THE BASIS FOR ACCEPTING THE DIFFICULT TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH

20160416 THE BASIS FOR ACCEPTING THE DIFFICULT TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: White.

First reading

Acts 9:31-42 ©

The churches throughout Judaea, Galilee and Samaria were now left in peace, building themselves up, living in the fear of the Lord, and filled with the consolation of the Holy Spirit.

  Peter visited one place after another and eventually came to the saints living down in Lydda. There he found a man called Aeneas, a paralytic who had been bedridden for eight years. Peter said to him, ‘Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you: get up and fold up your sleeping mat.’ Aeneas got up immediately; everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they were all converted to the Lord.

  At Jaffa there was a woman disciple called Tabitha, or Dorcas in Greek, who never tired of doing good or giving in charity. But the time came when she got ill and died, and they washed her and laid her out in a room upstairs. Lydda is not far from Jaffa, so when the disciples heard that Peter was there, they sent two men with an urgent message for him, ‘Come and visit us as soon as possible.’

  Peter went back with them straightaway, and on his arrival they took him to the upstairs room, where all the widows stood round him in tears, showing him tunics and other clothes Dorcas had made when she was with them. Peter sent them all out of the room and knelt down and prayed. Then he turned to the dead woman and said, ‘Tabitha, stand up.’ She opened her eyes, looked at Peter and sat up. Peter helped her to her feet, then he called in the saints and widows and showed them she was alive. The whole of Jaffa heard about it and many believed in the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 115:12-17 ©

How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?

or

Alleluia!

How can I repay the Lord

  for his goodness to me?

The cup of salvation I will raise;

  I will call on the Lord’s name.

How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?

or

Alleluia!

My vows to the Lord I will fulfil

  before all his people.

O precious in the eyes of the Lord

  is the death of his faithful.

How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?

or

Alleluia!

Your servant, Lord, your servant am I;

  you have loosened my bonds.

A thanksgiving sacrifice I make;

  I will call on the Lord’s name.

How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me?

or

Alleluia!

Gospel Acclamation

Alleluia, alleluia!

We know that Christ is truly risen from the dead:

have mercy on us, triumphant King.

Alleluia!

Or	cf.Jn6:63,68

Alleluia, alleluia!

Your words are spirit, Lord, and they are life;

you have the message of eternal life.

Alleluia!

Gospel

John 6:60-69 ©

After hearing his doctrine many of the followers of Jesus said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’ Jesus was aware that his followers were complaining about it and said, ‘Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?

‘It is the spirit that gives life,

the flesh has nothing to offer.

The words I have spoken to you are spirit

and they are life.

‘But there are some of you who do not believe.’ For Jesus knew from the outset those who did not believe, and who it was that would betray him. He went on, ‘This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him.’ After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.

  Then Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’

THE BASIS FOR ACCEPTING THE DIFFICULT TEACHINGS OF THE CHURCH

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ ACTS 9:31–42; JOHN 6:60-69   ]

The context of the gospel is Jesus’ teaching on the Eucharist as truly His body and blood.  This discourse was a great scandal to the Jews, especially the idea of drinking blood, which was strictly forbidden, much less to eat His flesh.  Blood, a symbol of life, is reserved only for God who is the author of life.  So we should not be surprised that “After hearing Jesus, many of his followers said, ‘This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it?’”

But this is where it is necessary for us to broaden our understanding.  We are invited to think big and outside the box, even the impossible.  Like the Jews who could not accept the power of God to work beyond the confines of man’s understanding, we too limit the power of God at work in our lives.  Often, miracles do not happen in our lives simply because of our lack of faith and narrowmindedness.  Jesus was aware that His followers were complaining about it and said, “Does this upset you? What if you should see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before?”  The point remains that with the resurrection, nothing is impossible for God. That is why the Eucharist presupposes faith in the Incarnation and is the extension of the resurrection, for the Eucharist makes present the resurrected Christ in His glorified body, soul and spirit under the species of bread and wine.

Indeed, faith in Jesus is the Key to demonstrating the power of the gospel.  The miracles wrought by Peter in healing the cripple and even raising the dead is the consequence of the Easter faith.  It is faith in the name of the Risen Lord that the miracle was performed.  Jesus of Nazareth continues to work in and through the disciples.  So following Jesus, Peter said “Aeneas, Jesus Christ cures you: get up and fold up your sleeping mat”.  We read that in the power of the Risen Lord, “Aeneas got up immediately.” The consequence is conversion of the hearts of all.  We read the importance of miracles and testimony to the power of the Risen Lord at work in their lives.  Indeed, “Everybody who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they were all converted to the Lord.”  Further on, we read, “The whole of Jaffa heard about it and many believed in the Lord.”

How can we, as St Peter and the apostles, come to Jesus and place our faith in Him?   Of course it is by grace alone!  Indeed, Jesus remarked, “’This is why I told you that no one could come to me unless the Father allows him’.” Jesus assured His disciples that it is His heavenly Father who invites us all to come to Him and who gives the grace to follow Him even in the “hard sayings”.   Without the grace of God, it would be difficult to understand or to accept in faith the Word of Jesus.  That was why many, we are told, left Him because they could not accept His teaching.  “After this, many of his disciples left him and stopped going with him.”

Although, coming to encounter the Risen Lord is by grace through faith, we must make ourselves available to this grace through our relationship with Jesus.  This was what St Peter did.  He was able to render his profession of faith and loyalty to the Lord because of his personal encounter with Him, especially in those moments when he was inadequate, as when he could not catch any fish and when he was became conscious of his unworthiness and sinfulness.  However, his belief was not simply based on his knowledge of Jesus.  At the end of the day, he surrendered in faith because somehow he knew that in Jesus, God is present.

Through the gift of faith Peter came to believe that Jesus was the true Messiah, the Holy One of God.  “Then Jesus said to the Twelve, ‘What about you, do you want to go away too?’ Simon Peter answered, ‘Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.’”  St Peter took the words of Jesus as truth because he believed in Jesus.  

We too must deepen our faith in Jesus through the Word and the Eucharist.   This is what Jesus said, “It is the spirit that gives life, the flesh has nothing to offer. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.”   Faith is not simply a blind trust in the Lord.  We are to grow in understanding as well.  The Holy Spirit will lead us to understand deeper when we are docile to the Word of God.  If we want to deepen our faith in the Risen Lord, we cannot do without the Word of God. That is why in the Eucharist, the sacrament is preceded by the Word.   Before we can receive His body and blood, our minds and hearts must be attuned with the Lord by listening to His words and teaching because He has the words of eternal life.

The question that is asked of us is whether we are willing to give ourselves to the Lord.  Like the disciples, we might have our fears and reservations because of our upbringing, the culture and traditions we were brought up with.  We tend to be slaves of our past. This is not surprising because we are sociological animals.  Some Catholics are not able to accept the Holy Father, Pope Francis’s exhortation to make the gospel more relevant to our people today and truly proclaim it as the Good News of joy, compassion and forgiveness.   Many of us are afraid to adapt for fear that we are abandoning the truths of the Catholic teaching.   As a result, the Church is crippled and dead.  This is not to say that we must discard our past completely.  There is a close relationship between tradition and progress.  To be faithful to our traditions does not mean being a traditionalist in the sense that we keep the same practices without change.  Fidelity to traditions means to be faithful to the essential message and principles which have kept us in the faith in the past.  In order to stay faithful, tradition requires progress in creative fidelity to the past.  We must adapt in order to be relevant.  This is the true meaning of progress.   We need to believe that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Church under the leadership of St Peter who was inspired by the Holy Spirit when he made the confession of faith on behalf of the Church.  We too must have confidence that Jesus’ promise to be with His Church remains with Pope Francis leading the Church to a real renewal.  

So in the final analysis, can we accept Him even when things do not turn out the way we want?  Can we accept the Lord even when we cannot understand Him fully?  The greatest obstacle today is that man wants God to fit into his mind, rather than he fit into the mind of God.  Like the disciples, we reject God simply because we cannot agree with the teachings of the bible and the Church. So it is not surprising that many non-Christians cannot accept the Church’s teachings.  Even many of our so-called Catholics have no faith in the Word of God, much less the authoritative guidance of the Church as their moral compass in life.  They prefer to listen to the advice of the world than our Lord!  Hence, the Lord is asking us again, “What about you, do you want to go away too?”  Can we answer from our heart with conviction, “Lord, who shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.”  Or would we, like the others, also abandon Him upon finding that we cannot agree with the Word of God?

If we take the risk and believe in the Lord, then Jesus can change our life because He has the words of everlasting life.   Just as He transformed the bread and wine into His body and blood, we too will be transformed to be like Him when we eat His flesh, drink His blood and become one with Him and in Him.   So let us ask the Lord to increase our faith so that we may grow in our relationship with Him and in the knowledge of His love for us.   Chesterton once said, “Christianity is difficult and therefore has not been tried not because it has been tried and found difficult.”   Even when the teachings of our Lord are hard to accept, He will give us the grace to do His holy will so that we can find peace and true happiness in life.   Let us in faith, in the face of so many confusing trends and voices in the world, listen to our Lord through His Vicar, St Peter and His successors who have been entrusted to ensure that the Word of God remains alive and active in His Church.

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