20150802 SEEKING WHAT ULTIMATELY SATISFIES AND LASTS
Readings at Mass
First reading
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Exodus
16:2-4,12-15 ©
|
The whole community
of the sons of Israel began to complain against Moses and Aaron in the
wilderness and said to them, ‘Why did we not die at the Lord’s hand in the land
of Egypt, when we were able to sit down to pans of meat and could eat bread to
our heart’s content! As it is, you have brought us to this wilderness to starve
this whole company to death!’
Then the
Lord said to Moses, ‘Now I will rain down bread for you from the heavens. Each
day the people are to go out and gather the day’s portion; I propose to test
them in this way to see whether they will follow my law or not.
‘I have
heard the complaints of the sons of Israel. Say this to them, “Between the two
evenings you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have bread to your
heart’s content. Then you will learn that I, the Lord, am your God.”’
And so it
came about: quails flew up in the evening, and they covered the camp; in the
morning there was a coating of dew all round the camp. When the coating of dew
lifted, there on the surface of the desert was a thing delicate, powdery, as
fine as hoarfrost on the ground. When they saw this, the sons of Israel said to
one another, ‘What is that?’ not knowing what it was. ‘That’ said Moses to them
‘is the bread the Lord gives you to eat.’
Psalm
|
Psalm
77:3-4,23-25,54 ©
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The Lord gave them
bread from heaven.
The things we have
heard and understood,
the
things our fathers have told us,
these we will not
hide from their children
but will
tell them to the next generation:
The Lord gave them
bread from heaven.
the glories of the
Lord and his might
and the
marvellous deeds he has done,
Yet he commanded the
clouds above
and
opened the gates of heaven.
He rained down manna
for their food,
and gave
them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them
bread from heaven.
Mere men ate the
bread of angels.
He sent
them abundance of food;
So he brought them to
his holy land,
to the
mountain which his right hand had won.
The Lord gave them
bread from heaven.
Second reading
|
Ephesians
4:17,20-24 ©
|
I want to urge you in
the name of the Lord, not to go on living the aimless kind of life that pagans
live. Now that is hardly the way you have learnt from Christ, unless you failed
to hear him properly when you were taught what the truth is in Jesus. You must
give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets
corrupted by following illusory desires. Your mind must be renewed by a
spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has been created
in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Jn14:6
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to
the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
Or
|
Mt4:4
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Man does not live on
bread alone,
but on every word
that comes from the mouth of God.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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John 6:24-35 ©
|
When the people saw
that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and
crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side,
they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’
Jesus
answered:
‘I tell you most
solemnly,
you are not looking
for me because you have seen the signs
but because you had
all the bread you wanted to eat.
Do not work for food
that cannot last,
but work for food
that endures to eternal life,
the kind of food the
Son of Man is offering you,
for on him the
Father, God himself, has set his seal.’
Then they said to
him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave
them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has
sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe
in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as
scripture says: He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus answered:
‘I tell you most
solemnly,
it was not Moses who
gave you bread from heaven,
it is my Father who
gives you the bread from heaven,
the true bread;
for the bread of God
is that which comes
down from heaven
and gives life to the
world.’
‘Sir,’ they said
‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered:
‘I am the bread of
life.
He who comes to me
will never be hungry;
he
who believes in me will never thirst.’
SEEKING
WHAT ULTIMATELY SATISFIES AND LASTS
|
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: Exodus 16:2-4.12-15;
Ps 77:3-4,23-25,54; John 6:24-35
Complain
and complain! We are never satisfied for long. When we live in a
three-room flat, we say it is too small. Moving to a five-room
condominium, we are happy for a while. But soon, again we say it is too
small. This is true for everything in life. Whether it is food, clothing,
gadgets and phones, we are never contented for long. Indeed, this was the
situation of the Israelites in the first reading. When they
complained that they had no water, the Lord gave them. When they
complained they had no bread, the Lord sent manna down from heaven. Very
soon, they lamented that they had no meat, and the Lord sent quails to
them. But of course, nothing could satisfy the needs of man. As the
saying goes, “God cannot satisfy our greed, only our needs.”
Why is
it that we never seem to be satisfied with anything in life? This is
because we are not simply animals! When animals are full, they are very
happy and contented. They don’t ask for more. Human beings
are different. We have a soul. This soul is intangible and is
spirit. Nothing can satisfy the soul except spiritual things.
For the unspiritual, they seek only the things of the world. But they
will always be restless. St Augustine too was living a life of pleasure
and fulfilling his sensual needs. But he was always restless and
incomplete until one day he came to the full realization. He wrote in his
Confession, “My soul is restless until it rests in Him.” Indeed, it is easier
to fulfill the needs of the materially poor than the rich poor who cannot be
satisfied with material and physical fulfillment. The spiritual hunger of
the rich man is like an abyss that cannot be filled.
How,
then, can we fill the hunger of the soul? Firstly, we must understand
what we mean when we speak of the soul of the person. The soul consists
of the mind and the heart, the intellect and the will. The mind
seeks for truth and meaning. The heart seeks for love and
affection. A human person therefore is different from other animals
because whilst the former simply needs to satisfy the body, the human person
needs to find truth, meaning and love. Life is more than eating and
drinking or wearing nice clothes. The meaning of life is found in truth
and love. The mind searches for knowledge and understanding. The
heart searches for true love and relationship. So, unless, we can fulfill
the spiritual needs of man, he will always be restless.
But the
truth remains that no one is at rest till he or she finds the fullness of truth
and love. No one is contented with half-truths and superficial
love. This is the crux of today’s lesson. Where can we find the
fullness of truth and love? Where can we find the ultimate meaning and
purpose of life? Can we find it on the internet? Can we find it in our
fellowmen? We all know that the more we search for the truth, the more
confused we are! This is why the world is so overwhelmed by so many ideas
and information; we are paralyzed when it comes to deciding what is right or
wrong.
Unable
to find the truth, we fall into relativism. The philosophy of relativism
says that no truth can be found. Everything is relative and
subjective. So we are all doomed to live in ignorance, in half-truths and
in lies. If that were the case, what hope is there for us all to live our
lives meaningfully since no truth can be found! We are just guessing and
moving in circles. The worst is that after giving so much of our time and
efforts, we realize that all is vanity! This is what St Paul wrote, “You
must give up your old way of life; you must put aside your old self, which gets
corrupted by following illusory desires.” All are illusions! How do
we feel when, after all the struggles, we come to realize that our efforts are
all in vain? We will be so devastated.
What is
true with respect to the search for knowledge and truth is equally so for
love. All of us are seeking for truth and everlasting love. No one
can be contented with temporary love or superficial love. But that is
what the world is promoting. In promoting divorce, we are promoting temporary
love. In promoting same sex union, we are promoting illusory love because
man and woman are made for each other. In promoting abortion and
euthanasia, we are not promoting life but a culture of death. If love is
so un-real, cannot last and short-lived or even deceitful, then is it worth
investing so much of our time and energy on love? In other words, does
true love exist and if it does, how is it possible?
The
Christian answer to these two questions of truth and love is that Christ is the
answer! We do not need to search anymore. He is the Way, the Truth
and the Life! He told the people, “I tell you most solemnly, you are not
looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the
bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for
food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering
you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.” What, then,
is this food that endures to eternal life? “Jesus gave them this answer,
‘this is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.”
Faith
in Jesus is the key to finding the fullness of truth and love. In finding
Jesus, we will find life because we will share in the life of God, which is the
eternal life that Jesus is giving to us. Jesus reiterated, “I tell you
most solemnly, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven, it is my Father
who gives you the bread from heaven, the true bread; for the bread of God is
that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ ‘Sir,’ they
said ‘give us that bread always.’ Jesus answered: ‘I am the bread of life. He
who comes to me will never be hungry; he who believes in me will never thirst.”
How is
Jesus the answer to truth and love? As the bread of life, He is the Word of
God. Jesus has come to enlighten us in the love of His Father and His
plan for us, which is to share in His divine life. He reveals to us the
Father’s mercy and love for us in His teachings. As the Word of God in
person, He shows us our destiny and our calling in life. Only the One who
has come down from heaven can show us the way to heaven. Only the One who
comes from the bosom of the Father can reveal to us the heart and mind of the
Father. In the Word of God, we come to understand the truth about
ourselves, about God and about life. To receive the bread of life,
especially during the Eucharistic celebration, is to allow the Lord to
enlighten us in the truth and feed our intellect which seeks for eternal
truth. Hence, we must pay attention to the Word of God, read the
scriptures often, daily, and especially during the Eucharistic celebration.
As the
incarnation of God, Jesus shows us the true meaning of love. By His life
of forgiveness, humility in service, compassion and kindness, through His works
of healing and acceptance of sinners by eating and drinking with them, He shows
us the heart of God and His love for us. Most of all, by His death on the
cross, He shows us what love and forgiveness entails. In Jesus, we see
the mercy of God in person. By His love for His Father, His fidelity to
His will even unto death, Jesus taught us what perfect and everlasting love
entails. Jesus then is truly the love of God incarnated.
When we
put truth and love together, this is where the meaning of life is found. Only
then will our hearts and minds be satisfied. We find life when we know
the ultimate truth of life is to be with God, and we find life when we know
that true and everlasting love exists. By His resurrection from the dead,
Jesus establishes beyond doubt that He is the One sent by the Father to lead us
to Him so that we can find fullness of life and love. This has already
begun when He sent us the Holy Spirit, which is the love of God to dwell within
us.
In the
light of what has been said, St Paul therefore urges us, “not to go on living
the aimless kind of life that pagans live. Now that is hardly the way you have
learnt from Christ, unless you failed to hear him properly when you were taught
what the truth is in Jesus.” Having found out this truth, there is no
excuse for us to continue to go back to a sinful life. We must now show
our gratitude by living the life of grace given to us through Christ in the
Holy Spirit. Indeed, we must show ourselves as living an enlightened life
based on the truth and a life of humble service in giving ourselves to God and
the service of our fellowmen. St Paul reminds us, “Your mind must be
renewed by a spiritual revolution so that you can put on the new self that has
been created in God’s way, in the goodness and holiness of the truth.”
After
which, we must share Christ with the world so that others can come to know Him
as the Way, the Truth and the Life. The psalmist says, “The things we
have heard and understood, the things our fathers have told us, these we will
not hide from their children but will tell them to the next generation. The
glories of the Lord and his might and the marvelous deeds he has done. Yet he
commanded the clouds above and opened the gates of heaven. He rained down manna
for their food, and gave them bread from heaven.” Like Christ, we do this
through words and actions, through the enlightening of mind and loving service
through good works. Only through evangelization and giving testimony to
His marvelous love, can we continue to grow in faith and keep ourselves alive
in His love.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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