RESPONSIBLE PRAYER

Meditation for Tuesday of the First Week of Lent
(Is 55:10-10; Mt 6:7-15)

One of the important things we are encouraged to engage ourselves in this season of Lent is prayer. Jesus takes prayer very seriously. Today, He teaches us HOW NOT TO PRAY: “In praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” The ‘words of prayer’ are neither to ‘convince’ God nor to ‘inform’ Him about what we are asking for. “For your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” This means that what is first required of us is the intention to pray, the setting out of time and composure in prayer. With one’s heart and mind rendered to God in prayer, even when words cannot come out like Hannah, God will still hear the prayer. “Hannah was praying silently; she moved her lips but uttered no sound and Eli thought Hannah was drunk” (1 Sam 1:13). But when numerous words are uttered, there is a high tendency that the heart and mind will be diverted to the construction of beautiful and pleasant words! This leads to self-absorption and the ‘exaltation’ of one’s problems...

Then, Jesus teaches us HOW TO PRAY. “Pray then like this: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be your name...” In prayer our hearts and sentiments are directed to God, His glory and righteousness. And prayer calls us to RESPONSIBILITY towards God and our neighbour. That is why our need for daily bread is neither the first nor the last item in the prayer Jesus taught us. Also, that is why He asked us prayer though He knows our needs. We make prayer our life; we begin to live out and treat others with that intention we desire from God. “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father also will forgive you.” It can also be said that if you share your bread with the hungry, your heavenly father will give you your daily bread!

Jesus assures us that God does not fail to answer our prayers. His blessings come down like rain and snow from heaven. His promises are accomplished; His words definitely achieve their purposes, “Giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater.” Following the words of prophet Isaiah, the confidence and assurance that bring us to pray without ceasing is not in our might or mastery of prayer, but in the authority of the word of Jesus. We flourish more in prayer when we begin to allow the power of the love of Jesus to summon us and sustain us in prayer. That is why the highest point in prayer is when we are fully sustained by this divine love in contemplation. May your day be filled with this divine touch that feeds us. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Tuesday February 23^rd, 2021.
Memorial of St Polycarp
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

THE SAVING BOW

 Meditation for First Sunday of Lent, Year B
(Gen 9:8-15; 1 Pet 3:18-22; Mk 1: 12-15)

After the great flood, God made a covenant with Noah and his descendants. The TERMS of the covenant was that never again shall the earth be destroyed by flood. It was a unique kind of covenant. God set up a REMINDER, a visible symbol that shall silently but clearly speak about the terms the Covenant. “I set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you...” Notice that the bow, the great reminder, was set up by God to ‘speak’ to Him not to destroy the man and the creatures. That means it is a SAVING BOW raised up to the sky, since it wins for man the benefits of the covenant.

The second reading shifts our attention to Jesus on the Cross. “Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God...” St Peter explains how the saving power of Jesus brought liberation and achieved what could not be achieved with Noah’s ark. This ark saved very few persons. Today, Noah’s ark can be likened to our baptism. The waters of baptism saves us as APPEAL TO GOD for a clear conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Cross of Jesus towers up to the sky like the bow of God’s covenant with Noah. But while the bow was symbolic, the Cross of Jesus is itself the new covenant. In the Cross of Jesus is both the TERMS of the covenant and the REMINDER. It is also the perfect symbol since it communicates and effects from within itself what it stands for. So, while the bow of Noah spoke in silence, the silence of the Cross of Jesus speaks!

Unlike the bow of God’s covenant with Noah that was taken up to the sky, the waters of baptism is poured upon us! Baptism applies to us the saving grace of the eternal Covenant of Jesus on the Cross. So we carry within us the ‘indelible mark’ of baptism, which APPEALS to God for our salvation. When God Himself is the Covenant—the Pledge of our salvation—baptism appeals FOR OUR CLEAR CONSCIENCE that we remain faithful to the new covenant we have in Jesus, who died and rose for us.

Therefore, the greatest temptation we shall face is to turn away from the Cross of Jesus; the temptation to lose the ‘memory’ of the Cross and strip ourselves of its power. However, it is by the power of the Cross that we overcome every temptation. Our forty days of Lent imitates the forty days of Jesus in the desert. At this season, we deepen the imprint of the Cross in our hearts that the victory of Jesus over Satan might be ours. At the end, we shall step forward as Jesus did in the Gospel of today, despite the sorrows of the arrest of John the Baptist, to proclaim the glory of God, the Good News of salvation. “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwewa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Sunday February 21^st, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

AT THE TABLE OF THE FORGIVEN

 Meditation for Saturday after Ash Wednesday

(Is 58:9-14; Lk 5:27-32)

The prophet Isaiah gives us a beautiful description of the life of those are able to overcome evil behaviour in their lives. He recognizes the burden of unrighteous and uncharitable life; it is a yoke! If we put down this YOKE within us, and “Pour yourselves out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.” Sin is a burden; its absence is freedom! Those who have removed this yoke of unrighteousness from their lives shall have many good things to enjoy. The Lord will guide them continually, satisfy their desires with good things, make them strong, and they shall be like a watered garden...It is not enough to take off the yoke of sin, one must fill his life with love and devotion to the Lord, keep his laws, and guide his words. “Then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

All the beautiful blessings promised to those who have repented can be seen in action as Jesus sits at table in the house of Levi the tax collector. The feasting and celebration was an acknowledgment and appreciation of the new life he found in Jesus. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away our sins, lifted off the burden on Levi and set him free from the yoke. The Pharisees understood the meaning of the great act of ‘eating together’ or ‘communion’ with somebody. It is an act of ‘exchange of life’ or ‘sharing of bond.’ They complained, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

“I have come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” It is Jesus who calls, “Follow me” and offers the remedy for sins. Imagine how Levi and his friends enjoy the company of Jesus with so much peace and freedom. This was what tax money denied them from seeing by offering them worldly and momentary pleasures. Heaven too joins in the celebration when one sinner repents. So this season of Lent, we are more attentive the voice of Jesus that calls; in our fasting we express our hunger to dine with Jesus.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C. Ss.R
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos
Saturday February 20^th, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com
 

 

THE REWARD FOR FASTING

Meditation for Friday after Ash Wednesday
(Is 58:1-9; Mt 9:14-15)

“Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?” Today we meditate on the issue of FASTING. The prophet Isaiah talked about fasting as a way to ‘cry aloud’ to the Lord that He might answer quickly. What is it that can make our fasting to be futile? The prophet says it is unrighteous living that forsakes the ordinances of God. “Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.” Isaiah says that the fasting acceptable to the Lord is, “To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke.” The loud cry of fasting that God hears is works of charity and denying oneself for the good of others.

According to prophet Isaiah, the REASON for fasting is for God to quickly hear our cry. But the Lord in turn demands righteousness over and above every external act of fasting. It was such external display of self-denial for their selfish interests that the disciples of John the Baptist and the Pharisees soaked themselves in. It was such a fasting that sought human approval. In response to them, Jesus taught us a new meaning and reason for fasting. “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come, when they bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”

Thus, the disciples of Jesus are like attendants to a bridegroom; they celebrate with Him, they rejoice and are satisfied with Him. The ABSENCE of the Bridegroom is the PRESENCE of their hunger, dissatisfaction or lack. This is when they will begin to hunger and thirst for the One that quenches their thirst and satisfies their hunger. “And then they will fast.” We have been separated from Jesus by our sins. Fasting becomes a way the followers of Jesus express their mourning or deep yearning for Him, the Bread of life that satisfies. By fasting, they direct and stretch every form of hunger in them to Jesus. Fasting, especially at this season of Lent, becomes a way Catholics affirm that they would not settle for any lesser form of satisfaction except Jesus. He is the REASON and the REWARD for our fasting! In His thirst on the Cross is our thirst quenched. Let us brace up and offer in faith our genuine self-denial this Lent, through such acts, our numerous thirsts shall rise up to ‘embrace’ the thirst of Jesus for us. “But those, who drink of the water that I shall give, will never be thirsty” (Jn 4:14). Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Friday February 19^th, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

THE GREAT CHOICE

Meditation for Thursday after Ash Wednesday
(Deut 30:15-20; Lk 9:22-25)

At this early morning of our Lenten journey this year, Moses calls on the Israelites to make a choice for life or death. The commandments he placed before them define their frame of choices! You can either choose to keep the commandments or not. To choose the commandments means to choose to love God and walk in His ways. “Then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you...” It is this blessing of God on those who keep His commandments that sustains their lives. But to choose not to keep the commandments is to choose to live by oneself or to live for other gods. Such a life does not enjoy God’s blessings, and surely, it will wither away.

Lent gives us a favourable opportunity to make the great choice for life. The Lenten observances, together with the liturgical activities of this season, summon us to choose love of God over above love of the self by keeping His commandment, thereby making ourselves available for God’s blessings. At the time of Moses, this anticipated ‘blessings of life’ was basically to live and multiply in the Land, which the Lord God swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

But in Gospel of today, we discover that the frame of ‘choice for life’ has been upgraded: We are asked to ‘choose death’ in order to have life! LIFE is hidden in the death of Jesus Christ; if we choose the death of Christ, we shall have His life. Beyond the Promised Land, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob longed for the Messiah. That means the ‘anticipated blessings of life’ promised to our fathers is now fulfilled in Jesus. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it.”

This Lent we try to re-live and renew the imprint of the passion of Christ in our hearts (2 Cor 4:10-11). By keeping the commandments, we learn how not to live by our human will but to selflessly abide by the will of God. This is how we begin to FOLLOW Christ and walk with Him in the paths of prayer, fasting and Almsgivings. So no one can claim to follow Jesus Christ without a Cross; He has gone ahead of us to Calvary. Behind every cross we bear in the name of Jesus is abundance of life.  Choose wisely!

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Thursday February 18^th, 2021.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

THE IMPRINT OF THE ASH

Reflection for Ash Wednesday

The holy season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. The bold mark of ash on the forehead is usual a proud ‘emblem’ many Catholics wear on this day. This mark of ash seems to have taken a life of its own, such that some people dare not miss it even if they missed the Mass! “Have you received ash?” usually dominates the ‘greeting ceremony’ when catholic neighbours or friends meet. Kids and youngsters often display and compare whose imprint of the ash was bigger. Truly, the ‘touch’ of the ash has its own unique flavour' that awakens us to a deeper religious consciousness.

The book of Genesis narrates how man was moulded from the dust of the earth (Gen 2:7). God warned man before the fall that sin would return him to the ground from which he came (Gen 2:17, 3:19). Man is nothing without God; "take your breath, they return to clay" (Ps 146:4, 104:29). ‘The dust of the earth’ symbolizes the ‘nothingness’ that awaits man if he sins against his creature. This great symbol can now serve two intentions: first, for preventive purposes to keep man humble, that is, ‘ash’ is a gesture that reminds man that he is mere ‘dust’ without the breath of God. Secondly, for contrition, to express repentance of our sins, signalling to God that by our sins we ought to return to dust, but we want to live, and implore His mercy and grace to live according to His will.

Abraham described himself as “dust and ashes” (Gen 18:27) to show how unworthy he was before God. Moses and Aaron spread ashes to bring boils on the Egyptians and humble Pharaoh (Ex 9:8-10). Ashes were used for the purification sacrifices (Num 19:6-10; Heb 9:13). Job when afflicted with suffering, sat on ashes (Job 2:8). Seeing the persecution of the Jews, Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes (Esther 4:1). On receiving Jonah’s message, the King of Nineveh put on sackcloth and sat down on ashes (Jonah 3:6). Jesus confirms the use of ashes as symbol of repentance when he denounced the cities in which He performed most of His miracles (Mt 11:20-21).

Therefore, the ash we mark on our forehead leaves its imprint in our soul! We mark our foreheads with dust of the earth that we might stand humble before God, and be saved from emptiness and the nothingness it leads to. So, even when the physical mark of ash has long been washed off, our hearts carry the imprint throughout the season of Lent. Thus, let us avoid ‘rowdy’ living, but recollect our hearts in the ‘cloud of silence’ that this season brings, and carry out our actions in gentleness and kindness to avoid ‘shaking off the dust’ we marked in our hearts. There is a hidden joy that echoes from the silence of Lent as we secretly perform acts of charity, prayer and fasting. Yes, there is a rhythm of beauty that gently spreads out from the liturgical celebrations of this season. The love it leaves behind is overwhelming.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.
Wednesday February 17^th, 2021.
Ash Wednesday.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

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