WHICH ANIMAL ARE YOU FEEDING?

20160129 WHICH ANIMAL ARE YOU FEEDING?

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

2 Samuel 11:1-4,5-10,13-17 ©

At the turn of the year, the time when kings go campaigning, David sent Joab and with him his own guards and the whole of Israel. They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabbah. David, however, remained in Jerusalem.

  It happened towards evening when David had risen from his couch and was strolling on the palace roof, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful. David made inquiries about this woman and was told, ‘Why, that is Bathsheba, Eliam’s daughter, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’ Then David sent messengers and had her brought. She came to him, and he slept with her. She then went home again. The woman conceived and sent word to David; ‘I am with child.’

  Then David sent Joab a message, ‘Send me Uriah the Hittite’, whereupon Joab sent Uriah to David. When Uriah came into his presence, David asked after Joab and the army and how the war was going. David then said to Uriah, ‘Go down to your house and enjoy yourself. Uriah left the palace, and was followed by a present from the king’s table. Uriah however slept by the palace door with his master’s bodyguard and did not go down to his house.

  This was reported to David; ‘Uriah’ they said ‘did not go down to his house.’ The next day David invited him to eat and drink in his presence and made him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out and lay on his couch with his master’s bodyguard, but he did not go down to his house.

  Next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah. In the letter he wrote, ‘Station Uriah in the thick of the fight and then fall back behind him so that he may be struck down and die.’ Joab, then besieging the town, posted Uriah in a place where he knew there were fierce fighters. The men of the town sallied out and engaged Joab; the army suffered casualties, including some of David’s bodyguard; and Uriah the Hittite was killed too.

Psalm

Psalm 50:3-7,10-11 ©

Have mercy on us, Lord, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on me, God, in your kindness.

  In your compassion blot out my offence.

O wash me more and more from my guilt

  and cleanse me from my sin.

Have mercy on us, Lord, for we have sinned.

My offences truly I know them;

  my sin is always before me

Against you, you alone, have I sinned;

  what is evil in your sight I have done.

Have mercy on us, Lord, for we have sinned.

That you may be justified when you give sentence

  and be without reproach when you judge,

O see, in guilt I was born,

  a sinner was I conceived.

Have mercy on us, Lord, for we have sinned.

Make me hear rejoicing and gladness,

  that the bones you have crushed may thrill.

From my sins turn away your face

  and blot out all my guilt.

Have mercy on us, Lord, for we have sinned.

Gospel Acclamation

Ps118:27

Alleluia, alleluia!

Make me grasp the way of your precepts,

and I will muse on your wonders.

Alleluia!

Or

Mt11:25

Alleluia, alleluia!

Blessed are you, Father,

Lord of heaven and earth,

for revealing the mysteries of the kingdom

to mere children.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Mark 4:26-34 ©

Jesus said to the crowds, ‘This is what the kingdom of God is like. A man throws seed on the land. Night and day, while he sleeps, when he is awake, the seed is sprouting and growing; how, he does not know. Of its own accord the land produces first the shoot, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. And when the crop is ready, he loses no time: he starts to reap because the harvest has come.’

  He also said, ‘What can we say the kingdom of God is like? What parable can we find for it? It is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts out big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade.’

  Using many parables like these, he spoke the word to them, so far as they were capable of understanding it. He would not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything to his disciples when they were alone.

WHICH ANIMAL ARE YOU FEEDING?

SCRIPTURE READINGS: 2 SM 11:1-10. 13-17; Ps 50:3-7, 10-11; Mk 4:26-34

Man is an incredible creature.  His potential for good or for evil is unimaginable.  In each one of us, there are two animals.  There is the beast which makes us do evil and there is the lamb which is one of goodness and purity. Which animal are you feeding, the beast or the lamb?  Which camp are you with, Satan or Jesus?  The Kingdom of Darkness or the Kingdom of God? Like the seed in the fields in today’s gospel, and the mustard seed, nature will take its course.  What we do in life will unfold itself, for better or for worse.   We follow the laws of nature. We can grow virtues or vices.  Whatever we nurture, it will grow slowly but surely, until harvest time.  So what would you like to harvest at the end of your life?  Is it joy and happiness in eternal life or misery and pain in eternal death?  The choice is yours!

To help us understand the full implications and the seriousness of our choices in life, we have the tragic example of King David who committed adultery.  King David, like most of us, is a good person with a magnanimous heart.  We read of his fidelity to King Saul and Jonathan and how much he loved them, and forgave his enemies.  And yet, he could not be faithful, over a woman.  Right from the outset, we must be clear that no one is exempted from temptations.  Even Jesus was tempted in the desert and throughout His ministry.   (cf Mt 4:1-11)   So we must not be too harsh with the sin of King David.

Above all, he was tempted with the most powerful sin of man, the sin of lust.  The desire for sex is deeply ingrained in human nature.  That is why we are sexual beings.  It is also the biological need of man to procreate.   How could he fight against something that is part of his physiological and emotional need for intimacy with women?  This explains why many of us, like King David, can be very successful in our professional life, but when it comes to our personal life, we are in a mess!  We do not know how to handle our emotions; intimacy, fear, security, envy and our sexual needs.   King David is a very good example of one who was a great warrior and strategist, bringing peace to the kingdom after conquering all his enemies.  So successful was he in his military expeditions that he felt no necessity to continue to directly lead the soldiers.  So we read, “At the turn of the year, the time when kings go campaigning, David sent Joab and with him his own guards and the whole of Israel.  They massacred the Ammonites and laid siege to Rabah.  David however remained in Jerusalem.”  So just because we are intelligent, capable and successful does not mean that we are beyond temptation to do the most shameful, degrading and disgusting evil in our personal life.

In truth, the greatest enemy in life is not those enemies outside us, but the monster within us.  We are our worst enemy because we are weak within and susceptible to temptations.  If we do not know how to manage this monster well, it will eat us up and destroy us completely.  If we understand ourselves and practice self-control, we can then have real power over the world.  Otherwise, the world will overpower us.  The fact that we cannot resist the temptations of the world shows that the world has power over us.  So if we want to boast, it should not be about the number of people under our charge, but whether we are in total control of ourselves.  Consequently, if we want to manage the temptations in our lives, we need to understand the nature of sin and how to avoid the occasions of sin.  Understanding the process of sin will help us to be more alert when temptations come; and knowing the consequences will make us think twice before we act.

What then is the nature of sin?  Sin always begins with a desire.  This desire is always there, latent because of our fallen nature.   The consequences of original sin are dullness of mind and the lack of the orientation of the will, which we call, concupiscence.  So King David, let it be said, did not deliberately plan to commit adultery with Bathsheba.  It just happened by chance that “towards evening when David had risen from his couch and was strolling on the palace roof, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.” It was a natural attraction that aroused his desire and his lust for the woman.  If he had stopped there, the temptation would have just ended.

But the truth is that an idea or desire conceived in our heart and mind will soon give birth to a sin.  Instead of resisting the temptation, he allowed his desire and lust to develop.  He started to be curious.  “David made inquiries about this woman and was told, ‘Why, that is Bathsheba, Eliam’s daughter, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.’  Then David sent messengers and had her brought.  She came to him, and he slept with her.”  Ironically, a desire conceived led to sin, as is symbolically brought out in the following verse, “The woman conceived and sent word to David, ‘I am with child.’”

More importantly, look at the consequences of just this one sin of lust.  It led to many other sins.  If it is one sin, we can deal with it.  If it were one enemy, we can defeat him.  But the reality is that, as St Augustine says, the punishment for sin is sin.  When we fall into sin, we will fall into many more sins.   Like David, because of his pride, after sinning with Bathsheba, he tried to cover up his sins. He then tried to entice his loyal officer, Uriah, into having intimacy with his wife.  When that failed, he told his Commanding Office, Joab, to send Uriah to the battle front to be killed. We can see the increasing magnitude of sin.  Not only did sin bring death to one of his most loyal officers, but it caused others to sin.  We can be sure that Bathsheba was in a bind when asked to sleep with King David.  So too was Joab, when he was instructed to post Uriah to the front line of the battle so that he could be killed by his enemies.  Their consciences must have been in a dilemma, not knowing how to disobey the king’s evil intentions and orders.  But it did not end there. Eventually, David’s son too died because of his sins.  If David knew that all these were to happen, he would have thought twice and not allow himself to fall into the trap of the Evil One.

Indeed, how could a good man like King David be reduced to this state?  He was a faithful and loyal soldier.  His men were faithful to him.  How could he have acted thus?  From committing the sin of adultery, King David ended with the sin of killing.  This is the harvest of the works of our hands that the parables today speak about. When we fall into sin, our conscience becomes insensitive and dull.  As sins accumulate and grow, we lose our sensitivity to what is right and wrong.  We begin to rationalize and justify our actions and crimes.  We are blinded by our sins because of our evil desires.  So sin never comes alone.  When we do not stop one sin, it will lead to many other sins because they all come from desire and ignorance.

How, then, do we avoid the occasion of sin?   We must stay close to God in prayer.  We need to be imbued with the Word of God.  Whenever we are tempted to sin, read and pray the Word of God.  Seek direction, strength and inspiration.  Jesus defended Himself from the temptations of the Devil by citing scriptures to bolster His firm devotion to God.  We need to find good friends who can help us and guide us.  Birds of a feather flock together.  If your friends are evil and worldly, you will soon be one of them.   Be careful whom you mix with.   Do you have good Catholic friends to journey with you in your faith? If not, then you are a good target for the Evil One to lead you away from God.  Find good Catholic Mentors too, to inspire and guide you.  Find someone whom you can share your struggles with, especially your weaknesses and sins.  If you hide it, the monster will grow, but when you share it, the monster is kept in abeyance and under the lid.

Most of all, we must practice the daily examen of conscience, especially after our night prayers or early in the morning.  We must also go for regular confession.  But it must not be just a superficial unprepared confession.  If we make a sincere confession monthly, we will grow in holiness.  At least we won’t stray too far and remain close to Jesus as every confession is a renewal of our relationship with the Lord and it removes all obstacles of grace.   Confession is integral to our spiritual life because it fosters the virtues of humility and self-awareness. By conscientiously going through the daily examen, we prepare ourselves for the sacrament of reconciliation.  Finally, before you sleep, make peace with those whom you have hurt intentionally or unintentionally during the day, as St Paul reminds us, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil.” (Eph 4:26f)  “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.” (Col 3:13)

So we need to make a choice today.  Do you want to be like that seed of corn that grows to full term, giving life and nourishment to others?  Do you want to be like that mustard seed that one day gives shade to others?  We need to remember that the good or evil in us are either are growing in strength, waiting to reach the time of harvest, or they are dying.  There is no neutrality when it comes to growing virtues or vices.  Let us bear in mind the words of St Paul, “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow.  If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit.  So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up.  So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.” (Gal 6:7-10)

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