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CONSECRATION TO CHRIST IN DISCIPLESHIP IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SERVING HIM IN
MINISTRY
Reading
Zech 2:14-17
14 Sing, rejoice,
daughter of Zion, for now I am coming to live among you -Yahweh declares!
15 And on that day
many nations will
be converted to Yahweh. Yes, they will
become his people, and they will
live among you. Then you will
know that Yahweh
Sabaoth
has sent me to you!
16 Yahweh will
take possession of Judah, his portion in the Holy Land, and again make Jerusalem
his choice.
17
Let all people be silent before Yahweh, now that he is stirring from his holy
Dwelling!
Gospel
Mt 12:46-50
46 He was still
speaking to the crowds when suddenly his mother and his brothers were standing
outside and were anxious to have a word with him.
47 still speaking to
the crowds when suddenly his mother and his brothers were standing outside and
were anxious to have a word with him.
49 And stretching out
his hand towards his disciples he said, 'Here are my mother and my brothers.
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CONSECRATION TO CHRIST IN DISCIPLESHIP IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN SERVING
HIM IN MINISTRY
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SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ZECH 2:14-17;
MT 12:46-50
“Sing, rejoice,
daughter of Zion; for I am coming to dwell in the middle of you.” How
appropriate indeed is this prophecy when applied to Mary. Tradition has
often applied this title to Mary. By so doing, the Fathers of the Church
wants us to recognize that Mary is the representative of Israel who welcomed
Christ into her heart and the means by which Christ became present to the
world. It is for this reason that the Church has always considered Mary
to hold a special place in salvation history.
However, this is
possible only because Mary had already consecrated herself to the Lord at a
very tender age. According to the apocryphal Protoevangelium of James,
which dates from the second century, Mary was presented in the temple at
Jerusalem at the age of three, where she lived with other girls and the holy
women who had charge of them. This feast, although unhistorical, reinforces the
dogma of the Immaculate Conception in that Mary lived a life of holiness
throughout her life. This feast celebrates Mary’s consecration of her life to
God from a very early age. She offered herself as an oblation to God,
which is possible only because of the grace of the Holy Spirit. This
self-dedication of Mary grew over the years until she shared Christ’s
redemptive sacrifice, when she stood at the foot of the Cross. Mary’s
life was consecrated to God through her dedication to doing the Lord’s will.
Hence, the significance of this feast lies in the fact that in memory of the
offering of Mary to the Lord’s service, it is fitting that consecrated people
renew their vows to the Lord, especially those in priestly and religious life,
even the laity by extension.
What can we draw from
this feast to help us rededicate ourselves to the Lord’s service?
Firstly, we are reminded that Mary is called the Daughter of Zion because she
represents those people who welcome the Lord. Indeed, in the life of
Mary, she showed herself to be always making a place for the Lord in her
heart. She is considered the handmaid of the Lord. She is the
beloved of the Holy Spirit. Her whole life was lived in dedication to
God, symbolized by her virginity. For that reason, the Church is modeled
after her in her virginal motherhood for, like her, the Church is consecrated
to the service of God and humanity. Above everything else, if we are to
consecrate our lives to God, we must first welcome Him into our lives. We
need to give Jesus a place in our hearts.
Mary did this principally,
as the gospel text implies, by always doing the will of God. St Augustine
tells us that the greatness of Mary lies in the fact that she was first and
foremost a disciple of Jesus, always doing the Father’s will, and only then, to
have been Christ’s mother. It is more blessed to be a disciple than to be
the mother of Jesus. Such a line of thought is confirmed by Christ when
He stretched “out his hand towards his disciples” and said, “Here are my mother
and my brothers. Anyone who does the will of my Father in heaven, he is my
brother and sisters and mother.” His disciples therefore are those
who do the will of God. After all, the whole life of Jesus was to do His
Father’s will. Hence if like Mary, we do the will of the Father, then we
are truly the disciples of Jesus.
Secondly, she
contemplated on the Word of God in such a way that the Word became flesh in
her. St Augustine, in commenting on the words of Christ “Blessed are they
who hear the word of God and keep it”, said that “Mary heard God’s word and
kept it, and so she is blessed. She kept God’s truth in her mind, a
nobler thing than carrying his body in her womb. The truth and the body
were both Christ: he was kept in Mary’s mind insofar as he is truth; he was
carried in her womb insofar as he is man; but what is kept in the mind is of a
higher order than what is carried in the womb.” Consequently, we must say
that only because she welcomed the Lord into her dwelling place, as the first
reading suggests, “Let all mankind be silent before the Lord! For he is
awakening and is coming from his holy dwelling”, that she became the medium by
which Christ came into the world. Before Mary gave birth to Jesus
in the flesh, she had already given birth to Him in her heart. Indeed, because
she was so deeply immersed in the Word, the Word appropriately took flesh in
her womb. We too are called to make the Word of God a home in
us. Through a contemplative love for the Word of God, we incarnate the
Word in our lives.
The most important
implication for us when we celebrate this feast is that we should be challenged
to renew our commitment to the service of the Lord in whatever we do, whether
with regard to our state of life, the vocation we have chosen, married or
single, or in our commitment to the Lord in service to the Church or the
poor. Like Mary who devoted herself entirely to the service of her Son,
we too are called to offer ourselves to God in whatever vocation the Lord has
assigned to us.
Yet, service to the
Lord must be seen in perspective. First and foremost, like Mary, we must
realize that above everything else, what is most pleasing to the Lord is not so
much being at His service but, like Mary, to be His disciple. Being a
disciple of the Lord is grace, whereas serving the Lord is a duty and an honour
that is fraught with dangers because we are exposed to many temptations.
Only by being His disciples, can we configure ourselves in Christ. Being
like Him and growing in holiness is the primary task of a Christian. It
is more important that we be good Christians than to be active in the
apostolate. Indeed, when the Lord called His disciples to be His
apostles, He called them first to be with Him before He sent them out.
Our vocation is but a function, a service, but holiness has priority because
being intimate with Jesus, carrying Him in our hearts, is the prerequisite of
bringing the presence of Jesus to others. We need to present to the Lord
ourselves, if we are to present Him to the world in and through us.
Indeed, when we die, God will not ask us what we have done for Him but whether
we have been a perfect disciple, doing His will at all times.
Being a good disciple
of the Lord means that we must be like Mary and Jesus who were completely
submissive to the Lord’s will. This presumes we are contemplating
on the Word, gazing at Jesus. Like Mary, we are called to contemplate on
the Word of God and being in tune with the Word so that we can respond
generously like Mary. We are not only to listen to the Word but to
believe as well. So we must trust in the promise of the Lord. We
read the Word of God to believe and in believing, put the Word into practice.
So, today is a day
when we reinforce and renew our commitment to the Lord. Once again, we
are reminded that we are called to share the lives of Jesus and Mary in a most
intimate way. We are invited to perfect our discipleship by living a life
of dependence on God, both spiritually and materially; a life of total
obedience to the Father’s will, and a spirit of inclusive and devoted love to
God and our fellowmen. Indeed, it is by our poverty in dependence,
obedience in submission and chastity in total consecration to God that we can
become totally like Jesus, a man for others. In this way, we will grow to
become more configured in Christ, just as Mary did by imitating the example of
Jesus her son.
So today, let us pray
for a greater devotion to the Lord, like Mary, and to His Word. In this
way, like Mary, the Word of God would take flesh in our lives. Only then
can we become more like Jesus the Good Shepherd. Configuring ourselves in
Christ’s image and likeness must precede pastoral ministry and the
apostolate. The true meaning of consecration lies in surrendering
ourselves entirely to the Lord in prayer so that we can be available for Him to
make use of us as His instruments of love. Let us turn to Mary to ask for
the grace to help us prepare for mission and our vocation in life. Only
Mary can teach us the real meaning of consecration and how we should prepare
ourselves to serve the Lord.
Written by The
Most Rev William Goh
Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights
Reserved
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