20150223 CHARITY AS THE SOUL OF HOLINESS AND HOLINESS AS THE
PRE-REQUISITE OF MISSION
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Leviticus
19:1-2,11-18 ©
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The Lord spoke to
Moses. He said: ‘Speak to the whole community of the sons of Israel and say to
them:
‘“Be
holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.
‘“You
must not steal nor deal deceitfully or fraudulently with your neighbour. You
must not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God. I am the
Lord. You must not exploit or rob your neighbour. You must not keep back the
labourer’s wage until next morning. You must not curse the dumb, nor put an
obstacle in the blind man’s way, but you must fear your God. I am the Lord.
‘“You
must not be guilty of unjust verdicts. You must neither be partial to the
little man nor overawed by the great; you must pass judgement on your neighbour
according to justice. You must not slander your own people, and you must not
jeopardise your neighbour’s life. I am the Lord. You must not bear hatred for
your brother in your heart. You must openly tell him, your neighbour, of his
offence; this way you will not take a sin upon yourself. You must not exact
vengeance, nor must you bear a grudge against the children of your people. You
must love your neighbour as yourself. I am the Lord.”’
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Psalm
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Psalm 18:8-10,15
©
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Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
The law of the Lord
is perfect,
it
revives the soul.
The rule of the Lord
is to be trusted,
it gives
wisdom to the simple.
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
The precepts of the
Lord are right,
they
gladden the heart.
The command of the
Lord is clear,
it gives
light to the eyes.
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
The fear of the Lord
is holy,
abiding
for ever.
The decrees of the
Lord are truth
and all
of them just.
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
May the spoken words
of my mouth,
the
thoughts of my heart,
win favour in your
sight, O Lord,
my
rescuer, my rock!
Your words are
spirit, Lord, and they are life.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ezk18:31
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Shake off all your
sins – it is the Lord who speaks –
and make yourselves a
new heart and a new spirit.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Or
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2Co6:2
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
Now is the favourable
time:
this is the day of
salvation.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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Matthew 25:31-46
©
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Jesus said to his
disciples: ‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels,
then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All the nations will be
assembled before him and he will separate men one from another as the shepherd
separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the
goats on his left.
‘Then the
King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has
blessed, take for your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation
of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave
me drink; I was a stranger and you made me welcome; naked and you clothed me,
sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.” Then the virtuous
will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you; or
thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and make you
welcome; naked and clothe you; sick or in prison and go to see you?” And the
King will answer, “I tell you solemnly, in so far as you did this to one of the
least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”
‘Next he
will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you,
to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and
you never gave me food; I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink;
I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, naked and you never clothed me,
sick and in prison and you never visited me.” Then it will be their turn to
ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or naked, sick or
in prison, and did not come to your help?” Then he will answer, “I tell you
solemnly, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these,
you neglected to do it to me.”
‘And they
will go away to eternal punishment, and the virtuous to eternal life.’
CHARITY
AS THE SOUL OF HOLINESS AND HOLINESS AS THE PRE-REQUISITE OF MISSION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: LEV 19:1-2.11-18; MT 25:31-46
The
first four days of Lent immediately after Ash Wednesday give an overall
orientation to the whole season of Lent. There are actually two parts to
the celebration of Lent. The first four weeks of Lent are concerned with
the deepening of the Christian’s spiritual life. It is only from
the fifth week of Lent and the Holy Week that the Church begins to focus on the
passion of Christ. This is important as it gives us the right perspective
to approaching Lent.
But
what is the purpose of deepening our spiritual life? Today, the liturgy
touches on the fundamental calling of every Christian, which is the call
to holiness. Indeed, this is what spiritual life is all about. The goal
of Christian living is holiness. But why is holiness our goal?
As the first reading tells us, we are called to be holy for God is holy.
“The Lord spoke to Moses; he said: ‘speak to the whole community of the sons of
Israel and say to them: “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy.” So
the call to holiness is fundamental to every Christian. If we want to
find fullness of life, then holiness is the only way. To be holy is to be
like God, as the Lord told Moses and the Israelites.
To be
holy is to recover the likeness of God that we have lost through
sin. Because of sin and the lack of holiness, we live not as children of
God but as slaves of Satan and his works. Necessarily, striving for
holiness should be a priority in our hearts. Indeed, if we are to present
the face of Christ to others, being the other Christ, then holiness is for us
to reflect Christ in our lives.
How do
we know we have grown in holiness? Lest we think that holiness is
something purely vertical and sentimental, the liturgy reminds us that holiness
is essentially the perfection of charity. The measure of holiness is
not by how much time we spend in prayer, but how much we have grown in love for
the Lord, which is measured by our love for others. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church states that “charity is the soul of the holiness to which all
are called: it ‘governs, shapes and perfects all the means of
sanctification.’” St John of the Cross reminds us that we will be
judged on the degree and the quality of our love for God and for man.
St.
Teresa of Avila says that the Lord asks only two things of us: love for His
Majesty and love of our neighbor. However, she cautioned that the surest
way that we know we are loving God is when we love our neighbors. She said,
“We cannot be sure if we are loving God, although we may have good reasons for
believing that we are, but we can know quite well if we are loving our
neighbor.”
Furthermore,
she assures us that when we increase in our love for our neighbors, we will
love God even more, and He will increase His love in us.
This
charity however must be seen in three dimensions. The fundamental
level of charity is justice. In the first reading from Leviticus, charity
is explained in terms of justice, what we must not do to our neighbors,
like cheating, stealing, swearing falsely, slander and jeopardizing their lives
and happiness. Of course, charity is not to be seen in terms of not
doing evil but not omitting the good we should do. Furthermore, charity
must not be confined to love of our friends and people whom we know.
Loving and caring for those whom we know is still on the level of human
love. True charity requires that we go beyond extending help to our
friends and loved ones to those whom we do not know as well. This is the
height of charity that the Lord invites us to in today’s gospel.
That is
why the third dimension of charity which is extended to those whom we do
not know is intimately connected with mission. The call to holiness is
closely connected to mission. It is a call to reach out to everyone
regardless of race or religion. Pope John Paul II reminds us: “The
universal call to holiness is closely linked to the universal call to mission.
Every member of the faithful is called to holiness and to mission.” There
is no genuine holiness apart from the mission to care for the spiritual and material
good of others.
Consequently,
Christian charity is more than just social work. Rather, it is to bring
Christ to others. The parable in today’s gospel underscores that
Christian service is not simply charitable work but rather, the service of our
neighbours is performed with a supernatural motive, which is for the love of
Christ who lives in our neighbours. In doing good, we are called to meet
Christ in the needy and at the same time, to bring Christ to those whom we
serve. This presupposes that we can see Christ in others. This is
our spiritual goal in life.
When we
apply this to our own lives, it is important that we reflect on which
level of charity we are at. I suspect many of us are still only living
out the level of justice and love for our neigbours, meaning our friends and
loved ones. On the level of justice, we are respectful of the
privacy of others. We do our part in the community. In this way, we
do justice to the Church. On the level of charity towards others,
we are kind and helpful to those who are closer to us. We feel with them and
help them.
But if
our charity remains on these two levels, then we have not arrived at the heart
of charity, which is to reach out to those who are complete strangers to
us. The truth is that it is in strangers that Christ is most present,
especially if that stranger is in need. It is perhaps this level of
charity that we need to reflect for ourselves since Christ died for us sinners
and for all. But more importantly, how often do we forget the purpose
of our mission, which is ultimately to bring others to Christ by
inviting them to a life of holiness.
Let us
seek inspiration from a story in the life of Martin of Tours. He
was a Roman soldier and still seeking the true faith. One day, he met a man
in the freezing cold without clothes begging for alms. He took pity on
him, cut his coat in two and gave half to the stranger. That same night he
dreamt of Jesus appearing with a torn cloak. When one of the angels asked
him, “Master, why do you wear that battered cloak?” Jesus replied, “My
servant Martin gave it to me.” After this vision, Martin got baptised
immediately.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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