20150509 CONSCIOUSNESS OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY AS THE PRE-REQUISITE FOR MISSION

20150509 CONSCIOUSNESS OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY AS THE PRE-REQUISITE FOR MISSION

Readings at Mass

First reading

Acts 16:1-10 ©

From Cilicia Paul went to Derbe, and then on to Lystra. Here there was a disciple called Timothy, whose mother was a Jewess who had become a believer; but his father was a Greek. The brothers at Lystra and Iconium spoke well of Timothy, and Paul, who wanted to have him as a travelling companion, had him circumcised. This was on account of the Jews in the locality where everyone knew his father was a Greek.

  As they visited one town after another, they passed on the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, with instructions to respect them.

  So the churches grew strong in the faith, as well as growing daily in numbers.

  They travelled through Phrygia and the Galatian country, having been told by the Holy Spirit not to preach the word in Asia. When they reached the frontier of Mysia they thought to cross it into Bithynia, but as the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them, they went through Mysia and came down to Troas.

  One night Paul had a vision: a Macedonian appeared and appealed to him in these words, ‘Come across to Macedonia and help us.’ Once he had seen this vision we lost no time in arranging a passage to Macedonia, convinced that God had called us to bring them the Good News.

Psalm

Psalm 99:1-3,5 ©

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

or

Alleluia!

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

  Serve the Lord with gladness.

  Come before him, singing for joy.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

or

Alleluia!

Know that he, the Lord, is God.

  He made us, we belong to him,

  we are his people, the sheep of his flock.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

or

Alleluia!

Indeed, how good is the Lord,

  eternal his merciful love.

  He is faithful from age to age.

Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth.

or

Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord, who hung for us upon the tree,

has risen from the tomb.

Alleluia!

Or

Col3:1

Alleluia, alleluia!

Since you have been brought back to true life with Christ,

you must look for the things that are in heaven, where Christ is,

sitting at God’s right hand.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 15:18-21 ©

Jesus said to his disciples:

‘If the world hates you,

remember that it hated me before you.

If you belonged to the world,

the world would love you as its own;

but because you do not belong to the world,

because my choice withdrew you from the world,

therefore the world hates you.

Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too;

if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.

But it will be on my account that they will do all this,

because they do not know the one who sent me.’

CONSCIOUSNESS OF CHRISTIAN IDENTITY AS THE PRE-REQUISITE FOR MISSION

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ACTS 16:1–10; JOHN 15:18-21

The Church is missionary in nature.  She does not exist simply for her members but for the world.  This mission originates from the Father who sent His Son into the world.  In turn, after His death and resurrection, the Son sent us the Holy Spirit to continue His mission in the world.  As such, all of us must also possess a missionary and evangelical spirit.  One cannot be an authentic Christian if one does not have a consciousness of the Church’s mission in the world.  If one’s faith is just a private affair, reducible to personal faith in Christ without being fired with the zeal to share in the mission of Christ, it would be difficult to believe that the Christian has any real faith or relationship with Jesus at all, since apparently he or she has no good news to share, not even about Jesus, the Good News in person.

This mission is expressed primarily by being conscious of our Christian dignity and living an authentic Christian life.  In the gospel, we see how Jesus speaks of the Christian calling and identity.  Christian identity must come before mission.  Without a clear appreciation of our dignity and privilege of being Christians, we have nothing to offer to the world, even if some were ready to hear the message.   It means living a life that is different from the values of the world.  A Christian remains a sign of contradiction to the world, like Jesus, His master.  Jesus made it clear that our thinking, as St Paul said in his letter to the Romans, must not conform to the values of the world.  The truth, as Jesus taught, is that we “do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world.” The world, in the context of John and Paul, does not refer to a disdain of what is earthly.  It is the worldly attitudes toward life based on selfishness, individualism and greed that are condemned.  When a person is a slave to the pursuits of pleasure, success, glory and power, disregarding the human values of love, compassion and the virtues, his life is considered worldly.  A Christian’s mind and thinking must always conform to the values of the gospel.

In truth, even as Christians, we tend to make compromises in accommodating the world, whether in dressing, education, work, morality and the universal values of honesty, integrity and altruistic love for humanity.  Everything is seen in a materialistic, pragmatic and individualist perspective. The ends justify the means.  What distinctive contribution do we provide to other religions and society?  If Christianity has nothing much to contribute to the world, then we have lost our mission and raison d’etre. Today, in the name of harmony, we are too ready to make compromises for false peace.  We are too ready to accommodate the values of the world.  Even non-Christian beliefs are being subtly “inculturated” into our faith, corrupting the purity of our faith in Christ.  Pacification is not the kind of peace that Jesus wants us to have.  The truth is that we are afraid to be different from others.  We want to feel accepted by the world.  When Christianity seeks to be popular, we will lose our distinctive flavor and our prophetic role as the light of the world and salt of the earth.

Today, the Church seems to be lacking both fervor and the courage to witness.  We no longer have the courage to proclaim the gospel in and out of season.  Secularization has led us to be inculturated by the world, instead of us Christianizing the world.   We are so afraid to be rejected by the world for fear of losing the world.  We are at risk of losing our status as a potent force in the world if we remain neutral in our faith because, as Jesus says, “If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you do not belong to the world, because my choice withdrew you from the world, therefore the world hates you.”  The world wants us to be absorbed by it so that we lose our Christian identity.

By opposing the trends of the world we are isolated, marginalized or even attacked vehemently, not just by opponents outside the Church but also by enemies within the Church. We are accused of being narrow minded, arrogant, militant, uncooperative, fanatical, conservative, etc. Those who uphold moral values are being attacked by secularists. The Holy Father is a good example.  Popes down the ages have all been champions of the poor, the marginalized, of the dignity of the human person, freedom of worship, the marriage institution, the protection of human lives.  Of course, this has made the popes very unpopular with the world.  We can witness the increasing onslaught against the Petrine Ministry.

If we feel discouraged and intimidated by the world, then let us take courage and find fortitude in the words of Jesus. He said, “If the world hates you, remember that it hated me before you.”  Indeed, Jesus, in the face of evil, did not retreat but spoke the truth even when it meant persecution and the cost of His life.  Jesus knew His message would bring about division in society because of evil men who oppose the truth.  The proclamation of the Kingdom of God was done in the context of the kingdom of Satan, which seeks to destroy and divide the world.   That is why Jesus warned us, “Remember the words I said to you: A servant is not greater than his master.  If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they kept my word, they will keep yours as well.”  So, we cannot expect to be exempted from the hostility of the world.  More importantly, this rejection we receive must not be taken personally but it is really the rejection against Jesus and His gospel.  Jesus said, “But it will be on my account that they will do all this, because they do not know the one who sent me.”   We suffer on account of Christ and the gospel we believe in.  The world is fighting against God, not us.

However, don’t be mistaken that the Church is promoting ultra-conservatism.  Being distinct is not for the sake of being different.   Advocating an uncompromising stand on the values of the gospel and the truth we hold does not mean that we are adamant and intolerant of others.  We do not act like the Inquisitors in the Middle Ages, or worse still, become executioners, like those who are fanatic in their beliefs. Indeed, we can compromise and accommodate when it does not do damage to the integrity of the message of the gospel. We can and must cooperate with the world and other religions on those values that are good and true for the promotion of love, unity and harmony.

This was the case of Timothy who was born of Jewish mother and Greek father.   Paul had him circumcised to satisfy the sensitivity of the narrow-minded and non-liberated Jews who were uncomfortable dealing with non-Jews for fear of ritual contamination.  And this was done in spite of an earlier ruling from the Jerusalem Council of not imposing the ritual and Jewish dietary customs on the Gentile converts.  But for the sake of the gospel and for a wider outreach, Paul had Timothy circumcised.  So for the sake of the proclamation of the gospel, one should deprive oneself of one’s rights without prejudicing his or her conscience.

Mission does not mean we need to go head on to confront the world.  We need diplomacy, patience, humility to listen, dialogue with those who are disagreeable through love and reason.   And only when the other party is ready, can we then begin to share on the level of faith.  There must be pedagogy of learning and discovering the truth.  We do not use violence or compulsion but simply speaking the truth in a way that they can be heard and understood, as the Church has always done in the area of politics and morality.

There is a legitimate way to inculturate the gospel in different cultures as the early missionaries and St Paul had done.  As a result we read “as they visited one town after another, they passed on the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, with instructions to respect them. So the churches grew strong in the faith, as well as growing daily in numbers.”  We need to adapt to the culture as the early Church did, distinguishing between what is faith and what is culture.  Although inseparable, they are distinct.  We are called to spread the gospel but in a way that is culturally expressed by the people we evangelize.  The truth of the gospel can and must be clothed according to the language and cultural expressions of the people we evangelize.

In truth, whether the Church or our Catholic community is an evangelizing community or not is determined by the prayer life and faith of the community.  Unless we are deeply loved by the Lord and remain in love with Him, we cannot speak of evangelical zeal.  Mission begins with the love of God and it is this love that sustains us at every step of our journey.  Mission is not about exporting some Christian ideology, as Pope Benedict tells us in his encyclical, “God is love.”  He wrote, “We have come to believe in God’s love: in these words the Christian can express the fundamental decision of his life. Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.”  The Christian values we hold are not mere ethical truths but flow from our love for the Lord.  So what is more important in our evangelical mission is the indispensable proclamation that Jesus is Lord, the love of God in person.  And all this is done with respect and sensitivity to others, but boldly, with courage.  Evangelization that falls short of an explicit proclamation of Jesus as Lord would be deficient.

Finally, we must realize that evangelization is really the work of the Holy Spirit.  It is therefore necessary to listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit as the early apostles did.  Missionary and evangelical work is not some kind of ideological propagation or proselytization.  It must be accompanied by prayer and attentiveness to what and where the Spirit is leading us.  It is significant that St Paul was very receptive to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and was always ready to go where the Spirit led him, even when it involved a change of plans.  The Church must not only be courageous to witness the gospel but always ever ready to take risks after listening to the Holy Spirit, especially when it is beyond human calculation.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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