Friday, March 15, 2024

March 24, 2024; Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord; (year B)

Readings: Is. 50:4-7; Phil. 2:6-11; Mk. 14:1-15:47 

Christ’s Suffering is Our Hope

1.    At this Mass, we celebrate and welcome Christ into Jerusalem to begin his passion, death, and resurrection. We must follow Jesus from the joyful celebration to his cross on Calvary and finally to the resurrection. The palms we carry today demonstrate fully the importance of the suffering of Christ. The letter to Hebrews tells us that Christ, the “Son of God, learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” (Heb. 5:9).

2.    Palm Sunday reminds us of the humility of Christ. The second reading expressed it thus: “Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather, he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil. 2:6-8). The triumph of Jesus through his humility brings salvation to the world. Christ did not shy away from suffering. He knew that there would be no crown for the world without him passing through the pain, suffering, and accepting the shameful death of the cross. St. Paul tells us, “Christ ransomed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written, cursed be everyone who hangs on a tree.”” (Gal. 3:13). May we not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ, for it is in that cross that we find our salvation. Christ reminds us, “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” (Jn. 12:24-25) “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” (Jn. 12:32). 

3.    Isaiah, the prophet, explains why Christ was able to obey his Father’s will. He listened to God. “Morning after morning, he opens my ear that I may hear, and I have not rebelled, have not turned back. I gave my cheeks to those who plucked my beard; I did not shield my face from buffets and spitting.” (Is. 50:4-6). Through prayer, Christ heard his Father and followed his direction. His will was to do the will of his Father. According to the letter to the Hebrews: “For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Behold, I come to do your will, O God.” (Heb. 10:5-7).

4.    We, as Christians, must accept suffering if we are to enjoy life with God. We must be humble in our service to God and humanity. The passion of Christ presented us with many personalities in the life of Jesus. It showed the unwavering courage of Christ. His face was set on Jerusalem despite knowing that the chief priests and the scribes were plotting against him. Many acts of kindness followed Jesus during his journey to the cross, but prayer was the key to everything. Even when it seemed that God had forsaken him, he remained confident in God’s presence. Let us take these words to heart today: “What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, distress, or persecution famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? No, in all these things, we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angel, or principalities, nor present height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom. 8:35-38).

5.     As we embark on the journey with the Lord into his passion, death, and resurrection, let us not allow anything to divert us from the love of Christ. Jesus is more than the collective will of the evil one to distract us from God’s way. The passion of Christ, though filled with suffering, will undoubtedly lead to the glorious resurrection. Let this assurance fill our hearts with hope and strengthen our faith. Amen!

Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

March 17, 2024; 5th Sunday of Lent (Year B)

Readings: Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 5:7-9; Jn. 12:20-33 

Dying You destroyed our Death.

1.     When I was young, I was curious about things. During the planting season one year, I told my mom that I wanted to plant peanuts. I got my seed, went to the garden, and started farming. I wanted to see the seed grow so bad that I kept digging it up. I did not allow the seed to die to grow. My mom told me to stop digging the seed up but to keep watering it and give it time to grow. The lesson is that if the seed does not die or germinate, it will not grow and bear fruit. That is the message of today’s gospel. “Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit. Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.” That is the paradox of life that speaks to every situation we encounter. Something must be given for something else to happen.

2.     The first reading is about God’s new covenant with the children of Israel. “The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers the day I took them by the hand to lead them forth from the land of Egypt, for they broke my covenant.” (Jer. 31:31-32). Because that covenant was broken due to sin, God initiated a new way of dealing with his people. According to the letter to the Hebrews, “When he speaks of a “new” covenant, he declares the first one obsolete.” (Heb. 9:13). The new covenant will need no mediator or an intermediary like Moses. I will be based on an individual and personal relationship with God. “I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer will they need to teach their friends and kinsmen how to know the Lord. All, from least to greatest, shall know me, says the Lord, for I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:34). The new covenant is marked by God’s forgiveness and man’s obedience to God. The letter to Hebrews states that even the “Son of God learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” (Heb. 5:9).  

3.     During Lent, we acknowledge our need for God by dying to ourselves to live a new life of grace. We must be the grain of wheat that must let go of its life to bear bountiful fruit to feed the hungry. Forgiveness is the new law written in our hearts. God’s forgiveness is the new thing God is doing in the world. Hence, Isaiah tells us, “See, I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it.” (Is. 43:19). This is reechoed in Hebrews, “For I will forgive their evildoing and remember their sins no more.” (Heb.8:12). We die to ourselves each time we forgive hurts done to us even as we bear fruit that will endure.

