GOD’S LOVE AS THE ANTIDOTE TO SECULARISM AND AGNOSTICISM

20150612 GOD’S LOVE AS THE ANTIDOTE TO SECULARISM AND AGNOSTICISM

Readings at Mass

First reading

Hosea 11:1,3-4,8-9 ©

Listen to the word of the Lord:

When Israel was a child I loved him,

and I called my son out of Egypt.

I myself taught Ephraim to walk,

I took them in my arms;

yet they have not understood that I was the one looking after them.

I led them with reins of kindness,

with leading-strings of love.

I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek;

stooping down to him I gave him his food.

Ephraim, how could I part with you?

Israel, how could I give you up?

How could I treat you like Admah,

or deal with you like Zeboiim?

My heart recoils from it,

my whole being trembles at the thought.

I will not give rein to my fierce anger,

I will not destroy Ephraim again,

for I am God, not man:

I am the Holy One in your midst

and have no wish to destroy.

Canticle	Isaiah 12 ©
The rejoicing of a redeemed people

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Truly, God is my salvation,

  I trust, I shall not fear.

For the Lord is my strength, my song,

  he became my saviour.

With joy you will draw water

  from the wells of salvation.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Give thanks to the Lord, give praise to his name!

  Make his mighty deeds known to the peoples!

  Declare the greatness of his name.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Sing a psalm to the Lord

  for he has done glorious deeds;

  make them known to all the earth!

People of Zion, sing and shout for joy,

  for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.

Second reading

Ephesians 3:8-12,14-19 ©

I, Paul, who am less than the least of all the saints have been entrusted with this special grace, not only of proclaiming to the pagans the infinite treasure of Christ but also of explaining how the mystery is to be dispensed. Through all the ages, this has been kept hidden in God, the creator of everything. Why? So that the Sovereignties and Powers should learn only now, through the Church, how comprehensive God’s wisdom really is, exactly according to the plan which he had had from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord. This is why we are bold enough to approach God in complete confidence, through our faith in him; This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name:

  Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God.

Gospel Acclamation

1Jn4:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

This is the love I mean:

God’s love for us when he sent his Son

to be the sacrifice that takes our sins away.

Alleluia!

Or

Mt11:29

Alleluia, alleluia!

Shoulder my yoke and learn from me,

for I am gentle and humble in heart.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 19:31-37 ©

It was Preparation Day, and to prevent the bodies remaining on the cross during the sabbath – since that sabbath was a day of special solemnity – the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they found he was already dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water. This is the evidence of one who saw it – trustworthy evidence, and he knows he speaks the truth – and he gives it so that you may believe as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture:

Not one bone of his will be broken;

and again, in another place scripture says:

They will look on the one whom they have pierced.

GOD’S LOVE AS THE ANTIDOTE TO SECULARISM AND AGNOSTICISM

SCRIPTURE READINGS: Hosea 11:1, 3-4, 8-9; Isaiah 12:2-6; Eph 3:8-12, 14-19; John 19:31-37

Today, an increasing number of people consider themselves agnostics or atheists.  Strangely, other than former communist countries, this phenomenon is now prevalent in the West, where many in once Christian countries have given up their faith in God.  The causes are rationalism and industrialization.

With rationalism, theology is reduced to concepts and religion with right doctrines.  We cannot experience the presence of God in our hearts.  We turn to Him only in desperation, but sometimes we feel that God does not hear us.  Since this God is not experienced as love, He is redundant in our lives.  Consequently, we do not trust that He can save us.  We only trust those who love us.  We trust our parents because we know they care for us. Trust presupposes love.  Without trust, there can be no relationship, hence we conclude that God does not exist.  Without God, man now has to depend on himself.

With the advent of science and technology, man no longer needs to depend on God to solve their problems.  This is the new God we worship.  More people put their trust in science and technology than in God to solve their problems. They turn to God only when all other means have failed.  Man has replaced himself as God because he believes that he can solve all problems.  The sin of pride and arrogance again prevails.  There is no fear or respect for God.  We are once again living in a world when God has no place in our lives.  Man believes only in himself.  He has made himself his own god.

Against this backdrop, the feast of the Sacred Heart reveals to us the unfathomable and incomprehensible love of God.  The image of the Sacred Heart gives us a very vivid picture of God’s love symbolized in the heart.  This image has inspired many Catholics in their devotion to the Lord.  The heart of love burning for us fills us with much consolation and gives us strength.  This picture of the Sacred Heart is of course founded in the Word of God, where the love of God is portrayed from the beginning to the end of the bible.  Indeed, the whole story of the bible and salvation history is the history of God’s love for us in Christ.

In the first reading, we read of how much God loved Israel, what He did for Israel when he was a son of Egypt, how He liberated him and gave him all that he needed.  Israel was a like a son to Him.  “When Israel was a child I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.”  Yet in spite of His love for Israel, delivering them from the slavery of Egyptians, and giving them the Promised Land, she was unfaithful to the Lord.  “I myself taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in my arms; yet they have not understood that I was the one looking after them. I led them with reins of kindness, with leading-strings of love. I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek; stooping down to him I gave him his food.”

But again and again, God’s mercy and love does not allow Him to destroy Israel.   Instead, he would rather suffer their rejection than to destroy the nation.  The Lord said, “Ephraim, how could I part with you? Israel, how could I give you up? How could I treat you like Admah, or deal with you like Zeboiim? My heart recoils from it, my whole being trembles at the thought. I will not give rein to my fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God, not man: I am the Holy One in your midst and have no wish to destroy.”  Such is the mercy, compassion and patience of God in the face of man’s sin and rejection.

Furthermore, instead of punishing us, His response to man’s sin was to love us even more.  He sent His only Son to save us.  This is the height of God’s love for us.   Instead of giving up on us, He gave up His only Son.  We remember the parable of the vineyard in the gospel where the landowner sent his son only to be killed by his greedy tenants.

Christ, indeed, is the mystery of God’s plan for us.  By His incarnation, passion, death and resurrection, He reveals to us the mercy and love of His Father for us.  By His miracles, He shows the power and mercy of God.  By His teachings, He instructs us about the love and mercy of His Father.  By His conduct and lifestyle, He mediates the mercy of God to us, especially by eating and drinking with sinners.   His death brought about the forgiveness of our sins.  It shows the depth and height of God’s love.  Indeed, such is the love of the Father who would allow His Son to empty Himself to be a slave for us and to die on the cross so that we will never doubt His love for us or His compassion for our sins and weaknesses.  In Christ, God has suffered with and for us.   On this basis, St Paul wrote, “This is why we are bold enough to approach God in complete confidence, through our faith in him; This, then, is what I pray, kneeling before the Father, from whom every family, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name.” Through Christ, we come to the Father and in the Holy Spirit.  Christ asks the Father to send us the Holy Spirit so that we could also share in the life of God.

Such is the wisdom of God!  His wisdom is foolishness to man.  The action of God is incomprehensible and indeed illogical to the wisdom of man. “Through all the ages, this has been kept hidden in God, the creator of everything. Why? So that the Sovereignties and Powers should learn only now, through the Church, how comprehensive God’s wisdom really is, exactly according to the plan which he had had from all eternity in Christ Jesus our Lord.”   The crucified Christ reveals to us the greatness of God’s mercy.

In the face of such an inexhaustible gift from God, what must we do?  Will we continue to reject Him, and sin against Him?   Indeed, His heart is being pierced again and again because of our sins.  The piercing of Jesus’ heart is not so much the physical pain that He bears but the moral pain that He suffers because we are hurting ourselves by not responding to His love.   Because He loves us much, He suffers even more.  We always feel most hurt when we are betrayed by the person we love   So the image of the Sacred Heart is to invite us to ponder on His love for us so that we will not hurt Him anymore.  Instead we will repent and live a holy life.

Today, we are called to be grateful to God.  St Paul is our exemplar of gratitude.  He was touched by the mercy of God in Christ. From a persecutor of the Church, he became a great apostle to the Gentiles.  He appreciates the mercy of God whom he encountered in Christ.  He wrote,  “I, Paul, who am less than the least of all the saints have been entrusted with this special grace, not only of proclaiming to the pagans the infinite treasure of Christ but also of explaining how the mystery is to be dispensed.”  We are called to accept Jesus and live a life of love and service.  We are called to be an apostle of Christ’s love to the world, a world where so many are wounded, hurt and rejected.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the final analysis, speaks of the power of divine love to change us. “Out of his infinite glory, may he give you the power through his Spirit for your hidden self to grow strong, so that Christ may live in your hearts through faith, and then, planted in love and built on love, you will with all the saints have strength to grasp the breadth and the length, the height and the depth; until, knowing the love of Christ, which is beyond all knowledge, you are filled with the utter fullness of God.”  When we know the love of God, we can scale any mountain in life.  Sharing in the Spirit of Christ, we will be filled with the love of Christ.  With God’s love in us through Christ in the Spirit, we are filled with the presence of God.

So if we are unmoved and still reject Christ’s love, it is because we have not contemplated on God’s love for us in Christ.  Indeed, if we could grasp the heart of God’s love, we will be transformed.  This is the real intent of the feast of the Sacred Heart.  By contemplating on His love, we will be moved to respond by first trusting Him and in trusting Him, we will see the power of God at work in our lives.  Only then can we join the psalmist in telling the whole world, “Truly, God is my salvation, I trust, I shall not fear.  For the Lord is my strength, my song, he became my saviour.  With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.”

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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