HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR C (10)

HOMILY FOR THE 7TH SUNDAY OF EASTER YEAR C

THEME: THE PRIESTLY PRAYER OF JESUS AND STEPHEN!

BY: Ben Agbo (Rev Fr)

HOMILY FOR SUNDAY MAY 29 2022

*Act 7 :55 – 60, Rev 22 :12 – 20, Jn 17 :20 – 26.

A. PREAMBLE
The Priestly prayer of Jesus is the prayer he makes for the Church in his capacity as a Priest /Intercessor, Heb 5 :1-3. It is a prayer that can give us a lot of insight about what our right focus should be like as a Church of Christ today in terms of our prayer burdens, targets and prayer points. Issues about style, language or mannerisms may be less important.

We are presented in the 1st reading with the demise of the young cleric, Stephen and the kind of priestly prayer he also said before he breathed his last. Some people may view St Stephen as an example of a young man full of zeal and so passionate for the Lord’s house. Some may have found his language too harsh. He may have been too naive or too innocent for his generation. Or perhaps too fanatical for that Jewish community that was too unspiritual to perceive his new spiritual insights. Well, he resorted to prayer where preaching could no longer succeed and ended up pouring out his blood for their souls. He forgave them as he prayed: ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them’.This prayer was immediately answered by God and His grace descended mightily on St Paul (his Chief executioner). He later fell down under the anointing of God’s grace and surrendered to Jesus.

Both the prayer of Stephen and Jesus had a lot in common; their burden was for the conversion of souls, their target was for the welfare of the present and the future Church, their prayer points were for truth and unity of the Church.

B. CASE STUDY OF JESUS’ PRIESTLY PRAYER

1. HIS PRAYER BURDEN – His prayer burden was for the conversion of souls, for the grace of God to remain with his Church so that they may not be distracted by the enemy.

2. HIS PRAYER TARGET- His target was for the present and future Church. V. 20 – ‘I pray not only for these but also for those who through their teaching will come to believe in me’.

3. HIS PRAYER POINTS
(a) Truth – V. 17 – He asked God to consecrate them in the truth knowing that the greatest weapon of demonic attack will be through heresy and false teachings.

(b) Unity – V. 21 – He prayed that they may all be one, knowing that in the future there will be so much proliferation of Churches which will be a big blow on the Church’s strength.
(c) Glory – V. 24 – He prayed that believers may end up in heaven where they will see the glory of God but even while on earth, let them enjoy the vision of His glory in prayer as the apostles did (at the transfiguration) and as Stephen did (in today’s 1st reading).
(d) Love – V. 26 – He prayed that the love of God (agape) may also be in them. This love will be the greatest trade mark of his believers, Jn 13 :35, 1Jn 4 :7.5.

D. THE ECUMENICAL SUNDAY
Today can be beautifully described as the Ecumenical Sunday; the day that Jesus reminds us that he is not interested in our divisions; in our extreme dogmatism, in our unnecessary details with rubrics, in our gross insensitivity to one another’s point of view. The basic principle of ecumenism is to harness the areas of agreement between us and open more opportunities of unity through listening to the points of view of people from other religious and Christian affiliations.

* Six years ago, at exactly this time of the year, an inter – denominational prayer rally was organized in Nsukka Diocese with the Catholic and Anglican Bishops and Priests having a common burden and uniting on some theological areas of intercession for God’s intervention in the Fulani herdsmen attack. The theological grounds of agreement were in the belief in praying to God the Father through Jesus Christ his Son. And the pulling together of resources in making donations /relief packages for the displaced refugees and berieved families. What could we observe as Catholic and Anglican identity in the course of this prayer session? The common ground was the liturgical Hymns and The Intercessory Prayers;The brief approach to Intercessory Prayers from the Catholic priests who would usually end with articulation of the intention to prayer ending with ‘We pray O Lord!’. The longer approach to Intercessory Prayers beginning with songs, declaratory statements full of scriptural citations, the address of God as ‘Jehova’ and the usual thunderous conclusion with ‘In Jesus’ name – Amen ‘. Of course, the Anglicans were more emotionally appealing to the congregation.
* What are the Pastoral implications of this wonderful gesture of ecumenism? That would be answered by you as you reflect on the Priestly Prayers of Jesus in today’s gospel. But we need to understand that when we have a common burden, a common enemy and a common danger, people of God are bound to synergize their spiritual strength.

E. CONCLUSION
We do not recommend the unnecessary compromise of our faith. But we need to be less dogmatic and rigid about issues that have to do with prayer because in prayer people come before God in their most unique and peculiar circumstances and characters. We need unity of purpose, burden, target and prayer points. This unity can also come in form of unity in diversity. Even in one Church, different societies are expected to pray in different styles according to their temparaments and spirituality. The Legion of Mary, for example, do not need to pray exactly the same way as the Charismatics but the burdens can be the same.

We need more solidarity prayer now than ever in Nigeria as we are faced with the glaring danger of Islamization. The rate of kidnaps and level of insecurity is becoming alarming. Our people say ‘Onye ulo ya na – agba oku a dighi achu oke’ – One whose house is on fire should not be pursuing rats. The Church is in grave danger now and we shouldn’t be more concerned about materialism. We should pray more and strengthen the faith foundation rather than concentrate on projects when we are not even sure of the future. As we feel the heartbeat of Jesus in his priestly prayer for the Church today, we pray fervently for the future of the Church in Nigeria, for the future of Nigeria as a nation especially for a successful election come 2023, for the spirituality of our bishops, for a rise in the formation quotient of our Seminaries and a deeper theological education of our laity. Happy Ecumenical Sunday dear friends!