4.     We are elated when we experience God’s forgiveness through the sacrament of reconciliation and grateful when forgiven by friends. The feeling is liberating and transformative. It is the grain of wheat in us dying to give life to the world. God the Father died in sending his Son into the world. The Son became the grain of wheat when he gave his life on the cross so that we may look at him and live. “And when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself.” (Jn. 12:32). At baptism, we died to sin, like the grain of wheat, and rose with Jesus to share eternal life of grace with God. In the confessional, we pray with the Psalmist, “A clean heart create for me, O God and a steadfast spirit renew within me.” (Ps.51:12-13). We die to our pride, confess our sins, and receive God’s forgiveness. We become a new creation and inject goodness, kindness, and forgiveness into our world. 

5.     So dear friends, like the Greeks who went to see Jesus in the Gospel, let us seek the company of Jesus during the remaining part of this Lenten season. Let us not be afraid to give our lives to God. This means letting go of the past and embracing the here and now. By dying to ourselves we come to life in Christ. So, what is holding you back? Past hurts, strangulating relationships, broken hearts or relationships, lack of motivation, failed marriage, or Death in the family? Could it be the sickness of parents and loved ones? Are you stuck in the past and find it difficult to let go and let God? We will not experience a new life with Christ if we do not die to ourselves. Yes, it may be hard to move on. But no one said it would be easy. It was not easy for Christ. Look at Him in the garden of Gethsemane. “He was in such agony, and he prayed so fervently that his sweat became like drops of blood falling on the ground.” (Lk. 22:44). Yet He died to himself so that we may have life in him. “For our sake God made him to be sin who did not know sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5:21). 

Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP

Saturday, March 9, 2024

March 10, 2024; 4th Sunday of Lent (Year B) and (Year A) for 2nd Scrutiny

Readings: 2 Chr. 36:14-16; Eph. 2:4-10; Jn. 3:14-21

The unconditional Love of God

  1. Who can lay claims on God’s love? Does anyone deserve God’s love? “If you, Lord, mark our sins, Lord, who can stand? But with you is forgiveness and so you are revered.” (Ps.130:3-4). St. Paul reminds us in the second reading: “God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love he had for us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, brought us to life with Christ.” (Eph. 2:4-7). Adam and Eve disobeyed and abandoned God’s covenant. As St. Paul writes, “Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all because all sinned.” (Rom. 5:12). Sin entered the world due to the manipulation of Satan and caused such ripple effects that Brother revolted against Brother and killed him. This is how Jeremiah describes the heart:“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer. 17:9).   

 

  1. The world was in a terrible mess of sin and depravity when God sent his Son. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life.” (Jn. 3:16). Many people do not believe that God cares about the world or even loves humanity. I once asked a couple preparing for the sacrament of marriage if they intended to have children. Their answer was in the negative. They reasoned that they would not bring a child into this messed-up world. They felt that God had departed from the world and that there was nothing good in it anymore. It is easy to find fault with the world in its present corruption and decay. If we are to be a little dramatic, we may even say that God does not care. Why not? Our world is such a corrupt, dangerous, and sinful place. We hear in the News every day about war and insurrection in nations of the world. There is hunger, greed, deceit, betrayal, abortion, infidelity, broken families, murder, accident, sickness, death, riots, revolts, and police brutality everywhere. Our world is not different from that of the first reading, where “All the princes of Judah, the priests, and the people added infidelity to infidelity, practicing all the abominations of the nations and polluting the Lord’s temple which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.” (2 Chr. 36: 14). Don’t you feel like shouting, stop the world, and let me out! 

 

  1. And yet, those disappointed with the world and her creator are told: “For God so loved the world,” not only that God loves the world, He gave his beloved Son, not to condemn the world but so that the world might be saved through him. I am sure God knows that humanity has abused his gift of free will. God knows that we tend to put ourselves first in everything and are self-centered, egoistic, and manipulative. He knows that we lie, cheat, and hate. We are the reason for the ugly state of our world. God could have destroyed us and formed a new people if he so wished, yet he said, “With age-old love, I have loved you; I have kept my mercy toward you. I will restore you, and you shall be rebuilt.” (Jer. 31:3-4). The author of the book of Wisdom addresses God thus, “For you love all things that are and loathe nothing you have made; for what you hated; you would not have fashioned. And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; but you spare all things, because they are yours, O Lord, and lover of souls.” (Wisdom 11:24-26).  

 

  1. God insists that the world is loveable and should be saved by no other person than his only Son. Instead of destroying the world, His Son would give his life on the cross as a ransom for many so as “to gather into one the dispersed children of God.” (Jn. 11:52). Just like God used the pagan king Cyrus of Persia to set the children Israel free from bondage and enabled them to restore the temple in Jerusalem, He now sends his Son, out of love, to sacrifice his life, out of love, to redeem us from damnation and ensure that we have abundance life of grace with him. “I came so that they might have life and have it abundantly.” (Jn. 10:10). 

