There are many kinds of sleep. The one which lets us wake up in the morning refreshed and alive is a blessing. There is another which is pathological—a sleeping sickness which makes a person go around like a zombie and never wake up fresh and alert.

That is on the physical plane. On the spiritual plane there is a similar kind of sleeping sickness, a sleep that dulls our minds and keeps us from being aware of God or anything spiritual.

How do we contract this spiritual sleeping sickness?—One thing is sure, it does not descend on us from the environment or an outside agent. We are the ones who anaesthetize ourselves into this sleep.

How?—By committing any mortal sin. Sin pricks us like a wasp and leaves a venom that leads to more sin until it entrenches itself as a habit. We then become like the old dog that cannot be taught a new trick. We are fixed in our ways and cannot imagine any other way of living or behaving. We have become spiritual zombies, blind and deaf to God and to our neighbours, except to exploit them for our own advantage.

This kind of sleep is truly a curse, and one that we bring upon ourselves. May we never let ourselves be caught in its clutches! Physical sleep is a blessing, but only because it helps us to be physically alert afterwards. Spiritual sleep is no blessing at all. What does it mean to be spiritually awake?—It means to be in the state of grace, but many people are confused as to what that means. Some think that if they have a hot argument with someone and they feel upset they are out of the state of grace and are unfit to receive communion. An excited argument may well leave you upset, but it is not a breach of charity and does not amount to a mortal sin. Only a mortal sin can take us out of the state of grace.
Paul tells us what the state of grace is like. It is to be joined with Jesus Christ, who fills us with the gifts of the Spirit, to keep us steady and without blame until the day of his coming. He nourishes this grace within us by providing us with teachers and preachers who enlighten and encourage us, and above all he gives us his own body and blood as nourishment for the health of our body and soul.

God has worked wonders with us. As Isaiah says, he tore open the heavens and came down, to live with us on earth. He rescued us from sin and brought us to life.

We thank God for the blessing of a good night's sleep. But today's Gospel blames the servants for enjoying that very blessing. It sees sleep as a sin, a curse, a disease. How?

There are many kinds of sleep. The one which lets us wake up in the morning refreshed and alive is a blessing. There is another which is pathological—a sleeping sickness which makes a person go around like a zombie and never wake up fresh and alert.

That is on the physical plane. On the spiritual plane there is a similar kind of sleeping sickness, a sleep that dulls our minds and keeps us from being aware of God or anything spiritual.

How do we contract this spiritual sleeping sickness?—One thing is sure, it does not descend on us from the environment or an outside agent. We are the ones who anaesthetize ourselves into this sleep.

How?—By committing any mortal sin. Sin pricks us like a wasp and leaves a venom that leads to more sin until it entrenches itself as a habit. We then become like the old dog that cannot be taught a new trick. We are fixed in our ways and cannot imagine any other way of living or behaving. We have become spiritual zombies, blind and deaf to God and to our neighbours, except to exploit them for our own advantage.

How can anyone get into a state of mortal sin? St. Augustine distinguishes between higher and lower reason. Higher reason is judging things from a divine perspective. Lower reason is judging things from a merely human perspective. We need to combine the two.

If we lose sight of the divine perspective, our higher reason slumbers, and we are in a spiritual stupor. In this state we can make serious mistakes of judgment, such as yielding to the pressure of opinion around us rather than following our conscience, or by giving way to despair when we do not see things going our way. Once we give up on God, any sin can take over our lives.

But when our higher reason is alert, we see things as God sees them. That gives us strength in the face of opposition, and joy when things seem to fall apart, because we are aware that God loves and cares for us. That is being spiritually awake.

God has worked wonders with us. As Isaiah says, he tore open the heavens and came down, to live with us on earth. He rescued us from sin and brought us to life. Do we ever think of that? Do we appreciate it?

In this life we do get tired and weary and need to sleep. But let us never grow weary of the God who made us, who loves us, who has prepared an eternity of happiness for us. Let us never give up and betray him. Stay awake!

Banks have been shut down by Central Bank, university study centres closed by NUC, various pharmaceutical and food processing plants locked up by NAFDAC. In each case a government supervisory agency sent a visitation panel to investigate and make a judgment.

Nigeria is in distress and some people talk openly of a "failed state", or dismantling and disbanding the Federation. The symptoms are too many to enumerate. In the end God himself will come and make a judgement. His own visitation will expose the root of all our troubles, troubles found not only in Nigeria, but throughout the world. The root of these troubles is sin, mortal sin, which replaces love of God and neighbour with contempt for God and exploitation of neighbour.

The writing is on the wall. We have been warned. Any institution or person expecting a visitation will try to put everything right before the visitation panel arrives.

But in trying to put their house in order, many people find the task too big and get discouraged. For me to move a mountain or fill a valley!—I would need ten life-times of shovelling to get the job done. To get ready for a visitation, especially a divine one?—I cannot do it alone. I need assistance—someone to come in and advise me, and not only advise me, but actually to help me carry out the major rehabilitation of my life that is required.

That is why, before the coming of Christ as judge, he first comes as a Saviour. Yes, Jesus is our teacher and best adviser. But he is more than that. He is the chief contractor in the building of our spiritual life. By his word of command, we can bulldoze the mountains in our lives and fill in the valleys—That is to overcome intractable habits of sin, to repair shattered relationships, to make our lives productive and useful to others.

Although Christ is of such stature that we are not worthy to stoop and loosen his sandals for him, he has the mind of God, as Peter says, "being patient with all, wanting nobody to be lost, and everybody to be brought to change his ways." And, as Isaiah says, "he is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms..."

At his second coming Christ will reveal his work of grace in our lives and give us our eternal reward. At the same time, he will reveal the fraud and bankruptcy of those who would not accept his teachings or his divine help, and declare them disqualified for the final cup.

But for the present moment of grace, he is coming as our powerful insider, to put our lives in order and help us qualify to enter eternal life. Whether they accept him or not, on this earth all mankind shall have seen the salvation of God.

EFCC is targeting many officials, including Ribadu. NUC has been disaffiliating a number of schools, NAFDAC has shut down "My Pikin" and other pharmaceutical and food processing plants. In each case a government supervisory agency sent a visitation panel to investigate and make a judgment.

Nigeria is in distress and some people talk openly of a "failed state", or dismantling and disbanding the Federation. The symptoms are many. Think of the daily armed robbery in Ibadan the past two weeks. In the end God himself will come and make a judgement. His own visitation will expose the root of all our troubles, troubles found not only in Nigeria, but throughout the world—with financial collapse as the latest symptom. The root of these troubles is sin, mortal sin, which replaces love of God and neighbour with contempt for God and exploitation of neighbour. The writing is on the wall. We have been warned. Any institution or person expecting a visitation will try to put everything right before the visitation panel arrives.

But in trying to put their house in order, many people find the task too big and get discouraged. For me to move a mountain or fill a valley!—I would need ten life-times of shovelling to get the job done. To get ready for a visitation, especially a divine one?—I cannot do it alone. I need assistance—someone to come in and advise me, and not only advise me, but actually to help me carry out the major rehabilitation of my life that is required.

That is why, before the coming of Christ as judge, he first comes as a Saviour. Yes, Jesus is our teacher and best adviser. But he is more than that. He is the chief contractor in the building of our spiritual life. By his word of command, we can bulldoze the mountains in our lives and fill in the valleys—That is to overcome intractable habits of sin, to repair shattered relationships, to make our lives productive and useful to others.

Although Christ is of such stature that we are not worthy to stoop and loosen his sandals for him, he has the mind of God, as Peter says, "being patient with all, wanting nobody to be lost, and everybody to be brought to change his ways." And, as Isaiah says, "he is like a shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms..."

At his second coming Christ will reveal his work of grace in our lives and give us our eternal reward. At the same time, he will reveal the fraud and bankruptcy of those who would not accept his teachings or his divine help. At that time there will be no bail-out for failures.

But for the present moment of grace, he is coming as our powerful insider, to put our lives in order and help us qualify to enter eternal life. Whether they accept him or not, on this earth all mankind shall have seen the salvation of God.

I was at a meeting last week, waiting for a friend. By the time he came, the meeting was over. Go-slow caught him. Many things frustrate travel: road-blocks, potholes, armed robbers, Boko Haram. Sometimes we take a bush-path. Sometimes we just stay at home.

Though he is present every moment, the Lord is on his way, for many more moments of grace, until his final visit, when our lives, our society, roll to a conclusion.

Christmas is more than cake, carols and home-coming. It is Jesus' visit, as an infant, inviting us to lift him, embrace him, and make him our own.

When he first came, what did he meet? —No room in the inn, Herod's soldiers out to kill him.

He is on his way, coming to us. Is the road open? If it is not, as in go-slows, maybe we blame others. See the corruption, crime, cheating, all around us. How can he reach us through all that? —Don't worry. He got through to the shepherds, and to the Magi.

Let others block the road. He passes through, as he passed through locked doors. Only we ourselves can block his road, and that by sin.

On Christmas, he is not coming in a jeep, with siren blowing, and whips at the windows. Mary and Joseph are trecking, or at best they find an okada. What will they find at our gate? —A "no vacancy" sign?, a gateman saying "Try again tomorrow"?

If the gateman does open, what is Jesus looking for? We can tell him, "My father is a Catholic, my grandfather is a Catholic, my brother is a priest, my uncle is a bishop." —That will make no impression.

Jesus is looking for two things: (1) repentance —that is, a complete break from mortal sin, and (2) the fruits of repentance. These are acts of goodness, using our talents in God's service.

Who can repent, who can produce fruits of repentance, without God's help, without the grace of Christ's suffering and death? — No one. The disciples of John the Baptist, who produced fruits of repentance, had an advance share in this grace.

Christ baptized us with the Holy Spirit. How does that affect us? Baptism planted the fire of his love in our hearts, and put grace unlimited at our disposal. We have the sacraments and prayer, Confession and Communion —all we need to grow, and produce good fruit, as he expects.

Don't keep him waiting. Psalm 24 says: "Lift high your gates, and the King will enter." If you welcome him, no one can stand in his way, or block his plans for you.

"I am the greatest" was the boast of the boxer Muhammad Ali. Maybe none of us would say that about ourselves, but few people run away from recognition and praise, and many spend their lives chasing after it. For John the Baptist the chase was in the opposite direction: "He must become greater, I must become less" (Jn 3:30).

There stands among you a greater one. In comparison to his dignity, all our honours, all our accomplishments, all that people praise us for, add up to nothing. He is not only the greatest man that ever lived; he is also the eternal Son of God come on earth.

Why then did he come among us? Was it to gather to himself all honour, glory and praise, and leave us in total dishonour, disgrace and blame? He himself, like John the Baptist, was not interested in human honour and praise. For one thing, knowing what is in people, he did not trust himself to them when they cheered him at the Jerusalem Passover (Jn 2:23-25), and again when they wanted to grab him and make him their king, he fled to a hills alone (Jn 6:15).

Nor was his coming a question of "up, up Jesus, down with the rest of us." John the Baptist later explains that he is like the best man to Jesus the bridegroom (Jn 3:29); the bride is the Church, all of us, whom Jesus calls to share not an earthly dignity but a divine one.

John the Baptist turned down the titles he was offered to claim. He first rightly rejected claim to be the Christ. Secondly, he denied that he was Elijah, who was taken up in a fiery chariot and expected to return, even though Gabriel told Zechariah that the boy John the Baptist would go forth with the spirit and power of Elijah (Lk 1:17), and Jesus testified that Elijah, meaning John the Baptist, has already come and they treated him as they liked, by killing him (Mk 9:13). Thirdly, John denied that he was "the Prophet", that is, the one promised by Moses (Dt 18:18), which properly refers to Christ, although Jesus also stated that John was "a prophet and more than a prophet" (Mt 11:9; Lk 7:26).

John would only claim the title of "a voice crying in the wilderness," which Isaiah had prophesied. John felt both highly honoured and highly overawed to be this voice, the voice of the best-man, preparing the way and ushering in the bridegroom, his baptism with the Holy Spirit, the kingdom of God, the Church, the New Covenant. He was overawed at the greatness of this world-shaking drama; he was honoured to be part of it.

For us too, belonging to Christ is our greatest honour. If we also honour and praise people for their human accomplishments, that is to let them know that what they are doing is appreciated, and to encourage them to continue. And if in our CVs we blow our own trumpet, that is to make our talents available to others — but always with the realization that there stands among us One far greater than ourselves, and our highest honour is to be privileged to be part of his company.

"The last shall be first." John deferred to Jesus: "He is greater than I," both as man and as God. Therefore Jesus proclaimed him "the greatest born of women" (Mt 11:11) —in the Old Testament.

We ourselves, like John the Baptist, are precursors of Jesus. Our job is to announce him, by words and deeds. If we don't call attention to ourselves, but to him, he will honor us.

The Mass illustrates this. Unlike non-Catholic worship, where the preacher's personality and performance dominates, the Mass is like a drama, where the priest acts the part of Christ. It does not matter who the priest is; his personality fades to the background. He must prepare, yes, but he doesn't preach his own message, or by his own authority, but in the name of Christ' Church. In the Consecration, he fades out completely. "This is my body." —It is not the priest's body, but that of Christ speaking in him. Christ is first and foremost.

Maybe you object: The first shall be last. If Jesus is first, he will end up in the last place. —Jesus is first, by his divine nature. But he "humbled himself as man, obeying unto death, death on a cross. Therefore God exalted him." (Phil 2:7-9). So even Jesus gives us an example: "If I, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash each other's feet" (Jn 13:14).

Jesus, like John, is an example of self-effacement, ultimately in death. Baptism is a kind of death, leading to resurrection. John's baptism, with water for repentance, anticipated Jesus' baptism, with water and the Holy Spirit, for the forgiveness of sin. John's baptism in blood, under Herod, anticipated Jesus' baptism in blood, on the cross. "There is a baptism I must still receive," he said, "and what constraint I am under until it is completed!" (Lk 12:50).

After Jesus laid down his life, God exalted him. John the Baptist, and all who looked forward to Jesus' coming, did not fade away, but entered with him to eternal life. We likewise, who follow Christ, will not fade away, but he will present us to Father.

Even now, as we defer to Christ, "the light of the world" (Jn 8:12; 9:5), he turns around to call us "the light of the world" (Mt 5:14). He is the first, original light. That light he shares with us, and asks us to let it shine.
Our light does not detract from his, but publicizes it. In a happy family, parents wish their children to succeed, more than they did, and siblings rejoice at each others' accomplishments. Likewise, in Jesus' kingdom there is no rivalry, no jealousy. All are happy to see each other shine. That is why we honor the saints, and Mary, who outshines us all.
God noticed her humility. That is why all generations call her blessed. The last shall be first.

"No one can see me and live," God told Moses (Ex 33:20). Who can touch a high-tension electric cable and not be electrocuted? To tap such a line we use a step-down transformer.

Mary conceived in her womb the Son of God. God came to her so calmly—without thunder and lightning, so gently—not without her permission and consent, so smoothly—without removing her virginity, that heretics over the centuries have proposed that God did not come to her with the full power of his divinity, but came in a stepped-down manner, in a Jesus who was wondrously full of grace more than anyone else could be, but not as the Jesus of our Faith: God himself undiluted.

The angel calmly greeted Mary: favoured, imbued and radiant with grace, and calmed her fear by announcing that it was with God that she found favour, before God she stood radiant.
The angel gently announced God's proposal that she should become the mother of Jesus, the mother of the everlasting Messiah-king, the mother of God. And the angel gently explained how she would remain a virgin, while the Holy Spirit formed, as it were by cloning, the child in her womb.
The angel finally smoothed the way for Mary's understanding and consent by telling her what God had done for her cousin Elizabeth: "Let it be to me according to your word." "Blessed is she who believed," who first conceived Christ in her heart by faith and love before conceiving him in her womb.
Each of us has been visited by an angel, in the form of our parents, our teachers, our catechists, our priests or others, who have introduced us to the Christ knocking on our door, to be admitted into our hearts as Mary welcomed him into her own.
Mary continued to treasure Jesus in her heart right up to his death, resurrection and ascension and on to her own death and assumption. After conceiving Jesus in our hearts by faith and baptism, have we likewise treasured his presence, kept our baptismal innocence, or quickly recuperated it after dropping it, with the prospect of finishing our life in his grace and rising to new life with him?

The final angel-annunciation will take place when the angels blow the trumpets in the sky preluding Jesus' coming on the clouds to judge the living and the dead. At that moment history will give way to eternity, the drama begun at creation will have reached its culmination, the serpent-crushing son promised to Eve will hand over his universal kingdom to his Father. The royal house of David will be established in the heavenly Jerusalem. There we will be gathered with the angel, with Mary, with the Son she welcomed into the world.

Nigerians deny themselves the enjoyments of life saving cash to build a house in the home village. Some finish it only at the time of their retirement or never get to enjoy it; others, like David, are lucky finish their house early on, and then are inspired to spend their money on something big for God.

Whether we build a house for ourselves or not, whenever we make ourselves available for God's interests, he reciprocates beyond our wildest dreams. King David, by God's grace, succeeded in subduing his enemies, bringing peace and prosperity to his kingdom, and built a fine house for himself. But he was disturbed because there was no fitting home for God in his kingdom, no Temple Jerusalem. So he made up his mind to construct a Temple.

Over to the Gospel. We see that Mary, by God's grace, had overcome the enemy of mankind, Satan, by her immaculate conception (Rev 12). From that moment her own house was at peace, and her mind was totally focused on God and on doing what would please him.

David and Mary had both made their offer to do something great for God. How did God reciprocate?

In the case of David, we see that his offer to build a Temple, like Abraham's offer to sacrifice his son, was refused. Instead, God assured David that he would be with him in all his undertakings, defeat his enemies, and make his name great. Moreover God would build him a house and kingdom that would last forever.

In the case of Mary, her comprehensive offer of herself to God was not refused. She reiterated her "yes" to the angel Gabriel, and became the Temple of the divine Word of God become an infant in her womb. Her generosity to God was thereby reciprocated. Her son would be great, and rightly be called the Son of God. He would be the final and everlasting occupant of the throne of David, which had been empty for over four hundred years.

Christ the King is the heir to David's throne, great beyond David's wildest dreams. The Holy Spirit miraculously brought about the conception of Jesus from the Virgin Mary, making him not merely a great man, but the very Son of God, his humanity being united to the eternal Word of God in one hypostasis or being.

Such a king and such a kingdom cannot come from man, but is the work of God. In the age of grace this kingdom is the Church on earth, lasting to the end of time; in the age of glory it is the Church Triumphant, lasting forever.

This mystery was kept secret for ages, as Paul points out (Rom 16:25). It was hinted at, even in Genesis 3:15: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel." The mystery was made clearer by the prophets, but not fully revealed until the coming of Jesus in flesh. The only further revelation we expect is the vision of God in glory.

While we are on this earth, if we don't rent, we have to build houses to shelter ourselves and our families. But if we are generous with God as David and Mary were, God's response will be greater than any Christmas present we have ever received.

"Let your yes be yes, and your no be no" (James 5:12). God, through Gabriel, made a request of Mary. Mary said "yes", and never went back on her word.

The request was to bear a son, God's own son, and name him Jesus. The eternal Son of the Father had no divine mother. He took flesh from a human mother, but had no human father. The Father sent his eternal Word - into the world of flesh and blood.

God asked Mary to bear a son, to be his mother till he died, then to be mother of John, and of the Church, to the end of time. She said "yes" to God, through Gabriel.

That "yes" was tested, through trial after trial, throughout her life: no room in the inn, an escape into Egypt, missing Jesus in Jerusalem, watching her son die, while the disciples ran away. She never went back on her word.

Many, when God asks, never say yes. They don't want to make a commitment, whether it be marriage, or religious life, or a contract or a promise. Maybe they experiment, put their foot in the water, but never enter. May you not be of their number, failing in big ways.

Others say yes, but when the going gets tough, lose interest, turn off their smile, and retire into a corner. Or else they cut corners, and cheat. Or else, they call it quits, and withdraw altogether. All of us fail in small ways, some in a big way. May we not be of their number.

By shirking the role that God gave them, such people are a disappointment to God. They are a disappointment to the Church, and to those who depend on them. Everyone suffers because of them, particularly those close to them. Most of us, one time or another, meet a major disappointment. Someone does not keep a promise; someone walks out of a commitment.

Jesus experienced this: Judas betrayed him. Peter denied him. The others ran away. The crowd shouted "Crucify him." Herod condemned him. Through all this, a sword pierced Mary's heart. That did not make her, or her son, give up, or slacken. Paul explains: "If we are faithless, God is faithful still, for he cannot disown his own self" (2 Tim 2:13).

So, in his message to the bishop of Smyrna —in Rev 2:10, Jesus says: "Do not be afraid of anything that you are going to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will face an ordeal for ten days. Remain faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life."

We have our baptismal promises. We have made other commitments. God expects us to be faithful, even when others disappoint us. We have the example of Christ and Mary. They are there to help us.

Whatever happens, let our yes be yes.

For a new year we pray the triple blessing: (1) May the Lord bless you, (2) may he shine his face on you, (3) may he bring you peace.

That blessing, which God taught Moses, the shepherds received from heaven, as first, they heard the angels announce God's blessing, secondly, they saw his glory shine on them, thirdly, they were offered the peace they would find in the new-born Christ.

That blessing was reenacted when the shepherds visited the child Jesus: (1) As they spoke about what they had seen and heard, the heavenly blessing re-echoed on themselves and on Mary. (2) Instead of God's glory shining in the sky, they saw the true divine light of the world in the child before them. (3) Their hearts were filled with a peace and joy which they carried with them when they went away.

This is the triple blessing that originates from God the Father, who first pronounced this blessing by speaking his eternal Word. Secondly he manifested his glory in the Son he sent for us to see, hear and touch. Thirdly, he gave us peace by adopting us as his sons and implanting his Spirit in us.

As God poured his blessing on us in this triple way, so it is for us to join in praising and blessing him in return in union with Jesus and Mary.

That is made possible by our baptism, which is the Christian replacement of Jewish circumcision. In baptism the blood of Christ cleanses us (Hb 9:14), the blood he first shed on his eighth day, in the rite of circumcision, which was also a naming ceremony. As the child was called Jesus, the Saviour, because he really was so, likewise in baptism we are called the children of God because that is what we have really become.

And so the Spirit of God's Son, which he sends into our hearts, makes us cry out "Abba, Father," because that is what God really is to us. The Spirit enables us to praise the Father because He reveals to us the mystery of God's Son. He enables us to treasure ponder this mystery the way Mary treasured and pondered it in her heart.

He also enables us to discover Mary as the self-effacing facilitator of God's action, the one who permitted God to become man and nursed him into this physical world of people, thereby nursing all of us into the spiritual world of God.

The shepherds heard the angels praising God for the birth of Christ, but it was only after they saw the child with Mary that they could make the Gloria their own song of praise. As adopted children of our heavenly Father, redeemed by Christ, we are all members of the extended Holy Family and children of Mary, the Mother of God and our mother and matriarch.

A family album is worth showing people. You see baby pictures, first communion, birthdays, confirmation, graduation, weddings. From the album of the Holy Family, the Church today has pulled out, for us to see, a snapshot of the Presentation.

Jesus had already been named. This was a Jewish ceremony of dedication. Forty days after birth, the child, received from God, was given back to him. Then, upon the offering of a substitute—in this case a pair of doves or pigeons—the child was entrusted to the parents for upbringing.

In the case of Jesus, Mary and Joseph were certainly thankful for the gift of this child from God. The child Jesus was God's gift as any other child is, but in a much fuller way. He was God's gift of himself, in the person of his eternal Word, now uniting to himself a human nature in the form of an infant. This child, embodying both our vulnerable humanity and the eternal divine nature, is what Mary and Joseph presented to God in the Temple.

God received this child as a pleasing offering which would suffice to redeem the human race even if Jesus never died on the cross. God entrusted him back to Mary and Joseph and through Simeon and Anna gave them the clear understanding that the child would be dedicated to his heavenly Father's business, and they would have to let go of him as he went about this work of salvation, as a light to the nations and the glory of Israel.

God also made it clear through Simeon that many years later the child would be presented as an offering again, that time to be accepted, as Jesus was crucified and his Mother experienced the pain as a sword going through her soul.

The Presentation was a momentous event in the Holy Family. They had already gone through hard times: first as Joseph, Mary's fiancé was getting ready to repudiate her when he discovered her pregnancy which he could not account for. Then they had to attend to the birth of Jesus in a roadside shed. And more hard times lay in store for them: the flight into Egypt to escape Herod's slaughter, the strain of losing the child on a visit to Jerusalem, and the strain of opposition and plots to kill him during his public life, and finally his death on the cross.

At that time Joseph, who had looked after the family for many years and trained Jesus in carpentry, had been gathered with his fathers. And Jesus, as a dutiful son, put his Mother in the care of the Apostle John.

So the Presentation encapsulates the collective lives of all three members of the Holy Family: their love and care for one another in good times and bad, and their awareness that they are not a nuclear family closed in on itself, but have a mission to bring all of mankind into their family, the family of God, the Church.

The Presentation is a scene that evokes a flashback to Mary and Joseph's childhood, their betrothal and the birth of Jesus. It evokes a fast-forward to the public life of Jesus, his death and resurrection, and provides us with a binocular look at his coming at the end of time to bring to a conclusion his work as the Alpha and Omega of history.

As we gaze at this snapshot of the Holy Family, we thank and praise God with Simeon and Anna. We follow the Holy Family in their return to Nazareth, and invite them to come into our homes, to replay their lives in our own work, prayer, learning, helping one another and others, so that our family album will be something we will be happy to invite everyone to open and browse through.

1st Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2009

Jesus is an actor. He starred not in a movie, not in a theatre, but in real life, in a drama on the world stage. The drama is still going on, and we are co-actors. Today's gospel presents us with a memorable clip of that drama, a clip that reverberates in our own lives today.

The actors: Jesus, Satan, the wild beasts, the angels.

The scene: the Jordanian desert.

The action: Jesus alone contends with Satan, while the beasts and the angels look on.

Flashback: To the garden of Eden with all its beasts under obedience to Adam. Satan enters, defeats Adam and Eve. God expels them from that Paradise and sets angels to guard its closed entrance. Lions and other wild animals revolt and threaten the lives of the children of Adam and Eve.

Fast forward: Pause to see Noah and his family, alone faithful to God among a race of corrupt people. Water floods the earth and drowns everybody, as wild animals obediently follow Noah into the ark.

Return to the main scene: Jesus, in Mark's brief description, wastes no time repelling Satan's temptation. The wild beasts become Jesus tame companions, and angels abandon their guard posts to look after this man who had come to re-open Paradise in a new heavenly location.

Audience involvement: We are all children of Adam and poor banished children of Eve. But Christ made us children of God through the water of baptism.

For the moment we are still outside Paradise, in a wilderness full of threats to our human life and our life as children of God. There is Satan, still prowling through the world, seeking the ruin of souls. There are the children of Satan, corrupt in mind and heart, who tempt you and threaten you to make you join them. And there are the wild beasts. The wild beasts are our passions, the flesh revolting against the spirit by wrong desires, avenging anger, lazy depression, reckless defiance.

The battle is on, but we do not fight alone. The grace of Christ, the example and encouragement of the saints, the assistance of our guardian angels—they are all there to lead us to victory over sin.

A victory when? A victory after our death?—That is too late. A victory in our old age?—That is squandering our life. A victory now?—Even if we have to struggle for a while, this victory is a matter of urgency, with no time to waste and no half measures. Holiness is not something to joke about.

This Lent, the Spirit has carried us into a desert to wrestle with Satan and overcome him. The time has come for us to join the company of angels, to tame the wild beasts inside us, to renew our repentance, to believe the Good News, to secure our own position in the Kingdom of God.
We are co-actors with Jesus in a do-or-die real-life drama. May his victory be ours.

1st Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2012

Jesus, an infant in the crib, or Jesus, hanging on the cross. Can we ever have enough of either? The Christmas mystery still echoes. Yet that was only a starter. He became man for one reason, to die and rise for us.

Whether it's Christmas or Easter, Jesus has the same call: Repent, believe in me, I am your blessing with no limit.

In Lent we focus on Jesus, and never take our eyes off him. Yet other information rumbles from below. Our conscience points out flaws, cracks, leaks, signs calling for maintenance. We become aware that we have faults, that we must correct them. It is urgent!

The temptation then comes: Stop looking at Jesus, and look at yourself. Figure out a solution. You can do it, on your own. Give into that temptation, and you are finished. Your guilt, your weakness will overwhelm you. You will give into despair, and wind up in the gutter.

What should you do then? —God has given us both faith and reason. They are distinct, but work hand in hand. Faith keeps our sights on God. Reason, as St. Thomas Aquinas explains, is tailored for earthly things, the visible world. But through visible things, we can discern the invisible, their Source and Lord.

But some, as Paul complains to the Romans (ch. 1), are so engrossed with this world, that they never lift their eyes, to see what is above them. With their vision earth-bound, their aspirations are earth-bound. To exclude God, is to degrade humanity, to compound our problems.

Our model is Jesus. He walked on earth, labored and rested, listened and talked, fully aware of his surroundings. But, even on the cross, he never lost sight of his Father.

Yet, "life on earth is a struggle," says Job (7:1), a place of temptation. What is temptation? —It is something good, something that attracts us. I tell Fr. Peter, "Can I tempt you with some chocolate?" But sometimes there is a confict. This chocolate will hurt my health, or this money was stolen. Temptation, in its ordinary meaning, is a good with a hitch, a good conflicting with a higher good.

Where does temptation come from? —The catechism tells us, "the world, the flesh and the devil." We just heard, "Satan tempted Jesus." Yes, Satan does tempt, particularly to pride, and stubborness in error. He told Eve, "Eat this fruit, and you will become like gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5). With Jesus, Satan failed.

Jesus was with the wild beasts. These symbolize the flesh, unruly passions, like lust, or anger and resentment —which is a craving for "sweet revenge". With Jesus, these beasts were perfectly tame.

The world stands for other people, bad companions, bad leaders, bad entertainers etc., who would lead us astray. In the desert, Jesus was alone. Back in society, he was the exemplar of freedom. No one could hijack his mind, or make him his pawn or playtoy. He was the Truth, he spoke the truth, and lived the truth, without fear of man.

Where does sin come from? —The world, the flesh and the devil, no matter how hard they try, cannot force us to sin. Sin comes from within, from ourselves alone, with no one else to blame.

But Jesus came to call sinners. He called them to repent, and to believe in him. What is repentance? —Repentance is regret for sin committed, together with a firm purpose of amendment, that is, not to return to the sin, and to repair the damage caused. Repentance applies mainly to mortal sin, where it means a return to the Lord.

Venial sin, however, does not separate us from the Lord. As Jesus told Peter, "You are clean already" (Jn 13:10). But he insisted: "If I don't wash your feet, you have no part with me" (Jn 13:5). So repentance is for all of us.

We confront our sins and weaknesses, take concrete steps to amend them, while never losing sight of Jesus, and the blessing of his eternal company.

2nd Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2006/2009

You are at the Lagos airport waiting to board your flight. An announcement: "This is the first call for boarding Flight 604 to Abuja. We regret to announce that Flight 503 that left an hour ago has crashed. But we want to assure you that Belview 604 has been thoroughly checked and cleared for safety. Please proceed to boarding gate 3." — Will you proceed?

The cemetery at Oke Are tells a story. A hundred years ago SMA Fathers were coming to this part of the world to bring the Catholic Faith. Most of them succumbed to malaria and died before the age of 30. In spite of the danger, they kept coming, and some of them lived long and successfully planted the Church here. — If you were in Ireland in those days, would you have joined them in coming here?

Abraham was told to leave home, to find his way to an unknown land, to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Did he hesitate? — Because he did not, God promised him uncountable descendants that would overwhelm Planned Parenthood. Moreover, this blessing will spill over to include all nations.

In Galatians 3:16 Paul correctly remarks about this promise: "Scripture does not say "and to your descendants," as if it applied many, but as if it applied only to one, "and to your descendant" [in Hebrew "zera`ka"], that is, to Christ." — "All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your Descendant, as a reward for your obedience."

On the mountain top, before Peter, James and John, that Descendant is revealed for who he really is. Moses, on behalf of the Law; Elijah, on behalf of the Prophets, by their presence declare his human pedigree: "This is the descendant promised to Abraham, God's blessing for all nations." Thereupon, enveloped by the cloud standing for the Holy Spirit, the Father declares his divine pedigree: "This is my Son, the Beloved. Listen to him."

Jesus was on a mission: to come down from heaven, to become man, to suffer and die, to rise again. The decision to send him was made from eternity; his decision to accept was also from eternity. His decision to accept grew stronger as the cross loomed nearer and larger. In the crushing moment of Gethsemane, his decision was final: "Not my will, but yours be done." — And so he was obedient even to death, death on a cross.

To what purpose? To save us from sin, to admit us to the blessings of his heavenly kingdom. This is another call made from eternity, reiterated at our baptism, intensified at every moment of grace in our lives. For us too it is a matter of carrying our cross daily in the footsteps of Christ. That means keeping our lives pure; it means dedicating ourselves seriously and wholeheartedly to our family and professional responsibilities; it means carrying the torch of God's love and the truth of our Faith wherever we go.

We are once again in the season of Lent. Once again we hear the call, "Come, reform your lives, take up your cross and follow me." In taking this route, whether we suffer much or little in the process, whether we meet a painful or a painless death, the consequent blessings are great beyond all proportion.

Proceed to the boarding gate. Are you coming along?

2nd Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2012

Do we have a problem, and need help? We may search far and wide, but the one who can help us, the one with the expertise, may be next to us. Only we don't know his potential.

Jesus' disciples followed him on many outings, heard his preaching, and saw his miracles. They knew he was from God. Peter had already professed, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Mt 16:16). Up to then, they saw God at work through him. On Mount Tabor, the three saw God at work in him.

Jesus took Peter, James and John, his inner circle, up Mount Tabor. The disciples knew Jesus' habit, that he took time off to pray, away from the crowds, sometimes the entire night. Settling into the silence and darkness, the three watched Jesus. He had given them instructions on prayer, but also taught them by example.

They could see him absorbed in prayer, in communion with his Father. They could see his actions, and maybe hear some words, like someone talking on the phone. But the other end of the line, they could not hear. What was going on? The disciples could only guess.

Suddenly, the communication went beyond speaker-phone. The disciples witnessed a display, in sound and sight, of both ends. What is more, that display uncovered a deeper mystery, the Son's eternal union with the Father, whose voice declared him his beloved Son, and their union with the Spirit, shining through the bright cloud. Moses and Elijah enter the picture, Moses representing the Law, and Elijah the Prophets. In promulgating the ten commandments, Moses was a spokesman of the Father. Elijah, in his prophetic words and wonders, was a spokesman of the Holy Spirit.

The Law pointed to Christ by actions, by killing the Passover lamb, and smearing its blood on the door. That spared the Jewish first-born from death, in the final punishment to hit Egypt. As the Law prescribed, every year the Jews celebrated the Passover. They sacrificed a lamb, both in commemoration of that event, and in anticipation of Christ's sacrifice, which delivered us from eternal death.

The prophets pointed to Christ by words. Isaiah did so best, in his descriptions of the suffering servant. The prophets themselves suffered. Their words, together with their experience, vividly portray Christ, who suffered death to give us life, and spare us the death - that our sins deserved.

Before Tabor, Peter, James and John knew Christ, but had little idea of his power. On Tabor, they got a glimpse of it, a glimpse of his inner self, a divine person, in union with the Father, and with the Holy Spirit. They got a glimpse of his destiny, in the flesh, to lay down his life for us, and to rise again for us.

Peter wanted to build three tents, to prolong the experience. But Jesus terminated the instruction —enough for one day. For now they understood this much: Jesus is equally at home with God - and with man.

They still had questions, about rising from the dead, wondering what Jesus meant. Later they would learn: Jesus has power over life and death.

We may wonder about our own destiny, short-term and long-term. Jesus is there to help us, we should know. What many do not know, he helps us through the Church, and sometimes through the person next to us.

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2006/2009

If you enter any hospital or clinic for treatment, the first thing they do is take your blood pressure. Your blood pressure indicates your state of vitality.

In the history of the Jews, the indication of their vitality is the condition of the Temple. If the Temple was up and running, the people were in a state of peace and prosperity. If the Temple was in ruins, the people were also in a state of ruin, as during the Babylonian exile.

If the Temple is full of money-changers and marketeers, it is in a state of pollution, as the Prophet Zechariah warned, "There will be no more traders in the Temple of Yahweh Sabaoth when that day comes" (14:21). A state of pollution is half-way to a state of ruin. Jesus drove out the money-changers and marketeers, showing leniency only to the dove sellers, who catered to the poor. When challenged, he could say, "Let them come back and pollute the Temple, let them even destroy it. I will rebuild it in three days."

Here we find a deft shift of thought, pointing to three key New Testament teachings: (1) Jesus is greater than the Temple (Mt 12:6), (2) Jesus' body is the true Temple, as today's passage points out, (3) We, as members of his body, are also the Temple of God (1 Cor 3:16-19).

Pollute this Temple, as did those who plotted against Jesus, who mocked him and crowned him with thorns. Destroy this Temple, as they did who crucified him. And I will rebuild it in three days. And he did on Easter morning. Pollute this Temple, members of Jesus' body, by venial sin. Destroy it by mortal sin. If you repent, I will rebuild it at once. And he does, every time the sacrament of baptism or reconciliation is administered.

We heard in today's first reading the promulgation of the ten commandments. Most of these are negative expressions, no-trespass signs to protect the sacred Temple of our soul from enemy encroachment, while a few positive commandments tell us what should occupy us in that Temple: Keep holy the Lord's day; honour your father and your mother.

Unfortunately, by carelessness we often let the Temple of our souls be invaded by all sorts of thoughts, words and deeds that divert us from God or even shut him out altogether.

Yes, God's forgiveness is always available, but besides repentance it presupposes one important step: a firm purpose of amendment. Christ set us an example by driving the encroachers out of the Temple. That was a scene—Jesus angry! "Zeal for your house will devour me."

When it comes to radical decisions affecting our salvation, decisions for God or against him, it is not time to say "Wait now, take it easy, think of the consequences, no need to tear down and rebuild, just patch and manage the way you have been behaving." No, it is time to take the whip, drive out the intruders and, like Governor Fashola in Lagos, knock down the illegal structures.

Like Jesus, never mind people's applause or criticism for what we do. Focus on Christ, who is the wisdom of God showing us how to go about reforming our lives, who is the power of God enabling us to surmount every obstacle.

In the end, take your conscience in for a check-up. If your conscience is clear, the Temple of your soul is in good condition, and you can rest assured that, loving God, everything else will work for your good (Rm 8:28).

3rd Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2011

"What nation is so great, that its gods come so close, as Yahweh does to Israel?" (Dt 4:7). Traditional religion has its shrines. Islam has its mosques. No outsider has free access. No one trespasses, or he faces a mob. The Jewish temple stood out: "The glory of God filled the temple" (1 Kings 8:11).

But God planned to come still closer. "Destroy this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days," said Jesus. "But the temple he referred to - was his body" (Jn 2:19,21). By extension, the Church is his body. So Paul tell each of us, "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor 6:19). Jesus' action today is a warning: Do no profane that temple.

Someone said, "How odd of God to choose the Jews." Yet he did. From Abraham onwards, he worked great wonders for them. In leading them out of Egypt, a cloud guided them by day, which shone with fire by night, a sign of Yahweh's presence. It settled in the Meeting Tent, a portable temple, as the Jews moved through the desert.

Many years later, David complained that he had a palace, but Yahweh was still in a tent. It was left to his son, Solomon, to build the first temple. At the dedication, a cloud filled it (1 Kg 8:10), indicating God's presence.

