20151006 FINDING JOY AND PASSION IN THE MINISTRY
Readings at Mass
First reading
|
Jonah 3:1-10 ©
|
The word of the Lord
was addressed a second time to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great
city, and preach to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh
in obedience to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond
compare: it took three days to cross it. Jonah went on into the city, making a
day’s journey. He preached in these words, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is
going to be destroyed.’ And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they
proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The
news reached the king of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe,
put on sackcloth and sat down in ashes. A proclamation was then promulgated
throughout Nineveh, by decree of the king and his ministers, as follows: ‘Men
and beasts, herds and flocks, are to taste nothing; they must not eat, they
must not drink water. All are to put on sackcloth and call on God with all
their might; and let everyone renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things
he has done. Who knows if God will not change his mind and relent, if he will
not renounce his burning wrath, so that we do not perish?’ God saw their
efforts to renounce their evil behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict
on them the disaster which he had threatened.
Psalm
|
Psalm
129:1-4,7-8 ©
|
If you, O Lord,
should mark our guilt: Lord, who would survive?
Out of the depths I
cry to you, O Lord,
Lord,
hear my voice!
O let your ears be
attentive
to the
voice of my pleading.
If you, O Lord,
should mark our guilt: Lord, who would survive?
If you, O Lord,
should mark our guilt,
Lord, who
would survive?
But with you is found
forgiveness:
for this
we revere you.
If you, O Lord,
should mark our guilt: Lord, who would survive?
Because with the Lord
there is mercy
and
fullness of redemption,
Israel indeed he will
redeem
from all
its iniquity.
If you, O Lord,
should mark our guilt: Lord, who would survive?
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Jn15:15
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
I call you friends,
says the Lord,
because I have made
known to you
everything I have
learnt from my Father.
Alleluia!
Or
|
Lk11:28
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
Happy are those
who hear the word of
God
and keep it.
Alleluia!
Gospel
|
Luke 10:38-42 ©
|
Jesus
came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. She
had a sister called Mary, who sat down at the Lord’s feet and listened to him
speaking. Now Martha who was distracted with all the serving said, ‘Lord, do
you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself?
Please tell her to help me.’ But the Lord answered: ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said
‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only
one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from
her.’
FINDING
JOY AND PASSION IN THE MINISTRY
|
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: JONAH 3:1-10;
LK 10:38-42
Faith
must be expressed in charity. We are all called to serve by the
Lord. Many of us are willing to serve Him. We gladly respond
to the call to serve Him in Church or in Non-government Organizations. We
begin with much enthusiasm and joy, knowing that we can be of service to Him
and His people. Yet, often we become disillusioned in ministry and full-time
apostolate in the Church. Many of us are scandalized and become
disheartened over time. Even priests and religious have become jaded.
How is
it that we find no joy in ministry? Two reasons could explain this
situation. Firstly, serving in ministry often makes us discouraged and
angry because of differences and misunderstandings when working with
others. Although all apparently want to serve the Lord but sometimes
differences in approach, opinions and directions can cause much hurt and
divisions. Secondly, sometimes we feel so burdened by the weight of the
office and the demands and responsibility it places on us, we are overwhelmed.
Everyone wants a bit of us.
How did
this come about when we started out with great joy, passion and
enthusiasm? This is because we are not conscious of our motives for
serving Him and what is driving us to serve. Unconsciously, we all
believe that we want to serve God, but in truth our motives are not as pure as
we believe them to be. Unbeknownst to us, we are motivated by many
unconscious factors such as security, acceptance, love, popularity, power and
personal gains, material or otherwise.
In the
first place, although most of us want to serve Him, we also want serve Him on
our own terms only. This was the case of Jonah and of course Martha as well.
Jonah wanted God to punish the people by fulfilling His threats to bring
disaster upon them. But God forgave them because they
repented. God, as the responsorial says, is a merciful and forgiving
God. As a result, Jonah’s ego was wounded and he felt embarrassed that
his prophecy did not come true. Similarly, Martha wanted to show
hospitality but in her own ways too. She was not sensitive to what her
guest wanted or needed. She was only determined to do what she
wanted for the Lord and how it should be done. Instead of pleasing the
Lord by giving Him some rest and intimacy, she kicked up a row and attempted to
cause sibling rivalry, making everyone else unhappy. In service, we find
there is so much pride and egoistic motives involved. This brings
division among Church members, even to the extent of threatening or committing
acts of revenge. How could this be? This is contrary to the mission
of communion. We know that the mission of communion must be accomplished
in communion.
Secondly,
ministry becomes a chore and a duty because of the demands motivated by
ambition and success. Instead of driving our agenda, we become
driven. We lose our center and end up fulfilling the demands and
expectations of others. We fear saying “No”, not because we are
enthusiastic, but because we are afraid people might not be happy with
us. So the motive of service is not coming out of one’s convictions and
passion. It is not motivated by love and compassion but by expectations
and the need for acceptance and popularity.
As a
consequence, we begin to exhibit the same burnout syndromes as Jonah and
Martha. They were angry and resentful when things did not go their way.
They were irritable and complaining. They were looking for scapegoats to
blame. They started comparing themselves with others. They fell
into self-pity. Love was no longer a motivating factor but
duty. There was no compassion for what they were doing. It
became more of an ambition rather than a service. It became self-seeking.
When
these signs appear in our ministry, they reveal to us that the source of our
motivation is not from the love of God. Thus the work of God becomes the
work for God. The difference lies in that the former allows God to work
through us and the latter seeks to earn the merits of God. When it is no
longer the work of God, we do not rely on the primacy of grace but on ourselves
alone. This explains the cause of our anxiety and the need to be
successful rather than being faithful.
This
brings us back to the question of prayer. It is not the doing that is
wrong. The gospel is not teaching us that we should not do more for the
Lord. But it is a question of priority and primacy. Mary not only
chose the better part but she knew her priority. She chose the better
part because she knew that no amount of work one does and the rewards one
receives from the ministry can be equal to the intimacy one shares with the
Lord. Secondly, she also knew that her strength and wisdom in ministry
comes from the Lord and not from herself. For this reason she was not
irritable. She could spend time with the Lord without guilt. She was no workaholic
but certainly she was dedicated to the work of the Lord.
We too
need to turn to the Lord in prayer and contemplation so that we can get in
touch with Him and with ourselves, our motives. Secondly, we find
strength and consolation from Him as the source of our love and drive to do His
work. Otherwise, we depend and crave from human beings that love and that
acceptance. But when we have acceptance from God and His love, it is
enough to drive us to continue in our ministry with passion and love. For
this reason, Pope John Paul II in his apostolic letter, Novo millennio ineunte
says that prayers must be the basis for all pastoral planning.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment