FAITH AND FAMILIARITY

20150831 FAITH AND FAMILIARITY

Readings at Mass

First reading

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ©

We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died, to make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and that it will be the same for those who have died in Jesus: God will bring them with him. We can tell you this from the Lord’s own teaching, that any of us who are left alive until the Lord’s coming will not have any advantage over those who have died. At the trumpet of God, the voice of the archangel will call out the command and the Lord himself will come down from heaven; those who have died in Christ will be the first to rise, and then those of us who are still alive will be taken up in the clouds, together with them; to meet the Lord in the air. So we shall stay with the Lord for ever. With such thoughts as these you should comfort one another.

Psalm

Psalm 95:1,3-5,11-13 ©

The Lord comes to rule the earth.

O sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing to the Lord all the earth.

  tell among the nations his glory

  and his wonders among all the peoples.

The Lord comes to rule the earth.

The Lord is great and worthy of praise,

  to be feared above all gods;

  the gods of the heathens are naught.

It was the Lord who made the heavens,

The Lord comes to rule the earth.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad,

  let the sea and all within it thunder praise,

let the land and all it bears rejoice,

  all the trees of the wood shout for joy

at the presence of the Lord for he comes,

  he comes to rule the earth.

The Lord comes to rule the earth.

With justice he will rule the world,

  he will judge the peoples with his truth.

The Lord comes to rule the earth.

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

Lk4:18

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Lord has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,

to proclaim liberty to captives.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 4:16-30 ©

Jesus came to Nazara, where he had been brought up, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day as he usually did. He stood up to read and they handed him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll he found the place where it is written:

The spirit of the Lord has been given to me,

for he has anointed me.

He has sent me to bring the good news to the poor,

to proclaim liberty to captives

and to the blind new sight,

to set the downtrodden free,

to proclaim the Lord’s year of favour.

He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the assistant and sat down. And all eyes in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to speak to them, ‘This text is being fulfilled today even as you listen.’ And he won the approval of all, and they were astonished by the gracious words that came from his lips They said, ‘This is Joseph’s son, surely?’

  But he replied, ‘No doubt you will quote me the saying, “Physician, heal yourself” and tell me, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your own countryside.”’ And he went on, ‘I tell you solemnly, no prophet is ever accepted in his own country.

  ‘There were many widows in Israel, I can assure you, in Elijah’s day, when heaven remained shut for three years and six months and a great famine raged throughout the land, but Elijah was not sent to any one of these: he was sent to a widow at Zarephath, a Sidonian town. And in the prophet Elisha’s time there were many lepers in Israel, but none of these was cured, except the Syrian, Naaman.’

  When they heard this everyone in the synagogue was enraged. They sprang to their feet and hustled him out of the town; and they took him up to the brow of the hill their town was built on, intending to throw him down the cliff, but he slipped through the crowd and walked away.

FAITH AND FAMILIARITY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 TH 4:13-18; LK 4:16-30

How many of us would concur with Jesus that “this text is being fulfilled today” even as we read or listen to today’s gospel text?  Why are we are no longer excited about the Good News?  What makes us indifferent or insensitive to the Good News?

Familiarity is the cause for our lack of faith.  But how could this be the problem?  After all, we have often been taught that God is our friend and so be casual with Him.  We can pray to Him anywhere and everywhere even whilst lying down on our bed.  There is no need to be too formal with Him, no need to kneel or fold our hands in a praying position.  This over-familiarity has resulted in indifference and insensitivity.  Indeed, many Catholics have lost their sense of the sacred.  They come to Mass casually dressed, sloppily dressed or even under-dressed.  They have no respect for the sacredness of the Church.  They talk in Church loudly as if it was a community center, make phone calls, surf the internet or chat with their friends via sms or facebook.  Indeed, many of us have fallen into the snare of familiarity.  We are so familiar with the Mass that we do not really pay attention to every word that is uttered, or what is going on during Mass.  We pray the Divine Office or daily prayers so often that we simply repeat the prayers, but our hearts are far from what we say.

Familiarity does make us blind.  Familiarity is different from intimacy.  Familiarity is often masqueraded as intimacy when it is only a shallow relationship or understanding of the reality.  When we say someone is familiar, we mean that we know someone on the surface, or that we have seen some familiar features of this person.  But to be familiar does not mean intimacy at all.  On the contrary, it means that there is no depth in that relationship.

This was what happened to the townsfolk of Jesus.  They thought they knew Him as the son of Joseph, the carpenter.  Of course, this was true.  But they only knew about Him. They did not know Him.  As a result, they demanded proof from Him.  In their hearts, they were saying, “We have heard all that happened in Capernaum, do the same here in your countryside”.  If we need proof, it is only because there is no relationship.  When we know someone, we do not ask him or her to prove that he or she loves us.  Certainly, we do not demand from our friends proof of our friendships.  Of course, when there is no real relationship, then we need proof to reassure us.

Consequently, today, the liturgy invites to deepen our relationship with the Lord.  Faith requires intimacy.  St Paul in the first reading illustrates what faith is all about.  It is a conscious awareness of death and life.  Unless we are embalmers, undertakers, doctors or nurses, many of us do not come across death on a daily basis.  Certainly, there are people dying everyday.  But when we encounter the death of someone we know, that demise is different.  We pay attention to that death and we are affected in some ways.

Similarly, if we want to deepen our relationship with the Lord, we need to grow in depth in our relationship with the Lord.  Intimacy with the Lord is just the opposite of familiarity.  Intimacy is a relationship that has depth and meaning.  It is not a superficial knowledge of God, but a relationship that is built on true knowledge and understanding.  In intimacy, we become more aware and conscious of the one whom we love.  This is what faith presupposes – for trust and love can develop only when there is an in-depth relationship.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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