Sermons
January 8, 2017
We find the story of the magi only in Matthew. Mark, Luke and John write their gospels for Christians who had not been in the Jewish religion before, for the so-called Gentiles. Also, Paul in his letters writes for these Christians coming from the Gentiles. Only Matthew writes for Christians who had been in the Jewish religion before. And to them the story of the three magi must have been like a sledgehammer. Why? When we face things and person who are beyond us, then we naturally try to restrict these things and persons so that we can handle them. We put a safety frame around them. We put them into patterns of behavior with which we are comfortable. God's relationship with us certainly falls into that restricted category – it is difficult for us to handle this relationship. Many Christians, for instance, believe God works only through and on behalf of Christians. And I presume many Muslims and Hindus fall into the same trap – for Muslim God only works through Muslims, for Hindus God only works through Hindus. There's no doubt many Jews at the time of Matthew were also guilty of restricting God's actions to their specific religion. For Jews God only works through Jews. This was certainly also true for some Jews who had committed themselves to imitating Jesus. Let us go back to the reading from the prophet Isaiah. He is one of the classic Jewish prophets who tried to expand the vision of the Chosen People to include non-Jews in Yahweh's plan of salvation: “Nations and kings will come to the light of your dawning day” (Is 60,3). In other words, "If you live your Jewish faith correctly, even non-Jews will be compelled by your example to give themselves over to Yahweh." Not only that. When Isaiah wrote this, Jerusalem and its temple are nothing but a pile of rubble. And nevertheless, the prophet believes those enlightened Gentiles will provide the means to be a mighty nation for Israel. “Treasures from across the sea and the wealth of nations will be brought to you” (Is 60,5-6). Yet, the presupposition is, such Yahweh-oriented Gentiles will eventually convert to Judaism. So, when in the Old Testament the non-Jewish Gentiles were supposed to convert to Judaism, does this mean that the non-Jewish followers of Jesus also were supposed to convert to Judaism first? Indeed: At first, non-Jews who were interested in Christ were expected to convert to Judaism before they could imitate the risen Jesus. Only after the men were circumcised and both men and women committed themselves to keeping the 613 Mosaic laws could they become Christians. But in the running of the decades, it became clear that this was not how the Holy Spirit was guiding them. In the case of Gentiles who wanted to follow Jesus the Holy Spirit did not demand of them to become members of the Jewish religion first. Eventually a different point of view won the day. Paul and Matthew and many other members of the Christian community argued that Gentiles, as Gentiles, could be followers of Jesus. Paul in today’s reading to the community in Ephesus states: “Because of Christ Jesus, the good news has given the Gentiles a share in the promises that God gave to the Jews. God has also let the Gentiles be part of the same body.” (Eph 3,5) So: One no longer must be a Jew in order to be a Christian. And that's where Matthew's magi come in. They are uncircumcised, pagan, Gentile astrologers who travel many, many, miles to discover "the newborn king of the Jews." The Magi travel many miles, while Herod and his Jewish Scripture knowledgeable court refuse to go the relative short distance between Jerusalem and Bethlehem to find the child. Not only that, the magi reach their destination by following a star: a practice forbidden to Jews under pain of death! Matthew's message is clear: God works through people and means which some in his community would restrict God from working. Those who correctly follow Jesus must constantly go beyond such limits in order to discover God working in their everyday lives. Cf http://www.dignityusa.org/breath/january-8-2012-epiphany
Fr. Wolfgang Felber SJ
January 1, 2017
All across the world the standard way of marking the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year is for people to set off fireworks, tearing apart the night sky with a blaze of light and an explosion of noise. The origin of this tradition is from a primitive pagan Roman culture. The Romans believed that the turning of the year was a vulnerable moment, a changeover that had to be watched carefully lest witches, ghosts and demons slip through the gap between the years and get up to all kinds of mischief. The antidote, they believed, was to make as much noise as possible, to scare away any wandering demon, ghost or witch, who might think of trying to slip through that gap. Strange as it may sound, this tradition has survived to the modern times Another tradition on New Year are new year resolutions. For weight watchers after series of failed attempts, this may be a time to begin again with a firm resolve to lose weight. Some other people may resolve to get more organized, spend less and save more, enjoy life to the fullest, stay fit and healthy, learn something exciting, spend more time with family, pray more, go to Mass twice or more in a week, do something special with your family every week; etc. One thing about these resolutions is that often they may be difficult to keep till the end of the year. Another traditional thing on New Year is the traditional greeting of the New