The Bread Of Life Or The Fleshpots Of Egypt?

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Church of Ascension in Norwood, Young America, MN

St. Bernard Catholic Church, Cologne, MN

Church of Annunciation, Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, August 1, 2021

The story of the liberation of Israelites from slavery is the strongest indication of what God is essentially about, which is overcoming the master-slave dynamic that has bedeviled the human race from the very beginning. The first reading for this week is taken from the Book of Exodus. The Book of Exodus is about the trials, tribulations, opportunities, joys and dangers of spiritual transformation. One of the Church Fathers, Origen, in his marvelous sermon on Exodus read the story of Israel’s liberation from slavery as the story of spiritual liberation of humanity. In today’s first reading (Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15), the whole community of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron for taking them out of Egypt and leading them to freedom. Due to hunger, they longed to return to slavery, to the fleshpots of Egypt. Due to hunger, they preferred to remain well-fed slaves to hungry freed people. What’s fleshpots? They are places that provide immoderate pleasure. The Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron for taking them out of Egypt where they were eating meat stew provided by Pharaoh and leading them to freedom. Is liberation from slavery a good thing? Of course! You betcha! They have been slaves for four hundred years in Egypt, and finally they are liberated from their oppressors, and marching towards freedom. Yet, within days or weeks of their liberation, they are complaining about their lives and longing to go back to slavery. Are you surprised? Don’t be! We behave in like manner all the time because the road to healing is always blocked. The road to liberation is always a long and painful one. So hard that we start to say, didn’t we had it better when we were slaves?” 

Talk to anyone who is enslaved to alcohol or drugs who has had some intervention. In the course of the program, they accept and agree that their addiction has wreaked their lives, jobs, and relationships. They also agree to walk the road to freedom from alcohol and drugs. Although they have come to the realization of what their addiction is doing to them, the road to freedom is never easy. During my fourteen years of priestly ministry, I have never met one person who said the road is easy. In fact, when you decide to walk this path to true liberation, you enter inevitably into a desert. In your quest for liberation, you are most likely going to say, “Oh! How I long to go back to my buddies in the bar and enjoy a good drink. How I long to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt.” Talk to anyone in AA or in Twelve Steps Program, you will realize they are yelling, moaning and grumbling just like the Israelites— “Why did you lead me out to this desert to die of famine?” You can hear them grumble aloud that when they were in Egypt, when they were in slavery of addiction, they can at least have a drink with their friends and were at least mildly happy. What do you think is going on when you hear this kind of complain? It is the resistance to liberation that we always face. There is always a longing to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt when you were having drinks or drugs with your friends. 

Now, every sin is like an addiction. When you have been liberated from a sinful pattern of life of pride, envy, anger, lust and all its accompaniments through grace, the healing is always complex. The road to healing always leads to desert, as such, there is always the temptation to go back. For instance, if your addiction is being critical and judgmental of others, think of the time when a priest urged you in the confessional to try spending two days or one week without judging or being critical of another, and try to be positive. Imagine how hard that was. Remember in the past when you decided to give up sugary food like ice-cream, cookies, cakes, soda etc for health or spiritual reasons. Imagine how hard that was. As we go through the desert process, almost everybody in some ways— I am number one in this, longs for the fleshpots of Egypt. In the slavery of our addiction, life seems more fun; we can hang out with our friends, gossip and bad mouth somebody. Although we know it is perverse and wrong, yet we took joy in bad-mouthing someone. But whenever we decide to avoid these sins, we realize how difficult it is to do so. Even though it is a long walk to liberation, nevertheless, it is a painful one. It is a desert walk. It may look hard and tough now, but it is our path to true freedom and liberation at every levels of our lives. Our Lord Jesus aptly says, “Those who set their hands on the plow and look back to what was left behind are not fit for the kingdom of God.” Once you set yourself on the path, go, press forward. I know it is hard, but don’t look backwards. You are on your way to freedom. 

Now what happens due to the grumblings of Israel? The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them to see whether they follow my instructions or not” (Ex. 16:4) Then “In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp and in the morning a dew lay all about the camp, and when the dew evaporated, there on the surface of the desert were fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, What is this?” (Ex. 16:15). What did God give to Israel on their desert journey? He gave them bread that will sustain them through their desert journey. Yes, they want to go back to the fleshpots of Egypt, but that is not it. Yes, they are not where they are trying to go, which is the Promised Land of pure spiritual liberation. However, in between times, God gives them mysterious bread which is meant to sustain them on the journey towards liberation. What does this bread symbolize for us now? The Eucharistic bread that the Lord gives us to sustain the journey into the desert on our way to liberation. 

The Mass is where we receive this Bread that will sustain us. Even when we long for the fleshpots of Egypt, even when we are short of perfect liberation, we are given bread to eat. In today’s Gospel (John 6:24-35), Jesus says, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life.” What’s eternal life? It’s a simple term for pure spiritual liberation. So, don’t waste your time longing for the fleshpots of Egypt; don’t waste your time on worldly sustenance rather while you are on the painful journey, eat the Bread of life and that will sustain you on the road to liberation.

Your Five Loaves And Two Fish Can Multiply 

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, July 25, 2021

The story of the feeding of five thousand is one of the beloved stories in the New Testament. Its belovedness is attested, affirmed, and proven by the fact that it can be found in all the four gospels. For the event to appear in all four gospels indicates it really struck a cord for the early Christians. It also explains its centrality in the gospels, in our tradition, for artists, poets, and preachers. John’s own narrative precedes the Eucharistic discourse where Jesus insists that his flesh is the real food, and his blood the real drink, and that “unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (John 6:53). 

Today’s Gospel (John 6:1-15) tells us that Jesus goes up on the mountain, and is surrounded by his disciples. When he looks up, he sees a large hungry crowd coming to him and immediately asks Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” Rather than answer the question, Philip points out that the totality of money a person makes from working for more than half a year cannot buy enough food for everyone to have a little. Andrew recalls, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;” and immediately adds, “but what good are these for so many?" Jesus directs them to organize the people. After that, Jesus takes the bread and fish, gives thanks and distributes them to the people. Everyone eats to their satisfaction, and there are leftovers large enough to fill twelve wicker baskets. The miracle prompts the people to exclaim, “This is truly the Prophet, the one who is to come into the world.” 

Sisters and brothers, this miracle is not a buffet, rather a demonstration of Jesus’ compassion for the hungry, the weak and the fed up. When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he saw their fatigue, their weariness, and their need for material food. As a good shepherd, he began to make plans to feed them. Why? Because he felt their lack and made it his own lack. He did not see their problem as their problem. He recognized that in the communion of the Kingdom of God, we bear each other’s burden in love. We don’t say, “That’s your problem.” Rather, it is our problem. We don’t say “It is your joy and I am jealous of it,”rather It is our joy. We are in this together! 

Sometimes when I hear people say, ‘This is what the church should do,” “somebody should take care of this…” I groan because the things I hear people say that the church should do are actually things they should do or things they can join hands in doing. Vatican II says that we are the Church. We are the people of God. That means there is a responsibility for each one of us. Jesus saw a need, did not wait for someone else to do it, rather he jumped into and did it. That’s what we should do. Stop complaining that such and such should be done by someone. If you are able to do it, get on with it. St. Thomas Aquinas said that God loves dispensing his providence through secondary causes. What does that mean? It means that God gives us the privilege of participating in his own providence. God wants us to do something on his behalf. He wants us to take the step needed to solve a problem. 

In the principle of see, judge, and act, we are urged to open our eyes to what’s going on in the society and in the Church, judge it, make a decision, and then act! When Jesus asked Philip where they can buy bread for the people to eat, what did Philip see? Impossibility! Even Andrew who recalled the presence of a boy with five loaves and two fish doubted the possibility of feeding the mammoth crowd with that. Like Philip, Andrew also saw impossibility. But before this time, Jesus had performed great acts of miracles— turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana, healing the dying son of a royal official, healing the blind, the lame, and the paralyzed. In spite of all these, Philip and Andrew did not see possibility with Jesus.

The spiritual lesson for us is to give whatever we have to Jesus even if it is very little. The Lord himself will multiply it. Give Jesus your mind, your will, your energy, your compassion, even if they are small, even if it is only you and a couple of friends, you will be amazed when the whole thing becomes multiplied for God’s own purposes. Jesus wants us to cooperate with him, and we can do it by giving even the little we have. When we do, we will be surprised by what the Lord can do with it and what effect it has in the world. The greediest thing we can do is to hang on to the little we have and then say to the rest to attend to it themselves. 

You know, every movement in the Church began small, it began with five loaves and a couple of fish. Think about Francis of Assisi. To him God says, “Francis, rebuild my Church.” So he goes, finds a church near to his hometown, Assisi, and begins literally to rebuild it with his own hands. People were so impressed by his witness, by his life, by his and simplicity, and then joined in rebuilding the church. They formed themselves into a little band, and then gets approved to be a religious order. With time, it grows and grows and grows. Now, it is everywhere in the world, and has done enormous good for Christ and his Church. Where does it start? It starts with one man giving the little he had, the little of his imagination, energy, mind and time to Jesus, and then the Lord multiplied it over and over and now it feeds the world. Think about Ignatius of Loyola back in the 16th century. Gathering with a handful of friends whom he met in Paris, they formed a little company, the company of Jesus. They dedicated themselves to prayer, and doing what the Church needs. That little company overtime and through grace grew into a great Society of Jesus as a religious order, which also covers the world. It has established great institutions and foundations all over the world for the benefit of Christ and his Church. But it started with five loaves and two fish generously offered to Jesus. Think about Mother Teresa. In her 30’s she left the relative comfort of a high school she was teaching, walked into the worst slum of the world, and began caring for those who were dying. What if someone had said to her, “Someone has to do something about this crisis in Calcutta,” and she replied, “Who am I to address it?” But she didn’t say that. She went there and began to care for the dying. Shortly, she was joined by her former students and then by friends and admirers. Now, the Missionaries of Charity, the Order she founded covers the world and is serving the world and Christ’s Church. Think about St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori. After a successful career in law, he offered himself as a novice to the oratory of St. Philip Neri with intention of becoming a priest. Although his father was vehemently opposed to his plan of becoming a priest, the young Alphonsus insisted. At age of 30, he was ordained a priest. For the first five years as a priest, he lived with the homeless and marginalized youth of Naples. Later, he founded the Evening Chapels, which were managed by the young people themselves. The chapels were centers of prayer and piety, preaching, community, social activities and education. Eventually he founded a religious order— Redemptorists, which is also found all over the world. 

The Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It begins very small but with time it grows into a great tree and birds of the earth make their nests in it. The Kingdom of God is like a boy giving five loaves and two fish to Jesus Christ and then watching that grow into enormous power. Give the little you have and the Lord will multiply it to feed a multitude. 

The Heart Of Christianity

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, Little Canada, MN

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Of all the prophets, Jeremiah is the most vividly alive; the most real and credible. Sometimes he speaks majestically confident, other times he is conflicted. Sometimes he is sure of himself, and other times quite anxious. Jeremiah is a person with complex personality. One of the most inspiring passages in the Book of Jeremiah is his prophetic call. As soon as he is called by God, he immediately resists God’s summons and tells God that he is too young. Biblical scholars speculate that Jeremiah might have been as young as seventeen when he was called. Think about that! We usually think of prophets as long-bearded old men, but people of ancient times don’t live that long. For most people, if they live up to fifty will consider themselves fortunate and they mature much more faster. So, think of a teenager being called to prophecy. Like Prophet Jonah, Jeremiah also tried to run away from prophetic call. But God insists and Jeremiah finally gives in. Then God gives him a difficult message to convey, a message totally at odd with the culture of his time. His job was to tell Israel that because of infidelity, they will be punished by Babylon. He also told them that when the punishment is approaching, they should surrender and not to fight. No part of his message will appeal to any Israelite, either in leadership and in the nation as a whole. It was negative, discouraging and defeatist. But that’s the message God asked this teenager to convey to Israel. 

Biblical scholars call Jeremiah the “weeping prophet,” because of the many difficulties he faced, as described in the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations. More than once, he was tempted to hang up his prophet’s hat and go home. He wept over his nation’s self-destructive rebellion against God and cried out to the Lord. He is also known as “terror on every side.” Why? Because he was always talking about all the terrible things that will happen to Israel— famine, foreign conquest, plunder, and captivity in a land of strangers. Understandably, Jeremiah was mocked, rejected, marginalized, imprisoned, exiled, and according to tradition preserved in extra-biblical sources, was murdered, stoned to death while in exile by his fellow countrymen. However, all his prophecies came to pass. 

Against this background, who is Jeremiah speaking to in today’s First Reading? The shepherds of Israel! Since we are the new Israel, he is speaking to the pastors of the Church from top to bottom. He is speaking to me as a priest, he is speaking to all priests, he is speaking to parents, to faith formators, and to every baptized Christian. Whether you realize it or not, baptism has made you a priest, a prophet and an evangelizer of the good news of the Lord. What is the Lord asking Jeremiah to say? “Woe to the shepherds who mislead and scatter the flock of my pasture.” To the shepherds who are doing a terrible and abysmal job, who are dispersing and driving God’s people away, who are not caring for them, God is promising to punish their evil deeds. Not only will God punish them, God will also elect faithful and committed shepherds who will protect and lead God’s people in such a way that no one will be missing. But there is another great promise God is making through Jeremiah— to raise up a righteous descendant of David, a king who will reign and govern wisely, act justly, and live rightly. This king will bring salvation to Judah and Jerusalem and secures them forever. This king shall be called, “Yahweh Tsidekenu” which means, “God our Justice” or “The Lord our Justice.”  

Who eventually fulfills this messianic prophecy of Jeremiah? Jesus of Nazareth! In 30 AD, he emerged on the scene in a most extraordinary way. On the hills of Galilee, he began to preach with unprecedented and unnerving boldness, claiming personal authority over the Torah itself, which was the divine law that was considered the court of final appeal for any faithful rabbi. He also performed great miracles of healing, and demonstrates a mastery over the forces of nature. 

The Gospels tell us that all came to him from all sides— most wondering just who this man was. The Gospels also tell us that he invited 12 men to be his closest associates, close confidants and followers. The Twelve men we call the Twelve Apostles. After traveling with them from town to town, from region to region teaching them publicly as well privately on the hills of Galilee, Jesus began to send them out two by two. He also gave them authority over unclean spirits. In today’s Gospel, the Apostles returned to Jesus to report what they had done and taught. Jesus takes them to a lonely place where they can rest a while. But as soon as they settled down, lots of people started to come to them. The supposedly lonely place became so busy that they were not even able to eat. The Gospel concludes that when Jesus saw the vast crowd, “his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.” While the shepherds of Jeremiah’s time were uncaring and unkind, Jesus, who happily and correctly claims for himself the title of a “Good Shepherd” was kind, merciful and compassionate. He is compassion personified. His compassionate mission will finally reach its fullness when he lays down his very life for the sheep. 

