HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER (1)

HOMILY FOR FRIDAY OF THE 4TH WEEK OF EASTER

HOMILY THEME: I GO TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU!

BY: Fr. Ben Agbo

HOMILY: *Act 13 :26 – 33, Jn 14 :1-6.

One of my Catechists once asked me a question that seriously challenged his little theological knowledge from his Penny Catechism. He said : ‘If we are told in Rev 12: 12 that the devil has been thrown down from heaven to earth and our Catechism teaches us that the devil is in hell, why can’t he be chained there so that he will stop disturbing our peace here?’. Don’t ask me what I answered him. Just prepare your own answers to these questions : Where is God? Where is the devil? Is heaven/hell a place or a state? You can now appreciate Thomas’ question when Jesus made the simple anthropomorphic statement in today’s gospel : ‘In my father’s house there are many rooms… I go to prepare a place for you’. A place? To be inhabited by spiritual or material bodies? The scientific – minded Thomas simply confessed : ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going ; how can we know the way?’ .

No wise man can confuse the realm of science with that of metaphysics. Not minding Christ’s anthromorphism (use of earthly terms to describe heavenly realities) , we know that heaven is ‘what no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor human mind conceived – all that God has prepared for those who love him’, 1Cor 2 :9. It is simply the beatific vision of God which theologians have visualized in several ways. For people like St Augustine, we shall go there with a kind of spiritual bodies. Yes, the Church teaches the resurrection of the body but we can be sure that it’s not going to be exactly like our bodies are now here on earth.

1. HE IS THE WAY : Jesus says that he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Way because through baptism in Him and other sacraments shall we now be saved not through the Old testament circumcision.
   The prophet Isaiah spoke about this holy way – only the redeemed shall walk through it – Jesus is that way, Is 35 :8-9. The letter to the Hebrews speaks about the new way of entering the sanctuary through his flesh – the Eucharistic way, Heb 10 :19 – 22.
2. HE IS THE TRUTH : He is the Truth because he is the incarnate Son of God, the Word made flesh. When Peter confessed this he was made Pope ; when he denied it he backslided. Pilate died a confused man because he never understood this truth. He is the Truth as opposed to the shadows and figures of the Old testament. For example, the Old testament manna was a shadow of the heavenly bread but Christ in the Eucharist is the sign reality – the substance of that true bread from heaven.
   The brazen serpent was an Old testament figure of the redeemer – the first use of sacramentals as aids to salvation but Christ hanging on the Cross is the sign reality represented fully in the sacrifice of the mass. The Ark was the Old testament symbol of God’s presence but Christ’s Eucharistic presence is the real presence of the Shekinah glory in our time.
3. HE IS THE LIFE : He is the Life because he is the only source of holiness and abundant life, Jn 10 :10. Jesus has the fulness of life within himself, Jn 10 :10. He is opposed to the devil, the father of liars. Jesus is faithful to his promises and will never deceive us. Adam brought death into the world but Christ brought life. We were dead in trespass and sin but Christ has made us alife – all who die with him, 2 Tim 2 :11 – 13.

CONCLUSION : Jesus tells us in today’s gospel, ‘Let not your hearts be troubled by the worries of both life and death. Jesus cares for your life, Matt 7 :7 and cares for even your death, Jn 11:25. John Bunyan says : ‘Let death come when it will ; it can do the Christian no harm, for it will be but a passage out of the prison into a palace..’.

May God bless you today!

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