20150228 ATTUNING ONESELF TO THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF LOVE
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Deuteronomy
26:16-19 ©
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Moses said to the
people: ‘The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and
customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your
soul.
‘You have
today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only
if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances,
and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about
you: that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you
keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set
you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people
consecrated to the Lord, as he promised.’
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Psalm
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Psalm
118:1-2,4-5,7-8 ©
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They are happy who
follow God’s law!
They are happy whose
life is blameless,
who
follow God’s law!
They are happy who do
his will,
seeking
him with all their hearts.
They are happy who
follow God’s law!
You have laid down your
precepts
to be
obeyed with care.
May my footsteps be
firm
to obey
your statutes.
They are happy who
follow God’s law!
I will thank you with
an upright heart
as I
learn your decrees.
I will obey your
statutes;
do not
forsake me.
They are happy who
follow God’s law!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Lk8:15
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
Blessed are those
who,
with a noble and
generous heart,
take the word of God
to themselves
and yield a harvest
through their perseverance.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Or
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2Co6:2
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
Now is the favourable
time:
this is the day of
salvation.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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Matthew 5:43-48 ©
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Jesus
said to his disciples, ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your
neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father
in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his
rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love
you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as
much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you
doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must
therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
ATTUNING
ONESELF TO THE UNIVERSAL LAW OF LOVE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: DT 26:16-19; PS 119:1-2, 4-5, 7-8; MT 5:43-48
In the
responsorial psalm today, we say, “Happy are they who follow the law of the
Lord.” But how can one be happy in obeying laws? Very often,
laws are something external to us and are oppressive. That is why they
are called laws. One is obliged to obey it. So how can the psalmist
say that “he is happy who follows the law of the Lord”?
In
order to understand this, one must understand what the law of the Lord is.
It is none other than the universal laws of life, of love, of the whole of
creation. If God gave Israel the laws, they are meant to be the
guiding principles of life. The laws are but the expression of the
harmony of nature. They are the universal truths of life. We are
part of nature and creation. Hence, in order to stay happy, we need to be
one with the laws of nature. To obey God’s laws therefore, is to be one
with creation, with ourselves and with God.
And one
of these fundamental laws is the law of love, extending even to our enemies.
But why should we love our enemies? Very often we think that to love our
enemies is something exceptional for us to do. On the contrary, not to
love our enemies is not to do what we are meant to do. It is the worldly
person who sees loving enemies as a noble thing, beyond the ordinary strength
of man. But for the enlightened person, that is the only way to live
because it is the right way to live without hurting ourselves.
Why,
because not to love our enemies is not to love ourselves. When we
show hatred for others, we make our own lives miserable. If we harbor
hatred in our lives, it means that we are allowing our adversaries to control
our lives. When we meet someone we do not like and we get irritated, it
means that we are allowing them to determine our disposition. We become
slaves to them.
For
that reason, God, we are told in today’s gospel, let His sun rise on the bad
and the good; let His rain fall on the just and the unjust. God is
equanimous to the situation and to all. He loves the just and the
unjust, the saint and the sinner equally. He has no enemies. We
cannot make Him sad unless He chooses to be sad. We cannot make Him
suffer unless He chooses to suffer. In other words, God is in control of
Himself. He is in charge of His own happiness. And if He allows
Himself to feel with and for us, it is because He is compassionate. But
that does not mean that we have power over Him.
When the gospel invites
us to be perfect just as our heavenly Father is perfect, it simply means that
we are called to adopt the same kind of attitude He has towards His creation. It means that His is
inviting us to be one with His creation and one with Him and our fellowmen.
To do this, we must pray
for our enemies as Jesus advised us to do. The reason why we pray for
them is not so much for their benefit, but for ourselves. Unless we pray
for our enemies, we will not be able to see how we are hurting ourselves by
hating them. But when we pray for them, we will begin to see their
goodness, their kindness and their love. Indeed, very often, we only focus
on the weaknesses and the faults of our enemies, when in reality, their
goodness outweighs their weaknesses. In praying for them, we learn to
feel with them in their struggles, in their weaknesses. Consequently, in
recognizing their strengths and empathizing with them in their weaknesses, we
will see them in a different perspective and in a more wholesome and balanced
view. Thus, even if others treat us as their enemies and we do not see them as
such, we will also be able to understand and accept that they also need time to
grow and change. We will not condemn them or react in hostility towards
them.
When we see them the way
God sees them, we cannot but find them lovable. Hatred then is overcome by
love; anger by compassion, hostility by understanding. It is to be
one with His creation, His universal law of truth. This will then set us
free to love and be happy always, which is what the resurrection also
brings. This is the way we can indeed prepare for the day of resurrection
during this season of Lent.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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