20141008 FIDELITY TO THE TRUTH
Readings
at Mass
First
reading
Galatians
2:1-2,7-14 ©
It
was not till fourteen years had passed that I went up to Jerusalem again. I
went with Barnabas and took Titus with me. I went there as the result of a
revelation, and privately I laid before the leading men the Good News as I
proclaim it among the pagans; I did so for fear the course I was adopting or
had already adopted would not be allowed. On the contrary, they recognised that
I had been commissioned to preach the Good News to the uncircumcised just as
Peter had been commissioned to preach it to the circumcised. The same person
whose action had made Peter the apostle of the circumcised had given me a
similar mission to the pagans. So, James, Cephas and John, these leaders, these
pillars, shook hands with Barnabas and me as a sign of partnership: we were to
go to the pagans and they to the circumcised. The only thing they insisted on
was that we should remember to help the poor, as indeed I was anxious to do.
When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I
opposed him to his face, since he was manifestly in the wrong. His custom had
been to eat with the pagans, but after certain friends of James arrived he
stopped doing this and kept away from them altogether for fear of the group
that insisted on circumcision. The other Jews joined him in this pretence, and even
Barnabas felt himself obliged to copy their behaviour.
When I saw they were not respecting the true
meaning of the Good News, I said to Cephas in front of everyone, ‘In spite of
being a Jew, you live like the pagans and not like the Jews, so you have no
right to make the pagans copy Jewish ways.’
Psalm Psalm 116:1-2 ©
Go
out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.
O
praise the Lord, all you nations,
acclaim him all you peoples!
Go
out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.
Strong
is his love for us;
he is faithful for ever.
Go
out to the whole world and proclaim the Good News.
Gospel
Acclamation Ps118:24
Alleluia,
alleluia!
Train
me, Lord, to observe your law,
to
keep it with my heart.
Alleluia!
Or Rm8:15
Alleluia,
alleluia!
The
spirit you received is the spirit of sons,
and
it makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’
Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 11:1-4 ©
Once
Jesus was in a certain place praying, and when he had finished, one of his
disciples said, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’ He
said to them, ‘Say this when you pray:
“Father,
may your name be held holy,
your
kingdom come;
give
us each day our daily bread,
and
forgive us our sins,
for
we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us.
And
do not put us to the test.”’
FIDELITY
TO THE TRUTH
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: GALATIANS 2:1-2.7-14; LUKE 11:1-4
http://www.universalis.com/20141008/mass.htm
In the first reading, we
read of the disagreement in the early Church with regards to Gentile
converts having to submit to Jewish ritual and customary laws. It was
a critical stage of the Church as Jewish converts had to embrace Gentile
converts at the expense of compromising their customs. The controversy is
not over the moral Laws of the Old Testament but mostly regarding the dietary
laws. Gentile converts supported by Paul felt that they were not bound to
Jewish dietary regulations and other customary practices, for example,
circumcision, as these are not part of the gospel. This position was
upheld by Peter and other Church leaders and sanctioned by the Jerusalem
Council. “So, James, Cephas and John, these leaders, these pillars, shook
hands with Barnabas and me as a sign of partnership: we were to go to the
pagans and they to the circumcised. The only thing they insisted on was that we
should remember to help the poor, as indeed I was anxious to do.” As far
as Paul was concerned, God is the Father of all and all are brothers and
sisters in Christ, regardless of race and status. Indeed, “There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male
nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28)
But this process took some
time as the Jewish Christians struggled to adjust to the new situation.
Although Peter himself had earlier declared after meeting the Centurion
Cornelius, “God has no favorites.” under pressure however, Peter did not follow
through with his conviction for fear of offending his fellow Jews. “His
custom had been to eat with the pagans, but after certain friends of James
arrived, he stopped doing this and kept away from them altogether for fear of
the group that insisted on circumcision.” Thus Paul admonished Peter
for being inconsistent and hypocritical in his conduct with the gentiles.
Paul wrote, “When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face,
since he was manifestly in the wrong … When I saw that they were not respecting
the true meaning of the Good News, I said to Cephas in front of everyone, ‘In
spite of being a Jew, you live like the pagans and not like the Jews, so you
have no right to make the pagans copy Jewish ways.’” Of course, Peter was not
the only one to bend to social and peer pressure; so, too, the other Jewish
Christians including Barnabas.
We, too, are constantly
confronted with this dilemma with respect to disagreement with our superiors or
even our friends. How
often have we been afraid to speak up when we cannot agree with the decisions
of our superiors? Instead, we mumble to others behind their backs.
We are afraid to let our superiors know the truth of the situation, or our
honest opinions, for fear of losing favour with them. We are afraid of
rejection and worse still, discrimination. This is particularly true even
with friends. At times, they invite us to join them for some activities
which we deem unhealthy or even incongruent with Christian faith and
values. Yet, for fear of offending them, we go along with them,
even though deep within we are not comfortable or at peace. Like Peter
and Barnabas, we would go against our conscience because we fear backlash.
Today, in the name of
inter-religious dialogue and ecumenism, there is a potential danger that in
our attempts to find common ground with other religions or Christian
communities, we would compromise our faith. Such false compromises will
not bring unity but only cause greater disunity in the long run as the
followers would be confused as to where the Church stands with regard to some
doctrinal issues. It is therefore important to be honest in dialogue and
to know what we have in common and what our differences are, so that we can
truly appreciate each other’s uniqueness even if we are not in agreement.
How can this be done? St
Paul shows us the way to resolve this slippery situation. He spoke the
truth at all times and was courageous to do so without fear or favour. It
was not because he had no respect for Peter and the other leaders of the
Church. But because Peter failed to exercise his authority rightly, he
had to respectfully reprimand Peter lest others might imitate his behavior and
be led astray as to what the gospel demanded of them. Paul spoke out for
only one reason, namely, love. Not only did he speak out of love but
he spoke in charity too. When we desire to speak out, we too must search
ourselves to make sure that we are not speaking out in anger, frustration or
worse still, with an ulterior motive or a personal agenda to put others down so
that we can protect our selfish interests. When we speak in love, it will
always be done in a respectful way, not shouting or screaming or threatening
the other party. True respect for authority is rooted in love, never in
fear or in anger.
Jesus in the gospel
offers us the guidelines to discern how we should respond to Church leaders who
fail to act responsibly or live a life of integrity. The basis for speaking out
against our leaders and friends is found in a discerning mind and heart in
prayer. To pray deeply entails an honest discernment of our motives and
that we are guided by the gospel principles. What are these
principles? These are enshrined in the Lord’s Prayer which is the
Eschatological Prayer for the Kingdom. It gives us the guidelines
for staying in the truth.
In the first place, the
all-embracing principle calls for recognition that God is our heavenly Father.
If God is our Father, the corollary is that all of us are truly His children
and therefore brothers and sisters in Christ. We must therefore regard
each other with love, respect and reverence. Indeed, if we know the Father’s
love personally, then we can act and live as a true son to the Father, a
brother and sister to each other. Secondly, in praying that God’s
name be kept holy, we are asking that the Father be true to His name by
bestowing on us His love and providential care for us. In the same
vein, we are also saying that we desire to reflect Him in our lives so that by
our lives, all will know that God is our Father. Every child sees His Father
as His mentor and is called to be a reflection of His Father.
When we pray, “your
kingdom come“, we are petitioning that we be open to whatever He wants to
give us. Like a child we want to be open to what God wants for us because
we trust in His divine wisdom. Most of all, we want God to rule our
lives and we want our lives to be governed by the values of the kingdom.
Only when we live His life of love and forgiveness, could we then say that His
kingdom has come. And when we pray, “give us each day our daily bread“,
we pray with faith that the Father will provide us our needs, especially the
Bread of Life and the Eucharist. This is the eschatological bread
of the kingdom, the banquet of life and love when all are brothers and sisters
united in one big family with God as our Father.
Next, when we pray,
“forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive each one who is in debt to us”
we are imploring that we will be like the Father, always forgiving so that
there is unity among ourselves. This is the will of our heavenly Father;
that we be one just as He and the Son are one in the same Spirit.
And finally, when we pray, “And do not put us to the test” we are praying
that the Father will preserve us from all evil because He is faithful to us and
that He will not allow Satan to overcome us. Most of all, we are asking
for the strength to resist the ultimate test which is that of apostasy and
infidelity to the gospel in the face of persecution and temptations.
Let us pray that we will
be guided by the example of Paul’s courage in speaking the truth in love and
Peter’s humility in accepting fraternal correction. He was receptive
to Paul’s admonishment. He took it in the right spirit and acknowledged
his sin of hypocrisy caused by his desire to win the approval of man rather
than the approval of God. As individual Christians, leaders and as
Church, we need to continue to purify our motives and in the way of
truth. This requires fraternal correction and humility to recognize our
mistakes. It requires that members of the community grow in maturity, to
offer fraternal correction with charity as we are all responsible for each
other and for the good of the Church. In this way, the Church grows in
the fullness of the truth and in charity. By so doing, we reflect the face
of the Father in our lives, since as the psalmist says, “For steadfast is his
kindness toward us, and the fidelity of the Lord endures forever.”
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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