20160501 DEALING WITH CONFLICTS AND DIVISION
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Acts 15:1-2,22-29 ©
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Some men came down from
Judaea and taught the brothers, ‘Unless you have yourselves circumcised in the
tradition of Moses you cannot be saved.’ This led to disagreement, and after
Paul and Barnabas had had a long argument with these men it was arranged that
Paul and Barnabas and others of the church should go up to Jerusalem and
discuss the problem with the apostles and elders.
Then the
apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul
and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. They chose Judas known as
Barsabbas and Silas, both leading men in the brotherhood, and gave them this
letter to take with them:
‘The apostles
and elders, your brothers, send greetings to the brothers of pagan birth in
Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. We hear that some of our members have disturbed you
with their demands and have unsettled your minds. They acted without any
authority from us; and so we have decided unanimously to elect delegates and to
send them to you with Barnabas and Paul, men we highly respect who have
dedicated their lives to the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Accordingly we are
sending you Judas and Silas, who will confirm by word of mouth what we have
written in this letter. It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves
not to saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials: you are to abstain
from food sacrificed to idols; from blood, from the meat of strangled animals
and from fornication. Avoid these, and you will do what is right. Farewell.’
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Responsorial Psalm
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Psalm 66:2-3,5-6,8 ©
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Let the peoples praise
you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
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.
Let the peoples praise
you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
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.
Let the peoples praise
you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
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.
Let the peoples praise
you, O God; let all the peoples praise you.
or
Alleluia!
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Second reading
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Apocalypse
21:10-14,22-23 ©
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In the spirit, the angel
took me to the top of an enormous high mountain and showed me Jerusalem, the
holy city, coming down from God out of heaven. It had all the radiant glory of
God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond. The walls
of it were of a great height, and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates
there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve
tribes of Israel; on the east there were three gates, on the north three gates,
on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. The city walls stood on
twelve foundation stones, each one of which bore the name of one of the twelve
apostles of the Lamb.
I saw that
there was no temple in the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves
the temple, and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it
was lit by the radiant glory of God and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.
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Gospel Acclamation
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Jn14:23
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Jesus said: ‘If anyone
loves me he will keep my word,
and my Father will love
him,
and we shall come to him.’
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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John 14:23-29 ©
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Jesus said to his
disciples:
‘If anyone loves me he
will keep my word,
and my Father will love
him,
and we shall come to him
and make our home with him.
Those who do not love me
do not keep my words.
And my word is not my own:
it is the word of the one
who sent me.
I have said these things
to you while still with you;
but the Advocate, the Holy
Spirit,
whom the Father will send
in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all I
have said to you.
Peace I bequeath to you,
my own peace I give you,
a peace the world cannot
give,
this is my gift to you.
Do not let your hearts be
troubled or afraid.
You heard me say: I am
going away, and shall return.
If you loved me you would
have been glad to know that I am going to the Father,
for the Father is greater
than I.
I have told you this now
before it happens,
so that when it does
happen you may believe.’
DEALING WITH
CONFLICTS AND DIVISION
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ ACTS
15:1-2.22-29; PS 66:2-3, 5-6, 8; AP 21:10-14.22-23; JN 14:23-29
]
We all seek unity and peace, especially in the family, in our
workplace, Christian community and country. Indeed, the most important
role of the government is to ensure there is unity, peace and social order in
the country. Without which, there can be no economic progress. That
is why the most challenging task of a leader is to preserve unity among the
peoples that he governs. More so today, when we are living in a world of
relativism and so called democracy. Society is also no more hierarchical
as in the past, when authority was religiously respected. Today, the
leader has been reduced to a coordinator, finding consensus among a spectrum of
very varied views. Few submit to authority simply because he or she says
so. Even authority is being questioned for its decisions, and those in
charge need to explain and convince.
The Church is no different from the
world. Although
the Church is divinely instituted, it is also a human community, where faith
transcends cultures, races and traditions. So we are bound to have
differences in perspectives, symbols and gestures. Unfortunately, at times
instead of respecting diversity, disagreements lead to division and worse
still, hostility and in-fighting. This of course is not new, as we read
in Acts what happened at the very primitive stage of the development of the
Church. There was almost a schism as a result of the entry of Gentile
Christians into the Church, which was essentially still very Jewish as the
apostles and the first Christians were all Jews. In spite of their faith
in Christ, they were still very much entrenched in their Jewish practices and
traditions, especially with regard to the Law of Moses. So they were
offended by the Gentile Christians as they were afraid to be contaminated by them
ritually for mixing and eating with them. Hence, there was a need
to come to terms with what it meant to be a follower of Christ.
How should they define a
Christian? Is he a Jew than a Christian, or a Christian then a Jew? Of course at the end of the day,
they came to realize that one must first be a Christian and only then a
Jew. It is the same for us too. Do we define ourselves as
Chinese/Indian-Catholic, or Catholic-Chinese/Indian? The answer is
obvious. We are Catholic primarily, and then we live out our faith as
Chinese, Indians, Eurasians, etc. Faith is expressed through cultures, but
faith transcends cultures. What cannot be changed are the doctrines which
we all hold as Catholics.
What, then, are the principles to bear
in mind when we speak of unity in the Church?
Firstly, we must remember that the
Church’s vocation is to be the Sacrament of Unity and Love in the world. We must seek to protect and preserve
the unity of the Church at all costs and at all times. We are fortunate
that we have the Pope who is the symbol of unity in the universal Church and
the bishop as the symbol of unity in the particular Church. We must never
forget that the early Church grew in strength and number simply because those
outside the faith saw how much the Christians loved each other. (Cf Jn 13:35) As in the
second reading, we are called to be that radiant Church that shines out in the
glory of love for all to see.
Secondly, we must bear in mind that
unity must be rooted in the truth. Truth, however, is not a matter of consensus as in the
democratic world. Christian truth is founded on Jesus who is the Word of
God in person. That is why in the gospel, in no uncertain terms, He said,
“If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we
shall come to him and make our home with him. Those who do not love me do not
keep my word. And my word is not my own: it is the word of the one who sent
me.” Christ is the Word of God. His word remains with us in a special way
in written scriptures; and also in the Tradition of the Church. Consequently,
unity must be rooted in the Word of God.
Thirdly, we need the Holy Spirit to
help us interpret the scriptures so that we can find the sensus plenior, that
is, the full meaning of the texts. This is why Jesus asked the Father to send us the Holy
Spirit. He said, “The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will
send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all I have said to
you.” The bible in itself is dead. It comes alive with the living
Tradition, that is, the Christian community that interprets the texts and
applies to the situations in their life. In order to ensure that the
interpretation is according to the mind of God, we need the Holy Spirit to
guide us.
Fourthly, the Holy Spirit is also
present in the Church, especially the leaders of the Church, particularly, the
Magisterium, the bishops, in union with the Holy Father, in declaring the
truths of faith. For
this same reason, when the local community could not agree with respect to the
admittance of Gentile Christians and the observances they needed to keep, they
referred to the apostles at Jerusalem who made the decision for them. So
in the final analysis, we must realize that the Holy Spirit, although with the
Church, is with those who hold office who must make decisions for the good of
the whole Church. In conclusion, the Word of God, together with the
Church, and the Holy Spirit, guide the Church to the fullness of truth.
But how did they make decisions?
Through prayer, dialogue and consultation! It is important that those in
authority do not behave like dictators! Although it is true that God has given those in
authority the charism of truth to guide the Church, those in authority must
discern carefully, pray, consult and study the situation thoroughly before any
decision could be taken. This was what the apostles did in the early
Church. Although they had the authority, they did not abuse it but used
it wisely to help the Church arrive at the truth as God revealed to them.
They said, “It has been decided by the Holy Spirit and by ourselves not to
saddle you with any burden beyond these essentials.” Nevertheless, it
remains that the authority must decide at the end.
Secondly, they saw the big picture and
were not focused on narrow goals. They gave a ruling that was broad enough to accommodate
both the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. They kept to the
essentials. So too as leaders, we must focus on what is essential.
As St Augustine says, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; and
in all things, charity.” So we need to respect diversity and
differences. Unity is not uniformity but unity in diversity.
Division always happens when a minority seeks to impose their personal
preferences on others or the majority on the minority. We must
choose diversity in expressions of faith as a sign of our Catholicity and not
impose our narrow-minded preferences on others unless the matter has to deal
with essentials.
Thirdly, we need to define what the
essentials are. They
are those doctrines and practices that are necessary for the continued
existence of the Church and which make the Church what she is. So when it
comes to doctrines, there can be no compromise. But when it comes to
expressions and pastoral approaches, we need to be flexible. We need to
be patient and accommodating towards others who are struggling to grow and
understand their faith. Our faith, whether intellectual or personal, are
at different levels and not the same for all. It is not a question of
either we have faith or not, but it is a continuum.
Finally, this means that we need to
have respect for cultural differences in the expression of faith. What is important is that we do
not contradict or deny our faith in Christ when we inculturate our faith.
We must not import any non-Christian symbols, values or meanings that are alien
to the gospel. For example, we cannot use a non-Christian deity, statue
or symbol at our altars! Every parish community is also different. So
different parishes, different churches, different countries and cultural
communities will celebrate their faith differently, but all hold the same faith
in Christ, in the doctrines and the sacraments. This is what it means to
be catholic.
If we observe the guidelines as given
to us by the early Church and their collaborative and consultative approach, we
will certainly be able to preserve the unity and peace of every community,
regardless whether it is in the home, church, office or country. We should not feel threatened by
diversity, but be enriched. In this way, the Church will always be
radiant because as the vision of John says, “I saw that there was no temple in
the city since the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were themselves the temple,
and the city did not need the sun or the moon for light, since it was lit by
the radiant glory of God and the Lamb was a lighted torch for it.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved
