WHEN I AM LIFTED UP

Reflection for Tuesday of the 5^th Week of Lent

(Num 21:4-9; Jn 821-30)

1.0.      They Lost Patience

In the midst of their hunger and thirst, the Israelites became impatient and lost faith. They turned against God and Moses. Losing patience means they could no longer wait on the Lord to answer them at His own time, and continuing to trust that He would answer them. Their hunger inspired them to desire a God who would be at their disposal, and not vice versa. It is not possible for man to withdraw his heart from God without turning it against God. It is either God is the friend or the enemy; the solution or the problem! Whenever we lose patience and refuse to see God as the Solution, we will accuse Him of the problem... “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?”

Since they claimed God brought them out to die, fiery serpents became the answer to their impatience. They saw death and repented of their blasphemy. So God asked Moses to set up a bronze serpent as a sign; “And if a serpent bit any man, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” Thus, this sign would remind them of how they provoked God, and at the same time draw God’s mercy to them.

2.0.      “Who are You”

The Pharisees continued to interrogate Jesus about His identity since they set themselves to oppose Him. They refused to acknowledge His divine manifestations and teachings, which indicate that He is the Messiah. So Jesus said to them, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am He.” With their closed minds, they continue to ask him, “Who are you?” Then Jesus answered, “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am He...”

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of man be lifted up so that everyone who believes may have eternal life” (Jn 3:14-15). His life and identity would be explained by His death! Those who refused to believe will see His death and acknowledge Him. “The Centurion, who was standing in front of him, and had seen how he had died, and he said, ‘In truth this man was Son of God’” (Mk 15:39). Lifted up on the Cross, He will remind us of our rebellion against God through sin, and at the same time, draw God’s mercy upon us.

This Lenten season we look upon the Cross of Jesus. Sin bites like the fiery serpent; our impatience takes us to the wrong turn in life. We are solution-oriented people, so we can easily lose faith when the answers are not forthcoming. The sight of Jesus crucified speaks to our conscience and brings healing to our body and soul. Thus, as the Son of man is lifted up, our hearts go with Him, and we are uplifted above the world, its temptations and struggles.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

“Neither do I Condemn YOU”

 Reflection for Monday of the 5^th Week of Lent

(Dan 13:41-62; Jn 8:1-11)

The readings today tell the story of two women in the face of their accusers. Susanna, who was innocent, was accused by two unrighteous elders. The woman in the Gospel was caught in the every act of adultery by the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees. Susanna remained faithful to God, and would not compromise her moral standard. Daniel, with divine wisdom, saved Susanna from the false accusation, and the two elders received the punishment they prepared for her. They laid a snare for me in my path, but fell in it themselves (Ps 57:6). When people have made a sinful act their way of life, they wittingly and aggressively lure others to their side. Those who resist are persecuted.

  

But the woman caught in adultery was guilty as charged. For the self-righteous Scribes and Pharisees, her sin was her immediate condemnation. And exposing her would hide their own guilt. So while they conserve the sin, they sentence the sinner. It is more important to them that the sinner is stoned than the sin eradicated. Thus they dragged the woman along...This always the approach of the unrighteous and secularism.

  

“And placing her in their midst they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.’”  Their concern is about This woman, not The act of adultery! Their interest is not to promote righteousness but to institutionalize their hypocrisy, which Jesus had condemned severally and openly. So they used the woman as bait to catch the bigger fish! Their intention was to stone the woman for adultery and stone Jesus for contravening the law...

But Jesus gave them a surprise response: silence! “Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground.” His holy presence permeated through to their hearts. They found themselves summoned and ‘arrested’ by such powerful presence, yet calm and silent. “I, the Lord, search the heart, test the motives, to give each person what his conduct and his actions deserve” (Jer 17:10). Jesus raised His head and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” “For God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but so that through him the world might be saved” (Jn 3:17). Seeing how unfit they were to judge and condemn, Jesus gave an opportunity to repent and be saved. Instead they choose to drop the stones and walk away. Oh, how I wish they dropped the stones and remained with him, sitting side by side with the woman!

“And Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.” The unrighteous woman standing before the Righteous One... It was a great moment of expectation. She had seen those heavy stones targeted at her, received insults and abuses and felt her end had come. This kind of fear and desolation describes the life of a sinner until he meets Jesus. And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.”

Therefore, Jesus condemned the sin but saved the sinner, unlike the hypocrites that saved the sin but condemned the sinner. It was as if the woman got her life back from the grave like Lazarus! After the encounter, both Susanna and this woman would live in gratitude to God, who becomes the centre of their lives. Jesus saves!

Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Monday, March 30^th, 2020.

Living Free in the Resurrection

Reflection for 5^th Sunday of Lent Year A

(Ezekiel 37:12-14; Rm 8:8-11; Jn 11:1-45)

 Introduction

Death is the big loss! Burial ceremony is an important cultural identity, and a means by which we express our desire for life. The loss of grace and its resultant life of sin is the field in which death grows. The wages of sin is death (Rm 6:23). Life appears sweet and rosy till the cold hand of death surfaces. So we struggle to stay alive! The burden of death is the one yoke man cannot handle by himself. The more we grow in self-awareness that human life is calibrated, the more we deepen our knowledge of our activities and seek for better ways to survive. Let us know the shortness of our lives that we may gain wisdom of heart (Ps 90:12).

And all who have gained this wisdom reach out to God for solution just as the sisters of Lazarus sent message to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is ill.”

  

The Journey to the Grave

“Let us go back to Judea...Our friend Lazarus is at rest; I am going to wake him.” Lazarus must have felt the agony of human weakness as sickness ravaged his body. Seeing his body give way to lifelessness was painful for him and those around him. In wisdom they reached out to Jesus who alone has power to cure sickness, and prevent death. And that was where their faith reached. Man by himself cannot perceive a remedy to death except by revelation. However, Jesus did not show up! We could perceive their utmost disappointment that Jesus did not come to prevent the death of Lazarus. This was another agony for Lazarus and his sisters. The silence of God in the face of human suffering is a mystery beyond measure. It is like the closure of churches in the face of global pandemic!

But the Prophet Ezekiel in the first reading announced that God will raise his people from the grave. So the journey to the grave, with all its terror and pain, will end in futility. “And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.” The journey of Jesus to the grave of Lazarus was to fulfill this prophecy but through the grace of Jesus’ own journey to His grave. In his own journey to the grave, Jesus felt the pain, agony, the silence of God and the terror of death, just as Lazarus felt. It was in anticipation of His own journey that He stood with such authority before the grave of Lazarus!

“I am the Resurrection”

Martha, Mary and the disciples believed strongly that Jesus could have prevented the death of Lazarus. They believed in the resurrection, but as an event suspended and kept for another phase of existence. “I know he will rise again at the resurrection on the last day.” That means till then, death remains the known finality. Then the prophecy of Ezekiel would remain hanging... That implies our present life will be overwhelmed by the fear of death. But Jesus introduces Himself in a new way to them as the remedy.

  

“I am the resurrection. Anyone who believes in me, even though he dies, will live...” Thus, the resurrection is a person! He is alive and present. Jesus the Resurrection makes His life available for us to participate in through faith. The Resurrection is present. It is the life we share in Christ Jesus (cf. Phil 3:10). This faith dissolves the power of death and dispels the darkness of the grave.

“Unbind Him, let Him go Free”

Jesus answered Martha, “Have I not told you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” He gave thanks to God, and with a loud voice, called out Lazarus from the grave. As he came out Jesus said, “Unbind him, let him go free.” Death tries to hold us down with the bandage of fear. Whenever we live merely to escape death, or just to increase the number of our years, we simply exist within the confines that death marked for us. If our faith in Jesus remains only at the level where we see Him as the One who can prevent death and elongate our years, such faith will be weak and be filled with agony. Jesus has set us free by giving us opportunity to share today in His life of the Resurrection.

Therefore, St Paul enjoins us to live lives pleasing to God. That means we cannot allow the flesh or earthly desires to rule our lives. We should recognize the indwelling of the Spirit, which makes us belong to Christ Jesus. The Prophecy of Ezekiel is fulfilled, “And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.” Thus St Paul assures us, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Sunday 29^th March, 2020.

 SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that you are really here in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to feed on your flesh. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive you. Never let me drift away from you. Amen.

----St Alphonsus Liguori

CONFUSION IN THE CAMP OF EVIL PLOTTERS

Reflection for Saturday of the 4^th Week of Lent

(Jer 11:18-20; Jn 7:40-53)

Prophet Jeremiah, the suffering servant of God, narrates his ordeal in the hands of his adversaries. Though God revealed to him their evil intent, but he was like a gentle lamb that was led to the slaughter. They planned to wipe him out of the face of the earth. “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more.” Evil intent, like the virus that attacks human body, will continue to spread to total destruction unless checkmated. So the Prophet quickly committed his cause to the Lord, who alone judges righteously and can take vengeance upon those who plan evil.

How does the camp of the evil plotters look like? It is not easy to work against the good. “Whoever does attack you, for your sake will fall” (Is 54:15). As the gang up against Jesus thickens, the confusion among their camp became more obvious. Initially, the Jewish authorities brainwashed the people against Jesus. But after His teaching in the Synagogue, there was division among the people. “This is really the Prophet. Others said, ‘This is the Christ.’ But some said, ‘Is the Christ to come from Galilee?’” “I have come to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled” (Lk 12:49).

The police officers who came to arrest Jesus had their authority neutralized by Jesus’ teaching. There was confusion between them and the Pharisees, who felt so disappointed that the police could not arrest Jesus. “The officers answered, ‘No man ever spoke like this man!’” They were silently arrested by Jesus, whom they came to arrest! There was confusion also among the Pharisees themselves too. Nicodemus who had contact with Jesus, carefully raised a dissenting voice. The truth became an arrow that pierced their hearts and scattered them. “They replied him, ‘Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.”

The attempt to threaten and silence Nicodemus and other witnesses is the general characteristics of evil intent. Since truth speaks in silence, the noisy shutdown and threats indicate the confusion within the hearts that plot evil and within their camp. The conspiracy of silence that promotes evil is a hypocritical silence that denies the truth. The voice of Jesus was not heard in the reading of today, still He won the day! Let no evil intent weaken our resolve to always stand for the truth and live a righteous life.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

Saturday March 28^th, 2020.

SPIRITUAL COMMUNION

My Jesus, I believe that you are really here in the Blessed Sacrament. I love you more than anything in the world, and I hunger to feed on your flesh. But since I cannot receive Communion at this moment, feed my soul at least spiritually. I unite myself to you now as I do when I actually receive you. Never let me drift away from you. Amen.

----St Alphonsus Liguori

 

THE TRIUMPH OF THE RIGHTEOUS

                  REFLECTION FOR FRIDAY OF THE 4^TH WEEK OF LENT YEAR A

                                         (Wis 2:1, 12-22; Jn 7:1-2, 10, 25-30)

Like the virus that tries to destroy human body, so does evil feed on the good. The first reading from the Book of Wisdom explains this. “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions...” light and darkness cannot go together. Evil intent manifests itself on the good, i.e. it is when confronted by the good that evil exhibits its characteristics. In today’s reading, we see the unique way in which righteousness confronts evil: Silence! ‘Silence’ is the vital power with which the good moves and evil is shaken! While evil gangs up and attacks, the righteous silently focuses on his good ways. The mere existence of the good is the death of evil. “He became to us a reproof of our thoughts; the very sight of him is a burden to us, because his manner of life is unlike that of others.  

 

“And light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it” (Jn 1:5). Evil intoxicates and blindfolds. With its noisy uproar, it cannot hear the sound of silence in which the good speaks. Evil intent is always short-sighted. It cannot perceive the eternal hope for the wages of holiness, nor discern the prize of blameless life.

Thus, Jesus continued to move about freely though the Jewish authorities had ganged up against him and concluded He must die. “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him!” The strength of the Good is in the freedom it enjoys. Its mere presence is the absence of evil. So Jesus continues to teach in the synagogues... Such freedom exposes the futility and self-defeat of evil intent. Thus the evil planners must increase their efforts in order to avoid self-destruction and shame. “The wicked man sees and is angry, grinds his teeth and fades away. The desires of the wicked will lead to doom” (Ps 112:10-11).

“So they sought to arrest Him; but no one laid hands on him, because His hour had not yet come.” Till then, the freedom of the good will continue to aggravate the plot of the evil of ones, just as the presence of Jesus angered the Jewish authorities. They tried to take Him at their own time, thereby subjecting Him to their evil intent. But Jesus’ triumph—and the victory of the good—is already evident since all will happen at His hour. Then, what is done with malice will be received with freedom; love will triumph over hatred, good will overcome evil.

At this trying moment, and in this season of lent, let us stand at the Hour of Jesus, where we increase our capacity for good and the freedom that dispels evil.

Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Friday, March 27, 2020.

THE ROCK OF SALVATION

Reflection of the 3^rd Sunday of Lent Year A

(Ex 17:3-7; Rm 5:1-2, 5-8; Jn 4:5-42)

The Israelites became extremely thirsty along the way. They lost patience and lost faith. Their journey to life now appeared like a death-trap; they preferred the food of slavery to the journey of freedom. So they turned against Moses saying, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? Suddenly, the one who saved them was accused of working against them! This is what happens when man is consumed by insatiable human desires or thirsty for the water that increases his thirst. However, Moses mediated before God for the people.

The Lord told Moses to take with him the rod with which he struck the Nile and go to the rock at Horeb. “Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink.” The Sound of Silence perceives the impact of the rod of Moses on the Rock! Imagine Moses lifting and landing the rod on the rock. It was not mere dry rock that gushed forth water. The Lord declared Himself on the rock. Therefore, the impact of the rod, which carried with it all their stubbornness and rebellious acts, landed on the One who overshadowed Horeb, and who made the water gush forth. The Lord received and transformed the impact of the rod to spring of water for the people. “Hail the Rock who saves us” (Ps 95:1).

This impact resounds loudly and consistently in Jesus Christ as we behold Him dialoguing with the Samaritan woman. “And all drank from the same spiritual drink, since they drank from the spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was Christ” (1Cor 10:4). In Jesus, God is no more hiding behind a rock...Jesus is the Cornerstone, the Living Water, and the Mediator. The impact of the rod of Moses is fulfilled as the soldiers struck Jesus, spat on him, drove the nails into His arms and feet, and pierced His side. Then from His side flowed Blood and Water, the fountain of life. The real thirst and drink is now revealed in Him to the amazement of His disciples and the Samaritan woman.

The weariness of the Israelites on their journey to freedom met its end in Jesus who was worn out from His journey and sat at Jacob’s well in Samaria. And Jesus was thirsty! In His thirst God’s people can no more lose faith because of any thirst. Instead, human desire can now lead to the glory of God. The Samaritan woman became a symbol of the rebellious people of God, as Jesus fulfilled the role of Moses as Mediator. She begane by being obstinate; she refused Jesus the water from the well. As Jesus began to introduce Himself to her, unveiling gradually to her the mystery of His identity, the Samaritan woman began to have a change of heart. "...Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give will ever be thirsty again..." At this point her interest in Jesus and thirst for living water was activated, though clouded by her human understanding. She said, "Sir, give me some of that water, so that I may never be thirsty or come here again to draw water."

At this point, Jesus moved the dialogue to her inner Self, where the real thirst lies. Of course, we cannot worship God in spirit and in truth if our inner life is not laid bare before God. He said to her, "Go and call your husband." At this point, the woman's secret choices were exposed--choices which reflect her thirst for a saviour, but grossly misplaced on the altar of bodily pleasure! Untill now, she had lived an unhappy and unstable life, replacing one man with another in her quest for satisfaction. Seeing that her secret life is not hidden from Jesus, she recognized Him as a prophet. 

The idea of a "prophet" summons her to religion. But she had her excuses for exempting herself from religion. Jesus then redeems her idea of religion and satisfies her thirst for worship. "But the hour is coming--indeed is here already--when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth..." True worship does not depend on space or location. But to worship God in truth will lead to the acceptance of the Messiah. So the woman expressed her thirst for the Messiah who was to come. But Jesus answered her emphatically,  "I who speak to you, am He." 

What else could she long for! Hail the Rock who saves us. She had received her salvation. Her request for living water was granted. Having received Jesus the Living Water, she was filled with joy, and the woman abandoned her natural water, moved into town like a disciple, and brought 

others for Jesus.

This is an unmerrited grace. He quenches our thirst even while we are rebellious. We must stand on Jesus with strong faith. He is our Rock of Salvation. Jesus has won peace for us, and access to divine grace. Like the Samaritan woman, we must allow Jesus to redeem our inner self, that seat of making choices, such that we choose Him who had choosen us, Jesus Christ; and worship God in Spirit and in the truth.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.SsR

Ss Peter and Paul Catholic, 

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Sunday 15th March, 2020

THE GLORY OF THE CROSS

Reflection for the Second Sunday of Lent Year A

(Gen 12:1-4; 2Tim 1:8-10; Mt 17:1-9)

1.0.  Abraham’s Blessings

God called Abraham to leave his father’s house to the land He would show him. Abraham was relatively comfortable and successful in his father’s house. God was calling Abraham to go to a new land to start a new generation of humanity that would be people of faith in God. However, to uproot him from ‘his domain’ to an unknown destination would not be an easy task. So God attached great promises to Abraham if he embarked on the journey. “And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing...and by you families of the earth shall bless themselves.” Believing in God and His promises, Abraham went as the Lord had told him. This ‘promised land’ would become for him ‘the land of promises’, since by going there, God’s promises would be fulfilled in Abraham.

2.0.         The Transfiguration

The Gospel today tells us the story of the Transfiguration. “And He was transfigured before them, and his face shone life the sun, and his garments became white as light.” The glory of Jesus was manifested on the Mountain (cf. 2 Pet 1:16-18). This shining glory was a manifestation—a foretaste—of what is kept for the Children of God through Christ. We are called to share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Th 2:14). Thus the voice of the Father declares, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am will pleased; listen to him.” This implies that through Jesus Christ, the hidden glory of God will be revealed to all who share in the life of Christ Jesus (1 Cor 2:7).

Therefore, Jesus is the fulfillment and living manifestation of the ‘Land of promises’ where we enter in faith and unlock great divine blessings. Like Abraham, we are called to move from our ‘domain’ in human nature to the new land of divine revelation. This is the new life in Christ, where grace is stronger than family ties. The promises we have in Christ Jesus are now unveiled through the transfiguration, such that we are drawn to this new life, not by the imagination of our minds, but by the reality of His presence.  The life of Christ overwhelms, as the cloud of glory dazzles and summons the apostles of awe and adoration. “They fell on their faces, and were filled with awe.” The attraction is irresistible; the memory is unforgettable! 

3.0.         Coming Down from the Mountain

“As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.’” The vision was a revelation of the glory of the Cross. The hidden glory behind the gory face of the Cross of Christ is now unveiled in anticipation, such that we can behold the ‘beauty’ of the Cross from within the cloud of glory of the transfiguration. Thus, the Cross becomes beautiful and attractive since its hidden glory is already here with us. God’s glory—and every glory—will be given in vain if it is not a product of the Cross. The perceived glory becomes a transfiguration of the agony of the Cross into the sparkling brightness of the divine essence.

Now the difficult journey of Abraham has become our ‘stations of the cross’ by which we step into God’s unfailing promises in Christ Jesus. “Then we are heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we share his suffering, so as to share his glory” (Rm 8:17).  That is why St Paul tells us in the second reading to take up our share of suffering for the Gospel. We step forward to fulfill our daily responsibilities and embrace the sufferings of each day, but in virtue of the purpose and grace of Jesus Christ. This is already manifested and made available for us.

Hence, our Lenten observances draw inspiration from Abraham’s sacrificial journey to the Promised Land. This season of fasting, prayer and alms-giving trains us to move from our natural human domain to the realm of grace, where we encounter the overshadowing glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Fr Jude Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

Sunday March 8^th, 2020.