Year: Happy New Year! This is a wonderful thing to do but it would be a mistake, of course, to expect perfect happiness in any year in this life. The innate, insatiable drive we all have for perfect happiness can only be satisfied in the next life. It would also be a mistake also to identify happiness with pleasure. Pleasure and happiness are not synonyms. They are not one and the same thing. In fact, pleasure can be the cause of very great unhappiness. It would be a mistake also to think that happiness consists in amassing possessions. Unfortunately, we begin by possessing things and end up with things possessing us. It is the desire, the craving for things we do not have that causes so much unhappiness. We are supposed to love people and use things. In our affluent society, we turn that around and love things and use people to get the things we love. When we look into the cave in Bethlehem, where Jesus was born we may understand what true happiness consists of. Look into the cave. There is none of those things in which we seek happiness. There are no riches, no fame, no power, no conveniences, no pleasure, nothing but an empty, cold cave on the outskirts of town. We see there the new born baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph filled with wonder, amazement and joy on this first day of the New Year not only do we observe the three traditions mentioned above but let us ask for the grace to know Jesus more intimately, love him more ardently and follow him more closely so that this may be a truly Happy New Year! I The triple blessings mentioned in the first reading of today's liturgy (Num.6:24-26): "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace” were entrusted by God, through Moses, to Aaron and his sons, that is, to the priests of the people of Israel. It is a triple blessing filled with light, radiating from the repetition of the name of God, the Lord, and from the image of his face. In fact, in order to be blessed, we have to stand in God’s presence, take his Name upon us and remain in the cone of light that issues from his Face, in a space lit up by his gaze, diffusing grace and peace. Let us seek the Face of God continuously this new year and he will continually fill our lives this year with his grace and peace.
Fr Sylvester Ajunwa, PhD
December 18, 2016 - Fourth Sunday in Advent
When parents are expecting a child, one topic of discussion sooner or later will be: what name shall we give our child? How did you pick the names of your children: a name from a list on a website or from the bible or a name of a saint or a personality you admire? There are many ways of giving names. In some African cultures it could be the name of a grandfather, a name to remember an event when the child was born or a name to thank God for the gift of a child, like “God is creator” or ”God is the giver of life”. Mary and Joseph did not have that problem. They received the name of the child in Mary’s womb directly from God. In today’s Gospel, the angel tells Joseph two names: Jesus and Emmanuel, the name also mentioned in the first reading. This name Emmanuel defines who Jesus is: "God with us". The rest of the Gospel will spell out that in Jesus God has become visible to us. He teaches with the authority and heals with the power of God. And he will constantly remind his disciples that they have no reason to be afraid because “I am with you… till the end of time.” The name Emmanuel expresses his true identity. The name Jesus that is more familiar to us indicates his mission, the purpose for which he has come. Jesus means: “God saves.” He was sent by his father not to condemn the world, but to save it. John the Baptist was convinced the Messiah would come to save the “just” by destroying all sinners and establish a reign of justice. When Jesus acted differently and befriended sinners, he could not make any sense of it. Jesus remained faithful to his mission till the very end, when he prayed for his enemies and forgave the criminals crucified together with him. Perhaps the word “save” or “Saviour” sounds unfamiliar to many people today. We could rather say: Jesus came to liberate us, to set us free from sins, from sickness of soul, mind and body and finally from death. When, in the bible, God himself gives a name or changes a person’s name, it always indicates a new mission. We have not chosen our name. It was given to us by our parents. But if we had the possibility to give ourselves a name that indicates what our mission in life is, what we would like to be and to achieve, what name would you give yourself? That question is not easy to answer. Life is a long and sometimes painful process to discover who we truly are, what gifts God has put into us, and what is the task God has entrusted to us in the world. We never finish discovering something new in ourselves and in the people around us. Human beings remain always a mystery. But one day, we will understand fully who we truly are. St. Paul expresses it in his dense language when he writes in 1 Corinthians 13: “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.” Now we know ourselves only very superficially and vaguely. But the day of death when the limitations of our bodies and the limits of time and space fall away, we shall know God and through him ourselves fully, the way He knows everything about us now. Then He will give each one of us a new name that expresses fully who we truly are. “I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.” (Rev. 2:17)
Fr. Wolfgang Schonecke MAfr