He Gives Himself Away!

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for Holy Thursday: Mass of the Lord’s Supper 

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Thursday, April 1, 2021

The 19th century German philosopher, Georg Friedrich Hegel said that all human society is characterized by master-slave dynamic. By this he means that every society is marked by the tendency of some to aggressively seize power and influence and to keep others at bay. In every human organization, there are insiders and outsiders, privileged ones and marginalized ones, those who are up and those who are down. And those who are up, the privileged ones are usually interested in keeping things just the way they are. Now, it will be a mistake to look at this purely from geopolitical standpoint because during school days, many of us saw this master-slave dynamic in full display. The cool kids, the privileged groups, those who were up wanted things to remain the way they were even if it means keeping others down. But long before Hegel, the great St. Augustine while criticizing the Roman society of his time identified what he called in Latin the libido dominandi (i.e. the lust to dominate). For St. Augustine, libido dominandi, the lust to dominate others which is a kind of master-slave dynamic is the mark of a dysfunctional society. Now, long before Hegel and St. Augustine, the authors of the Old Testament were also keenly interested in this problem because the central story of the Old Testament is the story of slavery and liberation from slavery. The First Reading taken from the Book of Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 is about the Passover meal, the hour of liberation from slavery. The Israelites have been slaves for four hundred years in Egypt, four hundred years of oppression. Then in the great act of liberation, God brings them out of Egypt to freedom. By breaking their chains, the God of Israel shows essentially what he is about, which is, overcoming the master-slave dynamic. Interestingly, after Israel has established itself as a great nation, the Hebrew prophets warn them to treat the foreigners living among them as native-born, to love them as they love themselves, for they were foreigners in Egypt (Lev. 19:34).

In 30 AD, Jesus of Nazareth appears in the hills of Galilee and declares: The Kingdom of God is at hand.  To know what characterizes this Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus, read the Sermon on the mount in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. What will the members of God’s Kingdom be like? Jesus says they should not hunger for domination, rather righteousness and meekness. They should not be stuck in the principle of “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” rather embrace mercy and radical compassion. If someone asks for a quarter dollar, and you have a dollar, give it to them. If someone asks for a service and you are able to do it, get on with it. And love, not just your relatives, neighbors and friends, but also your enemies. Jesus says when they attend a party, they should not take the highest place, rather take their seat at the lowest place. They should sit with little guys on purpose. When they give a party, they should not invite the high and mighty alone who can pay you back, but also invite the poor, those at the margins of the society who can’t pay them back. As we all know, Jesus, in his own life and ministry, practiced open table fellowship. Yes, he sat with the scholars, pharisees etc. but he also invited sinners, tax collectors, the sick, and the poor. At the heart of these, sisters and brothers, Jesus is overturning all forms of master-slave dynamic, all forms of libido dominandi. 

With these in mind, what does today’s Gospel say? At the climax of his life, Jesus gathers with his Twelve Apostles. Reclining at table, Jesus rises and does something so strange. He takes off his outer garment, puts a towel around himself and begins to do a work that is only reserved for the lowest of the slaves. He begins to wash their feet. We’ve become used to this liturgical practice of washing feet on Holy Thursday that we forget how unnerving this practice was. It was a bridge too far for Peter and that’s why he balked and said, Lord, you will never wash my feet. The closest analogy to this is, let’s say you are invited to a formal dinner by a very distinguished host. You get seated just like the host and every other invited guests. Then all of a sudden, the host takes off his tuxedo jacket, bends down and begins to shine the shoes of the guests. I bet you, you will be shellshocked and most likely embarrassed. That’s how the disciples felt when Jesus begins to wash their feet. But what is Jesus doing? He is overturning the master-slave dynamic and  setting for us the distinctive mark of his Kingdom. 

In the second reading taken from 1 Corinthians 11:23-26, we witness the greatest and the most profound overturning of the master-slave dynamic. St. Paul’s account of the Last Supper is the earliest reference we have in the Bible of the Eucharist. St. Paul wrote a decade or so before the first Gospel was written. He recalls what Jesus did. He took bread, and after he had given thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body that is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.” Check this out! At the climax of his life, at the climax of his ministry, Jesus expresses the fullness of the Kingdom of God and sums up what he’s all about. If you are stuck in the master-slave dynamic, you are interested in getting to the top and staying there even at the detriment of everyone else. You are interested in keeping people at bay as much as you can. You are interested in grabbing and maintaining your position. What did Jesus do as he sums up what his life and ministry is all about? He gives himself away! He says, “This is my Body.” “This is my Blood.” At the highpoint of his life, Jesus does not grab or seeks to grab authority, position, power, rather he lets them go. In the washing of the feet, he becomes the slave. In the giving of his Body and Blood, he gives his entire self away. In those acts, Jesus points to us our entry into the dynamics of God’s Kingdom. St. Pope John Paul II talked about the law of the gift which says “Your being increases in the measure you give it away.” That is the law of the Kingdom of God; it is the antithesis of the master-slave dynamic which says that your life increases the more you grab and hang on to it. The question that this Holy Thursday poses is: How can we make our lives a gift? How can we strive to undermine the dynamics of master-slave relationships and give ourselves away? 

“The Master Has Need”

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, March 28, 2021

Today, we gather to celebrate the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of the Holy Week, the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. We gather to celebrate our Lord’s final days before he was crucified. We gather to celebrate the Palm Sunday. His entry into the city of Jerusalem was accompanied with pomp and pageantry, with ceremonial splendor and magnificent display. It was a period of joy and triumph, but we all know it only lasted for a few days before it turned to anguish and sorrow. The very crowd we heard shout, “Hosanna” in the Gospel, turned around to shout, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” 

Have you ever wondered why there was such a dramatic change in the mood of people in Jerusalem from Palm Sunday to Good Friday? Why the sudden change from Hosanna to the Son of David to crucify him? In both Greek and Hebrew, “Hosanna” means “Please save us,” or “save us, now!” It is a command or call to bring about or cause salvation. So, as Jesus makes his entrance into Jerusalem, the crowd of people saw him as someone who has come to fight, so they beckon on him to save them. A few days after he is arrested, their emotion quickly switched from cheer to jeer: “crucify him, crucify him!” Why the sudden change of emotion and interest? One answer among others is EXPECTATION! When people are excited and hopeful that their expectations are about to be realized and those expectations suddenly crashed to the ground, they become not only terribly sad but also angry. 

The Jews who cheered Jesus and shouted “Hosanna” hoped that Jesus was going to be  a warrior king like King David. They thought that God’s anointed One would like King David lead them to battle their enemies— Roman rulers, defeat them and secure the freedom they had longed for a very long time. But the moment Jesus got arrested and faced trial, the Jews in Jerusalem turned against him. Their frustration did not just happen. It has been building up and only reached its crescendo on Good Friday. Jesus indeed is the Messiah of the Jews and the Messiah of the world, but the Jews were expecting a different kind of king and messiah. They are hoping for a messiah who would live by the principle and philosophy of “an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” instead they got a Messiah who teaches “If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn the other cheek as well” (Lk. 6:29). They wanted a vengeful king but got a merciful one instead. They desired a brash, cocky and self-assertive king that will demolish their enemies, instead received a meek and compassionate one. They wanted a power-drunk, authoritarian and mean spirited messiah who will show no mercy on their enemies, instead the Messiah they found is trying to win over their enemies with love. They longed for a messiah who will give speeches and tell the Romans how terribly bad they were, instead they got one who called Jewish religious leaders and scholars hypocrites. They want a messiah who will speak no evil of their land but got one who says, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her” (Lk. 13:34). Because of all these and many more, they become disappointedly angry and resolved to get rid of the “weak” and “powerless” messiah in their midst. They swore to kill Jesus by all means. 

So, the questions for us today is this: what do we expect God to do for us? What kind of a Messiah do we expect? When God does not answer your prayer the way you want him to, how do you react? Do you get upset with God? Some people get so upset with God for not answering their prayers and thereafter walk away both from God and from the Church. To such people, Judas Iscariot is their model. But instead of asking what we want God to do for us, why don’t we turn the question around today and ask ourselves, what does God want me to do?

Jesus sent two of his disciples into the village to bring him an expensive brand new colt, a colt that no one had ever used. He also told them that if anyone should ask you why you are taking the colt, tell them that “The Master has need of it.” You know, it would have been a different story if the owners of the colt had refused to give it up. The Gospel did not tell us the name or names of the owners of the colt. But does it matter? What matters is that they were kind enough to let Jesus use their colt. By so doing, they contributed something signifiant, something that enabled Jesus to ride into Jerusalem to complete and accomplish God’s assignment for him. The accomplishment of that task is what has brought us victory in Christ, friendship with God, grace in the Spirit, and salvation through faith and accompanying good deeds. So, no matter how unknown or unrecognized you may be, you can still play a significant role in the unfolding of God’s plan. Check this out! Jesus needs something from you, and from me just as he needed the colt. He needs something from each of us for the sake of furthering God’s Kingdom. Each of us has something in our lives that if given back to God could, like the colt, move Jesus and his Gospel further down the road. Do as the owners of the colt did. Don’t hold back. Don’t count yourself out. Sign yourself in!

The Visitation of Mary 

In the Gospel of Luke 1, we read the narrative of the Visitation of Elizabeth by Mary, the Blessed Mother. It occurred shortly after Mary had her own visitation by the Archangel Gabriel in which Mary heard the most shocking but exciting news: 

Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his Father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:30-33).

After Mary’s awe expression, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” and the Angel’s assuring message, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you… for nothing will be impossible for God,” Mary surrendered completely and unreservedly, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” As soon as the angel departed, Mary did not storm to the street and in the community to gleefully announce and celebrate what she would become, instead, she “set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah” to visit Elizabeth. 

But why did she go with such speed and purpose? Why did she leave right away? Because she has found her mission. She has found her role in the Theo-drama. Today, we are dominated by the ego-drama in all of its ramifications and implications. The ego-drama is the play that I am writing; it is the play that you are writing. It is the drama that I am producing. It is the drama you are producing. It is the drama that I am directing; it the drama you are directing. Above all, it is the drama that I am featuring in and you are featuring in it as well. Today in our culture, we see this everywhere. We see it where absolute freedom of choice is reigning supreme. I become the person I choose to be, you become the person you choose to be. But the Theo-drama is the great story being told by God. It is the great play being directed by God. What makes life thrilling therefore is to discover your role in that drama. This is precisely what happens to Mary. In a dramatic fashion she found her role in the Theo-drama and wants to share it with Elizabeth who has also discovered her role in that same drama. 

The story of the visitation challenges us to meditate on the following questions: Have you searched and discovered your role in God’s story? What is it? Are you willing to abandon ego-drama for the Theo-drama? Are you ready to emulate the simple, yet bold example left for us by our Blessed Mother Mother? The ego-drama leads to nowhere exciting and exalting, but the Theo-drama does. 

— Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

     Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A

Take Away The Stone And Rise

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Pius X Catholic Church, St. Paul, MN

Sunday, March 20, 2021

Two weeks ago, we read the story of the woman at the Well, someone caught in the pattern of concupiscence desire. She is thirsty for God, but she is looking for God in the wrong places. To her Jesus says, I am the living water and I will give you the living water that will finally satisfy your longing heart. Last week, we read the amazing story of the man born blind. The man born blind stands for all of us because in Original Sin we are all born blind. We don’t see as God sees. To him Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” So, if you want to see properly, then be grafted unto me. Today, we read the story of the raising of Lazarus from dead, an event that affords Jesus the opportunity to make a richer and more powerful self-identification statement of himself. In the story of the woman at the Well, Jesus is the living water. In the story of the man born blind, he is the light of the world. In the raising of Lazarus from dead, he is the greatest of the “I AM” (ἐγώ εἰμι— Ego Eimi) statements in the Bible: “I AM the resurrection and the life.”

What is our God so interested in? Life! The great second-century theologian, St. Irenaeus of Lyon, while talking about the essence of Christianity declares, “The glory of God is a human being fully alive!” What gives God joy and glory is that we are fully alive. What saddens God is when we allow death to reign in us at any level physically, psychologically, and spiritually. When death reigns in us God is grieved and saddened. In today’s first reading taken from the Book of Ezekiel, God says, “O my people, I will open your graves and have you rise from them.” Those words from the prophesy of Ezekiel echoes what our God is about. Whatever grave you are in— be it hatred, resentment, envy, unforgiveness, whatever it is that is limiting your life, restricting you, constraining you like someone in the grave, God wants to help you rise. God wants to set you free. He is not interested in the ways of death but in the ways of life.

In the Gospels, there are three people that Jesus raised from the dead. The first one is a little girl, the daughter of a synagogue official named Jairus who falls at the feet of Jesus and pleads, “My daughter is at the point of death. Please, come lay your hands on her that she may get well and live” (Mark 5:23). Upon hearing Jairus’ plea for his daughter, Jesus goes with him. But while they are still on their way, some people from Jairus’ house meet him and say, “Your daughter has died; why trouble the teacher any longer?” His daughter died in the house while Jesus was still on the way, however she was still raised from the dead by Jesus with the words, Talitha Koum, which means, “Little girl, I say to you arise!” (Mk. 5:41) The second person that Jesus raises from dead is the son of the widow of Nain. Jesus and his disciples are going to the city of Nain. As they come closer to the gate of the city, the funeral procession of a man who has just died is taking place. The dead man is the only son of his widow mother. Jesus sees her weeping profusely, moves forward, touches the coffin and raises the dead man by saying to him, “Young man, I tell you, arise!” (Luke 7:11-17). The third is Lazarus, a name that means “God has helped.” 

Now, these biblical narratives are factual descriptions. Jesus really did raise these people from dead physically. However, St. Augustine’s meditation on each of the three miracles can help us have a deeper understanding and appreciation of what Jesus did. St. Augustine knows that the Gospels operate at different levels. He also knows that the Gospel writers are communicating a deep spiritual truths with each of these miraculous acts. What does the little girl that Jesus raises from the dead symbolize? Augustine says she stands for spiritual death, sin, spiritual dysfunction that remains inside. The little girl dies in the house. She symbolizes spiritual death that remains locked up in our minds and hearts. They have not expressed themselves yet in action; however, they are poisoning us in the inside. Those resentments, grudges, bitterness that make us say within us, “Gosh, I can’t stand him!” “She is mean and nasty.” “I am still mad at her for what she did to me.” These resentments may not be expressed in words and actions, which is good, nevertheless, they are festering on the inside, poisoning our thoughts, will and imagination. St. Augustine says the little girl, the daughter of Jairus stands for that kind of death, spiritual death. We may even lie or deceive ourselves by claiming to be good persons. But Jesus is not satisfied with that. He wants to go into those spaces where unspoken evil thoughts have killed and bring them back to life. He wants to heal us of that spiritual death. The second case is the son of the widow of Nain. The young man is already dead and is being carried outside the house to the cemetery. Who does he stand for? Augustine says he stands for that spiritual death, that sin which has come out from the heart and mind and has begun to express itself in action. That our resentment, anger, grudges and bitterness has now started to express itself. They are coming out in our words, in our gestures and deeds. This is an intense spiritual death. Again, Jesus approaches this individual and raises him from dead. The third person that Jesus raises from the dead is our brother Lazarus. Lazarus has been carried out of the house, he has been placed in a tomb, and by the time Jesus gets there, he has been four days in the tomb. When Jesus asks that the stone placed over the tomb be taken away, Lazarus sister, Martha kicked, “Lord, by now there will be a stench.” How does St. Augustine read this? In his grave, Lazarus stands for that evil, that spiritual death, which has not only come out from the heart and mind into action, but has now established itself as the habitual part of our life. This means that those anger, hatred, resentment, bad thoughts etc has come out and become such a part of our life and activity. When this happens, we begin to stink, which is to say, we begin to affect a lot of people around us. Our own spiritual death is no longer our problem, but the problem of a lot of people. According to Augustine, Lazarus represents the worst kind of sin. 

