Wednesday, 3 December 2014

20140807 THE FULL MEANING OF OUR LIFE AND FAITH IS UNFOLDED IN A DEEPENING RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST

20140807 THE FULL MEANING OF OUR LIFE AND FAITH IS UNFOLDED IN A DEEPENING RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST     

Reading 1, Jeremiah 31:31-34

31 'Look, the days are coming, Yahweh declares, when I shall make a new covenant with the House of Israel (and the House of Judah),
32 but not like the covenant I made with their ancestors the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, even though I was their Master, Yahweh declares.
33 No, this is the covenant I shall make with the House of Israel when those days have come, Yahweh declares. Within them I shall plant my Law, writing it on their hearts. Then I shall be their God and they will be my people.
34 There will be no further need for everyone to teach neighbour or brother, saying, "Learn to know Yahweh!" No, they will all know me, from the least to the greatest, Yahweh declares, since I shall forgive their guilt and never more call their sin to mind.'


Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 51:12-13, 14-15, 18-19

12 Give me back the joy of your salvation, sustain in me a generous spirit.
13 I shall teach the wicked your paths, and sinners will return to you.
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will acclaim your saving justice.
15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will speak out your praise.
18 In your graciousness do good to Zion, rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will delight in upright sacrifices,-burnt offerings and whole oblations -- and young bulls will be offered on your altar.


Gospel, Matthew 16:13-23

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi he put this question to his disciples, 'Who do people say the Son of man is?'
14 And they said, 'Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.'
15 'But you,' he said, 'who do you say I am?'
16 Then Simon Peter spoke up and said, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.'
17 Jesus replied, 'Simon son of Jonah, you are a blessed man! Because it was no human agency that revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.
18 So I now say to you: You are Peter and on this rock I will build my community. And the gates of the underworld can never overpower it.
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven: whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.'
20 Then he gave the disciples strict orders not to say to anyone that he was the Christ.
21 From then onwards Jesus began to make it clear to his disciples that he was destined to go to Jerusalem and suffer grievously at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and to be put to death and to be raised up on the third day.
22 Then, taking him aside, Peter started to rebuke him. 'Heaven preserve you, Lord,' he said, 'this must not happen to you.'
23 But he turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle in my path, because you are thinking not as God thinks but as human beings do.'

THE FULL MEANING OF OUR LIFE AND FAITH IS UNFOLDED IN A DEEPENING RELATIONSHIP WITH CHRIST     
SCRIPTURE READINGS: JER 31:31-34; MT 16:13-23
http://www.universalis.com/20140807/mass.htm
Answers to questions can either be wrong or inadequate.  But there are times in life when we might be able to give the right answer but the wrong meaning or the wrong explanation.  This seems to be the case of those who attempted to answer the question of Jesus’ identity in the gospel.  To the outer circle of Jesus’ disciples or even the crowd at large, Jesus was perceived to be some kind of prophet, most probably as the eschatological prophet by many.
Yet, such regard, although an honour to Jesus, fall short of His real identity.  Thus, it was Peter who came to the rescue of his fellow disciples when he declared unequivocally that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Such a confession evoked a favourable response from Christ.  Probably He might have been rather consoled that at last, at least one of His disciples could come out with the right answer.  Unfortunately, Jesus discovered a little while later that although Peter might have had the right answer, it does not necessarily mean that he had the right meaning or the right understanding.  His understanding of messiahship was far from what and how Jesus understood His messiahship to be.  Indeed, Peter’s understanding of messiahship was the thinking of man and not of God.
What is true of Peter and the disciples is also true for us.  Many of us do not really understand the full implications of our actions in life.  This is especially true of our faith and certain things that we do in life.  More often than not, we just repeat what we have learnt from tradition, from our upbringing and our culture.  We confess our faith and practice our faith tradition and culture without much understanding of what we are doing.  Take the example of our attendance at Mass.  We attend Mass every week, yet how many of us really understand the full implications of what we are celebrating.  Truly, even for myself as a priest, I am only beginning to grasp a little more deeply the real meaning of the Eucharist, which I realize is quite inexhaustible.
In other words, the point that I wish to drive at is that there are many things in life that we do which might be right or wrong, good or bad, yet the full significance of what we do may not be realized by us until much later on in life. In other words, there are things in life that we cannot grasp totally all at once.  In theology and scripture, we always speak about the difference between the literal meaning of the text and the sensus plenior of the text given by the Church.  Indeed, although revelation is completed in Christ, the Church is still grasping the depth of this revelation over the years.  It would be just too much for us to understand anything all at once.   Yes, the full meaning of life and faith is unfolded over time.
This is true also of the Israelites in the first reading.  In the context of the promise of the new covenant during the exilic period, the Jews came to realize why the first covenant failed; because they were being legalistic and narrow-minded and nationalistic.  It was only through their history, their struggles that they understood deeper the real meaning of the covenant which is written not on tablets, that is legalism, but in the hearts of men, namely, love and compassion.  Furthermore, it is a covenant that is given to all without exception, although the Israelites were privileged to be the first recipients.
If that is so, does it mean that we can do nothing with regard to our perception of God, life and reality?  In a certain sense, we can do nothing because the ability to perceive the real significance of life and faith is a gift from God.  Indeed, that was why Jesus told Peter, “Blest are you, Simon son of John! No mere man has revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father.”  So, indeed, perception of life and faith is a free gift from God.  But that does not mean we can do nothing on our part.  We can grow in understanding, like Peter who did come to a mature understanding of his confession of Christ’s messiahship in due course.
And how can one do it?  By following Peter and the disciples in their intimate relationship with Christ.  It was Peter’s close fellowship with Jesus and his journeying with Him throughout his life, from His ministry to His passion, death and resurrection that he could understand who Jesus really was.  In the same way too, when we go through our own passion and struggles, reflecting on our own lives in relation to the life of Christ, we too will come to a better understanding of our life and who Jesus is.   It will therefore be an ongoing journey in faith and purification.
This journey may be difficult at times, but it is unavoidable.   If not we might find ourselves having the right answers but not living the answers.  Then, we would be like those who have very powerful computers but use them only to play video games and so not make full use of the computers’ capacity.   Yes, we should be grateful, like Peter, to be given the Key to the Kingdom, which is a pure gift from God.  But we need to make use of that key to unlock the treasures within.  We need to make use of that key to get a better grasp of the reality of life and faith.  Perhaps the greatest tragedy in life is to have the key but not use it.   When that happens we live on the superficial level.
A man asked his friend.  Before you were enlightened, what were you doing?  Well, he said, “I woke up in the morning, I went for my morning walk, then I took my breakfast and then I went to work.  I came back and then I relaxed, read or watch television.”  Then the man asked, “what did you do after your enlightenment?”  Well he said, “I wake up in the morning, I go for my morning walk, then I take breakfast and then I go to work.  After work, I come back, take my dinner, then relax by reading or watching television.”  But the man retorted.  That’s exactly the same things that you did before you were enlightened!  His friend replied, “Yes, I am doing the same things but not in the same way or with the same frame of mind.”

WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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