THE RESOURCES IN PROCLAIMING CHRIST IN THE POWER OF HIS SPIRIT

20151106 THE RESOURCES IN PROCLAIMING CHRIST IN THE POWER OF HIS SPIRIT

Readings at Mass

First reading

Romans 15:14-21 ©

My brothers, I am quite certain that you are full of good intentions, perfectly well instructed and able to advise each other. The reason why I have written to you, and put some things rather strongly, is to refresh your memories, since God has given me this special position. He has appointed me as a priest of Jesus Christ, and I am to carry out my priestly duty by bringing the Good News from God to the pagans, and so make them acceptable as an offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit.

  I think I have some reason to be proud of what I, in union with Christ Jesus, have been able to do for God. What I am presuming to speak of, of course, is only what Christ himself has done to win the allegiance of the pagans, using what I have said and done by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus all the way along, from Jerusalem to Illyricum, I have preached Christ’s Good News to the utmost of my capacity. I have always, however, made it an unbroken rule never to preach where Christ’s name has already been heard. The reason for that was that I had no wish to build on other men’s foundations; on the contrary, my chief concern has been to fulfil the text: Those who have never been told about him will see him, and those who have never heard about him will understand.

Psalm

Psalm 97:1-4 ©

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Sing a new song to the Lord

  for he has worked wonders.

His right hand and his holy arm

  have brought salvation.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

The Lord has made known his salvation;

  has shown his justice to the nations.

He has remembered his truth and love

  for the house of Israel.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

All the ends of the earth have seen

  the salvation of our God.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth,

  ring out your joy.

The Lord has shown his salvation to the nations.

Gospel Acclamation

2Co5:19

Alleluia, alleluia!

God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself,

and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled.

Alleluia!

Or

1Jn2:5

Alleluia, alleluia!

Whenever anyone obeys what Christ has said,

God’s love comes to perfection in him.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 16:1-8 ©

Jesus said to his disciples, ‘There was a rich man and he had a steward denounced to him for being wasteful with his property. He called for the man and said, “What is this I hear about you? Draw me up an account of your stewardship because you are not to be my steward any longer.” Then the steward said to himself, “Now that my master is taking the stewardship from me, what am I to do? Dig? I am not strong enough. Go begging? I should be too ashamed. Ah, I know what I will do to make sure that when I am dismissed from office there will be some to welcome me into their homes.”

  Then he called his master’s debtors one by one. To the first he said, “How much do you owe my master?” “One hundred measures of oil” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond; sit down straight away and write fifty.” To another he said, “And you, sir, how much do you owe?” “One hundred measures of wheat” was the reply. The steward said, “Here, take your bond and write eighty.”

  ‘The master praised the dishonest steward for his astuteness. For the children of this world are more astute in dealing with their own kind than are the children of light.’

THE RESOURCES IN PROCLAIMING CHRIST IN THE POWER OF HIS SPIRIT

SCRIPTURE READINGS: ROM 15:14-21; LK 16:1-8

When we read St Paul’s letter to the Romans, we cannot but be struck by his enthusiasm and commitment to his ministry.  He is conscious of his responsibility as an apostle and as a priest of Jesus Christ.  He wrote, “the reason why I have written to you, and put some things rather strongly, is to refresh your memories, since God has given me this special position.  He has appointed me as a priest of Jesus Christ, and I am to carry my priestly duty by bringing the Good News from God to the pagans, and so make them acceptable as an offering, made holy by the Holy Spirit.”  St Paul is singular minded with respect to his calling.  He used all and whatever resources he had for this work of proclamation.  Indeed, he vouched that “all the way along, from Jerusalem to Illyricum, I have preached Christ’s Good News to the utmost of my capacity.”

What about us?  Are we conscious of our responsibility as the priest of Jesus Christ by virtue of our baptism to proclaim the gospel to all of humanity?  As members of the royal priesthood, we too are called to share the Good News so that all are made acceptable to God and sanctified in the Holy Spirit.  And we must employ all resources to this end without reservation, just as St Paul did.  How can this be done and what does it entail?

Firstly, the proclamation of the Good News must begin with ourselves. That is to say, we must first be salted with the Good News before we can proclaim to others.  For this reason, Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome in spite of the fact that he knew for certain that they “are full of good intentions, perfectly well instructed and able to advise each other.”   Nonetheless, he felt the necessity to refresh the memories of their hope.  We who are proclaimers of the gospel too must continually refresh our faith in Jesus Christ, both intellectually and spiritually.

Yet we must bear in mind that our study of Christ is not simply to acquire more knowledge about Him so that we can feel more superior to others.  An intellectual faith in Jesus Christ alone will not bring us very far.  It might only boost our ego but it does not necessarily transform our lives.  Neither can such intellectual faith save us or strengthen us in times of crisis.  What is equally important is that, hopefully, through our intellectual knowledge of Jesus, we might be led to know Him personally.  Indeed, the purpose of faith formation, theological studies and doctrines of the Church is not simply to impart information but in order that such knowledge might lead us to the same experience that the early Christians had of Jesus in their lives.

What is of utmost importance therefore is that we might be in union with Jesus, just as Paul was.  It was his union with Jesus that empowered him to do what he did for God.  Unless and until we come to a personal knowledge of Jesus through our personal encounter with Him especially in prayer, we cannot claim to have known Jesus yet. Only a personal faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour can protect us when the storms of life set in. Accordingly, the proclamation of Jesus Christ to those who do not know Him presupposes that we experience Him concretely in our lives as our Saviour.  If not, we will only be proclaiming words without conviction and without signs.  Indeed, Paul tells us in the first reading that he could proclaim Christ only because of what Christ had done for Him.

Consequently, Paul was not simply imparting some doctrines that he had learnt about Christ, but he was speaking in his own personal capacity.  In the same way, for those of us who have come to know Christ personally and have experienced Him in our lives, especially His unconditional love for us, and also enlightened by His Word and Wisdom which have transformed our lives, we too have something to offer to others.  We can confidently proclaim Jesus as our Way, the Truth and the Life, not simply because the bible says so, but because we have truly found Him as the Way to Truth about ourselves, God and the world, thus enabling us to find Life and live life to the fullest.

However, even an experience of Christ is still not sufficient for us to proclaim the Good News adequately.  We need to employ all the modern means and resources to proclaim Christ to the world. We are called to be more ingenious in proclaiming Christ as the Kingdom of God in person.  Some people think that it is only wrong if we are unethical in our daily lives, but when it comes to faith and religion we can use unethical means to manipulate others.  Such questionable means include coercing people to baptism, slandering the religions of others and belittling their practices or misinterpreting the faith of others.  This is surely against the spirit of the gospel and the spirit of Jesus.  Never for once did we hear Christ condemning the religions of others, even while proclaiming Himself as the way to the Father.  Instead of using such coercive, fanatical means to proclaim Christ, we must consider how we can best effectively proclaim Christ to them in freedom.

But the proclamation of the gospel is more than just communication and techniques and words.  St Paul advised us to proclaim Christ by the power of the Spirit.  He tells us that he has managed to win the non-believers over because Christ confirmed his words through signs and wonders which he performed by the power of the Holy Spirit.  What are these signs and wonders?  Namely, the use of  the charisms that God has given to the Church, such as prophecy, teaching, healing, miracles, gift of tongues, administration of sacraments, etc.  Of course, besides these spectacular gifts of the Holy Spirit, we must also live the life of Christ according to the beatitudes as taught to us at the Sermon on the Mount.  Effective proclamation of Jesus means that people must see that coming to know Christ does make a difference in our lives. If they do not see us living more meaningful and fulfilled lives, it simply does not make sense to accept Jesus.  Indeed the sure testimony of Christ is not so much by what we say or even by what we do, but by what we are.  When they see us living the life of the Spirit, they too will be attracted to Jesus.

Indeed, we are told that even Jesus’ mission was undertaken in the power of the Spirit.  Without the Holy Spirit, Jesus could not have fulfilled His mission.  Clearly, we cannot proclaim Christ except by the power of the Holy Spirit.  St Paul in no uncertain terms said that his capacity to proclaim the gospel was because of what God has done in him, rather than what he had done for Him.  He said, “I think I have some reason to be proud of what I, in union with Christ Jesus, have been able to do for God.”

Of course, working in the power of the Holy Spirit does not mean that we need not co-operate with Him fully by utilizing all the human resources that are available to us. On the contrary, in the parable of the dishonest steward, Jesus is challenging His disciples to be as resourceful as the people of the world.  Jesus is saying that if only His disciples would bring their skills and knowledge that they have to God’s business, just as the people in the world would bring to their worldly businesses, then the gospel would be have been more effectively proclaimed.

Yes, we must be adventurous in proclaiming the Good News.  St Paul himself is our model in courage and creativity in mission.  He told us that he has an unbroken rule never to preach where Christ’s name had already been heard.  The reason was that he “had no wish to build on other men’s foundations.”  In other words, Paul is one person who would not allow himself to fall into complacency.  He could easily have settled down comfortably in any of the Christian communities that had been established.  Instead, he continued to move on until the gospel was preached to all the nations.  We too can fall into elitism.  Some of us are so comfortable in being members of certain Church movements, so much so that we want to take refuge in the groups that we belong.  This is dangerous because we will end up building cliques and factions in the Church. Instead of reaching out to others to share the Good News, we keep it for ourselves.  If that is so, very soon, we will find that what is Good News will one day become stale news because of our complacency and the lack of enthusiasm to evangelize.

So let us not waste the grace that God has given us.  What is left for us now, is to ask for a deeper understanding of how the Holy Spirit worked in the life of Jesus so that we too might be filled with the Spirit of Jesus. Only in the power of His Spirit, can we be truly transformed into His living witnesses.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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