Sunday, 3 January 2016

DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION

20160104 DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION

First Reading John 3:22-4.:6
22 and whatever we ask we shall receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is acceptable to him.
23 His commandment is this, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we should love one another as he commanded us.
24 Whoever keeps his commandments remains in God, and God in him. And this is the proof that he remains in us: the Spirit that he has given us.
1 My dear friends, not every spirit is to be trusted, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets are at large in the world.
2 This is the proof of the spirit of God: any spirit which acknowledges Jesus Christ, come in human nature, is from God,
3 and no spirit which fails to acknowledge Jesus is from God; it is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you have heard of; he is already at large in the world.
4 Children, you are from God and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
5 They are from the world, and therefore the world inspires what they say, and listens to them.
6 We are from God; whoever recognises God listens to us; anyone who is not from God refuses to listen to us. This is how we can distinguish the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.

Gospel Matthew 4:12-19; 23-25
12 Hearing that John had been arrested he withdrew to Galilee,
13 and leaving Nazara he went and settled in Capernaum, beside the lake, on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.
14 This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:
15 Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea beyond Jordan. Galilee of the nations!
16 The people that lived in darkness have seen a great light; on those who lived in a country of shadow dark as death a light has dawned.
17 From then onwards Jesus began his proclamation with the message, 'Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.'
18 As he was walking by the Lake of Galilee he saw two brothers, Simon, who was called Peter, and his brother Andrew; they were making a cast into the lake with their net, for they were fishermen.
19 And he said to them, 'Come after me and I will make you fishers of people.'
23 He went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing all kinds of disease and illness among the people.
24 His fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralysed, were all brought to him, and he cured them.
25 Large crowds followed him, coming from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea and Transjordan.

DISCERNMENT OF THE SPIRITS IN A WORLD OF DECEPTION

SCRIPTURE READINGS: JOHN 3:22-4:6; MATTHEW 4:12-17; 23-25
There are many people in the world who are living in darkness and in the shadow of death. This darkness is caused by sin due to ignorance, selfishness and the lack of forgiveness.  When we are under the bondage of our passion and the flesh, we are blinded to the more important aspects of life, like love and relationships.  Greed often darkens our minds and makes us compete with others for power, glory and wealth.  Lust often tarnishes our love for the other person and ends up in manipulation and possessiveness.   As a consequence, those who are discriminated, hurt and taken advantage of live in darkness too because of injustice and cheating.   Many are living in unjust situations, in poverty and hunger because of unscrupulous politicians and leaders or businessmen who often use the poor and the defenceless for their selfish gains.  They feel forlorn and forsaken.  In such a situation, what hope is there for them?
Why are we in this state?  Because there are so many falsehoods in the world!  We are flooded with all kinds of information in the digital world that we can no longer distinguish right from wrong.  There are so many scandals happening in the world, even in the religious world, that we do not know who to trust anymore.  What is most deceptive is that often in the name of love, falsehood is promoted.  Love is reduced to love of self rather than love of others.  Love is defined in terms of others fulfilling our needs, rather than in terms of sacrifice for others.
The world wants to promote a love that is not based on truth but on lies.  Love is individualism.  It is all about me rather than those whom we claim to love.  So in the name of love, we advocate abortion, killing innocent babies because we want to enjoy a promiscuous life without responsibility and commitment.  For us, the helpless baby is not entitled to live.   In the name of mercy killing, we advocate euthanasia for those who are elderly and non-productive in society, including the terminally ill or children with special needs.  The mercy is not for them but for ourselves, because we do not wish to make time to care for them.  In other words, we have no mercy because we do not love them as human beings.  In the name of love, lovers cohabit because they claim that they do not want to get into the hassle of legal marriages.  Yet, the truth is that they do not love each other enough to want to commit their lives to each other.
No true love can develop when there is no trust or confidence in each other or when there is no commitment to love each other in good and bad times.  If we love each other only because the person is nice and good or beautiful, such love can never last because no one is perfect and good all the time.  We would always be living under the threat of rejection because we might never be good enough for the other person.  Such an unhealthy relationship hinders a person from growing and from being loved unconditionally.  Imagine what kind of family life we would have if our parents loved us only if we are perfect, always doing what is right, otherwise they would be disowned us!
Consequently, we need a greater discernment of the spirits as St John tells us.  “It is not every spirit, my dear people, that you can trust; test them, to see if they come from God, there are many false prophets, now, in the world.”   Truly, the greatest false prophet in modern times is relativism, for it claims that truth cannot be found and that we can never know what is right or wrong.  Just do what you feel best, or rather, like best!  What is right today will be wrong tomorrow and what is wrong today will be right tomorrow!  It is all a matter of preference. 
In the context of this spectrum of choices, Jesus comes as the light and hope for all nations.  It is significant to note that the gospel says, “Hearing that John had been arrested, Jesus went back to Galilee, and leaving Nazareth he went and settled in Capernaum, a lakeside town on the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali.”  In other words, the truth cannot be silenced by evil men even though they tried to silence the voice of John the Baptist.  God’s truth and love will prevail over the darkness of falsehood.  Jesus, the Word of God, continues this mission of proclaiming the truth to the world.   
The gospel today takes its point of departure by having Jesus fulfil the prophecy of the Old Testament.  The gospel deliberately had Jesus moving from Nazareth to Capernaum so that He moved nearer towards where the gentiles lived.   “In this way the prophecy of Isaiah was to be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun! Land of Naphtali! Way of the sea on the far side of Jordan, Galilee of the nations! The people that lived on darkness have seen a great light; on those who dwell in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.” 
In celebrating the feast of the Epiphany too, we read that the infant King is called to be the light and hope of the nations.  This is symbolized by the visit of the three Magi.  He is the star that leads to fullness of life.  He is the light in darkness that continues to give direction to the world.  Light helps us find the truth and walk the truth.  Light gives hope to those in darkness and helps us get out of difficult situations. 
How did Jesus give hope to a broken and confused humanity that walked in darkness and in the shadow of death?   He announced the Good News that God is here. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is close at hand.”  This is the centrality of the Good News message.  But the Good News is not mere words.  The Good News is an event, an experience, a personal encounter with the love and mercy of God.  How is God here?  He demonstrated by His miracles of healing, works of mercy and compassion.  So we read how Jesus, “went round the whole of Galilee teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness among the people. His fame spread throughout Syria, and those who were suffering from diseases and painful complaints of one kind or another, the possessed, epileptics, the paralyzed, were all brought to him, and he cured them.”
In the same vein, how can we get people to hear our message of hope today?  How do we get our young people who live in a world of individualism, materialism and relativism to hear us?  By first loving them!  When we love them, they will then be capable of listening; of being receptive.  Very often, people cannot hear us because they are hurt and wounded.  The soil is not fertile for hearing.  There is so much distrust in the world today, even in relationships.  The increasing number of divorces, infidelities in relationships and dysfunctional children reflect why people are so skeptical about marriages and why they no longer feel it is meaningful to have children.  But when we love them first, then they begin to trust us.  They will then believe what we say to them.  Trust must first be established before they can believe what we say.  When we love them, they will listen to whatever we say to them.
The love of Christ must come first before we can accept Jesus’ commandments and have faith in His message.  Faith in the message must be preceded by faith in the person.  This is what it means to believe in His name.  “You can tell the spirits that come from God by this: every spirit which acknowledges that Jesus the Christ has come in the flesh is from God; but any spirit which will not say this of Jesus is not from God, but is the spirit of Antichrist, whose coming you are warned about.  Well, now he is here, in the world.”  So how can we believe in His message unless we begin by believing in His person, who Jesus is; truly God and truly man!  Unless we believe that Christ is the Son of God, we cannot believe in His message.  
To authenticate His message, He works miracles, which in itself is the message of the Good News of God’s love and His reign on earth.  Only then does He invite us to accept Him.  We too can only ask people to obey the commandments when we no longer see them as obstacles to our happiness, but as the wisdom of God and His rules for happiness in life.  St John says, “His commandments are these: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and that we love one another as he told us to. Whoever keeps his commandments lives in God and God lives in him. We know that he lives in us by the Spirit that he has given us.”
Secondly, all discernment of what is right or wrong must be done in the light of Christ and His message.  We can no longer say that we do not know what is true or false.  If Christ is the Way, the Truth and the Life, no authentic Christian can accept the ideology of relativism.   This is what St John also warns us, “Children, you have already overcome these false prophets, because you are from God and you have in you one who is greater than anyone in this world; as for them, they are of the world, and so they speak the language of the world and the world listens to them. But we are children of God, and those who know God listen to us; those who are not of God refuse to listen to us. This is how we can tell the spirit of truth from the spirit of falsehood.”  The criteria of discernment cannot be based on the world’s values, but that of Christ’s.
Accordingly, if we are to continue to be the light of Christ in the world, giving hope to humanity, we too must manifest Christ in us in the way we live; an upright life and a life of charity.   The sign that we live in the truth is that we live in Christ, loving our brothers and sisters.    When we walk in truth and love, then we can be confident that our prayers will always be answered because it is always in accordance with the will of God.  This is what St John wrote, “Whatever we ask God, we shall receive, because we keep his commandments and live the kind of life that he wants.”


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

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