20150619 CREDENTIALS OF OUR FAITH IN CHRIST
Readings at Mass
First reading
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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
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Psalm 33:2-7 ©
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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
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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
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Alleluia, alleluia!
How happy are the
poor in spirit:
theirs is the kingdom
of heaven.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
Matthew 6:19-23 ©
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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
© All Rights Reserved
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