Isaac, inspiring and admirable as it is (First Reading), is only a pale shadow of what it prefigures: God´s sacrifice of his only-begotten Son (Second Reading). On Mount Tabor, God wanted to reveal to the leaders of the apostles Jesus´ true identity, not only so that their faith could survive the scandal of the passion, but also so that they might understand the depth of his love for us (Gospel).
The liturgy is dominated today by two father – son relationships, both characterized by an inexpressibly great heroism. Each father loves his son like no one has ever loved. Abraham lives for his son Isaac; the inspired writer makes a point of underlining just how deeply he loves the young boy. It appears as an unsurpassable paternal love. Yet when God speaks of his Beloved Son, he is expressing a love that is beyond all the paternal and maternal love in the history of the universe a million times over. And each of them is prepared to offer the beloved one in sacrifice: Abraham in the obedience of faith to a God whose mystery and whose thoughts surpass him; God the Father in obedience to his own faithful love for human creatures: and being the same love, it too is infinitely greater than the deepest and purest human love ever known.
In the first reading, the book of Genesis recounts to us the condition for sustaining the covenantal relationship that God had with Abraham. God’s call to Abraham was an imperative or a command “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you” (Genesis 22:2). One of the conditions of remaining in the covenantal relationship is to respond to God’s invitation urgently because His calling is urgent. Again, it was as if God was reminding Abraham about his past (his search for a son). Thus the covenantal relationship demands of us sacrifice of that which is so dear to us. Abraham demonstrates total trust and faith in God. He did not question God why such a demand. Faith must underline keeping our part of the covenant otherwise it makes no sense to us. Finally, the fear of the Lord underlines everything.
If sacrifice underpins our relationship with God, it brings rewards. Abraham was rewarded with the title “Friend of God” and “a father of many nations”. If by nearly sacrificing his only son, Abraham became the friend of God and a father of many nations, then someone greater than Abraham (God) and Isaac (Jesus Christ) has come. Those who will obey Jesus have greater blessings.
Jesus in the gospel reading of today is presented to us as he who seals the covenantal relationship with his blood; otherwise we cannot on our own remain faithful to the covenant. Jesus assures us that faithfulness to the covenant will lead to our own transfiguration. We will see God face to face and like Peter, we will exclaim, “It is wonderful for us to be here.” Indeed, in this season of Lent and in our daily encounter with the Lord should lead us to say that “It is wonderful for us to be there”. Our daily celebration of the Eucharist should be joyful and a wonderful encounter with our God because in it our sins are forgiven. St Peter puts it beautifully when he says “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake” (1Peter 1:18-20).
Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anybody about what they have experienced until his resurrection. Indeed, Jesus has resurrected and we are not to keep quiet. We are supposed to tell people about the mercy of God and bring them to the fold especially by sharing with them what we have experienced. Why are we quiet? In this season of Lent, we are reminded of the unceasing mercy of God. We are asked to listen to the voice of Jesus because in it lies our salvation. Indeed, he is our mercy and reconciliation.
God instructs Abraham to substitute a ram for Isaac, but Jesus himself is the Lamb who is substituted for all God´s other sons and daughters. He did it under no obligation but that of love, "he did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all". After this, nothing else can ever really be called generous in the same sense. That he gives up the Son for whom his love is limitless means that his love is also limitless for those in whose favor the sacrifice is offered. This is what St. Paul emphasises in the second reading.
In conclusion, the obedience of faith, sacrifice and reverence for God are demanded from us all. Sometimes faith has to bow its head in uncomprehending obedience. This was certainly Abraham´s case: what could he possibly make of God´s command to sacrifice his son through whom God himself had pledged to make him the father of innumerable descendants? Yet he obeys, and this is what enables God to make visible for all time his exceedingly great love. What would have happened if Abraham had been like us, and taken the "logical" or "reasonable" path? If he had preferred to defend his "legitimate self-interests" instead of following God´s strange paths? We should all try, certainly, to understand our faith as best we can. But faith calls first of all to obedience to God´s plan and his will, whether we understand or not. If we only did what "made sense" to us, we would be our own little god.
Last week, God enters a covenant with Noah and assured him of the sustenance of that covenant for many generations to come. Today, Abraham becomes a beneficiary of this covenant. Each one of us is invited to a covenantal relationship with God throughout this season of Lent; a covenantal relationship in which God is at the service of humanity and in which he writes his laws on our heart and mind (cf Jeremiah 31:33).
