20150729 JOY AS THE INTERNAL DRIVER AND LOVE IS THE ENGINE OF
MISSION
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Exodus 34:29-35 ©
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When Moses came down
from the mountain of Sinai – as he came down from the mountain, Moses had
the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands – he did not know that the
skin on his face was radiant after speaking with the Lord. And when Aaron and
all the sons of Israel saw Moses, the skin on his face shone so much that they
would not venture near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron with all the
leaders of the community came back to him; and he spoke to them. Then all the
sons of Israel came closer, and he passed on to them all the orders that the
Lord had given him on the mountain of Sinai. And when Moses had finished
speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. Whenever he went into the Lord’s
presence to speak with him, Moses would remove the veil until he came out
again. And when he came out, he would tell the sons of Israel what he had been
ordered to pass on to them, and the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses
radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he returned to
speak with the Lord.
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Psalm
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Psalm 98:5-7,9 ©
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You are holy, O
Lord our God.
Exalt the Lord our
God;
bow down
before Zion, his footstool.
He the
Lord is holy.
You are holy, O
Lord our God.
Among his priests
were Aaron and Moses,
among
those who invoked his name was Samuel.
They
invoked the Lord and he answered.
You are holy, O
Lord our God.
To them he spoke in
the pillar of cloud.
They did
his will; they kept the law,
which he,
the Lord, had given.
You are holy, O
Lord our God.
Exalt the Lord our
God;
bow down
before his holy mountain
for the
Lord our God is holy.
You are holy, O
Lord our God.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps118:105
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is a lamp
for my steps
and a light for my
path.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Jn15:15
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends,
says the Lord,
because I have made
known to you
everything I have
learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Gospel Matthew 123 : 44-46
44 'The kingdom of
Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it
again, goes off in his joy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.
45 'Again, the
kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls;
46 when he finds one
of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.
JOY AS
THE INTERNAL DRIVER AND LOVE IS THE ENGINE OF MISSION
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: EX 34:29-35;
MT 13:44-46
When we
look around us, we find that many of us are lacking passion in whatever we do,
be it in our work, relationship or in Church ministry. How is that
so? How could we have started on something so passionately, as in a
project or even in an intimate relationship, but now no longer have that fire,
that enthusiasm that got us started in the first place. We have fallen
into routine, mediocrity and become lackadaisical.
The
root of it all is a lack of love in us. When the passion of love is lost,
joy is absent. When there is no joy in doing what we are doing,
everything becomes an obligation, a commitment we try to live up to for fear of
breaking our promises. So like the religious leaders and the contemporaries of
Jesus, we are satisfied with an external performance of our duties and
fulfilling our responsibilities. We become calculative with our time, our
involvement and ministry activities. Married couples live like intimate
strangers, not feeling, sharing or caring for each other. They behave
more like business partners looking after the family inc. Parents give
the impression to their children that they are a nuisance and a burden to them,
restraining their movements and activities and even hampering their career.
Clearly,
for such people there is no joy. When joy is taken out of work and
ministry, then it becomes drudgery. Such activities are no longer
empowering or uplifting. These sentiments are just the reverse of that of
the man who found a hidden treasure in the field and the merchant who found the
pearl in today’s parables. They were so filled with indescribable joy and
enthusiasm when they found their pearl of life. They were cognizant of
the value of what they found in relation to whatever they possessed.
Hence, they were even ready to give up everything for the treasure they
perceived will make them fulfilled and happy in life.
Without
doubt, joy is the clear sign that we are passionate in what we are doing; and
joy is what pulls us to continue to do what we are doing. But where does
joy come from? Is joy sufficient to sustain us in our ministry, work and
relationship? Is joy always the cause of our passion? One can be
passionate and yet not find true joy. Why?
When we
observe closely those who are passionate in their work and ministry, many also
do not find true joy and happiness. What they find is only apparent
joy. Why is this so? The truth is that we can be passionate for
many reasons, even for selfish or at least less noble motives. We
can be passionate about something because we are ambitious, trying to achieve a
goal so that we feel good about ourselves and before others. We might be
diligent, meticulous, and responsible; giving our whole being to whatever we
do, merely to earn some credit and laurels for our crown. For such
people, joy is found almost always at the end, rather than in the process,
since they look forward only to the reward and forget that joy is found in the
course of giving ourselves entirely to what we find meaningful to do. Even
then, such joy is only temporary. Very soon, when the emotions fade and
the celebration is over, one returns to emptiness and loneliness.
Joy is
also incomplete if our passion is derived from our interest in something.
It could be a hobby or anything that occupies our mind and heart, e.g.
gardening, art, music, pets, etc. Such joy is never complete even though
it gives lots of satisfaction, because it is focused on self. Hobbies are
self-fulfilling in that they are more for one’s pleasure than giving joy to
others. Of course, it could also be used to give pleasure to
others. If that is the primary motive, then it becomes a service of love
and we move to another level of joy, namely, love of others, which includes
animals as well.
