PRE - PENTECOST MINISTRATION OF FAITH!

Homily recipe for the 2nd Sunday of Easter, Yr A 2023: PRE - PENTECOST MINISTRATION OF FAITH!

by Benedict Agbo (Rev Fr)

*Act 2: 42 - 47, 1 Pet 1: 3 - 9, Jn 20: 19 - 31.

A. MINISTRATION FOR FELLOWSHIP

Don't mind my use of this vague terminology called "ministration" by Charismatics in today's homily. I just chose  to refer to what Jesus did for the apostles in today's gospel as a kind of "pre - Pentecost ministration" of faith mearnt to deepen fellowship.

We are told that the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews. Yes, the greatest problem the early Church must have faced after the death of Christ was the problem of fear causing backsliding in fellowship. Christ therefore came, even before the Pentecost, to release grace for fellowship which is the staying power of any Christian community. It is said that 'a family that prays together, stays together'. 

Today's 1st reading says that the early Christians were sustained by 4 things; fidelity to the doctrines, sacraments, liturgical prayers and the brotherhood. It says that the whole community remained faithful, (i) To the teaching of the apostles (Word of God), (ii) To the brotherhood (Practice of Love ), (iii) To the breaking of bread (Sacrament of the Eucharist) and (iv) To the liturgical prayers (Fellowship), Matt 18: 20, Heb 10: 25. And the Lord added to their number those who were to be saved. 

B. BACKSLIDING FAITH

Immediately after the death of Christ, some people began losing faith /backsliding. The problem of Thomas was not really lack of faith but the backsliding of his faith. The Bible says he was not with them when Jesus came for  the first time and when they told him what happened he said: 'I refuse to believe until I see the holes in his hands.' But that was too bad! Philosophical and theological scepticism have remained the biggest blows to modern day Christianity. Christ's message to him and to us today is: 'Blessed are those who have not seen yet believed. 

Faith is not an empirical experience but a spiritual one. The Word of God says that 'The faithful shall live by faith and not by sight', 2 Cor 5: 5. Faith is a gift /reward of fellowship. It is not a mark of wisdom to insist on waiting for personal experience in the face of a group experience. Even the resurrectional faith is proved not merely by the empirical evidence of the empty tomb but by the prior evidence of scriptural revelation. Personal miracles alone cannot make us good believers. We need others' faith (the faith of the Christian community) to help our unbelief. 

- Heb 11: 1: Only faith can guarantee the blessings that we hope for or prove the existence of realities that are yet unseen. 

- Is 65: 19 f: Example, blessings of longevity, prosperity, divine favour, divine protection and peace.  

- Community faith is therefore what we acquire from fellowship. 

C. CONTEXTUALIZATION

We are face to face with the problem of 'Sunday - Sunday - medicine' approach to Christianity and 'Social - Club - mentality' to contemporary Catholicism especially in Nigeria. Our Christians are fast losing the value of fellowship, respect for the mass, the Word of God and the Holy Eucharist. Our funeral and wedding ceremonies show clear examples of our 'planned lateness' that negates the whole idea of Christian fellowship; no hunger for the Word of God, no respect for the Eucharist and no real sense of Brotherhood. Our leaders must act fast otherwise we are watching the Christian Fellowship being eroded in our very eyes. 

This pre - pentecost ministration of the Holy Spirit for the elimination of fear and forgiveness of sins is the greatest secret behind the survival of the Church before and after the Pentecost. Our people are also losing faith in the efficacy of this sacrament of reconciliation /forgiveness of sins.  According to Vima Dasan, the Holy Spirit works in 2 ways; through the explosive power of charisms and through the staying power of the Church sacraments and fellowship. Because Thomas was absent from Church fellowship, he lost out completely.  Christ's ministration today is bifocal; He releases the Holy Spirit for the escape of fear and timidity, 2 Tim 1: 6 - 8 and for the Sacrament of reconciliation. This is because, anytime we offend God, we lose the boldness (faith) and confidence to come before him as children of God, Heb 10: 19 f. 

D. CONCLUSION

We praise the frankness of St Thomas in today's gospel. As Alfred Tennyson puts it: 'There lives more faith in honest doubts, believe me, than in half - based creeds'. Many of us pretend to be Christians when we haven't the slightest faith in what we are doing. But when he (Thomas) was sure, he went the whole way of faith: 'My Lord and my God!'. Soren Kierkegaard calls it 'a transcendental leap of faith'. He now went beyond the physical revelation (phenomenon) of the pierced hands of Jesus to the metaphysical (neumenon) revelation of Christ's divinity - a Christological proclamation that we still like to make during the lifting of Eucharistic species before Communion even until today. Happy Easter dear friends!

BETRAYAL OF JESUS: HOW DID I CONTRIBUTE?

HOMILY ON THE PASSION OF OUR LORD, PALM SUNDAY, YEAR A

BETRAYAL OF JESUS: HOW DID I CONTRIBUTE?

Mathew 26: 14 - 27: 66

Dear friends, welcome to Holy Week. This is the most important week in our lives as Christians. Today’s liturgy begins with a joyful celebration of the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem and later a sudden change of mood during the passion narrative. The passion narrative of Christ is not an interesting story, it is all about betrayal, torture and death. Am I guilty? 

The passion begins with a movement from a disciple; a close friend and a companion, Judas Iscariot, to the chief priests and elders to demand, “What would you give me if I had him over to you?” What will you give me, is a request to exchange a friend for money or wealth. This is the problem of the world today. Many have allowed the quest for money and material possession to take control of them. It is about taking unnecessary advantage of others, especially the helpless. It is about using our positions to extort and exploit  others, like our employees, those under our care, the poor, the needy. Most times, this is carried out by those we trust, those who eat with us from the same table and from the same dish, those we thought would never do us any harm even after swearing and promising, “Surely, not I.” The betrayal of one is the betrayal of Jesus for “whatsoever you do to others, you do unto Him (Mt 25:40).

What is more saddening is that we have all journeyed into the Mount of Olives with Jesus like the disciples when we accepted baptism, Holy Eucharist and Confirmation and have like Peter promised that even if everyone will leave You, I will not leave You, Lord. Has it been long before we started denying  we do not know Him? Has it been long before we stopped going to Church because we are too busy with our personal concerns? Are we proud enough to insist that we are His disciples and insist on the truth, even in the face of persecution and even if such belief will lead to our death? Do we not deny Jesus when we celebrate and receive the Holy Communion in an unworthy state? 

Jesus is inviting us today to come and keep watch with Him even if for an hour. This invitation is a reawakening of our consciousness to what we have forgotten, to come back to Jesus, to offer him a little of our time otherwise, we fall into temptation. Are we to sleep away in our slumber, enjoying worldly pleasures and killing the spirit of God while Jesus is awake and inviting us to come and experience the fruit of the blessed resurrection? 

Dear friends, even if we have sinned, the cock is crowing to remind us that the time is now. Let Peter let us cry to the Lord and ask him for mercy for He will surely turn and look at us with pity. Let us not join the crowd to jeer at Jesus and make mockery of him by turning away from him after a joyful singing of Hossana at our baptism and now asking that He will be crucified by our negative actions. Let our actions of neglect not make us spit on His face and condemn Him to die. Let us not be among those who clamour for less doctrine and more liberty otherwise we join those who preferred the release of Barabbas to the release of Jesus. 

Let us turn to the Lord now for now is the appointed time, now is the time of mercy, now is the time of grace. Let us accompany Him through His passion by a change of heart  and wait at the foot of the cross and cry out with the man crucified on his right, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Only then will He remember us in his paradise.

Homily by

Rev Fr Chukwuemeka Vincent Livinus, SMMM.*