 

  1. So, dear friends, on this fourth Sunday of Lent, let us resolve to love the world because God loves humanity. Instead of causing darkness, let us bring about light and make that light shine for all to see.Pray that the world may be a better place beginning with you. Stop blaming God for the ills of the world and see your role in creating a messed-up world so that we may be part of the cleaning process. Lent is about acknowledging our need for God and deepening our relationship with God and others. We do this through a committed life of prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and abstinence. Since nothing is impossible for God to do, let us open our minds and hearts to God and celebrate his presence and goodness even amid sin. For “Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 5:20-21). Amen.  

 

 

 

 

Fourth Sunday of Lent; Year (B) March 10, 2024 

Readings: 1 Samuel 16:1, 6-7, 10-13; Ephesians 5:8-14; John 9:1-41 

(2nd Scrutiny) 

Who Sinned? 

  1. To the question: “Who sinned?” Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him.” In the face of severe disasters and social upheaval, our question should not be ‘Who sinned?’ Instead, we should open our eyes to see how the glory of God would be made manifest. Today’s gospel reading points us away from the darkness of sin to Christ, the light of the world, as seen in the cure of the blind man. Christ came to drive away the darkness that envelopes us so we may be bathed in his light. We have been too complacent to the extent that we do not see Christ in our midst. We must, therefore, open our eyes and wake from our spiritual blindness so that Christ may shine forth in our lives. In the second reading, St. Paul reminds us to “Live as children of light, for light produces every kind of goodness and righteousness and truth… awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.” 

 

  1. We are all blind in one way or the other. Our blindness may be physical, moral, or spiritual. Physical blindness, like the man born blind, may be our inability to see with our eyes. But that does not mean the blind person is disabled. When we are deprived of one sense, like sight, touch, smell, taste, or hearing, other senses are heightened and enabled to fill in for the lost one. We can be morally blind when we cannot see our defects or when we are in denial of them. Spiritual blindness may be caused by an inability to see Jesus in our lives due to ignorance, hatred, anger, superstition, or cynicism. Today, Jesus cured the blind man of his physical and spiritual blindness. He also healed the blindness of those around him and convicted those who felt they could see. They were blind and refused to recognize Christ in their midst. They were blinded by their hatred of Jesus and projected that hatred to the man now healed of his blindness.   

 

  1. God’s healing power is not just curative but transformative. It can elevate us from the depths of obscurity to the heights of greatness, as we see in the story of David in the first reading. Christ’s mission is not just to heal our blindness, whether physical, moral, or spiritual, but to transform us into his disciples. However, this transformation requires our active participation. The journey to faith in Christ involves acknowledging our faults and the desire for healing. Before baptism, we were in darkness, but after baptism, we were cleansed in the water of rebirth and anointed, like David, and elevated to the esteemed position of king. We hope that our Elect will gain the same understanding of Christ. We pray that their perception and knowledge of Jesus will expand, like the man born blind, from perceiving Christ simply as a man (“The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes.) to recognize him as a prophet (He is a prophet.”), and finally acknowledging him as Lord (“I do believe, Lord”).   

                                                                                             

  1. Being a disciple of Jesus often requires great sacrifice. The blind man had to overcome numerous social obstacles. He endured insults, abuse, ex-communication, and even abandonment by his parents. Yet, he possessed a simple yet profound faith: he obeyed Jesus. He went to the pool and washed his eyes. His obedience was rewarded with the gift of sight, a testament to his faith. He boldly confronted the authorities: “If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind, and now I see. I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” “This is so amazing that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would be unable to do anything.” The man, with his newfound faith, became a disciple of Jesus. We are urged to strengthen our faith in Jesus during this fourth Sunday of Lent as we approach Easter so that we, too, may become his disciples in both words and deeds. 

 

  1. The question for us today is: “Are we blind, or do we claim that we can see?” Christ warns: “If you were blind, then you would not be guilty; but since you claim that you can see, this means that you are still blind.” If we refuse to acknowledge our shortcomings and open our eyes to see those in need around us, we condemn ourselves to darkness and deprive ourselves of the gift of faith and the light of Christ. Are we blind to our faults? Do we blame others and ask the question: “Who Sinned?” The greatest of our faults is to be conscious of none. The time is now to pick up our bible and read. Confession is still an option for Catholics. Let us learn to be less cynical but trust in the goodness of people. To do this is to recognize that Jesus is always in our midst. He wants to cure our blindness. The problems in our lives are never insurmountable for Jesus. It is not ‘who sinned?’ but so that God’s works might be visible through us. Amen! 

 

Rev. Augustine Etemma Inwang, MSP