If we
contend with merely working for success, achievements and finding pleasure in
life, we will not go very far in experiencing true and lasting joy. So we
must move to another level of joy, which is love and relationship.
Compared to worldly and human pursuits, human love brings us closer to what
true joy is all about. Love and union are but a prelude to absolute and
pure joy. It is a prelude only because human love is finite, limited and
egoistic, even whilst it seeks to be altruistic. Still, for human beings,
this would be the highest level of joy that one can attain. Indeed, many
of us have experienced the joy of love in relationship, the joy of union, of
being in the arms of someone who loves us. Such joy cannot be purchased
with silver or gold. It is simply a given and simply received as a gift.
Unfortunately, human love is so fragile and it can be lost anytime due to
infidelity, misunderstanding, temptations and death. When that happens,
joy ceases.
That
being the case, where can true and lasting joy be found? This joy can only be
found in God alone. That was what happened to Moses. He encountered the
face of God. The consequence of that meeting resulted in his face being
radiantly white. Moses’ face was radiating and exuding joy. This is the joy
that Jesus speaks about in the parables of the treasure and the pearl.
So if
we want to have true, absolute, ultimate and lasting joy, it has to be a joy
that comes from encountering God, or having God reign in our hearts. Only
this kind of joy will be enduring, like that of Moses who was always radiant
whenever he met the Lord.
It is
therefore necessary to search our hearts and ask the true nature of our
joy. As Jesus remarked, “Where your treasure is, there your heart
will be also.” (Mt 6:21)
So what is your treasure and pearl? Is it your ambition, your pet
project or your loved ones? If your joy is based on these alone, you have
made them your absolute treasure, which is tantamount to giving them the status
of God. Then you would have committed idolatry, the former of self and
the latter of things and creatures. What is not absolute cannot
last! Real and lasting joy comes from finding the absolute treasure.
This
ultimate treasure can only be God alone and no other! That was what St Paul
realized at the end of a long search for joy and fulfillment. He thought
his status, his academic and religious credentials; his religious works, could
give him security and joy, until he met Christ. Indeed, St Paul found
everything else as dung, compared to knowing the love and power of the Lord in
His passion, death and resurrection.
Truly,
the greatest joy is in the love of the Lord. This has always been the
sentiment of all the saints. The great mystic, Blessed Angela of Foligno
realized that although she had renounced everything, there was still something
she did not do, and hence did not experience fullness of joy, which was to
desire God and God alone. She wanted God but also other things.
When she grasped this, she cried out, “I Want God!” And God Answered Her: “I
shall fulfill your wish.” At that moment, her soul was united with God
and she was in perfect joy, experiencing total freedom from all things that
restrained her from the fullness of joy and love. To desire God is to
desire the Kingdom of God!
How
then can we find this amazing and transcendental joy? The first way is by
pure grace alone, as in the case of St Paul’s conversion. His conversion
is exemplary of the parable of the man who found the treasure hidden in the
field. So, too, there are many conversion stories of people who have been
transformed by the grace of God. The more radical and unexpected the
encounter with God’s presence and healing grace, the greater is the
transformation. This could be considered the mystical stage of spirituality.
The
second way of encountering God is by the ordinary way, namely, through
ascetical means of struggling to be faithful to our prayer life, study, penance
and mortifications. This approach requires human cooperation and effort.
This does not mean that grace is excluded. It only means that we need to
strive and show our sincerity in desiring God before He shows His face to
us. What we do ascetically is but to prepare the way for grace to show
itself. This, then, is the way of contemplation on the face of Christ as
exhorted by Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter “Novo Millennio Ineunte”.
Consequently,
we must pray for the grace to meet the Lord and encounter Him deeply, if we are
to be filled with joy, a joy that would lead us to spread this joy to others.
That is why, to love God above all things does not mean that we cannot
love other creatures or created things. On the contrary, we will love
them even more, but not for them as such, but for the love of God and from the
love of God. Everything we do now is for others, not for ourselves; and
not even primarily for them but for the love of God so that God might be
glorified, known and love.
Once we
discover this joy, we must make a decision to choose Christ as the only joy of
our life. Choosing Him is a decision that we have to make. We only
need to say “Yes” to Him and He will reign in us and the kingdom is ours.
Finally,
for those of us who have found the Lord and had a God-experience in Jesus, we
need to return to this Christ-experience again and again. Forgetting this
experience will lead us to mediocrity, indifference and lukewarmness.
That was what Moses did. We read that again and again, he would return to
meet the Lord so that he could pass his orders to his people. We, too, must
relive this experience, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist when we
“do this in memory” of Him. Otherwise, we fall into the same pitfall of
those who have received the grace to encounter Christ but through neglect and
tepidity, become worse than before their conversion. Let us bear in mind
the warning of Jesus, “But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made
salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and
trampled by men.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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