Sermons
June 10, 2018
Many years ago, I got a phone call from a psychiatric hospital. The doctors were at a loss what to do with a young woman from Africa who was mentally disturbed. When I told the lady that I was a priest and had been working in Africa for many years her face lit up and she told me her problem. Her aunt was utterly opposed to her living with a young man and had first threatened Many years ago, I got a phone call from a psychiatric hospital. The doctors were at a loss what to do with a young woman from Africa who was mentally disturbed. When I told the lady that I was a priest and had been working in Africa for many years her face lit up and she told me her problem. Her aunt was utterly opposed to her living with a young man and had first threatened her, then mistreated her and finally cursed her. Now, many of us might not worry much about a curse. But in some cultures, this is taken very seriously, and that young woman was out of her mind with the fear that she would die. I gave her the Gospel text of today to read which speaks of a rich and strong man who owns a house and another man who comes, ties him up and takes away everything he has. I explained to her that the strong man, the evil spirit, who scared her so much, could be defeated by the stronger man, who is Jesus. She had only to trust Jesus and no evil spirit could have any power over her. When I visited her two days later she was completely normal In some passages of the Gospel Jesus casts out evil spirits. He saw evil powers at work in the life of people and sometimes taking possession of them. He called Satan “the ruler of this world”. But he was also convinced that he was stronger than all powers of evil and had come to liberate people from these destructive powers and establish the rule of God instead. The bible sees history as a struggle of the light against the powers of darkness, of truth against the “father of lies”, of love against hatred. It is also a struggle in the heart of every person. If you are inclined to think that these are ideas of long ago which do not fit into modern times, just be aware that this struggle of evil against good is the stuff all great literature and every Sunday evening crime story is made of. It follows usually the same pattern: There are people living peacefully their everyday life till something terrible happens, e.g. a murder or some evil agent threatening to destroy the world. Then confusion tears people apart. Some are suspected of the murder, there are rumours and accusations. Finally, a saviour turns up in the form of James Bond or commissar X who uncovers the evil people and ties them up and restores the old order and security. Although we believe ourselves to be enlightened and to think scientifically the basic patterns of thinking are still the same. Only the way we image evil is culturally conditioned. Sometimes we are inclined to personify the power of evil and give it names like Satan or Bezebul. Modern people reject such ideas as a myth forgetting that myths do not describe facts, and yet contain basic truths. The truth is that evil is real and it has power over people and can possess them. Destructive ideas, thoughts and desires can become an obsession. People can have an obsession with personal power, e.g. dictators like in Syria who are ready to destroy their country and their own people. Others are obsessed by greed for money. Without any scruple they accumulate fortunes at the expense of those who have nothing. We might be obsessed by sexual compulsions, by feelings of jealousy and hatred ready to destroy our enemy. The power of evil that can enslave us takes many forms. The Good News is that there is someone stronger who can break the chains of false ideas and ideologies, of destructive feelings and compulsions and open our mental prisons. Jesus is stronger than all powers of evil. The closer we are to him the less evil can touch us, the freer we become. Jesus has already overcome the world. On Good Friday the powers of evil seemed to have won the battle. On Easter morning Jesus proved to be stronger. This victory we celebrate at every Eucharist when we profess: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again..
Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke, MAfr
April 1, 2018
The Church’s liturgy is decorated with variety of feasts and solemnities. The Easter celebration is one of them but it has a central position among the other celebrations. At the Easter vigil Christians all over the globe gathered at their churches to celebrate the resurrection of the Lord invoking all powers and ends of the earth to rejoice in these words: Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven, exult, let Angel ministers of God exult, let the trumpet of salvation sound aloud our mighty King’s triumph! Be glad and let earth be glad, as glory floods her…… On this Easter morning we have gathered to declare with joy, Christ is risen! Alleluia. The catechism of the catholic church says: The resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth by the first Christian community: handed on as fundamental by tradition; established by the documents of the New Testament and preached as essential part of the paschal mystery along with the cross: Christ is risen from the dead! Dying, he conquered death; To the dead, he has given life. (CCC. 489). The mystery of Christ’s resurrection is a real event, with manifestations that were historically verified. One of those manifestations is the Empty tomb. This was one of the astonishing discoveries made by the women at the early morning of the third day as they went out of love to anoint his body. They met his grave empty. The absence of Christ’s body from the tomb may not be a direct proof of resurrection nonetheless it is an essential sign for all. Its discovery by the disciples was the first step toward recognizing the very fact of the resurrection. There are many other manifestations which we would be hearing in readings within the Eastertide. To understand the full meaning of the resurrection we need to look back to the Old Testament. In fact everything in the old covenant was but a pictorial prefiguring of what God was going to do in the resurrection of His son, Jesus. The resurrection is a re-cast of the Genesis account of creation- “coming into being”. In the word’s of St. Paul it is the resurrection of the last Adam (1 cor. 15:45). Here God breathed his life giving Spirit into man again (cf. Gen.2:7). Mankind is re-created in spiritual regeneration, becoming a new creature (2Cor.5:11; Gal.6:15) Resurrection recaptures the Exodus story- bringing mankind out of the land of slavery into the Promised Land. Mankind held in the bondage of Sin and death is brought back to life of freedom in Holiness. Christ’s coming out of the grave corresponds to Moses and his people coming out of Egypt, wherein the resurrection becomes the liberating exodus of salvation history. The reading of Exodus story is one of the principal readings at Easter vigil’s liturgy. The resurrection restructures the Torah. With the resurrection the external codification of the Law becomes an internal dynamic of life- the law written in the heart. This is foreshadowed in the prophesy of Jeremiah (Jer.31:31-34) In the New Testament, it is the central story and the climax of all the gospel narratives. Jesus kept talking about this event in his life. He declared to Martha I AM the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). To the Jews in the temple he foretold that the temple of His body would be destroyed, but raised in three days (John 6:19-22), indicating that by His resurrection the new center of worship would be in Him. He becomes the New Temple of Humanity whose worshipers must do so in Spirit and truth. Christianity is not a message of merely what has been (past) and will be (future), it is the message of what is,- the vital dynamic of the risen Lord in our midst. It is the restoration of humanity whereby God functions once again in human history. It is the focal point of all human history. It is the transforming reality in light of which everything else must be interpreted. All meaningful human existence must be interpreted by this earth-shattering, death-defeating reality of Jesus’ resurrection. He has risen as he promised and he lives in our midst. His presence symbolized with the paschal candle radiates in the world. We look us to his light to guide us. With his resurrection you are made a new creation, because we died with him we have resurrected with him. This very fact is based on our baptism. That means you and I are “re-created beings” in Christ. We are the new creation. The old has passed away. In his homily on Easter Vigil in 2006 Pope (emeritus) Benedict XVI says “The resurrection is not a thing of the past, the resurrection has reached us, and seized us. We grasp hold of it, we grasp hold of the risen Lord and we know that he holds us firmly even when our hands grow weak. We grasp hold of his hand thus we hold on to one another’s hands. And we become one single subject not just one thing. I; but no longer I, this is the formula of Christian life rooted in baptism, the formula of the resurrection within time: I but no longer I. If we live in this way, we transform the world. It is a formula contrary to all ideologies of violence, it is a program opposed to corruption and to the desire for power and corruption. With the celebration of the Resurrection of the Lord we declare that death has not the last word over us, we declare that wars and destruction of human resources have not the last word, suffering, hunger and sickness have not the last word, quarrels and disunity have not the last word, darkness has not the last word. The end story of lives is Glory. With faith we hold on to this truth. Alleluia!
Fr Sylvester Ajunwa
March 25, 2018
Palm Sunday - all of a sudden, Jesus was a star. The cheering crowd, the Hosanna, the exultation and the expectations – Jesus was expected to be a political leader. A leader against the Romans. Vorschusslorbeeren – praise in advance, premature praise that was, because Jesus deceived them all. Or rather: they were mistaken in Jesus. And their deception changed into anger and despair – Jesus was not up to their expectations. The “Hosanna” becomes “crucify him”. Is this only an event 2000 years ago? I think we also expect a lot from others, we put our hope in others, we praise their merits – and then comes deception. This is how we react towards others. But others also react towards us: they expect a lot from us, they praise us in advance, and then this praise becomes derision, ultimately, this leads to abusive remarks if something goes wrong, if something goes a different way than expected by the others. Praise and acclamation are near to dispraise, frustration, deception and anger. These are experiences we make, just like Jesus made them during the week we call the Holy Week. The Stations of the Cross are images of our life, they reflect our experiences. The way to Golgotha is our way. But one thing is certain: after all the suffering and defeat and deception, after death itself, we are sure to celebrate the resurrection, we are sure to celebrate life.
Fr Wolfgang Felber, SJ