20150208 THE MEANING OF LIFE IS FOUND IN OUR VOCATION TO LOVE AND
SERVICE
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Job 7:1-4,6-7 ©
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Job began to speak:
Is not man’s life on
earth nothing more than pressed service,
his time
no better than hired drudgery?
Like the slave,
sighing for the shade,
or the
workman with no thought but his wages,
months of delusion I
have assigned to me,
nothing
for my own but nights of grief.
Lying in bed I
wonder, ‘When will it be day?’
Risen I
think, ‘How slowly evening comes!’
Restlessly
I fret till twilight falls.
Swifter than a
weaver’s shuttle my days have passed,
and
vanished, leaving no hope behind.
Remember that my life
is but a breath,
and that
my eyes will never again see joy.
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Psalm
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Psalm 146:1-6 ©
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Praise the Lord
who heals the broken-hearted.
or
Alleluia!
Praise the Lord for
he is good;
sing to
our God for he is loving:
to him
our praise is due.
Praise the Lord
who heals the broken-hearted.
or
Alleluia!
The Lord builds up
Jerusalem
and
brings back Israel’s exiles,
he heals the
broken-hearted,
he binds
up all their wounds.
He fixes the number
of the stars;
he calls
each one by its name.
Praise the Lord
who heals the broken-hearted.
or
Alleluia!
Our Lord is great and
almighty;
his
wisdom can never be measured.
The Lord raises the
lowly;
he
humbles the wicked to the dust.
Praise the Lord
who heals the broken-hearted.
or
Alleluia!
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Second reading
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1 Corinthians
9:16-19,22-23 ©
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I do not boast of
preaching the gospel, since it is a duty which has been laid on me; I should be
punished if I did not preach it! If I had chosen this work myself, I might have
been paid for it, but as I have not, it is a responsibility which has been put
into my hands. Do you know what my reward is? It is this in my preaching, to be
able to offer the Good News free, and not insist on the rights which the gospel
gives me.
So though
I am not a slave of any man I have made myself the slave of everyone so as to
win as many as I could. For the weak I made myself weak. I made myself all
things to all men in order to save some at any cost; and I still do this, for
the sake of the gospel, to have a share in its blessings.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn8:12
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the
world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me
will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Mt8:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
He took our
sicknesses away,
and carried our
diseases for us.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 1:29-39 ©
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On leaving the
synagogue, Jesus went with James and John straight to the house of Simon and
Andrew. Now Simon’s mother-in-law had gone to bed with fever, and they told him
about her straightaway. He went to her, took her by the hand and helped her up.
And the fever left her and she began to wait on them.
That
evening, after sunset, they brought to him all who were sick and those who were
possessed by devils. The whole town came crowding round the door, and he cured
many who were suffering from diseases of one kind or another; he also cast out
many devils, but he would not allow them to speak, because they knew who he
was.
In
the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house, and went off to a
lonely place and prayed there. Simon and his companions set out in search of
him, and when they found him they said, ‘Everybody is looking for you.’ He
answered, ‘Let us go elsewhere, to the neighbouring country towns, so that I
can preach there too, because that is why I came.’ And he went all through
Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out devils.
THE
MEANING OF LIFE IS FOUND IN OUR VOCATION TO LOVE AND SERVICE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: JOB 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 COR 9:16-19, 22-23; MK 1:29-39
When
Job remarked, “Is not man’s life on earth nothing more than pressed service,
his time no better than hired drudgery? Like the slave, sighing for the shade,
or the workman with no thought but his wages”, isn’t it true that he was but
expressing the frustrations and disappointments with life of many
people? Isn’t it true that for many of us, life is a real boredom because
it is simply going through the routine of work, eat, sleep and play?
Yes, life
does not seem to have meaning. Making a living and making money alone
cannot bring us life. Eating and recreation alone cannot give us
fulfillment in life. That is why; many of us drift through life, living
on the superficial level, the level of animals. We wake up each day, not
knowing what to do next. We are so bored and so we want to get back to
bed. But when we are in bed, we cannot sleep. We have no vision or
direction. Thus Job expressing his frustration sighed, “Lying in bed I wonder,
when will it be day? Risen I think, how slowly evening comes! Restlessly I fret
till twilight falls.” Such is the irony of life.
The
good news is that God wants to raise us up and give us meaning. The
liturgy invites us to be open to God who comes to give us a sense of direction
and purpose especially when we lose connection with ourselves. Like Job
who prayed in his disillusionment, we too must pray from the depth of our
hearts saying, “Remember that my life is but a breath, and that my eyes will
never again see joy.” This prayer made with confidence will be heard.
How can this be a reality?
If we
were to recover our meaning in life, then we must look to Jesus and St
Paul. For in them, they show us that the meaning of life is not to be
found in work in itself but in having a vocation. Both readings from
the New Testament impress upon us that Jesus and St Paul, because they were
people who had a vocation and mission, were also people who lived lives of joy,
enthusiasm, dynamism, commitment and meaning. In fact, so vibrant were
their lives that they did not even have time to think about their own needs.
What,
then, is the difference between work and vocation? It is work when
we are only concerned about earning a living for ourselves. If
work is seen purely as a means to be remunerated so that one can acquire more
wealth, power, status and recognition, work becomes drudgery. One might
satisfy one’s physical needs but not one’s spiritual and personal needs.
He is not working for a higher goal in life.
The
truth is that because our goal is finite, the happiness we attain, if at all,
falls short of what we are seeking in our spirit. We are not doing
something that we like or meaningful. Our spirit longs for something
greater. We know that we are meant for something more. Hence,
we have to confront ourselves by asking the fundamental question: are we
seeking for security or meaning? Security can be provided to some extent
by having money, power etc. Even then, there is no real security.
To live well we must
live for meaning.
Not only just meaning but the higher the meaning, the more alive we become.
When there is meaning and purpose, no sacrifices would be too difficult.
With meaning, we can forget about our security. That is why Jesus, the
apostles and many missionaries could leave everything and their security for
the higher values of life. This is because their meaning is their
security. So long as there is meaning, there is real security.
Where can this meaning be found? When we search the vocation and mission
that God has given to us in life!
What is a vocation? A vocation implies a calling
in the depth of our being to do something for the good of humankind.
This calling is translated as possessing a sense of mission. St Paul
certainly felt a deep calling from within to proclaim the Good News. So a
vocation speaks of an imperative within us, urging us to do something for the
good of others. This calling comes from within, not from without; not
drawn out by people but stirs up from within by God who places that desire in
our heart. A vocation therefore always implies a commitment not out of duty
but with a sense of mission, like Jesus.
Secondly a vocation implies
that we are given a transcendent calling. A vocation is our
calling from God to serve the people of God. It is an invitation from the
Lord to each one of us to have a sense of service to others around us. A
vocation goes beyond earning money or seeking for power or for things.
But we work basically for the service of love. Of course, the labourer is
worthy of his hire. But money becomes only a means for us to live a
decent life but not a luxurious life. For happiness cannot come from
money and luxury but meaningful service to people. In this way, our work
becomes our meaning. It is a direct encounter of God in the work not
indirect as in our career. In fact, the remuneration becomes just the
opposite and secondary to what we are doing.
Thirdly, we know it is a
vocation when do everything with freedom. So freedom for love must
be complemented by freedom in love. When it is a vocation, it is chosen
freely. It must be a choice to serve not out of obligation or compulsion
but out of conviction and love.
When a service is done in
freedom and in love, we choose to become all things to all men because
losing ourselves; we learn to empathize with them. Such service makes us
free to feel with others because we have forgotten about ourselves.
Finally, a vocation is
primarily in response to the love of God for us. Without this
prior experience, the divine call would not be stirred up within us. When
Simon’s mother-in-law was healed, “she began to wait on them.” When God
touches us, we respond with love in service because of our gratitude.
Thus Peter’s mother-in-law began to wait on Jesus. Only when we are
conscious of God’s love and blessings for us, will we begin to use our good
health and other resources for the good of others. The reason why
some of us do not have the capacity to reach out in love and service to others
is because we are not grateful for what we have. The lack of ingratitude
boils down to the fact that we have not or are not aware of the love of God for
us. Only grateful people can love because when they realize how they have
been loved unconditionally in spite of their nothingness, they too want to
share that love in the same way to those who are not deserving of love.
And what is empowering in
such a love is that the effect of such outward looking attitude makes us forget
about ourselves. We begin to focus on others more and more. If we are
always thinking about our needs and ourselves, it is because, like a sick
person, we tend to be inward looking and thinking of our pain. But when
we begin to reach out, we forget about our own problems or at least see them in
perspective. So service is the way to bring us out of our problems and
misery. It adds meaning and challenge to our lives.
Today, let us find
inspiration and encouragement from the lives of Jesus and St Paul. The
gospel today gives us a typical day in the life of Jesus showing us what a
life of vocation entails. Certainly we can see that the life of Jesus
was surely interesting and fulfilling. This too was the kind of life that
St Paul lived. He lived a life that was totally dependent on the
Lord. He was always a man of mission with a sense of urgency in him.
In fact, St Paul compares our mission and goal to runners taking part in the
race. “So that is how I run, not without a clear goal; and how I box, not
wasting blows on air. I punish my body and bring it under control, to
avoid any risk that, having acted as herald for others, I myself may be
disqualified.”
Not only must we have a
goal, St Paul says that there is a difference between that of the world and
ours: “Every athlete concentrates completely on training … to win a wreath that
will wither whereas ours will never wither.” (1 Cor 9:24-27) Indeed, we
must find a mission in life, a vocation that helps us to live beyond this
world or for ourselves. Unless we live for God and for others, we
cannot find true meaning because we fail to go beyond ourselves. Yes,
without a sense of mission or vocation in life, everything loses its meaning
and connection. By choosing to live our life as a vocation with a sense
of mission, then our lives become integrated, wholesome and purposeful.
Such a life is always inspiring, liberating and meaningful.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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