DEALING WITH CONFLICTS AND DIVISION

20160501 DEALING WITH CONFLICTS AND DIVISION

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Acts 15:1-2,22-29 ©

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.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 66:2-3,5-6,8 ©

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!

Second reading

Apocalypse 21:10-14,22-23 ©

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.

Gospel Acclamation

Jn14:23

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!

Gospel

John 14:23-29 ©

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