20141205 EXPECTANT FAITH IS DEPENDENT ON A HUMBLE HEART THAT SEEKS
THE LORD
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah 29:17-24 ©
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The Lord says this:
In a short time, a very
short time,
shall not Lebanon become
fertile land
and fertile land turn into
forest?
The deaf, that day,
will hear the words of a
book
and, after shadow and
darkness,
the eyes of the blind will
see.
But the lowly will rejoice
in the Lord even more
and the poorest exult in
the Holy One of Israel;
for tyrants shall be no
more, and scoffers vanish,
and all be destroyed who
are disposed to do evil:
those who gossip to
incriminate others,
those who try at the gate
to trip the arbitrator
and get the upright man’s
case dismissed for groundless reasons.
Therefore the Lord speaks,
the God of the House of
Jacob,
Abraham’s redeemer:
No longer shall Jacob be
ashamed,
no more shall his face
grow pale,
for he shall see what my
hands have done in his midst,
he shall hold my name
holy.
They will hallow the Holy
One of Jacob,
stand in awe of the God of
Israel.
Erring spirits will learn
wisdom
and murmurers accept
instruction.
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Psalm
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Psalm 26:1,4,13-14 ©
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The Lord is my light
and my help.
The Lord is my light and
my help;
whom shall I
fear?
The Lord is the stronghold
of my life;
before whom
shall I shrink?
The Lord is my light
and my help.
There is one thing I ask
of the Lord,
for this I
long,
to live in the house of
the Lord,
all the days
of my life,
to savour the sweetness of
the Lord,
to behold his
temple.
The Lord is my light
and my help.
I am sure I shall see the
Lord’s goodness
in the land of
the living.
Hope in him, hold firm and
take heart.
Hope in the
Lord!
The Lord is my light
and my help.
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Gospel Acclamation
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cf.Is45:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Send victory like a dew,
you heavens,
and let the
clouds rain it down.
Let the earth open and
bring forth the saviour.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Behold, our Lord will come
with power
and will enlighten the
eyes of his servants.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Matthew 9:27-31 ©
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As
Jesus went on his way two blind men followed him shouting, ‘Take pity on us,
Son of David.’ And when Jesus reached the house the blind men came up with him
and he said to them, ‘Do you believe I can do this?’ They said, ‘Sir, we do.’ Then
he touched their eyes saying, ‘Your faith deserves it, so let this be done for
you.’ And their sight returned. Then Jesus sternly warned them, ‘Take care that
no one learns about this.’ But when they had gone, they talked about him all
over the countryside.
EXPECTANT
FAITH IS DEPENDENT ON A HUMBLE HEART THAT SEEKS THE LORD
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: : ISA 29:17-24; MT 9:27-31
Some of us can get depressed
and despondent as we come to the end of the year, reflecting on our failures and
unachieved goals. If we are feeling abandoned and disappointed, then we
are just like the Israelites and the blind men in today’s scripture
readings. Instead of turning to God for help, we turn away from
Him. We become resentful of Him and blame Him for the situations we are
in. Some even leave the Church, believing that God does not care.
This, of course, is a wrong
perception of the mercy and love of God. Contrary to what we think, God
is always loving and merciful. He feels more with us in our
sufferings than we think. In the first reading, we are assured that God
will come to us in just “a very little while” when “Lebanon become fertile land
and fertile land turn into forest.” This prophecy is fulfilled with the
coming of Christ, for He is the compassion of God in person. He came to
lift us out of our misery and restore us to fullness. This is concretized
in Jesus’ healing of the blind men. His desire is to save, to heal and to
release us from our sins and misery. In the responsorial psalm, the
psalmist declares, “The Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is my
light and my salvation; whom should I fear? The Lord is my life’s refuge; of
whom should I be afraid?”
So if we perceive Him to be
otherwise, it is because we lack the right perspective in our relationship
with Him, which we call faith. What we need therefore is to cultivate an
expectant faith. Perhaps, our blindness has kept us from seeing the
wisdom of God in the way He helps us in our troubles. So what could be
hindering us from seeing the face of God, from seeing “the bounty of the Lord
in the land of the living?”
We might be afraid to
see the truth about ourselves, which is the cause of our sufferings. Man is very good in
deluding himself. We put up our defence mechanisms and avoid confronting
the real truth and desires in our hearts. Indeed, some of us never get
out of our rut and predicament, simply, because we have no real will to change
our lives. Secretly, we might even be happy to lick our wounds and dwell
in our sorrows so that we can gain sympathy from our friends. We rather
depend on them and feel loved than to rely on ourselves. So it is important to
ask what fears are preventing us from seeing our true self so that we can be
freed from our unconscious fears.
Not only do we fear that we
would have to face life once we are given sight, but many of us are not
ready to give up our sins. We are afraid to live in the light. We
want to continue with our sinful life, sinful desires and vices. Instead
of choosing Christ, we choose darkness. Instead of making Christ the
center of our lives, we make things of the world the center. This is just
what the psalmist is asking of the Lord when he prayed, “One thing I ask of the
Lord; this I seek: To dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
that I may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple.”
Indeed, if only our eyes are fixed on the Lord, we would no longer have to walk
like blind men in the valley of darkness. Without walking the truth, our
lives can only be one of darkness and fear, as we ignorantly perceive that
happiness lies in what we have and who we are, rather than in being loved and being
loving. The blind men saw the state they were in and that Jesus could
cure them. We are physically able to see but we do not have the spiritual
sight to see the pathetic state of our soul and hence prefer darkness to the
light.
Perhaps the main
obstacle preventing us from seeing the face of God is our lack of humility,
unlike the blind men who came to realize that they could no longer depend on
themselves. They did not allow their pride to prevent them from coming to
Jesus to receive healing. We read that they followed Jesus persistently,
shouting “Take pity on us, Son of David.” They were not afraid of being looked
at, or even of being driven away by others who considered them a
nuisance. We read that they even followed Jesus all the way to the house
when Jesus did not stop to attend to them. If we are desperate for God to
help us, then we will find every means to be healed. Otherwise, we will
give all kinds of excuses not to come to the Lord. In reality, we are too
proud. We want to rely on ourselves. Prophet Isaiah makes it clear
that the condition for the Lord’s coming is that we be humble. “The lowly
will rejoice in the Lord even more and the poorest exult in the Holy One of
Israel.” Without humility we are not able to receive His grace, otherwise
we think that we do not need God. Only the poor, like the blind men,
could get the attention of our Lord.
The lack of humility is
also the main reason why many of us lack faith and trust in Him. The trouble with us is that most of the
time, God is only our last resort after we have exhausted all other
resources. We set limits on the power of God. We only turn to Him
because there is no other choice left. But we should be turning to God in
all things, big or small, in times of prosperity and adversity. This
explains why when the blind men came to Jesus, He helped them to search their
hearts for what they really wanted and whether they believed it was
possible. He queried them, “’Do you believe I can do this?’ They said,
‘Sir, we do.’ Then He touched their eyes saying, ‘Your faith deserves it, so
let this be done for you.’ And their sight returned.” Truly, it is faith
in Jesus, not just faith that saves us, as that would be auto suggestion.
Faith removes the blocks from our lives so that we can meet the Lord and become
receptive to His grace. Only faith can make us fully receptive to His
healing grace and the power of His kingdom at work in us. Like the
psalmist we must say, “I believe that I shall see the bounty of the Lord in the
land of the living.”
Again, the lack of
humility causes us to see life and our problems from a narrow-minded
perspective. Instead of looking at a bigger picture of life, we are
fixated on our views of how God should work in our lives. It is quite
telling that Jesus not only explicitly told the blind men but sternly warned
them to “take care that no one learns about this.” However, we read that
in their enthusiasm, “when they had gone, they talked about him all over the
countryside.” Perhaps they could not control their enthusiasm and joy in being
healed. In the process of telling others, they could have prevented others from
coming to know Jesus as the compassion of God in person, but seek Him only as a
miracle worker. Without a personal experience of the Lords’ love and
mercy, no amount of knowledge about how God loves us and is merciful to us can
change our lives.
Of course, by extension, many
are not able to see the wisdom of God at work in their lives, especially when
they are going through difficult times. They only see their pain but
cannot see beyond their sufferings, when in fact, through our sufferings, the
Lord wants to bring us closer to Him and most of all, to see the essentials of
life and not be caught up with all the worldly pursuits, forgetting that love
of God and of our loved ones and service to others are what makes us truly
happy and joyful. So physical illness, personal failures and
disappointments are meant to help us see life in godly perspective. If we
want to be truly happy, faith must be complemented by obedience and surrender
of our will to the Lord, doing what He wants of us, not reluctantly but freely
and happily, because we know His will is His divine wisdom. Sometimes, we
are more concerned about being healed physically than being healed spiritually
and coming to see the face of God. Happiness, in the final analysis, is
“to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life that I may gaze on
the loveliness of the Lord and contemplate his temple.” The real joy of
being healed is more than just the physical healing itself but the regaining of
trust and confidence in the Lord, leading the person to radically change his
life and start living the life of God, walking in the light and truth of the
Lord, bearing the fruits of the Holy Spirit.
Today, let us turn to
the blind men in the gospel to lead us to faith. They waited for the
Lord and when He was available, they asked Him to heal them. Like them,
Isaiah urges us to have patience. He said, “In a short time, a very short
time, shall not Lebanon become fertile land and fertile land turn into forest?
The deaf that day will hear the words of a book and, after shadow and darkness,
the eyes of the blind will see.” We must therefore persevere in following
Jesus and never cease coming to Him till our request is answered.
When the journey is long
and tiring, we need support and company. The two blind men helped each other to persevere
whilst waiting for Jesus to come by. We too, like them, often lose hope
whilst waiting. That is why we need to have good Catholic friends who are
also pilgrims like us in faith to encourage us to stay focused and never give
up hope. The psalmist says, “Wait for the Lord with courage; be
stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.” The journey of faith cannot be
travelled alone but we need the community to journey with us. That is why
those who have travelled that journey before will come to the help of those who
are also suffering.
So let us keep our hopes
high during the season of Advent, knowing that the Lord will come and in
fact He is coming at every moment in our lives, every day and not just at
Christmas. We only need to open our eyes of faith, our hearts of love
and, with a humble mind, we will see His face and His light will shine upon us,
leading us to the joy of contemplating the face of the Lord in His Holy Temple
and especially in the hearts of every man and woman.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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