20250716 DRAWING CLOSE TO MARY TO SHARE IN CHRIST’S SONSHIP
16 July 2025, Wednesday, Our Lady of Mt Carmel
First reading |
Exodus 3:1-6,9-12 |
The burning bush
Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, priest of Midian. He led his flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in the shape of a flame of fire, coming from the middle of a bush. Moses looked; there was the bush blazing but it was not being burnt up. ‘I must go and look at this strange sight,’ Moses said, ‘and see why the bush is not burnt.’
Now the Lord saw him go forward to look, and God called to him from the middle of the bush. ‘Moses, Moses!’ he said. ‘Here I am,’ Moses answered. ‘Come no nearer,’ he said. ‘Take off your shoes, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your fathers,’ he said, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ At this Moses covered his face, afraid to look at God.
And the Lord said, ‘The cry of the sons of Israel has come to me, and I have witnessed the way in which the Egyptians oppress them, so come, I send you to Pharaoh to bring the sons of Israel, my people, out of Egypt.’
Moses said to God, ‘Who am I to go to Pharaoh and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?’ ‘I shall be with you,’ was the answer ‘and this is the sign by which you shall know that it is I who have sent you... After you have led the people out of Egypt, you are to offer worship to God on this mountain.’
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 102(103):1-4,6-7 |
The Lord is compassion and love.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
all my being, bless his holy name.
My soul, give thanks to the Lord
and never forget all his blessings.
The Lord is compassion and love.
It is he who forgives all your guilt,
who heals every one of your ills,
who redeems your life from the grave,
who crowns you with love and compassion.
The Lord is compassion and love.
The Lord does deeds of justice,
gives judgement for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses
and his deeds to Israel’s sons.
The Lord is compassion and love.
Gospel Acclamation | Mt11:25 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth,,
for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
Gospel |
Matthew 11:25-27 |
You have hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children
Jesus exclaimed, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, just as no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’
DRAWING CLOSE TO MARY TO SHARE IN CHRIST’S SONSHIP
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [1 KINGS 18:42B-45A; GALATIANS 4:4-7; JOHN 19:25-27]
St John Paul II, in his apostolic letter, Novo Millennio Ineunte, wrote: “First of all, I have no hesitation in saying that all pastoral initiatives must be set in relation to holiness. Was this not the ultimate meaning of the Jubilee indulgence, as a special grace offered by Christ so that the life of every baptized person could be purified and deeply renewed? Since Baptism is a true entry into the holiness of God through incorporation into Christ and the indwelling of his Spirit, it would be a contradiction to settle for a life of mediocrity, marked by a minimalist ethic and a shallow religiosity. To ask catechumens: ‘Do you wish to receive Baptism?’ means at the same time to ask them: ‘Do you wish to become holy?’ It means to set before them the radical nature of the Sermon on the Mount: ‘Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect'” (Mt 5:48). (NMI 30)
How can one grow in holiness? The responsorial psalm makes it clear that we must observe the commandments of the Lord. “Lord, who shall be admitted to your tent and dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks without fault; he who acts with justice and speaks the truth from his heart; he who does not slander with his tongue; he who does no wrong to his brother, who casts no slur on his neighbour. He who holds the godless in disdain, but honours those who fear the Lord.” Holiness, according to the Old Testament, simply means to live a life in obedience to the law, not just in the true worship of God but also expressed in a life of justice and charity. This was what Elijah sought to do when he was the prophet of Israel. The people abandoned faith in the God of Israel and sought the false gods of the Canaanites, namely, Baal, and Astarte. As a result, the country was without morality, justice, and charity. They were slaves to their selfishness and greed. Elijah fought with the false prophets of Baal at the mountain and had them annihilated. Indeed, the whole life of Elijah was to preserve the purity of the faith of Israel. Unfortunately, after him, time and again, the people of Israel fell into the sins of idolatry, greed, and injustice.
In the second reading, St Paul wrote, “When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.” Indeed, the purpose of Christ’s coming is to make us adopted sons and daughters of God. Until the coming of Christ, the people of Israel were behaving as if they were slaves of God because they were slaves of the Law. In a sense, they were once slaves of Pharaoh who then became slaves of the Law. They thought that it was through the observance of the laws that they would be saved. Of course, as St Paul said in Romans, the law is good. “What then should we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet, if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity in the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.” (Rom 7:7f) The irony is that the law was meant to be a help for man to discern what is right and what is wrong.
But at the same time, the law reveals the helplessness of man to do the right thing. St Paul shared this conflict in man when he wrote, “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Rom 7:14f) How many of us can keep the laws perfectly? The truth remains that we are slaves of sin and of the laws. So, what is the way out? We can truly redeem ourselves and overcome sins only when we become sons and daughters of God. This can happen only if the Spirit of His Son rests in our hearts. “The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave anymore; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.” Having received the Spirit in principle in our baptism, how, then, do we live this sonship?
We are called to draw near to Mary. In the Gospel, Jesus entrusted Mary to us as our Mother: “Seeing his mother and the disciple he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, ‘Woman, this is your son’. Then to the disciple he said, ‘This is your mother’. And from that moment the disciple made a place for her in his home.” Mary, who was already anticipating her role as the mother of the Church at Cana in Galilee, interceded for the wedding couple who had no more wine for the guests, now assumed her proper role as the mother of the Church. She was that woman mentioned in Cana, and now given to John, the nameless disciple, who represents the Church. Mary was to receive the Church as her children, and the Church was to give Mary a place in their hearts. This is why the Church, since primitive times, has always given Mary a special place in the Church. But it is to her that we want to draw near so that we too can become adopted sons and daughters of God. Of course, to whom should we go and learn how to be a son and daughter of God if not from Mary herself, who raised up Jesus. What can we learn from Mary about sonship and daughtership?
Firstly, we must be people of prayer, contemplation, and discernment. The strength of Mary lies in her contemplative spirit. She is always seen at the Temple: when Jesus was born, and during the annual religious festivals such as the Passover. She would surely have taught Jesus how to pray the psalms and obedience to God, for she herself was always seeking the will of God in her life. Hence, when Jesus was lost in the Temple, she offered no reply to Jesus when He replied: “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49). Then we read, “Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor” (Lk 2:50f). Jesus showed Himself to be obedient even though He already had a mind of His own. Yet, He was conscious of the fact that He had to be responsible and obedient to those who had charge over Him. Because of that, He grew in age and wisdom. As for Mary, she continued to process in her mind and heart how this child should be guided in His vocation.
Secondly, from Mary, we learn the lesson of charity. To be a disciple of Christ, as the Lord taught us, charity must flow from our love for God. In the case of Mary, it was not just in obedience to God that she said “Yes” to the call to be the mother of the Saviour, but her response was also in view of the salvation of her people. Mary was not just serving God but also the people of God. How many of us often think that our vocation or the vocation of our children is an individual vocation? In truth, every vocation is a call to serve not God alone but His people. So, when parents allow their children to undertake a particular vocation, especially a religious vocation, it is not merely allowing them to respond to their call but also an act of charity to those people that their children are called to serve. We cannot be selfish and keep our children to serve us only, for we too must be generous to share them for the service of the community.
Charity, therefore, means to always put the interests of others before ourselves. This was the case of Mary when her first thought was not that she was pregnant with the child Jesus but that her cousin, Elizabeth, was in need of assistance in her pregnancy. Forgetting her position as the Mother of God or her convenience of remaining at home, she took the long and arduous journey to visit Elizabeth and spent three months there with her to look after her. Her concern for others again was demonstrated in her spontaneous response to a situation of need at the Wedding at Cana. Most of all, at the cross, she would have joined Jesus in forgiving His enemies, bearing no grudges against them, even when she grieved deeply at the death of her only Son.
Last but not least, Mary was with the early Church at Pentecost, praying and waiting for the descent of the Holy Spirit. This same Holy Spirit, St Paul says, makes us conscious of our sonship and daughtership. “The Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son … and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.” So, in the final analysis, only when we are filled with the Holy Spirit can we truly claim our sonship and daughtership. Living the life of the Spirit is what authenticates us as His adopted children.
Best Practices for Using the Daily Scripture Reflections
- Encounter God through the spirit of prayer and the scripture by reflecting and praying the Word of God daily. The purpose is to bring you to prayer and to a deeper union with the Lord on the level of the heart.
- Daily reflections when archived will lead many to accumulate all the reflections of the week and pray in one sitting. This will compromise your capacity to enter deeply into the Word of God, as the tendency is to read for knowledge rather than a prayerful reading of the Word for the purpose of developing a personal and affective relationship with the Lord.
- It is more important to pray deeply, not read widely. The current reflections of the day would be more than sufficient for anyone who wants to pray deeply and be led into an intimacy with the Lord.
Note: You may share this reflection with someone. However, please note that reflections are not archived online nor will they be available via email request.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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