God's presence, however, hinged on the people's faithfulness. Jeremiah enveighs: "Do not trust in false invocations: Yahweh's temple, Yahweh's temple, this is Yahweh's temple'... Are you to steal and murder?... and stand before me in this house—which bears my name—and say: We are safe'... while, for you, it is a den of thieves?" (Jer 7:4,8,9,10,11).

That is what Jesus said, when he cleansed the temple, as Matthew relates: "My house shall be called a house of prayer (= Is 56:7), but you have made it a bandits' den" (Mt 21:13). —or, as John puts it: "This is my Father's house. Do not make it a shopping center." Which evil was Jesus attacking?

1. First, commerce in the temple impeded prayer. Can you focus on prayer, while hawkers shout "Buy gala, buy groundnuts, bananas", or while a troupe is dancing to "Bam bam balam"? For most Protestants, the church is just a hall, with nothing sacred in it. So, outside service, they greet and chat. Many Catholics imitate them.
2. The second temple abuse was cheating, by inflating prices and exchange rates. The temple was a high-priced supermarket. Jesus reacted, and he will react on judgement day, against those who profane his temple.

The Church, itself God's temple, suffers attacks from outsiders also, like the Madalla bombing. Christ himself suffered torture and crucifixion. But inwardly, those victims, like Christ, were untouched, innocent before God.

When we ourselves profane God's temple, that is worse. We are members of Christ's body. We are temples of the Holy Spirit. Outsiders can kill the body, but not the soul.

Mortal sin forces the Holy Spirit to depart, leaving a profaned temple, a dead member of Christ's body, with dead faith. Christ will resuscitate it, by absolution, when he meets a contrite heart.

Venial sin distracts us from God, but does not separate us. It makes us score low marks, but does not make us fail. Christ will cleanse that too, when we receive communion, and try to do better.

We are on our Lentan journey, following Christ. Where is he leading us? —to Calvary. What is on our mind? Thomas had the right idea: "Let us go and die with him" (Jn 11:16).

Dying with him means focusing on him, on all he expects of us, and evacuating all that opposes that. Then his cloud of glory will fill us. He will say, "This is my child, my temple, in whom I am well pleased.

4th Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2006

In weather, there is such a thing as a prevailing wind. Where will the rain come from? Usually from the southeast, and so we shut the windows on that side of the house but leave the others open. But sometimes the rain comes from a different direction. In God's dealings with us individually or as a nation or with the whole of human history, there is also a prevailing wind—a wind raining blessings and nice things.

But sometimes God's wind can go in a contrary direction, blowing down what we have built up and scattering our plans. That was the case, as the first reading tells us, when the Jews provoked God by their sins and were carried away as slaves to Babylon.

But such contrary wind is exceptional, and before long the prevailing wind of mercy and forgiveness returns, as the Jews were restored to their homeland after 70 years of exile.

If God once destroyed mankind by a flood, sparing only Noah and his ark companions, he put a rainbow in the sky and swore never to do it again.

God makes no discrimination in distributing his gifts of nature. His sun shines on the good and the wicked alike. Water, food, health and wealth are not gifts premised on the good character of the recipient.

But God's love had much more ambitious designs for us than preparing an earthly paradise for us. He had in mind from eternity the altogether precious and surpassing gift of making us sharers in his own divine nature (2 Pt 1:4). That means the gift of sanctifying grace in this life and of the glorious vision of God in the next life.

This love of God is remarkable, first of all because it is God himself who loves us. No one can love us more than God. Secondly, God's love is remarkable because he loved us even when were his enemies, dead in sin; he stooped down and took the initiative of reconciling us to himself (Rm 5:10). Thirdly, his love is remarkable because he gave his only Son to accomplish this reconciliation; the Son who is his own perfect likeness came as man and died for us. Fourthly, his love is remarkable because he is actually bringing to realization his design of transforming us into saints and bringing us to his glorious presence.

In distributing his gifts of grace, God does discriminate. He gives eternal life only to those who believe in him, that is, those who accept his word with love and act on it. Are these Catholics only?

We must remember Jesus' words about outsiders who cast out demons in his name, "Anyone who is not against you is for you" (Lk 9:50). There are those outside the Church who sympathize with the Church and what it stands for, but one thing or another prevents them from taking the step of joining the Church. To these apply the words of Pope John Paul II and Vatican II: "Every man without exception was redeemed by Christ, since Christ is somehow joined to every man, with no exception, even though the person may not be conscious of it" (Redemptor hominis, n. 14).

On the other hand, there are those who reject this redemption. God does not give and cannot give eternal life to those who refuse to refuse to believe in him. They have condemned themselves in advance of his final judgment. Concretely, who are these people? First, there are rabid enemies of the Catholic Church, some of them ex-Catholics. Secondly, there are those who may profess religion, but have no living faith whatsoever because they loot and rape the nation and its citizens, whether collectively or individually, whether outside the law or using the arm of the law. These hate the light and avoid it, for fear their actions should be exposed. Unless they repent, their sentence is already pronounced.

Let us live by the truth we believe in, in broad daylight for all to see, and God's prevailing wind of love and mercy will carry us surely to the light of glory.

4th Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2009

Take awat prosperity, and religion will prosper. God invites, "Come, take possession of a kingdom." But wealth deafens his voice.

So what does God do? He is the supreme media master. He sent his Son in flesh, not merely to walk and talk among us, but to be lifted up on the cross in the outdoor theatre of Calvary. Moreover, he broadcasted this event throughout the world to this day wherever the Eucharist is celebrated. Come, take possession of the kingdom. On our part, distress can dispose us to listen to his invitation. That is because distress reminds us that we are not self-sufficient. Distress makes us look for help from above. Distress also makes us reconsider what true riches are.

That has been true of Nigeria for a long time. It is true of the rest of the world when tragedy strikes. Look at the history of the Jews. When they were unfaithful, God let them suffer at the hands of their enemies. When they woke up, he brought them back from exile. These days, the financial meltdown has made people everywhere realise that they are not self-sufficient, and many of them are turning to the loving God who is more concerned for their true happiness than they are themselves.

God's love is remarkable,

• first of all because it is God himself who loves us. No one can love us more than God.
• Secondly, God's love is remarkable because he loved us even when were his enemies, dead in sin; he stooped down and took the initiative of reconciling us to himself (Rm 5:10).
• Thirdly, his love is remarkable because he gave his only Son to accomplish this reconciliation; the Son who is his own perfect likeness came as man and died for us.
• Fourthly, his love is remarkable because he is actually at work, realizing his design of transforming us into saints and bringing us to his glorious presence. In distributing his gifts of grace, God does discriminate. He gives eternal life only to those who believe in him, that is, those who accept his word with love and act on it. Are these Catholics only?

Remember Jesus' words about outsiders who cast out demons in his name, "Anyone who is not against you is for you" (Lk 9:50). There are those outside the Church who sympathize with the Church and what it stands for, but one thing or another prevents them from taking the step of joining the Church. To these apply the words of Pope John Paul II and Vatican II: "Every man without exception was redeemed by Christ, since Christ is somehow joined to every man, with no exception, even though the person may not be conscious of it" (Redemptor hominis, n. 14).

On the other hand, there are those who reject this redemption. God does not give and cannot give eternal life to those who refuse to believe in him. They have condemned themselves in advance of his final judgment. Concretely, who are these people? First, there are rabid enemies of the Catholic Church, some of them ex-Catholics. Secondly, there are those who may profess religion, but have no living faith whatsoever because they loot and rape the nation and its citizens, whether collectively or individually, whether outside the law or using the arm of the law. These hate the light and avoid it, for fear their actions should be exposed. Unless they repent, their sentence is already pronounced.

Distress may help wake us from spiritual slumber. God's invitation through his Son on the cross is loud and clear. Let us not harden our hearts.

4th Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2012

Why is Mustafa smiling? —Because he expects acquittal, for lack of evidence—as street beggars pray, "Allah ya rufe asiri —May God cover your secret," your sin, that is. In other words, may you not get caught.

Sin loves darkness, it hates EFCC. Remove sin, and light is welcome. Faith is the fruit of repentance.

Jesus is the Light. He urges us to walk in the light, to believe in the light, to become children of the light" (Jn 12:35-36). I hate driving in the dark, because I cannot see the potholes, I cannot see the landmarks, to know where I am.

Light shows us the truth. "What is truth?" asked Pilate. —Truth is the correspondence of the mind with reality. How do we determine the truth? —Whether in the courtroom, or anywhere else, we have two sources: (1) evidence, which we see, and (2) reliable witnesses, whom we hear.

When Jesus said, "The Truth will set you free," which truth did he have in mind? —There is the truth about God, truth about history and science, and truth about ourselves. Jesus did not compartmentalize truth. All truth is from God. So truth about God, and truth about the world, cannot be opposed. "The heavens declare the glory of God." (Ps 19:1).

Similarly, knowing ourselves, and knowing God, cannot be opposed. Jesus set the example when he said, "Who sees me, sees the Father" (Jn 14:9). And Paul says, "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (1 Cor 11:1). All that we are is from him, and should reflect him. So all who see us should see Christ, and through him see the Father.

The problem is, when we look at ourselves, and look around, we see distortion, corruption, and sin. Where is the image of Christ? —Corruption shocks us, but, like any evil, it cannot exist on its own. It is always a parasite of good. The worst sinner remains an image of God —whatever we do to him we do to Christ— but the image is defective.

There are degrees of evil. God save us from mortal sin. But the best of us have venial sins, and many deficiencies. To overlook the good in others, and talk about their deficiencies, that is gossiping.

But we must expose injustice. EFCC conducts investigations; Senate committees do the same. They want the truth. Who ran off with the nation's money? They are finding out, and may get some money back. We wish them well. But is that the truth that will set us free?

God sent his Son to save the world, to draw people to himself, by believing in his Son, and following him. Facing the truth about ourselves, about our own wrongs, is only a starter. We repent, and go to confession, all to meet a greater truth, God's love for us.

But, as the Gospel tells us, some people prefer darkness to light. They want to enjoy their loot. To defend themselves, they blame others, or counter-attack. For them, blame, or conviction, is worse than guilt.

Others have nothing to hide, but do not embrace the truth, or speak the truth, because they fear blame, or penalties, or ostracism, or even death.

Mustapha faces execution, yet he smiles. He thinks he can reverse his conviction, and extinguish the searchlight. We attend Mass, with bombs threatening us, yet we smile. We know that the Light of the world, in whom we believe, is also our Life.

5th Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2006

You finished your first degree. With no employment in sight, you went on for your Master's and are now about to finish your Ph.D. What next? Prospects look bleak. Then suddenly a visitor from Abuja shows up. "We have come across your research and are convinced thatit is just the formula for a breakthrough in national development. We are offering you the position of head of a national research team with a starting salary of 5 million Naira per annum in addition to the usual allowances.

If this is you, would you not be elated?

After 30 years of requisite apprenticeship, Jesus embarked on a preaching campaign in Galillee and Judea. After three years he had little to show: some illiterate not very reliable apostles and a rabble of followers the Gospel tells us (Jn 2:25) he could not trust. His appointed death was nearing, and he could well think all his efforts were a failure.

At that moment there came some visitors from Greece, attracted by the Temple ceremonies but, having heard of Jesus, more attracted to branch and meet him. They could not approach him directly because at that time Jesus' mission was confined to the House of Israel. So they came to Philip, who led them to Andrew. These were apostles destined shortly to carry Christ's presence to the ends of the earth, Greece included.

The non-Jewish Gentile world was the scene of Jesus' most spectacular success, the theatre of his most glorious action on earth. The Greeks who came to see him were the voice of the Gentile world: the voice of North and South America, the voice of Asia and Europe, the voice of Africa, all saying, "Sir, we would like to see Jesus."

This was the signal that the hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified. It was the hour for him to die and be put into the earth like the seed, that is, not to die in vain but to bring forth a rich harvest by his rising again and sending his Spirit at Pentecost. From that moment, the Church sprouted everywhere in the world, and a heavy yield of holy people has been pouring in ever since.

Holiness is a gift of God which involves our transformation into the likeness of Christ. As he risked and laid down his life for us, so we, who are his servants, must be ready for a red martyrdom if he calls us to that, or at least the white martyrdom of investing our life's energy and resources in something that will benefit our neighbours.

5th Sunday of Lent, Year 2: 2012

To make our cause succeed, you must lay down your life. Who is speaking? —A terrorist commander? No, it is Jesus.

In many ways, and for various reasons, people lay down their lives. Jesus' way, and Jesus' reason is unique. For him, eternal life is supreme—never surrender it. Mortal life is good—nurture it, but be prepared to surrender it. Dissolute life is bad—reject it always.

Take the case of a suicide bomber. He kills the wrong enemy (innocent people), to support a wrong cause (tyranny in religious garb), by a wrong means (intended suicide), for a wrong reward (a piece of al-janna delights).

But, you may say, look at Samson, the Old Testament hero. He is the first suicide bomber. —Yet there is a difference. He killed the Philistine ruling council (a real enemy), to liberate his people (a right cause), by pushing the pillars, bringing the roof down on all (collaterally on himself), only to please God (for no created reward).

A sucide bomber, for all his distortion of justice, taunts materialists and hedonists. They are the corrupt ones, in this country and everywhere. They may be Christians, they may be Muslims, or profess another, or no religion.

The suicide bomber taunts: For you, mortal life, with its enjoyments, is supreme. You run away from death, at all cost, with no regard for God's interests, or those of humanity.

Jesus makes the same taunt: "He who loves his life—in this world—will lose it." I set the example, he tells us, as "the grain of wheat that dies, to germinate and produce much fruit. Where I am, my servant will be. He will serve me"—by laying down his life.

On the other hand, Jesus says, "He who hates his life—in this world—will preserve it for eternal life." What is eternal life? —Jesus tells us, in John 17:3, "Eternal life is this: to know you, (Father,) the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." This begins now, in the life of grace, and will culminate in the life of glory.

Not only that, but you "will produce much fruit, fruit that will last" (Jn 15;16). Which kind of fruit?

• The first is forgiveness of sin, once we have died to it.
• The second is the conversion of the Gentiles, typified by the Greeks who visited Jesus. In this regard, Jesus said: "When I am lifted up, I will draw all people to myself"—you and me included.
• The third is glory, as Jesus said, "Now is the hour for the Son of man to be glorified," by dying and entering Resurrection life.

Jesus insisted, in John 10:18, "No one takes it from me; I lay it down of my own free will, and as I have power to lay it down, so I have power to take it up again; and this is the command I have received from my Father."

In letting his enemies cut him down, in the prime of his life, Jesus' human instinct was to turn away, to escape harm. So he said, "My soul is troubled." But he did not give in. Rather than pray for rescue, he said, "For this I came into the world."

How do we, his servants, join him in death?

• First, we die to sin, which distorts life and detroys it. Instead, we cultivate our spiritual and physical health.
• Secondly, we allow grace to work, to produce the fruits God expects.
• Thirdly, we stand ready to die, to surrender our mortal life, when and how he calls us.

It is Jesus speaking: "To bear much fruit, you must die."

Passion Sunday, (Mark): 2006

Today a crowd cheered Jesus and welcomed him into Jerusalem, maybe hoping he would take over the government as king. On Good Friday another crowd jeered him and called for his death. Maybe some members of the first crowd had crossed over to the second. In any case the first crowd, like Jesus' disciples who ran away, were not on hand on Good Friday.

Today we cheer Jesus precisely because we follow the moment he entered Jerusalem to give his life for us. Let's follow the story:

Jesus' enemies were taking position to nab and kill him, when a kind woman, on behalf of all who would love him dearlyover the ages, braved the hostile people present and poured costly ointment on his head—not realizing that this served as a burial ritual. The scent of that ointment must have stayed with Jesus till he died and was buried.

Passover evening opened with Judas' bargain with the chief priests to betray Jesus, while the other disciples went to prepare the Passover, a dinner which Jesus opened by declaring that one of them would betray him.

Nonetheless, in the dinner's most solemn moment he gave each of them his body to eat and his blood to drink.

Then at the Mount of Olives, having predicted they would all lose faith and Peter would deny him, he went off to pray. They they went off to sleep, awakened by the coming of Judas and armed men to arrest Jesus, when they ran away.

While Peter followed Jesus to the high priest's courtyard, Jesus listened to his accusers' talk, and finally answered, "Yes, I am the Christ the Son of the Blessed One, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven." That was enough for the priests' court to condemn him. In the meantime, to the servant girl, Peter denied that he knew Jesus.

The next day Pilate held court and found no case against Jesus. He let the crowd issue the verdict: Crucify him. And so he ordered it to be carried out.

The soldiers then crowned him with thorns and mocked him.

Then they led him out, conscripted Simon to help carry the cross, and crucified him. The crowd and the two crucified with him taunted him. But Jesus, calling on his Father, gave up his spirit, tearing open the earthly and heavenly holy of holies, and commanding the faith of the centurion.

The same good woman who anointed him in the beginning and many others were on hand again at the end, to assist Joseph of Aramathea put the body in the grave.

Isaiah had described it long ago: Jesus died without opening his mouth in protest. Paul saw the deep meaning of his obedience unto death on a cross: In the end, all in heaven (the saints) and all on earth (saints and sinners) and in the underworld (condemned sinners), must acknowledge that he is Christ the Lord, the Lord whose death here and now cleanses us and lifts us to himself. He cleanses us as we renew our baptismal handing of our life over to him in his suffering, dying and rising. As we approach him on the cross, he lifts us to himself and carries us to the resurrection to come.

Passion Sunday, (Mark): 2012

Know your switches. One can turn on power, spreading light and life. Another can trigger destruction.

Jesus entered Jerusalem, sparking faith and expectation, hosannas in the air, palm branches on the road.

After Jesus found the disciples sleeping, the Temple militia overawed them, numbing their faith, and sending them scattering, each his own way. A small girl put Peter out of action.

When it came to sentencing Jesus, some Jewish strongmen gave the signal. That triggered the crowd to shout: "Crucify him. We want Barabbas."

God was the director of this drama. He allowed Satan a limited role. Having brought Adam down, Satan entered the scene smiling. Now is my chance, to knock out Jesus, and keep my title as champion.

Through his agents, Satan went to work. For maximum damage, he devised a kind of cluster bomb. It put nails through Jesus' hands and feet, and scattered replica ordinances, creating martyrs far and wide, including Nigeria in our time. There has been death everywhere, to the limited extent God allowed, for his chosen martyrs.

Satan, the Champion of Death, in a sense, blew himself up. In scattering death, he lost his grip, lost his championship.

Jesus, the Champion of Life, freely submitted to execution. He scattered life, strengthened his grip, and reinforced his championship.

Countering Satan's cluster bomb, with its fragments still exploding, Jesus scattered life in clusters, communities that themselves spread his life. This parish is one of them.

To enjoy Jesus' life, we must join him in death. How?

• First, by dying to sin, which distorts life and destroys it. Instead, we cultivate our spiritual and physical health.
• Secondly, by allowing grace to work in us, and spread Christ's life to others.
• Thirdly, by our readiness to die, to surrender our mortal life, when and how he calls us.

It boils down to our choice of switches: There is the Satan-switch, sin, damaging ourselves and others, and there is the Jesus-switch, works of love, which better our lives, and the lives of others.

2nd Sunday of Easter, 2006

A couple of weeks ago at 3:00 A.M. armed robbers broke into the Dominican parish house in Gusau. Thank God, no one was hurt. But it was a frightening experience, one which could leave a lasting trauma in many people. Fear of such an experience is why most of us barracade ourselves in our houses at night and employ all sorts of security measures.

The possibility of an attack by Jewish extremists had made the disciples lock themselves up in hiding. They feared that what had happened to their Master would happen to them. Up to then they had heard a rumour of his resurrection but, with no confirmation, they could not believe it, just as Thomas could not believe until a week later.

Just then stood Jesus before them and he spoke: "Peace be with you." They saw his hands and feet, recognized him, received his peace, and their fear calmed down and changed into joy.

