THE LANGUAGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

HOMILY FOR PENTECOST

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Acts 2:1-11        1 Corinthians 12:3-7, 12-13        John 20:19-23

The Spirit of the Lord has filled the whole world and that which contains all things understands what is said (Wisdom 1:7). These words of the Entrance Antiphon, about the universal presence and omniscience of the Spirit of the Lord, form the bedrock of today’s Liturgy. It is Pentecost, the Solemnity which marks the end of the Easter season. Pentecost commemorates four things: 

· the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles

· the gift of tongues

· the discourse of St. Peter  

· the institution of the early Christian Church. 

From the account in the First Reading, we understand that Pentecost marks the birth of the Church.

Pentecost was the first time that the Apostles (the bishops, appointed by Christ at the Last Supper), turbo-powered by the Holy Spirit, were welded into a living organism – the living Body of Christ – and witnessed to the world the marvels of God.

Easter is the fulfilment of the Feast of First Fruits. First Fruits commemorated the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai, and the offering of two loaves to God in gratitude for the ingathered harvest, seven weeks after the beginning of the grain harvest. Jesus is the First Fruits from the dead (1Cor 15:22-23).

Pentecost (‘fifty days’) is the fulfilment of the Feast of Weeks. The Jewish Feast of Weeks was celebrated 50 days after the Jewish Feast of First Fruits. Pentecost (Shavuot) (Lev 23:9, 15-21) occurred (and is celebrated) 50 days after the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Feast of Weeks represents the summer harvest, a bigger harvest than that of the First Fruits. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit harvested 3000 people (Acts 2:41), counterbalancing the loss of 3000 Israelites as the result of their worshipping a golden calf while the Law was being delivered to Moses (Ex 32:28). Jesus insufflated the Apostles with the Holy Spirit (John 20:22) whose outpourings confirm that the Messianic times have been fulfilled from the moment of Jesus’ Resurrection (Acts 2:16-38).

Shavuot / the Feast of Weeks / Pentecost was rather like one of our public holidays or bank holidays, in that it was a nationwide day off from work (Lev 23:21), and it attracted lots of people to Jerusalem. After the Ascension, the disciples of Jesus had gathered together *in Jerusalem* to devote themselves to prayer. Ten days later, on the day of the feast, the Holy Spirit - the Ruach HaKodesh - descended on them like a mighty, rushing wind (Acts 2:2) and many people were astonished as they heard in their own native language the acclamation by the Apostles of the marvels of God (Acts 2:11). The First Reading asserts that the sheer power of the Holy Spirit gifted these men to witness to Christ in languages other than their own and to be fully understood. You could say that the Holy Spirit ‘became their translator’. At Pentecost, the language of man that had been deliberately confused by God as a punishment for the erection of the idolatrous tower of Babel (Gen 11:4-9) became coherent and understandable once again, thanks to the language of the Holy Spirit. This language of the Holy Spirit is manifested in other ways too.

1. The language of the Holy Spirit is a language of great witness. The spirit-filled Apostles were heard telling of the marvels of the Lord. Reading further on in Acts 2, when some people alleged that the Apostles were drunk rather than inspired, St. Peter spoke up in defence of his brothers and addressed the crowd. Now, witnessing to Jesus is a sign of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. No one can claim to be a great witness to the message of our Lord without being filled with the Holy Spirit. St. Paul tells the Corinthians this basic truth in the Second Reading: no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ unless he is under the influence of the Holy Spirit. This means that, if any one of us finds it difficult to witness to Christ, by word and deed, in private and in public, in season and out of season, then the Holy Spirit is not indwelling in them. Jesus appeared to His disciples, who were huddled together in fear behind closed doors, to bring them peace and to alert them that their mission as His witnesses was about to begin in earnest.

