“You have approached Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.”

These are the words of today’s second reading from the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews is filled with Eucharistic imageries. It presents Jesus Christ as the High Priest. Unlike the Jewish High Priest who year after year offers sacrifices for the atonement of his own sins and the sins of the people, Jesus Christ has offered the one perfect sacrifice. His sacrifice is not in atonement for his sins. He is perfect and sinless. His sacrifice is in atonement for our own sins. The Jewish High Priest offered the blood of animals, but Jesus Christ offered his own blood for us. He does not need to make sacrifices over and over again because by his one perfect sacrifice, he has achieved the eternal perfection of those whom he has sanctified. Unlike the blood of Abel which cried out to God for vengeance, the blood of Jesus Christ purifies us, heals us and restores our once broken relationship with the Father. There is healing and power in the blood of Jesus Christ. The sacrificial covenant of Jesus Christ is a fulfillment of the promise that was made to the people of Israel in the Old Testament. The promise was that God will make a new covenant with his people. This new covenant is the ultimate sign of God’s love for us because he let his only son Jesus Christ die for us.

Today’s second reading is the high point of this Eucharistic teaching in Hebrews. Hebrews is a long written homily. It was addressed to a Christian assembly like ours. It was an assembly that was not undergoing any severe persecution but one that needed to be strengthened in their faith as they struggle everyday to live their Christian vocation. Think about this reading as being presented a Christian gathering like ours. Jesus saying to his people, “Where you have come to is Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” This community understood their gathering as a holy gathering. Their partaking in the celebration of the Eucharist is a participation in the heavenly banquet, a banquet that takes place in the heavenly city of God. And because the Mass is a foreshadow of that heavenly banquet, they saw themselves truly as being in Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. This is truly the city of God, the city that cannot be destroyed; Jerusalem that cannot be attacked by foreign invaders; the mount of God that lasts forever. The early Christians craved to enter into this city of the living God. Some of them got killed on their way to Mass. Some of them were killed during Mass. The persecution never stopped Christians to go to these Eucharistic celebrations. What is more awesome than being in God’s city partaking in the one perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

Sometimes we take for granted what a great gift we have. We have what our ancestors of faith in the Old Testament longed to have but could not. We have the son of God come down to us and giving himself fully to us. At the Last Supper, he offered himself, “Take it, eat it, this is my body”; “Take, drink it, this is my blood.” By these words, Jesus gave himself fully to us without any reserve. He is saying to us, “I give myself fully to you and I hold nothing back.” This is the greatest act of selfless love. We should tremble to approach him and receive it. Mass should not be an act of obligation. Like the early Christians, it should be something we should crave to be part of. We do not need to drag our feet to get here because it is our Sunday obligation. We do not need to keep looking at our clocks and waiting for the one hour to pass so that we can leave the church, it should be something we need to be excited about. Why? Because we are in the heavenly Jerusalem. We are in the city of God. We are in Mount Zion. You may not think about it this way, but where you are right now, this moment, is Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. This ground is holy because Jesus Christ is present here in this Eucharistic celebration and he is the lamb of sacrifice. He is giving himself fully to us without reserve. We should be super excited to be here.

Last December I was back in Nigeria for vacation. I hate calling it vacation because I always end up working hard and more than I usually will in Morgantown. I decided to visit a family I know in a rural community around the mountains. It is one of those places that GPS signals do not reach. Your directions are something like this, “When you get to this river, turn right; when you see a big gmelinda tree, turn left; when the roads split into two continue on the one in your left, …etc.” When I asked how far the place was, I was told “Not too far.” That was not very helpful. We set out early in the morning and were driving through this windy country road. The roads were unpaved and some of the bridges through small rivers were only supported by two planks. We had to get out of the car and only the weight of the driver and the car could cross the bridge. By the time we got to the community, it was 3PM in the afternoon. I wanted us to return that night but we were persuaded to spend the night because it would be dangerous driving back in those roads. I decided to spend the night. News went around the community that a priest was in town. People started gathering to visit with me. The people pleaded with me to say a Mass for them. They had not had Mass in a long time and a priest only comes there a few times a year for Mass. This was shortly after Christmas and they did not have a Mass at Christmas. Luckily enough, I had my Mass kit in the car as I always do when I am on vacation in Nigeria. We decided to have the Mass at 8PM in the church. This community has no electricity. The small power generator the church had refused to work that night. It was decided we have an outdoor Mass in one of the family’s in the community that had a power generator. This was a Muslim family. I am thinking to myself. Here I am, a Catholic priest having Mass in a Muslim’s family home. The man was excited to have us celebrate the Eucharist in his compound. I did not for once think whether it was theologically appropriate. I rather thought about the faith of these people who want to be part of this celebration of the heavenly Jerusalem. We gathered for Mass at 9PM and the opening song to the liturgy lasted for one hour. Present at the Mass were Catholics, Anglicans, Presbyterians, African Traditional Religionists, Muslims, etc. Every one sang and the women danced, and danced and danced. We finally began with the sign of the Cross at 10PM. The Mass lasted till 1PM. The Mass was powerful and moving for me. I had never had such a wonderful experience in the celebration of the Eucharist, not even in my very first Mass as a priest. If this was the only Mass I had to celebrate as a priest, I told myself, it was worth my becoming a priest.

