34^th Sunday-Year A

Solemnity of Christ the King

Ezekiel 34: 11-12, 15-17

I Cor.15: 20-26, 28

Matthew 25: 31-46

All God has ever wanted is our hearts,

that we become a little better in loving God and our neighbor each day.

Beloved in Christ, today we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King. By this celebration, we bring our liturgical year to an end. Next week, we shall begin the Season of Advent. The Solemnity of Christ the King was established, as a universal feast, by Pope Pius XI in 1925. This was a time when the whole world was suffering from the impact of the First World War, Communism, and the rise of the Nazis in Germany. At a time when so many powers were leading the world into destruction, this feast was established to remind us that Jesus Christ is our origin and our destiny. Christ is the only king who can bring us true peace and joy in life. Yet, Jesus is rejected in our world today because his kingship sharply contradicts that of the powers of this world. He is a King who chooses a manger as his palace and the cross as his throne.

However, as Christians, we believe that Jesus died and rose in order to achieve the purpose for which God created the world, namely, that human beings will live in perfect love and harmony with God, with one another, and with all created things. The creed that we profess every Sunday at Mass affirm that Jesus will return to the world to make sure that God’s ultimate purpose for creating the world is achieved.

St. Paul in our second reading today affirm this belief that Jesus will return to restore the world to its original holiness and bring it to its final destiny in God. The gospel tells us Jesus will come as the righteous judge and separate good from evil and righteousness from sin as captured in the images of sheep and goat. I have a question: “Are you a sheep or goat?” I think every human being is both sheep and goat. Each of us has some characteristics of the sheep and some of the goat. There are times we do good deeds and times that we sin. None of us is totally good. None of us is totally sinful. That is why God never gives up on us but does what he promised in the first reading, to come as a shepherd to look for us when we are lost. Beloved, God always comes to seek us and but comes in disguise. He comes through his words in the Scriptures. He comes through that silent voice of conscience that warns us when we are about to sin. He comes through the Eucharist to strengthen us against sin. He comes through the voice of parents, siblings, friends, leaders and all those who encourage us to choose the good and avoid evil.

Beloved, the judgment of our God is, therefore, not something reserved only for the end of time. Everyday in our lives, Jesus returns to separate good and evil. He does this not to take away our free will but to lead us to our through destiny. Pope Benedict XVI once said whenever God comes, whether in our daily lives or at the point of our death, he speaks only one sentence: “It is I do not be afraid”. God reminds us in the first reading and the responsorial psalm that he is a shepherd who loves us so much that he lays down his life for us. However, as a shepherd, all he can do is to call our name and it’s totally up to us to respond to his voice and follow him.

My Dear People of God, all that God has ever wanted is our hearts. All he has ever needed is an act of contrition. All he wants of us is our ability to say “Lord I am sorry; I know I can do better than this with the help of your grace and I am ready to change my ways and begin a new”. Beloved, if we learn to respond to the shepherd’s voice of love and mercy in our daily lives, I believe that we shall recognize that same voice of love and mercy at the point of our death when Christ returns at the end of our lives. Remember the thief on the Cross? He was able to recognize the shepherd even when the King of Kings was disguised on the Cross. This thief was able to embrace Jesus’s love and mercy. I don’t think this is something he learned to do only on the cross. I believe that this thief, even though he was a sinner, always desired and took little steps to become better than he was. He was not perfect; but he kept looking for the opportunities to become better. Beloved, that is what we need to do. We may not be perfect, but we should always want to be better and be opened to the shepherd who comes to us in disguise. All our God has ever wanted is our hearts, that we learn to become a little better each day and attain the purpose of our lives by living in perfect love and harmony with God and our neighbor.

33^th Sunday-Year A

Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31

1 Thess. 5:1-6

Mt. 25: 14-30

 My Dear People of God, the readings today remind me of an experience I had when I first came to the USA. At the end of every semester, the English Department at Iowa State University, organizes a potluck for all staff and students. As a student in the Department, I was invite to attend one such potluck. I did not actually know what a potluck was by then (since we used different terms for that in Ghana) so I asked one of my friends to explain it to me. His response was: “Oh it means just come and eat”; so I thought why not? :-).  He never told me that I was supposed to bring something, such as food, drink, desert, or even water to the potluck. Just so you know, unlike here in the US, when people invite you to their house for dinner in Ghana you don’t have to bring anything. You just go and eat:-) So I went to the potluck with nothing and everybody started asking me: “So Richmond what did you bring?” I felt embarrassed because everybody got to know that I brought nothing, which was totally against the norms that guide interaction at a potluck. I ate, but I was not happy. However I learned my lesson. The next potluck, I went with the only food that I know how to cook: white rice and buffalo wings :-). This time, when they asked what I brought, I could point it out and even though the food was not all that good they praised me for it. I tasted twenty different types of food that others had brought that night and I was very happy. Beloved, in some sense, the kingdom that God wants us to establish here on earth can be likened a potluck. Your joy becomes complete when you bring the little you have to share with others. It is the mystery of the kingdom of God.

Our first reading from the book of Proverbs talks about the excellent wife. In the biblical wisdom literature, the writers usually present their teaching through songs or poems that portray the virtues that all human beings are called to imitate and the vices that we are called to avoid. In our reading today, the writer uses the image of an excellent wife to represent the whole of humanity and the virtues that we are called to live out. The ideal wife is one who understands her life as a gift meant for others. She sees all that he has as a means to an end; and brings all her gifts into her interaction with her family, community, and the church for the glory of God. Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, this is how we need to understand our lives. All we have been blessed with (husband, wife, children, education, friends, knowledge, skills, time, our physical appearance, and any talent we have) should be seen as gifts for the good of our family, our community, and our Church for the good of humanity and the glory of God. 

The parable of the talents that we read in the gospel is not about economic principles and how to make profit in business, but how to live as children of the kingdom of God. Jesus teaches us that every gift we have will multiply only if we bring that gift into our interaction with others. The point of the parable is not how much financial profit the servants made; rather it is about whether they brought their gifts into their interaction with others. That is what the imagery of trade in the parable communicates to us. You cannot trade with people without some sort of interaction. In fact, when you read the history of trade, you will come to realize that what we call trade in our word today was actually meant to be an exchange of gifts.  In simple societies people still do that. You give me part some of what you have that I need, and I give you some of what I have that you need. In that way each of us will have our needs met by God through the people places in our lives. The problem with the man who buried his gift in the gospel today is that he did not bring it into his interaction with people.

Beloved, each human life is an answer to some particular need that God wants to satisfy in our world today. We are all stewards of God’s grace. Everything we have, we have been given to share in such a way that, through us, God will satisfy the need of all human beings and created things. Our world is hurting and there is so much darkness in our world today but as St. Paul reminds us in the second reading, we are the light that God will use to dispel the darkness in our world. God needs you and me to make a difference. My prayer is that, like the ideal wife, each of us will continue to see all we have as a means to an end; and bring all our gifts into our interaction with family and community through the Church for the glory of God.

Dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica

(November 9^th)

Ezekiel 47:1-2, 8-9, 12

I Cor. 3:9c-11, 16-17

John 2: 13-22

With Christ, we form a river flowing into our world to bring life to all we come into contact with.

Are your words and actions “life-giving” or “life-taking”?

Beloved in Christ, today we celebrate the feast of the dedication of St. John Lateran Basilica in Rome by Pope Sylvester in the year 324. In this Mass, I invite all of you to pray in a special way for our capital campaign that God will continue to bless it and give us the grace and the means to build a new house for him. You may be wondering why this Basilica in Rome is so important that we are celebrating its dedication as a universal feast. St. John Lateran Basilica is believed to be the first physical church building that was put up in Rome after years of persecution of Christians. This church was built after Emperor Constantine proclaimed Christianity a state religion and gave Christians permission to worship God publicly. This meant Christians no longer had to hide in caves and houses to worship Christ and be church. This church therefore marked the first building in which Christians could bring God openly to public life and work as a community to transform the world according to gospel of Christ. The feast today is more than celebrating just a church building; it’s the celebration of the presence of God and his people in the world. Thus, we celebrate God’s presence as we find in all churches and all people who work to transform the world according to the mind of Christ.

In our first reading, Ezekiel writes about a vision he saw at the time that the Babylonians had destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. The prophet says he saw a vision of the restoration of the temple, a new temple; and there was something unique about this new temple: a river that flows from the altar into every part of the world and brings new life to anything that it touches including even the Dead Sea, which is seven times more salty than the ocean and is almost inhabitable to marine life. Beloved, that vision was fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ who tells us in John 4 that he is the living water. Christ is the living water and each one of us, through our baptism, has become a drop of that living water. With Christ, we form a river that flows into our community and our world to bring new life into all we come into contact with.

Beloved, St. Paul in our second reading tells us that it’s important for us to remember that we form both the temple of God’s presence in the world. It is through us that the river flows into our family, our work places, our schools, our communities, and our world. It is therefore important for each one of us reflect on what kind of impact we are having on the world around us by our words and actions.

