DARE TO HOPE

20151219 DARE TO HOPE

Readings at Mass

First reading

Judges 13:2-7,24-25 ©

There was a man of Zorah of the tribe of Dan, called Manoah. His wife was barren, she had borne no children. The angel of the Lord appeared to this woman and said to her, ‘You are barren and have had no child. But from now on take great care. Take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor is to touch his head, for the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb. It is he who will begin to rescue Israel from the power of the Philistines.’ Then the woman went and told her husband, ‘A man of God has just come to me; his presence was like the presence of the angel of God, he was so majestic. I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not reveal his name to me. But he said to me, “You will conceive and bear a son. From now on, take no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean. For the boy shall be God’s nazirite from his mother’s womb to his dying day.”’

  The woman gave birth to a son and called him Samson. The child grew, and the Lord blessed him; and the spirit of the Lord began to move him.

Psalm

Psalm 70:3-6,16-17 ©

My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.

Be a rock where I can take refuge,

  a mighty stronghold to save me;

  for you are my rock, my stronghold.

Free me from the hand of the wicked.

My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.

It is you, O Lord, who are my hope,

  my trust, O Lord, since my youth.

On you I have leaned from my birth,

  from my mother’s womb you have been my help.

My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.

I will declare the Lord’s mighty deeds

  proclaiming your justice, yours alone.

O God, you have taught me from my youth

  and I proclaim your wonders still.

My lips are filled with your praise, with your glory all the day long.

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

Root of Jesse, set up as a sign to the peoples,

come to save us,

and delay no more.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 1:5-25 ©

In the days of King Herod of Judaea there lived a priest called Zechariah who belonged to the Abijah section of the priesthood, and he had a wife, Elizabeth by name, who was a descendant of Aaron. Both were worthy in the sight of God, and scrupulously observed all the commandments and observances of the Lord. But they were childless: Elizabeth was barren and they were both getting on in years.

  Now it was the turn of Zechariah’s section to serve, and he was exercising his priestly office before God when it fell to him by lot, as the ritual custom was, to enter the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense there. And at the hour of incense the whole congregation was outside, praying.

  Then there appeared to him the angel of the Lord, standing on the right of the altar of incense. The sight disturbed Zechariah and he was overcome with fear. But the angel said to him, ‘Zechariah, do not be afraid, your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth is to bear you a son and you must name him John. He will be your joy and delight and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord; he must drink no wine, no strong drink. Even from his mother’s womb he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and he will bring back many of the sons of Israel to the Lord their God. With the spirit and power of Elijah, he will go before him to turn the hearts of fathers towards their children and the disobedient back to the wisdom that the virtuous have, preparing for the Lord a people fit for him.’

  Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.’ The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel who stand in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.’ Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah and were surprised that he stayed in the sanctuary so long. When he came out he could not speak to them, and they realised that he had received a vision in the sanctuary. But he could only make signs to them, and remained dumb.

  When his time of service came to an end he returned home. Some time later his wife Elizabeth conceived, and for five months she kept to herself. ‘The Lord has done this for me’ she said ‘now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered among men.’

DARE TO HOPE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: JUDGES 13:2–25; LUKE 1:5-25

Even whilst everyone seems to be in a cheerful mood and in a joyous and festive spirit, we wonder whether all the laughter and smiles are just a distraction, a temporary escape from confronting the woes and sadness in our lives.  It looks as if we are pretending that everything is all right and we try to make believe that we are happy.  But are we?

The reality is that most of us are still very much caught up with the ‘inevitables’ of life.  We wish that our life was different.  We live with regrets.  We wish that we had married the right person.  We wish that the person whom we love so much now could have been in our lives much earlier, before we committed ourselves to marriage.  But now it is too late.  Our marriage is just a long punishment of boredom, bickering and cold wars.   We feel like giving up on the marriage, but we fear God. Even if we do not fear God, we think of what our children, parents and loved ones would have to go through in event of a divorce.  So we feel trapped.  Our marriage seems to be getting nowhere.  We are still in the woods!

On the other hand, there are the singles who are condemned to loneliness.   We wish we had met our Mr or Miss Right earlier but now it is too late.  We are envious when we see married couples around us.  We feel that the embrace of love has overlooked us.  We wish that someone could hold us and share our life.  Now our life seems to be one of work and pleasure, but there is no love.  Life seems so empty even when we are successful in our career.  We can travel around the world and enjoy all the good things in life, but there is no soul-mate, no partner and no beloved to share our joys!

And of course there are those of us who are struggling with our sins, vices and bad habits.  We are struggling against the sin of lust and no matter what we do, we fall into sexual sins.  We are addicted to pornography and look at others with lust.  We don’t like the feeling, and yet we are helpless in overcoming our weaknesses.  And whenever we fail to keep ourselves pure, we feel so disgusted with ourselves.  Indeed, those of us who are so desperate to kick the habit of smoking, drinking and gambling but never succeeded for long feel so disappointed with ourselves.

In these situations, don’t we all feel like giving up on hope?  Shouldn’t we just be resigned to the situation?  Resignation seems to be our defence mechanism.  Furthermore, all the other so-called ‘prophets’ around us tell us the same thing; to give up hope.  God is not going to help us.  Indeed, it seems easier to live with our sins and failures than to hope that the circumstances and our fortune will change.  We are afraid to hope because we have been disappointed so often.

This, too, was the situation of the two couples, Manoah and his wife, Zechariah and Elizabeth, in today’s scripture readings. They must have felt so left out, so abandoned by God.  It was such a disgrace to be childless.  After all, women are created for motherhood.  So even if one is married and is without children, one cannot help feeling incomplete.  Couples without children will realize eventually that the love they have for each other will only find completion in a child.  Even same-sex union couples want to adopt children!

Indeed, because of our constant disappointments, we dare not hope anymore.  We are jaded and angry with God.  Resentful of Him for not answering our prayers, we have taken matters into our own hands to get what we want, even if it is not morally right.  We do not want to be let down again and again.  This is so true even for those hoping for a God-experience.  Some simply cannot experience God.  He seems to be so far away and unreal.  Indeed, one cannot help but wonder whether God is real at all.  Does He exist?  Does He care?  Does He really love us at all?

Well, if one feels that a miracle is not possible, then today’s scripture readings prove us wrong.  Our God is a great and wonderful God.  This is what the psalmist is saying to us.  “My mouth shall be filled with your praise, and I will sing your glory! I will tell of the mighty works of the Lord; O God, I will tell of your singular justice. O God, you have taught me from my youth, and till the present I proclaim your wondrous deeds.”  When we, like Zechariah, feel that He has abandoned us, God comes to our help.  In the miraculous conception of Manoah’s wife and Elizabeth, God shows Himself to be a mysterious and powerful God.  Nothing is impossible to Him and man’s finite intelligence and power must not limit the ways that God can work in his life.

But do we have the faith of the wife of Manoah?  We are told of her simple and deep faith in the promise of the Lord.  She told her husband how the angel came to her and promised her a son that will deliver Israel from the power of the Philistines.  And she conceived soon after her encounter with the angel.  However, this was not the same response of Zechariah.  He doubted.  It was too good to be true.  He did not believe in the message of the angel.  He said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is getting on in years.”  He wanted a sign.

And to teach Zechariah the power and wonders of God, the angel gave him a sign.  He said, “I am Gabriel who stand in God’s presence, and I have been sent to speak to you and bring you this good news. Listen! Since you have not believed my words, which will come true at their appointed time, you will be silenced and have no power of speech until this has happened.”  By striking Zechariah dumb and depriving him of the power of speech, it was not so much a punishment but the way God wanted to help Zechariah grow in maturity in his faith.  To be speechless is a sign that God is mystery.  When we encounter Him, we cannot truly utter about Him.  Through Zechariah, God wants to teach us humility before His divine presence and power.  God knows what we need and He knows when to answer our prayers.  We must never doubt His love or His wisdom.  After all, the psalmist says, He is our “rock of refuge, a stronghold to give me safety … my rock and my fortress.”  God is the Lord of Hosts, the Commander of the army of angels and we are His warriors.  With Him on our side, we can win every battle.

However, we must surrender in faith, like the wife of Manoah, to God’s promises.  If our lives are still crippled by our sins and stifled by the situation we are in, we need not be resigned to the status quo.  We must trust that God can do what we cannot.  God wants to make us fruitful again.  He wants to set us free.  He wants to give us the Holy Spirit so that we can make a difference in the lives of others.  He wants to empower us like the way He filled Samson and John the Baptist with the Holy Spirit so that they could be His agents of transformation.

If we lack faith it is because, like Zechariah and Elizabeth, we are spiritually barren.  That is why we are invited to pray and contemplate like Zechariah and Elizabeth.  The former was struck dumb so that he could enter deeper into silence and hear the true God speaking to him.  Elizabeth too, withdrew and pondered in her heart on what the Lord was doing in her life.  When she conceived, “for five months she kept to herself. ‘The Lord has done this for me’ she said ‘now that it has pleased him to take away the humiliation I suffered among men.’”  She contemplated on her shame and came to realize that through her shame and her suffering, God would show His glory and splendor.  God often allows us to be helpless so that we know we are not so great after all.  We are not omnipotent. He wants to tell us who is the true God and that He loves us always.  He will come to us when He decides, not in our time but in His time, for He knows when is the opportune moment to demonstrate His love and power.

So during this period of Advent, waiting for the Lord entails prayer, reflection and contemplation.  We must be able to listen to God during Advent.  Very often, all the Christmas shopping, merry-making, parties and celebrations distract us from God.   We cannot celebrate God made man if we have not yet contemplated on Him.  The world is not celebrating the incarnation.  Do not be deceived.  They are just riding on our celebration of Christ’s birth.  The world seeks pleasure, not faith in God who loves us so much that He became one with us and one of us.  Without faith and contemplation, how could anyone come to truly believe in His heart and be amazed that God would choose to assume our humanity so as to reveal His incredible love for us?

In the light of this great revelation, what must we do besides waiting in prayer and contemplation?  We need to have a sign that God is with us.  Just as Samson and John the Baptist took the Nazirite Vow as enumerated in the Book of Numbers, chapter 6, as a sign of their total consecration and dependence on God, expressed in not taking any wine or strong drink and not cropping their hair, we too could ask what sign do we want to remember that we are consecrated to Him as well.   Unless we consecrate ourselves entirely to Him, we will not be filled with the Holy Spirit.  This sign could be our acts of love and charity to the poor; seeking reconciliation with someone whom we have hurt; or making a commitment to the Lord or to His people.  So what is your Nazirite Vow that God wants you to remember Him by, that He is the faithful one and that you are consecrated to Him forever?

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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