At the end of the Mass, the people asked me if I will say a Mass for them the next morning before living. I told them I was living 6AM in the morning. They said to me, “give us the time you want the Mass and we would be there.” I told them 5AM in the morning. At 4AM in the morning, their singing and dancing from the church woke me up from sleep. I got to the church at 5AM and it was all filled with people. Not a single person was late for Mass. I celebrated with them that morning and I departed at around 7AM. As I left, I thought to myself, these people may not be able to write a paper on the Eucharist but they believed that something powerful was happening here and that was what brought them that night and early the next morning. They knew that they were in Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Fast-forward two weeks later, I was in Morgantown and at the daily Mass, I had 12 people. As I was celebrating here in Morgantown, I remembered the singing, the dancing and the faith of these people. I prayed that we may receive a new awareness of the power of the Eucharist in our lives; that we may have a greater appreciation of Mass. We come here not because we are obligated to, rather we come here because it is Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Christ gives himself to us in love and we must receive this gift in love rather than as an obligation.

For your challenge this week, I will ask you to attend one daily Mass. For those of you who cannot attend a daily Mass because of work, I ask that you read the whole book of Hebrews.

In the parable, the rich fool sees his possessions as the beginning and end of his life. He sees his life as consisting of possessions. He is self absorbed and isolated. He has allowed his possessions to get on the way of his relationships. In the parable, Jesus Christ portrays this man as using the word “I” in describing himself. His thinking is self centered. There is no reference to family, friends or his workers. This is troubling in a culture that emphasizes communal living. He doesn’t care about his employees who scrape to get by. He is like our CEO’s who award themselves golden parachutes, billions of dollars in bonuses and compensations when they are either firing workers or reducing their benefits. He is like our politicians who care much about having re-elected than serving the people. This man has insatiable desires for material property. This desire isolates him from everyone. His one God is his possessions.

He is over confident in himself. He sees his riches as his own abilities and not recognizing that they are a gift from God. Now that he has worked so hard, he can sit done and relax and enjoy himself. This is a wrong notion of material possessions. Everything we own is a gift from God and we are holding it in custody of the poor. We are only stewards of our riches. We do not own them and we are not the source of them. St. Augustine reminds us that if we do not share our surpluses with the poor, we are robbing them of what is rightfully theirs.

Like the rich fool, we sometimes abuse our surpluses because we erroneously believe that they are a product of our hardwork and so we canspend them however we want. Sometimes we spend these in ridiculously expensive vacations. Sometimes we use them to buy very expensive brand name products that we may rarely use. We may hide our riches and pretend we are poor so that we may not be asked for charitable donations. Some people still have their first communion money stuccoed in the envelop. We sometimes continue to take higher insurance policies on ourselves. The bad news is that there is no policy that will guarantee that we will live in this world forever. We use our surpluses to buy power. We all know or hear of politicians spending millions of their personal money to buy elected offices. When we do these things, we are trusting more in ourselves than trusting in God.

Our material possessions are all vanities. They will fade away. The only thing that endures forever is Jesus Christ. Psalm 49 reminds us that those who trust in their riches will perish like the beasts. Like sheep they are herded into sheol where death shall be their shepherd. The Psalmist continues that, the rich will take nothing with them to the grave. Though they boast of their abilities, they will join their forebears, never again to see the light. Material possessions are all vanity and we must not allow them to drive our lives or determine our relationships. Jesus Christ is asking the man who comes to him and all of us to stop fighting these fights for possessions that tear us apart. Our focus should be on the life beyond this present life. That is where we belong. As St. Paul beautifully puts it in today’s second reading, “If you were raised with Christ, seek what is above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Think of what is above, not of what is on earth.” Let us this week think of the things that are above.

Your challenge this week is to give a material gift to someone. Make a gift that hurts to give.

“Peace be with you!” (R/. And also with you.)

“Thank you!”

I see by your response to my offer of peace that my peace rests upon you, and I may stay in this house.

I’m glad that I do not have to shake the dust of this house from my feet!

Better yet, I now may eat and drink what you offer, without asking for special meals.

And what you offer in this house is a meal fit for a king, because it is a meal that is prepared by a king, and served by a king.

In this house is served the precious Body and sacred Blood of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ.

The Bread of Life; and the Cup of Salvation.

What more could one possibly ask to be served from the table of this house?

That’s what Jesus told his disciples in today’s Gospel.

Offer the house you enter: “Peace to this household.”

If a peaceful person lives there, you peace will rest on him.

Stay in the house, and eat and drink what is offered to you.

In last week’s Gospel, Luke points out very vividly what the response to the call of Jesus to “follow me” is.

Unlike the man who wants to first bury his father; or the one who first wants to say goodbye to his family and celebrate a farewell party…

…The only answer to the command, “follow me”, is one of acceptance, trust, and joining the journey with Jesus.

One person told Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go;” only to have Jesus tell him that “…the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head.”

In today’s Gospel, we find out what that means.

