Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

33^rd Sunday of the Year, B – November 18, 2018.

Readings: Daniel 12:1-3; Ps 15:5,8-11; Hebrews 10:11-14,18; 

 Gospel – Mark 13:24-32.

Theme: No One Knows the Day or the Hour

Introduction

Friends in Christ, as we approach the end of the Church’s liturgical calendar, we are reminded about eschatological realities namely death, judgment, heaven and hell. As we await Christ the King Celebration, the Church wants us to turn attention on where we would spend eternity. From the vision of Daniel in the first reading to the assertion of Jesus in the gospel, that no one knows the day or the hour when the Son of Man would return, we are left with opportunities to reflect on our Christian calling so as to find our spiritual bearing.   

Background & Summary of the Readings

The first reading (Daniel 12:1-3) recounts the vision of Daniel about eschatological realities. Daniel reveals that at the judgment, “those who lie sleeping in the dust of the earth …will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting disgrace.” Accordingly, he disclosed that after judgment “the learned will shine as brightly as the vault of heaven, and those who have instructed many in virtue, as bright as stars for all eternity.”    

In the second reading (Hebrews 10:11-14,18), the writer of the letter to the Hebrews reveals that unlike other priests who offer sacrifices daily, Christ has offered one single sacrifice and taken his place in heaven forever. The epistle disposes the faithful to the reality of being reunited with Christ the High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary where he ministers forever.

In the Gospel (Mark 13:24-32), Jesus reveals the things that would happen at the end of time. How the Son of man will send his angels to gather his chosen ones from the ends of the earth. He also assures that heaven and earth will pass away but his words will not pass away. As to when these things would take place, he, said, “Nobody knows it, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son; no one but the Father.” 

The Four Last Things

The Catholic Church teaches that there are four last things namely, death, judgment, heaven and hell. 

Death: Death is the separation of the body from the spirit. It is a reality that mortals fear given the uncertainty of the world beyond. However, the Christian faith teaches that “death is the golden key that unlocks the golden palace” noting that “a death life is changed not ended.” This is because of the sure hope in the resurrection. 

Judgment:  As espoused in the Holy Scriptures (Cf. Matthew 25:35-40) the final judgment would be based on the law of charity - That is why human beings would be separated like sheep from goats. The virtuous will go with the angles into life everlasting while sinners, to final damnation.   

Heaven: Drawing lessons from the raising of Lazarus (Jn.11:1-44), the resurrection of Christ and the promise of paradise to the good thief (Lk.23:43), heaven is the beatific vision which every Christian looks forward to. It is the eternal festival which “those who have been washed by the blood of the lamb and by the words of their testimony” (Rev. 12:11) enjoy the rich food prepared on the Holy Mountain of the Lord (Is. 25:6). Heaven is a place where God would reunite everything to himself while rewarding the elect with the gift of eternal life. 

Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

 32^nd Sunday of the Year, B – November 11, 2018.

Readings: 1 Kings 17:10-16; Ps 145:7-10;  

Hebrews 9:24-28; Gospel – Mark 12:38-44.

Theme: Unconditional Giving

Introduction

Friends in Christ, as we approach the end of the year, our liturgical theme “Unconditional Giving” calls us to reflect on charity and sacrificial giving. Before we delve into the lessons of the day, it is important to perouse the background of the readings and highlight the types of givers and kinds of giving as well as examples of unconditional giving and pastoral application. Before we arrive at the conclusion, we would also consider some homiletic points to remember.

Background & Summary of the Readings

In the first reading (1 Kings 17:10-16), we are presented with the story of the widow who ministered to the needs of the Prophet Elijah despite her scare resources. In obedience to God’s word, the “Jar of meal shall not be spent, jug of oil shall not be emptied, before the day when the Lord sends rain on the face of the earth.” As a consequence, the little food she shared with the prophet was not spent nor the jug of oil emptied just as the Lord had foretold through Elijah.

The second reading (Hebrews 9:24-28) tells us how Christ shared his humanity with us by offering himself with us to take away our sins. It makes the point that Christ gave himself to humanity by unconditional giving.

In the gospel (Mark 12:38-44), we are presented with the story of the widow who gave two copper coins – noting how others gave out of their plenty, Jesus praised the widow for giving more than others since they gave all she had to live on. This leads us to the types of giving there are:

Types of Givers

1. Thanks Givers: Thanks Givers are those who, with a cheerful heart offering a wholehearted service to God for his kindness and blessings in their lives. Often times, these Christians invite neighbours and colleagues to Church where they book Mass of thanksgiving to God for promotion, protection and provision. Amidst family and friends, they dance to the altar of God bringing their gifts before him. Little wonder Paul says: “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7). 

3. Ought Givers: Ought Givers are Christians who give because they ought to give not because it is a dutiful service unto God. A classical example of this kind of people are Ananias and Sapphira who decided to hoard some part of the money that accrued from the sale of their land and declared a little before the apostles. They gave because others were giving not because they were convinced to give. The long and short of the story is that they were struck dead (Cf. Acts 5:1-11). 

2. Grudge Givers: Grudge Givers are those who complain as soon as it is time for bazaar, collection, levy, tithe or launching in the parish. They are anti-giving. Most times, their money is for their enjoyment. They prefer to lavish their money on cars, building, wine, women, recharge card, DSTV to mention a few rather than “waste” it on any missionary enterprise. It is because of this kind of givers that St. Paul said: “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion” (2 Corinthians 9:7). This brings us to the four types of giving there are:  

Kinds of Giving

1. Qualitative Giving: This is about setting aside the best of all that the Lord has given us to return thanks to him. It is because of this kind of giving that God accepted the sacrifice of Abel and rejected that of Cain (Gen 4:4 Cain). St. Paul insists that:  “Each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Though the widow that gave two copper coins was poor, she gave more and was praised by Jesus (Mark 12:41-44).    

                

2. Quantitative Giving: In this kind of giving, we are supposed to access our giving based on the blessings the Lord has bestowed upon us. Givers never lack. St. Paul says “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” (2 Corinthians 9:6). Our second reading says, “But if we deny him, he will deny us” (2 Tm 2:12).

3. Spiritual Giving: Spiritual giving constitutes using our gifts and talents to the glory of God. Since God has given us a variety of gifts, talents and all the duties and services of life to be used for his glory (1 Pet 4:10), spiritual giving creates a platform for us to support the work of God in kind and whichever way we can. 

Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

31^st Sunday of the Year, B – November 4, 2018.

Readings: Deut. 6:2-6; Ps 17:2-4,47,51; Hebrews 7:23-28; 

Gospel – Mark 12:28-34.

Theme - Unconditional Love: How Far Are You From The Kingdom?

Introduction

Beloved in Christ, today our liturgy reminds us that the Ten Commandments of God (Exodus 20:1-17) are summarised into the love of God and the love of neighbour (Mark 12:30-31).  This is why our reflection titled “Unconditional Love: How Far Are You From The Kingdom?” calls us to measure our love for God on the love of neighbour. Before we relish our readings, we would take a look at the summary of the readings, the various dimensions and types of love, an appropriate narrative of love and the requisite pastoral lessons. 

Background & Summary of the Readings

Our first reading (Deuteronomy 6:2-6) reveals the assurances of Moses to the people of Israel that if they fear the Lord and serve him all their days by keeping his laws and commandments, they and their children as well as grandchildren would live long. It adds that if they keep this covenantal patrimony which they received from their fathers, God would give them a land flowing with “milk and honey.” It concludes by calling them thus: “Listen, Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength. Let these words I urge on you today be written on your heart.”

The second reading (Hebrews 7:23-28) discloses the eternal nature of Christ’s priesthood. It reveals that he is interceding for us perpetually before the father. It assures that his own kind of priesthood differs from that of high priests who offer daily sacrifices. On the contrary, he offered one single sacrifice for sins and is above human weakness.

In the Gospel (Mark 12:28-34), Jesus gives a summary of the law and the prophets as love of God and neighbour. It reveals how Jesus lauds the scribe who said the love of God and nieghbour is the supreme law. Christ tells him: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” What then are the demands of this love we are talking about?

