Thursday, 18 June 2015

CREDENTIALS OF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST

20150619 CREDENTIALS OF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST

Readings at Mass

First reading
2 Corinthians 11:18,21-30 ©
So many others have been boasting of their worldly achievements, that I will boast myself. But if anyone wants some brazen speaking – I am still talking as a fool – then I can be as brazen as any of them, and about the same things. Hebrews, are they? So am I. Israelites? So am I. Descendants of Abraham? So am I. The servants of Christ? I must be mad to say this, but so am I, and more than they: more, because I have worked harder, I have been sent to prison more often, and whipped many times more, often almost to death. Five times I had the thirty-nine lashes from the Jews; three times I have been beaten with sticks; once I was stoned; three times I have been shipwrecked and once adrift in the open sea for a night and a day. Constantly travelling, I have been in danger from rivers and in danger from brigands, in danger from my own people and in danger from pagans; in danger in the towns, in danger in the open country, danger at sea and danger from so-called brothers. I have worked and laboured, often without sleep; I have been hungry and thirsty and often starving; I have been in the cold without clothes. And, to leave out much more, there is my daily preoccupation: my anxiety for all the churches. When any man has had scruples, I have had scruples with him; when any man is made to fall, I am tortured.
  If I am to boast, then let me boast of my own feebleness.

Psalm
Psalm 33:2-7 ©
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
I will bless the Lord at all times,
  his praise always on my lips;
in the Lord my soul shall make its boast.
  The humble shall hear and be glad.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Glorify the Lord with me.
  Together let us praise his name.
I sought the Lord and he answered me;
  from all my terrors he set me free.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.
Look towards him and be radiant;
  let your faces not be abashed.
This poor man called, the Lord heard him
  and rescued him from all his distress.
The Lord rescues the just in all their distress.

Gospel Acclamation
Jn8:12
Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the light of the world, says the Lord;
anyone who follows me will have the light of life.
Alleluia!
Or
Mt5:3
Alleluia, alleluia!
How happy are the poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Alleluia!

Gospel
Matthew 6:19-23 ©
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal. But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
  ‘The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be

CREDENTIALS OF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST


SCRIPTURE READINGS: 2 COR 11:18. 21-30; MT 6:19-23
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”  Treasure is something that you love and give your whole heart into it.  We read in the parables of the merchant who went in search of fine pearls. “On finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.” (Mt 13:46)  Then there is the other person who found a treasure hidden in a field, “in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Mt 13:44)   Where is your treasure?  What is your treasure in life?  Is it material things and money?  If that were so, then you would give all your heart and soul to it.  You would do everything you could to increase your wealth.  Indeed for some people they are always thinking of getting rich.  Money for them is everything.  They work hard to make more money because they believe money is power.   For those who love money, they would hoard instead of spending the money.  But as we know, misers are always miserable.  They cannot be happy because money is meant to be spent and used, especially to bring life and love to people around us.
For others, their treasure is power.  They want to control the lives of others.  Such people often have deep seated insecurity.  They like to have people under their charge and be feared.   Such people need attention.  To them, authority and power are for serving their self-interests, not for the service of others.   Such people always live in fear that their powers would be stripped from them one day.  Instead of being liberated, they live in fear of losing power.  They have too many enemies, perceived or real.   This is true also for those whose treasure is fame and popularity.  No one stays on top all the time.  Whether we are celebrities, actors or sportsmen, we cannot always remain on top.  There will come a time when we have to bow out of the stage.  So when our happiness is dependent on status, popularity, or fame, our happiness is rather short lived.
Indeed, Jesus makes it clear.  “Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moths and woodworms destroy them and thieves can break in and steal.  But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor woodworms destroy them and thieves cannot break in and steal.”  The truth is that nothing on this earth lasts.  Such material things and power and fame are all transient.  It passes with time.  Even our loved ones will return to the Lord.  Those who are too attached to their loved ones will also come to realize that no matter how beautiful earthly relationships are, we too must part.
So what is it that can truly last?  Only God alone and eternal life with Him!   God is the only treasure that can outlast us.  This was what Jesus wanted to offer the rich man.  He told him, “’You lack one thing; go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.’ At that saying his countenance fell, and he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.” (Mk 10:21f)  Indeed, scripture consistently tells us that the greatest commandment in the laws is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” and to “love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”  (Mt 22:37-40) St Paul discovered the joy of coming to know the Lord and loving Him.  He wrote, “Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ.  More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.  (Phil 2:7f)  He preferred to die and be with Christ.  (Phil 1:24)
The question is, do we really believe that Christ is our ultimate treasure in life, like St Paul who would give up everything for Him and Him alone?  What proofs do we have to claim that Christ is our treasure?  As the idiom says, “put your money where your mouth is.”  Many of us say that God is the most important person in our lives but we hardly spend time in prayer.  We say that the Bible is the Word of God but we hardly read the scriptures.  And we say that the Eucharist is the Bread of Life, the real presence of our Lord but we hardly receive Him.  We say that the Mass is the summit of worship but yet few treasure the Mass enough to celebrate it frequently and as often as they could.   Again, many say they love the Church but their actions have caused harm to the Church because of the scandals they committed.  We do not follow the teachings of Christ and His Church.  If Christ is our treasure then why are we hiding Him instead of announcing Him to the whole world?
St Paul in the face of accusation that he was not a true teacher of the faith defended his authority by giving us his credentials.  Unlike the false teachers in Corinth many of whom were trained in speech and oratory, St Paul was untrained.  Although a brilliant thinker, he was not a polished speaker and eloquent like them.  He spoke directly and sincerely from his heart.  He wrote, “And I was with you in weakness and in much fear and trembling; and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” (1 Cor 2:3-5)
More than mere words alone, he was ready to suffer and die for Christ.   He worked hard for Christ.  He suffered shipwreck, was stoned, beaten, flogged and imprisoned many times.  In his travels, he constantly was in “danger from rivers and in danger from brigands, in danger from my own people and in danger from pagans; in danger in the towns, in danger in the open country, danger at sea and danger from so-called brothers.”   He was hungry, thirsty, starving and without clothes or shelter.  Indeed, he suffered all these because of his love for Christ and his anxiety for the churches.
What about us?  What do we have to show that we are believers in Christ?  We must not be like those who have empty words but nothing to show.  If we find our Christian faith hollow or shallow, then what we need is enlightenment.  The truth is that we are blind to what is the real treasure in life.  We are not able to see that what matters more than anything in this life is the love of God and love of our neighbours.  We have allowed our love for the world to darken our minds.  This is what Jesus warned us, “The lamp of the body is the eye.  It follows that if your eye is sound, your whole body will be filled with light.  But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be all darkness.  If then, the light inside you is darkness, what darkness that will be!” We think that money, power and fame can bring us happiness when such things are short lived and they make us more insecure than ever.  Indeed, we are short-sighted.
We need to come to Jesus, the Word of God, and the Light of the world to enlighten us in the truth.  Only the Lord can help us to see what truly matters to us in life.  The psalmist invites us to “look towards him and be radiant; let your faces not be abashed.  This poor man called, the Lord heard him and rescued him from all his distress.” Indeed, we must turn to the Lord for enlightenment.  This was what St Augustine went through.  All his life, he was seeking for happiness and fulfillment.  He knew that money, pleasure and sex could not give him real happiness until he discovered God. He wrote in his Confessions, “Great are you, O Lord, and exceedingly worthy of praise; your power is immense, and your wisdom beyond reckoning. And so we men, who are a due part of your creation, long to praise you – we also carry our mortality about with us, carry the evidence of our sin and with it the proof that you thwart the proud. You arouse us so that praising you may bring us joy, because you have made us and drawn us to yourself, and our heart is unquiet until it rests in you.”


Written by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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