Jesus invites disciples to follow him on the journey.

He is not going to a place; but, rather, the journey with Jesus takes his disciples is to every town and place Jesus intends to visit.

The journey that his disciples are invited to join takes them to the ends of the earth, to every nook and cranny, in order to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is at hand.

So, today, the command of Jesus is to “Go”.

Go to the ends of the earth; preach the good news by word and action; and let all good people know that the kingdom of God is at hand in them.

But who are the 72 disciples that were sent on to continue the journey?

It could be that Jesus sent 36 priests, along with their “good and faithful” deacons, into the world to preach the Good News of Jesus Christ.

But, that would be too easy… especially for you.

No, the 72 represent all of us…priests, deacons, religious, married and single persons, men and women.

And what can our only response to that command be?

The only answer to the command, “go to all the towns and villages”, is one of acceptance, trust, and joining the journey with Jesus.

Of those three answers, “acceptance, trust, and joining the journey,” it seems to me that “acceptance” may be the easiest one.

Or is it?

Acceptance

Why me? What possibly gives me the right or even the ability to go out into the world and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ through words and actions?

Paul tells us that he proudly bears the marks of Jesus on his body.

Today, after the 1000 (this) mass, I will be baptizing a baby girl. In the Rite of Baptism, I will say to her:

The Christian community welcomes you with great joy. In its name I claim you for Christ our Savior by the sign of his cross. I now trace the cross on your forehead, and invite your parents and godparents to do the same.

“I claim you for Christ our Savior by the sign of his cross”.

She will wear the marks of the Lord on her body.

Do you believe that you were claimed for Christ at your Baptism?

If you do believe that, then you also must believe that, like Paul, you bear the marks of the Lord.

And if you also believe that truth of faith, then your only answer to the call of Jesus to “go out into the world and proclaim his Good News,” is one of acceptance.

Trust

Now the answer to the command to “go” becomes a little more difficult.

We are always called upon to “Trust”: trust our parents; trust our spouses; trust our friends; trust the auto mechanic, or the doctor or dentist.

It goes on and on; and sometimes we are disappointed, because our trust was mis-placed; and we are hurt by someone.

Now, Jesus is telling us, his disciples, his 72, to go out into the towns and villages and put total trust in him, alone.

Don’t take money; don’t take a suitcase; don’t even worry about shoes.

Give your total trust to me.

— years ago, when our sons would drive home from college, they would travel pretty good distances with only $ 5.00 in cash in their pockets.

— as a father who was born in the 18th century, I would be amazed at this, even when told, “We have a debit card, dad.”

— and I would ponder that. What is a debit card? What is an ATM? How could they trust their financial well-being on a trip to the hands of some crazy electronics?

Today, Jesus is turning even that world upside down. “Trust only in Me.”

Do not place your trust in things of this world: in money; in goods; in social status; in nice clothes; or the praise of others.

Trust only in Me.

Do you think that you can take that leap, and put your total trust in Jesus?

Joining the Journey

So, let’s say that you do agree that you bear the marks of Jesus; that you were claimed for Christ.

And, you are willing to place your trust in the Lord.

Now comes the most difficult task, “joining the journey.”

Because here the rubber meets the road, as the tired old cliché tells us.

If we are unable to join the journey, then “acceptance and trust” are just words.

“I’m not trained; priests and deacons are formed in seminary; religious are formed in community”.

“I’m just a lay person, a mother, a father, a son, a daughter.”

“How can I proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth?”

“I would be a lamb sent out among wolves, just like the 72.”

Yes, that’s right. We all have wolves in our lives, whether formed in seminary or community or lay persons. We all have wolves in our lives.

In our society today, we are urged to live as the world lives. “Everybody’s doing it”

There’s really nothing sacred anymore. Check out the movies and cable TV.

Check out the lyrics of popular songs, or the way the current singers and dancers dress.

Get real, everybody’s doing it.

Well, we do have choices.

Choices at home, at school, at work, or at play.

The world tells us to “go along to get along”; Paul tells us to find great joy in the Cross of Christ.

At the end of this and every mass, you will be told to “go”. “The mass is ended, go in peace.

That is not a command to leave the building, so the next mass can begin.

It is the command of Jesus to “go” and proclaim the Good News to all towns and places.

A very difficult command to follow. But a command given to those who accept that they were marked with the Cross of Jesus and who Trust in our Lord.

Do not lose heart and worry about your joining the journey.

Rather, rejoice, because your names are written in heaven!

“Peace be with you!” …R/….

Homily by Deacon Steve Olenchok

Last week, the readings focused on call and identity. Through baptism, we are clothed in Christ Jesus and because of that, we are rightfully the sons and daughters of Abraham, heirs of the promise. Today’s readings turn our attention to responding to the call. Now that we have been called, what next? As Christian people, we must accept that invitation and live as people of the light. Baptism is a significant moment in the life of a Christian but it is not the end of the Christian life. It is not an automatic ticket to heaven. It is not just enough to be baptized. Christian life is living faithfully the baptismal promises to reject sin and Satan and to walk in the light of Christ.

