20150101 FACING THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

20150101 FACING THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

Readings at Mass

First reading

Numbers 6:22-27 ©

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’

Psalm

Psalm 66:2-3,5,6,8 ©

O God, be gracious and bless us.

O God, be gracious and bless us

  and let your face shed its light upon us.

So will your ways be known upon earth

  and all nations learn your saving help.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the nations be glad and exult

  for you rule the world with justice.

With fairness you rule the peoples,

  you guide the nations on earth.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

  let all the peoples praise you.

May God still give us his blessing

  till the ends of the earth revere him.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Second reading

Galatians 4:4-7 ©

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. 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 any more; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.

Gospel Acclamation

Heb1:1-2

Alleluia, alleluia!

At various times in the past

and in various different ways,

God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets;

but in our own time, the last days,

he has spoken to us through his Son.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 2:16-21 ©

The shepherds hurried away to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.

  When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.

FACING THE PAST AND THE FUTURE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: NUMBERS 6:22-27; GALATIANS 4:4-7; LUKE 2:16-21

http://www.universalis.com/20150101/mass.htm 

As we come to the end of the year we cannot but thank God for all the blessings we have received.   Indeed we have many things to thank God for, things we have taken for granted.  We want to thank God for the gift of biological life, the gift of physical health, the talents and blessings we have received.  The fact that we have survived all the trials of life and still remain sane means that God has been kind and merciful to us.

Indeed, we all know that without Christ, who is the gift of the Father, it would not have been at all possible.  It is through His grace and mercy alone.  As St Paul says, we have nothing to boast except the grace of God.  (cf 2 Cor 10:8)  However this grace would not be possible without Mary’s response to be the Mother of Christ.  Thus, as we come to the end of the Octave of Christmas, the Church invites us to contemplate on His birth like the shepherd and Mary.   “As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.”

For this reason, the Church wants to honour Mary as the Mother God who gave us Jesus.  She said “Yes” even when it was an impossible task.  We thank her for her faith in God, as was praised many times in the Gospel by the angel Gabriel, Elizabeth and even Jesus Himself.  This faith enabled Mary to serve Him quietly away from the limelight and ended with Jesus on the cross.   Hence, Mary is not just the Mother of God, the Mother of Christ who is the Head of the Church, but also in the same vein, Pope Paul VI declared her to be the Mother of the Church.  Through her maternal care for the Church, we are nurtured in our faith and grow to become more and more like her Son. Because Mary gave birth to the head of the Church, we too are her children.

Imitating Mary, the Church is called to be mother like her in her virginal devotion to the Lord and in her motherhood in caring, nurturing, loving and guiding the People of God. Like Mary, the Church is called to be a virgin, to be pure and devoted to Christ, the Son of Mary.  We are called to keep ourselves chaste and holy.  Like Mary, we are called not just to give birth to new Christians but to look after them with love and devotion.

Necessarily, when we think of the Motherhood of Mary and the Church, we cannot but also thank God for the Church, our Christian community and our brothers and sisters in faith.  As we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the mother of God, we cannot but also give thanks to God because through her maternal care for souls, many of us have been healed from all kinds of illnesses, emotional wounds, and psychological pains, spiritual and even physical ailments.  Many of our families have also been reconciled, as we are reconciled with God. All these blessings have also been made possible because of the many people in our lives.  The Church is also our mother.

How is our Christian community a mother like Mary, whose feast we celebrate today?

To be a mother is to be a teacher, the one who nourishes like the way Mary raised up the Lord.  To be a mother is to nurture those under our care.  Through the many programs in our parish, activities and organizations, especially the celebration of the Word and the Eucharist, we have grown in our spiritual life.  Through the many services of the Church and the Christian community, many have been helped to find hope and healing from all kinds of illnesses that often medicine cannot solve.  The programs in the parishes without doubt have brought many comfort and personal growth in their relationship with God and with their brothers and sisters.

Just as Mary gave us the face and the body of Jesus, many have seen the Face of God through the love of the community and therefore been blessed as Moses was taught to do so.  “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”  Indeed, to have a personal encounter is the starting point of every Christian.  Without encountering the Lord, we will never be able to be healed or to have a personal relationship with Him.

The Christian community, like Mary, has given hope and renewal to those who were under the slavery of sin and the law as St Paul mentions in the second reading. Many of us condemn ourselves like St Paul because of our sins.  But as St Paul says, “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.”  We know the mercy of God and His forgiveness.  This has helped us to let go, forgive and begin a new life. 

Many of us too have rediscovered our sonship.  We have come to realize who we really are, the sons and daughters of God.  “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.”  Through the sacrament of initiation the Church has given us a rebirth.  Through the sacrament of reconciliation, we have been given another rebirth, as over the years we have lost our sonship.  Through her ministering and preaching of the Word, she has helped us to rediscover our sonship by giving us the Spirit of her Son.  We are now heirs of Christ. 

In the light of the New Evangelization, the Church must adopt a Marian spirituality.  What is the secret of a Marian spirituality?  From Mary, we must learn the meaning of faith in the impossible.  Miracles have been wrought through prayers and intercessions even at times when such healing and conversion were thought not possible.  Like Mary, we believe that we should simply do whatever He tells us to do.  From the perspective of praise and thanksgiving, like our Blessed Mother we must always give praise and thanksgiving to God for the wonders He has done and is still doing in our lives.  From the perspective of joy, we radiate the joy of serving the Lord and serving the Church.  This joy does not come from service primarily but from the joy of encountering the healing grace of the Lord.  From the perspective of contemplative prayer, we need to develop a deeper prayer life, rooted in the contemplation of the Word of God and adoration before the Blessed Sacrament.  From the perspective of evangelization, we need to stir up the hearts of many who have been touched by the Lord to bring others to Him.  Like the angels and the shepherds, we cannot resist announcing the Good News to the world.  Like Mary, we want to carry the joy of being born in Christ to others so that they too can leap for joy like John the Baptist. 

Indeed, we have so many things to thank God for.  This gratitude of course is expressed in action either by way of serving in the Church, reaching out to society or to the poor, spiritually poor and materially poor.  So we thank God for healing our hearts, encountering Him and empowering our lives.

In the face of the challenges, have no fear.  This was what the angel told Mary, “Do not be afraid!”   This same message was repeated to the shepherds by the angels, “Do not be afraid!”  And the reason is simply because Christ is our Saviour and He will give us the Holy Spirit.  The responsorial psalm reiterates that God rules at the end of the day.  “Let the nations be glad and exult for you rule the world with justice. With fairness you rule the peoples, you guide the nations on earth.”  In the gospel we read that “when the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.”  Jesus means God saves!

So like Mary and the shepherds, we must continue to contemplate on His love and give praise and thanks to Him.  “As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.”   Indeed, we must on one hand look forward but we must not forget our past.  We must remember our Christ-encounter or conversion experience.  Like Mary who consecrated Jesus to the Lord, we must consecrate ourselves to the Lord as well.  Delay no longer.  Do not be afraid!   Open your heart to the Lord and His invite.  Arise in faith and with Mary, say, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord!  Let it be done according to your word.”  Give birth to Jesus!  Give Jesus to the world.  May Mary the Mother of God, the Mother of the Church and the Star of the New Evangelization lead us forward bringing hope and a new dawn to humanity!

WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH

ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

20141231 DEALING WITH THE LAST DAYS OF THE ANTICHRIST

20141231 DEALING WITH THE LAST DAYS OF THE ANTICHRIST

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 John 2:18-21 ©

Children, these are the last days;

you were told that an Antichrist must come,

and now several antichrists have already appeared;

we know from this that these are the last days.

Those rivals of Christ came out of our own number, but they had never really belonged;

if they had belonged, they would have stayed with us;

but they left us, to prove that not one of them

ever belonged to us.

But you have been anointed by the Holy One,

and have all received the knowledge.

It is not because you do not know the truth that I am writing to you

but rather because you know it already

and know that no lie can come from the truth.

Psalm

Psalm 95:1-2,11-13 ©

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

O sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing to the Lord all the earth.

  O sing to the Lord, bless his name.

Proclaim his help day by day,

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,

  let the sea and all within it thunder praise,

let the land and all it bears rejoice,

  all the trees of the wood shout for joy

at the presence of the Lord for he comes,

  he comes to rule the earth.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

With justice he will rule the world,

  he will judge the peoples with his truth.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

A hallowed day has dawned upon us.

Come, you nations, worship the Lord,

for today a great light has shone down upon the earth.

Alleluia!

Or

Jn1:14,12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

To all who received him he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 1:1-18 ©

In the beginning was the Word:

and the Word was with God

and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through him all things came to be,

not one thing had its being but through him.

All that came to be had life in him

and that life was the light of men,

a light that shines in the dark,

a light that darkness could not overpower.

A man came, sent by God.

His name was John.

He came as a witness,

as a witness to speak for the light,

so that everyone might believe through him.

He was not the light,

only a witness to speak for the light.

The Word was the true light

that enlightens all men;

and he was coming into the world.

He was in the world

that had its being through him,

and the world did not know him.

He came to his own domain

and his own people did not accept him.

But to all who did accept him

he gave power to become children of God,

to all who believe in the name of him

who was born not out of human stock

or urge of the flesh

or will of man

but of God himself.

The Word was made flesh,

he lived among us,

and we saw his glory,

the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father,

full of grace and truth.

John appears as his witness. He proclaims:

‘This is the one of whom I said:

He who comes after me ranks before me

because he existed before me.’

Indeed, from his fullness we have, all of us, received –

yes, grace in return for grace,

since, though the Law was given through Moses,

grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ.

No one has ever seen God;

it is the only Son, who is nearest to the Father’s heart,

who has made him known.

DEALING WITH THE LAST DAYS OF THE ANTICHRIST

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 JOHN 2:18-21; PS 95(96); JOHN 1:1-18

http://www.universalis.com/20141231/mass.htm 

Today, we are celebrating the seventh and the penultimate day of the Octave of Christmas. Tomorrow, we will celebrate the Solemnity of the Mother of God, exactly a week after the celebration of Christmas, the Incarnation of God.  For this reason, the liturgy of today’s gospel gives us the full prologue of St John’s gospel, which sums up the significance of the whole celebration of Christmas.  At the same time, the Church is aware that today is the last day of the Calendar year.  And thus the first reading speaks of the last days, the days of the Anti-Christ and the Day of Judgment. “Children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come; therefore we know that it is the last hour.”   In order to benefit from today’s liturgy, the theme of the last days must be seen in relationship with the Incarnation.

Although we are chronologically in the last day, we are in many ways experiencing the last days that the Christians experienced two thousand years ago.  These last days refer to the days of the Anti-Christ, when people do not live in the truth.  As St John tells us, they denied Christ and the gospel, living in darkness and sin.  When we look at the world today, we are certainly living in the last days.  More than ever, Christianity is being challenged by the world.  The world of secularism is threatening not just the practice of Christian Faith but religions at large.  Secularism has become an antithesis to faith in God and takes on a hostile position towards the Church and believers in God.  Indeed, we can see that the values of the gospel are no longer embraced by the world.

In the light of such a serious threat to world peace and authentic living, must we fall into despair?  Nay, the truth is that Jesus is for us the light in the world.  It is through Christ that the world would be saved.  We can see the contrast between the first reading and the gospel.  St. John’s letter which begins with the sober reminder, “Children, it is the last hour!” is deliberately contrasted with the gospel overture, “In the beginning was the Word….”  So, in Christ we have a new beginning.  The last days have become our first day in that we are a new creation.  So we need not fear the world and its hostility towards believers, provided we choose Christ.  The moment we choose Christ, the reign of sin comes to an end. We become the children of God.  John testified, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God; who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

In Christ we see the fullness of God’s glory.  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father … No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known.”  Indeed, we are the blessed ones.  As Christians it is our great privilege to be given the full revelation of God.  Only Christ, as the Son of the Father, could reveal to us who God really is.  In knowing God, we know who we are and what our ultimate calling is. Thus, we say, we receive grace and truth in Christ Jesus. “And from his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace.  For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Indeed, it is our confession in the incarnation of the Word made flesh that is the basis for our hope.  Because Jesus is God made visible, we are now in union with God in truth and love.  With John we declare, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.”  The corollary is that “in him was life, and the life was the light of men.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” Truly, if we want to live the fullness of life in these last days of the Anti-Christ, we must accept Jesus into our lives.  This is important not only for our own salvation but also for the world.

However, we are also called to be proactive by being a witness for Christ, just as John the Baptist did for Jesus.  The gospel tells us, “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him.  He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light.”  We who have come to know Jesus as the Light and Life of the world must now enlighten many who have not yet received Jesus. This is because Jesus “the true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world.”  If the world is in darkness and hostile to God, it is because the world does not know God.  We who “have been anointed by the Holy One,and have all received the knowledge” of the truth, must now proclaim to others who have yet not known Christ.  We cannot overcome darkness simply by moaning and lamenting what the world is like today.  Rather, we eliminate darkness by being the light of Christ for humanity by sharing Christ with them, not just in words but in our very lives.

Indeed, there are still many people who do not know Christ and therefore the truth about life and love.  Yes, as John regretfully remarked, “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not.  He came to his own home, and his own people received him not.”  How tragic indeed that Christ who is from God and one of us is rejected by us.  Thus, as Christians, we must continue to battle with the world of darkness by proclaiming Christ and the gospel in the world.  Only in this way can we assure the salvation of humankind.  It is not enough to save ourselves but we, who are blessed with the gift of salvation and revelation, have a duty to save the whole world, for that is the desire of God.

So as we begin the New Year, let the New Year be filled with the grace and truth that comes from Christ alone.  When the world is filled with the fullness of Christ’s presence, the world will come to know that God is with them.  With the Incarnation of Christ, let us make His presence felt through and in us, because we are filled with the Spirit of Christ.  Otherwise, it only shows that we never belonged to Him, as St John observed, “Those rivals of Christ came out of our own number, but they had never really belonged; if they had belonged, they would have stayed with us; but they left us, to prove that not one of them ever belonged to us.” So let us in the face of secularism and cynicism of the presence and love of God, with the psalmist proclaim that God is here and this earth belongs to Him. “”He comes to rule the earth. He shall rule the world with justice and the peoples with his constancy.”

WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH

ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED