WITHSTANDING THE TRIALS OF LIFE AS WITNESSING TO CHRIST

20151125 WITHSTANDING THE TRIALS OF LIFE AS WITNESSING TO CHRIST

Readings at Mass

First reading

Daniel 5:1-6,13-14,16-17,23-28 ©

King Belshazzar gave a great banquet for his noblemen; a thousand of them attended, and he drank wine in company with this thousand. As he sipped his wine, Belshazzar gave orders for the gold and silver vessels to be brought which his father Nebuchadnezzar had looted from the sanctuary in Jerusalem, so that the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women could drink out of them. The gold and silver vessels looted from the sanctuary of the Temple of God in Jerusalem were brought in, and the king, his noblemen, his wives and his singing women drank out of them. They drank their wine and praised their gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared, and began to write on the plaster of the palace wall, directly behind the lamp-stand; and the king could see the hand as it wrote. The king turned pale with alarm: his thigh-joints went slack and his knees began to knock.

  Daniel was brought into the king’s presence; the king said to Daniel, ‘Are you the Daniel who was one of the Judaean exiles brought by my father the king from Judah? I am told that the spirit of God Most Holy lives in you, and that you are known for your perception, intelligence and marvellous wisdom. As I am told that you are able to give interpretations and to unravel difficult problems, if you can read the writing and tell me what it means, you shall be dressed in purple, and have a chain of gold put round your neck, and be third in rank in the kingdom.’

  Then Daniel spoke up in the presence of the king. ‘Keep your gifts for yourself,’ he said ‘and give your rewards to others. I will read the writing to the king without them, and tell him what it means. You have defied the Lord of heaven, you have had the vessels from his Temple brought to you, and you, your noblemen, your wives and your singing women have drunk your wine out of them. You have praised gods of gold and silver, of bronze and iron, of wood and stone, which cannot either see, hear or understand; but you have given no glory to the God who holds your breath and all your fortunes in his hands. That is why he has sent the hand which, by itself, has written these words. The writing reads: Mene, Mene, Tekel and Parsin. The meaning of the words is this: Mene: God has measured your sovereignty and put an end to it; Tekel: you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; Parsin: your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.’

Canticle

Daniel 3:62-67 ©

Sun and moon! bless the Lord.

  Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Stars of heaven! bless the Lord.

  Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Showers and dews! all bless the Lord.

  Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Winds! all bless the Lord.

  Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Fire and heat! bless the Lord.

  Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Cold and heat! bless the Lord.

  Give glory and eternal praise to him!

Gospel Acclamation

Lk21:36

Alleluia, alleluia!

Stay awake, praying at all times

for the strength to stand with confidence

before the Son of Man.

Alleluia!

Or

Rv2:10

Alleluia, alleluia!

Even if you have to die, says the Lord,

keep faithful, and I will give you

the crown of life.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 21:12-19 ©

Jesus said: Men will seize you and persecute you; they will hand you over to the synagogues and to imprisonment, and bring you before kings and governors because of my name – and that will be your opportunity to bear witness. Keep this carefully in mind: you are not to prepare your defence, because I myself shall give you an eloquence and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relations and friends; and some of you will be put to death. You will be hated by all men on account of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. Your endurance will win you your lives.’

WITHSTANDING THE TRIALS OF LIFE AS WITNESSING TO CHRIST

SCRIPTURE READINGS: DN 5:1-6, 13-14, 16-17, 23-28; LK 21:12-19

The trials which Jesus predicted that His disciples would face are surely not the kind of trials we face today.   Very rarely will Christians today be brought before kings and governors to justify their faith in Jesus.  Yes, we will not be tried legally because of His name.    Nevertheless, we cannot say that we are not on trial.  In fact, as Christians we are now on trial before the world every day: from our relatives, our friends, colleagues at work, ministry members, even from people we do not know on social media.   However, we are on trial not because of His name but because we are not living up to His name in which we professed.  Yes, we are on trial in the sense that we might have to give an account of our faith in Jesus Christ.   But most of all, we are on trial because of the way we live our lives;  because our very lives prove whether we are just paying lips service to our confession of faith or whether that confession really springs from the depths of our being.

The question is what signs do we give to others concerning our faith in Jesus?  This is the issue of both scripture readings today.  In the first reading from Daniel, the handwriting on the wall prophesied to the Jews that Antiochus’ kingdom would soon collapse because the king had been found wanting in his commitment to bring about the rule of God in his kingdom.   In similar ways, Jesus is asking us what kind of signs we are giving to testify that we are truly His followers.  What kind of signs do we give such that people will know the power of His name?

The sign that we give to others that we are truly disciples of Jesus is when we exercise patient endurance in the face of trials and difficulties.  It is when we are in such straits and still able to stand tall and confident in our faith in Jesus that people will find the person of Jesus credible.  To have faith in Jesus in good times is something very easy.  But to remain in faith in bad times, that is truly faith.

But how can one do it?  Facing trials and difficulties, according to Jesus, is not a question of will power, or positive thinking or rational thinking.  Indeed, He tells us that we need not worry about preparing our defense beforehand.  In other words, we need not worry about what is ahead of us; the trials that we have to endure.  We can leave it until the time comes, because Jesus tells us that when the time comes, He is going to give us words and wisdom which none of our adversaries can contradict.

What then could this wisdom be that even our opponents cannot defeat us?  It is simply this: our inner experience and conviction of who Jesus is to us.  Anyone who truly experiences Jesus in his life, understands the wisdom of His teaching, finds great meaning and life in following His way, will necessarily speak not from some acquired knowledge of Jesus and life, but he will be speaking from the depths of his authentic being.

And this depth that speaks through him is none other than the Spirit of Jesus Himself living in that person.  That is to say, a person who  has become intimately united with Jesus is no longer just calling out His name or talking about Jesus, but he becomes Jesus Himself in whom the Spirit of Jesus lives and acts through him.

Now when that happens, a man can live without fear of anyone.  This is because he is true to himself.  In fact to live or to speak otherwise would be to deny his authentic being.   And it is in being true to oneself that one truly finds life; because life and self-knowledge or self-realization is almost synonymous.   To be true to ourselves is to be true to the Spirit of Jesus living in us.  Such a liberating experience will help us withstand even those who hate us and cannot fault us for what we are.  Consequently, the words of Jesus is true, it is by our patient endurance that we will save our lives – not so much in the physical sense but in the holistic sense.  Real life is not so much concerned with what is physical but what is spiritual.

Yes, a courageous witnessing for Jesus requires that we imbibe His Spirit, His Spirit that will help us to be true to ourselves; for it is only when we are true to ourselves that we will be faithful to the end, both to ourselves and to God.   By so doing, we will save our lives because we are what we are.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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