20151201 PEACE COMES THROUGH SUBMISSION TO CHRIST
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah 11:1-10 ©
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A shoot springs from
the stock of Jesse,
a scion thrusts from
his roots:
on him the spirit of
the Lord rests,
a spirit of wisdom
and insight,
a spirit of counsel
and power,
a spirit of knowledge
and of the fear of the Lord.
(The fear of the Lord
is his breath.)
He does not judge by
appearances,
he gives no verdict
on hearsay,
but judges the
wretched with integrity,
and with equity gives
a verdict for the poor of the land.
His word is a rod
that strikes the ruthless,
his sentences bring
death to the wicked.
Integrity is the
loincloth round his waist,
faithfulness the belt
about his hips.
The wolf lives with
the lamb,
the panther lies down
with the kid,
calf and lion feed
together,
with a little boy to
lead them.
The cow and the bear
make friends,
their young lie down
together.
The lion eats straw
like the ox.
The infant plays over
the cobra’s hole;
into the viper’s lair
the young child puts
his hand.
They do no hurt, no
harm,
on all my holy
mountain,
for the country is
filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters swell
the sea.
That day, the root of
Jesse
shall stand as a signal
to the peoples.
It will be sought out
by the nations
and its home will be
glorious.
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Psalm
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Psalm
71:1-2,7-8,12-13,17 ©
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In his days
justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
O God, give your
judgement to the king,
to a
king’s son your justice,
that he may judge
your people in justice
and your
poor in right judgement.
In his days
justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
In his days justice
shall flourish
and peace
till the moon fails.
He shall rule from
sea to sea,
from the
Great River to earth’s bounds.
In his days
justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
For he shall save the
poor when they cry
and the
needy who are helpless.
He will have pity on
the weak
and save
the lives of the poor.
In his days
justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
May his name be
blessed for ever
and
endure like the sun.
Every tribe shall be
blessed in him,
all
nations bless his name.
In his days
justice shall flourish, and peace till the moon fails.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps84:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Let us see, O Lord,
your mercy
and give us your
saving help.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Behold, our Lord will
come with power
and will enlighten
the eyes of his servants.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 10:21-24 ©
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Filled with joy by
the Holy Spirit, Jesus said, ‘I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth,
for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to
mere children. Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do. Everything
has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son is except
the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son
chooses to reveal him.’
Then
turning to his disciples he spoke to them in private, ‘Happy the eyes that see
what you see, for I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what
you see, and never saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.’
PEACE
COMES THROUGH SUBMISSION TO CHRIST
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISAIAH 11:1-10;
LUKE 10:21-24
We are
all looking for peace, peace in the troubled world, peace in our country, peace
in our homes, peace in our offices, peace in our community and peace in our
lives. Man is desperate for peace. When someone dies, our final
wish for that person is, “May he rest in peace!” So peace is what
matters. Without peace, there can be no real happiness even when we have
plenty and our stomachs are filled.
Why is
there no peace in our hearts and in the world? Like Israel, we are faced
with threats from within and without. From without, the Israelites were
faced with the prospect of being attacked by the powerful kingdom of Assyria.
From within, both political and religious leaders were corrupt, not walking the
ways of the Lord, enriching themselves and practising all sorts of injustices
and committing sins against morality and worshipping the pagan gods. For us as
well, our external enemies are those that are not within our control. We
have to contend with a secular, relativistic, pluralistic, individualistic and
materialistic society. We have to live with difficult people in our
lives, whether our spouse, in-laws, office colleagues and friends who betrayed
us and used us. We are disheartened but unable to change the situation we
are in. We feel trapped in the hole of which we are unable to get
out. Internally, we are filled with anger, hatred, un-forgiveness on one
hand and on the other, we are also not living an honest, responsible and moral
life. We are living in sin, cheating and excessive drinking, gambling and
living in irregular relationships.
How do
find peace? Today, the scripture readings promise us that the Prince of
Peace is on the way to restore peace in our lives. To the Israelites, the
prophet Isaiah announced that God would destroy their enemy, the
Assyrians. But He would also purify the people as well and remove the
evil kings who were unfaithful to the Covenant. In other words, they
would be exiled eventually. Cut down to size and left with a stump, among
the remnants, “A shoot springs form the stock of Jesse, a scion thrusts from
his roots: on him the spirit of the Lord rests, a spirit of wisdom and insight,
a spirit of counsel and power, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
Lord.” God would give them a new king and restore dignity to
Israel. As the psalmist declares, “In his days justice shall flourish and
peace till the moon fails. He shall rule from sea to sea, from the Great
River to earth’s bounds. For he shall save the poor when they cry and the needy
who are helpless. He will have pity on the weak and save the lives of the
poor.”
