20160331 ENCOUNTERING, SHARING AND ANNOUNCING THE GOOD NEWS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Acts 3:11-26 ©
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Everyone came running
towards Peter and John in great excitement, to the Portico of Solomon, as it is
called, where the man was still clinging to Peter and John. When Peter saw the
people he addressed them, ‘Why are you so surprised at this? Why are you
staring at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or holiness?
You are Israelites, and it is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of
our ancestors, who has glorified his servant Jesus, the same Jesus you handed
over and then disowned in the presence of Pilate after Pilate had decided to
release him. It was you who accused the Holy One, the Just One, you who
demanded the reprieve of a murderer while you killed the prince of life. God,
however, raised him from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses; and
it is the name of Jesus which, through our faith in it, has brought back the
strength of this man whom you see here and who is well known to you. It is
faith in that name that has restored this man to health, as you can all see.
‘Now I
know, brothers, that neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you were
really doing; this was the way God carried out what he had foretold, when he
said through all his prophets that his Christ would suffer. Now you must repent
and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, and so that the Lord may
send the time of comfort. Then he will send you the Christ he has predestined,
that is Jesus, whom heaven must keep till the universal restoration comes which
God proclaimed, speaking through his holy prophets. Moses, for example, said:
The Lord God will raise up a prophet like myself for you, from among your own
brothers; you must listen to whatever he tells you. The man who does not listen
to that prophet is to be cut off from the people. In fact, all the prophets
that have ever spoken, from Samuel onwards, have predicted these days.
‘You are
the heirs of the prophets, the heirs of the covenant God made with our
ancestors when he told Abraham: in your offspring all the families of the earth
will be blessed. It was for you in the first place that God raised up his
servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked
ways.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 8:2,5-9 ©
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How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
How great is your
name, O Lord our God,
through
all the earth!
What is man that you
should keep him in mind,
mortal
man that you care for him?
How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
Yet you have made him
little less than a god;
with glory
and honour you crowned him,
gave him power over
the works of your hand,
put all
things under his feet.
How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
All of them, sheep
and cattle,
yes, even
the savage beasts,
birds of the air, and
fish
that make
their way through the waters.
How great is your
name, O Lord our God, through all the earth!
or
Alleluia,
alleluia, alleluia!
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps117:24
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Alleluia, alleluia!
This day was made by
the Lord:
we rejoice and are
glad.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Luke 24:35-48 ©
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The disciples told
their story of what had happened on the road and how they had recognised Jesus
at the breaking of bread.
They were
still talking about all this when Jesus himself stood among them and said to
them, ‘Peace be with you!’ In a state of alarm and fright, they thought they
were seeing a ghost. But he said, ‘Why are you so agitated, and why are these
doubts rising in your hearts? Look at my hands and feet; yes, it is I indeed.
Touch me and see for yourselves; a ghost has no flesh and bones as you can see
I have.’ And as he said this he showed them his hands and feet. Their joy was
so great that they still could not believe it, and they stood there
dumbfounded; so he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ And they
offered him a piece of grilled fish, which he took and ate before their eyes.
Then
he told them, ‘This is what I meant when I said, while I was still with you,
that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets and in
the Psalms has to be fulfilled.’ He then opened their minds to understand the
scriptures, and he said to them, ‘So you see how it is written that the Christ
would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that, in his name,
repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be preached to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses to this.’
ENCOUNTERING,
SHARING AND ANNOUNCING THE GOOD NEWS
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ ACTS 3:11-26;
LK 24:35-48 ]
What
does the work of evangelization entail? Is it an attempt to propagate an ideology? Is
it a matter of skills, techniques and strategizing? Is it a means to
indoctrinate people or to proselytize? Is it a system of thoughts that we
have arranged logically so that we can convince people of what we believe and
the values we subscribe to?
Nay,
the work of evangelization springs primarily from a personal encounter with the
Risen Lord. This
is the beginning and the pre-requisite of evangelization. This is what we
read in the scripture readings. The disciples encountered the Risen Lord
on the way to Emmaus during the sharing of scriptures and the breaking of
bread. Then we are told how the Lord appeared to them showing them His
hands and feet. He even ate a piece of grilled fish before their eyes,
proving that He was no ghost, nor a hallucination on the part of the disciples,
not a vision but truly His resurrected body. The consequence of
such an encounter brings joy, peace and hope. “Their joy was so great that they
still could not believe it, and they stood there dumbfounded.”
After
so great an encounter, the natural response is to share the Good News of the
Risen Lord. In fact,
the sure sign that you have had a personal encounter with the Risen Lord is
your desire to share this encounter with others. The deeper the
encounter, the greater is the enthusiasm to share with others about this
experience. This is done without asking, without coercion and without obligation.
Indeed, we know that those who have encountered the Risen Lord, like the women
of Jerusalem, the disciples and apostles of Jesus, could not stop sharing their
amazing encounter with the Risen Lord. Good News must be shared as those who
receive them cannot contain them in their hearts.
Indeed,
the great thing about being a Christian is that we have a group of fellow
Christians whom we can share our experiences with. Every religious experience
needs to be authenticated and strengthened. As Christians, we are not
alone in our encounter with the Lord. When we start sharing our
experiences, it is wonderful to have other Christians identify with us. Such
fellowship among Christians strengthens faith and reinforces the truth of the
resurrection encounter. This was what happened when the disciples at
Emmaus shared with the apostles. As they recounted their story, they must
have been so reassured to know that what they saw was confirmed by the apostles
as well.
It
is also important that in Christian sharing of their encounters with the Lord,
His presence is manifested. We read how when they were sharing their story, the Lord
appeared to them in their midst. “They were still talking about all this
when Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, ‘Peace be with you!’ In a
state of alarm and fright, they thought they were seeing a ghost.”
Very often, in the resurrection narratives, the Risen Lord is portrayed
as coming from nowhere and then after manifesting Himself, disappeared to nowhere.
He is also portrayed as passing through walls and doors; making Himself visible
and invisible as He wishes. What is the lesson that the evangelist
wants to share with us? Simply this, that whenever Christians gather
together to share their faith with each other, the Lord is present always in
their midst even when they do not see them with their eyes. In sharing
their faith stories, the Lord will open their eyes, touch their hearts and move
them to feel the reality of His presence among them. That was why the Lord
told the disciples that whenever two or three are gathered together, He is
among them. (Mt 18:20)
Hence, we see the importance of faith-sharing among Christians. It is the
failure to share our faith stories among ourselves that we begin to feel alone
in our relationship with the Lord and very soon, we begin to doubt whether He
is real at all. That was why the Lord said, “Why are you so agitated, and
why are these doubts rising in your hearts?”
Through
faith sharing too, we come to understand deeper our experience by turning to
the scriptures.
Again, to help the disciples ground their encounter; the Risen Lord referred
them to the scriptures that foretold His coming and His paschal mystery.
He opened their minds to understand the scriptures. Besides sharing faith
stories, we must share and study the scriptures together if we are to grow in
faith in the Risen Lord and deepen His presence in our midst because the Lord
comes to us not just when we gather together but when we search the scriptures
together in faith and love.
Arising
from this deepening encounter and confirmation of the reality of the presence
of the Risen Lord, the next natural development is to announce the Kergyma,
that is, the Good News of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection. This is what we read in the
first reading when St Peter addressed the people who came “running towards
Peter and John in great excitement, to the Portico of Solomon, as it is called,
where the man was still clinging to them.” In obedience to our Lord’s command
to announce the forgiveness of sins in His name, St Peter took the occasion of
the miracle to make clear to them that the healing of the paralyzed man was not
their work but that of the man, Jesus, whom they handed over to be
crucified. “It was you who accused the Holy One, the Just One, you
who demanded the reprieve of a murderer while you killed the prince of life.
God, however, raised him from the dead, and to that fact we are the witnesses;
and it is the name of Jesus which, through our faith in it, has brought back
the strength of this man whom you see here and who is well known to you. It is
faith in that name that has restored this man to health, as you can all see.”
It
is significant that the preaching of the Good News was not a philosophical
discourse on some doctrines or some lofty thoughts like Greek philosophy but it was about a miracle that
happened before their very eyes. This is why the Church today cannot
dispense with miracles and works of mercy in announcing the Good News,
otherwise she has no power in her preaching because there is no Good News to
show. Proclamation of the gospel in words without deeds will be reducible
to mere propaganda of an ideology. As a consequence of a personal and
direct preaching of the Risen Lord that they knew, the apostles could convict
the hearts of their listeners. Effective proclamation of the gospel
demands both the event and the interpretation of the event through the
scriptures.
Yet,
in laying the guilt upon them, St Peter was no anti-Semitist. He
acknowledged their ignorance and did not lay blame on them. He justified them, saying, “Now I know,
brothers, that neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you were really
doing, this was the way God carried out what he had foretold, when he said
through all his prophets that Christ would suffer.” What is important is
not what happened in the past, because this was all God’s plan.
Instead
of regretting our past mistakes, what is more important is that we humbly
recognize our ignorance and repent, so that we can also receive the author of
life. St Peter
urged them, “Now you must repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be
wiped out, and so that the Lord may send the time of comfort. Then he will send
you the Christ he has predestined, that is Jesus, whom heaven must keep till
the universal restoration comes which God proclaimed, speaking through his holy
prophets.” Truly, the goal of proclamation is to bring about a change of
hearts.
The
gospel is preached not to condemn or make people feel guilty but to enlighten
them in their ignorance and failures so that they could repent and receive the
fullness of life.
That was why St Peter reminded them of how Jesus is the fulfillment of the
prophecy of Moses. This is what God desires for us all, as St Peter said, “You
are the heirs of the prophets, the heirs of the covenant God made with our
ancestors when he told Abraham: in your offspring all the families of the earth
will be blessed. It was for you in the first place that God raised up his
servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked
ways.”
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore
© All Rights Reserved
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