20150314 GOD DESIRES OUR LOVE AND MERCY THROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF HIM
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Hosea 5:15-6:6 ©
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The Lord says this:
They will search for
me in their misery.
‘Come, let us return
to the Lord.
He has torn us to
pieces, but he will heal us;
he has struck us
down, but he will bandage our wounds;
after a day or two he
will bring us back to life,
on the third day he
will raise us
and we shall live in
his presence.
Let us set ourselves
to know the Lord;
that he will come is
as certain as the dawn
his judgement will
rise like the light,
he will come to us as
showers come,
like spring rains
watering the earth.’
What am I to do with
you, Ephraim?
What am I to do with
you, Judah?
This love of yours is
like a morning cloud,
like the dew that
quickly disappears.
This is why I have
torn them to pieces by the prophets,
why I slaughtered
them with the words from my mouth,
since what I want is
love, not sacrifice;
knowledge of God, not
holocausts.
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Psalm
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Psalm
50:3-4,18-21 ©
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What I want is
love, not sacrifice.
Have mercy on me,
God, in your kindness.
In your
compassion blot out my offence.
O wash me more and
more from my guilt
and
cleanse me from my sin.
What I want is
love, not sacrifice.
For in sacrifice you
take no delight,
burnt
offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a
contrite spirit.
A
humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
What I want is
love, not sacrifice.
In your goodness,
show favour to Zion:
rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem.
Then you will be
pleased with lawful sacrifice,
burnt
offerings wholly consumed.
What I want is
love, not sacrifice.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps94:8
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Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
Harden not your
hearts today,
but listen to the
voice of the Lord.
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
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Gospel
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Luke 18:9-14 ©
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Jesus spoke the
following parable to some people who prided themselves on being virtuous and
despised everyone else: ‘Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee,
the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood there and said this prayer to
himself, “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like the
rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector here. I
fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” The tax collector stood some
distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to heaven; but he beat his
breast and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man, I tell you, went
home again at rights with God; the other did not. For everyone who exalts
himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself will be exalted.’
GOD
DESIRES OUR LOVE AND MERCY THROUGH KNOWLEDGE OF HIM
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: HOSEA 5:15-6:6; LUKE 18:9-14
The
first part of Lent, that is the first three weeks, focuses on the preparations
for the celebration of the paschal mystery. It is concerned with the
means, which is what the Lenten program of prayer, fasting and almsgiving
intends. From Monday onwards, we will begin the second half of Lent
where, after laying down the foundation, that is, the disposition, the Church
begins to focus on the passion of Christ. Rightly so, at the end of the third
week of Lent, the liturgy brings everything to focus by reminding us that
the goal of the Lenten exercises is to help us grow in love and knowledge of
God.
This love and knowledge
of God is far from merely performing spiritual exercises or putting up a show
for long and flowery prayers. Both scripture readings reiterate that God is not
interested in such superficial and fake prayers as they do not come from the
heart. This was the case of the Israelites in the first reading.
Hosea told the people off for searching for the Lord only in their misery.
They would repeat prayers from their ancestors, which, on the surface, looked
impressive, but in actual fact were all hollow. They kept repeating the prayers
of their fathers, “Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces,
but he will heal us; he has struck us down, but he will bandage our wounds;
after a day or two he will bring us back to life, on the third day he will
raise us and we shall live in his presence.”
Well, we are no better than
them when it comes to insincere prayers. Many of us have transformed
the costly grace of God to cheap grace. We too keep repeating the
mercy and unconditional love of God and citing even the scriptures. But
we are not making any effort to change our lives or to repent of our
sins. We keep asking God to be merciful to us but deep in our hearts, we
have no intention of giving up the sins that bind us. We do not even
fight against sin and succumb so easily when temptations draw near.
But the Lord will not
hear our prayers as He did not hear their prayers because such prayers are mere
lip service and lack sincerity. There was no true intention to amend their ways. Instead
they were abusing the mercy and love of God. Hence, God said, “What am I to do
with you, Ephraim? What am I to do with you, Judah? This love of yours is like
a morning cloud, like the dew that quickly disappears. This is why I have torn
them to pieces by the prophets, why I slaughtered them with the words from my
mouth.” They had no real desire to repent and turn to the Lord. For
this reason, God would have to give them a rude awakening. He too would
give us an awakening if we continue to deceive Him because the person who will
be deceived in the end is ourselves.
This hypocritical
attitude towards God is exemplified in the prayer of the Pharisee in today’s
gospel. He came
before God not to ask for mercy or for His blessings. Rather, he came
before God to boast about his merits. He prided himself in his
virtues. He gave a whole litany of the many good things he had done for
God. “I thank you, God, that I am not grasping, unjust, adulterous like
the rest of mankind, and particularly that I am not like this tax collector
here. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes on all I get.” Not only did he
pride himself before God but it also led him to despise his fellowmen. He
lived in a world of his own, thinking that he was above all men. By
comparing himself with others, he wallowed in his pride, became judgmental and
self-righteous.
Isn’t this the same for
many of us, especially during the season of Lent when we engage in prayer,
fasting and almsgiving? Don’t we have the smug feeling that we are
holier than those who pray less than us, who cannot fast and are not so
generous as we are with our time and money? If we catch ourselves
falling into the sin of pride, we must be watchful and pray for the gift of
humility because pride is the worst sin, the foundation of all other sins and
the source of all sins. Pride will destroy and alienate us not only from
God, but from our fellowmen and most of all, from our very self. When we
have a false estimation of ourselves, we begin to think so highly of what we do
and who we are.
In truth, it shows that
like the Pharisees, we have mistaken the whole purpose of the laws, and the
practice of virtues and good works. St Teresa says that the goal of prayer
is charity. The fruit of all our spiritual exercises is charity.
Without growth in charity, either for our neighbours, ourselves or for God, we
have prayed in vain. We have not prayed rightly, not so much in using the
wrong methods but having the wrong heart in prayer. Charity is a sure
criterion of knowing whether we have made progress in spiritual life, rather
than simply depending on the measurement of spiritual exercises and pious
practices.
In contrast, we should have
the attitude of the tax-collector who was a sinner despised by all
men. He “stood some distance away, not daring even to raise his eyes to
heaven; but he beat his breast and said, ‘God, be merciful to me, a
sinner.’” He knew himself and he knew he was a sinner. With deep
contrition and misery, aware of his sinfulness, he cried out to God in the
depths of his heart, to change his life and grant him mercy and strength.
He did not say much but the short prayer said it all. And Jesus said, “I
tell you, he went home again at rights with God; the other did not. For
everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the man who humbles himself
will be exalted.”
Significantly, he did
not condemn himself or others for leading him to sin, nor was he angry with
God. His prayer
was one that assumes full responsibility for his offences. He blamed no
one for the circumstances he was in. He knew he had hurt himself, his
fellowmen and most of all, God. He was a man of charity in spite of his
sins against his fellowmen. He did not despise anyone. He did
not condemn himself either, because he was sure of God’s mercy and love.
He was repentant not because he was guilty that he did not observe the
commandments and therefore failed to prove himself worthy before God.
Rather, he was sorry that he did not love and therefore caused God to be sad
and caused injury to his fellowmen. Hence, the responsorial psalm says
that what God wants is mercy, not sacrifice. This is what the Lord
said through the prophet Hosea, “what I want is love, not sacrifice; knowledge
of God, not holocausts.”
True prayer must spring
from our deep love and intimacy with God if it is to flow into works of charity. The spiritual
exercises are means, not the end themselves. They are meant to lead us to
the knowledge of God and, flowing from this knowledge, love and mercy. If we
only really know the heart and mercy of God, it will lead us to act
likewise. For this reason, true and sincere prayer is only possible if
there is a true and intimate knowledge of God. Without which, most of our
prayers are but an empty show, a parroting of words from some holy prayer books
and a diarrhoea of words. Indeed, if the prayers of the Anawim, that is,
the poor among the Israelites, were heard, it was because they prayed from the
intimacy of their hearts. They knew God’s mercy and love and so they were
confident of their prayers being answered, for God was so close to them, like
their Father. They never doubted in God’s fidelity to His promises to look
after them. In a nutshell, their prayers were born out of a relationship
between God and them. Such prayers are identical with God’s prayers, just
like the psalms in the bible. Although composed by men, they were
inspired by God and become God’s own prayers. This is the reason why the Church
prays the psalms daily and makes them as her own prayers.
So as we enter into the
second part of Lent, we must now, without relaxing the Lenten exercises, contemplate
more deeply on the passion of Christ. By knowing the heart of the
Father through Christ, we will enter into the paschal mystery with the
Lord. This is particularly so when we feel tired, disappointed,
disillusioned or fed up with life. When we feel like giving up, thinking
that everything has been done in vain, and when we have no more strength to
love and to carry on loving, then let the passion of Jesus, the heart and mercy
of God give us the strength to carry on. This is the key to sharing in
the resurrection of Christ.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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