2. The language of the Holy Spirit is the language of liberty from fear. By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the disciples conquered their fear, and gained both the courage and the readiness to witness and to devote what remained of their lives to Christ. Christianity began with courageous men who were ready to lay down their lives for what they believed to be true; they had to drink the cup that their Lord had drunk (cf. Mt 20:22). In giving witness to Christ, many lost their earthly lives. With the exception of St. John, all the Apostles were martyred: St. Peter was crucified upside down, St. Andrew was crucified on an X-shaped cross, St. James was thrust through with a sword, Philip was crucified, Bartholomew was flayed alive, Thomas was speared, Simon the Zealot was sawn in half, James Son of Alpheus was clubbed & stoned, Matthew was stabbed, Thaddeus was killed with an axe, Matthias was stoned & beheaded, and St. Paul was beheaded. St. John suffered in a vat of boiling oil, but having been entrusted with the care of Our Lady by Our Lord, he lived to a ripe old age. Christianity started out neither as a commercial enterprise nor as a company looking to recruit employees, but rather as The Way (Acts 9:1-2) with people who remained steadfastly loyal to Jesus in the face of persecutions and threats. We might ask ourselves how we are remaining faithful to the tenets of Christianity. One great example of a saint who witnessed to Christ with his life was St. Thomas More who, as Chancellor to Henry VIII, held on to his Catholic faith despite all the political and religious pressures exerted upon him. Immediately before his execution he declared, ‘I die the king’s faithful servant, but God’s first’.

3. The language of the Holy Spirit is the language of unity. Have you ever wondered why the Holy Spirit chose to descend upon the Apostles when they were together? Well, it was because the Holy Spirit is the spirit of unity. Unity is a fragrance that attracts the Holy Spirit. The Apostles were together too when Christ appeared to them and breathed out the Holy Spirit upon them. Wherever there is unity, there is peace and there is joy. The Holy Spirit unified all those in Jerusalem who listened to the Apostles of Christ in their respective native languages. Pentecost created - and continues to create - the Church in which each member can contribute his own gift in response to the same spirit, the Holy Spirit, as St. Paul reminded the Corinthians. An exceptional gathering of Christ’s faithful is one where each member, gifted in his own way, comes together with others to contribute to the work and wellbeing of the Church as far and as fully as his gifts permit.

4. Finally, the language of the Holy Spirit is the language of Christ Himself. At Pentecost, the promise by Christ of the advent of the Paraclete was fulfilled. Remember what Christ had told His Apostles: the Paraclete will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:14). The Holy Spirit takes from what is Christ’s and declares to us the things that are to come. May the Holy Spirit continue to refresh in us the message of Christ, to enkindle in us the fire of His love, and to enlighten us always to speak His language of great witness, of liberty from fear, of unity and of Christ Himself. Come Holy Spirit! Come, our refreshment, our solace and our light in the darkness. Inspire our hearts with the hope of heaven and bring us safely through the trials and torments of this earthly life. May each one of us bring our differing gifts (1Cor 12:4) to benefit everyone sheltered within the Church. Amen. God bless you.

THE PRAYERFUL HOUR OF GLORY

HOMILY FOR THE SEVENTH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Acts 1:12-14        1Peter 4:13-16        John 17:1-11

The thread running through today’s readings concerns the place of prayer in the Christian life. According to the First Reading, following the Ascension of Jesus the apostles, Our Lady, and some disciples gathered in the upper room to engage in continuous prayer. In the Gospel, which is the first part of the high priestly prayer of Jesus, we are presented with Our Lord’s prayer for Himself. In the second and third parts of this prayer (the gospel readings for the seventh Sunday of Eastertide in Years B and C ), He prays for His disciples and for all those who have been entrusted to Him.

Jesus raised His eyes to heaven. In this gesture of prayer, Jesus reveals Himself as the great intercessor. He opens with the words: Father, the hour has come. Calling God ‘Father’ means that Jesus has an intimate relationship with God the Father: Jesus is far more than ‘a Son of God’ – He is The Son of God, the Word of God spoken for the purpose of creation, the Second Person of the Trinity. During His ministry, Jesus repeatedly asserted that ‘my hour has not yet come’ (cf. Jn 2:4, 7:6.8), but now He declares that the hour has come. This is the hour of His death (cf. John 12:23-24), the hour of the cross. Then Jesus submits His requests: Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you (v.1) and Glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed (v.5).

In His prayer, Jesus reveals that the purpose of His coming into the world was to give glory to the Father by making eternal life accessible to those entrusted to Him. He associates this ‘hour’ with His glorification. In His prayer for glory, Jesus is speaking of the cross, and in particular of the glory that comes from the cross. But how exactly will the cross bring about this glory? The cross demonstrates the extent to which God was *and is* prepared to go for us because He loves us so much. The cross was and is a symbol of humiliation, ridicule and disgrace, a cruel means of execution devised for those transgressing the civil law of the day. Did Jesus break either the civil or the religious law? Not at all. He was innocent. The respective authorities brought charges but couldn’t make them stick because He had done nothing wrong (Lk 23:41).

Our Lord offered the sacrifice of Himself in our place to overcome the stranglehold that sin and death had over us. By the humiliation, ridicule and disgrace of the cross, He led us out of our own ridicule and disgrace, that we too may experience glory by the mystery of the cross. That is why, ever since Our Lord’s body hung on it, the cross is a sign of both sacrifice and glory. It is by the glory of the cross that we, who have been entrusted to Jesus, gain eternal life. You may well ask: “What did Jesus mean by ‘eternal life’?”. Jesus Himself delivered the answer: that they may know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent (Jn 17:3). This ‘knowing’, this ‘knowledge’ (from the Greek γινώσκωσιν / ginōskōsin, the tense γινώσκω indicating its impartation as ongoing and continuous) is an experienced-based knowledge - the knowledge of the very life of God Himself!

Now, Jesus not only prays for the manifestation of God’s glory through the cross; He also prays for His disciples who accept and believe in His teaching. Our Lord emphasises the vital importance of prayer. He Himself knew all things, and yet even He prayed. So should we! Even when we feel confident about possessing sufficient natural talents, strengths and gifts to overcome specific difficulties facing us, we are nonetheless obliged to pray and to bring these matters before the Lord. The maxim is that we must pray as though no works would help, and work as though no prayers would help. Prayer remains the key to our glory, the glory which derives from the cross. By perseverance in prayer, we will develop ever-deeper confidence in God. St. Peter speaks of this in the Second Reading: if you can have some share in the sufferings of Christ, be glad, because you will enjoy a much greater gladness when his glory is revealed. Whenever we suffer ridicule, exclusion or even persecution for being Christians, that experience of suffering becomes an opportunity for us to rejoice that it edifies us and gives glory to God.

Finally, the sacrificial offering of prayer needs to be accompanied by an appropriately sacrificial attitude. As we have seen in today’s Gospel reading, the priestly prayer of Jesus highlights His sacrificial love, by means of which the glory of the Father is manifested. Our prayer too must be sacrificial in order to give glory to God. At this time in the Church’s Year, our prayers are expectant, awaiting a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us. Our faith, hope and zeal will be invigorated by the turbo-power of the Holy Spirit. Remember that, after the Ascension of Jesus, the apostles and disciples deliberately immersed themselves in continuous prayer. They prayed and prayed, but at that point they were lacking the power and energy and drive required to make them great witnesses to the authenticity of the resurrection.  They sorely needed the boost of raw power that comes from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. May the fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we pray for today gift us with the assurance derived from that experience-based knowledge of God, and equip us with the confidence to keep on witnessing to Christ. Amen. God bless you.

 

“AND A CLOUD TOOK HIM FROM THEIR SIGHT”

HOMILY FOR THE SOLEMNITY OF THE ASCENSION OF THE LORD, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Ezekoka Peter Onyekachi

Acts 1:1:11        Ephesians 1:17-23        Matthew 28:16-20

The Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord marks the end of His Resurrection appearances. In the New Testament, Jesus appeared at least ten times after His Resurrection before He ascended into heaven. Whereas the Resurrection expresses the reality both of Jesus’ triumph over death and also the continuation of the Immanent Lord as the Risen Lord, the Ascension underlines the divine aspect of Jesus’ destiny. After the nailing to the cross comes the hailing (in the sense of acclaiming) into glory. The reality of the Ascension of Jesus into heaven provides the key to understanding several aspects of the Faith. St. John Chrysostom commented that ‘in the Resurrection, the disciples saw the end but not the beginning, and in the Ascension, they saw the beginning but not the end’.

What is the Ascension? According to the Old Testament, to ascend into heaven would mean to go up into the humanly inaccessible home of the transcendent God (cf. Isaiah 66:1; Psalm 115:16). For human beings even to aspire to scale such heights would amount to extreme arrogance (cf. Gen. 11:4ff); although by God’s gift, some chosen ones like Enoch (cf. Gen. 5:24) and Elijah (cf. 2 Kings 2:11) were taken up in their bodily flesh into heaven. Our Lord’s Ascension involves the departure of the risen body of Christ to heaven, indicating some form of corporeal survival beyond physical death, His final glorification, and His departure from the material universe.

At the very opening of Acts, in his account of the Ascension (the First Reading; Acts 1:1-11), St. Luke the Evangelist expands upon his initial account of it in his Gospel (Luke; 24:50-53). In Acts, St. Luke retells the event in greater detail and clarifies any confusion he might have caused by placing the Ascension on the day of Resurrection at Bethany alongside another account in which the appearances went on for forty days before the Ascension; for forty days, He had continued to appear to them. In Acts, the Ascension happens in the context of a meeting of Jesus with His disciples, where He urges them to remain in Jerusalem until the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Courage, who will come to help them to witness to Him to the ends of the earth. In today’s Gospel, St. Matthew picks up the thread and runs with it: he speaks of a meeting on a Galilean mountain where our Lord, by His universal authority, commissions His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations.

Of what significance is the Ascension of our Lord to our faith? The Ascension of Christ is the consummation of the earthly mission of the Son of God in the flesh, and a prelude to the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, upon the disciples at Pentecost. The cloud that took him from their sight, the shekinah, alludes to the glorious coming of the Son of Man on the clouds of heaven at the parousia; that is, His second coming. Think for a moment about the words of the two men in white to the disciples who were looking up into the sky: why are you standing here looking into the sky?… this same Jesus will come back in the same way as you have seen Him go up. The Ascension prompts us always and everywhere to look up to Christ, to hold Him not only in profound admiration and respect, but also in discipline. In practice, only that which is worthy can be looked up to; and only He who is Ascended can put all things under His feet, in the words of St. Paul in Ephesians 1:22 (the Second Reading). ‘Having all things under his feet’ means that He is the ruler of everything, and the head of the Church. He is our Boss. This is why, like the disciples, we bow to Him in worship, and we look up to Him in prayer.

Finally, the words of the two men in white motivated Christ’s disciples to go down the mountain instead of standing there gawping at the sky, and to get all hands on deck to carry out the mission that Christ had entrusted to them. We too have got to get busy with the mission that Christ has entrusted to us! Jesus Christ is ascended, yes, alleluia! – and He has promised to remain with us to the end of time. The Ascension of our Lord reminds us to put our faith experience into practice, prioritising loving God and our neighbours as ourselves, working tirelessly to bring spiritual and material comfort to those in need, working diligently to deliver the Christian message coincident with the moral distribution of world resources, and determining to provide Christ’s peace and joy within our homes. For two millennia, frail human beings have marvelled at the mystery of the Ascension of the Lord. This is how we should let others marvel at how the Lord blesses our minuscule human efforts. For with them, faith is planted, peace is instilled, harmony is established, hope is sustained, equity is cultivated and love flourishes. May the Ascended Christ shower His blessings on us now and always. Amen. God bless you.

 

I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU AS ORPHANS

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HOMILY FOR THE 6^TH SUNDAY OF EASTER, YEAR A

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Acts 8:5-8, 14-17        1Peter 3:15-18        John 14:15-21

From the Readings at Mass last Sunday, you may have noticed that the dynamic has shifted from the celebration of the Lord’s resurrection to the preparation for the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, the culmination of the Paschal season. These Readings provide us with the opportunity to reflect on the role of the Holy Spirit in the ongoing life of the Church.

In today’s First Reading we have an explanation of why the Samaritan townsfolk, despite having been  converted and Baptised, required the ritual laying-on of hands in order to receive the Holy Spirit. They didn’t receive the Holy Spirit first time around because their belief was prompted by miracles rather than by love for Jesus Christ. The Second Reading reminds us that Jesus Christ rose from the dead in the Spirit; and in the Gospel, Jesus announces the promise of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate. These readings highlight the personal presence of Christ in His Church alongside the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit from the Father.

Wouldn’t it be awful to be stuck on your own and completely helpless, with no means of support and no prospect of support? Can you imagine how awful it would be for you to find yourself abandoned, alone and penniless, and to have absolutely no-one you could turn to? That’s the sense in which the expression ‘abandoned as orphans’ is being used in the gospel. Jesus assured His disciples that He would not abandon them to struggle on alone through the trials of life. Because he was God, He knew of the trials that those disciples would face as a result of his physical absence. That was why Jesus gave them the message before His death that He would not leave them orphans.

It is helpful to look at the Old Testament understanding of orphanhood. In Exodus 22:22-24, the Lord told His people: You must not abuse any widow or orphan. If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me I will surely heed their cry. These verses convey Yahweh’s care for the helpless and abandoned, and which continued seamlessly and in conjunction with God Incarnate in the New Testament: I will not leave you orphans. These words of Christ echoes Yahweh’s condemnation in Exodus of those who take advantage of orphans, of those who strip the weak of their worldly goods and leave them with nothing. Both the Old and New Testaments confirm that God has great interest in the poor, and Luke’s Gospel emphasises His preferential option for the poor. It is my opinion that, as a worshipping community, we need to learn from the example of Jesus to walk alongside those who suffer abandonment and poverty.

Let’s now try a bit of contextual analysis of the word “orphan” (ὀρφανούϛ - without parents, fatherless) as it was used. During the era into which the Christ was born, society was patriarchal. In practice, ‘patriarchal’ means that it is the dad who is in charge. It is the dad who calls the shots, it is the dad who makes the decisions, it is the dad who owns everything that the family has, and it is the dad who supplies everything the family needs. (Of course, this still obtains in some societies today.) You can see that under a patriarchy, the welfare of the family is entirely in daddy’s hands. You can also see that if daddy dies, a family crisis occurs. The implications for the family following daddy’s death are huge, because they find themselves with no-one to guide them, no-one to provide for them and no-one to love and protect them. The abandoned, weakened family is open to being fleeced by wicked people, who – in the absence of daddy - can remove their earthly goods by force and throw them out on the street. In that eventuality, the family members have to rely solely on the generosity of other people and to grub around for available means of survival. Many a time, the dreams and prospects of the members of the family are also shattered. This would mean that the wicked people, by their very act did not only take away the father’s property; they did also take away the dreams and prospects of the orphans.

This understanding of what it means to be orphaned should have helped us now to appreciate Christ’s promise of His abiding presence to his followers. The Lord Jesus knows that leaving us will make us prone to attacks; He is aware of the dangers that surround us, and so does not leave you and me as orphans. He didn’t leave the disciples as orphans, and He won’t leave us as orphans either. When we place our trust in Him, He neither leaves us without protection or provision, nor let our souls be parted from Him by the evil one. His presence in our lives is a living, eternal presence. So, although from time to time we may feel lonely or sad, dejected or rejected, and unable to perceive anything good in our future, the truth is that we are not abandoned, not helpless, and not alone. Our Lord’s promise to us yesterday, today and forever is: I will not leave you orphans. 

Our Lord also promised us: because I live and you will live…On that day, you will understand that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you (John 14:19-20). Whenever we feel as if we have been orphaned and abandoned, we should nonetheless have the confidence to say like St. Paul: I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). This mutual union of Christ and ourselves is the work of the Holy Spirit, given to us by the Father and the Son. In Christ alone is life; in him was life and the life was the life of men (John 1:4). He lives with us. In his book entitled “You”, Fulton Sheen declared: “God came down to the level of man that He might in some way lift man to the level of God.” Here’s a little story for you to illustrate what he meant. 

A man had a vision in which he was being led to heaven by an angel. Prior to this vision, his opinion was in line with the common assumption that heaven was somewhere up above. But the angel kept showing him a way which didn’t ascend but, rather, kept on descending. Down and down they went. Curious about this, he asked the angel where he was taking him. The angel explained that, because heaven was too high to reach, and because so many could not bear the cold of the heavenly peak, heaven decided to reach even lower than every possible lowliness, and to come down to man in the Person of Jesus so as to make heaven available to everyone in need.

Christ unites Himself with us and by living in us, He gifts all those who love Him and believe in Him with the Holy Spirit. Living in Christ assures us of life in the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. As the Advocate, He is called in to be with us, to look after us, to care for us, to guide us and to teach us. The Holy Spirit is called in to live in us and to help us to conform ourselves more and more to the Person of Christ our Lord who is the Way, the Life and the Truth. The Spirit of Truth - the Holy Spirit - equips us to make a stand against the tidal wave of worldly pressures and machinations. Yes! He remains with us always, and never leaves us orphans. Amen. God bless you.

THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE

HOMILY FOR THE 5^TH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Rev. Fr. Peter Onyekachi Ezekoka

Acts 6:1-7        1Peter 2: 4-9        John 14:1-12

Imagine you are in a situation where you have lost something and you are searching for it everywhere. Is there anything worse than that moment when you realize that you have lost something that really matters to you, something essential like your wallet, your bank card, your passport, your phone, or a gift of sentimental value from a loved one? Time and again you check through your pockets, bags, drawers and places where you last saw it, hoping and praying that what you’ve lost will somehow magically reappear. How relieved you’d feel if someone offered to give up their time to help you search!

Now, imagine yourself in another situation: you are walking along a lonely road and you are trying to find your way to a particular place. But there’s no satellite navigation or GPS to guide you, and the more you walk, the more you realise that you’ve got lost. You’re disorientated, but you keep on walking in the hope of finding someone who will point you in the right direction. How comforting it is when you finally spot someone who can help you!

These imaginary scenarios, both about how upsetting it is to be searching and searching for something and longing for someone to help us, can help us to appreciate the tone of our reflection today.

The hearts of the disciples of Jesus were troubled. The disciples were upset. They had very good reason to be troubled. The predictions of events actually about to happen to them would have upset anybody: the Lord was about to be deserted and betrayed (cf. John 13:18-30), the Lord was not going to be with them any more (cf. John 13:33), and Peter was going to deny Jesus three times (cf. John 13:38). The disciples were distressed at the prospect of losing their Master, whom they had believed would be the long-awaited political Messiah, and their hearts were greatly troubled, as would ours have been in that situation. What the disciples needed was peace and a sense of hope, purpose and direction to embrace. ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled’, Jesus encouraged them, meaning that through His death and resurrection, the greatest possible deliverance for all troubled hearts would be accomplished. This same deliverance is only possible for us when we hold to holy faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, when we cling to blessed hope that our eternal dwelling-place will be with Him in heaven, and when we place our complete trust in the promises of Christ with whom we live now and in eternity. The reaction of Thomas indicated that the disciples hadn’t a clue about where Jesus was going: we do not know where you are going? How can we know the way? Jesus gave him and us the most marvellous reply: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.

Christianity has been referred to since its earliest times as ‘The Way’. Only when we believe in the guidance of Christ our Lord will our troubled hearts be calmed and our feelings of disorientation be eliminated. Why? Because the right way that each and every one of us is searching for will have been found. Jesus revealed to His agitated disciples that the only way to peace of heart and true freedom was to embrace the spiritual freedom in Him, the Christ, who was sent by the Father.

There’s a difference between pointing the way to a particular place and actually taking someone by the hand and leading them there, isn’t there? The person who guides someone literally becomes the way himself. To go back to our imaginary scenario of going along a lonely road when you’re trying to get to a specific destination but you’re feeling lost: would you rather meet someone who tells you how to get there, waves vaguely in the direction you should head, and leaves you to stumble on alone, or would you rather meet someone who says ‘come with me’ and actually takes you there? Jesus Christ not only tells you how to walk through life and how to reach God, but He also personally shows you the right way by going with you. Our Lord never abandons you in the darkness, leaving you stumbling around as you try to feel your way forward. He Himself IS the Way.

There’s also a difference between telling someone about the truth and actually living out the truth as an example to them. The One who lives out the truth is the Truth Himself, Jesus Christ. Christ is the Embodiment, the Communicator and the Liberator of the Truth. Our Lord never abandons you in the darkness, leaving you searching and grasping vainly for the truth. Why not? Because He Himself IS the truth.

There is a further difference between telling someone else how to get the most out of life and actually living life yourself in all its fullness. The One who was, who is and who lives forever, is the One who was in the beginning, who created life from nothing, and who possesses life itself. Our Lord never abandons you in the darkness, leaving you wandering aimlessly, without hope of ever finding the meaning of life; Jesus Himself IS the Life.

Think back to our original scenario of you searching for something essential that you’d lost. In the First Reading from Acts, the apostles were searching for a way to hold on to something essential which they were on the point of losing. The ‘something essential’ was virtue … the specific virtues of equity, justice and peace. The number of converts to Christ was increasing, and the challenges were increasing correspondingly. A quarrel broke out between the Greek-speaking disciples and the Hebrew-speaking disciples because it was alleged that the Greek-speaking widows were being deliberately left out of the daily distribution of goods held in common. With the help of the lay people and the prayers of the apostles, deacons (men filled with the Spirit and with wisdom) were commissioned, and peace and equity were restored. We can take from this that when Jesus is with us, solutions to our problems are forthcoming. How important it is too to invite the help of others when problems arise, whether these problems be personal or communal, to find satisfactory resolutions and ways forward.

And finally, … in the selection of the seven deacons, we see the privilege of the sacred office being extended to the Gentiles in the early Church. The words once directed exclusively to the people of Israel, “you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”(1 Pet 2:9) are directed inclusively to the people of God in every nation. By virtue of our Baptism, each and every Christian today should shoulder royal priestly responsibilities including prayer and catechesis, forgiveness and reconciliation. May we develop the virtues of patience and prudence in order continually to fulfil our Baptismal vows by following our Lord who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Amen. God bless you.