20160528 WITNESSING IN THE MARKET PLACE
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Jude 1:17,20-25 ©
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Remember, my dear
friends, what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you to expect. But
you, my dear friends, must use your most holy faith as your foundation and
build on that, praying in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves within the love of
God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to give you eternal life.
When there are some who have doubts reassure them; when there are some to be
saved from the fire, pull them out; but there are others to whom you must be
kind with great caution, keeping your distance even from outside clothing which
is contaminated by vice.
Glory be
to him who can keep you from falling and bring you safe to his glorious
presence, innocent and happy. To God, the only God, who saves us through Jesus
Christ our Lord, be the glory, majesty, authority and power, which he had
before time began, now and for ever. Amen.
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 62:2-6 ©
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For you my soul is
thirsting, O Lord, my God.
O God, you are my
God, for you I long;
for you
my soul is thirsting.
My body pines for you
like a
dry, weary land without water.
For you my soul is
thirsting, O Lord, my God.
So I gaze on you in
the sanctuary
to see
your strength and your glory.
For your love is
better than life,
my lips
will speak your praise.
For you my soul is
thirsting, O Lord, my God.
So I will bless you
all my life,
in your
name I will lift up my hands.
My soul shall be
filled as with a banquet,
my mouth
shall praise you with joy.
For you my soul is
thirsting, O Lord, my God.
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Gospel Acclamation
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1P1:25
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Alleluia, alleluia!
The word of the Lord
remains for ever:
What is this word?
It is the Good News
that has been brought to you.
Alleluia!
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Or
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cf.Col3:16a,17
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Let the message of
Christ, in all its richness,
find a home with you;
through him give
thanks to God the Father.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 11:27-33 ©
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Jesus
and his disciples came to Jerusalem, and as Jesus was walking in the Temple,
the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to him, and they said to
him, ‘What authority have you for acting like this? Or who gave you authority
to do these things?’ Jesus said to them, ‘I will ask you a question, only one;
answer me and I will tell you my authority for acting like this. John’s
baptism: did it come from heaven, or from man? Answer me that.’ And they argued
it out this way among themselves: ‘If we say from heaven, he will say, “Then
why did you refuse to believe him?” But dare we say from man?’ – they had
the people to fear, for everyone held that John was a real prophet. So their
reply to Jesus was, ‘We do not know.’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Nor will I tell
you my authority for acting like this.’
WITNESSING
IN THE MARKET PLACE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ Jude 17:20-25;
Ps 62:2-6; Mk 11:27-33 ]
In this age of
secularization, the gospel has to be brought to the market place where the
people are. We cannot expect people to come to our churches to look for
Christ. A few might come out of desperation. But the world seems to
be more appealing and attractive. They speak louder and there are more
choices. Our young people are out there, seduced by the world of music,
entertainment, arts, pleasure, fun and excitement. They are glued to
their mobile devices, always on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. So if we
want to capture them for Jesus, the Church, as the Holy Father, Pope Francis
says, must go out to the frontlines of the battle where the sick and wounded
people are, not stay in the comfort of our offices, waiting for them to come
and seek us out for help.
Yet, there is so much
danger when we try to bring the gospel to the market place. In a world
that is so secularized, in order to befriend them, we have to become in many
instances, like them, and sometimes unfortunately even one of them. This
gradual process of desacralization has taken place since Vatican II.
Priests and religious tend to become more secularized in their dressing and
lifestyle. No longer do we try to be different from the rest of the
world in dressing and sometimes we even adopt the lifestyles of the
world. At times, we wonder what it means to be “holy” today when the
original meaning of being holy is to be set apart and to be
different. The question is: can the world tell that we are
different from others, not necessarily in dressing but in values and
lifestyle? Perhaps, for this reason also there is a great fall in
the number of priestly and religious vocations as our life does not seem to be
much different from that of the laity. And why give up so much to be a
priest or a religious when as a lay person one can spread the gospel anyway.
At the
heart of it all is the loss of urgency in the work of evangelization.
With the doctrine that explicit faith in Christ and baptism is no longer
necessary for salvation, many Catholics do not see why we should bother to
bring people to Christ since they can be saved by and in their own faith
tradition. Unlike in the 15th and 16th Centuries
where missionaries came from Europe with the conviction of saving souls for
Christ, there is this implicit belief among many Catholics today that we should
let those who already have their religion remain as they are. As for
those without religion, so long as they live a good life, it is sufficient.
Indeed, today, faith in Christ has weakened tremendously that missionary zeal
has been lost to a great extent, not just among the laity but even priests and
religious. Even for those who have become priests and religious, many
joined not so much because they are passionate about spreading the gospel message
but simply because it is a good life, with comfortable living, a life of
bachelorhood, and opportunities to engage in some good works now and then.
Surely,
most of us would not think that those who are not baptized would be condemned
to hell but that God in His own way would save them. As the Constitution
of the Church in the Modern Word says, “Pressing upon the Christian to be sure,
are the need and the duty to battle against evil through manifold tribulations
and even to suffer death. But, linked with the paschal mystery and patterned on
the dying Christ, he will hasten forward to resurrection in the strength which
comes from hope. All this holds true not only for Christians, but for all
men of good will in whose hearts grace works in an unseen way. For, since
Christ died for all men, and since the ultimate vocation of man is in fact one,
and divine, we ought to believe that the Holy Spirit in a manner known only to
God offers to every man the possibility of being associated with this paschal
mystery.” (GS 22) The Constitution of the Church reiterates this teaching
when it says, “Those also can attain to salvation who through no fault of their
own do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, yet sincerely seek God and
moved by grace strive by their deeds to do His will as it is known to them
through the dictates of conscience. Nor does Divine Providence deny the helps
necessary for salvation to those who, without blame on their part, have not yet
arrived at an explicit knowledge of God and with His grace strive to live a
good life. Whatever good or truth is found amongst them is looked upon by the
Church as a preparation for the Gospel.” (LG 16)
In the light of such
challenges, how do we defend the need for the spread of the gospel and how do
we continue to witness to Christ in a very secularized, multicultural and
multi-religious world? Once again, we need to find the authority to do
what we are doing. This was the question posed to the Lord in the gospel
when the Jewish religious leaders asked, “What authority have you for acting
like this? Or who gave you the authority to do these things?” The
truth is that the Jewish leaders were not interested to know the
answer. They were simply trying to disprove Jesus, to discredit Him
so that their authority would be not eroded from the eyes of the people.
They were both envious and intimidated by Jesus, whom they saw as someone who
was a threat to their status quo and the institution. Instead, Jesus
exposed their hypocrisy by countering their question with another question of
authority. Indeed, they were not sincere in seeking for the truth but
were afraid of the truth.
Similarly, in the work of
evangelization, we ourselves need to be clear about our own conviction of Jesus
if we were to present Him as the Saviour of the world. Is our faith found
in Him alone? As St Jude says, “Glory be to him who can keep you from falling
and bring you safe to his glorious presence, innocent and happy. To God,
the only God, who saves us through Jesus Christ our Lord, be the glory,
majesty, authority and power, which he had before time began, now and for
ever. Amen.” Otherwise, the situation is precarious when we try to
witness to Christ in the world. Instead of changing the world, the world
changes us instead. This was the situation of the Christian community
during the time of St Jude. They were faced with the danger of religious
leaders teaching heresies and apostasy as many drifted away from the faith and
turned away from the Lord. This was because of the weak foundation of
their faith; the bad examples and lifestyles of the Christians and faith in the
life that was to come. Like them, many of our Catholics today are so
secularized that they live only for this world. Many of our Catholic
parents are so weak in the knowledge of their faith and are such poor examples
of Christian life, so much so we should not expect their children and
children’s children to be fervent in their faith except for the grace and mercy
of Christ.
It is for this reason that
St Jude gave us guidelines to remain firm in our witness even whilst we witness
in the market place. He wrote, “Remember, my dear friends, what the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ told you to expect. You must use your holy
faith as your foundation and build on that, praying in the Holy Spirit; keep
yourselves within the love of God and wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus
Christ to give you eternal life.” As Catholics, we need to strengthen the
foundation of our faith through the ongoing study of doctrines and the Sacred
Scriptures. Unfortunately, many of us not only do not update ourselves in
the teachings of the Church but we do not read the Word of God regularly, and
be nourished by the Word of life. When we do not build up our faith, we
are potential victims for the Evil One, as the world would confuse us and we
will eventually lose the faith.
Secondly, St Jude urges us
to pray in the Holy Spirit. We must never forget the importance of prayer
and a personal relationship with the Lord, which is made possible when we pray
in the Holy Spirit and live and walk in the Spirit. With the psalmist, we
must thirst for Him, the living water, to quench our spiritual thirst.
“So I gaze on you in the sanctuary to see your strength and your glory.
For your love is better than life, my lips will speak your praise.”
Only in the Holy Spirit, can we witness with faith and love.
Thirdly, St Jude reminds us
of the hope of the Lord’s return. We do not live only for this life but
for eternal life. This life is short and in the blink of an eye, we will
be no more. So let us not deceive ourselves into thinking that we will
not join our forefathers. Our time will come and therefore we must live
fully in this life with a view of fullness of life eternal after death with
Jesus Christ forever.
Only when we are rooted in
the truth, filled with the Holy Spirit and living in the ambience of God’s
love, are we ready to witness to Christ by strengthening our fellow Catholics
who are weak in their faith, as St Jude says, “when there are some who have
doubts, reassure them; when there are some to be saved from the fire, pull them
out.” To those outside the faith, we must be watchful that in
trying to reach out to them, we do not lose our identity and our values and
faith in Christ. He said, “but there are others to whom you must be kind
with great caution, keeping your distance even from outside clothing which is
contaminated by vice.” Let us not betray Christ by our conduct, life,
words and deeds.
Written by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of
Singapore © All Rights Reserved
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