THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE

THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE

Readings at Mass on 20150712

First reading

Amos 7:12-15 ©

Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, said to Amos, ‘Go away, seer;’ get back to the land of Judah; earn your bread there, do your prophesying there. We want no more prophesying in Bethel; this is the royal sanctuary, the national temple.’ ‘I was no prophet, neither did I belong to any of the brotherhoods of prophets,’ Amos replied to Amaziah ‘I was a shepherd, and looked after sycamores: but it was the Lord who took me from herding the flock, and the Lord who said, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”’

Psalm

Psalm 84:9-14 ©

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.

I will hear what the Lord God has to say,

  a voice that speaks of peace,

  peace for his people.

His help is near for those who fear him

  and his glory will dwell in our land.

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.

Mercy and faithfulness have met;

  justice and peace have embraced.

Faithfulness shall spring from the earth

  and justice look down from heaven.

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.

The Lord will make us prosper

  and our earth shall yield its fruit.

Justice shall march before him

  and peace shall follow his steps.

Let us see, O Lord, your mercy, and give us your saving help.

Second reading

Ephesians 1:3-14 ©

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.

Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ,

to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence,

determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ

for his own kind purposes,

to make us praise the glory of his grace,

his free gift to us in the Beloved,

in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.

Such is the richness of the grace

which he has showered on us

in all wisdom and insight.

He has let us know the mystery of his purpose,

the hidden plan he so kindly made in Christ from the beginning

to act upon when the times had run their course to the end:

that he would bring everything together under Christ, as head,

everything in the heavens and everything on earth.

And it is in him that we were claimed as God’s own,

chosen from the beginning,

under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things

as he decides by his own will;

chosen to be,

for his greater glory,

the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.

Now you too, in him,

have heard the message of the truth and the good news of your salvation,

and have believed it;

and you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise,

the pledge of our inheritance

which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory praised.

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Jn6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

Or	cf.Ep1:17,18

Alleluia, alleluia!

May the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

enlighten the eyes of our mind,

so that we can see what hope his call holds for us.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Mark 6:7-13 ©

Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses. They were to wear sandals but, he added, ‘Do not take a spare tunic.’ And he said to them, ‘If you enter a house anywhere, stay there until you leave the district. And if any place does not welcome you and people refuse to listen to you, as you walk away shake off the dust from under your feet as a sign to them.’ So they set off to preach repentance; and they cast out many devils, and anointed many sick people with oil and cured them.

THE WORD OF GOD IS ALIVE

SCRIPTURE READINGS:  AMOS 7:12-15; EPH 1:3-14; MK 6:7-13

This weekend, the Church celebrates Bible Sunday.  Very often we reduce the Word of God to just the written word in the bible.  The Word is a living Person.  The bible is the Word of God in the written form insofar as it seeks to mediate to us the personal presence of Christ, His words and works.   It is for this reason that we say that the Word is a living Word, not a dead word, written on paper or simply spoken, but that it bears fruits in our daily life, and is incarnated in us.

Why is this so?  Christ is the Beloved of the Father whom the Father confirmed at His baptism, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”   Christ is the Word of the Father and the revealer of the Father in person.  To see Him is to see the Father who is pure Spirit.  So only in Christ, do we come to know the Way, the Truth and the Life.  Christ is therefore our mediator, the One who shows us the love and mercy of the Father.   He is the One who speaks the Word of the Father since He comes from the Father.   Without Christ, we will never know the plan of the Father or the love of the Father.

Indeed, Christ reveals to us the mystery of God, that is, His hidden plan.  It is His divine plan that “he would bring everything together under Christ, as head, everything in the heavens and everything on earth.”  It must not be mistaken that God has been hiding this plan from us.  Rather, God has chosen an appropriate time to intervene so that man could receive His Son and come to faith in Him.  Only with Christ’s coming and in accordance to His divine plan, through the life, suffering, passion and resurrection of His Son, was God able to reveal to us His unconditional love and mercy, His forgiveness and the fullness of life by sharing in His sonship.  Indeed, Christ convicts us of our sins by His preaching, and frees us from sin by His sacrificial death on the cross by assuring us of God’s forgiveness and love.  Finally, by His resurrection, He bestows us new life and grants us a share of His sonship in the Spirit. 

This faith in God’s love, however, is not something of the past.  It remains real even in our days with Christ’s departure into heaven.  Today, we continue to have a foretaste of this salvation and the experience of divine sonship through the Holy Spirit living and working in us.  St Paul wrote, “you too have been stamped with the seal of the Holy Spirit of the Promise, the pledge of our inheritance which brings freedom for those whom God has taken for his own, to make his glory praised.”  Indeed, the Holy Spirit is our down payment, our installment, our deposit of the fullness of life that is ahead of us when we die.   But for now, we already have a partial experience of what life with God and in God is when we live the life of the Spirit which is a life of total freedom in love and service.

It is within this context and from hindsight that St Paul could conclude that we have been chosen in Christ.   St Paul says it is given “in the Beloved, in whom, through his blood, we gain our freedom, the forgiveness of our sins.”  St Paul tells us that “before the world was made, he chose us.”   From all eternity, God, when He created us, meant us all to live in union with Him.  In other words, salvation therefore is a free gift of God.  This is the wonderful news of being a Christian.  In other words, we cannot buy salvation.  We cannot merit heaven and eternal life.  It is given as a gift, freely and without conditions.  We only have to receive it.  This is the fundamental Good News of being a Christian.  We have been chosen by God freely to share in His life and love.  Such is the mercy of God, that we are called to holiness of life, that is, a life of integrity, a holistic life.  We are called to live a life of love like God “in his presence.”   In this way, we become His adopted sons and daughters in Christ.

Having experienced such a wonderful life in the Spirit, what must we do if not to invite others to share the life of Christ as well?  Surely, the Good News cannot be kept for ourselves and cannot remain hidden.   Indeed, we are never chosen for ourselves, but for others as well.  St Paul says, we are “chosen to be, for his greater glory, the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.”   Accordingly, just as we have received the Good News free of charge and chosen by the Lord, like the Twelve, we are sent out for mission.

What are we sent out for?  We are sent out principally as prophets and healers.  We are called to share the Good News about Jesus in word and in deed.  Like Prophet Amos and the apostles, we are called to enlighten and call sinners to repentance.  We are called to proclaim the Word of God we have received freely to others.  We must help them to see that the life they live is without meaning.  The whole intent of the proclamation of the Good News is to help others to encounter Jesus personally as their friend and savior.

So we must present the message in such a way that it is beautiful, liberating and empowering.  We are not here to take away their happiness.  Rather, we want to help them to find authentic and everlasting life and true love.  We must come to them as their friends.  We love them.  We are not trying to proselytize them and make converts.

Indeed, we need to find ways to make the Word of God come alive.  This is where we must find new and creative ways to help our people to encounter the Word of God personally in prayer and in study.  This is particularly important in reaching out to the young and those in the Y and Z generations. We need to harness digital technology to transmit the gospel message in an appealing, attractive and interactive way if we want to capture an audience that now turns to the internet and digital devices for reading, news and information.

What is needed to proclaim the Word of God efficaciously?  We need authority from the Lord.  We read in the gospel that “Jesus summoned the Twelve and began to send them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits.”

But where does this authority to teach come from?  It comes from a personal knowledge of Christ.   Without a personal contact with the Lord, we would not have the authority to proclaim the Word of God.  The Holy Spirit can speak through us only when we are immersed in the Lord and His Word abides in us.  This requires that we do not only read the bible but pray the scriptures using the methods recommended by the Church, namely, lectio divina or other established methods taught by the saints and the tradition of the Church.  Only when the Word of God is read in faith and in a prayerful unhurried manner, could we hear God speaking to us directly and personally.  The ultimate purpose of praying the scriptures is to encounter the person of Jesus more than just for mere knowledge. 

Secondly, it comes from obedience in faith.  Learning how to read the bible is secondary but what is the most important criterion is obedience in faith to the Word of God.  This was what the Prophet Amos said in response to those who tried to discredit him for his lack of credentials.   He admitted, “I was a shepherd, and looked after sycamores: but it was the Lord who took me from herding the flock, and the Lord who said, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”  So it was in faith that he prophesied, not because of any formal training, or upbringing or prophetic lineage.   He was responding purely in obedience to God’s call in faith.

Thirdly, we must share the Word of God among our brothers and sisters by giving testimony to what the Lord has done for us in our daily life.  Jesus sent out His disciples in pairs.  This is because God wants us to find strength in team ministry.  As human beings, ministry can be discouraging, especially in the face of rejection. We need to have a human voice encouraging us and feeling with us, and working together to find new ways to reach out to those who do not know Christ or reject Christ.  Hence, there is a need to help each other to encounter the Word not just through formal bible study but we need to share the Word of God among ourselves in the context of prayer.  As Jesus says, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am in their midst.” (Mt 18:20)  We need to form cell groups and faith sharing groups within the church’s ministries, among neighbors, or in offices where Catholics come together, to read the Word of God in faith, share deeply how the Word has touched them and enlightened them, so that they could inspire each other in faith as they seek to live out the gospel in their daily life situations.  It is indispensable that every member of the Catholic Church must belong to one of these formal or informal small cell groups.

Only with this personal authority and conviction of the Word of God and a personal relationship with the Lord, will we be able to announce the Good news, delivering those who are under bondage to sin and the Evil One.  Through our love and mercy, and assurance of God’s love for them, accepted and forgiven, they will eventually be receptive to the gospel; and be healed of their fears, brokenness and guilt.  The Word of God is alive only when we live it out by a life of charity and service.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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