Sisters and brothers, the heart of the law of Yahweh comes down to one thing— compassion for the other, especially the poor, the neglected, the widow, the orphaned, and the needy. The heart of Christianity is compassion. The heart of religion is compassion. In the end, each of us is going to be judged on how much compassion we show to the neediest members of the society. So, whatever you do in life, whatever is your occupation in life— a scientist, a teacher, a nurse, a doctor, a cop, a financial expert, a secretary, a receptionist, a priest, a politician, a civic or cultural leader etc., do what you do with compassion. What is compassion? In Latin it is “compati” which means “suffer with.” Compassion means making someone else’s heartbreak your heartbreak, and making someone’s own suffering and pain yours and doing something to alleviate or remove them. Genuine compassion for the needy changes the way we live because it is in the lowly that God is revealed and found. Every Christian should wear compassion like a dress for it is what makes us resemble our Lord Jesus. 

The Eucharist is Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for First Holy Communion

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, July 11, 2021

The central claim of the Catholic Church is that the Eucharist is the source and summit of Christian life, which means the Eucharist is the beginning and the end. By the way, this prominent statement was made at the Second Vatican Council. Yet, 55 years after the Second Vatican Council, 70% of Catholics still do not understand the meaning of the Eucharist. Where is the problem coming from? Is this a problem of communication? Are the parents, teachers, catechists, priests, deacons and religious etc. not doing a good job? Where is this high level of unbelief coming from? What happened? How come 70% of Catholics do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist? You know, when it comes to the commands of Jesus Christ like, “Love your neighbor,” “Pray for those who persecute you,” “When someone slaps you on one cheek, turn the other,” many of us do not keep these commands most of the time. But there is one command of Jesus that has masterfully been followed up and down the centuries. Despite our sins, our stupidity, our weaknesses and failures, somehow the command, “Do this in memory of me” has been followed.  It is as if Jesus himself realized that he has to intervene and make sure his followers remember to repeat the amazing sacrament of the Eucharist because it is so central to what it means to be his disciples. So, despite everything, we always remember to carry out the Lord’s injunction: “Do this in memory of me.” 

For the 69% or 70% Catholics who do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ Jesus in the Eucharist, you are rejecting the most fundamental truth of our faith. And let me even say it as clearly as I can, you are rejecting the words of the Lord. You are not paying enough attention to the “source and summit of the Christian life.” If the Eucharist is merely a symbol, why do we give such reverence, such adoration, such worship, and such honor to it? If the Eucharist is merely a symbol and a sign, that’s not enough for me. At Mass, I want to receive the Lord, not a symbol.

What does John 6 tell us? This Gospel tells us that Jesus went up on the mountain, sat down and was surrounded by his disciples. When Jesus looks up, he saw a large hungry crowd and immediately asks his disciples, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” The disciples brought a boy who has five loaves and two fish. Jesus took them from him, multiplied them and fed the whole crowd. This is the liturgy of the Eucharist, folks. Jesus wants to teach us, but most profoundly, he also wants to feed us. After this great miracle, a twelve baskets were filled with fragments. 

In this Gospel, the crowd that witnessed and enjoyed the miracle of the loaves went to Capernaum in search of Jesus; and having found him across the sea asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “Amen, amen, I say to you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate the loaves and were filled.” Then strikingly he added, “Do not work for food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him the Father, God, has set his his seal.” That is, do not hunger for these passing loafs of yesterday, rather, hunger for the food that lasts for eternal life. When the people finally made their request, “Sir, give us this bread always” (John 6:34), Jesus declared and said, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst” (John 6:35). After hearing Jesus made such a bold claim, the Jews murmured and complained, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph? Do we not know his father and mother? Then how can he say, “I have come down from heaven?” However, without backing down, Jesus insisted and said: “I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died, this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (John 6:47-51). 

By this time, the Jews are no longer murmuring. Jesus’ declaration has raised the tempo. They quarreled among themselves and complained, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (John 6:52) As if to add salt to injury, Jesus defiantly maintains: “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him (John 6:53-56).

The controversy about the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is not new at all. It started right from the very moment Jesus declares his flesh as the true food and his blood as the true drink. For a first century Jew, there is a good reason to hesitate and reject this new teaching. Scattered throughout the Old Testament are the prohibitions of the eating of animal flesh with blood. The blood is life, so they don’t eat animal flesh with blood. It was strictly forbidden. And here is Jesus whom they knew his father and mother stating that they have to eat his flesh and drink his blood. It is not only gross, but also theologically objectionable to the highest degree. So, the Jews balked and refused to accept the new teaching of Jesus. As you can see, in this Gospel passage, Jesus was given a number of opportunities to soften his teaching, to propose a more symbolic or metaphorical reading, but rather than take that path, he insists: Amen, amen, I say to you (that is, listen, listen, there is something very important coming), unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you.” And to rob it in, he says, “For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” In these words, Jesus turns the heat. He was not speaking symbolically but literally. 

After laying down this new teaching, this new marker, many of his followers turned back and will not go with him anymore. They said, “This saying is hard; who can accept it” (John 6:60). After they left, Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Do you also want to leave?” (John 6:67). Speaking on behalf of the Twelve, Peter replied, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Now, if Jesus was speaking symbolically, his Jewish audience wouldn’t have been so upset with him; and some of his early followers wouldn’t have turned back. The reason why they stormed away in protest is because Jesus didn't compromise or soften his teaching. He knew exactly what he was saying, that is why he turned to the Twelve and asked if they were going to leave him as well. The Eucharistic Discourse of John 6 and of course the institution narratives is the great ground for the Catholic Church insistence of the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist. This is not a later invention; the root is here in the Gospel of John 6. 

The Eucharist is not a symbol. It is not a sign. It is Jesus of Nazareth. The same Jesus who was born by Mary, who went about doing good, who was strongly opposed by the Pharisees and chief priests, who healed the sick, raised the dead, preached powerfully God’s love and plan for the human race, the same Jesus who was crucified, who died and is now risen is supremely present in the Eucharist. He is personally and actively present in what we receive at Mass. During consecration, the substance of the bread and wine changes and become the Body and Blood of the Lord. Believe this message not merely because I am saying it but because Jesus said so. As he laid out this new teaching, he was given multiple opportunities to pull back, to redefine, and say that he was speaking in a symbolic and metaphorical manner. Rather than do that, he doubled down. First, he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven” (Jn. 6:41). When the Jews complained that he said he came down from heaven, he insisted, “Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died; this is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; whoever eats this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world” (Jn. 6:47-51). Secondly, after the Jews quarreled furiously among themselves and said, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (Jn. 6:52), Jesus did not back away, rather he obstinately declared, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you do not have life within you” (Jn. 6:53). The Eucharist is the means by which we are Christified. In both body and soul, in both mind and heart, we are Christified by the Eucharist. Our lowly body is Christified and is prepared for heaven by our contact with the Reality of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. If Jesus spoke symbolically, he would have said so. If what he meant in these passages I have lifted from Gospel was to be understood in a metaphorical sense, he would clarified himself. If the Eucharist were a mere sign or symbol of his Body and Blood, he would have explained it. When many of his disciples decided to leave him and return to their former way of life, he would have called them back and said something like, “The bread and wine I will give you will be signs and symbols of my Body and Blood.” But that is not what he said. 

Why do we need the Eucharist? Life is a journey. And on this journey, we need nourishment. We need sustenance. We need refreshment. We need a refill. No other food can offer and guarantee us all these but the Body of Christ. Moreover, Jesus knows the brunt of this journey of life. He lived it himself. So, he journeys with us. He goes before us and offers himself to us as our nourishment and support. Through the priests of the Church, the Lord continues to say, “Give them something to eat” (Luke 9:17). The food we urgently need to continue to travel on this journey is the Eucharist, the Body of Jesus Christ, broken and offered to us. As you believe in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and receive him worthily, may you continuously become what you receive. Become the bread of life for yourself and the world. Amen. 

Amos Tradition Up And Down The Centuries

Amos Tradition Up And Down The Centuries

The great German philosopher, Karl Jasper, long ago made the connection between philosophers who arose in Greece and prophets who arose in Israel. What do they have in common? Both the philosophers in Greece and prophets in Israel were very critical of the religion of their time. Through their rational language, the philosophers critiqued the mythology of their time, while the prophets of Israel did it, not so much with the philosophical language, but with the fiery language they claim is from God. With phrase like “Thus says the Lord…” they spoke against the religious and political power establishment of their time. What people had prior to the time of the prophets was praise of the king, the government and the social establishment. Then prophet Amos enters the stage. What is the focus of his criticism? Social injustice! He blasts the nation of Israel for abandoning the law of God. He says that the heart of the law of Yahweh going back to the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and so on comes down to compassion for the poor, the neglected, the widow, the orphaned, and the needy.

The voice of Amos echoes up to all the prophets and in that great figure who happily claims for himself the title of a prophet— Jesus of Nazareth. From Matthew 25 we read, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and not feed you, thirsty and not give you to drink, naked and left you unclothed… I tell you, whenever you failed to do it to one of these least of my brothers and sisters, you failed to do it to me.” That’s the voice of Amos, isn’t it? That’s the voice of Amos now on the lips of Jesus himself. What’s the test, sisters and brothers, of your religious conviction? It is precisely the way you treat those who are immediately and concretely in need. Furthermore, our Lord Jesus also said, “Go and learn the meaning of the adage, I desire mercy (justice), not justice” (Matthew 9:13). Again, that’s the voice of Amos. That’s the voice of Isaiah and Jeremiah, but now on the lips of Jesus. Your sacrifices don’t mean that much to me; what matters to me is justice and mercy for the poor, the hungry, the widow, and the orphaned. 

In the deeply troubling story of Lazarus and Dives, we see Lazarus the poor man completely ignored by Dives the rich man. Even as the dogs lick Lazarus’ sores, the rich man could care less. He was utterly indifferent to him. Again, right back Amos who berated the rich women of Samaria: “Bring us drinks, take care of our needs, give me more food…” but right at their doorsteps, there is someone dying for lack of the basic necessities of life. The Lord’s parable is still startling to us. The treatment meted out to Lazarus is still deeply displeasing to Almighty God. And the test of your religious conviction is how you handle the poor and the suffering. 

Does this Amos tradition come up through the prophets and in Jesus and then in the great Catholic tradition? Absolutely yes! St. John Chrysostom, in one of his famous sermons, echoed Amos when he referred to Emperor’s wife and her revenue as cows— he was echoing the prophet Amos. John Chrysostom like Amos railed against the wealthy of his time who were indifferent to the sufferings of the poor. St. Ambrose of Milan, the great fourth century bishop said, “If you have two shirts in your closet, one belongs to you and the other to the man with no shirt.” St. Thomas Aquinas said “the earth and all its goods belong to God. They are simply on loan to us to be used according to love and justice.” Pope Leo XIII of the 19th century said, “Once the demand of necessity and propriety have been met in your life, everything else you own belongs to the poor.” Dorothy Day said, “Everything you do everyday should be related to the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.” Mother Theresa said, “You must serve Christ in his most distressing disguise in the poor.” And I say, If you are to share what belongs to you, one belongs to you, and the other belongs to the man and woman who has no share.

As he empowers and sends out the Twelve to set things right, so he does to us. We are baptized and commissioned to announce the Word of God by words and by the very actions of our lives. If you notice any suppression, oppression, repression and mistreatment of another person anywhere, especially where you live and work and worship, speak up like Amos. Speak up like Jesus. That’s what the Lord calls us to do. You are called to be a prophet!

— Fr. Marcel Okwara, CSsR

You Are Called To Be A Prophet

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Corcoran, MN

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Amos is not one of the well known prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel. He is one of the Minor Prophets, meaning that his prophetic writing is shorter than that of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. But Amos is a very important figure. Historically speaking, he is the oldest of these written prophets in the Bible. He flourished in the 8th century BC, that is a couple centuries after King David, but a couple of centuries before Ezekiel and Jeremiah. He is the first and the earliest prophet we have in the Bible. We know almost nothing about him personally. Today’s First Reading is about Amaziah, the priest of Bethel’s confrontation with Amos. Prophets usually say disturbing things, and Amos is saying disturbing things about the nation of Israel. So, Amaziah confronts him and orders him to run and return to his village where he came from. In his chastisement of Amos, he accuses him of conspiring against King Jeroboam. He calls Amos “chozeh” which means a seer or visionary or prophet. But the manner he used it is derogatory and insulting in nature. He is accusing Amos of being a prophet for hire and a foreigner as well. But Amos counters him and said, “I was no prophet, nor have I belonged  to a company of prophet, I was a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores.” Amos is basically saying to the priest, look, I was not a priest, I was not a professional prophet, I was not formally trained in religious business, rather a keeper of sycamore and a shepherd. I was an ordinary working man before I got a call from God to speak God’s saving and challenging word. What is it that Amos was called to speak? 

It was the great German philosopher, Karl Jasper, who made the connection long ago between philosophers who arose in Greece and prophets who arose in Israel. What do they have in common? Both the philosophers in Greece and prophets in Israel are very critical of the received religion of their time. The philosophers did it with their rational language; they critiqued the mythology of their time, while the prophets of Israel did it, not so much with the philosophical language, but with the fiery language they claim is from God: “Thus said the Lord…” With that phrase, they spoke against the religious and political power establishment of their time. The words of prophets are often very revolutionary. In the course of history prior to the time of the prophets, what people had was praise of government, praise of the king, praise of the social establishment. That’s what was common. There were some religious figures who would justify the ways of the king and the ways of the ruling class. Then there were prophets. And Amos is the first person we know about. Within his religious tradition, he sharply criticizes the establishment, the king, and the ruling class. What is the focus of his criticism? Social injustice! He blasts the nation of Israel for abandoning the law of God. He says that the heart of the law, the law of Yahweh going to back to the Books of Exodus, Leviticus and so on comes down to our compassion for the poor, the neglected, the widow, the orphaned, and the needy. For Amos, the criterion, the test, how we are going to be judged is how we love the neediest members of the society. He insists that everything else in the law like liturgy, ritual, social practice etc is meant to lead us to this point where we become better in caring for the neediest among us. Whenever anyone perceives that the heart of religion is compassion, they are standing in the tradition that goes right back to this prophetic figure— Amos. 

Now, what does this intuition for social justice lead people to do? It leads someone to criticize the power of establishment. It leads one to say some very harsh things about those who in someway perpetuate social injustice. Amos is not a diplomat. One thing you will never find in Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, etc. is diplomatic sensibility. Never! They are enraptured with deep unconditioned passion to set things right and it leads them to say very strong things. Critiquing the wealthy women of Samaria, Amos said, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who live on the mount of Samaria: who oppress the destitute, abuse the needy; who say to your husbands, ‘Bring us a drink!’ The Lord God has sworn by his holiness: Truly, days are coming upon you when they shall drag you away with ropes, your children with fishhooks” (Amos 4:1-2). Amos is not trying to win friends with influential people. His passion for the poor, the needy, the homeless and the neglected is what drives him! If you go back to the Greek philosophers, you won’t find this kind of language, someone like Socrates may talk about taking care of the needy, but he would never make it the center of the enterprise as Amos does. If we feel in our bones that this is what religious and moral life is about, we are being influenced by this prophetic tradition. Prophets Amos is not critiquing wealth itself, rather the indifference to the poor. He is warning the wealthy who indulge themselves while being indifferent to those who gather at their doorsteps— the hungry, the jobless, the needy with no physical comforts that Yahweh sees everything, that Yahweh does not forget, and that Yahweh will set things right. To them he says, “Woe to you!” 

We have a just God who wants to set things right! The voice of Amos continues to echo up to all the prophets and in that great figure who happily claims for himself the title of a prophet— Jesus. Today’s Gospel tells us that he summons the Twelve, sends them out two by two and gave them authority over unclean spirits. He has come to set things right, to set humanity free from all shackles of moral, spiritual and economic slavery. He wants his disciples to be about setting people free. He is not interested in the master-slave dynamic of this world that enslaves and holds people down. He also instructs them to take nothing for the journey— no food, no sack, no money etc. The prohibition highlights the urgency of the mission. There should be no distraction. The “fierce urgency of now” is to proclaim “The kingdom of God is at hand.” The reign of God is here. Like the Twelve, each of us by the virtue of our baptism is also called to be a prophet and an evangelist. We are summoned, baptized and commissioned to announce the Word of God by words and by the very actions of our lives. Don’t let any worldly goods or desire distract you from this mission. If you notice a deliberate suppression, oppression, repression and mistreatment of another person anywhere, especially where you live and work and worship, speak up like Amos. Speak up like Jesus. That’s what the Lord calls us to do. You are called to be a prophet!

The True Family Of The Lord

Rev. Marcel Divine Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Brooklyn Center, MN

Sunday, July 4, 2021

Today, Jesus is in his native place, Nazareth, with his disciples. But before he made this trip, he has expelled unclean spirits from the possessed, healed a woman with hemorrhages for twelve years, and raised the daughter of a synagogue official, Jairus, from death. As a result of those and many others, he is riding high in popularity. Crowds of people are following him. On the sabbath day, he enters the synagogue and begins to teach. Many of his native people who heard him are astounded by the wisdom of his words and by the mighty deeds of his hands. So, they ask, “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary?” Put differently, how can this local man be gifted with so many fine qualities? They know his mother; they know his relations. They know his background. In their own calculations, there is nothing special in his origin. So, they took offense at him. They allowed their preconceived notions to get in the way. The Gospel of John aptly says, “He came to his own, and his own people did not accept him” (John 1:11) and the story concludes with “So he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them. He was amazed at their lack of faith.”

The saddest words in this Gospel is, “…he was not able to perform any mighty deed there, apart from curing a few sick people by laying his hands on them” (Mark 6:5). They lack the faith needed to receive from God. The atmosphere was not right. Miraculous acts of God can hardly happen in an atmosphere of religious coldness, indifference and hostility. The most power packed and spirit-filled message of salvation can fall lifeless in an environment of indifference and scorn towards God and what pertains to God. Jesus never said to those he healed, “Your faithlessness has saved you” or “Your religious indifference has saved you.” It is always, “Your faith has saved you.” Great things happen to people of great faith. Great things happen to hearts and lives that are open to receive the Lord. The Book of Hebrew 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” 

What did Jesus do after he was rejected by his own people? He forms a new family! John tells us that “He came 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, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God” (Jn. 1:11-13). This family began with the people we have heard several times about, the disciples. This family included the women of Jerusalem, the family of Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus. This family included those who suffered injustice, those who were excommunicated from every aspect of the Israelite life for no fault of theirs— the lepers, tax collectors, the woman with hemorrhages, sinners, and all those who were sincerely looking for the redemption of Israel. By baptism, we have become part of this family too. This family is not based on blood or race or origin but by faith, faith in Jesus Christ. This is the reason why we regard each other as sisters and brothers. 

