DOCTOR OF DIVINE MERCY

20160701 DOCTOR OF DIVINE MERCY

Readings at Mass

Liturgical Colour: Green.

First reading

Amos 8:4-6,9-12 ©

Listen to this, you who trample on the needy

and try to suppress the poor people of the country,

you who say, ‘When will New Moon be over

so that we can sell our corn,

and sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?

Then by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel,

by swindling and tampering with the scales,

we can buy up the poor for money,

and the needy for a pair of sandals,

and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.’

That day – it is the Lord who speaks –

I will make the sun go down at noon,

and darken the earth in broad daylight.

I am going to turn your feasts into funerals,

all your singing into lamentation;

I will have your loins all in sackcloth,

your heads all shaved.

I will make it a mourning like the mourning for an only son,

as long as it lasts it will be like a day of bitterness.

See what days are coming – it is the Lord who speaks –

days when I will bring famine on the country,

a famine not of bread, a drought not of water,

but of hearing the word of the Lord.

They will stagger from sea to sea,

wander from north to east,

seeking the word of the Lord

and failing to find it.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 118:2,10,20,30,40,131 ©

Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

They are happy who do his will,

  seeking him with all their hearts,

I have sought you with all my heart;

  let me not stray from your commands.

Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

My soul is ever consumed

  as I long for your decrees.

I have chosen the way of truth

  with your decrees before me.

Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

See, I long for your precepts;

  then in your justice, give me life.

I open my mouth and I sigh

  as I yearn for your commands.

Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Gospel Acclamation

Ps24:4,5

Alleluia, alleluia!

Teach me your paths, my God,

make me walk in your truth.

Alleluia!

Or

Mt11:28

Alleluia, alleluia!

Come to me, all you who labour and are overburdened,

and I will give you rest, says the Lord.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 9:9-13 ©

As Jesus was walking on he saw a man named Matthew sitting by the customs house, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

  While he was at dinner in the house it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinners came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your master eat with tax collectors and sinners?’ When he heard this he replied, ‘It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick. Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice. And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.’

DOCTOR OF DIVINE MERCY

SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ Amos 8:4-12; Ps 118; Mt 9:9-13 ]

For us reading about the call of St Matthew, we might wonder what the big fuss was all about.  This is because we do not know what it was like to deal with such tax-collectors or publicans as they were called.  They were the most hated of peoples, not only because they worked for the Romans, their enemies and occupiers, but they collected taxes over and above what they gave to the Roman authorities.  And there were taxes of all kinds.  There was land tax for the crops, income tax, custom tax, transport tax, road tax etc.  Most of all, they were over-charging so that they could make some profits for themselves.  Not surprisingly, the tax-collectors were among the richest in the land.  They were labelled alongside the Gentiles and sinners, since they also dealt with the Gentiles and hence considered unclean.  Hence, we can understand why those who were involved in this occupation were despised and hated by the Jews.

The same indictment was made by the Prophet Amos to the Israelites living in the Northern Kingdom.  The country was prosperous and wealthy.  But they fell into complacency and decadence.  The rich became richer at the expense of the poor.  They cheated in business and short-changed the people. They did this “by lowering the bushel, raising the shekel, by swindling and tampering with the scales and get a price even for the sweepings of the wheat.” All they thought about was money and pleasure.  They could not wait for the religious festivals to be over and done with, for they said, “When will New Moon be over so that we can sell our corn, and Sabbath, so that we can market our wheat?”  So bad was the situation that they could even “buy up the poor for money, and the needy for a pair of sandals.”  The power and wealth of the few were causing great injustice to the poor.  There was great social injustice and inequality brought about by corruption and dishonesty.

To sinners and the poor as such, the Lord has come.  Today, Jesus, the doctor of Divine Mercy declares that He has “not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.”  This is rather significant because Jesus compares Himself to a doctor.   He said, “It is not the healthy who need the doctor, but the sick.”   This saying of Jesus is so true.   Indeed, the doctor is for the patient.  If the doctor were to stay away from the patients because they are sick, how could they diagnose the patients and help them?  To attend to the patients, the doctor must come among them.  So too was the reason Jesus gave for why He ate and drank with tax-collectors and sinners.  Jesus called them to the meal to let them know that He loved them without condition and that He had come for them.   Eating with sinners is to let them know that they could have fellowship with God.  By staying away from sinners, the Pharisees would never be able to restore them back to God.  By shunning them, they would be left to walk in darkness.   So we should not isolate sinners but be their friends.

Secondly, the doctor comes to heal, not to make the patient worse.   The task of the doctor is to give life, hope and heal the person.  He is a life-giver and a healer, not just of the body but of the soul and spirit.  Indeed, the meaning of the word, “physician” is to be a healer of the soul.  A doctor heals not just by providing medication but also by words of encouragement and enlightenment.  So too, Jesus came to heal sinners, not by condemning them because this would make them feel worse.  Rather, He came to give hope to sinners who are blind, ignorant and caught in the mess they are in, unable to get out of the trap.  Only by being with them, enlightening them and showing the way to a better life than what they were having, could He then bring them to God.  Truly, those of us who behave like the Pharisees, condemning others and sinners, only cause them to feel marginalized, unwanted, rejected and more hostile towards society.

Such is the way of the Lord.  He told the Pharisees, “Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice.”  Jesus quoted this text from the prophet Hosea who said, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.”  (Hos 6:6)  The prophet Hosea was a prophet of love who spoke much about the love and mercy of God to a people who were unfaithful in love.  God wants to restore us so that we can be His people and then be a light to the nations.

In the person of Matthew, we come to appreciate the transforming power of love and mercy.  Matthew must have been surprised and felt totally unworthy to be called by the Lord.  We can be sure that he would have heard the teachings of Jesus from afar and was inspired by His message about the Kingdom of God and His works of mercy.  Something was stirring in his heart but he must have discounted and disqualified himself as an impossible candidate for discipleship.  Yet, Jesus looked at him, not as a tax-collector but as a son of David and therefore a child of His heavenly Father.  Jesus called Matthew the tax-collector to follow Him.

The response of Matthew was immediate and decisive.  “And he got up and followed him.”  He did not count the loss of his lucrative trade, money and wealth.  He abandoned all and followed the Lord.  This was because all this while, like the psalmist, he was praying, “My soul is ever consumed as I long for your decrees. I have chosen the way of truth with your decrees before me. See, I long for your precepts; then in your justice, give me life.  I open my mouth and I sigh as I yearn for your commands.”  So when the Word of the Lord came to him and when the Lord called him, in obedience, he followed the Lord. Again, like the psalmist he knew, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. They are happy who do his will, seeking him with all their hearts, I have sought you with all my heart; let me not stray from your commands.”

So Matthew might have lost his business and wealth, but he had regained his dignity.  He was once again a child of God.  He lived in freedom, peace and joy as he served the Lord and His people.  Once he used his pen to make money but later the Lord taught him to use his pen to write the gospel.  Just as he was meticulous in using his pen to collect taxes, now meticulously, he used his pen to record the sayings, teachings and life of Jesus and produced a gospel for the use of generations for all time.   Indeed, when a man chooses to serve the Lord, he is given another life, a new life, a life of joy, love and freedom.  As the Lord warns us, “For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”  (Mt 16:26)

Indeed, the warning of the prophet Amos is real.  If we do not take heed of the Word of the Lord and live a righteous life, then we will suffer the consequences of our actions.  This was what happened to the Northern Kingdom.  In their prosperity, they forgot the Lord and His laws.  They failed to live up to their responsibilities to their call to be God’s people and be a light to the nations.  As a consequence, on the day of the Lord, that is the judgement day, they would have to bear with the consequences of their actions.   Indeed, they were sent away as exiles to a foreign land, stripped of their wealth and became captives of the Assyrians.  On that day, as the Lord promised, “I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I am going to turn your feasts into funerals, all your singing into lamentation; I will have your loins all in sackcloth, your heads all shaved. I will make it a mourning like the mourning for an only son, as long as it lasts it will be like a day of bitterness.”

But repentance is only possible for those who recognize themselves as sinners.  Jesus said, “I did not come to call the virtuous.”  Those who do not need help cannot be helped.  Those who think they are righteous cannot be redeemed.  The Pharisees thought themselves as righteous.  They only knew how to criticize and judge others but were blind to their own faults and pride.  If we want the Lord to heal us and set us free for a life of love and joy, then we must come with humility to the Lord, recognizing that we are sinners and in need of Him.

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