20141127 LOVE OF TRUTH HELPS US TO REMAIN CALM WITHIN THE STORMS
OF LIFE
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Apocalypse
18:1-2,21-23,19:1-3,9 ©
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I, John, saw an angel
come down from heaven, with great authority given to him; the earth was lit up
with his glory. At the top of his voice he shouted, ‘Babylon has fallen,
Babylon the Great has fallen, and has become the haunt of devils and a lodging
for every foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird. Then a powerful angel picked
up a boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said,
‘That is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be
seen again.
Never again in you,
Babylon,
will be heard the
song of harpists and minstrels,
the music of flute
and trumpet;
never again will
craftsmen of every skill be found
or the sound of the
mill be heard;
never again will
shine the light of the lamp,
never again will be
heard
the voices of
bridegroom and bride.
Your traders were the
princes of the earth,
all the nations were
under your spell.
After this I seemed
to hear the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, ‘Alleluia! Victory
and glory and power to our God! He judges fairly, he punishes justly, and he
has condemned the famous prostitute who corrupted the earth with her
fornication; he has avenged his servants that she killed.’ They sang again,
‘Alleluia! The smoke of her will go up for ever and ever.’ The angel said,
‘Write this: Happy are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb’,
and he added, ‘All the things you have written are true messages from God.’
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Psalm
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Psalm 99:2-5 ©
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Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Serve the
Lord with gladness.
Come
before him, singing for joy.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Know that he, the
Lord, is God.
He made
us, we belong to him,
we are
his people, the sheep of his flock.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Go within his gates,
giving thanks.
Enter his
courts with songs of praise.
Give
thanks to him and bless his name.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
Indeed, how good is
the Lord,
eternal
his merciful love.
He is
faithful from age to age.
Happy are those
who are invited to the wedding-feast of the Lamb.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Mt24:42,44
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stay awake and stand
ready,
because you do not
know the hour
when the Son of Man
is coming.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Lk21:28
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Stand erect, hold your
heads high,
because your
liberation is near at hand.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 21:20-28 ©
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Jesus said to his
disciples, ‘When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you must realise that
she will soon be laid desolate. Then those in Judaea must escape to the
mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in country districts
must not take refuge in it. For this is the time of vengeance when all that
scripture says must be fulfilled. Alas for those with child, or with babies at
the breast, when those days come!
They will
fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive to every pagan country; and
Jerusalem will be trampled down by the pagans until the age of the pagans is completely
over.
‘There
will be signs in the sun and moon and stars; on earth nations in agony,
bewildered by the clamour of the ocean and its waves; men dying of fear as they
await what menaces the world, for the powers of heaven will be shaken. And then
they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When
these things begin to take place, stand erect, hold your heads high, because
your liberation is near at hand.’
LOVE
OF TRUTH HELPS US TO REMAIN CALM WITHIN THE STORMS OF LIFE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: REV 18:1-2, 21-23; 19:1-3, 9; LK 21:20-28
Life is experienced as a bi-polarity.
We live between sorrow and joy; loneliness and friendship; failure and success;
hunger and fill, upheaval and calm; slavery and liberation. Yes, this is
the existential reality of life. Take the weather, for example, we know
that a thunderstorm brings with it its ravages, but this is always followed by
a deep calm as well. Indeed, the gospel speaks of the storms of life that
the people of Jerusalem have to go through before they can find the calm.
They had to go through much persecution and sufferings. There is no
exception for anyone of us as well. Hence, we can all expect to go
through many struggles in our lives.
The struggles, as Jesus
tells us, would be both personal and external. Interiorly, we will
have to struggle within ourselves as we try to be more authentic to
ourselves. Externally, we will have our enemies and opponents who will
try to overwhelm us. These enemies are not so much personal enemies but
the presence of evil, such as egotism, self-centeredness, insecurity, selfish
desires, which of course are transmitted through persons. But such
onslaught should not make us feel frightened nor fall into despair.
Instead of being angry and revengeful towards our enemies and falsehood, we
know that the challenges from without, far from destroying us, actually help
to purify us from within.
Once we realize this truth,
then we can be at peace within ourselves even as we struggle with the storms of
life. It is our fidelity to the truth, painful as it is, that
can give us real peace. This is the real difference between a man who
desires truth and the man who dares not face the truth. The man who
desires truth lives in a deep inner peace even when his foes are all around and
the storms are hitting him. The man who is trying to cover up falsehood
loses his interior peace for fear that the truth would uncover
everything. That is why such a man cannot find peace in the storm.
He is ill at rest because he is trying all ways to protect himself.
Indeed, when we look at
Jesus in the gospel reading and the early Christians in the time of John, they
could afford to stand erect and hold their heads high even in the
midst of persecution, because they were true to themselves and authentic to
God and the truth. Although they were surrounded on all sides by
their foes, they remained strong and faithful. They could even suffer
martyrdom, for they knew they were suffering for the truth and suffering for
their authenticity. Rather than living in self-deceit, Jesus and the
early Christians refused to sell their authenticity and freedom for a false peace
– a peace which could be had if only they disavowed what they stood and lived
for and behaved and conformed themselves with the rest of society and the
world.
Yes, confronting the truth
about ourselves is such a painful process that it is tempting to not face them
at all. We are so frightened that our ego would explode and that would be
the end of us. On the contrary, let us remember that trying to defend
our ego is simply to defend the false self. But the false self cannot
stand upright as Jesus tells us. We have to live under cover all the
time, worrying that we will be discovered. But we cannot find real
happiness in such a life. No, only the man who is willing to be true to
himself, like Jesus, the Son of Man who was true to Himself unto death, can
come to his glory, which is, his liberation and freedom. For this reason,
Jesus tells us that our enemies ironically are our liberators and our ransom to
freedom and life.
So, let us have
confidence that no matter what personal struggles we have to go through in
life, we must live like a cyclone, storming outside but deep peace and calm
within the depths of our hearts. But this is possible only when we have
resigned ourselves to the truth and are willing to be true to ourselves.
That is to say, we are on the side of Truth. Those who want to stand on
the side of truth must be ready to be purified. For the truth is that
truth is on nobody’s side. Truth stands by itself. Truth does not
align itself with anyone. The truth is of course, Jesus Himself.
Thus, the question we need to ask ourselves is whether we are willing to be
true to Jesus to the end as He was true to Himself like the early
Christians. Unless the answer is affirmative, then liberation is still
far away. But the moment we say Yes, I want to be true to the
truth, to Jesus and therefore to myself, liberation is already at hand.
Indeed, today, we must
honestly search ourselves and asked what is the Babylon in our lives.
Babylon of course is a symbol of all that is evil, filthy and despicable.
It stands for prostitution, infidelity and immorality. We must take
courage and destroy Babylon in us otherwise God will destroy us. This is
the warning of St John in the first reading, “Babylon has fallen, Babylon the
Great had fallen, and has become the haunt of devils and a lodging for every
foul spirit and dirty, loathsome bird. Then a powerful angel picked up a
boulder like a great millstone, and as he hurled it into the sea, he said, ‘That
is how the great city of Babylon is going to be hurled down, never to be seen
again.”
The moment we give up
adulterous relationship with Babylon, the Lord will welcome us as His
bride. He will win the victory for us against sins and all that is
evil. All we need is to allow Jesus to fight the battle for us.
Victory is certain in Christ as St John tells us, “After this I seemed to hear
the great sound of a huge crowd in heaven, singing, ‘Alleluia! Victory and
glory and power to our God! He judges fairly, he punishes justly, and he has
condemned the famous prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication;
he has avenged his servants that she killed.’ They sang again, ‘Alleluia! The
smoke of her will go up for ever and ever.’” Jesus also said, “And then
they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
“ Christ Jesus the Lamb of God by His blood has won for us a kingdom of
priests. We are now ready to share in the “wedding feast of the Lamb.”
Hence, as we come to the
end of the Church year, let us pray that the Kingdom of Christ may become more
established in our lives. Because when it is, we can already say
that He has come in His glory in our lives. And like the great assembly
in heaven, we can sing Alleluia for His judgements are true and just.
This is what the Wedding Feast of the Lamb is all about – a situation when
everyone is true to himself, true to God and therefore truly liberated to live
in real freedom and joy. In union with Jesus, we share in the life of God,
a life of joy, friendship, intimacy and fullness of life and love.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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