THE EXCHANGE

Meditation for 6^th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Lev 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31-11:1; Mk 1:40-45)

The first reading of today gives a pitiable description of a leprous man; he has a swollen skin, and must wear torn clothes with unkempt hair and cover his upper lips. “He is unclean; the priest must pronounce him unclean.” We see a movement from the medical description of the condition of the man, up to his spiritual or religious status in relation to God and the community. Leprosy as a contagious disease would definitely make the community ‘unhealthy.’ And if a man is in a ‘state’ that would not build up the community of God’s people or makes free association and worship possible, then his ‘state’ has more than a medical implication! “Then he shall be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons the priest.” Once declared UNCLEAN by the priest, “He shall dwell alone in a habitation outside the camp.”

We see immediately why sin is likened to leprosy; it makes a man unclean and sets him outside the habitation of grace! Sin breeds selfishness, destroys love and hinders true worship of God. We can begin to understand why the people of old believed that sin was the cause of leprosy; “His disease is on his head.”

In the Gospel of today, Jesus continues to move down to the villages, to the outer part of the towns and cities. It is obvious He stepped forward to the region of the outcasts and downtrodden. Thus, it became possible for the leper to kneel before him, begging, “If you will, you can make clean.” The man surrendered his sickness and his UNCLEAN condition to Jesus. “Moved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched him, and said, ‘I will; be clean.’” Imagine the clean and glorious hand of Jesus touching the unclean man! By this gesture, the man’s burden of leprosy is no more ‘on his head’ but on the shoulders of Jesus... Again, think about what it means for the will of man to coincide with the will of God! This is where our spiritual or religious status is upright, righteousness is restored and every defilement washed clean.

As the man was healed and cleansed, Jesus said to him, “Show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, for a proof to the people.” With Jesus the duty of the priest is re-defined: to reconciled people to God and to one another, and present to God the THANKSGIVING (Eucharistic) offering. The witness of the man brought many people to Jesus, such that He could no longer openly enter the town, but EXCHANGED positions with the man as He stayed outside the city. We too are called to bring people to salvation by reaching out to them as Jesus did to the leprous man, and by witnessing as the cleansed man did to Jesus. We do this by not seeking our advantage in everything, but by working for the common good and the good of many. Thus, we become ambassadors of the divine touch that has saved us by Jesus’ SACRIFICIAL EXCHANGE; this is the Eucharistic touch we proclaim today. Amen.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Sunday February 14^th, 2021.
Valentine’s Day
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

HUNGER AND SATISFACTION

Meditation for Saturday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Gen 3:9-24; Mk 8:1-10)

The fall of man came with severe consequences. Man lost friendship with God; the communication between God and man was no more mutual. Adam and Eve became defensive before God, and more divisive among each other. The Lord God cursed the serpent, and announced the defeat of the serpent by the seed of the Woman. Adam and Eve must face the implications of their choice, which includes, difficulty in childbearing, tough labour to raise food, etc. “In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground...” Finally, in order to prevent man from eating of the tree of life in a state of sin, God drove them out of the garden, to till the ground from which he was taken...

Man ate from the wrong tree and his hunger increased, he lost friendship with God and was driven from the garden where he had free and excess food. Hunger would reign over the human city as he labours for food. Interestingly, Jesus steps in to arrest the terror of hunger among those gathered around Him. He felt their pain and weakness and set out to feed them. With seven loaves and few small fish, he fed the crowd. They all ate to their satisfaction and had seven baskets leftover. Now the bread that ought to be gotten with hard labour is given freely in Christ Jesus, and to each person’s satisfaction. Therefore, Jesus, who is the offspring of the Woman, Mary, cancels the plan of dissatisfaction Satan laid for the children of God.

Jesus gives us the living water; He is the Bread of life. He makes Himself available for our satisfaction. Then our love for Him should come in the form of a HUNGER to mingle our hearts with Him. Jesus gives us the satisfaction that goes ahead of our labours and search for food. Thus, in Jesus human labour is no more a PUNISHMENT to raise food, but an exercise of our joyful and creative contribution to the beauty, orderliness and growth of the human society, to the glory of God. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Saturday February 13^th, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

 

THE FALL AND SALVATION OF MAN

 Meditation for Friday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Gen 3:1-8; Mk 7:31-37)

As the beautiful story of creation is unfolding, suddenly and disappointedly, we hear the sad story of the fall of man. It was unprecedented. A sense of chaos began to re-emerge as Adam and Eve were now more preoccupied with self-survival than walking hand in hand with the Lord God. They discovered at the late hour that the serpent tricked them; the sugar-coated and pleasurable promises he made to them did not exist. Worse still, having pulled them down from relying on God’s will and command, the serpent had no solution for their misery. Imagine where self-preservation became the highest preoccupation of human beings, each person would become a burden unto himself, and would distrust God and his neighbour! “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”

In the Gospel, Jesus steps in; God now dwells among His people. Jesus passed through the Gentile territory of Tyre and Sidon down to Galilee and through the Decapolis. The people that were originally separated from God by sin can now be reconciled. And those bearing upon themselves the burden and wounds of the fall of man, can now be healed. Jesus feels the wretchedness of man in his isolated life of sin, and takes upon himself the burden we ought to bear. “And taking him aside from the multitude privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue; and looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, ‘Ephphatha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’”

The man regained his freedom, and bore witness to the goodness of God. As the people zealously praised God, we see the new order of the redeemed man in Christ Jesus, that self-preservation is no more his preoccupation, but to worship God. Thanks be to God for we can now trust God and our neighbour, and live freely.

May Almighty God bless  you, The Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Friday February 12^th, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

FAMILY SOLUTION

Meditation for Thursday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Gen 2:18-25; Mk 7:24-30)

Today we hear about the story of how God created the human family, and marriage was born. It was God who identified the problem or lack, and set out in search of solution, and singularly brought about the marriage between man and woman as THE SOLUTION. The man and woman share one flesh and are meant FOR each other. “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” The man received the woman warmly, and gave out an exclamation of gratitude to God, who has found solution to his problem!

However, if marriage was established as solution to the problem of the man and the woman, what happens when the marriage itself has a problem? Now, the gospel of today narrates the story of a woman has a family problem. It appears the problem was more than she could solve by herself. She went in search of Jesus for SOLUTION! But to get this answer from Jesus requires faith; faith is the ever new frontier that launches us into the realm of the children of God. “And she went home, and found the child lying in bed, and the demon gone.”

In the same way, if we approach Jesus in faith, there we shall find solution to our every family problem. Jesus is the new Adam; from His open side on the Cross flowed the grace of the sacrament of matrimony. In faith we have become one body in Christ Jesus, that He might heal our family wounds. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Thursday February 11^th, 2021.
Our Lady of Lourdes
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

"THE TREE OF LIFE"

Meditation for Wednesday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Gen 2:4-9, 15-17; Mk 7:14-23)

The second account of creation describes how man was formed. He is a product of the earth, formed from the dust from the ground but lives with the breath of life from God. “When you hide your face they vanish; you take away their breath, they die and return to dust” (Ps 104:29). God placed man in a garden where he could feed himself and exist freely. At the CENTRE of the garden was the TREE OF LIFE, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God gave man this one command, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat it, you shall die.”

The man of earth, who lives by the breath of life from God, is given freedom with responsibility for his own sake. If the life of man is the BREATH OF GOD, then physical fruit or food cannot defile him. This is the discussion we heard in the Gospel of today. Those who make laws about ‘how to eat’ or ‘what to eat’ in order to keep the spirit of God in man are mistaken. Jesus explains, “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man.”

It is clear, therefore, that our inner heart is the new GARDEN from where we live and exist freely. Two kinds of tress are identified: the good tree of life and the bad tree that brings death. The fruits we produce show the kind of tree we are feeding on. Jesus explains, “From within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and they defile a man.” Let us nurture the ‘tree of life’ in the garden of our hearts, and feed from there. Because we live by the Breath of God, it is only when we nourish our hearts with the ‘tree of life’ that we produce fruits of the Holy Spirit. What do you think is this ‘food of life’ that keeps us spiritually alive and undefiled?

May God give us the grace not to feed on bad fruits that defile us, through Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Wednesday February 10^th, 2021.
Memorial of St Scholastica.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

THE OFFERING OF OUR HEARTS IN WORSHIP

 Meditation for Tuesday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Gen 1:20-2:4; Mk 7:1-13)

The creation story has two important high points: The creation of man and the creation of the seventh day! God created man in His own image, and blessed him with fruitfulness and authority over every other creature. But on the seventh day, God drew attention to Him, and kept the last day of creation to Himself. Thus, He who is the source of all creation shall be at its end! “And on the seventh day God finished His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” So man and other creatures will not be ends in themselves, but they must continue to look ahead to the seventh that is owned by no creature but God Himself. “All creatures look to you to be fed in due season” (Ps 145:15). 

But the Pharisees and Scribes gathered together to Jesus to look down on Him and to criticize Him. They asked Him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with hands defiled?” They stood before Jesus but their hearts were not with Him; their hearts were tied to the observance of the tradition of the elders and seeking human approval instead of seeking the face of God. “This people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me...” since creation did not end on the sixth day, man cannot be law unto himself. However, since in Jesus God became man, Jesus Christ is ‘The First Born of all creation’ (Col 1:15), so that human observances cannot contradict the divine mandates. The blessing of man on the sixth day of creation is now completely fulfilled through Jesus Christ, who also carries within Him the fulfilment of the blessing of the seventh day of rest!

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of Hosts! (Ps 84:1). It is beautiful to gather around Jesus; how attractive is His presence! Sometimes we come to Him, but our hearts are tied to money, human problems, or miraculous powers. Let us lift up our whole heart to Him and we shall receive answers to our prayers, Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Tuesday February 9^th, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com 

A TINY TOUCH

Meditation for Monday of the 5^th Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
(Gen 1:1-19; Mk 6:53-56)

We begin this week’s meditations with the beautiful story of creation and the powerful story of Jesus’ healing of the sick. God spoke direct words and things came into existence. In the Gospel, we hear about a unique way Jesus healed the sick: “They laid the sick in the market places, and begged Him that they might touch even the fringe of His garment; and as many as touched it were made well.”

It appears Jesus healed them ‘indirectly’, i.e. without any direct words of healing or explicit exercise of His healing power. Now we can begin to understand the workings of faith as a supernatural gift of God. Faith is the assurance of what is hoped for (Heb 11:1). And God is present in our faith! That is why we cannot claim to believe and still remain ‘distant’ from Him; our faith must ‘empty’ us into the person of Jesus. Hence, even His silence speaks to the believer; any ‘touch’ of His presence heals. Jesus confirms the power of faith as He says to the woman that touched His cloak, “Daughter, your faith has saved you” (Mk 5:34).

Once more, imagine stretching out hand to touch the garment of Jesus and be healed without Him uttering a word! But, think about what it takes to believe that such a touch is enough to wipe off one’s problem! What a courage such a believer would have in order to step forward, piercing through the crowd to Jesus. Such a believer must be CONTEMPLATIVE in order to see holistically through the eyes of faith the divine presence available for him. A touch of the fringe of his garment becomes for us this day A COTEMPLATIVE TOUCH! When we courageously step aside to be alone with Jesus in the silence of our hearts, we shall have this ‘tiny touch’ within that heals and uplifts our souls. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Monday February 8^th, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com