20150130 IMPERCEPTIBLE WORKING OF GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN GOD
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Hebrews 10:32-39
©
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Remember all the
sufferings that you had to meet after you received the light, in earlier days;
sometimes by being yourselves publicly exposed to insults and violence, and
sometimes as associates of others who were treated in the same way. For you not
only shared in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you happily
accepted being stripped of your belongings, knowing that you owned something
that was better and lasting. Be as confident now, then, since the reward is so
great. You will need endurance to do God’s will and gain what he has promised.
Only a little
while now, a very little while,
and the one that
is coming will have come; he will not delay.
The righteous man
will live by faith,
but if he draws
back, my soul will take no pleasure in him.
You and I are not the
sort of people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep
faithful until our souls are saved.
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Psalm
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Psalm
36:3-6,23-24,39-40 ©
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The salvation of
the just comes from the Lord.
If you trust in the
Lord and do good,
then you
will live in the land and be secure.
If you find your
delight in the Lord,
he will
grant your heart’s desire.
The salvation of
the just comes from the Lord.
Commit your life to
the Lord,
trust in
him and he will act,
so that your justice
breaks forth like the light,
your
cause like the noon-day sun.
The salvation of
the just comes from the Lord.
The Lord guides the
steps of a man
and makes
safe the path of one he loves.
Though he stumble he
shall never fall
for the
Lord holds him by the hand.
The salvation of
the just comes from the Lord.
The salvation of the
just comes from the Lord,
their
stronghold in time of distress.
The Lord helps them
and delivers them
and saves
them: for their refuge is in him.
The salvation of the
just comes from the Lord.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:27
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Make me grasp the way
of your precepts,
and I will muse on
your wonders.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mt11:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you,
Father,
Lord of heaven and
earth,
for revealing the
mysteries of the kingdom
to mere children.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 4:26-34 ©
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Jesus said to the
crowds, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the
land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting
and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first
the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is
ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’
He also
said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for
it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is
the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the
biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the
air can shelter in its shade.’
Using
many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were
capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but
he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.
IMPERCEPTIBLE
WORKING OF GRACE THROUGH FAITH IN GOD
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: HEB 10:32-39; MARK 4:26-34
What does it mean to be
a priest of Jesus Christ?
The first duty of a priest is to offer worship and sacrifice. As Catholics we
do this as Church, particularly through the celebration of the Eucharist and
the Liturgy of the hours; and as individuals, through personal prayer,
community worship and intercessory prayer.
But it is not sufficient to
pray and intercede for humanity, because Christ our High Priest is both the
priest and the victim, the lamb of sacrifice. Unlike the priests of
the Old Testament, He offered Himself as a sacrifice for our salvation instead
of an animal. Thus, just to celebrate the Mass and remain as mere
observers of Christ’s sacrifice at the altar does not make us truly the priests
of Jesus Christ. We must interiorize the sacrifice of the Mass by living
out the Eucharist in our daily life by making ourselves bread broken for others
and having our blood poured out for the love of humanity.
That was what the early
Christians did. St Paul’s letter to the Hebrews was most probably written
to encourage the Jewish converts to Christianity who, perhaps with sadness,
gave up their old ritualistic form of sacrifice, and who perhaps were also
feeling discouraged as they were ostracized by their own community.
Following such an inspiring exposition on the priesthood of Jesus Christ, the
author then challenged the converted Jews to be faithful to Christ in times of
persecution and trials. He told them, “Remember all the sufferings that
you had to meet after you received the light, in earlier days: sometimes by
being yourselves publicly exposed to insults and violence, and sometimes as
associates of others who were treated in the same way. For you not only shared
in the sufferings of those who were in prison, but you happily accepted being stripped
of your belongings.”
We too have our own
trials in seeking to be faithful to our Christian values. Whenever we try to live
up to our Christian values, especially with regard to marriage, sexuality and
the dignity of life, we will come under the onslaught of the world. This
is also true especially in the corporate world where the bottom line is
profits, not ethics; the survival of the fittest, not compassion, competition
rather than cooperation. How many of us would choose our faith over our
job; Christ over mammon? Considering how the early Christians and even
saints until the Middle Ages suffered for their faith, we will realize how
shallow our faith is today! They suffered violence, rejection,
marginalization, deprivation and even death because of their fidelity to
Christ. Very few of us would be willing to sacrifice our status or position in
the world for our Faith. In the face of suffering and threats of
imprisonment or privations, many of us would succumb to the pressure of society
because we are not willing to give up our comforts in life. Yes, the
early Christians, as the letter of Hebrews remarked, were “not the sort of
people who draw back, and are lost by it; we are the sort who keep faithful
until our souls are saved.”
So what gave them the
courage to remain committed to Christ and their faith? Firstly, they were inspired by
Christ’s sacrificial suffering. Contemplating on Christ’s solidarity
with them in their sufferings, especially on the cross, enabled the Christians
to endure the cross even to the point of death, as Jesus did. That Jesus
was both the priest and the victim must have moved the early Christians to lay
down their lives too for the Lord. How could we not be stirred to
do the same if we knew that someone had died for us? The problem is that
we only believe that Christ has died for us either as a remote historical fact,
or the “us” does not really include “me.” But if someone were to
save you from death by giving up a kidney for you or risked his life or even
his job to save you, your gratitude towards this person would most probably be
for life!
Secondly, it was their
faith in the fidelity of God to us, His faithful children. They could
give all their trust in God only because God showed Himself to be faithful in
Jesus Christ, especially in being offered up as a sacrifice for us. As
the first reading says, “The righteous man will live by faith, but if he draws
back, my soul will take no pleasure in him.” They knew that God is
faithful. Just as the Father raised Jesus to be our Eternal High Priest,
we can be confident of God’s fidelity to us. Such was the faith of the
psalmist when he prayed, “The salvation of the just comes from the Lord. Trust
in the Lord and do good, that you may dwell in the land and be fed in security.
Take delight in the Lord, and he will grant you your heart’s requests. Commit
to the Lord your way; trust in him, and he will act. He will make justice dawn
for you like the light; bright as the noonday shall be your vindication.”
We too must come to
realize that the Lord is the Only One who can grant our request. And He is faithful to us,
provided we trust Him enough to deliver what we ask. Again the psalmist
says, “The salvation of the just is from the Lord; he is their refuge in time
of distress. And the Lord helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from
the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.” God is our
deliverer and our saviour. Unless we trust that He is such, we will not
turn to Him for help in times of distress and need. We will not believe
that He could and would actually render His aid to us and defend us.
Thirdly, they were
courageous in their allegiance to Christ because of Christ’s
promises. Owing to Christ’s entrance into the Heavenly
Sanctuary and raised to the right hand of the Father, the early Christians knew
their destiny. Indeed as the author said, “knowing that you owned
something that was better and lasting. Be as confident now, then, since the
reward is so great. You will need endurance to do God’s will and gain what he
has promised.” This endurance comes when we are certain of what the Lord has in
store for us. Perhaps, if our allegiance to Christ is weak today, it is
because many of us only live for this world, thinking that this world is all we
have and that we are going to live here for a long time. The truth is “A
thousand years in your sight are like yesterday that has passed; like a
short watch in the night. When you take them away, they will be nothing but a
dream; like the grass that sprouts in the morning: in the morning it grows
and flowers, in the evening it withers and dries.” (Ps 90:4-6) If
only we realize the shortness of life and that our real home is somewhere else,
then perhaps, we will begin to live not just for this life but for life
everlasting.
The truth is that many of
us have not arrived at this level of faith in Christ. We need not be
diffident if we are still far from the level of faith of our fathers. We
must remember that they too grew in faith over time. They too were
tested, purified and strengthened in their faith. It was a gradual
process, and often mysterious and unpredictable due to the graciousness of
God’s grace at work in their lives. Hence, we must be patient and learn
to rely on the workings of grace. This is what the two parables in the
gospel want to teach us.
Like the mustard seed,
we cannot imagine how our fidelity to our faith will impact others around and
after us. No one
would have thought how the Church of Christ that began with a few disciples
would now be a world religion with billions of believers. The martyrs who
died for the faith never imagined then that their blood would be the seed of
the Church. This is what the kingdom of God is like. “It is like a
mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all
the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them
all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its
shade.”
Finally, let us entrust
all things to the Lord in faith. We might not understand how the Lord works, like
the parable of the man who “throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he
sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not
know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then
the full grain in the ear.” So long as we have done our best, let us not
be too hard on ourselves. God does not look for perfection but
compassion, not for success but fidelity, not for the externals but the intention.
Having done what we could with the graces given to us, we can hand over all
that we do to the Lord who will use them and transform them for His greater
glory.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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