20160220 CONVERSION AS RESTORATION AND PERFECTION IN CHRIST
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
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First reading
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Deuteronomy
26:16-19 ©
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Moses said to the
people: ‘The Lord your God today commands you to observe these laws and
customs; you must keep and observe them with all your heart and with all your
soul.
‘You have
today made this declaration about the Lord: that he will be your God, but only
if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances,
and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about
you: that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you
keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set
you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people
consecrated to the Lord, as he promised.’
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Psalm
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Psalm
118:1-2,4-5,7-8 ©
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They are happy who
follow God’s law!
They are happy whose
life is blameless,
who
follow God’s law!
They are happy who do
his will,
seeking
him with all their hearts.
They are happy who
follow God’s law!
You have laid down your
precepts
to be
obeyed with care.
May my footsteps be
firm
to obey
your statutes.
They are happy who
follow God’s law!
I will thank you with
an upright heart
as I
learn your decrees.
I will obey your
statutes;
do not
forsake me.
They are happy who
follow God’s law!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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cf.Lk8:15
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
Blessed are those
who,
with a noble and
generous heart,
take the word of God
to themselves
and yield a harvest
through their perseverance.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Or
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2Co6:2
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Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
Now is the favourable
time:
this is the day of
salvation.
Praise and honour to
you, Lord Jesus!
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Gospel
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Matthew 5:43-48 ©
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Jesus
said to his disciples, ‘You have learnt how it was said: You must love your
neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you: love your enemies and
pray for those who persecute you; in this way you will be sons of your Father
in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men as well as good, and his
rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike. For if you love those who love
you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors do as
much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you
doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must
therefore be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect.’
CONVERSION
AS RESTORATION AND PERFECTION IN CHRIST
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: Deuteronomy
26:16-19; Matthew 5:43-48
In the
first reading we are reminded that we are chosen to be God’s people.
Like the Israelites, we were nobody but God has called us to be His
people. We are not only called to be God’s subjects but also His sons and
daughters. To be called is a great privilege but also a great
responsibility. But this privilege brings with it the obligations arising
from our dignity as God’s people. Who we are requires us to live out our
calling and our identity as the People of God. Yesterday’s gospel reminds
us that our virtues must go deeper than the scribes and Pharisees.
If
we are God’s people, then necessarily, we have to live out the Covenant as
taught to us by Moses and our Lord. The people of Israel were reminded that it was not enough
to claim that they were the People of God. They were required to follow
the Mosaic Laws so that they could live as a people united in love and in
service, with each other and with God. How could they do it unless they
follow the commandments prescribed to them? Moses said to the people: “You have
today made this declaration about the Lord; that he will be your God, but only
if you follow his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances,
and listen to his voice. And the Lord has today made this declaration about
you; that you will be his very own people as he promised you, but only if you
keep all his commandments; then for praise and renown and honour he will set
you high above all the nations he has made, and you will be a people
consecrated to the Lord, as he had promised.”
So
what are the implications of being the people of God for us, the New People of
God? We must
show ourselves to be really God’s people by our way of life. As God’s
people and members of the Body of Christ, we must live a life of charity and
unity among ourselves. Unless we are united with each other, we are
merely a bunch of individuals. We cannot say that we are God’s
people and members of the Household of God with God as our Father when the
children are living separate and individualistic lives. The Church for
that reason is called a Communion. We are called to communion with each
other in Christ. This is what we pray and say at the very beginning of
the Eucharistic celebration when the Presider says, “The grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you
all.”
To
help us all to be in communion, we need order, guidelines and rules so that we
can live in mutual respect. Indeed, the purpose of commandments is to help us
to live in unity and provide a common direction for the community as to what
are the essentials of community life. This is reinforced in the responsorial
psalm, “They are happy whose life is blameless, who follow God’s law! They are
happy who do his will, seeking him with all their hearts.” So laws
are given not to enslave us or make our life miserable but to provide order and
unity. In every community, we need to have proper structures and forums
to ensure that there is proper communication and order.
Secondly,
we must recognize His Lordship over us. If we are God’s people, we
must realize that God is our Lord and our king, we are His subjects.
