20141220 TAKING THE LEAP OF FAITH
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah 7:10-14 ©
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The Lord spoke to
Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either
from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I
will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then
Isaiah said:
‘Listen now, House of
David:
are you not satisfied
with trying the patience of men
without trying the
patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself,
therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the
maiden is with child
and will soon give
birth to a son
whom she will call
Immanuel,
a name which means
“God-is-with-us.”’
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Psalm
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Psalm 23:1-6 ©
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Let the Lord
enter! He is the king of glory.
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.
Let the Lord
enter! He is the king of glory.
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.
Let the Lord
enter! He is the king of glory.
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.
Let the Lord
enter! He is the king of glory.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Emmanuel,
our king and
lawgiver,
come and save us,
Lord our God.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Alleluia,alleluia!
Key of David, who
open the gates of the eternal kingdom,
come to liberate from
prison
the captive who lives
in darkness.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 1:26-38 ©
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The
angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin
betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name
was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is
with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this
greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you
have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must
name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The
Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the
House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the
angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit
will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will
cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son
of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself
conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,
for nothing is impossible to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary
‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
TAKING
THE LEAP OF FAITH
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISAIAH 7:10-14; LUKE 1:26-38
In the face of
challenges, especially in crises, it is normal for us to panic. All of us are born with an
innate instinct to protect ourselves and our interests when confronted with
danger. We will use all our human ingenuity and intelligence to overcome
the predicament we are in. We plan and strategize; sometimes even
employing deceptive, compromising and unprincipled means to defeat our
opponents.
This was the way King
Ahaz acted when his kingdom was besieged by his enemies. The King of Aram and the King of
Israel were in alliance to conquer Jerusalem. Instead of listening to God
who spoke through Isaiah that such an attempt will fail and that they would be
conquered by the King of Assyria instead, Ahaz insisted on following his own
resourcefulness to deal with the threats from his enemies. He appealed to
his neighbours for help and made an alliance with them. Instead of
trusting and relying on the Lord, he preferred to rely on horses and chariots
and military might. Rather than acknowledging that God is the Lord and their
only King, he compromised with his pagans neighbours and allowed the Temple to
be used for pagan sacrifices. His disobedience to God resulted in
disasters for his kingdom in later years.
We too often lack faith
in God when faced with critical decisions in life. In our fear and nervousness, we
make all kinds of false compromises to secure our safety only to cause
ourselves and our loved ones more harm and evil. By trying to cover up
our misdeeds, such as in cases of adultery, we lend ourselves to blackmail and
threats by the other party. Because of the lies we tell, we not only hurt
ourselves eventually, but all our loved ones as well. Then there are
those in financial straits who, instead of using honest means to solve their
financial needs, resort to cheating and gambling. As a consequence, they
sink deeper into debt, speculating in stocks, shares and trying their luck at
the casinos. Desperate, they start borrowing money from illegal money
lenders who charge exorbitant interests. Unable to pay off their debts
and the mounting interests, some are forced into becoming runners for these
illegal money lenders. Many end up in prison, destroying their families.
Some are even sentenced to death for drug trafficking and murder.
What is needed for us is
to trust in God.
Isaiah told Ahaz, “If you do not stand in faith, you shall not stand at
all.” (Isa 7:8b) What God asks of us is to trust Him. That is all
that is needed. We need not take things into our own hands. We must
believe that God is the invincible One and in His wisdom and divine providence
will do what is best for us. Man can never thwart the plan of God from
coming to fulfillment. Indeed, God’s promise to King David that his
dynasty would last forever remains true even when many kings after him were not
faithful to the Lord. However and whatever man does, God will have His
own way.
This is proven by the
sign that God gave to King Ahaz. The prophet said, “The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a
sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son
whom she will call Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’.” The
fulfillment of this Emmanuel is of course, Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the
Son of Man. In Christ, God becomes present to us and is with us in every
way except sin. He is identified with us and His purpose is to lead us back
to God. In His life, teachings and miracles, He demonstrated that God was
with Him. Most of all, in His passion, death and resurrection, Christ
showed that God’s plan for humanity cannot be derailed, regardless of what man
does, for God’s power is greater than man’s. As the angel said, “there is
nothing that God cannot do.”
If we want to find peace
and security, we must welcome Christ, the King and Prince of Peace into our
lives. Our
security must be placed on Him alone. This is what the psalmist is
inviting us to do. He said, “Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory. The
Lord’s are the earth and its fullness; the world and those who dwell in it. For
he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Let the Lord
enter; he is the king of glory. He shall receive a blessing from the Lord, a
reward from God his savior. Such is the race that seeks for him, that seeks the
face of the God of Jacob.” We must place our entire trust in Him no
matter what situation we are in. The Lord can do anything and everything,
if only we trust Him.
In contrast to Ahaz who was
stubborn and self-willed, rejecting the sign that God gave to him, we have the
example of Mary who placed her total faith in the Lord. When the
angel told her that she would conceive and give birth to a son whom she will
name Jesus and that “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most
High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was,
and he will be king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never
end,” Mary never doubted the promise of the Lord. She never
questioned whether this promise could be realized or not. In spite of the
fears and anxieties about her life and the many unanswered questions ahead of
her if she were to get pregnant without having been married, she said “yes” to
God.
Then Mary said, “I am a
virgin. How, then, can this be?” This question that Mary
asked was not a question concerning a doubt but as to how she could accomplish
what the Lord was asking of her. It was a clarification of His will for
her. And the angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God’s
power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called
the Son of God. Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that
she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even
though she is very old.” In other words, the angel assured Mary that He
who chose her for the role of divine motherhood will see her through to the
end. She only had to cooperate with His grace and trust Him regardless of
the suffering and unknown future she had to endure. The immediate
response of Mary was, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it happen to me as you have
said.” Mary was completely disposed to God and His future. She knew
that God could be trusted.
Such a faith response is
in direct contrast to King Ahaz. He just would not listen even when Isaiah gave him a sign
from God. Like him too, we need to know everything before we say “yes” to
God. We want proof before we believe in Him. We want God to make
Himself and His plan fully understood by our finite mind before we agree to do
His bidding. Such pride and lack of trust in Him hinder us from allowing
God to act in us the way He acted in and through Mary. We put obstacles
to the Lord and hence He is unable to touch us with His grace. How
different we are from Mary! She showed such remarkable faith and trust in
God in spite of her confusion as to what was happening to her. If only we are
like Mary, questioning less and trusting God more, we would be amazed at how
the questions resolve themselves in the wisdom of God. We must have faith in
Him, especially in those circumstances when we do not understand and when
things simply do not make sense to us. This is where faith comes in.
God desires us to trust Him so that we will know that He is the Lord and that
power is not in our hands.
We are blessed as we
look forward to the coming of Christ at Christmas. Unlike those people who came
before Christ, who did not have the privilege to know the Lord, we have seen
how the Lord has worked in the lives of so many people who gave themselves to
Him. To know that God is our Emmanuel, that He is with us, is the key to
living in calmness and tranquility because we know that He will see us through for
He is always faithful to us. “Strong is His love for us. He is
faithful forever.” (Ps 117:2) If we become fearful when confronted
with insurmountable problems, it is because we forget that God is with us, that
He is our Emmanuel. When we forget that He is with us, then we fight the
battle ourselves. But if God is with us, the victory is certain for He is
on our side!
This too was the reason
for Mary’s confidence in the Lord. If she could surrender in total faith and trust in the
Lord, it was because she knew that God was always with her. In the gospel
we read that the angel said to her, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you
and has greatly blessed you!” Mary was not a woman of anxiety and
fear because she was always conscious of God’s presence in her life. She was at
peace. Again the angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has been
gracious to you.” Truly, if only we are aware that God is with us and is
gracious to us, then we need not fear the future. So long as we have someone
who stands beside us and is with us, we can overcome all challenges in life. To
have a soul mate, a confidante and a helpmate is perhaps the greatest gift of
friendship and support we can have in life. If this is true of human
relationships, how much more if we know and are conscious that God is with us,
more so than we can feel Him?
So how do we find faith
in the Lord? The
way to secure His presence or become aware of His presence is when we follow
Mary by contemplating and pondering on what the Lord is doing in our
lives. When Mary asked, “How, then, can this be?” it shows her to be a
woman of contemplation. Indeed, in the gospel of St Luke, she is always
portrayed as a woman who ponders over the Word of God and acts on it. At
the birth of Jesus we read, “When they had seen him, they spread the word
concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were
amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these
things and pondered them in her heart.” (Lk 2:18-19) Through
prayerful contemplation and reflection, we will come to wonder at the amazing
ways of God at work in our lives. And like Mary and Elizabeth, we will
know that the angel’s words are true, “For nothing will be impossible with
God!” And so with courage of Mary we too will say, “Here I am, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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