CHRIST-CENTERED LIFE

Meditation for Monday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Thes 4:13-18; Lk 4:16-30)

As we draw close to the end of the month and St Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians, he begins to instruct them about death and the end times. About those who died, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep.” With hope in the resurrection in Christ Jesus, we should not grieve over the dead like those who do not have faith. The life of the Christian is not a death-burdened life, rather, it is a Christ-centered life; he does not live merely to escape death, but he lives to the glory of God in Christ Jesus. This is the hope the Christian ought to bring into his daily activities.

So, we gaze our eyes of meditation on Jesus as He reads from the Prophet Isiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” A great sound of silence resounded over the people as He closed the book and sat down. The powerful words He read continued to re-echo within that ‘sound of silence’ and vibrate in their hearts! And their attend was focused on Him. This is how a Christian ought to center his life around Jesus. From within that silence, He said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Now, the words that touched their hearts would not remain a mere imagination of their hearts, but it has taken concrete root in the Person of Jesus!

That is why those who has issues with the personality of Jesus and rejected Him lost the blessings and hope He assures. They became angry, restless and bloodthirsty. Their frustration is boldly on their faces as they attempted to throw Jesus off the brow of the city hill. “But passing through the midst of them He went away.”

 

St Felix, pray for us! Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Monday August 30^th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

“ASPIRE TO LIVE QUIETLY”

Meditation for Saturday of the 21^st Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Thes 4:1-8; Mt 25:1-13)

After instructing the Thessalonians to abstain from immorality and live for sanctification and holiness, St Paul begins to exhort them on love for one another. According to St Paul, it is taken for granted that the person who believes in God has learnt from Him how to love one another. “But we exhort you, brethren, to do so more and more, to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you.” Let us meditate on the words of St Paul to deepen our love for one another, and clothe ourselves with the garments of silence and serenity
. This enables us to stay focused and carry out our works diligently.

In the parable of the talents, the master entrusted to each of the three servants according to their individual capacity. While the first two servants doubled what was given to them, the low-capacity unproductive servant had much to complain about his master and the task ahead! Did he wish to be given five talents like the other servant? He would have complained of being overstressed! Now, the master loved him and gave him one talent according to his capacity, still, he grumbled and accused him of stinginess! His tongue was swift to vomit excuses for being unproductive and acting wickedly. This is what happens when someone’s tongue is busier than his hands! Since such a servant proved himself unworthy of the favor shown him, “Even what he has will be taken away.”

To avoid such a regrettable end, let us follow the path of humility that St Paul taught the Thessalonians to carry out our duties in silence and love. Then, with our commitment and focus, the Master Jesus will double the fruits of our labors. “For everyone who has will more be given, and he will have abundance.” Amen.

 

St Augustine of Hippo, pray for us! Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Saturday August 28^th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

SEPARATING THE WISE FROM THE FOOLISH

Meditation for Friday of the 21^st Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Thes 4:1-8; Mt 25:1-13)

Just as silence and noise are close neighbors, so also is wisdom and foolishness! The fence demarcating them is usually not tall enough; it is very easy to cross from one to the other. To avoid such unfortunate switch, St Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to hold firm to the example he left behind and the instructions he gave them in the name of Jesus Christ. “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.” Anyone who wants to remain on the side of wisdom must abstain from immorality, control his body in holiness and honor. “For God has not called us for uncleanness, but in holiness.”

In the parable of the ten virgins, we see the mingling of the wise and foolish. It is very difficult to know immediately who is wise or foolish. They were all given equal opportunity. They all had good intentions to succeed in their calling. They all made efforts to meet the bridegroom. As we gaze upon them from the cloud of silence in our meditation today, we see how difficult it is for human eyes to perceive wisdom. Then the Bridegroom appears…with royalty, beauty and power! In Him is true and eternal wisdom. It is His presence that separates the wise from the foolish…

That is why we must listen to St Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians and avoid every form of immorality, so that the light of the Holy Spirit will continue to shine in us, and we will always live in the presence of Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom. He is present to us if we preoccupy our minds with self-control, our sanctification and holiness of life. Such a one is found to be wise, for only in Christ Jesus is perfect and everlasting wisdom.

St Monica, pray for us! Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Friday August 27^th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

KEEPING WATCH IN FAITH AND LOVE

Meditation for Thursday of the 21^st Week in Ordinary Time

(1 Thes 3:7-13; Mt 24:42-51)

St Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians, for the most part, can be summarized as a letter of thanksgiving! St Paul continued to thank them for their strong faith. He testified that the faith of this young church brought him much comfort. At the end of today’s reading, St Paul began to pray for the Thessalonians that God may increase their love for one another and to all men, and establish their hearts in holiness, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints.

This prayer of St Paul reminds us that to persevere in faith and love unto eternity, we need the cooperation of divine grace. Also, faith and love need constant nurturing and growth! Whenever we arrive at that moment when our faith is stagnant and our love is monotonous, then we begin to act like that wicked servant who says to himself, ‘my master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to find fault with everyone, and criticize everything, and become intolerable while hiding under unruly pleasure and selfishness! But not for long…Soon, such ‘wicked’ servant would be found out; He would be taken unawares, time will pass him by, and his hypocrisy would be exposed.

Therefore, we say, “Amen” to the prayer of St Paul, for there is no better way to keep ‘watch’ than to pray. The Householder has given us the greatest gifts: faith and love! There is no blessing that these two cannot bring forth. The wise servant ‘keeps watch’ over his master’s treasure. Since he communes with his Master in prayer, his Master’s coming will not take him by surprise. The wise servant ‘dwells’ in his master’s presence, and thus carries out His will as if He were present. Hence, he conquers time and the burden of waiting by watchful prayer! The CONSCIOUS DWELLING IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD is what we learn through silence and meditation. So, let us be wise and pray today that our faith may grow and our love may flow.

 

St Pope Zepbyrinus, pray for us! Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Thursday August 26^th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

SPREADING THE GOSPEL WITH OUR LIVES

Meditation for Wednesday of the 21^st Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Thes 2:9-13; Mt 23:27-32)

True, the wrong conduct of a preacher can be an obstacle to the spreading of the gospel. Such negative conduct can be when the preacher’s personality or action takes the minds of his followers to himself or to worldly things. St Paul urges the Thessalonians to follow his example not to scandalize one another but “To walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.” Obviously, spreading the gospel is not only by talking, but it includes the holy and righteous and blameless lives we live in silence. Our lives should not be obstacles to the gospel but it should create the right environment for the seed of the gospel to germinate.

That is why St Paul continued to thank the Thessalonians for receiving the word of God, “Not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” For the word they heard to manifest in them, it means they put it into practice unlike the Pharisees who loved to gather around Jesus but would neither accept His words nor put them to action. Jesus described them as “Whitewashed tombs.”

As we meditate today and gaze upon the face of Jesus in His outright condemnation of the Pharisees and scribes, we perceive His ardent desire that we be true to the gospel, and make it part of our lives…Within that cloud of silence, we begin to understand more deeply the difference it makes if we are hypocrites! So let us remove every obstacle in our lives and conduct that would not allow the power of the gospel to germinate and grow in us that we may not impede the spread of the gospel.

St Louis of France, pray for us! Amen.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Wednesday August 25^th, 2021.
www.soundofsilence.ng
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

 

MEETING JESUS THROUGH THE SIGN

 MEETING JESUS THROUGH THE SIGN
Meditation for the 18th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Ex 16:2-4, 12-15; Eph 4:17, 20-24; Jn 6:24-35)

After Jesus fed the five thousand, the crowd gathered to make him their ‘bread king’, but he fled from them! In today’s Gospel, the people found in at Capernaum, but He said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of loaves.” Now, think about how much selfish desire pushes us to blind pursuits! The excitement of the free tasty bread that satisfied their hunger made them to take the pains to look for Jesus. Human desire is not only insatiable, but it often clings on irrelevant things and exaggerates their importance while pursuing them with utmost vigour. We can even claim to be working for God though we are motivated by our self-interest.

As the Mana in the desert became a sign through which the hunger of the Assembly of Israel became a hunger for God who saved them and fed them, so Jesus expected the people to perceive the sign of the multiplication of the loaves as pointing to Him. But they saw through the miracle an opportunity to pursue their self-satisfaction. The failed to understand because they were looking for the sign, not where the sign was pointing to; they were looking for the bread, not the giver of bread! Those who look for miracles are easily deceived, but those who look for the God of miracles find Him and receive miracles in their lives.

Therefore, St Paul urges us in the second reading not to follow the futility of our minds as unbelievers in Christ do.. The human mind can perceive several needs and hunger, but we are not to follow them as the sole end of our journey, allowing our immediate needs to define us and our way of life! St Paul says this is an old way of thinking, which we must put off, for human desires are full of corrupt and deceitful lusts. “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new man, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” If you follow your mind, the Eucharist will appear only as bread and wine. But Christ’s faithful see through the sign to receive Jesus. So Jesus says, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Sunday August 1st, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

www.soundofsilence.ng