20150212 SOLITUDE AND COMMUNION
Readings at Mass
|
First reading
|
Genesis 2:18-25 ©
|
The Lord God said, ‘It
is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.’ So from
the soil the Lord God fashioned all the wild beasts and all the birds of
heaven. These he brought to the man to see what he would call them; each one
was to bear the name the man would give it. The man gave names to all the
cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild beasts. But no helpmate
suitable for man was found for him. So the Lord God made the man fall into a
deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in
flesh. The Lord God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and
brought her to the man. The man exclaimed:
‘This at last is bone
from my bones,
and flesh from my
flesh!
This is to be called
woman,
for this was taken
from man.’
This is why a man
leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one
body.
Now both
of them were naked, the man and his wife, but they felt no shame in front of
each other.
|
Psalm
|
Psalm 127:1-5 ©
|
O blessed are
those who fear the Lord.
O blessed are those
who fear the Lord
and walk
in his ways!
By the labour of your
hands you shall eat.
You will
be happy and prosper.
O blessed are
those who fear the Lord.
Your wife like a
fruitful vine
in the heart
of your house;
your children like
shoots of the olive,
around
your table.
O blessed are
those who fear the Lord.
Indeed thus shall be
blessed
the man
who fears the Lord.
May the Lord bless
you from Zion
all the
days of your life!
O blessed are those
who fear the Lord.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Ps144:13
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord is faithful
in all his words
and loving in all his
deeds.
Alleluia!
|
Or
|
Jm1:21
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Accept and submit to
the word
which has been
planted in you
and can save your
souls.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Mark 7:24-30 ©
|
Jesus
left Gennesaret and set out for the territory of Tyre. There he went into a
house and did not want anyone to know he was there, but he could not pass
unrecognised. A woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about
him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the woman was a pagan, by
birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the devil out of her
daughter. And he said to her, ‘The children should be fed first, because it is
not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the house-dogs.’ But she
spoke up: ‘Ah yes, sir,’ she replied ‘but the house-dogs under the table can
eat the children’s scraps.’ And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go
home happy: the devil has gone out of your daughter.’ So she went off to her
home and found the child lying on the bed and the devil gone.
SOLITUDE
AND COMMUNION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: GEN 2:18-25; PS 128:1-5; MARK 7:24-30
There is an irony in
today’s scripture readings. On one hand we are told that “It is not good
that the man should be alone. I will make him a helpmate.” In other words, we are
created as social beings for communion. We are not meant to be alone but
to be with others and for others. “So the Lord God made the man fall into
a deep sleep. And while he slept, he took one of his ribs and enclosed it in flesh.
The Lord God built the rib he had taken from the man into a woman, and brought
her to the man.” To love is to share in God’s image and likeness.
We are called to Communion. God is a Trinitarian communion.
This is His image and likeness. For this reason, we say that God is
love.
We are called to the
vocation of love. But
it is not just any love but fulfilment comes when he or she finds a worthy
partner in life. “So from the soil the Lord God fashioned all the
wild beasts and all the birds of heaven. These he brought to the man to see
what he would call them; each one was to bear the name the man would give it.
The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of heaven and all the wild
beasts. But no helpmate suitable for man was found for him.” The most
beautiful and perfect expression of human love is of course in marriage, when a
man and a woman mutually give the gift of oneself to each other.
Married love is God’s way of showing us His unconditional love, a love that is
also total and faithful. “The man exclaimed: ‘This at last is bone from
my bones, and flesh from my flesh! This is to be called woman, for this
was taken from man.’ This is why a man leaves his father and mother and
joins himself to his wife, and they become one body.” Such a love entails
total trust in each other and of course being vulnerable as well. Only
perfect love can cast out fear. This perfect love is symbolized in the
nakedness between husband and wife. “Now both of them were naked, the man
and his wife, but they felt no shame in front of each other.” To give our body
to each other and to be naked in front of another means that we are not fearful
of being used and manipulated. For the same reason too, when we are used
by the other person for mere pleasure, we feel humiliated and disgusted.
Flowing from the
fruitfulness of love is motherhood. True love is always creative and hence, love is always
open to new life. We can see the love of the mother for her
daughter who was possessed. “A woman whose little daughter had an unclean
spirit heard about him straightaway and came and fell at his feet. Now the
woman was a pagan, by birth a Syrophoenician, and she begged him to cast the
devil out of her daughter.” All mothers would spare no effort in ensuring
that their children are well fed and looked after. They will sacrifice
everything for the love of their children. Mother’s love is always
self-sacrificing. Hence, mothers are always anxious for their children.
What then is the irony
of man? There is an inner contradiction in him. There is another
part of us that seeks solitude. In the gospel we read, “Jesus left that place and set out for
the territory of Tyre. There he went into a house and did not want anyone to
know he was there.” He went to a pagan territory to take refuge.
He must have been so tired ministering to so many people who all
demanded to have a bit of His time. He was tired of playing host and
constantly reaching out.
Like Jesus, we too seek
solitude and desire to be away from the crowd at times, even away from our family.
There are times we want to be alone to find our center. When we are
always giving and giving, we tend to lose focus and if not careful, suffer
burnt out. Jesus needed to be alone with Himself and with God.
In withdrawing often to the desert or the mountains to pray, what is Jesus
teaching us?
Firstly, there is a need
to balance our social relationships with our individual solitude. Where else do we find the strength to
love and keep on giving in love?
We need to draw strength
from our spouse or confidante. Blessed is the one who has a helpmate and a confidante to
journey with him or her. God knows that we cannot be an island. He
created man and woman who could complement each other. Those who are
married should therefore learn to draw strength from each other. The
spouse’s best friend and confidante should be his or her spouse. The
tragedy is that quite often spouses do not trust each other and remain only as
intimate strangers in bed. Because of quarrels and misunderstandings that
were never resolved or worse still, infidelities and hurts, couples often close
up to each other. Without open communication of mind and heart, intimacy
and love, especially of the heart, eventually dies. It is a sad reality
that many so called married couples are living the lie. They show
themselves to be a couple in public but at home they are alienated from each
other. Instead of giving each other support, they become destructive of
each other by their words and actions.
But where does your
spouse draw strength from to love you? If we were to truly be able to love our spouse in good and
bad times, for better or for worse, we need to spend time with God
first. Otherwise, we have no strength to love our spouse and our children.
We need to draw strength from God’s love and wisdom. This is what the
psalmist says, “O blessed are those who fear the Lord and walk in his ways! By
the labour of your hands you shall eat. You will be happy and prosper. Indeed
thus shall be blessed the man who fears the Lord. May the Lord bless you from
Zion all the days of your life!” Without drawing inspiration and
consolation from the Lord, we will eventually become irritable and mediocre in
service.
The key to loving
ourselves and others is solitude with God and oneself. This is applicable to all, irrespective
of our state of life, married or single, religious or consecrated. We need to
feed ourselves first before others, as Jesus said to the woman, “the children
should be fed first, because it is not fair to take the children’s food and
throw it to the house-dogs”. Even amidst His busy life Jesus needed to
withdraw to the desert to find solitude and pray. This is also true
for all of us, especially those of us who live busy lives and are in public
office. We must avoid falling into the danger of being so dissipated with
service reaching out in love that we lose our center and control.
Of course, charity
begins at home, but it cannot end there. We find strength from God’s love or our
spouse and parents’ love so that we can reach out to others. Authentic
married love is caught up in divine love and is governed and enriched by
Christ’s redeeming power and grace. The Syrophoenician woman spoke out,
“’Ah yes, sir, but the house-dogs under the table can eat the children’s
scraps’. And he said to her, ‘For saying this, you may go home happy: the devil
has gone out of your daughter’. So she went off to her home and found the child
lying on the bed and the devil gone.” True love is seen in inclusive
love of others.
However, solitude must
not become self-centeredness and isolation but a temporary reprieve to regain strength and wisdom to
live from one’s center. The fruit of silence and contemplation is
charity. Without charity, it means that we are not finding our
center. Otherwise solitude becomes individualism and
selfishness. We are no more naked in love and transparent. Instead
of loving others, we want to protect ourselves and make use of others to feed
our insecurity and lack of fulfilment. When that happens, our selfishness and
insecurity are masked under the guise of love. We become destructive,
insecure, seeking for love outside of oneself, for popularity and acceptance
instead of finding the love of God in us and therefore loving ourselves.
When we are lacking in wisdom, peace and joy within, we can no longer love
authentically and unconditionally. True love is divine love in human
love.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No comments:
Post a Comment