FANATICISM OR ZEAL?

20160415 FANATICISM OR ZEAL?

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Acts 9:1-20 ©

Saul was still breathing threats to slaughter the Lord’s disciples. He had gone to the high priest and asked for letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, that would authorise him to arrest and take to Jerusalem any followers of the Way, men or women, that he could find.

  Suddenly, while he was travelling to Damascus and just before he reached the city, there came a light from heaven all round him. He fell to the ground, and then he heard a voice saying, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, Lord?’ he asked, and the voice answered, ‘I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me. Get up now and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.’ The men travelling with Saul stood there speechless, for though they heard the voice they could see no one. Saul got up from the ground, but even with his eyes wide open he could see nothing at all, and they had to lead him into Damascus by the hand. For three days he was without his sight, and took neither food nor drink.

  A disciple called Ananias who lived in Damascus had a vision in which he heard the Lord say to him, ‘Ananias!’ When he replied, ‘Here I am, Lord’, the Lord said, ‘You must go to Straight Street and ask the house of Judas for someone called Saul, who comes from Tarsus. At this moment he is praying, having had a vision of a man called Ananias coming in and laying hands on him to give him back his sight.’

  When he heard that, Ananias said, ‘Lord, several people have told me about this man and all the harm he has been doing to your saints in Jerusalem. He has only come here because he holds a warrant from the chief priests to arrest everybody who invokes your name.’ The Lord replied, ‘You must go all the same, because this man is my chosen instrument to bring my name before pagans and pagan kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he himself must suffer for my name.’ Then Ananias went. He entered the house, and at once laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, I have been sent by the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on your way here so that you may recover your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately it was as though scales fell away from Saul’s eyes and he could see again. So he was baptised there and then, and after taking some food he regained his strength.

  He began preaching in the synagogues, ‘Jesus is the Son of God.’

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 116:1-2 ©

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

or

Alleluia!

O praise the Lord, all you nations,

  acclaim him all you peoples!

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

or

Alleluia!

Strong is his love for us;

  he is faithful for ever.

Go out to the whole world; proclaim the Good News.

or

Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation

cf.Lk24:46,26

Alleluia, alleluia!

It was ordained that the Christ should suffer

and rise from the dead,

and so enter into his glory.

Alleluia!

Or

Jn6:56

Alleluia, alleluia!

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood

lives in me, and I live in him,

says the Lord.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 6:52-59 ©

The Jews started arguing with one another: ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ they said. Jesus replied:

‘I tell you most solemnly,

if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,

you will not have life in you.

Anyone who does eat my flesh and drink my blood

has eternal life,

and I shall raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is real food

and my blood is real drink.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood

lives in me

and I live in him.

As I, who am sent by the living Father,

myself draw life from the Father,

so whoever eats me will draw life from me.

This is the bread come down from heaven;

not like the bread our ancestors ate:

they are dead,

but anyone who eats this bread will live for ever.’

He taught this doctrine at Capernaum, in the synagogue.

FANATICISM OR ZEAL?

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 9:1–20; PS 116:1-2; JOHN 6:52-59   ]

What is the difference between fanaticism and zeal?  There are many people today who seem to be zealous over religion, politics or an ideology.  Yet, some seem to have gone overboard to the extent of being extremists, condemning everyone else who does not agree with them.  There are others who turn violent and violate the freedom of others.  They cannot accept others with contrary ideas, opinions and practices.  They are imposing and do not stand to reason.  When that happens, zeal has been supplanted by fanaticism.  When zeal is no longer tamed by reason and a controlled enthusiasm, it becomes a mere emotional outburst and is transformed to fanaticism.

Today, we have a good example of someone who became fanatical but later transformed by Christ to a zealous missionary for the gospel.  St Paul was a great scholar in Judaism.  He was “as to the law a Pharisee, as to zeal a persecutor of the church, as to righteousness under the law blameless.” (Phil 3:5b-6)  Until then, he was considered a pious and zealous Jew and Pharisee.  But it seems after the death of St Stephen, he became fanatical.  Not only was he contented to be a good Pharisee like the rest of his fellow Jews, but he began to take it upon himself to persecute the Christians.  He would even go to the extent of asking letters of authority from the synagogue officials to arrest the Christians from as far as Damascus.

What could have transformed him from just being a zealous believer of the Law to a fanatic?  Firstly, it could be the death of St Stephen.  The way St Stephen died must have left an imprint on him.  He was one of those who approved of his death yet he knew that something was not quite right.  He knew from the depth of his heart that he had murdered a man of God.  For when St Stephen died, he died with courage, fortitude and most of forgiveness.   Most of all, when he prayed for his enemy, Saul must have been deeply struck by the serenity and calmness of St Stephen in meeting his fate.   He could have acted out of guilt and wanted to prove that he did the right thing by taking out his anger on the other Christians.  By so doing, he thought he could prove them wrong.

Secondly, fanatics often are very insecure people.  This explains why they want to impose their views on everyone and claim absolute truth.  They are not open to dialogue and discussion.  Saul must have been challenged by what St Stephen said and the lives of the Christians.  Throughout his life, he was striving to achieve perfection but he failed.  He was not able to accept his failures.   He lived in guilt and shame for not keeping up with the laws.  How true it is that those people who speak vehemently against something e.g. a moral issue, often turn out to be the ones who commit the same sin! When we look deeper, such apparent zeal springs from the inability of the person to recognize his own weakness.  He then tries to deny it by speaking against it to give the impression that he does not have this problem.  In other words, those who condemn others too much on a particular issue could indicate that they have an issue that has not been resolved.

Hence, only in meeting Christ later on, did St Paul come to realise that only faith in Christ can save him from his failures. The moment when he accepted himself, and accepted the mercy of Christ, he was healed.  Hence, he wrote, “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Gal 2:20b-21)  Without recognizing our own limitations and our weaknesses, our zeal is transformed to fanaticism to hide our true desires for those things that we seek in life.

Through the grace of God, St Paul was healed of his fanaticism.   The Lord healed St Paul by showing him His unconditional love.  Of all peoples, the Lord appeared to him and chose him to be His apostle.  The Lord appeared to him on his way to Damascus.  He did not reprimand Saul or condemn him.  The Lord simply revealed to him saying, “I am Jesus, and you are persecuting me. Get up now and go into the city, and you will be told what you have to do.”   The Lord appealed to Saul’s conscience and a wounded love. The love and forgiveness of Jesus was followed up with Ananias being sent to heal him and to lay his hands on him so that he could receive the Holy Spirit.

Secondly, Saul was healed by the love of the Christian community.  Considering that he had persecuted so many Christians and put so many to death, the community would have harbored hatred for him and even sought to take revenge, much less welcome him into the community.  They would have been so suspicious of the motives of Saul.  But it was very touching and moving that against his wish and sentiments, Ananias obeyed the Lord and in faith welcomed Saul into the Christian community, baptizing him and praying for the gift of the Holy Spirit to come upon him.  When Ananias called him, “Brother Saul”, he must have broken down to know that he was totally forgiven in spite of his past.  Such was the love and mercy of God Saul experienced.

From then on Saul the fanatic became Paul the zealous preacher of the gospel to the Gentile.  However, this time, the desire to spread the gospel was no longer motivated by his ego, or desire to impose his beliefs on others or to take revenge on them.  He was motivated purely by love.  Zeal, therefore, unlike fanaticism, is fueled by pure love for others.  St Paul experienced the passion of Christ for him, His suffering on the cross and His love for him.  From the passion of Christ, he began to enter into Christ’s passion and shared his love and passion for humanity.  So, zeal is when we are motivated not by self-interest, desire for power, glory or security.  Zeal springs from a person who wants to share his love with the world.  Zeal does not lead to violence but is always respectful of others and always tolerant as well.  Zeal is controlled passion and enthusiasm.

So immediately after his radical conversion, St Paul began to preach the gospel.  It was a Copernican revolution.  Instead of everything revolving around him, he revolved around everyone.  Christ became the center of his life and the people became the object of his mission.  Motivated by Christ’s love for him, he gave his life for the service of all.  The zeal that came to St Paul was the passion of Christ.  Every time he thought of Christ’s love for him, he was moved.  He wrote to the Corinthians, “If we are ‘out of our mind’, as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”  (2 Cor 5:13-15)

We too, if we do not wish to fall into fanaticism, but yet remain zealous in our faith, we must always be connected with Christ’s passion and resurrection so that we can identify with Christ so closely that we act like Jesus in all that we do and say.  It is for this reason that the gospel reminds us of the importance of the Eucharist.  We need to draw life from Jesus just as He drew life from the Father.  Only by eating His flesh and drinking His blood, can we be united with the Lord in Spirit and, most of all, become more His Body.  As we receive the Lord into our minds and hearts, we are incorporated into the Body of Christ.  By so doing, we can better see the Lord in our brothers and sisters, especially those who are lost, wounded and vindictive. It is to such people that the Lord wants to send us, like Ananias, so that we can heal them of their hurts and deep unresolved wounds. Through our compassion and identification with them in their pain, we can transform them from acting out of their wounds into acting out of the wounds and love of Christ for them.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved