Reflection on the Gospel of Luke 14:1-6

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Friday, October 30, 2020

The Pharisees were a group of zealous Jews who were contemporaries of Jesus. They believed that they way they would please God and make it to heaven was by meticulously following a long list of religious rules and regulations. One of those rules was the prohibition of work on the Sabbath. Now this prohibition of work on the Sabbath included healing as well, as some of them considered healing a form of work. As today’s Gospel tells us, Jesus was a guest at the house of one of the leading Pharisees on a Sabbath. The dinner does not seem to be a private one or a friendly one; there were people around who rather than enjoy their meals were paying attention to what Jesus would do. In the midst of them was a man afflicted with dropsy, know today as edema. Did the man come there on his own accord? Did the Pharisees invite him in order to use him to test Jesus? We don’t know. Knowing the intention of the Pharisees, Jesus took one or two steps ahead of them by posing a question to them: “Is it lawful to cure on the Sabbath or not?” His question is met with silence. Turning to the afflicted man he healed him and sent him home. After the healing, he asked the Pharisees a second question: “Who among you, if your son or ox falls into a cistern, would not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” For the second time they refused to say a word to Jesus’ question. 

The Lord’s two questions surely exposed the silliness of the Pharisees “no work on the Sabbath rule,” and that’s why they did not answer any of his questions. The Fourth Commandment which enjoins us to keep the Sabbath day holy should be observed by imitating and reflecting God’s own work in Creation (Ex. 20:11), as well as God’s redemptive work (Deut. 5:15). And central to God’s work of creation and God’s work of redemption is the human person. So, it makes no sense to watch an imago Dei languish just because it is Sabbath. Every day is holy; every day is a day to perform holy and just acts. But on a Sabbath day, we should do more, and not less. 

Sisters and brothers, apart from God’s commandments, we all have other rules that we enacted ourselves and that we live by. From time to time, it is vitally important to examine those rules to make sure they are not hindering our response to our sisters and brothers the way Jesus would. Whatever we do, whether in speech or in action, we should do in love for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and died for us. Amen. 

Reflection on the Gospel of Luke 6:12-16

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Feast of Saints Simon and Jude

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

After several confrontations with Jesus, some scribes and Pharisees began to discuss what they might do to him. Jesus, himself is aware of their malicious intentions. So, he withdrew to the mountain to pray. He usually takes some time off to pray especially at critical points in his life. At this moment, he has a lot to pray about. His mission has produced mixed results. Although he has some disciples, but there are people who are plotting against him. He knows he would eventually be killed, but he wants his mission to continue long after he is gone. After spending all night communing with his Father in prayer, Jesus chose Twelve men  (Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot) from many of his disciples and called them apostles. An apostle is an authorized person sent on a mission, whereas a disciple is an apprentice, a student, one who is still learning from the master. His choice of Twelve was not random. It recalls the twelve sons of Jacob (Gen. 35:23-26), whose descendants formed the twelve tribes of Israel (Gen. 49:1, 28). 

Sisters and brothers, among the list of the twelve is an interesting man with an interesting character— Judas Iscariot. Today, his name has become synonymous with betrayal. People use his name to qualify someone who has betrayed a friend, a group or a nation. The moment you call someone “Judas” everyone understands what you are talking about. However, we should not forget that he was chosen to be an apostle by Jesus after spending a whole night in prayer. Although he became a traitor, but that is not how he started. Judas started well, unfortunately he did not end well. Before he was chosen to be an apostle, he was not an outsider. He was a disciple before he was elevated to the role of an apostle. 

Today, we celebrate the feast of two apostles— Simon who was called a Zealot and Jude. This Simon is called a Zealot in order to distinguish him from Simon Peter. Jude was previously called Judas but tradition changed it to Jude to avoid confusing him with Judas Iscariot. We don’t know much about these two Apostles apart from being known as close followers of Jesus. Simon was called a Zealot, that is a member of the Jewish nationalist party known for their rebellion against Roman rule in AD 66-70. Tradition has it that Jude was a Zealot as well. They were zealous for national sovereignty, and zealous for Jesus also. As the Lord’s disciples, we too are called to be zealous members of the household of God. Are you ready and willing to be zealous for Christ Jesus? 

Reflection on Luke 13:18-21

Rev. Marcel Okwara, CSsR

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020

Jesus began his earthly ministry with the big-bang message,“The Kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:15). When he spoke of the kingdom of God, he was referring to the Old Testament image of God reigning as king (Ps. 97:1; Is. 52:7); he was saying that God is establishing his kingly rule over everyone and everything. That means his listeners had an idea of what he was talking about. However, the phrase, “the kingdom of God” never appears in the Hebrew Scriptures (i.e. the Torah, the Prophets, and Writings) and it is rarely found in the New Testament except on Jesus lips. The coming of the kingdom of God means the coming of God’s final victory over evil; it means the coming of God’s direct reign over everyone and everything. The kingdom of God was seen as the fulfillment of hopes generated by Old Testament prophecies and by non-biblical writings of the two centuries before Jesus. Now, due to the richness and diversity of these prophecies and writings, Jesus’ audience had no single design in mind of what the reign of God would be like. Some expected God to free them from Roman rule; others expected God to do something great, something much more. With the use of parables, Jesus conveys what the reign of God was like. 

After setting a woman free from a crippling affliction, Jesus turns his attention to the significance of what he did. He asks, What is the kingdom of God like? To what can I compare it? It is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. When it was fully grown, it became a large bush and ‘the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches.’ As previously said, the Lord’s listeners had a general idea of what the kingdom of God is, that it meant God ruling over his people and over the whole world, but they also had different views about how this would happen. In the Gospel, Jesus does not attempt to define the kingdom of God, rather he talks about what it is like and to what it can be compared to. He says it is like a mustard seed that a person took and planted in the garden. Although it is a tiny seed, but after it grows, it becomes a huge bush that provides shelter for the birds. Jesus’ listeners would most certainly be shocked that he compared the kingdom of God to something so small. They may have expected him to compare it to the heavens being torn apart or the mountains shaking as God comes out in power to destroy evil and establish his reign. But Jesus’ comparison is not just to a mustard seed but also to what became of it after a person took it and planted it in the garden. When it is fully grown, it became a large bush. Jesus has just healed a woman who was crippled, setting her free from the bondage of Satan. Although the deliverance made a great difference in her life, it is still little compared to the many evil and suffering there is in the world. However, by setting this woman free, Jesus was bringing about the reign of God. And if the woman out of gratitude to God lived the rest of her life being a wounded healer herself, the divine favor done for her can bring about and culminate into something more like a large bush that becomes a dwelling place for many birds. Your singular act of charity and kindness to someone, although small, can result in something much bigger and also makes the kingdom of God present. Here in this world and among us, God is already establishing his reign, and vanquishing evil and suffering through the kindness and generosity of many. 

Love of God and Neighbor Have Become One

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, October 25, 2020

Although many Americans identify themselves as Christians, we often cherry pick the Christian teaching we want to believe and then select the Bible passages that support what we already believed. Many of us read the Bible not to be challenged, changed or deconstructed, rather to reinforce our assumptions and presuppositions. But that is not the Christo-centric way. One of the issues that many Christians in this nation often turn a blind eye to is the issue of immigration and the treatment of immigrants. On one occasion, I was confronted by an enraged couple after I preached against the family separation policy of our government. On another occasion, I watched as two priests— Redemptorists, engaged in a war of words over the treatment and name calling of immigrants from South America. I was shellshocked to hear one of the priests defend the indefensible. What does the word of God say about this issue? Today’s first reading (Ex. 22:20-26) says, “You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves in the land of Egypt…If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry.” The first reading is about how we treat the other— aliens, widows, orphans, the poor, the neighbor etc. And the treatment of the other must be rooted in love— love for God and love for neighbor. 

Love is the Christian identity and uniform. The love of neighbor is the love of God come alive. Love for neighbor validates and authenticates love for God. John says, “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ but hates his brother (or sister), he is a liar; for whoever does not love a brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn. 4:20). Anyone who truly loves God must love his brother and sister as well (1 Jn. 4:21). The love of neighbor is not limited to family; it is not limited to our own kind, our own race and ethnicity. Just as God loves all people, just as Jesus died for all people, we are to love all people and to consider them our neighbors, our brothers and sisters in God. 

We are living in unprecedented time. As we witness the rise of blind nationalism, racist nationalist movement, and dangerous protectionist agenda everywhere and in everything, Christians should remember our common origin and the Lord’s clarion call to love our neighbor. As Pope Francis aptly states in his most recent encyclical titled “Fratelli Tutti,” on Fraternity and Social Friendship, “We need to develop the awareness that nowadays we are either all saved together or no one is saved.” Rather than embrace the culture of isolation and the building of walls, the Holy Father calls for the culture of encounter, encounter rooted in our Christian identity of love. Building walls in order to keep the most vulnerable other out will most certainly reduce the qualitative presence of God in our midst. According to Pope Benedict XVI, “The love of God and the love of neighbor have become one; in the least of the brethren we find Jesus himself and in Jesus we find God.” But how should we treat the stranger? The book of Leviticus 19:33-34 says, “When an alien resides with you in your land, do not mistreat such a person. You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt.” Love warmly! Live lovingly and lovely! Be happy!

Something to Caesar but Everything to God

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, October 18, 2020

In the last three Sundays, our Lord has been on the attack. Using parables, he has been launching series of attacks against the chief priests and the elders of the people. In the parable of the two sons (Matt. 21:28-32), he presents them as the hypocritical  and untrustworthy son who said yes to his father when asked to go and work in the vineyard, but never followed through. In the parable of the wicked tenants (Matt. 21:33-46), he portrays them as the ungrateful and wicked tenants who killed the servants and the son of the landowner sent by the landowner to harvest the vine. And in the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus depicts them as the invited guests who turned down the invitation to partake in the sumptuous wedding banquet organized by the king for his son. Today’s Gospel (Matt. 22:15-21) shows they got the point; they knew that Jesus is speaking about them (Matt. 21:45). So, infuriated by his warning, they conspired to set him on trap. They would like to see Jesus arrested but due to his popularity with the crowds, they held back, and designed another way to entrap him in speech. But rather than confront him themselves, they dispatched their disciples and some Herodians to do so on their behalf. Now, the coming together of the Pharisees and the Herodians is quite interesting. On one hand, the Pharisees hated the Romans and hated being under Rome’s power; on the other hand, the Herodians supported King Herod Antipas who happened to be a Roman agent in Galilee. So, you have two rival groups coming together to entrap Jesus. Most certainly they see him as a common enemy that unites them. 

As they approach Jesus, they pose a carefully formulated question meant to discredit him and bring him down: “Is it lawful to pay census tax to Caesar or not?” If Jesus answers yes, he has the Pharisees to contend with and they will waste no time to let fellow Jews especially the Jewish nationalists like the zealots, who resist Roman rule know about it. If he answers no, he will offend the Herodians and risk being labelled a rebel. Jews hated paying taxes but not for the same reasons that some people of our time hate paying taxes. Their nation practiced theocracy, which means that God was the only King. To pay tax to an earthly king was to admit the validity of his kingship and it was an insult to God. Sensing their malicious intent, Jesus refused to give a yes or no answer, and instead requested for the Roman coin used to pay taxes. Upon seeing it, he directed their attention on the coin with the question, “Whose image is this and whose inscription?” When they answered, “Caesar’s,” they fell into his own trap. Then he shocked them all, “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” 

Sister and brothers, Jesus’ final words does two things: first, it calls for faithful citizenship, and two, it reminds us of our dual citizenship. We are citizens of the earth by birth and citizens of the Kingdom of God by the rebirth of baptism. We belong to two cities— the city of the earth, and the city of God. So, we are called to be responsible citizens. Failure in good citizenship is also failure in Christian duty. We give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar by keeping the laws of the land that Caesar (i.e. our leaders) swore to protect and uphold. And we give to God what belongs to God by offering ourselves as a living sacrifice, holy, and pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1) and by making God the center of our life. Now, the two citizenship should not clash. The demands of the State and the demands of God ought not to clash. God never ask us to commit acts that will harm the human family, after all, he is the Origin of the human family. And the state should not demand from us acts that will violate the commands of God. But if the state does so, we should resist it. As citizens of the earth, we must strive to uphold the laws of the land as long as they don’t require us to transgress God’s command to love. And whatever we do, whether in speech or in action, we should do in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ who loved us and died for us. Amen.  

  

Homily for the Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

God Gathers the Unworthy to Himself 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Twenty-Eight Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

St. Pascal Baylon Catholic Church, St. Paul, MN

Sunday, October 11, 2020

In today’s Gospel taken from Matthew 22:1-14, Jesus spoke in parables to the chief priests and elders of the people that the kingdom of heaven may be likened to the situation of a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. Weddings were celebrated with banquets; a king would be expected to invite several guests and to throw a great feast for the wedding of his son. On the actual day of the feast, the king sent his servants to  summon the invited guests to the feast, but they refused to come. Rather than give up, the king, for the second time sent other servants with a more enticing news to his invited guests: Behold, I have prepared my banquet, my calves and fattened cattle are killed, and everything is ready; come to the feast. But despite the king’s best effort, some still ignored the invitation and went away to their different enterprises; others maltreated the king’s servants, and had them killed. Upon hearing what has happened, the king furiously sent his army to wipe out the murderers and burn their city. Thereafter, he said to his servants: The feast is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy to come. Go out, therefore, into the main roads and invite to the feast whomever you find. The servants went to the streets and invited everyone, ‘the bad as well as the good.’ The banquet hall was filled up. But when the king came into the banquet hall to greet the guests, he saw a man who was not dressed in a proper wedding garment, he challenged him: “My friend, how is it that you came in here without a wedding garment?” Surprisingly, the man had nothing to say. So the king ordered his guards to throw him into the darkness outside, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.

In this parable, the king is mostly certainly God the Father; the son is Jesus himself; the servants represent God’s messengers or prophets. The initial guests invited represent the Jews. The second outreach of the king represents God’s persistent and untiring outreach to the Jews and to each of us. The refusal of the invited guests to attend the wedding banquet without any reason points to the refusal of many to accept God’s invitation of love. The king organizes a sumptuous feast for his son, unfortunately the invited guests turned him down. The Mass is also a sumptuous meal where we are fed with the Word of God and with the Food for the journey— the Body and Blood of Christ. The Eucharist, according to St. Thomas Aquinas is Alimentum Spirituale (spiritual food). Yet, so many of our brothers and sisters stay away, some for flimsy excuses, and others, for no reason at all. The refusal of the invited guest to attend the banquet is inexplicable; and going on with our lives as usual and ignoring God’s invitation to us is also inexplicable. Even more inexplicable is the action of those who maltreated and killed the kings’s servants. The parable reached it pinnacle when the enraged king sent his troops to destroy the murderers of his servants and to burn their city. Jesus is issuing a warning to those who will be responsible for his death and also sending the message that God will punish those who do evil.

Now, the good news of this Gospel passage can be found in the action of the king after all the invited guests turned his invitation. He asked his servants to go to the streets, gather anyone they can possibly find, and bring them into the hall of the banquet. The new plan was hugely successful as the hall was filled with guests. God’s outreach was first made to the Jews, unfortunately, many of them rejected it. Without feeling frustrated, God reached out to the nations of the world. The Gospel of John says, “He came to to his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God…” (1:11-12).  In this parable, Jesus warned the Jewish leaders that they face God’s judgment and that their places in the banquet will be filled by others. God is gathering all people from different race, different ethnicity, difference language, different color, different background etc. to himself. God’s grace is for all, his salvation is for all people. He is inviting you, he is inviting me, he is inviting everyone; he is inviting the unworthy. Do you feel unworthy? You are precisely the one that the Lord is looking for. But as you come to God, do not come empty; do not come with no expectation. Come with faith no matter how little it is. Come with your filth. Come with your unworthiness. Come with your shame. Come with your dysfunction. Come with your sadness. Come with your emotions. Come with the expectation that God is able to do great and astonishing things in your life. Come to the Father’s wedding feast for his Son, Jesus Christ. At this feast, your thirst, hunger, and deep yearning will be met and satisfied. 

Reflection on Galatians 2:1-2, 7-14

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

In this part of his letter to the church in Galatia, St. Paul does four things: firstly, he recounts how the leaders from Jerusalem— Peter, James and John recognized his ministry, approved his ‘gospel’ and formed a partnership with him for the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles. Secondly, he narrates the hypocrisy of Cephas (Peter). According to Paul, Peter used to eat together with the Gentiles, but when some people came from James, Peter began to draw back and separated himself, because he was afraid of the circumcised. Thirdly, he reports the consequence of Peter’s action …the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him. The hypocrisy of Peter set a bad example for other Jews, including Barnabas, Paul’s own companion. Fourthly, Paul tells what he did— he confronts Peter in the presence of all: If you, though a Jew, are living like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?

Paul’s criticism of Peter is due to a change of behavior that had negative consequences. The issue was whether Jewish Christians should share meals with Gentile Christians. To maintain ritual purity, Jews normally abstained from eating with non-Jews. The question is how Jewish Christians should conduct their relationships with Gentile Christians. When Peter first came to Antioch, it was not a problem for him to eat with the Gentiles. But when some Jewish Christians who were associated with James arrived from Jerusalem, Peter was afraid of the circumcision faction— those who believed that Gentile Christians should be circumcised. If he continued to eat with Gentile Christians, he would lose the trust of this faction in Jerusalem and perhaps arouse their opposition to the Gentile mission. In the end, Peter chose to avoid these potential difficulties, at least for the time being. Now, Peter’s choice was not based on doctrine but on pragmatic grounds. His decision however had significant repercussions, because the other Jewish Christians in Antioch imitated his practice. Even Barnabas, Paul’s partner in the mission of evangelizing Gentiles was carried away in this bad direction. The result divided the church of Antioch into two groups— Jews and Gentiles. Eventually, the Gentile Christians began to get the impression that for them to avoid being considered unclean and be able to share meals with Jewish Christians, their old brothers and sisters in faith, they needed to submit to Jewish observances. The division caused by this singular act of Peter began to undermine the unity of the Body of Christ. 

Paul rejected this situation. He acknowledged the behavior of Peter and his imitators as hypocrisy. Peter was hiding his convictions and acting as though he shared the ideas of the strict faction of the Jewish Christians who were aligned with James. Sincerity is a vital Christian virtue applauded in the writings of Peter, James, and Paul, and Jesus himself denounces hypocrisy in the Gospel (Matt. 23). Paul recognizes that Peter’s conduct is not consistent with the truth of the gospel. It gave rise to division in the house of God between Jewish and Gentiles Christians, which is dangerous. Consequently, Paul had to intervene forcefully by criticizing Peter in public in order to put an end to the pretense. It is important to note that Paul’s reproach of Peter does not in any way question Peter’s doctrine or his habitual conduct. It only concerns his recent behavior that was not consistent with his core belief. To stop Peter’s actions that were scandalous, Paul reveals Peter’s inconsistency, thereby bring to an end the false impression that Peter considered the Gentile Christians unclean. 

Paul’s letter also reveals his true temperament, that he is not the kind of leader that is afraid of conflict. He did not criticize Peter’s behavior behind his back as most people do, rather, he courageously confronted him to his face. His confrontation helped Peter, his imitators, the Gentile Christians and the Body of Christ. When a member of the Church is in error, we should summon the courage to put them right. Fraternal correction demands it. 

“Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples.” 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Wednesday, October 7, 2020

Jesus has just finished praying when one of his disciples approached him and asked that he teach them how to pray just as John had taught his disciples. Right away Jesus replies, “When you pray, say: Father, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread and forgive us our sins for we ourselves forgive everyone in debt to us, and do not subject us to the final test” (Lk 11:2-4). 

As we can see, prayer according to Jesus, is an act that stems from a relationship of love and intimacy with God. It is a family affair where the children approach the Father of the House— God, and speak to him from their hearts. The image of God as a Father is something that should gladden our hearts and encourage us to speak to him often because his relationship with us is based on affection, love, compassion and intimacy, not on power, authority or enslavement. 

To pray therefore is to place ourselves in a position whereby we see God as our Father, and we speak to him as his sons and daughters. To pray is to speak to God. Someone might ask, about what? We speak to him about our joys and sorrows, successes and failures, worries and expectations, dreams and aspirations, strengths and weaknesses. We also speak to him with words of praise and thanksgiving. We speak to God about everything that is important to us and about everyone that is dear to us. Like children, let us make it a habit to approach our Father in heaven and talk to him, believing that he hears us and he will do what is best for us. No prayer is a waste. No prayer is ever unheard. God hears all our prayers; so believe that he will always do for us what he sees is the best for us. 

As you pray, remember to seek for the intercession of the Blessed Mother Mary and the saints.  

 

Why Does God Allow Suffering?: A Brief Reflection 

The Book of Isaiah particularly chapters 40 to 55 represents one of the highest point and richest explorations of the nature of God in Old Testament theology. In these 15 chapters of Isaiah, we find consistently the view that God is at the same time infinitely close to us and infinitely transcendent. St. Augustine later declared that God is interior intimo meo et superior summo meo— that is, “God is nearer to me than I am to myself,” and he is higher than anything I can possibly imagine. To demonstrate God’s nearness,  Isaiah says, “Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (55:6). God the Creator and Sustainer of all things is near. In Isaiah 49:15, we read the famous quote, “Can a mother forget her infant, be without tenderness for the child of her womb? Even though she forgets, I (Yahweh) will never forget you” Why? Because “upon the palms of my hands I have engraved you” (49:16). This is how close we are to God and how close God is to us. However, at the same time as you look through Isaiah, you will find lots of passages that emphasize the peculiarity and radical otherness of God. For instance in chapter 40:18 you find the question: “To whom can you liken God?” In the same chapter 40, you find another question, “To whom can you liken me as an equal? (v 25)” In 42:8 we read “I am the Lord, Lord is my name; my glory I give to no other.” In Isaiah 43:11 we find, “I, I am the Lord, there is no Savior but me.” Another passage says, “I am the Lord, there is no other, there is no God besides me” (45:5).  In all of these, we can see that while God is closer to us than we are to ourselves; he carves each of us on the palm of his hand, he is totally other.

Check this out! The same book of Isaiah that urges us to seek the Lord and call upon him because he is near, also stresses this fact, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts” (Is. 55:8-9). God is infinitely close, and infinitely far at the same time. The fact that God is the Creator of all things means that he is intimately connected to all things. God creates and continually sustains the whole universe. St. Thomas Aquinas said that God is present in all things by essence, presence and power. No one can in reality run away from God because God is in all things. Since God is the Creator of the universe, God cannot be an item within the universe. He is the Creator of all the operations and so cannot be one of the denizens of creation. One of the biggest mistakes made by atheists old and new is that they see God as a big being in the world. As such, they embark on a search of this big being in the world, and since they cannot find him, they conclude he is unreal. Of course, anyone who embarks on this kind of search cannot find God because God is not one of the beings in creation. He is the Creator of all things and all beings; therefore cannot be found as one of the created items in the universe. An artist exists not in the work of his hands but outside of it. St. Thomas Aquinas refers to God not as the highest being, rather God is “ipsum esse subsistens” that is, “the sheer act of ‘to be itself.” To see God as the highest being is to compare him with created things. But God is incomparable to all things. Isaiah asks, “To whom can you liken God? (compare me). God is not the biggest thing around; of all the impressive things in the universe, God is not the most impressive. That makes him comparable. God is “the sheer act of to be itself.” God is in all things because nothing on earth would exist without the influence of God, but God is also above all things because he is not one of the items in the universe. Does this sound abstract and philosophical? Yes! But here is where the rubber meets the road and where these classifications are of enormous practical import. And it is all around the problem of suffering. Suffering is a reality that affects all and sundry. Everybody suffers! Even a newborn child suffers. The first thing a child does the moment he or she is expelled from the mother’s womb is to cry. Why? Because for the first time, the baby is exposed to a harsher environment. To suffer is to live in a harsh environment that can sometimes be life threatening. 