In today’s second reading, Paul tells us that our baptism has guaranteed us freedom. It has given us freedom from slavery. We are no longer slaves to sin or to the world. Now, we live in the freedom of Christ. The life of sin is a life of slavery. We do not have control over ourselves, the sin takes over our lives and controls us. It is like an addiction. Whatever you are addicted to becomes the master of your life. Jesus Christ has given us freedom from this slavery and we can boldly call God our Father. Our freedom is not freedom from God. It is not freedom to sin. It is freedom for God. Jesus Christ restored the original plan of creation. The Baltimore Catechism teaches us that God made us to know him, to love him, to serve him in this world and to be happy with him forever in heaven. In God’s original plan, our lives cannot complete in isolation from him. To live fulfilled and happy lives, our wills and lives must be in strong connection with him. The freedom that Jesus Christ gives us is freedom for communion with God. Christian freedom is detachment from the world and attachment to God.

To detach from the world is difficult. Sometimes we have several excuses while we must keep attachment to the world. In today’s gospel, the persons called by Jesus Christ had excuses why they cannot follow Jesus Christ Now. One says “let me first go and bury my father before I will follow you” and the other said, “Let me say farewell to my family at home.” These are genuine excuses from people who may be spending the rest of their lives following Jesus. Jesus would not accept these excuses. His response to them is this, “If you set your eyes on following me, you must not look back.” How often do we give excuses? You may have good excuses why you cannot follow Jesus Christ sincerely now. You may be saying, I work too hard, may be when I retire, then I will pray more or do more for the church. Some of you may say, I cannot really tithe now because I do not make a lot of money yet, when I begin to make more money then I will tithe. Others may say, I cannot really volunteer in the church now because I am really busy, when I retire, then I will volunteer. Your excuses are not acceptable. Jesus Christ did not wait till he was an old man before he died for us. Today’s gospel tells us that he started heading toward Jerusalem. He knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. As he said in the gospel of last week, the Son of man is going to Jerusalem where he will be severely persecuted. Even when the people of Samaria were not nice to him, he continued on his journey.

Now that we have been called, we must embrace that Christian calling fully. Like Jesus Christ, we are going to be persecuted, but that is not excuse to become fair weather Christians. We must keep moving ahead. As he says to the first person that wanted to follow him in today’s gospel, “discipleship has a cost.” There is a cost to being Christian. You may have heard me say this several times, it is not easy to be Christian. People are going to laugh at you, they will mock you, they will call you names, they will think you are very mean because you are holding onto your Christian values. That is all part of the package of the glory you will experience in heaven.

As Christian people, we are called to life in the Spirit and not life in the flesh. Make no mistake about this, the temptations are not going to be over because you have given your life to Christ, in fact, they will intensify. That is the reason, you must never underestimate the power of the devil. We just saw in this soccer world cup how highly favored teams such as France and Italy got embarrassed and thrown out in the first round of the game. They underestimated the teams that were in their group. As Christians, if we underestimate the power of enemy, the devil, he is going to embarrass us and dump us in his kingdom. Are we going to fall into sin every now and then, yes. As St. Paul testifies about his struggles in Romans 7: 15, “What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.” When I find myself in sin, I realize that the devil has won one round of the battle and I am determined not to let him win another. I go to the sacrament of reconciliation and I sincerely promise to avoid that sin. By doing this, I have increased my armor and the grace of the sacrament is like my bullet proof vest to further protect myself from the enemy.

Our challenge is to be faithful to our call. We must look forward and not look backward. Let us this week pray for the grace to be ever faithful to Jesus Christ. Your challenge for this week is to go to the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

How are we descendants of Abraham? For Paul, the basis of Abraham’s blessings was not his faithful observance of the works of the Law. Abraham was blessed because he had faith in the Lord. The promise preceded the Law. The Law came 430 years after the promise was already made to Abraham and it did not change or nullify the promise. Those who are truly the descendants of Abraham are those who have the kind of faith that Abraham had. When God made the promise to Abraham that through him all the nations of the world would be blessed, he had the Gentiles in mind. The promise was not that only the Jews would be blessed, but everyone who has the kind of faith that Abraham had. Thus he concludes in Galatians 3: 9 that, “those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.” In Galatians 3: 16, Paul says that the promise was made to Abraham and his descendant and not his descendants. The reason for this distinction is because there is only one descendant of Abraham and that is Jesus Christ. As Christians, we are heirs of the promise through Jesus Christ, the singular descendant of Abraham.

We are called into life with Jesus , the Christ. For you to live fully the blessings of Abraham, you must know the person who has called you and live faithfully in him. In today’s gospel, Peter professes Jesus Christ as the Christ of God. There is a difference between knowing about someone and knowing someone. The answers given earlier by the disciples about Jesus were not personal. This was their knowledge about Jesus Christ as received from the crowd. Jesus Christ wanted them to personally testify about their knowledge of him. Peter professed him as the Christ. We must have our personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. An important question to ask yourself is, “who is Jesus Christ to me?” Having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ would help you to embrace your Cross.

The promise made to Abraham and his heir did not eliminate all crosses. Jesus Christ did not promise us a Cross-free life. The promise of Jesus Christ is that we will ultimately be victoriously. When in Roman’s 8: 14-17 Paul presents his theology of adoption, Paul says that, “The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Just as Jesus Christ embraced his cross and suffered severely in Jerusalem, we also must embrace our crosses. Crosses come in different forms: it may be an illness, a monster mother-in-law, an unloving spouse, mean parents, a troubled child, a jealous sibling, uncharitable colleagues, or a difficult boss. A good way to embrace your cross is to respond with good deeds toward these people. It may seem like they are taking advantage of you and making life difficult for you. That is okay, Jesus was the first. He embraced his cross and brought it successfully to the end. Accept your treatment as suffering with Christ. I have been speaking lately about this new title for God, “The God of the Long-run.” That God is always victorious. Just as Jesus Christ was glorified, you also will be glorified in him.

I want to conclude by sharing with you these words I always used quietly when I am confronted with a Cross. I will say to myself, “I am a child of Abraham. I am blessed. Nothing will take those blessings away from me.” You are blessed, nothing, no one, can take your blessings away. Just stay beneath the Cross of Christ and you are fine.

In 2 Samuel 11:1-26 and 12:1-25, you will read about the heinous crimes committed by King David. David, walking on the roof of his palace after his siesta, saw Bathsheba, the beautiful wife of Uriah, and fell in love with her. He sent for her and committed adultery with her. The Law of Moses forbade adultery (Exodus 20:14), of course, and committing it carried a big penalty. Leviticus 20:10 says:
If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.

This penalty is reiterated in Deuteronomy 22:22 thus:
“If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.”

There is no doubt that David had committed a serious crime. Finding out from Bathsheba that she was pregnant as a result of their adultery, David attempted to cover things up by having Uriah killed, thus compounding his sin of adultery with the second sin of murder. Murder is a violation of one of the commandments of God. Exodus 20:13 spells out clearly the commandment, “You shall not murder.” Unbeknownst to David, however, was that even though he thought he had succeeded in hiding his sins, God was watching him. God sent Nathan to confront him about his evil acts.

Nathan presented the case to him as a hypothetical situation and requested David’s judgment. David’s judgment was simple, a man who commits such acts deserve death. At that point, Nathan told him he, David, was that guilty man, deserving of punishment from God. This was Nathan’s prophecy to him:

Thus says the Lord: ‘I will raise up evil against you from within your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this very sun. For you did it secretly; but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.’
— 2 Samuel 12:11-12

. David repented, and God forgave him. The Lord asked Nathan to say to him, “Now the Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Samuel 12:13).

Today’s gospel tells another beautiful story of forgiveness. This sinful woman encountered Christ and her life changed. She gave her whole life to Jesus Christ. While Jesus Christ rejected sin during His public ministry, He always loved sinners and gave them an opportunity for repentance, even when society rejected them. He saw His ministry as that of reconciling sinners to God. Jesus’ message on repentance reinforces the Old Testament teaching that God takes no pleasure in the death of a sinner. If that were the case, the gift of Jesus would not have been given to humanity. In the eyes of God, no one is expendable. Everyone is singularly loved by God. God loves you as a person, and His forgiveness is personal. Jesus did not just die for a crowd; He died for every one of His followers. Salvation is a personal affair.

One important thing to remember: God’s forgiveness is unmerited. You are forgiven not because of what you have done to merit it but because of what God has done in Jesus Christ. In Romans 5:8, St. Paul says that while humanity was still living in sin, Christ died for the forgiveness of the sins of everyone. He didn’t wait to die until after humankind had achieved perfection!

When you live a life of sin, you set yourself as an enemy of God, yet Jesus Christ died for you. St. Paul continues:

Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God.
— Romans 5:7-9

Sometimes, when people come to me for the Sacrament of Reconciliation and I give them a penance, they look at me and ask, “Is that all?” Depending on the sin, they often expect something harder to do. They fail to understand that what they do as penance doesn’t matter nearly as much as their true contrition and repentance — and what God has done in Jesus Christ for them. The price has been paid for your sins; a high price that you cannot, and never would have been able to, pay. It was paid with the blood of Jesus Christ, the sign of your forgiveness and salvation. Thus, St. Paul tells us in today’s second reading, we are justified by faith.

While as a Christian you should not take glory in your sins, it is always important to know that you are human and you will fall. When you fall into sin, you need to quickly approach the throne of grace and forgiveness which is the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that you will be reconciled not only with God but also with the Church. The beauty of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is that the priest — who represents both Christ and His Body, the Church — isn’t there to pass judgment on you but to love you, as Christ loves the Church. It isn’t by accident that Jesus Christ gave this special ministry to the Church. He knows that your sins do not only affect your personal relationship with God but they affect the whole body, the Church, of which you are a member. When one part of the body suffers, the whole body suffers. The sin of one member of the Church affects the whole Church.

Fortunately, God’s mercy has no limits, so do not hesitate to approach Him often to gain the graces you need to live fully the blessings of God in your life. God does not keep a detailed record of your past, so as to continually use it against your future. In God, the forgiven past is forgotten, and the future is blessed.

]]> http://homilies.org/?feed=rss2&p=596 0 http://homilies.org/?p=591 http://homilies.org/?p=591#comments Sun, 02 May 2010 14:58:17 +0000 Rev. Bekeh Utietiang http://homilies.org/?p=591 In today’s gospel, Jesus Christ in his farewell discourse gives his disciples their primary mission. He says to them,
I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. — Jn 13: 34-35

John’s Gospel is divided by scholars into two books: The Book of Signs (Jn 1-12) and The Book of Glory (Jn 13-21). Though the Book of Glory focuses on the events leading to Jesus’ death on the Cross, for John, the hour of Jesus’ death is the hour of his glorification and the beginning of his return to the Father; and the glory Jesus had before the beginning of the world.[1] Central in the first chapter of this book is Jesus’ washing of his disciples’ feet. This action sets the stage for his final discourse and the mission that he gives to his disciples. This event:

. . . models for the Church the command to love one another as Jesus has loved us. It provides the only way in which we can walk through the pain of the passion and not find ourselves totally lost and abandoned at the foot of the cross, whether the cross of Jesus or one of our fellow disciples.[2]

The washing of the feet is both an example in love and a mission for the disciples of Jesus Christ to follow. This action culminates with Jesus Christ giving a “new” commandment to the disciples. This new command is symbolized by the washing of the feet; it is soteriological, as it points toward the Cross, the perfect and ultimate sign of love. The commandment to love that Jesus describes as new is already found in the Old Testament. It is new because “it is grounded not in the love commands of the Jewish traditions (e.g., Lev 19:18; 1QS 1:9-11) but in the self-offering of Jesus.”[3] The self-offering love of Jesus Christ is demonstrated in Jesus’ dying on the Cross and in his rising. The disciples must make this kind of love the base of their relationships with others. The only way disciples can have the courage to live this kind of love is by living in “the kind of intimacy that footwashing anticipates.”[4]

The commandment to love was taken seriously by both the Christians of the New Testament and those of the early Church. They understood that the only way in which the message of the risen Lord was going to be effective was in their actions. Although the kerygma remained important to them, the emphasis was on their radical living of the law of love. This was precisely because it was through this love that other people would come to know that they were truly the disciples of Jesus Christ.

The love Jesus Christ calls them to embrace is evangelical love. It is not love for those who love them; it isn’t love for family members and friends; even though this is not excluded, it is also love for enemies. Jesus Christ puts it aptly to his disciples, “For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same” (Lk 6:32). Their love must distinguish them from the pagans. They do this by loving those who do not love them and without expecting them to return the love. This love is unconditional because it does not expect anything in return. It mirrors Jesus’ for them. He loved them and died for them even when they were still living in sin. This kind of love is in action in Acts of the Apostles and in the epistles of the New Testament.

St. Luke’s description of the communal life of Christians of the first century is a life that was marked by deep love for the other. This new Church held everything in common, sharing their possessions amongst each other according to their need and they ate their meals with exaltation praising God. (Acts 2:42-47). This was a happy community, not a selfish community. This unique way of living in love characterized them as truly the disciples of Jesus. Because of that, “And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). There are strong signs here already how evangelical their love was. People were attracted to their characteristic way of living and they chose to be saved.

It would be a mistake, however, to think that every member of this community was perfect. There are two incidents reported by Luke in Acts which seem to undercut selfless living in this community: the story of Ananias and Sapphira; and the complaint of the widows. The story of Ananias and Sapphira illustrates divine punishment of those violating the purity of the early community.[5] This couple’s failure to return all of their money to the community and their lying about it undercuts the oneness of heart and the culture of love that existed in this nascent Christian family. Their continuous presence in the community would do more damage to this Christian community because their actions have sown a seed of deception and lying. As harsh as the punishment for this offense was, it helped to strengthen the early Church in its life and kept it focus on its mission of love.

The complaints of the Hellenists in Acts 6:1-7 are very significant in understanding how the early Christians took the covenant of love with one another. The Hellenists complained that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. Luke tells us that the Twelve called together the community of the disciples and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at table.” The call to serve the members of the community and beyond wasn’t an initiative of the twelve apostles but a command of the Lord. The apostles appointed seven reputable men to this ministry so they could devote themselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word.

They did not see the ministry to the needy as that of the secular society and the ministry of prayer and word as that of the Church; they understood that the Church has an important ministry to the needy. What was the result of this resolution? The number of the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly; even a large group of Jewish priests were becoming obedient to the faith.

What led to the growth of the Church here was the covenant of love that the Christians had with one another. The power of love is that it cannot be hidden. Love is attractive and possesses anyone who sees and experiences it.

St. Stephen, the first martyr of the Christian Church, lived this challenge to love. He loved and prayed for those who persecuted him and stoned him to death. The Acts of the Apostles tells us:
As they were stoning Stephen, he called out, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’, and when he said this, he fell asleep
— Acts 8: 59-60

Paul devotes a lot of time preaching on agapao (love). He regards love for others as the single most important characteristic of the Christian life and the heart of Christian living. Everything one does is to be an expression of love.[6] He considers love to be the greatest gift any Christian can receive and it should be pursued. (1 Cor 14:1). For Paul, the only gift absolutely necessary for Christian living is love. Every other gift, such as preaching, prophesying, and speaking in tongues, will all fail, but love never fails.
Why is love necessary for Christian living? St. Paul says it is because love is patient, kind, not jealous; not pompous or inflated; not selfish or quick-tempered; doesn’t brood over injury or rejoice over wrongdoing. He concludes, “So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor 13:1-13). This is the reason Paul constantly prays for Christians to remain steadfast in love until the coming of Christ. To the people of Philippi, he writes, “And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more … blameless for the day of Christ.” (Phil 1:9-10). St. Paul considers love for each other as a preparation for the coming of Christ.

Love for neighbor will not only strengthen the hearts of those who love, but it will also make them holy and blameless before God. (1 Thess 3: 12-13). It is the barometer by which we gauge our readiness for the coming of Christ. For St. Paul, the teaching of Jesus Christ is clear that authentic Christian virtue is achieved not only in keeping to the “thou shall not” commandments but in reaching out in love to the needy. Jesus Christ said to the rich young man, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven” (Mt 19:21)

Sacrificial love is the only commandment that Jesus calls us to live. For those of you graduating and beginning new lives, let love be at the center of everything that you do. You can only find fulfillment in life, if you embrace fully this commandment to love. I leave you with these concluding words of the letter to the Hebrews:
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body.
— Heb 13:1-3

References:
[1] Paul J. Achtemeier, Joel B. Green, and Marianne Meye Thompson, Introducing the New Testament: Its Literature and Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2001), 195.
[2] Wes Howard-Brook, John’s Gospel and The Renewal of the Church (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1997), 91.
[3] Pheme Perkins, “The Gospel According to John,” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, eds. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1990), 974.
[4] Wes Howard-Brook, John’s Gospel and The Renewal of the Church, 98.
[5] Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Doubleday, 1997), 291.
[6] R. Mohrlang, “Love,” in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, Gerald F. Hawthorne and Ralph P. Martin, eds. (Leicester, UK: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 576.

]]> http://homilies.org/?feed=rss2&p=591 0 http://homilies.org/?p=589 http://homilies.org/?p=589#comments Sat, 24 Apr 2010 23:38:38 +0000 Rev. Bekeh Utietiang http://homilies.org/?p=589

]]> http://homilies.org/?feed=rss2&p=589 0 http://homilies.org/?p=584 http://homilies.org/?p=584#comments Sat, 24 Apr 2010 23:33:47 +0000 Rev. Bekeh Utietiang http://homilies.org/?p=584 There is this Verizon Wireless commercial I love so much. “Can you hear me now?” Jesus Christ is calling us, can we hear him. In today’s gospel, Jesus Christ says that his sheep hear his voice. Do we hear Jesus Christ calling us? We are the sheep of his flock and he is our shepherd.

One of the most popular Psalms in the Bible is Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.” What does it mean to say that Jesus Christ is the shepherd and we are his sheep? The shepherd leads the way and the sheep follow. Jesus Christ is the one that leads the way and our call is to follow him. It is only him that we can find the right way. In John 14: 6 he says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” He is the way that leads to salvation. Whoever follows him would not perish but have everlasting life. In Acts of the Apostles, Christians were called the WAY. They embraced a new kind of lifestyle that followed closely the life of Jesus Christ. They strived everyday to be imitators of the life of Christ. They believed that their vocation is to follow closely in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. We get to know the right way by accepting the invitation Jesus Christ extends to us to come and be save. But that is not all of it, we also have to enter into his life and the life of the church. We open our minds to receive the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible and in the sacred magisterium. Our bible does not become a memorabilia but the living word of God that we enter into. As Psalm 119:105 tells us, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and light to my path.” The word of God shows us the way to walk in. Whenever you are in doubt of anything, check it with the word of God and the teaching of the church. These are your guide along your Christian journey. We do not need to become the way because we are not the way. We can be examples to others but we must always know when to step out of the way and let Jesus lead those whom we draw to him. The sheep never leads the shepherd. If the sheep leads the shepherd, they will lead him into danger. The reason is because the sheep does not know the way. The sheep always has a shepherd. A sheep that does not have a shepherd is prone to be attacked by wild animals or to be stolen and taken away. The big temptation for us sometimes is to go it our own way. When we do, we get ourselves into all kinds of trouble. The good news is that God constantly calls us back to himself. This is the whole mystery of salvation. That even though all we like sheep have gone astray, God sent Jesus Christ to lead us back into his fold through the Paschal mystery.

Jesus Christ as the shepherd protects us. As sheep, we are exposed to all kinds of dangers. Our one protector is Jesus Christ. This is because Jesus Christ is not just a shepherd, but he is the “Good Shepherd.” The good shepherd knows his sheep and his sheep know him. The good shepherd never abandons his sheep when under attack by robbers or wild animals. He protects his sheep and lays down his life for his sheep. That is what Jesus Christ has done for us on the cross. He has offered his life to us that we may not die again. He has given us hope through the cross and given us the confidence assurance that we will live forever if we listen to his voice. There is nothing for us to be afraid of. Even when we walk through the valley of the shadow of darkness, our Good shepherd is there with his rod and staff to protect and comfort us because we are the sheep of his flock.

Jesus Christ calls out to us, can we hear him now. Jesus Christ speaks to us in various ways. Through our families, through the church, through the bible, through friends and even through nature. Are you listening to him. We may get so busy that we never stop to listen to Jesus Christ. We have to listen to him. Become very aware of the things that happen around you, the conversations that you engage in and the people that you encounter. Reflect on how Jesus Christ is present in the things that you do, in the people that you meet, in the conversations that you make. Soak yourself in the study of the scriptures. The readings we do at Mass every Sunday are good but that is not enough. You must read your bible more during the week. Learn about your Catholic faith. The catechism you learnt at 8th grade is not enough. You must grow in your faith. You have a responsibility to study more your faith. We can only effectively be good follows of Jesus Christ if we listen to him. My challenge to you this week is to read a chapter of Galatians every day of this week. My prayer for you is that God will open your ears to his voice.

]]> http://homilies.org/?feed=rss2&p=584 0 http://homilies.org/?p=580 http://homilies.org/?p=580#comments Sun, 28 Feb 2010 04:45:42 +0000 Rev. Bekeh Utietiang http://homilies.org/?p=580 In today’s second reading, St. Paul speaks of how Christians should behave. Christians must distinguish themselves from those who do not believe in Jesus Christ because their citizenship is not of this world but of heaven. Paul understands that in the world, there are many who do not believe in Jesus Christ and they have set themselves as enemies of the cross. Christians must not follow these people or live like them. The important question we must ask ourselves is this, who are the enemies of the cross?

The enemies of the cross are those whose lives are contrary to the life of Christ. They do not try in their lives to conform themselves to the life of Christ. A Christian is an imitator of Christ. A Christian strives everyday to be Christ-like. Those who are enemies of the cross see religion as rules and regulations. It is not what comes from one’s whole being but it is paying lip services and performing outward acts that people may see them to be righteous. For them, Christianity does not flow from the graces poured out through the event of Christ in the cross, but it is about the external practices they must carry out to look justified in the eyes of the world. They make themselves the center of religion and not Jesus Christ.

Enemies of the cross live as if there is no world beyond here. St. Paul says they are occupied with earthly things. They are carried away by the things of the world and they crave for worldly power and glory. God is not at the center of their lives. What is their priority in life is not God or their Christian faith but wealth and their own personal or family’s well being. The enemies of the cross do not acknowledge the life-giving power of the cross. For them, the cross is a sign of weakness, shame and folly. They refuse to come to Jesus Christ for reconciliation with the father. By their refusal to ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness, they are undermining the power of the cross and making vain that great sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross for our reconciliation and salvation.

Those who have made themselves enemies of the cross live a lifestyle that is opposed to the values of the gospel. The gospel values that Christians must embrace are love for God and neighbor, forgiveness of others, sharing our resources with those who are in need and acknowledging Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of our lives. We, like the Philippians who are citizens of heaven, must be friends of the cross. The cross here symbolizes the victory that Jesus Christ has won for us. As friends of the cross, we must be imitators of Jesus, the apostles and our forefathers in the faith, the saints. These are our models of what it means to be in relationship with God and to embrace the reconciliation he offers us in the cross. The apostles and the saints have lived in this world and have gone through the challenges that we face. They did not allow the world to change them but they changed the world, establishing a civilization of love in a world that is marked by selfishness. What can we learn from the apostles and saints?

The apostles and saints loved Jesus Christ and they were willing to give their lives for his kingdom. They also loved the church. They saw the church as the visible body of Christ. They did not pick and choose what they believed. They were not cafeteria Christians. They were not half-baked. They were not microwaved Christians. By this I mean Christians who are only Christians so long as it is convenient and they do just the minimum that is required of them. They accepted all the teachings of the church in faith even when they found them difficult to accept. They were zealous for the Lord. Their faith was not lukewarm. They were ready to proclaim their faith fearlessly even when they risked being killed or imprisoned. Above all, they were men and women of prayer. They understood that they cannot succeed in their Christian journey by themselves. They recognized that they needed help and power from above. Prayer was an important key for them to unlock their power from above and to get timely help to overcome the challenges they faced. That is how they succeeded and that is the only way we too can succeed.

During this season of Lent, St. Paul reminds us once more of our identity as “citizens of heaven.” We do not belong to this world. We are citizens of heaven. We are on exile here in this world. Let us intensify our prayer lives during this season and beyond, that we may continue to get timely help to face our challenges. As citizens of heaven, every time of the year must be a time to be imitators of the apostles and the saints and a time to be friends of the cross. Lent is an opportunity for us to begin this new relationship with Jesus Christ. I challenge you to ten minutes of prayer every day. Five minutes at the beginning of your day and five minutes at the end of the day. My prayer for you is that God will open your eyes that you may experience his glory in your life and acknowledge him as the savior of the world.

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