20141009 FINDING LIFE THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD

20141009 FINDING LIFE THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD   

First reading Galatians 3:1-5 ©

Are you people in Galatia mad? Has someone put a spell on you, in spite of the plain explanation you have had of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ? Let me ask you one question: was it because you practised the Law that you received the Spirit, or because you believed what was preached to you? Are you foolish enough to end in outward observances what you began in the Spirit? Have all the favours you received been wasted? And if this were so, they would most certainly have been wasted. Does God give you the Spirit so freely and work miracles among you because you practise Law, or because you believed what was preached to you?

Canticle         Luke 1:69-75 ©

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.

He has raised up for us a mighty saviour

  in the house of David his servant,

as he promised by the lips of holy men,

  those who were his prophets from of old.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.

A saviour who would free us from our foes,

  from the hands of all who hate us.

So his love for our fathers is fulfilled

  and his holy covenant remembered.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.

He swore to Abraham our father

  to grant us that free from fear,

  and saved from the hands of our foes,

we might serve him in holiness and justice

  all the days of our life in his presence.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel! He has visited his people and redeemed them.

Gospel Acclamation           Jn14:6

Alleluia, alleluia!

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, says the Lord;

No one can come to the Father except through me.

Alleluia!

Or        cf.Ac16:14

Alleluia, alleluia!

Open our heart, O Lord,

to accept the words of your Son.

Alleluia!

Gospel           Luke 11:5-13 ©

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Suppose one of you has a friend and goes to him in the middle of the night to say, “My friend, lend me three loaves, because a friend of mine on his travels has just arrived at my house and I have nothing to offer him”; and the man answers from inside the house, “Do not bother me. The door is bolted now, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up to give it you.” I tell you, if the man does not get up and give it him for friendship’s sake, persistence will be enough to make him get up and give his friend all he wants.

  ‘So I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to him. What father among you would hand his son a stone when he asked for bread? Or hand him a snake instead of a fish? Or hand him a scorpion if he asked for an egg? If you then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

FINDING LIFE THROUGH THE GRACE OF GOD   

SCRIPTURE READINGS:  GAL 3:1-5; LK 11:5-13
http://www.universalis.com/20141009/mass.htm

In the gospel today, Jesus assures us that “whoever asks, receives; whoever seeks, finds; whoever knocks is admitted.”  Such is the certainty of Jesus’ statement that it is translated in the Jerusalem Bible version as “always receive, find and door is open.”  But we ask ourselves, is this true in our life?  Do we always receive what we ask and find what we seek?  On the contrary, it seems that the more we ask, we do not get; and the more we seek, the more we are lost.  So it would seem that our human experience contradicts Jesus’ teaching.

Consequently, I would like to inverse the statement of Jesus; that whoever asks will not receive, seeks will not find; knock and will not be open.  And I believe that is what Jesus really intends to teach us.  In saying this I might be accused of inversing the teaching of Jesus.  But I do not think so.  Why?

Firstly, most of our asking and seeking are always mistaken.  Indeed, the Father wants to give us fish, but we ask for a snake, mistaking the snake for the fish; He wants to give us egg but we mistake the scorpian for the egg.  Isn’t it true that in life we always pray for the wrong things.  Our desires are often impure and selfish.  Perhaps, for this reason, our prayers are often not answered because they are detrimental to our well being.

Secondly, if our prayers seem to be answered, they may not really be from God but from ourselves.  We have created our own solutions, thinking that it is from God, thus deceiving ourselves.  As is often said, the answer is already found in the question.  Indeed, the man who woke up to open the door for his friend was not doing it out of compassion but because he wanted to be rid of the nuisance.  And so the person who got what he wanted had deceived himself into thinking that his friend actually cared for him.

Thirdly, the very act of asking, seeking and knocking implies the need of human effort.   It boosts up our ego and pride.  If we ever get what we seek, we might think that it is due to our ingenuity.  Yet, we know that everything is grace.  Whatever we have comes from the grace of God; it is not due to our human achievements.  And this is what Paul is emphasizing in today’s first reading.  He reprimanded the early Christians for their reliance on the laws instead of the Spirit.  The early Christians forgot that it was because of the Spirit given freely to them that they were able to do good; and that God did not give them the Spirit because they obeyed the laws.   We are saved through faith in God’s grace; not human effort.  Our good works flow from the Spirit of God in us.

So I believe that what Jesus really meant is that we should not ask, seek or knock.  There is no need to because in another text, Jesus says that even before you ask, the Heavenly Father knows your needs.  Instead, we are told to seek for the Spirit.  It is the Spirit that is all important.  But then again we need not seek for the Spirit, because the Spirit has already been poured into our hearts already, especially at Baptism.

So in telling us to ask for the Holy Spirit, Jesus is actually saying that we need to be aware of the Spirit of God living in us.  If we pray for the Holy Spirit, it is in order to awaken us to His presence dwelling us.  To the extent that we realize His presence in us, to that extent we will be full of God and full of life.  A person who lives in the Spirit of God need not ask because he trusts in God’s providence, need not seek because God has already given to him; need not knock because there is no door since God’s Spirit lives within him.  Yes, he lives in trust in God, in union with Him and in self-surrender.  That person, in a nutshell, has found himself because he has found God within him.

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