Dimensions of Love

The two dimensions of love are, vertical and horizontal. In the gospel of Matthew (Matt. 22:34-40), Jesus says: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbour as yourself.” He further stressed: “On these two commandments hang the whole law and the Prophets also.”  As it relates to the gospel of today, this teaching has vertical and horizontal dimensions: 

a). Vertical Dimension of Love: Loving God with all our hearts, souls and minds translates into the vertical dimension of love. This also relates to agape which we shall explain. It is crucial for us to understand that it is in him that we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Therefore, in the words of St. Paul, as individuals and members of the Church, we must not let anything like death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, powers, height, depth and anything else in creation, to come between us and the love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:35-39). 

b). Horizontal Dimension of Love:  Philial love fulfills the demands of the love of nieghbour which our liturgy challenges us to embrace. For instance, the popular parable of the Good Samaritan tells us who our nieghbour is – Rather than get stuck on the lethal radar of erotic love, we are challenged to demonstrate real and active love to our family, friends as well as our foes. In Amoris Laetitia or The Joy of Love - Pope Francis’s Apostolic Exhortation on the beauty, joy and love of marriage and the family, the Holy Father reminds us that God is throwing an open invitation to us to develop an unwavering capacity for love because our world is hungry for love, joy, peace, justice, spirituality, sincerity, fidelity and moral upliftment. This leads us to the types of love.

Types of Love

a). Philia: Philia is the love which exists between parents and their children, children with their parents and kids with their siblings. This stems from the natural bond that exists in a family. As a family word, philia is the brotherly or sisterly affection which unites us with one another in a unique way (Rom 12:10).

b). Eros: Erotic love stems from concupiscence of the flesh which St. Thomas Aquinas identifies in his Summa Theologica as one of the causes of sin. Aquinas makes the point that we are induced into sin through inordinate desires - The lust of the flesh includes sexual permissiveness and vain desires. The devil excites within us the concupiscence of the flesh so as to commit sin. The “lust of the flesh,” appears in two more significant passages of Scripture - the temptation of Eve in the Garden (Gen 3:1-6) and the temptation of Christ in the wilderness (Matthew 4:8-10). St. Paul warns us to “cast off the works of darkness” (Rom 13:12) and make no provision for the desires of the flesh. Paul’s warning that we should shun concupiscence of the flesh is timely.

Shikrot Mpwi - Sunday Synopsis with Fr. Justine J. Dyikuk

30^th Sunday of the Year, B – October 28, 2018.

Readings: Jer. 31:7-9; Ps 125:1-6; Hebrews 5:1-6; 

Gospel – Mark 10:46-52.

Theme: A Faith That Saves!

Introduction

Friends in Christ, today the Church gives us another opportunity to reflect on faith. Our reflection titled “A Faith that Saves” is premised on the message of restoration and total recovery in the first reading, the assurance of a high priest who empathizes with us inthe second reading and the encounter between Jesus and Bartimaeus the blind beggar in the gospel. To do justice to our homiletic theme, we shall take a look at the background and summary of the readings, pastoral application and practical lessons as well as homiletic points to remember.

Background & Summary of the Readings

In the first reading (Jer. 31:7-9), the Prophet Jeremiah presents us with the message of hope. He assures that notwithstanding the violence and traumaJudah suffered as a result of the destruction of Jerusalem and exile to Babylon, there is hope. His radical articulation of hope becomes a roadmap for survival. In a classical fashion, the Prophet highlights a glorious homecoming, stunning restoration and renewed relationships for the people. Although the “remnant of Israel” namely its survivors experiencedsuffering and marginality, the Prophet maintains that God would redeem his people from their troubles. 

The second from the Letter to the Hebrews (Heb. 5:1-6) reveals Jesus as the heavenly High Priest who pleads our course. The first part of the text gives the definition of who a priest is and the criteria for being a priest while the second part shows how Christ meets these criteria. It reveals that he offers sacrifices for his sins and the sins of the community especially on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) - the annual ritual where the High Priest atones for the sins of the people (Leviticus 16). The reading presents Jesus as that sinless sympathetic and empathetic High Priest who shows solidarity with sinners.This is why a priest ought to identify with sinners because he himself is subject to weakness.

The reading also connects Jesus’ Priesthood to that of Melchizedek. While the regular Jewish priestswere from the tribe of Levi, Jesus comes from the tribe of Judah. To strike a balance, it was necessary for the personage Melchizedekto provide an alternative priesthoodwhich will be basis for the Messiah to be identified as a High Priest, notwithstanding his Non-Levitical ancestry – this means that Christ is a priest “forever,” thus revealing Christ's immortal post-resurrection status which provides a contrast with the mortality of the Levitical Priests.

The Gospel reading (Mark 10:46-52) discloses the encounter between Jesus and Bartimaeus in which the blind beggar was healed. It reveals how the beggar defied the crowd to beg Jesus for healing. The reading stated that he addressed Christ as, “Son of David, Jesus, have pity on me.” It notes how Jesus ordered the same crowd who tried to shut him up to call him. When Jesus asked him what he wanted, he said, he wanted his sight back. Jesus then commanded and his sight was restored. We are told that he decided to follow Jesus along the road.

