20151026
LIBERATION FROM OUR BONDAGE THROUGH THE SACRAMENT
OF RECONCILIATION AND THE AWAKENING OF THE SPIRIT
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Romans 8:12-17 ©
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My brothers, there is
no necessity for us to obey our unspiritual selves or to live unspiritual
lives. If you do live in that way, you are doomed to die; but if by the Spirit
you put an end to the misdeeds of the body you will live.
Everyone
moved by the Spirit is a son of God. The spirit you received is not the spirit
of slaves bringing fear into your lives again; it is the spirit of sons, and it
makes us cry out, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit himself and our spirit bear united
witness that we are children of God. And if we are children we are heirs as
well: heirs of God and coheirs with Christ, sharing his sufferings so as to
share his glory.
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Psalm
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Psalm
67:2,4,6-7,20-21 ©
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This God of ours
is a God who saves.
Let God arise, let
his foes be scattered.
Let those
who hate him flee before him.
But the just shall
rejoice at the presence of God,
they
shall exult and dance for joy.
This God of ours
is a God who saves.
Father of the orphan,
defender of the widow,
such is
God in his holy place.
God gives the lonely
a home to live in;
he leads
the prisoners forth into freedom.
This God of ours
is a God who saves.
May the Lord be
blessed day after day.
He bears
our burdens, God our saviour.
This God of ours is a
God who saves.
The Lord
our God holds the keys of death.
This God of ours
is a God who saves.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn17:17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Your word is truth, O
Lord:
consecrate us in the
truth.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 13:10-17 ©
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One sabbath day Jesus
was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who for eighteen
years had been possessed by a spirit that left her enfeebled; she was bent
double and quite unable to stand upright. When Jesus saw her he called her over
and said, ‘Woman, you are rid of your infirmity’ and he laid his hands on her.
And at once she straightened up, and she glorified God.
But
the synagogue official was indignant because Jesus had healed on the sabbath,
and he addressed the people present. ‘There are six days’ he said ‘when work is
to be done. Come and be healed on one of those days and not on the sabbath.’
But the Lord answered him. ‘Hypocrites!’ he said ‘Is there one of you who does
not untie his ox or his donkey from the manger on the sabbath and take it out
for watering? And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has held bound
these eighteen years – was it not right to untie her bonds on the sabbath
day?’ When he said this, all his adversaries were covered with confusion, and
all the people were overjoyed at all the wonders he worked.
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LIBERATION FROM OUR BONDAGE THROUGH THE SACRAMENT OF
RECONCILIATION AND THE AWAKENING OF THE SPIRIT
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ROM 8:12-17;
LK 13:10-17
We all
suffer from different kinds of bondages. Some of us suffer from the
bondage of legalism, like the synagogue official who was indignant because
Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Indeed, because the laws curtail us, we
restrain ourselves from doing beyond what the law commands of us.
Unfortunately, laws which are meant for the preservation of the harmony of the
community can also be a curtailment of the spontaneity of goodness and
love. So legalism that stifles freedom in love and compassion is a
bondage in some ways.
Others
suffer from the bondage of an unspiritual life, the kind of life that St Paul
condemns in the first reading. When we obey our unspiritual selves and live
unspiritual lives, Paul says we are “doomed to die”. Living a
materialistic and self-centered life cannot bring true freedom and
liberation. It makes us slaves to the passions of the world. We
find ourselves attached to excesses of food and drink, pleasure, money, and
success. We live in an egoistic way, not giving in to humility and
obedience to the Word of God. We also fail in promoting an inclusive love
and friendship, a love that is open to all our fellow human beings.
Instead, we may have adopted an exclusive form of friendship with some and
discriminate against others. St Paul tells us that this only means that
we have the spirit of slavery, which only brings more fear into our lives since
we cannot be happy without them.
Finally,
the greatest bondage of all is the bondage to sin, which is an active act of
doing wrong. This seems to be the case of the woman in the gospel.
At first glance, we might think that she was suffering from sclerosis, which is
a deformation of the spinal column and that all she needed was to see a medical
specialist. However, in the diagnosis of the evangelist, the woman “for
eighteen years had been possessed by a spirit that left her enfeebled … bent
double and quite unable to stand upright”. Jesus further confirms this
when he argued that Satan has held her bound for these eighteen
years. Hence, her infirmity was but an external manifestation of
her slavery to Satan.
We do
not know exactly why Satan has a hold on her. But certainly, although not
always the case, physical sickness may be connected to sin. Perhaps this
woman was living a sinful life. As a result, Satan controlled her
life. The inner struggle between sin and freedom must have made her
weak. What was needed was not a physical healing but a spiritual
healing. Indeed, this is true for many of us as well. Often, our
physical illness can be traced to some spiritual sicknesses in us.
We have
reasons to believe that this was so for the woman since the word used to
describe her healing was “untie”. Twice the gospel mentions the need to
untie her bondage. The synonym for untying a person is to release a
person from bondage, especially from sin. The word “untie” is also the
same word used in the Synoptic gospels and in St John regarding the power for
the forgiveness of sins, which was given to Peter and to the apostles. So
the healing of the woman was the result of Jesus releasing her from her
sins. The moment she was released from the shackles of Satan, she could
straighten up and glorify God. Prior to that, she was neither able to
stand up nor give praise to God.
What,
then, does it mean for us? How can we too regain the freedom of the
children of God so that we can have the Spirit of sonship in us? If we
find ourselves unable to release ourselves from the bondage that binds us, be
it our attachment to things, people, unforgiveness or sinful habits, then the
answer that is proposed by the liturgy today is simply this: be filled with the
Spirit of God. But how can we live by the Spirit and be moved by the
Spirit?
First
and foremost, we need to experience the liberating effects through the
Sacrament of Reconciliation. We need to be untied from our sins that
continue to have a hold on us. It is a mistake to belittle the power of
the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This sacrament continues to be the main
instrument of breaking the grasp of Satan over us. It is a promise of
Jesus to the apostles and His successors that through them, He will deliver us
from the bondage of our sins. Through the Sacrament of Reconciliation,
which is also the Sacrament of Healing, we will recover our sonship once again.
Following
the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Spirit of Christ, which is the Spirit of
sonship that has been given to us must then be reawakened. It is necessary,
as St Paul tells us in the first reading, to be moved by the Spirit so that we
can cry out, “Abba, Father!” Only through the Spirit of Christ which is
the Spirit of the Father can we truly share in His glory and be united with Him
in witnessing to a life of authentic sonship. For this reason, in the
charismatic and Pentecostal movements, the release of the Holy Spirit always
takes place after the sacramental confession of sins. But what the
charismatic movement underscores is that no radical experience of the Holy
Spirit is possible unless we are freed from our sins through repentance and
confession.
Yes, if
we find ourselves still in bondage to sin, bad habits, fears, attachments or
anything that prevents us from attaining freedom to love and to live wholly for
Christ and others, then we must return to the Sacrament of Reconciliation with
a sincere request for the Spirit to come into our lives. If we do, then
the Spirit of Christ will cry out in us to God, “Father, Abba”. In that
experience, we come to know deep in our hearts that we are the children of God,
and that we have the power to witness to Christ’s sufferings in order to share
His glory. From that moment too, we go beyond the recognition that we are
simply the children of Abraham but are children of God and that we are all
brothers and sisters of the same Father with Jesus as our Brother, belonging to
the one family of God and not slaves of Satan.
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
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