Jesus had overcome the world, and so would they. How? First of all, they believed in him. They were washed in the water that flowed from his side, and likewise the blood from his side had become their drink and entered their veins, and so they received the Spirit he breathed into them. The Spirit planted love in their hearts and made it easy for them to put love into practice by following his commandments. And so they shared everything in common and helped any who were in need.

But the Spirit that Jesus breathed into his Apostles gave them an additional charge: "Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven." This task, which would take up countless tiring hours in the lives of all who have a share in the Apostolic mission, is the counter part of the mission to preach and celebrate the Eucharist.

All this meant stepping out of the locked room onto the balcony, onto the street. Fear would turn into confidence. But confidence does not mean recklessness. They were going, it is true, like lambs among wolves (Lk 10:3), and therefore had be as simple as doves in goodness and straightforwardness, but as cunning as snakes in dodging the traps set by their opponents (Mt 10:16). In so doing, no harm would come to them until, like their Master, their hour had come. At that hour they would willingly lay down their lives for him.

In the meantime we continue to barracade our houses at night, and we avoid places where armed robbers may be operating, but we go on living with the peace of Christ in our hearts, a peace that accompanies love even for our enemies. "Peace I bequeath to you, my own peace I give you, a peace which the world cannot give, this is my gift to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" (Jn 14:27), even if armed robbers come calling at 3:00 A.M.

2nd Sunday of Easter, 2012

"Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth: it is not peace I have come to bring, but a sword" —Mt 10:34. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" —Jn14:27.

Can we have perfect peace? —not in this life. Can we have true peace? —Yes. Jesus offers it, now.

Peace, as St. Augustine defines it, is "the tranquillity of order." That means each part of a whole, or each party to a community, is where it should be, doing what it should do, leaving everyone satisfied. So peace presupposes justice, where each gives and gets his due.

Peace is so scarce, that we know its opposite better: war, disturbing noise, disturbing fumes, encroachment, extortion, embezzlement, robbery, kidnapping, torture, murder, to say nothing of verbal abuse and intimidation.

The disciples barricaded themselves in a room, for fear of the Jews. Jesus countered: "Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul" (Mt 10:28). We take precautions, as Paul escaped assassins in Damascus; his friends put him in a basket, and lowered him from a window (Acts 9:23-25). In God's own time, he met the sword, and his eternal reward.

So we look after our health, but don't always succeed. Our stomach may rumble, our nose may run, our temperature may soar, all disturbing our peace. We thank God for blessing our efforts, for giving us the strength - to do what he expects of us, for as long as he expects.

In spite of our security, our precautions, our health care, one day we will die, the peace the world offers will vanish. Jesus offers us a stronger peace, one that withstands death.

What is the make-up of this peace? What does it put in order? —This peace has root in our soul itself. Sanctifying grace stamps us with God's likeness, giving us direct access to him, as his children and friends. This peace covers the intellect and will, through faith, hope and charity, attuning our minds and hearts to him.

The same peace makes us love our neighbors, including those who return love with hatred. It makes us give them their due, not delay their salaries, or defraud them of their pensions.

This peace extends to our emotions, taming excess anger, excess sadness, excess fear, excess indulgence, any kind of addiction.

Peace is not lying in a casket. It is being up and busy, promoting and improving peace, in ourselves and in others. Peace begins with God's forgiveness and friendship. The gateway to that is repentance and belief.

Thomas believed because he saw Jesus alive, with his crucifixion ID marks. Jesus worked many other signs, chief of which are Christians alive, with Jesus' ID mark, their love for one another, if need be, at the cost of their mortal life.

Perfect peace is love reciprocated. Jesus did not have that on earth, neither do we. If we imitate his love, we have true peace. When we join him above, then it will be perfect.

3rd Sunday of Easter, 2006

Many people cannot run for public office because they have some secret past sin, and in an election campaign, their opponent, especially in the U.S., will surely dig it out, expose it and disgrace the candidate.

While many people cannot move freely because they are in constant fear that their sinful past may be exposed, others hold back from approaching anything holy because their conscience debars them. They do not want to be guilty of a double offence, for instance, by receiving Communion in a state of mortal sin.

Such were the people Peter was addressing, the same crowd that had shouted for Jesus to be crucified. Peter boldly confronted them with the enormity of their sin and said, "Repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out." We are told that "many of those who listened to the word believed, up to 5,000 men" (Acts 4:4). What an astounding turn-about, that the very crowd that demanded Jesus' death became foundation members of his Church!

Another example: Apart from Peter's denial, when Jesus was arrested, all the disciples ran away, including one who left his pursuers holding on to his wrapper while he ran away naked. In their grief and shame for their sin, they were huddled together in a closed room when Jesus appeared. They were alarmed and frightened, thinking it was Jesus' ghost come to torture them for their sin. They could not believe it was really Jesus really offering them peace and reconciliation until he touched them with his hands, sealing their absolution. Jesus went on to explain how the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms all pointed to his sacrificial offering that takes away our sin and that of the whole world. Therefore the disciples were to preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins to all the nations.

What holds the world back today? It is sin, sin in Nigeria, sin in America, sin in Europe, sin in Asia, sin at the top of government, sin at the bottom. We are stuck and cannot move forward. Many have given up hope. Pensioners faint in queues just to get a few scraps of the much that is owed them, while elsewhere people are terrorized by bombs and armed robbers.

Is there a way out? What is the way out? There is only one way: to turn to Jesus to take away our sin and the sin of the world. For ourselves that is a matter of here and now action. To get others to repent, it is a matter of preaching, example and intercession.

If we look at ourselves, at our record, we would never step forward to receive Communion or try to lead anyone else to Christ. But if we have listened to Jesus' words of peace and forgiveness in the confessional, we will have arisen from sin and fear of disgrace, we will be able to walk forward and receive him, and joyfully bring him to everyone we meet.

3rd Sunday of Easter, 2006

While I was working for U.I., my salary used to go into Savanna Bank. When that bank collapsed, we lost several hundred thousand Naira. Soludo had a dream: I will allow that bank to reopen—provided it restores its accounts with a 10 fold compensation. He leaked the dream. A rumour spread. Excitement grew. Many believed it. But sceptics dismissed the rumour. Belief and disbelief were in conflict. Unless I see an official announcement, I refuse to believe.

The disciples had lost all when they lost Jesus in death. Very soon reports spread. Some people had sighted him alive. Excitement grew. Doubt arose matching the excitement. Belief and disbelief were in conflict. Thomas was bold enough to express his disbelief. But the Gospels assure us, all the disciples refused to believe.

Then they saw him. I am not a ghost. Touch me. Give me something to eat. Their disbelief disappeared. They did not need to believe. They saw and knew that he was alive. But it took faith to recognize him as God. Thomas was the bold voice of them all: "My Lord and my God."

Enough people saw the risen Jesus, and enough miracles have been worked in his name, right up to our day, to confirm the historical fact of his resurrection. Maybe you say: I have not seen him, and I have not seen any miracle worked before my eyes. Yes, he may not have appeared to you. You may not have witnessed any dramatic miracle—but if you look closer, your own life and others' lives are full of God's wonders. The point is that the record of evidence is overwhelming. Jesus' resurrection is undeniable.

Deny it, and you are like those who deny the Holocaust—the massacre of millions of Jews in Germany. Ahmadinajab of Iran doubted it, and the world reacted against him. A schismatic bishop that Pope Benedict received back into the Church doubted it. When the Pope learned of this from public reaction, he had to suspend the bishop. Jesus is more than a man risen from the dead. He is also the Son of God. You can see a man risen from the dead, but you cannot see God. You must believe, like Thomas: "My Lord and my God."

"Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world," says John (1 Jn 5:4). Faith that is alive goes with investing everything in Jesus. It goes with keeping God's commandments. It goes with loving God and our neighbour. It goes with trust in God in difficult times. It goes with prayer for our needs in Jesus' name. It goes with preaching repentance to all nations. It goes with becoming ourselves that sign, that miracle, that others can see and then believe.

I have a dream. Once I have died, once you have died, as Jesus died, we will hear an announcement: For all that you invested in him, receive now 10 fold, a hundred fold, life eternal with the risen Jesus. I am excited. I want to believe that. Doubts may arise. But it is official, announced in Scripture, and proclaimed by the Church.

3rd Sunday of Easter, 2006

"O you of little faith!" —In Matthew alone, Jesus says this five times (6:30, 8:26, 14:31, 16:8, 17:20). Each time he was blaming his disciples, and that was before the Resurrection. After his Resurrection, he called them "foolish and slow to believe" (Lk 24:25).

When would their faith mature? What would it take? Let us look at what faith requires.

Faith requires awareness, at least, that God exists and is good. —"Whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Heb 11:6). Normally, as Paul says, "faith comes by hearing" (Rm 10:17). "How can they believe in him if they have never heard of him? And how will they hear of him unless there is a preacher for them?" (Rm 10:14).

Faith also requires acceptance of the message. Paul tells the Thessalonians: "When you heard the word that we brought you as God's message, you welcomed it for what it really is, not the word of any human being, but God's word, a power that is working among you believers" (1 Thes 2:13).

What made the Thessalonians believe, and accept Paul's message as God's message? First, there was evidence, in the form of miracles, and fulfilment of prophecies. "Many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it" (Lk 10:24).

But evidence is not enough. Many saw Christ's miracles, and heard his wisdom, and still did not believe. Signs we can see, but the God who works them, we cannot see. We do not see the Trinity; we do not see Christ, present in the Eucharist. But we believe, on God's word, on his authority.

Faith networks us directly with God, who is infinitely above us. His frequency and ours do not match. Therefore, we, on our own, cannot set up the connection. He must do it. "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8).

Saints of the Old Testament, like Abraham and Moses, saw little and heard little, in comparison with Jesus' disciples. But they believed strongly, by God's grace. Our pre-Christian ancestors saw less, and heard less, yet many of them also believed strongly, by God's grace.

We have seen much more, and heard much more. How strong is our belief? "Peter said to Jesus, Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you'" (Mt 26:35). Yet he denied him three times. That experience made him try humility, like the distressed father of the possessed boy: "I have faith. Help my lack of faith" (Mk 9:24).

For many of us, our faith wobbles when we meet trouble, when things don't go our way. Yet faith shows its worth in trials. James tells us: "Consider it a great joy when trials of many kinds come upon you, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing" (1:2-4).

Faith without love is dead. Faith driven by love grows strong. By faithfulness in little things, we become fit for greater things, until we move mountains.

"The disciples were filled with joy - when they saw the Lord" (Jn 20:20). That was after Jesus; resurrection. We do not see him here, yet we believe. When we do see him in glory, our joy will know no measure.

4th Sunday of Easter, 2006/ revised 2009

What is wrong with godfatherism?—It is the injustice of advancing the undeserving and blocking the deserving. Yet we all know how we can be the most deserving candidate for a job or appointment, but without a godfather to clear the way we get nowhere. You could say that to get ahead we need both a push and a pull. The push is our merit, the pull is someone to help process our case.

The good shepherd plays the role of a good godfather or a good uncle or a good parent, who is always there to assist us when we are in need or trouble. Jesus promised (Jn 14:18) he would not leave us orphans—children without parents or guardian, children without sponsor to promote our interests, to pick us up when we fall, nurse us when we are sick, bail us out when we are broke, defend us when we are attacked.

Why should God take such an interest in us? "What is man that you should think of him?" asks Psalm 8. The answer is that we belong to him. As Psalm 95 states: "We are the people he pastures, the flock he grazes." Moreover, as the second reading said, "we are called God's children, and that is what we are."

Whatever opinion we have of ourselves, God has a better opinion. He knows our sins, he knows our frustrations, but has grander designs than we can imagine. "The future has not yet been revealed; all we know is that when it is revealed we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is."

He is leading us to himself. We lack nothing on the way. But by now we should have experienced: God does not spare us on the road. That is because he cares for us. Sometimes his care is dramatic. He healed the lame man, at Peter's request. All such favours are only tokens. Greater things lie ahead, awaiting us in eternity.

Here and now, apart from temporal tokens of his love, Jesus offers us a solid gift: the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. The Spirit transforms us into likenesses of Jesus, his mind becomes our mind, we think as he thinks, we wish what he wishes, we love what he loves.

Is he the good shepherd? Then we must become good shepherds, tending those we live and work with. The good shepherd is more than an employee, a hireling waiting for his salary. He is responsible. He takes care that his job is done, and done well. He gives good and prompt service. He does not say: "Come back and check next week." People rush to him in the market, because he offers reliable products, and his prices are good.

This is the kind of outreach we have to the "other sheep", to people that are not of this fold, the Catholic Church. If they see that we are reliable, responsible and concerned for them, they will ask what makes us like this. They then uncover the grace of Jesus, nurturing us in the Catholic Church.

How do we become good shepherds? true images of the divine Good Shepherd? We cannot make it on our own. We need him to pull us up, to plant his Holy Spirit in us. We need to follow Jesus the chief shepherd, our godfather. What then can we be afraid of?

4th Sunday of Easter, 2012

So you want promotion, you want to be in charge, you want to be a shepherd. It's all the same thing. Don't give up, but beware.

You are there for what? &8212;To serve your subordinates, or to feed yourself? The good shepherd puts his sheep first. Then he faces more problems. What does he do with stubborn sheep, with sheep that act like wolves? Are you sure you want to be in charge?

Like it or not, we cannot escape responsibilities altogether. Cain thought he could, and said, "Am I my brother's keeper?" Yes, we all are, in one way or another, our brother's keepers.

Many like to go the way of Cain, no honour, no shame. When their service is nil, or their service is sub-standard, they themselves become everyone's burden, a social liability. Sad to say, they are everywhere, we cannot avoid them. How are we to react?

First, we cannot defeat evil by evil. Rather, defeat Cain by the innocence of Abel. Cain is the lost sheep, the rebellious, the ravenous sheep. We confront him by the opposite example. If we get his ear, we advise him, help him to see reason, to see that, in the process of harming others, he is ruining himself. Above all, we pray for our enemies.

That is the extent of fraternal correction. He may not listen to you. But, as Jesus advises in Matthew (18:15-17), perhaps he may listen to a small delegation, or to the whole Church, if he is a member.

If he still refuses, and you are in charge, of an office, of a department, or the like, you have other options. In the university, there are disciplinary committees and sanctions, for prevarications like exam cheating, embezzlement etc. Last week, I read of a lecturer in Nsukka, sanctioned for sexual harassment.

As a last resort, we have the police, armed forces, and courts. In this wicked world, these are necessary. Jesus did not condemn them, but he had a different style.

He said, "I am the good shepherd." He did not say, "I am the good policeman," or "the good soldier," because his kingdom is not of this world, and he was defining the role of his Church. In the Church, Jesus shepherds us through bishops, and all who assist them.

In the home, his shepherds are the parents. To train their children well, they avoid two pitfalls. First, they avoid the police syndrome, producing conformity by punishment, and regimentation. That provokes rebellion.

Secondly, they avoid the father-christmas syndrome, letting the children have anything they like, and do whatever they like. Permissiveness produces a worthless child.

Do you still want to be a parent? Don't be afraid. You have the grace of the sacrament of marriage, and the power of prayer.

Do you still want that promotion, and to be in charge? Don't be afraid. If you get it, take Jesus the Good Shepherd as your model, and don't be afraid to take pepe, or to die for your sheep.

5th Sunday of Easter, 2006

After Jesus' resurrection some of his close disciples were privileged to see him, touch him and hear his words. They tried to remain close to him even after he disappeared from their sight. We too are his disciples. How close can we get to him?

It is easy to think of our Christian life as a business partnership with Jesus. He gives us many different talents as our capital and expects a good return on his investment. If we have five talents, we ought to be able to produce another five. And in return he will reward us a hundred-fold in this life and in the next.

But our Christian life goes deeper than that. In a partnership each party makes his own independent contribution. But a branch makes no independent contribution to the tree or vine, but everything it has is derived from the tree and cannot survive cut off from the tree. In the same way, if you help carry my bag I can call you my partner. But if I carry my own bag, my arm is not my partner, but part of me.

Jesus wants us to be part of himself, closer than any partner could be. To be branches of the vine or members of his body is the same thing. We are in him and he is in us, and through him we are in the Father and the Father is in us, together with the Holy Spirit. The Trinity has drawn us into its own unity.

The bond between us and Jesus, like the sap in the branches, is the gift of faith and the gift of love. These two gifts work hand in hand. They make us pleasing to God and ensure that our prayers are heard. Without faith and love we cannot please God, and our prayers have no efficacy.

Faith and love also make us bear nice fruit that is beneficial to others. They make us productive, certainly, but there are many productive people who are stingy and not generous; they only work for themselves. Faith and love make us productive with a good purpose, to serve God and be of benefit to our neighbor for his sake.

Faith puts us in contact with the Jesus we cannot see. It lets us realize his presence in our neighbour, especially the needy. It lets us know his power at work in the sacraments, and recognize his real presence in the Eucharist.

Love binds us to the divine person of Jesus and makes him our treasure, preferred to any other good. It also makes us of one mind and heart with him, so that we love others as he loves them, and we serve them as he serves them.

So how close can we get to Jesus? We cannot become Jesus himself, but we can otherwise become such a part of him that we are transformed in his likeness and he is acting within us to perfect our union with the Trinity and with one another.

5th Sunday of Easter, 2009

How close can we get to the Lord? The Lord is our shepherd. We are the sheep that belong to him—So we heard last Sunday. Could we ever be closer to him than that? Yes, we can. He is the vine, and we are the branches. We not only belong to him. We are part of him. Yes, baptism has grafted us onto the Vine, joining us with Christ and to all his branches, the other members of his Church.

Baptism transforms us, not into Christ himself, but into his likenesses. We image him by sanctifying grace, our interface with God. That enables us to hear his voice— and believe in him, to hear his promises—and hope in him, to receive his love—and love him in return, to listen to his commandments—and put them into practice, to have Christ die for us—and to die for him in turn, to offer the Father his body and blood—and feed on it in return, to await his coming again in glory—to take us to our eternal home.

As branches of the vine, we cannot be dead, sick, dormant, passive, inert,—but must be alive, well, awake, active and on the move.

That is not possible in isolation from the Church. Just as members of the body of Christ must be joined to the head and all the other members, so any branch of the vine must be connected with the rest of the branches of the vine. As blood circulates through the body, so sap flows through the vine to nourish it. As there are nodes and distribution points throughout the vine, so Christ's grace flows through the structure of the Church. It flows through the sacraments. It also flows through our goodness to one another.

Cut off from Christ, we can do nothing. Likewise, cut off from his Church, we wither and die.

What are we to say of people outside the Church? Christian bodies detached from the Catholic Church still have a link to it, because they have retained Baptism and the Bible. So some sap of the vine trickles to them.

Likewise Muslims and other non-Christians can have a link with the Church. They believe in God and trust that he will get them to heaven the way he knows best. That is enough for the sap, the grace of Christ, to reach them too.

The sap may flow abundantly, or it may flow sparingly. The important thing is what fruit do we bear? To bear plenty of good fruit, Jesus tells us, we must undergo a painful pruning. If something takes us away from Christ, away from the work he has given us, we have to cut it off.

Because the Lord is our shepherd, he himself often takes the initiative. We may find our plans blocked, our health fail, our friends disappear. God knows what is best for us, to make us bear more abundant fruit, fruit that will last.

The Lord is our shepherd and we are his sheep.—Very true! More than that, he is the vine and we are his branches. We share his very life, a blessed life, that lasts forever.

5th Sunday of Easter, 2011

"Cut off from me you can do nothing." Jesus' statement goes against a popular idea: that progress is equivalent to independence.

For the child in the womb, birth means shedding the umbilical cord. Later on, weaning from mother's milk spells progress. After education comes financial independence. The parents have an empty nest, and the youngster is on his own.

Even then, he continues to dream. I must rise to the top of this company, or start my own. I must be master of my destiny. All the while, he was confusing maturity, or adulthood, with independence.

At some point, however, it dawns on him: I can never be a lone ranger. I need friends to help me, friends to love and cherish. I am a member of a family, a citizen of a community. I am, in Aristotle's words, "a political animal." Anyone who lives alone, says Aristotle, is either a beast or a god, in other words, sub-human or super-human, not one of us.

In fact, between beasts and angels, man is a bridge. On the one hand, we have the senses, the sensuality, and the needs of an animal, but an intellect that reaches the sky, not the sky of moons and stars, but the unseen world of God, and his entourage of saints and angels.

We can enjoy every creature comfort, and have the best of friends, but our hearts never rest, except in God. If we miss God's friendship, we degrade our humanity. We are empty and helpless, where it counts most. That is the meaning of Jesus' words: "Cut off from me, you wither and die."

As branches attached to the vine, we depend on the vine. That does not reduce our maturity, our adulthood, our humanity, our ability to contribute to society, but enhances it. It makes us bear much fruit.

Many people undervalue, or vandalize, their connection with Jesus. To cheat others, whether in the market - or in the academia, sabotages our relationship with Jesus. If it does not break it, by mortal sin, it weakens the connection. It leaves us half-joined, half-alive, with half-rate performance. We may be brilliant, masters of our field, but don't deliver up to expectation.

A vine —like many plants, and like most machines— requires maintenance. On our part, that means prayer, frequenting the sacraments, and striving to do good. But, as Jesus explains, the vine-owner from time to time intervenes, and prunes the vine, cutting off some branches, to make the vine produce more grapes.

This pruning could have two meanings. The first applies to the Church, where God, in his own way, cuts off the deadwood, people who, by their behaviour, drag the Church down and disgrace it. He may remove them by death, or by letting them leave the Church.

Either way, that means the death of the sinner, his perdition, and God does not delight in that. So what else could pruning mean? It may not be lopping off people, but lopping off bad habits in people. How?

On our own part, we should be combatting bad habits, but sometimes we resist, or we sleep off, and let the weeds grow. Then God steps in, to prevent us from harming ourselves, and harming others. We may fall ill, or have an accident, or get into some trouble, or we may see that happen to others, and the experience shocks us. It wakens us up to mend our ways.

Pruning also limits good projects. If we take on too many, we do poorly at some, and maybe at all. Some offices have time limits, to make way for new persons, with fresh ideas and fresh energy.

Let the pain of pruning not drive us away. Remember Jesus' words: "Cut off from me you can do nothing."

6th Sunday of Easter, 2006

What else do you want if your joy is complete? If your joy is complete, where do you want to run?

What makes our joy complete? —Jesus tells us—When it is his joy that is in us.

How does Jesus' joy become our joy? —He tells us—If we remain in his love and keep his commandment to love one another.

How are we to love one another? —He tells us—If we love them as he loves them.

How does he love them? —He tells us—By taking them as friends, not as strangers or servants or rivals.

How does he treat them as friends? —He tells us—By laying down our life for them. As a good shephered, he did so, then rose from the dead to continue to shepherd us, feeding us with himself every day in his real body and blood. Besides, whatever our earthly needs are, he tells us—The Father will give you anything you ask him in my name.

What is missing? What else could we look for?

But millions of people do not know Jesus or do not follow him. They are unsatisfied. Their joy is incomplete. They are searching, they are chasing, they are grasping for something to make their joy complete.

These people are a ready market for all sorts of predators who exploit their frustrations, who want to make money and satisfy their own incomplete joy. Who are these predators?

The first are the money, the power and the pleasure distributors. They say that in suffering and poverty there can be no joy, and that once you cross the 100 million Naira line, nothing will worry you and your joy will be complete.

But look inside the lives of the rich, you find they are never satisfied with what they have. They are always looking for something more, for something different. That falls far short of the joy that Jesus is offering.

The second predator group are preachers, preachers who say your religion is erroneous, your religion is incomplete.

Muslims say you are wrong to assert that Jesus is divine, you are wrong to assert that there are three persons in God; they say Christ came only to prepare the way for Muhammad, that Christianity should give way to Islam.

But look inside Islam, you find no living presence of God, nothing that can offer the joy that Jesus is offering.

Then Pentecostals say we are idolotrous to genuflect before the Blessed Sacrament, that we are idolotrous to honour Mary and ask her intercession, to think our sins are forgiven in Confession. They say, Entrust yourself to our pastor; he will lead you to true enlightenment, to a full experience of the Holy Spirit.

But look inside Pentecostalism. You find no tabernacle of Jesus' real presence, no sacramental absolution from sins, but you find flamboyant living and quarrels. You find the veneer of joy, shouting and clapping, but not the substance of Jesus' joy.

Can God come any closer to his people than he does in the Catholic Church? Do we reciprocate by receiving his love, especially the love he offers us in the Eucharist? Do we remain in his love, loving others as he loves them? Do we ask in his name for the things we need? If so, what else do we need? Where else do we need to go? Our joy is complete.

6th Sunday of Easter, 2009

"We banish you from our society."—With nowhere to go, that is a penalty worse than death. People are ready to make any compromise, even of their conscience, to avoid banishment. How many marriages are hanging together, only because the wife has nowhere to run, unless she wants to sleep under the bridge?

If you cannot find a true friend, you will look for a false friend, who will let you be part of his gang. Or you may form your own gang.

True friendship is founded on truth, it is built with generosity, it is roofed with joy.

Jesus came, the Word made flesh, to bring us the Father's love, true love, divine love. For God is love.

"I call you no longer slaves, but friends." Jesus' friendship can never disappoint. Human friendships can sour, turn bitter. The President of Somalia is fighting a civil war. The leader of the rebellion was one time his bosom friend, now his archenemy.

We may face banishment on the human front, but if we remain in Jesus, and he in us, by trust and love, we will never be stranded.

"Can a woman forget her baby at the breast, feel no pity for the child she has borne? Even if these were to forget, I shall not forget you" (Is 49:15).

Friends, family members, may play us false, but we remain true to them, because we remain true to Christ. We correct them if we can, but our control is limited. We do the best we can, and leave the rest to God.

True friendship is built with generosity. "No one has greater love than to lay down his life for his friends." An example: A few years ago, the wife of a U.I. professor went to rescue an accident victim on the expressway. She herself was hit and killed.

But laying down our life is a daily affair. The mother cooking, the young boy studying, the man chatting with his friend—all are laying down their lives—when they act from love.

True friendship is roofed with joy. You can see it in a happy family. You can see it in tested friends, who stood by you in misfortune. This joy is the peace the world cannot give. It is rooted in Christ.

7th Sunday of Easter, 2006

419 victims sacrifice their life savings in the mistaken belief that they will make a fortune. Jesus asks us to sacrifice worldly fortunes to save our lives for eternity. If you do so, many people will say you are just like the 419 victim, duped, taken, even mad. Everything depends on what is true. If we succeed in the end and are happy, it is because we followed the truth. If we fail and are miserable, it is because we were duped and decieved; we did not grasp the truth.

In the important questions of life, it all depends on knowing and embracing the truth, on getting it right, on unmasking error and escaping from doubt and from groping in ignorance.

Jesus is the Word of God, truth itself. He came to consecrate us in the truth, so that we know where we are going and how to get there, and arrive where our joy will be complete.

Truth has its source in God. He created the world as a reflection of his divine truth, but when he send his Word to become flesh, divine truth walked personally among us. Jesus' humanity was sanctified by its union with his divinity. Because the holiness of his divine nature flowed into his human nature, he could say, he could say, "I sanctify or consecrate myself in truth." And from his human body opened up on the cross by the soldier's lance, this holiness of truth flowed out and was passed on to us.

We make up his body, the Church. As the Father is one with the Son in substance and in will, so that there can be no lie but only truth between them, so we are one with Christ not only by our common humanity, but also by a likeness to his divinity found in sanctifying grace and by our willing and desiring exactly what he wills and desires, so that there can be no lie but only truth between us and him.

The same unity in truth should prevail among all Christians, because just as there can be only one head, there can be only one body, the one true Church, having the fulness of the truth of Christ. Other Christian communities are broken fragments, with incomplete truth and often beset by many errors.

Any sin is a deviation from truth, a deception. E.g.... It is supposing that something will lift us up, when it really drags us down, like someone taking the wrong drugs which, instead of making the person better, only make him more sick. Apart from God's commandments, life experience teaches us how breaking the commandments brings us sorrow here, even before we reach eternity.

When it is a question of eternal life or death, it is vital to get hold of the truth: to know God as our maker, our sustainer, our final destiny, to know what he expects us to do and not do, to know Jesus present in the Church and its sacraments, powering us on our way. Some people never grasp this truth. Others treat it as folly and try to win you over. At times of suffering you may even feel like Jeremiah: "You duped me, O Lord, and I let myself be duped" (20:7). But we don't have to wait for eternity for the outcome to be apparent, to know who is set free by truth and is on the right track, and who is the real 419 victim.

7th Sunday of Easter, 2009

"That they may be one"—How? Ekiti is the only state without minorities. Everybody there is Ekiti. Yet they are at each others' throats.

"May they be one as you, Father, and I are one." God's unity is real, true, perfect unity—the paradigm, model and source of our unity.

How are the divine persons one? With the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son are one substance, more inseparable than Siamese twins, one in spirit, one in mind, one in will, one in love, one in action, one in eternity—different only in relationship: the Father speaking, the Son the spoken Word.

Jesus said, "I sanctify myself in truth." What did he mean by that? —God is truth. He dedicated his whole human self to God. His mind, his will, his actions—all danced in tune with God. Likewise, he says, we must be sanctified in truth. We cannot be one in substance with God, as Jesus was, but we can dedicate our whole selves to him. Our mind, our will, our actions, can all dance in tune with God.

How is that possible?—Because "the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us" at Baptism. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit dwell in us. They give us the power to love God and neighbour.

On the way, we may get tired, distracted, drift from our focus.—That is the meaning of venial sin. Just turn to him in prayer, receive him in Communion. He gives you new strength, puts you back in focus, turns up the flame of your love.

All who are bound to God are bound to each other, in bonds stronger than blood. If God is our love, we are naturally attracted to others who love him. The closer they are to God, such as Mary and the saints, the more we gravitate to them. We would like to spend all our time with good and holy people.

But, Jesus reminds us, we are still in this world, a world with a mixture of people, good and bad. And we are sent into the world—the world of our kindred, of our business, of our fellow workers, our fellow students. These are the ones we are called to love, just as Jesus said, "I have not come to call the just, but sinners" (Mt 9:13). "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son" for it (Jn 3:16).

In this world, this Nigerian world of ours, we can expect success: people who join us in worshipping the true God, through his true Son, in his true Church. We can also expect resistance and hatred. Jesus predicted that.

But if we remain in his love, one with him, one with the Father, one with his design to save the world, then our joy will be complete.

7th Sunday of Easter, 2012

"In the unity of the Holy Spirit," the Father and the Son are one in being. Jesus' parting wish for us was "May you be one, as I and the Father are one." What is the sign of unity? —Let's start from the opposite, discord. Friends may disagree, but they do not fight. We see how, between Buhari and the Presidency, that there is no love lost. Contrast that with the words of Christ: "This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (Jn 13:35).

How should we love one another? —Jesus proposes a model, the love between himself and the Father. "The Father loves the Son, and has entrusted everything to his hands" (Jn 3:35). "I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of the one who sent me" (Jn 6:38).

"Love is as strong as death," says Song of Songs 8:6. What gives love that energy? The foundation of love is likeness. God created us in his likeness, with an intellect and a free will. With that alone, we might be like pet dogs, that beg for food, and wag their tail in gratitude, but can never share God's thoughts, and never be his friends, intimates, or children.

But through Baptism, God implanted another likeness, sanctifying grace, an interface for direct contact with him, through faith, hope and love.

Jesus asked his Father: "Sanctify them in the truth." Which truth? —"Your word is the truth"— the Father's Word made flesh, Jesus himself, who is "the way, the truth and the life".

This sanctification, this communion with God, is a new life, a blessed life, like the treasure hidden a field. To buy that field, a man sold all he had.

To some, the man made a wise move. To others, his action is not only madness, but also a threat to their interests. So they move against him.

That does not deter the wise man. He would face death, hatred or persecution, and consider it nothing, in comparison with the life he gains.

The treasure —our share in God's life— is not like money, which puts us on guard, and calls for thrift. The more we share our Faith, the greater our treasure becomes.

So Jesus sends us out, to share our treasure in a mixed world, where some welcome us, some shut their doors against us, and some fight us.

As for those who kill the body, Jesus tells us not to fear. In sending us, he asks of his Father one thing, "Preserve them from the Evil One." How do we detect the Evil One; what is the first sign of his presence? —It is the temptation to hatred, the temptation to break our unity, with one another, with his Church, and thereby with God.

This unity needs protection. Wrong words, wrong actions weaken it, and are steps to a break-up. Our unity needs care and attention. Right words, right actions nourish it, and build it up.

The Qur'an (5:14) says of Christians: "We—God—have stirred up hostility and hatred among them until Resurrection Day". Love and unity among Christians—that is the miracle they are waiting for.

"In the unity of the Holy Spirit," the Father and the Son are one in being. In the same Spirit, we are one in Christ's body, the Church.

Trinity, 2003

What is the Trinity? We cannot answer that question unless we get near to God and experience him. We could never climb up to God, but God came down to be close to us (1). He has given us his Spirit (2), through whom the Father and the Son also dwell in us (Jn ), having come to us through Baptism (3).

Matthew begins with Emmanuel and ends with him, as Jesus is "with us" (= Emmanuel) to the end of time. And as at the beginning the Magi came from far away to adore him, so in the end he sends his disciples to farthest reaches of the earth.

The Trinity is present in us in different degrees of intensity. How do we gauge this? The answer is simple: To the degree of the love of God in us, even though many try to guage it differently, such as by other spiritual gifts (like visions, prophecy, ability to cast out demons) or by the blessing of material prosperity.

The love of God makes us mirrors of the Trinity. The Trinity's dwelling in us results in our transfiguration. It also sends us out to let him shine on others for their own transfiguration, beginning with baptism.

Now we can begin to answer the question What is the Trinity? We see the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit acting together, and being united in such a way that we cannot talk about three minds in God or three wills or three beings or three actions in the world, but they are all absolutely one. The only difference is in three interrelated personalities, sharing everything in common.

Trinity, 2006

"I do not leave you orphans." "Mommy, Daddy," the orphan cries, "where are you? Why have you abandoned me?" The reverse is true of the child with its parents present: Let it lightning, let it thunder, with Mommy and Daddy around, I have nothing to fear.
Jesus told his disciples that they would all scatter and leave him alone, "but I am not alone, because the Father is with me" (Jn 16:32). Likewise, the Spirit that rested on him since his conception never left him.
Jesus could never be alone, because his unity with the Father and the Spirit is the most perfect unity there could be. They are one in substance. That means that there are not three minds in God or three wills or three beings or three actors doing different works in the world, but they are all absolutely one. The only difference is their three interrelated personalities, sharing everything in common.

The fellowship of the three divine persons has been extended to us, so that we too can never be alone. By our Baptism, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit made their dwelling in us. If we have not driven them out by mortal sin, they are there whether we are conscious of them or not. They are always there, to enlighten us when we are in doubt, to counsel us when we are confused, to console us when we are disappointed, to give us rest when we are tired, to calm us down if we are disturbed, to pick up our spirits if we are discouraged, to strengthen us when we are tempted, to correct and heal us if we have done wrong, to lead us to our eternal home.

The unbroken unity of the Trinity, dwelling in each faithful Christian, is what binds us together in one Church. We cannot be united with God without being united at the same time with everyone in whom the Trinity dwells. And to break away from the unity of the Church is to break away from union with the Trinity.

The Trinity is the model of all unity. One in substance, the three divine persons are united in perfect love, and there can be no discrepancy between them.

Our union with the Trinity is a participation by grace in the unity that the three persons by their substance. We are not one in substance with the Trinity, but are united with them by sanctifying grace, so we are really the Temple, the dwelling place, of the three persons. Our own union with the Trinity may be strong or weak. That depends on how perfectly our minds and hearts are united with the Trinity. Do we listen to the Spirit speaking through the Church, through Scripture, through our conscience? Do we respond to God's love with a life that is clean, that is dedicated, that perseveres through thick and thin?

Our union with one another cannot be as intense and perfect as our direct union with God, but it is the barometer of our union with God. "If we do not love the brother we can see, we cannot love the God that we do not see" says John (1 Jn 4:20). Do we bear grudges? Are we jealous, spiteful, trying to bring others down? Do we love others with an unholy love, an unchaste love? Or do we love them with a holy love, a generous self-sacrificing love, a love that helps others to be better people?

"The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Spirit that has been given to us" (Rm 5:5). What nation, what religious community, what church has God come so close to them as he has come close to us? We are not orphans. We call on Abba-Daddy, and he is there. We ask for the Spirit; he is given to us, with whatever gifts our needs require. We call on Jesus, and he is there, connecting us with his body the Church and all its members, in heaven and on earth, beginning with Mary and extending to those we live and work with. Let any trouble come our way, we are not alone, we have nothing to fear.

Trinity, 2009

Air France passengers diving into the ocean—Buckle your seatbelts?—Useless! Who will hold onto me?

God, the Trinity, holds onto each of us. He holds the whole universe. From the beginning of creation to the end of time, he clasps it in his arms. What he said in the beginning, must come to pass in the end—or as Matthew often puts it: "that Scripture may be fulfilled."

"In the beginning God created heaven and earth, and the Spirit of God was sweeping over the waters." He spoke, and through his Word all things were made. From the dawn of human history, God looked after all of Adam's children. Through generations of Jews, he prepared to reveal his personality. Matthew begins: "The genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham... Eliud fathered Eleazar, Ezliazar fathered Nathan, Nathan fathered Jacob, Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary. Of her was born Jesus" (Mt 1:15-16).

Matthew begins his Gospel by looking back on history. He ends it by looking forward: "I will be with you till the end of time." —All history, God has buckled in his care.

At the beginning Magi came, faraway people, groping for God from time immemorial. They discovered Christ at Bethlehem. At the end, Christ sends the Apostles out: "Go"—to the ends of the earth—"make disciples of all nations." —His saving seatbelt stretches around the globe, from creation to doomsday.

The Magi saw the newborn Jesus, they adored him, while Herod stood apart. At the end, the apostles saw the risen Jesus, they adored him, but some hesitated.

Why did they adore Jesus?—They recognized what his name stands for: "He will save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21). That takes divine power. So the risen Jesus declares: "All power has been given to me, in heaven and on earth." —With divine power, and a divine destination, there is no engine failure, no navigation failure.

The birth of Christ fulfilled Isaiah 7:14: "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son, she will name him Emmanuel, meaning God with us'" (Mt 1:23). That is what the risen Jesus declared: "I will be with you till the end of time."

God is now revealed, Jesus in the Father, the Father in him, making their home in us (Jn 14:23), with the Holy Spirit, whom the Son sends from the Father (Jn 15:26).

An airplane may fail us, a car may crash, but we never fall from God's hands. He straps us to himself, with a triple buckle.

Trinity, 2012

Should Nigeria be a unitary state, or should we unbundle it, and give every would-be state independence. Or is there another solution?

The Trinity —three Persons in one God, one God in three Persons— is the perfect model - of unity in diversity, and diversity in unity.

Nothing in creation can be so one, and yet so diverse, as the Trinity. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are really distinct persons, yet are equally, and inseparably, the same one God.

It is not the same with us. We share the same humanity, but everywhere you turn, you realize: I am not you, you are not me. Even in marriage, with "two in one flesh", you find not only distinction, but sometimes a rift. After death, our souls retain our uniqueness. They cannot resurrect, or come back, in the body of another, even of an identical twin.

Our bodies can host many parasites, but they are not us. Our souls can host another's love, another's advice, but they are not us.

As temples of the Holy Spirit, we host the whole Trinity. "Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him" (Jn 14:23). Paul explains: "And all of us, with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory" (2 Cor 3:18). 2 Peter goes on to say: "You become partakers of the divine nature" (1:4).

All the while, our divinization does not make us God, but created images of God, part of his extended family, as Psalm 8 alludes: "What is man that you should think of him, the son of man that you should care for him? You made him a little less than the gods; with honor and glory you crowned him."

In the Trinity itself, what distinguishes the persons? Must a person exist? —Yes. Does God have three existences?—No; "I am who am" (Ex 3:14). Must a person have an intellect? —Yes. Does God have three intellects? —No. Must a person have a will? —Yes. Does God have three wills? —No.

Can three persons differ only in name, depending on how we look at them? In that case, the same "Father of the fatherless" (Ps 68:6), would be called Son on the cross, and Spirit at Pentecost. —No. A person must be distinct, really distinct from every other person.

How is this in the Trinity? God's knowledge of himself, or self-awareness, gives rise to an inner communication, or talking to himself. He is speaker, and he is spoken. As spoken, the Word, or Son, is distinct from the Father, yet fully expresses all that he is.

God's love for himself, likewise entails an inner expression, a rushing toward his own goodness, signified by a wind, or breath. This expression is the Holy Spirit. Its source is the Father, conjointly with the Son.

The three persons, really distinct from one another, within one divine nature, conjointly create, conjointly sanctify, and conjointly bring us to glory. They conjointly created Jesus' humanity, complete and entire, but joined it to the person of the Son. Although truly man, Jesus was a divine person, not a human person.

Jesus said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all people to myself" (Jn 12:32). The more we share the life of the Trinity, the more our society enriches the parts, and the parts enrich the whole, and all flourish.

That is preferable to break-up and isolation—which spells death by withering, and to a unitary totalitarian regime—which spells death by smothering.

Corpus Christi, 1978(?)

The presence of Jesus in the Eucharist is another way we see God close to us. There was (1) Pentecost, with the presence of the Holy Spirit, (2) Trinity Sunday, with the indwelling of the three divine persons, (3) now the real sacramental presence of Jesus under the form of bread and wine.

The blood of the Covenant, to be poured out for many (gospel). The blood of the perfect sacrificial victim, sprinkled on us (2nd reading).

Sequence: Sion, praise your Saviour. We, the Church, are the new Sion or heavenly Jerusalem on earth, because God dwells among us, as Saviour, Leader and Shepherd. That is why no amount of praise is adequate for his marvellous presence.

The bread that is living and life-giving was first distributed to the disciples at the Last Supper. This was the Passover meal that was the bridge between the Old and the

New Testaments. The Old Testament commemorated the passing over the Reed Sea, the deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt. The New Testament Passover is all that is contained between Good Friday and Easter, the passing from death to Resurrection.

At every Mass we commemorate Jesus' death and resurrection, as that very event touches us here and now.

Bread is changed into the Body of Christ, and the wine into his Blood. We take that on vibrant faith, even though the appearances of bread and wine remain the same before and after. In the species of either bread or wine, Christ is wholly present.

When we receive him in our mouth, he is not chopped up or divided, but every communicant receives Christ whole and entire.

Whether one person receives him, or a thousand or millions, they all receive the entire Christ, and he is never exhausted or eaten up—"They never eat him finish."

Worthy or unworthy people can receive him, but with different effects and results: The unworthy increase their sin by a sin of sacrilege. The worthy increase their life of grace.

Whether you receive a large host or a small host or just part of a host, you receive the whole Christ, and suffer no deprivation or discrimination. In breaking the host, Christ is not broken, but only the outward sign of his presence. He is just as fully in a small particle as he is in an unbroken large host.

This bread, the Body of Christ, is the food of angels turned into the food of men who are God's children; it is not to be given to dogs.

It was prefigured in the sacrifice of Isaac, in the Passover sacrifice of a lamb, and in the manna given to the Hebrews in the desert.

So we ask, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the true bread, have mercy on us, feed us, guard us, and let us see the goodness of the land of the living. You know everything and can do anything. Nourish us poor mortals; let us share your table as co-heirs and associates with the saints in the kingdom on high.

Corpus Christi, 2003

Sequence

Sion, praise your Saviour — We, the Church, are the new Sion or heavenly Jerusalem on earth, because God dwells among us, as Saviour, Leader and Shepherd. That is why no amount of praise is adequate for his marvelous presence.

The bread that is living and life-giving was first distributed to the disciples at the Last Supper. This was the Passover meal that was the bridge between the Old and the New Testament. The Old Testament commemorated the passing over the Reed Sea, the deliverance of the Hebrew people from Egypt. The New Testament Passover is all that is contained between Good Friday and Easter, the passing from death to Resurrection.

At every Mass we commemorate Jesus's death and resurrection, as that very event touches us here and now.

Bread is changed into the Body of Christ, and the wine into his Blood. We take that on vibrant faith, even though the appearances of bread and wine remain the same before and after. In the species of either bread or wine, Christ is wholely present.

When we receive him in our mouth, he is not chopped up or divided, but every communicant receives Christ whole and entire.

Whether one person receives him, or a thousand or millions, they all receive the entire Christ, and he is never exhausted or eaten up, "they never eat him finish".

Worthy or unworthy people can receive him, but with different effects and results: The unworthy increase their sin by a sin of sacrilege. The worthy increase their life of grace.

Whether you receive a large host or a small host or just part of a host, you receive the whole Christ, and suffer no deprivation or discrimination. In breaking the host, Christ is not broken, but only the outward sign of his presence. He is just as fully in a small particle as he is in an unbroken large host.

This bread, the Body of Christ, is the food of angels turned into the food of men who are God's children; it is not to be given to dogs.

It was prefigured in the sacrifice of Isaac, in the Passover sacrifice of a lamb, and in the manna given to the Hebrews in the desert. So we ask, Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the true bread, have mercy on us, feed us, guard us, and let us see the goodness of the land of the living. You know everything and can do anything. Nourish us poor mortals; let us share your table as co-heirs and associates with the saints in the kingdom on high.

Corpus Christi, 2006

Any disease you have will show up in a blood test, be it malaria, hepatitis, HIV, or what have you. If you donate blood for transfusion, it must be pure, free from all disease, and have enough red corpuscles to qualify as healthy blood. That is because it is used to give a sick person health and life.

In the Old Testament, animals sacrificed to God had to be pure. Moses sprinkled the people with the blood of these animals, to let the life blood given to God come back in the form of a purifying blessing, to give spiritual health and life.

Old Testament sacrifices were of benefit to people only in so far as they derived power from the sacrifice of Christ which they foreshadowed. Christ had ultra-pure blood, not just physically, but mainly because it was the blood of a sinless man and the blood of God himself. His blood is not sprinkled outwardly, but enters our inner self, penetrating every part of our being.

The divine power of Jesus' blood enters us at Baptism and in every other sacrament, and in every moment of grace, whether we call upon him or not. But the very physical blood of Jesus enters us, together with his body, soul and divinity, only when we receive the Eucharist.

The Eucharist is the most powerful way he comes to us. If we allow him, his blood, which he shed on the cross, cleanses us from every stain of sin, it heals us from every wound of sin, it strengthens us to love him with all our heart and soul, to follow him with all our strength and purpose, to rest in his presence and taste how good he is.

At the last supper Jesus took the bread and said to his disciples, "Take it, this is my body". While he remained sitting and speaking with them, there in front of them all was himself again, appearing under the form of bread that could be chewed without himself being chewed; rather he would chew up every stubborn defect he finds in us. He appeared under the form of bread that could be digested without himself being digested; rather he would digest and transform us into images of himself.

"Take this and drink, this is my blood, which is to be poured out for many." There in front of them again was himself, whole and entire, appearing under the form of wine that could be drunk without any draining of himself; rather he would fill the emptiness of our souls. It would enter our veins without any alteration of himself; rather he would alter our souls and character and fill us with joy.

His last meal on earth ended. Henceforth he would drink only the new wine in the kingdom of God, at the eternal wedding feast between himself and the Church triumphant. In the meantime, he left the Church militant the sacrament of his sacrificed body and blood, the sacrament whereby his saving death saves us now, purifies us now, strengthens us now, and assures us that we too will join him in drinking the new wine in the kingdom of God.

There we will no longer receive him under the form of bread and wine, but, free from disease and all impurity and with the veil of faith stripped away, will see him as he is, in his divine resplendence, and commune with him in perpetual joy.

Corpus Christi, 2009

Moses sprinkled the people with blood (Ex 24:8). If Moses tried that here today, most of you would run out of the way, to avoid being splattered with blood.

Yet Moses sprinkled blood for a purpose: to seal a covenant with God, and to cleanse from sin. That was a trial version of the new covenant, sealed with the blood of Christ.

What makes blood so precious, and at the same time so repulsive? Blood, healthy blood, is the measure of life. God is the giver and master of life. Human life he made sacred. Shedding innocent blood is a crime against God.

As for animals, God told Noah: "Everything that moves is yours to eat... Only flesh with life-blood still in it you shall not eat" (Gen 9:3-4). Animal blood is not forbidden now. If you have never tasted Polish blood sausage, or duck-blood soup, you are missing a real delicacy. But, like the Jews of old, Muslims and most Nigerians throw away animal blood.

Why?—Maybe out of ignorance. Maybe as a health precaution; many cattle have tuberculosis. Maybe from natural repulsion—as in Lamentations 4:14: "They staggered blindly in the streets, polluted with blood, so that no one dared touch their clothes." Also, in the Old Testament, menstruating women were considered unclean.

Why then did Moses smear blood on the altar, to purify it? (Lev 8:15; cf. Ez 43:20). That is because it was special blood, blood of a bull without defect, killed in sacrifice to God. Where did it get its power to purify? From the blood of Christ, which it prefigured.

The blood of Christ has no disease, no defect. It sustained his human life. And with his whole humanity, it was united to the divine Word, and had a divine existence. It was pure, and it conferred purity. It was alive, and it gave life. We read in Revelation 7:14 that the heavenly blessed washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

In the Old Testament, blood cleansed only on the outside. Jews never drank the blood of sacrifice. In the New Testament, the blood of Christ cleanses the inside, cleanses our conscience.

How does it do that? "Unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will not have life within you" (Jn 6:53). "Take and drink. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant, which will be shed for you and for all, so that sins may be forgiven."

To share one's blood as drink—Who can miss the implications? Criminals and cultists do it to establish a life bond. Break it, and you die. When Jesus gives us his blood to drink, there is nothing repulsive, because it is under the appearance of wine. Yet he binds us to himself, to his own divine life. To deny him, to break away from him, is death. To remain in him, with him in us, is to live, to prosper, to bear fruit for eternal life.

To drink his blood is not a passing experience. His blood penetrates us throughout, it flows in our veins, it inspires us with good ideas, energizes us to carry them out, defends us under temptation, and brings us safely to our eternal home.

Today, no one is going to sprinkle you with blood, or dirty you in any way. Christ's body and blood come in a welcome form, under the appearance of bread and wine. He gives us life, he gives us joy, he gives us himself.

2nd Sunday, 2006

When did the Lord last call you by name? —"I heard the Lord call my name, listen close you'll hear the same..."

There is a single basic vocation or call for all of us: God's eternal call for us to share his eternal life, a call transmitted to us by the Church when we were presented for Baptism. This is a call to unity with Christ by grace , to the unity of his body in the Church, to the following of Christ every day of our life, to perfection in holiness, to a place by Christ's side after a holy death. That is the Christian vocation.

Samuel, before he heard God's voice, and John, Andrew and Peter, before they were introduced to Jesus, had heard God's eternal call in a general way, and were living like true Israelites in whom there was no guile. Then came a special call, for Samuel to become a prophet, for John and Andrew to become first disciples, then apostles of Jesus, and for Peter, besides, to become the rock, the eventual vicar of Christ. These were special vocations within the general Christian vocation we all have received.

Besides our general Christian vocation, each of us has a particular vocation of one sort or another. For some, like Samuel, John, Andrew and Peter, it may be a special service within the Church. For most others it is a call to married life, and still others to some sort of single life.

Apart from these states of life, we also have different careers or professions, such as teaching, medicine, business etc, and these also can be special vocations. We must not leave out those who are handicapped, retarded or invalid and in need of constant care. A life of physical suffering in union with Christ can also be a vocation.

Apart from an enforced vocation of suffering, a call to any other vocation in life has three necessary components. First, the requisite ability, secondly a desire for it, thirdly acceptance by the proper authority.

Let us explain the last condition. You may want to marry a girl, but if she does not agree, you have no call to marriage with her. You may want to enter a university, but if you do not get an admission notice, you have no vocation to study there. You may want to be a priest, but if no bishop will ordain you, you have no priestly vocation, no matter how much you think God is calling you.

Today's readings focus on Church vocations, to the priesthood or some form of consecrated life. How can you know if God is calling you to such a life? First of all, you must have the ability, which includes good health, a good moral life and good academic standing. As for moral life, normally the candidate should be a virgin, should get along well with other people and be honest. There are very many here who have good health and a good moral life.

Where so many fall down is in academics. I handled vocation applications to the Dominicans for two years, and only 1 or 2 percent could write standard English, even though they had 5 credits including English. Others may be bright, but are always running around and can't sit down and study. But in a university parish such as this, there are quite a number of young people who have all the requisites: good health, good moral life, and good academic performance. What may be lacking is the desire. The desire to serve God in a special way is a gift that God implants in the soul. Sometimes this happens at a very early in life. When I was 6 and my brother was 5, we were talking about what we wanted to be. I wanted to be a priest; he wanted to be a soldier. Each of us became what we desired at that early age. A desire to serve God in the Church can also come from a sermon like this, or from someone encouraging you in that direction.

There are thousands who desire to serve God in the Church, but lack the moral or academic qualifications. Most of a vocation director's work is spent in turning such people away.

But if you find that you have the desire, and seem to have a good moral and academic life, discuss it with your confessor or other priest. One thing may lead to another, and you may find yourself in the company of John, Andrew and Peter, caught by Christ and made fishers of men.

2nd Sunday, 2009

No matter how high I jump, I cannot float away from the earth, but must come back and cleave to the ground. Our attraction to Jesus should be just as powerful. John the Baptist was strongly attracted to Jesus, but as the prophet who prepared his way he had to stay at some distance, like the moon orbiting the earth, cleaving to the earth by gravity, but kept at a distance by another thrust, a prophetic mission to circle mankind proclaiming the coming Messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The two disciples who heard John's proclamation, Andrew and someone else whose name is not mentioned, had no mission or task to impede them from falling straight away towards Jesus. They abandoned John and went straight to Jesus. When they found him, they were enthralled, and stayed with him the rest of that day.

Assured that he had found the long-awaited Messiah, Andrew ran to call his brother Simon and brought him to Jesus. Jesus changed Simon's name into Peter. Peter and Andrew then cleaved to Jesus, never to jump away from him, except for Peter's brief state of denial outside the court of Caiphas after Jesus was arrested. Peter's attachment to Jesus, if shaky and loose at first, became ever stronger, and was solidified after Jesus' resurrection when Jesus asked him three times if he loved him, and then hinted how Peter would die for him.

Peter from then on lived and died for the Lord, as the Lord had lived and died for him. The wondrous transformation of his life was the work of God. Peter, like the other apostles and all sincere members of the Church, had become a sign from God, a miracle, a reason for other people to believe and be transformed themselves into vibrant members of the Church, amazing evidence of God's work for all to see.

This becomes clear if we refer to today's second reading. Paul warns the Corinthians against fornication. That was very common in Greek society as it is very common all over the whole world today, and very notably in Nigeria. Paul explains that fornication makes you and your sex partner one in flesh, members of a single body. That is diametrically opposed to being joined to Christ, where you one spirit with him, you are members of his body and temples of the Holy Spirit.

In today's world, in Nigeria, in the U.I. campus, to live chastely as a single person or a married person, stands out. Some people will say, "What is wrong with you? Why don't you join us?", while others will say, "How manage? How is that possible?" The answer to their wonder is not difficult to discover. Our strong bond with Jesus Christ makes chastity possible.

It not only makes chastity possible, but it is also the anchor of a balanced life, and the driving force for performing well in all that we are expected to do.

"The love of God has been poured into our hearts" (Rom 5:5). That is the gravitational force that binds us to Jesus, that prevents us from drifting away, but allows us, like Andrew, to go and tell others, "Come and see."

2nd Sunday, 2011

What do parents prize most? —Not to waste time, let me try to answer. It is having good children, children who enjoy good health, education, position, and above all, who are strong in the Faith. Parents partner with God, to convey human life, to nurture it, and pass it to coming generations.

God sent his Son - to give us a share in divine life —not only us, but all generations. "I have come so that they may have life, and have it to the full" (Jn 10:10 ). To extend that life, to the ends of the earth, to the end of time, Jesus makes use of his friends.

All of us are his friends. He expects us to assist people, not merely to have a better human life, but also to come closer to God.

Parents do this, singles do this. Catechists and religious do this. But Jesus chose some special friends, for a special work. Today we hear him call John (the Apostle), Andrew, and Peter. Others would follow.

The Apostles' preaching, like any priest's preaching, centers on the Eucharist, where we commune directly with Christ. They introduce people to the Eucharist by baptism and confirmation. They prepare them by forgiving their sins, and anointing them in sickness. They prepare future generations for the Eucharist, by the sacraments of marriage and ordination.

After his baptism in the Jordan, Jesus began his public ministry. Before preaching anywhere, and before working any miracle, he first chose his apostles. Everything that followed was their training.

Similarly, in the case of a newly ordained priest, what is his first priority? It is not to preach well, celebrate Mass well, make converts, recall the fallen-away, and make a name for himself, —but to promote vocations to the priesthood. If he fails to recruit vocations, no matter how well he performs, no matter how much people admire him, his ministry is a failure. He may have spiritual sons, and spiritual daughters, but no spiritual grandchildren.

We receive life, to grow in that life, and pass it on. May the Lord give us spiritual fecundity, the power to draw people, not not merely to follow Christ, but to draw others to follow him.

God established two missions in this world. As in making it, he told our first parents: "Multiply and fill the earth" (Gen 1:28), so in remaking the world, Jesus told his apostles, "Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations... I am with you always, to the end of time" (Mt 28:19-20).

Some people know only the first mission. They have children, but do not give them the Faith. Every Catholic, in some way, must share in the second mission. Some, like religious and priests, have no part in the first mission, but are full-time in the second.

May our children, whether physical and spiritual, or only spiritual, be our joy. Through them, may the Lord's grace ripple through history.

3rd Sunday, 2006

Last year we all learned a new word, "tsunami". Even this church was not left out of the world-wide collections taken to assist the survivors of the disastrous flood. Earthquakes and other disasters have followed, and the international community pours in billions of dollars for relief.

And yet, when Jonah was told to preach to the Ninevites to repent or be destroyed and cast into hell, at first he was unwilling to go. And today, while millions of people are living in sin and cruising to eternal damnation, precious little effort is being put into converting them to God. Temporal material disasters command attention; eternal spiritual disasters are ignored. Jesus, the eternal Word of God, came to this world to rescue us from sin and death, that is, spiritual and temporal disaster, but in a certain order: first to rescue us from the spiritual disaster of sin, which is the source of death and material disaster. Jesus founded his Church and commissioned the Apostles and their successors to carry on this same work of salvation. How do they do this?

The sacrament of Baptism totally reverses the disaster of sin, and the sacrament of reconciliation rescues people from any lapses after baptism, while the other sacraments, especially the Eucharist, build up our spiritual prosperity.

Preaching the Gospel is the way the Church draws people to Baptism, Confession and the other sacraments where we meet Christ. Most people of the world, however, are not yet Catholic, but the Church continues to invite them. Very often they are under the bondage of prejudice or family and community restraints, and cannot easily respond. The Church reaches out to them anyway; as Psalm 19 says, "Through all the earth their call went forth, and their words to the edge of the world." The voice of the Church, especially the Pope, has a big impact on the world today. In a world more weighed down by the do-what-you-like relativism of the West than by Muslim terrorism, the Catholic Church has become a lighthouse of truth and sanity, a moral reference point, and many non-Christians respectfully pay attention. The voice of the Church nurtures their response to the grace of Christ at work in their hearts.

That is when they hear the voice of the Church. How many there are for whom the voice of the Church is just a distant echo, an occasional television clip of the Pope, while the teachings of the Church for them are a strictly confidential, well kept secret. The harvest is great, but the labourers are few. Who will go?

When I began university-level teaching 35 years ago, I was told then that I should lose no time in grooming a successor. That is exactly what Jesus did at the beginning of his public life. His first concern was not to preach to the crowds, but to gather and train the Apostles, who would continue where he left off, and carry his work to the whole world.

Answer God in your hearts? Do you have a vocation to this work? If you don't, do you promote, support and assist those who do, maybe your own children? You are asked to support and contribute to so many community development projects and disaster funds. Which disaster can equal an unrepentant death and an eternity in hell? Which development project can outrank bringing the Gospel to the spiritually deprived?

3rd Sunday, 2009

African blood and non-African blood alike tingled when Obama took possession of the most powerful political office in the world. The office of President of the United States is exalted and its demands are overwhelming.

Jesus called Peter and the other apostles to an office that is far more exalted and far more demanding than that of the President of the United States. Matthew, Mark and Luke put Peter's call at the lakeside, where he and his brother Andrew were washing their fishing nets. But we saw last Sunday, in John's account, that the two had already met Jesus when John the Baptist pointed him out and Andrew followed him to the house where he was staying and the next day called his brother Simon, whom Jesus renamed Peter. At that time Peter and Andrew were not given any mission.

The two were with Jesus at the lakeside when Jesus called James and John, Zebedee's sons. There Jesus addressed all four: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." This represented a career shift. As Obama's election shifted his career from community development to nation and world development, so the call of these four apostles shifted their career from catching fish for consumption to catching men to be consumed by the knowledge and love of God.

Jesus sent the Apostles not to act on their own, but in his name, by his authority and his power. Jesus is the Son of God who mediated between God and man by dying for us. He sent the Apostles and their bishop successors to continue his physical presence and activity in the Church throughout the world to the end of time.

The letter to the Hebrews (5:4) observes that "no one takes this honour on himself". In the Catholic Church of Christ, there is no place for mushroom self-anointed pastors. Rather, as Jesus was sent by the Father, so every ordained bishop, priest or deacon in the Catholic Church is sent by Jesus through bishops in an unbroken link to the Apostles who received this mandate directly from Jesus.

To be fishers of men for the kingdom of God—From the Pope down to any simple priest, there can be no higher calling. No political appointment can equal it. What of the demands of this calling? When Obama took over the White House, he packed in his wife, his children and his mother-in-law, along with several moving vans of goods from Chicago. When Peter, Andrew, James and John heard Jesus call, they left everything: mother, father, wife (in the case of Peter), boats and nets, and followed him. And when he sent them out, Jesus said, "Take nothing for the journey," not even money or spare clothes (Mk 6:8-9).

As for security, Obama has the best protection the world can offer to prevent him from being assassinated. As for the Apostles, Jesus said, "I send you out like lambs among wolves" (Lk 10:3). And to Peter he said, "Someone else will put a belt around you and take you where you would rather not go"—indicating the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God (Jn 21:18-19).

Our baptism is likewise a call to come and follow Jesus. To be members of Christ's body, the Church, is a higher dignity than being citizens of any nation on earth, than being members of any elite social circle.

It is also more demanding than membership in any human society. It demands not only outward loyalty, service and even sacrifice of life, as many policemen and soldiers experience, but also the inward sacrifice of poverty of spirit, purity of heart and genuine love. Moreover it demands constant witnessing to Christ in words and action. Everywhere and always, a Catholic is on stage. The cameras are on you.

Adulation and national honours shower on political, football and film stars, but far more worthy of admiration and emulation is our dignity as Catholics, and the dignity of those ordained to serve us.

African or American, Asian or Euopean, if you appreciate this dignity, your blood will tingle.

3rd Sunday, 2012

"Repent," Jonah warned, "or face destruction." "Repent," Jesus proclaimed, "for the Kingom of Heaven is at hand."

"Repent," Nigerians warned government, "or this country is finished." "Repent," they repeated, "if you want peace and prosperity."

Token repentance is not enough, neither for God's kingdom, nor for Nigeria. Politicians make gestures: a 25% cut in salary, but no cut in corruption. Nigerians have had enough of that.

Government and institutions do not sin. It is individuals, in collusion with other individuals, who sin. Corruption, we know, is an epidemic. It reaches every level of society. We see petty and grand larceny, from 50 naira to 50 billion naira.

Corruption comes also from foreign sources, but never without a local partner. In oil theft, there are local bunkerers, and their sponsors. Western governments and NGOs sponsor abortion, euthanasia, and same-sex marriage. They press for legalization. Legalization means funding, and penalizing those who do not go along. To achieve their aims, they use every means, bribes, threats and media onslaught. For Nigerian partners in this agenda, here is a bonanza.

Likewise, when U.S. and Britain, because of the health hazard, forced British-American Tobacco out, the refugee company relocated to Ibadan. What made Ibadan such a friendly host?

Then, what of ourselves? Some sins exclude from the Kingdom of God, and many fall into their trap. Paul lists a few: "Neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers, nor self-indulgent nor men who sex men, nor thieves nor the greedy, nor drunkards nor slanderers nor robbers, will inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor 6:9-10).

If you have a life-threatening disease, you don't cure it with an aspirin. You do all it takes to shake it, and get rid of the disease. And if you know what caused it, you avoid that cause, to prevent a relapse.

So it is with sins threatening our spiritual life. Half-measures will not work. "The lukewarm," Jesus said, "I will spit out of my mouth" (Rev 3:16).

Today we meet two pairs of brothers: Simon and Andrew, James and John. They were good men, working with their fathers. When Jesus called them, they gave no excuse, and did not procrastinate, as others did. But immediately, they left all —their parents, their job, their property— and followed him.

But people point at the Church: See the corruption, see the scandals. Is there corruption in the Church? Yes, look at Judas. If one of the twelve went bad, should we be shocked at one in a hundred?

Yet Jesus still calls us: "Follow me." From where, to where? Sometimes following involves a major change. The Gospel gives us two examples: the first, from mortal sin to repentance; the second, from catching fish to catching men. For most of us, it involves continuing on the road, doing the little things of every day, until we blossom into eternal life.

No strike, no bomb, no road-block, can stop us from following him, or shut down our supplies. If we stick with Jesus, he sticks with us, especially in the Eucharist, and will see us through to the end.

4th Sunday, 2003

Each of these Sundays since Christmas we see the ministry of Jesus unfolding. Today he is recognized as the true Prophet foretold by Moses (1). He spoke with authority: That is, he told them about God and their lives by his direct knowledge, and was not just quoting texts of law like the Scribes and Pharisees. He acted with authority, casting out demons, because he had divine power. Jesus shares this authority today with his Church. The gifts of prophesy or of working miracles or expelling demons can come to any Christian, but they are not permanent powers that they can use whenever they like. God may use you today and leave you powerless tomorrow and come back to you later; "the Spirit blows where he wills."

But Jesus did leave some gifts permanently operative in his priests. The Mass and Confessional absolution are always effective. What is demonic possession? Its most serious form is when the devil gets a person to sign himself over to the devil; more commonly it is whenever the devil persuades someone to commit a serious sin. No angel or devil or man can force a person to sin or force a person to repent. That must come from free will. But once a person repents, he can be delivered from this possession by Confessional absolution. When the devil cannot succeed in persuading a person to sin, he can sometimes torment the person exteriorly in various ways. In such cases the sign of the cross or holy water is enough to drive away the devil. Sometimes the devil torments a person through evil people who act as his agents and persecute the Church. The Church may suffer for a while, but God is looking after us and will turn our suffering into a greater triumph.

We should be careful not to attribute every problem to the devil. Sickness is not generally the devil's work. The same for madness; that may arise from use of drugs and brain damage. A mad person can be treated by both medicine and spiritual means, but must first willingly submit; he cannot be forced.

Let us demonstrate to all the freedom from the devil that we enjoy by the goodness of our lives, and our concern for God and one another. In that line, God may be calling some of you to religious life, to remain unmarried and devoted solely to the Lord's affairs (2). Whichever way we are called, our own freedom from worry and our devotion to God is the most powerful way of teaching with authority.

4th Sunday, 2006

The man was possessed by an unclean spirit, and Jesus drove it out. Jesus delivered so many people from evil spirits, and so did his Apostles after him. Cases of obvious possession, like the one in today's gospel, are rare today. How do we account for that?

The answer is twofold. First, there is the real impact of Jesus coming and defeating the Prince of this world (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11). Secondly, Satan, who is still not entirely bound and banished, has changed his tactics.

Let us look at Jesus' victory. He came into a world which was Satan's playground, where he went around openly like an armed robber with no police to check him. Wherever he found anyone with the door of his will open to sin, he entered in broad daylight and took over.

All that changed when Jesus entered the scene. In his public life, but especially by his dying and rising, Jesus crushed the head of Satan. He and his legions were in a state of panic. The Apostles and early preachers of the Faith continued releasing people right and left from devil possession. And that, as we learn from history, is the reason why in a short time most of the Middle East became Christian. Scarce wonder that possession there and elsewhere became a rare phenomenon. Jesus' coming did make a difference.

On the other hand, Satan is restrained, but not completely bound and banished. He still roams around the world, making war on the children of Mary and the Church (Rev 12:17) and seeking whom he may devour (1 Pt 5:8-9). He can no longer swagger bold and brazen in the open, but confines himself to hit and run raids or operates like a thief in the night.

Who are his targets, and what is his strategy? Satan wants people to sin and go to Hell, but his strategy is not to go around tempting people to sin. That is too labour-intensive. Rather, his primary objective is to lead people into error. Once he can convince them of error, he has them boxed in and it is very likely that sin will follow without any further push on his part.

For example, he tries to convince people that fornication between friends is natural, normal and causes no moral, psychological or physical damage. Once a person is convinced, Satan can go on holiday, assured that the person will act according to his conviction.

And if Satan convinces someone that the Catholic Church is laden with false teaching and corruption, he can go and rest, convinced that the person will stubbornly resist any attraction he feels towards the Catholic Church.

Convincing people of error, however, still takes a lot of energy out of Satan, because so most people are not concerned about what is true or false, but simply with what is advantageous for them. So, after succeeding in convincing some people of error, his next step is to turn them into fanatical propagators and enforcers of error. These become community watchdogs who herd wavering people in line and make them conform.

For instance, we see how in some places Muslim fanatics threaten anyone who shows interest in Christianity. And we hear the Nigerian Medical Association call for legalizing abortion, not because it attracts penalties now, but because they want to penalize any nurse, doctor or supplier who refuses to cooperate with them.

"With a loud cry the unclean spirit went out of him." As Christ overcame the Prince of Darkness, so we are called to "overcome the Evil One" (1 Jn 2:12-14). "The truth shall set you free" (Jn 8:32).

When we reach the bottom, things will begin to improve.—So many believe. But a series of disasters, tragedies and failures can make us think there is no bottom, or if there is one it will be a dead-end and death for us.

That was Job's thought. Buried under his afflictions, he waited in the night for dawn to come, and then at dawn waited for the night, finally concluding that "my eyes will never again see joy." The supreme spiritual disaster had struck: despair.

Jesus' visit to the house of Simon and Andrew was to bring hope to the troubled people of that household and town. The mother-in-law just had a fever, something I suppose all of us have had at one time or another. It burns you and shakes you and then leaves you in a state of anaemic helplessness—a good time for the devil to come in an whisper all sorts of discouraging words.

Jesus cured Peter's mother-in-law before she could get to that stage. But later others were brought to the house who were not only sick, but had given up on God and fallen prey to the devil, who confused their mental processes so that they could not relate with God. They were both physically and spiritually unwell. These are the ones Jesus was most concerned about.

Once he drove the devils out of these people, they could think straight and see God's love for them and trust in him, even while walking through the valley of death.

Jesus could command any disease or evil spirit to depart, and inspire confidence and hope where there was despair, because of his divine power. But he also was a supreme example of familiarity with God and trust in him. While his bodily eyes looked on human sickness, sin and misery, his mind's eyes were fixed on the goodness, love and mercy of his Father. And when he went alone to pray, his bodily eyes looked heavenwards to his loving Father, while his mind's eyes surveyed our troubles, worries and sins and presented them to his Father for mercy.

He had come to heal us of sin and despair. He came also to heal us of bodily diseases and trouble, but not from all sickness, and not from all trouble, and definitely not from eventual death. What he gives us is a share in his own mind, the ability to have faith and trust in God no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in.

The Psalmist (129) had reached the bottom when he said, in answer to Job, "From the depths I cry to you, Yahweh; Lord, hear my voice... My mind is on the Lord through the night watches till dawn. Through the night watches till dawn let Israel trust in the Lord."

Dip a spoon into draw soup. It will never come up clean. Part of it will string back into the pot. In the same way, when we try to lift our minds to God, our minds hang back to our worldly concerns. What will we eat, what will we wear, how can I win this contract? The heaviest concern of all is when we are laid low by sickness. How can I get well?

If your prayer starts and stops with "Deliver us from evil," you will always slip back into the pot. Only when we look at "Our Father who art in heaven" will we get out of the pot and stay out.

Jesus' first outing with his first four Apostles, Peter and Andrew, brothers, and James and John, brothers also, was to Peter's house. His mother-in-law was down with a fever. When Jesus freed her from the fever, she sprang to her feet, her mind transfixed by the divine visitation, and with no other thought in the world, began to wait on Jesus.

The word went around, and the whole town poured in.

Divine healing and grace normally go together, but not always, as we know from the other nine lepers who did not come back to say "Thank you". Jesus healed many that evening at Peter's house. How many were touched by God's grace go repent of their sins and focus their lives on God, we do not know. No doubt some were glad simply to resume their former lives with no reference to God.

The seed had been sown. The result would be uneven, some 100 fold, some 60, some 40, some zero.

Next, before sunrise, Jesus retreated to a lonely place to pray. His prayer was not volleys of "Lord have mercy" shot in the air, or rockets of "Halleluia" bursting in the sky and then falling back to earth, but the smooth orbital flight of his mind circling the Father, who was always visible to his gaze. Better than anyone else, Jesus knew how to pray always.

Peter, Andrew, James and John went out to find Jesus. They themselves had not yet learned how to pray as he did in confident familiarity with the Father. They were worried about the unfinished job in Peter's town and wanted to take Jesus back, like the draw soup sliding back into the pot. Prayer, they thought, started from the evil of this earth and stormed heaven for an answer. They had not yet learned the Lord's prayer, which starts from heaven and reaches down to earth and in the end delivers us from evil.

Jesus had slipped out of town to pray in order to introduce his disciples to his own heavenly kind of prayer, a prayer they would learn in the quiet of the bush and invigorate in the quiet of the night, a prayer that would always be at work in the background of their multi-task apostolic environment.

Many of us are cooking in a pot of troubles. If our prayer is nothing but "Deliver us from evil", we are like the draw soup that doesn't want to come out of the pot. If our prayer concentrates on "Our Father who art in heaven", and seeks first "May your kingdom come", then all our evils will cease to be evil, as everything works out well for those who love God (Rom 8:28).

We all have those moments, whether of sickness or fatigue, when a task stares us in the face, and all we can do is stare back, unable to collect a thought, or move a finger. That was the experience of Job, and of Peter's mother-in-law —humanity laid low.

Jesus raised the lady, banishing her fever, and she resumed her tasks with vigor. Jesus did not stop there. Bodily vigor is one thing, spiritual vigor another. Baking bread is one skill, serving the bread of angels is another. When Jesus grasped the lady's hand, he raised her both in body and spirit.

The word went out. That evening, people came in droves, with every sort of ailment. He cured them all.

Here was a critical moment. If Jesus were a Nigerian, he would have said: Now is my chance. I will capitalize on this ministry, build myself a megachurch, and call it "Prosperity for all". And I will be the pastor-king.

But Jesus did not do that. He got up early in the morning, and escaped to a place of solitude. There he prayed, both to refresh his human spirit, and to present to his Father - all he had cured, and had come to believe.
Jesus' prayer, at the same time, was a lesson:

• that power and wealth, for all their potential, are not the first things,
• that our spirit, like our body, needs feeding and rest,
• that, in times of difficulty, we must turn to our Father, like Jesus at Gethsemane, for guidance and strength.

When Peter, along with Andrew, James and John, caught up with Jesus, they brought the message: "Everyone is looking for you." Why were they looking for him? Were they like the people Jesus fed, and came back for more bread?
Jesus' miracles gave reason to believe. They were steps to a greater gift, the gift of faith. Faith is the key to further blessings, to every good gift. Faith does not require Jesus' presence. —"Only say the word, and I shall be healed."
So, as for Peter's home village, Jesus could say: "Mission accomplished. Let us go elsewhere." He went on, preaching, healing, driving out demons, until he finished his mission, sealing it with his death and resurrection. In the meantime, he had trained and empowered leaders, to join into one Church - those who had seen and believed, and those who did not see, yet believed.
The Church is a haven, where those who have hit bottom - find a hand, Jesus' hand, to lift them up, both in body and in spirit.

Last week I saw a mad man standing by the side of the Lagos expressway. What pointed to his madness? He had unkempt hair and was totally naked. He looked healthy; so probably he was good at begging. Like many such people, maybe he was intelligent, maybe he had a good education and enjoyed success for a time. But either his brain chemistry or some trauma turned him into a social drop-out. In this state, to have a brother, a friend, a wife, a job?—impossible! Like the leper in today's gospel, he was an outcast.

You do not have to be mad or a leper, like those on the Lagos-Ore expressway, to be an outcast. If you have AIDS, in spite of what experts say about how it is not transmitted, many doctors and nurses will run away from you.

But come closer to home. We all live in several social circles: family, friends, school-mates, work colleagues, town and church societies, each with its own expectations of us. If we egregiously flaunt the rules of any of these associations, our continued presence will not be tolerated and we will become an outcast.

To be rejected is painful; it is a form of punishment. But we may ask, "Did we deserve it? Are not many people punished for doing the right thing?" Peter's First Letter tells us: "What glory is there in putting up with a beating after you have done something wrong? The merit in the sight of God is in putting up with it patiently when you are punished for doing your duty" (2:20). "None of you should ever deserve to suffer for being a murderer, a thief, a criminal or an informer, but if any one of you should suffer for being a Christian, then there must be no shame but thanksgiving to God for bearing this name" (4:15-16).

In all our social relations there are rules of good conduct which we must be the first to comply with. But we must take a stand and oppose what the group is proposing if it is wrong. This can happen even in the home or in school or business, and we have to be willing to suffer the consequences.

But among the friends we move with on a casual or free basis the risk of planning something evil is higher, because there is no institution at stake that might suffer as a consequence of the action. Parents, for instance, are not likely to train their children to steal, because of the disgrace it could bring on the family. But casual friends would have less problem in planning to steal or rob.

So we should be very careful in our choice of friends, and let no sense of obligation towards them make us hesitate in breaking off a relationship that is heading the wrong way. If we sometimes have to oppose family members, all the more we should never allow casual friends to highjack our lives and carry us where we would rather not go.

Jesus himself became an outcast like the leper when he was sent outside the city gate to suffer death. The letter to the Hebrews concludes: "Let us go to him, then outside the camp, and bear his humiliation" (13:13).

So there is one kind of leprosy and disgrace that we ask the Lord to spare us, or to deliver us from, and that is being guilty of mortal sin. That debars us from Communion; it debars us from Heaven. May we never remain outside the Lord's camp, excluded from his friendship!

If we are wrongly accused of doing wrong, may the Lord help us to bring out the truth and clear our name.

But if we have to suffer for doing what is right, let us simply praise God.

No admission because you didn't make the cut-off point! No job because you didn't qualify! No visa for Europe; so you must die with thousands of other Africans trying to cross the Mediterranean in leaky boats! These are today's forms of leprosy, replacing the leprosy of the Gospel, which has yielded to modern medical treatment. There are endless forms of leprosy today, leprosy that quarantines you, ostracizes you, barricades you from entering, proclaims you unclean.

You may find yourself excluded justly or unjustly, justly through your own fault or through no fault of your own. The worst just exclusion through your own fault is to be excluded from Communion because you are unworthy.

Is it unjust if I cannot barge into the VC's office without an appointment and a good reason for seeing him? Is it unjust if I am not hired because I have had no training for that job?—or because I have the certificate but not the hands-on ability to perform?

On the other hand, is it just if I am fully qualified for a position, but I am excluded because I am not a son of the soil?

Most of us one time or another find our way blocked unjustly. We should work against injustice, but we cannot escape it altogether in this life. The unworthy are advanced and the worthy kept down, especially when government is in charge.

We should be more concerned when we are justly excluded. Not that we must be qualified for every and any job. You cannot know everything, be a jack-of-all-trades. There is a problem only if you have specialized in some field, such as engineering, but have not mastered the subject. It is wrong to apply for a position where you cannot perform satisfactorily, even if you have the paper qualification. If you aspire to any position, be ready to excel in it.

It is worse if we find ourselves excluded because of bad character. Do we cheat? Are we lazy, negligent, quarrelsome, violent? Let none of us find ourselves out on the street because of bad character.

Some people manage to perform well on the job or in social circles. They are charming and get along with others. But in their private life they have serious secret sins that only God and their close friends know about.

If a public or a private sin keeps you from receiving Communion, that is a major form of leprosy and a cause for great concern.

Jesus cured the leper by a word. He is there to heal you of this worse leprosy also by a word, the word of absolution pronounced by his priests in confession. That puts us back in communion with Christ and the Church, where any other kind of just or unjust exclusion fades by comparison into insignificance.

The worst form of leprosy, mortal sin, yields to the treatment of Jesus in the sacraments of the Church.

Have you heard of St. Damien the Leper? In 1873 he went to minister to the lepers exiled on the island of Molokai in Hawaii. He died in 1880, at the age of 49, from leprosy he caught by bandaging the lepers' wounds. Jesus healed a leper, but had to endure the leper's fate, not leprosy, but exclusion. He had to stay outside town, because of the leper's big mouth.

This typifies Jesus' mission. Though sinless, to save sinners, he bore the penalties of sin. It is a lesson for us. Doing good may land us in trouble. That should not disturb us.

Here is an exmple. Years ago, I was on the way to Lagos with a student, now Fr. Matthew Oguleru, of Ijebu-Ode diocese. We came across a danfo accident, with the wounded passengers strewn on the ground. There was room in our van, so we took several. The first hospital had no doctor on duty. The second took all but one woman, who had a broken leg. We had to carry her to Igbobi. The matron refused to admit her without payment. Fortunately, the woman had a relative working there, who got her in.

We got off lightly. Other good samaritans have traumatic experiences. They not only must pay dearly, but also face a police charge, that they caused the injury. In helping a victim, they become a victim. Victimization is one form of unjust exclusion.

Another unjust exclusion is favoritism, giving to those who lack merit, because they are "our people", or they pay bribe. We all know many varieties of that. When a post, or an assignment, or a contract goes out, and we are the best qualified candidate, we complain when it goes to another, and we are right to complain. Let us work, by every legitimate means, to rectify the injustice, whether we or others are the victims.

But if the other person is better qualified, and he is chosen, do we still complain, become envious, or even run him down, and conspire to ruin him? That is wrong. If we don't meet the standard, and find ourselves on the outside, let us work, and bring ourselves up to standard. Other grounds for exclusion are moral faults: neglect (like letting Sokoto escape), embezzelment (where did the oil revenue go?), and fraud (like forged documents, or grades won by cheating).

1 Peter (2:19-20) tells us: "There is merit in enduring punishment you don't deserve, but not if you have done wrong." If we are at fault, and find ourselves outside, let us work to correct ourselves. Paul today tells the Corinthians: "Never be a cause of offence, either to Jews or to Greeks, or to the Church of God" (1 Cor 10:32). We could add: neither to those outside our Church, nor those outside our tribe, nor those outside our village, nor to our own household.

Regarding social leprosy and exclusion, three times I have said "Let us work." More is required. Work alone is like dry medicine, which the patient cannot swallow. Moisten work with prayer, and it will work wonders. Today's leper knew that. Like a job-seeker, he pursued Jesus. When he found him, he fell on his knees and prayed: "If you wish, you can cure me."

That prayer expressed faith, in both God's power and mercy. The conditional "if" does not restrict God's mercy. It expresses faith in his supreme wisdom.

Better than we, God knows what is best for us. We may be pursuing one job, but God has a better one in mind. We may be pursuing one qualification, trying to master one skill; in the process he links us to another, one that will serve us better.

But the severest leprosy is moral fault. To overcome a bad habit takes effort. It also takes grace. As today's gospel shows, the crowning medicine is prayer:

Lord, if you wish, you can cure me. —Cure me, and transform me, into your own image, as you did for St. Damien the Leper.

To survive, to succeed, we must struggle. But we also can be helped. Every push needs a pull, a window of opportunity, coming sometimes when we least expect it, but planned all along by the hand of God.

The paralytic, with the help of his people, had struggled hard to find a way of getting back on his feet. If, as is probable, he had suffered a stroke, his chances were slim and it might take a long time for him to recover only partially.

A window of opportunity opened for him when he heard what Jesus was doing for people, what could be done only with divine power. By his faith in this Son of Man and Son of God, he was already spiritually in contact with Jesus and ready to receive healing.

But Jesus, and likewise the Church, is not a pure spirit, and he normally operates through physical contact. So the paralytic needed to present his case to Jesus personally. The physical window to his presence was not there, because of the crowd. So his people made one, through the roof.

Lowered before Jesus' feet, he finally had made contact and got the attention of Jesus. Jesus' spirit met the paralytic's spirit and saw his faith and the whole state of his soul. Here was a man who believed, but was in trouble, trouble that was not just a matter of being paralyzed and unable to provide for himself, but an inner trouble of a spirit that had deflected from perfect faithfulness to God, maybe by frustration and anger, maybe by despair, maybe by ill-will towards those who treated him badly.

Jesus read his conscience, saw his contrition and faith, and made the divine act of pronouncing his sins forgiven.

Jesus also read the thoughts of the scribes who correctly saw that forgiving sins is a divine act, but wrongly denied that Jesus had divine power.

Then Divine Wisdom posed the challenging question, "Which is easier, to forgive the man's sins or to tell him to get up and walk? If we take a spiritual cure and a physical cure separately, it is obvious that the spiritual cure is greater, just as a priest's work in bringing spiritual health is greater than that of a doctor who brings bodily health. But if we take spiritual and physical health in connection with one another, we see physical sickness, whatever may have caused it, is more easily treated if the person is in good spiritual health. Spiritual health is the root and precondition of physical healing.

By extending the paralytic's healing to his body as well, Jesus proved that the more difficult work of healing him spiritually was authentic. The spiritual healing was accomplished invisibly, but soon shone itself in the life of the man who got up and walked home renewed inwardly and outwardly.

We too are in the struggle of life, trying to achieve something or trying to get out of one problem or another. No amount of success, prosperity and physical strength will satisfy us if we are spiritually sick, no amount of failure, poverty or ill-health will disappoint us if we are spiritually well.

If your sins are forgiven and your conscience is at peace, you are well poised to perform well in your family and profession. If you find yourself in sin and your conscience is disturbed, a window of opportunity is open for you. Let your four friends—faith, hope, contrition, and purpose of amendment—carry you to the presence of Jesus in the confessional. There you will hear his words, "My child, your sins are forgiven."

When a football player falls, mostly he gets up by himself. But sometimes he stays down, and has to go out on a stretcher.

From time to time, we all get down, in body, in emotion, in spirit. Most often it is minor, and we bounce back. Other times we require help, either to manage the problem, or to get back on our feet. In this life we manage many problems. One problem we cannot manage, and must solve, is mortal sin. Jesus provided his Church with the solution.

The paralytic was down in body, maybe from of a stroke, or an accident. He could not get around alone. No doubt, he looked for help elsewhere, and did not get it, like the woman with hemorrhages (Lk 8:43). She suffered for twelve years, spent all her savings on doctors, but got no better.

The paralytic was also down in spirit —indicated by Jesus' reference to his sins. What were they? The Gospel does not say, but we may guess. He may have given way to frustration, to resentment at people who neglected him. Above all, he may have doubted God's love, and despaired of his help. He needed healing not only of body, but basically of soul.

A window of opportunity opened , when he heard about Jesus, what he was doing for people, what only God could do, and was now doing. Having heard the good news, he believed, he hoped. By his faith, he was already in contact with Jesus, the Son of Man and Son of God, and was ready to receive healing.

But Jesus, and likewise the Church, is not a pure spirit. He normally operates through physical contact. So the paralytic wanted, at all cost, to meet Jesus. He found four men to carry him. The Gospel does not say they were friends; he probably hired them.

When he got to the house, the crowd blocked the way, but he was determined. Like a Lagos taxi driver, he found a way through the go-slow —not by a side-track, but through the roof.

The men let him down before Jesus' feet. He had finally made contact, and gotten Jesus' attention. Eye met eye, and spirit met spirit. Jesus saw his trusting faith, read his troubled conscience, accepted his decisive contrition, and told him, "My child, your sins are forgiven."

The Scribes heard this. In a spirit of revolt, they looked at one another. Jesus read their thoughts. To forgive sins, they knew, requires God's power. But they denied that Jesus had that power.

Divine Wisdom challenged them: "Which is easier, to forgive the man's sins, or have him get up and walk? For the Scribes, bodily healing was more convincing. In itself, however, forgiving sins is greater, because spiritual health surpasses bodily health. A sick spirit attacks bodily health, while a healthy spirit supports bodily health.

By healing the paralytic's body, Jesus proved that the foundational task, healing him spiritually, was authentic. The spiritual healing was invisible, but showed its effects, as the paralytic got up, walked home beaming, a new man.

We too are in many struggles, trying to achieve something, or to get out of some problem. If we are spiritually sick, no amount of success, prosperity, or physical strength will help us. If we are spiritually well, no amount of failure, poverty or ill-health will harm us.

The greatest illness, the greatest tragedy, is mortal sin. For that, and for venial sins, Jesus provided the Church with a remedy. "Whose sins you forgive, they are forgiven." In the confessional, the priest tells the contrite penitent: "Your sins are forgiven." Divine power is at work, as Psalm 113 says: "He lifts the poor from the dust."

Weddings are expensive. I know a man who just took his daughter to London to shop for her wedding. It is the time the rich shame the poor, and the poor go into debt to put on an appearance of a luxurious celebration. To escape the expense, some just elope or arrange a private wedding.

John the Baptist had said it, and Jesus repeats it, that he is the bridegroom of his community of followers. In that case, a wedding is no time for fasting, but when Jesus is taken away by death the young widow church will fast.

If Jesus is the bridegroom, what kind of wedding does he have—a rich man's wedding or a poor man's wedding? We know how he provided wine for his friend's wedding at Cana, and being the Son of God we should not expect him to do anything cheap or sparing.

The union between Christ and his Church resembles the union between a man and a woman, but it transcends it and is far superior. Jesus' wedding has no need of a show of material wealth, find dress, fine food and drink, fine music etc., because he offers something much finer. The very meaning of this wedding is that Jesus is joining us to his divinity, just as he joined his divinity to our humanity when he became man.

To be joined to God himself! Is God poor? He is rich to himself and needs no outside thing. To have him is to have all we could desire. Anything he created is only a dim reflection of his own super-rich goodness.

We become part of this marriage between God and man, divinity and humanity, by our baptism. In this encounter we ourselves are stamped with God's image, transformed in his likeness, and every spiritual gift follows: faith, hope, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness, self-control—all in proportion to our growth in grace.

All these gifts are the new wine which the human nature we inherited from Adam is incapable of receiving, unless it is made new by baptism. Try to pour these gifts into someone in a state of mortal sin, and they will not coexist. Like fire and water, one will destroy the other.

So Jesus' wedding is not cheap. He spent the last drop of his blood to make it the finest wedding that could ever be celebrated on earth. Begun at our baptism, this wedding is renewed every time we receive the Eucharist.

Remember the parable of the wedding feast and the man who was thrown out for not having a wedding garment. How do we make sure we have that garment? Everything can be found right here in the church. It is cut, sewed, washed and ironed right here. It costs us only the effort to come and take part in the sacraments.

In union with Christ, we stand strong.

The role of the devil (first reading)

• tempted Eve & Adam
• cursed by God to be crushed by woman's Son.
• Jesus was casting devils out (Gospel)

Three kinds of people:

• those saved from Satan by Jesus (who became his mother & brothers)
• those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit: against God, Jesus, his Church, saying that we are doing devil's work.
• those awaiting deliverance.

If Satan's kingdom has any strength, it is when it is not divided:

• his allies focus on his agenda
• and cooperate with one another for evil.

Satan can defeat us only if we allow him by division in our household:

• within ourselves, by not focusing on him, and his teachings, when half our interest is to please God and half our interest is elsewhere.
• within our community

Keep our house strong, by union with Jesus:

• living in grace, preserving union with Church
• struggling through the difficulties and frustrations of life, for peace in community
• so as to live in glory (second reading).

"What is greater than the kingdom of heaven? How is it like a mustard seed, so small, like a grain of salt? What could be so small, and have power to become so great—greater than the universe, expanding from a bit of black matter, some 20 billion years ago?

That seed, as St. John Chrysostom explains, is Christ, the Son of God, who bridged the infinite gap - between Creator and creature. He emptied himself, to take on a human nature.

Still in the womb, when his mother Mary visited Elizabeth, he sanctified his cousin, John the Baptist. As he grew, he radiated grace, preparing the ground for his public life. Then, as Acts 10 (:38) says, "he went about doing good, and healing all oppressed by the devil, for God was with him."

On the cross, he did the same, assuring paradise to the repentant thief, and bequeathing his Mother - to John and the Church. After he breathed his last, he let flow, from his pierced side, a river of water and blood, to soak all mankind with his life.

Like a mature mustard seed, with its roots in the ground, and its branches in heaven, Jesus sucked from the underworld - all who awaited him, and led them into heaven.

At present, we, like the birds of the air, settle in his shade. Though in heaven, he is still with us, as his sacraments take effect in us. Gradually we grow, and produce the fruit he expects, until the harvest, when he takes us to himself.

We are not alone. Generation after generation, the process goes on, until the number of the elect is complete.

From a tiny seed, a divine seed, in the womb of the Virgin Mary, Christ grew to human maturity. In union with him, the kingdom of heaven grows. It will continue to grow and expand, until the last day.

Life is full of crises: Maybe we fail an exam, we fall sick, we run out of money, someone showers us with blame. Somehow we get through these crises and thank God for a better day. But sometimes they linger on, grow in size, and crowd out every memory of past joys and bright dreams for the future. At that moment we may ask, "Is there a God? anyone who cares?" Other thoughts may enter: "I wish I were dead." The wife of Muhammad, `A'isha, said at the end of an unhappy life, "I wish I were gone and forgotten." When we find ourselves in such a situation, there are four things we should remember:

1. God never promised us that we would have a life without trouble. On the contrary, Jesus said, "You will weep and mourn, while the world rejoices" (Jn 16:20).
2. God does love us, but has his reasons for letting us suffer. "Everything works together for good for those who love God" (Rm 8:28).
3. The guarantee of his love and our ultimate triumph is his indwelling presence in us and in the Church. "Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home in him" (Jn 14:23).
4. He wants us to believe in him. "Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" (Jn 14:10). The disciples had gathered in the boat, the symbol of the Church, at Jesus' command. As the storm raged, he was there in their midst, sleeping peacefully. Yet they did not realize that the man who was sleeping was "the Guardian of Israel, who never sleeps or slumbers" (Ps 121), who was always watching over them.

The disciples panicked and woke Jesus. He got up and calmed the storm and the sea all right, and then rebuked their lack of faith. Lack of faith:

There are those who have no faith. When a crisis comes, they run out of theChurch to any babalawo or prophet who promises to help them. And there are those who have little faith. When a crisis comes, they make a lot of noise, and everyone hears them shaking and tugging Jesus into action.

And there are those who have a simple faith without complex. When a crisis comes, they don't get excited. They know Jesus is there. They put their whole problem before him with the serenity of Mary when she said, "They have no wine" (Jn 2:3), or of the sisters of Lazarus who said, "Lord, the man you love is sick" (Jn 11:3).

Why is faith missing or weak in some people? There is a correlation between faith and love. The disciples faith was weak because their love was not perfectly focused on Jesus. Still on their minds was the question who was the greatest among them, and what they would get when Jesus came into his kingship.

Many people in the midst of a major crisis find themselves unable to muster any faith in God or courage to move forward. If they examine their lives they may find that there is a moral problem in their lives, a selfishness shown in cheating or disregard for others or unchastity. The crisis they fell into may be a wake-up call to repent of that evil in their lives. Then they will see clearly to recognize the presence of Jesus inside themselves.

If you are well it is hard to imagine yourself sick. And if you are sick it is hard to imagine yourself well. Today we are all here on our feet, even though we are not all equally strong. Some of us are sick often, some seldom. I know someone, a brother in my community, who has never been sick in his whole life. Life in its fullness, a life free of bodily and spiritual sickness—that is what God wishes for us.

Jesus was never sick. As the Passover Lamb of the New Testament, he had to be free from every defect. The only way he could suffer was from external action, like a lamb that is butchered.

"I am the way, the truth and the life" (Jn 14:6). Jesus is life and he is pro-life, the life of the unborn, the life of children, the life of adults and old people. Jesus imprinted this same attitude on the Church and every Catholic: respect for human life, concern to nurture and preserve it, care for the sick and effort to heal them by both prayer and medical treatment, and intervention to protect the vulnerable from robbery and armed attack.

The Church as an institution operates hospitals and clinics and cooperates with other agencies of health care delivery. And every individual Catholic has his or her own part to play in keeping people healthy or restoring them to health or in preventing accidents or the killing of people, including babies still in the womb.

Yet we are under attack by a culture of death. People are willing to kill to get political power. People are ready to rob others of their livelihood in order to get rich quick. Police are sometimes indistinguishable from armed robbers. Medical doctors are sometimes indistinguishable from hired assassins in dealing with pregnancies. Fake medicine, adulterated food, faulty vehicle parts, unsound construction, fraudulent passing of exams and fraudulent certificates are some of the instruments of death unscrupulous people use as shortcuts to riches.

All this brings us to an awareness of a conflict. God wishes to give us life and life to the fullness (Jn 10:10), while in the world we are confronted not merely with some inherited weaknesses and proneness to sickness, the consequences of original sin, but more formidably with outside enemies, determined to stop life, stop progress and send us quickly to the grave.

And this brings us to the mystery of the cross. Yes, Jesus too, the master of life, suffered external aggression, culminating in the mortal piercing of his hands, feet and side. What is the mystery of the cross? It is an invitation to suffer and die with and like Jesus. It is an invitation to invite death as Jesus did by witnessing to the truth. It is an invitation to victory over death, to rise ourselves with Jesus to a life far surpassing the one we have here. It is an invitation to many others to take our place, having seen our example of faithfulness to Christ unto death.

Life in its fullness is more than the health Jesus restored to the women in today's gospel. It is that eternal life which is "to know you, the one true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (Jn 17:3). This loving knowledge of God, which includes the practice of all the virtues, and is nurtured by prayer and the sacraments, is the healthy spiritual life that all Jesus' miracles pointed to. It is also the motivating factor making us instruments of life in the world, and enabling us combat and defeat the culture of death around us.

Jesus is master of life, and he is determined to give it to us. There are agents of death determined to stop him, but victory will be his in the end. Let us be part of that victory.

Note on Jesus' brothers and sisters:

Mary had no other physical children: