20150531 CHOSEN FOR DISCIPLESHIP AND MISSION
Readings at Mass
First reading
|
Deuteronomy
4:32-34,39-40 ©
|
Moses said to the
people: ‘Put this question to the ages that are past, that went before you,
from the time God created man on earth: Was there ever a word so majestic, from
one end of heaven to the other? Was anything ever heard? Did ever a people hear
the voice of the living God speaking from the heart of the fire, as you heard
it, and remain alive? Has any god ventured to take to himself one nation from
the midst of another by ordeals, signs, wonders, war with mighty hand and
outstretched arm, by fearsome terrors – all this that the Lord your God
did for you before your eyes in Egypt?
‘Understand
this today, therefore, and take it to heart: the Lord is God indeed, in heaven
above as on earth beneath, he and no other. Keep his laws and commandments as I
give them to you today, so that you and your children may prosper and live long
in the land that the Lord your God gives you for ever.’
Psalm
|
Psalm
32:4-6,9,18-20,22 ©
|
Happy the people
the Lord has chosen as his own.
For the word of the
Lord is faithful
and all
his works to be trusted.
The Lord loves
justice and right
and fills
the earth with his love.
Happy the people
the Lord has chosen as his own.
By his word the
heavens were made,
by the
breath of his mouth all the stars.
He spoke; and it came
to be.
He
commanded; it sprang into being.
Happy the people
the Lord has chosen as his own.
The Lord looks on
those who revere him,
on those
who hope in his love,
to rescue their souls
from death,
to keep
them alive in famine.
Happy the people
the Lord has chosen as his own.
Our soul is waiting
for the Lord.
The Lord
is our help and our shield.
May your love be upon
us, O Lord,
as we place
all our hope in you.
Happy the people
the Lord has chosen as his own.
Second reading
|
Romans 8:14-17 ©
|
Everyone moved by the
Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves
bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us
cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united witness
that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as well: heirs
of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to share his
glory.
Gospel
Acclamation
|
cf.Rv1:8
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Glory be to the
Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit;
the God who is, who
was, and who is to come.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
Matthew 28:16-20
©
|
The eleven disciples
set out for Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had arranged to meet them.
When they saw him they fell down before him, though some hesitated. Jesus came
up and spoke to them. He said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given
to me. Go, therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptise them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teach them to
observe all the commands I gave you. And know that I am with you always; yes,
to the end of time.’
CHOSEN
FOR DISCIPLESHIP AND MISSION
In the
first reading, we read how God chose the People of Israel to be His own.
Indeed the people were merely slaves in Egypt. They were under the
bondage of Pharaoh. But God in His mercy set them free from the slavery
of the Egyptians.
The new
life of Christ has now been given to us as well. We are called not simply
to be God’s people but His very own, that is, to be His sons and
daughters. The fullness of our identity can be realized only in
Christ. By His death and resurrection, He not only revealed to us our
identity as the adopted sons and daughters of His heavenly Father, but that we
have a share in His divine life. This is made possible when the Father
poured out the Spirit of Jesus into our hearts in His name. This is what
St Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans. “Everyone moved by the Spirit
is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit of slaves bringing
fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it makes us cry out,
‘Abba, Father!'”
Knowing
that God is not just a transcendent God but our personal Father makes us feel
that we are not merely His creatures but His children as well. This
experience of sonship and daughtership frees us from slavery and fear. We
can now live our lives in total freedom because we know that God our Heavenly
Father will look after us as He looked after Jesus. Even when we find the
trials of life too overwhelming and difficult, we can surrender our lives to
the Heavenly Father as Jesus did. We can also commend our spirit to the
Father whom we know will help us to overcome every trial and even death.
So with the rediscovery of our true identity as the adopted sons and daughters
of God in Christ, our lives are now lived with a purpose and with
dignity. We no longer need to live as slaves to the world but in total
freedom as God’s children. Indeed, the partial revelation of the people
of God as God’s own and the deliverance from physical slavery is not fully revealed
with the declaration that we are the children of God and that we are interiorly
free.
How can
one mediate this Trinitarian experience of the One God whom we worship as
Father, Son and Holy Spirit? This experience is transmitted through
baptism. This is why the Lord commands us to baptize. He
said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go,
therefore, make disciples of all the nations; baptize them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Baptism therefore is
the matrix in which a person is initiated into the experience of a Trinitarian
God.
However,
it is not sufficient to know that we are God’s children. All children
must grow to adulthood and maturity. What is the use of being born again
when we die a premature death? The gift of baptism and rebirth requires that we
bring the gift of eternal life given to us to fullness. We are not only
called to be baptized but Jesus specifically makes it clear that we are called
to be disciples. “Go, therefore, make disciples of all the
nations.” Indeed, we cannot be contented with making converts to
the Faith. More importantly, we must make them disciples.
This is
the real weakness of the Catholic Church. We are good at making converts.
We even boast of the number of converts each year. We are proud of the
large number of Catholics in our country. But what is the quality of
their faith? Are they mature in their faith? Are they making others
disciples of Christ? Are they evangelizing? Are they living as sons
and daughters of God? Do they know the Father more and more
intimately? Do they live the gospel of Christ? How many of our
young have left the Church after confirmation? How many of them live the
gospel and moral life as demanded of us? Are they proud to be Catholics
and to be identified as such in the world? How are they bringing the gospel
into the lives of the people in their place of work, family and society?
Discipleship
is an ongoing reality. We never stop being disciples. We need to
underscore once again the importance of Christian discipleship. We cannot
be left on our own. We need formation throughout our lives. Our
Catholic faith cannot be reduced to attending mass on Sundays and praying the
occasional prayers. Unless we seriously see the importance of our
on-going formation in our faith, in doctrines and most of all our spiritual
life, a deepening prayer life and love for the Word of God, we cannot expect to
truly enjoy the fullness of life as the sons and daughters of God. The truth
is that many of us are Christian in name but not in fact. This explains
why many of us are nominal Catholics. We do believe in God and in Christ
but it is not a living and lively personal faith. Our faith in God is
merely notional and unconscious rather than a conscious personal
relationship. The only time when faith becomes more personal is when we
are desperate to seek God’s help and divine intervention to solve our problems.
However,
discipleship cannot take place without a community. It is not enough to
confess our faith in the Holy Trinity in name but not in fact. To confess
our faith in the Trinity and therefore the desire to live the Trinitarian life
since we are baptized in the name of the Trinity, we must also imitate the life
of God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, although
distinct within the being of God, yet all three are in each other, for each
other, by each other and from each other. The unity of the three persons
in the inner life of God is one of intense union, reciprocal love, of
interpenetration of life. This accounts for the dynamic and vibrant life
of God. God is a living God because He is a God of life and love, of
mutual giving and receiving.
Accordingly,
to be a disciple is to live the Trinitarian relationship among ourselves.
We, too, wherever we go, at home, in our place of work, in the community, in
society and in the country, we must live a life of communion. We are
called to support each other in every way. We are called to live a life
of love and unity among ourselves. We are distinct and different, yet the
strength of the Catholic lies in living a life of unity not in spite but
because of our diversity. We are all one in the Lord, regardless of our
race, language, culture or status in life. As Catholics, we need a
community in which our fellow brothers and sisters can journey with us in our
faith, support us when we are going through the trials of life. Formation
happens formally or informally, always within the community of faith.
Faith is very much connected with the extent of our relationship with the
community. This also explains why those who do not take discipleship and
formation seriously normally have not much link to the community. They
are alone and eventually drop out of the Church.
Finally,
through the empowering of God’s love in the community, we are inspired and
filled with joy and zeal to share our fellowship with God and with each other
with the world. Truly, this is what it means to fulfill the command of
our Lord to go out to the whole world to proclaim the Gospel and baptize them
in the name of the Trinity.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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