Friday, 8 January 2016

PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR

20160106 PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR

First Reading 1JN 4:11-18

11 My dear friends, if God loved us so much, we too should love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God, but as long as we love one another God remains in us and his love comes to its perfection in us.
13 This is the proof that we remain in him and he in us, that he has given us a share in his Spirit.
14 We ourselves have seen and testify that the Father sent his Son as Saviour of the world.
15 Anyone who acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God.
16 We have recognised for ourselves, and put our faith in, the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him.
17 Love comes to its perfection in us when we can face the Day of Judgement fearlessly, because even in this world we have become as he is.
18 In love there is no room for fear, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear implies punishment and no one who is afraid has come to perfection in love.

Gospel MK 6:45-52

45 And at once he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side near Bethsaida, while he himself sent the crowd away.
46 After saying goodbye to them he went off into the hills to pray.
47 When evening came, the boat was far out on the sea, and he was alone on the land.
48 He could see that they were hard pressed in their rowing, for the wind was against them; and about the fourth watch of the night he came towards them, walking on the sea. He was going to pass them by,
49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost and cried out;
50 for they had all seen him and were terrified. But at once he spoke to them and said, 'Courage! It's me! Don't be afraid.'
51 Then he got into the boat with them and the wind dropped. They were utterly and completely dumbfounded,
52 because they had not seen what the miracle of the loaves meant; their minds were closed.

PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR


SCRIPTURE READINGS: 1 JN 4:11-18; MK 6:45-52
Fear is one of the most crippling emotions of human beings.  Many of us are ruled by fear.  Fear is the primary reason for our insecurity and anxiety.  The offspring of fear are many.  Fear is the root of all sins.  It is because of fear that we are ego-centered and proud.  We tell lies and are envious of others who are perceived to be better than us or have more than us.  It is fear that causes us to take revenge against our enemies or seek to control them.  Fear too gives birth to greed, gambling, cheating, hoarding and gluttony because we are afraid we do not have enough.  Lust is also the consequence of fear that we might lose the person we love and so we seek to possess the other person.  Among all these fears, the greatest fear is hunger, pain, suffering, rejection, shame, betrayal in relationship and, most of all, the fear of death!  Indeed, this was the case of the apostles in today’s gospel when the storm threatened their lives.   So fear dominates our lives.
Yet the irony of fear is that the so-called defence mechanisms that we use to overcome fear make us more fearful instead of setting us free.  The truth of life is that fear cannot be overcome by pride, envy, anger, sloth, greed, lust and gluttony.  The more the capital sins consume us, the more fearful we become.  So for those of us who seek to overcome fear through the seven capital sins are deceived by the Devil because we end up being slaves to fear!   How, then, can we overcome fear?
St John makes it clear that the only way to overcome fear is to use the antidote of love.  He wrote, “In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love.”  Indeed, when we are loved, there is no fear.  A child in the arms of the mother has no fear.  A child fears and cries only when he or she discovers that mommy is not there for him or her.  So, too, young people fear when they see their parents fighting, quarreling and at war with each other because they know it is a matter of time before the family will be broken.  So, too, with relationships; isn’t it true that many relationships cannot survive because there is a lack of assurance of love for each other, not just in words but in deeds?  When such assurances of love are lacking, or when the actions of the other party show otherwise, then the relationship tends to be insecure and the couple is suspicious of each other, doubting each other and lacking trust.
For this reason, in the Incarnation, which is a prelude to the passion, God became man in Jesus to reveal to us His unconditional love and mercy for us.  God knows that we need assurances that He loves us and is faithful to us in love.  God is aware that as human beings we need to see, feel, touch and hear the tangible love of God.  This is what St John wrote, “We ourselves have known and put our faith in God’s love towards ourselves.”  Because of Christ’s incarnation, His life of love and service, His message of love and forgiveness, and most of all His death on the cross, St John could say, “We ourselves saw and we testify that the Father sent his Son as saviour of the world.”   Truly, the apostles have seen the love of God in person in Christ.
In the gospel, Jesus demonstrated His faithful love for His disciples who were going through the storm in the boat.  We read that Jesus went away to the hills to pray as the people wanted to make Him king by force after the multiplication of the loaves; the religious leaders were planning to get rid of him; and there was the possibility of King Herod and the Romans reacting to such revolutionary attempts.  Even though Jesus was dealing with His own inner struggles, yet, when He knew that His disciples were battling a storm in the boat and were overcome with fear, He came to them to assure them of His presence.  He said, “Courage! It is I! Do not be afraid.”
With Jesus, there is nothing to fear.  He will help us to overcome all things.   And so we read, “Then he got into the boat with them, and the wind dropped.”   When Jesus is with us, there is nothing to fear.  He will help us to overcome all things because He Himself as a man had walked through the valley of darkness, the Garden of Gethsemane, the rejections, the betrayals of His fellowmen, including His disciples, the false accusations, the humiliation that He suffered on the cross and the pain of the scourging and the crucifixion.  He had gone through all, more than anyone of us.  But He has triumphed and survived.  He did not allow fear to overwhelm Him or, like us, succumb to sin.
Consequently, the question is whether we are willing to put our faith and trust in Him. To surrender our lives to Him, we must acknowledge Him as our Lord and Saviour.   St John said, “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him, and he in God.”  So confession of faith in Jesus’ divine sonship is the key to confidence in Him who can do all things in and through us.   The reason why the disciples were fearful was because they could not see beyond what Jesus did.  We read that “they were utterly and completely dumbfounded, because they had not seen what the miracle of the loaves meant; their minds were closed.”   Indeed, they were still too dull, ignorant and blind to who Jesus was until His passion and resurrection.  They saw the signs but they did not get the meaning and the truth beyond what they saw.
We too have many signs of God’s love for us.  These signs come from the love of our fellowmen and our love for them.  As St John says, “No one has ever seen God; but as long as we love one another God will live in us and his love will be complete in us. We can know that we are living in him and he is living in us because he lets us share his Spirit.”  When we are loved unconditionally, we feel the love of God present in us.  God’s love is always mediated through events, things and people.  The Eucharist and the other sacraments are signs par excellence of His love and mercy.   But we also experience His love through the love that others have showered on us.
However, it is not enough just to receive the love of God through our brothers and sisters.  If we want the cycle of love to be complete, we must love others the way God has loved us.  This is the basis of loving others.  St John says, “My dear people, since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another.”  We are called in the final analysis not just to find love by loving others but to share the love and life of God in us.  He said, “We can know that we are living in him and he is living in us because he lets us share his Spirit.”  When the love of God rests in us, when we share in His Spirit, our lives will always be one of true joy because we experience true freedom in love and service.  By partaking in the love of God as we love others, His love will increase in us; and we become more and more identified with the heart of God.
Indeed, how do we know that our love has been perfected?  St John said, “Love will come to its perfection in us when we can face the day of Judgement without fear; because even in this world we have become as he is. In love there can be no fear, but fear is driven out by perfect love: because to fear is to expect punishment, and anyone who is afraid still is imperfect in love.”   When we become like Jesus in love, what is there to fear?  We will have the confidence to appear before God our Father and our fellowmen because we know that we have loved and done what we could, according to the resources we have been blessed with.  So if we are afraid of God’s judgement it is because we see God as our judge, but when we see God as love and as our beloved, there is no fear but only the desire to be with Him more and more.  Truly, when there is true love, there is no fear.  We are ready to be totally open, vulnerable, naked and be available to others because we know that we will be loved, accepted and will never be taken advantage of.   Fear is only for those who do not trust.  Where there is no trust, no perfect love is possible because there is no total openness.   So today, let us trust the Lord and accept His love.  And in turn, let us love the way He has loved us so that His love and Spirit may be in us and we in Him.

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


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