20151230 THE TENSION BETWEEN LIVING IN THE WORLD AND LIVING FOR
GOD
Readings at Mass
Colour:
White.
First reading
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1 John 2:12-17 ©
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I am writing to you,
my own children,
whose sins have
already been forgiven through his name;
I am writing to you,
fathers,
who have come to know
the one
who has existed since
the beginning;
I am writing to you,
young men,
who have already
overcome the Evil One;
I have written to
you, children,
because you already
know the Father;
I have written to
you, fathers,
because you have come
to know the one
who has existed since
the beginning;
I have written to
you, young men,
because you are
strong and God’s word has made its home in you,
and you have overcome
the Evil One.
You must not love
this passing world
or anything that is
in the world.
The love of the Father
cannot be
in any man who loves
the world,
because nothing the
world has to offer
– the sensual body,
the lustful eye,
pride in
possessions –
could ever come from
the Father
but only from the
world;
and the world, with
all it craves for,
is coming to an end;
but anyone who does
the will of God
remains for ever.
Psalm
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Psalm 95:7-10 ©
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Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
Give the Lord, you
families of peoples,
give the
Lord glory and power;
give the
Lord the glory of his name.
Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
Bring an offering and
enter his courts,
worship
the Lord in his temple.
O earth,
tremble before him.
Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
Proclaim to the
nations: ‘God is king.’
The world
he made firm in its place;
he will
judge the peoples in fairness.
Let the heavens
rejoice and earth be glad.
Gospel
Acclamation
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Heb1:1-2
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Alleluia, alleluia!
At various times in
the past
and in various
different ways,
God spoke to our
ancestors through the prophets;
but in our own time,
the last days,
he has spoken to us
through his Son.
Alleluia!
Or
|
|
Alleluia, alleluia!
A hallowed day has
dawned upon us.
Come, you nations,
worship the Lord,
for today a great
light has shone down upon the earth.
Alleluia!
Gospel
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Luke 2:36-40 ©
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There was a
prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well
on in years. Her days of girlhood over, she had been married for seven years
before becoming a widow. She was now eighty-four years old and never left the
Temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayer. She came by just at
that moment and began to praise God; and she spoke of the child to all who
looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem.
When they
had done everything the Law of the Lord required, they went back to Galilee, to
their own town of Nazareth. Meanwhile the child grew to maturity, and he was
filled with wisdom; and God’s favour was with him.
THE
TENSION BETWEEN LIVING IN THE WORLD AND LIVING FOR GOD
We
are into the sixth day of the Octave of Christmas. The liturgy continues to draw
the implications of Christ’s birth for humanity. We are called to be like
Mary who treasured everything in her heart. We too must continue with our
contemplation of the incarnation so that the full message of Christ’s birth is
appreciated and received.
With
the incarnation and the birth of Christ, God has assumed our humanity in
Christ. The
separation between God and man has been bridged by the one Mediator, Jesus
Christ, who is truly God and yet truly man. Consequently, the world is
not to be seen as something evil or negative. The psalmist enjoins us all
when he shouted, “Let the heavens rejoice and earth be glad.” In the
gospel of John, Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only
Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal
life. For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but
that the world might be saved through him.” (Jn 3:16f) In the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord recognized
the beauty of creation. “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow;
they neither toil nor spin; 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all
his glory was not arrayed like one of these.” (Mt 6:28f) So we must, right from the outset, state in no uncertain
terms that the world is beautiful. In the book of Genesis, after each day
of creation, the author remarked, “And God saw that it was good.” (Gn 1:10,12,18,21,25,31).
So
the world and creation is beautiful in the eyes of God. We are called to appreciate and enjoy
the beauty of creation. The book of Daniel sings praises to God’s
creation. The three servants of the Lord with one voice praised and
glorified God whilst in the furnace, and blessed Him for the works of
creation. (cf. Dn 3:28-68) The Holy Father, Pope Francis issued an important
encyclical, “Laudato Si’” on the need to protect creation, our common home and
show mercy for creation during this year of Jubilee. In view of the
incarnation, we Christians are therefore called to marvel at the beauty of this
world and make use of them for our growth and happiness. Consequently, those
who destroy God’s creation, plants, animals and pollute the environment will
also destroy humanity as well because we are inter-dependent. The lack of
care for creation is all because of selfishness and greed.
This
explains why today’s scripture readings seem to say the world is evil. St John in the first reading
wrote, “You must not love this passing world or anything that is in the world.
The love of the Father cannot be in any man who loves the world, because
nothing the world has to offer – the sensual body, the lustful eye, pride in
possessions – could ever come from the Father but only from the
world.” Indeed, the Word of God seems to condemn the world or at least
have a disdain for the world.
This
explains why we have two extreme forms of spirituality in the Church. There is one group that veers
towards Jansenism, a heretical movement that over-emphasizes the depravity of
human nature to the extent that the world is evil. Such a form of
spirituality sees the world as evil, creation as bad. And so they take to
extreme forms of penance, fasting, abstinence from food and all forms of
pleasure which they see as threats and obstacles to a life of holiness.
The irony of the Jansenists is that in seeking to combat moral decadence and
laxity through an austere life of penance, the denial of God’s mercy and
freewill led many to moral despair that they would not be forgiven or be
saved. As a consequence, many ended up living a carefree, immoral and
frivolous lifestyle because, as the saying goes, if you cannot win them, then
you join them.
On
the other hand, we have the other group that “worships” creation. They are slaves of the material
world. This is what St John is condemning when he wrote that the world is
transient and evil. He is not saying that creation or the world is bad
per se but it is how we look at the world. When the world becomes our
master, then it has a hold over us. We become slaves to the world.
And the truth is that because we are not pure spirit but made of matter, we
have an inclination to the things of this world. Our body enjoys sensual
pleasure, comfort, food, drinks and sex. This is where the real problem
begins because attracted by the sensual needs of the world; we lose sight of
our spiritual calling. We become a slave to lust, food, alcohol and all
the pleasures of this world. The reality is that the devil knows that we are
weak and find the world irresistible; he comes to tempt us through our
senses. All temptations come through the faculty of touch, taste, sight
and hearing. As he puts succinctly, “the sensual body, the lustful eye, pride
in possessions.” Because of our love for the world, we become lustful,
greedy and possessive.
So
what must we do to resolve this conundrum? We are not to despise the world. We can legitimately enjoy the gifts of
creation as God’s blessings for us. God wants us to be happy and to enjoy
His gifts. He wants us to appreciate His creation as it demonstrates the
glory, splendour and beauty of God Himself. But what we must not do is to
fall into the sin of “pride in possessions.” That is to say, we must not
cling to all these transient things of the earth. As St John reminds us,
“the world, with all it craves for, is coming to an end; but anyone who does
the will of God remains forever.”
We
are called in other words, to sanctify the world, not to have a disdain for
it. The things
of this world in themselves are neutral and as we have said, “God found it to
be good.” It is the way we use them and how we see things of this
world. So we must never treat the world as something evil. It
becomes evil only when we behave in a worldly way, seeking to reduce ourselves
to the level of matter through a life of debauchery, sensualism and attachments
to the pleasures of life. When we misuse and abuse the things of
creation, we hurt ourselves, our health, our loved ones, and also destroy
creation. What we should be doing is to use everything we have for
the glory of God, for the service of our fellowmen, for the service of love,
compassion, generosity, bringing joy, comfort and love to others. They
are not meant to be hoarded or used only for ourselves and for our
self-indulgence, but we are to use them for the glory of God. This is
what the psalmist is inviting us, “Give the Lord, you families of peoples, give
the Lord glory and power; give the Lord the glory of his name.”
How
do we do this? St John says, we must first recover our dignity, calling
and what the Lord has done for us. If we are conscious of who we are, that is, children of
God, and what God has done for us in sending us His only Son for our salvation
by dying to sin and death, then we too will know that the things of this world
are passing. Only charity, love and peace will last.
Grateful
for who we are, and realizing that our calling is to be with God, sharing in
His love and life, we see the things of this world as means to an end, and instead of using them to satisfy
our own pleasures alone, we seek to employ them for the good of others and for
the glory of God. We choose this way only because God has shown us how to
love and how to serve in His becoming man. He became poor for our sake,
sharing His riches with us, living and dying for others. Like Him,
we too must be grateful for the gifts of creation and use them well to bring
happiness to others and to ourselves. What we need besides food and
pleasure is true love and giving.
In
order that we remain focused at all times and not allow the Devil to deceive us
or tempt us in our weakness, there is no other way except through prayer and
fasting. Jesus
has taught us the great example at the beginning and at the end of His
ministry. After His baptism, He fasted 40 days before the Devil came to
tempt Him. Before He went ahead with the passion, He spent the whole
night in agony and in prayer at the Garden of Gethsemane.
It
is obvious therefore that if we are to preserve ourselves from being
contaminated by the world, we need to make time for prayer and fasting, and
spending time with the Lord and being with the Church in worship and in
fellowship. We
cannot sanctify the world without the assistance and support of the
Church. To be without the Church is to be without Christ for He is the
head of the Church and we are His body. So it behooves us that if we
truly want to sanctify the world and use them for the glory of God and for our
happiness, we must make time for prayer, worship and fellowship. Indeed,
this is what the psalmist invites us, “Bring an offering and enter his courts,
worship the Lord in his temple. O earth, tremble before him. Proclaim to the
nations: ‘God is king.’ The world he made firm in its place; he will judge the
peoples in fairness.”
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