WE
ARE AN “EASTER PEOPLE”
[Lenten
Pastoral Letter]
By
Most Rev. Dr. V. A. Chikwe
[Bishop of Ahiara Diocese, Mbaise]
Maria Mater Ecclesiae Cathedral
March 5, 2003.
INTRODUCTION: “AN EASTER PEOPLE”
1. Believe me, we are an “Easter People!” And,
Lent, as you already know, prepares us for Easter through
spiritual purification. Easter people are “hallelujah”
people. Already, Otito diri Jesu!
Praise the Lord, is part of the way we greet ourselves.
Yes we have reasons to say: Otito diri Jesu –
Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Even though some “specialists”
in “Bible Study”, say it is a repetition; they
say, and rightly so, that Hallelujah means Praise the Lord.
But we must say it again and again, in many languages as
a rejoicing Easter People, and in the light of Ps. 147.
2.
Ps. 147 is a song of praise and one of those that conclude
the book of Psalms. Psalm 148 is a summon to praise to God.
Psalm 149 is a communal song of praise, an invitation to
the whole community to praise God for its victory. Psalm
150 concludes with a doxology. It is a song of praise “that
is almost entirely a hymnic introduction”, 1 implying
we all should sing Hallelujah!
3.
Psalm 146, it is to be remarked, concentrates on the individual.
And it refers to the individual who must be part of and
remain in the “Hallelujah community”, the “Easter
community”. It says: “Praise the Lord, my soul;
I shall praise the Lord all my life, sing praise to my God
while I live.” It is important to recall that St.
Augustine affirms: “The Christian should be an alleluia
from head to foot”. This means that a Christina’s
life should transparently be a praise to God. I say this
because in the recent times many of you have remarked, to
my hearing and knowledge, that “Bishop Chikwe is going
charismatic”. Yes, I have been charismatic from the
beginning. And I do encourage being charismatic in the right
sense of being “alleluia from head to foot”.
4.
Being “charismatic”, correctly, is a way of
being Christian. It is not the same as employing hallelujah,
as some charismatics do, in their Abarakataba use of charism
in being against the community and perhaps in being fanatics.
They are not “an alleluia from head to foot”.
PART
I: Ps. 147 AND THE EASTER PEOPLE
5. Psalm 147 gives the reasons why Israel, as community,
returning from exile, should praise the Lord always. We,
Ahiara Mbaise people, in particular, like Israel, as a community,
should praise the Lord, Ahiara diocese “is”
the Israel addressed today. And, we, also, like Israel,
must recognize that the Lord “has not done so much
for any other” people as he has done for us. [Ps.
147:20]. But unlike Israel, we are an “Easter community”,
through Christ Our Lord, in Whose Resurrection we rejoice,
as we rise also to the new life of the Gospel. Praise the
Lord! Hallelujah!
6.
“Hallelujah!” begins Ps. 147 and it continues:
“How good to celebrate our God in song; how sweet
to give fitting praise. The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, gathers
the dispersed of Israel, Heals the broken-hearted, binds
up their wounds.” [Ps. 147:1-3]. The Lord continues
this work. The time of Lent offers us the opportunity to
pray for the Lord’s mercies.
7.
Psalm 147 directs our minds to the potency of the Divine
Word of God. He ‘sends his word and they melt; the
wind is unleashed and the waters flow.” [Ps. 147:18].
The word of God is melting among us and in us. It is His
promise to those who love and whom he loves that His word
will not return empty. I think this explains, in a special
way, why, in conclusion, Psalm 147 states: “The Lord
also proclaims his word to Jacob, decrees the laws to Israel.
God has not done this for other nations; of such laws they
know nothing. Hallelujah!” [Ps. 147: 19-20]. We are
among the nations for whom Lord does special things. Look
around in Ahiara Diocese and you will see it very evident.
PART
II: PERSONAL RENEWAL
8. Lent purifies us. Easter perfects us. Lent is our means,
“Easter life” our goal. I have mentioned that
a Christian, according to St. Augustine “should be
an alleluia from head to foot”. Some people doubt
the possibility of the effect of the grace of God in their
lives, and quietly ask: can any thing good come out of me,
out of my people? But I want to reassure such people today
that they have all the reasons to praise the Lord. Do not
despair!.
9. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” [Jn.
1:46]. This Nathaniel’s question was an expression
of surprise on hearing that the Messiah was from Nazareth.
It is informative of people’s attitude and expression
of inherited prejudice against others and, even, against
themselves.
10.
Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord of history. His history is
the history of our Salvation and Redemption. The Exodus
is the OT story of God calling [delivering] the Israelites
out of Egypt. In the NT Jesus was called out of Egypt [Mtt.
2:15]. And He was, according to the Divine wisdom, will
and plan settled in Nazareth, not only to prove that He
would be called a Nazarene [Mtt. 2:23], but because being
a Nazarene would give all of us the courage to make the
new beginnings, the renewal dependent on repentance that
Lent demands of all of us. Nothing good could come out of
Nazareth, yet the BEST came from there!
11.
Personal renewal is connected to the communal renewal if
its motive is really divine and aimed at spiritual purification.
Love of God, we all know, is inseparable from the love of
neighbour. So peace with God expresses peace with neighbour.
And peace with neighbour naturally leads to peace with God.
When there is a disconnection between them in any direction,
then one should re-examine the type of love one professes.
This is the great message of the parable of the Good Samaritan
[Lk.10: 29-37].
PART
III: BREAK BARRIERS, BE RENEWED
12.
Christ gave us a new direction for personal and communal
renewal through breaking barriers prejudice and ignorance,
build against human relationship in four ways: tribe, gender,
sin and ignorance.
13.
The dialogue between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the
well broke these barriers [Jn.4:4-42]. First, there is the
tribal barrier within the woman herself. She expressed surprised
that a Jewish man could talk to a Samaritan woman for anything
at all [Jn. 4:9]. Second, there is the gender barrier in
the disciples who were surprised to see Christ talking alone
with this woman. They did not care what they were talking
about. They were just shocked [Jn. 4:27-28]. Thirdly, there
is the religious barrier sin had build in the woman. She
had to break this barrier within her by accepting that she
had men and never a husband [Jn. 4: 16-18]. Finally, there
is the barrier of ignorance which she had to break through
a recognition that Christ was prophet, leading to her evangelisation
and personal conversion [Jn. 4:19].
14.
It was at the moment she broke these barriers that she herself
became a missionary [Jn. 4:28-29]. Without knowing it she
began to announce the Good News to others and to invite
them to come and see the man who told her all her sins.
And, interestingly, the people believed no longer because
of the woman but because she had brought them to Christ
[Jn. 4:41]. Personal purification that results in repentance,
the acceptance of the Gospel, begins life in Christ and,
also, imposes mission as a mark of the Easter personality.
PART IV: THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD
15. The Christian, an Easter person, a follower of Jesus
Christ, is typically a missionary, and, this is strictly
in the practice of his faith and in a religious sense. Breaking
the barriers mentioned above imposes this mission. But we
are called to be missionaries in the fullest implication
of being in the world
16.
The Christian carries his faith into his daily life as a
unit. The spirituality of the dichotomy between the body
and the soul has long been overcome by Vatican II and by
the decree, Apostolicam actuositatem,on The Apostolate of
the Laity. That apostolate has been emphasising the role
of the Laity in the temporal affairs of human life. Vatican
II defended the universal call to holiness in daily life.
17.
Separation of Church and State is not, does not imply, and
should not be interpreted to mean and become the separation
of the individual’s religion – Christian, Moslem,
Traditional Religion, etc., from his daily life. Those who,
therefore, apply secularity to the point of political secularism
are the very danger facing our country, Nigeria, its peace,
unity, stability and development..
18.
In the same way those who oppose secularity in order to
impose on all of us, Nigerians, a religious and political
credal fanaticism are a threat, not just to Nigeria, but
to the entire World peace. Therefore, a State religion,
in whatever name, is nothing but sharpening the dagger for
a holy war, and lacks, what the Holy Father, Pope John Paul
II has aptly called “gestures of peace”. Gestures
of peace guarantee religious freedom in a secular country
like ours.
PART
V: “GESTURES OF PEACE”, NOT OF WAR!
19.“Gestures of peace” is a phrase Pope John
Paul II used in His Message for the World Day of Peace,
this year. It was the 36th World Day of Peace, celebrated
now every January 1, 1968, by Pope Paul VI. He declared
then that it was His desire that “at the beginning
of the calender which measures and outlines the path of
human life in time, that peace with its just and beneficent
equilibrium may dominate the development of event to come.
20.
It was consistent, therefore, that Pope John Paul II used
“gestures of peace” in the context of the fortieth
anniversary of Pacem in Terris - “Peace on Earth”;
the 1963 Encyclical Letter of Blessed John XXIII. It was
addressed to all men of Goodwill. The Holy Father, then,
as His predecessors do today, appealed to their cooperation
and collaboration in the achievement of peace on earth.
Pope Paul VI in January 1968 made it clear that His proposal
for peace was “not intended, … as exclusively
ours, religious, that is, catholic”.2 It was proposed
to all.
21. I believe we have men of Goodwill in our country, Nigeria!
I implore them, at this time of Lent, in particular, to
join me in appealing to both the “political secularists”,
“Religious Regionalists” and the “State
religionists” to learn from Our Lord Jesus Christ
who asked one of His followers, during His Passion and at
the peak of the trials of the first Lent, to put back his
knife into its sheath. [Mtt. 26:51-54].
22.
Was He not the One Who asked that we render to Ceasar what
is Ceasar’s and to God what is God’s? Why is
it that some “Nigerian Caesars’ want to take
God’s share? Terrible!
23.
Some of them have often reminded Christians that Jesus taught
us, for their benefit and delight, but not for their belief,
that we should turn the other check when they struck us
on the one. Turning the other check we must. But before
them, we must ask them whether they accept the words of
Christ? If so, why do they not believe in Him and become
Christians or, at least, friends with Christians and accept
the original message of the Lord’s teaching? If they
do not believe in Christ, why do they apply His teaching
out of context?
24.
Turning the other check was meant and still means a process
of achieving peace and justice, through non-resistance and,
perhaps, non acceleration of violence. It was put in the
context of the Jewish law of retaliation [Mtt. 5:38-42],
so as to avoid the circle of violence. After all He spoke
of the Love of enemies [Mtt. 5:43-48] concluding with the
mandate that we be perfect as our heavenly “father
is perfect” [Mtt. 5: 48].
25.
“Gestures of peace”, Pope John Paul II said,
“create a tradition and a culture of peace….
Religion has a vital role in fostering gestures of peace
and in consolidating conditions for peace.”3 Has the
Church not been preaching, and, in the recent past, Pope
Paul VI said it loud and clear: “If you want peace
work for justice”? But some of our politicians will
hear none of it. Because, for them, politics “is the
practice of government”, and, by this they mean “the
art of winning control of public affairs”, with little
regard for and, working for peace. And they make a lot of
gestures of war and little gestures of peace.
26.
Some of them, it must be admitted, are beginning to accept,
on the personal and private levels, this message of peace
and reconciliation as preached by Christ. A friend of mine,
a Nigerian Muslim, once told me how he reconciled a personal
conflict through reading the Bible, accepting its message
and applying it personally to his life. Give to Caesar what
is Caeser’s and to God what is God’s [Lk. 20:21-26]
solved for him the problem he had within him. He is a Muslim
from whom Allah claims all. All he is a Nigerian soldier
from whom his nation claims all. From the Bible he learned
that true nationalism and true worship of God do not conflict!
PART
VI: BE CATHOLIC IN POLITICAL LIFE
27. Be Catholic, not fanatic, in politics! Many have forgotten
what the simplest and common definition of politics really
is. It is the ability to be in the world and survive in
it or die in clear conscience in the pursuit of peace in
the process of achieving common good. The Catholic, the
Christian is not absolved from this responsibility. I mentioned
above that working for peace is not just a Catholic thing;
it is the thing of all men of Goodwill.
28.
I recall, from time to time, a discussion on World politics
and peace, I had a few years ago, with an Italian friend
of mine, a politician. I recall it especially after encounters
with our own politicians here at home.
29.