So, what is faith? The Protestant theologian, Paul Tillich said that faith is the most misunderstood word in the religious vocabulary. Is faith gullibility? No! Is faith naïveté? No! Is faith accepting something on the basis of no evidence? No! Is faith pre-scientific nonsense? No! Is faith unreasonable? No! Is faith foolishness? No! Is it the way children would think? Again, heck no! Faith is accepting and trusting what God has revealed to us in his own freedom. Faith is not opposed to reason, although it goes beyond it. Just as trust in another person is not irrational, but it does go beyond reason, so it is with God. We have to finally have faith because we are dealing with a supreme person. Faith is an attitude of trust in the face of God. Faith is trust in God who has spoken. Faith means God has spoken. I believe what he has said. I accept it. I trust it. It is true.

Do you want to be a member of the family of Jesus our Lord? Then believe in him. Trust him!

How To Finally Understand Faith

There are people who try to draw a sharp line between faith and modern science, and they conclude that those who believe in modern science are smart, and those who have faith in God are dumb. Modern science they claim is rational, empirically based, self critical, and self correcting etc. They celebrate science, deify science as a discipline that has come to liberate the modern mind. They see faith as something from another age that is hindering and holding back the modern mind. 

How can someone have faith in God? If there is a person that fascinates you, you spend sometime studying that person. You watch what the person does, how the person speaks, who are the person’s friends. You try to find out certain things about the person. You might even try to google the name of this person. And if the person is a public figure, you will find out a lot about him like place of birth, place of education, marital status etc. By using your reason alone, you will find out a lot about him. But if you really want to know this person at a higher level, you will try to meet him. When you finally meet him, some of the things you have already read about may be verified, but eventually something extraordinary will happen when he speaks. When he speaks, some of it will be in line with what you have already read. But the more you know him, the more he begins to open his heart to you. As you get to know him more intimately, what’s going to happen? He will reveal things about himself that you will never know in any other way. Your knowledge of him is no longer about where he comes from and what he does which you gathered from online sources. He will disclose to you truths about himself that only him knows. At this point, you have to make a decision: do I believe him or not? What he reveals of himself cannot be verified via a google search, so you have to decide whether to believe him or not. You can decide to believe him and trust him in such a way that you now accept his speech as true. 

This is a very fitting analogy for what serious Catholics mean by faith. We can know God on the basis of reason. A critical look at order, beauty and contingency in nature can convince us that there is God. From what we know, we can accept that God exists, that God is perfect, that God has intelligence, that God is good, that God is the governor and has providential care of the universe. We can determine all those things on the basis of reason alone. St. Thomas Aquinas spent a great deal of time writing about this in the First Part of his work called Summa Theologiae. The Catholic Church says that authentic fides (faith) never involves a sacrifice of the intellect. If you sacrifice your mind, if you are sacrificing your intellect in anyway, you are not dealing with authentic faith. That’s fundamentalism or fideism. One of the truths about God is that God is a person. God is paradigmatically a person. He is the ground of all personhood. He is the supreme person. If you really want to know God, what do you have to do? You have to wait for God to speak. You can read about significant figures on google, on Wikipedia etc. But you can only truly know that person when he speaks. Once that person speaks, you have to make a decision to accept or to not accept, to believe or to not believe, to trust or to not trust him. So it is with God. 

The claim of the Bible is that God has not remained entirely hidden or entirely in the shadow. God, by his own freedom and choice has determined to speak. He reveals things to us that we can never know simply on objective and analytical ground. Objective and analytical studies are important. Don’t get me wrong. But we cannot know the heart of God until God decides to speak. And after God has spoken, we have to make a choice: do I trust him or not? What is faith? Faith for us is that moment of trust. It is that moment when a person says, yes I accept the truth of the God who speaks. There is no other way finally to know and relate to a person other than faith. And this is true even in our human relationships as well. If you were to say in regard to a person, I will only go on what I can absolutely know through analytical reason, how much of that person will you be able to know? Very little! How much of that person will you be able to love? Again, very little! Why? Because you are in total control of the process of knowing that person. With this approach, you are actually objectifying that person. You are making that person an object of your investigation. 

So people who say, ‘unless you can absolutely prove and show me with pure analytical reason God’s existence, I will not believe’ are in error. We can actually know a lot about God by way of analytical reason. There are indisputable arguments for the existence of God. However, by insisting on pure analytical reason alone, you lock yourself in a little space of I will only accept only what I can control. You will never really know a person on those terms. Therefore, faith does not mean naïveté, gullibility, superstition etc. God is a person, and he invites you to have faith in him. Just as another person invites you to have faith. How did you end up marrying that man, that woman? Is it because you had absolutely analytical control of everything about that person? Give me a break! At some point, there was a mutual act of trust called faith or exchange of hearts. That’s so with God, everybody. Faith is, Lord, I accept, I trust what you revealed to me in your own freedom. Faith is not opposed to reason, although it goes beyond it. Just as trust in another person is not irrational, but it does go beyond reason. So it is with God. We have to finally have faith because we are dealing with a supreme person. Faith is an attitude of trust in the face of God. Faith is trust in God who has spoken. Faith mean God has spoken. I believe what he has said. I accept it. I trust it. It is true.