20150908 TAKING OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE IN GOD’S PLAN
Readings at Mass
First reading
|
Micah 5:1-4 ©
|
The Lord says this:
But you, Bethlehem
Ephrathah,
the least of the
clans of Judah,
out of you will be
born for me
the one who is to
rule over Israel;
his origin goes back
to the distant past,
to the days of old.
The Lord is therefore
going to abandon them
till the time when
she who is to give birth gives birth.
Then the remnant of
his brothers will come back
to the sons of
Israel.
He will stand and
feed his flock
with the power of the
Lord,
with the majesty of
the name of his God.
They will live
secure, for from then on he will extend his power
to the ends of the
land.
He himself will be
peace.
OR:
Alternative
First reading
|
Romans 8:28-30 ©
|
We know that by
turning everything to their good, God co-operates with all those who love him,
with all those he has called according to his purpose. They are the ones he
chose specially long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that
his Son might be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for
this; those he called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his
glory.
Psalm
|
Psalm 12:6-7 ©
|
I exult for joy in
the Lord.
Lord, I trust in your
merciful love.
Let my
heart rejoice in your saving help.
I exult for joy in
the Lord.
Let me sing to the
Lord for his goodness to me,
singing
psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
I exult for joy in
the Lord.
Gospel
Acclamation
|
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Blessed are you, holy
Virgin Mary,
and most worthy of
all praise,
for the sun of
justice, Christ our God,
was born of you.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
Matthew
1:1-16,18-23 ©
|
A genealogy of Jesus
Christ, son of David, son of Abraham:
Abraham was the
father of Isaac,
Isaac the father of
Jacob,
Jacob the father of
Judah and his brothers,
Judah was the father
of Perez and Zerah, Tamar being their mother,
Perez was the father
of Hezron,
Hezron the father of
Ram,
Ram was the father of
Amminadab,
Amminadab the father
of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of
Salmon,
Salmon was the father
of Boaz, Rahab being his mother,
Boaz was the father
of Obed, Ruth being his mother,
Obed was the father of
Jesse;
and Jesse was the
father of King David.
David was the father
of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife,
Solomon was the
father of Rehoboam,
Rehoboam the father
of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa,
Asa was the father of
Jehoshaphat,
Jehoshaphat the
father of Joram,
Joram the father of
Azariah,
Azariah was the
father of Jotham,
Jotham the father of
Ahaz,
Ahaz the father of
Hezekiah,
Hezekiah was the
father of Manasseh,
Manasseh the father
of Amon,
Amon the father of
Josiah;
and Josiah was the
father of Jechoniah and his brothers.
Then the deportation
to Babylon took place.
After the deportation
to Babylon:
Jechoniah was the
father of Shealtiel,
Shealtiel the father
of Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel was the
father of Abiud,
Abiud the father of Eliakim,
Eliakim the father of
Azor,
Azor was the father
of Zadok,
Zadok the father of
Achim,
Achim the father of
Eliud,
Eliud was the father
of Eleazar,
Eleazar the father of
Matthan,
Matthan the father of
Jacob;
and Jacob was the
father of Joseph the husband of Mary;
of her was born Jesus
who is called Christ.
This is how Jesus
Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before
they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy
Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honour and wanting to spare her
publicity, decided to divorce her informally. He had made up his mind to do
this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph
son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has
conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and
you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from
their sins.’ Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through
the prophet:
The virgin will
conceive and give birth to a son
and they will call
him Emmanuel,
a name which means
‘God-is-with-us.’
TAKING
OUR RIGHTFUL PLACE IN GOD’S PLAN
|
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: MIC 5:1-4;
ROM 8:28-30; MT 1:1-16. 18-23
The
Church traditionally does not celebrate birthdays, especially in the
liturgy. Rather, we celebrate death days, since death is a symbol of our
baptism, as we are called to die in Christ. Hence, the commemoration of
saints is always on the day they were martyred or died. Yet, we celebrate
Christ’s birthday, which of course could be easily justified, since His birth
is the beginning of our salvation. But why do we also celebrate Mary’s
birthday and also that of John the Baptist? It has to do with the event
of redemption. Just as Christ’s birthday marks the beginning of our salvation,
so, too, by celebrating their birthdays we are celebrating their redemption.
The
Church believes that Mary, who was sanctified at the moment of conception in
the womb of Anne, was already saved by Christ by His pre-emptive death on the
cross in time. In the case of John the Baptist, he was sanctified by
Christ when he leapt for joy at the encounter between their mothers.
Within this context we can appreciate the alternative scripture reading from St
Paul’s letter to the Romans when he wrote, “They are the ones he chose specially
long ago and intended to become true images of his Son, so that his Son might
be the eldest of many brothers. He called those he intended for this; those he
called he justified, and with those he justified he shared his glory.”
Indeed,
if we celebrate Mary’s birthday it is because the Church wants to underscore
that the real life which we celebrate is our day of salvation. Greater
than just having physical life is to have eternal life with Christ. For
the same reason, most Catholics in European countries prefer to celebrate their
baptismal day, or patron saint’s day, or name’s day, rather than their
chronological birth date, as is celebrated by the secular world. Indeed,
real life is eternal life, which is to share in the life of God. This
life, unlike the physical life, will never die.
