20150205 EVANGELICAL PROCLAMATION VERSUS DIDACTIC PROCLAMATION
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Hebrews
12:18-19,21-24 ©
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What you have come to
is nothing known to the senses: not a blazing fire, or a gloom turning to total
darkness, or a storm; or trumpeting thunder or the great voice speaking which
made everyone that heard it beg that no more should be said to them. The whole
scene was so terrible that Moses said: I am afraid, and was trembling with
fright. But what you have come to is Mount Zion and the city of the living God,
the heavenly Jerusalem where the millions of angels have gathered for the
festival, with the whole Church in which everyone is a ‘first-born son’ and a
citizen of heaven. You have come to God himself, the supreme Judge, and been
placed with spirits of the saints who have been made perfect; and to Jesus, the
mediator who brings a new covenant and a blood for purification which pleads
more insistently than Abel’s.
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Psalm
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Psalm
47:2-4,9-11 ©
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O God, we ponder
your love within your temple.
The Lord is great and
worthy to be praised
in the
city of our God.
His holy mountain
rises in beauty,
the joy
of all the earth.
O God, we ponder
your love within your temple.
Mount Zion, true pole
of the earth,
the Great
King’s city!
God, in the midst of
its citadels,
has shown
himself its stronghold.
O God, we ponder
your love within your temple.
As we have heard, so
we have seen
in the
city of our God,
in the city of the
Lord of hosts
which God
upholds for ever.
O God, we ponder
your love within your temple.
O God, we ponder your
love
within
your temple.
Your praise, O God,
like your name
reaches
the ends of the earth.
With justice your
right hand is filled.
O God, we ponder
your love within your temple.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn15:15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends,
says the Lord,
because I have made
known to you
everything I have
learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mk1:15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The kingdom of God is
close at hand:
repent and believe
the Good News.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 6:7-13 ©
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Jesus
summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority
over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the
journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their
purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’
And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave
the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen
to you, as you walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to
them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and
anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.
EVANGELICAL
PROCLAMATION VERSUS DIDACTIC PROCLAMATION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: HEB 12:18-19, 21-24; MK 6:7-13
“And so
they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed
many sick people with oil and cured them.” This seems to be the way the
twelve apostles were sent out in pairs to proclaim the Good News. And we
are told specifically too that they were given “authority over the unclean
spirits.”
Today,
we have many evangelical preachers, Protestants and Catholics alike, following
the footsteps of the apostolic church in the work of evangelization. When
we study the conversions that are taking place in the Church, we cannot but
recognize that the vast majority of conversions have taken place in healing
rallies, particularly the Charismatic rallies. Indeed, such crusade
rallies appeal to the great majority of people because of promised healings
that would take place and petitions answered. In our own Church, we have
priests too who are engaged in such evangelical work. They proclaim the
message of repentance and work miracles of healings and exorcisms. Such
kinds of ministry apparently draw large crowds. Can we therefore
conclude that they are in the right direction and that their success is
due to their fidelity to the literal message in today’s gospel?
Some
years ago the Magisterium issued a document entitled “Instructions for
healings” as an attempt to situate the question of healing services conducted,
especially within Mass, in perspective. The prefect of the Congregation
of Faith, then Cardinal Ratzinger, made it clear that it is not appropriate
to reduce the Eucharistic celebration into a healing service; and worse
still, when the healing service appears to take prominence as the highlight of
the whole celebration. Consequently, the Congregation forbade any healing
services to be held within the Eucharistic celebration, unless it is
specifically the Mass for the sick. Furthermore, the Instructions remind
pastors not to make any kind of service into a sensational affair that smacks
of disorder and hysteria.
The
question we therefore need to ask ourselves is whether there is a conflict
between the Magisterium’s Instructions and the command of Jesus in today’s
gospel. Should we make healing miracles and exorcisms the focus in the
proclamation of the Good News, or should we rather emphasize the
Eucharist as the center of our evangelization? In reality, there is
no real opposition between the Magisterium’s Instructions and the evangelical
approach of such preachers of the Good News. How is that so?
We must
understand the context of the gospel and the context of the Church. In
the first context, the apostles were sent out to proclaim the
fundamental message of repentance, that is conversion; and such a message is
testified by signs and wonders, namely, miracles and exorcisms. In such a
context, where the audience is mostly non-believers, such an evangelical
approach would be deemed necessary.
Indeed,
we all know very well that many people have been converted at Novena Church
because their petitions were granted through the intercession of Our
Lady. The answers to their requests strengthen and open their faith in
Mary and in Christ. This of course is the beginning of conversion.
However,
we must realize that this kind of evangelical message might not be so
suitable for an audience that comprises largely baptized Catholics.
In such an audience, what is needed is not simply a kergymatic preaching but a
didactic form of preaching where the focus is on growth and formation. This is
because in this context, the baptized are those who have already been converted
and accepted Christ as their Saviour. They are therefore not to cling on
to miracles, visions and healings; rather they are called to die to themselves
through their insertion into the paschal mystery, which is what the Eucharist
is all about. This explains why Catechumens are asked to leave the
assembly after the homily because they are considered still not ready to
participate fully in the paschal mystery celebrated in the Eucharist.
Hence,
we can now understand why the Magisterium felt the need to correct a wrong
emphasis. Otherwise, our faith will always remain infantile. There
is a danger that we might miss out the true message of the gospel, which is a
participation in the paschal mystery of Christ. It cannot be reduced to a
manipulation of Christ for our own personal interests. This obsession
with healing and miracles is certainly not the kind of spirituality the gospel
is promoting. It is only meant to serve as a sign of God’s love in
Jesus. At this level of spiritual life, instead of seeking for
temporal petitions, our hearts should be more focused on living the life of the
Kingdom to its fullest by living the life of Christ. We have to go
beyond this infantile level of faith. Baptized Catholics cannot
continue to act like infants in faith, still wanting to drink the milk of
sensations but they must take the solid food of spirituality in self-denial and
obedience to God’s will even unto death.
Consequently,
we must in our ministry distinguish our audience. There is
certainly a place for the kind of evangelical work which we have mentioned, the
proclamation of the message of repentance and healing miracles. But the
real growth in faith comes after the conversion. This is where the
Church must continue to sustain the faith of those new converts by nurturing
them with the true spirit of the gospel. After their conversion and
baptism or reconciliation, they must be led to a deeper understanding of their
faith so that they can model themselves in the paschal mystery of Christ by
dying to themselves even more each day.
In this
way, the evangelical mission of the Church to the unbelievers, or the
baptized pagans, and the ongoing ministry of the Church to the baptized are
to be seen as complementary. One cannot do without the other.
Still, in our work of evangelization, we must be on guard, whether we are
involved in the first level of ministry or the second level.
For on
the first level, because we are dealing with miracles and healings, this kind
of ministry tends to border on the sensational and spectacular. Such
ministry often draws people easily and can reap for ourselves great popularity
and even material wealth. There is a danger that some of us who are
involved in this ministry might forget about the command of Jesus to His
apostles about the need to live simply and be detached from material needs and
even personal popularity. We might eventually lose our focus and thus
instead of bringing people to Christ and to live the gospel, we might bring
people to ourselves and become more focused on material needs.
Consequently, it behooves us that if we are engaged in the evangelical
ministry, we must make provisions for ongoing growth and serious formation for
those who are converted to the faith.
On the
other hand, for those of us who are engaged in didactic teaching and ongoing
formation in the work of building up the Christian community, there is a real
danger that we can fall into routine and indifference. We can celebrate
the Eucharist in a ritualistic manner, teach our people in the faith or lead
the Church in such a way that there is a lack of zeal, enthusiasm and
joy. When that happens, then the Spirit of Christ does not seem to be
alive. The Good News is no longer perceived as Good News because it lacks
power and dynamism. As a result there is a danger that our faithful can
lose their faith because of lukewarmness. A sterile liturgy and faith
will eventually lead to a loss of faith; and with it the lack of trust in the
power of God to give us life. For this reason, if we find our supposedly
baptized Catholics still seeking for a sensational, emotional and spectacular
faith then perhaps we have failed to challenge them to grow further and beyond
this level of infantile faith. The onus is on us to give them solid
spiritual food.
Hence,
let us come to Mount Zion, as the first reading exhorts us, the heavenly
Jerusalem where the whole Christian community assembled. But we can go to
the heavenly Jerusalem only when we have been made perfect like the saints in
heaven. Christianity is, in the final analysis, a call to be purified by
the blood of Jesus so that, inserting ourselves into His body the Church, we
become one with Him in spirit and in love. Yes, the Christian’s
ultimate concern is not seeking out miracles but to live the Eucharist in his
life, for only by so doing, can he find true life in Jesus.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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