Sisters and brothers, during Lent, the Church challenges us to do a moral inventory of our lives. Lent is a good time to look at each of these types of spiritual death— the interior, the exterior, and the stinkiest part of our life that is affecting the people around us. If Jesus is willing to go even to the grave of Lazarus and brings him back to life, he will go to the furthest, smelliest, darkest and the most dysfunctional state and invites us back to life. Some of the saddest comments I hear some people say are: “Father, believe me, I am not worthy to serve in the capacity you are asking me to serve;” “Father, what I have done is so bad that I don’t think God will forgive me;” “Father, I don’t go to confession because there is no need, no point going. It is just too much.” People who make such comments are saying that their spiritual death has become so complete, so rotten that they are beyond the reach of God. But the Gospel story of Lazarus is saying, FALSE! WRONG! No body, not even those who think they are trapped in evil are beyond the reach of the forgiving power of Jesus Christ. He goes even to those darkest places to find us and bring us out. But we must let him go inside of us. 

Two details of the raising of Lazarus that are not often emphasized are what Jesus did when he approaches the tomb. The Gospel says that Jesus was greatly disturbed as he approached the tomb. Jesus, the very incarnation of Yahweh groans as he approaches the tomb. What does that mean? St. Augustine says it is God’s deep pain at our dysfunction. If the glory of God is a human being fully alive, that means that when we don’t flourish and can’t flourish, God in Christ is perturbed. He groans in a deep desire to get us out of that situation. The second detail is found in what we have come to know as the shortest verse in the entire Bible: “Jesus Wept!” This is God weeping for us in our sin. It breaks God’s heart when we are not fully alive. God is not so much weeping in anger here. He is not groaning because he is so angry with us. He is groaning and weeping because we are not alive, and he wants us alive. 

Now, what are we supposed to do? The answer is found in the Gospel story: “Take away the stone” (John 11:39). A lot of people feel they are stuck; they feel they are living in darkness. They feel they are not able to rescue themselves from the situation they are in.  They feel they are in a tomb. They feel there is a stone to be rolled away and there is no one to help them. As such they become fearful and despair. The good news is that Jesus’ power is greater than any power of sin. After the stone was rolled away, Jesus speaks with authority, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man rises and comes forth. Imagine the Lord naming you, calling your name even if you are in the darkest corner of spiritual life, and saying to you, “come out!” Jesus wants us fully alive for that is his glory. He wants us thriving and alive. Again, we must let him help us. “Take away the stone.” Take away the addiction, the habitual sin, the spiritual dysfunction. Take away the stone— that is everything that causes you to stumble and fall over and over again. Unless the stone is taken away, you cannot rise from your spiritual death. 

Fast And Feast

Fast from judging others; feast on God that dwells in them

Fast from noticing our differences, feast on our oneness

Fast from words that pollute; feast on words that purify and edify

Fast from discontent; feast on gratitude

Fast from anger; feast on God’s mercy and peace 

Fast from pessimism; feast on the fact that God knows 

Fast from worry; feast on trust and confidence in God

Fast from guilt; feast on God’s forgiveness and mercy

Fast from complaining; feast on appreciation

Fast from stress and from working without rest; feast on self-care

Fast from hostility and violence; feast on friendship

Fast from sadness, feast on the joy of the Lord

Fast from selfishness; feast on compassion

Fast from discouragement; feast on hope

Fast from religious apathy; feast on attending to the Lord

Fast from gossip; feast on spreading the good news

Fast from seeing evil everywhere; feast on the abundant presence of God 

Fast from talking too much; feast on listening

Fast from hate; feast on love

Fast from always trying to be in control; feast on involving others

Fast from sin; feast on righteousness and uprightness

Fast from attachments to worldly goods, feast on turning back to God, our only enduring good. 

Fast from the feeling of unworthiness, feast on the Lord who found you worthy to be in his presence and minister to him.

Fast from pride and arrogance, feast on humility which is the path to God.

Fast from impatience, feast on endurance

Fast from overindulgence, feast on moderation and charity

— Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Wednesday, February 24, 2021

The Destructive Envy Of The Pharisees

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year, A

St. Bernard Catholic Church, Cologne, MN

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Today’s Gospel is about the man born blind. In the Scripture, blindness is used as a spiritual metaphor to describe the spiritual condition of someone who is either unable or unwilling to perceive divine revelation. Blindness is a symbolism of sin. The man born blind represents all of us because in Original Sin we all have been born blind. Jesus meets the man born blind. He’s probably begging at the gate as blind people in those days would do. The disciples said to Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” They were looking for ways to blame him. But Jesus says, “Neither he nor his parents sinned.” Rather, he will be used to manifest the glory of God. After answering his disciples’ question, Jesus approaches the blind man, spits on the ground, mixes his saliva and dust of the earth, and produces a kind of paste and restores his sight. What is significance of this? In the Book of Genesis, God fashions the first man out of the dust or clay of the earth. The Hebrew word for clay is Adamah, which is the first man’s name, Adam. Who is Jesus in this story? He is the creator God who created us from nothing. He notices in this blind man an unfinished work of creation and wants to finish it. So, he gives him vision. After restoring the man’s sight, he tells him “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.” The man does as Jesus instructed him and was able to see for the first time. The pool reminds us of baptism. We are all baptized into Jesus Christ. Through baptism, we are brought into the life of Christ, we share in his life.

At this point, you might think that the story is over. Jesus has healed the man and gives him his sight. In fact, in John’s narrative, the story has just started. In all the Gospels, whenever Jesus does something amazingly good, whenever he manifests God’s creative power by healing someone, whenever God is acting, sometimes people are amazed and grateful; but oftentimes in the Scripture, the reaction is that of anger, disappointment, and outrage. In the story, the Pharisees tried everything in their power to undermine what has just happened. When the man’s neighbors and those who knew him as a blind beggar wondered how he was able to see, the Pharisees’ first response is, “No, he just looks like him.” But the healed man countered them and said, it is me. After that, the Pharisees tried another trick, the legal trick, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” They are basically telling the man whose vision has been restored that the man who cured him is using a dark and demonic power. But the man isn’t having any of their argument. Beautifully he throws a question to them, “How can a sinful man do such things?” His question causes division among them. In their desperate effort to undermine the work of Jesus, the Pharisees ask the man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” (Jn. 9:17). He replies, “He is a prophet” (v. 17b.) Still not convinced, the Pharisees involve the parents of the man. When his parents refused to be dragged in, they said to the blind man, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” Beautifully he replies them, “I do not know if he is a sinner. But one thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” In those words, he is stating the simple spiritual fact, that we come to vision through Christ. 

The Pharisees tried everything in their power to deny it. The question is why? Why are they opposed to it? Some preachers say they are opposed to what Jesus has just done because they do not want the inclusion or the restoration of the man born blind into the community. The Pharisees see themselves as followers and disciples of Moses, and as the good ones. They believe that the man is responsible for his predicament. He is worthy of blame and shame. They want to keep him out perpetually. By curing him, Jesus brings him back into the community. He wants him fully involved and fully alive. But the disciples and the Pharisees do not want him in the community. They want him excluded. 

Another reason why the Pharisees are opposed to the work of Jesus Christ is envy. In journalistic terms and in our way of speaking, we sometimes use envy and jealousy interchangeably. But they are two different things, although there is a little overlap between them. Jealousy and envy is like stealing and vandalism. Jealousy is the intense desire to guard and protect what one possesses or what one hope to possess. Jealousy is not always a bad thing. Even God said he is a jealous God. We belong to God. We are the crown jewel of his creation. We are his people. We are created in imago Dei. We are his actual and legitimate possession. He loves us. So, God intensely desires to guard us from being stolen from him. He wants to protect us from being lost. In the case of married people, they may be jealous because they want to guard their spouses from being lured away from them by another person. So, jealousy is not always wrong for it is the desire to guard what one has or possesses. Although it can be distorted. In our own experience, it is often distorted. We are jealous of other people because we want something that they have or something they have accomplished in life. Jealousy is always the desire to possess or the desire to guard what one possesses. This distortion can generate greed especially in the case of a rich person who jealousy guards what he or she has to the point of not sharing with others. This greed leads to wanting more and more and not sharing with others for fear of losing social status or class. Envy on the other hand is not the desire to guard what one has, but to possess what one does not have. Envy is sadness when someone else has something that I want. Jealousy is rooted in desire, envy is rooted in resentment, which is actually diabolical. St. Augustine calls envy the diabolical sin. Envy is sadness because someone else is happy; it is sadness over the accomplishment of another; it is resentful anger over the success of the other. Envy is sadness at someone’s else gifts. If jealousy leads one to greed, envy leads one to destroy. The Pharisees were envious of Jesus because of who he is and what he is doing. The endpoint of envy is hatred and destruction. Because Jesus is all things to all people, because he preaches powerfully like no one, cures many sick people, performs many miracles, signs and wonders and attracted a very large followers that the Pharisees are not able to do and cannot do, they become envious of him and seek for his destruction. 

What is the cure of envy? Appreciation and gratitude. Appreciate the success of another and give glory to God who makes all that possible. Envy breeds hatred. It leads to destruction. It also prevents us from discovering our talents and turning them into gifts because we are preoccupied with the thoughts of other’s successes and spends less time uncovering God’s hidden treasures in us. Thank God! Celebrate with others.  

Called To See As God Sees

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Bernard Catholic Church, Cologne, MN

Sunday, March 14, 2021

Last Sunday, we read the story of the woman at the Well. Next Sunday, we will read the raising of Lazarus from death. Today, the story is about the man born blind. In these exceptional narratives taken from the Gospel of John, we see great characters, hear great dialogues with profound spiritual insights. They are all about “Who is Jesus Christ and what does he want from us? In the narrative of the woman at the Well, we see someone like all of us who is hungry and thirsty for God. And like all of us she seeks for God in all the wrong places. To her Jesus says, I will give you the living water. In the end, Jesus adjusts and orders her will which was thrown into great confusion and disorder. Today’s story is about the man born blind. In the Scripture, blindness is used as a spiritual symbol to describe the spiritual condition of someone who is either unable or unwilling to perceive divine revelation. Blindness is a symbolism of sin. In Mark’s Gospel, we read about the blind Bartimaeus who sits by the Walls of Jericho. According to spiritual symbols, the Walls of Jericho symbolizes sinful city. Bartimaeus sits by those walls unable to see until he passionately cries out to Jesus. In the same Gospel of Mark, we read of Jesus coming to the city of Bethsaida. As soon as he arrives, people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. What did Jesus do? He takes the blind man by the hand, leads him out of the village, cures him and then said, “Do not even go back into the village” (Mk. 8:22-26). Here again we see the same spiritual symbolism that the village somehow made him blind. 

In the story of the man born blind, John raises the spiritual heat. The man born blind represents all of us because in Original Sin we all have been born blind. The great Church Father, Origen said To be holy is to see with the eyes of Christ. To see the world as Christ sees it from the standpoint of God. How does God see the world? All things, sharing in God are all connected to one another. The deepest truth about things is that we are all connected to each other in love because we are grounded and rooted in the creator God. To see the world that way is to see it aright, is to see it correctly in the right light. The saints were those who see correctly and therefore live out of that vision. They are those who can love even their enemies, bless those who cursed them and pray for those who maltreat them because they know underneath all of those divisions, there is a deeper and more inviting truth. The man born blind, which represents everyone of us is someone who does not see aright, who is blind to this deep truth, who instead sees the world as a collection of antagonistic individuals. It is the person who insists on their ego, their entitlements, their life over and above others. They see others as threat to them or opportunity for their self aggrandizement. That’s blindness, friends of God. That’s spiritual blindness. 

In the story, Jesus sees the man born blind. He’s probably begging at the gate as blind people in those days would do. The disciples said to Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” In those words, you see that even the disciples of Jesus were blind and antagonistic to the man. They were looking for ways to blame him. But Jesus, operating from the right vision says, “Neither he nor his parents sinned.” Rather, he will be used to manifest the glory of God. Jesus has compassion on him, and now wants to bring him to vision. But before he does that, he utters one of the amazing lines of John’s Gospel, “I am the light of the world.” In John’s Gospel, there is a lot of invocation of these statements; the “I am” statements: “I am the Bread of life;” I am the Good Shepherd;” “I am the Vine.” In this story, we find, “I am the light.” I am the light by which you see and will see. I am the light by which you move without which you stumble. I am the light! If you want to see and move well in life, then be grafted unto me. Have my mind in you; my will in you, my imagination in you, my way of seeing things. The breathtaking words of St. Paul says, “It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and died for me” (Galatians 2:20). In those words St. Paul is testifying that Christ’s light is lighting up his life from the inside. 

After answering his disciples’ question, Jesus approaches the blind man, spits on the ground, mixes his saliva and dust of the earth, and produces a kind of paste, a creative power that restores his sight. What is significance of this? In the Book of Genesis, God fashions the first man out of the dust or clay of the earth. The Hebrew word for clay is Adamah, which is the first man’s name, Adam. Who is Jesus in this story? He is the creator God who created us from nothing. He notices in this blind man a kind of unfinished work of creation, and he wants to finish it. So, he gives him vision. When the Lord Jesus Christ looks into us and sees we are blind, the creator in him wants to make us whole. When we are spiritually lost, we are blind. We cannot restore our vision. No one can buy for their ransom (Ps. 49:8b). It is by and through his creative power that our vision can be restored. One of the earliest terms used to describe Jesus is Sōtēr in Greek, which means healer. The Latin version of it is Salvatore, which means the bearer of salus— health. In this encounter with the blind man, Jesus shows that he is the Savior, the one with the healing balm, the one who alone can heal our blindness and restore us to the right vision. 

After restoring the man’s sight, he tells him “Go wash in the Pool of Siloam.” The man does as Jesus instructed him and was able to see for the first time. Why the pool? The pool reminds us of baptism. We are all baptized into Jesus Christ. We are washed in his water. Through baptism, we are brought into the life of Christ, we share in his life. How do we see and how do we learn how to see? In the Church! When we are baptized into the power of Jesus Christ and grafted unto his body in the Church, we are able to see. As Christians, we should help teach each other how to see. When someone says you are not seeing things right, you are not looking at the world as a Christian, do not be upset. That is the Church. It is the community of the baptized helping you to see. 

At this point, you might think that the story is over. Jesus has healed the man; he washes him, and gives him his sight. But not really! In fact, in John’s narrative, the story has just started. In all the Gospels, whenever Jesus does something amazingly unique and good, whenever he manifests God’s creative power by healing someone, whenever God is acting, sometimes people are amazed and grateful; but oftentimes in the Scripture, the reaction is that of anger, disappointment, and outrage. In the story, the Pharisees tried everything in their power to undermine what has just happened. When the man’s neighbors and those who knew him as a blind beggar wondered how he was able to see, the Pharisees’ first response is, “No, he just looks like him.” But the healed man countered them and said, it is me. After that, the Pharisees tried another trick, the legal trick, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the sabbath.” They are basically telling the man whose vision has been restored that the man who cured him is using a dark and demonic power. But the man isn’t having any of their argument. Beautifully he throws a question to them, “How can a sinful man do such things?” His question generates division among them. In their desperate effort to undermine the work of Jesus, the Pharisees ask the man, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” (Jn. 9:17). He replies, “He is a prophet” (v. 17b.) Still not convinced, the Pharisees involve the parents of the man. When his parents refused to get involved, they said to the blind man, “Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner.” Beautifully and intelligently he replies them, “I do not know if he is a sinner. But one thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” In those words, he is stating the simple spiritual fact, that we come to vision through Christ. The Pharisees tried everything in their power to deny it. The question is why? Why are they opposed to it? The clue might be found from the very beginning of the story. At the beginning Jesus’ disciples had asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (v. 2) That is, Who is responsible for his predicament? Can we blame him? Can we blame his parents, his family, his ancestors, his lineage, past or present generation? They are looking for a scapegoat whom they can blame. The Pharisees are also playing the same game. They see themselves as followers and disciples of Moses and as the good ones. Are we totally free from this? No! Oftentimes even without knowing it, we define ourselves by pointing out someone who is outside our group, someone who is worthy of blame; someone shameful. But by curing this man, Jesus brings him back into the community. He wants him fully involved and fully alive. But the disciples and the Pharisees do not want him in the community. They want him excluded.

What is the vision at work here? The vision is to see as God sees, all of us connected to each other. I guess by now you already know who is truly blind in this story? To some degree, the man at the center of this story is blind, physically blind. The disciples, to a larger degree are blind as well. To the highest degree, the Pharisees are blind. To their infinite credit, the disciples asked Jesus a question and got an answer that restored their sight. The man born blind met Jesus and experienced full restoration of his sight. As for the Pharisees, although they were blind, they didn’t see it. They want a world full of division and separation But Jesus wants us to see as God sees— all of us connected to God and to each other just as the organs in the body are connected to one another. 

The Relentlessness of Divine Mercy

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year A

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, March 7, 2021

The story of the Woman at the Well speaks about the relentlessness of God’s mercy. God is coming after us. The Bible is not about our quest for God, rather God’s quest for us. Although our quest for God is vital and valid, but it is not exciting. Our quest for God is imperfect and unreliable. God is after us. Today’s Gospel (John 4) says “Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar…” He begins his journey in Judea in the southeast, and goes up to Galilee in the north. Why is his entrance into Samaria that important? Most religious and pious Jews would avoid going through Samaria because it was unclean and the land of the half-free. To embark on such a journey, pious Jews would go around Samaria. But what did Jesus do? He goes into it. He is after the marginalized, the rejects, the unfree, the forgotten ones at the margins of the society. In this move, we see that God is after us and is crossing the boundaries we have set. He’s crossing the racial and gender boundaries that keep people away from each other. By the Well of Samaria, he, a male Jew talks to a Samaritan, not just a Samaritan, but a Samaritan woman which is forbidden at the time. The fact that this Samaritan woman came to the Well in the noon and alone is unusual. Back in the day, people go to the Well in the morning and evening, not during the hottest time of the day. And no one goes alone. The Samaritan woman came alone and at odd time because she is a public sinner, and wants to avoid the ridicule and insult of her community. Jesus didn’t care about her social status. He also crosses that boundary too, and reaches out to her. God is relentless! 

Why is God reaching out to us? Because he wants to draw us into the dynamics of divine life. God wants to share his life with us. The breathtaking words of Prophet Isaiah says “As a young man marries a young woman, so will your builder marry you” (Is. 62:5). Your builder—God who builds you into existence wants to marry you. He does not want to dominate you and make life miserable for you. He wants to marry you. Marriage is a relationship of intimacy. It is the greatest kind of intimacy for it is the sharing of life. That’s what God wants. God wants to marry us. In ancient Israel, stopping at a Well shows that someone is thinking about marriage. When Abraham sent people to find a wife for his son, Isaac, they stopped by a Well, and it was there that they found a wife for Isaac. Jacob finds his wife also by a Well. Moses sits down by a Well, and there he met Zipporah whom he marries. In the story under discussion, we have a man sitting down by a Well with a woman. According to St. Augustine, the woman at the Well symbolizes the Church. And what is the Church? It is the Bride of Christ who is the Bridegroom. To the woman, Jesus says, “Give me a drink.” Responding to his request, the woman said, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman for a drink?” She reminds Jesus of the hostility between Jews and Samaritans which has made it impossible for them to share anything in common. Again, Jesus does not care! He does not give a hoot about someone’s ethnicity or nationality or gender. He has come to share his life with everyone. So, he said to the woman, “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 the living water.” Our builder wants to marry us. He wants to share his divine life with us. And through the Mass, the sacraments, prayer etc. we participate in the divine life. 

We have talked about the relentlessness of God’s mercy, but God’s mercy is also demanding. Some people think that the more we stress God’s mercy, the less we stress God’s demands. That’s not true. It is a non-biblical and non-Christian logic. God is merciful! The name of God is mercy. This is true, and it can never be overemphasized and overstressed. However, it is mercy and demand— moral demand. Jesus speaks about God who is vastly merciful, but he also talks about keeping his commandments. St. Augustine says that the Well which the woman visits everyday symbolizes concupiscence desire, which means errant desire— spiritually dysfunctional desire. Regularly, we go to a Well to fill ourselves up with wealth, honor, pleasure and power etc to get a little bit of satisfaction. But before we know it, we are thirsty again. So, we keep going to the Well in a desperate rhythm that gets us to nowhere. There is something that we go to, and after drinking from it or of it, we feel a bit better. But it is only a matter of time before we are hungry again and again returns to it. That’s precisely what Jesus said to the woman when he said, “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.” Jesus wants to end her insatiable thirst that drove her from one man to another. He wants to break her pattern of returning to inordinate desire that doesn’t go away. He wants her to stop coming to the Well and come to the water he wants to give to her. As soon as the woman asks Jesus for his own water that will end her thirst, Jesus says to her, “Go and call your husband and come back.” The woman replies, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answers her, “You are right in saying, “I do not have a husband. For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband.” Do you see what is going on here? God is exceedingly and lavishly merciful and kind. God wants to marry us. God is after us. God forgives. But God makes demand too. What is that demand? Let go of things that are blocking the flow of divine life. The mercy of God demands change. It is the reason why Jesus calls us to metanoia— conversion.

Finally, no one experiences God without being sent. God’s mercy is always sending us on mission. After her encounter with Jesus, the woman puts down her water jar, goes into the city and announces the presence of Christ. With that, she becomes the first evangelist in the Gospel of John. The symbolism of putting down the water jar is conversion. She puts down her old addicted pattern, and declares she is done with is. What is the Well that you frequently visit? Name it! I have mine, you have yours. What are they? Get rid of them and respond to God’s love and mercy. What is the water jar? Unless you are willing to put that thing down, you can’t move forward. The moment you do, you will become an evangelizer. The Samaritan woman went to town to tell her people about a man who cracked the code, uncovered the reason why she kept doing the things she was doing that were wrong only after she put her jar down. She became an instant evangelizer. What is evangelization? It is one beggar telling another beggar where there is bread. Real evangelization comes from people who put down the water jar under the influence of the divinizing mercy of Jesus and now wants to tell the world about it. They are beggars too, but they have found where bread is and they want others to know about it.

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year B

Tohu-Va-Bohu And The Cleansing Of The Temple

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, March 7, 2021

 

On Mount Sinai, Moses received the Ten Commandments from God (Exodus 20: 1-17, but the commandments have over the centuries been divided into two specific categories— commands that order our relationship with God and commands that order our relationship with one another. However, if we look at the Bible as a totality, we will see clearly that the Scriptures give a priority to those commands that deal with God. The Ten Commandments begin with an insistence that the Lord alone is God and there are to be no other gods besides him. Why is it important to worship the God who revealed himself to Moses? The God or gods we worship will most definitely shape our beliefs and practices concerning the moral life, be it the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or the gods of the ancients or the glamor of wealth, power, pleasure, and honor. The deity we place our utmost trust in will direct our lives and determine the choices we make. Now, the Bible’s repeated calls on humanity to renounce its attachments to false gods and false worship and embrace the worship of the one true God might shape the way we interpret the Lord’s actions in the Jerusalem Temple, actions we have come to know as the ‘cleansing of the Temple.” 

Jesus had just performed his inaugural miracle of turning water into wine at Cana in Galilee in John’s Gospel. After that, he travels to Jerusalem for the Jewish feast of Passover. Upon entering the Temple— the sacred center of Israel’s culture and worship, he finds it has become, not a house of prayer, but a “marketplace.” He expected to see people in prayer, levities and priests carrying out their priestly functions, the choir rehearsing songs for worship, and several ministries holding prayer meetings. But what did he see? He saw merchants, traffickers, moneychangers, and people who seem interested in only one thing— making money. It is important to point out that Jesus is not against the rich, nor is he against doing business and making money. His disappointment is the abuse and misuse of the Temple. The people he met there were not ready for religious activity. He saw that the the gods and allures of wealth, power, honor and pleasure have been enthroned in God’s own house. The purpose and the sacredness of the temple was being undermined. If God’s house is treated that way, what does it say about the people? Jesus was amazed at their irreligiousness and their lack of the sense of the scared and mystery. So, he turns over the tables of the moneychangers, disrupts the flow of sacrificial animals which were coming in and being bought by the people and eventually clears and cleans the Temple. 

Some people have interpreted this event as Jesus’ protest against commercialization and materialism in religious practice. They argue that religion should remain radically pure and distanced from the corrupting influence of commerce. While I distaste strongly the practice of using religion as a tool to amass material wealth, I believe there is a more fruitful and profound reading and understanding of Jesus’ actions in the Temple. Jesus cleanses the Temple because it was corrupt and immoral. Do you know what else he wants to cleanse? The individual temples of his Spirit.  St. Paul said that the body of each Christian is a “temple of the Holy Spirit.” By this, he means a place where the one true God is honored and worshipped. We become truly joyful when we become a place where God is first, second and third before anything else. Jesus has come not only to “cleanse the Temple of Jerusalem” but also the temple of your own body, your own life. Everyday, he comes into your own life expecting to find a place ordered to the worship of the one true God. Will he find his temple holy and suitable? Or will he find “a marketplace?” What is a marketplace? It is a place where many things other than God have become primacy. The marketplace is the shrine of secularist ideology which says that we can be perfectly happy with the goods of this world without God. It is the idolatry of politics, of materialism, of commercialization, of pursuit of wealth, of culture wars, of racial tension, and violence. It is the place of tohu-va-bohu— disorder. The marketplace is a place where the false gods of wealth, power, honor and pleasure are worshipped. When this happen, these gods will invade the sacred space of our soul and dominate our soul, for they want to be our gods. They want to be at the altar, shrine and sanctuary of our hearts. 

The third Sunday of Lent calls us to allow Jesus to embark on the temple-cleansing of our souls. The image of the temple-cleansing Christ is a memorable image with enduring power. However, we should not reduce his actions in the Temple to mean only his impatience or protest against the corruption of religious institutions. If we do that, we miss the point. We should bring it home too. Jesus also wants to cleans you, he wants to cleanse me. He wants to rid the temple of our own body idols we have blindly and foolishly given a primary place in our lives.