Saturday, 3 January 2015

20150104 RE-DISCOVERING THE PERSONAL CHRIST

20150104 RE-DISCOVERING THE PERSONAL CHRIST

Readings at Mass


First reading
Isaiah 60:1-6 ©
Arise, shine out, Jerusalem, for your light has come,
the glory of the Lord is rising on you,
though night still covers the earth
and darkness the peoples.
Above you the Lord now rises
and above you his glory appears.
The nations come to your light
and kings to your dawning brightness.
Lift up your eyes and look round:
all are assembling and coming towards you,
your sons from far away
and your daughters being tenderly carried.
At this sight you will grow radiant,
your heart throbbing and full;
since the riches of the sea will flow to you,
the wealth of the nations come to you;
camels in throngs will cover you,
and dromedaries of Midian and Ephah;
everyone in Sheba will come,
bringing gold and incense
and singing the praise of the Lord.

Psalm
Psalm 71:1-2,7-8,10-13 ©
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
O God, give your judgement to the king,
  to a king’s son your justice,
that he may judge your people in justice
  and your poor in right judgement.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
In his days justice shall flourish
  and peace till the moon fails.
He shall rule from sea to sea,
  from the Great River to earth’s bounds.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
The kings of Tarshish and the sea coasts
  shall pay him tribute.
The kings of Sheba and Seba
  shall bring him gifts.
Before him all kings shall fall prostrate,
  all nations shall serve him.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.
For he shall save the poor when they cry
  and the needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on the weak
  and save the lives of the poor.
All nations shall fall prostrate before you, O Lord.

Second reading
Ephesians 3:2-3,5-6 ©
You have probably heard how I have been entrusted by God with the grace he meant for you, and that it was by a revelation that I was given the knowledge of the mystery. This mystery that has now been revealed through the Spirit to his holy apostles and prophets was unknown to any men in past generations; it means that pagans now share the same inheritance, that they are parts of the same body, and that the same promise has been made to them, in Jesus Christ, through the gospel.

Gospel
Matthew 2:1-12 ©
After Jesus had been born at Bethlehem in Judaea during the reign of King Herod, some wise men came to Jerusalem from the east. ‘Where is the infant king of the Jews?’ they asked. ‘We saw his star as it rose and have come to do him homage.’ When King Herod heard this he was perturbed, and so was the whole of Jerusalem. He called together all the chief priests and the scribes of the people, and enquired of them where the Christ was to be born. ‘At Bethlehem in Judaea,’ they told him ‘for this is what the prophet wrote:
And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
you are by no means least among the leaders of Judah,
for out of you will come a leader
who will shepherd my people Israel.’
Then Herod summoned the wise men to see him privately. He asked them the exact date on which the star had appeared, and sent them on to Bethlehem. ‘Go and find out all about the child,’ he said ‘and when you have found him, let me know, so that I too may go and do him homage.’ Having listened to what the king had to say, they set out. And there in front of them was the star they had seen rising; it went forward, and halted over the place where the child was. The sight of the star filled them with delight, and going into the house they saw the child with his mother Mary, and falling to their knees they did him homage. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. But they were warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, and returned to their own country by a different way.


RE-DISCOVERING THE PERSONAL CHRIST
SCRIPTURE READINGS: ISA 60:1-6; EPH 3:2-3, 5-6; MT 2:1-12
Among the many quests of humankind, there is none that is as unavoidable as that of the search for God.  Man knows that the search for life is not complete until and unless they find God.  This thirst for God is illustrated in the story of the wise men that came to Jerusalem from the East in search of the Infant King.  They are truly wise because they know that unless they find God, their lives would not be complete, for all the things in this world would not be able to satisfy them.  Of course, we are told that they were not disappointed in their quest.
The Good News is that God has revealed Himself to us in Jesus.  This is what the feast of Epiphany is all about.  The word, ‘Epiphany’ means the manifestation of God in Jesus Christ.  More particularly, this feast, which is a continuation of the Christmas celebration, focuses on the manifestation of Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world, not only for the Jews, the chosen people of God, but for all the gentiles, that is, the non-Jews.  The wise men symbolize the first non-Jews who came to recognize and accept Jesus as their Saviour.  Indeed, Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah in the first reading.  He is the glory of the Lord that rises and appears for all nations to see and come to adore Him.  He is the light that shines in our darkness.
How can we begin this personal search for Jesus in our lives?
Firstly, like the wise men whose faith were stimulated by a star that they saw; we too should be challenged to grow further in our faith through reflection on our life events.   We must first look for Him in created things and in our history just as the wise men looked for God through the stars.  Through our own reflection of life; the world’s sufferings, pain and joy, we will begin to ask the more fundamental questions of life; who are we, where have we come from, where are we going to, what is life, why is there suffering, why is there evil, etc..  Unless, we begin to ask the ultimate questions of life, we cannot come know to know God since to search for God who is the Ultimate of life presupposes that we go beyond living this life on the mundane level.
Secondly, we must look deeply within ourselves.  The gospel told us that the Magi encountered God through their dreams.  What are dreams if not God’s way of reaching out to us, since dreams express the deepest aspirations of man.  Quite often, we think that we are the ones who take the initiative to look for God.  On the contrary, the truth is that God is looking for us.  Indeed, if God has not first found us, we would not have found Him.  If we found Him, it is only because He has been waiting for us all the while.  Thus, it is not enough to look outside of us, but we must look within as well, since God is found both within and without.  After all, isn’t He everywhere?   We have to search in the depths of our hearts and we will clearly hear the voice of God telling us that true happiness can only be found in Him.  Unfortunately, there are simply too many voices around us and some of them are false.  Yes, like the wise men who had to contend with the false voice of Herod, we, too, must discern what are those authentic voices that come from God, lest we be misled in our search.  Like the wise men, we have to listen to our intuition and our instincts, the voice of God in our heart, so that we can discern correctly.
Thirdly, we must find God who makes Himself known through others.  Indeed, the wise men sought the help of Herod and the religious leaders.  Although they themselves do not have faith in Jesus, they have some knowledge about Him.  So, we too must come to people who have knowledge about Jesus.  We must be humble enough like the wise men to look for people who can tell us about Jesus.  We need to study about Him from others who have knowledge of Him.  This is possible if we attend formation classes, like RCIA, religious and faith classes or through reading of religious books.  Knowledge about Jesus is necessary for us to come to a real encounter with Him.
Fourthly, the knowledge of Christ comes through an intimate knowledge of scriptures since God makes Himself known through the scriptures.  This is clear, for the gospel tells us that the wise men came to know Jesus through the help of the scriptures.  In the second reading, St Paul mentioned the fact that the mystery has been entrusted to the prophets and apostles through the ages.  It is important therefore that we turn to the Word of God to find Him.  It is the scriptures that point to the fact that Jesus is the revelation of God in person.  That is why, St Jerome used to say that ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ.  Only a deeper knowledge of the scriptures can help us to discover the person of Christ better.
However, studying about Christ is not enough.  It will not bring us to a real faith yet.  The religious leaders and Herod knew about Christ but they remained indifferent.  Faith therefore is not borne simply of knowledge.  It is not sufficient to know about God.  We must have a personal knowledge about Him.  This knowledge can come only through personal experience.  The avenues for such personal experience of Christ are made possible through the testimonies of those who have experienced Him in their lives.  But most of all, it is through prayer and worship that Christ becomes real in our lives.  The way of prayer and contemplation is, in the final analysis, the only way to experience Christ as God personally in our lives.  This was true of the Magi.  We are told that when they were led to Jesus, they worshipped Him.  Only in worship, did they come to experience Jesus as their Saviour and the resultant effects of this experience was that they were transformed.  For we are told that after paying homage to Jesus, they returned to their own country by a different way.
Yes, today, we are being challenged to find our faith anew again.  We are called to be open and to be courageous in seeking for the real Christ in our lives.  For those of us who have not yet found Him or are lukewarm in our faith, then we must take the risk of searching for Him through study and prayer.  We must imitate the example of the Magi who took the risks of adventure to search for the real God in their lives.  They were willing to leave their secure homeland to search for someone that can give them the ultimate meaning in their lives.  We must not simply be contented with observing or following a religion.  If Christianity does not offer us a greater meaning and zeal for life and love, then it is clear that we have worshipped the wrong Christ and the wrong God, even if we have got the name right.  A faith that cannot provide us the fullness of truth and meaning to life; a faith that cannot transform us from within to become people of love and dynamism, such a faith can hardly be said to be divine.
Finally, for those of us who are supposedly good Catholics, we must never presume that we know Him well enough.  Let us realize that the riches of Christ are inexhaustible.  Our knowledge of Him must increase so that our relationship with Him can be deepened.   The more we come to know about Him, the more we come to know about ourselves.  And as we come to know ourselves better and who God is, the more we can share in the life of God.  Yes, today as we celebrate this feast of the Epiphany, let us pray that we will come to know Christ more and more as the revelation of God in person; so that by seeing Him as the presence of God, not only we will be able to find Christ as our Light and life but we will be able to bring His light to all who are seeking desperately for truth, meaning and life like the Magi.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


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