20150317 THE PROCESS OF FAITH IN JESUS AS THE LIFE-GIVER
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Ezekiel
47:1-9,12 ©
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The angel brought me
to the entrance of the Temple, where a stream came out from under the Temple
threshold and flowed eastwards, since the Temple faced east. The water flowed
from under the right side of the Temple, south of the altar. He took me out by
the north gate and led me right round outside as far as the outer east gate
where the water flowed out on the right-hand side. The man went to the east
holding his measuring line and measured off a thousand cubits; he then made me
wade across the stream; the water reached my ankles. He measured off another
thousand and made me wade across the stream again; the water reached my knees.
He measured off another thousand and made me wade across again; the water
reached my waist. He measured off another thousand; it was now a river which I
could not cross; the stream had swollen and was now deep water, a river
impossible to cross. He then said, ‘Do you see, son of man?’ He took me
further, then brought me back to the bank of the river. When I got back, there
were many trees on each bank of the river. He said, ‘This water flows east down
to the Arabah and to the sea; and flowing into the sea it makes its waters
wholesome. Wherever the river flows, all living creatures teeming in it will
live. Fish will be very plentiful, for wherever the water goes it brings
health, and life teems wherever the river flows. Along the river, on either
bank, will grow every kind of fruit tree with leaves that never wither and
fruit that never fails; they will bear new fruit every month, because this
water comes from the sanctuary. And their fruit will be good to eat and the
leaves medicinal.’
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Psalm
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Psalm
45:2-3,5-6,8-9 ©
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The Lord of hosts
is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
God is for us a
refuge and strength,
a helper
close at hand, in time of distress,
so we shall not fear
though the earth should rock,
though
the mountains fall into the depths of the sea.
The Lord of hosts
is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
The waters of a river
give joy to God’s city,
the holy
place where the Most High dwells.
God is within, it
cannot be shaken;
God will
help it at the dawning of the day.
The Lord of hosts
is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
The Lord of hosts is
with us:
the God
of Jacob is our stronghold.
Come, consider the
works of the Lord,
the
redoubtable deeds he has done on the earth.
The Lord of hosts
is with us: the God of Jacob is our stronghold.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps50:12,14
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
and give me again the
joy of your help.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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John 5:1-3,5-16 ©
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There was a Jewish
festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem
there is a building, called Bethzatha in Hebrew, consisting of five porticos;
and under these were crowds of sick people – blind, lame, paralysed –
waiting for the water to move; One man there had an illness which had lasted
thirty-eight years, and when Jesus saw him lying there and knew he had been in
this condition for a long time, he said, ‘Do you want to be well again?’ ‘Sir,’
replied the sick man ‘I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is
disturbed; and while I am still on the way, someone else gets there before me.’
Jesus said, ‘Get up, pick up your sleeping-mat and walk.’ The man was cured at
once, and he picked up his mat and walked away.
Now
that day happened to be the sabbath, so the Jews said to the man who had been
cured, ‘It is the sabbath; you are not allowed to carry your sleeping-mat.’ He
replied, ‘But the man who cured me told me, “Pick up your mat and walk.”’ They
asked, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Pick up your mat and walk”?’ The man
had no idea who it was, since Jesus had disappeared into the crowd that filled
the place. After a while Jesus met him in the Temple and said, ‘Now you are
well again, be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen to you.’
The man went back and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had cured him. It was
because he did things like this on the sabbath that the Jews began to persecute
Jesus.
THE
PROCESS OF FAITH IN JESUS AS THE LIFE-GIVER
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: EZ47:1-9, 12; JN 5:1-3, 5-16
Lent is
a 40-day retreat to prepare us to renew our baptismal vows. The purpose
of baptism is to direct us towards the New Life that is given to us at
Easter. Hence, the liturgy of Lent is a kind of Catechesis to help
us grow in faith in Jesus, the life-giver. Today’s liturgy explains how this
new life can be given to us; and what would be necessary for faith to grow and
develop.
The growth in faith must
begin with the search.
This search springs from the reality of the situation when we recognize a lack
in our own lives that something is missing. Indeed, many are seeking a
fuller life. Many of us are just like the Israelites who were living in
exile. Our lives are barren and unproductive. Just like the sick
people, the lame, the blind and the paralyzed at the Sheep Pool in Jerusalem,
we too who are figuratively lame, blind and paralyzed in our own lives, are all
looking for help and for a miracle to happen.
In our desperate search
for salvation, for life, we too, like them, can become superstitious as well. We are told that it was their
belief that the angel would come and stir up the water and anyone who manages
to get in first would be healed. Such superstition applies to us as
well. In our desperate search for life, some of us turn to wealth,
power and status. Others turn to exotic religions for liberation and
fulfillment. Yet others turn to all kinds of meditation and gurus.
Thus, the gospel reminds us
that in our search for life, there is one thing we must learn. Patience!
The sick man waited 38 years for salvation. Day after day, he waited, and
never gave up hope. We too must be patient and wait for renewal and for
grace. Patience is a test of our love for God. Patience will see us
through and grace will happen. But we must wait for that day of
salvation.
Secondly, before we can
find life, we must be clear of what we are seeking. This calls for a real
commitment. Hence, Jesus’ question for the disciple, “Do you want
to be well again?” is also relevant for us, because if we do want to find
the fullness of life, then we must be ready to commit ourselves to whatever we
are asking. And thus, the paralyzed man was told, “Get up, pick up
your sleeping-mat and walk.” And that was what he did, even though he
knew that carrying a sleeping-mat breaches the Sabbath law. He knew the
consequences, and yet he took the mat and walked. He did not have any doubt
that he would be able to walk; and not only to walk, but also have the strength
to carry the mat! The problem is that many of us want eternal life but
are not ready to pay the price, or to put in the little effort required to
procure this life. This reflects our sincerity, or lack of it.
Thirdly, we must
recognize who is our true healer and life-giver. Indeed, the question
that is posed to the man is also addressed to us, “Who is the man who said to
you, ‘Pick up your mat and walk?’” Do we know who can truly give us
life? The fact is that Jesus, who is the new Temple of God, the dwelling
place of God, is the only one who can give us life. Jesus is the one who
can cure us. For this reason, the paralyzed man who was healed found Him
in the temple. In other words, Jesus is the new Temple. Jesus is
the fulfillment of the prophecy of Ezekiel. He is the living water.
Just as the river from the Temple of Jerusalem flows east down to the Arabah
through the desert into the dead sea, giving life to all living things and
plants, so too, Jesus can give us all life. From His side will flow
streams of living water, like the Temple in Jerusalem prophesied by
Ezekiel. As the living water, He comes to give us the Spirit of God and
His love. Do we have faith in Jesus who can heal us and renew us?
Do we come to Him to find strength and grace?
Fourthly, after our
baptism, we must “be sure not to sin any more, or something worse may happen”
to us. In other words, are we still faithful to our baptismal
vows? Yes, we cannot turn back. We must be convicted and willing to
change to a better life and not take our baptism for granted. Are we
sincere in living out our baptismal vows? Isn’t it a fact that we take it
for granted? Have we become complacent and indifferent? Have we
returned to our old way of life? If we have, then this would be an even
greater sin because, unlike earlier, we cannot now claim ignorance. After
baptism, the failure to follow Jesus becomes morally culpable, since we knowingly
continue to live in sin and in darkness even though we know Jesus is our Light.
However, our reflection
cannot end here. We must go beyond simply the level of commitment to our
baptismal vows. For over and above our baptismal commitment, we have made
another commitment, which is the vocation that we have chosen to live. We
have freely chosen to give ourselves to Jesus and His Church for the mission of
proclaiming the Good News according to our state of life and our vocation in
the world. Corresponding to the pattern of the process of coming to faith
in Jesus, we must also apply the same process to that of our vocation calling
as well.
Firstly, we must
consider our search, that is, our calling in life. What is it that we
want to do with our life? How do we know that God is calling us? We
know that we are called only if we feel there is a greater thirst in our lives,
more than just our worldly and mundane needs. When we experience some
inadequacy or lack of fulfillment in what we are doing, then perhaps, the Lord
is calling us to do more and give more. This is particularly true if we
feel that we are called for a mission to help the poor, to bring the light and
life of Christ to others through the work we do. In other words, we know
that we have a call if we feel that we want to be those people who could come
to the help of those who are helpless, like the paralyzed man when he had no
one to help him. Do we have that zeal and the mission?
Secondly, we must ask
ourselves, “Is that what we really want to do in life, or rather, what is God
calling us to do?” This might seem a redundant question. But it is
not. Many of us have chosen our vocation, but we are not ready to offer
ourselves in love and service to our family and the corporation we are working
for. We are calculative. We are worldly in our thinking and
lifestyles. We only work for money, but do not see our work as a
contribution to the development of humanity and society. When there is a
little bit of suffering, we complain much. If we want to be of service to
the country and the world, then we must be ready to die with our master in
serving our people. If we care more for ourselves than others, then it
cannot be said that we are ready for the vocation of parenthood and that
specific vocation we have undertaken in the world.
Thirdly, do we take
Jesus seriously in our life? Do we put Him above everyone and
everything else and seek Him and seek life? Do we seek Him as the
living water, our inspiration and model? For unless we know who Jesus is
to us, and unless we know Him from our heart that He is our Lord, Saviour and
Healer, there is no way we can bring Him to others through our examples of
Christian living. And if we claim that He is truly our Lord and Saviour,
how much time do we spend with Him? Do we love Him so deeply and
intimately that He is closer to us than anyone else? Unless that happens,
we will not be able to offer ourselves completely at His disposal.
Finally, do we take the
warning of Jesus that if we choose such a vocation, then we should not turn
back and be a disgrace and a traitor to His mission? Quite often, many of
us are unfaithful in our calling as spouse or the profession we have taken upon
ourselves, whether as a lawyer, doctor or social worker. We forget that
God has given us the talents to serve the people of God. Once we
get our qualifications, we allow complacency and selfishness to set in.
Instead of living out our calling to the fullest, we live only for ourselves,
for fame, money and power. We do not live our vocation seriously and
devotedly. By so doing, we become counter witnesses to our faith.
We are told that when the Jews heard the things that Jesus did on the Sabbath,
the Jews began to persecute Jesus. It is an irony that the purpose of the
Sabbath, which is meant to give life, should prevent Jesus from giving life on
the Sabbath Day. In whichever vocation, we are called to be life-givers,
but it would be a tragedy if instead of giving ourselves to others, we use our
vocation to take life from others and attend to our own selfish needs and
interests.
And indeed the warning of
Jesus to the paralyzed man would even be more severe for us, since a heavier
judgment and penalty would be imposed on us for failing to live up to our
commitments. As Christians, we are supposedly to be in the know about
faith and morals. We have no excuse for living a foolish and sinful life
like the other people in the world. Thus, we can expect to be punished
more severely, since we are in a privileged position in our relationship with
God.
Yes, today we are called to
renew our faith in Jesus and our vocation. We are called to strengthen
our faith in Jesus and renew our calling so that we can be truly faithful to
our vocation, giving ourselves completely to others so that they may have life
and be healed of their brokenness. In this way, like Jesus, we will bring
life and fecundity to those who live in the barren desert of life.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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