Tuesday, 23 December 2014

20140723 FORGETFULNESS IS THE CAUSE OF OUR MISERY AND INFIDELITY

20140723 FORGETFULNESS IS THE CAUSE OF OUR MISERY AND INFIDELITY  


Reading 1, Jeremiah 2:1-3, 7-8, 12-13

1 The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
2 'Go and shout this in Jerusalem's ears: 'Yahweh says this: "I remember your faithful love, the affection of your bridal days, when you followed me through the desert, through a land unsown.
3 Israel was sacred to Yahweh; the first-fruits of his harvest; all who ate this incurred guilt, disaster befell them, Yahweh declares." '
7 I brought you to a country of plenty, to enjoy its produce and good things; but when you entered you defiled my country and made my heritage loathsome.
8 The priests never asked, "Where is Yahweh?" Those skilled in the Law did not know me, the shepherds too rebelled against me and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed the Useless Ones.
12 You heavens, stand aghast at this, horrified, utterly appalled, Yahweh declares.
13 For my people have committed two crimes: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug water-tanks for themselves, cracked water-tanks that hold no water.


Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 36:6-7, 8-9, 10-11

6 your saving justice is like towering mountains, your judgements like the mighty deep. Yahweh, you support both man and beast;
7 how precious, God, is your faithful love. So the children of Adam take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
8 They feast on the bounty of your house, you let them drink from your delicious streams;
9 in you is the source of life, by your light we see the light.
10 Maintain your faithful love to those who acknowledge you, and your saving justice to the honest of heart.
11 Do not let the foot of the arrogant overtake me or wicked hands drive me away.


Gospel, Matthew 13:10-17

10 Then the disciples went up to him and asked, 'Why do you talk to them in parables?'
11 In answer, he said, 'Because to you is granted to understand the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, but to them it is not granted.
12 Anyone who has will be given more and will have more than enough; but anyone who has not will be deprived even of what he has.
13 The reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding.
14 So in their case what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah is being fulfilled: Listen and listen, but never understand! Look and look, but never perceive!
15 This people's heart has grown coarse, their ears dulled, they have shut their eyes tight to avoid using their eyes to see, their ears to hear, their heart to understand, changing their ways and being healed by me.
16 'But blessed are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!
17 In truth I tell you, many prophets and upright people longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.

FORGETFULNESS IS THE CAUSE OF OUR MISERY AND INFIDELITY  
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JER 2:1-3. 7-8. 12-13; MT 13:10-17
http://www.universalis.com/20140724/mass.htm
What is the cause of betrayal and infidelity?  Mostly, it is because of our forgetfulness of what has been done to us and for us.  Many of us have been blessed with the love of God.  He has seen us through all the years of our life and helped us to overcome its vicissitudes.  When we examine our life, none of us can say that God has not helped us to overcome our trials and sufferings.  For all the blessings we have received, how many of us are really grateful to God?  If we are, then we would have translated our gratitude in terms of fidelity.
This was the situation of the people of Israel during the time of Jeremiah.  The prophet reminded his people what the Lord had done for them.  The Lord said, “I remember the affection of your youth, the love of your bridal days: you followed me through the wilderness, through a land unsown. Israel was sacred to the Lord, the first-fruits of his harvest; anyone who ate of this had to pay for it, misfortune came to them – it is the Lord who speaks.”  Indeed, although the Israelites were an unworthy and an insignificant people whose ancestors were slaves of Egypt, yet the Lord chose them to be His bride.  Yahweh loved them with an everlasting love and with the love of a bridegroom.  He journeyed with them in all their trials in the desert and brought them to the Promised Land, a place where milk and honey flowed.
Unfortunately, the people were forgetful of what God had done for them.  The Lord bemoaned through the prophet that no “sooner had you entered than you defiled my land, and made heritage detestable. The priests have never asked, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who administer the Law have no knowledge of me. The shepherds have rebelled against me; the prophets have prophesied in the name of Baal, following things with no power in them.” Instead of remembering that their identity and existence came solely from the goodness and generosity of the Lord, they became proud, arrogant and relied on themselves and their worldly power.
We are no better than them.  Many of us in bad times have turned to the Lord.  When we were down and out, the Lord was there to help us, whether it was in ill-health, financial difficulty, personal struggles or interpersonal relationships.  But once out of the situation, like the Israelites, we forget His love.  We begin to focus on ourselves and enjoy the blessings we have, taking them for granted.  We fall back into sin and allow the flesh, the world and Satan to rule our lives.  We never think of God anymore but let the worldly affairs and pleasures take control of our lives.  Thinking that everything is well and that we are self-sufficient, we no longer turn to the Lord in prayer and worship.
For this reason, the Lord is warning us through Jeremiah, “my people have committed a double crime: they have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, only to dig cisterns for themselves, leaky cisterns that hold no water.”  Being self-reliant and self-centered is like digging cisterns that leak and cannot hold water.  So long as we seek a life without God, we will destroy ourselves.  This is the consequence of those who forget about God.
But more than mere forgetfulness, the danger is that we soon become coarsened and unable to hear the voice of God anymore.  That was what Jesus warned the disciples.  He said, “For anyone who has will be given more, and he will have more than enough; but from anyone who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”   We do not lose our faith in God overnight.  Satan works slowly in us.  The loss of faith always begins with sin and then numbness to sin.  Alienated from God because of sin, we become distant in our relationship with Him.  Unable to feel the presence of God, we give up praying, reading the scriptures or even going for mass.  Our relationship with God gets worse because sin leads to more sins.  By the time we come to realize what sin has done to us, we would have been too deeply entrapped by the snares of the Evil One and hence cannot avoid suffering the consequences of a sinful life.
When we arrive at this stage of our spiritual life, we will no longer be capable of listening to the good spirit prompting us to repent.  Our mind will be filled with so much pride and our heart too wounded to listen to God’s voice.  Even when God sends His servants and messengers to invite us to repentance, we would be too proud to recognize our sinfulness because we would rationalize and justify ourselves for what we have done.  Sometimes, it could be because we are so wounded by our sins that we are filled with vindictiveness and hatred both for God and for our fellowmen.  This precisely was the reason given by Jesus as to why some will not be able to come to understand Him and be converted.  He said, “the reason I talk to them in parables is that they look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding.”  So in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled:  “You will listen and listen again, but not understand, see and see again, but not perceive. For the heart of this nation has grown coarse, their ears are dull of hearing, and they have shut their eyes for fear they shall see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and be converted and be healed by me.“
It thus behooves us who have received the gift of faith and the gift of prayer not to take for granted the graces we have been given.  Many of us have been fortunate enough to be blessed with the grace of encountering Him through a conversion experience or at some moment in our lives, especially when God showed His face to us through a miraculous event.  It is truly such a great blessing to be able to encounter God or experience Him deeply in our lives.  That is what Jesus said, “But happy are your eyes because they see, your ears because they hear!  I tell you solemnly, many prophets and holy men longed to see what you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.”  So we should be thankful and grateful for so great a blessing from God.
For this reason, we are called to continue to rely on the fountain of living water.  Jesus in the gospel comes to give us the Living Water.  This is what the psalmist asks of us too when he prayed, “With you is the fountain of life, O Lord. Your mercy reaches to heaven; your faithfulness, to the clouds. Your justice is like the mountains of God; your judgments, like the mighty deep. How precious is your mercy, O God! The children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings. They have their fill of the prime gifts of your house; from your delightful stream you give them to drink. For with you is the fountain of life, and in your light we see light. Keep up your mercy toward your friends, your just defense of the upright of heart.”
We must not ever think that God has favourites and that He allows only some to encounter Him while others cannot.  We must not misconstrue the words of Jesus when He said that “’the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to you, but they are not revealed to them.”   In truth, God has given us all many opportunities to come to Him.  The problem is on our side.  We are too obstinate, lazy and proud to come to Him.  The mysteries of the Kingdom will always be given to those with humble hearts and receptive minds.  Jesus has reminded us many times to be childlike if we are to enter the Kingdom of heaven.  We must avoid repeating the same folly as the Israelites during the time of Jeremiah.  This tragedy can be avoided if we take our spiritual life seriously, especially our relationship with God.  We must not only be faithful to our prayer life and the sacraments, but we must ensure that we have a living relationship with God, never falling into mediocrity in our worship, going through the routine, worshipping in our ritualistic manner but our hearts are far from Him.  Let us recall the love that He has bestowed upon us so that we can rekindle our warm and heartfelt relationship with Him, especially through contemplative prayer.  A prayerful reading of the Word of God besides worshipping Him at mass from the depths of our hearts will strengthen our love for Him as we listen to His voice speaking to us.

WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH

ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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