As the gospel shows us, it is easy for the temple to become corrupt and lose its significance, direction, and purpose. Like the time of the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah whose words Jesus quoted in today’s gospel “My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have turned it into a den of thieves” (Cf. Jer. 7:11, and Is. 56:7), the Scribes and the Pharisees in the days of Jesus had developed a wrong understanding of what true religion is all about. They had turned religion into some transactional relationship: “If I do A then God should do B, and if I do C then God must do D”. Instead of a love relationship with God they had come to see religion as a form of trade-relationship with God and people. This is what made them lose their sense of direction and purpose as temples and made their relationship with people “life-taking” instead of life giving. If you pay attention, you will see that it is not that everything in the temple is bad, but that there is something in it that must change in order for it to become more life giving rather than the “life-taking” institution that it had become at the time of Jesus. Therefore, Beloved in Christ, it is important that as we celebrate this feast today, we find some time to ask yourself these questions:

1.     When I look at my relationships with others, are my words and actions life-giving or life-taking?

2.     Do I bring fresh and new life to those I come into contact with?

3.     What things do I need to change in my life in order to become more life giving to those around me?
 

May God open our eyes to see what we need to change in our lives to become more effective in our mission as the river that brings life to the world.

Feast of All the Faithful Departed (All Souls)

Wisdom 3:1-9

Psalm 23

Rome 6:3-9

John 6:37-40

God’s Mercy and Faithfulness Never Comes to an end;

 Therefore, Our love and gratitude to God should never come to an end

Beloved in Christ, we thank God for another great opportunity to worship him and to pray for the souls of all those who have died in our families, churches, communities, and everywhere in the world. I don’t know about you, but death is not my favorite topic to talk about. Because when I think about it I am tempted to ask myself “will I make it into the Kingdom?” and that question fills me with fear. Do you at times feel the same?

Four years ago, I went to Italy to visit the Bishop who ordained me. He is a Cardinal and works in the Vatican. The visit was around my birthday so he asked what I wanted for my birthday gift. What came to mind right away was good Italian pizza, but before I could ask he first asked me if I wanted to meet Pope Benedict XVI. My eyes opened so wide and with joy in my heart, I forgot I was talking to a Cardinal and responded: “of Course, are you kidding me?” J. He told me to get ready because he had a meeting with the Pope the next morning and I could come along. I did not sleep the whole night. First I was filled with great joy at the thought of going to meet with the Pope, but the joy began to give way to fear. I began to think “oh what did I just say yes to? This is Pope Benedict, one of the greatest theologians of all times. What about if he begins to ask me some theological questions and I am not able to answer? Then he is going to think oh these African priests know nothing; and my Cardinal would be so angry with meJ. The morning came and we went to the Pope’s office. When I saw the Pope walking into the room, my heart started beating faster than ever. The Holy Father came in, walking very gently with a broad smile on his face. He raised his hands and blessed us and we had a wonderful visit. He did not ask me any theological questions. After the meeting, I reflected on the entire experience and I saw how wrong I was in thinking that the meeting was going to be dreadful. I thought the Pope was going to come at me; but I was wrong. He was coming not at me, but for me.

Beloved in Christ, our first reading today tells us that death is not a punishment from God, but rather a transition into his kingdom. The writer of the book of Wisdom tells us not to be afraid of death because death is not God’s way of coming at us but his way of coming for us. The reading ends with a reminder that death is about God’s love and mercy. Our responsorial psalm tells us that God is a shepherd whose intention is not to destroy the sheep but to lead us into greener pastures, feed us, protect us from all our enemies including death so that we can live with him and experience his love and mercy for all eternity. Jesus in the gospel tells us that he will not reject anybody who comes to him in faith but he will raise us up on the last day because the Father’s will is that he should lose none of us. Christ is a faithful God who keeps his promises.

Beloved, we Christians are not people who are struggling to be saved. We have been saved! Salvation has already been won for us through the Cross, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is what Jesus meant when he said on the Cross” “It is finished”. The question that people ask is if we have already been saved then why do we need to do good? The good we do is not to buy our ticket to heaven. No! We do good to show our gratitude to God for the gift of salvation he has already given us in Christ. When we do good, we express our gratitude to God for the amazing love he has shown us by dying for us even when we were sinners. By our good deeds, we share that salvation with others. All God is asking of us is for us to become channels of his salvation for others, and that is what we become anytime we do good and avoid evil.

One of my favorite bible verses is from Lamentation 3:22-23. The writer says: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is God’s faithfulness”. Yes, we can pray for our loved ones who have died and all the faithful departed because God’s mercy does not end when a person dies. God’s mercy is our hope for salvation. (Song: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases….”).  Beloved, because God’s love and mercy never come to an end, our gratitude to God, expressed through our words and actions, should never come to an end.