The God we serve is not an indifferent God

Rev. Marcel E. Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Sisters and brothers, today’s Gospel is about the raising of Lazarus from death. It’s  about Jesus bringing Lazarus from eternity back to time. Although the story begins on a sad note but it ends with great joy. It is a story that reminds us once again of the fragility and vulnerability of the human person. And for those Christians who believe and teach others that faith in Jesus Christ immunes and exempts a believer from life’s misfortune, I hope this Gospel will help you to understand better. Lazarus, together with his two sisters, Martha and Mary were friends of Jesus. Jesus loved them and would occasionally visit them in Bethany to rest and hang out with his disciples. As fate would have it, Lazarus fell ill. It seems his condition was a critical one for his two sisters to send word to Jesus saying, “Master, the one you love is ill.” After Jesus received their message, he did not leave immediately to Bethany. His immediate response was, “This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be gloried through it.” By the time he came to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead and been buried for four whole days. 

Going by the emotional speech made first by Martha, and later by Mary to Jesus, they seemed disappointed, and may be upset with Jesus. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she did not wait for him to enter their village. She went straight to him and exclaimed, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When she returned to the house and informed Mary that the teacher was around, Mary too did not wait for him to enter their village and their house. Rather, she sprang to her feet, and on reaching to where Jesus was, she fell at his feet and repeated the very same words uttered previously by her sister, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Falling at the feet of Jesus could be an expression of anguish or reverence or both.

Now, this Gospel has a few catch phrases, hit quotes and punchline. One of them is an unprecedented yet powerful declaration by Jesus: “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” Another is in a question form. When Jesus asked that the stone used to cover the tomb of Lazarus be taken away, Martha quickly warned, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Responding to her comment of objection, Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” Another punchline is a definitive statement again made by Jesus: “Your brother will rise.” In all of these declarations, Jesus demonstrates that he is the very incarnation of God, Yahweh in human flesh who is moving among his people. In this time of heightened fear, worry, anxiety, confusion and uncertainty, it is important for us all to remember that we are not alone. The Psalmist assures us that “The Lord of host is with us; and the God of Jacob is our stronghold” (Psalm 46:8). Like I said before, Martha and Mary seemed disappointed and angry that Jesus delayed in coming, yet they still put their hope and trust in him. While Martha, at the zenith and apex of her grief, still proclaimed her faith in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, the one coming into the world; her sister with anguish and sorrow falls at Jesus’s feet. Like Martha, let us continue to hope and trust in the Lord. Like Mary, let us with total abandonment fall at the feet of Jesus. 

You know, the good news is that the God we serve is not an indifferent God. He is not a Deus absconditus— a God who absconds, runs away, hidden somewhere and ignores our suffering. He is suffering with with us. He identifies with us. At the house of Martha, Mary, Lazarus, Jesus wept. He wept with his friends. He wept because he cares and by so doing he shows his humanity and identifies with their pains and sorrows. The same manner he identified with the two sisters is the same manner he identifies with us today in our worries and fears. As we take all the precautionary measures each of us is encouraged to undertake to reduce the spread of coronavirus like washing our hands regularly, intentionally practicing social distancing, covering our mouth and nose when we sneeze and cough, not touching our face, sheltering in place etc, let’s also emulate the example set for us by Martha and Mary. Even in the face of pain and grief, they demonstrated their unyielding trust in Jesus as the Resurrection and the Life.

God bless you. We miss you. I really miss you. We are praying for you here and remember to pray for us as well. Together in prayer we will defeat this invisible enemy. Amen. 

Trust And Obey

Rev. Marcel E. Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, March 29, 2020

As far as we can determine, Jesus was not formally trained in any rabbinic school, nor was he educated to be a temple priest or scribe. He was not a follower of any of the Pharisees, or Sadducees, or the Essenes. He was in a way, a layman, an everyday Jew. He grew up in obscurity. We know almost nothing of his first 30 years. It is generally believed he was trained as a carpenter. But in 30 AD, he appears on the scene in a most extraordinary way. And throughout his ministry, he speaks and acts like God. He speaks with unprecedented and unnerving boldness. He claims personal authority over the Torah itself which was the divine law that was considered the court of final appeal for any faithful rabbi. He performs great miracles of healing and demonstrates a mastery over the forces of nature. In last Sunday’s Gospel, he restores the sight of a man born blind. In today’s Gospel, he speaks in time to Lazarus, and Lazarus who had transitioned unto eternity hears him and comes back. In both the cure of the blind man and the raising of Lazarus, (John 11:1-45), Jesus continues to demonstrate his unmatched authority over suffering and death. He says what no other religious figure ever said, “I am the Resurrection and the life.” To their infinite credit, Muhammad, Buddha, Confucius and other religious figures never made such bold claims. Muhammad only said he was a messenger, and that he received a message from God. Buddha never made such bold claim; he only said he found a way and wants people to follow it. Moses only said he received the law from God and wants to give it to the people. As for Jesus, he did not say he found a way, he said, “I am the Way.” He never said there is a new mode of life that he found and will like to share it with you. He says, “I am the life.” He never said there is this knowledge that he unraveled and want you to know it for it is the truth. He said, “I am the truth.” In today’s Gospel, he adds something totally new and powerful: “I am the Resurrection.” He speaks to Martha with unimaginable certainty and certitude: “Your brother will rise.” In all of these, Jesus demonstrates that he is the very incarnation of God; Yahweh in human flesh who is moving among his people. He also paints a beautiful picture of his mission and his intimacy with his Father. 

The story of the raising of Lazarus from death is a story that many of us know all too well. We have heard it over and over again, and may have even read it ourselves. It is a lengthy story that is difficult to break down during a regular Sunday Mass. For good and bad, I have the reputation of preaching long, and I am trying to do something about it. So, I am not going to retell the story or go into a detailed theological or spiritual or even emotional analysis and interpretation of today’s Gospel. The Gospel is littered with one liners, catch phrases, hit quotes, and punchlines. One of them is in a question form. When Jesus asks that the stone used to cover the tomb of Lazarus be taken away, Martha quickly warned, “Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days.” Responding to her comment, Jesus asks her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?” 

Sisters and brothers, Jesus Christ, our brother in our humanity and our Lord in his divinity is urging us to believe in him. In this time of heightened fear, worry, anxiety, confusion, and uncertainty, he calls us to still believe in him. Martha and Mary seemed disappointed that Jesus did not visit them on time: “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Yet, they believed that whatever Jesus asks of God, God will answer. Both sisters, at the zenith and apex of their grief, still believed and trusted in Jesus. In this deeply troubling time, we can emulate them. Jesus says that if we believe we will see the glory of God. And here is the good news. The God we serve  is not an indifferent God. He is not a Deus absconditus— a God who absconds, runs away, hidden somewhere and ignores human suffering. He is suffering with us. He identifies with us. At the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany, Jesus weeps. He weeps because he cares. He weeps with his friends; by doing so, he shows his humanity, and identifies with their pains and sorrows. The good news from today’s Gospel is that Jesus identifies with his people through thick and thin. As we take all the precautionary measures we are being asked to undertake like washing our hands regularly, intentionally practicing social distancing, covering our mouth when we cough or sneeze, not touching our faces etc. let’s also do what the two sisters of Bethany— Mary and Martha did in the face of pain— trust in Jesus who is the Resurrection and the Life. 

God bless you. We are praying for you here and remember to pray for us as well. Together in prayer we will fight and defeat this invisible enemy. Amen. 

Lord, I Accept My Blindness. Now, Touch Me To See

My Dearest Jesus, when you restored the eyes of the man born blind on the Sabbath, the Pharisees said you are not from God. They accused you of being a sinner. But I am here to testify like Apostle Peter that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the only begotten Son of God sent to the world so that everyone who believes in you may not perish but may have eternal life. Like Apostle Thomas, I call you “My Lord and my God.” You are the Spotless Lamb of God who takes away my sins and the sins of the world upon your shoulder. I call you Yahweh! I call you Adonai! I call you Christos! I call you my Savior. 

Mighty Warrior, today, some people believe you are a prophet and nothing more. Although you are a prophet, I believe you are more than a prophet. I am here to adore you as my King, my Lord, and my God. You are my Redeemer and without you I can do absolutely nothing. Today, a growing number of people deny your very existence. They arrogantly and ignorantly claim that you are a figment of imagination and a creation by Christians. Such people use every opportunity they get to mock and ridicule you. Merciful Lord, I am here to plead for your mercy and also to submit that you are the incarnation of God, Yahweh in human flesh. I believe that your Father, my Father is the only true God and you, Jesus Christ, the one he has sent to redeem me and the world. Like the Pharisees of your time, there are still many Jews who believe they are disciples of Moses and see you merely as their brother. Just as you opened the eyes of the man born blind, continue to open the eyes of many Jews and non-Jews alike to believe and accept that you are the Way, the Truth and the Life, and that through you we have unfiltered access to the Father. Help all people to acknowledge you as the Son of Man and the Redeemer of humanity. 

Loving Jesus, be merciful to me for the times I acknowledged you in words alone and denied you in deeds. Be merciful to me for the times I demonstrated in action that I do not know where you are from. Have mercy on those who deny your very existence. Have mercy on those who reduce you to a mere prophet or a guru, or a philosopher. Open my eyes to see and to know you more and more. Open the eyes and minds of those who deny your existence or reduce your identity to realize who you are and to surrender to you. 

Lord, I accept my blindness. Now, touch me to see. I accept there is darkness in me. Now let your light shine in my soul and overtake the darkness. Like the man born blind, I am also a beggar. I sit by the roadside weighed down by my ignominy. Now pick me up and bring me, the wandering one to the Father. Please Lord, reserve my seat at the table of your banquet. And when my earthly life is done, take me to your heavenly Kingdom, my true home.  Amen.  

— Composed by:

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

March 22, 2020

 I YIELD MY LIFE TO YOU, LORD JESUS CHRIST

Lord Jesus Christ, like the man born blind in the Gospel of John, I was also born blind, unable to see your way, unable to know your truth, and unable to experience your life. But through the waters of baptism, I have been washed, reborn and made whole. My sight has been restored to see you, Jesus, as the Way, to know you as the Truth and to experience you as the Life. In your encounter with the man born blind, you said to him, “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam— which means Sent. Through the Sacrament of Confirmation, I have been immersed in the Holy Spirit, Sent to practice my Catholic Faith, and commissioned to witness and proclaim “Iesous Christos Kyrios!” (Jesus Christ is Lord!). Loving Jesus, when the man born blind realized that you are the Son of Man, he expressed faith in you and also worshiped you. In the Eucharist, I encounter you. I believe you are the Son of Man and the Bread of Life. I believe that the Bread I receive at Mass is your Body that was bruised and tortured for my sake. I believe that the Wine I drink is your Blood of the new and eternal covenant that was shed for the remission of my sins. I believe that what I receive at the Sacrifice of the Mass is you, Jesus Christ, my Redeemer and the Redeemer of humanity. 

Therefore, like the man born blind, I worship you. I accept wholeheartedly that you came into the world so that I, a blind person shall see again. I believe that you came into the world, that I, a sinner, will be forgiven. I believe you came to set me free, to save me, and help me get connected to God. Please Lord, help me to realize always that without you, I am blind and lost. Inspire me to aspire to worship you daily in spirit and in truth. Give me a heightened thirst for you and a heightened quest to see you in my neighbor and to serve you in my neighbor. 

Sweet Jesus, when I become blind to truth and righteousness, help me to know of it and to seek for your healing and the restoration of my sight. Help me to run to you— the Light of the world and the Light of my life and soul. Stay with me, Lord Jesus and do not go. Stay with me and do not let me go. I yield my life and soul to you. I yield the lives of those who are dear to me to you. Restore our sights to see and to know what really matters, which is to know you, love you and serve you in this world and be happy with you eternally in the next. Amen.  

— Composed by:

 Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

March 22, 2020

PRAYER AGAINST THE 

— CORONAVIRUS —

God of mercy and compassion, we come to you from the depths of our fears, worries, anxieties, and sorrows. Our Father and our great God, we cry to you, we call to you, hear our prayer and supplication against the coronavirus, a highly infectious disease that threatens your children.  This pandemic has worsened the gap between families, friends, neighbors, cities, communities, and nations. It is grinding our lives to a halt. It is preventing us from gathering together to worship and celebrate your love. We look to you, Lord for help and protection. 

Merciful God, with humility and contrition we approach you. Like a stray sheep, each of us has gone astray. We have sinned against you, ignored your invitation, abused your mercy and taken your love and patience for granted. Lord be merciful unto us and heal us. Heal our land and our world. Look at us through the lens of compassion and mercy. Look at us through the Precious Blood of your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, that was shed on Calvary. Raise your powerful hands on the world and declare peace, healing and restoration. 

Holy Father, the world and everything in it belong to you. As much as the devil claims ownership of the world, we know you are the Maker. As much as we turn away from you and turn to secondary goods like wealth, power, pleasure and fame, deep in us we know that you are the deepest and ultimate yearning of our souls. In you alone can we truly find rest and peace and joy. 

Yahweh Rapha, do not allow us, the work of your hand to be destroyed by selfishness, arrogance, pride and godlessness. Do not allow those you created in your own image and redeemed by the Precious Blood of the Lamb be imperiled by any epidemic or pandemic. As world leaders, scientists, and medical experts wrestle to find a medical solution to COVID-19, we pray for your intervention. No progress can ever be made without your involvement. Give researchers the knowledge and the pathway to find a cure for this dreaded virus that threatens your children. Protect doctors, nurses, caregivers, and all medical personnel who work tirelessly to save the sick and the infected. Help those who have been infected to recover and feel well again. Comfort families who have already lost loved ones to coronavirus. To the diseased, grant eternal rest. For the rest of us, we pray that you protect us. Strengthen our immune system to be able to resist this virus and every other viruses out there. Protect us from whatever that will do us harm— physically and spiritually. 

Gracious God, as we turn to you at this time of fear, anxiety and panic, we pray that in times of ease and prosperity, we shall stay with you as well. Help us to be wired and connected to you today, tomorrow and everyday of our lives. Thank you, Lord, for hearing our prayers. In Jesus most wonderful name we pray. Amen. 

— By Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

On Sunday, March 15, 2020

Third Sunday of Lent, Year A

The Seventh Man is the Fountain of Life

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

March 15, 2020

In today’s gospel taken from John 4:4-42, Jesus asks a Samaritan woman: “Give me a drink.” Realizing that the Beggar for water is a Jew, the woman replies, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink.” Jesus fires back, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” With that response, the woman looks at Jesus and says, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep, where then can you this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” Then Jesus says something thrilling but true, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst, the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” Delighted by Jesus’ promise of a living water, the woman becomes the beggar, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.” 

Why did the woman express amazement over Jesus’ request for water? For centuries, there was a deep seated rift and animosity between the Jews and Samaritans. Originally, they were brothers and sisters. They constituted the twelve tribes of Israel. They suffered together in Egypt as slaves. Before the division of Israel into two kingdoms of South and North, they existed as one nation. It was shortly after Moses brought them to the Promised Land that trouble started to brew among them. As soon as Solomon died and was replaced by Rehoboam, Israel was divided into two. The Northern kingdom was inhabited by the Samaritans, while the Southern kingdom was inhabited by the Judeans. But in reality, they were all Jews. Their enmity continued until Jesus enters the stage. It is this centuries old hostility between Judah and Samaria that bewildered the Samaritan woman when Jesus rises above the social and religious restrictions that forbade him a man from talking to a woman alone and also a Jew talking to a Samaritan.  

Jesus came to the world to set humanity free. He came to reconcile us with God. He came to reconcile us with each other by breaking down walls that divide us. He is not in the business of continuing, promoting and prolonging an age-old rift that hasn’t served the Samaritans and the Jews well. So, when the Samaritan woman came to Jacob’s Well, he saw beyond her gender and ethnicity. He saw a daughter of God to save. Her life was dry. She has had five failed marriages. Her self esteem had reached an all-time low. She was alienated from society and any thought of her thirst being quenched was hopeless. Her life was so bad she had to go to the Well when no one else was around in order to escape the ridicule of others. She was thirsty. A thirst could be physical or spiritual. Often it is both as in the case of the Samaritan woman. Physically, she was thirsty, thirsting for water, and that brought her to the well day after day. But spiritually she was also thirsty, an inner thirst which drove her from one man to another and for which she hasn’t found any satisfaction. By the time she met Jesus she was in her sixth marriage, and yet she said to Jesus “I have no husband,” indicating that she was probably already looking for the seventh.

In biblical interpretations, numbers are often significant. According to biblical symbolism of numbers, six is a number of imperfections, of lack, of deficiency. The woman in her sixth marriage was therefore, in a situation of lack and deficiency. On the other hand, the number seven symbolically is a number of perfection, completion, finality and sufficiency. Jesus comes to this woman as the Seventh Man in her life. She encounters the Seventh Man and finally experiences the satisfaction her soul thirsts for. Jesus made the woman feel good about herself. She feels unworthy, but Jesus restores her sense of worth by asking her to help him. She thirsts no more as she became whole again. The Seventh Man, Jesus opens up a new era for her.

Beloved in Christ, I want us to understand that by engaging the Samaritan woman in a discussion, Jesus broke two Jewish laws. The first law he broke forbids a Jewish man from talking to a woman alone. He must be in the company of others when talking to a woman. The second law he broke forbids a Jew from talking to a Samaritan. I have already explained the hostility between the two nations. It is the reason why his disciples were amazed when they came back and saw him talking to a Samaritan woman.  Now, Jesus did not break laws simply because he was a renegade. No. He did so in order to accomplish a higher good. He disregarded a discriminatory racial law that looked down on others for not belonging to the so called privileged or superior race. He broke all racial barriers and put up residence with those considered as outcastes.  He ate with them, slept in their homes, lived in their neighborhood, preached to them, performed miracles among them, quenched their thirsts, restored their human dignity, and offered them salvation which the Jews considered to be exclusively theirs. He also disregarded the gender law that disfavors women. And by that single action, he demonstrates that all human beings- male and female are equal. He demonstrates that all men and women are God’s children. He demonstrates that though we are many and different—different racial origins, different backgrounds, different tongues, skin-color etc, we are still one human family, God’s family, God’s children created in God’s image. Jesus demonstrates that he is the fountain of life by giving a new life to a rejected woman. He engaged her in a discussion which was against the law; asked her for a drinking water which was against the law, forgave her sins which was a blasphemy to the Jews who did not accept the divinity of Jesus. Finally, by upholding her dignity as a woman, he upholds the dignity of all women. The Samaritan woman found the Lord and thirsted no more. To all those who thirst and hunger, you too can encounter the Lord. Encounter him today and thirst no more! In Revelation 21:6, the Lord says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

The Enmity Between Jews and Samaritans

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Monday, March 9, 2020

Whenever the rift between Jews and Samaritans is referenced or mentioned in church, some people think it is a rift between two different ethnic groups that never had anything in common. But the truth of the matter is that Jews and Samaritans were originally brothers and sisters. Before the division of Israel into two kingdoms, they were one entity. Although the Samaritans were condemned and despised by the Jews, they had as much pure Jewish blood as the Jews who returned from the Babylonian exile. The question then is: How did the enmity between them begin? What led to the intense hatred we see between the Jews and Samaritans that give the Parable of the Good Samaritan such a powerful hard-hitting intent? What led to the deep-seated animosity between them that made a Samaritan woman that Jesus met at the well ask: “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?”

As we all know, the twelve tribes of Israel were in exile for many centuries in Egypt  before God used Moses to set them free. But shortly after Moses brought them to the Promised Land, trouble started to brew among them. With the death of King Solomon in 975 BC, the kingdom of Israel was divided into two parts— Judah in the south, and Samaria in the North during the reign of Rehoboam. The Northern kings of Samaria rather than promote the worship of Yahweh loved their pagan idols and were constantly at odds with Jerusalem. So, in 724 BC when the Assyrians conquered Samaria, the inhabitants of Judah in the South felt it served them right. They did not offer any support to their brothers and sisters in the North. After conquering the Samaritans, the Assyrians took many of them home as captives, and later sent their own pagan people to occupy the land of Samaria. However, there were some Samaritan remnants, mostly farmers who remained in their homeland. While they continued to practice their Mosaic faith, they were also intermarrying with their pagan settlers, which was against the law. With the passage of time, about hundred years later, Assyrians were also conquered by the Egyptians. Later, Egypt was also conquered by Babylon. In 586 BC, the Southern kingdom—Judah, were also conquered by the Babylonians, and this led to what the Jews refer to as the “Babylonian Exile.” 

Many years after being conquered and taken away, the people of Judah were allowed by the Babylonians to return to their homeland. When they returned home, the volume of the disagreement between them and the Samaritans was raised. The animosity between them worsened. Some authors say that the reason for this heightened enmity was that when the Samaritans offered to help rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, they were rudely refused because their of their pagan impurity. Other authors claim that the Samaritans were actually the ones who refused to assist their brothers and sisters in Judah in the rebuilding of the Temple. 

There were also differences in worship. The Samaritans who refused to partake in idol worshipping developed their own version of worship. They also approved the use of  the Pentateuch, that is the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as the only books to be used for worship and rejected all other books of the Old Testament. Tension between Samaria and Judah reached its apogee when the Samaritans built their own Temple of worship on Mount Gerizim and then claimed that their own mountain was the dwelling place of Yahweh, and not the Temple in Jerusalem. When this happened, the glimmer of hope of reconciliation between both was lost. It stayed that way until Jesus entered the stage. So, when Jesus later in his ministry presents to his fellow Jews, a Samaritan man as the good person who is able to rise above the bigotry and prejudices of centuries and show mercy and compassion for the injured Jew after the Jew’s own countrymen passed him by, it shocked the Jewish listeners (The Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:29-37). It is this same centuries of hostility and opposition between Judah and Samaria that bewildered the Samaritan woman when Jesus rises above the social and religious restrictions that forbade him a man from talking to a woman alone and also a Jew talking to a Samaritan (John 4:5-42).

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

Do You Want To Be Transformed? 
Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Have you ever had a mountaintop experience? Have you ever had a profound experience when you felt an unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Have you ever had an encounter with Jesus Christ? The experience was so real, so true, so overwhelming, so captivating that you heard the Son of God talking to you. This experience is usually called a deep religious experience. It is usually the turning point in the lives of many. In the Jewish theology, it is called Shekhinah (which means the dwelling or settling of the divine presence of God. Although the term, Shekhinah, does not occur in the Bible, the Bible is littered with stories of persons who had a heightened presence of God. Some Christians experienced this in a  retreat or summer camp. Some experienced it while studying and reflecting on the Word of God. Some experienced it when they were alone with self. An intentional reflection over life’s ups and downs had also led some to have a deep religious experience.

The scene in today’s Gospel of Jesus with his three disciples on a mountaintop  (Matthew 17:1-9) is a theophaneia that reveals Jesus’ hidden identity through his transfigured appearance and God’s Word (Voice) that sounded from heaven. A theophany is a mysterious appearance or manifestation of the God of Abraham to a person or a people which also includes a revelation, such as that given to Moses at the burning bush of Exodus 3:2-6. In today’s Gospel, Jesus stands between Moses and Elijah on Mount Hermon, and a voice declared from heaven: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Moses received the Law on Mount Sinai; and Elijah is considered the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. So, on a mountaintop, there is the Law and the Prophets in conversation with Jesus Christ, the New Testament/Covenant. This gives a weighty credibility to Jesus’ earlier declaration: “Do not think I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17).  

But what were the representative of the Law and prophets doing on the mountaintop where Jesus was transfigured? They came to confirm that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. They came to support Jesus’ claim to be the Redeemer, and indeed Jesus is the Redeemer. That is why he is the only one whose “face shone like the sun and his clothes became as dazzling white as light.” The culmination of this support happened when the Father speaks from heaven the same message he delivered at Jesus’ baptism: that Jesus is God’s beloved Son to whom his disciples must listen. So, at the Transfiguration, the Old Testament and the Father in heaven testify and confirm that Jesus is truly the Messiah of the Jews and the Redeemer of the human race. 

A Christian by definition is a follower of Jesus Christ. A Christian is the person who listens to Jesus because you cannot follow someone you are unwilling to listen to. During this season of Lent, what is Jesus asking us to do? On Ash Wednesday, we read the Gospel of Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18 in which Jesus teaches us how we should pray, fast, and give-alms. It is what we have come to know as the three disciplines or pillars of of Lent. Each of the three activities connects us to Jesus. Lent is a penitential period when we come to grips with our limitations, our sins, and our attachments in order to prepare for real communion with God. It is a period of preparation for Easter. At every Lent, the Church directs our attention to Jesus’ call to prayer, fasting and alms-giving. A Christian should pray always, however at Lenten season we pray more in order to know Jesus as our Voice. Prayer according to St. John Damascene is the raising of the mind and heart to God. To pray is to attend to God, and pay more attention to him. It is to be more aware of God and to seek communion with him in a conscious way. The second activity of Lent is fasting. Fasting is becoming popular today. People engage in dry fasting, intermittent fasting etc. for various health benefits like losing weight, controlling blood sugar, body building, and as an anti-aging practice. But that’s not the reason why we fast during Lent. We fast in order to know Jesus as our Food. We can easily attach ourselves to created things and make them godlike in our life. We depend on them as sources of joy. If this is your experience right now, Jesus is asking us during this holy season to actively detach ourselves from them, so as to find what the soul really wants. The soul can be ensnared in secondary goods and then begins to forget what it really wants. St. Augustine said that it is only in God that our soul is finally at rest. Lent is a wonderful time to set aside all material pleasures in order to give the soul a chance to find what it is seeking for, what it is wired for and also allow a deeper hunger to emerge. The third and final pillar of Lent is almsgiving. We can easily connect fasting and prayer to spiritual life because of their obvious fruits. But it is not so with almsgiving. If you are asking yourself how almsgiving help your soul, here is your answer. The heart of the spiritual life is love (caritas). Love is to will the good of the other and to do something about it. Almsgiving is a very concrete way to will the good of the other, especially the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters. Almsgiving really heightens our sense of solidarity within the mystical body. It reminds us that we are connected with each other. During this Lent, try to share some of your goods with the less privileged. Give generously and do not complain. Give some of your money to the church during offertory collection. Give to charity groups like Mary’s Place, Catholic Charity, St. Vincent de Paul etc. Get a charity box or poor box and daily put some money into it. At the end of the Lenten season, bring the money to the church for the care of the poor among us. Remember that in the faces of the poor we see Jesus. So, whoever feeds the poor, clothes the poor, and attends to their needs is doing all of that to Jesus himself. And Jesus promises that when you come to his Father’s house, he will remember. If we listen to Jesus today, tomorrow and everyday, we will be transformed and transfigured, and eventually transited into eternal glory.  

GIVE UP THE FOLLOWING DURING THE LENT

Give up complaining——focus on gratitude.

Give up pessimism——become an optimist.

Give up harsh judgments——think kindly thoughts.

Give up worry——trust Divine Providence.

Give up discouragement——be full of hope.

Give up bitterness——turn to forgiveness.

Give up hatred——return good for evil.

Give up negativism——be positive.

Give up anger——be more patient.

Give up pettiness——become mature.

Give up gloom——enjoy the beauty that is all around you.

Give up jealousy——pray for trust.

Give up gossiping——control your tongue.

Give up sin——turn to virtue.

Give up giving up——hang in there!

—By Timothy Ofoegbu