20150607
KEEPING OUR PROMISES
Reading
1, Exodus 24:3-8
3
Moses went and told the people all Yahweh's words and all the laws, and all the
people answered with one voice, 'All the words Yahweh has spoken we will carry
out!'
4
Moses put all Yahweh's words into writing, and early next morning he built an
altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve standing-stones for the twelve
tribes of Israel.
5
Then he sent certain young Israelites to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice bullocks
to Yahweh as communion sacrifices.
6
Moses then took half the blood and put it into basins, and the other half he
sprinkled on the altar.
7
Then, taking the Book of the Covenant, he read it to the listening people, who
then said, 'We shall do everything that Yahweh has said; we shall obey.'
8
Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it over the people, saying, 'This is
the blood of the covenant which Yahweh has made with you, entailing all these
stipulations.'
Responsorial
Psalm, Psalms 116:12-13, 15-16, 17-18
12
What return can I make to Yahweh for his generosity to me?
13
I shall take up the cup of salvation and call on the name of Yahweh.
15
Costly in Yahweh's sight is the death of his faithful.
16
I beg you, Yahweh! I am your servant, I am your servant and my mother was your
servant; you have undone my fetters.
17
I shall offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of Yahweh.
18
I shall fulfil my vows to Yahweh, witnessed by all his people,
Reading
2, Hebrews 9:11-15
11
But now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to
come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, not made by
human hands, that is, not of this created order;
12
and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the
blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal
redemption.
13
The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who
have incurred defilement, may restore their bodily purity.
14
How much more will the blood of Christ, who offered himself, blameless as he
was, to God through the eternal Spirit, purify our conscience from dead actions
so that we can worship the living God.
15
This makes him the mediator of a new covenant, so that, now that a death has
occurred to redeem the sins committed under an earlier covenant, those who have
been called to an eternal inheritance may receive the promise.
Gospel,
Mark 14:12-16, 22-26
12 On
the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his
disciples said to him, 'Where do you want us to go and make the preparations
for you to eat the Passover?'
13
So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, 'Go into the city and you will
meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him,
14
and say to the owner of the house which he enters, "The Master says: Where
is the room for me to eat the Passover with my disciples?"
15
He will show you a large upper room furnished with couches, all prepared. Make
the preparations for us there.'
22
And as they were eating he took bread, and when he had said the blessing he
broke it and gave it to them. 'Take it,' he said, 'this is my body.'
23
Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he handed it to them, and all
drank from it,
24
and he said to them, 'This is my blood, the blood of the covenant, poured out
for many.
25
In truth I tell you, I shall never drink wine any more until the day I drink
the new wine in the kingdom of God.'
26
After the psalms had been sung they left for the Mount of Olives.
KEEPING
OUR PROMISES
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: EX 24:3-8;
PS 115:12-13,15-18; HEB 9:11-15; MK 14:12-16.22-26
We all
expect people to keep their commitments; otherwise it would be impossible to
trust them. Without trust, nothing can be achieved in life. At the
most basic level of commitment is the keeping of promises. When a promise
with consequences is made between two persons, it is called a contract.
Christians have an even higher level of contract which we call
“Covenant.” A covenant, unlike a contract, is not between two equal
parties, as in the case of God and us. We read of such a covenant in the
first reading between the Israelites and God.
However,
today many people cannot keep their promises, vows or contracts. Again
and again, we experience betrayals by those who have not kept their promises to
us. Of course, on our part, we also fail to keep our promises. This
is particularly true not just in friendships, business or work, but even in
marriage and religious vows. Marriages do not last. The beautiful
vows made at the wedding are broken within the first few years of
marriage. So, too, religious vows not kept and the evangelical counsels
not observed, whether it is with regard to poverty, chastity or
obedience. Indeed, we are just like the Israelites in the Old
Testament. We know from their history that they broke the commandments
time and again, during their sojourn in the desert and later in the Promised
Land. They failed to keep the Covenant the Lord made with them.
Despite all the solemn promises made through the rituals, like the one we read
in today’s first reading, the commitments were never kept.
Why are
we not able to keep our promises even though they are given to the Lord?
The truth is that quite often we do not interiorize the promises we make.
We do not fully understand the implications of what we have committed
ourselves to. Without an inner conviction, we will not be able to
carry out what we do. The rituals that we perform are merely external to
us. They look beautiful and nice on the outside but how many of us really
seek to be faithful to the rituals we celebrate? Take the Ordination rite
for example. It is so inspiring and moving to have the candidate for ordination
prostrate before the altar as a symbol of total surrender and sacrifice;
manifested in a life of obedience, poverty and chastity. But how many
really live out this act of surrender that was made at ordination when they
prostrated before the Lord? Of course, this is also true in marriage as
well.
We
presume that all who take the vows are as sincere as were the Israelites.
The real obstacle is that we lack the capacity to observe the vows we make, no
matter how beautiful they might be. We are weak and selfish. We are
easily tempted and strayed. So often, not only do we disappoint others,
but we also disappoint ourselves. Like St Peter, we often feel so ashamed
of ourselves and are unable even to look into the eyes of the Lord because of
our unworthiness. We are after all sinners.
For
this reason, another covenant was required. The second reading says, “Now
Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He
has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than one
made by men’s hands because it is not of this created order; and he has entered
the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull
calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us.” In
other words, only Jesus can lead the way and give us the capacity to do what He
did. How is the New Covenant effective in transforming our lives and
making it possible for us to be committed?
Firstly,
Jesus shows us the way by His life, passion, death and resurrection. He
is our sacrifice, the priest and the victim. Instead of offering the
blood of bulls and goats, He offered Himself, His own blood and body for our
salvation. In other words, He did not use any animals as substitute but
offered His very self. By His incarnation, stripped of His
divinity, and then stripped again of his humanity at His death, Jesus showed
Himself as our sacrifice to the Father. He gave Himself to us in total
obedience to the Father’s will. In this way, He fulfilled the
Father’s will by being the expression of His Father’s unconditional love and
mercy for us. The author of Hebrew says, “The blood of goats and
bulls and the ashes of a heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred
defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more
effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice
to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions
so that we do our service to the living God.”
Indeed,
as He said, there is no greater love a man can give, than to lay down his life
for his friends, and greater still, for his enemies. The greatest
sacrifice is not external offerings, not even the giving of money and
gifts. All these remain good and important but they are still
extrinsic. To give oneself, which includes all the gifts, especially of
one’s will, convenience and time for others, is the highest form of self-sacrifice,
especially when it entails death to self. This explains why martyrs
and those who gave up their lives for the service of God, country and the poor
are highly honoured; not those who are rich and powerful. Only good
people who put others before themselves will be remembered for ever in history;
not those who serve themselves. Jesus, by His death, assures us that our
sins are forgiven. “He brings a new covenant, as the mediator, only so
that the people who were called to an eternal inheritance may actually receive
what was promised: his death took place to cancel the sins that infringed the
earlier covenant.”
Indeed,
today we are called to do the same. We are called to make the sacrifice
of Jesus ours as well. This was what He instructed the disciples at
the Last Supper when He said, “’Take it,’ he said ‘this is my body.’ Then he
took a cup, and when he had returned thanks he gave it to them, and all drank
from it, and he said to them, ‘This is my blood, the blood of the covenant,
which is to be poured out for many.” It is not sufficient to watch Jesus
being offered at mass as our sacrifice. We are called to join ourselves in this
sacrifice of His, for He said, “Do this in memory of me!” To do
this in memory of Him is more than just reenacting the sacrifice of Christ at
Calvary but also to live out that sacrifice in our daily life by offering
ourselves in love and service for God, our country and our fellowmen in humble
and selfless giving. We cannot be mere spectators of this sublime
sacrifice of Christ. We, too, must shed our blood for others and give up
our body for them.
Jesus
has given us the inner motive to offer ourselves in union with Him.
However, this is still insufficient because we still cannot do what He
did. Selfless charity and service is not something that is possible with
human strength. Indeed, when St Francis encountered the leper, his
immediate reaction was to run away as he was overwhelmed by fear and was
repulsed by the sight of the leper. It was a natural reaction.
But just as he was running away, the Holy Spirit filled him with the love of
Christ, and plucking courage from the supernatural grace he received from
Christ, he ran back to hug the leper. We, too, cannot repeat what Jesus
did unless He empowers us.
How?
This was the same question raised by the psalmist. “How can I repay the
Lord for his goodness to me? The cup of salvation I will raise; I will
call on the Lord’s name.” Indeed, we must turn to the Lord to give us the
capacity to respond in thanksgiving for the goodness we have received from
Him. “O precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his faithful.
Your servant, Lord, your servant am I; you have loosened my bonds.”
Jesus
not only gave us His body and blood on the cross for the forgiveness of our
sins but He wants to give us the same Spirit of His Father whom He has
received. How? By inviting us to receive His body and blood!
In receiving His body and blood in the Eucharist, we receive the Holy Spirit
into our lives again. To drink His blood is to be connected to His divine
life; and to be fed by His body is to be fed with the Word of God. Blood,
after all, is the symbol of life, and bread is the symbol of food. Eating
His body and drinking His blood, we receive the Holy Spirit anew each time when
we commune with the Lord in Holy Communion.
It is
within this context that the Church celebrates the Feast of Corpus Christi, the
feast of the Body and Blood of Christ, His real presence in the
Eucharist. Only because He is truly present, could He feed us with His
life and love. The Eucharist, we know, is another word for
thanksgiving. So with the psalmist, we say, “A thanksgiving sacrifice I
make; I will call on the Lord’s name. My vows to the Lord I will fulfil before
all his people.” In celebrating the Eucharist and adoring our Lord
in the most Blessed Sacrament and in receiving Him, we become like Him in love
and service. As we adore Him in the Blessed Sacrament, we imitate Him in
His passion and death; and as we receive Him in communion, we are strengthened
in our union with Him. For this reason, the Eucharist is the summit
of the Church’s faith, and from the Eucharist, we derive the strength and the
grace of the Holy Spirit to offer ourselves like Christ, as bread broken for
the world, and blood shed for humanity.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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