20140831
COUNTERING THE DISTURBING CHANGING TRENDS OF
SOCIETY
Reading 1, Jeremiah 20:7-9
7 You have seduced me, Yahweh, and I have let myself be
seduced; you have overpowered me: you were the stronger. I am a laughing-stock
all day long, they all make fun of me.
8 For whenever I speak, I have to howl and proclaim,
'Violence and ruin!' For me, Yahweh's word has been the cause of insult
and derision all day long.
9 I would say to myself, 'I will not think
about him, I will not speak
in his name any more,' but then there seemed to be a fire burning in my heart,
imprisoned in my bones. The effort to restrain it wearied me, I could not do
it.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 63:2, 3-4, 5-6, 8-9
2 Thus I have gazed on you in the sanctuary, seeing your
power and your glory.
5 All my longings fulfilled as with fat and rich foods, a
song of joy on my lips and praise in my mouth.
6 On my bed when I think of you, I muse on you in the
watches of the night,
9 May those who are hounding me to death go down to the
depths of the earth,
Gospel, Matthew 16:21-27
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.'
24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone
wants to be a follower of mine, let him renounce himself and take up his cross
and follow me.
25 Anyone who wants to save his life will lose it;
but anyone who loses his life for my sake
will find it.
26 What, then, will anyone gain
by winning the whole world and forfeiting his life? Or what can anyone offer in
exchange for his life?
27 'For the Son of man is going to
come in the glory of his
Father with his angels, and then he will reward each
one according to his behaviour.
Reading 2, Romans 12:1-2
1 I urge you, then, brothers, remembering the mercies of
God, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, dedicated and acceptable to
God; that is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people.
2 Do not model your behaviour on the contemporary world, but let
the renewing of your minds transform you, so that you may discern for yourselves
what is the will of God -- what is good and
acceptable and mature.
COUNTERING
THE DISTURBING CHANGING TRENDS OF SOCIETY
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: JEREMIAH 20:7-9; ROMANS 12:1-2; MATTHEW 16:21-27
http://www.universalis.com/20140831/mass.1.htm
We see the changing
trends of society. We
are bewildered at the changes. When we considered how the institutions of
marriage and family are being redefined, we cannot but be worried at the future
of humanity. There is the loss of the Sacred and the Eternal values
of life. Secularism and relativism have resulted in materialism because
the human person is reduced merely to a material animal, like the rest of the
world. There is no question of life after death, or judgment or eternal
life. There is only one life and that is this life on earth.
There is no future for
humanity beyond this earth. That being the case, then everyone must grab as much of life as
possible. Life is reduced to pleasure, experiencing and enjoying every thing
before we die. This life has no purpose or meaning because
regardless of what we do, it will end in meaninglessness. We will die and
disappear from this earth forever. There is no tomorrow. That being
the case, one wonders why we work so hard to keep this world going.
If we and this world have no destination, then it is an aimless world.
So what must we
do? Don’t curse
the darkness but light the candle. On the other hand, we cannot just do
nothing, and moan and lament at the state of the world today. Rather, St
Paul challenges us to be the light of the world and to live the life of
Christ. He wrote, “Do not model yourselves on the behaviour of the
world around you, but let your behaviour change, modelled by your new mind.”
Indeed, we are called to put on the values of Christ and the gospel. We
must be exemplary in our lifestyle, our words and deeds.
Indeed, the constant
temptation of man is to model ourselves after the world. We are
afraid to be different. This was the same temptation for Jesus in today’s
gospel. When “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, to be put to death and to be raised up on
the third day,” Peter remonstrated with him. He wanted Jesus to take the easy
way out to victory, through power and glory. But the way of Jesus is not
through power and might but humility and service to the extent of dying on the
cross.
Indeed, Jesus followed up
by instructing His disciples thus, “If anyone wants to be a follower of mine,
let him renounce himself and take up his cross and follow me.” It is
through suffering and self-denial that we can conquer the world. So
long as we are a slave to this world, we can never find the fullness of
life. Those who are slaves to this world seek worldly happiness through
pleasure, wealth and status. But such things cannot last and cannot bring
real happiness because they are not eternal truths. Only those who
discover what is truly eternal and beyond the mundane can find true
beauty. When we contemplate on the eternal truths of life, we lose
attachment to the world, which gives only passing joy.
For Jesus, the way to
fullness of life is to give up our lives for others. Only by dying to
ourselves, can we give life to others. “For anyone who wants to
save his life will lose it; but anyone who loses his life for my sake will find
it. What, then, will a man gain if he wins the whole world and ruins his life?
Or what has a man to offer in exchange for his life?” Like Jesus, the
more we give ourselves up in the service and love of others, the more we find
life to the fullness. Indeed, there are many people in the world who are
unhappy, even though they have all the money and power in life. The truth
is that happiness is ours only when we love and when we see that we are making
a difference in the lives of others. In giving life to others, we
learn compassion and experience the joy of giving and feeling with others.
To model after the mind
of Christ is also to see everything from the perspective of the eternal. We need to recognize that there is such
a thing called judgment. We do not live on this earth forever. At
the end of our life, if it is not to end in nothingness, it is only reasonable
for us to believe that we live on to the next life. There will be
judgment and we will share in the fullness of God’s glory. Otherwise if
everything were to end in this life, there is no hope and basis for man’s
contribution to the world, since we are not going to enjoy it.
To be true to the values
of the gospel is not easy. Like Christ and the prophets before Him, we
will have to face persecution. The cross that we are called to carry
after Jesus is to share in His suffering by facing persecutions and hostilities from those
who disagree with us. Jeremiah, who was rejected by his fellowmen,
lamented, “I am a daily laughing-stock, everybody’s butt. Each time I
speak the word, I have to howl and proclaim: Violence and ruin!” For forty
years, he spoke the Word of God to warn his people of the imminent disaster
that would befall them if they did not repent from their sins, especially of
idolatry. But they did not listen. Instead they accused him of
misleading the nation and committing the crime of treason by going against the
king.
Where can we find
strength and perseverance to withstand the oppositions in the world? Indeed, there are many good men
today in the world who dare not speak the truth for fear that their reputation
and popularity with the world would be compromised, leading to their loss of
business or support from the world. Most of us, even if we do not
subscribe to the lifestyle of the world, are afraid to let the world know that
we think differently for fear of bad publicity. We want to belong to the
world on one hand but we also know that the values of the world are
wrong. We prefer to let the few good men speak and face persecution,
ridicule and rejection by their friends.
So what is the secret to
fortitude? We
need a personal conversion or a personal encounter with the Lord.
This was the case of Jeremiah. He fell in love with the Lord. He
said, “You have seduced me, Lord, and I have let myself be seduced; you have
overpowered me: you were the stronger.” Until we have discovered the
beauty and joy of the Word of God and tasted it, we cannot be set free from
seeking the transient things of life. So falling in love with God and
encountering His beauty is a pre-requisite to proclaiming the gospel of joy.
Secondly, we need to
bask ourselves in God’s love and glory. As the psalmist says, “O God,
you are my God, for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for
you like a dry, weary land without water. So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to
see your strength and your glory. For your love is better than life, my
lips will speak your praise.”
Thirdly, we must
remember the mercy of God in Christ’s death on the cross for us. Unless we appreciate the
incarnation, the self-emptying of God in Christ on the cross, we will not be
moved to change. Hence, St Paul exhorts us, “Think of God’s mercy, my
brothers, and worship him, I beg you, in a way that is worthy of thinking
beings, by offering your living bodies as a holy sacrifice, truly pleasing to
God.” Only when we consider His mercy and forgiveness for us who do not
deserve His grace, will we be able to give up our life in fidelity to
Him. The outcome of the experience of mercy is gratitude.
Indeed, we must realize
that the call to be prophets of Christ in the world by our deeds and words is
no longer a choice. Either we change society or society will change
us. In a democratic world, it is the people who decide the kind of
government they want and the kind of policies their government formulates for
society. So the future of every society is dependent on the moral
standards of society. If we care for the future of our people and the
country, then we have no choice but to articulate our values for society.
Like the prophet, we are
called to announce the truth in and out of season so that we can help to form
conscience and enlighten those in ignorance. With the internet and modern mass communications,
we must not lose out to the world in propagating our values. Otherwise,
the rest of the world will listen to one perspective and take them as the
truth. The world is not asking us to deny the Lord but they want us to be
silent on the truth. So if you do care for your children and children’s
children, be a Jeremiah today in the proclamation of the truth in word and
deed. Of course, we must not be aggressive in speaking the truth.
This would not be Christian. We must speak the truth with humility,
compassion, charity and with firmness. Our desire is to enlighten and
heal, not to attack our enemies or to put them down. We are called to love
those who are opposed to the gospel. In the final analysis, it is not
what we say but how we live a virtuous and holy life that will speak to the
world convincingly. In this way, we save both ourselves and our people,
now and in the future. Truly, as St Paul says, “This is the only
way to discover the will of God and know what is good, what it is that God
wants, what is the perfect thing to do.”
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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