I was asking my Italian friend why European politics was
becoming increasingly anti-Christian and particularly anti-Catholic
in Italy. “I am a good Christian and a good and a
good nationalist”, he told me. “But you and
your party are not!” I replied him. “Sono
Catolico non sono fanarico”, he exclaimed. This
means, I am catholic and not a fanatic! Note he moved from
Christian to Catholic.
30.
I asked him to explain. Because I knew this saying is attributed
to an influential member of the Italian Communist Party.
And in the context it was used, as far as I can recall,
it means that being a “cultural catholic” was
fashionable; but that practising Catholicism makes one a
fanatic. This was the communist ploy then to attack Christians
in politics. During that discussion my friend moderated
his view and said that a good Catholic is always guided
by Christian principles in politics and in his public life,
even if his party is not. But that he would not leave the
party.
31.
I remembered his stand when late last year I read the Vatican
document: “Note on the Participation of Catholics
in Political life”, issued on the feast of Christ
the King.4 This document insisted that by “fulfilling
their civic duties, ‘guided by a Christian conscience’,
in conformity with its values, the lay faithful exercise
their proper task of infusing the temporal order”,
with the spirit of love, peace and justice. In this way
they defend their faith in politics.
32.
The Church has been teaching, the document reminded us,
that the “commitment of Christians in the world”
is expressed in the “Christian involvement in political
life”. The document reminded the Lay faithful of “Saint
Thomas More,who was proclaimed patron of Statesmen and politicians”,
and that he “gave witness by his martyrdom to ‘the
inalienable dignity of human conscience’. He taught
by his life and his death that ‘man cannot be separated
from God, nor politics from morality’”.6
33.
I must draw your attention to some of our good politicians
who are “people-oriented” in their approach
to politics because they work for the people. I also know,
as well as you do, of the “party-oriented” politicians
who are slavishly tied to their party programmes, even if,
and when these programmes are calculated to destroy people,
impose hardship on them and take away their freedom for
fair and free election. This is why I think, “politics
is not slavish acceptance of positions alien to politics”7
itself, understood, as working for the good of the people.
PART VII: ST.
THOMAS MORE OR “ST. NICODEMUS”?
34. I cannot, but wonder who, do some of our politicians
take as their patron Saint, Saint Thomas More or “Saint
Nicodemus”? I see more of those who prefer Nicodemus
[cf. Jn. 3: 1-12]. I mean those who have not appreciated
the effect of being a Christian as being “born from
above” [Jn. 3:3] and still lack the courage to profess
their faith in Christ openly and practice it publicly. They
still come to Christ at night. And I say: “St. Nicodemus”
pray for them! They are party-oriented politicians and are
disoriented from the needs of their people. Why do they
obstruct amenities simply because it is not coming through
their party?
35.
I pray that they learn what it means to be purified in truth
and in spirit, and thus be charismatically convinced in
the power of God to deliver them from their personal exile
in the land of political aridity and iniquity. Perhaps,
we need to remind them that there is still time for them
to look to St. Thomas More for courage and patronage. What
constitutes the timidity that makes our sons and daughters
conspicuously absent in politics is still beyond my comprehension.
Mbaise nwere madu! Where is it reflected in the politics
of this land? If politics, they tell us is the “game
of numbers”, we have them! Yet what are we doing with
this determinant political power? Well, this is time of
Lent, a time of spiritual invigoration. I believe we still
have hope. Mbaise nwere madu. Umu Mbaise, anamakala.
36.
May the Good Lord keep you in your resolve to be the “Easter
People”, may you be purified in the blood of the Lamb.
Most
Rev. Dr. V. A. Chikwe
Given at Ahiara,
Maria Mater Ecclesiae Diocese, Ahiara Mbaise.
Ash Wednesday, 5 March 2003.
________________
REFERENCES:
1. Gift of the Psalms. P. 137.
2. Message of His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, For the Observance
of A Day of Peace, 1 January 1968.
3. John Paul II Pacem in Terris, World Day of Peace, 1 January
2003.
4. NOTE ON THE PARTICIPATION OF CATHOLICS IN POLITICAL LIFE,
VATICAN, Nov. 24, 2002, the Solemnity of Christ the King.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid.
7. Ibid.
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