Thursday, 19 February 2015

20150219 THE BASIS AND NATURE OF OUR HOPE

20150219 THE BASIS AND NATURE OF OUR HOPE

Mass Readings today

Numbers 6 : 22-27

22 Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,
23 'Speak to Aaron and his sons and say: "This is how you must bless the Israelites. You will say:
24 May Yahweh bless you and keep you.
25 May Yahweh let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
26 May Yahweh show you his face and bring you peace."
27 This is how they must call down my name on the Israelites, and then I shall bless them.'

James 4 : 13-15
13 Well now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow, we are off to this or that town; we are going to spend a year there, trading, and make some money.'
14 You never know what will happen tomorrow: you are no more than a mist that appears for a little while and then disappears.
15 Instead of this, you should say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.'

Gospel Matthew 6 : 31-34
31 So do not worry; do not say, "What are we to eat? What are we to drink? What are we to wear?"
32 It is the gentiles who set their hearts on all these things. Your heavenly Father knows you need them all.
33 Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on God's saving justice, and all these other things will be given you as well.
34 So do not worry about tomorrow: tomorrow will take care of itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.'

THE BASIS AND NATURE OF OUR HOPE
SCRIPTURE READINGS: NUMBER 6:22-27; JAMES 4:13-15; MATTHEW 6:31-34
Why do we wish each other, “Happy New Year” at the beginning of every New Year? If we do so, it is because it is our hope that each New Year would be better than the previous one.  That we celebrate New Year and other similar festivals means that we are people of hope.  To be human is to live in hope. Without hope, one cannot truly live, for one has no reason to live.  That is why year after year, we continue to hope, even though many of our hopes have been disappointed and unrealized.  So if we have hope this coming Lunar New Year, we must then ask what is the basis of our hope?  Do we really believe that our wish will come true?  Or is it just only a hope and a vain wish?

Those who have faith in some god or deity hope that their god will be able to hear and answer their prayers.  For the Chinese, many of the practices border on superstition rather than faith.  There are many do’s and dont’s that one must observe on Chinese New Year.  For example, one must wear everything new; one cannot sweep the floor lest you sweep the luck away; one eats Yu Sheng so that there is abundance and growth for the New Year.

The question is, does the observance of such practices really bring about the desired outcomes?  Do we really believe that if we religiously observe the rules of the games, our happiness is guaranteed?  More often than not, we observe them out of fear, lest we incur bad luck or the wrath of the gods.  This is especially so for those who are non-believers of any religion.  What is the basis of their wish and hope, since there are no gods to answer their prayers?  Still as St James says, “The most you should ever say is: “if it is the Lord’s will, we shall still be alive to do this or that.”

What about us Christians who celebrate New Year?  Do we really believe that our prayers will be answered?  What is the basis for our hope?  Is our hope based on mere superstition or truly on God whom we believe can fulfill His promises?  What makes us so confident that our wishes can come true?  Why are we so sure that our God can give us happiness?

Right from the outset, we must state that our confidence is due to our trust in His Divine Providence.  We know that God will be faithful to us just as God has been faithful to the Israelites.  Like the Israelites, we believe that God as our heavenly Father protects and guides us.  Earlier on in the same chapter of today’s gospel, Jesus exhorted the disciples not to worry because God the Father takes care of the grass, the flowers in the fields and the birds in the air.  Jesus tells us that if He looks after them, surely He will look after us because we are worth more than the flowers in the fields and the sparrows in the air.

However, our confidence in the promises of God is not that He will give us all the things we want in life.  Rather, we are confident that He will give us true happiness, peace and joy.  Hence, Jesus urged His disciples, “Do not worry; do not say, ‘what are we to eat?  What are we to drink?  How are we to be clothed?  It is the pagans who set their hearts on all these things.”  Our preoccupation therefore cannot be on this world’s goods.

This is not to say that earthly things are not important.  They certainly are and we need to have food, clothing and shelter to live.  Hence, the assurance of Jesus is that “Your heavenly father knows you need them all.”  Note however that Jesus speaks about the basics of life, namely, eating, drinking and clothing.  He is not saying that God will supply us all the luxuries in life.  For beyond all these needs, the extra things of life cannot guarantee us happiness.  So, God will fulfill all our needs, that is the promise of Jesus, but not our desires and greed.

Still, it is important that we see all things in life in perspective.  Material progress and fulfillment is to serve a greater goal, namely the realization of the kingdom, the life of enduring happiness, joy and peace.  This is why Jesus exhorts us to set our “hearts in his kingdom first, and on his righteousness”.  To seek the kingdom of course is to seek God in our lives, to be under His rule of love, truth and justice.  To seek righteousness is to seek justice.  But Jesus is not speaking about a legal justice.  Rather He is speaking of a right relationship with God, which is the basis of our relationship with others.   Only when we are in right relationship with God, and right relationship with people according to their state of life and their relation with us, can we find true peace and authentic love.

Like the psalmist we must pray each morning, “fill us with your love, we shall exult and rejoice all our days.  Show forth your work to your servants; let your glory shine on their children.”  Within this context, we can understand why in the blessing of Moses, he speaks about God shining His face on us and uncovering His face to us.  For by so doing, we come to experience His graciousness and peace.

The consequence of seeking the kingdom of God is that “all these other things” will be given to us as well.  This is because when we are in right relationship with others, our love for each other will empower us to share with others what we have.  If the world is poor, it is not because there is not sufficient food to go round but because the rich are getting richer and the poor get poorer.  But if all of us care about relationship and love, then through sharing our resources, be it food or talents, the world will always have more than enough food and things for all.

This promise of Jesus that we will have all the other things could also be interpreted in the manner that when we live the life of God, then we will have everything even when we have nothing.  For when we have the love of God in our hearts, we need so little to be happy in life. Because we do not desire for anything in the world except what is basic and essential to life, we have everything.  If we have joy, love and peace, what else do we need?  All other things that we have can only make our life more comfortable but not necessarily happier.

Hence material attachment or any form of attachment, even human attachment is but an indication of the lack of the love of God in our hearts.  When God is lacking, we begin to look for things and people to fulfill us.  But like St Paul and St James, when we have an experience of the depth of God’s love, we want to be all things to all men.  To be full or empty stomach; in plenty or want is secondary.  The invitation of Jesus in the gospel is to adopt that spirit of poverty, that total openness to everything so that we need not be a slave to anything or anyone.  This life of freedom requires a total dependence on God and trust in his love.

Concretely, this surrender to God is to surrender ourselves to His will.  And what is His will if not for us to grow in holiness and grace each day so that we can bask in His presence?  It is immaterial whether we are rich or poor; whether we have plenty or little.  Rather, it is whether we strive for personal sanctification, holiness and growth in our interior life.  A person who is filled with the heart of God will always find happiness in whichever situation he finds himself.  And this is what we Christians should pray for during the Lunar New Year, namely, that God will bless us with His grace and love so that with a deeper relationship with Him, we will find that we need less and less things in life because we have Jesus in our hearts. Hence, what is truly important for us to find real happiness in life is to realize that God is everything in life.

With such a heart, then the words of Jesus make sense to us, “So do not worry about tomorrow:  Tomorrow will take care of itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”  When we trust in God and His love, then we can afford to live one day at a time.  When we live the kingdom life, we begin to live the life of today.

Indeed, it is said, “There are two days in every week we should not worry about, two days that should be kept free from fear and apprehension.  One is yesterday, with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains.  Yesterday has passed, forever beyond our control.   All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot undo a single act we performed.  Nor can we erase a single word we’ve said – yesterday is gone.

The other day we shouldn’t worry about is tomorrow, with its impossible adversaries, its burden, its hopeful promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is beyond our control. Tomorrow’s sun will rise either in splendor or behind a mass of clouds – but it will rise.  And until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day – today.  Any person can fight the battles of just one day.  It is only when we add the burdens of yesterday and tomorrow that we break down.  It is not the experience of today that drives people mad – it is the remorse of bitterness for something that happened yesterday, and the dread of what tomorrow may bring.  Let us, therefore, live one day at a time!”

But we can come to this realization as the psalmist tells us when we come to understand “the shortness of our life.”  Yes, if we were to “gain wisdom of heart”, we must reflect on the unpredictability of life and our dependence on God, as James tells us.  Instead of relying on our stars, on our luck, or on our strength, we are called to rely on God alone who can deliver us from our misery.   We are called to trust in the wisdom of God reflected in His will.  Only with this faith in God, can we be truly happy every day for we do not live in anxiety, in fear or craving for endless desires for when we have God and His love, we are at peace.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

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