20150408 CRIPPLED BY BLINDNESS TO THE LARGER REALITY OF LIFE
Readings at Mass
|
First reading
|
Acts 3:1-10 ©
|
Once, when Peter and
John were going up to the Temple for the prayers at the ninth hour, it happened
that there was a man being carried past. He was a cripple from birth; and they
used to put him down every day near the Temple entrance called the Beautiful
Gate so that he could beg from the people going in. When this man saw Peter and
John on their way into the Temple he begged from them. Both Peter and John
looked straight at him and said, ‘Look at us.’ He turned to them expectantly,
hoping to get something from them, but Peter said, ‘I have neither silver nor
gold, but I will give you what I have: in the name of Jesus Christ the
Nazarene, walk!’ Peter then took him by the hand and helped him to stand up.
Instantly his feet and ankles became firm, he jumped up, stood, and began to
walk, and he went with them into the Temple, walking and jumping and praising
God. Everyone could see him walking and praising God, and they recognised him
as the man who used to sit begging at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple. They
were all astonished and unable to explain what had happened to him.
|
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
104:1-4,6-9 ©
|
Let the hearts
that seek the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
Give thanks to the
Lord, tell his name,
make
known his deeds among the peoples.
O sing to him, sing
his praise;
tell all
his wonderful works!
Let the hearts
that seek the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
Be proud of his holy
name,
let the
hearts that seek the Lord rejoice.
Consider the Lord and
his strength;
constantly
seek his face.
Let the hearts
that seek the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
O children of
Abraham, his servant,
O sons of
the Jacob he chose.
He, the Lord, is our
God:
his
judgements prevail in all the earth.
Let the hearts
that seek the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
He remembers his
covenant for ever,
his
promise for a thousand generations,
the covenant he made
with Abraham,
the oath
he swore to Isaac.
Let the hearts
that seek the Lord rejoice.
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Ps117:24
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
This day was made by
the Lord:
we rejoice and are
glad.
Alleluia!
|
Gospel
|
Luke 24:13-35 ©
|
Two of the disciples
of Jesus were on their way to a village called Emmaus, seven miles from
Jerusalem, and they were talking together about all that had happened. Now as
they talked this over, Jesus himself came up and walked by their side; but
something prevented them from recognising him. He said to them, ‘What matters
are you discussing as you walk along?’ They stopped short, their faces
downcast.
Then one
of them, called Cleopas, answered him, ‘You must be the only person staying in
Jerusalem who does not know the things that have been happening there these
last few days.’ ‘What things?’ he asked. ‘All about Jesus of Nazareth’ they
answered ‘who proved he was a great prophet by the things he said and did in
the sight of God and of the whole people; and how our chief priests and our
leaders handed him over to be sentenced to death, and had him crucified. Our
own hope had been that he would be the one to set Israel free. And this is not
all: two whole days have gone by since it all happened; and some women from our
group have astounded us: they went to the tomb in the early morning, and when
they did not find the body, they came back to tell us they had seen a vision of
angels who declared he was alive. Some of our friends went to the tomb and found
everything exactly as the women had reported, but of him they saw nothing.’
Then he
said to them, ‘You foolish men! So slow to believe the full message of the
prophets! Was it not ordained that the Christ should suffer and so enter into
his glory?’ Then, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets, he
explained to them the passages throughout the scriptures that were about
himself.
When they
drew near to the village to which they were going, he made as if to go on; but
they pressed him to stay with them. ‘It is nearly evening’ they said ‘and the
day is almost over.’ So he went in to stay with them. Now while he was with
them at table, he took the bread and said the blessing; then he broke it and
handed it to them. And their eyes were opened and they recognised him; but he
had vanished from their sight. Then they said to each other, ‘Did not our
hearts burn within us as he talked to us on the road and explained the
scriptures to us?’
They
set out that instant and returned to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven
assembled together with their companions, who said to them, ‘Yes, it is true.
The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.’ Then they told their story of
what had happened on the road and how they had recognised him at the breaking
of bread.
CRIPPLED
BY BLINDNESS TO THE LARGER REALITY OF LIFE
08
April 2015, Wednesday within the Octave of Easter
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ACTS 3:1-10;
LK 24:13-35
During
this octave of Easter, we are called to reflect on why is it that the power of
the resurrection has not enabled us to live as a redeemed people yet.
Yes, Jesus might have risen, but it does not mean that we are subjectively
redeemed. The scripture readings today present to us two possible
obstacles as to why we are still not experiencing the power of the
resurrection.
The
first reason is that some of us are crippled like the man who begged at the
beautiful gate of the temple. That is to say that physical handicaps or
material disadvantage can prevent us from seeing the larger reality of
life. Thus, people who are materially poor or lack skills and knowledge
can become so obsessed with the need to build up their personal and material
wealth that they fail to see the larger picture of life. In that
sense they are no different from the crippled man who too was begging for the
mundane things of life. But the tragedy of it all is that
such people who focus only on acquiring such temporal things will end up living
at the periphery of life. Consequently, in seeking only for alms from
Peter and John, the crippled man was missing out on the bigger dimension of
life.
That
was why Peter did not give him what he asked for, for to give him alms alone
would not really liberate the man. Hence, Peter told him, “Gold and
silver, I do not have but I give you what I can”; namely, the ability to walk
again in the name of Jesus. To walk in the name of Jesus means of course
more than just a physical recovery from his handicap, but it means that he is
not able to live his life by the power of the Risen Christ, having faith in him
and the gospel. It is ultimately such kind of faith that would
eventually set him free from being crippled in life. Yes, Peter wanted to
give him a larger view of life instead of looking at life from a narrow
perspective.
However,
some of us do not fall into this first category because we might feel quite
adequate in life, knowing that we are materially well off and personally
endowed with sufficient talents. But then, the danger is that such
material comforts can lead us to be blind to the total reality of life.
This group of people is well illustrated in the disciples of Emmaus. We
are told that they too were crippled, not physically but emotionally and
spiritually. Unlike the earlier group, this group is crippled due
to their blindness. They just could not understand how the great
enterprise started by Jesus could end so abruptly. It was perceived by
them to be a tragedy. Yes, it was their blindness to the real meaning of
the event that crippled them from seeing the Risen Lord who was walking with
them. However, when Jesus explained to them the significance of the
events, they could then recognize the Risen Lord at the breaking of
bread. In other words, it was when they were led to look at the whole
situation in the perspective of faith that they realized that the Lord was
present with them.
If we
find ourselves believing in the Risen Lord but still not redeemed, it could be
due to the fact that we are still crippled by our disillusionment and
resentments and hence unable to see life through the eyes of the Risen
Lord. We are still looking at life according to our limited perspective,
like the crippled man. He only thought of begging for money but he did
not have the courage and the foresight to look beyond his immediate
needs. He had no vision – a vision that could offer him a fuller life.
Or we
could be like the disciples at Emmaus who, due to their lack of understanding
and their blindness, were weighed down by their disappointments and thus unable
to see the reality of life in its fullness, namely, the intrinsic connection
between the cross and the resurrection. We are still denying the cross in
our lives in some ways or another. But the moment we accept the cross as
essential to the resurrection, then we will not be so weary and downhearted
like the disciples at Emmaus. We will know then, that the cross is not
the end of the story. Rather, we will realize that it is the cross that
makes the resurrection possible in our lives.
Let me
conclude this reflection with a short story of how a narrow view of life can
prevent us from seeing the totality of life. Once there was a man who was
obsessed with gold. Day and night, he thought of nothing but gold.
One day, he went to the goldsmith shop. He snatched the gold of a
potential buyer and fled. But the shop owner cried for help.
Eventually, he was caught by the police. When they asked what made him
snatch the gold in front of so many people, he replied, “At the time when I
snatched the gold, I did not see the people. I only saw the gold.”
Indeed, when one’s mind is overly preoccupied with something, one becomes
oblivious to all other things, often to the detriment of one’s being.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment