SEEING THE FACE OF GOD IN MAN IS THE KEY TO LASTING PEACE

20160101 SEEING THE FACE OF GOD IN MAN IS THE KEY TO LASTING PEACE

Readings at Mass

Colour: White.

First reading

Numbers 6:22-27 ©

The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘Say this to Aaron and his sons: “This is how you are to bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.

May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.

May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

This is how they are to call down my name on the sons of Israel, and I will bless them.’

Psalm

Psalm 66:2-3,5,6,8 ©

O God, be gracious and bless us.

O God, be gracious and bless us

  and let your face shed its light upon us.

So will your ways be known upon earth

  and all nations learn your saving help.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the nations be glad and exult

  for you rule the world with justice.

With fairness you rule the peoples,

  you guide the nations on earth.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Let the peoples praise you, O God;

  let all the peoples praise you.

May God still give us his blessing

  till the ends of the earth revere him.

O God, be gracious and bless us.

Second reading

Galatians 4:4-7 ©

When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons. The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father’, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave any more; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.

Gospel Acclamation

Heb1:1-2

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!

Gospel

Luke 2:16-21 ©

The shepherds hurried away to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger. When they saw the child they repeated what they had been told about him, and everyone who heard it was astonished at what the shepherds had to say. As for Mary, she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen; it was exactly as they had been told.

  When the eighth day came and the child was to be circumcised, they gave him the name Jesus, the name the angel had given him before his conception.

SEEING THE FACE OF GOD IN MAN IS THE KEY TO LASTING PEACE

SCRIPTURE READINGS: NUMBERS 6:22-27; GALATIANS 4:4-7; LUKE 2:16-21

What is most needed in the world today is peace.  We desire peace in the world, in our country, community, office and at home.  But there is no peace.  So at the beginning of every year, we hope that peace will prevail.  This state of division amongst men certainly is not in the plan of God, and a contradiction in man.  He calls us to unity and love, not war and division.

So if we want to find peace, we must first consider the causes and the obstacles to peace.  This year, we celebrate the Jubilee year of Mercy, which provides us the context to reflect on the lack of compassion and fraternity among human beings.  If man no longer has regard for his fellowmen, it is because he fails to recognize the true identity of man. He has reduced man to merely another creature on this earth, no different fundamentally to animals and plants.  The only difference is that we have more intelligence.  In other words, secularists do not recognize that the dignity of man is founded on the fact that he is created in the image and likeness of God; that his life is not on the same level as other animals, but is precious, sacred and therefore must be protected and respected at all costs, from the beginning of conception, through life until old age and death.

In the same vein, if man cannot recognize his sacred dignity, it is because of secularism.  He has denied the ground of his existence by denying God who is Existence.  In rejecting God, he cannot at the same time maintain the dignity of man as different from other animals.

But then what is the cause of secularism?  He cannot see God in man.  The struggles of daily life, the wounds in humanity, the division in society, the cruelty of man against his fellowmen, the injustices and discrimination, the sufferings caused by natural disasters, illnesses and hunger have led man to feel the absence of God.  Man cannot see His face anymore because his sufferings and that of this world have clouded and hidden the face of God.

That is why the cry of every man deep in his heart is the desire to see the face of God.  Like the psalmist, we ask: “who can see the face of God?” (cf Ps 27)  In the responsorial psalm we pray, “O God, be gracious and bless us and let your face shed its light upon us. So will your ways be known upon earth and all nations learn your saving help.”   In the first reading when God wanted to bless His people, He told Moses to say, “May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.  May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.”

What does it mean to see the face of God?  In the Old Testament, God is invisible.  He has no face, so to speak.  Yet we still speak of His face because the face of God is the expression of who God is.  We know a person by his or her face.  To see the face of God is to know His heart, His mind and to feel His love and mercy.  When God shows us His face it means that He loves us and He counts us worthy.  It is like when we are invited for a function and we do not feel like going.  But we say, “I had better attend to give him face, otherwise he might be slighted.” ‘Giving face’, therefore also means giving respect and honor.  When God hides His face from us, or when we do not turn up for an event, it means that we are not happy or are angry with that person.  This explains why seeing the face of God is what we call ‘the beatific vision’, or ‘heaven’, or ‘eternal life’, because it symbolizes intimacy, personal encounter, trust and love.  We read that “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” (Ex 33:11).

If we cannot see the face of God, it is because of sin.   This is why the psalmist says only those who are upright can see the face of God.  (Ps 11:7 cf Ps 24:3-6)  Sin, which is rooted in fear, pride and self-love, prevents us from humbling ourselves and turning to God as the source of life and love.  And because we cannot see the face of God, we also cannot see the face of man. The blindness caused by our sins prevents us from being open to our fellowmen, their sufferings and their pain.  We can think of our pain and suffering but we lack openness to others.  We fail not only to see our fellowmen as sons and daughters of God but we also fail to recognize our shared humanity.  So absorbed in ourselves, we no longer are able to identify with our fellowmen, feel with them, and suffer with them.  We only think about our needs. But the truth is that our fellowmen desire the same things that we desire – love, dignity, freedom, security, food, peace, education, accommodation, jobs, and health.

Now we faced with a dilemma.  Man cannot see his true identity because he cannot see the face of God.  He cannot see the face of God because his fellowman does not reveal the face of God.  So we are in a conundrum.  This is where the Good News lies.   We celebrate the Christian New Year after the birth of Christ because He is the beginning of a new humanity.  The old humanity under Adam was under the slavery of the Law and under the slavery of sin.  But because of Christ, because we are baptized in Him, we are now able to share in His life.  St Paul says, “When the appointed time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born a subject of the Law, to redeem the subjects of the Law and to enable us to be adopted as sons.”   We are no longer slaves belonging to the old humanity but we are a new creation, different from the old creation.  

Secondly, in Christ, we come to see the face of God.  Jesus became man so that we can see the face of God in a true man.  In this way, Jesus fulfills the first reading when He uncovered the face of God for us through His humanity.  In Jesus, we see who God is.  He is a Father of mercy, compassion, love and forgiveness.  The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is revealed in the life of poverty, simplicity and charity; in His works of mercy and deliverance, words of forgiveness and encouragement and, most of all, fully by His death and resurrection.  Through Christ, sin and death have been overcome definitively by the paschal mystery when Jesus reconciled us with His Father and promised us new life in Him, now and after our life on earth.

Thirdly, in Christ, we see who we really are.  Through Christ, we have become the adopted sons and daughters of God.  St Paul says, “The proof that you are sons is that God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts: the Spirit that cries, ‘Abba, Father, and it is this that makes you a son, you are not a slave anymore; and if God has made you son, then he has made you heir.’”  Jesus reveals to us our noble dignity as God’s children, because we are created in His image and likeness, and most of all, by His incarnation, we are His brothers and sisters.  

As heirs of Christ, we are called to share His glory and His sonship, which is that of servanthood and obedience to God.  As such, we are called as sons and daughters of God to follow Jesus in travelling the path of unconditional love and humble service.  This is the only way to overcome our sins.  Through reaching out to our brothers and sisters, we recover our common humanity.   When we reach out to our wounded and suffering brothers and sisters, we learn to identify with them as Jesus did with us.  When we come to realize that all men and women are our brothers and sisters, called to the same grace, even if they do not know Him, but because they are created in God’s image and redeemed by Christ, then we too must treat them like our brothers and sisters.  In this way, we become one.

In conclusion, we can see this close relationship between seeing God in man and seeing man in God.  Only when we see the face of God, then God’s face in man becomes clear.   We will then treat our fellowmen with respect and regard their lives as sacred.  We will also not destroy God’s creatures and creation because they are given to us to glorify God and for the service of humanity. Seeing the face of God in Christ therefore is the key to seeing the face of God in our brothers and sisters as well.

Today, when we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God, we are affirming the divinity and humanity of Jesus.  In the one person, Christ, having two natures, we see the face of God through His humanity.   Jesus is truly God and truly man.  This is the primary purpose of this dogma of Mary, the Mother of God. It is not so much to honour Mary per se, but to protect the unity of the person of Jesus, His human and divine nature.  God’s face is revealed to us in the son of Mary.

If we want to deepen our love for humanity and for God, we must join Mary in contemplating on the face of God in Christ.  In contemplating on her Son, Mary must have learnt much love, obedience, detachment and service from Him. It was her deep relationship with her Son that gave her the strength to stand by Jesus in everything, even at the foot of the cross.  The gospel tells us that “she treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart.”  If, like Mary, we too contemplate on Jesus, we will find the face of God in our hearts and then we see His face in others.  We too will learn not just from Jesus but from Mary how to surrender to God’s will in all things, trust Him even when things seem hopeless.  Most of all, from Mary we learn how to love her Son.

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