The most extraordinary faith of the Old Testament introduces us to the most extraordinary love of the New Testament. Abraham´s sacrifice of his son, Isaac, inspiring and admirable as it is (First Reading), is only a pale shadow of what it prefigures: God´s sacrifice of his only-begotten Son (Second Reading). On Mount Tabor, God wanted to reveal to the leaders of the apostles Jesus´ true identity, not only so that their faith could survive the scandal of the passion, but also so that they might understand the depth of his love for us (Gospel).
The liturgy is dominated today by two father – son relationships, both characterized by an inexpressibly great heroism. Each father loves his son like no one has ever loved. Abraham lives for his son Isaac; the inspired writer makes a point of underlining just how deeply he loves the young boy. It appears as an unsurpassable paternal love. Yet when God speaks of his Beloved Son, he is expressing a love that is beyond all the paternal and maternal love in the history of the universe a million times over. And each of them is prepared to offer the beloved one in sacrifice: Abraham in the obedience of faith to a God whose mystery and whose thoughts surpass him; God the Father in obedience to his own faithful love for human creatures: and being the same love, it too is infinitely greater than the deepest and purest human love ever known.
In the first reading, the book of Genesis recounts to us the condition for sustaining the covenantal relationship that God had with Abraham. God’s call to Abraham was an imperative or a command “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains that I shall show you” (Genesis 22:2). One of the conditions of remaining in the covenantal relationship is to respond to God’s invitation urgently because His calling is urgent. Again, it was as if God was reminding Abraham about his past (his search for a son). Thus the covenantal relationship demands of us sacrifice of that which is so dear to us. Abraham demonstrates total trust and faith in God. He did not question God why such a demand. Faith must underline keeping our part of the covenant otherwise it makes no sense to us. Finally, the fear of the Lord underlines everything.
If sacrifice underpins our relationship with God, it brings rewards. Abraham was rewarded with the title “Friend of God” and “a father of many nations”. If by nearly sacrificing his only son, Abraham became the friend of God and a father of many nations, then someone greater than Abraham (God) and Isaac (Jesus Christ) has come. Those who will obey Jesus have greater blessings.
Jesus in the gospel reading of today is presented to us as he who seals the covenantal relationship with his blood; otherwise we cannot on our own remain faithful to the covenant. Jesus assures us that faithfulness to the covenant will lead to our own transfiguration. We will see God face to face and like Peter, we will exclaim, “It is wonderful for us to be here.” Indeed, in this season of Lent and in our daily encounter with the Lord should lead us to say that “It is wonderful for us to be there”. Our daily celebration of the Eucharist should be joyful and a wonderful encounter with our God because in it our sins are forgiven. St Peter puts it beautifully when he says “You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake” (1Peter 1:18-20).
Jesus warned the disciples not to tell anybody about what they have experienced until his resurrection. Indeed, Jesus has resurrected and we are not to keep quiet. We are supposed to tell people about the mercy of God and bring them to the fold especially by sharing with them what we have experienced. Why are we quiet? In this season of Lent, we are reminded of the unceasing mercy of God. We are asked to listen to the voice of Jesus because in it lies our salvation. Indeed, he is our mercy and reconciliation.
God instructs Abraham to substitute a ram for Isaac, but Jesus himself is the Lamb who is substituted for all God´s other sons and daughters. He did it under no obligation but that of love, "he did not spare his own Son but handed him over for the sake of us all". After this, nothing else can ever really be called generous in the same sense. That he gives up the Son for whom his love is limitless means that his love is also limitless for those in whose favor the sacrifice is offered. This is what St. Paul emphasises in the second reading.
In conclusion, the obedience of faith, sacrifice and reverence for God are demanded from us all. Sometimes faith has to bow its head in uncomprehending obedience. This was certainly Abraham´s case: what could he possibly make of God´s command to sacrifice his son through whom God himself had pledged to make him the father of innumerable descendants? Yet he obeys, and this is what enables God to make visible for all time his exceedingly great love. What would have happened if Abraham had been like us, and taken the "logical" or "reasonable" path? If he had preferred to defend his "legitimate self-interests" instead of following God´s strange paths? We should all try, certainly, to understand our faith as best we can. But faith calls first of all to obedience to God´s plan and his will, whether we understand or not. If we only did what "made sense" to us, we would be our own little god.
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