Building communities well founded on faith with a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ

Group of participants in the workshop

The Catholic Diocese of Solwezi

The Catholic Diocese of Solwezi is huge, with more than 600km from one extreme to the other. However, the population is small and the number of Catholics is even smaller. Solwezi is a rural diocese, where most of the population are peasants farmers, hardly surviving on the land. This has made the Diocese dependent on external aid. Although being nearly self-sufficient in local clergy, the Diocese is lacking a well formed and committed laity. In all parishes, most of the Centres are entrusted to the pastoral care of lay people: the Catechists, who are at the same time Prayer leaders. However, their ability to transmit the faith and to help the community grow in faith is hindered by the lack of proper preparation and poor knowledge. The on-going formation of these lay leaders is paramount for the future of the Church.

Myself on the banks of Zambezi River

A workshop in Zambezi

Fr. Ndumba and myself spent the past two weeks in Zambezi, conducting a workshop for 50 catechists. For me, it was a great experience, even though I could understand very little of Luvale. I contributed my share with the preparation of the workshop. And this workshop gave me the opportunity to go to Zambezi and to cross the river on the suspension bridge in Chinyingi. There, in the middle of nowhere, we find the mission, built for the service of the people. It is a witness of Jesus Christ and a proclamation of his Gospel. With its school (now in the hands of the Government) and its hospital, Chinyingi mission, like all other missions, was clearly at the service of the people.

Crossing the suspension bridge

We must be where people are, sharing with them their pains and their joys; and we must help people to grow in all spheres of live. The more people are able to understand the Gospel, the more they are able to transform society, so that all can live in dignity of the children of God.

V SUNDAY OF LENT: John 12:20-33

Take us to Jesus!

Most of the Jews outside Palestine spoke only Greek, and in their synagogues they used the Greek translation of the Old Testament, called Septuagint. That was the translation used by the Apostles in the preaching of the Gospel, in the liturgy and in the catechesis of the first Christian Communities.

In this Sunday’s Gospel, we are told that the Greek went to Philip with a simple but important request: We would like to see Jesus. Most probably they were Greek speaking Jews, who had come to Jerusalem in pilgrimage, mainly for the great festival of Passover.

Their request has been the request of uncountable people throughout the centuries and can be heard even today: We would like to see Jesus. As disciples of Jesus, we should ask ourselves: Do we listen to this request? Do we take people to Jesus or are we an obstacle, which prevents people from seeing Jesus?

When the Greeks asked to see Jesus, what kind of expectations did they have? Or was it just curiosity?

Maybe they wanted to see

• the Jesus of the miracles – who performed wonders;
• the preacher who mobilized the crowds and impressed a great variety of people;
• the clever and fearless debater who shut the mouths of those who defied him;
• the prophet who proclaimed the Kingdom of God by word and by action.

We cannot come to Jesus without seeing the cross

What is interesting is that Jesus answered their request by speaking of his approaching death. If we want to follow Jesus and become true disciples, then we must come closer to the mystery of the cross. That was the path for Jesus’ glorification.

IV SUNDAY OF LENT: Ephesians 2:4-10

Jesus attack on the Pharisees

We may be surprised by the fierce attack on the Pharisees, which we find in the Gospels, because the Pharisees were good people, who tried to keep faithfully all the commandments, even the smallest ones. Jesus did not find fault with them on the keeping of God’s commands. The problem with them was their self-righteousness: they considered themselves as holy and perfect, and they separated themselves from all the others who were seen as sinners. “Pharisees” (meaning “Separated”) was the nickname given to them, due to their refusal of mixing with people they considered impure and destined for damnation. In their self-righteousness, they thought of having rights over God. That is very clear in the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican and in the attitude of the elder son in the parable of the Prodigal son.

Salvation is a gift, not a right

Jesus refused completely this attitude and saw it as seriously putting in danger the salvation of those who pursue it. When we exclude others, we are excluding ourselves. We should never forget that we cannot claim a right to be dwellers of the Kingdom of God. We cannot get salvation by our cleverness or our strenuous effort. We cannot buy salvation. To become citizens of the Kingdom of God is not our birth right. It is God’s gift; a gift that comes from God’s mercy and love. In fact, who can achieve the goal that God has set for us: Be holy, because I am holy (Lev 19:2) or Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect (Mt 5:48).

In his letter to the Ephesians put this truth in very plain words:

 “It is by grace that you have been saved, 

through faith; 

not by anything of your own, 

but by a gift from God; 

not by anything that you have done, 

so that nobody can claim the credit. 

We are God’s work of art, 

created in Christ Jesus 

to live the good life 

as from the beginning he had meant 

us to live it.” (Eph 2:8-10)

Salvation is to be received as gift of God’s love to us. We must allow him to work in us and to transform us, so that the image of Jesus, his beloved Son, is manifest in us.

III SUNDAY OF LENT: John 2:13-25

The prophetic and revolutionary attitude of Jesus

When he was twelve years old, Jesus was so impressed with the Temple that he remained behind. Then, at the beginning of his ministry (according to the Gospel of John), he entered the Temple as a prophet, ready to challenge and to denounce the religious authorities. Entering the Temple square, Jesus became very angry with what he saw, and he acted like a crazy man or may be as a fiery revolutionary, who is ready to use violence in order to change society. Moved by a zeal that devoured his soul (Jon 2:17), Jesus acted in a strange but prophetic way as others had done before him.

By expelling the money changers and those selling animals for the sacrifices, Jesus was disrupting the worship in the Temple and making it difficult for many people to offer sacrifices and gifts in the Temple. The vendors in the Temple square were rendering a service to the people, facilitating the life of many who were coming from afar. The business was taking place in the Temple square, not inside the Temple, where prayers and sacrifices were being offered.  However, the business, being controlled by the families of the High Priests, was a source of resentment on the part of the common people, who saw the abuses and the exploitation taking place there, under the cover of religion. The worship was used for the profit of a few, and Jesus, repeating Jeremiah’s words, accused them of transforming the Temple into a hideout of thieves (Mk 11:17; Jer 7:11). 

Jesus brings a new era

As Jeremiah had done before (Jer 7:14), Jesus prophesied the destruction of the Temple and then presented himself as the Temple. The old Temple, together with the sacrifices and the priestly class at its service, was doomed. Jesus was bringing about a new reality.  He is God’s presence among people (Emmanuel); and he will be at the same time the priest and the sacrifice. With Jesus, a new era was dawning, one in which we must worship in spirit and truth (Jon 4:23).

II SUNDAY OF LENT: Genesis 22:1-2,9-13,15-18

Human words fall short of the greatness of the mystery of God

It is impossible to get a clear understanding of the mystery of God, the mystery of human life and the mystery of the relationship between God and human beings. Our human words are inadequate and always fall short (far short) of a comprehensive explanation. In order to get some glimpse of the mystery, we must approach it from different angles and look at it from different perspectives, which sometimes may seem contradictory.  Indeed, we must approach God with humility, being well aware of our limitations. The Bemba saying Munda ya mubiyo tamwingilwa (impossible to enter your friends heart) expresses our inability to know the inner thought and feelings of others; and if that applies to human beings, then much more to God.

The sacrifice of Isaac

In this Sunday liturgy, we are presented with the sacrifice of Isaac. But how can we understand it?

• Human sacrifice existed in many ancient cultures. The Scriptures tell us that, influence by the surrounding nations, the  people of Israel practiced such an abomination. 

“They built high places to Baal in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech; I never commanded them to do this, nor did it even enter my mind that they would practice this abomination, so as to bring sin upon Judah.” (Jer 32:35)

• In such cultural surroundings, we should not be surprised that Abraham could perceive the sacrifice of his son as God’s command.
•   In the Bible, human sacrifice is totally forbidden and seen as an abomination. The people of Israel were ordered not to worship as other nations did, “because they offered to their gods every abomination that the LORD detests, even burning their sons and daughters to their gods.” (Dt 12:31; see Lev 20:2-5)

A test of faith

• Gen 22 presents the sacrifice of Isaac as a test of Abraham’s faith, reminding us that at crucial moments of our lives, we may be put to the test. A child may be taken away from us, and we may ask: Why? Abraham remained silent and obeyed.
• During his journey of faith, Abraham had questioned God many times. As time went by, he grew in faith, which led him to complete surrender to God, done with the absolute trust that God will not disappoint or abandon him. Even when his trust in God was pushed to the limit, he remained faithful.
• This passage teaches us that God is supreme and that His word is absolute. What is best in our lives comes from him and belongs to him. We may not understand his designs, but we should not question his Promise and his will or doubt his love and his commitment to us.
• Abraham put his life and his future in the hands of God. He was convinced that God knows best, and that he can find a way, where there is no way.

Symbol and prophecy of Jesus Christ

• Isaac is a symbol and a prophecy of Jesus Christ. He carried the wood for the sacrifice, and he allowed his old father to bind him and to put him on the altar of sacrifice. He  accept to be the lamb of the sacrifice. And Jesus came to be the true Lamb of God, who offered himself in sacrifice for us.
• The binding of Isaac and his acceptance of being offered in sacrifice was considered by the people of Israel as a source of blessings.
• Jesus is the beloved Son, and his sacrifice reconciles us to God, opening for us the gates of a new world, created in God’s love.