THE VICTORY OF THE CROSS

Meditation for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross

(Num 21:4-9; Phil 2:6-11; Jn 3:13-17)

Today we celebrate the feast of the exaltation of the Cross. This feast celebrates the discovery of the true Cross by St Helena in the fourth Century, and the return of the Cross by Emperor Heraclius in 629AD. The celebration brings to our consciousness the great triumph of the Cross for our salvation. Think about human life without the Cross of Christ! It would be likened to the Israelites being bitten by fiery serpents without the uplifted bronze serpent. We would have been defeated by suffering even before it came. Without the Cross, the most exalted action of man would be to avoid death, yet, death itself would be the end of our aspirations and an unbearable burden on our lives.

Jesus humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. His victory over death has become his victory over suffering. His victory over suffering gives new meaning and vision to life. “And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds, you were healed” (1 Pet 2:24). In itself, the Cross represents everything the natural man is afraid of. But Jesus mounted the wood of the Cross and triumphed. The very thing that ought to bring us shame has become a symbol of victory through Jesus Christ. So, “Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us in our faith and brings it to perfection: for the sake of the joy which lay ahead of Him, He endured the Cross, disregarding the shame of it, and has taken His seat at the right of God’s throne” (Heb 12:2).

 

Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself” (Jn 12:32). “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” It is by the Cross that we are given opportunity to share in the life of Christ. The miracles and teachings of Jesus inspire and nourish us. But the ultimate way we are drawn to share in the life of Jesus is through His Cross. It is from the Cross that the miracles and teachings receive their efficacy. What would Christianity be if we are consumed by pursuit of miracles but neglect to carry our cross daily and follow Jesus?

 

You see now the reason we celebrate the Triumph of the Cross. In the Cross of Christ, we are lifted above our daily challenges. In the Cross of Christ, we are exalted though the battle still rages. In the Cross of Christ, that which the enemy planned to be our downfall has become the source of our exaltation (cf. Rm 8:28). Therefore, we carry in our bodies the imprint of the Cross of Christ through the sufferings that come our way each day, so that the life of Christ may be revealed in us (cf. 2 Cor 4:10). Amen.

 

Happy feast day.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

Wednesday September 14^th, 2022.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

THE SEED OF UNITY

Meditation for Tuesday of the 24th Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Cor 12:12-14, 27-31; Lk 7:11-17)

Wherever there is disunity, hardly anyone will claim responsibility for it. Family tussle is on the increase in our society today. Election time in most countries exposes the deep-rooted division that contradicts the National Anthem of that country. The Church, the body of Christ, seems to be the most wounded by this wave of division. We all claim innocence and deny we are not to blame for the lingering mark of disunity in every aspect of our lives. Obviously, the desire for unity is as strong as the desire for happiness and life itself. That is why, while we talk so much about promoting peace and unity, we may get so intoxicated about it that our actions prove otherwise.

If we listen to St Paul’s message in the first reading, we shall get an insight that can help us promote unity. He says, “Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” Unity comes when we work together as members of the one body. This can only be possible when we respect and accommodate the uniqueness of each member. To live in unity, therefore, implies to share life with others. But who actually wants to share life with others? We hardly have enough time and resources for ourselves. Online connection, technical unity cannot make us ‘one body.’

St Paul recognizes that the unity that makes us ‘one body’ is the work of the Holy Spirit. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body…and all were made to drink of one Spirit.” The same Spirit working in the different members is the principle of unity. Each member is expected to cooperate with the Holy Spirit within him. The different gifts of the Holy Spirit are manifestations of each person’s cooperation with the Sprit. Thus, living out the gifts of the Holy Spirit testifies that one is in union with the Spirit. In turn, these gifts and responsibilities help to build up and strengthen the Body of Christ. On the other hand, if we withdraw our attentiveness to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, the seed of disunity will begin to germinate.

Disunity is as cold as death; it renders our lives dry and isolated. In the house of disunity, the beauty of variety fades away, creativity becomes vague, life becomes monotonous and revolves round the same circle of ideology. Then, we point fingers, denying responsibility and hoping to derive justification from the guilt of others. But all we need is to allow the grace of God to carry us to meet Jesus. As He restored life to the young man at Nain, so He will revive us again in the Holy Spirit. Think about the spiritual revival you need today; that is where unity germinates. Unity is the testimony we bear, that is how we proclaim in the words of the people of Nain, “God has visited His people!” Amen.  

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

Tuesday September 13th, 2022.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

THE EUCHARISTIC DISPOSITION

Meditation for Monday of the 23rd Week in Ordinary Time

(1 Cor 11:17-26, 33; Lk 7:1-10)

The readings of today are so beautiful to begin the week. St Paul gives instructions about the Eucharist, while the gospel contains one of the popular acclamations we render during the Mass. The Apostle Paul explains that the Eucharist should be received with utmost reverence and a sense of charity. “The Lord Jesus on the night when He was betrayed took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is my Body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’” The Eucharist is the self-offering of Jesus Christ for us, and given to us that we might receive and participate in that mystery. St Paul says, “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the chalice, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.” By receiving and living out the mystery in our lives, we proclaim and bear witness to the Lord’s sacrifice on the Cross. Thus, those who receive must do away with selfishness and pride.

As we meditate on St Paul’s teaching about the proper disposition necessary for reception and proclamation of the Eucharistic sacrifice, we see a good example in the life of the Centurion. Being a Roman, this man sent the Jewish elders to appeal to Jesus to come and heal his servant. These elders spoke to Jesus about the man’s selfless service, saying, “He is worthy to have you do this for him, for he loves our nation, and he built us our synagogue.” Think about the movement of Jesus towards the house of the Centurion, and the ‘Eucharistic movement’ that brings Jesus and the mystery of the Cross to us…

The disposition of the man was indeed ‘Eucharistic.’ As Jesus drew near the house, he sent message to Him, saying, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; therefore, I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.” The man was not only loving and charitable, he was equally humble and had strong faith in Jesus.

Jesus praised the Centurion, saying, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” This is the kind of joy with which the Lord embraces us if we receive Him in the Eucharist with similar dispositions. As we plan our activities this week, let us be more conscious of those moments that demand love, charity, humility and faith. If we can sustain and prolong such awareness, these virtues will become part of our disposition. Then, our lives and activities will silently but loudly “Proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.” Amen.

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

Monday September 12th, 2022.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

INTO A FAR COUNTRY

Meditation for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

(Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; 1 Tim 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-32)

Today we meditate on the depth of God’s mercy and how far it can go to save us. The first reading narrates how God reacted angrily when the Israelites worshipped a molten calf and sacrificed to it as their god. While Moses was far away up the mountain in the presence of God, the people down below lost patience and decided to make their own god. Moses interceded for them, invoking the merits of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 

In the second reading, we see how the merits that saved the Israelites through Moses’ intercession is now given to us in a perfect way through Jesus Christ. St Paul says, “I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” Jesus is the mediator, who climbed mount Calvary and offered up Himself to the Father for us sinners. The merits of this one perfect offering for the forgiveness of sins are made available and accessible to us through the sacraments of the Church.

 

The great outpouring of God’s mercy is demonstrated in the parables in the gospel. As the one sheep strayed far away from the sheepfold, and disappeared into the wilderness, so did the one coin fall off and uselessly hid in an unknown corner of the house. In both parables, the shepherd and the woman went in search of their sheep and coin respectively. In the parable of the prodigal son, “The younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living.”

The far country is in contrast to his home. At home, under his father’s care, the young man had abundance, companionship, rights and privileges. But in the far country, he was under his own authority. He spent all he had, looking for fulfilment, still he ended up wretched and hungry. The people in this far country lacked compassion and generosity; they are cold-hearted. Those who turn away from God and turn to themselves equally isolate themselves from others. It is interesting that citizens of the far country have no respect for human dignity. Think about that state of mind that accommodates abortion, adultery, indecency, divorce, lies, corruption, etc.