And
what is even more wonderful is that this has been in the mind of God from all
eternity. God from all eternity has not only chosen Mary but all of us to
be true images of His Son. This plan was already announced by the Prophet
Micah before the coming of Christ when he said, “The Lord says this: You
(Bethlehem), Ephrathah, the least of the clans of Judah, out of you will be
born for me the one who is to rule over Israel; his origin goes back to the
distant past, to the days of old.” And when He comes, the prophet said,
“He will stand and feed his flock with the power of the Lord, with the majesty
of the name of his God. They will live secure, for from then on he will extend
his power to the ends of the land. He himself will be peace.” Christ of
course, in our estimation, is the realization of this promise made to the
people of old.
So if
we celebrate Mary’s birthday, it is because she is so closely associated with
Christ’s work. In her own ways, she was responsible for helping to bring
to realization the amazing and gracious plan of God. That is what the
gospel affirms, “Now all this took place to fulfill the words spoken by the
Lord through the prophet: The Virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and
they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us’”. The
one whom she is giving birth is not simply anyone but He is also our
Saviour. As the Angel told Joseph, “She will give birth to a son and you
must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their
sins.”
Consequently,
to celebrate Mary’s birthday is to celebrate God’s grace and His mercy.
God is so selfless in love that He would condescend to take upon Himself the
humanity of man and all our limitations in order to be in solidarity with us in
everything except sin. This in itself calls for great thanksgiving.
But of course the Incarnation was just the first step of the kenosis of God as
it had to be carried to full term in the passion and death of our Lord.
For what does it mean to be human? It is more than having a human body or
even to suffer. To be human is to suffer all the pains that come with the
state of being human, struggling to do God’s will and being willing to empty
oneself even unto death. Hence, we celebrate Mary’s birthday only in the
context of the birthday and the passion of our Lord.
Another
motive for celebrating Mary’s birthday is to marvel at God’s choice in the work
of redemption. The choice of Mary clearly shows that the way God works is
so different from the way we work. He did not choose great people to be
His collaborators. Rather He chose the poor and insignificant. As
the prophet said, God will choose the Messiah from Ephrathah, the least of the
clans of Judah. Above all, He chose Mary to be the mother of His only
begotten Son.
Yet,
celebrating Mary’s birthday is not merely to praise God alone. We cannot
discount the cooperation of Mary with the grace of God. Whilst it is true
that only God can save us, it is equally true that God would not want to save
us without our cooperation. He wants us to give our personal response to
His grace at work in us. So we also want to praise God for giving her the
grace to respond to the invitation of the Angel to bear the Son of God in her
womb.
We must
not underestimate that the response to be the Mother of God was a decision
taken lightly by Mary. Many of us tend to commit ourselves to someone or
some project without thoroughly considering whether we can be faithful to our
promises. This is particularly true in relationships, whether in
friendship or in marriage. Many of us discover too late, that we cannot
keep our promises. This same mistake also is made by good-will people,
whether in Church or even at work and in business. At the point of time, it is
possible that many made such commitments sincerely, but very few are able to
live up to the pledges they made.
In the
case of Mary, it must surely have taken her lots of prayer, faith and courage
to make that commitment; unlike many of us who like to hold offices and
positions in life and in society, but are irresponsible to the office we
hold. We want the crown and the privileges but not the thorns and the
sacrifices. For Mary, she only wanted to do God’s will and to do what was
good for her people. She was conscious of the great sacrifices she would
have to endure from the moment she said “yes”. The price of being the
mother of the Saviour cost her her whole life, and untold pain in her
heart. We read in today’s gospel how she, like her Son, was misunderstood
by her loved ones, even her most intimate companion, Joseph, who wanted to put
her away. She must have suffered tremendous pain, rejection,
misunderstanding and even ridicule on account of her pregnancy. Who would
believe her? Not even Joseph, if not for the intervention of the Angel.
So responding to God’s call is not as easy as we think.
Yet we
can learn from Mary, that if we abandon everything to God in faith, He will see
us through as He did for Mary, Joseph and His Son. As St Paul says, “we
know that by turning everything to their good God co-operates with all those
who love him, with all those that he has called according to his
purpose.” Yes, we must trust in the power of God and His fidelity to
those who trust Him and are faithful to Him. Again St Paul wrote, “He
called those he intended for this; those he called he justified, and with those
he justified he shared his glory.” Such is the fidelity of God seen in
the person of Christ.
So
today, let us seek to be like Mary and Her Son. Every life given to us is
meaningful and enriching only when we use that very life with all the blessings
and even handicaps that God gives to us for the service of the people of
God. When we give life to people, we find life ourselves. So we cannot
say that we are insignificant, ordinary people with no talents and therefore
cannot do anything for anyone or cooperate with the plan of God’s salvation for
humanity. Like Mary, we just have to say “yes” when we are called and
chosen by Him through prayer and discernment. So, to celebrate the
birthday of someone is more than a commemoration of the person’s accidental
presence in history, but someone who has deliberately chosen to align his or
her life with the vocation that the Lord has given to him or her, in a way that
serves life, heals people and empower them to be life-givers in Christ.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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