Indeed,
the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled in the coming of Christ. He is the
Messiah foretold, the One who is filled with the Spirit and endowed with all
the messianic gifts to enable Him to bring the whole of humanity together under
the rule of God. So in the gospel we have Jesus sending out the 70 disciples
earlier on to preach the Good News, to heal the sick and to cast out the
devils. To their amazement, they returned with great rejoicing as they
shared with Christ, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your
name!” (Lk 10:17)
Indeed, these disciples were ordinary people, many were uneducated, and yet
they were surprised that even the devils could be cast out in the name of
Christ. By doing so, it is an indication that God reigns in this world
again. Indeed, Jesus saw this as a sign that He would win victory over
the devil at the end when he adjoined them saying, “I saw Satan fall like
lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon
serpents and scorpions, over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall hurt
you.” (Lk 10:18f)
Truly, we are so blessed like the disciples, compared to the prophets in the
Old Testament, as Jesus said, “Happy the eyes that see what you see, for I tell
you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see, and never
saw it; to hear what you hear, and never heard it.” We have seen
the power and marvels of God at work in our lives today as well!
However,
there is a condition to this peace we are looking for; we need to have faith in
Christ and submit to His rule. To heal and exorcise in the powerful name
of Jesus is to surrender our entire life to Him so that He can act in and
through us. This is what the Lord is asking of us when He said, “I bless
you, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, for hiding these things from the
learned and the clever and revealing them to mere children.” With
humility, we must surrender our lives to the Lord. We are called to
be like Jesus, trusting in the divine providence of our Heavenly
Father. “Yes, Father, for that is what it pleased you to do.
Everything has been entrusted to me by my Father; and no one knows who the Son
is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and those to whom
the Son chooses to reveal him.” Only with this personal confidence
in the love of the Father as Jesus had can we find peace, regardless of the
situations we are in.
Only
the proud and arrogant will destroy themselves because they want to have things
their own way. Just before this episode, Jesus was warning the
unrepentant cities of Chorazin, Bethsaida and Capernaum of their pride and
failure to recognize the coming of the Messiah. So, too, when the Seventy
returned rejoicing, the Lord warned them, “Nevertheless do not rejoice in this,
that the spirits are subject to you; but rejoice that your names are written in
heaven.” (Lk 10:20)
In other words, even in our success, we must never allow pride to get into our
head. This would be disastrous, for pride has been the cause of the
downfall of the devils in the first place! So we can cast out devils
through exorcism and preaching, but in the process, because of our pride, we
fall into the same trap of the devils!
Secondly,
we must seek to live a life of integrity. Very often, what causes us to
lack peace in our lives is because we do not live a holistic and balanced
life. The messiah has come to teach us how to live a life of
integrity. We need to keep a clear and clean conscience if we were to
find peace in our hearts. This is what the prophet Isaiah says,
“Integrity is the loincloth round his waist, faithfulness the belt around his
hips.” If Jesus were a man of peace, it was because He was faithful to
Himself. Sinlessness does not mean that a person is free from
imperfection but that he is always true to himself and he lives a life that is
in tune with his true nature. Unlike us, Jesus who is without
original sin is free from a wounded nature. Hence, Jesus always acts
according to His human nature perfectly, so that His human nature is completely
aligned to His divine nature. The divine will of God becomes also His human
will. That is why Jesus always found peace even in His trials, as in the
Garden of Gethsemane. Hence, if we have lost our peace because we do not
live lives of integrity, then we must spend time in examen and celebrate the
sacrament of reconciliation so that the Lord can heal us of our blindness and
give us new sight again to see Him clearly, His truth and His love. Jesus
wants to restore our peace back to us. We must humble ourselves like
children and come to Him for forgiveness and healing.
Peace
from within must include peace with the world, with others and with
nature. In fact, peace begins from within oneself, but it also embraces
the world outside of us. This also explains why a man of peace is one
with the whole creation, his fellowmen and even with God’s creatures, animals
and plants. This is the spirituality of holistic ecology.
This vision of integrity and alignment with the rest of creation is not new,
for Isaiah speaks of the day when all human beings and even animals live in
peace with each other. “The wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies
down with the kid, calf and lion cub feed together with a little boy to lead
them. The cow and the bear make friends, their young lie down together. The
lion eats straw like the ox. The infant plays over the cobra’s hole; into the
viper’s lair the young child puts his hand. They do no hurt, nor harm, on all
my holy mountain, for the country is filled with the knowledge of the Lord as
the waters swell the sea.” Such a man of peace reminds us of St
Francis who too lived in such a way that he was one with the whole of creation.
All
this is possible because the Holy Spirit will give us the wisdom,
understanding, knowledge, prudence, fortitude and devotion of the Messiah to
handle our affairs rightly. God will help us to judge situations.
“He does not judge by appearances, he gives no verdict on hearsay, but judges
the wretched with integrity, and with equity gives a verdict for the poor of
the land.” When we are less anxious and free from self-interests, we will
be more sober to judge the situation clearly.
So as
we prepare for the coming of the Prince of Peace, let us surrender our lives to
Him like little children, trusting in His love and mercy. Like Jesus,
there is no better way to come to know everything in and through Christ except
in prayer. With humility and trust, let us sit before the Lord in silence
and in contemplation, surrendering all our anxieties to Him and the storms in
our hearts. He will calm our hearts and give us true peace within us, a
peace that will in turn shine out to others so that as the prophet says, we
become a beacon of peace and joy to others. “That day, the root of Jesse shall
stand as a signal to the peoples. It will be sought out by the nations and its
home will be glorious.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh
Roman
Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
©
All Rights Reserved