 

The good news is that the goodness of the Father is far-reaching. Even in the far country, the prodigal son was still touched by the ‘grace’ of his Father’s love, and he testified, saying, “How many of my Father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger!” The Father’s love goes farther than the ‘far country.’ The influence of this love and mercy was strong enough to pull the prodigal son back home. In the process of making amendments, while on his way back home, but yet at a distance, “His father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Think about the depth of the Father’s love; that excessive and unmerited love that can transform a slave to a son!

 

Such is the unmerited love that reconciles us with God; the excessive mercy that awaits us at the Sacrament of Reconciliation. It is through the merits of Jesus Christ that we receive such embrace and kiss of love, though we are unworthy. At home with the Father, we enjoy the freedom of God’s children and live out our full potential. We live no longer for ourselves, but the grace of God upbraids us. Therefore, we renounce every step towards the ‘far country.’ Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Sunday September 11^th, 2022.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

PRAY AND ACT

Meditation for Tuesday of the 23^rd Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Cor 6:1-11; Lk 6:12-19)

Let us meditate on Jesus who went into the hills and prayed all night. We must take not of His choice of the hill top, in the dark silent night. The time and environment points to the sacrifice of prayer. To commune with God is a spiritual act, which requires certain bodily discipline. Such discipline could be the timing or the location of the place of prayer. Every discipline is targeted at reducing distractions and uplifting the heart and mind to God.

 

Jesus is the master of prayer! That He spent all night in prayer shows importance of prayer; no matter how busy we might be, we must set aside quality time to pray. Thus, the plan of each day must include prayer time. At dawn, Jesus came down from the hill, and chose the twelve apostles.

 

From the hill of prayer, He moved down to the ground, where human choices and actions were carried out. These dynamics are important for us today. When the human action is powered by a heart and mind sanctified in prayer, it becomes a contemplative action. The action becomes a manifestation of the will of God. Sometimes when people want to make important decisions, such as choosing a life partner, they may rely on their human calculations alone. Some others may rely on extraordinary divine manifestations to make such decisions. This is where fake prophets and visionaries cash out from such gullible people. Action without prayer is dry; prayer without action is empty and mere euphoric!

 

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Rm 8:26). The choice of each of the apostles was the fruit of an all-night prayer, still Jesus chose them after working closely with them as his followers. Prayer supplies the inspiration without which we cannot promptly act according to the will of God. “But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the in the Spirit of our God.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Tuesday September 6^th, 2022.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

 

The Disciple and the Wisdom of the Cross

Meditation for the Twenty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

(Wisdom 9:13-18; Philemon 9-10, 12-17; Lk 14:25-33)

In our meditation today, the mood of the message in the three readings is greatly captured by the opening sentence of the gospel. It says, ‘Great multitudes accompanied Jesus, and He turned and said to them…” That He paused His journey, turned and faced the crowed shows that He was going to say something important. This action indicates that what he was going to say was important and urgent. The promptness with which He delivered the message must be noted, for the messaged demands prompt response too.

 

Jesus turned and said to them, “If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even His own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” The way Jesus delivered the message underlies its preeminence and urgency. The message of the Cross is at the center of the Christian life; it a defining mark of every Christ faithful.  “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body” (2 Cor 4:10). The crosses we bear make us personally responsible and committed to the Body of Christ. And the immediate and prompt Cross each person is summoned to carry is detachment from the most intimate natural attachments of our life. This detachment comes by placing the love of Jesus above love for oneself and love of father, mother, wife, brother, sister, etc. It becomes a cross to give preference to Jesus and to His glory over and above one’s self-preservation or honor to those we have filial bonds with. In this way, our very selves are offered up to the Father through the passion of Jesus. “When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself” (Jn 12:32).

 

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Gal 5:24). “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). So, the hidden wisdom of God, which the first reading talks about, is revealed to us through the Cross of Christ. For by our prompt response to the invitation to carry our cross and follow Jesus, we live, not by human reasoning, but by ‘the mind of Christ’ (1 Cor 2:7-16). This is how we can understand the mysteries of God, and live uprightly.

 

We see a demonstration of the wisdom of the Cross as St Paul appeals to Philemon to receive back his former servant, Onesimus, and to regard him as a brother! St Paul saw through his encounter with the young man in prison as divine plan to set Onesimus free and established him as a beloved brother. The second reading displays humility, brotherly love, forgiveness and reconciliation. These are external manifestation of the internal mark of the Cross in the hearts of the faithful. That is why the message of the Cross is urgent and prompt!

 

Therefore, Jesus explains further that the wisdom of the cross is necessary for us to succeed in life, and it is an important technique for us to conquer every opposition. Think about the planning and gathering of resources needed to build a tower, or, the preparations and training a king needs to put in place for his army to win? The wisdom employed in each of these cases must be deep and far-sighted. That is how far-sighted, urgent and prompt the wisdom of the cross is for our well-being and for our salvation. We must begin today to discover our most hidden and intimate attachments, whether persons or possessions, and begin to offer to Jesus a love greater than those attachments. With this we shall defeat every enemy or opposition and succeed in our endeavors. Above all, we shall excel as His disciples. Jesus said, “Whoever of you does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Sunday September 4^th, 2022.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

The Wisdom of Divine Providence

Meditation for Thursday of the 22^nd Week in Ordinary Time
(1 Cor 3:18-23; Lk 5:1-11)

In the first reading, St Paul reminds us that the wisdom of this world is folly with God. If we approach God with human way of reasoning without surrendering to His divine wisdom, we will be deceiving ourselves, and make it easy for others to deceive us. One of the easiest ways people are deceived today is in their understanding of prosperity and divine providence. There is this human calculation that most modern ‘church owners’ teach their members, making them believe that prayer is a sort of ‘prosperity bank’, where they can go to cash out wealth and progress. They make it look as if prayer is an investment for earthly wealth and wellbeing.

 

As we meditate on the gospel, we see how divine wisdom is displayed in the abundance of harvest granted to Peter and his companions. And that divine grace that enriched Simon and his companions is very much available for us today. These fishermen worked all night but caught nothing. It was like a wrong investment, a wasted effort! In our society today, someone might say they were bewitched with bad luck. In their disappointment, they started washing their nets to go home. Then, Jesus used one of their boats to preach. Though they did not know Him at that time, Peter and his companions were still kindhearted to allow Jesus use their boat as much as he wanted. That means they did not allow their ‘failed mission’ to define their disposition and behavior towards others.

 

After He finished preaching, Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” These gracious words are what we hope to receive from Jesus as we step forward into this new month, and as we carry out our daily responsibilities. Peter, who believed in hard work, said to Jesus, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” He went back to the sea and caught a lot of fish. This great harvest is the fruit of divine providence, which many of us are praying for. As we meditate on this event, we come to understand that the great abundance that Jesus bestowed on them was not given arbitrarily, nor was it given contrary to the order of nature. The blessing was bestowed upon their expertise as professional and committed fishermen. Secondly, it was built upon their good moral behavior. Thirdly, it was bestowed upon their faith and obedience to Jesus as the ‘Master.’

 

According to the first reading, “Let no one deceive himself.” If you are praying for a breakthrough in your finances, are you working hard in your enterprise? Do you have integrity and moral uprightness? Do you have genuine faith in Jesus, or, you believe in Jesus for your own interests? Like Peter and his companions, you shall be astonished at the great abundance the Lord has prepared for you. And after receiving these blessings, “They left everything and followed Him.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter & Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Lagos.

Thursday September 1^st, 2022.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com