Hence, we must surrender everything to His Lordship. We must obey Him in all
things. This is what Moses says, “You have today made this declaration
about the Lord; that he will be your God, but only if you follow his ways, keep
his statutes, his commandments, his ordinances, and listen to his voice.”
We cannot claim that God is our Lord when we do not follow His ways and His
direction in whatever we do. We must listen to His voice, which is
the Word of God.
Thirdly,
we must be consecrated to Him. We must consecrate our whole life,
soul and being, returning to Him what He has given to us. Moses told the
people “you will be a people consecrated to the Lord, as he had promised.”
In whatever we do, we want to offer ourselves to Him. Being
consecrated to the Lord is to offer our entire being for His service and for
His mission. Whatever we have, our talents, our resources and our
gifts must be surrendered for His service and for the good of the community.
But God
is not contented to choose us as His people. He wants us to be more
than merely His subjects. As Christians we are His sons and daughters
because He is our Father and we share in His divine nature. He wants
each of us to reflect the perfection of Himself. The implication is to
reflect the face of God. “You must therefore be perfect just as your
heavenly Father is perfect.” This perfection is not a moral
perfection, which is impossible for us to attain. It is perfection in
terms of compassion and forgiveness. We must reflect the glory of
God in us. Hence, we must go beyond just observance of the laws in the
way God loves us.
This
means that we must love like the Father. He is the Father of all
humanity. As sons of the Father, we must consider others as our brothers
and sisters. We must go beyond loving only our own kind. We must
reach out beyond our community, our family and our loved ones.
Christianity must embrace everyone, regardless of race, language or
religion. We are called to share God’s love and message with
all. Jesus made it clear when He remarked, “For if you love those
who love you, what right have you to claim any credit? Even the tax collectors
do as much, do they not? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are
you doing anything exceptional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not?”
Christian love is a love without conditions and certainly not cliquish and
inward looking. There are many Catholic groups. They appear to be active
in Church but they do not reach out beyond their members. Many of our
church groups do not even know each other and some are competing with each
other for glory and power when we are supposed to be one Church, all working in
different ways to glorify God by our lives.
The
perfection of love would also mean that we are called to love not just beyond
our own kind, but even our enemies. Jesus has shown us what it means to love all the children
of His Father when He forgave and loved His enemies on the cross. What He
taught us, He lived out Himself in His life. “You have learnt how
it was said: You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this
to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way you
will be sons of your Father in heaven, for he causes the sun to rise on bad men
as well as good, and his rain to fall on honest and dishonest men alike.”
Loving our enemies means feeling with them, forgiving them for their weaknesses
and praying for their conversion. Unless we have prayed and fasted for
our enemies and those who make life difficult for us, we have not really loved
them yet. But if we do, then we will come to empathize with them and feel
sorry for them that they are hurting as much as they are hurting others.
How can
this be possible? Perfection in Christ can only be attained by inserting
ourselves into the paschal mystery shared by His death resurrection and the
Holy Spirit which is given to us at baptism. By baptism too, we share in
Christ’s sonship and receive His Spirit to act like sons. By virtue of
our baptism, we belong to the new people of God. The community of grace
will assist us and help us to live out our sonship and daughtership. That
is why, no Christian needs to journey alone. We need each other to live
out this calling to be God’s people and His children. At the same
time, we must always remember that we cannot live out the unconditional love
of God in our lives unless we are founded on God’s love. We cannot
love perfectly as parents, children and friends. We cannot love with
unlimited love. Human love will always be a broken love. But that
should not throw us into despair because God’s unconditional love will heal us
and empower us. We must now reclaim our gift of sonship through
repentance, prayers and works of charity.
Lent is
a time to prepare us to renew our baptismal calling. The focus is not on
fasting, although such spiritual exercises are useful means to help us identify
with the poor, the suffering and reinforce some self-discipline when it comes
to the weakness of the flesh. Lent is a time to restore our dignity as
baptized Christians called to be the people of God and children of God.
Ultimately, Lent wants to prepare us to live out the freedom and joy of
the children of God who are capable of love, forgiveness and compassion.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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