20160217 CONVERSION OF THE CONVERTED
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Violet.
|
First reading
|
Jonah 3:1-10 ©
|
The word of the Lord
was addressed a second time to Jonah: ‘Up!’ he said ‘Go to Nineveh, the great
city, and preach to them as I told you to.’ Jonah set out and went to Nineveh
in obedience to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was a city great beyond
compare: it took three days to cross it. Jonah went on into the city, making a day’s
journey. He preached in these words, ‘Only forty days more and Nineveh is going
to be destroyed.’ And the people of Nineveh believed in God; they proclaimed a
fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least. The news reached the
king of Nineveh, who rose from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth
and sat down in ashes. A proclamation was then promulgated throughout Nineveh,
by decree of the king and his ministers, as follows: ‘Men and beasts, herds and
flocks, are to taste nothing; they must not eat, they must not drink water. All
are to put on sackcloth and call on God with all their might; and let everyone
renounce his evil behaviour and the wicked things he has done. Who knows if God
will not change his mind and relent, if he will not renounce his burning wrath,
so that we do not perish?’ God saw their efforts to renounce their evil
behaviour, and God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he
had threatened.
|
Psalm
|
|
Psalm
50:3-4,12-13,18-19 ©
|
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
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.
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
A pure heart create
for me, O God,
put a
steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me away
from your presence,
nor
deprive me of your holy spirit.
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
For in sacrifice you
take no delight,
burnt
offering from me you would refuse,
my sacrifice, a
contrite spirit.
A
humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.
A humbled,
contrite heart, O God, you will not spurn.
|
Gospel
Acclamation
|
Ezk33:11
|
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
I take pleasure, not
in the death of a wicked man
– it is the Lord who
speaks –
but in the turning
back of a wicked man
who changes his ways
to win life.
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
|
Or
|
Joel2:12-13
|
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
Now, now – it is
the Lord who speaks –
come back to me with
all your heart,
for I am all
tenderness and compassion.
Glory and praise to
you, O Christ!
|
Gospel
|
Luke 11:29-32 ©
|
The
crowds got even bigger and Jesus addressed them, ‘This is a wicked generation;
it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah.
For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to
this generation. On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with the
men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the
earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than
Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this
generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there
is something greater than Jonah here.’
CONVERSION
OF THE CONVERTED
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: Jonah 3:1-10;
Ps 50:3-4, 12-13, 18-19; Luke 11:29-32
One
of the recurring cries of the season of Lent is the call to conversion of
heart. This is a
pre-requisite for anyone who is serious about entering into the New Life.
Unless we repent of our sins or turn away from the old way of life, there can
be no new life or any resurrection experience. So the season of Lent is
really an invitation to the whole Christian community to take stock of their
spiritual life and refocus on Jesus and the gospel once again. This was
why Pope Francis in his first encyclical invites the whole Church to a
missionary conversion, beginning with the Church’s hierarchy, bishops, priests
and religious and then the laity. Without a conversion of heart, we
cannot speak of any evangelical or missionary activity. This is the theme of
today’s scripture readings.
In the
first reading from the book of Jonah, we read how God sent Jonah to announce
the message of repentance to the people of Nineveh. Ironically,
although the intention was to exhort the Ninevites to repent, the person most
needing repentance was Jonah himself. In the first place, he refused to
go to the city initially. He was totally not bothered with the pagan
city. In fact, he was quite happy that God was going to punish the
inhabitants for their sins. In the mind of Jonah, these people did not
deserve any mercy or compassion. They ought to be destroyed because of
their wrong doings and especially for threatening Israel’s existence because of
their military might. After almost being drowned, he was forced to
go to the city and proclaim the message of repentance. To his surprise,
everyone who heard his call to repentance acted on the warning. As
a consequence, Jonah became angry with God for forgiving them and not punishing
them as intended because “God saw their efforts to renounce their evil
behaviour. And God relented: he did not inflict on them the disaster which he
threatened.”
In
truth, the story of Jonah was not focused on the Ninevites who repented but
on Jonah himself. He was the one who needed conversion of
heart. He was self-righteous, thinking that he belonged to the Chosen
Race. He considered himself as belonging to God and the non-Jews as those
condemned by God. But God wanted Jonah to know that He loves all His
children and all creatures. Jonah was blinded by pride and a self-righteous
spirit. There was a streak of revenge in his heart, wanting to take it
out on his enemies, and hoping that if the disaster struck them, they would
have received their just desserts. Indeed, this is what the
responsorial psalm declares as well. “For in sacrifice you take no
delight, burnt offering from me you would refuse, my sacrifice, a contrite
spirit. A humbled, contrite heart you will not spurn.”
This
same call was also addressed to the Jews, especially the religious leaders. The problem with the Jews was
that they thought too highly of themselves, thinking that they were the chosen
people of God. They despised the non-Jews. They took their special
privilege as God’s chosen people for granted. But they did not live out
their identity as the covenanted people of God. Jesus came to call them to
conversion but they were indifferent to His message. Because of
their pride, they were not able to acknowledge Him. They felt Jesus was a
threat and a nuisance to their status quo. They were so set in their ways
that Jesus could make no inroads in bringing them to conversion of heart.
He only met with skepticism and resistance. They lacked faith, as Jesus
lamented, “This is a wicked generation; it is asking for a sign. The only sign
it will be given is the sign of Jonah. For just as Jonah became a sign to the
Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.”
But
this is equally true for us. The most difficult people to call to
conversion are those who are within the Church. As the scripture
readings illustrate today, the people who are most receptive to conversion are
sinners, because they recognize their shortcomings and their misery. Jesus in
the gospel remarked, “On Judgement day the Queen of the South will rise up with
the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and there is something greater than
Solomon here. On Judgement day the men of Nineveh will stand up with this
generation and condemn it, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there
is something greater than Jonah here.”
One
of the saddest things in life is that those who have do not appreciate what
they have until it is taken away from them. People tend to take for granted their
health, even their breathing, till one day their lungs collapse and they have
difficulty breathing. The point that Jesus wanted to make was that Jonah the
prophet, and Solomon, the exemplification of wisdom, could not even match Him
as a candle to a sun; yet His own people rejected Him as the Word of God in
person; the eschatological prophet and the Wisdom of God incarnated. But
the people were too blind or prejudiced to see someone greater before
them. So too, how many of our Catholics take their faith for granted!
They are so used to having the Eucharist celebrated within walking distance
from their homes; and have the sacraments freely available. In our
churches, there are talks and retreats at nominal charges and most are offered
free, but not many are interested to take up such offer. We take the
services provided by our churches and the hard work of our active lay Catholics
who serve in their ministries for granted. Instead of being appreciative,
we only know how to complain and lament that these are not good enough. So,
like the scribes and Pharisees, we are not ready to acknowledge the
shortcomings in our own lives and undertake the necessary conversion of heart
and mind.
What
are the reasons for the indifference? Those of us who are clergy,
religious and active Church members tend to become self-righteous and
presumptuous. We
think we are very holy and since we are praying and reading the Word of God
every day, we feel that we have not many sins, at least serious sins.
There is a lack of self-awareness and often our prayers are routine and
mechanical, whether we are praying the Liturgy of the Hours or even celebrating
the Eucharist. There is no real preparation or deep reflection on the
Word of God. We do not truly examine ourselves, our motives and our
interior life.
The
next reason is the tendency to fall into professionalism. Like the religious leaders
during Jesus’ time who seemed to know all the scriptures but do not apply the
Word of God to their own lives, we preachers, catechists and teachers similarly
often instruct others what they must do, but how many of us apply what we teach
in our own lives? We tell others to forgive, work together, be at
peace, walk in love, and pray daily, but we do not do it ourselves. There
is no real depth or conviction on our part; like a salesman selling a product
that he himself does not even want to buy! Indeed, there are so many
active Catholics in Church who are living shadowy lives but are holding
positions in ministries. They are intolerant, judgmental and lacking
compassion. Such people put off many from coming to know Christ and
the Church.
The
third reason is routine. This is the most common cause of complacency and
the lack of enthusiasm in spiritual growth. It is the repetitive things we do that
we no longer feel and focus on what we are doing. We perform our
spiritual exercises, pray our prayers and attend Mass without fervor or
devotion. When our relationship with the Lord lacks a personal touch and
devotion, it soon becomes stale and monotonous. We are just doing it but
the heart is not there. This is true for those in ministry. It
becomes a routine to sing or read at Mass; or to do Church works. Many of
us work in the Church and do ‘churchy’ things without realizing and consciously
remembering that we are working for God and for the work of
evangelization. For many of us, it is just work and a chore, not a
passion, because it is not a mission.
During
this season of Lent, let us pray for humility of heart. Let conversion
begin with ourselves.
No matter who we are, we need to pray for a deeper conversion. There are
degrees in holiness. No one is holy enough. No one is virtuous
enough. We are all sinners and we need to purify our love for God and for
our brothers and sisters. We need to grow in generosity, humility and
purity in service. Holiness is something we need to grow each day with
the grace of God. So before we think of asking others to convert their
lives or to repent, let genuine repentance begin with us. We need
to make time for prayer to examine ourselves; or ask our spiritual director or
confidante, or better still, our enemies so that they can tell us who we really
are! Do not be afraid of the truth because the truth will set us
free. Otherwise, as Jesus warns us, we will condemn ourselves when we
come to realize how ungrateful we are for what the Lord has done for us and the
faith that has been given to us. When we lose our faith, we will lose our
life. If we remain staccato in our faith, we will never find fullness of
life and love. Instead of looking outwards and finding fault with others,
let us look inwardly and correct our own.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
No comments:
Post a Comment