Today’s 2^nd reading is the conclusion of Paul’s theological discourse on the position of Israel as the chosen people of God and how it squares with the choice of Christians as the new people of God (Romans 11-13). Opposing, on the one hand, his contemporary Jews who claimed that God has chosen them and not the Christians, and on the other, the predominantly Gentile Christians who claimed that God has now chosen them in place of the Jews, Paul argues that God has chosen both the one and the other. Paul knows that his position does not make much sense, logically speaking. As he struggles with the question, he suddenly realises that God’s ways transcend the strict rules of human reasoning. God’s ways are mysterious. God’s ways are beyond full human understanding.

Like Thomas Aquinas at the end of his life, here we see Paul abandoning theology for poetry, abandoning arguments for adoration, and abandoning inquiry for contemplation. “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Romans 11:33). Yet Paul still manages to articulate these inscrutable ways of God under three headings: God’s riches, God’s wisdom, and God’s knowledge. Next he expatiates on each of these three attributes of God with a rhetorical question, beginning with the last.

“For who has known the mind of the Lord? (verse 34a). Here Paul is saying that the depth of God’s knowledge is unfathomable. Even the most knowledgeable theologian on earth, in many ways, still does not know the mind of God. This reminds us of one of the Igbo epithets for God: “Amaama amasiamasi” the known but never fully known. The belief that we know God’s mind, minus the corresponding belief that we do not fully know God’s mind, equals theological arrogance, intolerance and extremism. The belief that we know God’s mind, plus the corresponding belief that we do not fully know God’s mind, equals theological humility, open-mindedness and balance, such as we see in Paul and Thomas Aquinas.

Or who has been his counsellor?” (Verse 34b). Here Paul is saying that God’s wisdom is so deep that God does not need our advice and suggestion on how to run the world. Many of us spend our prayer time advising God on what He should do and how He should run the world instead of recognising our nothingness before Him and submitting to Him. Such was the attitude of Job when he challenged God for a debate, until God asked him, “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding” (Job 38:4). Then Job surrendered to God and confessed, “I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (Job 42:3).

“Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return? (verse 35). Here Paul talks of Gods’s riches and generosity. Paul is saying that all the advantages of being people of God, which the Jews and now Christians enjoy, are free gifts of God and not a reward for anything on our part. All is G-R-A-C-E (God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense). They are free gifts of God’s unconditionally love. “What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). If God gives us these blessings without any merit on our part, so can God also give GRACE to others who are equally undeserving.

Many of the rules we make in society regarding who belongs and who does not belong are justified on the grounds that we have limited resources. If an immigrant takes a job, then that job is lost to a citizen who is looking for a job. Jobs are limited. But God’s riches are so abundant that there is room for all and then some. So the rules for who is in and who is out may not apply. Everyone can be in and yet no one is deprived. We can all be first born sons and daughters of God (Hebrews 12:23). All nations on earth can be God’s chosen people without depriving the Jewish nation or Christians of their historical importance and heritage.

“For from him and through him and to him are all things” (verse 36a). Paul reminds us that everyone in the world, indeed all things in the world, came from God, is kept in existence by God, and will ultimately return to God. This is the mystery of the oneness of all humankind, and indeed all reality, in God. In the face of this huge mystery, our only response should be: “To God be the glory forever. Amen (verse 36).

Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

This passage is crucial for a proper understanding of what the church is, and our role in the church. For this is the most explicit statement that Jesus makes in the Gospels about the church.

Firstly and foremost, Jesus calls the church “my church.” This tells us that Jesus is the owner of the church. Neither Peter nor the disciples owns the church. Pastors and church leaders who think and act as if they own the church are like farm workers who go about posing as if the farm belongs to them. All God’s people have been called together as co-workers in Christ’s vineyard, though some work as foremen overseeing others. But we do not own the church. We belong to the church. The owner of the church is Christ.

Secondly, the passage tells us that Jesus is the one who builds his church. He is the master builder who has the building plan in his hands. Human co-operators are like masons and carpenters employed by the master builder to help him with the building. Our role is to listen and follow his instructions, doing our own small part in the grand design of the master. Workers who stick to their own ideas of what the building should look like rather than follow the directives given by the master may find themselves working at cross purposes with the master.

If Jesus is the owner and builder of the church, where then do we come in? We come in precisely where Peter comes in. Together with Peter we are the building blocks of the church. Peter is the foundation rock and we are the pieces of stone with which the church is built:

Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

The passive voice “let yourselves be built” indicates that God himself is the builder and not us. Our role is to allow God to use us. The question we could ask ourselves today is: “How is God using me to build up his church? Am I letting God use me?” We must not forget that no matter how small a piece of stone may be, the master builder could still use it to do something beautiful.

A famous stained-glass artist was commissioned to make a huge portrait for the window of the cathedral in Chartres, France. First he laid all of the pieces he was going to use out on the floor of the cathedral. Among these awesome pieces of glass was a small, clear piece about as big as a fingernail. As the stained-glass portrait was assembled, that little piece remained on the floor. Only the big colourful pieces were used. On the day of the window’s completion the entire city gathered to witness the unveiling of the portrait. The artist pulled away the cover cloth and the crowd gasped at the beauty of the colourful window glowing in the sunlight. After a few seconds, however, the crowd grew silent. They sensed that something was missing, that the portrait was unfinished. The great artist then walked over to where the little clear piece of glass lay, picked it up, and placed it in the portrait, right in the centre of Jesus’ eye. As the sun hit that little piece, it gave off a dazzling sparkle. The work of art is now complete. Without the small piece the work was incomplete. In the grand design of building the church of God, each one of us could consider ourselves to be that small piece of glass – so small and yet so indispensable

hn XXIII was pope during the turbulent 1960s when it seemed that everything was falling apart. The priesthood was in crisis, religious life was in crisis, marriage was in crisis, faith was in crisis, the church was in crisis. The pope worked long and hard hours trying to address these problems. One evening, after an exhausting day in the office, he went to his private chapel to do his daily Holy Hour before retiring but he was too exhausted and too stressed out to focus or pray. After a few minutes of futile effort, he got up and said, “Lord, the church belongs to you. I am going to bed.” Difficulties might have driven the Pope to acknowledge that the church belongs to Christ. But Jesus himself said it 2000 years ago:

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

This passage is crucial for a proper understanding of what the church is, and our role in the church. For this is the most explicit statement that Jesus makes in the Gospels about the church.

Firstly and foremost, Jesus calls the church “my church.” This tells us that Jesus is the owner of the church. Neither Peter nor the disciples owns the church. Pastors and church leaders who think and act as if they own the church are like farm workers who go about posing as if the farm belongs to them. All God’s people have been called together as co-workers in Christ’s vineyard, though some work as foremen overseeing others. But we do not own the church. We belong to the church. The owner of the church is Christ.

Secondly, the passage tells us that Jesus is the one who builds his church. He is the master builder who has the building plan in his hands. Human co-operators are like masons and carpenters employed by the master builder to help him with the building. Our role is to listen and follow his instructions, doing our own small part in the grand design of the master. Workers who stick to their own ideas of what the building should look like rather than follow the directives given by the master may find themselves working at cross purposes with the master.

If Jesus is the owner and builder of the church, where then do we come in? We come in precisely where Peter comes in. Together with Peter we are the building blocks of the church. Peter is the foundation rock and we are the pieces of stone with which the church is built:

Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:5).

The passive voice “let yourselves be built” indicates that God himself is the builder and not us. Our role is to allow God to use us. The question we could ask ourselves today is: “How is God using me to build up his church? Am I letting God use me?” We must not forget that no matter how small a piece of stone may be, the master builder could still use it to do something beautiful.

A famous stained-glass artist was commissioned to make a huge portrait for the window of the cathedral in Chartres, France. First he laid all of the pieces he was going to use out on the floor of the cathedral. Among these awesome pieces of glass was a small, clear piece about as big as a fingernail. As the stained-glass portrait was assembled, that little piece remained on the floor. Only the big colourful pieces were used. On the day of the window’s completion the entire city gathered to witness the unveiling of the portrait. The artist pulled away the cover cloth and the crowd gasped at the beauty of the colourful window glowing in the sunlight. After a few seconds, however, the crowd grew silent. They sensed that something was missing, that the portrait was unfinished. The great artist then walked over to where the little clear piece of glass lay, picked it up, and placed it in the portrait, right in the centre of Jesus’ eye. As the sun hit that little piece, it gave off a dazzling sparkle. The work of art is now complete. Without the small piece the work was incomplete. In the grand design of building the church of God, each one of us could consider ourselves to be that small piece of glass – so small and yet so indispensable.

Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

According to a Jewish story, Rabbi Joshua ben Hanania once went to Athens to dispute with the Greek philosophers. There they asked him many questions and he was able to answered them all. One of the questions they asked him was: “Where is the centre of the earth?” Rabbi Joshua pointed with his forefinger to a spot on the ground where he stood and said, “Here.” They said to him, “How do we know that you are right?” He answered, “Bring your measuring rods, and measure it for yourselves.”

Why did the Greek philosophers ask the Jewish Rabbi about the centre of the earth? It is because the Greeks believed that Greece was the centre of the earth. The Greeks divided humanity into two; either you are a Greek or else you are a barbarian. In the Delphi Temple in Athens, they had a sacred object known as the omphalos or the navel of the earth. But the Greeks knew that the Jews also had a similar belief. The Jews also believed they were the centre of the earth. Like the Greeks they also divided the world into two. You are either a Jew or a Gentile. Till today, in the Church of the Resurrection by the Temple Mount in Jerusalem there is a wooden structure known as the navel of the earth. The Greeks asked the Rabbi about the centre of the earth because, in the simple logic of the philosophers, there can be only one centre of the earth. If it was true that the navel of the earth was located in the Delphi Temple, then the Jewish claim that it was located in their Jerusalem Temple was false, and vice versa. By pointing to the ground on which he stood as the centre of the earth, the wise Rabbi was saying that the centre of the earth was not just Athens or Jerusalem but any spot where a human being stood. He was saying that there was not just one centre of the earth. He is right. Any point on the surface of the globe can be the centre of the globe.

How does this relate to the what Paul is discussing in the second reading? Paul is discussing the subject of God’s dealings with humanity and the place of the Jewish nation in it. As a Jewish Rabbi, Paul did not have any doubts in his mind about Jerusalem being the centre of the earth. He believed that the Jews were exclusively the chosen people of God. The Jerusalem Temple he believed to be the one house on earth where God literally lived. Something happened to make Paul question these neat assumptions. It was his conversion to Christianity where he saw that the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, were equally loved by God and called to be God’s people. This was later reinforced by the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in the year ad 70. If God literally lived in the Jerusalem Temple, how could God allow the pagan Romans to destroy His own house? Where then was God, since God’s home was no more?

In his earlier life, Paul belonged with the Jews who claimed that they were God’s only beloved people. In his later life he belonged with the mainly Gentile Christians who claimed that, since the Jewish population rejected Jesus and his message, the Jews were now rejected from being God’s people, and they, the Christians had become the new chosen people of God. Paul was not satisfied with this either-or, black and white, approach to God’s covenant. He reminds the Gentile Christians that “the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29), so God could not have rejected the Jewish people. Like Rabbi Joshua ben Hanania in our story, Paul had come to the realisation that being people of God was open to everyone, Jew or Gentile. No one is qualified by national or religious affiliation alone, and by the same token, no one is excluded either. Rather, God has made a level playing field for all. “For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may show mercy to all” (Romans 11:32).

Unfortunately, there are too many people in our world today, 2000 years after Paul, who still believe that God is their exclusive possession. They still believe that they, and they alone, have access to the mind and blessings of God. These narrow-minded believers are found in practically all religions. They include Christians, Moslems, and Jews. Such people oppose dialogue, believing that anybody who does not share their religious convictions is either a heretic or an infidel to be corrected or even punished.

Today we pray that God may make us and all who call on God’s name to realise the important truth He taught Peter and the other Apostles 2000 years ago: “Truly I perceive that God shows no partiality, but in every nation any one who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him” (Acts 10:34-35).

Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography tells how, during his student days, he read the Gospels and saw in the teachings of Jesus the answer to the major problem facing the people of India, the caste system. Seriously considering to embrace the Christian faith, Gandhi attended church one Sunday morning intending to talk to the minister about the idea. On entering the church, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and told him to go and worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned. “If Christians have caste differences also,” he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.”

The belief that God’s blessings are somewhat limited to peoples of certain nationalities or cultures has been around for a very long time. Such a belief was very much alive in the society in which Jesus grew up. When Jesus said in today’s gospel reading, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 15:24) he was expressing a popular belief. It is not clear whether he really believed it himself or whether he said it in order to expose and correct its false claims. Every people and culture has a handful of such prejudices and myths – from the myth of the Jews as the only people of God to that of no salvation outside the Church, from the prejudice of the caste system in India to that of racial superiority in Nazi Germany, from the myth of the superiority of men over women to that of the superiority of Western cultures. We are today invited to expose such myths and correct their false and exaggerated claims.

It took the active intervention of a complete outsider, a Canaanite woman, to create the awareness among early Jewish Christians that the belief in the exclusive divine prerogatives of the Jewish people did not stand up to reason. Probably you and I owe the fact that we are Christians today to the heroism of this unnamed woman who dismantled the dividing wall of intolerance between Jews and Gentiles. We need to consult this woman in today’s service, asking her to teach us how to go about dismantling the structures that create undue division among God’s children, the human race that God has loved into being.

The first thing she teaches us in our Christian vocation to reconcile all humankind to God is courage. Given her position as a foreigner and as a woman, it took phenomenal courage on her part to decide to take on the all-Jewish and all-male company of Jesus and his disciples. She was so small that, even though she addresses Jesus by his proper Messianic titles: “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David” (verse 22), Jesus still ignored her: “He did not answer her at all” (verse 23a). Most people at this point would give up and accept defeat. But not our Canaanite sister. Rather she intensifies her efforts and embarks on a one-woman demonstration to the point that the disciples had to ask Jesus to do something about it: “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us” (verse 23b). Her courage and her refusal to take no for an answer finally paid off.

The second thing we can learn from this woman is focus or what the civil rights movement calls “keep your eyes on the prize.” When Jesus spoke to her in language that demeaned her people: “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs” (verse 26), she did not lose her cool but kept her eyes on the goal of her mission, which is to show that even non-Jews are entitled to God’s blessing in Christ. Our sister knew that if she gave Jesus a piece of her mind at that moment, that would jeopardise her mission and she might lose what she came for. But with focus and with her eyes on the prize, she made it. She is a model of non-violence, if you figure that the words of Jesus to her were unjustified verbal assault on her and on her people.

Finally, it was Jesus who gave in: “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish” (verse 28) and the woman got what she wanted. The message of this single woman outsider to every one of us today is: Be not afraid. Be not afraid to challenge prejudice and falsity even in high places, even in religious high places. The least among us can be a vehicle that God can use to bring justice and healing to all of God’s disadvantaged daughters and sons all over the world.

Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

Why did the disciples not think earlier of sharing their provision with the crowd? Is it that they did not care? Yes, they did care and they did wish the crowd well. But probably they were simply being realistic and practical. Let’s face it: five loaves and two fish is nothing before a hungry crowd of five thousand men, plus women and children. We see this more clearly in the gospel of John where one of the disciples, Andrew, says to Jesus: “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” (John 6:9) The action of faith to which Jesus calls his followers often goes beyond the dictates of human logic and realism.

The story of the Miraculous Feeding of the Five Thousand, like most stories in the Gospels, speaks to us today because many of us can identify very readily with the disciples. Like them we find that our care and compassion is very often limited to prayer and good wishes. No wonder wish-you-well cards have become so popular. Like the disciples we wish people well but have no intention of taking positive action to help the situation. And, again like the disciple, what prevents us from taking positive action is often the realistic assessment that the little we are able to do is not really going to make any appreciable difference.

But in the gospel we see that when we translate our care and compassion into positive action, the little we are able to do is multiplied by God’s grace in such a way that it becomes more than sufficient for the need. All that Jesus needs from us to feed the hungry crowds of the world is our “five loaves and two fish.” Why didn’t Jesus just go on and produce bread from thin air to feed the crowd? Because God needs our “five loaves and two fish” in order to perform the amazing miracle of feeding the five thousand. I will like to conclude by sharing with you this story of how a certain Indian boy tried to contribute his own “five loaves and two fish.”

Tidal waves washed thousands of starfish ashore and they were dying on the sandy beach in the hot sun. People walking on the beach crushed the fish under their feet. An Indian boy walked with more care, once in a while stooping down, picking up a starfish and throwing it back into the sea. One man who saw what he was doing challenged him. “Young man,” he said, “what do you think you are doing. With the thousands of starfish on the shore, what difference does it make throwing one or two back into the sea?” The Indian boy slowly bent down, picked one more starfish and threw it back into the sea. “For that one,” he replied, “it sure makes a lot of difference.”

As individuals, as communities and as a world, we suffer all kinds of hunger – for food, for love, for peace. God is able and willing to satisfy all our hungers. But God is waiting for men and women who believe enough to give up their lunch pack, their “five loaves and two fish,” which God needs to make the miracle possible.

Fr. Munachi E. Ezeogu, C.S.Sp.

The catechist’s son usually played soccer with the village boys. The boys hatched a plan one evening to mob and kill him on their way back from the football playground. Just before the end of game that fateful day, the ball was kicked across the road. The catechist’s son ran to retrieve the ball and was knocked down by a passing car. He sustained multiple cuts and bruises, for which he was taken to the local hospital. This means that the plan of the boys to mob and kill him that evening had failed. On hearing what happened, the villagers came to sympathise with the catechist. All that the catechist said was, , “If this did not happen, something worse could have happened.” How right he was!

Luke 24:26-43" src="http://www.giaoly.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/jesus_teaching_a_new_commandment-252x300.jpg" alt="" width="252" height="300" />In today’s second reading, from the Letter of Paul to the Romans, we read that “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28). This is a very important teaching that could transform the life of every child of God into a life of peace and happiness. Having given our lives to God, we have God’s assurance that whatever He allows to manifest in our lives, no matter how painful it might be, is indeed for our own good. Whatever pill a mother or father gives the child, no matter how bitter it is to swallow, is intended for the good of the child. The bitter pill might be administered to cure a present illness or to forestall a possible illness in the future. If children were mature enough to realise this truth, they would not cry so much when they are receiving their vaccinations. As mature children of God, we should receive everything and everyone that God sends into our lives, knowing that it is for our ultimate good.

But how we often behave like immature children, raising a tantrum and running away as the divine physician visits us to administer the painful or bitter remedy. God allows some sickness to visit us and we immediately quit trusting Him and go shopping for any self-styled healer. God sends us a partner to bring us to our knees and we run to file for divorce. God allows our church to experience humiliation in order to bring us to the right path and we immediately think of leaving the church. If only we knew and believed that all these things work together for our good, we might have exercised more patience in such trying times.

Today, the word of God invites us to trust more fully and more unconditionally in God’s goodness, no matter the condition in which we find ourselves. This does not mean that we should not make an effort to change the bad conditions of our lives, as if everything that comes to us was directly sent by God. No, that would be determinism. When we are sick we should take steps to change the situation by going to a hospital. When we are jobless we should take steps to change the situation by looking for a job or training for one. But we must work for change not with the belief that overcoming the bad situation is a test of whether God is with us or not, but with a disposition of implicit confidence in God’s unconditional love for us. The prophet Habakkuk gives us an example in this regard when he prays:

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. (Habakkuk 3:17-18)

Before we conclude this reflection we must say a word about predestination. Our passage is one of the few Bible passages that speak of predestination. What does the Bible teach on predestination? Predestination simply means that God has a goal for each and everyone of us before He created us. It does not mean that we must attain that goal, whether we like it or not. There are two ways of understanding biblical predestination. One is to understand predestination as tantamount to determinism. Here it is believed that whatever happens and whatever we do in life, including whether we end up in heaven or in hell, is already predetermined and preplanned by God. The universal Church rejects this understanding because it effectively denies human free will. The other way of understanding predestination is to see it as God’s benevolent plan for all His children, although we still retain the freedom to say yes or no to God’s plan for our lives. This is a more balanced understanding of the Bible’s teaching on predestination.

God’s word today invites us to cooperate with God’s plan for our lives. We do this by trusting God completely and submitting our lives’ plans to God’s great design for us, knowing that “all things work together for good for those who love God” (Romans 8:28). In the face of the contrarieties of life, may we always remind ourselves that “If this did not happen, something worse could have happened.”

In Christian philosophy there is a something known as the summum bonum or the supreme good. The summum bonum is believed to be not just the best thing one could ever have but also that good which contains in itself or brings along with it all other good and desirable things, that which completely satisfies the otherwise insatiable desires of the human heart. The summun bonum sounds like an abstract idea but it can be illustrated with a childhood experience in a typical African village.

It is not uncommon that a child be asked to round up a mother hen with a brood of, say, seven chickens. The child, invariably, would start with the small chickens. But as the chickens run and duck the child would fall over so many times before catching even one chicken. Worse still the mother hen, to defend her little ones, would come after the child with her beak and claws. After so many falls with little result to show for it, the child gives up the futile pursuit and it is then that the child’s mother comes to the rescue.

First she would get a large basket, lure the mother hen into the basket and cover her up. The mother hen safely covered in the basket would then chuck for the chickens and they would all gather around the basket. Raise the basket a little and the chickens all rush into it to be with their mother hen. In a couple of minutes you’ve got the mother hen with her brood of seven chickens. In this example the baby chickens can be compared to the many good things of life and the mother hen to the summum bonum, the supreme good which brings in its train all other goods.

Today’s readings invite us to ask ourselves this important question: Among all the things I desire in life, which are the chickens and which one is the mother hen? What is the one desire of my life that once found will bring all my other legitimate desires in its train? The gospel calls this ultimate desire of the human heart “the kingdom of God.” “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

The kingdom of God is God’s reign in our hearts, in our lives, in our homes, in our society, and in our world. The one who finds the kingdom of God finds everything desirable besides. That is why it is compared to hidden treasure in a field which someone discovers, then goes and sells all that oeverything he has and buy this one pearl. In fact, these parables invite us not only to seek first the kingdom of God but to seek only the kingdom because with the kingdom of God comes every other good thing that we desire and long for.

Solomon in the first reading is a good illustration of a man who went for the mother hen rather than the chickens. As a young king Solomon had many legitimate needs. He needed wealth, military might, fame, security, prosperity, long life and happiness. But when God asked him to ask for one thing, he asked for the summum bonnum, wisdom from above. He knew that with wisdom comes every other good thing he needed and desired. And God confirmed his choice in these words:

Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you. I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you. (1 Kings 3:11-13)

If God came in your dream tonight and asked you to ask for one thing and one thing only, what would you ask for? Would you ask for wealth or success in business or love life? Would you have the wisdom of Solomon to ask for the reign of God in your personal and business life? Is the kingdom of God so important to you that you are prepared to sell and part with all you have in order to have it? Remember, the kingdom of God is not just one among so many other good and desirable things. It is the summum bonum, the supreme good, the one and only good thing we shall ever need to achieve total satisfaction and fulfilment in life. If you have the kingdom of God you have everything and if you don’t have the kingdom of God you have nothing.

Fr. Munachi E. Ezeogu, C.S.Sp.

There is a mysterious story in 2 Kings that can help us understand what is happening in the transfiguration. Israel is at war with Aram, and Elisha the man of God is using his prophetic powers to reveal the strategic plans of the Aramean army to the Israelites. At first the King of Aram thinks that one of his officers is playing the spy but when he learns the truth he despatches troops to go and capture Elisha who is residing in Dothan. The Aramean troops move in under cover of darkness and surround the city. In the morning Elisha’s servant is the first to discover that they are surrounded and fears for his master’s safety. He runs to Elisha and says, “Oh, my lord, what shall we do?” The prophet answers, “Don’t be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” But who would believe that when the surrounding mountainside is covered with advancing enemy troops? So Elisha prays, “O Lord, open his eyes so he may see.” Then the Lord opens the servant’s eyes, and he looks and sees the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha (2 Kings 6:8-23). This vision was all that Elisha’s disciple needed to reassure him. At the end of the story, not only was the prophet of God safe but the invading army was totally humiliated.

This story can help us understand what is going on in the transfiguration because at this stage in his public ministry Jesus is very much like Elisha, hemmed in on every side by his foes. His disciples, and Peter in particular, feel very much like the servant of Elisha, afraid and anxious for their master’s safety. Remember that just before the transfiguration Jesus asked his disciples whom the people and they themselves think he is. When Peter gives the correct answer that he is the Christ, Jesus congratulates him and then proceeds to warn them and prepare them for his unavoidable suffering, death and resurrection. But Peter is so unprepared for this that he protests visibly. He takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he says. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus sharply corrects him, telling him that he is seeing things from a purely human point of view (Matthew 16:13-23). Like Elisha’s servant, Peter needed a vision from God’s point of view, to see that in spite of the death sentence hanging over the head of Jesus, God is still with him, God is still in control of events, God will see to it that in the end he triumphs over his foes as Elisha did. What Peter and his fellow disciples needed was for God to open their eyes and them give them a glimpse of God’s abiding presence with their master Jesus. The transfiguration is that experience.

A certain missionary on a study trip to the Holy Land was visiting Jaffa (Joppa) where Peter was residing when he baptized Cornelius (Acts 10). The breath-taking beauty of this small seaside town was such that it inspired him to come up with this joke:

At the transfiguration Peter offered to build three tents, one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah. Jesus said, “And what about you, Peter?” And Peter replies, “Don’t worry about me Lord, I got a better place in Jaffa.”

We tend to think that when Peter said, “It is good for us to be here” he was thinking about the beauty of the place. But Peter was probably thinking not of the beauty of the mountain top but its safety for his master. He was preoccupied for the safety of his master just as the servant of Elisha was. But when his eyes were opened at the transfiguration and he saw his master Jesus bathed in the glory of the divine presence his fear evaporated. And Jesus turns to him [them] and says “Get up now, stop being afraid.” This is a more exact rendering of the Greek present tense imperative of prohibition.

Every time we gather for the Eucharist we experience a moment of transfiguration where our divine Lord is transfigured before our eyes in the forms of bread and wine. May the reassurance of God’s loving presence with us at communion take away all fear and doubt from our hearts and strengthen us to get up and face with courage the challenges and trials, sufferings and, yes, death, that we must pass through before we can share in the divine glory.

Fr Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

http://munachi.com

The pages of our newspapers are full of advertisements inviting readers to buy a product, subscribe to a service or enrol in a membership programme. Such ads try to present their products and services in such attractive ways that readers will find it hard to ignore or turn down. Imagine an ad for membership in your community church with the heading, “Join with Me in Suffering for the Gospel.” What impression will such an ad make on the average reader? How many readers are likely to enrol as members in such a church? Yet those are the words of the invitation that Paul extends to Timothy in today’s second reading. Why did Timothy accept such an invitation? More importantly, why should we accept it today? The simple answer is: because there is no other way to human fulfilment, which the Bible calls eternal life or salvation.

The Bible often describes human life as a choice between two ways. The two ways are described in Psalm as the way of sinners and the way of the righteous. But perhaps the most graphic description of the two ways of life is found in Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. 14 For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Jesus spoke of himself as the only way: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). By this he did not mean that there was absolutely no other way. What he meant was that for those who want to come to God, for those who seek eternal life and happiness, there was no other way. Obviously, for those whose destination in life was anything other than God, eternal life and happiness, there was a way, but that way only leads to eternal disappointment and death.

Jesus walked in the unpopular and unattractive narrow way of saying yes to God and no to self. He invited Paul, and Paul accepted the invitation to walk in the way of self-denial and suffering. Paul, in turn, invited Timothy, as we see in today’s reading. Timothy accepted and walked in the narrow way. All these holy men testify that the way that leads to life is not easy but in the end it was worthwhile.

Today the Church extends the same invitation to us. This invitation to evangelical suffering is certainly counter-cultural, given the growing materialism and secularism that characterise our culture today. This voice of Christ through the Church is often drowned in the cacophony of other voices, including those of other churches and Christian ministries that promise a life of pleasure, possessions and power rather than suffering. Some call it prosperity gospel, but that is a contradiction in terms since accepting the gospel means accepting that “he (God) must increase and I must decrease” (John 3:30).

The fact that we may not be able to bear the cross of suffering may hinder us from answering yes to the invitation. But this fear is based on the mistaken notion that we bear the cross by dint of our own human ability alone. That is not correct. We are called to bear the cross of God by the strength that comes from God. This divine empowerment in us is what we call grace. As Paul tells us in the reading, “Join with me in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God, who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his  purpose and grace” (2 Timothy 1:8-9).

With the assurance of divine grace to help us, let us throw all hesitation aside. Let us resolve today to walk in the narrow way, the way of the cross, the way that leads to life. As we devotionally walk the Way of the Cross every Friday of Lent, let us resolve to practically walk the same way of the cross every day during this Lenten season and, indeed, every day of our lives.

Fr. Munachi E. Ezeogu, cssp

http://munachi.com

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