HOW CAN WE BE SURE THAT WE KNOW GOD?

20151229 HOW CAN WE BE SURE THAT WE KNOW GOD?

Readings at Mass

Colour: White.

First reading

1 John 2:3-11 ©

We can be sure that we know God

only by keeping his commandments.

Anyone who says, ‘I know him’,

and does not keep his commandments,

is a liar,

refusing to admit the truth.

But when anyone does obey what he has said,

God’s love comes to perfection in him.

We can be sure that we are in God

only when the one who claims to be living in him

is living the same kind of life as Christ lived.

My dear people,

this is not a new commandment that I am writing to tell you,

but an old commandment

that you were given from the beginning,

the original commandment which was the message brought to you.

Yet in another way, what I am writing to you,

and what is being carried out in your lives as it was in his,

is a new commandment;

because the night is over

and the real light is already shining.

Anyone who claims to be in the light

but hates his brother

is still in the dark.

But anyone who loves his brother is living in the light

and need not be afraid of stumbling;

unlike the man who hates his brother and is in the darkness,

not knowing where he is going,

because it is too dark to see.

Psalm

Psalm 95:1-3,5-6 ©

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

O sing a new song to the Lord,

  sing to the Lord all the earth.

  O sing to the Lord, bless his name.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

Proclaim his help day by day,

  tell among the nations his glory

  and his wonders among all the peoples.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

It was the Lord who made the heavens,

  his are majesty and state and power

  and splendour in his holy place.

Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn1:14,12

Alleluia, alleluia!

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.

To all who received him he gave power to become children of God.

Alleluia!

Or

Alleluia, alleluia!

A light to enlighten the pagans

and the glory of your people Israel.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Luke 2:22-35 ©

When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord – observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord – and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Now in Jerusalem there was a man named Simeon. He was an upright and devout man; he looked forward to Israel’s comforting and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had set eyes on the Christ of the Lord. Prompted by the Spirit he came to the Temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the Law required, he took him into his arms and blessed God; and he said:

‘Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace,

just as you promised;

because my eyes have seen the salvation

which you have prepared for all the nations to see,

a light to enlighten the pagans

and the glory of your people Israel.’

As the child’s father and mother stood there wondering at the things that were being said about him, Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, ‘You see this child: he is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected – and a sword will pierce your own soul too – so that the secret thoughts of many may be laid bare.’

HOW CAN WE BE SURE THAT WE KNOW GOD?

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 JOHN 2:3-11; LUKE 2:22-35

How can we be sure that we know God? This is the question that St John is asking us.  St John in his days was facing the same challenges we are confronted with today.  This is particularly true for those who are priests, religious and those active and pious Catholics in Church.  Quite often, we deceive ourselves into thinking that we know God when we do not.

Like the Greeks, we measure our knowledge of God in terms of insight, an intellectual knowledge of God.  There is always the tendency to substitute personal knowledge of God with intellectual knowledge.  This is the greatest temptation of priests, students of theology and scripture, teachers of the faith, catechists and those giving talks and conducting retreats.  We can talk, teach and preach eloquently, because we have acquired some intellectual knowledge of the faith.  But deep in our hearts, we know that we do not know Him because we do not have any real interpersonal relationship with Him.  We use only our head but we have no contact with Him in our hearts.

For others, they think they know God because they have had a mystical knowledge of Him.  Some have had beautiful religious experiences.  They are taken up by the graces of God and the consolations of visions, healing, joy and peace they received.  Those who receive such personal encounters with God often feel very high and elated.  Sometimes, they think that they are already living in the seventh castle of St Teresa of Avila.   For this reason, they keep on hanging to the consolations of God and would go for those services that provide such emotional “highs” and mystical experiences.  Such believers probably have a heart contact with God but their minds have no knowledge of the Lord.

Then, there is the third category of people who are very active in Church.  They use their hands in encountering God.  It is the incarnational way.  They are very much involved in organizing activities, doing this and that for the Church or for the poor.  They are unlike the first two groups; not the thinking or the feeling types, but the doers.   They need to be always in activity so that they can feel charged and high all the time, especially when they experience success and appreciation.  Such emotional and psychological fulfilment serve more the ego, the ambition and a defence mechanism to boost a low self-esteem character than really a work borne out of the love of God.  Necessarily, when things are not doing well, they get discouraged and give up easily; or when they are challenged by others, they feel hurt and wounded because they think they are rejected.

Whilst all the above ways are not excluded in coming to know God, the only sure criterion that we can attest to truly knowing God is as St John wrote, “We can be sure that we are in God only when the one who claims to be living in him is living the same kind of life as Christ lived.”  Indeed, this is the only criterion that is needed to ascertain how much we know God.  It is not based on whether we have a theological degree, how many books we have read, or the mystical experiences we have had, or how involved we are in church or in the service of the poor, but whether the life of Christ is in us.

If our life reflects the life of Christ, then we can be confident that we are growing in knowledge of Christ.  The others are means but not the end.  Indeed, this is what Christmas is all about.  That is why immediately after the feast of Christmas, the Church celebrates the Feast of St Stephen, the first martyr who not only served Christ, or died for Him but with Christ and in Christ, reenacting His passion and death, by forgiving his enemies, praying for them and commending his soul to God.

This was followed by the Feast of St John, whose whole life was a martyrdom of bearing witness to Christ in a life of love and devotion to the Lord and His Church.  Yesterday was the feast of the Holy Innocents who witnessed to Christ by dying an innocent and unjust death.   They too gave witness to Christ through unjust suffering, like Christ who died for us.  Today, we also celebrate another great saint, Thomas Becket who gave his life for the Church because he was not ready to collaborate with the evil doings of the king by being his Chancellor.  Indeed, with courage he said, “I served our Theobald (former archbishop of Canterbury) well when I was with him: I served King Henry well as Chancellor: I am his no more, and I must serve the Church.”  All of them could truly be said to be witnesses of Christ by their lives and by their deaths.

But what would such a life of Christ entail?  It means living out the commandments of Christ.  This is what St John wrote, “We can be sure that we know God only by keeping his commandments. Anyone who says, ‘I know him’, and does not keep his commandments, is a liar, refusing to admit the truth. But when anyone does obey what he has said, God’s love comes to perfection in him.” The obedience rendered to God is not just an external observance of the commandments like the scribes, Pharisees and some legal-based Christians.  Rather, the obedience asked of us must come from an inner conviction of the commandments as a real expression of the mind and heart of God.  Only those who know the Lord will understand the intention, the purpose, the goodness and the values of the commandments.  So it is not so much simply obeying the commandments; rather, it is our sharing of Christ’s mind and heart.   For this reason too, when we obey, that is, practice the commandments given by the Lord, we enter deeper into His being, and share in His love.   Perfection of Christian life therefore is measured by how much the mind and heart of God is in us, in the way we live our lives. “But when anyone does obey what he has said, God’s love comes to perfection in him.”

In the final analysis, there is only one commandment that sums up the entire list of commandments.  St John makes it clear that the commandment is old and yet new.  It is old in the sense that the commandment to love God and our neighbour has already been spelt out in the Old Testament.  But there is newness as well because Christ not only asked us to observe the commandments but to love each other as He has loved us. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  (Jn 13:34f)  We are called to love as Jesus loved, to forgive as Jesus forgave, to be merciful and compassionate as He was.  So we are to love each other to the same extent that He has loved us.  Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta says, “God pays attention to our love.  Not one of us is indispensable.  God has the means to do all things and to do away with the work of the most capable human being.  We can work until we drop.  We can work excessively.  If what we do is not connected to love, however, our work is useless in God’s eyes.”  In the same vain, St Paul wrote, “If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”   (1 Cor 13:3)

Consequently, one clear sign that we have not arrived at the knowledge of God is when we cannot forgive our brothers and sisters or when we continue to hate them.  The lack of forgiveness indicates that we have not yet received His love and mercy for ourselves and the heart and mind of the Lord is not ours.  A man who cannot love his brother, that is, the one nearest to him, his loved ones, his relatives, his colleagues, his superiors and his workers, then he has not yet known the Lord.   The greatest challenge in loving our brothers and sisters is not loving those far away but those who are near, in our backyard, our elderly at home, the difficult spouse, the disobedient children and the incorrigible sibling who is irresponsible with his or her life, not contributing to the family.

St John wrote, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the dark. But anyone who loves his brother is living in the light and need not be afraid of stumbling; unlike the man who hates his brother and is in the darkness, not knowing where he is going, because it is too dark to see.”  A man full of hatred cannot see the goodness in another.  He lives in the dark because of his vindictiveness.  He cannot see any good or truth that comes from the person he hates, even when objectively he is doing good.  Hatred blinds us to many things in life.  We see the other as our enemy, competitor and a nuisance.  But when we love, then we begin to see them in a different light.  Only the light of Christ, the light of love, can help us to see our brothers and sisters, especially those who are weak and difficult, with compassion and forgiveness because we know that they are deeply wounded and hurt.

How then can we love like Christ?  Clearly, we need to allow Christ to love us first.  Today, we need the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who came down upon Simeon and enabled him to recognize Christ.   We too need to pray so that we can behold what he did and said, “Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised; because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.”   Once loved by the Lord, we must follow up by contemplating on His love and His life, especially through the scriptures.  Without meditation and contemplation on His face, the life of Christ cannot be imprinted in our minds and hearts.  The truth remains that a true knowledge of God cannot be ours without intimacy with the Lord in prayer.  Theological studies, spiritual experiences, doing good works can help us to encounter God but all these cannot be replaced by making the mind and heart of Christ our own.  Imitation of Christ can only come after contemplation of Christ.  Once imprinted on our hearts, we can also be like Christ, the light for the Gentiles, radiating the love and glory of God in and through our lives.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved