CHRISTIANITY AS A NEW AND HEAVENLY WINE


ST. MARIA GORRETI, VIRGIN, MARTYR

Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP 

Amos 9:11-15; Ps 85:9,11-14; Mt 9:14-17

The New Wine needs a Fresh Skin

One of the most glaring pieces of evidence that most of our people do not understand the Christian religion is the frequent allusion to Christianity as the religion of the white people. Christianity is not the religion of the white people. Christianity is indigenous to no people on earth, for even the Hebrews or Jewish people received Christianity as something entirely new. Christianity has a foundation in the Old Testament, considered indigenous to them as the religion on which their covenant with God rested. But as a revealed religion, it is not indigenous to them. Christianity came as a new revelation of God’s love and a gift to man that is entirely new. It fulfilled all the promises of the Old Testament and surpassed them in a way that was beyond the people's expectations. In that respect, Christianity is not indigenous to any people but a heavenly gift from God to people of every race, language, and nationality. The Jewish people and every other people received Christianity and they all continue to struggle to accept the Gospel message as every tribe in Africa is struggling to receive the heavenly gift. There is no tribal, national, or language sentiment in the Church, for she speaks all languages and enriches every culture with the heavenly culture.  

Though it fulfils the promise made to David, it surpasses it because the new kingdom is not earthly but heavenly. “That day I will re-elect the tottering hut of David, make good the gaps in it, restore its ruins and rebuild it as it was in the days of old, so that they can conquer the remnant of Edom and all the nations that belonged to me.” The gift God gave to humanity in the Christian religion or the Gospel message is beyond human understanding or imagination. The Church, the new people of God, come from all nations as prophesied. She has physical structures, but she is far beyond the physical structures, for her Head is Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of God. She employs physical rituals in her worship of God, but her worship is beyond the rituals, for she worships God in truth and spirit within the heavenly Temple with all the hosts of heaven, with Jesus Christ, the Eternal High Priest leading her heavenly liturgy. Though many people join the physical worship or celebration of the liturgy on earth in physical buildings or spaces, those who truly participate in her worship of God are those who worship in spirit and truth through the Holy Spirit of communion with God. The prophecy points to this reality. “The days are coming now—it is the Lord who speaks—when harvest will follow directly after ploughing, the treading of grapes soon after sowing, when the mountains will run with new wine and the hills all flow with it.”

The prophecy is fulfilled in the Church, for the Church receives the answers to her prayers as soon as she prays. In her Head, Jesus Christ, the Church received all the answers to her prayers. Hence, harvest follows ploughing, as promised by God. The Lord confirmed this understanding of the wonderful and heavenly gift we have received in the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ. “John’s disciples came to him and said, ‘Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not? Jesus replied, ‘Surely the bridegroom’s attendants would never think of mourning as long as the bridegroom is still with them? But the time will come for the bridegroom to be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” The disciples of John and the Pharisees continued the tradition of their fathers. But Jesus made the presence of something entirely new clear to them, which requires a break from the old religions. “No one puts a piece of unshrunken cloth on to an old cloak, because the patch pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse. Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins; if they do, the skins burst, the wine runs out, and the skins are lost. No; they put new wine into fresh skins and both are preserved.” We must receive the Gospel in a mind and heart renewed by the Holy Spirit. Grace is something beyond our ordinary human comprehension. If not, how can we explain that a young girl, barely 12 years old, would prefer to die than give in to the lustful advances and threats of an undisciplined man, who stabbed her fourteen times in anger? The wonder of grace is even more evident in her forgiving her murderer before death. This is the story of Maria Gorreti. It is the story of grace and the life of heaven within a believer.

Let us pray: Grant us, Lord, the grace to really open our hearts to the heavenly gift which the Gospel message offers us, that through the intercessions of the Virgin St. Maria Gorreti, we may give up everything the world offers to embrace the heavenly life in purity of heart and spirit. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

BECOMING A DEPENDABLE FRIEND

Image
FRIDAY, SEVENTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME Eccl 6:5-17; Ps 119:12,16,18,27,34-35; Mk 10:1-12 Making and being a Good Friend The usefulness of a faithful friend is the subject discussed in the passage of Sirach we are considering. From the qualities that make a good friend, we understand that faithfulness depends on the perfection we attain in the formative school of wisdom. The first lesson we learn in nature is faithfulness. The quality of faithfulness is so closely aligned with nature that we consider nature and faithfulness synonyms. The faithfulness of nature, and subsequently of wisdom, is hinted at when we read that wisdom stands at her post/gate daily to beckon the passers-by to turn in and partake of her table. Everything that God made participates in this faithfulness of wisdom in the sense that each remains faithful to his will without failing or leading our minds astray. First, Sirach admonishes us on friendliness to people in general: “A kindly turn of speech multiplies a ...
Read more

UNDERSTANDING OUR AFFLICTIONS

Image
ST. JEROME, PRIEST, DOCTOR Job 1:6-22; Ps 17:1-3,6-7; Lk 9:46-50 Salvation of the Just from the affliction of evil We have the beginning of Job in the first reading today. The reading has many hidden lessons we can learn to foster our relationship with God. The first that seems very obvious is the fact of Satan attending to God with the sons of God. By this, we must understand that every rational creature of God is among his sons. They all attend to God, from whom they receive life and sustenance. God sustains all his creatures in being, both material and immaterial creatures. They also ask God for permission to carry out a course of action. Nothing moves in the heavens and on earth without God knowing and permitting it. The attending of rational creatures is what we call prayer. The good and bad angels pray to God for permission to carry out actions or bring about ends that agree with his divine will. God usually hears or permits these prayers based on his divine justice in acco...
Read more

The offsprings of the Old man and the New Man

Image
Monday, fifth week of lent/2024 Reflection from Friar Nicholas Okeke, OP Offsprings of Old man and New Man To be able to live the new life within the new Covenant in Jesus Christ, the old life must come to an end. The distinctive difference between the old man and the new man is the focus of desires. The old man and all who live by him have their desires focussed on the satisfaction of self. On the other hand, the new man and those living by him desires only to fulfil God's holy will. Thus, the old man and his offspring obey the law of sin and death. Living for self alone breeds sins, and sin causes death. So, the old man and all living by him are dead and harbingers of death to others. They are adept at manipulating the Law of God to perpetuate their interest and selfish desires. An example of this skill is the treatment the two old judges of Israel in Babylon meted out to Susanna, wife of Joachim, employing the Law of Moses as given in the first reading. “Two elderly men had ...
Read more