Wednesday, 3 December 2014

20140831 COUNTERING THE DISTURBING CHANGING TRENDS OF SOCIETY

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.
3 Better your faithful love than life itself; my lips will praise you.
4 Thus I will bless you all my life, in your name lift up my hands.
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,
8 my heart clings to you, your right hand supports me.
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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