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THE WONDERS OF GOD ARE BEYOND MAN’S IMAGINATION
Readings at Mass
First reading
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Genesis
17:1,9-10,15-22 ©
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When Abram was
ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to him and said, ‘I am El Shaddai. Bear
yourself blameless in my presence, and I will make a Covenant between myself
and you. You on your part shall maintain my Covenant, yourself and your
descendants after you, generation after generation. Now this is my Covenant
which you are to maintain between myself and you, and your descendants after
you: all your males must be circumcised.’
God said
to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah. I
will bless her and moreover give you a son by her. I will bless her and nations
shall come out of her; kings of peoples shall descend from her.’ Abraham bowed
to the ground, and he laughed, thinking to himself, ‘Is a child to be born to a
man one hundred years old, and will Sarah have a child at the age of ninety?’
Abraham said to God, ‘Oh, let Ishmael live in your presence!’ But God replied,
‘No, but your wife Sarah shall bear you a son whom you are to name Isaac. With
him I will establish my Covenant, a Covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and
the God of his descendants after him. For Ishmael too I grant you your request:
I bless him and I will make him fruitful and greatly increased in numbers. He
shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation.
But my Covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear you at this
time next year.’ When he had finished speaking to Abraham God went up from him.
Psalm
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Psalm 127:1-5 ©
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Indeed the man
shall be blessed, the man who fears the Lord.
O blessed are those
who fear the Lord
and walk
in his ways!
By the labour of your
hands you shall eat.
You will
be happy and prosper.
Indeed the man
shall be blessed, the man who fears the Lord.
Your wife will be
like a fruitful vine
in the
heart of your house;
your children like
shoots of the olive,
around
your table.
Indeed the man
shall be blessed, the man who fears the Lord.
Indeed thus shall be
blessed
the man
who fears the Lord.
May the Lord bless
you from Zion
all the
days of your life!
Indeed the man
shall be blessed, the man who fears the Lord.
Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps144:13
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord is faithful
in all his words
and loving in all his
deeds.
Alleluia!
Or
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Mt8:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
He took our
sicknesses away,
and carried our
diseases for us.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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Matthew 8:1-4 ©
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After Jesus had come
down from the mountain large crowds followed him. A leper now came up and bowed
low in front of him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus
stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’
And his leprosy was cured at once. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Mind you do not
tell anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering
prescribed by Moses, as evidence for them.’
THE
WONDERS OF GOD ARE BEYOND MAN’S IMAGINATION
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Do you
believe in miracles? Can God do the impossible? Although in theory,
most would claim they do, yet in truth, many of us doubt that miracles can
happen to us. We are no better than Abraham. He too found it
ridiculous to believe that a miracle was possible. Instead of responding
with gratitude and thanksgiving that God was going to do a wonderful thing in
his life by granting him a child at the age of a hundred, it was too good to be
true. We read, that with respect however, “Abraham bowed to the ground,
and he laughed, thinking to himself, ‘Is a child to be born to a man one
hundred years old, and will Sarah have a child at the age of
ninety?’” Truly, even when we are healed of a sickness and chosen
for a position, we remain skeptical and diffident that the miracle has really
taken place. Few claim the promise of being healed by the Lord but
continue to doubt Him.
Again,
we read that Abraham, still not understanding fully the promise of God,
suggested his own way to solve the problem of the barrenness of Sarah. He
thought he knew better. He wanted God to save his son, Ishmael, the son
born to the slave girl. Abraham was being realistic that the only way for
him to have descendants was through Ishmael rather than a promised son who
still cannot be seen. This is the same way we respond to the power of God
at work in our lives. We delineate how He should solve our problem or
difficulty. We trust more in our human wisdom than the wisdom of
God. We do not walk by faith but by sight. It is said that true “faith is
dead to doubt, dumb to discouragement, and blind to impossibilities.”
Yet God
often has greater plans beyond our finite and narrow concerns. He knows
what is best for us. Indeed, God has already found a backdoor blessing
for Ishmael. God does not accomplish His plans at the expense of
another. He knew that regardless of the fact that Ishmael was born of a
woman slave, he remained the son of Abraham. Hence, understandably,
Abraham felt for his son. This explains why Abraham pleaded for
Ishmael. Of course, it was his fault in the first place for being
impatient with the unfolding of God’s promise to give him descendants.
Instead of waiting for the Lord to act, he and Sarah took things into their own
hands, and caused all the family squabbles as a result of the birth of
Ishmael. It only caused Sarah to be more insecure and jealous, and the
slave to be superior and arrogant. God in His wisdom knows how to make
right things that are wrong. He had it all planned. He assured
Abraham thus, “I bless him and I will make him fruitful and greatly increased
in numbers. He shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him
into a great nation.” We could very well learn from this lesson not
to be impatient with God. We must wait patiently for God to reveal His
plan to us. He knows our concerns and needs. We must trust Him to
act in His own time and in the way He knows best. Otherwise, we will only
hinder His divine plan and cause more unnecessary evil upon ourselves.
Yet in
all these, Abraham learned the ultimate meaning of faith, which is to trust in
God and surrender his life completely to Him. Against all improbability,
he submitted to the divine plan of God for him. Though he could not fully
grasp the plan of God, he surrendered. This is what the Lord requires of
him and of us all. He said, “Bear yourself blameless in my presence. ‘You
shall maintain my Covenant, yourself and your descendants after you, generation
after generation. Now this is my Covenant which you are to maintain
between myself and you, and your descendants after you: all your males
must be circumcised.” This is affirmed in the responsorial psalm, “Indeed
the man shall be blessed, the man who fears the Lord. O blessed are those who
fear the Lord and walk in his ways! By the labour of your hands you shall eat.
You will be happy and prosper.” Abraham feared God, that is, he had
reverence and trust in God. God rewarded Him by making Him the Father of
faith and the chosen people of God. Through Him, God would accomplish His
plan for humanity. “But my Covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah
will bear you at this time next year.”
This
same faith is expressed by the leper in today’s gospel as well. He came to
Jesus and said, “’Sir,’ he said, ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’” He
knew that all things were possible to Jesus. He never doubted Jesus’
power to heal. This is the positive aspect of His faith. This
perhaps is true for us as well. We do not doubt that God has the power to
heal. Otherwise, He would not be God. It is for this reason
that we pray to Him for divine healing, assistance and protection. But
the more important question is whether He wants to heal!
The
answer in today’s gospel is an unquestionable and resounding YES! He
wants to heal. He comes to save. This was Jesus’ reply to the
leper, “Of course I want to! Be cured!” One of the reasons why our
prayer is often weak is because we doubt His mercy and His desire to heal and
defend us. We do not have the confidence that Jesus would be interested
in our request. The truth is that He is very concerned. It is significant
that St Matthew’s gospel Sermon on the Mount is followed by a series of Ten
Miracles. It was his way of demonstrating that the kingdom of God that
Jesus preached earlier would now be brought to fulfillment. Jesus, in
other words, would be the One to fulfill the promises of the Old Testament
regarding the Messiah.
Jesus’
healing of the leper however was more than just a healing miracle. It was
Matthew’s intention to underscore God’s intention to reach out to the poor, the
marginalized and the outcast, especially the untouchables. Jesus came for
all those who are excluded from society, those who are abandoned and rejected
by society. Lepers represent those who are suffering alienation and
loneliness from their rejection by the community. They were literally the
living dead. For such people, the Lord comes to reconcile them into the
community. We, too, can be confident that God wants to heal us,
especially the physical and emotional traumas in our lives that result in us
being cut off from the community we belong. He wants to restore us back
to fullness of life by healing us physically, emotionally and psychologically.
But for
this to happen, we must be available for spiritual healing. It was
necessary therefore for the leper who was healed to be instructed to show
himself to the priest and “make the offering prescribed by Moses, as evidence
for them.” This presentation before the priest of course was meant to
certify a person to be fit for reintegration into the community. It was
done both for hygienic and spiritual reasons too. So too, before we can
be healed, we need to present ourselves to the Lord for healing, especially of
our sins. One could ask how the leper, who was a beggar and out of work,
could make the sacrifice prescribed by Moses? Yet the truth is that in
the offering of the sacrifice, it is but a way of giving back to the healed
leper, his dignity once again. By praising and thanking God, his recovery
and healing process is completed. Otherwise, he would remain emotionally and
psychologically wounded still.
To
expedite this process, Jesus, in healing the leper, made a very brave and
daring gesture by touching him. “Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him …
And his leprosy was cured at once.” At the end of the day, we all need
the personal touch. We are not pure spirits but with a body. So
being touched is part of the healing process. To be loved, accepted and
embraced by our fellowmen is to reaffirm that we are the one Body of
Christ. Touching people genuinely, especially giving them a loving and
warm hug, is a great way of showing that we love and we care. A touch can
do much more than what pills and medication can do. By touching, we
remove all barriers to our fellowmen. This explains why Jesus took the courage
to touch the leper and we read that he was healed immediately. For this
reason too, the way of releasing divine power and grace in the church is the
laying on of hands. Through the human touch, God’s grace comes to us in a
human way. We too are called today to strengthen faith in those who need
healing. Through our personal touch, care, love, gentleness and
compassion, they too can be helped to be open to God’s grace and mercy.
Let us strengthen each other in faith, for only faith alone is pleasing to God.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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