20141110 LACK OF A REVERENTIAL FAITH IN GOD AS THE CAUSE OF
SCANDAL
First
reading Titus 1:1-9 ©
From
Paul, servant of God, an apostle of Jesus Christ to bring those whom God has
chosen to faith and to the knowledge of the truth that leads to true religion;
and to give them the hope of the eternal life that was promised so long ago by
God. He does not lie and so, at the appointed time, he revealed his decision,
and, by the command of God our saviour, I have been commissioned to proclaim
it. To Titus, true child of mine in the faith that we share, wishing you grace
and peace from God the Father and from Christ Jesus our saviour.
The reason I left you behind in Crete was for
you to get everything organised there and appoint elders in every town, in the
way that I told you: that is, each of them must be a man of irreproachable
character; he must not have been married more than once, and his children must
be believers and not uncontrollable or liable to be charged with disorderly
conduct. Since, as president, he will be God’s representative, he must be
irreproachable: never an arrogant or hot-tempered man, nor a heavy drinker or
violent, nor out to make money; but a man who is hospitable and a friend of all
that is good; sensible, moral, devout and self-controlled; and he must have a
firm grasp of the unchanging message of the tradition, so that he can be counted
on for both expounding the sound doctrine and refuting those who argue against
it.
Psalm Psalm 23:1-6 ©
Such
are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
The
Lord’s is the earth and its fullness,
the world and all its peoples.
It
is he who set it on the seas;
on the waters he made it firm.
Such
are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
Who
shall climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The
man with clean hands and pure heart,
who desires not worthless things.
Such
are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
He
shall receive blessings from the Lord
and reward from the God who saves him.
Such
are the men who seek him,
seek the face of the God of Jacob.
Such
are the men who seek your face, O Lord.
Gospel
Acclamation Ph2:15-16
Alleluia,
alleluia!
You
will shine in the world like bright stars
because
you are offering it the word of life.
Alleluia!
Gospel Luke 17:1-6 ©
Jesus
said to his disciples, ‘Obstacles are sure to come, but alas for the one who
provides them! It would be better for him to be thrown into the Sea with a
millstone put round his neck than that he should lead astray a single one of
these little ones. Watch yourselves!
If your brother does something wrong, reprove
him and, if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times a day
and seven times comes back to you and says, “I am sorry,” you must forgive
him.’
The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our
faith.’ The Lord replied, ‘Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you could
say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would
obey you.’
LACK
OF A REVERENTIAL FAITH IN GOD AS THE CAUSE OF SCANDAL
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: TIT 1:1-9; LK 17:1-6
As the
responsorial psalm says, many are yearning to see the face of the Lord.
To seek His face is to encounter eternal truth as an event. Indeed, like
St Paul, we too have been chosen and commissioned to bring “the knowledge of
the truth that leads to true religion; and to give them the hope of the eternal
life that was promised so long ago by God.” This call is given to
all Christians, but in a special way, to those of us who are Church leaders and
ministry members. As Church leaders and ministry members, we are called
to make Christ known through our words and deeds.
What,
then, is the greatest obstacle or scandal that prevents us from
manifesting Christ in our lives and ministry? Very often we think that it
is the scandals caused by our inappropriate conduct and behaviour that make us
less of a sign of the presence of God’s love and life. Indeed, this seems
to be the case because we know that many Catholics have been scandalized by the
un-Christian behavior, especially the lack of charity, of Church leaders and
ministry members. As a result they lose the little faith they have in
Christ and His Church, whose face we are supposed to reflect. Once their
confidence in us is shaken, they lose faith completely.
But to locate
the scandals in our lives would not be pinpointing the situation. In
the final analysis, there is only one scandal, that is, the scandal of all
scandals, namely, the lack of a reverential faith in God. There is
a lack of religious piety in our lives. This is the real scandal that we
must pay attention to. All other scandals, whether it is competition,
dishonesty, misuse of Church funds, division, backbiting, envy and
unforgiveness, can be traced to the lack of faith we have in Christ.
Why is this so? The truth is that all other scandals
arise only because we are not right in our relationship with God. This in turn
is due to our lack of faith in Christ as our Saviour. Indeed, in today’s
gospel, when Jesus condemned those who put obstacles in the way of faith, He
was referring to the religious leaders of His time because they refused to
listen to Him, or to recognize Him as the Messiah. For such people, Jesus
reserved the harshest words, saying, “It would be better for him to be thrown
into the Sea with a millstone put round his neck than that he should lead
astray a single one of these little ones.”
Indeed, the warning of
Jesus to His disciples is also for all of us when He said, “Watch yourselves!”
We too might be the cause of obstacles to faith for many of our Catholics and
those who are searching for Christ because of the lack of integrity in our
lives. Consequently, we must take the exhortation of St Paul to Titus and
the pastors seriously. Although not all the criteria mentioned are applicable
to us, the point is that we must recognize our high calling to be the witnesses
of Christ and our lives must be exemplary.
What are some of these
criteria? As
Church leaders, lay or clerical, we must seek to be “a man of irreproachable
character; he must not have been married more than once, never an arrogant or
hot-tempered man, nor a heavy drinker or violent, nor out to make money; but a
man who is hospitable and a friend of all that is good; sensible, moral, devout
and self-controlled; and he must have a firm grasp of the unchanging message of
the tradition, so that he can be counted on for both expounding the sound
doctrine and refuting those who argue against it.” Besides these
criteria, we must also include the psalmist words, that those who wish to climb
the mountain of the Lord and stand in His holy place, must have hands that are
sinless, a heart that is clean and who desires not what is vain. By
living out our lives in holiness, we show forth that our faith in Christ has an
effect in our lives. These criteria in themselves are not the cause of
our efficacy, rather, they are manifestations of a living faith in Christ.
This does not mean that we
must be perfect as Christian leaders. We are all sinners. We are
not yet canonized. We are on the way to sainthood. We recognize that
we have our human frailties. What is necessary is the humility of
leaders to ask for forgiveness when we have sinned against the Lord and His
people. For those who have been hurt by Church leaders and ministry
members, we are called to forgive. Yes, Jesus urges us to seek for
forgiveness and impart forgiveness. He said, “If your brother does something
wrong, reprove him and, if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven
times a day and seven times comes back to you and says, “I am sorry”, you must
forgive him.’” Indeed, the Church is always compassionate with those who
have failed in their responsibility and conduct. The Church never
condemns anyone as incorrigible. So long as there is grace, there is hope
for repentance.
However, forgiveness is
not the same as condoning the wrong doings or unbecoming behavior of the
person. Forgiveness is given but it must also be received. The
reception of forgiveness is manifested in the conversion of life, the readiness
to submit in obedience to God’s laws and the Church. Faith in
Christ’s forgiveness must be demonstrated in a good life and the willingness to
change. Without any manifested conversion, it cannot be said that a
person has received forgiveness. In such a situation, that person may not
continue in the ministry, for he still lacks faith. To allow him to do so
would cause further damage both to himself and to the people of God.
Hence, we can understand
why the disciples, after Jesus’ exhortation, immediately said, “Increase our
faith!” Yes, we need to ask the Lord to give us confidence in His
grace to change us and never to give up hope on our fellow brothers and
sisters, just as He does not give up hope in us. To this request, Jesus
responded, “‘Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you could say to this
mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you”. In
this response, He is saying that if we surrender in faith to Him and His saving
love, we will be able to uproot all sins from our lives. Truly, if
we have faith in Christ, then we will, not by our power but by His grace, weed
out all our sins from our lives. If we are sincere and humble in growing
in faith, then God will give us the grace to transform our lives and live a
life of holiness.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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