Building Castles in the Air

What does it mean to be made in God’s image? It means we have a common DNA – we share in God’s creativity. He thought and it came to be. What came to be, served his creatures. But his creatures were also charged to creatively continue with creation. We, the human creatures are stewards of the bounty and recipients of the good works of our hands.

How do we do that? Some people are initiators. That is, they are good at generating ideas, building castles in the air, you may say. It is not a bad concept, after all President John Kennedy’s challenge to landing man to the moon and bringing him back safely might have been perceived a castle in the air. It became a reality. So, use your ability as a thinker and put your ideas on paper or discuss with those around you. Plan and build as many castles in the air as you can.

Imagine this: a manager sits in a staff meeting and a team member proposes what seems the impossible. For months they discuss. The idea some becomes an implemented reality. Hundreds and even thousands are being served with the end product, perhaps for generations to come.

In the human family, some are doers, some are transformers and others are just narrators. Collectively, we all form a creative team. All we need is room for creativity, listen and understand each other, free flow of ideas and much can be accomplished. We need above all, room for new ideas. In some work circles, people have been penalized for new ideas. One who penalizes for new ideas rather rewards, is an either an obstacle to creation or is putting an end to creation.

The work we do is God’s work. It is not our work. God’s work is for the common and general good of all. What we do as such, is a communal service. We work for God. We do not work for the city, IBM, Kroger Park, etc.

The work place is where most of our hours and days are spent. It is a place where the values of God’s kingdom are realized. It is a sanctuary where we encounter the invisible who watches over our doings. Our work desks are nothing but an altar of sacrifice where our daily work is offered to our God. It follows that one must make a serious effort to redeem and “sanctify” what is done and where it is done. But this cannot be done in isolation. Be creative and share with others the castles you are building in the air. They will soon become a reality in someone’s work desk or workplace. The end product will serve the common good.

Pope Francis: Inaugural Homily of his Petrine Ministry

19 March 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude. 

I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps. 

In the Gospel we heard that "Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife" (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: "Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ's upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ's Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model" (Redemptoris Custos, 1). 

How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus. 

How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God's presence and receptive to God's plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a "protector" because he is able to hear God's voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God's call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation! 

The vocation of being a "protector", however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God's creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God's gifts! 

Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are "Herods" who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women. 

Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be "protectors" of creation, protectors of God's plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this

world! But to be "protectors", we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness! 

Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness! 

Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus' three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God's people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect! 

In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, "hoping against hope, believed" (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God. 

To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us! 

I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen. 

Suffering: Our way of Connecting to One Another

…the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,and be killed…

curtesy: http://jkolkman.org/

Suffering is real. There are various forms and sources of sufferings: economics, political, social injustices, racism, religious hatred, greed and jealousy. Suffering is an indication that something is wrong.  If it were not  for the fact that we suffer and experience pain, we might become totally detached and say that "all is well". 
   
Christ suffered and died for our salvation. He paid the price. So why must we still suffer? Making sense out of suffering can be a challenge. Suffering in itself is a mystery. While we may never fully understand why we (should) suffer, we can certainly manage and learn from the experience of suffering.

Suffering can either shut us down or open us up. Quite often it shuts us down at first; we feel isolated and abandoned and the weight of our loss is so heavy that we think the world has caved on us. But in prayer and faith we are gradually opened up, and come in touch with people we have ignored at first.

In my suffering or the experience of others who are suffering, I am slowed down – a sort of time out – and God opens my ear that I might hear (Isaiah 50:1). In listening to the “voices” of suffering through prayer, faith and action, I quickly come to realize that suffering is a path to communion with others.

The following story is told in the “The Legend of the Bells”:

Hazel was suffering with Cancer and came to the hospital in a very contracted state. She was angry and nasty with everyone. The nurses called her a real “bitch on wheels”. One night she was in an excruciating pain. She just let things go, following a series of profound revelations, she later referred to as the ten thousand in pain: a skinny woman with breasts slacked from malnutrition – a starving child sucking at her empty breast; an Eskimo woman – lying by her side dying during child birth; the body of a woman dying at the roadside after a car accident. She came to the realization that her pain was not just “my pain. It was the pain”.

From our isolated suffering environs, we are brought into the world of sufferings where all people live.

A woman, in the story of the Grieving Woman and the Spiritual Master, lost her husband and was in terrible anguish from her bereavement. She has no remedy for her grief. Someone advised her to contact the spiritual master who would help her.

On arrival, the spiritual master told her of his willingness to help her, but added that since it was a chilly day, and he was cold but had no wood, he would need some wood to build a fire to warm him.  In the warmth of the fire her grief will be better addressed.

She was asked to go to each of the many houses in the neighborhood of the spiritual master and collect wood. He told her the neighbors were very generous and would be willing to give her the wood. However, he instructed, “take wood only from the house that has lost no one”. She went from house to house asking for wood with this condition: If no one has lost someone from this house, then I will take the wood. After several hours she came back to the spiritual master with no wood, but her grief was healed.

From this story we learn that we are not alone in our suffering. If we reach out to others in our suffering, particularly those who have had similar experiences, we can be healed. In suffering, we enter in communion with others and the Body of Christ where, mysteriously, healing and suffering coexist.
Each one of us today is experiencing some sort of suffering. Reach out to someone this lent to experience the healing. “Take up your cross, and follow me.”

The Sheperds' Report

we found in lying in a manger

Lonely and weary out in the field

Many streamed in to town that night

A great light appeared in that little town

Echoes of a charming melody filled the air

And the river flew in harmony

Gong and flute in hand we were the first

As a man in white came and said:

Come, play for us your gong and flutes

Let the nations dance as the choirs sing

Jesus Christ is born.

Then we saw a man and his wife

Amidst the couple an infant lay

Delightful faces in that midnight light

The choir still singing our sheep gazing

A change from night to day at midnight

Turning, the man in white clothing said

This is Christ the new born King

We played for them our gongs and flutes

Nations danced as choirs sang

Jesus Christ is born.


picture: jaha.org

St Andrew the Vigilant and Generous

On November 30, we celebrate the feast of St Andrew whom I call vigilant and generous.

When Andrew encountered Christ, he went and told his brother Simon Peter he had found the messaih and brought him to Jesus. He did not keep the discovery to himself.

On the mountain where Jesus fed the five thousand - it was Andrew who saw the boy with the five loaves and pointed him out to Jesus. In the presence of that large hungry crowd, he could have kept it a secret and strike a deal with the boy to satisfy his hunger. He did not keep the discovery to himself.

How often have I gone to the store and found a great sale and kept it to myself, when friends and even relatives can benefit from the deal? And can I actually buy the whole store?

How many generous people have I encountered and established a relationship with them, yet refused to introduce them to other friends who might benefit from their generousity?

When will I stop advising persons who have introduced me to a "treasure" not to tell anyone else about it?


Lord,
grant me the grace to be a flowing fountain,
give me the courage to sieze being a sinking hole.
St Andrew, apostle and friend of Jesus, interceed for me.

Who is on Trial?

The woman caught in adultery. Remember that story? 

The central focus of the gospel of the woman caught in adultery has always been the woman. While it is understood that the Pharisees and the Scribes were out to trap Jesus; but why did they use the woman and not the man as a trap.  Society then and now always seems to place the woman on the guilty scene. She is to blame for the crime. Take a look! “Teacher, this woman has been caught in an act of adultery”.

Does it take only a woman to commit an adulterous act? Where was the man with whom the woman was caught? Is this not injustice, that two people are caught in an act and only one is brought to stand justice or condemnation? What does this story tells us about other crimes in our society?  Adultery in Jesus time was a big time societal crime. And the criminal was punishable by death – stoning.

In our times we have similar societal crimes: child and spousal abuses, abortion, drug dealings, robbery, gossips, fraud, cheating, etc. There are criminals who have been prosecuted, rightly so. Not to be on the blind defense of the criminal, one side of the equation is missing. But have we ever genuinely question the root cause of the crimes of our criminals? Are we doing anything to identify and stop once and for all the source and cause of the crimes? We certainly pay so much attention to the criminal and the crime but loose track of the source. Who is on trial?

There is the story of the man who noticed a floating dead body in the river. He pulled it out. Then saw another, and yet another floating. Tired of pulling out dead bodies, he decided to go up stream to find out the source and cause. What happened next! There were no more dead bodies floating down stream.

Jesus challenged each of the woman's accusers to cast the first stone so long as she or he was sinless, then bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger. When he got up the woman’s accusers were all gone. It is not clear what Jesus wrote. St Jerome suggested that Jesus was writing the hidden sins of the woman’s accusers. We as individuals and as a collective society have accused and condemned some one, a nation or an ethnic group while our hidden sins are being written down by Christ. Shall we go away like the woman’s accusers with our hidden sins, or are we ready to get rid of them.

Making the distinction between the sin and the sinner is a first step.

Who is on trial?

The Lord Invites You....

The Lord has anointed you and invites you to set an example to those you lead

Homily On the Ordination of
Reverend Jonas Anye, Brothers Eric Fru and Victor Obina
Queen of Peace Church, Njimafor Parish, Bamenda
Saturday 13^th August 2011

By Dcn Michael Neba

Priestly People, Kingly People, Holy People God’s chosen people, sing praises to God.

We sing to you, the Shepherd who leads to the kingdom, we give you praise who gather all your sheep to the one true fold.

Priestly people of God,

In this beautiful Church of Njimafor, something serious is about to happen that will forever change the lives of three young men. It is the ordination of Rev Joshua to the priesthood, and brothers Eric and Victor to the deaconate. We have come to be witnesses of the conferral of the Sacrament of Holy orders on these three young men. We have come to acknowledge that what they are about to undertake has our full support as a Christian community.

This august occasion gives those of us who are deacons and priests an opportunity to live anew, our own days on ordination, reflect on our ministerial lives and renew, with vigor, our vocational vows. It is also an occasion in which our young men are invited to consider and discern the vocation to priesthood or a religious order.

The Christian community pays a special tribute to the families of our candidates for their love and generosity in giving their sons to the Church.  You have made a personal sacrifice, and we pray that God will give you an abundance of blessings. The church heartily thanks those who have supported you in your formation in all possible ways.

My dear brothers, the gift of ordination which you are about to receive is not a personal advancement; it is an invitation to lead and serve the people of God who will be entrusted to your care.

Today, you are being hired as employees in God’s vineyard.

Your job descriptions are clearly defined in the readings of today: comforting those who mourn, setting the captives free, being deligent in the matters entrusted to you, leading by example in your words, love, trust, and compassion. Keep these readings and refer to them from time to time. Use them as an instrument to evaluate your ministry. If you have not already done so, take some time and develop, out of them, a motto for your ministry.

St Paul in the first letter to Timothy invites you to set an example for those you are leading in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity. In today’s world where Pentecostals are the order of the day, your faith must not waver. You must seek to remain pure – in the vow of celibacy you are now embracing - and the community must seek to support you in this regard. A mighty sign is here posted: Let it be known that these three men today have no desire to do anything with any woman, single or married that will go to stain this purity. Watch your conduct that you do not fall prey.  To our community: do nothing to draw these men into the den of infidelity.

My dear brothers, set an example of love. Without your knowing, many will be touched by what you do, what you say. The impact of your acts, words and compassion will be felt for years and the Gospel will be advanced as such.

In 1969 a young boy from a very poor family wanted to write the common entrance exam, but could not afford 150 francs, the cost of four passport size photographs. A young priest and an amateur photographer took his pictures. The boy wrote the entrance and passed. As if that were not enough the same priest gave him a ride to the school he was to attend. Thirty years later, that boy resurfaced to thank the Priest, this time not as a poor boy but as a married Deacon of the Catholic Church.

A school teacher with the specialty to train young people how to read, recalls that the motivation for what she does today is from her childhood parish priest: she admired how her parish priest read in church. Be careful! You do not know who is watching and what they are picking up from you. People, especially the young will be looking up to you.

Watch what you say. Words can either kill or bring the dead to life. A 24 year old man addressed an elderly woman in her mid-seventies: “Mama”. Tears ran down her chicks; she lightened up as she addressed the young man: “For more than 18 years since my only son was killed in the army, no one has ever called me mama, until today. Now I know I have a son. A simple kind word will go a long way to help. Harsh and impolite words destroy persons, souls and a community. As future community leaders know what to say and to who.

You are being sent out today to comfort the mourners – and the prisoners of our society, with your presence and words.

Who are the mourners of our society? They are those suffering form all types of diseases: sickle cell, AIDS/HIV, TB, Cancer, etc. They are the victims of injustice, neglected children, prostitutes– these are the people to whom you must show them love and how to love.

Who are the prisoners? There include those who are trapped in between the prison walls of poverty, social injustice, loneliness, victims of rape, prostitutes – these are the people to whom you must bring and anoint with the oil of gladness that comes from the Lord whose Spirit has descended on you.

Be absorbed in your ministry, but do so in a diligent manner. Take sometime to rest, from your work. Recall that Christ always took some time to rest. If he did,  you too can, as well. Ensure you eat well and wisely to maintain the body, which is the temple of God. A good health, maintained through balance meals, enough rest, and exercise is a requirement for a successful ministry.

The world has the rich and the poor. Be careful not to fall in the trap of approaching the rich for personal gains. Rather, approach to encourage them to help the prisoners, mourners and afflicted of our society. If possible, avoid dealing with money. Love for money is not healthy for your well-being. Many misters have lost or stained their reputation with the mismanagement of  community and parish funds.

My dear brothers, your ordination to the priestly and deaconal ministries configures you to Christ. Therefore, wherever you will be assigned, whatever the assignment is, always bear in mind that you are to reveal God’s name to those who will be entrusted to you (cf John 17:16). You are to become instruments of Truth – instruments of God’s sanctification -  channels of service and grace to God’s people. This is a big responsibility, and one that should be taken seriously.

Always bear in mind that we priests and deacons are servants, not masters of the Church’s worship.  The Church is the church of Christ. It is not your church, it is not the church of the archbishop nor the Superior of your community. 

Be leaders, not followers of the people of God, be servants and not masters of the people of God, in the mind of the church and in accordance with the scriptures that have been handed to you. Read the scriptures and believe what you are reading; teach the people of God what you have believed, then put into practice what you teach - you will earn the respect of the community and win souls for God’s kingdom. Respect is earned from your deeds and words. Respect is not demanded and taken from the cassock and roman collar.

To you the Christian community: God has called from our midst and raised to the order of deacon and priesthood, three of our brothers. Give them the respect that the office deserves. Counsel them when they falter. Public condemnation does not help. They are human beings and subject to human error. Pray for them always that they may have the necessary graces for their ministry and the ability to withstand any temptations.

Priestly People of God

The Lord has invited our three brothers and will anoint them to go and be leaders of our community. May Mary, the servant of the Lord, and Mother of deacons and priests guide them in their service, and fill their hearts with love. Surrounded by the prayers and wishes of all God’s holy and priestly people may you come forward, as we proceed to ordination, Amen.

Related story: http://www.leffortcamerounais.com/2011/08/two-connectionist-deacons-and-a-priest-ordained-in-njimafor-parish.html