20140707 THE WILDERNESS IS THE PLACE WHERE GOD WILL
DRAW US TO HIM
Scripture
Reflection
Reading 1, Hosea 2:16, 17-18, 21-22
17 There I shall give her back her vineyards, and make the
Vale of Achor a gateway of hope. There she will respond as
when she was young, as on the day when she came up from Egypt.
18 When that day comes- declares Yahweh- you will call me,
'My husband', no more will you call
me, 'My Baal'.
21 I shall betroth you to myself for ever, I shall betroth
you in uprightness and justice, and faithful love and tenderness.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 145:2-3, 4-5, 6-7, 8-9
2 Day after day I shall bless you, I shall praise your
name for ever and ever.
7 They will bring out
the memory of your
great generosity, and joyfully acclaim your saving justice.
8 Yahweh is tenderness and pity, slow to anger, full of
faithful love.
9 Yahweh is generous to all, his tenderness embraces all
his creatures.
Gospel, Matthew 9:18-26
18 While he was speaking to them, suddenly one of the
officials came up, who bowed low in front of him and said, 'My daughter has
just died, but come and lay your hand on her and her life will be saved.'
19 Jesus rose and, with his disciples, followed him.
20 Then suddenly from behind him came a woman, who had
been suffering from a haemorrhage for twelve years, and she touched the fringe
of his cloak,
21 for she was thinking, 'If only I can touch his cloak I
shall be saved.'
22 Jesus turned round and saw her; and he said to her,
'Courage, my daughter, your faith has saved
you.' And from that moment the woman was saved.
23 When Jesus reached the official's house and saw
the flute-players, with the crowd making a commotion, he said,
24 'Get out of here; the little girl is not dead; she is
asleep.' And they ridiculed him.
25 But when the people had been turned out he went inside
and took her by the hand; and she stood up.
26 And the news of this spread all round the countryside.
THE WILDERNESS IS THE PLACE WHERE GOD WILL DRAW US TO
HIM
Our
vocation and our baptism is the consequence of our being loved by God. We respond by giving Him our
lives, either through service in ministry or simply living good Christian
lives. This was certainly the case of the Israelites. They too were
called to a covenanted life, to be God’s people as a result of their liberation
from Egypt.
However,
quite often, like them, our love for the Lord wanes. Our spiritual life
becomes lukewarm. Our love for God and His mission becomes tepid.
We begin our vocation with great enthusiasm, but over the years, we lose our
intimacy with the Lord. Consequently, our zeal for the Lord’s house
also weakens. What could be the factors that contribute to this
situation?
Ironically,
it could be due to our work. Often, we give ourselves too much to our
work and commitment, at the expense of our time with God. We begin to
lose that intimacy with the Lord. We forget that our strength comes from
Him. More and more, we start to rely on our own strength and ingenuity
to do the work of God. No wonder, our ministry loses its
effectiveness.
Hence,
now and then we fall into this melancholic mood, depressed at the situation we
are in. We find ourselves losing interest and commitment in our
ministry. At times, we feel so empty and meaningless in what we are
doing. Most of all, we are not happy with ourselves. Even if we
are successful in our ministry, we know that something is missing in our
lives. So what is this vacuum?
It
is our thirst for God.
That is why God allows us to experience such emptiness in our lives in order
to lure us back to Him. Yes, as the prophet says, “I am going to lure
her and lead her out into the wilderness and speak to her heart.”
God wants to be our husband and to be in union with us forever. So says
the prophet, “I will betroth you to myself forever, betroth you with integrity
and justice, with tenderness and love … with faithfulness and you will come to
know the Lord.” Yes, ultimately, God does not need our work. He wants
our love. Our ministry is the consequence of the love He has showered on
us.
So when
we have this feeling of wilderness and emptiness, it is the Spirit prompting us
in our hearts to return to Him. The wilderness is meant to lead us to
a conversion experience or a renewal of our conversion experience.
The latter is vital to revitalize our faith, relationship and commitment to
Him. Without a conversion experience, it would be difficult or almost
impossible to be zealous in our vocation. The depth of our emptiness
in life and in our ministry will determine the impact of this conversion
experience. The more desperate we are, the greater the conversion
experience.
This
was certainly the case of the official of the synagogue and that of the woman
with hemorrhage. Both were desperate for the power of God to be
manifested in their lives. Because both of these situations were deep
experiences, the testimonies and impact were greater. In the case
of the President of the synagogue, to turn to Jesus for help was already a
great sign of humility for him. But more than just humility was his faith
in Jesus, because his daughter had already died. He believed in Jesus’
power not only to heal but also to give life to his daughter. And he was
not disappointed.
Similarly,
when we consider the situation of the woman with hemorrhage, it was also a
miraculous situation. It was another event of wonder, since this woman
was suffering in shame and in secret for twelve years over an embarrassing
illness. We can presume that she was too ashamed even to speak of it and
thus carried the burden with her over all these years. But we are told
that Jesus “turned around and saw her.” Jesus knew her desperation for a
cure.
What is
important when we analyze all these miraculous events is that it brings
about wonder and conversion. We are told that after the healing of
the woman with hemorrhage and the raising of the official’s daughter, “the news
spread all round the countryside.” Thus for both the recipients of the
miracles and the witnesses, they could truly pray today’s responsorial psalm
meaningfully, blessing the Lord and praising Him for His mighty deeds and
wonderful works. For in encountering such wondrous events, the Lord is
experienced as “kind and full of compassion … abundant goodness.”
Today,
we need to pray for that kind of conversion experience in our lives. The
experience of wilderness and emptiness give us the disposition to be available
to such encounters with the Lord. Unless we have some kind of ongoing
conversion experience in our lives, it is difficult to be excited about God and
about the Good News, since we have no real good news to proclaim to
others. But when we dispose ourselves to God for Him to touch us in our
insufficiency and helplessness, we will feel His power, His love and His
compassion. Only then can we truly say with conviction like the Prophet,
that God is truly our “integrity and justice … tenderness and love …
faithfulness” and that we truly have “come to know the Lord” as Lord.
Such
personal realization and experience of His mighty works and abundant goodness will re-energize
us in our mission, which is ultimately the witnessing and proclamation of
God who is kind and full of compassion. This is the Good News experienced
by us and now proclaimed in our lives. So let us thank the Lord for the
wilderness we experience from time to time, because this is the way that God
wants to lure and lead us to Him so that He can speak to our hearts.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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