20150901
REGAINING THE SPIRITUAL AND MORAL AUTHORITY OF THE
CHURCH
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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1 Thessalonians
5:1-6,9-11 ©
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You will not be
expecting us to write anything to you, brothers, about ‘times and seasons’,
since you know very well that the Day of the Lord is going to come like a thief
in the night. It is when people are saying, ‘How quiet and peaceful it is’ that
the worst suddenly happens, as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant
woman; and there will be no way for anybody to evade it.
But it is
not as if you live in the dark, my brothers, for that Day to overtake you like
a thief. No, you are all sons of light and sons of the day: we do not belong to
the night or to darkness, so we should not go on sleeping, as everyone else
does, but stay wide awake and sober. God never meant us to experience the
Retribution, but to win salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for
us so that, alive or dead, we should still live united to him. So give
encouragement to each other, and keep strengthening one another, as you do
already.
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Psalm
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Psalm
26:1,4,13-14 ©
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I am sure I shall
see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
The Lord is my light
and my help;
whom
shall I fear?
The Lord is the
stronghold of my life;
before
whom shall I shrink?
I am sure I shall
see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
There is one thing I
ask of the Lord,
for this
I long,
to live in the house
of the Lord,
all the
days of my life,
to savour the
sweetness of the Lord,
to behold
his temple.
I am sure I shall
see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
I am sure I shall see
the Lord’s goodness
in the
land of the living.
Hope in him, hold
firm and take heart.
Hope in
the Lord!
I am sure I shall
see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Heb4:12
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of God is
something alive and active:
it can judge secret
emotions and thoughts.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Lk7:16
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Alleluia, alleluia!
A great prophet has
appeared among us;
God has visited his
people.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 4:31-37 ©
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Jesus went down to
Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath. And his teaching
made a deep impression on them because he spoke with authority.
In the
synagogue there was a man who was possessed by the spirit of an unclean devil,
and it shouted at the top of its voice, ‘Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of
Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are: the Holy One of
God.’ But Jesus said sharply, ‘Be quiet! Come out of him!’ And the devil,
throwing the man down in front of everyone, went out of him without hurting him
at all. Astonishment seized them and they were all saying to one another, ‘What
teaching! He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and they
come out.’ And reports of him went all through the surrounding countryside.
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REGAINING THE SPIRITUAL AND MORAL AUTHORITY OF THE
CHURCH
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: 1 TH 5:1-6,
9-11; LK 4: 31-37
What is
the greatest challenge of the Church in this century? It is moral
decadence. This is not surprising, considering how history has developed in the
last few centuries. In the 19th century, the Church was faced
with the challenge of atheism, which sprang from an intellectual denial of God
and an emotional anger at the presence of evil, sin and innocent suffering in
the world. Atheism, which is a rejection of the idea of God, in turn led
to the absence of God in the world. The 20th century was an
era of secularization, where people lived their lives as if God is dead.
Without a conscious recognition of God’s presence in our lives and in society,
we have arrived at a culture without morality and values. The rejection
of God as the absolute will necessarily lead to amorality, since there is no
longer any basis for truth. From being amoral, the next stage would be
immorality.
For this
reason, the first reading from St Paul is a stark reminder of the need to be
alert to the presence of sin and evil in our lives. St Paul warns us that
darkness and evil are real. They come into our lives in a subtle way,
“like a thief in the night.” So, too, in the gospel we see Jesus
combating with the devil and exorcising the possessed man.
Indeed,
even the Church has not been spared. We are living in trying times.
From members to Church leaders, we have become insensitive to sin and
goodness. Living in the world, we cannot but also be influenced by the
secular, amoral and materialistic values of the world. So insidious is
the presence of evil that even Church leaders have been led astray due to
greed, lust and relativism. When the devil attacks Church leaders and
when we fail, then the moral authority of the Church is eroded. That is
what the world wants. This explains why the Catholic Church is being
singled out, in particular for its sex scandals, as if such problems are
peculiar to the Catholic Church alone. By using us as the scapegoat for
the world, there will no longer be any moral force able to deal with those who
choose falsehood and selfishness over truth and love.
Why is
it that we are living in darkness when we are supposedly the “sons of light and
sons of the day”? According to St Paul, it is because we are
asleep. We are so intoxicated by the world that we go on sleeping.
Thus, he exhorts us, “we do not belong to the night or to darkness, so we
should not go on sleeping, as everyone else does, but stay wide awake and
sober.” Indeed, to recover our spiritual and moral authority, we must
stay awake and be alert to what is happening in the world and to
ourselves. We must be watchful and not be deceived, like those who said,
“’How quiet and peaceful it is” for that is when “the worst suddenly happens,
as suddenly as labour pains come on a pregnant woman; and there will be no way
for anybody to evade it.”
If we
are to regain our authority we must turn to Jesus our Master. The gospel tells
us that He taught with authority and “his teaching made a deep impression” on
His listeners. To teach with authority does not mean that He preached
eloquently. Rather, it was when He preached with conviction, both in
words and in His life, that the effects were seen in the lives of those who
heard Him. Even the devil obeyed Him. Hence, the people exclaimed, “‘what
teaching! He gives orders to unclean spirits with authority and power and
they come out.’”
The
question we need to address is, where was the source of Jesus’ authority?
It lies in His consciousness. Jesus knew who He was and where He came
from and what His mission was. He was conscious firstly of His
Father. The gospel tells us that it was Jesus’ Abba experience that gave
Him His identity and mission. This is described in the Baptism of Jesus
at the beginning of the gospel. Such intimacy with the Father was already
present in the life of Jesus at an early age. At the temple of Jerusalem,
He told His mother that He had to be in the Father’s house doing His Father’s
business. Being so identified with the Father in His being, Jesus could say
that He and the Father are one. He knew He came from Him and that His
goal was to return to Him. Because the identification with the Father was
perfect, He knew that He was the unique son of the Father. Consequently,
even the devil admitted, “I know who you are: the Holy One of God.”
Consciousness
of sonship of course implies a sense of mission. To be the Son of the
Father and to share in His life and being implies that there is mutual willing
and knowing. This is brought out so clearly in the gospel of John when
Jesus said that His food is to do the will of the Father and that whatever the
Son sees, He would do. Many times too, in the gospel, the Father was the
One who had sent Him.
Finally,
it was through the anointing of the Holy Spirit, which we read in yesterday’s
gospel, that the dynamism and effectiveness of Jesus’ mission was made
clear. Without the Holy Spirit, He would have been powerless in His
mission. It was the Holy Spirit in Him that empowered Him to act on
behalf of the Father, giving Himself completely for the mission even unto
death.
If this
was the case for Jesus in His ministry, then we too must be conscious of who we
are. In order to stay awake and be sober, we must first follow Jesus by
intensifying our communion and union with the Father. For us, the way is
through intimacy with Jesus who will lead us to the heart of the Father.
So intimacy and communion are vital.
Secondly,
we must treasure our sonship in Christ given to us at baptism. Quite
often we do not realize the privilege that has been given to us. We take our
sonship for granted. In some Catholic countries, they try to emphasize
the dignity of our baptism and adopted sonship by celebrating their baptism day
rather than their birthday. This is because eternal life given to us at
baptism is even greater than simply the physical life given to us by God.
Unless we are aware of our sonship, we will not be able to live our lives “as
sons of light and sons of the day.”
Through
our sonship, we are called upon to share in the mission of Christ. Being
heirs with Christ in baptism, we also share in His mission, suffering and
glory. This means that a true Christian would be one who would give
himself completely to the mission. For Jesus, He had only one mission in
life, which was to do the will of the Father by proclaiming the kingdom of
God. For us as baptized Christians, we should have only one mission in life,
which is to give ourselves completely to the mission of Christ and the
Church. There must be no other mission or interest in our lives except to
proclaim Christ to the world.
Thus,
it is important that we pray for a renewal of anointing of the Holy Spirit
today. The Holy Spirit which empowered Jesus in His ministry is the same
Spirit that will also help us to grow in holiness and give us power in our
mission. Only through the conscious recognition of the Holy Spirit in our
lives, can we become more identified with Jesus in the way we live our lives
and in our whole being, so that when others see us they could say, “we have
seen the Holy one of God.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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