THE QUESTION OF FORGIVENESS

Meditation for Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent

(Dan 3:2, 11-20; Mt 18:21-35)

One of the distinguishing qualities of a Christian as a true follower of Jesus Christ is forgiveness. Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness challenges everyone and every culture. You may not know how strong your faith in Jesus is until you find yourself hanging on the cross of forgiveness. It can never be an easy journey because forgiveness sets one on a pathway that opposes the worldly and natural flow. That is why despite Jesus’ several explanations and examples, Christians today still ask the question of how far they can go on this journey of forgiveness.

 

Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” Jesus’ response shows that forgiveness is not to be numbered, but to be lived out. Counting it would mean it is external to us, but living it out implies it is within us and part of our lives. In addition, he told the parable of the unforgiving servant to demonstrate that forgiveness is part of our relationship with God. The forgiveness we show to one another is not disconnected from the forgiveness we receive from God. Thus, the question of forgiveness is better understood if we pose the same question in relation to God, saying, ‘How many times should God forgive me if I sin against Him.’ “If you O Lord should mark our iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you is found forgiveness, that you may be revered.” (Ps 130:3-4).

 

Let us meditate on the prayer of Azariah from the midst of the fire. While in that torment, instead of seeking revenge for his enemies, he began to invoke the mercy of God. He acknowledged their sins, and offered the pain as an oblation from a contrite heart and a humble spirit. Finally, he said, “Do not put us to shame, but deal with us in your forbearance and in your abundant mercy. Deliver us in accordance with your marvelous works, and give glory to your name, O Lord!” The servant was put to shame because he refused to forgive as his master forgave him. Forgiveness is never cheap nor easy; it comes at a cost. And God has paid the highest cost for forgiveness on the cross. That is why we constantly draw closer to Jesus for the grace to forgive. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Tuesday March 14^th, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

21^st Lenten meditation

The Gateway to Divine Cleansing

 Meditation for Monday of the Third Week of Lent

(2kg 5:1-15; Lk 4:24-30)

Let us meditate the beautiful story of Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria. He was a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper. He was such a humble man that even his servants could advise him. It was advice given by his servant girl that made him embark on the journey to meet Elisha. On getting to Israel, he thought that such great power would be with the King. So, in his childlike manner he went straight to the king. Unfortunately, the king did not know anything about curing leprosy. On getting to Elisha’s house, the prophet did not come out but sent a servant to tell him to go and bathe in the River Jordan seven times. Naaman’s humility failed him at this time, and he stood on his pride in anger, for he expected a special recognition and treatment.

 

We see here that while this army commander was humble in listening, even to his servants, honor and recognition were his weaknesses. From a person’s particular attachments, pride germinates. Imagine how much obstacle pride can be to the man knocking at the door of divine grace. However, Naaman was lucky that he was humble enough to listen to servant who urged him to obey the message from Elisha. At the end he was cleansed, and he glorified God, saying, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.”

 

Humility is the gateway to divine blessings. At his home town of Nazareth, the people stood on their pride of being familiar with Jesus. He said to them, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own country.” Thus, they denied themselves the prophetic blessings. That was why among all the lepers in Israel during the time of prophet Elisha, only Naaman the Syrian was cleansed. Hence, we thank God for this season of Lent, which gives us the special opportunity to detach ourselves from persons and things through fasting and abstinence, so that we can be humble, and glorify God who cleanses and blesses us. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Monday March 13^th, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

20^th Lenten meditation

THE TRUE THIRST

 Meditation for the Third Sunday of Lent

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

On the Cross, after they had inflicted on Jesus on the pain, He cried out, “I am thirsty” (Jn 19:28). Having lost so much blood, Jesus was exhausted and He begged for water. But they squeezed a sour wine in His mouth. Christian spirituality sees through this thirst of Jesus on the Cross as not just thirst for water, but a thirst for souls to be redeemed. In addition, thirst occurring just before He died becomes an offering of humanity’s thirst for God and wellbeing. Now, every human thirst can become a participation in the thirst of Jesus for us. The wicked will offer Him sour wine of bad behavior, while the faithful ought to offer Him their hearts, repentant, full of love and charity.

 

That means our thirst for material wellbeing and for our spiritual life must properly ordered, so that the thirst of Jesus becomes the meeting point. There is always the tendency to exalt and focus on our thirst for material wellbeing, and use it as a weapon against our innate thirst for God. At times we do not realize our true thirst for virtue, goodness, and eternal life. We are distracted by temporary desires for pleasure and possession becloud our minds and hearts. This was the experience of the Israelites at Massah and Meribah. In their thirst for water in the desert they spoke against God and wanted stone Moses to death.

In the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well, we see how Jesus gradually led the woman to discover her true thirst, over and above her thirst for water. Jesus made it clear that there is a true thirst, which brings lasting satisfaction than thirst for physical water and wellbeing. He said, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst; the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Once the woman began to thirst for this living water, Jesus led her to abandon her thirst for life of pleasure, repent of her sins, then she accepted Jesus in her life as the Messiah.

 

Jesus is the source of the true fountain that satisfies our every thirst. The second reading explains that it is through faith in Jesus Christ that we unlock this peace and satisfaction. Through Jesus we obtain access to the grace that sustains us, and we rejoice already in our hope of sharing in the glory of God. “And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” This fountain of love flows from the Cross, even to the sinner and the ungodly, who are distracted with thirst for pleasure and worldly life. The ‘thirst’ of Jesus on the Cross is an expression of His love for us, which longs for our salvation and wellbeing. It is the true thirst in which our every thirst is ordered and offered; here, we identified the things that really matter, thirst for the living water that satisfies us for health and wellbeing, and for eternal life. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Sunday March 12^th, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

19^th Lenten meditation

The Power of Mercy

Meditation for Saturday of the Second Week of Lent

(Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Lk 15:1-3, 11-32)

Let us meditate on great mercy of God as given in the readings of today. God’s mercy and forgiveness is so powerful that it can pull a sinner back home. The prophet Micah extols God’s mercy and forgiveness, saying, “God does not retain His anger forever because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion upon us, He will tread our iniquities under foot.” In the gospel, the parable of the prodigal son exposes the wretchedness of the sinner in contrast with the gratuitous life of who lives under the grace of the Father.

 

In all, we see how repentance begins and ends with God’s love and mercy. The love and generosity of the father exposed the selfishness of the prodigal, and inspired him to trace his way back home. Contrition and repentance are the responsibility of the sinner and the response required of him. At the end of the journey, God’s mercy opens its arms to embrace him and welcome him back. His loves clothes him and restores his dignity as ‘son’, and an inheritor of the wealth of grace. Thus, every story of repentance is always a story of God’s mercy and forgiveness, as He has shown to our fathers from the days of old.

 

That is why this season of Lent helps us to be more aware of God’s mercy and forgiveness as we meditate on the cross of Christ and practice fasting, prayer and almsgiving. In our bodily discipline, we feel the wretchedness of the prodigal, tune our minds and hearts to God’s love and mercy, which He lavished upon us in Christ (cf. Eph 1:7-9). Then, we trace our steps, in humility and contrition, back to union with God. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Saturday March 11^th, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

18^th Lenten meditation

THE POISON OF JEALOUSY AND GREED

Meditation for Friday of the Second Week of Lent

(Gen 37:3-4, 12-13, 17-28; Mt 21:33-43, 45-46)

There is no form of evil that cannot come out of jealousy. Israel loved Joseph more than his other children because he was the son of his old age. But that did not mean he denied the others what was their due, nor did he hate them. However, Joseph’s brothers were infected by jealousy, and they hated him. Something that started like a small misinterpretation of the little Joseph grew to take hold of these men, and beclouded their mind, heart and senses. Thus, they could no longer see Joseph as their brother! All they could see in him was an obstacle to be removed. So, while Joseph came to his brothers at Shechem, they conspired against him.

 

They sold him to the Ishmaelites. Joseph the dreamer encountered something worse than a nightmare. But his brothers forgot that no one makes a profit by selling his brother. What profit did those who sold off their brothers in slave trade make? The same question goes to those who are exchanging the ordinary citizens for money? The mystery before us is that God can bring his salvation even from the midst of such inhuman events. Jesus tells us a parable that can be related to the experience of Joseph in the first reading.

 

Think about how the householder sent his son to the tenants, saying, “They will respect my son.” But those tenants were already drunk with greed. They saw in the young man an obstacle to be removed for them to inherit the vineyard. Just as Joseph who was rejected by his brothers ended being their savior during the famine, so is Jesus, the crucified Son of God became the Savior of the world. “The very stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

 

We pray at this lent that God will save us from habitual sin. May He give us the grace always to neutralize the poison of jealousy and greed. Amen.  

 

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Friday March 10^th, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

17^th Lenten meditation

TRUST IN GOD

Meditation for Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

(Jer 17:5-10; Lk 16:19-31)

The words of the prophet Jeremiah in today’s first reading are at the heart of Christian spirituality. His message is like the ladder on which we step on to climb to the heights of faith and total surrender to the will of God. The prophet declares, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” He described the person like a tree planted in a salty desert land. The good it longs for will not come, and the tree will dry up. On the other hand, he says, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” Such a person is like a tree planted by the waterways; its roots receive nourishment, and its leaves are evergreen. “It is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

How easy it is for us to idolize ourselves or others! Once our ultimate trust in not in God, we shall be floating around our emotions and sentiments, people’s promises and goodwill, etc. Sometimes we engage in tedious tasks, undertake spiritual exercises, but all for people to applaud us and for us to gain material things. When we judge God’s grace by human or material standards, that could be a sign that our trust is in the flesh. The disastrous end of the man who trusts in possessions and in pleasure is clearly demonstrated in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.

 

The man who has climbed the heights of spirituality and placed his trust in God will go out of his way to care for his neighbor. He will not be attached to wealth, but will be charitable. Since his heart is rooted in God like the tree that is planted by the waterways, he will always be evergreen and flourish. That means as we practice almsgiving this season of Lent, we thereby deepen our trust in God. The Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah, “I the Lord search the mind and try the heart, to give go every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R
Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,
Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.
Thursday March 9^th, 2023.
www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com
16^th Lenten meditation 

THE VICTORY OVER EVIL

Meditation for Wednesday of the second Week of Lent

(Jer 18:18-20; Mt 20:17-28)

The real battle of life is between good and evil. Evil jealously plots against the light of the good, hoping to cast its darkness over the illumination from this bright light. In the sight of evil, good stands as the victim and the condemned. Just as darkness is defined as the absence of light, so does evil gain relevance by raising its jealous head against good. That means without the good, evil heads to self-destruction. That is why when evil men gather against the righteous, they appear to be succeeding. But when the good man is no more within their reach, they turn against each other.

The prophet Jeremiah was under attack from the evil men, who plotted against him, saying, “Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not heed any of his words.” Jeremiah cried to God, asking the same question that we often come out our mouth in the face of evil: “Give heed to me, O Lord, and listen to my plea. Is evil a recompense for good?” Like the prophet, we sometimes find ourselves helpless in the face of evil. But thanks be to Jesus Christ, who silenced the empty noise of evil by conquering the suffering it imposes on the righteous ones.

 

So, the battle between good and evil has been won in Jesus Christ, and His victory is made available for us. The question Jesus askes us is: “Are you able to drink the chalice that I am about to drink.” In our daily struggles in the face the evils that threaten us, we claim the victory of Christ, especially as we share in His passion through our Lenten observances. Therefore, each day we confront evil with the victory of Christ, for darkness cannot overcome the light. Amen.

 

Fr Jude Chinwenwa Nwachukwu, C.Ss.R

Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church,

Tedi-Muwo, Ojo, Lagos.

Wednesday March 8^th, 2023.

www.nwachinwe.blogspot.com

15^th Lenten Meditation