Martin Jumbam

Catholic Meditation - Eighteenth Sunday of Year B

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, August 2, 2015, as the eighteenth Sunday in ordinary time, year B.  In the Entrance Antiphon we pray: “God, come to my help, Lord, quickly give me assistance. You are the one who helps me and sets me free. Lord, do not be long in coming. Amen.”  The Gospel of this day’s Mass refers to Jesus as the Bread of Life. Just as we need material food to survive physically, so too do we need Jesus Christ as the spiritual food for our spiritual survival. In the first reading, from Exodus, the hungry Israelites receive food from heaven in the form of manna through the intercession of Moses.  It is this same gift of manna that the people of Jesus’ time expect from him. In the second reading, Saint Paul continues to stress unity among Ephesians, urging them to remain united by imitating and putting on Christ. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace to follow Christ, not for material gain, but for spiritual nourishment because Christ is the way to the Father. 

Catholic Meditation – Seventeenth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B.

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, July 26, 2015, as the 17^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “God is in his holy place, God who unites those who dwell in his house; he himself gives might and strength to his people. Amen.” The central message of this day’s Eucharist is Christ as the Bread of Life. With the multiplication of the loaves for five thousand people in Saint John’s Gospel of this day, Christ clearly prepares us for his action on Maundy Thursday when he leaves us the Eucharist before his death. But he makes it clear that man does not live by bread alone since he also needs spiritual nourishment, which he can only find in the Church of which he (Christ) is the head. The Old Testament passage, in the first reading from Second Kings, also tells us of a similar multiplication of bread by the prophet Elisha. A great wonder-worker, the prophet multiplies the bread and asks his servant to distribute it among the people who eat as much as they want, and there are even leftovers. Saint Paul, in the Second Reading from his Letter to the Ephesians, stresses the unity of the Church: one Lord, one faith, one baptism. We are all called to be instruments of unity and missionaries of peace.

“President Paul Biya and I are friends,” says Christian Cardinal Tumi.

Martin Jumbam

Among the numerous people Christian Cardinal Tumi highlighted for thanks for their messages of condolence to him and his family, when his mother passed on, was the presidential family, Mr. Paul Biya and his family. Sensing, and rightly so, that many eyebrows were being raised in the audience over what sounded like his effusive thanks to the Head of State, Cardinal Tumi humorously mentioned that even though many have always thought that he and President Biya were long-time enemies, they were actually good friends. President Biya, he told the bemused audience, was the first person to send him and his family a condolence message once it became clear that his mother had stood up, answered present to the Master’s inevitable call, and gone forward to receive her eternal reward.

 

Catholic Meditation: Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year B

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, July 19, 2015, as the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “See, I have God for my help. The Lord sustains my soul. I will sacrifice to you with willing heart, and praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. Amen.” The central message of this day’s Eucharist is our Lord’s invitation to his disciples, and to us, to take time off our hectic lives to rest. He tells his over-worked disciples, in the Gospel, to come away by themselves and rest.  The evangelist Mark presents Christ who takes pity not only on his disciples but also on the crowd following him because they look to him like sheep without a shepherd. He thus reveals himself as the good shepherd sent by God to bring peace and rest to his people. In this, Christ consciously fulfils the prophecy of Jeremiah, in the First Reading, where the prophet castigates those shepherds who have failed to take good care of the flock God has entrusted to their care. God is going to gather his scattered people from places of exile, take them away from incompetent pastors and hand them over to the good shepherd, who will be from the stock of David; and that good shepherd is none other than Christ Jesus. In the Second Reading, Saint Paul tells his converts of Ephesus that the reconciliation of all men and women comes about through the peace of Jesus Christ. We must therefore always have an attitude of patience and forgiveness of one another to merit God’s love for us.

Catholic Meditation: Fifteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B.

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, July 12, 2015 as the 15^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “As for me, in justice I shall behold your face; I shall be filled with the vision of your glory. Amen.” We are all missionaries and God is calling us in various ways to carry his message of salvation to the world. That is the main message of this day’s Eucharist. God raises up many unlikely candidates to be his prophets, apostles and saints to carry his word to men and women everywhere, urging them to prepare for his coming. This is seen very clearly in the first reading where a farmer-turned-prophet, Amos, is taken from his farm and from his sheep and sent from his native Israel to prophesy to the people of Judah, calling on them to renounce their bad ways and turn back to their God.  In the Gospel, we see Christ also sending out his disciples to go teach all nations and make of them his own people. The same call has resounded down the centuries to our own day through Christ’s Church.  In the Second Reading, Saint Paul begins his letter to the Ephesians:  “Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”. We too join him this day to bless the Lord for the unfathomable love He has shown for each one of us. God offers salvation to all without exception.

Catholic Meditation - Fourteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year B.

Martin Jumbam

The Universal Church celebrates Sunday, July 5, 2015, as the 14^th Sunday of Ordinary Time, Year B. In the entrance antiphon we pray: “Your merciful love, O God, we have received in the midst of your temple. Your praise, O God, like your name reaches the ends of the earth; your right hand is filled with saving justice. Amen.” In the first reading and in the Gospel, the prophet is shown to be despised only in his home land. In Ezekiel, in the first reading, we see how the people of Israel defied and rejected God’s prophets. Jesus faces the same fate when the people of his hometown would not accept him in the Gospel. They all claim to know him simply as the carpenter, so where is his knowledge from? Even if God were to give knowledge to someone would it be to a mere carpenter, born in this village? They all turn their back on him. Even his close relatives think he was mad and want him confined to a mental institution. In the Epistle, from Second Corinthians, Saint Paul shows how his personal weakness leads him to experience all the more the power of God working through him in his apostolic work. In the course of this Eucharist, let us pray for the grace of wisdom to accept and follow our Lord, Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, who teaches us a powerful lesson today, that is, not to answer rejection with violence or retaliation but with love and understanding.