20150316 FAITH IN JESUS AND HIS PROMISE AS THE BASIS OF HOPE FOR A
NEW LIFE
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah 65:17-21 ©
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Thus says the Lord:
Now I create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered,
and will come no more to men’s minds. Be glad and rejoice for ever and ever for
what I am creating, because I now create Jerusalem ‘Joy’ and her people
‘Gladness.’ I shall rejoice over Jerusalem and exult in my people. No more will
the sound of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her; in her, no more
will be found the infant living a few days only, or the old man not living to
the end of his days. To die at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to
live to be a hundred will be the sign of a curse. They will build houses and
inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
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Psalm
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Psalm
29:2,4-6,11-13 ©
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I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me
and have
not let my enemies rejoice over me.
O Lord, you have
raised my soul from the dead,
restored
me to life from those who sink into the grave.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
Sing psalms to the
Lord, you who love him,
give
thanks to his holy name.
His anger lasts a
moment; his favour all through life.
At night
there are tears, but joy comes with dawn.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
The Lord listened and
had pity.
The Lord
came to my help.
For me you have
changed my mourning into dancing:
O Lord my
God, I will thank you for ever.
I will praise you,
Lord, you have rescued me.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Ps129:5,7
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
My soul is waiting
for the Lord,
I count on his word,
because with the Lord
there is mercy
and fullness of
redemption.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Or
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cf.Amos5:14
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
Seek good and not
evil so that you may live,
and that the Lord God
of hosts may really be with you.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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John 4:43-54 ©
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Jesus left Samaria
for Galilee. He himself had declared that there is no respect for a prophet in
his own country, but on his arrival the Galileans received him well, having
seen all that he had done at Jerusalem during the festival which they too had
attended.
He went
again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there
was a court official there whose son was ill at Capernaum and, hearing that
Jesus had arrived in Galilee from Judaea, he went and asked him to come and
cure his son as he was at the point of death. Jesus said, ‘So you will not
believe unless you see signs and portents!’ ‘Sir,’ answered the official ‘come
down before my child dies.’ ‘Go home,’ said Jesus ‘your son will live.’ The man
believed what Jesus had said and started on his way; and while he was still on
the journey back his servants met him with the news that his boy was alive. He
asked them when the boy had begun to recover. ‘The fever left him yesterday’
they said ‘at the seventh hour.’ The father realised that this was exactly the
time when Jesus had said, ‘Your son will live’; and he and all his household
believed.
This
was the second sign given by Jesus, on his return from Judaea to Galilee.
FAITH
IN JESUS AND HIS PROMISE AS THE BASIS OF HOPE FOR A NEW LIFE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISAIAH 65:17-21; JOHN 4:43-54
We are
entering into the second part of the Lenten season. Three weeks
have passed since Lent began. That was why yesterday, traditionally, the
fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday, that is, a day of
rejoicing. We rejoice because we are growing closer towards Christ and
are drawing nearer to the celebration of the paschal mystery.
Consequently, instead of focusing on the different aspects of spiritual life as
the liturgy had done in the first three weeks of Lent, the second part of Lent
would be a meditation on the last days of the life of Christ on earth; His
passion, death and resurrection. So, beginning from this week, the gospel
will be taken from John’s gospel.
It is
also important to take note that the mood of joy overflows from
yesterday’s liturgy to today’s liturgy as well. In the first reading from
Isaiah, we detect joy. Through the prophet, God spoke, “Be glad and
rejoice for ever and ever for what I am creating, because I now create
Jerusalem, ‘Joy’ and her people, ‘Gladness’. No more will the sound
of weeping or the sound of cries be heard in her … “
What is
the basis of this joy? This joy comes about because of the
expectation of a new creation and a new earth. “Thus says the Lord: Now I
create new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered, and
will come no more to men’s minds.” There will be blessings and abundance
for “they will build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards and eat their
fruit.” Besides a new creation, there will be new life and everlasting
life. For God also promised, “No more will be found the infant living a
few days only, or the old man not living to the end of his days. To die
at the age of a hundred will be dying young; not to live to be a hundred will
be the sign of a curse.” Life is one of God’s greatest gifts. Thus,
the official in today’s gospel whose son recovered from an almost fatal illness
was filled with great joy
For
those of us who have taken upon ourselves the Lenten discipline of fasting,
almsgiving and prayers – we might be asking ourselves if this promise of new
life and a new creation is real. Will the celebration of the paschal
mystery at Easter make a difference in our lives? This was the
same question that the Jews were asking during the time of the
post-exile. They had just returned home from exile but the miracles and
great changes announced in Isaiah 40-55 did not happen yet. In fact, all
they experienced were difficulties and problems resulting from the fact that a
poor community was trying to reorganize itself after seventy years of
exile. How could they ever realize the promises proclaimed by the
prophet? We too will begin to doubt when we find that we are not making
much progress in our spiritual lives. We might have misgivings as to
whether the efforts we put in during this Lenten season are bringing us
anywhere.
If we
are feeling this way, then today’s liturgy of the second part of Lent is meant
to encourage us further so that we would not give up the vision given to us at
the beginning of Lent, which is to share in the transfiguration of Christ, and
most of all, to share in His sonship. What, then, is required for us
if we were to persevere in our Lenten programme?
We need
the faith of the pagan official who came to Jesus to request Him to cure
his dying son. Indeed, without faith in Him, we will never be able to
reach our goal of union with Jesus. Hence, Jesus reprimanded the people
saying, “So you will not believe unless you see signs and portents!” The reproach
of Jesus was directed at the listeners because they refused to
believe. Earlier on another occasion, Jesus reproached the towns of
Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum for their disbelief (Matthew 11:21-23),
because the miracles He worked there would have been enough to move the
Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon, and even Sodom itself to repentance.
Truly, they only came to see Jesus perform miracles and work wonders.
They were not interested in listening to His message or to believe in Him.
Indeed, we read in the gospel that after the miracle of the loaves, the people
sought Jesus, intending to make Him king, but they were slow to believe when He
taught them about the Eucharist.
This
does not mean that no miracles are possible today. Nay, what Jesus asks
of us and of the people in His days is a strong and committed faith in
Him. Jesus worked miracles to confirm His mission but we are called to
have faith not in the miracles but in the person of Christ. It is
faith in Him that makes miracles possible. God still works miracles
today, only if we have faith in Him. When God works miracles, it is in
order to bolster our faith. But true faith does not require miracles,
even if
it draws support from miracles. Indeed, for those who have faith, no
miracles are needed. But to those who have no faith, no miracles can
prove anything. Indeed, do lovers demand miracles in order to trust one
another? Do we always demand from our leaders or teachers absolute proof
before we believe in them?
Such
faith therefore demands trust in His word alone. We must take the
word of Jesus seriously and obey His word without questioning. This was
what the official did. When he wanted Jesus to follow him home and work a
miracle of healing for his son, Jesus told him to go back home instead and his
son would live. It was certainly not easy for the official to leave Jesus
and return home with only the assuring word that his son would be healed. But
the court official believed and surrendered to Jesus. Indeed, only when
we believe can miracles happen.
We too
are called to trust Jesus on His word alone. Quite often in
prayer, we would like Jesus to answer our prayers immediately. But Jesus
is asking us to trust in His wisdom and divine plan. He will take care of
our problems. Jesus knows when to make something happen, in His own time
and in His own ways.
Of
course, faith does not mean that we do nothing but simply wait. We have
to demonstrate our sincerity by making it possible for the Lord to
answer our prayers. So the official, we are told, took the effort of
traveling some 33 km between Capernaum and Cana to look for Jesus for help.
Such faith
requires humility, without which we cannot surrender ourselves to the
divine plan of God. As a high-ranking official, it would have been
embarrassing for him to let people know that he had sought a miracle cure from
the son of a carpenter. But the court official took the leap of faith
even if he were to be mocked and ridiculed by his people. He trusted in
Jesus’ word and God’s mercy.
At the
same time, the man was aware that his initial faith needed to grow.
He did not realize that Jesus could effect the cure from a distance. His
faith in Jesus was not yet perfect in contrast to the healing of the
Centurion’s son who said to the Lord, “I am not worthy to have you come under
my roof. Just say the word and my son will be healed.” Still, Jesus
was compassionate. The Lord wants to teach us through him that we need to
grow in total trust in His word. Hence, we too must learn to trust that
in our sufferings, things are changing even though we do not see these
explicitly. We must have faith like the official who believed his son was
healed even before he saw him.
Finally,
we are told that the true measure of faith is when we bring
transformation to the lives of others besides our own. Indeed, because of
his faith in Jesus, his whole household was converted to the Lord. We too
must be aware that our faith builds up faith in others. When we lack
faith, we affect others as well. Indeed, in a community where members’
faith in miracles and in the healing power of Jesus is lacking, then even those
with little faith might lose it. Conversely, when a community is full of
faith, it can buttress those members who are weak in faith. So let us be
aware that we need to deepen our faith in Christ not only for our sake, but
also for the sake of the salvation of others. When our faith in Jesus
increases, so too will the faith of others around us as well.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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