HOMILY/SERMON OF 3RD WEDNESDAY OF ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A

HOMILY/SERMON OF 3RD WEDNESDAY OF ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A

HOMILY THEME: MASS AS CALVARY REPEATED?

BY: Fr. Benedict AGBO 

Heb 10:11-18; Psalm 109(110):1-4; Mark 4:1-20

There is this pious group in the Catholic Church that takes the Mass a little bit ‘too seriously’. This group is called the PRECIOUS BLOOD CONFRATERNITY. They believe that the Mass is Calvary repeated and that the liturgical mood ipso facto should be completely sorrowful and moody. I once picked an argument with one of their leaders in my Parish during an Uka Mgbede session in answer to a boy’s question whether there is any section of the Mass where the believers could clap or dance? I tried to convince them that the Mass is actually a memorial (reenactment) not only of the death but of the resurrection of Christ. The Mass is not a repeat of Calvary but a memorial sacrifice. So when the priest stretches his hands at the altar during consecration, it is no longer a bloody sacrifice but a joyful memorial. The entire liturgical mood is predominantly joyful since “Eucharistia” means thanksgiving. Apart from the Penitential rites, Consecration and Communion, other sections beginning from the Gloria, Offertory, Sanctus and Post Communion would be such a joyful mood that may allow for clapping and dancing especially in an African cultural setting. But that’s by the way!

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Today’s gospel is more about the soil condition than the seed condition. The seed is the message that is passed to the people of God. Most times, the problem may not be with the quality of the message (seed) but the receiving heart condition (soil). The following heart conditions were x – rayed by Christ; 1. Path; shallow, 2. Rock; rigid, 3. Thorn; choked, 4. Good soil; fertile. It is about us, members of the Church, the kind of soil that we are. It is about the need for fertilizers without which the soil may be fruitless. The traditional fertilizer is the Holy Spirit encountered through prayer and self denial but the artificial fertilizers are the priests and preachers of the Word of God. The more we do our work hapharzardly the more the Church suffers.

Somebody said that there are 4 kinds of learners in the Church; 1. Sandy learners; quick to hear and quick to forget, 2. Woody learners; slow to hear and slow to forget, 3. Waxy learners; slow to hear and quick to forget, 4. Spongy learners; quick to hear and slow to forget. The ministry of the Word which priests have embraced is therefore a serious ministry that requires a lot of pedagogy and spiritual discipline. The Mass is the most fertile condition for the Christian community to grow in holiness and bear fruit; The atmosphere is that of love and communion, The mood is that of joy and thanksgiving, The discipline is that of purity and effort to remain in a state of grace. Sincerity demands that we ask ourselves serious questions about the superficiality of our teaching standards (Word on the path), the hardness of our heart or sometimes our extreme display of liturgical or dogmatic rigidity (Word on the rock), our usual distractions and worldly allurements (Word choked by thorns). The mass should not be rushed. I think we can do better. May God bless you today!

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