For us religious people, the question then is this: if God is infinitely close to all things, close to us, and engraves us on his palm, if God is our friend, the one who sustains us in and through all things, then how in the world could God be presiding over this disaster? We are told that God is closer to us more than we are closer to ourselves, but why is he allowing us to go through suffering? The answer to this question is in the book of Isaiah: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord” (55:8). Is God close to us in our suffering? Yes, indeed! But will we understand God’s purpose for allowing our suffering? Not usually! Because “As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts” (55:9). Let me give this silly analogy to buttress my point: Those who are close to me know how much I love dogs. Of all the lower animals that God created, dogs are humanity’s best friend. Dogs are amazing animals. When I was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, I had a male dog named Max. I bought him as a puppy, that means he grew up with me. Max knew I loved him so dearly. But there is this experience I will never forget. I took him to the veterinary doctor for regular checks and shots. While he was on the doctor’s table, he was crying, groaning and moaning as well. He knew what was coming: the shots. Before the shots, the Vet. doctor wanted blood sample to run some tests. He asked me to hold Max, and as soon as the doctor started to draw blood from him, my dog looked at me with this deep sadness. Without doubt, the look on his face was communicating a questions like, “You that love me, why are you doing this to me?” Max knew I was his master, his friend, his companion, and care-taker, but I was at the same time presiding over his pain and suffering. The look on his face obviously means, “How could you be doing this to me?” You know, even though I stroked Max’s back, and gave him a hug, but none was able to explain to him why I was taking part in his anguish. I tried to talk and explain to Max that the shots are good for him, but all my efforts failed to produce the desire result. When we got into the car, Max avoided me. Not until we got home and I gave him his favorite bone that he forgot about what transpired previously. There was no way I could have explained the situation to the understanding of my dogs because there is a qualitative difference between his capacity to understand and my mind. There is something totally different from the way I see and imagine the world and his. This may not be a compelling example, but it’s an analogy that coveys of God’s relationship to us. Do we go through suffering in a way that we look at God as presiding over our calamity? Yes! Do we look at God with the same look that Max gave me? Yeah!

Parents often struggle to explain to their kids the need to take pills or injections when they are sick because they are too young to understand the purpose of the pain of injection or swallowing medicines. They are too young to understand why they should endure all that. This too is an analogy to God’s relationship to us when we suffer. The problem with suffering is our inability to comprehend it. When we suffer, we question God’s nearness to us. We question how could God forget us; we ask why and how God who promises never to forget us will preside over the adversity that has befallen us. Is God close to us? Absolutely, yes! Even if a mother forgets her child, God promises he will not forget us. But at the same time, let’s not forget that as high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are God’s ways above our ways and our thoughts above God’s thoughts.” Although God is intimately close to us, he is totally other. 

One last point, if someone asks you, “How come we suffer?” feel free to reply, “I don’t know. I am like a child who does not know and does not understand the need to take medicine and allow shots be given to him or her. But there is someone who loves me, who is present to the situation, who may not even in principle begin to make sense of it for me because of the radical difference between him and me. 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church

Thursday, October 1, 2020