Pastoral Application & Practical Lessons

1.Restoration: Just as our first reading spoke about theglorious homecoming, stunning restoration and renewed relationships for the people of Israel, God is able to restore the “years eaten by locust” in our lives if we trust him.

10 Pastoral Lessons from Pope Francis’ 2018 World Mission Sunday (WMS) Message

By Justine Dyikuk

Preamble

Friends in Christ, today is World Mission Sunday (WMS) - a celebration which falls on the Penultimate Sunday of October every year. This celebration started based on the decree of Pope Pius XI in 1926. It is a day in which every Church institution, rich or poor around the world prays and supports the mission through a special collection for the Church’s worldwide Mission Sunday Solidarity Fund. It would be recalled that the Holy Father, Pope Francis released his message for WMS titled “Together with the Youth we Proclaim the Gospel to All” on May 19, 2018. What informed this message is his firm belief that “young people are the hope of mission.” 

10 Takeaways from the Holy Father’s 2018 WMS Message

1. Everyone is a “Mission”: We must make concerted efforts at fulfilling the mission we received from Christ by the virtue of being grafted into him at baptism as espoused in Lumen Gentium, Gaudium et Spes and Ad Gentes through reflecting deeply about why God created us i.e., “To know him, love him, serve him in this world and be happy with him in the next.”

2.  Proclaim Jesus Christ: We are charged not to be afraid of proclaiming Jesus to all peoples (Redemptoris Missio 3) amidst the vicissitudes of life based on the assurance that “evil is an incentive to a greater love” to those who stand by him. 

3.  Learn from the School of the Saints: Since it is the Saints who first opened for us the horizons of God, we ought to be set afire by the love of Christ by being consumed by that fire through generous sacrifice even if it leads to martyrdom – Leah Sharibu whose release from the hands of Boko Haram we earnestly pray for, remains a model of unwavering faith for all youths in our time.

4.  Learn from the School of the Old: WMS challenges us to “grow in the grace of the faith bestowed on us by the Church’s sacraments” by tapping “the wisdom and experience of older persons to become testimony and encouragement for those looking to the future” – The wise counsel of the aged and the enthusiasm of the young ought to create a missionary-bridge of unity of faith and profound neighborly love in our communities.

5. Transmit the Faith: Because transmitting the faith is at the heart of the Church’s Mission, we are called to spread the faith through encounter, witness, proclamation and charity especially to those in “desolate peripheries” who may be indifferent or hostile to the faith. 

6. Rejection of God has Consequences:  Our liturgy warns against all forms of material and spiritual poverty as well as discrimination against our brothers and sisters because these are “a consequence of the rejection of God and his love.” 

7. Rediscover Your Vocation: In a world in which young people are caught in the web of social networks which often promise elimination of distances and reduction of differences, we are charged to “share a true communion of life,” by discovering and preserving our vocation to God and humanity. 

8. Bear Witness to Love: We are called to take advantage of ecclesial groups like parishes, associations, movements, religious communities et al to engage in missionary volunteer work which promotes human dignity and witnesses to the joy of the gospel.  

9. Training Young People: As a Church, we are charged to educate and train young people in  vocational discernment to promote and foster their God-given gifts in the service of others by being missionaries who are plunged “into the stream of witnesses God desires.” 

10. Support for the Missions: Since “some give to the mission by going and others go to the mission by giving,” we are charged to support the work of the Pontifical Mission Societies through material or monetary aid which the Holy See uses for the needs of the Universal Church. This is why the Holy Mother Church asks that we take up a special collection for the Church’s worldwide Mission Sunday Solidarity Fund today. Pope Francis has insisted that: “No one is poor as to be unable to give what they have, but first and foremost what they are.”  

Conclusion

By the virtue of our baptism into Christ, we are all missionaries called to serve the needs of the Universal Church ad intra and ad extra. We are particularly charged to give the youth their rightful place in the Church as leaders of tomorrow so as to showcase their talents for the growth of the Church to the greater glory of God. While this is done, it behoves on the youth to always listen to the wise counsel of the aged. Since the Church is missionary by character (Redemptoris Missio 5), the Holy Father reminds you and me that we are “Mission.” Happy World Mission Sunday!

Fr. Justine Dyikuk is the Communications Director of Bauchi Diocese, Nigeria –justinejohndyikuk@gmail.com.