Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish

FR MICHAEL BIBLICAL IMAGERY

(Fr Michael Boakye Yeboah: Vice Rector of St Gregory Seminary, Kumasi-Ghana)

CITY OF GOD

            The content of the second reading should not be placed within a context of a dream or of spiritual illusion. It is a beatific reality that awaits every Christian; it is the reward of all rewards. If the beauty of heaven is not a Christian’s reward then what can be his reward? It is sad that recent evangelism has placed in higher percentage earthly rewards to the detriment of the heavenly one. If there is one thing that is unum necessarium, that we should look to, then it is the description of what St. John saw. Just to give you the gist of what John saw, the inspired writer in the second reading graphically stated: “The angel took me in spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It gleamed with the splendor of God. Its radiance was like that of a precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal…” This is beautiful and awesome, isn’t it? But what interests me the most is the concluding part of today’s reading: “I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb. The city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gave it light, and its lamp was the lamb.” I would like to think that St Augustine was right in his book The City of God (Civitatis Dei).

            If the inspired writer gives such a description of the heavenly city, why wouldn’t every saint who has gone before us have the holy desire to depart and enter heavenly bliss. We should live our lives desiring heaven. We are all destined to be in that heavenly city but we need to cooperate with God’s grace so that we will find ourselves there one day. There are many things that we need to promote within us in order to merit heaven’s rewards but based on our readings two will be discussed here.

            Firstly, we should note that all God’s people should be seen as one people and there should not be any form of discrimination or ethnicity among God’s children. In the first reading St Luke tells us that in the early church some Jewish Christians wanted to use circumcision as the only means of acceptance into the Christian fellowship. This brought a great dissention among the group. The Gentile Christians felt betrayed and “insulted”. We should note that the Christian church is beyond race and culture. The only criteria is faith in Christ Jesus and not cultural marks or practices. In heaven the light we will all become will not be Gentiles’ light nor Jewish light but the Christ’s light. If we truly want to enter the presence of God in heaven, we should eschew all forms of discrimination.

            For us to eliminate discrimination from the church, we need to promote the love that Christ highlights in today’s gospel reading. Love is one of the main signs that Christ dwells in the heart of believers and in a church. May the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst rain down love and peace among God’s people. OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP PRAY FOR US.