Dear Parishioners, friends & visitors,
As I gradually come to the completion of my six year appointment as Parish Priest of Saint Mary’s, many thoughts continue to flow through my mind. They are not just thoughts of life beyond Saint Mary’s but also thoughts of life beyond this transient world. Life is a journey and change is the only constant thing in life. While I am using this period to reflect on the next phase of my life, it’s also offering me a window of opportunity to reflect on my mortality and finality. I do not pray to die young, however, I don’t need to wait until I am 100 years of age before I can begin to think of my finality and mortality. That might be delusional. When we have a good understanding of our finality and mortality, then we will begin to make every day of our life count. We don’t live in eternity like God. We are finite and mortal beings. God doesn’t live in time but God created us and put us in time. And this means that none of us is here by chance or by mistake. There is a purpose and reason for every human being. The late Bahamian evangelist, and author, Dr Myles Munroe, once said that, ‘the greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose.” Purpose according to him ‘is when you know and understand what you were born to accomplish’. Saint Paul had a sense of accomplishment when he wrote: “For I am already being poured out like a libation, and the time for my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,” (2 Timothy 4:6-7). Old age does not necessarily guarantee a fulfilled life. The oldest person in the Bible was Methuselah, who lived a total of 969 years before he died (Genesis 5:27). Apart from having children and dying afterwards, nothing else is said about Methuselah. Procreation is part of God’s command to humanity, but there is more to life than just procreating. Every human person is created to live a life of purpose, meaning and focus. As we set out every day on the journey of discovery of our purpose, meaning and direction, we need to keep our eyes on the things that matter. If old age is the only measure for a fulfilled and purposeful life, then Christ died a wretched and miserable person because Christ only lived for 33 years. Christ lived a short life on earth, which was rich and purposeful. “I have come that they might have life, and have life in abundance, Jesus says,” (John 10:10). The feast of the Ascension celebrates the return of Christ to heaven after accomplishing His purpose on earth. In the gospel of this weekend, Jesus says to His disciples: “You see how it is written that Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to these things,” (Luke 24:46- 49). Right from the moment of His birth, Christ knew what He was destined to do on this earth. The passion and death Of Christ were never afterthoughts. Christ came to redeem humanity and this was His sole purpose. When His purpose was accomplished, Christ ascended into heaven, where He is seated at the right hand of God. It’s exactly 40 days since Easter. In the last 40 days, the risen Lord made many appearances to His fear-stricken disciples, to get them sorted. Now they had been sorted, the disciples could continue the work of evangelisation. One of the distinctive features of the feast of Ascension is the extinguishing of the Paschal candle, first lit on Easter vigil, as a symbol of Christ’s leaving the earth. Despite the idea of separation and feelings of sadness, which the disappearance of Christ might have initially created, the whole event and experience left an indelible impression on the memory of the first disciples as we can see in their witnesses down the track. The ascension of Christ gave them new purpose. They must set out to accomplish this purpose. They were not meant to live forever in the Upper Room. There must be life beyond the Upper Room. They must go out of the Upper Room and tell people that in the name of Jesus Christ, there is repentance and forgiveness of sins. The risen and glorified Christ gave this mandate to the first disciples and they lived for it and died for it.As Christ did with His disciples, Christ ow draws our gaze toward heaven to remind us on the one hand that we are pilgrims on this earth and on the other hand, to show us how to live a life of meaning and purpose as we continue our journey on this earth. There is a purpose for your life and there is a purpose to my life. On the night of Christ’s trial and crucifixion, when King Pilate askedChrist if He was a king, Christ answered, “you say that I am a king. For this purpose, I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice,” (John18:37). What do you think is the purpose for which you were born, or what’s the purpose for which I was born? Does what gets us out of bed every day set us on the path to our purpose? These are existential questions which require existential answers. As we navigate our way through the coming days of the week, let’s ponder on these existential questions and with joy and fresh resolve for the future, pray that we may see our life every day beyond this transient life.
God bless you all.
Fr. John Ikechukwu Echewodo
Parish Priest
Saints of the Day
Christmas 2018 Mass Schedule 
