20141229 BE A WITNESS TO THE LIGHT THROUGH OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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1 John 2:3-11 ©
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We can be sure that
we know God
only by keeping his
commandments.
Anyone who says, ‘I
know him’,
and does not keep his
commandments,
is a liar,
refusing to admit the
truth.
But when anyone does
obey what he has said,
God’s love comes to
perfection in him.
We can be sure that
we are in God
only when the one who
claims to be living in him
is living the same kind
of life as Christ lived.
My dear people,
this is not a new
commandment that I am writing to tell you,
but an old
commandment
that you were given
from the beginning,
the original
commandment which was the message brought to you.
Yet in another way,
what I am writing to you,
and what is being
carried out in your lives as it was in his,
is a new commandment;
because the night is
over
and the real light is
already shining.
Anyone who claims to
be in the light
but hates his brother
is still in the dark.
But anyone who loves
his brother is living in the light
and need not be
afraid of stumbling;
unlike the man who
hates his brother and is in the darkness,
not knowing where he
is going,
because it is too
dark to see.
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Psalm
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Psalm 95:1-3,5-6
©
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Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
O sing a new song to
the Lord,
sing to
the Lord all the earth.
O sing to
the Lord, bless his name.
Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
Proclaim his help day
by day,
tell
among the nations his glory
and his
wonders among all the peoples.
Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
It was the Lord who
made the heavens,
his are
majesty and state and power
and
splendour in his holy place.
Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn1:14,12
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Word became
flesh, and dwelt among us.
To all who received
him he gave power to become children of God.
Alleluia!
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Or
|
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Alleluia, alleluia!
A light to enlighten
the pagans
and the glory of your
people Israel.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 2:22-35 ©
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When the day came for
them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took
him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what stands
written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to
the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is
said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in
Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he
looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had
been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he
had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the
Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the
Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:
‘Now, Master, you can
let your servant go in peace,
just as you promised;
because my eyes have
seen the salvation
which you have
prepared for all the nations to see,
a light to enlighten
the pagans
and the glory of your
people Israel.’
As the child’s father
and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him,
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is
destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a
sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too –
so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’
BE A
WITNESS TO THE LIGHT THROUGH OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: 1 John 2:3-11; Luke 2:22-35
Christmas
season is a festival of light because we celebrate Christ as the Light
of the world. Today, the liturgy speaks of Jesus as the Light who has
come to reveal the truth to all so that we need not live in darkness. The
purpose of the Incarnation is to reveal to us the kind of life that we should
live. This is what St John in the first reading tells us. Simeon
too tells us that Jesus is the light that would be the cause of the fall and
rise of many. As the gospel tells us, He would be the one who would lay
bare the hearts of many.
As
disciples of Christ, we are invited during this Octave of Christmas to be witnesses
of the Light. We are called to be like St Stephen who died for the
Light by being a witness to Jesus the Lord and Saviour; or to follow St John
who lived to a ripe old age, witnessing to the resurrection of Christ by
proclaiming Jesus as the Christ; or those infants who proclaimed Christ, not by
speaking but by dying innocently for Christ when King Herod tried to kill the
author of life.
How can we be witnesses
of the Light? St
John cautions us that we can be certain that we do not see the light simply
by claiming to have some kind of knowledge of Christ. This was what
the Gnostics were claiming; that salvation is through some kind of secret
knowledge revealed to them. They taught that those who have enlightened
minds would be able to decipher the hidden message in Sacred Scripture.
Hence, they appealed to a higher wisdom that would lead them to a more sublime
form of spiritual and mystical life. In the process, they rejected the
commandments of God. They prided themselves to be better Christians since
they knew God better than those who only kept the Word.
Gnosticism is still
prevalent among people today. Modern men today take pride in their knowledge of
philosophy or science, believing that knowledge and a superior intellect
through meditation is the way to salvation. Others pursue superhuman
powers through esoterism and occultism. Such practitioners are included among
the New Age Movement. Even so called religious people can be
Gnostic in their attitudes when those of us who, having gone for bible classes
and attended numerous religious and theological courses, think that we are much
holier or closer to God than those who are illiterate or pious in their
religious practices. We look down on them with sarcasm, relegating their
pious exercises to mere superstitious practices and ignorance. Spiritual
pride in this sense takes the form of intellectual pride.
St John underscores that real
knowledge of the light is to live the kind of life Christ lived. It
means that we must, in the first place, observe the commandments. No
amount of knowledge, even of God, can save us unless it is the way of
love. He wrote, “We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his
commandments. Anyone who says, ‘I know him’, and does not keep his
commandments, is a liar, refusing to admit the truth.” In saying this, St
John is warning those who despise the commandments of God. Indeed, there
are some of us who professedly have been touched by God, disdain the importance
of commandments in their lives, as if they are meant only for the
unenlightened. In the gospel, we have the example of Simeon who
faithfully observed God’s laws each passing day whilst waiting for the Messiah
to appear.
The commandments kept
him disciplined and faithful to God. So too, we have the parents of Jesus observing the
commandment to have their child consecrated to God at the Temple as prescribed
by the Law. Truly, in Christian life, the people who seem to be most
faithful to God are our elderly. They do not attend bible or religious
classes. They cannot pray spontaneously and craft beautiful and eloquent
prayers. They do not speak much about God. But day after day, they remain
faithful in observing the commandments of the Lord religiously, such as
attending Mass on Sundays and days of obligation, fasting and penance, praying
morning and evening prayers and living a life of integrity. Rightly so,
St John remarked, “But when anyone does obey what he has said, God’s love comes
to perfection in him. We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who
claims to be living in him is living the same kind of life as Christ lived.”
Of course, fidelity to
the commandments is more than just living a legalistic life of faith.
St John was not promoting submission to those casuistic laws where we follow
blindly and meticulously apply to particular situations, failing which we will
be punished by God. What St John is encouraging us is to follow
the general norms already given to us in the Ten Commandments, the
Beatitudes and those commandments given by Christ Himself. They are
general principles and guidelines to living the life of the New Covenant.
Even Jesus Himself broke the Old Testament Laws and did away with those
casuistic laws that enslaved people. The norm at the end of the day is
reducible to whether what we do or say is done out of pure love for God and for
our brothers and sisters. St John says, “Anyone who claims to be in the light
but hates his brother is still in the dark. But anyone who loves his brother is
living in the light and need not be afraid of stumbling; unlike the man who
hates his brother and is in the darkness, not knowing where he is going, because
it is too dark to see.”
Love, forgiveness and
compassion, is what the Law is all about, as St Paul wrote, “Owe no one anything, except to love one
another; for he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law.” (Rom
13:8f) He continues, “Love does no wrong to a neighbour, therefore love
is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom 13:10) The true believer
who observes the law of God is one who loves. That is why St John reiterated,
“My dear people, this is not a new commandment that I am writing to tell you,
but an old commandment that you were given from the beginning, the original
commandment which was the message brought to you.” This commandment is
therefore not new but as old as humanity.
However, this
commandment to love is new as well. “Yet in another way, what I am
writing to you, and what is being carried out in your lives as it was in his,
is a new commandment; because the night is over and the real light is already
shining.” The newness of this commandment lies in the fact that Jesus in
His death and resurrection showed us the depth of love which we are called to
live. God not only loved by giving up His only Son to become a man like
us in all things except sin, but He also allowed His only Son to suffer the
pain and consequences of sin and death on the cross. In Christ’s
incarnation and passion, we see the new quality of the old commandment.
No can has ever loved, or showed forgiveness, compassion, acceptance and
patience as Jesus did. He is that man who St John said never hated His
brothers and obeyed His Father perfectly unto death on the cross.
We too must now walk in
the light because we have been given the revelation of Christ as the Saviour of
the world. This
life is demonstrated by a life of concrete love for our brothers and
sisters. This is the real meaning of the incarnation, for at Christmas,
we identify Jesus as one who lives in and among humanity. Just as Simeon
with the eyes of faith could see in the little child Jesus the presence of God,
we too are called to see in our fellowmen the incarnated presence of
Jesus. To love Jesus is to love our brothers and sisters. In the
incarnation, we can no longer be indifferent to the sufferings and needs of our
fellowmen.
Of course, to be able to
recognize in faith the presence of Jesus in our fellowmen, we must first
recognize Jesus as the Light of the world. We must encounter Him like
Simeon so that He can reveal to us our selfishness and ignorance. Only in
encountering Christ, can our hearts and thoughts be laid bare. Only in
encountering Christ, can we be set free from the fear of death, as Simeon
did. He said, “Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as
you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared
for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of
your people Israel.” Simeon was ready to let go of everything because he
knew he had seen his Salvation and his Savior.
How are we to encounter
Him? The gospel
shows us that it was in the context of prayer and worship at the Temple that
Simeon encountered God in Christ. If we want to see God in our fellowmen,
we must first see Him in prayer. Only through praying the Word of God in
contemplation and prayer, can we be led by the Holy Spirit, like Simeon who was
led to Christ and came to recognize Him in that little child. We too will
only be able to feel with our fellowmen, seeing them as our brothers and
sisters in Christ, or rather, as Christ, especially in the wounded, lonely, the
hungry and the sick. Without prayer, how can we be sensitive to the
movement of the Holy Spirit leading us to recognize Him in our daily life,
especially in our contact and relationships with people? Hence, at Christmas,
we are invited to continue to gaze and contemplate on the Incarnation so that
Christ would truly be born in our hearts. Like Simeon and Anna, we must
wait patiently as they did for the Lord to reveal Himself to them. We
must wait in prayer and fasting so that the Lord can come into the temples of
our hearts.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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